by Maya Daniels
A male joins us, decked in leather, his jacket straining over shoulders almost as wide as the doors. His light brown hair is short on the sides, and I can see the skin under it, though it is longer at the top of his head where it's sticking out every which way, like he’s been running his fingers through it. Without a glance our way, he turns his back—which is an idiotic thing to do when you enter a tight space with two creatures that have fangs—and shoves a thick finger at one of the buttons. An aura of danger shrouds him like a cloak, and the monstrosity inside me perks up at that.
“Good to see you again, Astara.” A voice so deep it sounds like rocks rolling down a hill makes me take a barely perceivable step back.
I see him smirk in the mirror without even looking at me, his square jaw cocking to the side.
“Who’s your friend?”
I hold my breath for some reason.
“Zoltan is waiting for you. We just crossed over.” Astara sounds like a soldier giving a report, staring straight ahead at her own reflection as she ignores his question.
It looks like I’m the only one confused here.
He turns over his shoulder to look at her, and I watch his profile as his gaze move up and down the length of Astara, a calculating look sparkling in his eyes. She stands as still as a statue, no emotion whatsoever on her face. The air thickens with tension, and my heartbeat slows. I have no idea who this asshole is, but if he so much as moves a finger in either of our directions, I’m going to paint the mirrors with his blood. His head swivels so fast my way it snaps me out of my trance-like state. Black eyes so dark I can’t see his pupils lock on mine.
“Leave it be, Alex.” Astara steps between us, breaking the staring match going on between us. “You need to talk to my brother.”
“Yes.” The elevator stops with a lurch, the doors sliding open with a loud ding, but he doesn’t move. “I think we definitely need to talk.”
My legs spread slightly as I place all my weight on the balls of my feet. I can still see his gaze over Astara’s shoulder, although half of his face is hidden thanks to her head. He looks at me like I’m the strangest and most unexpected thing he’s seen in his life. My skin prickles at the thought.
I don’t like it.
I don’t like it one little bit.
His arm shoots out, stopping the doors from closing without looking away from me. At this point, I’m getting more angry than worried about him acting like a dick, so grinding my teeth, I shoulder my way past both of them, ending up in a small little entrance area with just one round desk hugging the wall. Not a soul is around besides the three of us.
“Let’s see what Zoltan has to say for himself.” Alex, as Astara called him, steps out of the elevator, and she follows.
She comes next to me, linking her arm through mine as she drags me through the long hallway. I have to force myself not to look over my shoulder at Alex, who is walking behind us with a silent but measured gait. I can feel his eyes on me like they are the barrel of a gun pointing at the back of my head.
There is only one door in the entire floor and it takes us a few long minutes to reach. I’m guessing this is how it feels being forced to walk on a plank, with your heart in your throat and dread eating a hole in your stomach. In a rush, Astara opens the door and pulls me through it where I find myself the center of attention of a lot of pairs of eyes.
My gaze finds Zoltan’s immediately.
Seeing his blue eyes bore into mine makes me realize just how tense I am until now. And how much having him around gives me a sense of safety I shouldn’t have around anyone but myself. Roberti taught me that lesson not long ago.
“Zoltan.” Alex jars me out of my thoughts.
Seeing Zoltan makes me forget about him completely. You have a death wish, Franky, I tell myself as both Astara and I pull away to find our place on either side of the vampire.
“Alex.” Zoltan nods once, not bothering to unfold his arms that are straining his shirt within an inch of its life. “It took you long enough to get here.”
“I had urgent matters. I can’t be at your beck and call when it suits you.” The deep, grumbly voice sounds casual, but the warning in it is evident. “I had to see Roberti regarding the breach in the portals.”
Thankfully, Alex is walking towards a large wooden desk with his back to us when he says that. All of us stiffen at the mention of my old boss in a casual conversation after he tried to have all of us killed not a week ago. I find Myst watching me from the corner of the room, leaning her shoulder on the wall behind her. I didn’t even notice her standing there when I walked in. She gives me a slight shake of her head, and because I can’t decide if it’s a good or a bad thing, I look at Fenrir and Leo, who are as tight as springs standing next to a large floor-to-ceiling window. Alex plopping on the leather seat, making it protest under his weight, pulls my gaze back to him.
He is still watching me as if I’m the only person in the room.
“And what did Roberti say?” Zoltan leans forward in the chair he is sitting on, his words sucking all the oxygen in the room.
Finally, Alex looks at Zoltan, pursing his lips. The skin around his eyes scrunches up, his square jaw tightening. “He said it was a half blood. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” His eyes flick to me then back to Zoltan pointedly.
“Ms. Drake is a student at the academy.” Fenrir pushes off the large window and straightens. “I would worry about who you keep around yourself more than who we take in our ranks, Alexius.”
I can feel Myst bristle from across the room. The moment we saw her in that alley, Fenrir’s knickers were in a knot, and they still are, but right now isn’t the time to worry about it. By the way the males are talking to each other, and at the mention of Roberti, I have a feeling shit is about to hit the fan. The tension is so thick that when Alex sighs and relaxes his shoulders, it’s like a bubble popping in my ears allowing us to breathe.
“Alright, alright.” Lifting palms as large as my head in surrender, Alex chuckles, the aggression in the air disappearing so suddenly my knees almost buckle. “I figured it was a bullshit story as soon as he called to meet up. The mighty Roberti asking me to see him is not something I will pass up, something I think you know.” He grins at Zoltan.
This fucker must be really old to have that much power.
“He had a lot to say about your Ms. Drake.” Leaning thick forearms on the desk, Alex laces his fingers. “He was trying very hard to make me see the danger she represents for all of us. Too hard, you see. Enough for me to smell bullshit. So, what gives?”
“You better not be working with him,” Zoltan says softly, but the hairs on my arms lift from the punch of power coming from him. “I will personally end your life very slowly if that’s the case.”
“I wouldn’t have lived this long if I didn’t know how to pick the winning side, my friend.”
“The academy has been infiltrated. We have someone on the inside working against us. They started killing through the streets of Sienna, and now they are killing inside our walls. Your friend Roberti is neck deep in this.” Zoltan’s fingers tighten slightly on the armrests of the chair, the only indication of his anger. “They are trying to bring the portals down.”
Alex jerks back and his mouth opens as if to speak, but he doesn’t get the chance. A loud boom makes the building shudder, and we stumble slightly, trying to keep our balance. Alex jumps off his chair, looming over the desk.
“You brought hunters to my doors!” he roars at Zoltan, and that is the last straw for me. I can’t take anymore shit and I certainly am done being quiet.
“That’s your buddy Roberti sending a ‘you are a dumbass’ thank-you card, asshole.” Snarling at him, I spin around, leaping at the door and yanking it open.
I might not have dealt with human hunters in my life, but I stand a better chance of fighting a living being than being buried under a ton of slabs from a collapsed building.
11
A
drenaline pumps through my veins as I reach the elevator doors. The building shudders again, pushing the urgency I feel to a whole new level. I breathe through my nose harshly, hoping to keep the magic inside me at bay—at least until I know what I’m dealing with. Seeing a door to the right with an exit sign on it, I jerk it open and enter a dark, empty space with stairs leading up and down but nothing else. When the door clicks closed behind me, a bright light flicks automatically on, blinding me for a moment.
Flinching with a hiss, I shield my eyes, pressing my back to the wall and hoping no one else has thought of using the stairs or I might be screwed. Ever since the night I became bound to the Academy, I feel like I haven’t been myself. My usual knee jerk reactions that get me out of clusterfucks like this are nowhere to be found, and I’ll end up dead if I don’t snap out of it.
When the bright spots disappear and my vision clears, two things become crystal clear. One: there is no one using the stairs, not that I can hear at the moment anyway. Two: whatever that sound and shuddering are, they are definitely not a physical attack on this building. Awareness of Zoltan comes soon after, telling me he is getting very close. Glancing over my shoulder like a frightened deer, my body leans forward, ready to bolt down the stairs. I take one step and stop dead in my tracks, my head snapping back to look at the door. A thin layer of white powder lines the frame. Tracing it with my gaze, I see it on the ground as well, so I kneel to get a better look.
With a slight flick, I dust off the floor, rubbing the powder gently between my fingers. The small grains roll under the pressure of my skin, and I bring it under my nose, sniffing cautiously. Unable to pinpoint the scent, I bring it to the tip of my tongue, aware that if it’s a poison that can affect supernaturals, I deserve to die for doing something so stupid. The moment the tiny grain touches my taste buds, I frown.
Salt.
I leap back, grabbing the metal railing at my back when the door opens suddenly. Zoltan fills up the frame, looming like Death himself has come to claim me. His eyes lock on my still-clutched fingers before flicking back to my face.
“It wards off demonic forces.” Not moving away from the threshold, he searches my face.
“What does that mean?” My fingers rub together absentmindedly. “Demons can’t enter the stairs? I feel safer already,” I add dryly, wondering who has come up with this idiotic idea.
His lips quirk at the corners, but the intense gaze he throws my way keeps me pinned to the spot. I clutch the railing tighter, the metal bending in my grasp. The ping from the elevator door sounds from somewhere behind him, but Zoltan doesn’t even twitch a muscle.
“Remember how I said the gifts from the old gods change the hunters?” At my reluctant nod, his eyebrow lifts up in an arch. “The salt is a millennium-known protection from evil spirits, so they can’t cross the warding unless the line is broken.”
My heart jumps in my throat, and my eyes lock on the ground under Zoltan’s boots, where I dusted off the line of salt. “Umm, I actually…” my words trail off.
“There is one more protection set around the building.” He turns to look at something over his shoulder for a moment before pinning me with a narrowed look. “Unless someone broke that one as well, they’ll stay outside of it.”
Another boom makes me sway, my tight grip on the metal the only thing preventing me from toppling down the stairs. Zoltan is next to me faster than a bolt of lightning, anchoring me to his body with an arm around my waist. My knees almost buckle, his nearness making me dizzy, and I lean towards him, pressing closer. A barely audible groan vibrates in his chest, and my head snaps up so I can see his face.
When I tip my face up, Zoltan’s lips are so close to mine I can feel the air heating where our skin almost touches, but a breath away. The strength of his grip molds very hard muscle of his body to mine, and I feel his erection burning a hole in my lower belly. Butterflies are wreaking havoc in my stomach, and his eyes lock on the fluttering pulse on my neck. A deaf person can hear the thundering in my chest, and the metal in my hand screeches painfully loud when it snaps in half, biting into my palm.
“I’ll start thinking I’m making the famous agent Drake nervous,” he murmurs, his pillowy lower lip grazing mine with each word. The familiar smirk on his face speeds up my breathing, but something nags at me deep down, pummeling my head insistently.
My mouth tingles.
“I want to stab something.” Blurting out the first thing I can think of, I watch him frown.
“You what?” I almost laugh at the incredulous look on his handsome face.
“I want to stab something.” Leaning closer to him, my cheek brushes his when I whisper in his ear. I can feel him shiver slightly, and I want to hoot with pride for making him react that way. “So, either point the way to where I can see these hunters that all of you are talking about or be ready to fight me. But don’t you ever again try to sidetrack me by using my attraction to you, Zoltan.” He leans back with a shocked look, and this time I smirk at him. “You won’t like what happens if you do.”
“I don’t think it’s wise for the hunters to get a whiff of you, Francesca.” A muscle jumps in his jaw. “Not yet.”
“You know it would’ve been easier to say that instead of trying to manipulate me.” I nudge him, and his hold on me loosens, allowing me to slip away from his grasp. “If they are here, it means they know something. And if anyone knows me better than I know myself, that would be Roberti. He would’ve expected me to come and see for myself the moment I found out about everything.”
“More the reason for you to stay away from this fight.” He stops me with a grip on my arm when I try to step down the stairs down. “There will be other fights. Let us keep them in the dark as long as we can.”
“And leave the others to fight on their own?” Yanking my arm away, I take the stairs two at a time with him hot on my heels. “Not a chance, pure blood. You can sit and watch if you like. I’m going to kick some human ass right about now.”
The walls blur as I move as fast as I can, holding the railing to stop myself from bouncing off them. The gray color of the paint mixes with the white of the tiles and the glare of the light, giving me a headache. The lower we get, the harder my stomach lurches. The only thing stopping me from leaning over and hurling is knowing that the arrogant vampire is right behind me.
My skin prickles, the tiny hairs standing on end when both my feet hit the ground level. I can feel Zoltan slowing down as well, his presence as comforting at my back as it is annoying. I’m still not sure how I feel after his little charade up there.
“Let us be smart about this, Francesca.” His massive hand slams on the door, thwarting my attempt to open it. “If there is no need for you to get involved, stay out of it and just observe. That’s all I ask.”
Giddiness and anticipation swirl inside me. I’m debating if slapping Zoltan will move him out of my way faster, or if it’ll turn into us fighting each other in this claustrophobic space. Nodding with a jerk is enough to get him to step away, and a blast of cold air hits my face when I yank the heavy door open. I may be a little over enthusiastic since I almost rip it off the hinges, but with a sheepish side glance, I step into the lobby.
Right into a war zone.
Jumping back, stepping on Zoltan’s toes in the process, I avoid an arrow whose steel tip embeds itself in the doorframe, missing both of us by only an inch.
It’s chaos.
I spot our four companions easily, all of them in head-to-toe black, making them stand out between a dozen or more white as snow ninjas. The scene if front of my eyes is so insane that the thought makes me snort, but it’s the only word my mind can connect with the so-called hunters—if these are even the hunters I was told about.
Zoltan pulls me to the side, slipping behind a large wooden screen separating the open lobby of the building from a short hallway. At a closer look, I realize the two doors are the bathrooms, and I receive a glare from Zoltan for my snickering. A Daywalker and a hal
f blood walk into the bathroom … there is a joke there somewhere, I just can’t think of it at the moment.
A shift in the temperature and the stirring in the air triggers the monstrous magic inside me, and I jerk my head back. Another arrow sinks through the thin screen where my head used to be. I can feel its vibrations on the tip of my nose from the nonexistent proximity to it. Anger surges through me. The fuckers will nail me to a wall while I hide like a coward.
“How are the humans not reporting this?” Voicing what bothers me, I crawl closer to the corner, ignoring the fact that my ass is stuck in Zoltan’s face. Well, I try to ignore it, but it’s there in the back of my mind trying to send all sorts of inappropriate images in my mind. Now is not the time, Franky. Plus, he is a manipulative jerk, remember? the voice in my head adds its two cents shaking me out of it.
“Fenrir will not allow them to see it.” Zoltan sounds pained from behind me, and I bite my lip hard so I don’t laugh. The pants I’m wearing are molded to my ass so I can imagine the view he has. “The hunters know that. We have a lot more to lose if all of them know about our existence.”
I forget all about humans and if they can see us when I stick my head around the corner. The number of hunters has doubled, cornering our friends, making me think they will never get out of there alive. Except that weird chick from earlier and Alex stand in different spots, separating them from each other in the vast space. It takes me a moment to see what is actually going on. Even though weapons are being shot or thrown their way, they are not getting hurt. Moving faster than the hunters, they twist and turn, avoiding anything that might harm them. Yet, they are being hoarded away from the area me and Zoltan are occupying. While I watch, a handful of the white-dressed hunters peel off from the rest, slinking in the background and heading our way. My heart picks up a beat.
