Betrayal: An Urban Fantasy Academy Series

by Bob Dattolo

  “Umm, show?” Cesar looked around the room, as if expecting people to break into song and dance.

  “Maddie has a knack for getting into problems in the caf. I figured it’s gotta happen at some point.”

  “Fucking freak!” Tiffany’s input didn’t help much, yet nothing happened. No fighting. No overt name calling. Still some, just not too bad.

  Affinity focus had us breaking out to our affinity tables. I’m still at my own, obviously. That started a discussion on types of affinity spells and the corresponding version in each area. Since I’m an unknown, I was skipped.

  Shame, that.

  Again, I didn’t learn a ton, yet it still helped. I can’t say no to that.

  Mr. Christo in dragon focus had us shifting again and we worked through ways that we can handle spells hitting us. Some spells break apart on contact just due to what we are. Some can hit us and do damage. Some can hit and do a ton of damage. We can make it so more of each of the last two break apart. If we get good enough at it, we can bypass all of the second and most of the third, although it doesn’t seem like you can miss all of it without some sort of shielding spell in place and not just our natural magical resistance.

  More things to learn.

  Dinner was really good, honestly. I got to sit with people again, even Levi, and we had a good conversation. No picking from Levi. Or to him, for that matter. There were some folks that made comments about me for various reasons, they just weren’t worthwhile getting worked up about. Not even close.

  My allies were getting together after dinner for ice cream and to stream a movie, and I expected them to exclude me. Consider me shocked as all hell when they invited me seemingly without reservation. That felt amazing, honestly. So, so good. It was even better than the ice cream and the movie, although both of those were pretty awesome too.

  I made it to lunch the next day before Headmaster Anderson approached me at our table. I was just finishing up, so it was pretty good timing. “Maddie? You have visitors.”

  Oookay, “Who are they?”

  “Victor and Maria Rodriguez.” I can’t tell by his face how he feels about this. We’re not forbidden to have visitors; it just doesn’t happen all that often. Considering where we’re based, you can bet your ass I’ve yet to see it happen. So, to have it happen to me, twice, is kinda freaky.

  Samantha sat up straight, “Crap, my parents are here? They didn’t mention anything to me!”

  Hmm, “You turned your phone back on?”

  “Yeah. After the fight. I figured they already know I’m here and they may want to talk or something. They haven’t said anything at all.”

  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. “You coming with me?”

  “If you don’t mind?”

  “Mind? No. They’re your parents, I wouldn’t hold you back if you wanted to be there.”

  The others stayed behind, much to my shock. That left the two of us following our headmaster out of the caf. “Where are they?”

  “They’re in a conference room.” He fell silent for most of 100 feet, “They’re still hurt. You really did a number on them.”

  “Umm, good? That was just about the minimum I was willing to let them leave with. They were very nearly dead. Assuming I could have pulled it off.”

  “What you did to them? That was…I’ve never seen that before. That’s a brutal reminder for them who they messed with.”

  “I know. It might have been too much, honestly. We’ll see. I’m not sure I buy them staying away from me after this.”

  “No. I would agree with that.” He eyed up Samantha, “You don’t have any issues with this happening to your parents?”

  She snorted, “Headmaster Anderson? My parents are aggressive dragons. I’m sure you know the type. If this place didn’t kill me, then it’s a toss-up on whether or not they would have after graduation and the trials. I’ve known for a long time that I live or die at their whim, and they’ve never let me forget it. Graduation isn’t enough.”

  “I understand. I’m not sure why some of us are like that. I’m really not. The mages honestly aren’t much better, although they hide it more. Our willingness to kill our own children is one of the reasons I went into teaching and tried to get this job. At least once every other year a promising student makes it through the third year and both trials and still ends up dead before the end of the day because of their parents. That’s not to mention the number of first- and second-year students that are killed.”

  A thought hit me, “How many of the eight that bowed out of the first year were killed?”

  His shoulders slumped a little, “I’ve heard that three have been killed, I’m just not sure it’s true or not.”

  “By their parents?”

  “Who now? They’re stricken, they don’t have parents.”

  “Don’t even try to give me that. That’s a sick joke and you know it.”

  “True. It is. I’m not sure who did it, although I heard that the former parents may have been involved for at least one of them. I just don’t know if they’re dead or not.” He looked out towards the edge of the property, “They’re out there somewhere. Once they’re stricken, they’re thrown out.”

  Oh my fucking God. “They don’t get a bus ticket anywhere? Anything like that?”

  “No.”

  “What about their stuff here? Do they get it? Clothes?”

  “The belongings here belonged to a person that no longer exists, so no.”

  “You have to be kidding me!”

  “I wish I were.”

  We reached the building before I could formulate a follow up on that. I need to get into town and see if I can find some of the stricken. What the hell is happening to them here? I’m thinking there have to be dozens floating around out there, unable to get away from here due to lack of money and being blind.

  What a freaking nightmare.

  There are very few voices in the admin building, although that’s not too much of a shock. There are three of them, with the main one being with the first-year buildings. This is just for us, so to speak. No one seems to be planning anything fun or exciting. No random sex happening. Nothing like that. Just normal office chit-chat.

  The smell of fear hit me within about 10 steps. It smells rank. As does the smell of injury. Blood. It smells like raw wounds to me.

  That makes me smile. And kinda hungry again.

  The conference room door is closed when we arrive, so he opens it and I step through first, with the much larger Samantha coming in behind me. The two adults look horrified to see me. The third adult takes me in, studies Samantha, and doesn’t react otherwise.

  Headmaster Anderson crosses to a chair and sits, “Maddie? I’m sure you recognize Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez. This is their lawyer, Mr. Anton.” The lawyer doesn’t react to the brief introduction.

  Victor barely looks away from me, “What are you doing here? You’re a traitor!”

  “Hi, Dad. Mom. Nice to see you again. I’ve had my phone on expecting you to text, call, or email, but nothing. I’m here because you’re my parents.”

  “Ignore her, Victor.” Mr. Anton shuffles some of the pages in front of him. When his client shuts his mouth, he straightens his glasses and looks me over. I didn’t even realize that he’s a norm. Interesting. “Maddie Stricken?”

  “Yes?”

  “My name is Roger Anton. I have been asked to be here with my clients due to the recent…altercation.”

  “Awesome. That’s really great to hear. Keeping the money flowing in the business world is the lifeblood of capitalism and what makes our system so powerful.”

  He frowned, “I’m sorry?”

  Samantha hit me, “Just stop.”

  Ugh, she takes the fun out of everything! “Ignore me, Mr. Anton. You were saying?”

  He didn’t start talking immediately, “I have reviewed the rather drastic injuries suffered by my clients. They’re truly…I’m not sure how they’re walking around right now.”


  “Mr. Anton?” My clipped voice brought him up short, “Can you look deep in my eyes and tell me if any part of me cares about their injuries?”

  His mouth clicked shut and he paled a little before straightening out, “Bypassing your undiagnosed psychotic behavior isn’t part of my role here, Miss Stricken. Not even remotely. As I was saying, I have reviewed their injuries. Both of my clients work in Hollywood. With the rich and famous. They back movies. They have been in movies. They produce. They direct. They’re very visible in the world out there. You, an 18-year-old girl, scarred both of them. Their businesses have taken a direct impact. Their ability to perform has suffered a direct impact. That’s not even accounting for the rather drastic damage taken in your last interaction. I have reviewed countless fights since being hired to be here, and I have found no examples of wings being torn off. Partially? While fighting? Yes. But entirely? No. Not two. Not even one. You have permanently damaged them and removed one of the main components of what it means to be a dragon.”

  Samantha pushed away as she smelled my rage building. “Mr. Anton? You can’t smell it, but you need to get to the point here.”

  Her parents started acting more confident, which I didn’t catch at first.

  “My point, is that your friend here has drastically altered your parents lives from this point forward.”

  My raised hand stopped her response. “Mr. Anton? Please explain to me why I should care about that? They were attempting to murder me. They hired someone to come in and challenge me and then that person attacked outside of challenge.”

  “Why? Because it’s human nature to care about others?” He shook his head, “Even someone as young as you are should understand that. You took from them their ability to perform their work. Their ability to fly. Then you demand money from them?”

  Both of them began working magic. Slowly. They’re not pushing a lot of power, but they’re building something. The lawyer didn’t know what to do when I stood and removed my uniform.

  “What…what are you doing? You can’t do that!”

  My smile was bestial as I shifted in an explosion of growth before sitting back down. “Mr. Anton? You’ve made some very, very bad mistakes coming in here. Let me start off with the most egregious one. I do not care if Victor and Maria never fly again. I don’t care if they’re armless, legless husks that have to suck dick for pocket change to be spoon fed gruel so they don’t die.” I leaned into the table and let light flare around me, “I am a dragon. You come in here talking about human nature? I think I’m pretty clear about the fact that I’m not human. Not even remotely. If I were hungry enough, I’d tear their hands off and eat them. Their tears, screams, and begging wouldn’t even begin to change my mind. So the fact that they’re still injured? They’re lucky they’re not dead. The money that I demanded was me offering a flag of truce. Give me the money and they live. Failure to do so, and I will hunt them and consume them. I will eat their hearts and drink their blood until I’m full. Then I’ll go back to my room and finger myself until I can’t cum any longer. So take your human nature and step way the fuck back.”

  My attention focused on them as their power built more, “If you hit anyone here with that spell? I will tear your arms and legs away and leave you alive. Don’t even think to play me. Don’t test me. You hit Samantha with that? Your daughter? I’ll get with the rending and tearing. You hit our headmaster? Same. You hit me with that? Then I’ll get vicious.”

  Mr. Anton hit the table, “See here, young lady, you cannot go around threatening people! That is against the law!”

  “Mr. Anton? You have ten seconds to give me the money I am due. If you fail to do that, I will collect your two clients and make them suffer as they give me everything, as would be my right since we’re in challenge. If they hit me with the spell? If they use the spell to hit themselves and take away my revenge?” They both paled, telling me I might have been correct. “Ahh, interesting. Legal fact here. You walked from our challenge under the understanding that you would pay me. If you fail to do so, that money still belongs to me and my claim supersedes inheritance and anything else you started. If you gave that money away to others? I’m legally within my rights to go collect it. Because it is mine and you have no legal right to give it away to anyone but me. That has the backing of court precedent too, so don’t even think to bypass it.”

  “Miss Stricken, you cannot make demands…”

  “Eight seconds.”

  He stood and hit the table, “You cannot…”

  “Six seconds.” Magic pushed my voice.

  “We will see you in court!”

  “Two seconds!”

  He shoved the paperwork to me, fuming as he rested on his knuckles, “Two hundred million, as demanded! You have no right to that money!”

  When I stood, I towered over him, “Mr. Anton? I have every right to it. It was mine the moment they walked from the fight. As for the rest of this? They’re still working their magic. My statement stands. Them attacking anyone in here is a new challenge. With me, by the way, since I’m protecting Samantha right now. She has no part in this fight, so if they make one? I’ll be there to pick up the pieces. As for you? I sincerely hope you go and take some courses in dragon psychology. You missed the target by so ridiculously much that it almost had to have been done on purpose. Either by you or by them, I don’t know which. If it wasn’t done on purpose, then I shudder to think how many times you have dealt with dragons and nearly didn’t get a chance to walk away.”

  “Miss Stricken? Was that a threat?”

  “That was a statement of fact, Mr. Anton.”

  Time to ignore him and turn to the parents again as my wings went partway out, “You’re trying to work your magic and failing to hide it. Consider this? If you cast it, I don’t have to kill you. I can simply tear your eyes out and let you go through the rest of your life as a human. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Or you can pull up your adult panties and deal with this loss and get the fuck out of my face and never bother me again.” Hmm, their faces tell a story, “Except I see you’ve already told the other parents. Probably set things in motion.” They twitched hard as their spells died. “I’ll see where things go when and if they decide to come for me. If I find that you set something in motion? And I will be checking for that? I’ll come hunting again. And when I do? I’ll leave with your eyes. And possibly your legs and one arm. I’ll have to play that one by ear. I won’t kill you. I’ll leave you a shell of what you are now, and you can pick up the pieces and try to create a life. For two people that lord it over others in their perfection? I’d think long and hard about that. For now, your face is scarred, and you can’t fly. The flying part sucks, but at least you have your life, your sight, and your magic. I’ll be happy as a pig in shit to leave you as a semi-mobile sack of magicless potatoes. Just try me.”

  I have a feeling I’m going to be draining their magic at some point before the end of the year. Makes me wonder if I can steer that to Samantha somehow. I guess we’ll see.

  Chapter 23

  The first week of classes was decidedly weird. I’m not sure I can really relate to it much, at least given how the first year went. The fighting with Levi is done. For now? No clue. He seems pretty calm, but I keep thinking more is happening behind the scenes. He hadn’t sniped at me once and has sat with me every time I’ve been in there. As have my new allies.

  Yay!

  I was able to carve out some time with Parece, Angelica, and Samantha and we talked and had fun without people knowing. They’re still okay with allying, and they’re more than okay with keeping it secret. They’re even more of the mind that creating a large block of us is a horrible idea since it will cause others to group together. That way lies outright war, and we want to stay away from that.

  All in all, it was a ton of fun and I can’t wait to do it again.

  I’ve also spent a lot of time with my new allies. As you’d imagine, my new dragon allies think nothing of outright sex whe
n we’re together. Stacey doesn’t quite know how to take it, but at least she hasn’t walked away in disgust.

  My feet hit the ground as I flare my wings, landing in the empty alley. I actually landed on the roof then jumped down and caught myself with my wings, so it’s not like I came down from up high to do that here. I couldn’t have fit normally, and I’m not sure I can successfully land like that. It’d be a straight-down landing, which sounds kinda difficult.

  I had a little bag with clothes, so I slipped into them after shifting back. No sense freaking people out, although I get dispensation since I’m a dragon. They can complain to the cops, but once scales come into play, they can’t do anything about it. A norm or a mage would get in trouble for letting folks see their gibblies, but not us.

  Gotta love that.

  There are precious few people out and about that I see once I hit the street. I do see a couple kids that I think are first year students. At least based on how they act. They didn’t see me come in for a landing, so they’re kinda weirded out about me walking out and looking at them. That starts them questioning what I am and if I’m also a student. For the little bit that I’m out there and can overhear them, the agreed upon theory is that I’m pretending or I’m not a student. Since someone that looks like me would have been killed already.

  Makes me wonder if they’re going to try something.

  The bookstore I bought my original grimoire from is open when I try the door, which is good. I timed it so that I’d be here when it was unlocked, so it’s nice to see that she was able to do that in the minute or so since it turned 9am. The woman that owns the place looks up and smiles as she sees me again, tilting her head, “You’re back? I guess you made it through your first year?”

  “Hey! Yeah. That was a mess. We lost so many of us.”

  She shook her head, “I heard. We get the numbers and all here. Your year was pretty brutal.” She looked past me, “What has you coming back? I told you how I feel about people causing issues. I haven’t had anyone try to shake me down yet, so I’d hate for it to be you.” She smiled during it, yet we both know that she’s telling the truth. She smells perfectly honest to me.