Daizlei Academy Omnibus Collection

by Kel Carpenter

  “Do you think it’s there? In the house?” I asked her. Elizabeth may not be at the top of my shit list or bound and gagged at the moment, but I didn’t trust her any more than I did before. Even grieving, I had no doubt she would put her own life first and try to escape if we gave her the chance.

  Blair stayed silent, her hands shifting uneasily. “If it exists, it’s there,” she whispered.

  “Well, that settles that. We need to find a way to get to her house, like, before whatever evidence that may be there of how we came to be ”—Alexandra paused, motioning between us—“is destroyed.”

  Chapter 104

  We agreed we needed to find a way back to Michigan to search Mariana’s house, but no one knew of a way how. Not that didn’t risk us being attacked. Again.

  “Could you take us?” Amber asked Cade, batting her eyes a little bit like that would sweeten the deal.

  “No can do, babe. My powers have limits just as much as any other teleporter.” He ran a hand through his honey-colored hair, seeming unruffled by it. Admitting he couldn’t do something was acknowledging his own weakness by Supernatural standards. It was something most were ashamed of, embarrassed at the very least, and he didn’t even seem perturbed.

  Amber shrugged and looked at Tori who shook her head. “There’s no way I’ll be able to go that far with so many people,” Tori said. I wasn’t going to disagree. A few states with a couple people she could manage, but she wasn’t strong enough to hop across most of the country with this many people. Especially twice, so close together.

  “Hmm…” Tam said. He stroked his blue-tipped chin hairs into an inverted triangle. “Ordinarily I wouldn’t get behind this type of thing and risk angering the higher ups, but”—he tapped his fingertips together, shifting to give us his full attention—“finding out how a couple of part demons came to be is just too tempting to stop.” The wicked gleam in his eye made me stiffen. “Give me twenty-four hours and I will find a way to get you there,” he said.

  At that, Tam jumped to his feet and gave a small nod to the group before leaving. Cade untangled himself from Amber and escorted us back to the elevator. Once again, the doors magically opened without needing to be called. It was unnerving in a way, but it had me curious.

  “How does this thing work?” I asked, trailing behind the group. If you watched closely, the more people that entered it, the larger it grew.

  “Magic,” Cade said with a bit of flair. He clapped his hands together and gold sparks appeared in the air around him. I wasn’t impressed.

  “Obviously.”

  “The door is sentient. You think your request, and if it has access, it takes you there,” Aaron answered as I sagged against the wall. The doors closed behind me. Like last time, it started moving on its own.

  I scoffed. “Sentient? It’s not like it’s a living, breathing thing—”

  “I wouldn’t go around saying things you don’t know are certain,” Cade commented. I shot him a withering look.

  “What powers the elevator then?” I asked pointedly.

  “The ley lines,” Johanna answered. I turned to her and raised a questioning eyebrow. “Every black market is built on ley lines and they’re nearly as old as time itself,” she continued. “The elevator is the only door into and out of any black market. As times change, so does the door, but no one knows how or why.”

  “That’s why they call it sentient,” Aaron said. I glanced up to see him watching me. “It opens when it’s needed, and it takes you where you need to go.”

  “Then why don’t we take it to Mariana’s house?” I asked.

  “It can’t. It will go to any black market in the world, but that’s a risk we can’t take. This group showing up to the Detroit black market and then trying to get to your aunt’s house would be easily noticed,” Cade said.

  “Alec, could you—”

  “Potentially, but there are too many variables. This is a large group over a great distance. If I lost sight of anyone in the crowd, or if…one of you was in danger, I could lose my concentration and we’d all be exposed.” He shot a glance at Blair for a fraction of a second before looking away.

  “I guess we’ll see what Tam has to offer then. So, it can go to any black market, is that right, Cade?” I asked nonchalantly. Aaron tilted his head, his eyes narrowing just the slightest as Cade nodded in response.

  “The safe house isn’t a black market though,” I said as the doors beeped and slid open to reveal all the ice and water from Blair’s meltdown to be gone. The apartment looked much the same as when we’d entered it the first time.

  It was almost like…magic. Wild magic. Sentient magic.

  “The safe house is special for many reasons. That’s why it’s safe,” Cade smirked.

  The wheels were already turning in my head as I stepped off the magical elevator and began to plot.

  I waited until the others had gone to bed before I pulled on a pair of combat boots and approached the elevator. Taking a deep breath, I stared at the metal double doors. It could take me anywhere in the world, but I didn’t need to leave Vegas. I wanted to enter the parts of it that were hidden from the human world by the only thing more powerful than science. Magic.

  Swallowing any hesitation, I took my first step and the doors opened.

  The cold metal grey wasn’t a welcome sight, but it was a good sign. They hadn’t lied to me. Embracing the now or never mentality, I took one look behind me at the empty apartment and stepped inside, the doors closing behind me.

  Just like the other times I’d used it, there were no buttons to tell it where to go. I was supposed to trust it, but I couldn’t believe in such a superfluous ideal as trust anymore. Apprehension sat like a stone in my stomach, making me grimace as the elevator began to move. I hated enclosed spaces, and elevators were the worst.

  The ride was short. Abrupt. I held my breath as the doors slid open revealing a whole new world that was operating under the guise of night. I stepped out of the elevator, unsure if it really was the Las Vegas black market.

  A gust of wind swept down the alley, flinging my hair away from my face. I took in the scent of mold and magic, both pungent and strong. The bricks of the alleyway were black as onyx, the grey grout gleamed in the moonlight. At the end of the empty alley, people—no, not people—paranormals flooded the street. I crept closer, peeking my head around the corner.

  Either end extended farther than I could see with shops of every color. Across from me, a young Witch was running a gambling game that was roping in paranormals off the street. Next, a scarred Shifter woman was selling pelts far bigger than any animal I’d ever seen. She claimed they were Shifters that’d crossed her and this was how they paid their debt. The faint white bite marks around her neck made me disinclined to disagree with her.

  I stepped out of the shadows of the alley and hooked a left down the never-ending street. Up and down either side, young men and women of all species were offering their bodies or blood. The mercenaries, or drunken fools rather, boasted their killing abilities for hire to any that could afford their rate. Even better were the fighting pits, where crowds gathered to watch two people battle it to the death. In some cases, I thought the crowd was more worked up than the fighters themselves. The paranormals went into an all-out frenzy, betting on who they thought would come out on top. It was savage and gruesome and called to me in the worst way possible.

  I stayed near the outside edge of one pit, watching two particularly large Shifters swing at each other like beasts instead of men. They fought with a pure rage that resonated inside of me and made me barely able to turn my eyes away.

  The larger man was a brute by any definition. He threw his weight around like a hulking goliath, thinking he was too big to be taken down. The smaller guy, we’ll call him David, he was fast and he fought with heart. Goliath could put him down, but he couldn’t seem to keep him there. It was like every hit Goliath landed fueled David more, and something about that made me rage right along with
him.

  It didn’t take long before I was pushing my way to the front of the crowd and staring down into the pit. Up close, it was clear that neither of them were small, but Goliath was a frickin monster by comparison. His mostly naked body was smudged with dirt and bleeding from the nicks that David got in on him. It didn’t compare to the hits David was receiving. I wasn’t sure how the guy was still standing, given the blood that coated his body.

  He needed to finish it fast or he was a goner. It seemed that David realized that about the same time I did.

  Faster than Goliath could react, the smaller guy swept his foot under him and sent his claws straight into the larger fighter’s throat. I couldn’t look away as David shredded his tendons and ligaments in half a second, and took his head clean off in the following.

  The crowd went wild, high off a good fight as money swapped hands. Not I though. I watched him, David, as he struggled to bottle that rage back up. His breathing slowed as he worked to ignore the crowds, and I knew right then that he could have ended the fight sooner. But he didn’t.

  Because like me, something in him wasn’t quite right. Something deadly and terrifying that the rest of the world was too frightened to even speak about. A rage so pure and potent that there was never any hope of taming it. The best we could do was keep that demon on a leash.

  It was that moment that I understood the stranger in the pit. He looked up at me—and I realized he wasn’t a stranger at all.

  He was Aaron White.

  And he’d just spotted me.

  Chapter 105

  I locked eyes with him just long enough to see that spark of recognition. His eyes shifted from black as the alleyway bricks to pure gold. Aaron was pissed. He took a step towards me, his jaw tight with tension—and I ran.

  Backpedaling through the crowd, I dived down a narrow side alley, hoping to escape his notice. I had no doubt he would be hot on my trail, even after his fight, given the fury radiating off him through just a look.

  I was in deep, deep shit.

  Slinking down the row of tents, I could practically feel his anger pumping through my own veins. It was strong enough to make me stop short and catch my breath, reminding myself that the goddamn bond was probably acting up again. I grit my teeth against the string of curse words threatening to fly out of my mouth. Best save those for when he finds me.

  I didn’t even notice the jingling of wind chimes until a crooked black finger pointed at me and beckoned me closer. I paused, looking to either side. This woman seriously couldn’t be talking to me, could she? The old Witch nodded her head and revealed a row of yellow teeth.

  “Care to have your fortune told?” she asked. I almost said no and kept on walking, but there was something in her voice that made it sound like a test.

  “Sure. What’s it going to cost me?” The old woman smiled, but it wasn’t reassuring.

  “You’ve already paid,” she said cryptically. Before I could respond, Aaron’s anger hit me like a freight train, making my blood singe. He was getting closer.

  I took a breath and stepped into the tent, feeling a bit like the idiot girl in horror movies that forgets to lock the door.

  Inside her tent, a fire burned in a hearth, but it had no smoke. Next to it sat a table with two chairs and a black velvet bag. Along the edge were tables full of artifacts from all over the world, some magical, some unknown. Hanging above my head, wind chimes pealed as the tent flap fell closed behind me.

  The old woman kept her hood drawn, hiding half her face in the shadows as she pointed to the table. I took the hint and sat in one of the rickety old chairs. The Witch sat across from me.

  Reaching forward, she pulled on the drawstring of the velvet bag and held it up.

  “Take three,” she croaked. “If you dare.”

  I didn’t hesitate as I reached inside the bag and felt for three objects. The texture was recognizable immediately.

  What kind of Witch keeps a bag of bones in her shop? I meant it rhetorically, but Violet answered nonetheless.

  “The kind that walks with the Three-faced Goddess.”

  “Those are Witch tales, Violet. The ancients left us,” I said. She didn’t reply.

  The Witch pointed to the hearth beside us and said, “Throw them in the fire.”

  I did as I was told, mildly creeped out, but kind of curious. There was a popping sound as the bones shattered, turning black against the flames. That can’t be good.

  “Interesting…” she murmured.

  “What is?” I asked, more anxious than I’d originally thought I’d be. Violet’s response had me on edge, and I had no idea if this Witch could really see the future in a handful of blackened chicken bones.

  “You are on a dark path looking for revenge, but you do not have all the answers. There is knowledge being withheld from you.” Her voice took on that of someone who was young, but also middle-aged, and at the same time, very old. It was so contradictory. It made no sense, and the cold wind that swept through the tent had me shivering.

  “Hard times are ahead of you, child. Truths will be revealed that will make you question everything you know, and your decisions will change the very foundations of this world as we know it.” This fortune was oddly specific and vague at the same time, but the cold, bone-chilling tone of her voice had me questioning.

  “Trust in your signasti and the darkness inside, but do not trust the one who calls to you. She is not who you think.”

  The chunks of bone burst into ash, and I resisted the urge to jump to my feet. This was more than I bargained for, but I wasn’t running scared from an old women’s tent.

  The Witch let out a low chuckle and said, “You don’t scare easily. That’s good. You’ll need it.”

  Her voice had fallen back into the rasp of an old woman.

  “Need it for what?” I asked, hoping to get more information out of her. Whether it was true or not, she put on one hell of a show.

  “Your first trial approaches,” she said, falling into a coughing fit. She hacked twice and spat a wad of mucus into the fire. “Should you pass, we will meet again, and I will tell you a story. But should you fail, darkness will reign until the end of times.”

  “Uh huh,” I said, rising to my feet. End of times? What a crock.

  The Witch reached out, faster than I expected, and wrapped her cold, crooked fingers around my wrist. I looked up and found myself staring into eyes that changed like the shifting sands. They were red, and then yellow, but green, then blue. They were every color. “Who are you?”

  “Now, Selena,” she smirked. “What has Valda told you about asking the wrong questions. You already know the answer to that.”

  Valda? I frowned, but that’s when I realized just who I was staring at.

  I’d found her.

  The Crone with the third eye.

  I swallowed hard and blinked once, but when I opened my eyes, the scene had vanished. There was no tent, no Crone, hell, even the temperature had risen again. I blinked another ten times, looking around in every direction, but she was nowhere to be found.

  It was just me and her parting words in the same side alley I’d found her in, like it never happened.

  I had her. I lost her.

  How the hell do you lose a person and an entire tent of junk?

  I let out a string of curses under my breath, kicking at the air in frustration.

  It took me fifteen seconds to realize I was literally just standing in the middle of a street of tents with people moving around me. Taking a deep breath, I retraced my steps back down the row, waving off the different paranormals trying to approach me for any multitude of things.

  I’d just had an encounter with the Crone. The same damn Crone I had been trying to find for a week, and I didn’t realize it until she was gone. I could kick myself right now, but it wouldn’t appease the anger that pulsed in me.

  I rounded the corner to the main street where I’d taken off from the fighting ring, and of course, that’s exactly
where Aaron was waiting for me. One second, I was wading through the crowd and making my way back towards the entrance, the next I had one massively pissed off Supernatural Shifter crossbreed dragging me into the gap between two tents.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” Dirt marks covered his face and arms, but his clothes were remarkably clean for someone that had been nearly naked and fighting in the pit. A thin sheen of sweat still lined his skin, glistening in the moonlight.

  “But you were supposed to lie low,” he growled.

  Like that made a difference? No one trusted me, and while that was understandable given the situation, he was the one down here killing people in a pit fight. I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him.

  “Why? So you could have all the fun down here ripping heads off people?” He opened his mouth, but I held up a hand for silence. “I don’t see why I’m the delicate China doll being told to stay in the goddamn safe house while you’re down here in a pit fight letting off steam. Does that seem fair to you? Because it doesn’t seem very fair to me.”

  I wasn’t going to mention what I felt standing outside that fight. Oh no. Just like I wasn’t bringing up the Crone. Not until I sorted out what the hell I was going to do.

  “Cade didn’t want you to leave because Anastasia put a price on your head, Selena. Which makes you very valuable, not just to the Supes that would turn you in, but to every other paranormal wanting to get ahold of the matter manipulator that led a Vampire invasion and collapsed Daizlei.” His eyes flashed with sympathy for a moment before hardening again. “I’m sorry, but they didn’t want to tell you after the last few days. I was outvoted, but I think you deserve the right to know why Tam didn’t want to take you in. Every paranormal in the world is looking for you right now.”