Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts)

by Caroline Peckham

  The girl at the far left of the line threw her hands up, casting fire which she tossed behind her head to the next fire Elemental in the group. So on and so on until it had bounced over all of us, where the girl at the back of the crowd shot it up towards the roof.

  I threw my hands up, blasting a ball of Phoenix fire into it which exploded overhead into a red and blue fireball. Sparks of molten gold rained down on us as we all turned our backs on the stands, bent over and flipped our skirts up to expose the face paint on our asses as the music came to an end.

  Silence greeted us as the Pitball team were all gifted a view of the words Zodiac kicks ass! scrawled across our actual ass cheeks and I exchanged a grin with Bernice.

  “Fuck me,” Caleb breathed half a second before Darcy and Geraldine both began whooping in excitement and clapping enthusiastically.

  By the time we straightened and turned around, everyone else was clapping too and the grin on my face felt suspiciously real. Like…maybe I was actually happy in that moment.

  My squad all began screaming in excitement, leaping on me and crushing me beneath them as I couldn’t help but laugh too. That routine had been totally badass. If they didn’t pick us then it was a damn travesty, but at least I knew we’d performed it to perfection. The rest was up to the stars and as I was pretty sure they hated me, that didn’t bode well, but whatever, we’d done all we could.

  Silence fell as Orion, Nova, Prestos and Washer began to discuss our routines, making little notes on their clipboards.

  It was kinda ridiculous but I found myself aching to win.

  “It was a little…suggestive,” Washer said in a disapproving voice that carried and my mouth fell open. That fucking ball sack.

  “Zodiac has always pushed boundaries though,” Nova said, her gaze sweeping between us and Team Twinkle who had moved to stand on the pitch a little way from us to wait for the decision too. “We don’t follow standards, we set them. And they’d certainly draw a crowd.”

  “It’s not every day you can show off Phoenix fire skills,” Orion added with a smirk as he glanced my way.

  My heart pounded as the four of them exchanged looks and Nova nodded as she pointed at something on the clipboard.

  “The Vixens took it,” Orion announced, but I barely heard him as the girls surrounding me all shrieked like banshees, leaping on top of me and squeezing me so hard that I was in danger of popping.

  I laughed along with them as we rolled on the ground and for a moment I felt light and free and just…happy.

  ***

  The darkness whispered to me with promises of oblivion as I lay in my bed. The lingering happiness from our win had faded away to let them in again and after that fleeting moment of freedom, the pain had hit me tenfold. I’d been hoping to make it through the night without giving in. But…

  My fingers twitched and shadows coiled between them, drawing a sigh from my lips as they kissed my flesh.

  I need to learn how to wield them better anyway.

  But I was going to have a night off. I’d decided on it and I meant to stick to it.

  That was before the nightmares though, before the pain tried to drown me while I slept again…

  If I could take one night off from them I’d know I wasn’t getting addicted, that was the bargain I’d struck with myself.

  That was before the agony came back though. And half a night without them is still proof that I don’t need them…

  The shadows slid up to coat my arms and I sighed at their gentle caress. They knew just how to soothe the darkness in me. And I didn’t need much, just a taste to take a bit of the pain away.

  A moan escaped me as the shadows slid over my skin, my back arching against the bed as they delved inside me, feeding on my pain, offering me solace for a moment. But I could still feel that well of sadness in my heart which bled for Darius Acrux and I didn’t want to feel that.

  My fingers chilled as I called on my water magic, forming a blade out of ice so that I could offer up a little more of myself.

  I needed to bleed for them, just a bit, just enough to take the edge off and then-

  I dropped the blade I’d created suddenly as something brushed up against my skin, calling me back out of the dark with a promise of safety unlike anything I’d ever really known.

  I gasped as I sat up, the shadows receding as I tossed the covers back and my skin prickled with heat.

  I hadn’t closed my shutters last night. Hell, I’d barely even remembered to shower, let alone caring about that, but this particular slip in my standards was actually a slap in the face. That moment of happiness with the cheer squad had cost me dearly. Coming down from that high had put me into a really dark place again.

  The stars shone brightly in the navy sky outside, twinkling innocently as they looked back at me like they hadn’t cursed me to a fate of misery and loneliness.

  My lip curled as I glared at them and I got to my feet, stalking across the room to throw the shutters over to block them out.

  Screw the stars. Screw fate. Screw every fucked up thing that led me here, chewed me up and spat me out. Screw the throne and the Council and this academy. Screw being a fucking Vega.

  I released a long breath as I fought to regain control of my temper before I ended up breaking something.

  Shadows coiled around my hands, twisting further up my arms as they whispered promises of oblivion and freedom in my ear again.

  I inhaled deeply as I closed my eyes, teetering on the brink of their embrace. How easy it would be to dive into them, just for a little while, just long enough to forget...

  A soft noise caught my attention and my eyes snapped open as I whirled toward the door.

  My pyjamas consisted of a pair of black panties and the mortifying reality that was Darius Acrux’s old T-shirt. Fuck the stars for making me pine for him even now. They knew just as well as I did what reasons I’d had for my decision. Yet I was to be punished alongside him for this failure. What kind of fate was that?

  I padded across the soft carpet towards my door, my magic brimming to the surface of my skin as I heard another low sound from beyond the wood. There was someone out in the corridor, I was certain of it.

  I reached the door, my fingertips caressing the handle as I considered opening it to see who had disturbed my sleep, but something stayed my hand.

  The desire to return to my bed consumed me for a moment and I almost turned away before my Phoenix fire flared beneath my skin and burned all thoughts but my own from my mind.

  I was done listening to the stars.

  I reached out hesitantly and pressed my hand to the wood before my face.

  I gasped as heat washed against my palm, a fierce and hungry magic licking the other side of the door as its owner stood so close that I could feel the deep well of their power.

  “Darius?” I breathed and the magic flared as if in surprise, but no answer came to me.

  My heart pounded with an ache so pure that it burned me right down to the depths of my soul.

  I leaned forward until my forehead pressed against the wood, exhaling deeply as I dropped the walls surrounding my own power.

  I groaned as his magic flooded past my barriers, my fingers pressing against the wood more firmly as if I might be able to claw my way through it to him. It was ecstasy and agony all rolled into one. I wanted to bathe in it until I drowned and never again have to spend a moment suffering for the choices we’d both made.

  He still didn’t speak, but there was no denying his power was there. I could almost feel his fingers pressing to the wood just as mine were, like the thin barrier of this door didn’t divide us. But it did. Just like everything else did.

  “What are you doing here?” I breathed, my voice barely a whisper and yet seeming like a scream in the darkest of nights.

  He didn’t reply and my heart pounded fiercely as I lingered between the desire to open the door and tell him to leave again. I didn’t do either.

  All the things we’d neve
r said to each other hung in the silence and all the things we should have said too. But they kept company with all that had passed between us and so much of it was dark and cruel and ugly that I didn’t even know where to begin with it. Neither of us did. We never had. Which was half the problem, though not all of it by a long shot. And now none of it even mattered anyway.

  My lips parted and I tried to force the words I needed from my throat, but I wasn’t even sure I had them.

  “Darius, I...”

  His magic withdrew suddenly and I shivered as I was left cold, leaning against my door in the wake of his presence.

  I drew in a shuddering breath and a tear slipped down my cheek.

  I might not have had the words but he’d come here, come so close that maybe I needed to be the one to make up the difference.

  I shifted back, wrenching my door wide and opening my mouth to call out for him to stop-

  There was no one there.

  My heart pounded to a dangerous tune as I looked back and forth along the corridor.

  I’d been so sure that he was right here, but as I stepped into the empty corridor with every intention to call his name, I found nothing but shadows waiting for me.

  Another tear tracked along my skin as I backed into my room again.

  The space inside felt colder than before.

  And I doubted I’d find sleep again.

  But I had found the strength to resist the shadows once more.

  I lay on my couch watching the sun set beyond the window, the light rippling through a bottle of bourbon that sat on the coffee table. I hadn’t touched it. Not yet. Every night since I’d seen the soul vision of Clara standing at Lionel’s side, commanding an army of Nymphs, I’d been tempted to drink myself into a stupor. But there was one unmistakable thing stopping me from opening that bottle. Blue.

  I was no good to anyone half cut, least of all her. But I played with temptation all the same, placing that bottle where I could see it. I didn’t know why I liked to torment myself. Maybe it was to test what I was really made of. If I could truly remain as the man I’d become since Blue had arrived in my life.

  The thought that she was temporary made me afraid. Because who I’d been before didn’t come close to deserving her. And at least now I was trying to be better. To be enough. But sometimes, the shadows called to me in the dark, whispering my sins, my failures. And maybe deep down, I was never going to feel worthy of her.

  Apparently I was in the mood to suffer as I’d dug out the shoebox of Clara’s things which I’d kept after I lost her. I fished through it, running my fingers over the gold coin she’d won on a bet with a Dragon in her senior year, the lovingly worn box of Tarot cards she’d used for every Arcane Arts class, the charm bracelet she’d made herself from ice then had an earth Elemental cast it to silver. Lastly, I tugged the diary from the bottom of the pile, grazing my fingers over the leather binding and letting my heart bleed for a moment.

  I’d never opened it. Her secrets were her own. Even in death. Or at least, that was where I’d thought she’d been all these years. Somewhere beyond the veil. I’d convinced myself she was at peace, and all that time she’d been in a literal hell. Alone, suffering, with nothing but the shadows to keep her company. No wonder they’d taken root in her. But it still broke me.

  I couldn’t entertain the idea that she couldn’t be saved. Even after what she’d done to me. But there was so much doubt in me now that if I let my focus slip for a second, my hope began to unravel and I started to sink into despair.

  I closed my eyes, drawing on one of my happiest memories. Of me and Clara playing under the willow tree at my family home. Of my father calling our names while we laughed and hid behind the fronds. I’d been six and Clara seven. She’d pressed her fingers to her lips and we’d dropped to our knees, peeking under the branches where my father’s feet could be seen pacing.

  “Hm, the Nymphs have stolen away my children,” he teased, pretending he didn’t know exactly where we were. And at the time, we really believed he didn’t know we were there. “I’ll have to call the FIB.”

  “The FIB,” I gasped, looking to Clara. She had a wildish look, her hair sticking out in every direction, her freckles brightened by days in the sun. But I was always darker, the sun gilding my skin in a sheen of gold every summer with barely any effort at all.

  “Shh silly, he won’t really call them,” Clara whispered, clutching my hand as we lay in the dirt.

  Father started talking like he was on the phone. “Yes, my dear children have vanished. It’s definitely Nymphs. Will you come quickly?”

  Clara’s mouth popped open and she looked to me in fear. “We’re going to be in big trouble.”

  I chuckled, stifling my laugh with my hand. I liked trouble. I’d even heard my elementary school teacher talking about me once, saying I was going to cause trouble with the girls when I was older. At the time, I’d thought she meant my sister. And I’d vowed to always be her guardian from that day, because out of everyone in the world, I never wanted to cause trouble with her.

  Clara clutched my hand and her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Let’s pounce on him.”

  I laughed, nodding. “I’ll go first in case he gets angry.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t have to protect me, Lancey.”

  “I don’t have to, but I want to,” I said firmly, getting to my feet and she beamed as I picked up a stick and wielded it like a sword. I charged out between the willow fronds but Dad was ready, whipping me off my feet on a tendril of air magic so I hung upside down in front of him.

  “Yah!” I jabbed him with the stick and he barked a laugh, reaching out and tickling my sides until I couldn’t breathe with laughter.

  He finally let me down and Clara ran out to hug his side. “We didn’t really get kidnapped,” she said, batting her long lashes as she gazed up at him.

  Dad’s hair was an unruly nest of darkness, his eyes inky and deep like mine. Mom said I’d look like him one day. She said I’d make a fine husband one day too, but I didn’t want to be a husband, I wanted to be a Vampire. I wanted to run as fast as Mom and Dad and carry Clara on my back like a monkey.

  Dad picked Clara up, putting her on his shoulders and she shrieked with laughter. “Well that’s a relief,” he said. “I didn’t fancy charging into a Nymph nest to save you this afternoon. But I would have of course.”

  “Would you come for us if we were captured by a hundred Nymphs?” I asked.

  “Absolutely, Lancelot,” he promised, ruffling my hair. He always called me that. He said it was a knight from a mortal story and it suited me because I was brave like him.

  “How about a thousand?” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. A thousand was an awful lot of Nymphs.

  “Without a doubt,” he said easily.

  “What about ten thousand?” I demanded. That was far too many Nymphs to take on alone.

  “My boy, I’d come for you if you were held by a million Nymphs. There’s no lengths I wouldn’t go to.”

  “Why?” I frowned.

  “Because I love you and your sister. And that’s what you do for the people you love,” he explained and I nodded, my heart swelling. Because I understood that. I’d take on a million Nymphs for her and my parents too. But I was definitely going to need a real sword.

  A knock came at the door and I jolted out of the reverie, getting to my feet and hoping Brian hadn’t decided to pay me a visit. He could probably feel my misery stretching out into his house, so I really had to lock it down before he convinced me that a hug with him was a great idea.

  I pulled the door wide, finding Gabriel there with a bottle of orange Faenta and a sideways smile. “Thought you could use the soda to take your mind off of that bottle of bourbon, Orio.”

  I released a breath of amusement. “Did you come to join my pity party? You just missed the childhood flashback I’m afraid, but you’re just in time for the apathy cake and a round of musical grumps.”

  I stepped as
ide to let him in and he arched a brow at me with a smirk, moving into the house and kicking the door shut. “At least you’re still sarcastic, brother, the day you lose your wit is the day I’ll lose hope for you entirely.”

  “Good to know.” I strode back to the couch, dropping down and Gabriel poured us each a glass of soda before joining me.

  I drank the sweet, fizzy pop as Gabriel picked up Clara’s diary. There were very few people in the world I’d allow to touch that, but luckily he was one of them. Otherwise his face would be reeling from the impact of my fist right about now.

  “Don’t read it,” I said. “It’s Clara’s.”

  “No, it isn’t,” he said immediately, his fingers brushing over the leather binding like he was getting some reading on it.

  “Of course it is.” I snatched it away from him, planting my empty glass on the table. “It was with her things.”

  “It’s not hers, Orio,” he said in a serious tone. “Open it.”

  I frowned, my jaw tightening as I flicked open the first page and my lungs compressed at the words I found there.

  Property of Azriel Orion.

  “It’s my father’s,” I rasped in disbelief.

  “His diary?” Gabriel asked but I didn’t know so I shrugged in answer, wetting my mouth as I turned the page.

  The words were encrypted, appearing as a jumble of nonsensical symbols and as I traced my thumb over the page, I felt the magic still binding them. “By the stars, I’ve had this all these years and never thought to check it was really Clara’s.”

  “Can you break the encryption?” Gabriel asked, leaning closer to get a look so his dark hair fell forward over his brow.

  I closed my eyes, trying to feel out the magic he’d used on it. My mind snagged on a certain sensation and I blew out a breath, opening my eyes and resting back in my chair. “It needs a password. I’d have to speak it aloud, but I have no idea what my father would choose. Any chance you can see the answer?” I asked, but he shook his head.

  “Maybe if I’d known your father, but I can’t read those kinds of details from a stranger. Try your name,” Gabriel encouraged, his eyes glittering with intrigue.