“Over here,” Frankie said, not giving me time to appreciate the opulence of the place.
A small fountain trickled in the corner of the room, right near a pair of double glass doors that were made up of the same stained glass as the office much further below.
“This is stunning.” I couldn’t help my outburst as we approached the desk near the doors.
The picture depicted in the stained glass was a wizard holding a wand towards a mountain. Sparks flew from the tip of it, igniting a fire nearby. A man cowered below the wizard, tiny in comparison.
A plaque above the doors was engraved in gold, the writing only just discernible. Shit, it was in Latin, how bloody typical. The one language I had failed to master. Okay, that was an out and out lie, I hadn’t learnt any other languages, but Latin was the language of witches, so I should’ve made more of an effort.
“Mr and Mrs Headly, welcome!” The receptionist got up from her desk and waved us over. “We weren’t expecting you today, but you know you’re always welcome.”
Ah, so they had been there before. That sucked arse in a big way. Had the bloke downstairs realised that we were ignorant when we’d approached? We had to be on guard, ready to escape if an attack occurred.
“Thank you, dear,” I said, fanning my face as a rush of warmth ran over me. “It’s incredibly rude of us to drop by, but when we had the phone call last night, we had to tell you in person. Well, not you…” As my sentence trailed off, she laughed and tucked her blonde hair behind her ear.
“Of course. Please, take a seat, he’ll be with you shortly.”
Treading over to a couch, I stared at the Latin above the door of the office. What did it say? Was it a spell to keep out those who weren’t allowed inside? Who would be on the other side?
“To all those who follow me, you shall be free,” Frankie said under his breath.
I kept my gaze straight ahead as he sat next to me. Hopefully there wasn’t any microphones or cameras nearby, otherwise we would look extremely suspicious. What human knew Latin?
My palms were slick with sweat as I listened to the soft music that played in the background. I didn’t dare wipe them on my dress, just in case the receptionist watched us. It was hard not to freak out as I tried to keep an indifferent, yet slightly mesmerised, look on my face. Any wrong move could mean that we were caught out. If they hadn’t already twigged, of course.
To all those who follow me, you shall be free. Just who would make such a broad claim? Who was the man so desperate to take down the humans and create mutant paranormals?
Chapter Eleven
“He’s ready to see you now,” the woman at the desk called after ten minutes. “Please, go on through.”
Her smile, although bright, was plastered on as if it had been painted by a clown. Did she enjoy working for the person in the office? Or was she pretending to lull us into a false sense of security?
“Come on, dear,” Frankie said, pulling me up from where I’d frozen on the couch.
“Oh, yes, going into the office now.” My words were quiet, almost whispered.
Clearing my thoughts, I tried to stem the shaking of my hands, tucking them into the pockets of my long granny cardigan. Warmth enveloped my fingers, helping me to feel slightly more focused.
Frankie got to the door first, pushing it open and dragging me inside. I understood his rush, I had been tempted to turn and run to the elevator. We were about to come face to face with-
“Ah, hello there!” A tall handsome mature man greeted us as we came to a stop.
My gaze travelled over the office, unable to resist taking in the old fashioned wooden panels and green lamps. The man sat behind a huge oak desk, leaning back in his leather seat with his arms crossed over his waist.
“Oh my,” I said, quickly regaining my composure. “It looks like I’ve walked onto the set of Sherlock Holmes.”
Smiling, the man laughed gently, his dark eyes creasing at the edges. Phew, he seemed to be in good spirits. And my foster parents had obviously never been to the office, otherwise he would’ve picked up on my boo boo. If they had seen the office before, my foster mother wouldn’t have acted like she had just seen the place for the first time. Rookie mistake, Alishia, real rookie mistake.
“What can I do for you?” the man asked, soothing his navy blue suit jacket. “I must admit, I was surprised to hear that you’d come to see me.”
When he gestured for us to sit on the chairs opposite him, we slowly lowered ourselves, both trying to stay in character. I glanced over at Frankie, only now realising that he had gone fairly quiet. He watched the man, his eyes registering something that I’d missed. Shit, I should’ve paid more attention to my friend. I might have seen that he’d recognised him.
“We’re here about Alishia Jones.” Taking the lead, Frankie sat slouched, his rounded belly almost hanging out of his trousers.
“Yes,” I piped up. “Her aunt rang us last night. We know we didn’t deliver on our promise, but we thought we’d better pass on the juicy gossip.”
His eyes flicked with something unrecognisable as he sat forward, leaning on the desk. “Go on.”
We were playing with fire. Neither one of us knew how much contact he’d had with the Headlys, so we had to be careful. Very very careful.
“Alishia has made friends at the academy.”
“We knew that,” the man snapped, his gaze dropping to the desk before looking up again. “Anything else?”
His power radiated from him, an undertone of threat sinking into my skin. At first, he had appeared jovial and kind, but that mask was slowly starting to slip. How far could we push it before we were caught? We couldn’t even ask his name without being found out.
“Well, she said that there had been an attack at the academy. We didn’t know if it was you, or someone else, but we-”
“Although you didn’t deliver your promise, we’ve been trying to keep our end of the bargain. We want Alishia unharmed. We vowed that we wouldn’t hurt her and we haven’t.” His scowl was quickly dropped when I put a hand to my chest and sighed audibly.
“Good,” I said, quite shocked at the revelation that my foster parents had tried to protect me a little. “Her talents…” Blinking slowly, the man who was obviously in charge of the institute stared at me. “…They’re going to waste at that place. The academy has a good reputation, yes, but she’s better off with us. Did you tell the aunt this? Explain why we wanted her?”
“Of course we did!” Frankie butted in when I gawped at him.
Relaxing, the man sat back again, his shoulders releasing tension as they hit the soft leather of his seat. “So, did she say anything more? I doubt you came all this way to tell me about the attack on the academy, considering you could’ve rang that in.”
Laughing nervously, and actually meaning it, I waved away his serious comment and looked at Frankie. He had agreed to take the lead, and right now, I was ready for him to do that.
“We-”
“Sir!” The door crashed open and three men dressed in black stormed into the room, dragging Dracian and Helissa with them. “These two were found snooping around the lower corridors. We tried to question them, but they’re not talking.”
Jumping up from his seat, the man in front of us froze when a guard dragged Dracian forward.
“Dad?” my boyfriend said, his eyes widening.
“Dracian?”
What? No no no. Surely not?
“What are you doing here?” Nicholas Dread came around the desk, his cheeks puffing and his eyes wide. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
Dracian stammered, his mouth agape. I sat completely still, even though I had almost rushed from my seat, ready to defend my friends. How had we not known that Dracian’s father had been the head of the institute? He had… wait, did that mean he had killed my parents?
Fury boiled my blood, making my skin heat. If I revealed myself now, it would be over in an instant. Where was Devon and the teachers? Had th
ey split up from my friends, leaving them undefended?
“So, this is where you’ve been all along? Running the institute?” Dracian’s spat words made me cringe as Nicholas ordered his men to step down.
“This is my son.” He shook his head, dismissing the men. “Please, leave us.” Turning, he widened his eyes at us. “If you don’t mind.”
Scrambling to get to our feet, we both readied ourselves.
Dracian stepped forward and held up a hand. “No, they’re not going anywhere. Alishia Jones is my girlfriend, and I know that you’ve been conspiring to kidnap her.”
He was right, we weren’t going to go anywhere, although his defence did send a tiny thrill through my heart. I couldn’t get carried away, but he really was the right man for me. Strong, reliable and even going against his own father in my name. He was one hot kickass witch.
“Your girlfriend? My men had reported that you were friends, but…” Shaking his head, he pointed at us without looking in our direction. “These people are useless, they have nothing to do with Alishia anymore. They should go.”
A smirk lit Dracian’s face before he glanced at me, his expression giving nothing away. “What’s going on?”
The guards slowly retreated, their tread silent on the carpet. When the doors closed behind them, Nicholas Dread straightened his suit jacket and went around his desk. Taking up a cigarette box, he lit one, waving at us to sit again.
“Very well, you want to know what we’ve been doing?” He looked at his son, his eyebrows creased as he sat forward, leaning his elbows on his desk.
Nodding, Dracian stayed standing, his stance ready for a fight. My fingers gripped the edge of the seat as my blood pumped through my veins. How had we not seen this coming? Especially when Devon had declared that she couldn’t find Mr Dread. I couldn’t help but dart looks at Dracian, my arms itching to comfort him.
Blowing out a long line of smoke, Nicholas clucked his tongue before proceeding. “Mr Jones was my best friend growing up. He confided in me when his daughter was born. He suspected that something was wrong, but I assured him that it sometimes took a while for a witch to come into their magic. At the same time, another friend of ours, Jacob, an intelligent college graduate, was captured and killed by the human government for trading magic secrets.” Snorting, Nicholas frowned, disgust lining his face. “He wasn’t doing the humans any harm, but they were determined to make sure that we knew that they were in charge. There are millions of them and only a million of us. Every coven leader was sent a message, once a year, to remind them to keep the witches in check or face annihilation.”
Glancing at us, Nicholas pursed his lips. “You do know that these are official secrets. When I’ve finished talking, I will have these people killed.”
Ouch. The callous intent was like a punch to the stomach. Even Frankie flinched, dropping his gaze to hide his shock. I stared at the man, unable to drag my eyes away from the witch who had more than likely ordered my parents’ murder.
“Father, I don’t recognise you.” Dracian spoke quietly, sadness lacing his features. “What happened to the man I looked up to?”
“I’m sorry, son,” Mr Dread muttered, not really looking sorry at all. “It’s for a greater cause. If we can build an army of indestructible paranormals, we’ll have a fighting chance at survival when the humans turn on us.”
“What has Alishia got to do with it? And Damian’s parents? And all those who were taken against their will? That’s not for the greater good, that’s kidnapping!” Dracian kept his gaze on his father, his hands clenched by his sides.
He was handling the situation a lot better than me. Helissa, who I hadn’t even thought about, stood just behind him, keeping her eyes on the man in charge at the same time as staying extremely still.
“Mr Jones asked me to take care of her if anything happened to him. Of course, when he asked me to help him invent something to give her magic through electricity, I obliged. I was fascinated by her gift. I knew we had to have her in our army.”
“So, you killed her parents in order to kidnap her?” Dracian spat, spittle flying from his lips as his cheeks burned red. “You let me go to her house with a warning, too late I might add, in order to give you an alibi.”
Stubbing out his cigarette in a glass ashtray, Nicholas bit his lip. “I do regret using you the way I did, but I’d already tried to persuade Mr Jones that his daughter would be valuable to the cause.”
“That was why he was worried,” I blurted, clamping my mouth shut when Nicholas frowned at me. “Alishia confided in me, told me that her father was afraid of the institute coming for them.”
His glare stayed on me for a moment longer, analysing the truth of my words. Luckily, he hadn’t bothered to use magic since we had arrived. My own magic was starting to wilt; I could feel the drain. Frankie looked fine, able to keep a baffled expression on his face.
“When it became clear that Mr Jones wasn’t going to allow me access to Alishia, I had them watched. He planned to run away, taking the girl with him. His neighbours, the parents to your friend,” he said to Helissa, waving his hand as he tried to remember the name.
“Isabel?” she said gingerly.
“That’s the one. They were going to help them escape, but of course, I couldn’t let that happen. How often is an Illusionist witch able to turn electricity into magic?” He watched Dracian, the question in his gaze.
“Er, never,” Dracian replied, looking suitably confused. “That’s still no excuse to kill the Jones’. The image of her parents haunt me today!”
I had been watching Frankie, who had glanced at me sharply when Nicholas mentioned my skill. He knew how it worked now, but the story was still pretty horrid.
When Dracian made his confession, I looked at him, unable to stand it anymore. I’d heard enough.
Getting to my feet, I closed the distance between myself and Dracian. He stared at me wide-eyed as his father quickly got to his feet, a gun in his hand.
“What are you doing?” he ordered, lifting his arm towards me.
Letting my illusion drop, I reached up and touched Dracian’s cheek. “I’m letting your son know that I support him, no matter what.”
With a growl low in his throat, Nicholas came around the desk, aiming the gun at me. “You!”
Dracian shoved me behind him, using his body as a shield. I reached into my pocket, pressing the button on my inducer to fill up my magic. Not one of us would go down without a fight.
Frankie got to his feet when Nicholas looked at him, also letting go of the illusion of my foster father. When he appeared, Nicholas snorted in disbelief.
“Well,” he said, lowering the gun slightly. “You really did have us fooled.”
Laughing, I looked around Dracian, leaning on his arm. “And it seems that you betrayed my parents and your own son. I hope you’re proud.”
The truth made the man cringe as he looked at his son. “Can’t you see?” he said. “I’ve done this for us. If you join me, you’ll understand why I’m building an army.”
Dracian’s arms shook as he straightened his spine. “You’re evil. Kidnapping people and mutating them in an attempt to threaten a government who could’ve killed us off years ago is not something to be proud of. You are not my father.”
“Very well,” Nicholas said with a sigh. “Guards!”
Several men in black thundered into the room, surrounding us. One of them lunged at me, his arms outstretched and an incantation falling from his lips. I froze, unable to move. Shit, he had trapped me. Bastard!
“Leave her!” Dracian shouted, diving for the offender who was almost upon me.
Helissa suddenly appeared between us, flicking her hand and laughing hard. The attacker was thrown backwards, crashing through the glass wall of the office. Woah, I had never seen Helissa cast such a powerful spell. Had she been practicing her spells without us? Her magic would be crazy powerful with her family name.
Spinning when my frozen spell faded awa
y, I faced the man who had been my hidden enemy for years. He held the gun towards me, and yet, he didn’t shoot. He wanted me alive. Luckily, that had always been my saving grace.
Glaring at him, I imagined his arm as a lead weight. He frowned, his teeth gritting as he fought my spell. Slowly, excruciatingly, the gun lowered.
A gasp from Helissa made me look over my shoulder. She watched Dracian as he wrestled with another guard, Frankie by his side, trying to drag the guard off. A squirt of blood shot from Dracian’s arm as the man buried his teeth into his elbow. Wait, it was the man who had the freaky teeth, the half witch, half vampire monstrosity.
“Sorry, my child,” a deep voice said near me as I was yanked back, trapped against someone’s chest.
Nicholas’ smoky breath fanned my ear, making me shudder as I kicked back my leg. He glanced at Dracian over my shoulder, a sigh leaving his lips.
“Stop!” Devon Jinx appeared out of nowhere, her gaze seeking me.
As soon as she spotted me with Nicholas, she muttered an incantation, her dark eyes squinting at my enemy. He grunted as he dropped to his knees, dragging me with him.
“Let her go!” Dracian ordered.
Everything else fell silent as the click of a trigger loading sounded above my head. Nicholas’ grip loosened, and I crawled away, heading towards Professor Seaton, who held a wand towards one of the guards.
“Tell me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you dead.” Dracian’s normally pale cheeks were bright red, his eyes staring into his father’s gaze.
He had a gun in his hand, the barrel pressed into Nicholas’ temple.
The older man trembled as he held up his hands, his posture admitting defeat. And yet, Dracian shoved the gun harder into his head. “Tell me! Why shouldn’t I end this right now?”
“Because you’re not him,” I said when Nicholas stayed silent. “You’re better than him and always will be.”
Taking a loud shaky breath, Dracian pushed the gun one more time. A noise in the reception made us spin to watch as several guards filed out of the elevator, ready to defend their leader.
Undercover Witch Academy Box Set Page 36
