Beastmora- The Golden Six

by Kayley Behler

  “Daddy, can I have a key too?” Henrik asked interrupting Valeria from asking her next question. She gave her brother a miffed expression, but he simply stuck his tongue out. Why their father had brought Henrik along she didn’t know.

  “No, your mother and I don’t want you down here by yourself.”

  “But, I’m a big vampire I can handle anything,” Derik exchanged an amused glance with Valeria before answering the fledgling.

  “I know, buddy,” Derik responded, “But you could accidentally get hurt, and that would make Mommy sad, do you want to make her sad?”

  Henrik looked torn between staying down in the basement and not wanting to upset their mom, “No.”

  “Alright then, maybe when you’re older, you can have a key,” Derik soothed, and Henrik nodded, “Now go with Thoren back upstairs while Valeria and I finish up here.”

  “Okay,” Henrik responded, Thoren grew large enough so Henrik could ride on his back and carried him back up the winding staircase. While Derik watched the two ascend the stairs, Valeria took a look around the basement. It was a large room, twice the size of their sitting room. The colors were basic darks and neutrals, looking every bit a basement that she had imagined. On one side were four sets of plain bunk beds and what seemed to be packaged food. Next to the pantry of sorts was a cooler that she assumed contained blood. There were two white doors along the wall, one a wash room, and the other looked to be a closet. On the other side was a bookcase accompanied by piles of boxes and artifacts that seemed really expensive. Before Valeria could make her way towards the bookcase side, her father put a hand on her shoulder and steered her the other direction.

  “Now, let’s open the vault,” Derik said, and Valeria turned to see that her brother and Thoren were now out of sight. He led her over to a large silver door in the very center of the room that had dragons and snakes engraved into the metal, in the center was the Grey family crest, “Similar to your mother’s journal, it can only be opened with the blood of a Grey. Only yourself, your siblings and I can open the vault. We are all that remains of the Grey bloodline.”

  “Can I?” Valeria questioned, raising a hand to the seal and her father nodded, she pricked her finger, Derik guiding her hand towards the top of the Grey seal. The door shimmered, the carved figures moving across the surface before the door creaked open. The vault was much larger than she expected with various jewels, expensive looking items within it, but that is not what caught her eye as she wandered through the room. Off towards the left of the door, behind a golden crown and in the middle of velvet cloth sat a large egg. Valeria immediately recognized it as a dragon egg, with the glossy red surface and white lines across it. Before she could think about what she was doing, she reached across to touch the egg but was intercepted by Nebby. The small red dragon bit into her hand with a growl. Valeria immediately jumped back, clutching her now bleeding hand as Nebby stood over the egg with a glare.

  “She bit me!” Valeria exclaimed, holding her hand more so in shock than in pain. Derik rushed over to her and examined her hand.

  “Are you okay, Valeria?” Her father asked his voice wrought with worry.

  “I’m fine Dad, I tried to touch her egg. I deserved it,” She said, now realizing how stupid it was to try and touch a magical creatures egg.

  “Come on, let’s get this looked at by Emalia. Who knows what kind of germs that dragon carries,” Derik said, leading her out and up to the sitting room where everyone sat including Florence and Demetri. Nebby trailed in behind them her nose stuck up in the air.

  “What happened to your hand? Are you okay?” Florence asked, moving to examine the damage before she paused, and a look of realization came over her mother’s face, “You tried to touch the egg, didn’t you?”

  “Well that explains why Nebby suddenly flew from the room,” Demetri commented, his usual smirk present on his face and Valeria resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at her twin. She felt stupid enough as it is, and Demetri’s teasing was just making it worse. Maybe her brother hadn’t changed at all.

  “Well there wasn’t anything telling me not to,” Valeria defended as Florence led her to sit on the couch, Emalia had left the room to grab a Healer kit.

  “Oh come on, V,” Demetri said, smirking from his seat in the armchair with Svetlana resting in his lap, “You didn’t know not to touch a Dragon egg? Now you’re just playing dumb.”

  “Demetri,” Derik sent his eldest son a look, but Demetri just kept smirking as he watched Emalia come back into the room and tend to Valeria’s wound.

  “It’s not too deep,” Emalia mused as she dabbed at the cut, she turned to give Nebby an unimpressed look, “Did you have to draw blood?”

  Nebby let out a series of noises and was sure that the dragon was shit talking her.

  “You’ve known V her entire life, Nebby! Do you honestly think she would ever harm your egg,” Emalia replied, not looking at the dragon anymore who continued to hiss at the wolf’s back as she wrapped Valeria’s hand.

  “Oh Nebby, that is not very nice,” Florence tutted, giving Nebby a stern look, “It’s not Emalia’s fault that she is not a vampire.”

  Nebby whined a bit more, and Florence sighed at whatever the dragon was saying to her. Valeria glowered, holding her now bandaged hand to her chest before saying, “This makes us even. I gave you the tainted treat, and you bit me for almost touching your egg.”

  Nebby stared at Valeria for a bit before doing what looked like a nod, “Good, she agrees. She is also sorry for biting you. Yes, Nebby, you are sorry, and you most certainly will not do it again.”

  “Your dragon has quite the colorful vocabulary,” Callan commented from his place beside Emalia who gave him a 'you’re not kidding’ look. Valeria couldn’t help but wonder what kind of things Nebby or even Thoren said. She imagined Thoren to be sweet and very charming, unlike his dragon mate who was rude and jumped to conclusions. Maybe it was for the best that her mother’s dragon didn’t like her.

  “Nebby is never going to like me,” Valeria grouched, staring at the red dragon who was currently hissing at her from Florence’s lap. Again.

  “That is not true when you were younger she used to help me round you up to bed, and you would always give her dusk kisses,” Florence mused, a nostalgic smile on her lips before tapping her dragons head, “Be nice.”

  Derik snorted, “Nebby used to bite my fingers when I touched your mom, did you know that?”

  Florence rolled her eyes affectionately as she stroked Nebby’s head, “She was protecting me.”

  “From what exactly?” questioned Derik his ‘behind my back’ persona taking over, His eyes widening, head tilting forward with his hands on his hips, “My love? My affection?”

  “Where’d Uncle Xander and Ivan go?” She asked when she noticed the absence of the three phoenixes that were there not twenty minutes ago.

  “They had enough of your dramatics,” Demetri answered, “seems they left just in time.”

  “I don’t think so,” Valeria quipped, “They seemed to have left directly after you arrived, coincidence?”

  “Actually Ivan reached the time limit on his break time from house arrest,” Callan answered with a yawn, rubbing at the bags under his eyes.

  “Xander will return after he drops them all,” Florence supplied looking from Callan to Emalia, “We still have a couple of things to discuss.”

  “Do you think we could all take a group nap first?” Callan whined causing the rest of the group to laugh.

  ◆◆◆

  Before dinner that evening, Valeria took a walk in the garden looking for her twin. She’d been trying to corner him all night to see what he’d talked about with their mom earlier. She found Demetri sitting on the swing that Florence had occupied previously that evening, letting Svetlana explore their garden, “Mind if I join you?”

  “Of course, dear sister,” Demetri teased as he scooted over, giving Valeria room to sit as they watched the yellow dragon blindly s
nap at air.

  “She’s adorable,” She commented, unable to look away from the little yellow dragon. A look of utter fondness came over her twin’s face, and she found herself smiling too.

  “Yeah, she, Svetlana is remarkable,” He gushed reminding Valeria of a much younger and more amenable version of her brother, “Getting your companion is life changing, V. I’m excited for you to experience it.”

  Valeria gaped at him for a moment, he sounded different. Demetri was never one to openly wish for things for her, he was usually trying to find a way to tease her about it. She knew that he didn’t mean it most of the time, but she couldn’t deny that it was one of the reasons they’d grown apart as the cycles past. Sitting next to her brother now, Valeria missed the closeness they used to share, back when they were a dynamic duo.

  “V, I’m sorry about earlier,” Demetri said, and Valeria’s jaw dropped in shock but said nothing as she waited for him to continue, “I shouldn’t have been so harsh. I’m trying to work on not being so sarcastic. My mentor says that I need to get my head out of my ass and try to work stuff out with my family or well mostly you. We haven’t exactly been on the same side these past few cycles.”

  “Yeah… I guess not,” Valeria mused, she really couldn’t remember the last time she and Demetri had a conversation without arguing.

  “So now that’s out of the way, what did you come to disturb me about?” Demetri questioned, the teasing tone back in his voice, but this time, it wasn’t as malicious.

  “What did you talk to Mom about?” Valeria inquired.

  “In the Dragon Core, there are… whispers and I wanted to know if they were true,” Demetri explained.

  “What kind of whispers?”

  “The kind that could get beasts killed if the wrong person heard them,” Demetri replied, his face taking on a serious expression surprising Valeria for the umpteenth time tonight, “There is a revolution coming, V. One that could be really great or really bad.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “You’ll know when you see it,” Her brother answered, the smirk returning to his face, “Don’t worry, we’ve still got a couple of cycles.”

  Long after the conversation had ended and Demetri had returned to the Dragon Core, Valeria couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with their grandfather.

  ◆◆◆

  Valeria began her first punishment the next evening; go to the Grey Academy, pack up all her things, and say goodbye to the friends she’s made these past weeks. Her father escorted her directly to her dorm room, where he stood outside and waited for her.

  “Princess, you’re alive!” Ziana exclaimed, jumping up from her spot on the bed then she pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

  “I won’t be if you squeeze me any tighter,” Valeria gasped out as she hugged the phoenix, noting that hugging Ziana was the equivalent of hugging a furnace. Valeria was surprised at her typically grumpy partners reception but chose not to comment. The phoenix pulled back immediately, seeming to be embarrassed at her own reaction and shuffled away awkwardly.

  “Glad you didn’t get blown up,” The phoenix said, moving to the side as another figure threw themselves at her. Valeria stumbled backward as she caught her attacker.

  “V! We were so worried,” The figure who crashed into her turned out to be none other than Edith.

  “Edith?” exclaimed Valeria as she pulled away from the hug to look at the elf, who last time she checked had been in a coma for almost half a phase, “Are you okay? What are you doing up? How are you up?”

  “I woke from my coma the night of the explosion without any aid from the Healers and all my vitals have gone back to normal,” The elf explained smiling widely at her, “They released me this evening.”

  Valeria pulled her friend into another hug feeling so relieved to see her friend up and about, “That’s great news, Edith. I’m so happy you’re okay.”

  “Me too, I was starting to wonder if I’d be knocked out forever,” She laughed pulling away from the hug. True to the elf’s word, Edith looked ten times better than the last time Valeria had seen her. Edith looked refreshed, like the whole thing never even happened.

  “Edith, I am so so sorry that we didn’t listen to you,” Valeria said holding onto Edith’s hands tightly hoping that the other beast wasn’t angry with her, “You were right. We should’ve told somebody what we heard that day.”

  Edith nodded, accepting her apologizes before Ziana jumped in again, “All the staff was locked down and screened yesterday. Guess who went missing right before their screening?”

  “Kamilah?” Valeria answered, and the phoenix nodded.

  “Kamilah and a couple others did as well,” Edith supplied giving Ziana a pointed look, “About four, including Kamilah.”

  “I told Healer Anai about her taking the journal, and she said they were already looking into it,” Ziana elaborated, glancing back to where Derik lingered in the doorway, but he was looking at his communicator with a frown. Valeria watched her father for a moment, the guilt sinking in her stomach.

  “I should be quick, I’ve caused my parents enough of a headache already,” She said, and the two beasts gave her confused looks.

  “What do you mean? Aren’t you staying?” Edith asked, grabbing onto Valeria’s hand. She looked between her two friends deciding how she was going to tell them that this might be their last meeting. The thought of never seeing her friends again broke her heart. They were the only friends that she’d ever made. In her old school, Valeria didn’t get along with the other royal vampires. All of them were only out for their own ambitions, but here at the Grey Academy, she’d met genuine beasts whom she’d give her life for. Friends she didn’t want to leave.

  “No, I’m not coming back to Grey Academy at all. My parent’s pulled me out for good.”

  “What?” Ziana exclaimed the temperature in the room spiking. Valeria glanced nervously at her father who didn’t look back before calmly turning back to them. Edith looked shocked while the phoenix adopted a more furious expression.

  “I messed up, and now I’m facing the consequences. One of them is leaving the Grey Academy.”

  “I got detention till graduation, and you got expelled. That’s not fair,” Ziana protested, and Edith gave her a sympathetic look.

  “It’s no more than I deserve. I lied to my parent’s faces. Our lie got a lot of people killed,” Valeria said straightening her back as she stared up at the other beast, “We were wrong Ziana, and I will gladly face the consequences for my actions and so should you. We were naive and irresponsible. It’s time we right those wrongs and grow up.”

  Edith stared at Valeria in awe as the phoenix looked at her with a blank expression, the heat spike had faded, and Valeria hoped it was a sign the other woman was calming down and not about the give her a face full of flames, “I have to say that I’m impressed, princess. At least you learned to get a backbone here.”

  The vampire breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Ziana again who patted her back awkwardly, “I’m going to miss you guys so much.”

  “We are going to miss you too, V,” Edith said, joining the hug, “Both of us.”

  “Yeah yeah we are all friends, now can you let me go,” Ziana complained, pushing the two of them away with a disgruntled expression, but Valeria could tell she wasn’t really angry.

  “It’s not like we will never see you again,” Edith said, smiling brightly at her, “What are these communicators for anyway?”

  Before she could say anything else, the rest of her roommates came into the room and bombarded her with questions. After explaining everything to her roommates with more than a few tears from Jiwoo, Valeria packed up her things and left but not before giving them all her new communicator information. With a few tears of her own, she followed her father down the Grey Academy hallways for the last time.

  “Your mother and I are taking Henrik to a mind healer tomorrow night,” Derik commented as they navigated the ha
lls.

  “Why? What’s wrong? Is he okay?” Valeria asked, her mind immediately filling with concern, and her guilt surfacing again about the explosion.

  “We wanted to make sure everything was alright with him and you,” Derik answered, “You will also be seeing the Mind Healer, just to make sure everything is alright.”

  “I don’t need a Mind Healer,” Valeria protested.

  “Maybe not but it would put your mother’s mind at ease if you saw one,” Derik elaborated, giving her a reassuring smile, “You both went through a traumatic event, and sometimes it’s good to talk it out. When we first adopted Emalia, she saw a Mind Healer, every week and she still sees her every phase.”

  “How long do I have to see them?” Valeria inquired, resigning herself to it.

  “Depends,” Derik answered, “You’ll see Mind Healer Taki two nights from now, and we will move forward from there.”

  As soon as they were back at the Manor, Valeria and Derik went to work in the basement, he handed her a dustrag and some spray while he went through old files. The hours passed in a blur of dusting and muffled music from the old harp laying in the corner, the magic had started to wear off, and the sounds it made were kind of pitiful, but it was better than silence. They finally finished for the night, when Florence came to collect them with Henrik on her hip and promises of blood. Valeria barely remembers anything between her cup of blood and landing face first into bed.

  The following night she woke up slowly to find a note written in her mother’s neat handwriting and a cup of blood on her bedside table.

  We have gone to the Mind Healer with Henrik and will return soon. I left you some blood on the nightstand. Remember the magical towers by the Mind Healer’s office is still down from the explosion if you need anything call your sister.

  Love you,

  Mom

  Valeria rubbed her eyes as she read the note. With a sigh, she set the paper down and rolled out of bed to get ready for the night. Even though her parents weren’t there, the vampire wanted to make a dent in cleaning the rest of the basement tonight. She had just finished pulling on her clothes when her communicator buzzed with a call from Ziana. Luckily the Grey Academy was across town from the Mind Healer’s office, so the calls were still coming through.