That had been a surprise. I thought his banishment from any super society would be harsh enough.
“So it just happened as a freak of nature?” I asked.
Tiger shrugged. “It was only me though. No one else had bad things happen, right?”
“Elke’s door was magically infused and she got out of it without knowing the true effects of her powers. How was that possible? And she could break the lock on my cottage door.”
Tiger had been halfway through her juice which she almost choked on. “Wait…you said it was boring for you.”
“I lied.”
“She got into the cabin? What happened?”
“What do you think happened?” I countered.
“Is that why she isn’t stuck to your side like glue?” Tiger turned around and looked over at them. Luther caught sight of her and winked. This caused Elke to turn around and look at us. She didn’t smile, but rather turned back to face Luther.
That stung.
I didn’t blame her, I had fed off her. Unable to control my desire for her energy. She was probably terrified of me.
Tiger continued to talk about something with her family drama and I made the right responses all the while I watched Elke. She was completely at ease with Luther and it ate away at me.
Chapter Eight
Elke
Breakfast had been perfect. I hadn’t wanted to go down, not after what had happened last night, but Luther insisted. The food given me energy which is what my body was craving. Seeing Stig there, without his red eyes, had reminded me of the very fact he’d had me entranced. I knew it wasn’t his fault, it was just what he was, and he wasn’t in control, and yet I couldn’t get past the fact that he could have drained me of all my energy and killed me. Succubi did not go well with elementals as Luther had explained.
It was so confusing. Stig had been so great to me but I felt like I couldn’t trust him. Luther had been so welcoming, so helpful, and even went up against my own parents. He also hadn’t tried to kill me on All Hallows’ Eve.
As we headed out for a walk to digest our food, I heard Stig call out my name. We stopped walking and Luther sighed. Turning around, I saw him run down the stairs toward me. Tiger was at his tails, looking just as annoyed as Luther was.
“Elke, let me explain.”
“Stig, I need my space…for a couple of days okay?”
“I get that…I just…I want to talk.”
Luther stepped forward. “She wants space, Stig.”
“Back off.”
I could see a fight was about to erupt, so I pushed myself in between them. “Enough. I’ll come and see you later, Stig.”
“You’re going to trust him?” Stig said, accusingly. “Do you know who he is? Who his father is?”
Stig was fired up. I had no idea why he had so much hatred for Luther when he was here helping me.
“It doesn’t matter who his father is, we aren’t defined by our parents.”
Stig stepped back, he was still angry but he seemed to give me way. “You can trust me, Elke.”
“How can I know that what I feel for you is real? I was drawn to you last night, I had no choice, no power of my own and you sucked my energy away. You could have killed me and that wasn’t my choice. How can I possibly want to be with you knowing that my desire has nothing to do with my free will?”
Stig closed his eyes briefly and sighed. “I’m sorry for what happened. That’s why I lock myself away but I’m only affective when my eyes are red. I can’t control you normally, so if you feel something for me, than it is normal.”
“Stig,” Tiger came forward. “Let her breathe. She’s had a hell of a few days.”
“Why do you care?” Stig rounded on her. “I’m not interested in you, Tiger. Let it go.”
He stormed off, leaving Tiger standing there, wounded. I could see she really liked Stig, and that was probably why she had been so against me when I came.
“Tiger…”
“No,” she bit back. “Keep to yourself, Elke. I’m not going to give you the time of day anymore.”
She ran inside the academy, leaving me with Luther.
“Well that was fun,” he said which made me smirk.
“Why did Stig say that about you?” I asked. “Why don’t you want me to know who your father is?”
“Because when people hear it, they run from me.”
“And you don’t want me to run?”
“Honestly, no,” he said, putting his hands in his pockets. He was nervous, and it made me want to know who he was desperately. “I’d never really been worried about what people thought of me but I care what you think.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but I like being your friend.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to but would you rather tell me or I find out from someone else? It can’t be that bad.”
“Elke…my father is Lucifer.”
“As in the devil?”
Luther nodded. “Yep, it’s a real conversation and friendship killer.”
It was scary, knowing that the devil was real, but it didn’t change the fact that Luther had been saving my behind a lot lately.
“Well you still have mine.”
Luther frowned. “Really?”
“Sure, I meant what I said. We can’t help who our parents are. I would never judge you.”
He smiled. “Well, speaking of parents, I may have to take you to go talk to yours.”
Great.
“All right, let’s get this over with.”
Stig
I sat at my desk, hating everything about me. She hated me. Point blank, didn’t trust me and yet she trusted that asshole. He was the child of two equally evil people and yet she could trust him?
My mother moved to sit down next to me. She would have no doubt found out about what happened last night.
“Hello, Stig.”
“Mother.”
“I think you know why I’m here.”
“I do.”
“I’ll give you a chance to tell me what happened and then I’ll tell you what I expect to happen next.”
I sat back in my chair and looked over at her disapproving face. She and I had our complicated history, but we’d been on good terms this year. I realised now that was completely gone.
“She broke the lock on the door and came in. I asked her to leave, and she didn’t.”
“Because she was lulled by your pull. I understand that all too well.”
“How could she have broken the lock? How could Tiger’s lock be able to be tampered with?”
“Tiger got out?” she asked. “Did anyone get hurt?”
“No, Luther saved Elke. Tiger has no recollection.”
“It seems our magic had been tampered with last night. We’ll need to investigate this.”
I nodded. “Son, feeding off Elke was a huge breach of our bylaws. You know this can get sticky. I need you to speak to her parents and request for forgiveness.”
“They haven’t been parents to her until this week. I think I’ll be begging her for her forgiveness if she ever talks to me again.”
“I know you have feelings for her, Stig, and usually I would be completely on board for this. You haven’t been interested in a relationship for years, but she is overwhelmed. I say give her some time. This entire world is new to her.”
“I just want to be her friend. I can handle just being friends, but having her hate me, that’s new to me.”
“Are you sure? This isn’t the way you act for friends.”
I knew she was right. The feelings I had developed for Elke were fast and strong. Seeing her with Luther incited a rage inside of me that I’d never seen before. I didn’t want to think about her and him becoming close. He deserved to rot in Hell which, funnily enough, would be his future, and she did not deserve that. I had to save her but I couldn’t give in to a relationship with her until I could control my power over her when I was in succubus mode. I need
ed to focus on my studies to control my power.
“Kids will be back tomorrow,” my mother stated. “I need this to be settled by then. Ianthe will be leaving as will Dallas.”
“Dallas?”
“Her father.”
“He’s here?” I asked. “We have two elementals here?”
“Yes.”
“That should be fun.”
My mother stood up and headed to the door. “Make sure you visit with Ianthe and Dallas before they go.”
She closed the door firmly to tell me she was serious and there would be no getting out of it. I may be the headmaster’s son and the son of the co-founder, but I still had to act accordingly as would any other student.
Elke
Dallas and Ianthe sat opposite me in the library. It was tense, and ever since Luther had delivered me and left to give us time to talk, I had felt my heartrate increase. I wished he was still here with me. These two were my parents and yet I couldn’t feel that same ease with them as I should. These two were biologically meant to love me no matter what, and protect me with their lives, but I didn’t feel close to them.
“Elke,” Ianthe started. “We both have to leave tomorrow morning as students will be coming back. I just wanted to talk to you about…everything that has happened and hopefully ease some of your confusion.”
“Jesus, Ianthe,” Dallas said. “Way to go on making it sound natural.”
I wanted to smirk, obviously I’d gotten my humour from him, but I didn’t want to give in yet. I didn’t know him.
“Look,” he turned to me. “This is a lot. I think maybe you need to just be a student here for a little while and not think about us until you’re ready. If you need help or you feel lost, you can call either of us and we’ll be here in an instant.”
“Dallas, she needs to figure out her powers. Last night was bad.”
“She can do this, Ianthe. I have faith in her.”
“Thanks…Dallas.”
He noticed my unease and smiled at me, warmly. “You don’t have to call me Dad. I didn’t raise you but I will always be your father. You can come to me for anything.”
Ianthe didn’t look pleased. That was good, she could suffer for once, just like I had been doing since I found out.
“So…what’s my real last name?” I asked him.
Dallas smiled. “Shadows.”
“Elke Shadows…I kind of like that.”
“Good, we can change it if you like,” Dallas said. “Only if you want to.”
“Can I think about it?”
“Absolutely. Now, I want to show you a few more tricks before I head off, but don’t worry, I live in the UK, so I am not far away.”
Ianthe leaned forward. “I can tell you about the Oracle side of you, if you want. It hasn’t projected in you yet, but I can see the signs of it.”
“I’m sure there are books on it,” I shot back. I was still mad at her. She always seemed to be getting in the way of good things lately. It was a little late to be a mother in my books.
She was wounded, and for some reason, I could feel a little semblance of guilt but I would never give in.
“Okay,” Ianthe said, standing up. “You know you can call me if you need, kid. Dallas can teach you what you need to know for now.”
She moved out of the library quickly and I sat there with Dallas.
“You know she’s not the bad guy,” he said. “She just wanted you to have a better life, a normal life.”
“She didn’t give me a choice,” I told him. “I deserved to be able to make the choice myself.”
“When you were a baby?” he smiled.
Again with the humor. I rolled my eyes. “No, but she had visited plenty of times before they died. She could have saved them if she’d told me earlier.”
Dallas nodded. “I get it, I do, but she can’t rewind the clock and make a different choice. She has to live with that decision and she has to live with having you know about her and still hate her. That’s not easy.”
“Would you have made the same decisions if you knew about me?” I asked him.
“No, my mother would have killed me.”
“She sounds like a real mother.”
Dallas sighed, but didn’t say anything. A silence fell on us, but I could still feel the anger eating away at me.
“Let’s get some training in before I go,” he said, standing up. “You’ve got a long way to go before you can truly harness your true potential.”
“I better learn in the next year.”
“This academy isn’t like a human one, most students don’t graduate when they turn eighteen. You graduate when you’re done learning your powers and the history of our people.”
That was a surprise. No one told me that when I signed up for this place, yet, it sounded good. I didn’t want to be out in the cold next year and this place was starting to feel like home.
“Okay, let’s get started.”
Chapter Nine
Stig
“Ianthe!” I called out to her as she headed to her car. She stopped and turned to face me.
“Oh, Stig, sorry I’m just heading out.”
“I know, I just need to talk to you first.”
“What’s up?”
“I need to apologise for what happened last night…with Elke.”
She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay, kid. I’ve known a few succubi in my time, even went to school with one. The lure is hard to resist, I can only imagine what it did to Elke.”
“I should have been stronger.”
“Don’t put this all on yourself, Stig. Elke has a long way to go and she needs good friends like you to help her.”
“I’m afraid she’s not speaking to me anymore.”
Ianthe sighed, but her smile was warm. It made me feel guilty for my anger at her before. “Give her time, Stig.”
“I feel like I should tell you the same thing.”
She smiled before kissing me on the cheek and heading to her car. I watched her drive off, noticing the car next to hers. A Porsche, bright blue in colour with the registration SH40 OWS.
Dallas Shadows. Notorious playboy entrepreneur and from one of the eldest elemental families in our world. I could hardly believe his mother would allow a secret child.
I headed back inside to hunt down Dallas only to find Luther and Tiger talking in the hallway. Tiger seemed animated and then Luther did something I never thought I’d see. He hugged her. That asshat was going to break Elke’s heart.
I had to protect her.
Elke
I aimed at the tree again but the fire wouldn’t come out of my palm. Shaking my arms to loosen up, I did it again, and again, and again.
Nothing.
What the hell?
“You’re pushing yourself,” I heard Stig say from behind me. “You need to relax, or you need to be mad. It’s controlled by emotions or by calm. You are forcing yourself to do it, which means your mind isn’t clear.”
I turned around to face him. It had been days since I saw him last. Classes had been hard, but with Luther’s help, I’d been coping well enough. I’d even formed acquaintances with other students. It seemed great here, but I’d kept my distance from Stig.
Until now.
“You’ve been giving me space,” I said. “Thank you.”
“I only came down here to tell you classes are about to commence again,” he said. “I am not trying to force you to speak to me.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to speak to you, Stig. You were a great friend when I came here, and you still are, I just…have a lot to figure out and I don’t need whatever connection happened between us to get in the way.”
“So, you’re not in a relationship with Luther?”
I was taken aback by the question. Although I liked Luther a lot, I hadn’t thought about dating him…or rather it’s never come up between us. “No. He’s a good friend,”
“Good. I didn’t want to have to tell you
what I saw a few days ago.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He and Tiger.”
I laughed, knowing there was no way in hell Luther would be with Tiger. But even if he did like her, I wouldn’t stop him. Sure, I liked him, a lot, but it wasn’t something I was looking for. Not just yet, anyway.
“Stig, up until two weeks ago, I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with me. I thought I was a freak. I killed my parents, who turned out not to be my parents, I came to a strange school, almost got drowned by a freaking mermaid, mauled by a werewolf, and killed by you through a kiss. I am not interested in love right now. I want to know how to use my powers and how to live a normal life because this is my new normal. If you can’t be my friend, then you need to stop trying to talk to me, or being my friend.”
He nodded, a sad look in his eyes. “I get it. I guess I just wanted to protect you, but I was foolish to think you needed someone else to protect you.”
“You know the reason I was mad was because that night, you took my decision away from me. It’s like I can’t decide whether I like you because of who you are, or because you have some strange desire thing that pulls me to you. How can you ever know what love is if people are pulled to you?”
“It’s something we need to learn,” he said. “I still have a lot to learn, that’s why I’m here. But I promise to keep away, you can make up your own mind to trust me or not.”
I wanted to stop him from walking away, but I didn’t. He’d done right by me, giving me space when I needed it. But I needed more. I needed to know more about succubi before I thought about making up with Stig.
∞∞∞
Later that night
My door slammed open and Luther strode in, cocky as ever. He had that devilish smile on his face that I had grown accustomed to.
“How was last class?”
“You mean the one you skipped?” I asked, laughing. “It was boring. Why didn’t you take me with you?”
“I didn’t think you’d want to fly to Spain.”
I sat up and dropped the book I’d been reading when he burst in. “Spain? Are you kidding me!”
All Hallows' Eve (Ravensbane Academy Book 1) Page 6
