Dark Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  I pursed my lips as I glanced out of a window at the pounding rain and turned away from the exit, finding a dark corner to hide in while I continued my social media stalking.

  I hopped up into a wide windowsill which gave a view over the murky grounds and crossed my legs. I didn’t care if I was breaking some stupid unwritten rule. If Dante or Ryder had an issue with it then I’d happily have it out with them. There was no good reason for me to go out in that storm and I challenged them to come up with one.

  I scrolled through the FaeBook profile of a guy called Toby Bingham, hunting for any photos he’d been tagged in with my brother or even any sign that they might have had anything in common. I pursed my lips as my search went on. I read every comment, clicked through every photo, zoomed in on background randoms...nothing.

  With a sigh I gave up on Toby Bingham and leaned back, knocking my head against the window with a dull thud.

  A narrow corridor headed away from me and I frowned as I realised I wasn’t the only one breaking the rules and staying inside out of the rain. In fact, the group of kids I was currently looking at seemed decidedly suspicious as they looked around nervously before taking a turn down a corridor to their right.

  A prickle ran along my spine. I wasn’t entirely sure, but I thought I recognised at least one of those kids as a member of the Black Card. They hadn’t spotted me lurking in my perch and I was struck with the sudden urge to follow them.

  I flicked my Atlas into my satchel and shot down the corridor after them using my Vampire speed. I paused as I reached the turning, listening for any sound of them before leaning out to look down into the empty space.

  I frowned. It had taken me less than three seconds to shoot down that hallway. There was no way they could have made it to the far end of the corridor and disappeared that fast.

  I strained my ears and I could just pick out the sound of footsteps somewhere ahead of me and to my left.

  I moved closer to the spot and found an empty stretch of wall.

  What the hell?

  I leaned closer, pressing my ear to the wall and there was no doubt about it; the footsteps were coming from beyond it. But how had they gotten through?

  I stepped back, scouring the brickwork for some clue and my gaze snagged on a symbol scrawled across the stones. It was black like the wall but once I’d spotted it, it was obvious and more than that, it was familiar.

  My heart stuttered in my chest and I whipped my satchel off of my shoulder, yanking Gareth’s journal from it and flicking through the pages like a woman possessed.

  I sucked in a breath as I found what I was looking for and my eyes widened as I held the journal up to compare the sketch of a circular maze with the symbol on the wall. It was the same. Gareth had scribbled a note at the bottom of it which had made no sense to me before but maybe now-

  Pay for the passage in blood.

  I lifted my finger to my mouth, my fangs snapping out at my command before slitting into my skin. Blood pooled on my fingertip and I instantly reached for the wall, swiping my finger across the symbol and leaving a red trail behind.

  Magic sizzled and suddenly I wasn’t looking at a wall anymore, I was standing at the top of a flight of stairs lit by burning torches. I hurried down them, shooting forward with my Vampire speed as the footsteps grew distant and I worried I might lose my targets.

  At the foot of the stairs, the space opened up and I crept forward as I looked into a room lit with burning sconces. It was filled with people wearing black robes with deep hoods that they’d pulled up to conceal their faces.

  In the middle of the room was a stone altar and standing upon it, raised above the crowd was Laini’s friend Daniel. My lips parted as the crowd of robed figures drew closer to him and a deep hum of magic filled the air.

  It wasn’t hard to figure out who they were aiming their spells at, but I had no idea what magic they were casting.

  Daniel stood with his arms wide and a euphoric expression on his face, tipping his head back to look up at the ceiling as the combined magic of the chanting crowd rushed over him.

  The hairs rose along the back of my neck as the magic in the room grew thicker. I didn’t know a lot about the use of combined spells like this. Only that there weren’t many of them that didn’t involve dark magic. The kind that the Celestial Council had outlawed. So what were a bunch of students doing casting it in the basement of the academy?

  Daniel started trembling, a little at first then more and more until he was practically convulsing. The creepy as fuck smile on his face didn’t shift one inch. Not even when he pissed himself.

  My mouth fell open as I stared on, afraid to keep watching but desperate to learn more all at once.

  The crowd were fully occupied with what they were doing, never so much as glancing back my way so I was able to stay and watch in morbid fascination.

  Daniel cried out once then collapsed to the altar in a heap. The magic disbanded and the robed figures fell still, a hushed silence falling amongst them.

  Slowly, Daniel pushed himself up onto his knees, his gaze falling on someone at the centre of the crowd in front of him.

  “I heard the call,” he breathed.

  “And the Black Card answered,” every other whacko in the room replied as one.

  “And now I shall answer too,” he sighed, seeming to release a breath filled with all the worries of the world until he was left standing tall and free of them.

  Someone handed him a black robe and he pulled it on with an expression of pure joy.

  “I’ll follow the path the Card Master deals,” he said solemnly. “Until my Card is cut.”

  “Let the hand of fate deal true,” they all replied.

  Daniel stepped down from the altar and my heart beat a frenzied rhythm in my chest as some of the cult turned towards the door. And me.

  Luckily my gifts helped me shoot away before any of them spotted me and I raced up the stairs, through the hidden doorway and kept going all the way back to my bed.

  I leapt up into my bunk and turned my back on the room as I tried to figure out what the hell I’d just witnessed.

  One thing was for sure, Leon had been right about the Black Card being a cult. Which meant my brother had somehow gotten himself tangled up with them too.

  I couldn’t tally the brother I’d known with someone who would join a group like that but I was beginning to think there were a lot of things that Gareth had kept a secret from me. And I was just seeing the tip of the iceberg in finding out what the hell they all were.

  One thing was for sure though. I wasn’t going to stop. If the Black Card were involved with my brother’s death then they might wanna deal their decks sharpish. Because an angel of vengeance was coming for them. And I wouldn’t rest until I was bathing in the blood of the guilty.

  Seventeen Months before the Solarid Meteor Shower…

  I sat in the cafaeteria drumming my fingers on the wooden table top as I tried to psyche myself up to approach Dante Oscura.

  Somehow, Ryder Draconis had been easier; he was often alone and at the party everyone had been milling about. I’d had a few drinks, I just went for it. This was going to be a whole other level of difficult. The Oscuras didn’t talk to many people outside of their clan. Although, I’d noticed Leon cosying up to Dante more than once. He was even talking about getting him on the PitBall team and one look at the huge Dragon Shifter made me think Leon could be onto something with that idea. And maybe if we were teammates I’d find it easier to have this conversation with him. But I was nearing the end of the month again and I couldn’t afford to wait.

  I could have asked Leon to help me out with this but as often happened when the weather sucked, he was nowhere to be seen. No doubt one of his Mindys had brought his lunch to our room so that he didn’t have to bother his ass with walking down the stairs. The only time he appeared before the start of class was if the sun happened to be shining so that he could head out and sunbathe to replenish his power. And today wa
s a decidedly grey day so there was no chance of that.

  Cindy Lou was drinking a coffee beside me while chatting to a few of her friends. I had one arm around the back of her chair and she shot me little smiles whenever the gossip paused but most of her attention was on their conversation. I’d zoned out of it when they started discussing dresses for the Halloween Ball but I made a mental note to ask her to be my date for it the next time we were alone.

  Harvey sat opposite me, nursing a plate of fried food which he was really just pushing around his plate. He’d had way too much to drink last night and I was beginning to realise he never knew when to say no. He was one of those guys who just had to push the limits, never satisfied with one drink or two...or twelve. He had more and more until he was paralytic and left to suffer the after effects the next day. I guessed he was out of power too because he obviously hadn’t healed himself and I was running fairly low myself so I couldn’t offer to help him either.

  “You wanna go for a fly in the clouds after we eat?” I asked as I took another sip of my coffee. We could recharge our power together and I could stretch my wings which I hadn’t managed for a few days.

  “Yeah man,” Harvey agreed. “Just let me force some of this food down and I’ll be up for shifting. I feel like if I do it at the moment I’ll puke.”

  I laughed as he fell back into his hangover mood and my gaze drifted back to Dante Oscura. Five tables surrounded him filled with more members of his gang than I could easily count. I noticed a lone figure sat at the far end of the Oscura side of the room and my gaze lingered on him as I recognised him. Faebook had been full of the rumours about Lorenzo Oscura and I guessed they were true.

  Apparently he’d taken a liking to snorting Killblaze in his spare time and Dante had shunned him for it. It wasn’t quite as extreme as kicking him out of the gang but the rest of the Clan were wholeheartedly ignoring him. It was all over school. No one was to acknowledge him until he kicked the habit. I had to admire Dante for his commitment to keeping his gang clean of drugs but Lorenzo looked so miserable that I wondered if it was really the best way. Not that I had any interest in mentioning it to the gang leader.

  My gaze slid to Dante again and I steeled myself to approach him.

  It has to be done.

  I let out a long breath, half rising out of my chair just as my Atlas pinged in my pocket. I dropped back into my seat again and pulled it out, smiling as I spotted the message from Ella.

  Ella:

  How’s life at the academy? I got detention for biting my Professor...again. Apparently I can’t keep on using the excuse of Vampire urges. But she’s so damn powerful and slow as a brick so it’s just too tempting. Surely I’m just doing what Fae do, right? Feel free to call her many creative names in your reply. My classmates think I swear too much and I can’t fucking cope with their shitty tastes in music and pathetic attempts at being cool. Maybe I should join the Oscuras to alleviate my boredom?

  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as I read her message. I wished she’d been able to come to Aurora Academy this year but she’d argued against abandoning Mom and I’d had to admit she had a point. Our mom couldn’t cope with being alone. She had serious abandonment issues after both of our fathers had left her and if we both came to the academy she’d end up clinically depressed.

  I hated feeling like I was the reason Ella couldn’t have a better education even though she’d insisted that I be the one to come to the Academy. And I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d always dreamed of coming somewhere like this. I was going to learn everything I could here and really make something of myself. I’d teach Elise all of it too and I’d get her out of here. We would move out of this shitty city and escape the gang crap and Mom could stop stripping for money. It was all going to come together for us.

  Gareth:

  Fuck no, don’t do that. I’m looking at the future leader of the Oscura Clan as we speak and he’s an ugly bastard. You wouldn’t want to be stuck following his orders for the rest of your life.

  P.S.

  Your professor sounds like a total assclown and you should definitely keep biting her.

  Ella:

  Assclown? Hahaha. Send me a photo of the Oscura dude so I can see how ugly he is for myself. I’m in Cardinal Magic and I’m dying of boredom while we learn about Pegasuses - as if they can teach me anything on this subject that I don’t already know from hanging out with you and Mom my whole life. I still don’t think I’ve ever gone a day without finding glitter in my hair...

  I rolled my eyes at the tired complaints. I’d always known Ella wouldn’t emerge as a Pegasus; she was nowhere near cheery enough to be one of us. Vampire was always more likely. Her father, Mom’s second great love who up and vanished before Ella was even born, was a powerful Vampire according to Mom so that was obviously who she took after.

  I glanced up at Dante Oscura, trying to be subtle as I took the photo Ella requested. He was sitting on the end of his table, his wolf pack flocking around him as he told some story about beating up a Lunar kid in a loud voice. The eating schedule laid out by the gangs meant that there were no Lunar Brotherhood members about to take offence to his story and his followers were lapping it up.

  I sent the photo and waited for Ella’s response.

  Ella:

  Liar. You said he was ugly. Now I’m definitely signing up. Go get his number for me.

  I snorted a laugh, imagining what she’d say if I really did that. Not that I’d even consider it for half a second. Dante Oscura was about the worst person I could imagine for my little sister. And with the way he was screwing his way through most of the girls in the academy already, maybe I should have been glad she wasn’t going to come here.

  Gareth:

  Sorry Little Angel, he said he doesn’t date Vampires...because you suck ;)

  Ella:

  Wow, you’d think that joke wouldn’t get any funnier after the hundredth time but it really comes back around.

  Ella:

  Dipshit x

  I smirked to myself and pushed my Atlas back into my pocket. I may have been intimidated by the idea of talking to Dante Oscura but my sister sure as shit wouldn’t be. That girl had never learned the concept of self preservation and her mouth got her into trouble every other day. Either with what she said or who she bit. And I was going to channel a little of her confidence in the name of protecting her.

  I got to my feet and crossed the room, heading straight for Dante Oscura.

  His Werewolf pack noticed me first. They straightened their spines, eyeing me up, circling out to surround me. It was pretty fucking intimidating but I kept my spine straight and my gaze fixed on Dante as he shuffled a Tarot deck in his palms. His fingers were lined with chunky gold rings and I’d seen the imprints of them beaten into the faces of more than a few Fae since he’d arrived at the academy.

  He’d wasted no time in asserting his dominance and with his high level of power, Storm Dragon Order, massive physical presence and family name there weren’t many people willing to take him on. Aside from Ryder Draconis of course.

  Dante’s dark eyes lifted to me. His gaze travelled over me slowly then he looked back down at his deck, dismissing me as a threat. I balked at that but as I had no reason to want to get into an argument with Dante Oscura I tried to see it as a good thing.

  “What do you want?” his cousin, Tabitha Oscura, asked as I came to stand before him. Dante’s Beta was perched on the chair beside him, eyeing me with more interest than her Alpha had given me as she twisted a finger through her wild red hair.

  “I was hoping for a moment of your time, Dante,” I said firmly, ignoring Tabitha. If I let her draw my attention from him, he’d gladly palm me off on her. I’d spent enough time observing the way he worked to figure that much out.

  “Is that so?” he asked, shuffling the deck slowly, still not bothering to look at me.

  “Yeah. I was thinking...there must be things that are difficult for your followers to do. Jobs tha
t would go unnoticed if someone unaffiliated was carrying them out for you but might draw attention if an Oscura was seen doing them.”

  “So you wanna offer your services to the Clan out of the goodness of your heart?” he asked, brushing a thumb across the deck as he fanned it out before him.

  “Obviously not for nothing,” I replied, my voice level and certain. I couldn’t show an inch of weakness now.

  A couple of the wolves at my back growled but I forced myself not to react. A wolf pack was harmless all the time their Alpha was calm. And if Dante Oscura lost his patience with me then I’d be more concerned about him than them.

  “Hmm...” Dante teased a card out of the pack and held it out to me without turning it over.

  I reached for it, not really having any choice but to do so. I flipped it over and the Wheel of Fortune looked back up at me, various magical creatures coiled around it while sitting on clouds in a blue sky.

  Dante clicked his fingers at Tabitha and she piped up instantly. “Good fortune’s coming your way. Things are turning in your favour,” she supplied.

  I knew what the card meant, Mom had been obsessed with reading the damn things our whole life, always looking for a sign her luck would change. Gambling because of things she read in the cards. Sometimes she interpreted their messages correctly and won, other times...not so much. I didn’t care for Tarot thanks to that.

  “Do you think that’s referring to you or me?” Dante asked, finally raising his eyes to meet mine. And I had to admit it was pretty damn hard to hold his gaze. The guy had nearly a foot on me and I wasn’t short and his power crackled in the air around him. I could actually feel the hairs on my arms rising in response to the static he exuded without even trying. “I drew the card but you turned it. So?”

  “Either. Both, hopefully,” I added. “Maybe my idea would work out well for both of us.”