Supernatural Taskforce Academy: Mission One, Scorpion Blood

by J. L. Weil

  To Serve and Protect.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. You just said you needed the most powerful beings,” I almost growled, exasperated. “I can’t be one of them because I am human. I can’t do any of the things those races can.” I pointed at the school. “I have no magic. How could I possibly help you save humanity from whatever is coming?”

  Serenity’s eyes reflected the storm of emotions rushing through me, as if she could feel the battle raging in me. “Yes, you are human, but you have something none of the names on our list possess. I don’t want you to be one of those supernaturals, Scorpion. I want you to lead them.”

  My breath stopped with her confession, the whole world stopped, and I watched her let go of me, and open a new portal from thin air, while my thunderous heartbeats reverberated in my ears. Her words echoed somewhere in between... “I want you to lead them...”

  “So, Commander Ethan James, ex-Delta Force. Do you accept this challenge?” Serenity asked, facing me again, while a large set of floating stairs appeared on the other side of the portal.

  God, I’d never been so happy to hear that name.

  “Yes.” The word left my lips before my brain could catch up with it. Yet, it hadn’t been my brain that agreed, but the fire inside me. “I will lead them, and help you save the world.”

  A brilliant smile illuminated Serenity’s ethereal face, and she gestured toward the stairs. “Then, it’s time for you to meet the Aereum.”

  9

  RENNA.

  My back was pressed against the cool solid wall, listening as Serenity spoke with Scorpion or Ethan James as I finally learned was his name. I should feel a sting of guilt for eavesdropping on their conversation, but I didn’t. The Aereum were hiding something, and I was convinced more than ever that was true.

  What did they want with a human? And why had Serenity been looking out for this particular one? Something was amiss, and my friends and I were going to get to the bottom of it, since no one seemed to feel the need to fill us in. I contemplated going to Ambrose to ask what the council was hiding, but after my behavior last night, it was best I gave him a bit of space to cool off. He wasn’t exactly pleased with me.

  I ran my hands along my arms, tingles still radiating over my skin—I wasn’t sure how to feel about the strange sensation.

  It hadn’t been my intention to seek Ethan out, but I found myself wandering the halls, searching for an inkling of his scent. And then we were face-to-face. My mind went blank, something that rarely happened to me—I always had plenty to say. Behind him was Serenity, and because I didn’t want the witch’s scrutiny this morning, I bolted around the corner, but I didn’t go far.

  Trailing them out of the castle also hadn’t been the plan, but I couldn’t stop myself. Silent over the ground, my feet followed them outside, listening as he asked Serenity question after question.

  “What are you doing?” a male voice whispered behind me.

  I jerked and whirled to face Oliver. “What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?” I hissed, keeping my tone low.

  Oliver crossed his arms over his royal blue STA knitted sweater. He looked like such a preppy dork, while I balked at school uniforms. “It like never happens, so how could I pass up the chance? Besides, you were intently eavesdropping on someone’s conversation.”

  “So?” I asked, propping a shoulder against the bridge wall in challenge.

  He tucked his tablet under his arm. “So, I’m sure what you heard is somehow going to get you in trouble. Word of advice, don’t do whatever it is you are thinking of doing.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Come on, we need to find the others.” Grasping Oliver’s hand, I dragged him down the path and back into the school. He might have shifter strength, but it wasn’t quite a match against mine. Oliver and I had gone toe-to-toe plenty of times in combat training. I was his least favorite sparring partner.

  He dug his heels in to no avail as I dragged him. “Nope, I want no part in your schemes.”

  My speed didn’t falter. “Too bad. You should have thought about that before becoming my friend. And trust me, you’re going to want to hear what I overheard and what happened to me last night.”

  “I was there, remember?” Oliver grumbled, forgoing his attempt to get away. He always gave in; it was what made him a reliable and great friend.

  “No, not that. This happened after we came back to the academy.”

  “How do you live like this?”

  I threw him a grin. “Something exciting is finally happening at the academy, and you want to sit in your room with a book? This is our chance, Oliver.”

  “I have class in an hour,” he replied as if that would deter me.

  Tricksy and Melody were both in the commons room, which made the task of having to hunt them down simple. I curled up on a couch beside Melody, and snagged her mug from the table, taking a long sip of warm blood. It helped me think, sharpened the mind, and after the clusterfuck that was Vegas, I needed to sort out my crap.

  She didn’t say anything about me hijacking her breakfast, and I’d been too busy snooping after a human to stop in the kitchen.

  Oliver slumped into a seat beside Tricksy on the opposite couch, kicking his feet up on the table between us—his tablet laid across his lap. Tricksy toyed with her coffee cup, running a finger over the rim, eyeing me oddly. “You have that scary gleam in your eyes.”

  “Oh, just wait,” Oliver added. “I caught her stalking the human... and the High Witch.”

  Sometimes it was annoying how predictable I was to my friends. “I was not stalking... precisely. I was looking for answers. They’re hiding something from us, and I intend to find out what.”

  “You think the Aereum is up to something?” Melody echoed my statement. Her hair was orange today, and she was dressed in all white, making her look kind of like a dreamsicle.

  Oliver leaned forward on the couch across from me. “Aren’t they always?” he asked, keeping down his voice.

  “Yes,” I agreed. “But this is different. There is a reason they want me to bring in the witch, and I mean to find out what is so special about her. Why she is important to them.”

  “Ah, our Renna is jealous,” Tricksy cooed. “She likes to be the special one.”

  “What makes you think she is different from any of us?” Oliver posed.

  My gaze scanned the space as I thought about it. Many of the students were already in class, others grabbing breakfast, but the commons were fairly empty for a Monday... I had only two classes today, but I was seriously considering skipping them in lieu of tracking down the witch.

  “When has the Aereum ever cared about who the academy took in as students? They never stick their nose in STA’s business, not unless they need something from us. Plus, have you ever seen a witch react the way she did after I shoved that potion down her throat? Something is up.”

  “She’s right,” Melody agreed. “I wasn’t there Saturday night, but this stinks like last year’s werewolves.”

  “The Aereum has summoned the human,” I pressed on, building my case. “Apparently, our own dearest Serenity has been keeping an eye on him since he was a baby.”

  Oliver tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch, the lines on his brows wrinkling as that mind of his worked through the possibilities. “Why would they do that?”

  I let my tongue run over the points of my iron fangs. “I don’t know. I was interrupted before I could hear anything else, but I mean to find out.”

  Tricksy uncrossed her legs, the fabric of her plaid skirt inching up her knees. “And how do you plan to do that? March into the council meeting?”

  My brow rose, considering it, and a smile carved my lips. The idea had flare, yet without the sequences to unlock the portal door, it was a useless idea—but a girl could fantasize.

  “Renna, you can’t!” Tricksy pleaded, her face paling. “Even you have to have some limitations.”

  “Relax, I have another plan.”

  “
Shit.” Oliver loosed a breath, sinking back into the couch.

  “Buckle up, Chewbacca, it’s time to sharpen your claws.” I grinned at him.

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

  “I know,” I sung.

  “Can we talk about the yummy package you brought back with you?” Melody purred. “I haven’t seen him yet. Dish. What’s he like? You think he’s into vampires?”

  “Yes,” both Tricksy and Oliver said at the same time, giving me a pointed look.

  I glowered at them.

  “Hmm,” Melody pursed her lips. “I might have to take him for a ride.”

  Red. It flashed in front of my eyes. My iron fangs dropped down and I was over on her side of the couch, baring my teeth in her face before she finished blinking. “He’s off limits. Clear? No one touches him. And I mean, no one,” I reemphasized, glancing at each of them in the eye.

  Tricksy rolled her violet eyes. “No one is going to touch your precious pet. Chill out.”

  “What is your deal?” Melody rasped. “I was only having a little fun.”

  I blinked. What the hell? Why was I suddenly so protective over this… this human? I never cared about them before, not like this. I mean, I wanted to protect them, it was the entire point of being at the academy, but this was something else entirely.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, slumping back into my side of the couch. “I’m on edge. This whole thing with the council has me acting crazy.” I conveniently left out the part about me imagining Melody’s lips on Ethan’s. Once the picture was there, I couldn’t seem to shake it from my mind.

  A few other students who had been milling around in the commons, paused their conversations to stare… and probably eavesdrop. No conversations at STA were safe from prying ears.

  I growled at them and they went back to talking amongst themselves, no doubt about me. Not that I cared. I was used to other students talking about me.

  “You like him,” Melody accused, astonishment dripping in her voice.

  She had been the first friend I’d made at STA. She more or less forced herself on me, but at that time in my life, being a newly turned vampire, coming to a strange school in a world above my own, I had needed her in my life. We’d clicked once I let my guard down. She got my crazy, which was why I knew she wouldn’t hold any grudges against me for my extreme actions. “I do not. I don’t even know him,” I retorted, lips pursed.

  “Since when do you have to know a guy to sleep with him?” she countered, her eyes gleaming with wickedness. This conversation was getting derailed. The last thing I wanted to talk about was my sex life. Or lack of lately.

  Like any college, there were bound to be hookups among students. What made it even more interesting, was when those hookups were interspecies. It wasn’t forbidden. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the academy encouraged it, a one of a kind chance to make elite supernatural babies. Humans were another story. Again, not forbidden, but frowned upon, something about diluting our bloodlines.

  Still, babies were the furthest thing from my mind.

  “He kissed her,” Tricksy blabbed, and I was starting to rethink my choice in friends, the little gossip mongrels.

  Sitting up, Melody tucked her legs in, her attention suddenly peaked. “Did she bite him?”

  Tricksy’s eyes flicked to me. “No, but she wanted to.”

  My stomach felt tight. “And how would you know?”

  Oliver sighed through his nose, and the scent of his body temperature changed.

  I shifted my gaze to see what had made him tense. Grafton and his goons sauntered into the commons room. Grafton Dermott was the resident academy asshole. This school was full of them, however when you stripped down all the bullying and bullshit, Grafton was just a jerk who was afraid of not finding his place in life. He had used Oliver as a target for his nefarious antics one too many times, and the day would come when the gods would deliver their retribution.

  The dragon shifter gave me a grin and I flipped him off. “Don’t be like that, Renna, or I’ll sick my cat on you.” His buddies all laughed like it was the funniest shit they’d ever heard.

  I was off the couch before Grafton could take his next breath. My fingers pressed into his windpipe, his amber eyes going wide with shock, olive skin turned bone white. I could feel his pulse hammering under my hand and a thrill went through me. “Still feel like laughing? All it would take is one swipe of my nails...” I ran the sharp point of my fingertip over the bulging vein in his neck. “And you’d be bleeding all over the place.”

  The academy didn’t condone fighting amongst students, unless it was during training. The key was not to get caught, and Grafton knew better than to run and tell the headmaster.

  Not giving him a chance to answer, I took ahold of his wrist and flipped him onto his back. Bending down, I peered into his panting face. “It would be a shame if I broke your spine.”

  “You’re a crazy bitch, Renna,” he seethed through flared nostrils as he shoved to his feet, dusting off his clothes. “Stay the hell away from me.”

  Flipping my hair, I grinned. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  Melody shook her head as I retook my spot on the couch, watching my back. “Do jerks like him never learn?”

  “His skull is too thick,” Oliver mumbled.

  “I swear, some guys are just born douchebags,” Melody gritted.

  Oliver’s eyes twinkled behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “Does that mean Renna was born scary as hell?”

  My friends chuckled.

  “Ha. Ha. Ha,” I mock laughed. “Oh, before I forget, I have something I need to show you guys.” If it weren’t for the weight around my neck and the warmth against my chest, I would have believed my visit from Queen Mab had been a dream. “I had a late-night visitor in my dorm.”

  “The human?” Melody guessed with a smug grin.

  My lips twitched. “No, but she gave me this.” I fished for the chain around my neck and pulled the necklace out from under my shirt.

  Tricksy let out an audible gasp. “I don’t believe it. Do you know what that is?”

  I nodded. “The Awen of Light.”

  A mop of Oliver’s ashy hair fell over his forehead as he inched to the edge of his seat, to get a better look at the pendant. “Did you steal it?”

  Scoffing, I nearly whacked him on the back of the head. “Believe it or not, no. Queen Mab gave it to me.”

  That stunned them silent.

  Melody was pressed up next to me, leaning forward. “She what? You know that the Queen of Faerie is dead?”

  “Of course, I do.” I rolled my eyes. “It was her spirit.”

  Doubt crept into Tricksy’s eyes, but alongside it there was intrigue. Witches loved the dead. Don’t ask me why. I didn’t get their fascination in communicating with the other side. “You were visited by a ghost last night?”

  Throwing my hands up in the air, I let the pendant fall in between my breasts again. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

  “Maybe it is a fake, a replica?” Oliver suggested.

  “And the ghost? She was fake too.” The sarcasm just rolled out of my mouth.

  “Let me see it. I’ll know if it is real,” Tricksy urged, holding out her open palm.

  I didn’t immediately unclasp the hook behind my neck. Some part of me was wary about parting with the pendant bestowed upon me by the queen, as if I thought I would be doing her an injustice, but that was silly. I was being silly.

  Unlocking the clasp, I handed it over to Tricksy, dropping it into her hand. She drew in a sharp breath as it touched her skin. “Such power. I’ve never felt anything like it. It’s not like the sort of magic we witches practice.” Her eyes practically rolled back, the violet of her irises glowing like starlight.

  Oliver snatched the charm from her. Twisting and turning the pendant in his hand, he examined the intricate cravings. “It is said to represent the harmony of o
pposites in the universe. The two outer rays are male and female, while the middle ray represents the balance between them.”

  “How does that help me?” I implored.

  He shook his head, the wheels in that brain of his working, but coming up as clueless as the rest of us. “I don’t know, but if Queen Mab really gave this to you, there must be a reason.”

  Not shit, Sherlock.

  My gaze returned to Tricksy, taking the pendant from Oliver. “Can you enchant it with a tracking spell?”

  Her eyes snapped to mine, clearer than they had been a moment ago. “You want me to charm an artifact?” She was appalled that I would ask such a thing.

  “Can it be done?” I pressed, not sharing her holy sentiment.

  “I-I’m not sure.”

  “Why did I ever think coming to this school would be cool?” Oliver grumbled, forking a hand through his hair.

  I snorted. “Meet me in my room tonight.”

  “You still mean to bring her in?” Melody asked.

  “I don’t fail. I’m going back with or without the academy’s approval. Besides, I have some questions for our little Catina.” I touched the side of my cheek. The scratches had already healed, but I hadn’t forgotten what her little pet had done to me. Payback was coming.

  “It is going to be harder this time without a pinpoint on her location,” Tricksy informed.

  “I got that covered.” From my pocket, I pulled out a small Ziplock baggie and handed it over the table to Tricksy. “Will this help?”

  She held it up to the light, examining the contents and grinned. “Cat fur. You never fail to surprise me.”

  It had been all over my shirt when the damn cat lost its freaking mind and attacked me. “How cliché for a witch to have a cat as a familiar. So, can you do it?”

  The glint in Tricksy’s eyes dwindled. “I swear, this is the last favor I’m doing for you. You’re going to get me kicked out of the academy along with you.”