by E Hall
After pulling on my boots, I follow Amelia through the opening and onto the damp ground.
Outside, the air is electric or maybe it’s just me—if we’re caught I’m definitely going to RIP. Sticking to the shadows, we make our way across campus.
We pass several buildings, including a crumbling down auditorium—vestiges of the boarding school for supernaturals.
Inside, a group of students huddles together. They nod at Amelia as we sit down in the circle. Words are spoken in hushed whispers. The lantern light dims and the lapping water off the nearby docks and the crickets mute. It’s as if we’re suddenly inside a secret place.
Amelia smirks. “Rune of concealment.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about and worry I just stepped into a cult. Other fae gather—many with lavender eyes. A vague memory carries me back to Brooklyn and the bookstore where I worked.
A strong hand locks on my shoulder. I force myself not to startle as a guy with shoulder-length hair helps me to my feet. A tattoo twines down his arm, a tribal design of black and red against his skin.
“Welcome, everyone, especially our newcomer.” A pair of obsidian eyes shine on me. He leans in and whispers into my ear as though inhaling me. “My name is Emeric and I’m here to help you, Leajka.”
No one ever uses my full name. The sound of it makes me shiver with delight and meet his gaze. I want to hear it again. I want to dive into his dark eyes. I want to do anything he asks. The earth tilts like our worlds are colliding. He pulls me close. I melt, giddy like a girl asked to prom by her crush. The riptide of embarrassment that flooded me about being fae finally recedes.
Everyone claps.
Our eyes lock again and the fraying corners of my mind drop into nothingness. I forget everything, who I am, my name, Diesel my dog when I was little, the snatches of songs that play on an endless reel in my head, and the slim line of the knife that haunts my neck.
This boy, whoever he is, is a gateway drug. I’m nothing but amber desire.
Emeric’s voice comes strong and sure. “You’re all here tonight because you know you don’t belong. You shouldn’t be locked up. You don’t belong in Terra. No, you’re all meant for something greater—dominion in Borea. The homeland.”
There’s a murmur of agreement.
His voice is like smoke over water, soothing, tempting. “You were taught to believe that your magic was to be kept hidden. That you’re bad, tainted. But you feel the explosiveness of it desperate to get out. Fae aren’t meant to suppress their magic. It’s dangerous. I believe in each of you. In your power. In your promise. But nothing is going to change unless we come together and rise up against those who want to restrain us, lock us away, and pretend that we don’t exist.”
The lantern flickers.
I’ve never been one to dismantle my chainmail of suspicion, jadedness, or spite, but something softens me. At Emeric’s words, warmth spreads from the inside out, assuring me, casting away my self-doubt. I feel like I belong.
Emeric goes on to talk about how fae and other supernaturals have been oppressed. How imprisoning us in jail and reform school is the latest in a long line of acts against us. He talks about the Rift, when the leaders of the Terra and Borea realms parted ways, leaving many in this realm to fend for themselves. He tells stories of families broken apart, fae who were made to live in hiding, fearing for their lives. He talks about fae being treated like criminals even though they couldn’t help their nature.
Part of me wants to argue, make my point that I’m a monster, but the more he talks, the more I find myself mesmerized and hanging onto his words, finding relief in finally hearing the truth.
“With demons on the loose, fae are emerging from hiding to defend themselves, their homes, and this land. But in doing so, they’re being made out to be the criminals.”
The rebel in me rallies. For so long I fought against myself. Maybe this is what I’ve been seeking all this time. People like me. With each word Emeric speaks, the fight rises inside.
“We’ll find a way to break free. We will show them what it means to be supernatural. We’ll destroy anyone who tries to stop us.” He holds my hand up as though we’ve already triumphed.
Against who? I don’t know.
Against what? The ongoing belief that I’m other, wrong, not worthy.
But am I dangerous? Yes. Yes, I am.
Emeric’s gaze lands on me as though he senses my thoughts.
What feels like a length of soft silk slips out from the center of my chest and spirals toward him. The broken and hollow parts of me since that terrible night almost four years ago fill in. The rollercoaster of emotions I’ve ridden for the last twenty-four hours vanishes. With this subtle shift, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
I spot Amelia in the crowd, silhouetted by the glow of the lantern.
Uncertainty flushes through me. But if I belong here, with my people, where does that leave Tyrren?
Emeric continues, “As many of you know, in days of old, the fae courts would host dances that lasted until sunrise. Let’s honor the fae heritage.”
Over the shuffling in the room, music plays.
Emeric laces his hand around the small of my back. My eyes fix on his shoulders and drag down to his arms, speared along the edges with ink. His eyes don’t waver from my face, my nose, or chin as if he’s drinking me in. I swim in them, my reflection almost visible as we lean into the music. He licks his lips like a new thought crystallized in his mind. My palms sweat as he takes one of my hands. His fingers cool my skin.
“Leajka, I wish you were still on the other side, free. But now that you’re here you can understand the truth of who you are and what you’re meant to be.”
I shiver. “What do you mean?”
“You’re different. You’re special.”
Through the haze of attraction, I manage to arch an eyebrow. “Is that what you say to all the new girls?” My Brooklyn street smarts signal alarm at the could-be pickup line, but like a receding tide, they fade when he repeats my name.
His lips quirk. “You’re not just a new girl. Your reputation precedes you.”
“I’d hardly say pranks and borrowing cars qualifies as a reputation.”
“Nearly two years ago, on the night you released your magic, you left an energy signature. I’ve been looking for you ever since.”
“I’m really not all that hard to find.”
He shakes his head. “Not when you suppress your magic. You’re full of it. Full of potential.”
“I had my reasons.”
“You were made to believe that you’re dangerous when your power is actually a gift.”
“If we’re all fae here then we’re all gifted.”
“There is a prophecy, Leajka. I think you’re among those who’re meant to lead our people to absolute freedom.”
My would-be laughter comes out as a giggle.
As we glide and dance, She Loves Me by the Beatles, drowns out the song playing in the old auditorium. I think of dancing with Tyrren at the diner. Guilt nips at me, but whatever is happening right now with Emeric is different from what I felt for Lucas or any other guy. Even Tyrren. With him, it’s like home, sweatpants, a pint of ice cream, and a movie.
With Emeric, I’m beaming smiles and ribbons of magnetic energy, twisting and sizzling. Like a spark moving along a fuse, burning dangerously toward a stick of dynamite, something inside me is ready to blow. I feel it right in the middle of my chest.
As we continue to dance, Emeric floats his hands along the length of my body, arresting my skin, my blood, and my bones.
The music intensifies and he pulls me close. “I’ve waited a long time for you, Leajka. You will be the downfall of this cursed realm.” His lips are practically against mine as he speaks.
“What are you doing?” I breathe. I want to pull away but can’t. It’s as though I’m magnetized to him, slipping, sliding, my thoughts dancing away on the sound of his voice and the drum of his
will.
“Exactly what you want. Anything you want.”
“We hardly know each other,” I say, logic trying to overpower these primal urges.
“I don’t think that matters,” he says.
“Why are you here?” I ask.
“You summoned me. I’m here because of your unmet desires. I’m whatever you want me to be.” His smile is wickedly beautiful.
I wobble. The room slants and I almost crash into Emeric, but Tyrren catches me.
Emeric vanishes.
Chapter 10
Tyrren
After I make sure Lea got back to her dorm safely, I stick to the shadows, sneaking to my glorified cinderblock cell.
Earlier, I was in my room, unable to sleep. Apparently, vampires are nocturnal. I stared at the city skyline, trying to trace a route back there when I saw movement on the lawn below. Sure enough, several students were sneaking past. I figured it was Cole and the others, but I’ll never mistake Lea—it helps that vampires also have super-sight. It’s like all of my senses are heightened. Especially at night. By day, the sun burns, but it’s really no worse than being at the beach too long.
At a distance, I followed Lea to the auditorium until she vanished inside. The space was dark, quiet. I poked around. The faint strains of music wavered in and out. I moved deeper into the auditorium. I could feel Lea’s presence beyond a broken-down wall. There was a second when the wall flickered like a guttering candle. I threw myself against the wall until it smashed and entered a room. Loads of fae spun around the space in a trance-like dance.
Lea was no different. Then she faltered. I caught her just as I met a pair of dark and somehow familiar eyes.
I checked to make sure Lea was okay, but the guy was gone.
Now, I’m sneaking into my dorm through a bathroom window. When I land with both feet on the tile floor, someone says, “Out for a late-night snack? Rendezvous? Why didn’t you just use the front door.” Cole leans against the wall with one foot propped up and his arms crossed as though he was waiting for me.
My shoulders tense. I don’t hide my annoyance.
“Late night, Tyrren?” he asks. “I know where you went, traitor. Rizon rules the vamps. Emeric is the fae king. He’s organizing something big and you’re going to tell me what.”
I shake my head. “Who’s Emeric?”
“Playing dumb?” He flicks my collar. “You don’t stand a chance. I see the way you looked at her.”
I thought he meant I don’t stand a chance resisting the vampires, but I think he means if Lea has a choice between this Emeric dude and me, the answer is not me.
“We’re best friends,” I grind out.
“Not if Emeric wins her over.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I say and storm off.
My room is still trashed. Aaron isn’t here. I’d like to be able to go to sleep. I’m over six feet and the bed is too short. It’s also lumpy and a spring digs into my back. I close my eyes and try to order my thoughts.
Being turned, getting arrested, being thrown in here, and finding out Lea was too. The almost-fight in the quad and then Aaron’s strange change and warning. Lea dancing with that guy. It must’ve been Emeric, but it happened so fast, I don’t remember what he looked like. I hated seeing her like that. The image of her enraptured and then nearly falling is burned into my mind.
I blink open my eyes.
It’s three a.m. Three more hours until the sun comes up.
When I close my eyes again, I see Lea, her hair shining by the lantern light, her skin soft and smooth. My Lea.
An alarm sounds. For a moment, lost in thoughts, I forget where I am. I find the clock under a pile of things from Aaron’s night table. Six a.m. He’s still not here.
I review the schedule I received. I have a workout first thing. Then breakfast. As I drift downstairs, all the vampires go in one direction and the fae in another. I waffle between following the fae to find Lea, but that deadly combination of hunger and thirst compels me to the vamps.
After getting my blood ration from the dispensary, I go to the track to run. Mist hangs low, muting the buildings. We have half an hour to run the track. It’s only when I complete the eighth lap that my mind goes quiet except for my footfalls. I never want Lea far from my mind, but I feel relief in the distance from my thoughts.
Back in the locker room, the banter is similar to that of my regular high school. I snort. Two brothers, here on charges of assault, get into a tussle. The CAs have to break it up.
Even if my brothers find out I’ve been sent here, they won’t bother bailing me out. My parents are gone. Lea is all I have...and she’s back squarely in my thoughts.
Cole and Felix’s familiar voices rise and fall from the end of the row of lockers. I pause and listen, but a CA calls, “Santos. Tyrren Santos. Report to the Headmistress’s office at once.”
From the other side of the lockers, Cole and Felix snicker.
I take a deep breath and meet the correctional assistant. “Yeah? That’s me.”
He smirks. “Today is not your lucky day.”
As he leads me across campus, a black splotch covers the wall of the auditorium. As it comes into focus I read, Die, Scab.
Being privy to Lea’s Brooklyn Vampire Club world, I know what the term scab means. I also know that vampires can’t die...at least not easily. But what does it have to do with me?
As I enter the administration building, Lea stands at the other end of the hall. I stop.
Her hair is slightly wild as if she didn’t brush it this morning or maybe she didn’t sleep. I give a little wave, feeling slightly awkward.
She lowers her gaze.
Led by CAs, we both enter the Headmistress’s office and sit in wooden chairs.
“Thank you for being so courteous as to join me this fine morning,” Headmistress Jurik says.
“Did we have a choice?” Lea mutters.
The woman’s sharp eyes land on Lea.
“I believe I run a fair facility that gives those who’ve made bad choices the opportunity in a safe environment to learn and reform.”
I should tell her about Aaron.
“I outlined the rules yesterday, but it seems you’ve both already been involved in an altercation and were discovered out of the dorm last night. Now, we have a new piece of artistry adorning the old auditorium. Either of you care to explain?”
We’re both silent.
“As a former professor, I do offer participation points.” Her smile simpers. “No? You didn’t spray paint that on the wall, Lea?” Jurik turns to me. “You’re not willing to confess that you know that she did it? Very well. This is how it works. You get three chances. Three strikes, if you will. This is number one. Any more infractions, you go directly to RIP. For now, you’re on probation.”
“But you can’t prove the graffiti was done by me or that Tyrren isn’t telling the truth,” Lea says.
“I don’t have to prove anything. That’s also how this works.” Jurik stabs her desk with her pointer finger. “Also, Tyrren hasn’t said a word so what truth could he be telling?”
“My roommate attacked me yesterday. My room was ransacked. There was something wrong with him. He was weak, almost gray. It was the weirdest thing.”
“How unfortunate. I know everything that goes on and it’s being dealt with.” Either her eye twitches or she flickers. For a moment, it looked like her face was pale and marred by acid green lines.
I blink a few times. Must be a weird vampire-senses glitch.
“I’ll be watching you.” She presses her palm flat on top of a file. “If you want to participate in the Fae Court Ball and the Rjoklund Games, I suggest you behave yourselves.”
With that, Jurik dismisses us.
I’m quiet until we exit the building. “Morning,” I say to Lea, knocking the rust off my voice. “Feel like breakfast?”
Her bottom lip softens. “Starved.”
We walk to the cafeteria as we did so many ti
mes at our old high school but for lunch. Nothing is different except for the uniforms, the perimeter fence, and the tension pulsing between us.
I reach for a bagel and then stop myself. Vamps only eat food for show. It doesn’t do anything to nourish us. After Lea grabs a chocolate chip pancake, we sit at the end of a long table.
“About last night,” I start.
“I didn’t do it. I would never spray paint that.”
“I know, but I meant that secret meeting or whatever it was where everyone was dancing.”
“It was for fae. Amelia has explained a lot, but Emeric was amazing. There’s so much I didn’t know about my kind. I mean, I’m not against vamps at all, but there are a lot of problems between supernaturals. Emeric said—”
I ignore all the details highlighting how amazing he is and remember what Cole said. He’s the fae king, at least at RIP Jr.
“What does that have to do with dancing?”
“It’s an old Fae Court thing. You’ve probably heard about it from fairytales.”
I’m stuck on trying to figure out how she went from denying that she was fae to full-fledged accepting it.
“Thanks for not letting me fall.” She hasn’t touched her pancake.
My thoughts snag on fall and Emeric and how amazing he is.
“I never would let you.” The words are as hard as stone and as unyielding.
“I know.”
“About Emeric? A guy in my dorm said he’s like the fae king. Big man on campus,” I joke as I venture into dangerous water. We never talked about Lucas or anything remotely having to do with relationships or love—the word I attach to the word fall.
The way Lea is batting her eyelashes when talking about Emeric makes me queasy and thirsty for blood at the same time.
“He’s amazing, isn’t he?” She repeats that word.
Yeah, violent thirst is taking over. “You mentioned that he’s amazing. That chocolate chip pancake looks amazing. Someone walking across Antarctica could be called amazing. The seven wonders of the world are amazing.” You’re amazing.
I get an eye roll.
“You should have heard what he was saying about people like me, Tyrren.” Awe fills her voice.
