Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2)

by Oxford, Rain

  He gave her a bored stare and, without breaking eye contact or hesitating for a second, he drank it. He handed the empty bottle back to her as she waited expectantly for the potion to take effect.

  When nothing happened, she looked confused. “That was the most powerful love potion known. How…?”

  “The full moon begins on the fourth,” Henry said simply, unimpressed. Without another word, he walked past her. She looked embarrassed as she ran off in the opposite direction.

  “Why would you drink a potion someone just hands you?” I asked Henry.

  “The women are trying to break me. If they find it amusing trying to win my affections with potions and tricks, I don’t mind. In fact, if they could, I would be grateful, as long as they left me alone afterwards.”

  “Maybe Amelia can help you. She was afraid to because of the shadows, but if we’re there with her, maybe she’ll be willing. We can ask her in class.” We arrived at the classroom, only to see that Amelia wasn’t there yet. Erik joined us as soon as we sat down and Darwin rushed in with seconds to go before Kale started lecturing.

  “Where’s Amelia?” Darwin asked.

  “I saw Addison taking her somewhere about three hours ago,” Henry said.

  “Where’s Addie?”

  “She has Alpha Flagstone’s class right now.”

  He stood. “I got to go to the bathroom,” he told Kale, then turned and walked out before Kale could argue. The wizard shook his head and continued boring the class to death. A few minutes later, Darwin returned. “Hunt had told Addie to bring Amelia to see him. That was the last she saw of Amelia.”

  Henry and Darwin both looked at me, waiting for my response. Erik was staring blankly at Kale, probably asleep with his eyes open. I leaned towards Henry and Darwin and lowered my voice. “I think we need to be a little less trusting of the headmaster until Amelia is found.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “We need to find Amelia and whoever is using shadows–”

  “You three are obviously not used to vampires,” Erik interrupted. “Every one of us in here can hear you. We have exceptional hearing.”

  “Thanks for the heads up,” Darwin said. He stood. “I got to go to the bathroom again,” he interrupted Kale, who gave him a startled look as if Darwin said he was going to beat some puppies.

  Henry and I stood. “We’re going, too, in case he gets lost,” I said.

  We headed out into the hall and shut the door behind us. “Is anyone close enough to hear us?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Henry answered.

  “Let’s go outside.” We went to the greenhouse, since it was empty and very unlikely we could be overheard from balconies or windows. “The first thing we need to do is find Amelia and whoever is using shadows to kill people. Second, there is the council’s amulet, which we need to find. Now, I’m pretty sure Hunt doesn’t have it because he seemed really distressed that it was missing. At this point, I don’t want him or the council to have it.”

  “What do we do with it when we find it?” Darwin asked.

  “I’m thinking we bury it or hide it somewhere.”

  “I can find it,” Henry said.

  “How?” Darwin asked.

  “Just like you can find and obtain information, I can find and obtain objects. However, if the amulet is not here, it will require that I leave without permission. I need an alibi and a witness, and it would be better for me to do it before or after the full moon.”

  “If someone has an amulet that can render us powerless, I think we should get it as soon as possible,” Darwin argued.

  “You seemed to handle yourself alright under the full moon,” I said.

  “I have a non-violent, physical outlet here. I am normally kept unconscious during the full moon. Of course, much of that is because I would likely hunt down and kill my fiancé otherwise.”

  “Are your parents like you?”

  “No.”

  Danger. I suddenly felt like we were being watched. More than that, I felt like we were being hunted. “We need to get back to the castle,” I said. Henry snarled and scanned the room. I didn’t see anything odd or anyone hiding behind the pots, but I knew something was there. “What do you smell?”

  “Nothing,” he growled. “And that infuriates my cat because we can feel that we’re surrounded.” He gestured that I moved away from the wall, so I went to stand next to Darwin. Henry paced a slow circle around us, looking for our enemy. I couldn’t see anyone standing outside through the clear plastic walls.

  “Where is it?”

  “Everywhere.”

  Darwin screamed and backed up into me, nearly tripping. I caught him by the back of his hoodie. “Something moved!” he yelled, pointing to a dark section of the greenhouse.

  With moonlight streaming through the roof, that side of the building shouldn’t have been so dark. “It’s the shadows,” I said. “Stay away from the shadows.”

  “Devon,” Henry said. I followed his gaze to the doorway, where shadows were spreading across the floor to block our way out. “We could really use some wizard magic here.”

  What defeats a shadow? Not fire, not bullets, and certainly not water. I pulled my penlight from my pocket, calmly, as if I wasn’t aware of the danger we were in, and casually clicked it on. It didn’t even vaguely penetrate the darkness, but that hadn’t been my intention. I considered what I had learned about magic. Focus, imagine, visualize, project, and will.

  I focused on what I needed— more light— and imagined the light growing brighter. I didn’t panic; I was actually calm. While visualizing the light spreading further and brighter from the tip of my small flashlight, I drew from the calmness and pushed away the sense of danger. I can do this because I am a wizard, and that’s what wizards do.

  It wasn’t heat that formed in me, but a sense of strength. Sentences I had read in Vincent’s book flashed across my mind. I couldn’t understand most of what had been in the book, but I could learn it apparently.

  The light on the tip of the penlight began to spread until it was too bright to look at and flooded the room. I closed my eyes for a moment until the light faded. The shadows were back to normal and my penlight was dead.

  “Shit,” I said, clicking it off and on. When it obviously wouldn’t turn back on, I stuck it back in my pocket. “Remind me never to try to use my phone for magic.”

  “Now we have to deal with attacks from shadows? This is ridiculous!” Darwin exclaimed.

  “That was not an attack; that was someone checking us out,” Henry said.

  “I’ll dig around in the council’s records and–”

  “Hunt is coming,” Henry interrupted.

  I sensed his presence a split second before the headmaster appeared out of the shadowed corner. “You should not snoop, Mr. Mason,” Hunt said.

  “Snoop? Me? I was talking about the council of the public pools, and by dig, I meant Google. Can’t be too careful with the pH balance.”

  “Devon, I need you to come with me. You two should get back to class. Kale can flunk you.”

  “He won’t flunk me, mate. I know what he did to Chamber’s–”

  “Mr. Mason, although I have no objection to you blackmailing your professors, I do not need to hear it.” He turned to address me. “Stephen has a problem and he has specifically requested to talk to you about it.”

  “Fortunately, I’m not a vampire, so I don’t have to answer to Stephen.” I didn’t feel very welcoming towards him or any other vampire knowing that Astrid had been in my room at least once since the start of the semester.

  “Stephen makes a much better ally than enemy.”

  “He’s a vampire; he’ll kill people just like Astrid.”

  Hunt sighed. “I hoped you overcame your prejudice.”

  John had hated vampires even more than me, and I really didn’t even know why. My hatred of vampires was because of what Astrid did to my parents, although that didn’t make it any less irrational. “I am gettin
g over it, but it isn’t a five-minute process.”

  “Then at least listen to what Stephen has to say. You need to see them as people. Yes, they need blood to survive, but there are good and bad vampires, just as there are wizards, fae, shifters, and humans.”

  “We should go with you,” Henry said, watching me expectantly for my instructions.

  “I’ll go. You two get back to class in case you have to skip later,” I said. Hunt made a sound, which I ignored. “Henry, get ready for what we talked about.” He nodded and I followed Hunt out. “Do I get to use my gun again?”

  “Only if you brought it.”

  Hunt’s SUV was already running in the driveway. “Is Alpha Flagstone driving, or am I?” I asked.

  “Rosin is still the acting vice principal until I can find someone I trust to take Rebecca’s place.”

  “Why isn’t Remy taking the position?”

  “She is unwilling.”

  “Don’t worry; I’m here,” Clara said through the open window. Her candy-apple red hair distracted me for a moment from the fact that she was in the driver’s seat.

  “I am not getting in a car that you’re driving. Move over. Where is Professor Nightshade?”

  “Asleep,” Hunt answered as Clara climbed over the console into the passenger’s seat. He got into the back seat and I got behind the wheel. “I left the key in my room,” I said, seeing it on the same key ring with my other keys in the ignition. “You were in my room?”

  “Well, Astrid was. I didn’t want to feel left out.”

  Hunt sighed. “Clara, you are exacerbating the situation.”

  I pulled out of the driveway and Clara gave me directions. Once we got onto the main road, Clara moaned and whined about me driving the speed limit. I ignored her. If we were in a major accident, I could die, whereas Clara’s reflexes would save her.

  * * *

  Two miserable hours later, we arrived at the vampire coven. The smartly-dressed Italian vampire from our previous visit was waiting at the door again and bowed at Clara as we got out of the car.

  “Your father is in–”

  “I know,” Clara interrupted, walking past him without looking at him. We followed her through the halls. The house was spacious with high ceilings, blank white walls, and sophisticated furniture. The blend between traditional gothic and modern was unique and exactly the kind of place I would never expect to see Astrid in. Part of me wanted to use my power to try to detect her. Fortunately, I knew better.

  She led us to the library, which still managed to impress me with the magnitude of books. Shelves packed with books lined two walls while a fireplace occupied most of a third. There was a large desk, two chairs, a couch, and a coffee table.

  Unlike last time, Stephen was sitting at his desk. “Logan, Devon, thank you both for coming,” he said as he stood.

  I finally realized why he looked so familiar when I first met him. Although he had black hair, dark brown eyes, and natural tanned skin, whereas Clara was fair skinned with burgundy eyes and dyed hair, there was a noticeable resemblance between them. I had recognized him from seeing Clara in the hallway.

  “You said there were murders,” Hunt said.

  Not again.

  “There have been attacks on my coven for the past two months and several of my vampires have gone missing. Last night, we found a scent and tracked it to a warehouse, where five of my men were strung up by their feet with their throats slit.”

  I knew vampires were too fast and strong for a human to do that. “Were they drugged?” I asked.

  “There are very few drugs that vampires are susceptible to, and Maseré couldn’t find any of them.”

  “Why does that name sound familiar?”

  “Maseré Mason,” Hunt said. “Stephen is the highest ranking coven master in the U.S., while Maseré is the highest ranking wolf alpha. He also has treaties with almost every tribe of fae in North America. He is a billionaire who funds dozens of scientific research and environmental movements.”

  “Darwin’s father,” I guessed.

  “Yes.”

  “Maseré sent some wolves to track down the rest of my missing coven members,” Stephen continued. “Whoever strung them up in the warehouse did so to three others the next day. The killer is not a vampire. Maseré didn’t smell a shifter, though, so we’re thinking it was a wizard.”

  “Or multiple wizards,” Hunt said.

  “Devon, I want to hire you to find the person or persons responsible for this.”

  “Why not use the wizard council?”

  “I have agreed that I wouldn’t kill them as long as they didn’t kill my men, but that doesn’t mean I trust them at all. Most wizards, from what I have seen, are in it for themselves. Logan and Vincent are two better examples of your kind. Of course, the council members are very suspicious of Logan because he isn’t greedy.”

  “Yeah, well, the council isn’t exactly fond of me, either, since they knew who my father was.”

  “No vampire would judge you on who your father was. We also consider the people who raised you to be your parents, not the people you were born to. However, vampires are private beings and most of us have dark pasts, so many will fear you for your power. The fact that you got your power from John Cross will not be well received.”

  Stephen and Clara both watched me, waiting for a commitment or rejection. I was sure Stephen was used to getting his way and it couldn’t have been easy for him to ask for assistance. He had probably been the master of his coven for longer than I had been alive.

  “I’ll help find the killer.”

  “Thank you. Logan?”

  “I have to run the school. Rosin has been cursing me so much in the last two hours for leaving him in charge that I am fortunate he is not a wizard.”

  How does Hunt know what Alpha Flagstone is doing at the school?

  “If he was a wizard, he couldn’t be your–”

  “Stephen, this is not the time,” Hunt interrupted.

  “Just find who killed my people. And Clara, you go with him.”

  “No,” Clara and I said simultaneously.

  Stephen shot a glare at his daughter, but she glared back at him. “How do you think it would look if I hire a wizard to do this alone when my coven is under attack?”

  “That you made a peace treaty with the wizards.”

  “It would look like I don’t trust my coven. You are going with him.” She didn’t argue again.

  I wanted to argue myself, but I saw his point. “Do you have any information? Last known whereabouts, hangout spots, suspicious interactions?”

  “I manage hundreds of people.”

  “There is a club that a lot of us go to,” Clara said. “I can show you.”

  “Then I will head back to the school,” Hunt said.

  “I’ll have someone drive you back,” Stephen told him. I remembered when Hunt used magic on the front gate the last time we were at the coven and made the car die.

  “No need. I will leave my car so Devon and Clara can drive themselves.”

  Ten minutes later, Clara and I were back in the SUV. Clara told me the way to the club, which was only about fifteen miles from the coven. Except for talking about the directions, neither of us spoke. I knew we should have been discussing our game plan, but the silence was more comfortable. My instincts didn’t warn me of danger.

  The club looked pretty vague from the outside; there was no sign, the windows were blackened, and the parking lot was set back across the street. I parked and we sat in silence for a few minutes. “How many vampires are in there?”

  “Normally, at least a dozen. There are also shifters, fae, and humans. Wizards typically stay away because their power messes with the electronics. I’m friends with the guy who owns this place. If anything weird has happened here lately, he’ll know. You can wait out here if you want.”

  “No.” Even if she was faster and stronger than humans, I was not useless in this. I got out of the SUV, locked it, and starte
d across the street. The door was new, which seemed odd when the building looked so rundown. The bouncer was huge, as they generally were, but he smiled kindly at Clara as we approached.

  “Haven’t seen you here in a while,” he said.

  “Yeah, I know. I’ve been busy. Is Drake in?”

  “He is, but he’s in a meeting.” He opened the door for us and noise spilled out. Purple and white lights flashed and rock music vibrated through the psychedelic-designed carpeted floor. People crowded every inch of space, either dancing or sitting in the booths that lined the walls. There was a stage, but it was empty. Clara led me to the back wall where there was a staircase leading over the stage and to a loft. It was quieter and darker, the booths were high-backed and private, and there was a guard.

  Instantly, I knew the guard was a shifter. As he crowded in front of us, I sensed something completely unfamiliar. He was a massive man at about six-foot-eight and around two hundred seventy pounds without an ounce of fat. His black hair was on the long side of average and his irises were black. The only thing I knew for sure is that I hadn’t encountered a shifter like him before.

  “He’s in a meeting, Clara.”

  “I have to talk to him about something more important.”

  “He’s in a meeting,” the guard repeated. His voice was deep, but not loud, as he was confident that he had the final say.

  Clara hesitated. “Come get me when he’s done.” She turned and I followed her back down the stairs.

  “Why didn’t you use your thrall? Or kiss him?” I asked.

  She scoffed. “First, I don’t kiss everyone. Second, Kevin is the last person on Earth I would kiss.”

  “That’s a little harsh. You don’t like shifters?” We stopped by the stage, which was the least crowded spot.

  “You couldn’t tell what kind of shifter he is?” she asked. I shook my head. “He’s a komodo dragon. They have over fifty strains of bacteria in their saliva. I don’t know how much of that is true for his human form, but that isn’t something I’m going to risk.”

  “How does that work? How does a warm-blooded person shift into a cold-blooded animal?”