“Let’s stream, downstairs?” whispered Natalie.
“No, I want to take on the bitch who’s been draining my High Priestess of her lifeforce,” I spat back. Pure rage took over the fear I’d felt up to this point. The vampire stepped out of the darkness and looked at us, as surprised as we were to see her.
“What are you guys doing here? Welcome to the party!” she said, not merry but fully punch-drunk on Lorna’s blood as she staggered at us with a smile, wiping her reddened lips.
“Valenthia, what the hell are you doing here? And please don’t tell me you drank from Katrina’s kidnapped High Priestess?” asked Natalie desperately, as shaken by the sight as I was.
Chapter 19
“No!” I whispered, shaking my head, “Not you!”
“Honestly, girls, lighten up, it’s not that bad. Riskel’s the sweetest guy ever! He may have introduced me to it all but…” she murmured, sounding like no one I’d ever met.
“He tricked you!” said Natalie, raising her voice, “He doesn’t like you, heck he hasn’t even broken up with Lilith! It was all a ruse to get you to…do this! You’re a scapegoat for them – someone to pin all this on if it goes south with the professors and security team! Le Boursier is probably going to kill you for this!”
“Riskel, told me you’d both be insanely jealous,” said Valenthia, slurring her words.
“You need to go to your room,” I said instinctively, trying to look past the fact that Valenthia had done what she had. “Natalie’s right, they’re using you to have someone to blame if they get into trouble.”
“I did this for you,” said Valenthia, putting her face close to mine. Her eyes had an eerie sparkle and I could sense the tiny white sparks coming off of her skin. Obviously, it was her first time drinking from a witch and the magic was overwhelming her. “They disowned you like you were trash. Consider it a favour!”
“Just stop,” I said trying to keep calm. There was no way she’d done this for me.
“Although I must say, there’s nothing like witch-blood! I bet it even beats a hot night with Riskel!”
“What’s your problem?” asked Natalie, her eyes reddened as rage pulsed through them.
“Concentrate!” I urged. “Just go away, Val, please.”
“Hey, you’re probably just about ready for a top-up. Am I right? Maybe you should go and sink your fledgling fangs into the witch who abandoned you,” said Valenthia, laughing as she streamed down the stairs and away from us.
“What are we going to do?” asked Natalie, turning back into her usual, slightly timid self.
“Valenthia gave me an idea. Let me check on where Ulric’s gotten to,” I said, closing my eyes, trying to mine inside his head. All I got was the pure disbelief and fear that was running through him. “Wait here,” I said to Natalie.
“But…” she began. I just gestured to her to stay and I walked into the darkness beyond the stairway.
Faded old portraits lined the walls of the narrow passage. It wasn’t totally unlit but between each portrait was a candle mounted on the wall. This part of the academy was completely untouched and there was a heaviness to this level that far exceeded the rest of the building despite it’s dark-blooded population.
It felt like I’d walked in on a scene from at least two or three hundred years ago. The pictures and their frames were relics from the past and yet looked as crisp and new as if they’d been hung up mere days before. The faces that stared back were all young girls, none of whom were older than the first years and most were much younger. Each and every one of them was the face of a hungry vampire. I looked away, trying to sense which way Ulric had gone and where Lilith and the lot were holding Lorna.
I came to a closed door, the same bleached, whitish-grey as the corridor. Ulric silently bounded towards me from where he’d been listening and waiting. I imagined that he was likely able to listen in and gage what was happening inside much better than me. His eyes were tortured and I pointed to him to stay guard outside. That way, when I made it back out, if I did, he could help as well as be there for Winnie. Another option to her chosen path.
I took in a deep breath, exhaling the thought that my next steps could walk me straight to my own demise and maybe even accelerate Lorna’s. I could feel my magic starting to come alive inside but something unhinged me. Was there a part of me that actually wanted to taste Lorna’s blood? I wouldn’t give myself time to find out.
I turned the door handle and as it slowly gave, I realized that a tame entrance would send exactly the wrong message to Lorna’s captors. I summoned up all the courage and strength I could find and kicked the door so it flung open.
“Oh, look, it’s our own little sugar puff,” sneered Lilith with slight amusement, baring her fangs which were as blood-stained as her face.
In the corner, heaped on the floor I could see my High Priestess, a cowering shell of her former self. She was shivering, and looked dull, a clear sign that her life had ebbed from her and was circulating within the bodies of all those who’d attacked her. The room smelled sweet, from her blood. She had lost so much of her crystal light that even her blooming no longer glowed. Riskel and Nyx were leaning back, satiated. Winnie sat upright beside them and began to growl at me, baring her razor-like teeth.
I’d foolishly thought they’d keep her to show one of the professors, who if they had any sense, would demand her release. Kidnapping and killing a High Priestess of a coven like ours, was basically nothing less than a war-cry to the S.L.A. And yet the way things had turned out, they wouldn’t have a witch to present to anyone because in her current state, she’d disintegrate into a silvery mush in the next couple of hours. I’d heard of it but never seen it.
“Want a drink, little faery? Your friend really enjoyed her turn,” said Riskel as Nyx burst into peels of laughter. They too were completely intoxicated with the high hit of the magic they’d consumed. From what I could tell, they’d gotten carried away. Lilith on the other hand, still had an alarming control to her which showed me that she’d drunk the blood of a witch before.
“She’s not one of us! She’s here to rescue her precious, leader. Lorna, that’s the name!” replied Lilith with her glare fixed on me.
“Show’s what you know!” I said, “This woman, left me when I most needed her. Why the hell should I want to rescue her because now she needs me?”
I had to keep my magic from surfacing until just the right moment. What I’d do with it, I still wasn’t sure but I had to convince Lilith that my own reasons for coming to Lorna weren’t that different from hers. My motive was obvious to anyone who knew how I’d come to be at Bloodline Academy.
Lorna whimpered and I thought I heard a plea from her fragile lips. She was buying that I’d turned against her. I felt hope and pain and the rawness of the anger. It was real.
“Go on then, prove it,” taunted Lilith.
“Tell me how,” I replied, looking her straight in her eyes that buzzed with their crimson power, fuelled by Lorna’s magic. Our magic.
“Finish it off then!” commanded Lilith, rolling her eyes towards Lorna.
***
I glided over to Lorna, who was by the window that had been sealed like a tomb every time I’d glanced up at it from the courtyard below. The shutter was now ajar and the soft moonlight leaked into the room. Even its illumination did little to give the ailing witch her light back.
“She doesn’t even have fangs!” said Nyx.
“With the mess you’ve created, I don’t need any!” I said. I could feel the tears beginning to come. I refocussed them to the task at hand.
“No…” said Lorna, as I knelt down next to her. She tried feebly to scramble backwards, inching further into the wall. She was too weak to do any sort of defensive magic and probably had been since she’d been taken from the coven. Lilith must have known that feeding on her would instantly weaken her to the point where she wouldn’t be a threat to any of them.
“You sent me away,” I said, wa
nting my voice to be even but registering the hurt and rage as the words came out.
“I’m sorry,” tried Lorna,
“I saw you as a mother!” I said. Lilith smiled, enjoying every bit of it.
“And, I saw you as a daughter…” whispered Lorna.
“Even now, you use the past tense,” I said my voice cracking “you’ve disowned me.”
She was the most stubborn witch I had ever come across. Dying and still couldn’t even pretend that she’d made a mistake and would have made a different choice if she could do it all again. She said nothing. “I won’t enjoy this. But at least you’ll finally see what I’m made of,” I said bending down, right next to her, with my back to the others in the room.
I closed my eyes, placed one hand on her shoulder and used the other to move back her head, revealing her neck which was already angrily marked by multiple puncture wounds. Lorna began to wail as I went in closer. As my magic began to simmer, I held her tighter to me. She tried to push me away and her fear reverberated through me. “Stop struggling!” I whispered.
The tingles I usually felt throughout my body when my magic swirled within me, were much too intense as they gained momentum and burst into something entirely bigger. I began to feel detached, like I was already streaming and yet, unless my eyes were deceiving me, we were both rooted to the spot.
I saw strands of magic lift out of me and some settled over Lorna. I felt her ease in my grip and I opened my eyes to find hers looking into them. They were no longer scared and resigned but proud. It was the first flicker of life I’d seen in her since I’d stormed into the room. We both shared a secret, though I still wasn’t sure what it was. Was it love? Was it magic? Or something else? She nodded very slightly for me to continue what I was doing and I resumed, screwing my eyes up and summoning. Letting it reveal whatever it wanted to become. My fears about what if I’d be tempted by her blood, melted into the background, replaced by fierce determination.
By the Crystal Witch I was, we were going to make it. I pushed myself further than I ever had before and felt a blast of crystal magic go through me and then Lorna. It left behind, what looked like a clear bubble around us.
“Woah, what did they do?” I heard Riskel’s voice as all eyes in the room looked right at us.
“I should have known she couldn’t be trusted. She’s used magic to get them both out of here!” bellowed Lilith looking right at us.
“We can catch them, they couldn’t have gotten far,” said Nyx, rising from the floor and walking over to Lilith.
“Did you see them run? Because I didn’t see them run. She’s obviously used her witchy powers to slip through time and space,” Lilith spat back.
“Huh?” said Riskel.
“Re-apparition, you idiots! To stalk you’re enemy, you need to know her. In terms you’ll understand, she’s magic’d them both to somewhere else,” Lilith sighed in frustration.
“Oh!” said Riskel.
Winnie waited for Lilith’s cue before bounding out of the door. I heard a short bark – which must have been Ulric – followed by a growl. I was afraid to move in case whatever shield I had managed to conjure, disappeared, once again leaving Lorna vulnerable.
“What are you two waiting for? That witch is ours!” hissed Lilith.
Riskel and Nyx followed Winnie out of the door. Lilith lingered on menacingly after they’d left, staring straight at us trying to figure out what had happened. To be sure we were gone.
I held my breath as I watched her, holding Lorna close to still any movements either of us might involuntarily make. She turned around to leave but after taking a few steps, spun around to scrutinize the spot. There were drops of Lorna’s blood on the old wooden floor. Although it was dark, if she closed in on where we were hidden, she may have been able to make out our subtle outline of where the visible world merged with the invisible – us. And if she came any closer, she’d bump into us. Despite her unnerving glare, I tugged at Lorna, so we could get off the ground and stand up. As soon as we did, Lilith walked across the room headed straight for us. I hurriedly pulled Lorna so that we narrowly passed Lilith as she went and stood at the exact spot.
The open door was only a few feet away from us now. Lilith passed a hand through the nothingness and then kicked at it. “When I get my hands on you, you’re dead you little witchpire!” she announced and walked out. I exhaled, a slow but long breath. Whatever I’d done to make us invisible, I couldn’t risk losing the protection it had given us because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it again on demand just yet.
Lorna started whispering something in my ear but I jerked my head to stop her. Before we left, I needed to update Safi. “I’ve got her. We’re upstairs and coming down. Where are you?” I said in my head.
“I’m still outside the gates,” came back the swift reply.
“Okay, we have to get downstairs before we’re seen,” I said to Lorna, who nodded. I walked her slowly out of the room and she almost stumbled on the first step down. Natalie was waiting there and I called to her. “Natalie, we’re over here.” Natalie immediately turned around and her eyes began searching the empty space. “Don’t look for us or you’ll give us away.”
“What should I do?” she asked, looking at her feet.
“We’re behind you, go down ahead of us and we’ll meet you in the courtyard. Oh, and have you seen Ulric?”
“Okay, yes he went after his sister.” said Natalie, turning and proceeding ahead of us down the steep steps.
It took everything Lorna had to keep moving down each step. I noticed that Ulric was gone too. The building was silent but for a few shuffling movements of the humans that were running around on the main floor, going about their duties to keep the place running. Almost as unseen as we were.
The main foyer looked larger than it had before. Lorna was weak and I could feel my own strength draining away rapidly. Whatever magic was making us invisible was taking an immense amount of my power to maintain. I grabbed Lorna as she began to slump. I held her tightly as Madame le Boursier suddenly appeared at the edge of the hall. Had she been here the whole time? Did she know everything? She glanced in our direction but looked through us, before proceeding to check the next part of the building. Looking for misdemeanours. We reached the main entrance and even though we still needed to pass through the courtyard, I felt relief. “Come on, just a little further,” I whispered in Lorna’s ear.
The moon gleamed at us through the mist. There was no sign of Natalie but there wasn’t any time to look for her. I was beginning to feel dizzy and as I almost keeled over, I partially broke contact with Lorna, sending a ripple through the air. I gripped her even tighter, re-establishing our shield. I felt like I was going to throw up. My body longed for some blood. Lorna breathed in deeply and I tried to concentrate on her breath just so I could focus on something other than my own feeling of fading away. No longer able to send Safi telepathic messages, I called for her softly. “We’re here, come as close to the gates as you can.”
“I’m here, where are you?” Safi’s silhouette appeared right up next to the metal bars that separated us.
“I have a shield so you can’t see us. But to open the gates, I’m going to have to break it. When I do, you need to take Lorna. Do you think you can magic her into the cemetery?” I breathed out, now propped up more by Lorna than she was by me.
“I think so. But I don’t think I can take the three of us. You’ll be left here. I saw them come out here but they were looking for you so they didn’t notice me,” whispered Safi breathlessly.
“Don’t worry. Ready?”
“Yes,” said Safi, strengthening her resolve.
I broke one hand away from Lorna and pushed the gate as hard as I could. I felt sluggish and it felt too heavy. I took my other hand away from her and again, a ripple, much stronger this time, went through the stale air. I yanked the gate open and grabbed her, pulling us both to the other side quicker than she’d have been able to walk by herself. Safi
looked from me to Lorna and at me again. “Taker her,” I said pushing Lorna into her arms. I slumped against the gates, keeping a look out.
“What about you?” asked Lorna.
“That’s not your concern anymore,” I said before I could stop myself. My arm prickled up and down as my blooming drew some of my magic back to me. Safi began to summon a circle of protection around the two of them.
Once a small path of white light had been traced and activated, she closed her eyes and still holding onto Lorna, she reached into her pocket and withdrew her crystal. She closed her eyes and just like it had with me, I could tell that summoning her powers took a lot more effort due to having an extra person attached to her.
The circle around them exuded a hazy glow and all three of us knew that she had to get them out of there quickly as it had already begun to dissolve. I tried sending them some of my power but I had gotten so weak that even my blooming only tingled inconsistently, in spurts if I tried to do anything to use my magic. I felt dread, like a lead weight had just fallen through me, as behind them, I saw figures coming swiftly towards us.
Chapter 20
I didn’t want to break Safi’s concentration. I could tell she was close. But Lilith and her gang were closing in on us and if the two in the circle didn’t manage to get away, there wouldn’t be a breath between their escape and Lilith’s arrival. I pulled myself up and walked around their circle, past them to give a subtle warning to Safi, to silently urge her to summon enough of whatever she needed to leave with Lorna.
“There you are! I should have known you wouldn’t have gotten far!” said Lilith, shrill with delight.
Magic Within: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 1) Page 18
