by Oxford, Rain
Darwin sat in one of the other black office chairs and rolled it up next to her. Had he been able to touch her, he would have taken her hand or put his on her arm in comfort. “What did you see?” he asked. I shut the door.
“Cooper wanted to talk to me. He knew that the synthetic blood had a calming effect, and he was worried that when he was away from the school and the synthetic blood, he would become overly aggressive. He wanted to see if I could control his mood. I could, but before I could leave… he died.”
“Who killed him?”
“The room became dark. It was the shadows. The shadows were reaching for him. I saw a face in the dark, like a man’s face, but it wasn’t solid. The face studied me and Cooper, then disappeared. The shadows wrapped around Cooper and just… took his life.” She was about to start crying. Darwin pulled the cuffs of his dark blue hoodie over his hand and patted her hand.
I pushed the remaining seat up next to hers and sat down. “Would you mind if I had a look in your head?”
“It doesn’t hurt,” Darwin assured her.
She nodded. “You can.”
I let my power out again and wrapped my mind around hers. She was startled by the sensation, but welcoming. Her thoughts were clear and easy to read. She was compassionate, selfless, and a healer by nature. I thought of the vampire and the scene immediately unfolded.
From Amelia’s perspective, I saw her enter Cooper’s room and sit down across from him on a chair. “Are you sure you want this?” she asked him. He nodded. Her power was a natural ability of her kind, not one that a wizard could learn or even describe well. She wanted him to feel calm and her power pushed that into him. It wasn’t actually much different from what I did.
I felt his fear of being out of control and the relief that replaced it. When she dissolved her power over him, he sighed. “You should work with vampires permanently,” he said. “There are some of us who love to give into the predator nature, but most of us want to be accepted in the paranormal community. Stephen is very good at teaching us to control our aggressive natures, but controlling it is a lot more difficult than fighting it.”
Amelia noticed the shadows spread slowly from the dark corners and crevices of the room. “I will help if I can, but my father is not big on trusting outsiders.” Although it made her skin crawl, she tried to ignore the shadows. Even without the instincts I had, she knew something was wrong.
“What the hell?!” Cooper grabbed her arm and pushed her towards the door.
Right behind the chair she had been sitting in, the shadows were taking a three-dimensional, fog-like quality. Worse, there was a shape taking form in the shadowy fog. It was a face with stone-gray skin, glowing yellow eyes, and no hair. Its eyes focused on Amelia before turning to the vampire.
Shadows spread across the floor, reaching out for Cooper. “Get off the floor,” he told her, climbing onto his bed.
Amelia glanced at the chair, but she would have had to cross the shadows to get to it. She was backed into a corner. The shadows reached out from the crack between the mattress and wall. It was like light couldn’t penetrate the darkness. The shadows engulfed Cooper quickly and he convulsed, but never made a sound.
It was over as quickly as it had begun; Cooper was dead and the shadows retreated, leaving Amelia alive and terrified. I let go of Amelia’s mind.
* * *
“Did you find out who killed him?”
I shook my head. “I don’t recognize the face that was in the shadows. There is something going on, though. Whoever the killer is this time, he’s not making students do his dirty work. We need to go back and have a look around.”
“Why?” Darwin asked. “Shouldn’t we just tell Hunt and let him deal with it?”
My job was to get information, to investigate, not to battle wizards who could use shadows to kill people. I shook my head. “We have nothing concrete to tell the headmaster. We’ll do some more digging.”
“Alright,” Darwin said, standing. “I mean, it wasn’t like I planned to live all that long anyway.”
“I don’t want to go,” Amelia said.
“You don’t have to. You have helped us enough and we really appreciate it.”
Darwin and I left and headed to the castle. Henry joined us as we passed the dining room. His shirt was ruffled and he was almost glaring, obviously exasperated with the women who were hitting on him.
To my surprised, Professor Anderson was the one guarding the underground level. Since I was of the opinion that this professor was a bigoted bastard, I had no moral problem with controlling his mind. Hiding around the corner from him, it was easy to reach out my power for his consciousness.
As my control wrapped around his mind, I felt his thoughts. He was not as bad as I had believed; his anger towards vampires was all based on fear instilled in him by his parents since he could remember. His entire family hunted vampires for sport, but he wanted to work with kids. Unfortunately for him, Hunt didn’t trust him enough to hire him at the children’s school.
“Go take a nap,” I told him, pushing exhaustion at him. Apparently, my sense of lethargy was strong, because he immediately wavered before stumbling off down the hall.
“That’s so cool, yo,” Darwin whispered.
We easily made it through the door and down the steps without getting caught. Fortunately, all of the torches were lit and we didn’t encounter any search parties.
“I thought they were searching this place,” Henry commented.
“Yeah, they are.”
“There is no one down here but us.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Darwin argued. “The temperature is off. It’s about six degrees too hot. If you don’t believe me, I can explain the mineral comp–”
“No, no, we trust you,” Henry said quickly.
Dr. Martin wasn’t in the infirmary when we arrived, so we headed for the morgue. The door was unlocked, fortunately. Since there was no light, I pulled the penlight out of my pock and entered. Light from no visible source filled the room, so I put my penlight away and studied the only body in the room. Cooper was lying on the table, white as the sheet his body was covered with.
“He wasn’t like that before, was he?” Henry asked, referring to the vampire’s paleness.
“No. He’s been drained of blood,” Darwin said. “This happened after we saw him. Is this natural because he’s a vampire?”
“Don’t ask me; I’ve never successfully killed a vampire,” I said. “Do you smell anything odd?” I asked Henry.
He shook his head. “Not particularly. I smell the lingering scents of other vampire students as well as Dr. Martin, but nothing unusual. Although I might be able to pick out something in my jaguar form, it isn’t worth the risk.”
Darwin scoffed. “Revealing your invisible cat isn’t worth finding a murderer?”
The shifter scowled at him. “I am not always invisible. That is only one of my many abilities that make me good at what I do. If I shift, I will not have control over my jaguar, and I might kill both of you.”
“Why?”
“Unlike with most shifters, my beast is not affected by my humanity. In fact, he is rather infuriated by it. He will kill you because he can. He doesn’t need a reason.”
“Maybe I can control it,” I said.
“If you invade my mind, you will see things you do not want to see,” he warned. “And then my parents will kill you. That is, of course, if my jaguar does not. I doubt you could control him.”
“You suck, bro,” Darwin informed him.
“I am aware that you dislike me. However, I still consider you both my friends, and I would rather it stay that way. If you never accept me, I cannot fault you, but this is who I am. I offend everyone and it is not by choice.”
“That’s why you’re so formal and organized, right?” Darwin asked. “Because you need to feel in control?”
“Yes.”
As they argued, I examined the dead vampire and found no punctures, no cuts, and n
o bruising. It was the cleanest death I had ever seen, including of those who died from natural causes. On the other hand, I wasn’t a doctor.
“What would your parents say about you working around the council?” I asked. I didn’t know why Henry allowed his parents so much control over him, but I was starting to wonder whether they were overprotective or monsters.
“They would tell me to do exactly what I am trying to do; blend in.”
“This is you blending in?” Darwin asked. Henry nodded and Darwin scoffed. He opened his mouth to say something when a loud roar shook the underground floor. “It’s that thing that was chasing me!”
Henry growled. “What is it?”
“I don’t know. We didn’t see it; we were too busy running for our lives.”
“I think we should do so again.”
We left the morgue and made it up to the ground floor without any problems. Obviously, there was no one trying to find a monster so that the vampires could move underground. Thus, I had to wonder if Hunt knew exactly what was down there and chose not to do anything about it.
When we got to the room, Ghost was clawing up my pillow. “No!” I shouted, releasing my power instinctively. I didn’t try to connect with his mind, I just pushed the command at him.
The cat hissed, Darwin groaned, and Henry growled. Heat built up in my chest and the image of fire from my dream came to mind. I raised my hand, focusing the heat towards the cat and away from my roommates. It was red fire that shot at the cat, who vanished a split second before my magic could reach him. The fire hit the wall and charred it before fading.
“Did you do something to piss him off?” Darwin asked, pulling down my shredded pillow.
I took it from him and retrieved the small book. “No, he was after this.” I handed it to him. “Can you read this?”
He flipped through a couple of pages. “This is mostly German. I can read it, but it’s not a novel so much as a small grimoire. It has designs for trapped rooms and magical traps. Ew.”
“What?”
“He has a trap he designed using fae blood.” He flipped through the front and back. “There’s no author named, but he’s talking about building a castle.”
“Heinrich Baldauf.”
“That would be my guess. Let me read it and I’ll tell you what is important.”
“Okay. You do that, I’m going to go tell Hunt that we found the witness and what I saw.”
“What should I do?” Henry asked.
I tried to think of something, but I didn’t know exactly what he was really good at. After spending four months as his roommate, I only knew was that he had more secrets than Vincent or Hunt.
“Go with Devon in case Kale or someone else in the council tries to stop him,” Darwin suggested.
Henry and I left. Since it was around three in the morning, we didn’t run into anyone still awake in the dorms, but there was a group of seven vampires standing around smoking outside the castle main doors. My instincts warned me of danger, but it wasn’t immediate, sort of like I was swimming in a tank with sharks. Although they could kill me if they wanted to, I wasn’t really in danger unless I pissed them off.
Henry growled and two of the bigger guys growled back. It wasn’t an “I want to fight” growl so much as, “I will stand my ground.” One of them dropped his cigarette and mashed it with his boot. “Remember me?” he asked.
I didn’t know that many vampires. “You’re the one who attacked me last semester.”
“Rebecca wanted peace with the vampires.” His voice wasn’t a mixture of a hiss and a growl like the time he threatened me in the courtyard. He was about my height and build with a Cuban descent. He wore a black leather jacket over his navy blue shirt and black jeans.
“She wanted control and she wanted to use you to get it,” I corrected. “Hunt does want peace for all.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to think so. I’m Nicholas Grigore. We know Jackson didn’t kill any vampire. Find Cooper’s murderer, Devon, and you’ll have our backup.”
“I’m working on it.” He nodded and his friends spread apart to let us through.
“I didn’t know vampires smoked,” Henry commented.
The man shrugged. “Why not? It doesn’t damage us like it does humans and it’s something to do. It’s mostly just a habit for those of us who were born human. It also dulls the taste of that nasty synthetic blood the doc has us on.”
Focusing on finding Hunt, we arrived at his office a few minutes later, but he wasn’t there. His desk was covered in books and letters and I didn’t see anything unusual. In his library, however, his iron bowl was on the table. Silver liquid that greatly resembled mercury swirled inside. Danger.
“What is that?” Henry asked.
“I don’t know, but I think it’s some kind of communication device, because I have seen Hunt talking into it.”
“You wizards are weird. Shifters can use cell phones. Have you heard anyone speaking back?”
“No.” I considered the swirling substance without getting close to it. My sense of danger grew until my skin crawled, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn away. I wanted to know what it was.
When I took a step closer, blue fire lit the surface and the danger faded. Henry suddenly growled and shoved me towards the door. He stood between me and Hunt, who appeared from the dark corner right beside where I had been.
“You must be more careful,” Hunt said.
“Where did you come from? Can all wizards appear and disappear?” I asked.
“No. Did you find the witness?”
“I did. A fae named Amelia Bell. She was helping Cooper right before he died and had nothing at all to do with the death. I saw what happened from her mind.”
He sighed. “What did she see?”
“Something in the shadows got him.”
There was no surprise or confusion in his eyes. “You need to drop the case. I will handle it from here.”
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. “Where is Vincent? The council is here to find an amulet they believe you took, and I was under the impression that Vincent is your good friend. So why isn’t he here keeping an eye on them?”
“He is working on more important matters; something far more important than keeping my school open. Now, you both have a class early in the morning, so I suggest you return to your room and try to get some sleep.”
Henry looked at me expectantly, waiting to see if I would argue or leave. I turned to leave.
“Devon…” I glanced back at Hunt. “Do not tell Professor Langril what happened or who witnessed it.”
“I’m not sure I trust you any more than him.” Henry and I left and nearly ran right into Kale as he rounded the corner ahead of us. He looked so relieved to see me that I couldn’t contain my groan. “Seriously? I have class in five hours.”
“Lucos.” We all turned to see Clara coming down the hall. “I’ve been looking for you,” she said to Kale, ignoring us. “My father wants you to talk to him about international covens.” As he sputtered, trying to argue, she grasped his arm and pulled him back the way she had come.
The day was catching up to me and apparently Henry, because we both just stood in the hallway for a moment before returning to our room in silence. Darwin was asleep when we got there and the lights were off. I didn’t even bother to take off my shoes before crawling into bed. I was asleep in seconds.
Chapter 6
Heather was sitting on the coffee table in my living room while I sat on the couch. “This is new,” I remarked.
She smirked. “I thought this was more comfortable.”
“Why do I keep dreaming about you after you died? These aren’t normal dreams.”
“Well, I have much more to tell you. Fortunately, my death was a coincidence. John didn’t know who I was or what my father and I were after. Now it is up to you to find it.”
“Find what?”
“The key. You have to find the fourth key before Vincent and Logan do. I can
help you. I want you to make a blood contract with me.”
“What is a blood contract? That sounds like something Clara would want. I’m not giving anyone my blood.”
“It isn’t your blood I need. I can help you if you let me. Without me, they will eventually get you to help them, and once they get the key from you, they will kill you.”
“Who are they? Are you talking about Hunt and Vincent?”
“Devon, you must agree to a blood contract.”
“No.”
Hell, even her father told me not to agree to anything, and I damn sure wasn’t agreeing to a contract involving blood. There was also the fact that I was talking to a girl who had been murdered. Then again, considering her father…
“Are you dead or alive?” I asked.
“Yes.”
* * *
I woke to a presence I would know anywhere, but when I opened my eyes, I was alone with my roommates. Astrid had been in my room.
The knocking came a few minutes later and all three of us groaned. “I’m skipping,” Darwin said.
I nodded, absentmindedly. “Alpha Flagstone will chew me out, but I’m not moving.”
Henry slowly got out of his bed. “I cannot miss class with the council present; I would stand out.”
* * *
The second time I woke, it was to Ghost sitting on my chest. The damn cat weighed twenty pounds, so I was justified when I shoved him off with a grunt. He yowled as he hit the floor.
I glanced at my watch and saw that I only had an hour before my afternoon classes began. My stomach growled as I climbed down the ladder. “Darwin, time to get up,” I said loudly. The man rolled over and put his pillow over his head. I rolled my eyes and left to take a shower.
Half an hour later, I sat down at my usual place in the dining room with a plate of food. Henry was already in eating and didn’t say anything. Despite the fact that he kept secrets from me, I considered him my friend. My instincts told me I could trust him.
We headed to class about ten minutes later. Right outside the classroom, one of the C-Five women intercepted us. She ignored me and shoved a small, blue, glass bottle in Henry’s hand. “Drink this,” she demanded.