Succession

by Rachel Angel

  He shrugged and looked at her. “I thought you’d be impressed.”

  “Well,” she began to say. “I… well, I guess I sort of am. I… Well, I just wish you would have given me a bit of a head warning. I mean. I thought you were going to show me how to pull a rabbit out of a hat type of thing… not how to demolish an entire building from a distance.”

  “Did I think too big?” he said with a teasing grin.

  113

  Rachel Angel

  She looked at him and had to laugh. The situation was so ludicrous, it was hard to remain serious and stern.

  “I think I would have preferred the rabbit out of the hat.”

  “Dear, I am the Dark Fae Wizard,” he reminded her. “I don’t do rabbits from a hat.”

  Harley looked out at the leaning building.

  Did all of his magic revolve around destruction?

  She wasn’t yet prepared to ask.

  “How did you come to have such powerful magic?”

  “From the Dark Fae King,” he said.

  “The king?”

  “Yes,” Stephen said. “When he died, I inherited his powers.”

  The king is dead? Harley wanted to say. For some reason, she’d assumed that Stephen was the king’s right hand person. This changed everything.

  The king was dead. Stephen was even more powerful than she’d originally thought. He actually was the ruler of all of the Dark Fae Realm.

  All of it.

  114

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6)

  “So,” Harley said hesitantly. “Does that mean that you are now the king of the Dark Fae Realm.”

  Stephen chuckled. “Not exactly.” He shrugged. “I don’t fancy being called King Stephen. I’m actually looking at abolishing the whole monarchy system. It’s entirely old fashioned and impractical.”

  “Oh,” Harley said.

  “You sound disappointed,” Stephen said.

  “Do you like the idea of being the Dark Fae Princess?”

  “Hmm,” Harley mused. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

  He looked at her. “You certainly would make a beautiful princess and make me proud.” His attention turned to the leaning building.

  Harley followed his gaze. The old hotel and casino was leaning perilously to one side.

  “Here it goes,” Stephen said. “I do love this part.”

  115

  Rachel Angel

  The building leaned further and further until it finally yielded and fell to the street below. A cloud of dust rose over the rubble.

  “Isn’t that spectacular?” Stephen stood to get a better look.

  “How can you be sure no one’s been hurt?”

  Harley said.

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Stephen said.

  “They had plenty of time to clear the area.”

  Harley looked up at him with a doubtful smirk.

  “Look at it this way,” Stephen said as he sat back down. “I just saved them a whole lot of money.”

  “Right.”

  “So, any questions?”

  “About what?”

  “About how I did what I just did.” He looked pointedly at her. “You really have to pick up on this, Harley. It’s my fault for not realizing it sooner, but you really have to learn all of this pretty fast.”

  “I didn’t know we were in a rush.”

  116

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6)

  “As my daughter,” Stephen said in all seriousness, “As the veritable princess of the Dark Fae Realm, you have to seize these powers before they pass you by.”

  “But I’m also a princess of the Light Fae Realm,” Harley reminded him. “Of Spring.”

  “Right,” he said rather dismissively.

  “Whatever. Anyway, I want you to be the most powerful Dark Fae princess the realm has ever seen.”

  Harley was both excited and intimidated by the prospect.

  “Working this kind of magic takes a lot of control,” Stephen said. “It doesn’t take much to lose control and find yourself in a fine mess. A slight miscalculation and everything falls to the left when you’d expected it to fall to the right. Everything blows up when you expected it to crumble to the ground. Believe me. I made the mistake of thinking it was too easy far too many times and it almost destroyed me.”

  Harley looked out at the building that was no more. The cloud of dust had dissipated somewhat, 117

  Rachel Angel

  and she could now taste the dust that’d been carried on the breeze. The idea of doing the same thing, of demolishing a building scared her.

  While she knew that dark magic wouldn’t be pleasant, she hadn’t really given much thought to what it would really involve.

  Now that she was face to face with the reality of that magic, she was sure what to do.

  118

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Chapter 9

  

  The following morning, Harley awoke to the sound of a firm knock on her bedroom door.

  “What is it?” she called out sleepily. She glanced at her bedside clock. It was barely six o’clock.

  “It’s time to start your lesson, Harley,”

  Stephen shouted through the door. “There’s no time to waste.”

  Harley struggled to sit up. Damn. Why hadn’t he told her about this the night before as she’d sat up until nearly midnight studying?

  “I’ll be right out,” she said as she crawled out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and an old black t-shirt then added a warm fleece sweater over it all.

  “You could have given me a bit of warning,”

  Harley said as she walked out to find Stephen waiting for her in the living room.

  119

  Rachel Angel

  Already dressed all in black and seemingly ready for battle, he looked expectantly at her. “I was thinking of starting small. I thought we’d start here and I’d show you a few minor tricks, but then I realized we didn’t have time for that. We have to hit the more impressive tricks right away.”

  He headed for the door.

  “Can’t I even take the time to have breakfast?”

  “I’ve packed a few snacks and I have a thermos of coffee.”

  Harley begrudgingly followed him out. He led her to the center of the large mall where dozens of students went this way and that.

  “Now,” Stephen said as he stopped at a bench to sit down. He pulled out his thermos and poured her some coffee. “Here you go, Princess.”

  “Thank you,” she said as she took the warm cup in her hands.

  The early morning hour was crisp and cool, chilled even.

  120

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6)

  “Let see what we have here,” Stephen said as he watched the rush of students heading off to their early morning classes.

  Frowning, Harley sat beside him.

  “We’ll start relatively small, but highly interesting,” he said. “Pick a mark.”

  Harley’s frown deepened as she looked into his eyes. “A mark? Do you mean a victim?”

  “If you prefer.”

  She was almost too afraid to ask, but she had to. “Father,” she said quietly. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Oh,” he said. “Don’t fret. This is going to be fun.”

  Somehow, she doubted that.

  “The important aspect of dark fae magic is intent,” Stephen said as he looked through the crowd for his prey. “Yes, yes, yes,” he whispered.

  “Look at him over there… the one with the tray of coffees.”

  Harley spotted the young student nervously carrying the coffee to his buddies.

  121

  Rachel Angel

  “Then, notice, if you will, the threesome of young women dressed in white.”

  Gasping, Harley found the three women and instantly knew what was coming. One had crisp white slacks with a white cashmere sweater while another one sported a pale taupe skirt wit
h a white cotton mock turtleneck. The third woman wore an expensive looking white linen dress with a pretty flowing skirt that tickled her ankles.

  “It doesn’t take much, my dear,” Stephen said with a grin. “Intent. Whenever possible you want to avoid the appearance of anything… supernatural.

  You want it to appear, especially to all those human eyes, very natural… very human. Just… like…” He paused a moment, then snapped his fingers. “…

  this.”

  The young man tripped just as he crossed the path of the three young women, effectively spraying them with his coffee.

  “What the hell?” one of the women screamed.

  “You idiot!” the other one added.

  122

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6)

  “I’m so sorry,” the young man said sheepishly as he looked down to his feet to find the source of what had tripped him.

  “You’re damned right, you’re sorry,” the woman with the linen dress cried as she looked down at the large brown stain on her belly. “You’ve ruined this dress. Do you have any idea how much this dress cost? You’re going to pay for this, you squirt. You’re fucking going to pay.”

  “You see,” Stephen said to Harley. “You need only do a little trick of magic in order to have a big result. No one is the wiser.”

  A large and bulky student joined the group, ready to defend the young women. He shoved the young man back, almost sending him to the ground.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, twit?” the pumped up guy said.

  “I tripped,” the young man tried to explain.

  “You did it on purpose,” the woman in white slacks called out.

  The large man pushed the young student again, this time sending him to the ground. Before the young man could do anything to defend himself, 123

  Rachel Angel

  he was kicked not only by the large man, but by the three women.

  Stop them, Harley wanted to say.

  The helpless young man tried to protect himself as he curled up into a fetal position and covered his head with his arms. But the kicks were relentless and eventually hit their mark. Blood squirted out as a blow hit his head. The blood splattered on the white linen skirt, infuriating the young woman all the more.

  Oh, my God, Harley thought. Stop them.

  Stop them!

  Campus guards finally arrived to break it up, but it was too late. The young man, now unconscious, lay in a pool of blood.

  “And that’s all there is to it,” Stephen said with a grin.

  Harley tried to control her breathing. She was shocked, stunned. How could Stephen be so cold?

  He is the Dark Fae Wizard, she told herself.

  That’s how.

  124

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) The guards tried to get the young man up, but he was completely limp. A guard bent over to take the young man’s pulse then looked to the other guard, shaking his head.

  No, Harley thought. No. Was the young man really dead? It couldn’t be. How could a lesson in magic, even dark magic result in someone’s death?

  “Your turn,” Stephen said. “Remember. The important thing is your intent. Feel the burn in your belly.”

  Harley felt sick to her stomach. Stephen’s intent was to cause the death of an innocent student.

  It was sick and cruel. But she had to keep playing along so she considered her options. She couldn’t refuse to try something… anything. But she was loath to hurt anyone, especially someone who was so completely innocent.

  Then she spotted Cici and grinned. Maybe she could do this dark magic after all.

  Intent? Right, Harley thought.

  “Keep it simple,” Stephen said. “Simple and believable.”

  125

  Rachel Angel

  In the distance, sitting under the shade of a large rainbow colored parasol, Ashley waved Cici over.

  Wearing a pale pink pencil skirt and a black blouse, Cici sauntered toward her friend.

  Harley concentrated. With every step that Cici took, Harley intensified her focus.

  Right there, Harley thought. Yes. Right there.

  Cici, smiling as she greeted Ashley, sat down on the grass.

  “Ew!” Cici cried out. “What the fuck!” She immediately got back to her feet and twisted around to try to look at her back side.

  “Oh, my God,” Ashley said as she laughed at her best friend and pointed to the large dark brown smear on Cici’s pretty pink skirt. “I think you sat in dog poo.”

  “Damn it!”

  As students passed by, they laughed and snickered. Many of them held their noses while others steered clear away.

  “How’s that?” Harley said.

  126

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6)

  “Cute,” Stephen said. “But what is the intent? There’s no real consequence. No victim. I mean, it’s amusing, but that’s all.”

  Amusing was her intent, she realized. She had no desire to have anyone hurt. Not even Cici.

  “What the hell are you looking at, you idiot?”

  Cici shouted at the onlookers. Infuriated, she leaned over, picked up the offensive dog matter and tossed it at a nearby student.

  “You bitch,” the young woman cried as she looked down at her soiled pants. “It’s not my fault you didn’t look where you were sitting.” She marched towards Cici, her fists clenched.

  “I did look,” Cici shouted back. As the young woman closed in on her, Cici reached out to wipe her disgusting hand on the woman’s chest.

  “Damn it,” the young woman said. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  She slapped Cici in the face, but before she could do more, Cici and Ashley jumped on her, pulling her hair, scratching her face and kicking her to the ground.

  “No,” Harley muttered to herself in horror.

  127

  Rachel Angel

  Like déjà vu, Harley watched the woman get kicked into unconsciousness, blood oozing from her nose and mouth.

  “Well done,” Stephen said with a pleased grin. “What a surprising twist.”

  Harley forced a tight, unhappy smile. Was this what Stephen had meant by the dangers of this dark magic? Even if her initial intent had been only to humiliate Cici, her dark magic had resulted in the possible death of an innocent student.

  “I’m impressed, dear daughter,” Stephen said as he rose. “You’re even more advanced than I’d originally given you credit for. But now, let’s move on to bigger prey. Let’s really get our hands dirty.”

  He brought her to the long drive that led up to the academy. As they walked on the paved road, the view to the buildings down below opened up.

  Beautiful sprawling homes that were tucked away into the mountainside.

  “That one over there,” Stephen said as he pointed to a modern looking boxy structure.

  “That’s where Mrs. Laurence lives.”

  128

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Harley cocked an impressed brow. Not bad for a college professor.

  “It’s a three and a half million dollar home that sits on two acres. It has an extensive wine cellar, seven bedrooms, nine baths, a formal and casual dining room and more amenities than you can count. There’s a pool out back and a guest house.”

  “Looks like she’s done pretty well for herself.”

  “Well,” Stephen said with a sneer. “Her doctor husband is largely responsible, but still…

  How dare she come to me complaining about such minor details, asking for more money to pay for her personal expenses when, clearly, she has no need for it.”

  Harley shrugged. She knew nothing about the financial situation of the academy or its employees, and she had little interest in learning about it.

  “It is a lovely property,” Stephen when on.

  “All those lovely, big trees. Some of them must be ancient. There may even be a few that are rotted 129

  Rachel Angel

  thr
ough. It happens sometimes. The winter snow can weigh the limbs down, weakening them.”

  A sinking feeling took over Harley as she realized the direction her father was guiding her to.

  “I’ll give you a moment to find a suitable branch,” he said.

  Licking her lips, Harley looked at the beautifully mature trees that surrounded the property.

  “It must be large and heavy. It must have a convincing trajectory.”

  Reluctantly, Harley found a large branch that hung over the left wing of the sprawling home.

  “Got it,” she said softly.

  “It rots from the inside,” Stephen said.

  “Insects bore through, weakening the limb more and more.”

  Harley wanted to ask if anyone was home. It now being mid-morning. Surely Mrs. Laurence and her husband were already both at work.

  The wind picked up and Stephen looked at her. “Nice touch,” he said.

  130

  Succession (Fallen Fae Academy #6) Harley concentrated on the large branch and almost felt it crack. It was giving way. Another strong breeze pushed into the leafy branches, adding to the limb’s fragility.

  “We don’t have all day, Harley,” her father said.

  Closing her eyes, Harley snapped the branch.

  Even from a distance she heard the loud crack of the branch, then the clatter as the heavy limb landed on the corner of the house, breaking windows and chipping away at the third floor.

  “Perfect,” Stephen said with a grin.

  Was it? Harley wondered.

  The branch was stable for a moment, lying there on what looked like a bedroom, but then the floor yielded and the branch went on to demolished the second and first floor, leveling a good portion of the west wing.

  “Even better,” Stephen said as he applauded.

  Screams came from the house and through the rubble, Harley saw Mrs. Laurence rushing to the large branch, screaming hysterically.