by Devyn Jayse
The woman opened her mouth to speak, but before she said anything, the man reached for her face. She turned back to him and my senses returned to me.
I did the only thing that made sense.
I ran.
Fifteen
The boy at the front desk looked surprised when he saw me. "You still have time. There was no need for you to run all the way back."
I imagined my face was red from all the huffing after sprinting for blocks. "That's okay," I gasped. I walked past him to the stairs leading to the bedroom wing. There was only one person I trusted to tell. I went straight to Beatriz's room and knocked. A distant "Come in" prompted me to push open the door and enter.
Beatriz had moved from her bed to the balcony. She waved me over.
I stepped outside and sank into the seat across from her. She frowned at my huffing and placed the book she was reading in her lap. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Still trying to catch my breath, I shook my head.
"Is it Leire?" she asked.
"No, it's nothing to do with her." I had forgotten about Leire. She was the last thing on my mind.
"Something happened while you were out?"
"Yes," I said.
"Do I have to drag it out of you? Tell me! What happened?" She sat up and leaned forward.
"I think I saw a vampire being killed."
She blinked at me. Of all the things that she had expected me to say, I don't think that was one of them. "You what?"
"I think I saw a woman kill a vampire," I repeated. It was important that Beatriz believed me.
"Where?" Beatriz asked. Her eyebrows were knit together.
"In an alley on the way to the park."
"Did you tell anyone?"
I shook my head. "And I'm beginning to wonder if he really was a vampire."
"What do you mean?"
I shrugged. "I had seen so many different creatures. I wondered what a vampire looked like and he seemed to fit the type."
"What type?"
"He was quiet and dark-haired."
She looked at me incredulously. "Really? That describes half the people in this program. Actually, that describes most of the people under this roof."
"I don't know. All I know was I started following him and when I thought he had disappeared, suddenly I saw him being stabbed by a woman."
"Who was the woman? Was she a supernatural?" Beatriz asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know. She just looked like a woman. Beatriz, she saw my pendant."
"What happened then?"
"I ran."
Beatriz tilted her head. "Do you need to go the infirmary?"
"What? No, the woman didn't get me."
She bit her lip. She struggled to say something.
"What?" I asked her.
Her voice was gentle. "Do you think you being knocked around earlier may have led to you seeing this?"
My mouth dropped open. "You think I'm imagining things?"
"Not imagining, but maybe you didn't see what you thought you did."
"Maybe I was wrong coming to you."
Beatriz flinched. She held up her hands. "I'm just saying, your story sounds a little far-fetched."
I stood up, my hands clenched in fists. I was angry. "I know what I saw."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm glad you got away. I think that was the best thing you could have done."
A choked laugh came out of my throat. "What about enemy combat?"
"Running is better than enemy combat and self-defense. I don't care what they say." Beatriz smacked the book in her lap for emphasis.
"Well, it seems that I'm excelling at running today. Actually, scratch that. I forgot to tell you that I crashed into the Enforcer."
"What?" Beatriz squealed. "You did what? And you didn't tell me about that? What was he like? What did he say?"
"I crashed into him, I didn't have dinner with him." I found myself unwilling to mention that he had pulled me into his arms and carried me like a baby. "Running into him felt like I ran into a wall. He literally knocked the breath out of me."
Beatriz's eyes sparkled with laughter.
I ran my hand through my hair. "Never mind him. What am I going to do about the vampire?"
"Nothing," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you do nothing, you say nothing. For all they know you didn't see anything." She shrugged.
"Are you sure?" I bit my lip. Not telling anyone seemed worse than running away.
"You're already in trouble for what happened earlier. Do you want to draw more attention to yourself? They might single you out as a troublemaker."
I thought about Beatriz's words and the fact that I hadn't entered the program due to my interview, but because Christopher has interceded. She didn't know about that, but she had a point.
I gnawed on my bottom lip.
"What about the vampire?" I asked again.
"Remember, we're on the side of the shifters, so technically one less vampire is good for us."
"That doesn't sound right."
She shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure this out. It's scary, so stay away from the scary things, okay?"
"Yes, you're right. This whole thing is incredibly scary." I looked out at the view beyond the balcony. Beatriz had a good vantage point of the park. I could almost imagine people watching me. The hair on my arms stood up as I imagined the supernaturals that might lay beyond. We sat for some time until Beatriz said, "Actually..." She hesitated.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I changed my mind. Maybe you should tell them. I was wrong about them thinking you would be a troublemaker. Guillen wouldn't think that. I don't want to give you bad advice. Will you tell them?"
"I'll think about that." She didn't know that Guillen had been one of the ones who hadn't wanted me to join the program. This might give him the reason to kick me out. If there was anyone I could talk to, it was Christopher, but I hadn't seen him since that day.
"No, really I think that the advice I gave you earlier was wrong," Beatriz repeated.
"I'll tell them tomorrow," I lied to her. Beatriz didn't know who "them" was.
"Tell them," she insisted.
"I will."
Sixteen
I left Beatriz's room, still feeling spooked. I opened the door to my room and frowned when I attempted to close it. The door appeared stuck. I pushed at it and it swung shut with a slam. I turned the lock and walked toward my bed.
I went to the bathroom. As I washed my hands, I stared at my reflection in the mirror. So much had happened. My mind was still thinking of what I had witnessed. I padded outside. I took off my charmstone pendant and stared at the fire that seemed to blaze within it. I put it away on my desk and began to take off my shirt.
"Please don't do that. It will make things awkward."
I almost jumped out of my skin. I spun around.
A woman with short, dark, curly hair leaned against the door, arms crossed against her chest.
"Who are you?" I stood and grabbed the closest thing to me to use as a weapon and held it in front of me in warning. Unfortunately, it was just my charmstone amulet.
The woman uncrossed her arms and stepped forward, bringing her face into the light. I stifled a gasp. It was the woman from the alley.
I waved the amulet front of me. "Don't come any closer!" I warned her. I walked backwards around the bed as she moved closer to me.
She paused and raised an eyebrow. "Or what? You'll hit me with a necklace?"
I grabbed the Code of Conduct book from my desk and threw it at her.
"Hey!" She frowned and rubbed her arm where the book had hit her. She bent down to pick it up and turned it over to read the title. "Oh, I've read this one. It's good reading. Every rule break results in death. You shouldn't throw books around." She set it down on my bed and I froze, confused by her calm demeanor.
"Aren't you here to kill me?" I asked.
"No, why would I do that?" She ap
peared genuinely surprised.
"You killed that vampire in the alley."
"Yes." She didn't expand upon that.
"Why?" My curiosity got the best of me.
"It was his day." She ran a hand through her curls, shaking them loose.
"How did you find me?" I pulled the charmstone amulet over my head, tucking it under my shirt.
"Suspicious type, aren't you? Well, that keeps you alive so don't forget. Don't trust anyone. Anyways, I saw the charmstone and I know they're limited. I asked around and found there was a new batch of kids in the program. It was relatively easy."
"That was pretty fast," I said.
"I've got connections. Now, I'm just going to cast a little spell to make you forget what you saw."
"Why? I won't say anything." I backed farther away from her.
"The people I work for don't like having witnesses. If I don't do it, they'll come after you. Trust me, it's better this way." She snorted at her own line. "Okay, I know I just told you not to trust people, but trust me on this one."
"I don't want you to put a spell on me." I backed up until my back hit the wall. There were two exits to the room, the door and the balcony, and she was in my way for both.
"You don't really have much of a choice. I could wait until you're asleep and do it then, but I try not to be so sneaky."
She waited patiently as I thought about my options. I knew she was a killer. If I refused, there was a chance that she could kill me. It would be best for me to cooperate. It would also solve the problem of me having to report to the dragon shifters. I can't report something that I couldn't remember.
My resolve solidified, but I needed to set conditions. "You promise you'll only erase memories of what happened in the alley?"
"Yes," she said.
"Fine." I moved forward to the bed and sat down.
She approached me swiftly and removed her dagger from her jacket. I closed my eyes and heard her drop the dagger on my nightstand. I opened my eyes again. Her expression was amused. "I'm not going to kill you. I could do that quietly without all this fuss."
"Go on then, get it over with," I said through gritted teeth. I hated the idea that my memories would be altered, but I didn't want more supernaturals to come after me.
"My name's Aisha. What's yours?" she asked suddenly.
"Vanessa." I wondered why she was telling me her name if she was about to remove it from my recollection.
"It helps if you relax when I work this spell." She laughed at the expression on my face. "I'm not a mind-reader but I can see how tense you are."
"How did you find me if you didn't know my name?" I still wasn't buying her explanations of following the charmstones.
"I'm very good at tracking people." She raised her hands and placed them on my head. I flinched and looked up at her but her eyes were closed in concentration. I wondered how long this would take.
Aisha frowned and opened her eyes. "Are you wearing a magicked item?"
My hands pulled out my pendant from under my shirt. "Just this."
"Take it off," she commanded.
I complied with her request.
She took the pendant from me and examined it. "This is beautiful. Dina's a true artist."
"You know her?" Was that how she had found me?
"She's a friend." Aisha turned the pendant over. "You must love dragons if you signed up to be around them all the time."
Aisha reached a hand out and placed it on my head again. A look of concentration came over her face. After a few seconds, she rocked back on her heels.
"What is it?" I couldn't decipher the expression on her face.
"I thought it was the pendant, but it's not."
"What's not? What are you talking about?"
She hesitated, her eyes studying me.
"Tell me!" I insisted. Whatever it was, I could handle it.
Aisha pressed her lips together. Reluctantly, she spoke up. "You're a witch."
"What?" I recoiled. That was the last thing I had expected her to say. "No, I can't be." I remembered what the gargoyle Mateu told me about supernaturals not being allowed to be in the program.
"You’re a witch," Aisha nodded slowly, her expression grim. "Just wait until the dragons find out what they’ve brought into their castle..."
Thank you for spending time with Vanessa and company. Please leave a word or two on Amazon or Goodreads to let others know what you thought of the story. Your voice is important and determines whether a reader picks up this book or not.
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Want to know what happens next? Pick up Hidden Power, part two in Vanessa’s story.
If you’re intrigued by Aisha and want to know more about her, she has her own adventures in Supernatural Slayer.
Acknowledgments
Without the love and support of my parents this book would not exist. No thanks are ever enough, but thank you all the same.
To my friends - Alanoud thank you for your constant words of encouragement. To the others, thank you for tolerating my absences because I was writing or editing or reading or…
To my readers - You are amazing and you have no idea how much your kind emails brighten up my day!
Thank you to Patience Uhlman at 29 Pilgrims Editorial Services. The book is better for your services. Any errors found within this book are my own.
Thank you to Andrei Bat for the awesome cover.
Last, but not least, I’d like to thank you for making it all the way to the end of the story. I hope you enjoyed Vanessa’s adventures enough to see what happens to her next.
About the Author
Devyn Jayse is an author of fantasy and magic novels. When Devyn is not jotting down ideas in her journal for her next project, you’ll find her planning her next travel getaway.
For more information:
www.DevynJayse.com
[email protected]
Also by Devyn Jayse
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Immortal Blood
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Must Love Dragons Series
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Hidden Power
Thirteen Rules
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Magic Rifts
Dare Valari Series
A Sword of Fortune and Fate
A Sword of Shadows and Light