by Larisa Long
Vax leans closer to me. “What did he do? Did he do something to you?” She balls up her hands into fists. “Just say the word.”
“I don’t know why he caught on fire.”
“Only one way to find out.” Blist puts his hand out to me, but I back up quickly.
“No. If that is coming back, there’s no way I’m risking you.”
“I’ll do it.” Vax steps forward. “I’m not a whiny little vampass.”
I step back further. “No. I can’t risk anyone.” Then I start yawning. I didn’t think I was that tired. “Sorry. I …” Then I realize. It’s Friday night.
Blist realizes the same thing I do.
“What?” Masimu asks.
“Curse Number 23.” Blist shakes his head. “Zalia couldn’t sleep during the week.”
“And?” Masimu looks between us.
Blist takes a deep breath. “She slept Friday night through to Monday morning.”
“Faehead cousins.” Vax shakes her head, walks away and punches a chair. “I hate them all.” She rushes back to me and before I can stop her grabs my arm. Her hand instantly catches on fire.
I wave my hand quickly to put out the flame and back up. “What is happening?”
Vax shrugs and glares at the vampires. “See vampasses? It wasn’t personal. If it were me, I wouldn’t rest until all of you blood drinkers were ash.”
Blist motions for Masimu who walks Vax away. The vampires glare at me before retreating to their rooms. Blist looks at the other shifters watching as they quickly find other things to do. Then he turns his attention to me.
I can’t stand to see the look of fear in his eyes. I know he doesn’t fear me, but fears what is happening to me. I put my hand up to him to stop him from saying whatever he is about to and rush to my room.
Once inside, I close the door and spell it so no one can get in. It’s also spelled so I can’t hear anyone from the other side. I wouldn’t be able to hear him pleading with me to open the door. I sink down on the floor as tears start to flow. “Not again. This can’t be happening again.”
Chapter 4
I wake up still in my room. For some reason I slept crumpled on the floor rather than my bed. I glance at the clock. Monday morning. “I slept all weekend. The curses are coming back.”
I realize I must have cried even while I slept since my face is wet with tears. I want to stay in my room forever, but I have to get to Professor Sway to figure out what the fae is going on.
By the time I am ready, my tears still fall too freely. I think about saying a spell to stop them, but I don’t bother. I take a deep breath and open the door and am shocked when my door handle makes this weird clanging sound.
Blist is at my door in an instant. “Sorry, I put the bell on so I’d know when you came out.” He rubs his eyes, and I look around him to see that he probably slept in the chair beside my door.
“How long were you there?”
He shrugs.
“Since Friday,” Kyan, the dragon shifter, yells.
“How do you feel?”
I think about it. “Weird.”
“I told Professor Sway, and he’s checking into things.”
“Told?” Ash, the bear shifter, clears his throat.
Blist rolls his eyes. “So I asked someone to tell him.”
“He didn’t want to leave you,” Ash says.
I look around and only see shifters. “Vampires still around?”
“We kicked them out.” Vax steps forward. “Not a loss. They pixied us off. Shifters rule here.” She’s chewing one of the substitute meat packets the Academy hands out to shifters.
“Fae. I didn’t do the meal.”
Vax shrugs. “No worries.”
“You all must be starved.”
A few growls and yelps answer me.
I wave my hands and meat platters appear everywhere.
“Respect,” they all answer as they start their devouring.
“Respect.” I motion for Blist to eat.
He shakes his head. “I’m fine.”
“You need to eat,” I say. I motion to some of the larger shifters who grab Blist and drag him to the table so he can eat.
Good thing because my tears are falling again. Maybe that’s another of the curses.
I quietly leave before Blist finishes. I don’t want him to see me crying. I rush up the stairs and see Xury surrounded by pixies in the lobby.
I stop and get the attention of a few faeries fluttering around. “Can you distract Xury?”
The faeries nod enthusiastically. They love to be in on plots. You’ll forever have the loyalty of a faerie if you allow him or her to be part of a plot or plan no matter how simple or complicated. I wait until they distract her and am out the door and down to the campus before she even turns around.
I put my head down and make it to the caverns before anyone stops me.
Once in the darkened hallway, I stop because I sense someone is watching me. I call for my trusted light and find I’m surrounded by vampires. I recognize Mika, who I almost killed. With him is his girlfriend, Lux, and two of his brothers.
I take a deep breath. “Okay, how can I help you?”
Mika approaches me. He tries to be all bad ass, but he makes such a point to make sure he’s far enough away from me that it becomes laughable. “Why?”
I sigh. I so don’t have time for this. Vampires are super sensitive so I give him his moment. “I think the curses are coming back.”
“Why me?” He asks.
“Do you hate all of us?” Lux asks.
“Why vampires?” Another hisses.
“I woke up in the bathroom, and I had to get to Professor Sway to ask him what the fae was happening …” I wait because I’m hoping that explains it.
Since the vampires only stare at me with the expression of a group of disappointed corpses, I assume I need to say more.
“I ran out of the bathroom without thinking and accidentally ran into you.”
“Why me?” Mika asks.
I wonder if I only thought the explanation and didn’t actually use my voice. “I think the curses are returning. It was an accident.”
“Sure it was,” Lux hisses.
“It was. I swear it.”
They hiss and snort. “Never trust a witch. Probably will turn into a warlock.”
I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry that I accidentally set you on fire, but I put it out immediately. It was an accident.”
“But it happened to one of us.” Mika looks around at the other vampires. “We are one of the most abused species, which is why I know for a fact that you setting me on fire wasn’t an accident.”
Oh, for fae’s sake. “I have nothing against vampires.”
They snort and snarl.
“I conjure your favorite drink.”
Lux snorts as she curls her lip. “Probably poisons it.”
“Really? You actually think I’ve poisoned your drinks every Friday for the past three years and now do it every single day since living with you?”
Even though she proudly uttered the words, she does take time to think about what I said.
“Look …” I make a point to move slightly closer to them which makes their eyes widen like I’ve taken out a wooden stake to pick something out of my teeth. “I can feel the curses the faehead cousins put on me returning. I have to get to Professor Sway to see if he knows what the fae I can do to stop it.”
They still look at me without a single hint of an expression.
Okay, time to channel my inner Xury and Vax. A lethal combo. “I’m going to count to one, and then I’m putting out my trusty light and am going to parkour down this hallway setting any faehead who touches me on fire. I won’t be able to—”
General gasps interrupt me, and instantly every single vampire disappears. I stand up a little taller and bring my jacket tightly around me. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Chapter 5
I walk into the common room of the cavern and
find Professor Sway talking with the same vampires who just pixied me off.
Wasn’t it just like a second since they disappeared?
As soon as they see me, they hiss and snarl again.
“Of for fae’s sake. You know it was an accident. How many times do I have to say it?”
Professor Sway holds up his hands. “They know.” He glances at them. “They know,” he says more emphatically.
The vampires whisper to each other but return their glare to me.
Professor Sway sighs, and the vampires lose some of their glare.
“I swear it. The curses are somehow getting stronger again.”
The vampires don’t lessen their glare or their tightened jaws.
I can even see a glint of teeth protruding out. “Do you really think I want this?”
A couple of the vampires stare at each other. A few others stare down at the ground.
“I would never hurt you. Ever.” Okay, I’ve can think of several reasons to harm a vampire, but none I have at the moment.
The vampires sigh and walk away.
Professor Sway shakes his head. I’m sure he was hoping for more.
“What is happening to me?”
“It is what you fear.”
“How? King Philock promised that he’d try to rein the faehead cousins in.”
Professor Sway lets my swearing go as he suppresses his smile. “And can you think of other times when he allowed his daughters to run amok?”
I stare at him as if he’s suddenly shifted into an apple. “But why? And why now?”
He shrugs. “Because they’re bored. Because they can. Because they’re—”
“Faeheads?”
He slams his lips together and nods. “What you said.” Since he’s a professor it wouldn’t be cool to downgrade the princesses, but seriously …
“What can I do?” I was really getting used to being normal again. I mean it’s been three years of this.
The look on his face tells me everything I need to know. Only the original witch or warlock who did the cursing can lessen the curses. Something must have set the faehead cousins off. Again.
There’s a commotion behind us as a few shifters growl at the vampires who haven’t left and haven’t lost their hobby of glaring at me.
“Take that back. Now,” Masimu says.
“Make me,” Mika pushes the shifter.
“Mistake.” Everyone knows you don’t shove a shifter. It’s been in all the newsletters. That’s one of the things the Academy teaches us - learn about the powers of the other species. Vampires would know in their Shifters 101 class that shifters, no matter what they shift into, can barely control their new powers as it is. Pushing them is too aggressive for their shift inside who will try to claw their way out and then claw their way through whatever species was stupid enough to challenge them.
“I said take it back.” Masimu glances at me. “She’s one of us. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
I roll my eyes. Still with the grudge? “I swear it was an accident.”
Masimu puts his hand up to me. “You don’t need to apologize again to them.”
The vampires grunt.
Masimu is now joined by more shifters. “So what if it wasn’t? What did you do to make Zalia want to hurt you.”
Mika shoves Masimu again.
“This won’t end well.”
Professor Sway glances at me and nods as he heads over to break up the issue.
I have to do what I dread most. No, not math. Or runes. Find the faehead cousins and ask them what the fae.
I sigh. This isn’t like rune homework where I can put it off until the next month. Who knows how far the curses will go this time. I walk over to Professor Sway who is busy trying to console the vampires. Honestly. They have to be the delicate doilies of our world. Those were the actual words of my warlock professor in Vampires 101 class.
“Professor?”
The vampires hiss at me.
“Watch your tone,” Liam, the lion shifter says.
“I won’t live with her.” The vampires glare at me. “Either she leaves our dorms or we do.”
The shifters laugh as they stare at the vampires. “Uh, buh bye.”
Professor tries to calm the situation.
“I’m going to find the faehead cousins.”
“Why?” Mika asks.
I wait for him to answer his own question, but he just stares at me. “Um, to find out what the fae is their problem this time and see how I can get the curses lifted?” I glance at the shifters who only shake their head.
Lux, one of my vampire fans, gets as close to me as she can. I don’t back up because … well … I can set her on fire. Accidentally or not. I do use the time to study her curly blue hair. Each strand seems to be different shades of blue. Some start off in the root as a sky blue and inch towards full on purply blue, but others are more teal or denim color.
“Love that hair. You must have the patience of a yud to get it that way.”
“Thanks.” She smiles briefly before remembering she is supposed to be conjuring her inner bad ass, and her expression hardens again.
Liam steps closer to Lux. “You are going to want to take a step back, vampire.”
Lux ignores him. “We might not be able to hurt you …” she looks me up and down as if that could seal the threat. It just creeps me out, but whatever. “But we can hurt those you care about.” The vampires grin and smirk as they glance at the shifters.
I don’t like this at all. Not in the slightest.
Professor Sway holds up his hand. “Okay, we’re all going to take a step back. Now.”
The vampires look at the shifters again, and it’s like I can read what they’re going to do. I’ve never been able to do that before. It’s like the vampires are moving in slow motion.
I take a step back and say the spell that encases the vampires in … well I said the spell that would encase them in a non harmful wax like substance, but my spells are going wonky again so they’re encased in a large chunk of pepper jack cheese.
I flinch and look at the Professor. “Sorry. It was supposed to be veerlux.”
The shifters laugh. “Too bad it wasn’t steak.”
I shrug. “Sorry.”
“Why did you do it?” The Professor asks without suspicion but more curiosity.
“I could tell what they were going to do. Read them. Cheery there …” I point to Mika, the vampire who has never smiled once and has a permeant scowl etched on his face. “He was going to bite Liam.”
Liam scoffs. “He’d never get his fangs out in time.” He flexes his muscles. “See these?”
I hadn’t realized until now how much Liam looks like an actual lion. He’s strong and muscular. His blond, frizzy hair is long and maney. His eyes are golden. Weird. “I saw Cheery biting Liam, and Liam shifting in mid bite to cut two of the other vampires in half.”
“Awesome.” Liam nods as he looks around as if others should congratulate what he might have, could have, would have, maybe have done.
“Not the part of you being bit.”
Liam shrugs as if he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s just no way for a lion shifter to ever be bit by a vampire.
“How did you see this?” Professor Sway asks.
“I have no idea. It’s like everything was in slow motion.” I think that’s the best way to explain it. “I knew I had to do something.”
Professor Sway smiles, and I don’t know if he’s suddenly gone mad or knows something.
“That’s one of the gifts your mother had.”
That jolts me. “How?”
“Dragon,” Masimu, the dragon shifter says. “Dragons have wicked skills. Each one different.” He motions to the Professor, who is also a dragon shifter.
My eyes widen. “Does this mean I’m really a shifter?”
Professor Sway thinks about it. “We still don’t know if you will actually shift, but this proves you’re starti
ng to acknowledge the shifter within.”
Sounds like a weird horror movie. Then I smile. “Like my mother. A dragon shifter. That’s cool.”
Masimu smiles and grunts at Liam who smirks.
I study the vampires stuck in the cheese as several mice appear with crackers to get their snack on. “I have to get to the faehead cousins.”
“Agreed,” Professor Sway says. “There are few hybrid witch shifters. Your mother was one of the few.” He puts his hand to his heart. “I am pure shifter, but our mother was also part witch and shifter. Most have been hunted to extinction. We do not know how the curses will affect the shifter within.”
Liam steps forward. “You shouldn’t go anywhere alone.”
“Seriously? You know they can’t touch me.” I glance at the vampires and then think sadly of Blist. “No one can.”
He shrugs. “Doesn’t matter. Shifters protect each other. Just like you did for us. We’ll take shifts. Get it?”
Everyone, including the Professor groan. Even the mice stop their cheese snack to give him a dirty look. One even slaps his tiny hand over his face.
“I’ll go with you to find the faehead cousins.”
“No, you won’t,” Blist says jogging in. He frowns as he sees the vampires in pepper jack cheese. “That’s new.” He shakes his head and smiles at me. “I’ll be with you at all times.” He glances at the professor who nods his approval.
“Shocking,” Liam grins and grunts at Blist. “You know as a lion, I’m more powerful than a tiny jaguar.”
Blist holds his finger up. “One. Not tiny.” Then he blushes like he didn’t intend the naughty as the other shifters groan.
Professor Sway clears his throat.
Blist can’t look at me, but he shakes his head to clear his thoughts. “Two. Jaguar shifters are super powerful.”
“They’re sneaky,” Liam admits. “Wiley.” He thinks about it. “What are other words I could use?”
“Handsome?” Blist interjects. “Wicked smart?”
Liam shakes his head. “No. Those weren’t what I was thinking.”
“Okay, you two.” Professor Sway points to the door. “Blist, you know you won’t be able to get too far within witch and warlock territory.”
Blist nods. “I’ll go as far as I can. Xury will also come.”