I made it quick, draining the creature. The coyote yelped once, kicked its paws, and fell still as I finished the job. Sated, I stroked the coyote’s fur once, thanking it for the nourishment, then closed his blank eyes that stared up at the starry sky.
The coyote was at peace now, but my torment had only begun. I had to keep my distance from Onyx, or the Elites would turn our long lives into eternal hell.
3
Onyx
If I thought that a little bit of mud in my hair and on my bed sheets was my biggest problem, I soon discovered just how wrong I was.
The first term had ended at the beginning of December without much fanfare regarding human holidays. Not being exactly religious, the vamps didn’t celebrate Christmas, which was fine by me.
I had never gotten a proper Christmas growing up. Mom had always taken the holiday shifts at the burger joint for the double pay and extra tips but never had money for presents, only bills we were behind on. During lucky years, I got discounted sneakers or a winter jacket after the twenty-sixth of December, when the stores held big sales.
There were no traditions I missed since Mom and I had none, and the last thing I needed was to have to carol in front of the vamps, who’d probably dress us up as skanky Santas or elves.
I assumed the vamps weren’t doing anything. However, when I walked down from the fae tower on the twenty-second of December, I found that the academy had been transformed. A fire roared in the cafeteria fireplace, which was decked out in crimson red and verdant green. Wreaths with red candles sat on every table, and the scent of apples and cinnamon hung in the air.
Since I had forgotten my German book upstairs and had to return to get it, I was one of the last fae to enter the breakfast area. I walked over to Lily, noticing with dismay that today Virgie was sitting with Peony and Kristen. Was she switching sides now that Peony was back from the dungeons, or merely spying on Peony? I didn’t know any longer.
I grabbed an apple and some fancy bread with raisins and sat down next to Lily, who was sipping on a hot cocoa. “What’s all this? I thought vamps didn’t do Christmas.” She'd know what was going on since she had grown up in a vamp household, folding towels with her mother.
Lily shook her head and trained her eyes on me. “Not Christmas. This is Yule.”
I felt my forehead wrinkle. “Isn’t that some kind of witchy holiday?”
“Witches aren’t the only ones who celebrate it. Yule is the celebration of the Winter Solstice. A lot of northern countries like Scandinavia and Germany honor the old gods during this time. At least, that's what I've heard over the years.”
“Okay.” I tasted my sweet bread, which was surprisingly really good. This sounded like something Thorsten would know...if he would talk to me. “What does that mean for us?”
Lily didn’t meet my gaze. Her hands wrapped tightly around her mug. “Nothing for the first eleven days. But the end of Yule traditionally culminates in the Wild Hunt to appease Odin.”
I shook my head, more confused than ever. “Who’s that? Is he another vamp lord?”
“No. He’s the Norse god of death, divination, and magic.”
I considered that for a moment as I finished my breakfast. “Appropriate. So what is this Wild Hunt?”
Lily bit her lip. “My mother only mentioned bits and pieces to me. It’s not good.”
“No shit.” Of course, the vamps celebrating something equaled trouble for us. When my expectant glance didn’t do anything to coax the information out of Lily, I wiped my mouth and approached Peony’s table.
Crossing my arms, I directed my question at Virgie. “What’s the Wild Hunt?”
But even the confident Virgie faltered, opening her mouth, then closing it. Great.
Peony, on the other hand, gave me a toothed smile. “You’re asking the wrong question, Halfling. The correct question is: what does it culminate in?” She leaned forward. “A sacrifice.”
I blinked, words failing me as an ominous feeling spread through me.
Kristen took over. “The vamps chase us, across the school or outside, depending on what Headmistress Cardinal decides. Then one of us will be sacrificed.”
Peony twirled a blonde curl. “First, her virginity will be ripped from her, and then she’ll be drained dry. Of course, some fae have a far better chance at surviving than others. The vamps tend to go after, shall we say, the more disposable fae.”
I took a step back, my breakfast rising in my stomach. “No.”
Peony jabbed her elbow into Virgie’s side. “Tell her.”
Virgie met my gaze, expression unreadable as if she was Peony’s puppet. “It’s true. One of us will be killed. It’s a tradition the Elites have upheld for decades. Centuries, if they did this to humans before us fae arrived in this world. It’s a reminder of who we belong to.”
I stumbled back. I would’ve probably crashed into a table if it hadn’t been for Lily who grabbed my hand and guided me out of the cafeteria. I hadn't realized she had followed me.
“We need to get to class,” she whispered, still holding my hand.
“Why? Are the teachers going to sacrifice the weakest, or the one with the worst grades?” Was there no end to their evaluations?
Lily shook her head. “No, it’s much worse than that.”
“How?” I followed her toward German class.
She ripped at a hangnail, making it bleed, then immediately sucked the wound, furtively glancing around, hoping no vamps were nearby. That was what our lives had become. A hangnail made us fear for our existence.
I gave Lily a moment, but after we entered the classroom and took the front row, I couldn’t hold back any longer. “Please, just tell me. I need to know.”
Lily sat down and nodded slowly. “The vamp students pick the victim.” Her gray eyes met mine. “The Elites trust them to choose whoever they think might be the biggest problem in the future. Someone who might rebel against their master or someone who will instill confidence in the other fae. It’s another way to keep us under control. But the truth is, the vamp students sacrifice whoever they feel like sacrificing. And we won’t know who they’ve chosen until the Wild Hunt.”
I swallowed hard. They would keep us in suspense, toying with us like a cat with a broken-winged bird.
“The only thing to do is not to draw any attention to yourself. Don’t stand out. That’s how you’re least likely to be picked.”
I gulped. Before I could say anything, Thorsten strolled in.
“Guten Morgen. Bitte schlagt auf Seite zwanzig. ”
I did as he told us, opening my German book to page twenty. As he taught us simple sentence structures, I studied him. Did he know about the Wild Hunt? He must. And yet, he remained as composed as ever. Would he really let the vamps sacrifice one of us, allow the whole school to watch on as a fae was gang raped, then torn to shreds?
Sickness filled me. And there was no rescuing that one, unlucky fae. I had protected Virgie from being violated by the twins. I had saved Lily from becoming a courtesan. But I couldn’t rescue them all. All I could do was melt into nothingness and hope neither my friends nor I would become the sacrifice.
I didn’t seek out Thorsten as the gong rang. Instead, I went to my next class, and then to the one after. Twelve days of invisibility. I could do that.
Us fae were all at dinner when the cafeteria lights went off. The chattering and slurping stopped.
“Did the power go out?” someone asked across the room.
I eyed Lily, who shrugged. “This has never happened before.”
A moment later, the lights flashed back on. But instead of bathing the room in regular light, a hellish red glow hung over the cafeteria.
The twins burst through the cafeteria doors, leading the other vamps. Fae jumped as the vamp students yelled, “Welcome to the first night of the Yule!” They smiled and pointed a dozen pistols at us, grinning from ear to ear.
Screams erupted.
Oh, God! No. I dropped to the grou
nd, pulling Lily with me as the room exploded in red.
Shots went off, stabbing my ears. Screams erupted. Tables flipped. Fae used one another as shields, shoving and trampling their classmates. Red exploded on the floor, tablecloths, and other fae. I tensed as Lily and I faced each other and crawled under the tablecloth. Her eyes were big, and she trembled like a leaf in a tornado.
The twins laughed, the sound merciless and never ending.
Get out. We had to get out. I glanced around, trying to make sense of the chaos, the flailing limbs, the scrambling fae, and shrieks of terror. I inhaled in shock as more red splattered just a foot from where I hid. No metallic scent, but…tomato and sugar.
Ketchup. The twins were shooting Heinz 57 at us. Icy rage stormed into my limbs, and I climbed out from under the table. “It’s ketchup. Calm down, everyone!”
Virgie and a male fae faced me, but no one else had heard. Screams continued to fill the space as the fake gunshots played from the vamps’ toy guns. More red streams fired everywhere as they laughed. Bodies crashed into each other. The gunshots carried a tinny vibe.
The bastards.
“It’s a prank!” I shouted. I shook my head, annoyed at the fae, but also at myself for falling for this trap. Of course, the vamps wouldn’t shoot us. Our blood was too valuable to them. And our contracts were too valuable to the academy.
“A prank?” Lily asked beside me.
I grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the door, uncaring that several vamps were blocking the exit. Most had lowered their toy squirt guns, out of ketchup.
“W-what are you doing?” Lily stuttered.
“Getting us out of here.” I marched up resolutely to the two random male vamps in front of the door, but someone pushed Lily aside and grabbed me, twirling me around.
“Hello, Onyx, long time no see,” Kayden purred, running his finger down my throat. He dropped the gun, which I now realized was a plastic toy with the orange tip ripped off. A friggin squirt gun. I wanted to kill him.
“We missed you.” Kassius pressed his crotch against my ass, his body trapping me from behind.
I stiffened.
My skin cooled with ice as my magic begged me to lash out. My hands tingled with unreleased energy. No. If I used my magic now, it would out me. I was too close to the twins. They weren’t the brightest, but even they would put one and one together if ice only appeared when I was nearby.
Around me, the cafeteria slowly quieted as people realized we weren’t all bleeding out. The world seemed to still. Stunned whispers and embarrassed mutters followed.
I took a breath. My best chance of escaping this and the Wild Hunt was to embrace what I was supposed to become. I leaned into Kayden and purred back, “I missed you too. But is it really necessary to express your feelings with tomato puree and scare us poor girls out of our minds?”
Kayden wiped away a dollop of ketchup from my shoulder, licking his fingers with gusto. I struggled to keep my smile and not throw up on his face. “We’re just having fun. You like to have fun, don’t you?” Kayden’s fangs popped down, and I instinctively backed away, right into his brother.
“Terrified girls are the hottest. I like protecting them.” Kassius ran his hands up and down my body.
It took all I had to suppress my shudders. I could not let the twins feed on my fear and disgust.
“Well, I’d rather not be terrified. I like to be in control if you know what I mean.” I grabbed Kayden’s blazer lapel and licked my lips suggestively.
“Haha, feisty, and that’s why we like you.” Kassius licked his lips, which reminded me of Candice's warnings about bloodlust.
I turned and brushed my hand through his hair, then winked at him. “See you later, boys.” I did a little finger wave. My distraction must’ve worked, because the twins just looked at me, lust filling their eyes as I sauntered away with Lily, the vamps at the door parting to let us through.
“Wow, that was amazing,” Lily breathed.
I gripped her hand harder and quickened my steps. “We need to get out of here before they come to their senses and come after us.”
Lily nodded, her face shutting down. We didn’t speak as we climbed the stairs or when we washed off the red gunk from our clothes or when we did our homework. We remained silent through all of our evening activities, but I had the feeling that we and the hundred other fae students were all wondering the same thing.
Would our minds and bodies survive this Yule?
4
Onyx
Nothing else happened for the next week, except that we fae got tasked with cleaning the cafeteria and washing all the tablecloths. Classes did not stop for Yule, which didn’t surprise me given Headmistress Cardinal’s relentless dedication to discipline. Peony went back to fluttering over to the twins’ table whenever she could, but they gave her the cold shoulder, leaving her to stalk back to where Kristen and Virgie sat. At least I could take a bit of joy from that.
Virgie gave Lily and me no indication we’d ever had a friendship, aside from a small wave or two in the corridors. Lily, after seeing the hole I’d dug myself into with the twins, stayed beside me at all times as if she could protect me from them. While Lily, despite being a pureblood fae, couldn’t do magic so far as she knew, I was glad to have her by my side. The twins were ambush predators, tending to strike lone prey as they had with Virgie last term.
When the twins got me alone again, they’d expect more than just seductive flirting. I'd have to defend myself. If my ice magic rose to the surface, the vamp students would have no problem choosing their sacrifice. A fae who could kill with ice was a threat the Elites would want to be eliminated. Lady Cardinal might even get money or magic gifts from the Summer Court fae once she told them she had avenged Preston.
Thankfully, following Lily’s advice to lay low seemed to be working. The vamp students, who had many separate classes from us, often whispered in groups as if they wanted us to know they were choosing a sacrifice. But they showed no indication of who they were going to choose. Mei gave me a long stare that I didn’t like at the beginning of the tenth day, and for the first time, I hoped it was because she noticed I had spent too much time with Thorsten, much more than a fae should with a vamp guard. Getting punished for being too friendly was preferable to the alternative—her considering me for the sacrifice.
“Everyone’s drifting apart,” Lily said on the morning of the twelfth and final day—the day of the Wild Hunt.
She was right. A tense atmosphere had settled over the cafeteria. The vamp students hadn’t shown up for breakfast. They must be making their final decision on who the victim was this year. I’d taken top spot on the Placement Tests, but I’d also given that up for Lily. That made me a rebel, and the Wild Hunt, no matter what the students decided, was a way to get rid of the rebel.
Lily had taken a position not meant for her, too. I’d seen her struggling with her homework every night despite being the Independent Study student. We were both at risk, no matter how low we kept our profiles.
None of the fae in the cafeteria talked much. Groups of friends sat apart. No one wanted their heart broken when their friend was brutally murdered. I’d grown to hate the decorations still on the tables and around the fireplace.
The teachers acted as if nothing was wrong all day. Candice led us through our lesson in Courtesan Studies about how to act if we were lucky enough to cling to our master’s arm at a fancy party, and what etiquette to use if he were to rent us out for the night. “Always remember that if you are rented out for an evening,” Candice said, “that you are not to allow anyone but your master to sample your blood. Many courtesans ask their masters to accompany them on such duties, or remain in the next room, in case the purchaser loses control.”
I glanced around to gauge the others’ reactions on how they felt about being rented out like a piece of furniture. Apparently, I was the only one who felt anger. Most fae looked terrified while Virgie wore a bored expression. It seemed that she
was still confident that she’d get to run a business and sell girls instead of being the one who was being sold.
I stared at her for a long time, but she didn’t meet my gaze. Was this the end of our friendship now that Peony was back?
By the time dinner arrived, a crazy hope that the vamps had canceled the Wild Hunt swept over me. The vamps were once again eating with us, sampling goblets of blood as they did every evening before they went out and hunted. Maybe they weren’t building up their hunger? The twins stuck to themselves and even Peony remained with Kristin and Virgie. Peony and Kristin were safe, it seemed. The vamps wouldn’t kill someone who could command a high price contract. And Kristin was Mei’s little spy. That earned her protection, too.
There were close to one hundred fae students in the academy, and yet, I felt as if that only left Lily and me.
We could barely eat our pulled pork. Lily tapped at her plate.
“Eat,” I commanded. “We need the strength.”
“I can’t.” Lily pushed away her plate. “I’m not getting the best grades in my classes right now. And the Independent Study fae is supposed to get the best grades. I’m failing.”
Darkness settled over the cafeteria. At first I thought it was my mood, but then I realized the lights had dimmed. I turned my head to see that Kayden stood beside the dimmer switch. I hated the subtlety even more than the red lights from the prank.
The Nocturnal and Fae Prison Academy Boxset [A Complete Paranormal and Fantasy Series Boxset] Page 27
