“You think you’re going to wake up?” Luther asked me. “Like you can go back to your old life and it’ll all be some crazy dream.”
“Yeah, but I know that can’t be. Is that what it was like for you?”
“No, it’s different for celestials. We know what we are from birth and are raised as such.”
“Why are you on Earth then?” I asked, looking down at the street below. People were dressed up as witches and zombies, laughing as they ran between the houses yelling out trick or treat. “Shouldn’t you be in angel school or something?”
Luther let out a loud rumble of a laugh as he looked over at me. “Wow.”
“Well I don’t know anything about God or whatever. I’m not religious.”
“Things are different up there. Earth is…real. I had to get away from it all, from my responsibility. I don’t like conflict, but I also don’t like what my father wishes of me.”
“Your father as in God?”
He smiled, and I realised I really didn’t know anything about God or Hell or Heaven. I always skipped those classes.
“My father is not God.”
“Right.”
“What did you want to be when you grew up —you know, before all this happened.”
“I didn’t really know, but I always liked teaching. I was a student mentor at my human school. I liked guiding the younger ones that came through and I helped tutor a few kids in history.”
“You can still be one—you can even be one for the academy. A lot of the current staff were students.”
It hadn’t really occurred to me that I had a future, or what I could be once I graduated. I would only be a student for a few more months until I would be leaving school for good.
“You don’t want to think about it?” Luther asked.
“Question,” I said, hoping the subject could be changed. “If you’re an angel, why do you dress this way?”
I looked up and down at his black t-shirt and blank pants, his black hair that was slicked back, and the sides were shaved so it was only a little stubble there. He looked more like a goth rock star than anything else.
“I am a fallen angel, seemed a little on the nose to wear white.”
I fought to roll my eyes. “Why did you fall?”
Again, he smiled. “My father Fell and thus became a Fallen Angel, but I was born one.”
“Oh…so you wear black because that’s what you’re allowed to wear?”
“No, it’s a personal choice.”
“Shouldn’t you be in Hell?”
“We can come and go as we choose.”
“So there are heaps of Fallen up here?”
“Sure. It’s not like we have to sign in or whatever.”
“Have you ever flown anywhere just because you wanted to?”
“Sure. We usually do it on a cloudy night. Humans cannot handle the celestial. But I tend to disappear from Ravensbane a lot, against their wishes.”
“I would too if I had wings. I don’t think I’ve ever really travelled. I used to have a map on my wall, and little pins in the countries I wanted to see.”
“So you want to travel? You know I can help you with that.”
Luther pulled his phone from his pocket and sighed when he read a message. He pocketed it again and got off the ledge. “We gotta go. They’ve noticed you’re missing and Ianthe is worried.”
“Funny how she can act like a worried mother now.”
“I can’t pretend to understand why she did what she did, but I can tell she does care. Maybe she thought she was doing what was best at the time. Even if that’s the case, you can mad at her in person but also safe.”
“Yeah…right.”
Luther helped me off the ledge and I held onto his waist as he lifted us off the roof and flew us through the clouds and over the bright city lights. As we headed back to the countryside, I couldn’t help but feel scared and annoyed. I was enjoying my time with Luther on that rooftop, it was helping to talk to someone who wasn’t forcing me to reveal my true nature—whatever that was.
“Uh, Elke, stop whatever you’re doing,” Luther yelled to me through the wind. He was losing his grip on my waist and we were going through what I could only call turbulence.
“What do you mean?”
“Shit, we’re too late.”
“Late for—” I screamed as we plummeted down to the woods below us.
Chapter Seven
Elke
“Luther!” I yelled out as I stumbled through the trees in complete darkness. The sounds of birds and creatures scattered in the trees above me, setting my nerves on edge. “Luther!”
When I’d fallen, Luther was nowhere to be seen. I had no idea why we had fallen but he seemed panicked just before we did.
I continued to walk through the woods, hoping I would see the end soon. I knew we had been close to the academy when we fell, I’d seen the large tower that towered above the rest of the building just before things got bad.
After stumbling a few more times, I saw a light up ahead. Since I was in complete darkness, it was easy to find. I headed toward it, only to see it was a window of a cottage in the middle of the woods. It looked like a fire was burning in there. It was cold out here, and I could feel my body was shaking, and not from shock. I could wait out this damn night in solitude, find Luther later, after all I was sure he was fine on his own.
I ran up to the cottage, and climbed the two stairs until I came to the door. It looked like it was locked with steel. That’s odd. Everything in me told me to run but I couldn’t go back out there. I put my hand on the handle to the door and waggled it but it didn’t move. I closed my eyes and summoned everything in me to force the door open. A warmth spread down my hands and fingers, making them tingle. I opened my eyes and saw everything in a different colour again.
What the hell?
I waggled the handle again and this time, I heard a snap and the door opened. I stepped into the warm cottage and saw the fire burning away in a stone fireplace.
“Hello?” I called out, the colour in my eyes turning back to normal. At least I was getting a handle on my powers to use them properly. “Hello? Is anyone here?”
I moved around the small room. There was a chair by the fireplace with a table and a book on the side. A bottle of whiskey, half empty sat unattended. It was homey and I wondered who could possibly live in the middle of the woods.
I heard something from behind me and turned to see a familiar face, looking pained.
“Stig?”
His eyes were red, and he had a look on his face as if he were fighting an inner demon. He gripped onto the door frame, his knuckles white.
“Get out.”
It came out as a growl rather than a request. I was propelled toward him, unable to figure out why I needed to go to him, but I did. His eyes became wide as he realised just how close I was.
My body needed him. That was all I knew and that was why I was still going toward him.
“Elke, go,” he wheezed out, his own demand weak.
I put my hand on his arm and a zap shot up my arm and down my spine. I had never felt so much electricity between myself and another before. I needed him in a way I’d never needed anyone before. He put one hand on my face and the other kept its place on the doorframe.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, weakened still. “You need to go…but I don’t think I can—”
I looked up into his beautiful crimson eyes, the pull was intense. I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t look away. Stig was all I wanted, all I needed.
He seemed to relax a little more, and that was when I was completely pulled into him. He cupped my cheeks with both of his hands, and I gripped onto his waist, needing to be as close to him as possible. I could never break from him. Never be apart from him. I didn’t think I loved him, and yet I couldn’t be away from him.
Stig lowered his head and gently kissed my lips. His lips were soft, and warm, inviting and comforting. His tongue licked out and massaged mine, slowly.
Heat ran up and down my arms, my legs and my back. The insane tingling sensation was sending me into a whirlwind of dizziness, but he held onto me. I could feel him, inside of me, all around me, encompassing me. I was dizzy because of him. I was completely at one with him. All I could think was I needed to be as close to him as possible, I needed to be with him in every way.
“Stop!” I heard someone yell but I couldn’t pull away. Stig had me, body and soul. “Elke, pull away, you must. He’s feeding on you.”
I could hear the familiar voice, the one who had saved me earlier, the one who I had felt completely safe with earlier and I shoved myself back, pulling from Stig. He came for me again, a hungry look in his eye.
“Look down,” Luther told me. He held Stig back and I looked away from his eyes. Suddenly, the unbreakable desire I’d had just moments ago was gone and I felt sick. What the hell was that? “Go outside, Elke. In the cold air, it will help you.”
Stig growled, but Luther kept him away. I kept my eyes low and I stumbled outside. The cold air hit me hard and cooled my burning cheeks. I felt weak as if I’d not slept for days. Luther joined me and pulled the steel door shut, holding the handle there and jamming it into the side of the cottage. Stig was in the window, screaming, a sharp pitch of a scream like he’d lost something and wanted it back.
“What the hell, Luther?”
“He’s a succubus, I thought he’d told you that before.”
“But why couldn’t I control myself?”
Luther sighed. “It’s the pull of a succubus. Complete desire. He will be back to normal tomorrow.”
He picked me up, and launched off the ground, flying us over the treetops and toward the academy doors. Ianthe was standing there with a man I’d never seen before. Luther landed just in front of them and I looked over at the man who looked familiar but I couldn’t place it.
“We were worried,” Ianthe said. “I’m not upset you left, I just think you’d be safer here.”
She looked over at Luther. “You should have known better.”
“Hey, I saved her from Tiger who was about to maul her to death so you’re welcome.”
“I just want to get back to my room now,” I said, feeling anxious and nauseous at the same time.
“You feel angry,” the man said. “There’s a pain inside of you that won’t quit, isn’t there?”
I’d never told anyone that before. I nodded.
“You can control it, you know. You can ease it out of you when you need to, or you can turn it into power.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Hold your hand up, aim it at that tree down there. Now, channel the power and throw it at the tree.”
For some reason, I did what he asked. I turned to the woods again and located a tree. With a shaky hand, I held my palm up facing the tree. I was scared because I thought nothing was going to happen, and everyone would be disappointed. Like I was a golden child that had no special powers. Closing my eyes, I thought of the pain somewhere in the pit of my stomach and wanting them gone, I thought about Stig and his power over me, controlling me, I thought of Ianthe calling me back here when I didn’t want to come back. I thought of every bad thing that had happened to me recently. Suddenly, I felt heat travel from my abdomen to my palm and power shot out of my hand toward the tree.
I opened my eyes and saw a stream of fire erupting from my hand and yet it didn’t burn me. The tree was set alight and I stumbled back, hitting Luther who held me up. The man held his hands up and a blue light erupted from them, hitting the fire and putting it out.
“That’s good, you have a lot of power inside of you, I can see why you’re confused.”
“Who are you?” I asked him.
Ianthe stepped up, closer to him. “Elke, this is Dallas. Your father.”
Dallas smiled. “It’s nice to officially meet you.”
“Wait…I know you from somewhere. We’ve met before.”
Ianthe looked from me to Dallas, confused. “You have?”
“You think I wouldn’t sense my own blood, Ianthe? I felt her close by a few years ago. I knew I had a child out there. It wasn’t the right time to meet her though.”
“You were that guy who helped me with getting home that night I had snuck out. The guy in the Porsche.”
Dallas nodded. “I knew right away you didn’t know what you were and that the powers hadn’t manifested but I knew it wouldn’t be far off. I’m sorry for the bad things that have happened. You should have been safer here.”
“I made the decisions based on how I thought would be best.”
“Enough,” Luther yelled, breaking the fight between my parents. “She’s tired. She needs to sleep.”
He pulled me up against him and flew me up over the academy to the roof. He carried me through a stone door and up a steep flight of stairs until we came to a room, at the top of the tower. It was a basic room, but I knew it was his.
“They won’t find you here, no one knows where I sleep.”
I felt thankful but I couldn’t say it. I had no energy left. Luther laid me down on the bed and pulled the quilt up over me.
“Rest, Elke. We can talk in the morning.”
“Don’t’ leave me.”
“Never,” he said, smiling. He sat down next to me on the floor, and held my hand as I drifted off to sleep.
Luther
Why was this girl so different to the others who came here? Why had I chosen to protect her?
Questions I knew I would never get the answer to. She was utterly breathtaking, her beautiful brown hair cascading over her shoulders, her pale skin was almost like porcelain. There was a power in her that scared her and it was starting to worry me. She was an Oracle, and he was an Elemental. They are two powers that shouldn’t be mixed. The last person who had both had been power-mad, killed for trying to take out the Queen.
The Queen would want her eradicated. I couldn’t let that happen. I would kill the Queen if it ever came close.
And as scary as that thought was, I knew I would. That was the power she had over me, but it wasn’t a power she was controlling. It was something else, something deeper.
Elke was scared.
Who wouldn’t be in this situation, but she had every right to be scared. Something dark was coming, and if she didn’t learn her powers and soon, she’d be at risk and I knew it destroy her.
I sat beside the bed, my wings aching to me stretched and flown, but I pushed against the wall, squashing them as much as I could. Goddamn things. The way she’d looked at them, I knew she wanted to touch them and for the first time ever, I’d wanted someone to touch them.
Shit. What was Elke doing to me? And without even trying, she’d turned my dark and bitter heart into one of yearning. I needed her in a way I’d never needed anyone and it was turning me into a sap.
Listening to her soft breathing, I tried to get some rest.
Stig
The Next Morning
I opened the doors to the food hall. Palmer and Maura were there, eating at their table. My mother sat at the teachers table, her face in a book. There was no sign of Luther or Elke. Tiger strolled in after me, looking worse for wear.
“Hungry?” she asked me. I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to admit that to her. Students weren’t supposed to feed off one another. I feigned interest in eating and we headed to the food bar. Tiger piled her plate full of food, and I grabbed a couple of eggs and bacon and we headed to the closest table.
“How’d you fare?” Tiger asked me.
“It was boring,” I lied. “Same thing every year.”
“I got out of my holding cell,” she said. “I don’t know how but I did.”
“That’s impossible. Those locks are infused with wolfsbane.”
Tiger shrugged.
“Did you hurt anyone?”
“I don’t think so, but I do remember feeling really excited at one point. I woke up in the pool area.”
That was strange. Wolves tended to steer clear
of water. Why would she lay down there to rest? I was about to ask her what else she remembered when the doors opened, and Luther strolled in with Elke at his side. I remembered how he had overpowered me last night and got her away. It made me angry at the time, but I was thankful he had. I could have easily drained her. The power inside of her was immense, and intoxicating. I understood why succubi sought out elementals now, and probably why they were so rare.
It hurt me to see her with him though, probably a lasting effect of having her pulled from me last night, but I didn’t want her to trust him. He couldn’t be trusted. They headed to the food bar and she loaded her plate as did he. They joked and laughed as they sat down on another table. I’d never seen Luther so at ease.
“Hello?” Tiger waved her hands in front of my face.
“Sorry, distracted.”
“Yeah, obviously. Nice to see the two freaks getting to know each other.”
I rolled my eyes and bit into my bacon. I was uneasy, a bit of envy settling at the bottom of my stomach, turning my saliva into acid.
“How did you get out of your cell?” I asked.
“I have no idea, but I did. I had a look at the lock, but it doesn’t look scratched or anything.”
“Someone must not have infused it.”
“I doubt it, you know how diligent these measures are around All Hallows’ Eve.”
She was right. The measures were taken for every hiding place for each of us. Truth was, Tiger didn’t have to lock herself away, but she chose to until she could control herself a little more. She would have requested the wolfsbane be placed in the lock days prior to last night which meant someone had tried to cause chaos. The last time this had happened, a chaos trickster had been a student and he’d gotten a student killed. It was frowned upon, and the punishment was harsh.
“What are you thinking about?” Tiger asked.
“Do you remember when Traxys was here?”
“How could I forget?”
“He was banished when he caused that student’s death. Last night felt like he was back.”
Tiger sat back in her chair. “He’s in prison.”
“What?”
“He’s in prison, I looked him up to see what had happened to him a few years ago and he was imprisoned for what he did here.”
All Hallows' Eve (Ravensbane Academy Book 1) Page 5