Bloodwood Academy Shifter: Semester One (Bloodwood Year One Book 1)

by Rae Foxx

  "Bait...that could work." One of the figures sat back in his chair and I fisted Howl's shirt, trying to figure out what was going on, and why my wolf was ready to go bat shit crazy on these people.

  A noise behind us startled me and I turned around to come nose to nose with Nicky. "Speaking of bait."

  Chapter 24

  Nicky's voice spiraled through my veins in ribbons of ice, everything moving slowly as we all turned to the darkened stairwell behind us and the woman who was clacking her way down like a demon.

  The black robes that smothered her, tails billowing behind her like smoke only helped with that. Her eyes peered from beneath the hood, her spider-like fingers lowering it to stare at us like some kind of hungry feline.

  Wolf, I reminded myself.

  "I had smelled something sour in my office," Nicky crooned, shoes tapping loudly as she slowly descended the last few steps between us. "I never would have thought it was you. Such lovely company you keep."

  She looked from me to Howl, to Saxon, and then to Scarlet who I could have sworn was whimpering. Ninja skills or no, I don't think any of us expected this.

  "I believe I have found a solution to our problem. Ivy has arrived," Nicky called to the evil plotters behind us, still walking forward. Her hands were out now like she was herding us. Nice.

  Two wolves, a fox, and a vampire come to slaughter.

  I didn't know much about vampires but seeing as Saxon looked as terrified as Scarlet did, I had a feeling I was missing something.

  ‘If she attacks you, shift.' Howl's voice rattled in my head, tensing my nerves further.

  Well, duh, it's not like I can fight her with my lame ass human hands. I kept that thought to myself. He already knew I couldn't take Nicky and whoever her caped buddies were in this spindly human form. Wolf-me, however, was ready to rip some throats out.

  Good thing I had that skill down.

  "What the hell does that mean? Who the hell is bait?" I blurted with a booming voice, desperate to distract Nicky from whatever she had planned, which probably included my head on a stick or some shit.

  Considering she had tried to barter Pater for the ‘use of my blood' before I doubted I was that far off.

  That alter in the middle of the space was starting to look more frightening. The fact that the bloodstains were becoming clearer the more Nicky pushed us into the room was not helping.

  "What are you doing?" I asked again, stumbling over my feet as I tried to fight between charging Nicky and pulling against Howl and Saxon who seemed far too content to walk into this whole bait situation. "What do you want from me?"

  This time I got an answer, or rather a slimy smile and a laugh.

  "From you?" Nicky said, her laughter dying down. "We want nothing. I mean, getting you out of the way would be nice, but you're simply a means to an end. Oh no! Wait..." She paused, chuckling. "Did you think you were important? That's cute."

  My feet slipped against the suddenly slick floor, the tiles that surrounded the altar thing damp, as though they had been washed.

  Washed but not well.

  The deep grooves of runes and symbols that were carved into the ground hadn't been cleaned at all.

  Those were still a bright red.

  "I must be at least a little special seeing as you wanted to use me as bait" I mumbled, still looking at the runes, as though I had paid enough attention in class to know anything passed "Ehaz" or was it "Inaz"? God, I didn't know. Probably better that I didn't, they were already terrifying.

  "Only special to one." That time the voice came from one of the other hooded figures behind us, the cackling woman's' voice more laugh than not.

  "You are worthless." A different voice, this time male. "But he is not."

  "He?" I asked, trying to turn toward the voices behind us, and immediately tripping. Thankfully Saxon caught me, his face even paler than usual as he stared at one of the cloaked figures, the tallest of the creepy worshipers moving right to us.

  "Yes," the woman snarled, her figure the shortest of them all. "He means nothing to you. I am sure you will be glad to see him go."

  I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what nonsense these devil worshipers were spewing, but was coming up empty. I had no clue what they were smoking, but it must be mighty fine. I should ask if I could have some seeing as I was their bait and all.

  Yep. Totally rolled my eyes.

  "Well, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll pass and leave you to keep doing whatever nonsense you are doing." I had completely lost the ability to sound stern. My voice was shaking, Howl was growling, Saxon looked about ready to pass out, and Scarlet was shaking behind us as though she was cornered by a snarling dog.

  Oh yeah. She was.

  "I don't see how you have much of a choice," Nicky snarled, finally stopping her herding to stand before us, right on the other side of the runes.

  Away from all of the hooded figures who had stopped on the other side of the tiles. As if they couldn't cross. As if they were scared to.

  Well, shit. This didn't bode well.

  The four of us were huddled in the center of the room, the alter behind us, the smell of bleach so strong that it was giving me a headache. The winding thing grew worse as the smell they had been trying to hide hit me in the face.

  Blood. Virgin, witch blood, my wolf told me, I wasn't about to ask her how she knew that. The alter, the blood, all of it, was twisting in my stomach.

  We needed to get out of here. I only knew one way to do that.

  "There's always a choice. Us trailer trash whores know that better than anyone." I said wrapping my hands around Howl and Saxon's, ready to make a run for it. Saxon felt like an immovable ice block against me. Even with one step forward, the guy didn't move.

  Fine, I would drag this guy out of here if I had to.

  A cackle left Nicky's mouth. "Well, what about the guy who left you there."

  Her smile stretched, her hand dipping into her robes to pull out a carefully folded piece of ivory paper, the thing stained, singed, and smelling like home.

  "I believe this is what you were ransacking my office for?" She shook the paper, letting it fall open to reveal what was clearly a birth certificate.

  My birth certificate.

  Although why my birth certificate was going to answer all my questions I had no clue. We came here to find out if my parents were shifters, vampires, witches, fae or some illegal combination, which I had assumed was in my file handwritten onto some ancient scroll or some shit. I highly doubted the certificate was going to say ‘Mother: Super Witch.'

  Even from here I could make out their names. Ivory Potter and Oliver B. Potter.

  I stared at it with my mouth hanging open, still trying to figure out what she was on about.

  "I know, I was as shocked as you, Ms. Potter," She misinterpreted my expression. I let it go, took a step back, squeezing my guys’ hands it what I hoped was the start of a silent plan to get the hell out of here. "To think, I thought when I picked up your trashy ass that you would be useful. You will be, but not as I had hoped. Your blood will serve more purpose than you ever will. It will pool on the floor and spread through the world. Daddy will come running to save the thing he so foolishly tried to protect… What a shame. He's already too late."

  "Wait. You want to hold me as bait to get my long-lost father to come and save me?" I shook my head in disbelief, Nicky was still smiling. I turned to Howl and Saxon, but the guys were staring at the paper, still slack-jawed. "What the hell is going on?"

  I froze as Nicky tossed the paper my way, the heavy thing drifting and sliding through the air until it landed on my feet, the corners soaking up the last of the blood on the floor.

  It was then I saw what everyone was staring at. Not the names, signatures. Both of which did not match the typed names above.

  Ivory Potter signed, Ivory Junius

  Oliver B. Potter was signed simply, Oberion.

  Oberion.

  I knew that name,
they had only mentioned it half a dozen times in class. That dude that was in love with a witch, the dude who became the first werewolf.

  "What the fuck?" I hissed as Howl growled, Saxon shushing us as a tiny pop warned that Scarlet had shifted. Her red fox streamed through the quickly advancing figures like a dart. I probably should do the same, get the hell out of here, but I couldn't move. I stared at the signatures of the certificate like a turd, jaw hanging open.

  "Let the weak shifter go," Nicky said to the cloaked figure who had made to take off after Scarlet. "Let's get her to the dungeons--dispose of her so-called mates."

  With a twisted smile, the three behind us sprang to action. The tallest of the figures, the one Saxon had been staring at with a horrified expression, went right for him, moving so fast he was like a black blur.

  As fast as he was, however, Saxon was faster, the two instantly streaming through the room like smoke, hissing and biting as swiping at each other. It was clear they both had training.

  Okay, I guess we were fighting our way out of here.

  The shortest of the three was behind me before I had regained full use of my brain cells, a smell of rotted flora washing over me as aged hands grabbed at my wrists.

  "Don't touch her," Howl warned, instantly shifting to his wolf as snapping and circling at the other two cloaked figures. The short one cackling, as the other one snarled.

  ‘A witch. A shifter.' I turned toward where Saxon was still battling the tall guy, the hood of his cloak having fallen away to reveal skin as pale and sallow as my mates. ‘A vampire.'

  They resembled ballet dancers that I'd seen on the public access channel one time. They were all swishing snapshots of hisses, teeth, and creamy white skin. Honestly, I couldn't tell which one was winning, if one was winning at all.

  ‘Yes,' Howl answered as he continued to snap at the laughing witch, nearly grabbing her before she darted away and sent something that looked like fire his way. He barely dodged, but not before the scent of singed fur hit my nose. ‘Judging by the smell in here a Fae, and a Mer have been here in the last week.'

  "What the hell?" I said aloud, Howl's short laugh echoing in my head as Nicky stepped closer, finally stepping over the line of runes. I could have sworn her eyes glimmered with a bit of red.

  ‘Focus, baby,' Howl scolded, finally grabbing the witch in his jaws, he shook her once and sent her flying. She only cackled and stopped herself mid-flight, not even fazed by the dark blood that was dripping from the gash in her side. ‘We've got to get you out of here alive.'

  "We have to get us all out of here, alive," I said under my breath, refusing to look away from Nicky and the other shifter who were trying to box me in.

  ‘Fight past those two and get up the stairs. We'll be right behind you.' I could tell a lie when I heard one, but I wasn't about to call him out. I had bigger problems, like the fact that Nicky was now advancing on me, licking her lips like she was going to eat me rather than strap me to the alter or some shit.

  Damn. I needed to get out of here. I knew only one way to do that.

  I shifted.

  Black fur bristled everywhere, my wolf instantly lunging and growling at the pair and sending the second figure stumbling. His hood slid off his face, revealing a slender nose and smug expression that near-perfectly matched his daughters.

  Selene's dear old dad was on the side of evil. Figures.

  The man was looking at me with rage in his eyes. It was no wonder why. Even in my wolf form you could see the still healing bite marks from when Howl had mated me.

  ‘Jackson,' Howl’s voice rumbled into my mind, I guess Selene's father had a name.

  Jackson growled and stalked toward me and I took a few steps back, soft paws padding over the blood-soaked stone as the guy shifted into a brown and white wolf, the thing small and thoroughly unimpressive. Well, until he moved.

  The fucker was small and so fast that I lost track of him, my massive wolf twisting and snapping at him as Jackson tried, again and again, to dig his teeth into my side.

  I jumped to the side as he lunged for me, my teeth flashing toward him in what was meant as a strike. Before I made contact, he was gone, twisting to the other side of me so fast that my wolf could do little the stop his teeth sinking into me.

  I growled at the burn of teeth against flesh, pain rippling through my spine. It hurt, but not as it had with the gorilla. Not like when Pater tried to punch my face in.

  The guy hadn't bit down. He had only bitten me enough to break the skin, to shock me with pain, and give Nicky a chance to get up close and wrap her arms around my neck.

  Even in human form, the bitch was strong. Her arms were tight bands of iron that twisted over my neck, cranking bones and throat so tightly that I was stuck against her.

  That I couldn't breathe.

  "You stupid wolf," she hissed in my ear, my wolf giving out a whine as she tightened her arms, as my vision speckled and my legs collapsed underneath me. "You need to get it out of your head that you are worth anything to this pack. That you are worth anything to him."

  She tightened again, twisting around to where Howl was fighting the witch and the wolf, Saxon battling the vampire who was getting the upper hand now.

  My wolf gave another whine. Both men turned, the moves foolish as their attackers slammed into them. Both Howl and Saxon fell to their knees, the image moving in slow motion as everything faded.

  "You're worth more dead than alive," Nicky hissed in my ear. I couldn't even make a whine come now. "Your father was a fool for making you."

  Everything dipped to black, the sounds of Howl and Saxon and the whine of my wolf playing on repeat as my brain ached, my throat burned, my lungs screamed for air.

  But it was me, in the dark, Nicky's words on repeat in my head, melding into something different.

  "We were fools thinking we could do this. That we could keep her safe." It almost sounded like my mother, but my mother from before. When she was healthy, happy, and not strung out all the time.

  "We are not fools, Ivory," a voice I hadn't heard in nearly a decade returned, the memory burning my heart more than the lack of oxygen. "We deserve a life like everyone else. We deserve to love, to create--"

  "At what cost?" my mother returned, an image slowly shifting through the dark of my subconscious, the images pulling through the nothing like twisted bands of smoke. Everything smeared and shifting as though it can't quite solidify.

  As though I couldn't quite remember.

  "She will carry on such things, Ivory," Oberion said, grabbing the woman's hands before she pulled away, going back to cleaning a kitchen that looked to be destroyed by some kind of explosions, black smoke marks were everywhere, counters were cracked, glass covered the floor.

  It was then I knew what I was looking at. The night my dad left.

  "You leaving will not save us, Oberion." My mother whispered, pausing her cleaning, her back was still to my father. "It won't change what she is."

  "Yes, it will. It will make her normal. Human. I will make sure of it before I leave. She will never know what power is inside of her, neither of you will."

  The memory vanished in a swipe of smoke, Howl's screams of panic echoing through the darkness. I barely heard him, only my father's words rang through me.

  The power inside of me.

  The rumbling burning power inside of me.

  It was as though it had been waiting for that moment, for that memory, for that look from my father to come alive.

  Even though the world was dark, the oxygen gone, my wolf screamed.

  She screamed with a howl that rocked the underground cavern.

  I pulled away from Nicky, my teeth clamping into her arm.

  Chapter 25

  Blood sprayed over my tongue, the warm fluid deliciously warm and salty. The taste was great, but not as wonderful as the scream that broke through the underground cavern. Nicky screamed in pain as I bit her, as I shook my head and pulled at the limb and her until she looked
like a rag doll in my maw. Everyone turned at the horrifying sound, at the warm blood that dripped over everything. Everyone but Saxon and the Witch, both of which took the opportunity to strike.

  Saxon jumped onto the back of the pale vamp, his hands cupping the man's head as he screamed and pulled and something that looked like sand dripped and poured from the flesh of his neck that was ripping apart like a piece of paper.

  The image was horrifying. I turned away from the sand, dropping a screaming Nicky to the ground in time to see the Witch dip her finger into the residual blood that lined the runes on the floor and smear it against the side of Howl's head. The red was horrifying against his white fur.

  It was then that he began to scream.

  The wolf twisted unnaturally, the creature snarling and howling and whining in an unearthly sound. A sound that was pain in its truest form.

  It ripped through the air, it bled through the stone and lit a fire through my spine as if I could feel the pain myself. I was right there with him.

  ‘Mate.' My wolf growled, the beast taking control and kicking Nicky so hard that she slammed into the opposite wall, before lunging across the cavern and going right for the Witch.

  The wrinkled old woman laughed maniacally as she spun her hands, Howl's body twisting and writing against the stone in the same rhythm.

  Bitch was going down.

  Saxon left his vampire attacker to take after the woman, same as me, the vamp gasping and "bleeding" as he crumpled to the floor. Saxon hadn't quite finished the job, but we had more important issues.

  The witch was laughing, mumbling and dancing all over the floor. Jackson's wolf made an effective bodyguard as he lunged and snapped in an attempt to keep us back from the old woman, and the long dark stairs behind her.

  "Want to save your wolf, little half-breed?" The woman sang in a voice like cracked china. "Surrender yourself to me. All I need is your blood. Just a drop or twenty and I will save your friend. If not…" She twisted her hands, Howls wolf making that horrifying sound as he writhed, the same pain accosting me. I bit back my scream, knowing that Howl couldn't hold on too long.