by J. L. Weil
Scowling down at the cat, I held the vile out to the witch. “Listen, the council’s instructions were clear. Find the witch. Have her drink this. Bring her to us. So...”
She looked at me like I had just grown a second head. “What council? And why the hell do you keep calling me a witch? Which I’m not, by the way. This isn’t an episode of Charmed. And I’m not going anywhere with you. God only knows what you’ve been smoking.”
“You need to drink this!” I hissed, all out patience—not that I had much to start with.
Her perky nose wrinkled, dusted with freckles. “Uh, yeah, thanks but no thanks. I’d rather not. I’ve had my fair share of booze living in Vegas, but even I have to draw my limits.”
I took a step closer. “We can do this the easy way or my way. Your choice.” The sirens outside got much louder. I was out of time.
“It won’t hurt you,” Tricksy assured.
“But I might if you don’t drink it now,” I growled and earned a round of disapproving frowns. Even from a dazed Scorpion.
Catina batted her long, thick lashes at me once. “How do you have any friends?”
I grinned wickedly, letting her see my iron fangs. “Who says I do?” I called on my speed. Uncapping the vile as I shoved forward, I slipped a hand behind Catina’s head and pressed the bottle to her lips, forcing her to drink its contents.
The cat in her arms hissed, and I hissed right back, flashing my teeth.
Then I sneezed.
It all happened in a matter of seconds. My friends and Scorpion stood in a stupor—still trying to figure out what the hell I’d done—while Catina coughed, glaring at me in disbelief with dove gray eyes.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked, tossing the bottle to the ground with the other broken shards of glass, but Tricksy rushed to pick it up.
“What did you do to me?” she rasped, spitting on the floor.
Car doors slammed shut outside the casino, the siren’s blaring in my sensitive ears. “Sorry, little witch. No time. Grab her!” I ordered Oliver and whirled to face Scorpion. As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, now I had to escape the cops with a group of supernatural misfits and one human. Sounded like a recipe for disaster.
“How many times do I have to tell you. I’m. Not. A—”
Her words faltered, and I threw a glance backward, just to make sure Oliver had a hold of her. But the witch, she... she started to levitate, a bluish light outlining her form, just as the cat jumped off her, yowling. Catina was only a foot or two off the floor, but it was the upsurge of power swarming inside the club that worried me. I’d seen plenty of witches in my day, but none like this. Her eyes rolled back into her head, turning fully white. Chairs, tables, and shards of broken glass lifted off the ground, hovering, just waiting for a command.
All Catina had to do was issue it.
“Is that normal?” Scorpion asked, his head cocked to the side.
With the question, I noticed his hand reach for the gun tucked into the waistband at the back of his jeans. “Don’t shoot her,” I snarled, and sure enough, shit hit the fan.
Perhaps Catina heard what I said to Scorpion, or perhaps she didn’t even know what she was doing. Hadn’t she learned to control her abilities as a child, like any other witch? Her powers seemed to have slammed into her system—like mighty waves against a rocky cliff—without any warning or restraint.
I had to diffuse the situation before someone got hurt. From the corner of my eye, I watched as a chair sailed through the air toward a stunned Tricksy. Crap. Pivoting on the balls of my feet, I pushed her out of the way and ducked, taking Scorpion with me just as the DJ table hurled over our heads. Cursing under my breath, I took a step forward, my eyes glued to the witch while all around us, the club shook, thundering with the sounds of shit breaking.
“Renna, watch out!” Scorpion’s deep voice warned, but a second too late.
A black ball of fur lunged at my face, raking its nails over my left cheek and then pounced off my shoulder. Red hot pain spread along the side of my face, deep enough cuts to draw blood.
“I fucking hate cats!” I screamed, spinning around to pluck the nails from Catina’s little pet, but the sudden silence that descended around the room gave me pause. No smashing of furniture, or breaking of glass, and the magic that had vibrated thickly in the air was… gone.
My gaze went to Oliver and Tricksy, who were shoving a booth off of them. One of the lenses on Oliver’s glasses had cracked. “Where did she go?” I demanded, eyes scouring over the room.
“She’s gone,” Scorpion replied.
No. No. No!
She couldn’t be.
Knowing what Scorpion said was true, I whirled on my friends. “Why didn’t you stop her?!”
Tricksy dusted off her plaid skirt. “Us? What about you? You are the bad ass in this trio.”
“I was dealing with the cat!”
Oliver and Tricksy both snickered, and even I realized how stupid it sounded. “Renna, the Vampire Huntress, got bested by a cat,” Oliver declared, grinning like a fool.
“You tell anyone, and I’ll drain you both.” I wouldn’t really, but it was the principle of the threat that mattered.
“No one would believe us anyway.”
“We need to go. The cops are here.” Dragging a drugged Scorpion by the arm, the four of us sprinted out of the club and into the hall, heading for the west exit just past the buffet. The cops rushed into the club the next moment, shouting orders. Scorpion stiffened beside me, but I grabbed his hand again, hauling him out the door and into the streets of Vegas.
“What now? Do you have a plan?” Oliver asked, jogging to catch up with my long strides.
“We’re going to need to go back to the academy and regroup. She isn’t getting away that easily.”
If she was smart, she would leave Vegas now that she knew we were after her. I would, and I sensed that Catina was a runner—like I once was.
“So, all we managed to do tonight, was unleash an apparently untrained witch loose on the world. And kidnap a human,” Tricksy recounted the worst night of my life.
“Yup,” Oliver confirmed.
“Wait. You’re kidnapping me?” Scorpion mumbled, swaying drunkenly on his feet again from the thick magic haze engulfing him. “That’s not nice.” He frowned. “Bad. Bad, Renna.”
Tricksy lips turned in a disapproving frown. “You’re seriously bringing him with us?”
“Why?” Oliver fumbled, tripping over his own feet. He was going to need to get his glasses fixed. “He’s human, Renna. The academy is no place for humans.”
“I can’t go back to the Aereum empty handed!” I hissed. “Besides, I have a feeling about this one. He’s... different.” Or so I thought. Why couldn’t I let him go? Why was I bringing him with me? He wasn’t a possession. It wasn’t like I could lock him in my room like a toy Ken doll, and bring him out to play when I felt the itch.
My teeth anxiously gnawed on my lower lip. The idea did have merit though.
“Different, as in not that long ago he had his tongue down your throat?” Tricksy threw back at me.
I scowled. “That has nothing to do with it. He’s seen too much.”
“Then why not let me wipe his memory,” she argued, as we continued our trek back to the portal.
“Don’t touch him,” I growled, teeth bared, pulling him with me.
This night had been an utter failure, and the idea of facing the Aereum when we returned was making me snappy and irritable.
We walked in utter silence back toward the shitty motel with the portal, Scorpion following like a good puppy on my heels, and each of us in our own heads.
Damn witch. I was going to hunt her down and her little cat too.
7
SCORPION
The muffled sound of steps reached my ears as I aimlessly walked, following Renna and her friends.
What was happening to me?
It seemed like an invisible force had tak
en hold of me… I felt only half conscious for some reason, while the other half of me screamed in rage inside me, fighting for autonomy to no avail. I couldn’t help but to do whatever the gorgeous brunette asked of me—not that I wouldn’t be more than willing to do sweet things to her on any given day. Her sinful curves had my blood rushing, and my heart palpitating even now.
But this was different.
Not to mention the scorching fire that spread over my lower back like venomous vines.
My feet stomped onto the ground while I tried to remain upright. I almost felt hammered, within an inch of blacking out, except I’d never drank that much in my life. I knew how to hold my liquor, but even then, I would never allow myself to reach a point in which the alcohol took consciousness away from me.
I was always alert. Always prepared. Always in control.
The dingy motel room suddenly turned into lush gardens, engulfed in the sound of cascading water. We entered some kind of tower, an aged brick corridor greeting us next and I frowned, looking all around me. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear I was in some kind of old era dwelling, maybe even a castle, but no such thing in Vegas existed. Unless this was a new attraction?
If it was, the attention to detail was mind blowing. It really looked like it had been here for at least a century.
“This is a bad idea,” the girl called Tricksy mumbled, when we stopped at the end of the hallway, and they all looked around the corner.
“Shut up, Tricksy,” Renna whisper-hissed, looking both ways, before she grabbed my arm and pulled me with her again. She seemed pleased both ways of the hall were empty, then turned left.
I couldn’t really make sense of what I was seeing as I followed them, partly from the dazed state my mind was in, and partly from heat scorching my body. Old paintings that belonged on the Louvre museum hung on the walls, with heavy, burgundy velvet curtains framing large windows in between them.
However, the art didn’t portray kings and queens, cherubims, or dreamy green pastures. Instead, a mighty platinum dragon spewing ice mid-flight could be seen. A fae stood above a majestic mountain, commanding air, water, earth, and fire at once, and sea waves rose dangerously as a mermaid floated on the ocean's surface, golden hair floating in the wind.
My gaze shifted to a fierce centaur rearing on his hind legs, the earth shook beneath him, cracking, while thunder lit the stormy sky, responding to his will, and even a witch made her presence known. Golden lightning shot from her bare hands and all around her body, as she levitated mid-air, and her amber eyes glowed ominously.
Another art piece showed an older woman dressed in white robes, with bird-like features and the sharp eyes of a hawk. Three clouds floated above her, each one showing a different scene of what seemed to represent the past, the present, and future. My mind was foggy and jumbled, but I forced myself to read the inscriptions on the gold plaques at the bottom of each painting, as we walked past them.
Albán ~ Priest of the Order of the Dragon. Cianán ~ Fae King of the Summer Court. Iara ~ Queen of the Sea. Horus ~ Lord of the Forests of Thessaly. Serenity ~ High Witch of the Daughters of Circe. Cressida ~ The Almighty Oracle.
Our steps halted in front of large, wooden doors, and I noticed one more painting on my left, just as Renna and her friends began to argue in hushed tones once more.
Ignoring them, I stepped closer to the art piece. It depicted a distinguished man, standing in the center of two forces. Life and death, light and darkness. Sharp fangs protruded from his mouth, and a single drop of blood slid down one of them. Piercing sapphire eyes stared back at me, while bodies rested at his feet—half being born in light, reaching for him, the other half dying, stained by their own blood.
The image should have been gruesome, but I found it eerily beautiful. A true work of art, even if it was pure fantasy. My gaze lowered to the plaque at the bottom, reading its inscription like I had done with the rest.
Ambrose ~ Vampire Lord & Headmaster.
“Fine. You know what? Just leave. I’ll face my father alone,” Renna barked, angered at her friends.
“Well, it was your mission after all,” the guy mumbled, fixing his glasses, but I couldn’t remember his name.
“We already got a warning after what happened in the artifacts room. And now this? Kidnapping a human and bringing him to the academy, no less!” Tricksy shook her head adamantly. “No. I cannot afford another mark on my record. So, love ya, but this one is all you. I’ll be cheering you on from afar,” she assured, and nodded to the guy to leave.
“Deserters,” Renna huffed, seeing them walk away. “Some friends you are…”
“I’m with you, Renna. I’ll support you, no matter what,” I assured, even though my voice sounded far from my own.
A troubled gleam entered her eyes as she watched me. “Thanks,” she chuckled humorlessly.
Teeth grinding at the implacable fire running through my veins, I reached for the source of the pain—my lower back—and when my hand returned to my eyes, I found the cause. Blood trickled down my fingers... turning black.
“One question…” I croaked, taking a forced step to the side to keep my balance, as the burning on my back became unbearable. I was about a second away from passing out with the pain.
“No. No questions. I have enough to deal with explaining why my mission went awry, and why you are here. Just stay quiet and let me do all the talking.”
Once again, the urge to do as she asked overpowered me, so I nodded, lowering my blood-stained hand and faced the door.
Oblivious to my situation, Renna squared her shoulders, filling herself with courage, and knocked three times. “Father, it’s me,” she spoke through the wood, and suddenly, the lock clicked.
“Come in…”
Cupping my punctured back, I entered the space next to her. A man stopped by the desk and sat once again. I blinked, making sure I’d seen correctly, he had moved faster than humanly possible, blurring before my eyes like Renna had done at the club. Then recognition hit me. He was the elegant man from the painting right outside.
“Vampire Lord,” I whispered, just as his gaze fell on us.
“Shut up!” Renna whisper-hissed at me. “I told you I would do all the talking.”
“How was your mission?” the man asked in a deep voice, a knowing and humorous gleam sneaking into his eyes while he glanced at us.
“Right, about that—”
He lifted a single finger, instantly halting her words, and shook his head. Standing, he let out a heavy, defeated sigh, muttering something under his breath. Although I couldn’t fully hear, it sounded like he’d complained about losing a bet.
“What bet?” Renna asked half shocked and half insulted, like she’d heard him perfectly. “What does Horus have to do with this?”
“You’ll learn soon enough. And it is Lord Horus to you,” the man answered, giving her a censuring glare. His attention turned to me while he took a few steps forward. Keen eyes taking me in from head to toe. “You compelled him.” It wasn’t a question, but a fact.
“I can explain. When I got there, I heard screams and he—”
His finger lifted once more, along with a warning brow, and Renna paused. Though she was not happy about it, a fact she made perfectly clear when she huffed, and crossed her arms over her perfect breasts.
The man’s lips quivered a bit, repressing his amusement, like a father watching his child mumble after getting in trouble. When his attention returned to me, he observed me carefully, confusion entering his blue eyes. “It shouldn’t have affected him this strongly.”
I had no idea what he spoke of, but I wholeheartedly agreed, especially when the room tilted before my eyes. Harshly blinking, I took a settling breath, forcing everything inside me to keep me upright. What the hell had they done to me?
“My name is Ambrose Bellmare, Lord of all vampires, and Headmaster of STA,” the man introduced himself, though strangely, and stopped his advance right in front of me. He didn’t
offer me his hand; instead, he held them behind him. “And you are?”
“Scorpion,” I answered breathless, the scorching sensation finally reaching the base of my neck, and black spots appeared in my vision. “May I just ask two questions?”
Ambrose’s brows rose with intrigue, and he nodded once. “I will permit it.”
I attempted to swallow before I spoke, but all moisture seemed to have left my mouth. “What is this place… and, is this normal?”
Removing my hand from the wound, I showed it to him. Black blood fully coated it, freely dripping between my fingers. Both his, and Renna's gorgeous blue eyes widened with alarm at the sight, just as the world violently flipped, with me in it, and I finally collapsed. I felt myself falling, falling, and falling some more, except I never crashed against the ground.
“He’s human, and you didn’t even bother to check for injuries?!” Ambrose roared next to my ear. His voice boomed like thunder in the office, thick with an accent I couldn’t place, and I realized he had caught me.
“I-I didn’t think he was hurt. He seemed fine. I didn’t see…” Renna rambled, trying to explain, while Ambrose turned me toward the mirror on the wall behind us.
Looking over my shoulder while sprawled against the Vampire Lord’s chest, my gaze became even more blurry, but I saw enough to notice the large puncture at the bottom of my spine. Black veins spread like a vicious web from the wound, entangling over my skin until they reached my neck.
My whole back was covered by them, black blood oozing from the wound.
Where was my shirt?
“What is that coming out of him?” Renna asked, seemingly freaking out.
“His blood,” Ambrose answered, examining the dark veins taking over me.
“No. Impossible! I didn’t smell it,” she defended anxiously. “I-I would have noticed, I—”
“The venom tinged it. Changed its scent, making it unrecognizable.”
The room tumbled again, but before I could focus, Ambrose was lying me on my stomach onto the large leather sofa inside his office. Renna’s face appeared before my eyes, but I could barely see her. The darkness continued to edge my vision.