The Puppet Master: The Paranormal University Files: Skylar, Year 4

by Savage, Vivienne

  * * *

  An assortment of campus sentinels met us at the townhouse, having arrived long before I even reached the walking path. Among them stood the provost, Doctor Riordan clenching her staff tightly in one hand. Sentinels held stakes, double-checked their gear, and loaded their guns.

  Loading guns to go in and speak with Holly while she lay in her coffin during the sunlit hours, defenseless and unable to so much as fight them off.

  No. This wasn’t what I wanted. This wasn’t what I expected when I tried to get help for Holly.

  Immediately, I sought a familiar face among the crowd, a safe face, then hurried to Simon. Any other time, I would have cracked a joke about him wearing robes since it was an uncommon look for him, but nothing about the situation inspired humor. Even if he did look like Gandalf.

  “What’s going on?”

  “The house is sealed tight,” he replied, voice terse and eyes hard. “I watched the door slam shut on the girls myself.”

  “You mean Lia and Pilar are still in there?” My voice cracked. My text warning them to leave must have come too late.

  Or initiated something worse.

  “All four of them. Anji is also trapped inside.”

  My pulse kicked into hyperdrive. I peered at the windows and gazed into the Twilight, startling back a step at the horror that I saw. A miasma swirled around my former home, turbulent and stormy with dark energy matter. An impenetrable black fog.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re going to storm the premises and eradicate the danger, whatever it may be.”

  “What?”

  “If we have a turning student on our hands—”

  “She’s not turning. Holly wouldn’t turn darkling.” Visions of our raid against the storage facilities surfaced in my mind. They were going to kill her as she slept. “You can’t do this, Simon.”

  Simon looked exhausted, and older than I remembered. His face was lined with stress and strain. He glanced once at the townhouse and over the assortment of sentinels preparing to storm a home occupied by my friends, then he turned his gaze on me again and sighed. “What would you have me do?”

  “Save her,” I blurted. “If this really is a demon, then exorcise it. Treat Holly the way we’re looking at Lia, Pilar, and Anji. She needs to be rescued, too.”

  “It’s not how television makes it out to be, Skylar. We can’t go in waving a crucifix and pray it away.”

  “There has to be some way.”

  “Not without endangering a lot of people.”

  “That isn’t a no. You’re implying there is a way.”

  His expression didn’t change. “There is, but we’re as likely to kill her—if there is an entity at all. We’ll have to go in and assess her. Read her soul. Test her specifically for demonic influence or darkling taint. Then we’ll decide the next course of action. We aren’t going in specifically to…destroy Miss Burke, but it doesn’t look good. I can’t make that determination until we see her.”

  I didn’t like the sound of it. A kernel of unease settled in the pit of my stomach and tightened into rock-hard anxiety. I couldn’t walk away. “So that’s it? You won’t even try to help her? We saved Sebastian. We all sacrificed for him! Holly stained her soul to help him because we love him and he’s our friend. Why can’t you try for Holly? You owe her that much. We all owe her that much.”

  “Why ask me when the provost is standing there?”

  I swallowed the thick lump forming in my throat. “Because they’ll listen to you. Because you’re the sentinel authority here, not the provost. No matter what you say, they’ll listen to you, Simon. She will listen to you. Please.”

  To my surprise, he dipped his head in a quiet nod. “All right.”

  It was the answer I’d hoped for but hadn’t expected.

  I also wasn’t prepared for what came next, as he turned to face the assembled group of sentinels and said, “Listen up. Change of plans. Only Skylar and I are entering the premises.”

  “What?”

  “The more bodies involved, the greater chance of Burke harming someone, or forcing our hand—if she’s the source of the disturbance. We don’t want that. Demons make sentinels trigger-happy, because our experience with them is minimal at best.”

  “Oh.”

  “Even in a hostage situation, a negotiator is sent in first. And up until your arrival, I had a visual of the girls through the living room windows.” He clenched his jaw. “Now we don’t. That changes everything. Someone pass your gear to Skylar.”

  A female raven shifter of similar size stepped forward and passed me her protective collar and kevlar jacket. I donned both, realizing for the first time that I was in danger of Holly’s fangs landing in my neck. Not once, in all of our friendship since Carmilla had turned her, had I ever truly feared her.

  Strangely, I still didn’t.

  “Under normal circumstances,” Simon said, “Queen Titania alone could take on a demon. We’ve sent an alert to Oberon, but when he comes…”

  “He’ll torch Holly.”

  “Yes.”

  Now we were racing against time for a wholly different reason. Despite saving Holly from execution at the hands of the campus sentinel squad, we likely had mere minutes until Oberon arrived in a tempest of smoke and fire.

  “How are we going to get inside?”

  “We’re going to offer you,” Simon said grimly. “Due to the demon’s influence over the house, our original plan was to kick in the door or blast a hole into the wall and storm the premises. I think that will change.”

  “Why because of me? It already has two fae inside.”

  “Because it hates you. From what I gathered from your conversation with Cordelia, this thing hates you, and by now, must realize it’s been discovered. It will want to take you down with it.”

  That eerie hypothesis sent a frigid wave of cold over my body and raised every hair on my nape. As I approached the door, the malevolence in the air hummed with its own energy. Somewhere in there, my friends needed me.

  Lia hadn’t yet regained her power.

  Pilar was spent, too freshly drained of her powers after her recent Ascension.

  And Anji, a lone werewolf, was no match for a vampire mage possessed by a demonic entity.

  All three of my close friends needed me.

  Lightning flashed in the same moment a meteor hurtled from the sky. When the brilliant flash and wave of heat were gone, Oberon, Dain, and Eldan stood on a scorched section of sidewalk, dressed for battle. Oberon’s armor gleamed bright as the sun, almost blinding. Dain’s breastplate and matching sword glimmered with starlight, while Eldan’s greataxe was so dark it seemed to absorb light. I’d never seen him with an axe before, and all I could picture was him acting in his role as executioner.

  “Oh no, no, no, no.”

  “We’re too late,” Simon whispered.

  The hell we are. I won’t let them hurt her.

  “I have it wrong, do I?” Oberon’s eyes flashed. “From what I understand, my queen’s sentinel has become host to a demonic force while the lot of you twiddle your thumbs.”

  “We don’t know as much for certain, Your Majesty,” Riordan said in a calm, even voice. I actually admired her ability to keep cool in the middle of such a shit storm. “A demonic presence is here, but that’s all I can be certain of until we gain access.”

  “But you suspect,” Dain said, his voice surprisingly acerbic compared to the tranquil fae I knew. “You suspect, yet you stand here and fail to act.”

  “This is a delicate situation.” Riordan’s hand tightened on her staff, knuckles whitening. “A matter that requires immense coordination to lessen the potential number of casualties for all involved.”

  Beside me, the tension rolled off Simon in waves, and I was struck at once with the depth of his pain. Holly had been one of his best students.

  Oberon leveled his gaze on our provost. “Then I will bring the girls out and burn this place, along with its
host, to ash.”

  “No!” I shouted, charging across the lawn.

  “Demons have no place among humankind. They must be eradicated.”

  “You can’t kill Holly.”

  “I have been patient and accepting of your friends, Lady Skylar, but my queen—your queen—is in danger. Her life and that of our Lady Pilar are the only ones of consequence. And since Liadan has no Morrigan to be her shield and blade, I will act as I see fit.”

  My gaze snapped to Dain, hoping to see understanding, or even sympathy. His face was an unreadable mask. I had no help there.

  “Please,” I begged when Eldan transformed. His cu sith form rivaled most werewolves I knew in size. “Simon and I were heading inside when you arrived.”

  “There is no other option. This matter is not of your concern.”

  Right. Because Lia had no Morrigan. Because I’d declined. Twice. My heart jumped into my throat and seemed to smother my air supply.

  “I’ll do it!” I cried when they stepped toward the house. Oberon paused and looked back at me over his shoulder. “I’ll be her Morrigan. I’ll save her and everyone else.”

  The two fae lords and their king turned at once in an eerie synchronization, their gazes focused on me.

  “Do not bind yourself blindly.”

  “I’m not. You made me the offer and never rescinded it. That means I can still accept. So I do. I swear before all these witnesses that I pledge myself as Queen Liadan’s Morrigan. Upon graduation, I will return with her to Tir na Nog.”

  I’d expected him to smirk in success, having gotten what he ultimately wanted, but Oberon merely crossed to me and met my solemn gaze. There was no victory or pleasure there. Only blazing fire.

  “I give you until the hour before sunset to bring your queen out alive. Any later, and the risk of unleashing this creature is too great.”

  “Understood.”

  Provost Riordan and the team of sentinels remained on standby, their crew assembled on one side of the yard, Oberon and the fae on the other, with the walking path dividing them. I returned to stoop with Simon at my side, terrified of what we would encounter once inside.

  If Lia was already gone, I doubted any deal with Oberon would stay his hand and prevent him from leveling the house alongside Dain.

  “You have this,” Simon said in a low voice, for my ears alone. “Now let’s go handle this.”

  Taking strength from his support, I set my uncertainty aside and reached for the door. The handle moved easily in my hand without resistance. As I pushed it inward, Simon set a hand on my shoulder. I reached back with my other hand and grasped his, seconds before an abrupt wave of force pounded me in the face. It went through me, but the pain was legitimate and real. It almost blew Simon from the porch, but our mutual grip on each other kept him anchored in place.

  “Thought so,” he muttered.

  “You were right. It only wants to keep you out.”

  The oppressive nature of the townhouse’s atmosphere couldn’t be ignored. The whole place felt hollow and claustrophobic, as if the walls were pressing in on us. When I tried to reach out to sense my fellow fae, or even Holly or Anji, emptiness greeted me. The beautiful ferns and flowers from Tir na Nog hung limp in their planters, withering and shriveling practically before our eyes.

  “Where are they?” I whispered.

  “No idea.”

  “Holly’s room is this way.” I led him down the short hall to a room past the kitchen. The door swung open on its own, revealing the dimly lit space. Holly’s bedroom remained a gothic dream of pink and black silk.

  The sight of her closed coffin sent my heart rate spiking again. What if she was in there?

  We stepped into the room, each armed and prepared. I clutched my crystal wand in one hand and Simon held his staff in the other, the gemstone on the end emitting a soft glow.

  We checked behind the door, and with a spell from his staff, the closet door flew open, as did the curtains. No Holly lurking in wait.

  I breathed as last.

  “Don’t hold your breath,” Simon cautioned. He squeezed my shoulder again, and I was ever thankful for his presence.

  “Right. Right.”

  Somehow, I rediscovered the courage I’d dredged up a year ago when I needed to awaken Holly for her help. Someone had lined our home with salt, trapping us three fae inside at a crucial time when I needed to leave the townhouse. Thanks to my vampire friend, I hadn’t missed out on a mission as a sentinel in training.

  Simon stood back with his staff at the ready while I set my hands on the polished wood. I raised it, prepared for fangs and snarling and—

  Empty. Just soft satin, pale peach silk, Holly’s cell phone, and a little teddy bear Victor had given her.

  “She’s not in here.”

  “Then they have to be upstairs. There’s nowhere else for them to go.”

  “The Twilight?”

  Simon shook his head. “We have sentinels posted in the Twilight to monitor the perimeter. They would have sent up a signal and notified us if they saw movement.”

  We cleared the bathroom and kitchen pantry before doubling back into the living room quarters.

  “Upstairs it is.”

  With each step upward, the air grew chillier, until my breath fogged the air on the upper landing. A thin layer of frost crusted the walls.

  “Pilar, Anji, Lia,” I whispered, pointing to each door in turn.

  Simon nodded his head toward Lia’s. Hers was the only door shut. We both put our backs to the wall, one of us on each side of the door, then Simon tipped his staff against the wood.

  The door vanished, poofed away into nothingness, but I couldn’t give it more than passing wonder as I swung around, my Prismatic Barrier glowing around us, and charged inside with Simon.

  The room was in disarray, absolutely destroyed by gouges in the wall and blood splattered across the carpet. Desperately, I sought the source and struggled to take in a complete room—the entire scene before me—in the split second afforded to a sentinel before they could react.

  Liadan and Pilar had joined hands, flames dancing along the arms of the former and flickering in place of her red hair while Pilar’s glow kept Holly at bay. Anji lay stretched on the ground behind them in her wolf form, bleeding from a deep gash across her chest.

  For a moment, I feared the worst, thinking her dead, until I heard the whimper.

  Then there was Holly, or what had once been Holly, a thing that scarcely resembled our good friend anymore hissing and spitting from the corner, her face a grotesque mockery of the beautiful blonde we loved, spines and ridges now on her brow and demonic horns protruding from her temples. Her eyes burned bright orange, pupils a stark contrast against the unnatural color.

  This thing was Holly, and it wasn’t Holly.

  My Prismatic Barrier absorbed a flash of fire that should have roasted us both down to the bone. This thing also had Holly’s powerful elemental magic.

  “Sky!” Lia cried as the onslaught continued. I poured my control into the barrier, gritted my teeth, and found more endurance until the end. I almost sagged on the spot.

  “Great. Now that you’ve tried that, let’s have a conversation,” Simon said, tapping the end of his staff against the ground and summoning a magical shield in place of my barrier, granting me time to recharge. “I am addressing the entity currently residing within Holly Burke. What do you want?”

  “I am Holly Burke.”

  “You’re not. You’re a…parasite wearing her skin.”

  I edged my way around Simon, trying to reach my friends, but Holly lashed out with another searing blast of fire. The shield absorbed it, glowing red-hot over the surface before the heat dispersed entirely.

  “Only I get to play with the pretty dolls.”

  Her cackle hurt my ears, like nails on a chalkboard.

  “How long before their flames and starlight dim?” the demon asked, extending her fingers toward the golden light from Pilar’s constell
ation. The tips smoldered and darkened red, blisters arising and bubbling over her palm. “Ah, not yet. Soon.”

  “Not soon enough for you. You can’t escape.”

  “Foolish mage,” Holly snarled. “You have no idea what drives me.”

  Simon’s jaw tightened and his gaze flicked toward me. The same certainty I felt was mirrored in his eyes; the demon didn’t care about escape so long as it could take us all down with it.

  “King Oberon will never let you win.” Lia had never sounded so imperious before. Her eyes, lit by tiny flames, held a look of resolve despite the strain etched on her face.

  “I have fed long and deep upon resentment and anger. I know everything about them, all that I need to know. These girls are mine. This body is mine. This little vampire-mageling’s soul belongs to me, and no filthy bird-king will stop me!”

  Lia’s flames flickered and dimmed, and Pilar’s glow looked no better. Little by little, their power was waning and I had no light to lend them.

  “Little fae without her glow.” The voice slithered through my thoughts. “You’ve sold your soul, you know, little more than a pawn of the summer court. They’ll never let you go. Never accept the beast you love. Your pet.”

  “Gabriel isn’t my pet. I—”

  “Don’t feed it,” Simon cautioned. “It thrives on anger and pain. That’s why it tried to drive a wedge between all of you. It wanted to divide and conquer to weaken your bond. Control yourself.”

  “Now you’ve bound him to you in shifter matrimony, and you’ll leave him. All alone. Poor little caged bird, trapped by his feelings and love for you.” Holly laughed. “He’ll go ma-a-ad. They all go mad when they’re left behind, abandoned and forsaken by flighty fae as eager to leave them as they were to fuck.”

  “Ignore it,” Simon said again.

  Holly slunk forward a foot. Her amused smile bared fangs much longer than I recalled.

  “Are you truly any better, wizard? Your own father committed suicide to escape your debauchery. The shame of the family.” The creature wearing Holly’s face cackled to itself, swaying from side to side.