by Lan Chan
The mage leaned down close to the vampire. “You remember the deal,” the mage said. “Cooperate and your sentence will be reduced. Try anything and you will be burned to a crisp.”
That explained Fred’s presence. As a light mage, he possessed the ability to mimic the effects of the sun’s rays. In another lifetime, he could be a lean, mean, vampire-hunting machine. Instead, he’d almost been afraid of his own shadow. There was that pang of sympathy again. I shook myself.
“The Dominion guards have kindly organised for a demonstration,” the professor said. “I want each of you to square off against the vampire. He will try to compel you. I want you to show us how well you can resist.”
He walked a couple of paces away from the direct line of the vampire and drew a cross with some yellow chalk on the concrete. Then he drew a straight line in the centre distance between the vamp and the cross. “If you walk past this line, you failed.”
There was a rush to the front of the room. I gladly conceded to their enthusiasm. The first one up was a Dominion Academy girl. When the vampire locked eyes with her, I expected nothing to happen. After all, she should have been training for this her entire life. At first, she remained standing with her arms crossed over her chest. I was surprised when I saw her grit her jaw. Her brows furrowed. She took a step forward, halted, and then the other foot joined the first. A soft hum of red light licked around her form. It cemented her in place.
The professor clapped his hands. “Very good, Brea,” he said. “In that amount of time you could have counteracted.”
Brea let out a breath and smiled wide. Her classmates clapped her on the back when she stepped away from the centre of the room. As more and more students tested themselves to varying results, sweat gathered down my back.
I had to clear my throat a couple of times when it was Chanelle’s turn. She’d traded in her dress for a pair of dark blue jeans that looked painted on her. Her blouse was poppy red with a ruffle on the collar. If that wasn’t an enticement for a vampire, I didn’t know what was.
When the vamp turned on his compulsion, she immediately walked almost up to the point of the line. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was only when she got close that something snapped inside of her. Strands of green-and-yellow angelfire wrapped around her body. I squinted as I watched something else, something foreign suppress the yellow light until she glowed a forest green.
She took another step forward. The professor twitched. Fred raised his hand close to the vampire’s forehead. Timing was everything with supernaturals. They were so quick that a single mistake could cost everything.
“I think that’s enough, Miss Laurent,” the professor said. There was a soft murmur of distress from her friends as Chanelle returned to them. They flocked around her like she was a delicate princess, not a sea witch in disguise.
Evan and I were the only ones left. He peered at me with slight concern. “You go,” I said, trying to buy time.
Evan didn’t move an inch against the compulsion. In fact, at the very end, he took a step back. I hadn’t expected any less. I’d seen him conjure fire and throw it around like confetti. That didn’t make it any better when it came time for me to humiliate myself.
“If this morning was anything to go by, this should be interesting,” Chanelle muttered. Thanks to supernatural hearing, everyone heard her. She hadn’t done very well but she still had the nerve to goad me.
“Try your best,” the professor said. “Humans are naturally more susceptible to compulsion. But you can learn to give yourself a couple of seconds’ grace.”
A few seconds to either haul ass or pull something else out of my bag of small tricks. I blew out a breath and planted my feet on the cross. We weren’t supposed to use ancillary powers. As much as I itched to draw a circle, I kept my arms plastered to my side. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but the vampire’s head suddenly leaned forward in the gurney. Fred took a step closer to him.
Our eyes met over the vampire’s shoulder. Still no acknowledgement. When the vampire grinned, I forced my concentration back to the task at hand. His hard, black eyes shone as though they were wet. A trickle of cold spread through my chest. It raced along my veins until I was frozen to the spot. This wasn’t so bad. If this was the extent of the compulsion, maybe I wouldn’t humiliate myself. The second I allowed my guard down, the vision invaded my mind.
The walls of the prison melted away to reveal a grassy field beneath a heavily clouded sky. My ears filled with the ravenous keening of demons. They pushed and shoved at each other to be at the front of the line of assault. In the near distance, the supernatural army positioned themselves against the demonic horde. I drew a circle out of instinct.
Where the clouds gathered most densely, a group of vampires stalked forward. At the front of the line was Sasha, his glamour dispersed to reveal the red globe of his irises. As always, I found my attention riveted to the sky. I swept the area for signs of the Nephilim in their golden armour.
A monstrous roar ripped through the field. My frozen heart stammered. I felt it beat weakly through the cold. A lion the size of a truck appeared in the middle of the clearing. Its golden mane fanned out in sharp relief against muscles straining with power. The demons beside me scrambled to charge. They tore flesh off each other in their enthusiasm. But they were kept in place by something.
“This one is for you, Alessia,” Lucifer spoke in my ear. I turned my head to the left and there he was. His voice had been mercifully absent from my mind ever since I’d commanded he get out. But now he stood atop the shoulders of the demons, his blisteringly white wings stretched out in all their glory. I shielded my eyes from the unholy sight of him. Yet I couldn’t deny his offer.
Swinging Morning Star in my grip, I stepped forward. Unlike the Nephilim, I wore no armour. On somebody my size and strength, it made no sense. It would only hinder me in battle. In his lion form, Max gouged the ground and ripped layers of dirt from the surface. His lips pulled back into a low growl that showed six-inch-long teeth. He had every intention of sinking those teeth into me as I picked up speed. He pounced and came charging towards me.
In the distance, somebody frantically called my name. I kept running. With each step the world became less solid. It flickered in muted tones interspersed with the bright flare of the Ley dimension. I was phasing. Max’s muscles bunched. I read his intention to catch me mid-air. If I allowed him to pin me, I would be dead in a second.
But I was beyond the realm of being hampered by shifter strength. When his paws would have made contact, I became incorporeal. With his chest exposed, I flicked Morning Star until the demon blade was lined up in the right angle. And then I shoved it forward through his chest, right into his heart. The roar that tore from his throat was more raspy than bellowing. It sounded off. But that didn’t stop me from twisting the blade until I felt his heart stop.
15
Laughter cackled around me, but it didn’t belong to Lucifer. A light so blinding it had to be a direct ray of sunshine pierced through the cloud. I winced and covered my eyes. Heat radiated through my circle, but it didn’t burn as badly as it would have if I wasn’t protected. When had I drawn a circle? My legs gave way. I sat there ensconced in my hedge magic and blinking my eyes.
Little by little, the light faded. So did the vision. I was back inside the prison. Dozens of dazed faces, including the professor’s, stared back at me. Evan was beside me, his chest heaving, and sweat pouring from the crown of his head. I sat on the failure line the professor had drawn. I turned to the vampire and found half his face melted. He sported a grotesque smile. I could see directly through one side of his face.
Next to him, Fred’s hands glowed with light magic. I guessed the blinding light had come from him. But it was the look in Fred’s eyes that said it all. Gone was the prisoner conditioned not to feel, and in its place was the Fred I had known. And he was looking at me like I was the devil incarnate.
He wasn’t the only one. Nobody besides Evan
had moved an inch. I let go of the circle. He dropped down beside me.
“Are you okay?” he asked. I stared up into his ashen face.
My eyes watered. I couldn’t get my throat to work. My mind kept replaying over and over again the moment when Morning Star had pierced Max’s heart.
After another few seconds, the bell rang. What terrible bloody timing. Nobody moved despite the clarion call. It was only after the mage and Fred prepared to wheel the vampire away that the professor managed to compose himself.
“Right,” he said. He was visibly shaking. “That was unfortunate.”
“That was demonic,” Chanelle snarled. “She’s a danger to us all. She should be locked up in this place!”
Evan helped me up. “It wasn’t real,” he said.
“Maybe not this time!” one of Chanelle’s friends countered. “How long are we going to let her roam free while we wait for her to betray us?” There was a collective murmur of agreement.
“That’s enough,” the professor said. He opened up a portal right there in the classroom. “You’ve got other classes to attend.”
With many scathing glares in my direction, the students left. Eventually it was just Evan, the professor, and me. Though he didn’t say anything, the stern look on the professor’s face was a pretty good indication of what he was thinking. Without a word, Evan guided me through the portal. His grip became tight the second we entered. It was as though the shadows were waiting for me. We hung in suspended animation for longer than five heartbeats. Enough time for me to feel the pulse of darker energy behind the patched-together forcefield that kept this dimension intact.
When we finally materialised on the other side, Evan was visibly shaken. We landed in the middle of the quad. The other students were already disappearing.
“Did you see that?” I asked him.
“See what?”
“There was something in there with us.”
His expression was tired but blank. “Isn’t that why you’re so exhausted all of a sudden?”
He gave me a small smile. “I’m exhausted because I tried to get you to lower your circle and couldn’t get through. It was like history repeating itself.”
I knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but it missed the mark. The second warning bell rang. “Thanks for having my back,” I said.
“No problem.” He paused. “It was just a compulsion. Don’t let it get to you.”
That was exactly what Professor McKenna said to me in the middle of Potions and Alchemy. The fact that she of all people had heard about it meant that it had spread through the Academy like wildfire.
The only thing I was grateful for was that Sophie wasn’t in this Potions class anymore. I couldn’t deal with her right now. How could I look my best friend in the eye and explain that in a prophetic vision, I had killed the man she loved.
That was all well and good except the victim himself cornered me on my way to meet Giselle. Max ambled past the newly relocated kitchen garden. He whistled to get my attention. My legs immediately redirected me around the walled garden and through the path towards the infirmary. I should have known better than to try and outrun a predator. For a second, I thought maybe I had lost him. When I turned the corner towards the building where we had Weaponry and Combat, I ran straight into his overly muscled chest.
The sound of his rumbling laughter was not at all comforting. Everything about him was suddenly too viscerally real.
“I hear you’re going to be the source of my untimely demise,” he said. He leaned against the white stones of the walled garden. I felt my vision blur.
“Aww. C’mon, Lex. It was a joke.” He hauled me against his chest. It was every teenage girl’s wet dream. But it was the last place I wanted to be. My mind continued to play tricks on me. It told me he wasn’t breathing when in fact I could feel his chest expanding.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kai’s voice bit out from behind me. I shoved away from Max and swiped at my face. I swallowed hard. Both of them were stunned into deadly silence when I lowered my head and burrowed into Kai’s side. I tried my best to stifle the tears. It resulted in my jaw clicking. Kai wrapped his arms around me, his voice soothing.
“It’s okay, Blue,” he said. “It’ll take more than that little stick of yours to pierce his thick hide. His skull alone could be used as a wrecking ball.”
“I can give you a demonstration if you’d like,” Max said. He imitated pawing the ground like a raging bull. He turned his head towards the wall and huffed. Steam actually puffed from his nostrils which had reshaped into a furry nose in front of my eyes. For a second there, I thought he might actually charge at the wall.
“Don’t,” I said.
Kai pressed me to his side. Now that I was past the point of breaking down, I flinched. His lips flatlined. “I guess she’s back,” Max said. He gave me a quick hug. The only acceptable kind with Kai present. “Next time just stake the bloody vampire. Nobody would care if you take out a criminal.”
I swallowed as he left. Kai brushed the last of the moisture from my cheek. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “It was so real.”
“Compulsions normally are. That’s why they’re so dangerous.”
I screwed up my face. “If it was a compulsion, why did everybody else see it?”
“He’s a criminal, remember? Did you think he’d play fair? If you weren’t inside the circle, who knows which of those mages might have tried to stop you.”
Right then I knew Evan had lied to me. He hadn’t tried to stop me from building the circle. He’d been stopping anyone outside from trying to kill me.
All of a sudden, I was so weary I didn’t even react when Kai grabbed me again. He kissed the top of my head as the prophecy attempted to tell me that I would one day kill both him and Max. A shimmer of green fluttered over my skin. It burned away the lingering doubt inside me.
“Anyone who knows you would never in a million years believe that you would betray us like that,” he said. “Sophie’s already tried to punch one of the girls in your class for spreading the rumour.” And just like that, he cut through to my innermost fear. I could handle being the freak for everybody else, but I couldn’t be the one to hurt Sophie.
“Really?”
“How do you think Max found out?” He trailed his thumb along my cheek where my tears had dried. “Still, the next time I turn a corner and he’s touching you, I might kill him myself.”
I laughed aloud. “You’re an idiot.”
He grinned at me and my heart just about stopped. I knew then that he was wrong. Chanelle might spout all kinds of rubbish about the blood vow, but beneath it all, she definitely had feelings for him. How could she not?
“I’ve got training,” I told him as I tried to walk away. He followed me.
“If you can call it that,” he said.
“Why aren’t you leaving?”
He peered down at me while we walked. “Did you think I’d just leave you there with Giselle after what she’s done?”
It would have been sweet if I didn’t think he was really just there to see how badly I was going to get my ass handed to me. He wasn’t the only one.
“Hey, Lex!” Charles called when I pushed open the door of the Weaponry and Combat classroom. Luther was with him. So were Sasha and Roland. Not to mention half the bloody kids from my year level.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“Nothing,” Charles said. “We’re allowed to visit the senior campus this semester on account of the games.”
I stared at all of them and it dawned on me. They were here to gauge whether I might win the games so they could make their bets accordingly. “Get lost,” I said.
He and Luther fell about laughing. “I mean it!” my voice was becoming shrill. “Scram.”
“It’s a free academy!” Charles said. I turned to Kai, hoping he would do his scary room-clearing thing, but he had stormed off to where Giselle and Matilda were conversing on the mats.
“I know what you’re doing!” I hissed at them before moving away as well. Giselle paid no heed to anybody else in the room. She barely paid me any attention either. She did, however, deign to give Kai a skin-peeling glare. It was the most expressive I’d ever seen her.
“Your presence is not necessary,” she said.
Kai smirked. “What’s the matter?” he said. “Doesn’t this feel like old times?”
For a second, I blinked and she wasn’t fully there. “G,” Matilda said.
Giselle materialised again. The hard line of her jaw said it all. If not for the fact that they were now at a disadvantage, I imagined she’d go back to trying to murder the Council. I thought of the blood vow hanging over Kai’s head. For a second, I hoped she’d do it.
“Thanks for helping me figure out how you do that,” Kai said. I didn’t think Giselle could get any scarier, but her eyes became wintery. “If you so much as make a move to hurt her, I’ll finish what I started.”
With that, he stalked back to where the others were congregating around the bleachers. We would need to have a chat soon about his penchant for threatening everyone who breathed in my direction. If the look on Giselle’s face was anything to go by, he was doing more damage than good.
The point was proven half an hour later when she’d put me on my back on the mat for the hundredth time. She shoved her knee into my solar plexus. “Have you just been allowing the Nephilim to threaten all your adversaries?” she snapped. “If this is your idea of fighting, you might as well forfeit now.”
She dug her knee in. I gasped. Her arm lifted. For a second, I thought she might elbow me in the face. I flinched. The look of disgust she threw me was vastly more hurtful than the hits. “I thought you said you trained her,” Giselle bellowed at Kai.
He simply shrugged. His focus was on me lying there on the mat like I’d been trampled by an elephant. Everything hurt. It made me realise how easy the supernaturals had been on me. They must have all been pulling their punches big-time. Giselle wasn’t the soft type. Every one of her hits connected with ferocity. She didn’t allow time for me to get used to the pace. Either I stepped up, or I got beat down. And boy did I get beat.