“My father wasn’t enough?” I asked, trying to get a rise out of her.
“How could a man like that be enough for any woman?” she sneered at me. “He couldn’t see beyond saving what’s left of your brother. If there’s anything left to save at all. He belongs to the Dolch Erbe now.”
‘That does it!’
I let my magic shoot out of my hand and thrust it right in Daniella’s direction. I was too late. She disappeared into a brilliant glow of bright blue flourishes, flying into the air and braiding through the sky in a dance of cobalt sparks. My magic darted like a missile right into a black lamp post causing it to explode and crash down onto the street below.
Rodrick didn’t waste a single second longer before ripping open a vixra tunnel behind us and latching both his arms across my chest, dragging me over the bridge as the world passed by below us. I didn’t even know he had more vixra blood in his system.
‘You’ve been ready for a quick escape this whole time? Is that why you insisted on following close behind me?’
We were back on the path near the Alluring Forest in a matter of seconds. My feet had to adjust to the dirt road over the solid concrete we left behind. Rodrick still had his arms wrapped around me when we landed. The second I was steady again, he practically tossed me aside like a dirty rag.
‘So much for using the vixra tunnels with caution.’
“What the hell were you thinking?” he shouted.
“I was thinking that whore used my father for his crowning magic and would rather see both my brother and me dead in a ditch somewhere.”
“You do not reveal your magic before humans!” His expression hardened. Maybe he picked up a few traits from my father after all.
“Daniella did,” I argued.
“The luxra have ways of shielding their magic from human eyes. You haven’t been trained to do that yet and you will not take chances like that every again until you graduate from this academy, do you understand Miss Blackburn?”
I stood there in silence. He was back to using my last name again. A sign that I quickly returned to being nothing more than a student and he was nothing more than my superior. I was meant to obey him.
My shoulders moved up and down. I laughed at the realization of how fast everything turned. “So that’s it then? You’re going to pretend as though nothing happened and nothing has changed.”
“It has changed. We got more information than I ever imagined we would get from one trip alone. I’ll contact the Southern Vontex. You search the archives.”
He reached for my arm to pull me forward. I thought he was going to lead me back to the fortress. Far from it. He shoved me into the forest and hid me behind the trees. I didn’t realize until seconds later that he heard something I was too distracted to notice. The portal to the lycan realm was opening up. The Northern Vontex were returning from their nightly missions. The roar of their motorcycles tore through the portal’s dazzling array of light and slowed down the second they reached the edge of the forest. I was certain as I watched Lothar get off his bike and park it near the trees that he would hear me breathing. Or at least the hammering rhythm of my heart. My eyes were glued to his backside as he waited for the enchanted trees to hide his motorcycle. The motorcycle I rode on with my arms crossed over Lothar’s waist, smelling his skin and feeling relieved that he and the other Vontex had found me.
It wasn’t until they were out of sight on the other side of the bridge that Rodrick pulled me out of the woods and let go of my arm. His grip had been so tight that I thought it would bruise over if I was still human. As it was, I had to stretch it out to feel blood flow return when it healed from his forceful grip. When I dared to look at him, his face was twisted into an expression that I couldn’t read.
‘What the hell is going on? What changed in him so fast?’
It didn’t matter. None of it did. My vow to myself remained the same. Anyone I cared about would be at risk. They would become a target for the Dolch Erbe. If the trip didn’t prove anything else, that much was certain. The luxra witchlings tried to kill Rodrick and Alexei. They would have killed me too just to get to Dirk if my father hadn’t showed up.
“I’ll escort you back to the front gates,” Rodrick said firmly.
He waited for me to move. I turned around and walked back to the front gates of the fortress without another word. I was too afraid to speak. And too tired to argue anymore. I wouldn’t be talked down to because a crazy luxra saw fit to taunt me about my brother’s death.
I thought he might at least say goodbye to me. But when I turned around after entering the front gates, Rodrick was gone.
6
“Alina?” I called out.
I already walked into the dorm room and locked the door behind me when I saw a light coming from the bathroom. Alina must have been getting ready for a shower. It was almost always a must after I got home from accompanying the Vontex. Getting the occasional spattering of blood and guts on my clothes or face came with the territory.
The sound of clothes falling to the ground and the clink of the buckle on Alina’s belt hit the bathroom floor.
“How did it go?” I asked her, peering through the crack of the bathroom door to make sure she was still dressed before opening it all the way.
I saw Alina with her head turned and her back facing the mirror. She was examining something behind her shoulder and pulling at her skin as though she had an itch she couldn’t reach. When she saw me looking she immediately took a towel from the rack and draped it over her shoulders. It was the first time I had ever seen fear cross Alina’s otherwise pixie-like features. From the small glimpse that I got, it looked like she had a gash on her shoulder. Or perhaps a smudge of blood with dirt rubbed into it. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to share it with me.
‘Why didn’t it heal? Is she badly hurt?’
“I’ll be done in a bit,” she said. Then she walked over to the bathroom door and slammed it shut without another word.
“Umm… okay,” I grumbled. I took off my trench coat and threw it over the headboard. I could use a shower myself after the last twenty-four hours of non-stop thrills, not all of them pleasant. And others that still made my insides feel like an oven slowly getting hotter by the second.
Alina wasn’t a quick bather, but she took an unusually long time to get done this time around. I didn’t complain. My body was too tired from walking all night and definitely needed the break. Even with my lycan healing I was exhausted. My pride wasn’t in any better condition after Rodrick ended our night with scolding me. So I sat in bed with my feet propped up until she was done.
A thick white cloud of steam rolled out of the bathroom door by the time she was finished. I managed to drift off for a few minutes before she came out and hurried to bed without asking me a single question as to where I was the previous night. Maybe her Vontex duties ran longer than expected and she never even noticed I was gone.
“How was it?” I asked.
“Rougher than usual,” she answered. She threw the comforter down and nestled into bed so fast that I was rather stunned. She usually stayed up for a drink before crashing. She sniffed the air from her bed and looked at me a little harder as if she smelled something peculiar coming from my side of the room. I sniffed my clothes but didn’t smell anything strange. She snickered and left me wondering what the hell had her attention.
“Any new recruits?” I asked.
“No.” She threw the covers back over her body and made herself comfortable on the pillow. “I take it you had fun, where ever you went.
The corner of my mouth quirked up, giving me away. “No. Not really. But it was interesting.”
“I’ll bet,” she joked.”
‘She can’t know, can she? There’s no way!’
“I’m exhausted,” she said. “Can we gossip in the morning?”
‘There will be no gossip.’
I was rather tired myself so I shrugged my shoulders and let my feet down over the sid
e of the bed. “Sure. I was just worried you got injured, that’s all.”
She shut her eyes and started drifting away. “Nothing that won’t heal. Tomorrow, alright?”
“Okay.”
I watched her eyelashes flutter as she quickly drifted off to sleep with her mouth slightly open and her breaths coming out in heavy audible puffs.
‘Lucky you. I only wish I could fall asleep that deep these days.’
When I knew Alina was sound asleep, I reached inside my trench coat for the one item I knew needed my immediate attention. The silver box had to have a good hiding place. One that wouldn’t occur to just anyone.
The most obvious answer struck me. The only way to truly keep it safe was to have it with me at all times. I had to hide it. Professor Huxley taught us how to shift certain items along with our body. We started with small items first. Was I ready to move on to a box the size of my hand?
I held it out in my palm and focused just like Professor Huxley taught us. Then I let a few sparks of my magic out to give me a helping hand. To my surprise, it worked. I watched as the silver box with intricate engravings gradually vanished as it became a part of me. I revealed it once more and let it sit in my hands. I couldn’t keep it that way while I slept. So I tucked it back inside the trench coat and wrapped it up tight. I’d have it beside me in bed at night. During the day, it would be part of my body. It was the only way I could think of to truly keep it safe.
I thought of taking a shower too until I saw the leather-bound notebook Adeline gave me still sitting on my desk. A sudden pang of guilt struck me once I realized that I hadn’t kept my word. I needed to update Adeline on what was going on and try my best not to reveal how awkward I felt knowing she was likely over a hundred years old and I never knew it.
I took a pen out from the drawer and opened up the notebook. It didn’t matter how tired I was. I knew I had to update Adeline and get a proper shower before I could rest.
I hesitated before touching the paper with the pen, unsure of what to say or how to say it. What should I leave in and leave out? So much happened and I barely had time to process it on my own let alone share it with someone.
‘Adeline didn’t hesitate to help my dad when he asked. Or to come calling when I randomly showed up at home. I’d be shocked if she said no to me.’
I eased into the desk and set the pen to paper.
“Hi Adeline,
I hope you’re well. I wrote to you recently about the Northern Vontex’s request that you help with dismantling the traps at the Dolch Erbe ritual site in the Czech forest. Lothar would like to return so they can search around for more answers whenever you’re available.”
I placed the lid to the pen back on its cap and got up to prepare for my shower, expecting that I might get an answer by morning if I was lucky. Adeline was a busy woman and she hadn’t gotten back to me at all when I wrote to her the last time.
To my surprise, the ink on the paper moved almost instantly. It changed in thin trails along the pages until the ink eventually formed new words one by one.
“Dearest Riley,” Adeline wrote.
‘That was fast.’
“I apologize for not having written back to you sooner,” she went on. “My research into recent discoveries has been quite taxing and I didn’t want to disrupt your studies too much until I had firm confirmations of recent events. I’m familiar with the ritual site and can help Lothar during the Vontex’s next availability.”
‘Yes, I know you’re familiar with it.’
I quietly laughed to myself. I often wondered over the years why Adeline was so formal and spoke as though she walked out of a time warp. Now I knew. She was over a century old.
I decided to be blunt with her.
“Can you tell me why you didn’t share that you helped my father do the same at the ritual site? Forgive me if it’s rude to ask, but I feel as though everyone is keeping things from me these days.”
The ink didn’t immediately move. I must have taken her by surprise.
“Because he asked me not to,” she explained. My heart sank once I read the words. I didn’t want to believe that my father’s desires were more important to her than mine. “I know he seems rigid at times but it comes from a place of love. He didn’t want you putting yourself in harm’s way.”
‘No, he wants me isolated.’
I thought of closing the notebook and heading for bed but I kept writing. Adeline was the only female role model I had other than maybe Alina. But Adeline was different. She was older, wiser, and so beautifully poised. There was never a hair out of place or a shred of her mascara lingering on her angelic face. I envied her and adored her as if she truly was my gorgeous aunt and not just my mother’s friend. But rather a beloved distant family member. One I never stayed mad at for very long. Even in this case. I couldn’t be too rude by not replying.
“Has there been any leads on my mother?” I asked.
“Perhaps,” she wrote back. “It’s too soon to know. I followed a lead earlier this week but I was interrupted before I could get very far.”
I sighed and leaned back in the chair.
‘Dead ends again. No surprise there.’
“Can I offer a theory?” I asked her.
“Of course. What is it?”
I took a few seconds to think of the right words and began writing. “I recently learned about the curse that was placed on Blackatters by the Dolch Erbe around the mid-19th century in Paris. Is it possible that the Dolch Erbe lashed out at my mother because she had continued a Blackatter bloodline by having my brother and me?”
“It’s not only possible, it’s probable.”
That took me by surprise.
“Why? Has that happened before?”
“Many spouses of the Blackatters either live among the vixra in Hungary or in the lycan realm for their protection. Human love affairs are not prohibited but they’re strongly discouraged. It places them in a great deal of danger given the nature of the lycan. The Dolch Erbe have been known to kidnap loved ones in the past to draw out the lycan.”
Her response had a double meaning. One that took a second to register but once it did I felt my heart sink. Humans weren’t just in danger from the Dolch Erbe lashing out at them. They were in danger because the lycan are wild once they shift. The academy stressed control and discipline for that very reason. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine that many lycan had unintentionally killed their spouse over the centuries once they shifted into lycan form if they weren’t well trained.
“I hope you’re maintaining a healthy distance from Rodrick whenever possible,” she wrote. “It’s for the best, Riley.”
My eyes widened once I read the words.
“What do you mean?” I asked innocently. “He gives me lessons on controlling my crowning magic. That’s about all.”
My words evaporated from the page so fast that I knew Adeline must have been writing feverishly.
“Riley, I know you have an attraction for slightly older men. You must try to control yourself. You’re new to this world and you must know all your options before plunging into the deep end.”
I glanced back at Alina as she slept soundly in her bed, thankful she wasn’t around to tease me about what Adeline just wrote.
It never even occurred to me that Adeline knew about the men I met while living on the continent. She wasn’t wrong that the men I took up with tended to be in their twenties. A quality my mother never approved of. But I was good at keeping secrets. And Dirk always covered for me. Mostly because I covered for him when he would sneak away to go see Emma, a cute little French girl he met in an art class. My taste in men was more wild and they generally shared my interest in rock music.
‘I should have known nothing would get passed her.’
“Why are you assuming something has happened?” I asked.
“Because you’re a Blackatter. And Rodrick is the only other Blackatter currently residing at L.I.T. London. The two of you are bound to have
an interest in one another. Not to mention Rodrick is not an unattractive man. Nor are you an unattractive young woman.”
‘You noticed him, did you?’
Memories of Rodrick’s scent wafted through my mind, reminding me of what he smelled like when he was close, what he felt like when he pressed into me, and what he tasted like when he kissed me.
I shook my head, refusing to let my thoughts revisit Margaux’s bedroom for too long after the way he scolded me and left my side without so much as a goodbye once we returned to the academy.
“I won’t let anything happen,” I said, not entirely admitting that something already had or hadn’t.
“Living with the Eastern Vontex would thrill you, Riley. I think you would enjoy living here and being among your kind. You’ll have so many adventures.”
‘In other words, I wouldn’t like staying at the academy with Rodrick. Noted.’
I was ready to end the conversation and go to bed. The last thing I wanted was yet another lecture after the way Rodrick shouted at me.
“I’m sure you’re right,” I wrote back.
“Tell Lothar to let me know when to be there and I will help with the traps around the ritual site. Until then, please stay safe.”
“I will.”
I shut the notebook and capped the pen. I took a shower as quietly as I could. Then I spread the mixture to stop my magic from burning the room down, said the incantation, and drank a sip of the liquid silver. My head hit the pillow with enormous relief. I slipped away into a deep sleep, hoping that I might be provided the mercy of a dreamless night. Of course, knowing my recent run of bad luck, I wasn’t that fortunate.
7
I barely had time to react when a sword came tearing down to swipe my side. It sliced a hole through my trench coat and grazed my skin. I nearly hunched over as the heat of my side cutting open grabbed my attention and refused to let go.
My attacker came at me again, this time driving the sword at my head. I struggled to bring my sword up in time to block. The weight of my attacker’s blade pushed hard against mine, threatening to come crashing into my skull if I didn’t get away. So I thrust my leg up and kicked my attacker right in the gut, pushing them back just far enough to get my bearings again and standing up straight in a ready position.
Rescind: (Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 4) Page 6