Bianca De Lumière : High Suspense Urban Fantasy Romance (The Re'em Prophecy Book 1)

by Lisette Prendé

  There was a small knock on my bedroom door.

  “Bianca?” came Sunder’s voice. “Are you okay?”

  What did he want? Didn’t he understand how mortally embarrassed I was? “Can you please just leave me alone?”

  “I wanted to tell you it’s normal. For your mind to…wander during training. I should have warned you about that.”

  I didn’t respond. He’s damn right he should have warned me!

  “Well, goodnight.”

  “Goodnight,” I managed through gritted teeth. I pulled my comforter over my head and cringed into my pillow.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I woke to the sound of my bedroom door creaking open. My mother’s face appeared in the doorway.

  “Morning Bee,” she whispered. “Brought you some breakfast.” She held up a plate of eggs.

  I sat up groggily, my mind coming to.

  “So how did it go last night?” she asked, handing me the plate. As I took it from her, a wave of shame washed over me.

  Last night.

  Training.

  Sunder.

  Oh god.

  “Bee?” she asked again. “Did you learn anything?”

  “Good!” I managed. “It was fine. Yes, I learned a lot. Heaps.”

  She eyed me curiously as I stuffed eggs into my mouth. They were delicious. I hadn’t realized it, but I was starving.

  “Hungry?”

  I nodded, taking another bite.

  “Sunder said you might be. Apparently, the training is quite hard on the body. But nothing a good breakfast can’t take care of.” She smiled.

  I swallowed in a large gulp. “Wait. When did he say that?”

  “Just now.”

  “He’s here?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “You know Bee, you could have made up the guest room instead of letting him sleep on the couch.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. “It was late.” I bit into a piece of toast with a loud crunch. Why was he still here? Why hadn’t he left last night and saved me the humiliation of having to see him this morning? I mopped the egg yolk from my plate with the last morsel of toast and popped it into my mouth.

  “I’ll take that for you.” My mom reached to take my plate.

  Gee, if nearly getting killed by the Skadhavar got me service like this, I was going to have to do it more often!

  “Thanks, Mom.” I licked my lips. “That was delicious.”

  She smiled and tousled my hair.

  “Hey, what’s the time? Aren’t you late for work?”

  “No,” she said, standing. “I took the day off so I can stay here with you.”

  “With me? I’m staying home from school?”

  She stared at me for a moment, a puzzled expression on her face. “Bee, you were in a fight yesterday. You were almost killed last night. You’re black and blue with bruises. Of course you’re staying home today. Besides, now you and Sunder can spend the day training together.”

  No! I could not spend the day with Sunder. Not after last night. I didn’t even want to look at him again, let alone have to spend the day with him.

  “But Mom, I…” I trailed off. I had no idea why I would need or want to go to school. “I, ah, have a really important assignment due AND I have track!” That much was true. I’d already missed the last practice. If I missed many more, I could pretty much kiss nationals goodbye.

  “Wait a minute.” My mom’s aura rolled with confusion. “You want to go to school?”

  I nodded.

  “Even after yesterday? Last night?”

  “I do,” I said. “After everything that’s been going on, it would be nice to have some normality in my life.”

  “Okay. I guess I can’t argue with that,” she said with a shrug. “I’ll write you a late note.”

  “Wait, how late am I?” But her lilac aura was already making its way down the hall. I reached over to my nightstand and picked up my Hello Kitty watch: 11:55. Turns out, getting beat up and fighting off two Skadhavar sure takes it out of a girl.

  I flipped off the covers and padded down the hallway into the bathroom. My plan was simple: Get out of the house without speaking to Sunder. Preferably without even having to see him.

  I jumped into the shower and let the hot water blast my body. I could have skipped the shower, but I was desperate to wash off the shame and embarrassment.

  Killing the water, I wrapped a towel around myself, then tiptoed back to my bedroom. I tried to recall where I’d left my jeans. Then I remembered. My go-to jeans had been ripped into shreds in the forest and my old faithful Chuck Taylors had been obliterated by my giant unicorn hooves. I sighed. Just normal teenage problems.

  I pulled open the closet door and started rummaging through. I settled on some slouchy jeans, a faded Blondie t-shirt, and a beat-up old pair of Doc Martens. The boots felt cold and hard on my feet but they’d have to do.

  “Bye Mom,” I called, slipping my car keys from the hook. “See you later!”

  “Bye honey!” she called. “Just stay in the classroom okay? And come straight home after practice, and stick with the rest of the track team, okay?”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  Sunder didn’t respond.

  I shut the front door behind me and let out a sigh of relief. I rounded the corner of the house and there he was. Sunder. Casually, leaning against Terence.

  “Morning Bianca,” he said with a smile. “I was hoping you could give me a ride?”

  I stopped dead in my tracks as shame fell upon me like snowflakes.

  “Come on Bianca,” Sunder said. “You can’t avoid me forever.”

  I sighed. “Fine. Get in. Where do you need a ride to?”

  “Cendrine’s place.”

  “You know, you could walk.”

  “I could. But I figured if you’re driving past, you may as well drop me off.” He was still smiling at me. His big dumb grin made me furious.

  I fired up the engine. It stalled a few times. “Don’t worry,” I said with a dry swallow. “He does this sometimes.” After a few moments of awkward silence, Terence roared to life and we bumped on down the drive. Soon the silence got too much to bear.

  “So why do you need to see Cendrine?”

  “I have much to discuss with her about your training last night.”

  I froze.

  Sunder laughed. “Don’t worry, Bianca. That stays between us.”

  I narrowed my eyes. How could he laugh about something so humiliating?

  “As your mother Tamer,” he went on, “Cendrine needs to be kept informed of your progress. I need to tell her how well you are doing.”

  “How well?” I spat. “You think last night’s training went well? Sunder! I have never been so humiliated in my life!” Terence revved angrily under my heavy foot.

  “Bianca, I meant what you managed to do with your mind. You are the strongest mind worker I have ever encountered.”

  “Well, not strong enough to control myself,” I muttered.

  Sunder sighed. “Bianca, I think we need to talk about it.”

  I cringed inwardly. “We really don’t.”

  “I understand your embarrassment, but we do not have time for me to pander to it. If we are going to work together efficiently, we cannot obsess over something so trivial. I should have warned you about the subconscious, and I shouldn’t have let you take me into your aura so soon. Please don’t feel ashamed.”

  But I did feel ashamed. Is there anything more shameful than your crush finding out that you dream about ripping their clothes off? Of course: when the feeling is not mutual.

  I sighed. If we were going to work together to kill the Skadhavar, we’d need to get past this. Fast. “Sunder, you’re right. We need to move on and focus on the training. I get it. You don’t see me in that w
ay. I totally—”

  “Bianca, stop!”

  I jammed my foot on the brake and stopped with a jolt. The lights up ahead were green but the line of cars was stopped dead.

  “Sorry,” I said.

  But he was looking straight ahead, his brow furrowed, lifting his head to see over the long line of traffic.

  “Something’s going on up there.”

  “Nah, this is normal,” I said with a laugh, grateful for the change of subject. “Welcome to the Pentacle traffic line, enjoy your stay! You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave.”

  Sunder shook his head. “This isn’t normal. There’s a police car up ahead.”

  The line of traffic moved forward slightly. I rolled Terence down the road a few meters and then stopped again. Now I could see them. One on each side of the road. Their lights flashing.

  “I don’t like the feeling of this,” Sunder said, his face set in a scowl.

  We made it through the lights, passing more and more police cars. Some weren’t local. They were smaller cars in fancier models, Ashland Police printed across the side panel. This was bad. Whatever it was.

  “If my mom was at work today, she’d know what was going on.”

  “Yes.” Sunder’s aura swirled in thought. “Change of plan. Bianca, don’t take me to Cendrine’s. I’ll walk from your school. I want to get a look at what’s going on.”

  I turned Terence onto Pentacle Road. Even more police cars lined the streets. An ambulance was parked near the entrance to the parking lot, lights flashing, doors closed.

  As we crawled by, I shot a glance at a paramedic standing beside the parked ambulance. His face was pallid and his aura pulsed with terror. I pushed through his swirling citrus aura and I saw it: Blood. A mangled body lying in leaves.

  A breath caught in my throat. “Sunder,” I whispered. “Something terrible has happened.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  “It’s them, isn’t it? The Skadhavar?

  “I fear so.”

  My face felt hollow. “I thought we had more time. To train.”

  “So did I.” Sunder took a deep breath. “Bianca, I need you to find out what happened. Try to get as much information as possible.”

  I jammed Terence into the dumpster parking space again and killed the engine.

  “Can you call Veronica?” he went on. “We need her to go into work to find out what’s going on.”

  “Okay,” I said numbly, grabbing my backpack. I pulled out my phone. I had eleven missed calls and five messages. Some were from Fae and some were from my mother. But as I entered my unlock code, my phone dimmed and the screen went blank. “Argh! Piece of crap battery!” I threw the useless thing back into my bag.

  “I’ll call her from Cendrine’s,” Sunder said.

  “And I’ll find Fae and see what she knows.”

  We both got out of the car, slamming the doors in unison.

  “And Bianca,” Sunder said. “Be careful.”

  Chapter Twenty

  As I entered the main atrium, students spilled out of classrooms. As per usual, heads turned in my direction. But the whispers and stares seemed to be more exaggerated. The auras around me were heightened. There was a scandal in the air. People stopped and gawked at me as I walked past. I needed to find Fae. Fast.

  I paced toward the cafeteria, hoping I’d find her there.

  “Bee!”

  Fae hurried toward me, a worried expression on her face.

  “Fae,” I said, as she reached my side. “What’s going on? What’s with the police?”

  “Bee, you have to leave. We’ve gotta get you out of here!” She tugged on my arm.

  “But I just got here.”

  “We have to go!”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “How’d you do it, Casper?” came a voice from down the hall.

  “Bee, just ignore it. Let’s go.”

  I turned around to see Damian walking towards us with his entourage behind him.

  “How did you do it? Did you kill her yourself or did you pay someone?”

  “Back off Damian,” Fae shot.

  “I think you’re giving her too much credit, man,” Steve called from behind him. “I think she went bat-shit crazy with a knife.”

  “You think?” Damian said turning to face him. “A good old-fashioned revenge killing with a good old-fashioned knife?”

  “You should have finished her off yesterday!” said another guy from their group. “On video at school. That way my YouTube channel could’ve paid off my car!” They laughed loudly.

  My blood ran cold. A lump of ice started to form in my gut. Please no, I thought. Please don’t let it be Sheena. I shot Fae a querying glance.

  She nodded solemnly.

  “No,” I mumbled, panic rising in my chest.

  “Don’t worry man!” Steve boomed. “Just wait till they arrest her! Then your video of the fight will be worth millions!”

  “Come on,” Fae said, pulling me away from the group of idiots.

  My breathing was heavy. My heart thumped in my chest. Sheena had tormented me for as long as I could remember. But this? I’d never have wished her dead.

  We sped down the hall, back towards the atrium. Fae was right. We needed to leave. After the fight yesterday, and the video, this looked bad.

  We passed through the large glass doors of the atrium, and Elise stepped into our path. “I bet you’re happy!” she screamed, her aura blaring at me with pain and anger, her eyes red and puffy.

  I shook my head. “No. I’m not.”

  “I don’t believe you!” she sobbed. A crowd gathered around us. “Isn’t it convenient that Sheena was killed after that fight yesterday?”

  I didn’t respond.

  There was rumble through the crowd and someone called “fight!”

  Fae shot them a warning glance.

  “I bet you had something to do with this, you freak!” Elise spat, erupting into tears. “She was my best friend! Now she’s…” She trailed off, sobbing.

  “Elise, try to calm down,” Natalia said, at her side. “Let’s get you home, okay?”

  “I know she did it!” Elise screamed again. “She’s a freak show! Just look at her. I know she did it!”

  Fae rested a hand on her forearm. “I’m so sorry, Elise.” At Fae’s words, Elise calmed. Her breathing slowed and she took a long inhale. “Natalia’s gonna take you home now, okay?”

  Elise nodded. Together they turned and walked away from us. Natalia stared back at Fae, flummoxed.

  Fae put her arm around me. Her touch soothed me too. “Come on.”

  We were making our way down the quad steps as darkness crept into my aura. I felt the familiar rotting essence of Mr. Eldritch’s aura only seconds before I heard him.

  “Excuse me, Miss Taylor!”

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Fae muttered.

  For a moment I considered running. Bolting away across the quad towards Terence, daring Mr. Eldritch to chase me on his bony legs. But instead, I sighed and turned.

  He stood at the top of the stairs, angular and smirking, like a demented ostrich. “Very nice of you to make a cameo at school today Miss Taylor. I’d like a word with you in my office if you don’t mind.”

  “Actually sir, Bianca isn’t well. I’m taking her home.”

  “Actually, Miss Seraphine, I don’t believe I was talking to you.” He eyeballed me. “I have been asked by the police to track you down. It appears they’d like to speak with you regarding recent tragic events.”

  “The police? They’re here waiting for me?”

  “They’ve asked me to call them once you arrive. Now please, follow me.”

  I looked at Fae.

  “I’m coming with her!” she shot at
Mr. Eldritch.

  “Very well,” he said, rolling his eyes.

  We trotted to the office block behind Mr. Eldritch, giving him a leeway of at least ten feet. The activity on the quad had stopped dead. All eyes were on us and the whispers had started up again.

  “Fae, what happened?” I hissed. “Tell me everything you know!”

  “They found her in the forest. Not far from the top track field.”

  My mouth tasted like metal and my head began to swim.

  “She was savagely attacked, by the sound of it.”

  I swallowed hard. “Skadhavar.”

  Fae nodded.

  “Why was she near the school? Didn’t she leave early after the fight and go home?”

  “Suze in chemistry told me she got suspended. So maybe that didn’t go down

  well at home. You know, with her dad?”

  I remembered her dad. I’d seen him all too clearly in her mind. If there was ever a reason to flee your house after a hard day, he would be a good one.

  “Elise lives on the other side of the school. If you cut through the forest off the top field you can get to her backyard. Maybe that’s where Sheena was going when it happened.”

  We climbed the few steps up to the office block. “Fae, what do I tell them? What if they think it was me?”

  Fae reached for my hand. “Just tell them the truth. You came to my house after the fight until your mom could collect you. Then you went home. You have my mom and your mom to confirm it.”

  Fae was right. I had nothing to worry about. As long as I left out the part about transforming into a unicorn in the forest I’d be fine. So why did I feel responsible for what had happened? Why did I feel like I had blood on my hands?

  I’d never actually been into Mr. Eldritch’s office before. It had always been his private den. His lair. As Fae and I trailed behind him, his dark, smudgy aura floated along in his wake, filling me with nausea. The fluorescent lights in the foyer flickered as we passed Marilyn’s office window.

  “Marilyn, please call the detectives and let them know we’ve located Miss Taylor.”