Heat in the Air

by Serenity Snow

  “Do it. I dare you,” he taunted. “I’ll just get more pictures of you and the headmistress. I’m sure I’ll catch you two with your heads up each other’s crotch, but if you get on your knees right now and blow me, I’ll consider that a down payment, an act of good faith.”

  “What?” she demanded in horror.

  “I want you and I’m not the only one. I won’t name names, but if you let us have you as much as we want, as often as we want, and in any position, I won’t pursue this.”

  “You bastard,” she glared and he laughed, his face an ugly expression, as he took a step toward her.

  Trent grabbed her arm and jerked her. “Get on your knees and suck my dick,” he ordered. “Or else.”

  She shoved him, and his eyes chilled throwing her back in time to that day she’d last seen the High Inquisitor.

  “Good afternoon, ladies.”

  They both turned to find the dashing figure of a man with black hair striding to them from the door. Her maid stood there with a helpless look on her face.

  “It’s okay, Lucinda,” Nina said and the other woman closed the door.

  “I’ve come to see how you were, but here you are with your … friend.” His brown eyes raked over Carina.

  “I am fine,” Nina said coolly. “If that is all that brings you by, will you please leave? I am not in the mood for company.”

  His eyes darkened. “I’ve been thinking if your husband was in league with the devil then so must you be.” His tone was hard and cold. “You’ll agree to my terms or meet the same fate.”

  “You’re such a cruel man,” Carina said, going to stand in front of him. “It’s a shame really that one so handsome could be so.”

  “I am a man who never lets anyone keep me from what I desire,” he said.

  “I know, but Nina is mine, and I don’t wish to share her.” The sky turned dark above them and lightning flitted across it.

  Nina looked up and gasped at the sight of a thin, ropy tornado descending.

  The High Inquisitor looked up as well and he backed away from Carina, but she grabbed him by his jacket and threw him out into the yard with such brute force Nina lost her breath.

  He screamed as the wind sucked him up and dragged him away from them, tossing him into a tree with such ferocity surely it broke his neck and his back.

  “See, mi amada. I will always protect you.”

  Trent’s hand on her arm brought her out of the reverie, and she shoved him. “Get out,” she snapped. “Don’t ever touch me again.

  “You’ll regret this, you stuck up bitch.” He turned and stormed out of the room.

  ****

  Trent was striding from Camille’s room when she spied him. His back was straight and his gait stiff. He was pissed, she could tell by the acrid smell of him. There was also something else in his scent.

  She waited until he was in his classroom to go inside. “Good morning, Trent.”

  He whipped around, startled by her. “Yes, it is.” He sneered at her.

  She closed the door and cast a silencer spell to prevent their conversation from being overheard by blind and hearing teachers and students. “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” he said coldly. “I was just planning my next move, and I’m sure a few people in this school will be more than happy with those plans.”

  “What are they?” Tylor asked advancing on him.

  He laughed. “I know you covered up for that pussy-eating Camille. I’m going to tell the papers all about it.”

  “That would be unwise, considering whatever you’re talking about is untrue.”

  “I saw you with her, kissing,” he spat the words out as if they were hot kernels. “I think the board will be interested in what I have to say.”

  “Really? They’d be interested in a lawsuit?” she asked. “That’s really nothing to me, but you going to the papers with lies is a little more than I can abide.”

  He laughed. “Then you’ll tell your bitch to go out with me and do for me what she did for you.”

  “Camille is my bitch, Trent,” she said softly. “And I’m not as good as she is. I won’t ask you to drop this whole thing because clearly you can’t let it go.”

  “I’m not going to,” he snapped. “All she had to do was go out with me instead of acting like she was so damned special. I was nice to her just like every other male teacher here, but she looks down her nose at us just like you used to. You’re both getting what you deserve.” He looked down her body, lust firing in his eyes. “But I guess in those suits I should have known you were butch.”

  Tylor sighed.

  She hated when men acted like this, especially ones with as much cruelty in their mind as Trent had right now. He wanted to share them both with a few friends and use them in the most degrading of ways.

  “I normally don’t bother with humans like you,” she told him. “I leave you to your silly vile thoughts because you usually fall on your own sword when left to your own devices.”

  “Humans?” he asked and laughed wildly. “The way you say it in that haughty little tone lets me know you think you’re better than me.”

  “I’m above you,” she told him. “But right now I’m going to give in to my base needs.”

  “If you and Camille blow me right now, I might consider it a down payment for keeping my mouth shut.”

  She smiled serenely. “I have a better idea.” She grabbed him by his tie and jerked him to her as she held his gaze.

  Lightning flared in her eyes and his eyes widened as he let out a startled cry and tried to push her away. She held him, his human strength no match for the airy energy running through her.

  Tylor quickly made a mental connection with him finding it easy to break his mental shields. He was so upset and bent on fantasy, his mind had had to back track to fight hers off.

  “Let me go, you Sapphic bitch,” he bit out.

  “One of my many talents is mental control and manipulation, Trent. I can get into a person’s mind, control it, unhinge it, or just scare them a little. You’ll never come back from this though.” A hard breeze blew over him as dark blue energy rushed into the center of his forehead.

  His head jerked back from the force of the energy, and he laughed. “Right,” he said. “You’re the one who’s never coming back.”

  She released him. The airy virus would act like a computer worm. The second he began interacting with anyone, the worm would take effect sending him spiraling down a road of madness.

  If he was lucky, he’d just kill himself fast. If he was willful and fought it, he’d linger on for days, but he would die unless she chose to save him. And she wouldn’t, thanks to his vicious thoughts.

  Tylor walked out of the classroom, translucent and invisible to the eyes of the students and staff coming up.

  Air wasn’t the most forgiving element, but they were hands down one of the most dangerous when crossed, especially storms. No one messed with those under her care or jurisdiction without paying a nasty price.

  Chapter Nineteen

  A scream rang out and Camille leaped up from her desk and ran out into the hallway. Students were screaming as they ran from the room. Camille grabbed a boy’s arm and signed as she spoke.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The boy signed rapidly, but she was able to keep up thanks to the time she’d spent in silence, spent fighting her way out of the darkness trauma had put her in.

  Trent was going crazy in his classroom.

  Tylor! Trent is losing it. Help!

  She went running to his classroom and found him smashing his head against the blackboard as he clawed at his head.

  “Make them stop! Silence the voices,” he muttered and met Camille’s gaze. For a moment, he was still and intelligent eyes fixed hers.

  “Trent, what’s wrong. Let me help you,” she said gently. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

  “I see them everywhere,” he said and glanced wildly around. “Men. They’re tearing at me
. I’m in a cage. Let me out!”

  “Oh, my Goddess,” she whispered holding a hand out to him. Terror filled his eyes. “Trent.”

  “They’re touching,” he said in a whiny voice. “They’re trying to violate me. No!” He writhed against the board as if fighting off an attacker attempting to pull his pants down and rape him.

  His hands clawed at hands she couldn’t see and tried to push them away. “No! No!” he screamed. His body arched, hips tilted up, body stiff. His eyes filled with pain and horror. “Please,” he begged. “Please, don’t!”

  “Trent.” Confusion made her head swim, but the compassionate part of her teared up at the terror on his face.

  His breathing became labored and a grunt, filled with discomfort was torn from him. He gave a hard shove and appeared to have broken free of something and ran for the window.

  “Trent, no!” Camille screamed.

  Trent flung himself at the window and landed against it. He backed up and ran hard for it and threw himself into the glass. It broke and he tumbled out laughing like a mad man.

  Camille stared in shock, both hands going to her mouth as he went out.

  Breathing hard and shaking, she finally propelled herself forward.

  “Trent!”

  “What’s going on?” Grace called frantically from behind her.

  She turned around to fix her gaze on the other woman in horror. “Trent threw himself out the window.”

  “What!” Grace raced to join her at the window to find Trent broken on the ground three floors down. “What happened?”

  She looked at Grace who felt different. There was something about her that was not good. Camille studied her, taking a step back.

  “I don’t know. One moment, he was beating his brains out against the blackboard and the next he was throwing himself out the window.”

  Grace stepped away from the window and Camille followed.

  “What’s wrong?” Tylor demanded as she burst into the room. “One of the kids said Mr. Cummings started going crazy when he asked him a question about class.”

  Grace pointed to the window. “He took his secret to the grave with him.”

  Tylor threw a perplexed look to the busted window. “He jumped?”

  Her tone sounded so calm and detached, it was scary, just like the day she’d killed the High Inquisitor.

  “I’ll go down and call for help,” Tylor said. “Make sure none of the kids return.” She exited quickly.

  “See? I’ll always protect you.”

  The words haunted her as Tylor left them and the shock of the extent of what Tylor would be willing to do for her shook her to her core.

  “The kids,” Grace said and hurried from the room.

  Camille followed in her wake, both horrified by Tylor’s power and afraid she’d bitten off more than she could chew.

  Camille marshaled some of the children and herded them into her classroom. Though rattled, she pushed her emotions aside to comfort a few frightened and crying children.

  The day had been cut short by Trent’s death and police coming in. The kids were sent to their dorms. Those who’d been in Trent’s class had been questioned, and she’d acted as translator for some.

  To her regret, Tylor had remained when Camille left. She arrived home shortly after noon, slipped into her apartment, and halted in her tracks as soon as she entered.

  Listening, she felt something strange, but there was no unnatural silence.

  She carefully crept to her bedroom and let out a scream. The wall over her bed was marred black with derogatory words scrawled across it. On the floor, her lingerie was ripped to shreds. Her drawers were open and painted black. A dildo was attached to her mirror next to a painted quip.

  She let out a pained cry and fought back tears born of anger at the violation. She screamed, fists clenched at her sides.

  A faint sound caught her attention and Camille went stark still for a moment. Then, she backed up to put her back to the wall keeping the intruder from getting behind her.

  Tylor. I need you.

  The cool, moist energy of her air built in her belly and Camille prepared to attack. Air swirled around her and when the masked figured stepped into her bedroom, she let the wind go and it threw the man from the room.

  He groaned and she went after him. He charged toward her and threw an energy ball at her. She dodged it, but it clipped her shoulder. She gripped it, skin burning.

  He threw another one at her, and Camille panicked. She’d never been trained in combat situations.

  Air whooshed from her and flung him into the wall so hard his head made a dull noise as it made contact and his neck snapped. The man didn’t make a sound as he fell to the carpeted floor.

  Camille stared at him rooted to the spot and then at the wall where a dent marred the crisp white paint.

  She slid to the carpet, nerves making her jittery after the events of the morning and now this.

  She didn’t take her eyes off him as she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Swallowing tightly, tears filled her eyes and she cried silently.

  Camille, are you okay?

  She nodded though Tylor couldn’t see her. Yes.

  I’ll be there in a minute. Do you still need assistance?

  No.

  It seemed an eon before she heard the knock on her door. Forcing herself to stand, Camille went to see who it was. A look out of the peephole revealed the lean sexy form of her lover, so she threw the lock to let her in.

  Tylor slipped inside, closing the door behind her, before taking Camille in her arms. “Are you okay?”

  “I—yes,” she said shakily. “He wasn’t here when I got here. I guess I was so distracted by the mess that I didn’t notice when he came in.”

  “What mess?”

  “My lingerie and the mirror, the wall.”

  “Show me.”

  She led Tylor to the bedroom to survey the damage.

  “Call the police, and I’ll get rid of the body,” Tylor told her and moved to check if the man was alive.

  “Is he—?”

  “Yes. I’ll teach you a bubble trap,” Tylor told her. “At this point it would have been nice to have had him alive. Leave the room.”

  Camille didn’t argue. She didn’t think her nerves could stand seeing whatever Tylor was about to do. So, she called the police and sat on the couch, tense and on edge.

  Tylor emerged a few minutes later sitting next to her, and Camille put her head on Tylor’s shoulder.

  She just listened to their breathing for a moment, noticing it was the same steady rhythm.

  “Are you going to be okay or will you need to talk to someone?”

  Camille smiled weakly through her tears and wrapped her arm around Tylor’s waist. “I’ll be okay. Why did you want me to call the police?”

  “Humans cut things up and write on the walls. Dark witches use magick, and dark breeds just attack the way he did.”

  “If Trent wasn’t dead, I’d say he did this because he was the one who sent me the pictures.”

  “He did. I picked up the lingering scent of him,” Tylor told her. “But how do you he was the one?”

  “He said if I had sex with him, he’d forget them.”

  “What a pathetic loser,” Tylor murmured and kissed the side of her head. “Makes it hard for me to feel anything about his death.”

  Camille saw nothing but coldness in her stare, felt it in the air, and she shivered.

  “Did you kill him?” Camille asked quietly, aware that she might be offending her lover, but unable to stop herself.

  “What makes you ask that?”

  “Did you put a spell on him, make him think he was being attacked?”

  The knock on her door drew Tylor away from her. “How could I have done anything? I wasn’t there, but if I had been, I would have. Air can be more pitiless than a pissed off fire nymph.”

  Tylor headed for the door and Camille’s skin cooled, but it was
n’t from a chill in the room.

  ****

  Selene pulled onto the road after the police car pulled into the complex. She hadn’t wanted to take Camille at home. Her return had been unexpected and her accomplice’s job had been to snoop around and get her something of Camille’s to use for tracking in case she didn’t get her tonight.

  The jerk was probably going to call her later to be bailed out of jail, but that was his ass. She’d let him stew for a while. He should have retreated once he realized the teacher was back.

  Idiot had probably thought he’d grab some glory for himself by subduing her and then calling in Necron.

  Yeah. He deserved a few nights in the lock-up. Maybe he’d remember where his loyalties lay next time.

  Selene pulled up to a stop sign just as her phone rang. “What?” she demanded, glad she’d put the Bluetooth device in her ear.

  “We need to talk,” Necron said.

  “What about?” Selene demanded. He was starting to get on her nerves with this sounding like he thought he was her father or something.

  “I need the girl by tonight,” he said.

  “You expect me to kidnap her at the club?” Selene demanded. She smiled at the reticence in her tone. “A place crawling with power.” He was crazy if he thought she would seriously bend to his will.

  “Put on your ass kicking boots,” he muttered.

  “I sleep in them,” she said in a steely tone.” Just ask your men. “I’m just saying this could be risky for me if I’m caught with her.”

  “I’ll be there to take charge of the girl once you’ve disabled her.”

  “Fine,” she muttered. “I’ll make my move as soon as I can, but don’t expect it to be on a timetable. I can’t predict what she’ll do. She has a date, so he’ll need to be distracted.”

  “Use your date to distract hers if you have to,” Necron ordered. “Just make sure I get the girl. I have plans for her power this weekend.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Camille was more than a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the country club’s ballroom. The lights were dim, creating a cozy atmosphere while black-clad figures circulated the room carrying gold trays.

  Gourds and bales of hay decorated the room, along with lifelike black cats. In addition to that, a couple of scarecrows had been mounted on two walls with fake crows perched on their shoulders.