Academy of Beasts IV

by Becca Fanning

  “For what? A party?” I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been to a party.”

  “Enrique will be with his girlfriends. He’s quite affectionate.” A wicked, mocking grin came to Ren’s face. “I’m sure you’re aware of that by now.”

  “If you’re going to be a jerk the whole walk, Ren, we can walk apart.” I hurried my steps, but he caught up to me. “Besides, wasn’t it Enrique who said that you have no business judging him?” I cocked my head to the side, recalling that strange remark the blonde had lobbed at our resident wolf-shifter.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m not gallivanting off with girls all the time.”

  “You’re doing something with someone,” I insisted. “He said so.”

  A dark shadow came over his face. His smirk turned cruel. “Are you jealous?”

  I scoffed. “Of you?!” I shook my head so hard that my hair bounced around me. The aroma of strawberries from my shampoo hung around my head like a perfumed cloud. Maybe I had prepared extra this morning for the party. I was going to Priscilla’s dorm to get ready. She promised that she had an outfit ready for me.

  “To show off your new muscles,” she insisted. I wasn’t sure that my body had changed that much in the last weeks, but I told her that I trusted her.

  The crunch beneath our feet brought me back to the present.

  “Just be careful tonight,” Ren said mysteriously. “Try not to be too curious.” He took off towards the outer grounds without another word. My mouth dropped open as I stared at his back. The Council boys loved to leave on a dramatic exit. How annoying. I marched up to class and Priscilla chuckled when she saw me.

  “I saw Ren walking with you to school. He must’ve said something.”

  “These Council boys are annoying me. I want to go to the party tonight and forget them all.

  “Hard to do when it’s Enrique’s party.”

  I stuck out my pinky to her. “Promise that we try to concentrate on having fun? I need it.”

  She took it gladly. I’d introduced the magic of pinky swears to Priscilla, who wasn’t aware of them in the Land of Dragons. She leaned it with an excited expression.

  “Wait until you see our outfits,” she cooed. “I’ve got something utterly perfect for you. You’ll be lucky if Enrique leaves you alone.”

  A wave of excited giddiness ran through me. Not from the Enrique comment, but at having plans for the night. No time spent wasted on hypothesizing theories on my presence here.

  Priscilla hadn’t been kidding about our outfits. When she pulled off a plastic bag covering two hangers, I gasped.

  “They’re gorgeous,” I muttered in awe. “Which one is mine and how did you get these?”

  She smiled proudly as she laid the dresses on her bed. “My mom’s a costume designer and a seamstress at home. Occasionally, she sends me something really fun to try out. I never have much of an excuse to get her to send me something. She was excited when I said that I met a good friend here. I sent her your measurements.”

  “You have my measurements?” I asked, putting my hands on my hip. She chuckled.

  “I’m pretty good at eyeing them and you’re not far off from me.” She spread her hands lovingly on the dresses in question. “The red is for you. Not because it’s Enrique’s party, but I thought it fit you. I’m more partial to violet.” Every dragon-shifter was, to be fair.

  The dresses in question were utterly breathtaking. They were matching, which I didn’t mind at all. Vintage clothes had been something I’d seen in the human world, but I hadn’t seen much in the shifter world. These dresses had been modeled after some fierce tight sixties’ dress. They were mini in the skirt and sleeveless at the top with an eyelet in the bosom to show off cleavage. The collar collected in a high neck, giving it a naughty edge.

  “Makeup first,” she insisted. I let Priscilla do her work. She was gifted with the art of dragon-shifter makeup, which was more theatrical and fun than my usual look. Her soft makeup brush on my face could’ve sent me to sleep.

  “Cat-eye look and a muted pink lip tonight,” she said as she worked. I nodded.

  “I trust your makeup skills. Did your mom teach you?”

  She smiled. “She did. She’s hoping to meet you if we ever get the chance. I told you that you were quite the celebrity.”

  “The celebrity?” I tried to laugh as I bared my lips for her makeup brush. “More like the weird girl that everybody wants to fight.”

  “That’s not completely untrue,” she said and snickered.

  When we were done, I was sure that she was going to be the belle of the ball tonight. She’d done her hair up so that it fell in magnificent waves around her and forgone her glasses. When we slipped into our dresses, she squealed and clapped at the sight of me.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” she cheered. “I’ll grab some heels.” I’d brought some platform black sandals that matched well with the theme and put them on. Before we left, she grabbed a bottle of something on her dresser and pushed it in my hand. “Two spritzes on the neck.” I accidentally did three and she chuckled.

  “What was that?”

  “Special dragon perfume,” she said and winked.

  Night-time Priscilla was a bit wilder than her school persona. I admired her toned figure in her dress as she led me down a dizzying array of halls. This was like the time we went to Dragon’s Den, an underground bar favored by the dragon-shifters for drinks.

  Given that I’d seen Enrique’s “special” room, I wasn’t sure what to expect for his party. Red lighting and sexy leather furniture were in my mind. When Priscilla pulled me past a bouncer (maybe a student?) into a massive room that mimicked the castle’s entryway except for soft lighting and a giant dance floor, I wasn’t prepared.

  Chapter 13

  It looked like a scene out of a movie. A throng of bodies were already grinding on the dance floor. She walked easily past a pack of classmates and dragged me along. I was happy to report that everybody glanced at us when we passed. Dragon perfume or amazing dresses? My bets were on both.

  “Signature cocktail is The Temptation,” the bartender told us. He adjusted his thick black eyeglasses as Priscilla passed a bill over to him.

  “He’s cute,” I muttered. “He was totally checking you out.”

  “You think? Maybe I’ll be the one to grab our drinks tonight.”

  “I have money,” I reminded her. Dracus had revealed that there was a stash of shifter-currency down in my closet. It was topped up once a month with a small allowance. I had quite a bit since I hadn’t discovered it until last week. “Let me give you money for the next round.”

  The bartender came back, with pinker cheeks, I thought, and we took our drinks. Away from the dance floor, there was a series of giant booths made out of the same leather I’d seen in Enrique’s secret room. Here was the red lighting, softly lighting up the gorgeous bodies. The heads turned, male and female, as we strolled past them to land in an empty one.

  Some dragon-shifters stopped by to say hello to Priscilla. I introduced myself and tried to remember their names. An especially handsome one named Lucius caught my eye, but it was because his name was in that romance novel I read.

  “Enrique throws amazing parties,” a girl named Angelique said as she flipped her head. I nodded enthusiastically and sipped my drink. They lingered at our table for a few more minutes. I should’ve peed before I left.

  “Does this party have a bathroom?” I asked Priscilla. She pointed to one of the far corners. I excused myself after draining my glass and took it with me. When I put it on the bar for the bartenders, it was the same guy who’d helped us earlier.

  “My friend thinks you’re cute,” I told him as he picked up the glass. He grinned and shot me a thumbs up.

  I turned to head towards the bathroom and nearly bumped into someone. A familiar blond and the party host, looking scrumptious in fitted slacks and a black shirt that was unbuttoned to show off his chest.

  “Princess, you cannot show up looking li
ke that here,” Enrique said as he twirled me in his arms. “My God, where did you get that dress?”

  “Priscilla. Cool party.”

  “All my thanks to Priscilla,” he said and bent his hands together in a praying fashion.

  From some place above us, I could hear someone call out, “Enriqueeeee.”

  “Your ladies are waiting,” I said with a chuckle. A few heads popped over the edge of a hanging platform that was suspended from the roof, just enough for me to see the short skirts and flowing hair present in the special area. Enrique’s VIP booth, I imagined, where they could watch everything. Would he be watching me? My skin burned. Before he could say anything, I headed off to the bathroom. Unlike a nightclub, the bathrooms here were surprisingly nice. Ren asked if I would be bothered to see Enrique being worshipped by his usual clique of babes.

  No Council Boy thoughts tonight. I washed my hands and made a bee-line back to Priscilla. More people had joined our booths. I recognize a lion-shifter by the name of Patrick and a wolf-shifter named Laurelei. They made room for me to sit next to Priscilla.

  “Hey, everybody.”

  “Hi,” Patrick said and glanced around. “We don’t have to worry about your bodyguards tonight?”

  I blushed. “I guess some people have noticed. I tend to get in trouble.”

  “Sam was a jerk to do that,” Laurelei said and sipped her cocktail. “Don’t worry, Fiona, we’re friends with Priscilla.”

  Oh, no. Should I be worried?

  Patrick grinned at his friend (girlfriend?) from the side. “What she means is that we won’t ogle at you up close because of your unique status as a late-shifter.” She swatted him and planted a kiss on his cheek. Definitely dating or friends with benefits.

  Too bad I wasn’t a late-shifter. What would happen if I screamed that I was a fraud at the top of my lungs? Probably not a good idea…

  “The bartender is into you,” I told Priscilla covertly when Patrick and Laurelei broke into some flirty banter. She grinned and held her empty glass.

  “I’ll grab us another round.”

  As she did, Laurelei placed a gentle handle on my arm. “Fiona, you wanna dance? Shifters are sooooo bad at dancing. I’d be interested to see you trying.”

  “Are they bad?” I asked, glancing at the dancefloor. There seemed to be a mix of breakdancing and grinding going on.

  She rolled her eyes. “You can’t see it, but everyone’s just throwing in their clan and shifter moves or fucking with their clothes on.”

  “Hey, lion shifters have moves,” Patrick teased. His nose brushed hers and she chuckled demurely.

  I wondered if all lions were flirty.

  “Let’s go dance,” she pressed. “Priscilla will meet us on the dance floor.” She wrapped an elegant hand around both my and Patrick’s arm. Turns out she was stronger than she looked. We smashed onto the dance floor and she pulled us inside, but closer to the bar. Priscilla arrived with drinks.

  “I can’t dance to save my life,” Priscilla said. She watched me start rolling my hips.

  In truth, mom’s latest craze before I left home was belly dancing. I’d picked up most of my moves from her DVDs and a modern dance class that we sometimes went to at the local YMCA. Not exactly a cultural shifter dance, but it would work. They didn’t need to know.

  “How do you do that?”

  “You just roll with your hips,” I explained to her. “Move your arms like water.” She tried and it came out looking more like a robot. We descended into a fit of laughter.

  “Shifters have spent so much time training that we never dance,” Laurelei said in a giggling voice over her shoulder. She and Patrick didn’t seem to have any trouble though, pressed together with their foreheads and pelvises together, swaying in a rhythm.

  “Did you go dancing a lot at home?” Priscilla asked me over the music. It seemed as if it had suddenly gotten louder.

  “Not too much. I was too young to get into clubs for the most part,” I reminded her and then grinned. “This is helping me forget shifter boys.”

  Clinking our glasses, we downed the drinks and placed them on a lone table. We danced and I giggled, trying to show Priscilla more moves. She was too stiff. Shifters were great at many things, but dancing wasn’t one of them. Their movements were raw and savage, which was beautiful but far different from the dancing I was used too.

  I hadn’t noticed that a small circle was forming around us, backing up to give us room. We were having too much fun. I tapped her hip and showed how to pop it.

  “You can drop it down super sexy if you want,” I told her in a whisper and showed her how to drop down into a suggestive squat position.

  A cheer came up from behind me. I whirled around to see the small circle looking on. Laurelei hopped in.

  “Show me!” she cried. “I want to learn.”

  I showed her, and she was surprisingly good, which earned an enthusiastic round of applause from Patrick. Soon, more people joined in. Leading a dance class for shifters wasn’t exactly what I had planned for the night, but the universe works in mysterious ways.

  Priscilla giggled as we fell into a bout of dancing. Her lips brushed my ear as she whispered, “Enrique’s watching you.”

  I didn’t look up to verify. If I did, my dancing would’ve crawled to a halt.

  “Think he’s mad that I made his party a dance class for shifters?”

  She cackled and answered by dropping into a split. I cheered. There were certainly more things that she could do besides dance. We danced for what seemed like hours. Laurelei or Patrick, when not canoodling, would run out for drinks and water. Sometimes, Priscilla wandered to the bar herself, growing braver and braver with the bartender.

  “You should leave your number on a napkin,” I suggested. She shrugged.

  “As if I could ever see him. This place is closed down like a fortress for students besides these little parties. He lives on the outside, for sure.” She flashed a longing look towards the bar where her hunk was helping someone else.

  “You could try.”

  I had to stop for another bathroom break. The basements were cool, but I desperately wanted fresh air. I peed in one of the stalls, and as I did, I overheard a gaggle of girls come in.

  “He’s being so lame this week—” Nails scraped against something glass. They were probably putting on makeup.

  I ignored them and continued my business, bopping my head along to the muffled music that I could still hear from the dancefloor. My head buzzed from the alcohol.

  “I know. I tried to get him to come to my dorm. Zero interest. You think we should move on?”

  “Who knows?” The first voice asked. I heard the zipper of a bag. “Enrique’s dropped his main girlfriends down to three already. I don’t have much hope.”

  Heels clattered against the stone floor and left as quickly as they’d come. I stayed inside the stall for a second; my heart slamming against my chest. Enrique’s harem was complaining about him? I bit my lip and quickly finished, washing my hands.

  Council boys weren’t supposed to bother me tonight.

  Chapter 14

  When I came back to Priscilla on the dance floor, I realized that I was exhausted. She and my new friends seemed like they were ready to go all night. The digital clock hanging above the bar said it was one-thirty in the morning.

  “Hey, girl,” I said, catching her. She playfully pressed against me. “I think I might head out. I’m exhausted.”

  She nodded. “I’m about to make my pass at the bartender and see if I can get him to a far-flung basement in the shadows.” She winked. “Bail on me before I bail on you.” I snickered and she kissed my cheek goodbye.

  Laurelei and Patrick were too busy grinding to bother them. I slipped from the dancefloor and disappeared back through the hallway we’d come from.

  I was regretting leaving my change of clothes in Priscilla’s dorm. This meant a walk back to the manor in heels. By a miracle, I managed to find myself way back
into the courtyard. It was silent. The moon was the only company I had on my trek back. I tried to be careful with the heels, but they kept getting caught in the cobblestones in the dark. I slipped them off and opted to walk on the path barefoot. Wild. I smiled to myself. What would the me waking up in the hospital think of me now?

  There was a light on in the manor, but it was on Dracus’ hall. Maybe he was still working. I tried to be quiet as I crept through the entryway. As I stepped onto the plush carpet of the staircases, a thump caught my ear. I froze and turned. Down the hall with the abandoned studies and rooms…a sound. I frowned. A softer thump sounded out. A memory of an injured Enrique sneaking through the window with Jasper, a flash of a bleeding Ren grabbing me. Was someone hurt?

  I decided to be brave. The lamps lit themselves as I went along the hallway. The hall was eerily quiet. I took a deep breath.

  Thump!

  This is the part where the naïve young woman died from a crazy scary murderer in a horror film. But my curiosity knew no bounds. Not when it came to strange happenings that could give more information.

  The sound was coming from the last room on the right, meaning that it wasn’t facing the gardens. You wouldn’t be able to see me if I turned the light on. I slowly opened the door, feeling my pulse rocket upwards as it creaked creepily into the early morning hours. Silence. I stepped inside. A candlestick holder was holding three red candles on a low coffee table. They were lit, casting a gorgeous glow on the room. It looked like a sitting room. The furniture in this room had a distinctly older air.

  “Hello?” I asked and pawed for the light switch, nowhere near the door. I took a step across the room. As I did, the door silently shut behind me. I only knew when I heard the click.

  “You’re quite easy to lure,” a deep, familiar voice said. “That must get you into trouble, Fiona.”

  I gasped and forced my body to turn around, inch by inch.

  Mr. X leaned against the door with a self-satisfied smirk. It was too dark to see him. His features, although handsome and strong, were partially shaded by the shadows and his signature mask.