by Lan Chan
I heard footsteps. His wings fanned out around us. I leaned into him. He wrapped me in his arms, pulling me closer and turning so that I was obscured. Stupid Nephilim jackass and his stupid overprotectiveness. I knew he hated having to steal moments with me. But I continued to feel exposed being with him, so he made himself lesser to make me comfortable. And of course, I thanked him by picking fights I probably couldn’t win. Bloody hell!
When he broke away, I could barely breathe. My fuzzy brain registered that the first warning bell had rung. I glanced up into his heavily shadowed face. His eyelids were half-masted. “I’m not apologising to those Fae,” I said. “But I’ll try not to die between here and my next class.”
He exhaled slowly. The frustration radiated off him in waves. The second warning bell rang. “I have to go.”
Without waiting for a response, I tore away from him and across the lawn towards Herbology.
Kai wasn’t kidding when he said he was stretched thin. I didn’t hear from him all weekend. By the next Tuesday, I was starting to worry a little. He never went this long without checking in. Had that idiot Fae really kicked up a stink? Was Kai trying to handle it without me knowing? I would strangle that Fae if I found out that was the case.
I spent the morning worrying and was two minutes late to my first Exorcism class. My concern was alleviated when I pushed the door open and found Professor Mortimer in front of the classroom.
“Sorry, Professor.”
He nodded at me but didn’t say anything. I scanned the room for an empty seat and wanted to curse aloud. Not only was Brigid sitting in the corner with her minions but there was a potential serial killer next to the only empty desk.
“Alessia,” Professor Mortimer said. I jumped and made my way to the desk. Andrei tracked my every move. How do I play this? There was no way to react that he wouldn’t take as me being creeped out by his presence. What in the world was he doing in this class anyway? The answer presented itself when Professor Mortimer turned his back to write something on the board.
Andrei leaned over so that he was bare inches away from me. The room was one of the smaller ones we had at Bloodline. It was the same one Peter used when we occasionally had to be in the classroom for some theory. Andrei dropped something on my desk. It was smaller than my palm and scrunched in plain notebook paper. I hadn’t even seen his hand move.
Professor Mortimer turned back around. “Okay, class,” he said. “I understand many of you have already been out in the field to observe an exorcism. You would have seen by now that the circumstances really do depend on the demon in question and also the host. Who can tell…”
I didn’t really hear the rest of what he said. The thing on my desk moved. It was barely perceptible, but it happened twice more. It took me a while to place what it reminded me of. By then, the blood had seeped through and was soaking the paper. I turned my head to glare at Andrei. His attention was fixed to the front of the class as though he was listening intently. I didn’t buy it for a second.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction, I sat there and forced myself to concentrate. It was difficult. I was pretty sure I had a still-beating heart of some poor creature on my desk.
“…there are many ways for this to happen,” the professor said. I didn’t have the slightest clue what he was talking about. The others had opened their textbooks. I eyed the page of the girl to my left and took my textbook out of my backpack. That presented another problem. The beating heart was smack in the centre of the table. There was no room for me to open my textbook.
My magic bubbled in the pool. I took a deep breath. What was the protocol here? Was I meant to just sit here meekly and take this shit?
While I contemplated my next move, Andrei raised his hand. “Mr. Popescu?” the professor said.
“Professor,” Andrei asked, “say a human comes from a line that has a predilection for demon possession. Are they more likely to be susceptible?”
The professor frowned. “I’m not sure what the equivalent classes are at Nightblood Academy,” Professor Mortimer said. “But that is an established inconsistency that you should have learned in your second year. Just because someone has a relative who has succumbed to possession, it doesn’t mean they are more susceptible.”
“What if they’re pushed,” Andrei asked. “What if they are being bombarded constantly with demonic energy? Wouldn’t that make it inevitable that they will either lose their minds, or their will could be weakened to the point where they succumb?”
I glanced up from my textbook-positioning quandary to find the whole class looking at me. There were a few unknown faces but at least half the class were Bloodline fourth-year students. Did that make them more or less likely to believe that I was slated for demon possession?
The professor leaned on his desk with his arms crossed. “It would depend on the person,” he said. “Some people may surprise you with their resilience.”
“Or the level of their acceptance,” Brigid said. Oh, right. I guess her annoyance at the other Academy students didn’t amount to a truce between us.
“Everybody has a breaking point,” Andrei said. The fist-sized heart beat a couple of pulses.
“Isn’t that what we’re here to learn,” I said before I could stop myself. “What to do when somebody reaches their breaking point and when to call it quits on trying to save their life versus a merciful death? I know I draw the line when children are involved.”
There was a collective widening of the eyes. Andrei chuckled. “I guess this is going to be an interesting class after all.”
The professor was frowning again. After a second, he cleared his throat and continued. “I want you to turn to page eighty-four of your textbooks. We will begin by going through the magical devices that aid in an exorcism. In a few weeks, if I judge that we have made enough progress, we may have cause to engage in a practical exercise.”
I pushed my chair back and propped my textbook between my lap and the edge of my desk. I stayed that way all through the class. It was impossible to take anything in with the sound of the heart beating in front of me and the vampire almost breathing down my neck. By the time the bell rang, my mood had darkened. I hadn’t managed to take in much and this class was important to me.
I took my time slipping my textbook back into my backpack. It allowed most of the rest of the class to leave. Brigid did so with one last withering glare in my direction. When the professor, Andrei, and I were the only ones left in the room, I picked up the package he’d given me with my bare hands. The heart was cold to the touch. I almost screamed and tossed it aside when it pulsed in my hands.
With shaking fingers, I placed it carefully inside my backpack knowing Andrei was watching me. Ignoring him, I scrubbed my hand on my jeans and approached the professor. “Professor,” I called out. “There’s something I need to speak to you about.”
Andrei got up off his chair and stomped over. I’d bet nobody in their right mind would have thought to snitch on him in all the years he’d gone about terrorizing them. I was surprised it even mattered to him.
“What’s the matter?” the professor asked. We eyed Andrei as he slowly walked out of the room. He turned back once to give me such a dark look I wanted to cackle and wet myself at the same time. I was going to be late to Weaponry and Combat, but it was worth it.
“Is that hexed cat’s heart frightening you? I didn’t want to say anything in class but if you wish to make a complaint, I’ll support you.”
I could feel the rage bubbling up again. As someone who despised rodents, any creature that was their natural enemy was automatically sacred to me. I’d had a cat for a short time on the streets. She was grouchy and scrappy just like me. My nose clogged up. I coughed to try and dislodge the tears.
The professor placed his hand on my shoulder. “It’s decayed,” he said. I didn’t have the faintest idea how he could tell with the thing wrapped up and in my backpack. “If he did kill it, he didn’t do it recently. It’s just been
spelled to continue beating. Alessia?” he shook me a little.
“What would be the punishment if I staked a vampire?” I said.
“Without cause? You’d be sent to the prison.”
“Oh, I have cause.”
He seemed sad. “Over the killing of a cat? It wouldn’t be enough.”
I bared my teeth at him. “I can always say he attacked me first.”
His face went blank as though he truly believed I would do it. After a moment he shook his head. “Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
I blew out a breath. “No, it’s not.” I wasn’t the type to snitch. If Andrei wanted to play bully, I would give him a run for his money. Then I thought of the Nephilim Council. By all accounts they were prejudiced against the other races. Surely they wouldn’t have an issue with me taking out one vampire? Putting it out of my mind for now, I pressed on to the important topic.
“Have you felt anything weird about the Ley dimension ever since the other Academies arrived?” I asked.
“Weird in what way?”
I contemplated the question. “I’m not sure. I feel like I’m reacting badly to all this new energy. My Ley sight isn’t right.”
He smiled softly at me. “You’re going to have to show me,” he said. Then he paused. “You do realise that the way you view the Ley dimension is quite different to how others see it?”
That was news to me. “What do you mean?”
“Your perception of it is vastly more intricate than even the mages,” he said. “I suspect it has something to do with your connection to Azrael. Life and death intersecting. For example, when I see the lines, they are blueprints of white light against a canvas of midnight blue. They appear to me like the stars in the night sky. But you seem to see things in shades of colour. And the detail in which you see them is beyond most of what has been recorded.”
I couldn’t get my head around what he was saying. He patted my arm. “Come on then,” he said. “Show me.”
I glanced outside. “I’ll write you a note. Professor Eldridge will understand.” It would have been comforting if he didn’t also glance surreptitiously at the Weaponry and Combat building. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was as terrified of Professor Eldridge as I was. But I couldn’t let this go.
I held on to his wrist and dropped into the Ley dimension. He let out a soft gasp.
“This is incredible,” he said.
I turned my head to the side. It really was. Every time I saw the landscape of lights, it took my breath away. I would never get used to it. Still holding on to him so he could see through my eyes, I turned it inward where my aura was a cosmic giant compared to the other light. “See what I mean?” I asked. “It’s not right here.”
The look he gave me was blank. “I’m not sure I quite understand. It looks perfect. Your light isn’t any different than it’s always been.”
I bit my lip. Maybe I was making too much of this. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ordeal with the ghouls and the necromancer had made me paranoid.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know what it was, and I thought it might be dangerous.”
“Don’t ever be sorry for trying to learn. It is nothing at the moment but there is something to be said for the instincts of humans. If anything changes, let me know.”
He wrote me a note and I ran to Weaponry and Combat. Though he had assured me things were fine, he continued to stand there looking at the empty air. Call me paranoid, but that didn’t seem fine to me. Neither did the heavy feeling in my gut. There was definitely something wrong. It was just that my human eyes couldn’t see it.
18
Not only did Professor Eldridge not skin me alive for being late to Weaponry and Combat, but she pulled me aside.
I stood there across from here in the weapons cage. On the shelf beside her hip, a crossbow pointed at me. “So,” she said, “the Unity Games are approaching. I hear you’re taking lessons from that Sisterhood lunatic.” She clamped my shoulder in her iron-grip. “If you need anything, let me know.”
I wanted to tell her I really needed her to let me go. And probably a visit to the infirmary now. Diana laughed at me rolling my shoulder. “Too bad you weren’t born an Amazon,” she said.
“Too bad about a lot of things.” We went to pick out weapons. “Do you think the boys will help me train?”
She was eyeing a mallet on the top shelf of the cage. Neither of us was tall enough to reach it though. “Help you train how?”
“Well, I was thinking I’ll ask Sasha to compel me so I can learn how to resist it.”
Diana dragged a wooden stool across the floor. She jumped on to it and used it to climb the cage. I could see the situation going south quickly. She looked like she might actually slip. I readied myself to catch her.
“I’m sure he would,” she said. She swiped her left hand on her cargo pants. Now was probably not the time to be engaging in a conversation. I breathed a sigh of relief when she pushed up with her legs and grabbed the handle of the mallet. She landed with a soft thud on the ground. I wasn’t so happy about it when we got back onto the floor and she started swinging the mallet at my head.
“Why don’t you use the stuff the nymphs have taught you?” Diana hissed at me. I had just ducked out of the way and marginally missed having my skull bashed in. If she wasn’t so skilled with brute force weapons, she wouldn’t have been able to compensate and pull her swing at the last second.
“I do!”
Though the dwarves weren’t built as elegantly, they possessed the same fire as the nymphs. Anger flared in Diana’s brown eyes, making them darken. “Bullshit! I know you can be faster than this. It’s like you’re purposefully being useless.”
We squared off against each other. More than one set of fighting partners had stopped to watch us. Dianna huffed. “Whatever,” she said. “I just hope you get over whatever this is before the games!”
She started swinging at me again before I could respond. By the time class was over, I was in a fair amount of pain again.
Sophie had zero sympathy for me. “She’s right, you know,” Sophie said. “You better start taking this seriously.”
“I am,” I said through my lock jaw.
She pressed her lips together but didn’t say much more. After lunch, Sophie and I made our way to our Undead Magic class.
Of the four Academies, Nightblood had the smallest student population. There were only a few hundred of them. But they made up for their numbers with morbid showmanship and creep factor. As displayed by the skull decorations on the Academy’s front door.
I put one foot inside and shivered. My breath condensed into a cloud of mist in front of my face. “Why is it so cold in here?” I complained.
Sophie’s complexion was already turning blue. “I suppose it’s to keep all of the ingredients fresh.”
“Just to be sure, by ingredients, you mean dead bodies, right?”
We both made a face and walked into the foyer together. The very second we stepped past the threshold, it was as though a veil had been lifted. The temperature of the air rose to a comfortable warmth. Sunlight streamed through an open skylight above. The grey stone turned into marble. A black creature resembling a cat but with three tails brushed up against my shin. Both Sophie and I squealed in surprise. The thing raced across the polished floor. It disappeared around the corner.
“First timers, I’m guessing,” a voice with a lilting European accent said. We turned to find a girl our age standing on the bottom step of the staircase. She was so pale I thought she was a ghost. It didn’t help that she had a long sweep of straight, black hair with heavy bangs. The vise around my chest only relaxed when she walked to a door on the other side of the room. She pushed it open instead of just walking through it. “Come on then.”
I glanced at Sophie. Her eyes were darting all over the place. Yeah, we were clearly thinking the same thing: exit strategy. The girl tapped her foot impatiently. “We don’t have all day.”
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Steeling my spine, I stepped towards her. Sophie followed me. The girl took us down a long corridor and out through a small courtyard where a tree with the whitest bark I had ever seen reached up to the sky. Its leaves were of a scarlet so bright, I couldn’t look at it too long without straining my eyes.
We came to a stop in front of a set of double doors. The girl didn’t wait for us to go through. I gulped. When the door had opened to admit her, I heard the sound of low voices and something else that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Inside me, the wave of the darker magic was spasming out of control. It reacted to whatever was in the room. On Bloodline soil, I wasn’t allowed to use my bone-witch magic. Those restrictions didn’t apply here. If ever there was a time to run away, it was now. “Should we?” I asked Sophie.
“No chickening out,” she said. That’s where she was wrong. But I shoved the door open anyway. The scene we walked in on made me want to turn tail and run. There were only about a dozen students in the room. Instead of desks and chairs, they sat on enormous cushions on the floor around a circle made of bones.
That would have been okay if there weren’t also two undead zombies in the corner gnawing on their own set of bones. When the undead on the left turned its empty eye sockets in my direction, I took a step back and ran into a solid body. I yelped and jumped forwards.
I turned to find a middle-aged man in a tweed jacket and matching pants. His dark beard was greying at the edges. The man cleared his throat. “Going somewhere, ladies?” he asked.
“Ahh...” That was about all I could get out before my focus locked on the undead again. Sophie was completely mute beside me.