“So, what other witch powers do you have apart from bending metal at will?” asked Ulric, sidestepping a group of people who had just come out of one of the many bars, looking too merry for that early in the evening.
“None, really. sometimes I wonder if my coven made a mistake in thinking I was a Crystal Witch at all.”
“What you did back there shows that their thinking was right on track. I think you sell yourself a little short.”
“Hmm,” I shuffled, realizing that my way of seeing things about myself was different from those who didn’t have witching powers. Having grown up within a place where spectacular abilities were commonplace, it hadn’t occurred to me that the little things I could do were worth much consideration. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, what I can do, isn’t particularly outstanding.”
“Like what?”
“As you might have picked up, I can send and receive messages. Like telepathy. And I can read minds too but both have to be consensual. Which is a little dumb because apart from distant communication with my best friend, it’s not really that helpful.”
“Ah, because the minds that would be helpful to read are the ones that would never give you access?”
“Right, exactly,” I replied picturing how much safer I’d feel if I knew what Goth Girl and her posse were thinking and when. And whether or not Lorna and Babette had ever been as fond of me as they’d appeared all these years. Especially Babette.
“Read mine,” said Ulric, making me look to him with a start.
“No!”
“Why not?”
“Because it would be weird,” I said, not actually knowing how I felt about it.
“What is it like once I give you permission, you’re in there forever or something?”
“No, you can rescind your permission anytime, all you do is, say to yourself I’m no longer to reveal myself to Katrina. It’s a little thing Safi and I made up. It’s tried and tested, it works.”
“Go on then, sounds like you want to read my mind,” Ulric smiled and his amber eyes twinkled with a self-assurance that I found quite arrogant.
“Nothing of the sort.”
“Fine.”
“Yes, it is,” I said, using the remainder of the walk back to strengthen my resolve not to go rooting around in his mind.
We walked back to the academy in silence. As we approached, I realized that the magic I’d summoned at the cemetery had somehow rejuvenated me and I no longer felt that heavy tiredness, I had been carrying when I’d left the school.
“Allow me,” said Ulric, withdrawing his silver sucker thingy. “This way, they won’t know you were gone.” He pricked his finger and smeared a drop of blood onto the gate so that we could gain re-entry into the school.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. There would definitely have been questions had I had to do that.
“It’s no witching magic but I guess it does the job,” Ulric smirked.
“And thanks for walking with me today,” I said, “by the way, don’t forget to rescind my invite – into your mind.”
“I might just keep it for now,” he replied cockily, “I don’t have too much to hide.”
“Fine, have it your way.” I headed straight down in the direction of the dorms. When I reached, I found that the day had already begun and both, Sanguine and Novus students were hanging out in the common area, each with a bottle of blood in one hand, like they were at a party, drinking beer. I looked down at the ground, to avoid making eye contact with any of them and headed straight towards my room. As I went to open the door, I noticed it was slightly ajar. This could only mean one thing. Someone had gotten inside while Natalie was still asleep.
Chapter 12
I slowly crept into the room, my heart beating in my ears as I hoped Natalie was okay. It was too still. The doors in our room could only be locked from the inside. Unless there was no presence sensed, then it could be locked from the outside when we both left it. Natalie had gone to bed thinking we’d safely locked up and gone to sleep. It was an unsaid but obvious rule between us that one of us would check the door. It was a sly way for the academy to check that everyone was in their rooms resting. If a student was absent from their room, they’d be forced to find somewhere else to sleep if their roommate had already locked up and gone to bed.
When I’d left the room, I’d closed the door tightly behind me but had had no choice in leaving it unlocked. Valenthia had said it was some kind of kooky vampire spell the security had put in place after there had been instances of roommates that didn’t get along, locking each other inside for days on end when classes were out. In some cases, vampire students had been starved to stasis in their rooms.
I felt more unsettled with every second that passed. I’d gone off to warn my best friend of the dangers that lay within Bloodline Academy, only to leave my roommate who was also a friend, completely unprotected in my absence. I should have told her the truth and left much earlier so she could lock herself in for the night. But the academy was supposed to be safe for its vampire students. Below ground, our dorms were supposed to be virtually impenetrable.
I ran straight into our bedroom. Her bed was empty. Where was she? I went to the living room and my stomach instantly lurched. Lilith and Nyx were sitting perched on each arm of the overstuffed chair. They were so motionless that they almost blended into their surroundings but for their eyes, which were pointedly focussed on me, brimming with victory. Natalie, stood at the other side of the room, looking as unsettled as I felt.
“We were wondering where the sugar plum faery had gotten to! Your roomie here, was no help at all,” mocked Lilith.
“Tut, tut, tut, leaving your door unlocked like that when your fellow vampire was totally dead to the world. Now, that wasn’t very nice, was it? There’s a lot worse than us that could’ve…taken advantage…while you were away,” said Nyx.
“Speaking of which, where were you?” Lilith questioned like she was one of the faculty. She rose from the arm of the chair and Nyx immediately followed suit.
“None of your business,” I replied, meeting her stare. Her eyes were calm but her tone was vicious.
“Well, if that’s how you want it. Although, you might change your tune once you see what we found.” Lilith opened her palm and held out my quartz crystal. Shit. I’d hidden it deep within my bag and had made sure I’d left it concealed in an inconspicuous spot deep in the bottom drawer of my dresser. They’d obviously ransacked my belongings to find it.
“Give that back to me,” I said trying to keep my voice even.
“We also found and disposed off some nuisance items that never even should have been permitted on the premises. Let’s see, there were a few evil looking spell books, aimed at making our lives difficult and what else was there, Lil?” said Nyx.
“There was heaps of that hideous salt. We had to wake Natalie to help us dispose of it, after poor Nyx burnt her hand, thanks to your things.”
“Are you okay?” I asked Natalie.
“Yes,” Natalie nodded timidly from across the room.
“Oh, so now you’re worried for her safety? Don’t worry. Unlike you, we don’t like to put a vampire at risk…unless we have to. We simply suggested she carry your whole bag, outside. That way she could throw away all of its’ vile contents together.”
“Give me the crystal,” I said. Just my luck, crystals were one of the only conduits of witching power that had no repellent effect whatsoever on vampires.
“And why should I do that?” asked Lilith, toying with the crystal.
“Do you really want to test my power?” I tried, fully bluffing. There was absolutely nothing I knew of that I could pull off on the spot like this that would match her in speed, strength or supernatural ability. Necromancing witches were really the only obvious threat to vampires and I certainly wasn’t one of them.
“Do you really want to test my loyalty to that puny part of you that claims to be a vampire?” Lilith sang back, completely unconv
inced.
“I’m asking you again, please give it back to me.” My blooming began to tingle all the way down to my fingertips as I felt the intensity of the magic that was building up inside of me. It wasn’t consciously planned but more like a natural reaction coming to the surface.
“I would. Only, it seems to be something that holds great importance for you. And so, I think I’m going to keep it.” Slowly, like she was teasing me, Lilith’s eyes began to change. She wore a menacing smile which within a few seconds parted to reveal two sharp, white fangs. “Care to come get it?” she asked in a small but dangerous voice. She took a slow, calculated step towards me, like a hunter stalking its prey.
My hand instinctively reached into the pocket of my blazer, which I thankfully had with me, and I pulled out a handful of salt, throwing it at Lilith as she took another step towards me. A flash of silver magic also emanated from my blooming in her direction. She shrunk back clawing at her face with her free hand as her skin began to smoke and the salt crystals burned into it. She stumbled a few steps backwards and turned around so she had her back to me, as a barrage of foul language poured from her mouth. Nyx who’d been equally surprised by my clumsy defense, hissed at me as she too transformed into her full vampire state. She glared at me, ready to pounce, her eyes were crimson and alight with rage as her lips curled to reveal her fangs.
“I’m going to drain you of every last drop of blood you, evil witch!” scowled Nyx. Even before I could answer, Natalie streamed across the room and stood between the two of us.
“You’re going to have to go through me then,” she said, so shakily that it did no justice to the courage behind the sentiment.
“Just help me get out of here!” Lilith winced. “She’s more trouble than she’s worth. We’ll find another, better way to make her pay for what she’s done.” Nyx tore away from us, went over to Lilith’s side and put an arm around her, taking some of her weight as she recuperated.
“Lilith, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that…” I tried.
“Let’s go!” Lilith breathed, and they streamed out of the room so fast that the lines of their bodies were nothing but a haze. They were gone and with them, so was the crystal.
***
I’d diligently been practicing or more accurately, attempting to stream for a few days. With no success. The fact that my witch powers were starting to come through in spurts of magic, like they had done at the cemetery, had given me new resolve that I had to keep trying the streaming. If for no other reason, I knew that Lilith and her minions were royally after me. I only stood a chance at outrunning them, if I could run like them.
I’d sent Safi the message about the missing crystal and hadn’t gotten much back from her, though I knew she’d received the message. She was mad at me. I was too. The only thing she’d asked me to guard with my life had been that quartz crystal and I’d failed. It was a valuable tool in getting to the coven if used right and now it was in the hands of someone who hated me and all witches. Just awesome. Natalie hadn’t asked me anything about why I’d been missing from the room while she slept. She’d simply acted like Lilith and Nyx coming into our room was a case of their malice towards me and not because they’d seen an opportunity I had presented, and taken it.
“I don’t mean to be negative but you’re not really getting anywhere with this,” sighed Valenthia, whom Natalie had insisted we inform about Nyx and Lilith’s break-in. That I was a proper witch with real magic, had already spread quickly throughout the school the same night and because of the burst of witch magic, that had emanated from our room, Duquette and le Boursier had been at me, grilling me about exactly how much magic I had and what else I could do that I hadn’t cared to mention before. They hadn’t believed me when I’d told them that it was all as new to me as it was to them. For many days afterwards, I’d felt like an experiment, being studied and dissected by the professors at the school. Lilith had obviously kept it from any of them that her and Nyx had let themselves into our room, instead behaving like I’d lured them in.
“She’s been trying really hard,” said Natalie, nodding at me full of encouragement.
“That’s the problem. It shouldn’t be this hard,” Valenthia folded up her blazer and placed it on the floor, which was so cold, it felt damp. I wondered how she was so comfortable in just a short-sleeved shirt and the too-short skirt, in the cavernous space where we’d been practicing. Thankfully the rest of the levels weren’t this chilly. I tugged my own blazer tighter around me and pulled my arms across my chest to try and warm up.
“Look, I have an idea. You’re not going to like it but I think it’s unavoidable,” Valenthia said, examining me as I tried doing little jumping jacks on the spot to keep myself warm.
“It’s always great when someone begins a sentence like that,” I said, knowing in an instant that I wouldn’t like what she said next.
“You’re coming into your magic as a witch because your lifestyle has had a lot of witchy stuff ingrained into it,” she gestured at my blooming which had given the dingy place a slight glow even through my clothes, “and Natalie said you had a bag full of things from the coven and a crystal that Lilith got her hands on? But you’re doing nothing to bring forth the vampire in you.”
“So, what about my bag and crystal, both of which are now gone?” I said, not wanting to sound like a petulant child, “I’m at an academy that specializes in educating vampires and werewolves. How am I not living the vampire life?” I didn’t tell her the truth. Which was that I didn’t want to raise that part of myself. It was a part of me that was in direct conflict with my inner witch. With me.
“You’re at the academy because you were brought here. If your coven would have kept you, you never would have come here willingly.”
“Thanks, I hadn’t noticed,” I said, “don’t you think that’s a slightly low blow?”
“Only because that’s how you’re taking it,” insisted Valenthia.
“Did you have a suggestion?” asked Natalie, looking to Valenthia.
“Yes. I think you need to try drinking some blood.”
“What? No! Sorry but that’s gross!”
“Now who’s dealing the low blow?” said Valenthia, though I could tell she hadn’t taken any offense.
“Sorry, it’s just that to anyone but a vampire, drinking blood just isn’t the go-to. In the witching world…”
“That’s precisely what I’m saying. You’re not anyone but a vampire. You’re part vampire. And I’m only saying this because I’m your friend and I care.”
“I know,” I said. I knew she was only trying to help. But I could barely stand the sight of blood. And thanks to the fact that I was a Crystal Witch, while we could, we didn’t need to use it to invoke magic or do spells. But now everything had changed and I wasn’t who I’d believed I was or could be.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” said Valenthia. She streamed out of the cave and I stared into the darkness.
“I agree that it sounds disgusting for someone who doesn’t have a vampire nature,” said Natalie, “I remember when I was turned, there was a little while afterwards, when drinking blood was something my mind really fought against. It’s hard for Val to understand that because she’s always existed as a vampire.”
“No kidding,” I said, “when did you come to accept it?”
“When it fully dawned on me that blood was life. It was the only way. As a turned vampire, I couldn’t carry on without it. It’s a bit more complicated for you. You probably don’t need it because the witch in you really doesn’t.”
“That’s why it’s not something I ever want to do,” I said, as if convincing her would make everything better.
“But in a way, you don’t have a choice either, do you? You’re here now and you live amongst vampires, some of whom have it in for you. You need to be as strong as them if you’re to survive here.”
“And vampire strength depends on blood…” I said, feeling my insides tightening in repugnance
.
“A large part of it does. Blood might activate yours.”
Valenthia returned carrying a juice box in one hand and a bottle in the other. “Take your pick,” she said. She made Safi’s form of instruction seem meek as her eyes glinted, silver and black and her hair glowed violet.
I hesitantly took the juice box from her, starting to feel nauseous with the thought of what had to be done. At least I couldn’t see its’ contents. “I’m only going to have a drop,” I told myself rather than them, opening up the straw and sticking it into the carton. My stomach flipped as I took the straw up to my lips. Natalie nodded at me, while Valenthia watched with a little too much anticipation. I stuck the straw as far into my mouth as I could without gagging and puckered my lips as the thick liquid went down my throat.
“There,” I said, handing the carton to Natalie and walking a few steps away from them. I felt something akin to what I would, had I killed a small, innocent bird. The metallic taste lingered at the back of my throat and as the revulsion faded despite the taste, my blooming responded by glowing even brighter. I felt what was becoming a very familiar tingling sensation in my arm and a warmth swept through me. I no longer felt the icy cool of the environment but instead had the urge to take off my own blazer and set it aside.
“It’s working!” cried Natalie.
“Yep,” agreed Valenthia, feeling proud, “try streaming now. Don’t over-witch it, just do it,” said Valenthia. “Come on, pretend Lilith is hot on your trail. She’s going to break your neck if she catches you.”
“Then she’ll get staked by Devin,” I frowned, cringing at the vulgarity of the image it conjured up inside my head. I hoped it wouldn’t work. Then, I’d never have to do what I’d just done, ever again. I came and stood beside them and focussed on an area at the other side of the large space. I took in a deep breath and felt the air as it rushed back out again. I braced myself and ran.
A feeling of exhilaration washed over me. everything hazed up around me and yet I could see my surroundings with a brilliant clarity. I felt myself zoom across and then back, stopping just short of ploughing Valenthia down. Her hair blew back over her shoulders with the whirl of air around us.
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