by D. R. Perry
I dragged my chair back to the bench next to Nox. I waited with her, letting Charles, Ian, and then the Kelpie go up first. She rummaged in the box with her eyes closed. That told me she knew a thing or two about coincidence herself. It seemed like the sort of thing Blaine would do. I’d have to ask him about it once he’d taken his own Magic Theory class next semester.
I copied Nox, looking away instead of closing my eyes as I felt around in the box. It wouldn’t get me in trouble since this wasn’t a test. The item that met my hand felt long and cold with a sharp point on one end. Its texture wasn’t metal, but some other rigid substance. I didn’t look at whatever it was until I got back to my seat.
“Woah.” Nox had looked before I did. “That’s seriously creepy, Maddie.” She recoiled from my hand and the object it held. “You have to give it to Professor Thurston, like now.”
I looked down and saw a vampire fang attached to a chain by a jump ring. I shuddered but managed to keep from flinging it away, then got up immediately. The croissant threatened to leap out of my throat as though my body itself was trying to eject the horror of what I held. The only way a vampire fang stayed intact once pulled was if he or she was awake and aware throughout getting defanged and was killed directly afterward. Necklaces like this had been trophies during the time just after the Big Reveal, their makers prosecuted for crimes against Extrahumanity and imprisoned for life afterward. What was one of these doing in the lab box?
“Um, Professor?” I held the necklace out to her, shivering as though I stood in an arctic wind instead of a climate-controlled magic lab.
“I’m calling the Police.” Professor Thurston pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, plucking the fang from my hand with it. I was struck by how pale the Professor’s face got, but nothing else besides her short words indicated her alarm.
I stood in front of her bench as she took the room phone from the wall to report the grisly discovery. The Providence Police had a Magical Forensics unit. Maybe it was old, a relic of a more turbulent time. There’d still be an investigation. There was no statute of limitations on murder. Professor Thurston placed the handkerchief-wrapped fang in a warded bag and set it on her desk.
“I expect the rest of you to begin imbuing your items. Miss May, with me please.” The Professor gestured to the space beside her. I walked behind the bench, waiting as she described a semicircle over our heads with one finger. A privacy spell, Air magic. I’d had no idea which school she had until then. Now, where had I heard about someone using Air magic recently? Last night? I almost had it when the Professor spoke.
“Now that we won’t be overheard, tell me when the last time you saw the fellow who made your amulet was?” She sniffed, jaw clenched. “Henry Baxter, I believe is the name on your amulet’s registry slip?”
“Last night, probably around eleven. And yes, that’s Henry Baxter. Memory Psychic. He’s a vampire too.”
“I’m well aware of Mr. Baxter’s talents, his state of being, and his history.” Her gaze met mine, gray-blue and airy. “He’s been a positive force in Providence’s Extrahuman community since the late 1970s, decades before he got turned. I went to High School with him, you know.”
“Is he okay?” I asked her the only question that mattered right then though her statements raised fifty more in my mind.
“If you saw him last night, then yes.” She sighed, her voice carrying a relief her posture didn’t reveal. “I could tell by looking that the fang you found is nearly a week old.”
“Wait, what?” I shuddered. “You mean it’s not from before the Equal Rights trials?”
“Most certainly not.” She glanced down at my right hand, which had held the necklace. “It’s in a warded bag now, but take a look at your hand. There are residual traces, still visible. Check closely.”
I did as Professor Thurston asked, turning my head so I could squint out of the corner of my eye. Then, I gasped. A trace the approximate shape of the fang hovered squarely in the middle of my palm. The magic energy was a combination of types, but unmistakable. All three types were familiar, after all.
“Death, Unliving, and Umbral, all recent.” I blinked, feeling tears prick the corners of my eyes. “Umbral stuff’s all mine. And something fuzzy that I can’t make out.”
“Psychic energy. Telepathic.” I looked up to see Professor Thurston holding a monocle over her left eye. “Here. Have a quick look.” She handed the device over.
I took it gingerly with my left hand, not wanting to disrupt the energies I’d be looking at. I closed my right eye, unable to make my sight multi-task the way the Professor could. Age and experience were huge advantages in that department. It’s why we went to school, after all. I saw the shimmer resolve into a smoky violet hue. Telepathic Psychic energy. I couldn’t figure out why that was there. Unliving energy was key to preserving pulled fangs. The Death energy came from the vampire’s demise. Was I looking at the Summoner’s handiwork? They had a sort of telepathy with their creatures through the anchors binding them. My mind wasn’t officially blown, but it was a near thing.
Professor Thurston held out her hand. I placed the monocle in it, blinking a little more. This time, I had to wipe the corners of my eyes. The Grim hadn’t gotten Henry, but had killed someone else instead. There had to be two dead vampires by now. The summoner was killing on campus, but why?
“Is there something you want to tell me, Miss May?” Professor Thurston pursed her lips, expectant instead of puzzled. “It’s an interesting coincidence that fang went to your hand. There’s a reason for it.”
“Yes.” I couldn’t tell her the details of the first Grim attack. Only two people could, and only one would matter. “You need to talk to Henry Baxter as soon as possible. A Grim attacked him at the Nocturnal Lounge the night before inter-session started, and again last night at the library.”
“Grims can’t preserve fangs, Miss May.” She drummed her fingers on the benchtop. “The police will not believe a vampire, not even one as upstanding as Henry Baxter. They will require nothing less than hard evidence.”
“I know.” I looked up, locking gazes with her. “But it happened. The Grim's Summoner could have preserved the fang. I have no idea who’d be able to control one, though. Definitely not a student, not even at the graduate level. Summoning is Doctoral work, according to all the PPC guidelines, right, Professor?”
“Astute observations, Miss May, but they don’t explain the Telepathic energy being on the fang.” Professor Thurston raised an eyebrow as her watch beeped. She held my gaze but tilted her head at the box of items. “I truly appreciate the extra knowledge and life experience non-traditional students bring to the college experience. For now, please take another item and do the activity. I’ve got more calls to make.”
She snapped her fingers, and the privacy spell popped like a bubble. She walked to the door, heels clicking hollowly against the white floor. I reached into the box again, looking down as soon as I withdrew my hand this time. The circular object in my hand was a medallion stamped with a wolf on one side and a set of fangs on the other. The chain it dangled from was old, definitely from before the Big Reveal. It was an old alliance medallion, the kind that bound a vampire to a wolf shifter pack.
Now, what kind of coincidence could that tie me to? I pushed the question away for the time being. I had a lab to pass after all.
Chapter Eleven
Henry
I’d been sleeping when the phone rang. Yes, vampires can sleep even if most don’t. It conserves blood, letting us feed less. I’d wanted an actual break while PPC was mostly closed, but recent events meant I’d spent as much time out as during the Fall semester. I was the school’s oldest freshman, so I had my habits. Supposedly I’d liked them, but I jumped when that phone rang. It could be Maddie. I woke up smiling at the thought.
I shook off the emotion along with any trace of drowsiness. Last night, I'd made that promise to step back. It didn’t matter that I’d been happier with her around. Friends cou
ld make each other happy from a nice, safe distance. She deserved a chance to meet someone who wasn’t a second-class citizen, to have more than one choice.
“Hello?” I picked up my dumb phone. I preferred that to the smartphone in my apartment.
“Henry, I’ve just been told you were attacked by a Grim. Twice. And you didn’t bother notifying me.” I’d know that voice if I unlived a thousand years. Henrietta, my old friend from High School. Also, the stopping point for any buck passed around PPC.
“Yes, Headmistress Thurston.” I figured that was the way you greeted an old friend who’d abruptly stopped speaking to you decades earlier.
“Don’t you dare Headmistress or Professor me, Henry Baxter.” Her voice came through in a whispery yet still strident tone. “This is life-or-death business, and you didn’t tell me. Why?”
“Didn’t want you stuck with that kind of mess again. Or have you forgotten the last time that happened?” She knew I meant the hostage situation that had ended in Dahlia’s death and my turning. The Extrahuman authorities hadn’t believed her then, even with her new husband’s sterling reputation and deep connections.
“I haven’t.” Her voice didn’t exactly soften, but the edges blunted at least. “This is different. One of my Magic Theory students pulled a fang out of the amulet box.”
“Please don’t tell me it was Maddie May who found that terrible thing.” I held a breath I didn’t need. “She’s a good egg, shouldn’t get involved in something like this.”
“Too bad. She already did. Like most Umbral magi, Miss May’s got a sleuthing streak a mile wide.” Henrietta sighed. “I know you two are acquainted.”
“Not so much. I just made her the amulet that lets her go to this class of yours.” I scratched my head. “By the way, doesn’t some Russian guy usually teach Magic Theory?”
“Don’t lie. You spent more time with her than that.” I could picture the face she’d be making to go with those words—a coy little lopsided grin. Henrietta had always smiled more with the left side of her face than the right.
“Fine. I’ve seen her off-campus twice. The rest of the time was just studying in a group.” I tapped one finger against my nightstand. “Don’t avoid the question about that Professor you’re replacing, though. I’ve got one of my hunches.”
“Fine back, then. Hold on.” I heard shoes clicking on tile and a faint echo as Henrietta moved away from what or whoever she’d been standing near before. The faint squeak of a hinge told me she’d gone through a door. “He took an emergency leave two days before classes began. Didn’t give a reason except to say he had to take care of some sleep issues he’s been having.”
“And this is Professor Brodsky, right? The double Ph.D. who also runs the Summoning research lab?”
“I’ll send someone from Campus Police down to look in on him.” A faint scrape and clink sounded, then Henrietta took a deep breath. “Since he’s on medical leave, they won’t even raise an eyebrow about that sort of thing.” Her exhale was unmistakable.
“Hey, you should re-quit with the smoky treats. Those things’ll kill you.”
“You try integrating and running a school where your star pupils get walloped by a snowstorm one session and two buildings get trashed by a Grim the next.” I heard her take another drag. “You’d get back on whatever your worst habit was, too.”
“Insane amounts of coffee milk isn’t as fatal as the cancer sticks. It’s also not the same on the palate as it used to be.” I surprised myself with a little snicker. “Quit them.”
“Why don’t we talk like this more often, Henry?” She’d turned a faucet on to cover her laughter. She had to be in the restroom.
“Because you’re Professor Henrietta Thurston, former Prom Queen and Headmistress of the only Ivy League school for Extrahumans in the United States.” I leaned back against the wall behind my bed. “I’m just a two-bit Psychic who happened to be friends with her crew, then went and got one of them killed and himself turned.”
“Quit with the self-deprecation, Baxter.” Her voice was still thready and breathless after all the giggling, but her tone had gone back from High School reminiscent to serious business in a second flat. “You risked your neck to stop that Extramagus. You’d have died just like poor Dahlia if the vampire you rescued hadn’t had enough energy to turn you.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” I stared up at the bare wall on the other side of my one-room apartment. "But I wasn't forgettable like she was."
“That whole event’s right there in the texts we assign for Local Extrahuman History, I’ll have you know.”
“Too bad they don’t name the Extramagus or the vamps along with the champs in any of those books.”
“Sometimes, a curse is a blessing, Henry. At least that’s what Rick used to say.” I heard the unmistakable muffled squeak of gritted teeth. Smoking wasn’t the only bad habit she’d reverted to, then.
“I’m surprised you brought him up.” Rick was her ex-husband, former Prom King and Dean of Students before PPC got integrated. He’d tolerated me while I was still really alive because Henrietta loved her friends, but was the main reason everyone besides Dahlia's boyfriend Neil had cut me off after I got vamped. I thought I remembered him believing us about the Extramagus though. “I was really surprised you two didn’t last, all things considered.”
“Well, sometimes you have to choose between your home life and your job.” Henrietta sighed again. “No. That’s not true. I just couldn’t do it anymore. Put up with his bigotry. It got worse after I integrated the school.” I’d thought she shunned me because of Dahlia’s death. That would be easier to take than her giving in to her husband’s bigotry. “Sorry, I didn’t intend on saying anything about all that.”
“Look, you should talk to someone about it, maybe more frequently if you already do.” I couldn’t imagine she didn’t have a therapist. “But I’m not remotely the best person to be your sounding board.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m not.” I pushed my feet into the slippers I kept at the edge of my bed. “Keeping a low profile once I got back probably saved my life. It would have been dangerous getting involved with Rick’s brand of Extrahuman politicking. Anyway, I bet Maddie already told you to look around the Lounge and the tunnels by Water Place Park.”
“She did. But if that fang turned up in the box today, we probably won’t find anything until whoever’s doing this gets caught.”
“Or until it happens again.”
“Yes, that.” I heard her turn the tap off. “Maybe whoever Campus Police sends will find a clue at Professor Brodsky’s apartment.”
“We can hope.” I shuffled into the kitchen to warm up some water for tea. I still hadn’t been out to get more coffee.
“Call if you discover anything else.” I heard the hinge squeak again, and the echo of her footsteps in the hall. “Goodbye, Mr. Baxter.”
“Bye.” My old-fashioned flip phone let me hang up before she did. There are no small victories, just small victors.
I filled and plugged in the electric kettle. My apartment just had a refrigerator, counters, and cabinets. Technically it wouldn’t be legal to rent a place without a stove to anyone living, but for me it was fine. The last thing I wanted was a gas fire caused by an appliance I didn’t even use. I got the tea tin down from the cabinet above the microwave. Someone came in through the door upstairs, into the hall. I scooped loose tea into the infuser over my favorite mug, then froze at footsteps on my basement stairs. What kind of unhinged person would visit a vampire before noon?
The knock on my door was light and unexpected. I’d just braced myself for property destruction and a fight-or-flight situation. Then, I breathed in deeply through my nose. Of course. Lynn had given Olivia an errand for today. No one mentioned it’d have anything to do with me, but I caught the dry feathery scent of owl shifter outside. I knew it wasn’t some other bird shifter because she was the only one taking an Adderal a
nd Ritalin cocktail every day. Those had a distinctive smell, too.
I unlocked the knob, the bolts, and the chain. When I opened the door, I caught Olivia in mid-yawn.
“Sorry.” She blinked. “For yawning in your face and bothering you at this ungodly hour.”
“If it’s ungodly, why aren’t you sleeping?” I gave her a sideways glance, waving her in. “Tony’s nocturnal too, and he sleeps until at least two in the afternoon every day.” I pulled out one of the chairs at the small table doubling as a kitchenette and room divider. Such is life in studio apartments.
“Tony’s lucky. Lynn sent me on a mission today. Our Terminology class just has a test on Fridays, so once I finished, I went all over campus.” Olivia pulled a series of paper bags from the big brown satchel she always carried. “I found some things. Only touched them with gloves on. Lynn wants to see if you can get anything from them.” She shuddered even though I kept my apartment ten-ish degrees above what keeps pipes from freezing. Her eyes were wider than usual.
“What’s wrong?” I glanced down at the brown paper bags on the table.
“You’re not going to like some of this stuff.” Olivia yawned again, looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here.
“There are tons of things I don’t like. I won’t freak out or anything, but if you want to, you can leave.” I nodded at the unlocked door. The fact that I hadn’t redone even one of the bolts pricked at my mind like a waking limb.
“I’m not supposed to until you’re done. I have to bring them back so Blaine can do his dragon thing with them tomorrow.”
“Okay, then.” I got up to shut off the boiling kettle. “You want some tea?” I glanced at the door instead of Olivia. I was a lousy host.