by A. J. Macey
She was doing better than I had anticipated. That scream though... I shuddered. That sound, along with the scream from her attack, unfortunately, was going to haunt my sleep for the rest of my life. I felt my anger simmering, knowing he’d been on campus, and I wanted to find him. Based on the anger prevalent on my brothers’ faces, they agreed.
“All right, do you want to be present for the meeting with the head of security?” Dean Renaud asked Lucie, pulling me out of my thoughts. She shook her head.
“No, I just want to go and relax for the rest of the day.” She opened her mouth to continue, but a buzzing sounded from her pocket. Her brows scrunched slightly as she dug her phone out of her pocket. “Hello?” she greeted. Pausing, she waited for a response but only silence emanated from the earpiece. “Hello?” she tried again. When she was ready to hang up, a deep voice echoed through the room’s waiting silence. She ripped the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker. Her hands shook as she held it out for us. Reaching out, I laced my fingers with her empty hand.
“Babygirl,” a man’s voice rang out, the voice taunting and cruel. “I know you’re listening. I just wanted to introduce myself to those freaks you call boyfriends.” A sneer laced his words.
“Noah?” Her voice was surprisingly steady despite looking as though all her strength had fled with his first spoken word. “How did you find me?”
“Lucie, Lucie, Lucie,” he chided, “I told you that you don’t get to leave me. Let’s just say I will always find you, Babygirl. I suppose I should also say hello to the dean of that freakshow you call a university.”
“Leave me alone, Noah, we aren’t together anymore. Never again will I be yours,” she ground out. Lucie’s voice rose in volume as she spoke, her anger pressing against my mental barriers. I was struggling to keep my own anger under control, and her addition strained the little grip I still held. The twins had lost most of theirs, fists blazing in their hellfire, black claws dark in the center of the red and white flames. With the smell of bonfire permeating the air, the dean kept one eye on their hands while focusing most of his attention on the phone call.
“You’ll always be mine, and you will pay for running away from me.” Noah’s tone turned from lecturing to hard and clipped with anger. She didn’t say anything else, just ended the call and dropped the phone on Dean Renaud’s desk. As soon as the phone call was over, the dean picked up his desk phone and hit a button on speed dial.
“I emailed you and the rest of the security team the information and a photo of a man who needs to be secured as soon as possible, high threat level to one of the students. If it escalates, one of your guards will need to be with her at all times,” he rushed through, giving an affirmative response before hanging up. “Lucie, you will be with one of them at all times”—he held a hand out towards us—“classes, when you’re at the games, library, dorm, doesn’t matter. You will have at least one of them with you at all times, understand?” She nodded her head, staying quiet. “If this escalates, the security guards will be added to your security detail. Now, it’s been a stressful day so far, and I want you to go relax, all right?” She stood up when he did, the rest of us following.
“Thank you, Alex.” She shouldered her bag.
“Anytime, Lucie. Here’s my personal office number and cell number, as well as the direct line to the security team on duty. I want you all to have them programmed into your phones, memorized if you can. I have a bad feeling about all of this.” He murmured the last part while rubbing a hand through his gelled hair.
“Thank you, I really appreciate it. I never had anyone to help before,” she mumbled, looking at the card with the added numbers on it.
“Now you do, Princess, and we will always be there to help you.” I pulled her to me, placing a soft kiss on her temple. Her vanilla essence calmed me as she snuggled closer. Our Lucie. I still couldn’t believe that she wanted to be with us, although I was most surprised that she wanted to be with me after all the shit that had gone down. My heart soared every time I remembered she was our girl. “Come on, let’s go get some snacks and continue our new TV show marathon.” I nodded at Dean Renaud and shuffled Lucie toward the stairs, her arm wrapping around my waist as she cuddled into me. Dean Renaud said a quick goodbye and closed the door behind us. Now that I knew what this asshole looked like I kept an eye out around the quad as we stepped out into the cold air, but all I saw were a few students I recognized from my freshman and sophomore years on campus.
Come out, come out wherever you are.
6
November 5th
Monday Afternoon
Lucienne
I slid into my desk between Landon and Logan for Supe Society. Feeling Logan’s fingers brushing the outside of my thigh under the table caused a small blush to flare up my cheeks. I could see people from around the room eyeballing me. Ugh. Professor Rasmussen entered the room, interrupting people’s staring.
“Good afternoon, students!” Professor Rasmussen greet cheerily. “How are we all feeling?” She smiled wide at the class, her young face a deep coffee color and her hair a halo of tight curls offsetting her brightly colored dress. A murmur of answers sounded throughout the students. “We left off last week on talking about Otherworldly Creatures. We’re going to be finishing that topic before moving into the discussion on the parallel world, Fae. If you have not gotten your schedule set for our trip to Fae on the seventeenth, then I suggest you do so. If you are unable to go, come speak with me and we will discuss other options for earning credit.”
She turned to step back toward her desk, grabbing a stack of papers that we had written previously on vampires and different types of mental powers usually associated with them. “I have finally graded these so pass them around. They are in the correct order as to how you normally sit, so please don’t take someone else’s paper,” she chided, handing the stack to the end of every row working her way up the steps. “We also have a special guest coming to speak to you today about the rarest types of Otherworldly Creatures. As some of you probably know Dean Renaud is a Transcendent.” A what? I tried to scour my memory of my textbooks on what that was but came up blank. “So, I would like to welcome our dean for this portion of the lecture.” Alex strode in with confidence and a soft smile as he waved to the students.
“Good afternoon, as most of you know I am Dean Alexandre Renaud, and as Terra has said, I am a Transcendent. Does anyone know what that means?” A few hands shot into the air, and he gestured for a guy I didn’t know the name of in the second row to answer.
“A god-like being. The powers usually associated with Transcendents can include ethereal manipulation, healing, immortality, reality separation, resurrection, teleportation, and telekinesis.” He shifted his glasses as he finished his list.
“Very good, Mr. Yewlin. As for me, I have reality separation, probability manipulation, teleportation, and healing. I am not a full immortal, but close. I can only be killed through a few means. As I’m sure you understand, I will not be going over those in this class.” His comment was met with chuckles throughout the class, but my mind was still too busy trying to catalogue the powers he’d just listed. Reality separation? Is that like reality warping? I had abandoned taking notes to listen to him speak. “Does anyone know what probability manipulation is?” When no one raised their hands, he continued, “How about reality separation?” Again, no one responded. I was sure several people knew the answer, and despite Alex’s warm and friendly demeanor, he was still the dean. Alex started to pace back and forth in front of the seats.
“Probability manipulation is the ability to manipulate luck in its most basic definition. I can increase or decrease the amount of luck. I tend to not use this power because anything I alter has to affect something else, so if I increase good luck for one person then a certain amount of bad luck happens to another, or if I continually cause bad luck for someone, then that negative karma will come back to me. This is similar to the Rule of Three most Magick Users follow.
This goes for almost all powers that can manipulate chance—wishes, luck, and so forth. The scales between using the advantage have to balance, and more than likely it’s balanced by the person who uses it, resulting in physical fatigue, poor sleep, bad luck, and the like.
“As for reality separation, I am able to create a void known as the Omnilock. It’s a separate entity from reality, its time and space are different than reality, essentially making it a parallel dimension.” Alex continued to discuss the different types of rare Otherworldly Creatures including Demi-Gods and Goddesses. He ended up taking up almost the entire lecture time, so Professor Rasmussen let us out of class early. Packing up my bag, I headed out of the lecture hall with my twins, my thoughts whipping around Alex and his powers.
Logan
I stood in Lucie and Sadie’s living room as my brother and I waited for her to finish changing. The colder weather that had swept in today chilled her to the point of needing more layers. Landon was fiddling on his phone, his tongue barely sticking out of his mouth as he concentrated on his game. Sadie wasn’t back yet; her door had been left open, and no streaks of bright colors were fluttering around in her room. Lucie slipped out of her bedroom quietly, her cardigan and shirt changed out for a sweater, thick jacket, and her coat. A light grey scarf wound around her neck and a matching hat was pulled over her head, her blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders. Landon continued to focus on his game, and my hand clasped his elbow to help him steer around students as we followed Lucie out of her building and toward the library. There was a close call with another student who was huddled in his sweatshirt when I barely pulled Landon out of the way of getting run over.
“You know it would be easier to avoid people if you actually looked around you,” Lucie teased my brother, her cheeks pink from the wind. Landon’s left hand came up, his index finger extended to plead one more minute. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to Lucie. I nudged her gloved fingers, an unspoken question if she’d be willing to hold my hand. I smiled down at her as she intertwined her fingers with mine.
“How was your day, Love?” I questioned, her shoulder brushing my arm lightly. Landon pumped his fist silently before slipping his phone into his pocket. Guess his game is done.
“Not bad. I thought Alex’s lecture was really interesting. Other than that, not much has happened, thankfully.” She shuddered, and I was unsure if it was because of the wind or the thought of Noah. I gently squeezed her slender fingers when Landon joined the conversation.
“What were you saying, Lemon Drop?”
She chuckled before looking over at him. When he realized she was holding my hand, he slipped around to her right side and tossed his arm over her shoulder.
“That you’re amazingly wonderful even though you clearly suck at paying attention to your surroundings.” Her face was flat as she answered him, pulling a laugh from me. Landon feigned hurt, his free hand pressing into his chest.
“I don’t know whether to be happy or insulted, my little lemon drop.” Leaning in quickly, he snuck a light kiss on her cheek. “But I forgive you for the insult part since I’m amazingly wonderful like that.” We laughed at his antics, my arm pulling open the door for her. She shed her layers, piling them into her arms after they were off. My brother and I followed suit before walking toward the study area of the library. The rest of the guys were lounging in a cluster of the leather chairs near the front of the space.
“Hey, guys, Princess.” Hudson noticed our approach first, popping out of the chair to wrap Lucie in a soft hug. “So, what do you want to show us?” he asked cheerfully. When he pulled back, Lucie answered as she gave the other guys hugs.
“Follow me.” Her head tilted toward one of the walkways between the bookshelves. My brow furrowed when we took a turn to the left toward the back corner of the building. A door reading ‘Employees Only’ shifted under Lucie’s push, her pale fingers holding the door open for us as we piled into the little area. I looked around quickly, seeing a few closed doors, a couple of wall sconces, and similar carpet to the main area of the library. Before closing the door, she eyed the area around it. My heart clenched painfully as I watched her take such precautions, knowing full well how necessary they could be. A set of keys jingled, bringing me back to the present as she placed one in the lock of one of the doors. Where are you taking us, Love?
The guys all held matching expressions of confusion and curiosity when the door finally opened silently on its hinges. A light green room with dark purple accents greeted us. The bed was bigger than the dorm room’s twin-sized mattress and there was an attached bath as well as a closet. Her room in the library, I realized suddenly.
“No shit,” Landon’s voice echoed in my head. The asshole just couldn’t resist listening in on my personal thoughts. As much as I strengthened my mental barrier, he could always get into mine and I could get into his. “Not my fault you were thinking so loud, dude.” I quickly gave him the side eye before Dante’s voice broke through the silence.
“Why’d you want to show us this, Firecracker?”
“In case everything that’s happening escalates, you need to know where it is,” she explained, her voice and face somber. My jaw clenched at the severity in her statement. Her fingers twitched ever so slightly, giving her away.
“What else, Love?” I prompted, my signature eyebrow raise making an appearance as I stared at her. Her luscious lips pursed, her jaw tensing under my scrutiny.
“If something happens or if you can’t find me, you need to know where to check first.” Landon, as well as Hudson and Cam opened their mouths to protest when she cut them off. “No, guys!” Sharpness in her words had everyone’s rapt attention, mouths snapping shut. “I need you all to understand the reality of what’s going on…”
“I think we understand just fine, Lucie,” my twin snapped, anger pulsing off him. He must be seething if he used her name instead of calling her Lemon Drop. Her eyes softened as she looked at him, a mix of sadness and grim acceptance blanketing her features. My fingers itched to hold on to her, to remind her she wasn’t alone. Never again.
“No, Landon, you don’t. Do you trust me?” I knew my face matched Landon’s as we stared at her, shock and surprise leaving us speechless.
“Of course we do, Babe,” Nik answered for us, our brains still struggling to comprehend why she would think we didn’t.
“Did we make her think we didn’t?” I shot to Landon, hoping he could tell me that she was wrong, but a shoulder shrug was his only response.
“Then you need to trust me when I say you need to know where this is. I know exactly how dangerous he is, and one day I’ll be able to talk about it, but not today.”
A wave of hopelessness washed through me at her tone—defeated, disheartened, and sad. So much sadness. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, careful of her still bruised chest, willing my determination to deal with this piece of shit into her. Come on, Love, we can do this. Her slender arms wrapped around Landon and Hudson who had stepped up to my sides, hugging both of us in a tangle of limbs. Dante, Cam, and Nik all surrounded us last, covering her back in an arch of people, the sense of rightness settling over us.
“We’ll be all right, Lucie. Thank you for showing us,” Dante murmured, and a round of agreements hummed around us. A contented sigh passed through her lips before her back straightened, the determination seeping back into her demeanor. There’s our girl...
November 5th
Monday Evening
Lucienne
The door closed with a soft thud when I stepped into my room, and I shucked the millions of layers I had adorned before showing them my other space. The mood had lightened slightly, but not completely by the time we had finished eating in the dining hall and made our way back to my dorm. Sadie had already passed out and was snoring loudly in her room. I tossed my extra layers into the hamper while the guys shuffled around into their normal seats for movie watching out in the living room. My lips curled at the thought that they
’d all be here tonight. I was glad Sadie didn’t mind having them here. She wanted me “surrounded by hotties at all times”—her words, not mine— until this situation was over.
I grabbed one of the several boxes of candy the guys had given me on my candy gram and made my way back out into the living room. They were arguing about what movie we should watch, their voices slowly growing louder until they were practically screaming. After today, I couldn’t handle my guys yelling at each other, so I took a deep breath and got their attention in a loud shout.
“Hey! I will pick the damned movie!” I stomped over to the pile of movies and chose one I hadn’t watched in years, the last time being with my mom when we binged on ice cream and hot chocolate after her and her latest boyfriend had broken up. “We’re freaking watching The Notebook. Nope,” I cut off their protests, “you guys couldn’t decide like adults, and I can’t handle anyone fighting right now.” They grimaced at my reminder of how certain things could trigger me, including loud screaming during fights. “So, we’re going to watch this together and then you guys can pick, okay?” I bargained, feeling bad for having completely overridden their choice.
“Sounds good to us,” the twins agreed in unison.
“Yeah, Firecracker, whatever you want,” Dante added, glancing to Hudson and Nik who both nodded. Cam agreed with a warm smile, taking the DVD case out of my hand to put into the DVD player.
Feeling frazzled after the ups and downs of the day, I wanted comfort. I wanted one of them to cuddle with me all while attempting to avoid another arguing match, so I quickly made my decision. Empowered by the choices I was able to make, especially after feeling so hopeless only a few hours earlier, I grabbed Cam’s hand and walked over to where his empty seat was. Looking at me with a surprised expression, Cam sank into the chair with me following into his lap. His lean muscled arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me tightly to his soft t-shirt. No one commented on the fact that I had picked to sit with Cam, and no one complained again about my movie choice as we started it up.
