Phoenix Rising

by Cara Carnes

  “You can’t do that.”

  “Watch me.” I shoved her away from me. “Get the hell out of here.”

  “That was entertaining.” Lane smirked as he and Logan approached.

  “I feel for the Alpha who lands with her.”

  “She needs a firm hand and a few lessons.” Logan shrugged. “She’s bangable.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind and send her your way next time she comes sniffing around.” I sat at the desk and leaned back in the chair. So much for a quiet Saturday morning. “What’ve we got on the agenda today?”

  “I went through the messages while you were dealing with Stacy. ROAR left a message, and someone from your father’s house called, but there wasn’t a message.”

  “Great.”

  “He pressuring you to take over?”

  “Yeah. Shit’s hitting the fan with a couple of the neighboring packs, and he doesn’t want to deal with it any longer. Since one of those packs is Stacy’s, he figures I need to deal with it since I cock blocked his grand plan of uniting our packs through a mating.”

  “That probably didn’t settle well with either of the old men if they’re anything like mine. That generation is all into tradition and shit.” Lane sighed. “Sucks to be you, man.”

  Ignoring his comment, I pressed the speaker of the phone beside me and dialed the ROAR hotline. I hadn’t expected answers to my questions this quickly, but they always amazed me.

  “Macen, it’s always a pleasure.”

  I laughed. “Somehow I doubt that, but you are very kind to say so. I hope you have good news for me.”

  “I’m afraid we’ve hit a few roadblocks. The blood test results were somewhat anomalous, so the lab is rerunning with a new sample. I’ve also contacted the Paranormal Enforcement Agency for their input into the situation in reference to the dean’s placement of her within Demonia-controlled land. I’m afraid our hands are tied until I hear back from them.”

  “I was hoping we could resolve the situation locally.”

  “Me, too, but the school board doesn’t want to go on the record with this one, Macen. The precedent could prove very detrimental to the university in the future. From what I can tell, the pack she was with is quite influential—deep pockets.”

  “Not in the mood to play university politics on this one. Help me out here.”

  “We’re working on it. Until then, the university is increasing patrols around Ruger Hall and setting up welfare checks for Riletta.”

  “Our moves might make things uncomfortable for her at Ruger. I don’t want her dealing with the backlash. I don’t want her scared. What’s the big deal about her residing here at Wolf Hall for the interim?”

  “Prince Drecor has assured me no harm will come to her.”

  “That doesn’t mean shit since the prince is never there to rein in his hellhounds.”

  Lane and Logan nodded their heads, their grim expressions matching my mood. Time was running out, and this discussion had me remembering what was to go down Friday night. One way or the other this shit had to get sorted.

  Call waiting beeped. I sighed. “Gotta go, another call. Thanks for the help.”

  “We’ll get this handled, Macen. Don’t worry.”

  I clicked over to the other call with a growl of frustration when I saw the caller ID register my father. “Yes?”

  “Mace.” The sniffled reply was barely audible.

  I leaned forward, too aware of my thudding heart and held breath. Clarissa never called me. “Hey, sis. What’s wrong?”

  “You need to come home. M-Mom and Dad…they….” She gasped weepy air and sniffled. “Mace, they’re dead.”

  Chapter Six

  Riles

  Some evil bastard was trying to kill me. It was the only explanation I had for the Sahara-worthy dryness of my mouth and the incessant sledgehammer battering my brain into mush. Nausea kept me still as I blinked the room into focus. Thank God Vira hated the sun. If just one ray hit me right now, I’d probably die.

  Why the hell had I bothered to survive last night? Maybe I didn’t. Every muscle in my body ached, and I was pretty sure the shirt I had on wasn’t mine. Or Vira’s.

  “Finally. I was starting to think you weren’t gonna make it.” Vira stood over me with an amused smirk. “Get a move on. Group starts in fifteen.”

  Group. I tried to think but winced as the pain in my temples increased. Okay, I didn’t need to understand her. Obedient minions never require a brain. A groan escaped me, and I tumbled out of bed. Pain shot through my knees; my stomach roiled.

  “You puke near my bed, I’ll make you lick it up.” Gross. The threat made the rumbling worse. Vira grabbed my arm and hauled me into the bathroom, slamming me into a worshipping position in front of the toilet. “Next time, you listen to me, princess. Lemon drops are not your friend.”

  I wasn’t drinking ever again. Memories of shot after shot as I valiantly defended my blatant stupidity in a fucked-up game called “Around the World” assailed me. I’d stood no chance since the focal point of the game was Demonia. What the hell had I been thinking?

  “Lookit, you got street cred with the newbies around here for trying to fit in, but your ass is on the radar with the upper classmen. That’s fucked up, princess.” Vira turned on the water as I purged my gut. She sighed and yanked my hair back with a bit more force than necessary. “I get your need to fit in, but it ain’t ever happening. The sooner you sort that shit in your head, the happier I’ll be. And you want me happy. Trust me. A pissed Vira is never good.”

  I suspected any Vira was never a good thing, but silence was golden in this situation. Someone had shoved a year’s supply of cotton balls down my throat. Vira secured my hair in a loose pony tail at the base of my neck.

  “Here. Drink.” She yanked my head up. The gruff tone brooked no argument. I watched her as I gulped water from the glass she held. When the contents were gone, she stepped back. “You’ll live.”

  As I waited for the imminent round two of nausea, I realized my life had changed somewhat dramatically the past couple of days—most of which was thanks to Vira. She’d taken me on as a pet project because she “didn’t trust any mangy, wet mutts to do things right.” The mutts in question were Macen and the other wolves. I wouldn’t be sharing her thoughts with them anytime soon.

  “Why are you doing this?” When she glared back at me, I clarified. “Helping me.”

  “I always wanted a pain in the ass little sister. I figure you’re as close as I’ll get. Don’t worry. I’ll make it worth my while in the long run. I always do.”

  She’d make a good big sister. I envied her kick-butt persona more each day. I’d been working on channeling my inner Riles, that courageous spitfire Macen seemed to think lurked beneath the surface. Being around Vira made finding that part of me simpler, almost instinctive at times.

  She was freaking awesome, but I wouldn’t share that with her. She wouldn’t want me to. My gratitude would remain unspoken because that was the way cool people like Vira did shit. It was one of the many things I’d learned over the past few days, thanks to my new adaptive process. Watch. Listen. Learn.

  “Change. We’ll grab a coffee and muffin at the coffee shop on the way to group. They don’t like people being late to that shit, so make sure you’re on time.” She flung a pile of clothes at me and left the bathroom.

  Okay, apparently I was going to group—whatever the heck that was. A few minutes later, I was tooth brushed, spit polished, properly deodorized, and somewhat clothed. I resembled something the hellhounds had dragged in from the gutter, but I was mobile and shoed in sneakers the moment I left the bathroom.

  Vira sneered at my footwear a few moments. Clearly, bargain bin tennies were a faux pas for a shoe fiend like her. Her closet groaned under the weight of her designer fetish. I settled my gaze on today’s stilettos of choice—red leather flames that seemed to lick her ankles. Cute. So her.

  Totally kick ass.

  A backpack landed
in my arms. She tugged me into the hallway and slammed our door shut. “You aren’t a morning person.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m not a person at all today.”

  “You’ll get used to it. The first hangover’s always the worst, and those lemon drops are potent. They use Demonia liquor, which is like two hundred proof.”

  “Good to know after the fact.”

  “Told you that shit last night, princess. You just didn’t want to hear me.” Vira chuckled. “I bet you will next time.”

  “There won’t be a next time.” I cringed when we exited the building. The sun’s rays battered my eyeballs. “Oh, geez.”

  “Here, use these.”

  I snatched up the sunglasses Vira offered with swift gratitude, which seemed to make her more amused. Yeah, I was pretty damn pathetic this morning. Fortunately, the line at the small Demonia coffee shop was nonexistent—probably because all of them were smart enough to still be passed out in the dorm.

  She handed me a large coffee and a muffin of questionable origin. I didn’t want to know what made this coffee shop different from any of the other “normal” ones. Sometimes not knowing was the best route, and I was relatively certain I would be paving that bitch highway as my own by the time Vira was done mentoring me.

  “Now that you’re awake, gotta say a couple of things while we’re outside of Ruger. We keep this shit between ourselves until we come up with a plan of action. Feel me?”

  I nodded like a good pupil as we made our way to wherever we were going at a rigorous pace. The list of questions I had for her was growing, but I figured I’d keep adding on until she seemed to be in the mood to handle my naivety. Today wasn’t that day.

  I wasn’t sure that day would ever exist, but whatever. One thing I’d learned long ago was that it was sometimes easier to stumble around and figure stuff out on your own. You could stay under the radar that way.

  “Last night, you fell and cut your arm on a glass table. I got to you first, patched you up.” Vira halted and waited until I was staring directly at her. “Your blood burned me. It tasted like honey.”

  Wait. What? “You ate my blood?” Ewww.

  Obviously, there were facets of our budding friendship I wasn’t prepared for. My roomie chowing down on my blood like I was din-din was at the top of the list. I blinked a couple of times, assessing my ability to outrun her if the situation got anymore awkward. Of course, I had nowhere to run to, but I’d figure that out when the time came.

  This was me—the new Riles. Sorting shit out as I went, not letting the fact I knew no one and had nothing get me down. I would look whatever the problem was straight in the face even if it was my blood-thieving roomie. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “That shit pumping through your veins is serious, and I’m a little fucking pissed I’ve gotten dragged into it. Dealing with what it probably means puts a serious damper on my existence.”

  “What does it mean?” I ignored the whole discussion about her eating my blood. To hell with it. She’d digested my fracking blood. “And excuse the taste. It wasn’t like I invited you to dine on me.”

  Freak.

  She’s half vampire, you idiot. Of course she’s into blood.

  A shudder escaped me as I glared at her. “Don’t take my blood again.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, her lips upturned into an outright grin. “Damn. You do have a spine after all. This should be interesting. All I know is you are serious trouble—the kind we can’t even talk about until I figure out what our options are.”

  “You’re making no sense.” I sighed my exhaustion as the sun battered my patience. Shifting the backpack to my other shoulder, Prickles of unease streamed along my spine. “Do you know what I am?”

  “You know who my dad is, right?”

  I nodded. He was some head honcho for the Vampire King—aka Vira’s first cousin, or something like that. He was the main reason everyone gave her a wide berth. He was more than a little protective of his only child.

  “Well, Pops has been around for quite a while and been just about everywhere as ambassador. So have I.” She sighed heavily and looked around. When she saw no one around us, she continued, her voice lowered. “There are a lot of legends about the way things used to be. Centuries ago, there was another dimension that oversaw this world and Demonia. Two factions of beings existed there—angels and phoenixes. I need to talk to Pops, but I think you might be part one of those things. Your blood isn’t right. I’ve tasted just about everything in existence, and you’re different.”

  All righty, then. Unsure what to do with that huge dump of what-the-frack, I nodded. “Interesting.”

  “You don’t get it. Creatures from that dimension are the only things capable of easily killing any other species in existence. They could destroy entire factions with a mere thought.”

  Wow. I so wasn’t that.

  “I see that look. You don’t believe me. You don’t need to. All you need to do is keep your mouth shut about this and not let anyone mess with your blood in any way. Once I hear from Pops, we’ll figure it out. Okay?”

  “Okay, but ROAR already has my blood.”

  “That’s okay. They’re probably the only ones we could trust right now. Besides, it’ll take weeks for them to move on anything. It’s the start of the school year, and they’re probably overrun with issues.” Vira continued walking. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. In the meantime, you can check out the legends and folklore section of the library. There’s lots of info on that world in the Demonia section on the top floor.”

  The library. The missing puzzle pieces tumbled into place. Group study for Business Math. Vira had arranged for me to sit in with some of the first year demons, vampires, and hellhounds. Apparently, Demonians were killer math whizzes.

  “You know, I’m not sure they’ll let me into the library. They didn’t let me past the receptionist’s desk last time I tried.” I’d been desperate for a computer. Apparently, reports and papers were supposed to be typed, not scrawled on notebook paper.

  “We’ll get you sorted.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. That was always Vira’s response, and somehow, like Macen, she always managed to sort it out. The brief thought of Macen filled me with nervousness. I hadn’t heard from him since….

  My face heated. My pulse raced.

  “Don’t. I told you not to think about him when we’re out,” she growled. “They can smell your arousal.”

  I swallowed and looked around, thankful few people were milling around outside the massive library as we made our way up the steps. Unease made my steps falter. The shrill woman behind the desk had been quite rude the last time I’d tried to enter. Then again, she’d been nice the other three times before that.

  I pressed closer to Vira when she paused to wait for me. Maybe I could slide in behind her, and they wouldn’t say anything. Over the past couple of days, I’d figured out very few people said much to her. She was as much an outsider in the Demonia sector of the campus as I was in the shifter sector. That’s probably why I wanted so badly to be more like her, adapt myself to her style of handling situations.

  The turn-style door crunched us closer. My pulse flailed as I tried to take a few deep breaths to calm the anxiousness now bursting within me. I hated confrontation more than anything.

  “Hey.” She turned and squeezed my arm the moment we exited the claustrophobic nightmare of a doorway. “I’ve got your back, Riles. No matter what shit I may give you, we’re tight now. Okay?”

  I nodded. My rattled nerves settled. I wasn’t alone anymore. I had a friend. I had more than one friend if I counted Macen. “Thanks.”

  “Let’s do this.” Vira walked to the desk, and I inwardly winced when the shrill woman’s narrowed gaze landed on me like lasers from a sighted weapon.

  “Miss Riletta, while I admire your tenacity, I’m contacting campus security. Perhaps the dean could get you to understand you are not welcome in this building until you have the proper i
dentification.” She picked up a phone.

  “Seriously?” Vira asked. “It’s a library. What’s she going to do? Research you to death?”

  The woman’s mouth pursed as she honed her beamed gaze on Vira. “I fail to see how this is your concern, Miss Aradi. Perhaps you should leave security measures to me and head to your floor. I believe many of your kind arrived a while ago.”

  “Well, my kind can wait until I have my girl sorted. Now, what identification is it that you require for her to walk into a building my father paid for? Perhaps I should have him discuss these security measures you are undertaking with the University Board. We wouldn’t want to tax you with such a high level of responsibility.” She pulled her phone out and started pushing buttons.

  The woman lunged toward Vira, her upper half leaning over the counter. “That won’t be necessary, Miss Aradi. I’m sure we can handle this one situation amongst ourselves, given the circumstances. It is a shame to make Riletta wait for all the red tape on her identifications. And, like you said, it’s just a library card, right?”

  Vira pocketed her phone and flicked an impatient gaze across her nemesis. “Certainly. Perhaps for future reference, you will recall this situation and handle other students in this predicament with a bit more care. And, by the way, her name is Riles, not Riletta. There’s a huge pack of wolves that’ll get pretty irked if they see that name on her card, and, believe me, those meddling mutts know everything when it comes to her.”

  The woman blanched. Her fingers trembled as she tapped the keyboard. “Of course, I wasn’t aware she was affiliated with them. What last name am I using?”

  I’d mentioned, the first couple of visits, that I was at Ruger Hall, but would more than likely be relocated to Wolf Hall soon. “I don’t have a last name.”

  “Use Giordano. We might as well cut through the bullshit and call it like it is.”

  The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh, my. Well, okay, then. Giordano, it is. Once again, my sincerest apologies, Miss Giordano.”