A bad taste rose in my throat. I might throw up, but that would ruin what I was trying to do. The other vamps hollered their approval, while fae shot me disgusted and horrified glares. Peony pretended to vomit into her hands. This wasn't going the way I planned.
“That is very generous of you.” I stepped closer to Kassius and made my voice breathy, which was the hardest thing I'd ever done. “But sacrificing Virgie would let her off the hook too easily, don't you think?”
Kassius’s forehead wrinkled, and his lips pursed. I had to tread very carefully, or I’d piss him off.
“Shouldn’t Virgie pay for the rest of her life for her haughtiness instead of just one night?” I tilted my head as Kassius glowered. “I mean, obviously, I don’t know as much as you do.” His expression softened at that. Ugh, men were so predictable, always loving weak females they could dominate.
“She’s just trying to protect this slut,” Kayden said.
A few of the vamps booed. I swallowed, knowing I would have to venture into terrifying, dark waters. Kayden glowered at me. Did he know I’d saved Virgie the last time they’d tried to assault her? I was on a tightrope. “This bitch,” I said, keeping my voice breathy and pointing to Virgie, who pulled against Kayden’s grasp, “ditched me for Peony.”
Virgie snapped her gaze to me. Her brown eyes were wide. Terrified. Angry. But a flicker of desperate hope followed.
I had to keep going. “I was a great friend to her and she just dropped me. She’s a user.” I slid my hand up Kassius’s chest, pausing just under his throat. “It seems she should live with her choice, don’t you think?” I trailed off, allowing him to claim my idea as his own. “Just like Blair, who also tried to leave me.”
I died inside as some of the fae behind me gagged in disgust. The summer prep fae remembered the whipping, the sale to Gregory Vulthus, and the humiliation Blair endured.
Kassius grinned widely. “Absolutely.” He joined his twin, who still held Virgie in place. “We’ll arrange a really appropriate contract for you, Virgie.”
Virgie took a deep breath. I watched the hope in her eyes die. She looked at the floor, hair hanging.
What had I done?
Kayden’s dark eyes flashed with cruelty as he whirled to face us all in turn. “New Wild Hunt rules. Do to Virgie whatever you want without taking her virginity. Have some of her blood, but don’t drain her completely dry.”
Virgie raised her head again. Hate lived in her dark eyes. I gulped. I had saved her life, but she’d still be raped and then probably sold to a brothel where the girls had to serve customers in the double digits every night. I had turned a quick death into an endless nightmare. She could’ve died relatively quickly. Now, her torment would spread through the rest of her life.
I turned to the other fae for help, hoping someone would come forward. But the faces I saw didn’t promise aid. Peony muttered something. Lily held her hands over her mouth. The other faes' eyes were narrowed, their jaws set. I was a traitor. They hated me. They didn’t understand my real intent.
“Well done, Onyx,” Peony hissed viciously as the first male vamp stepped toward Virgie and the twins pushed her down to her knees.
The vamp, the one with the earlobe-widening earrings, undid his belt buckle.
The other vamps cheered.
The fae around me gasped, but no one did anything to stop the monster. They would watch as Virgie was assaulted repeatedly, blaming the vamps and me, refusing to take any accountability for their passivity.
Well, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. Even if I was about to sign my death warrant, I had to help. As the vamp fumbled with his pants, I sent out a sheet of ice under his feet, hardening the carpet and turning it into a death trap. He slipped and fell backward as I allowed the ice to melt. The other vamps guffawed.
“Cool your excitement, Blake!” Kassius yelled.
“Let someone more experienced go first,” Mei said. She studied me, probably for trickery, and I clasped my hands behind my back to hide their trembling. Had she seen what I had done? Either way, I couldn’t continue sending sheets of ice under every vamp’s feet. I needed to think bigger.
I glanced up at the clock. It was already seven in the morning. Sunrise was close and just on the other side of the shutters, which were above the doors and closed. But would it come fast enough for Virgie?
Another vamp, a meatball, stepped forward. “I’ll pop your back entrance cherry first.” He positioned himself behind Virgie and spanked her ass hard. “I need a table, something she can be propped up against,” he yelled, and two of his friends ran off to fetch it.
I turned to Lily. “We need to get the shutters. There must be a switch or a way to crank them open.”
Understanding illuminated her eyes, but then her face dimmed again. “They’ll never let us get to them.”
“They will. I’ll distract them. Can you—?”
“Yes.” Her lower lip trembled, but Lily's eyes hardened as she balled up her hands into fists.
I smiled at her. She was a true friend. She wasn’t the strongest or toughest, but she had the heart of a lion.
I surveyed the room, trying to find the perfect target. As much as I wanted to teach Mei a lesson, I knew not to rouse the viper. My gaze zeroed in on the vines decorating the rafters. If I could bring them down, I’d create an effective distraction. Plus, the vamps wouldn’t blame a magicless fae like me, but rather someone like Peony who had created a lot of the plant decorations and was known to be Virgie’s friend.
“Ready?” I whispered to Lily as the vamps returned with a table taken from one of the surrounding dorms. Lily nodded.
I gathered my ice, knowing I’d have to blast several, different points on the vines in rapid succession so that it was hard to trace back to where the attack had come from.
Kassius shoved Virgie’s upper body down on the table, pressing her face sideways and petting her cheek. Virgie closed her eyes and whimpered. Kayden produced a dagger, ready to shred her underwear. It was now or never. Tense silence dragged out. The vamps and fae alike were watching the nightmare spectacle and paying me no attention. I couldn’t wait any longer.
I aimed and released the icy vapor from my fingertip. Tiny daggers flew overhead. Once. Twice. Thrice. I blasted the vines hard and quickly, so that the frost only covered them for a second before they wilted and collapsed.
The room broke out into screams as the masses of plants crashed to the ground. One large stem hit a vamp in the head, knocking him out. A fae dashed aside only for a thick branch to strike her back and sending her flying face down to the ground.
I dodged to the side in the chaos, moving fast, hiding behind other fae, hoping no one spotted me moving my hands or the quick flashes of ice that ruined the thick plants. More vines rained down. But even if I destroyed all the decorations, the vamps would recover. What the hell was taking Lily so long? I didn’t dare to search for her to see her progress.
And then it happened. A ripping noise. A heavy whoosh. The creaking of shutters was the sweetest sound ever as they all opened at once, as pale, pink sunlight flooded the room. It wasn’t too strong, but the vamps let out screeches and several covered their exposed skin.
“Get security now!” a vamp yelled as the others darted out of the room like rats fleeing a sinking ship.
Lily grabbed my hand. She'd returned. “We need to get Virgie and leave!”
I shook my head, watching as the vamps bolted to the stairwell, trampling several fae in their wake. More screams rose as feet thundered down the steps.
“Let’s wait for the room to clear.”
“But they’ll call security,” Lily protested. “They’ll blame us.”
She had a point, but I didn’t want to get pushed down the stairs and break my neck when we had come so far. “Give it a minute!”
It didn’t take long for the vamps to leave, or for the humiliated, tarred and feathered fae to scurry out. Once only twenty or so fae remained in the room, Li
ly and I each grabbed one of Virgie’s arms. She was unable to stand and her eyes were empty with shock. Slowly, we made our way down the stairs. Virgie slumped in our grasps, dragging her feet. She was traumatized. Non-verbal. A shell of her former self. I wanted to see hatred. I even wanted her to spit on me. Anything.
We were on the second floor when our path was blocked by a hulking figure.
I looked up, and even though his menacing stance and artic eyes should’ve sent me running, all I felt was relief. “Thorsten,” I breathed.
He took Virgie from us, heaving her over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. “Follow me.”
“No!” Virgie shouted, beating weakly against Thorsten’s back.
“It’s okay now,” Lily soothed, circling Thorsten.
Was it?
Instead of taking us down the staircase, he cut through the hall on the second floor, opening a narrow stone door that led to a curving, secret passage. All the other vamps had fled. Some had no doubt gone to Lady Cardinal's office. I followed him, too shaken to pay attention to the path we were taking or our surroundings as I wondered if I had gotten away with my stunt. Had I rescued Virgie or would the twins be back for her tomorrow?
Thorsten must’ve sensed that my brain wasn’t working any longer because he didn’t abandon us, but stayed with us until we emerged back in the stairwell of the fae tower and reached my and Lily’s dorm. He put Virgie on my lower bunk bed. There she sat, staring at the wall.
“Stay in and take care of her,” he said.
“Thank you.” I glanced toward the door. “What’s happening?”
His jaw clenched. “The guards are handling the situation.”
That probably meant they were manhandling the fae, blaming us. Had I once again made everything worse for everyone?
As if sensing my thoughts, Thorsten stepped forward, his gaze drilling into me. “You did the right thing. The Wild Hunt is an outdated, barbaric tradition. By watching it, everyone was participating. You stopped your classmates from becoming savages.”
I held the tears back. I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t sure of anything anymore. All I had done was turn them against me. Maybe my Winter nature made me no better than the vamps.
Thorsten looked like he was going to say more, but then he shook his head and headed for the door. “Stay put until you can't anymore.”
Then he was gone, and my knees finally gave out as the horror of the night sank in.
6
Onyx
“I never reached the switch to open the shutters,” Lily confessed, picking yet another feather off her torn uniform. “It was behind a maintenance door just off the safe zone.” She shrugged. “I guess it makes sense. I bet the shutters are only opened for cleaning, and the windows of the vamp tower are only there to serve as emergency exits.”
“Huh?” I asked, eyeing Virgie, who had passed out on my bunk bed. My stomach turned, thinking of what she’d face when she woke. And how furious she’d be with me. If I hadn’t interfered, her punishment would be over by now. Some things were worse than death.
“That guard, Thorsten, was there. He must’ve guessed what I was trying to do. I was afraid he’d stop me, but then he went into the maintenance room himself.”
“He opened the shutters?” I felt my jaw drop open.
“He must have. And then taken some hidden passage down to the second floor to intercept us.”
“They’re still going to blame us fae.” I began pacing the room. Thorsten had helped us. Again. And even though I was grateful, I was uneasy about his involvement.
“At least, they’ll have to blame us all since we were all in the same room together.” Lily chewed on her bottom lip. “If we’re lucky, they might blame it on a mechanical failure.”
I doubted that. “Not the vines.”
The gong went off, signaling breakfast even though it was Saturday and we weren’t supposed to have a schedule. The last time it had gone off during an odd time, Blair was to be whipped and punished. My knees shook, and I grabbed our shared dresser as Virgie, probably caught in a nightmare, groaned and thrashed, twisting in the blankets.
“We have to go down still tarred and feathered?” Lily stared at her skirt.
“Throw on something else. I bet everyone’s going to do the same, especially if Mr. Chad is down there.”
“Lily? Onyx?” Virgie rasped, her heavy eyelids fluttering half open.
“You’re safe,” I told her. I’d rescued her, but would she forgive me?
Virgie groaned, rubbed her head, and sat up as Lily threw on a red sweater over her tarred bra and skin. I pulled on a pair of worn, holey jeans I owned from the days I had lived with Mom.
Virgie coughed. “I have to get out of here.”
My chest ached as I thought back to my own attempt to escape. “Stick with us,” I said, hating that I sounded like I was begging. “We’ll do what we can to keep you safe.”
Virgie shuddered as I tossed her a sweater, which she greedily threw on over her torn top. Her eyes were empty. Dead. She stared at the wall as she stood and absently pulled on a pair of my pants. “I can’t. She’ll...she’ll…”
“Who?” I blurted. “Mei? Did she set this up?” Who else would know about the contract Virgie tried to make with the twins’ father, other than the twins themselves? Mei had been looking right at me.
“I…never mind.” Virgie threw the door open and fled without another word, as if being caught with us would mean her death.
“We need to go after her,” Lily said.
I nodded, dizziness sweeping over me. What if the vamps decided to finish the Wild Hunt, even though it was officially over?
We dashed down the staircase past the other fae hurrying toward the dining hall. Everyone had changed into whatever spare clothing they had, and one fae girl had wrapped a blanket around herself. No one had escaped the Wild Hunt unscathed. The dining hall was full, but only with fae students, and the tables had been arranged in rows that faced the front of the room. Virgie had gone to sit with Peony and Kristin once again, staring straight ahead. Peony scooted closer to Virgie as if protecting her. Was Peony playing both sides? Or merely willing to help Virgie when it didn’t cost her anything?
Either way, I hated seeing that snake next to Virgie. Anger gathered in my chest, forming icy daggers in my limbs that begged for release. Lily and I were the only ones who tried to help Virgie, yet it looked like Peony was the one getting the credit.
As Lily and I filed toward the end of the room, closest to the exit door, Peony caught my gaze and smiled as if she’d scored a victory. Her hollowed cheeks still hadn’t recovered from her stint in the dungeons and made her look like a madwoman. I didn’t like the glint in her eyes.
Was Virgie scared of Peony?
Did Peony have a hand in how the Wild Hunt had gone down?
Before I could share my suspicion with Lily, Lady Cardinal strode into the room. A few guards flanked her, and Lord Sullivan and Mr. Chad trailed her.
Even though it was breakfast time, the canteen was empty of food. Clearly, this was a punishment meeting.
“Students.” Lady Cardinal tapped her stick against her open palm. “We have now had several suspect incidents here at Nocturnal Academy. First, our Home Decor fae staff member goes missing. Second, someone attempted to harm our vampire students earlier this morning. The switch to the shutters of the vampire tower was flipped shortly after the plant decorations fell and injured several students. Thankfully, the sunlight was not strong enough to cause lasting harm, but several vampire students are in the infirmary this morning. Most are resting from this abuse.”
I clenched my fists under the white tablecloth. Really? She was going to portray the darn vamps as the victims here? I forced myself to breathe. Outside the castle, a wind began to howl. A mountain storm. Fantastic, like this meeting needed to get any more ominous.
“The guards have not been able to figure out who flipped the switch. Therefore, I will ask each one of you in t
urn if you did it. I will only accept yes and no answers.” Lady Cardinal grinned, knowing most of us couldn’t lie. “Any other answer will earn you a month in the dungeons, if you are lucky.” Then she turned to the first fae, a redhead, and asked, “Did you flip the shutter switch?”
“No.”
Lily cringed. I leaned close. “You technically didn’t do it,” I reminded her.
She let out a breath of relief.
“Kristen. Did you flip the switch?”
“No.”
“Peony. Did you turn the switch or cause those plants to fall?”
She stiffened as a flash of animal fear filled her eyes. “No.”
At her answer, people muttered. And Lady Cardinal smacked the stick so hard against her palm that the noise earned silence.
“Onyx? Did you open the shutters?”
For once I praised my half fae heritage. “No.”
“Lily?”
“No.”
After Lady Cardinal had exhausted us all, she turned to face a disappointed Mr. Chad. “The fae do not receive food today. They are to spend the day washing their uniforms and any laundry the vampires have. Then they will clean the mess they’ve created during the Wild Hunt.”
I groaned, remembering the nasty staircase covered in tar and feathers. Mr. Chad grinned, probably imagining himself positioned behind us as we leaned forward, fantasizing about all kinds of gross things while we cleaned.
Outside, wind howled once again with an oncoming blizzard.
“And there is one more thing,” Lady Cardinal announced. “We must begin another investigation. There is still the matter of Prince Preston Kallan’s disappearance, and we are still seeking a new Home Decor teacher. But before we hire a new face, we must provide an answer to the Summer Court, or we will risk another incident with a fae like Petra.”
I shuddered. Lady Cardinal had known the real Ms. Rutherford for centuries and had been disturbed by the death of her important ally. The real Ms. Rutherford probably got paid to convince the Summer Court to look the other way when it came to the fae abuse in this world. At least, that was my theory. The headmistress had her own reasons for finding whoever had killed Preston, which made the investigation so much more dangerous. I wanted to scoot closer to Lily, but resisted.
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