Violet Blood

by Sophia Stafford

  “Jaycen, get off. He’s not going anywhere,” Thornton told her, just as she felt the attacker’s body stiffen under her. Thornton had him controlled by magic. She let go of his arms first, just testing the water. When he didn’t move, she got up completely.

  “Is Benedict still here?” She looked over to the building his office was in. Everything was in darkness. When had he said he was going to England?

  “Yeah, go and get him. I’ve got this under control.” Thornton hadn’t taken his eyes off the attacker, and he had one of his hands held out, keeping him down.

  Jaycen was about to turn and run when the campus was suddenly lit up by floodlights. Even through the sudden, bright lights she could see Benedict, Caleb, Iris, and Zena all walking towards them.

  “I did try calling you,” she shouted once they were close enough to hear.

  Benedict smiled at her and held up his phone. “Yeah, makes a change, doesn’t it?”

  Caleb was already at the attacker’s side, pulling him to his feet as Thornton kept them frozen.

  “How did he even get in? Where are the guards?” Caleb looked around, frowning deeply as four guards dressed in black came running their way.

  “What happened?” he demanded once they were in earshot.

  “We’re sorry sir, there was a breach on the south side of the campus,” the guard said.

  Caleb looked between him and the intruder. “Really? You don’t say?” His sarcasm was heavy.

  “Again, we’re sorry sir. The breach has been noted, and it will not happen again. The south side is now secure.” The guard nodded his head and took a step back.

  Caleb didn’t look as sure as he shook his head, he finally looked away from the guard and said, “I take it this is the mask you were talking about?” He turned to Jaycen and winked, pulling the mask off the attacker’s head in one quick tug.

  A man looked back at her, a young man with pale white hair and light purple eyes. He was smirking at them all, like he knew something they didn’t. He definitely wasn’t fazed about being caught.

  His eyes scanned the crowd, passing all of them with a leisurely pace. He stopped at Benedict for a moment, looking him up and down, but finally came to rest on Jaycen.

  She had seen him before, he had been the one who attacked her in the alley. He remembered her also. She knew it the minute his lips curled into a snarl—whatever he remembered about her, he clearly didn’t like it.

  “Who sent you? Why are you here attacking my students?” Benedict demanded, drawing the man’s attention away from Jaycen.

  “So many questions,” the attacker said, his French accent clear.

  Benedict nodded, now knowing this guy was the man from the alley, the man that attacked Jaycen all those weeks ago.

  He took one very controlled yet threatening step forward. The guy didn’t budge as Benedict got in his face. “Are you here to kill someone? Like you have been for months?” Each word looked like it pained him—what Benedict really wanted to do was reach out and punch this man in his face; it was written all over his face. The guy knew it too, he could see it just like the rest of them.

  “Maybe, we should take him inside?” Caleb suggested, nodding at Thornton for him move the man. Thornton looked at Benedict, waiting for his approval, which he got. They all made their way into the main building on campus, Jaycen trailing behind them.

  “Take him to the holding room, Thornton. I’ll be there in a minute,” Benedict said, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

  Holding room? Why the hell did a school have a holding room? Now definitely wasn’t the time to ask that, Jaycen realised, following Benedict and Zena as they walked to his office, but she sure as hell was going to ask later.

  “Jaycen, maybe you should go back to bed. You need your rest,” Benedict said, not looking back as he let himself into his office, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went.

  “I don’t think there’s any chance of me sleeping now,” she informed them, dropping down on one of his plush leather seats. “I thought you were going to England?”

  “We’re leaving within the hour.” Benedict raised his eyebrows at her, his phone at his ear. “Marcus? I need a convoy here as soon as possible. There’s been at intruder at the school. I don’t want him here long.” He paused, listening to the person on the other end. “Great, bye.” He disconnected, throwing his phone on the desk. “I think our intruder thought we had already left.”

  “He didn’t look bothered that you were here,” Jaycen said, pursing her lips as she remembered his smile. Benedict hadn’t fazed him at all.

  “False bravado,” Zena said simply, shrugging as she took the seat next to Jaycen, leaning forward and patting Jaycen’s knee. “Now please, go to bed my darling. You’ve been through so much today.”

  “She’s right Jaycen. I’m going to find out who this guy is, and then we’re going to get him out of here. He’ll be held at the Cure until he’s put on trial.”

  She nodded and slowly stood. Benedict was already busy working at his desk, Zena leaning forward, ready to spring into action.

  “Have a great time in England,” she called, already walking to the door.

  She made it halfway down the hall before she ran into Caleb and Thornton. Surprisingly, Caleb engulfed her in a tight bear hug. “You go and get some rest. I’ll see you when I get back from England, yeah?”

  She nodded her head, completely uneasy with his sudden contact. They’d never hugged before, why now? It was weird.

  “Yeah, okay.”

  Caleb walked around her, leaving Jaycen and Thornton alone in the corridor.

  For a minute, just a minute, the action had distracted Jaycen from her pain, from her loss. While she was going through it, it was hard to see anything else, or anyone else for that matter. But Thornton had barely left her side. Even surprising herself, she reached up, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head in his chest.

  “Thank you.”

  He hesitated for a second, but then wrapped his arms around her. “Anything, anytime.”

  They both stayed like that for a minute, just enjoying the silence and being so close to each other. Then, slowly, Thornton pulled away. “I should probably go and see Benedict. See if he needs me.”

  Jaycen nodded, wiping her eyes. “Okay.”

  He tipped her chin up, forcing her to look at him. “We’ll talk tomorrow, yeah?”

  “Yeah, okay.”

  He watched her closely, before leaning in and pressing a quick hard kiss to her lips before leaving. Jaycen walked back down the corridor, only stopping when she heard a tapping followed by a very laid-back whistle. Just the sound bothered her.

  She hovered in the hallway for barely a second. “Oh, why the hell not.” She then followed the sound down to the holding room, where her purple-eyed attacker was waiting.

  Chapter 30

  Jaycen followed the noise down a set of steep, stone stairs, the light getting dimmer and dimmer the farther she got down.

  “Couldn’t keep away, I see?” he laughed before she had even rounded the corner, his French accent dripping with amusement. She stilled, this was a mistake. She could turn back now and let Benedict deal with him, that was what she should have done.

  “Oh, come on, don’t get shy now. You’re almost here,” he coaxed. Jaycen took a long, deep breath, pushing down her nerves and rounded the corner, coming face to face with her purple-eyed attacker.

  “Oh, there you are.” He smiled, his smile quickly dropping and transforming into a stone-cold mask from behind the metal bars. The small room looked like a prison, and again she wondered why the hell this was at a school.

  “What’s your name?” Her voice came out a lot firmer than she thought it would—she could do this.

  He seemed taken aback by her simple question. “Louis. I was going to ask for your name, but I already know it, Jaycen.”

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” she asked, ignoring his attempt to steer the
conversation. He wasn’t in charge here, she was. Even though she had a small feeling that he was in control of this entire situation.

  He tipped his head to the side, watching her closely. “You know why I’m here, or at least you know what I’m here for.”

  A heavy pit started to form in her stomach. “Me, you’re here for me. That’s why you were outside my window. I just don’t know why you’re here.”

  He stayed silent.

  “You’re not going to tell me anything, are you?” she guessed, looking over her shoulder at the stairs she had just come down. Benedict would be there soon, and she really didn’t want to be there when he arrived.

  “I might. It all depends on the question.”

  He was playing with her; she knew that now. Jaycen pursed her lips, before turning to leave. Suddenly, he called after her, “It’s a shame, you know, what happened to your mother. I mean, she could have survived if the spell was better. It was such a waste.”

  Jaycen spun around so she was facing him again, the pit in her stomach bursting into an agonising pain. Her hand shot out, her magic flying forward, stopping when it hit the metal bars that were in front of him.

  “It’s magically protected, I would have escaped by now if not.” He rolled his eyes, casual and completely unaffected. Jaycen was still seething, her hands shaking with rage.

  “You don’t know anything about my mother. So don’t you dare speak about her.” She wanted to hurt him, she wanted him writhing on the floor in pain.

  He pressed his body against the iron bars, his face pressed out as far as it could go. “Yes, feel that anger, that hatred, and turn it into power.”

  Her hands were shaking, not with anger this time, this time it was magic. She could feel it building and building, begging to be released, preferably in this guy’s face.

  “That’s it, be more than you are. Let it go. Let. It. Go!” he screamed, spitting each word and hitting the bars violently, a purple vein bulging in his head.

  Jaycen clenched her fist as tight as she could, trying to keep her magic at bay. “You know nothing about me or my magic.” She turned and left the room as quickly as she could, taking the steps two at a time.

  His laughter and deep voice followed her. “Now, you know that isn’t true, Jaycen.”

  A soon as she could, Jaycen ran out of the main school building and towards her dorm, only stopping when she was inside and safe. Safe from what, she didn’t know. Her attacker was behind bars, there was no way he could get to her now. Yet, she still felt vulnerable, so much so that Jaycen sat at her window, pressing her head against the glass and waiting for the Cure to turn up and take him away. Not that he would mind, he’d probably still be smiling. What kind of psychopath smiled while being caught? She doubted Benedict’s theory that he thought they’d already left, mainly because he hadn’t looked surprised when Benedict showed up, in fact, he was completely indifferent. She shuddered, looking out the window at where he’d been standing with the torch, just hours before. That scary black, red, and white mask firmly in place as he just stood there, staring up at her. She hated that mask. Why had he come for her? But then again, why had he killed all of the other victims? Did he really have a purpose or a point? She considered that thought. Him coming here for her wasn’t random, the school was too far out of the way of anyone for it to be random. That thought was petrifying. For some reason, she was now on their radar. Maybe, it was all her time at the Cure? Maybe, they’d heard about her violet blood and wanted to recruit her into their sick satanic cult? Right now, anything was a possibility. She went over the whole night in her head again. If he knew where she was, why hadn’t he just attacked her in her room? Why make her come out into the open? It was almost as if he wanted to be caught. She sat up straighter and started rubbing her temples, her head now throbbing. She wasn’t ready for this kind of heavy thinking, she still needed time. But she couldn’t get one thing out of her head: He hadn’t fought her, not really. Not even when he knocked her down on the ground. To her, it all just felt half-hearted. But why? What was the point?

  The more she thought about it, the less sense it made. Checking her phone, she realised it was now three in the morning, and everything was still so dark that Jaycen could see the headlights of six cars as they approached. She sat there, watching the convoy of cars heading towards the school. The Cure, they were finally here.

  She lost sight of them quickly, the view from her bedroom window only going so far.

  Jaycen put on a pair of old shoes and ran downstairs, getting to the main door as they were escorting a handcuffed Louis out of the building. He spotted her immediately, like he already knew she was there, watching him. He smirked, nodding his head at her as he was forced into a waiting car. It should have made her feel better, he was going. But it didn’t. She watched Benedict, Caleb and Zena walk out of the building, all holding suitcases and loading them into a waiting car. They were leaving for England—did they really have to leave right then and there? Benedict shook the hand of one of the guards who was patrolling the school, and they spoke for a minute or two—or at least Benedict spoke, the guard just nodded.

  That was when she saw Benedict’s dark-haired friend, Azrael. She still couldn’t believe he was an Angel. He was watching the cars drive away, hands in his pockets, and looking cool as hell. His light, crystal clear eyes shot up and met hers.

  Jaycen waved a little, she had no idea why. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t wave back. She slowly made her way towards them.

  “You should be sleeping now, Jaycen. It’s late,” Benedict called over to her from where he was talking to the armed guard.

  “Or, really early.” Jaycen looked around Azrael to see a blonde woman walking out of the building. A beautiful blonde woman, in fact she was the most beautiful woman that Jaycen had ever seen. She was sure her mouth was hanging open; how could anyone look that good without being photoshopped?

  “I still feel that way every time I see her.” Azrael smirked down at her as the woman walked over to him and linked their arms.

  “Lilliah, this is Jaycen. The young witch I was telling you about. Jaycen, this is my wife, Lilliah,” Azrael introduced smoothly. They had been talking about her? Why? But then again, a lot had been happening recently. It figured that she was an Angel because humans just didn’t look like that, even magic folk didn’t.

  “Nice to meet you, Jaycen,” Lilliah greeted her, her English accent clear and her eyes turning sad. “I’m sorry to hear about your mother. I lost my father young, I know it’s hard.”

  Cue the pain in her stomach. “Thank you, and, I’m sorry, too.” She shoved her hands in her pockets, looking down at their suitcases on the floor. “Are you all going to London then?”

  Benedict dismissed the guard, before turning to face Jaycen. “Ten wizards and five witches are being held in London, right now. Around the same time Louis attacked this school, the London school of magic was also attacked. As were the embassies in London and in New York. They are talking so fast they can barely breathe, telling us everything. Their headquarters are in London, we’re going to swoop in, arrest them all.” Benedict clapped his hands together, smiling widely.

  “Louis talked then?” Jaycen really doubted that, he’d been far too cocky.

  “Eventually. He told us everything but his leader’s name. I promise Jaycen, all of this will be over real soon.”

  “Okay, see you when you get back.” She watched as they all loaded their bags into the last waiting car.

  “It was nice meeting you, Jaycen.” Lilliah walked over to her. “We’ll probably meet again, after all of this is over. Benedict says you’re a good fighter. I like fighting, we should spar sometime.” She winked and got in the car, leaving Jaycen unable to think of anything else but fighting with an Angel. How amazing would that be? Especially if she won?

  “Oh, bring me back some chocolate digestives from England,” she called out desperately before Lilliah shut the car door. Her mind racing at the other thing
s she wanted them to bring back. “And some tea, lots of tea.”

  Lilliah nodded and waved through the window. She was English, she’d understand Jaycen’s need for tea and biscuits, they just weren’t the same in America. The cars drove off, leaving Jaycen watching them go.

  Jaycen stayed outside for a little while. It was still dark, and now that everyone had left, completely silent. It was amazing. The school really was beautiful, especially when it wasn’t filled with obnoxious kids that thought they were better than everyone else.

  Eventually, Jaycen made it back to her room. Falling into a very deep sleep, for what felt like the first time in days.

  Chapter 31

  The shriek of an alarm woke Jaycen with a jolt. She shot up, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand as she tried to process what was happening. She fell out of bed, reaching for her phone. It was six in the morning, she’d barley been asleep three hours. With the alarm still blaring out, she shuffled to the door and poked her head outside, nodding at other tired students that had done the same.

  “Is it a fire alarm?” one very tired looking girl yawned out from the room opposite hers.

  “Why do they keep having fire drills this early?” another girl muttered, wrapping her dressing gown tight around her as she walked down the hall. No one was rushing.

  Jaycen finally left her room and joined the crowd of girls as they all exited the building. She loosened her hair tie and let her messy hair fall around her shoulders as she went, sleepily scratching her head. Of course, this would happen on the one night she could actually sleep, of course they would have a fire drill. The girls made it outside, and the gasps and shouts hit Jaycen before she could see anything. She peered around the group, her body freezing at the sight of the burning building in front of her. It was the main school building, and it was completely engulfed in flames. Teachers were racing towards it, using their magic to try and control it.

  “All students get back, go to the gymnasium. This will be over soon,” Drake shouted, waving his hands in the air as he tried to herd the students in one direction. “Go now.”