“I have but…I don’t know, it’s nothing,” said Valenthia, looking visibly away from me.
“It doesn’t sound like nothing,” I narrowed my eyes. I wasn’t usually one to push but after how things had turned out, on all scores, everything mattered, “if you know something, or even think you might, you’ve got to tell us. I want us to be close again and we all need to build that trust back.”
“You’re right,” Valenthia sighed, “I don’t want to scare you, Kat,” she said her pale, lilac-tinged eyes looked almost silver, and her contrasting pupils now stared into mine, like two smouldering lumps of coal.
“It’s fine. Trust me. I’ve watched my good friend turn to dust and raised her from the ashes. I now drink blood voluntarily. I’ve recently been completely disowned from my Crystal Witch heritage. I’m pretty unscare-able since we last hung out.”
Valenthia took in a deep breath with narrowed her eyes, trying to phrase what she wanted to say. “I’ve been having visions about you,” she said, “in them you’ve been tortured by vampires, who have feasted on your blood. And, you’re being burned alive.”
Chapter 5
Of everything I’d expected to hear what Valenthia had said was not it. As I tried to make sense of what it could all mean, the next few days had been spent in somewhat of a daze. Kragen’s check in classes had been a snooze-fest. All I got from him was that he was a little too thrilled about my blood consumption. Natalie and I had wondered why the guy had even been kept on as a full member of the faculty. Of course, Moldark had totally picked up the guy’s ineffectuality and challenged him or rather, heckled him at various points in his lecture. I mean he was Head of Vampire Nutrition for crying out loud. Was there nothing more he could impart to us aside from making our class a podium on which to yap on about his blood fetish?
And then there had been too many of Duquette’s classes, which dominated our timetables this semester. Moldark had been right, we were a good match both skill and strength-wise. I think since Valenthia’s premonition, I’d upped my game in that class. It was the only way I could show I was a true asset. Not someone to be burned at the stake for the lonely and vulnerable Crystal Witch that I harboured inside myself.
I wanted Duquette to say something, anything about the hearing at the Witches’ Council. Call me out for my actions for being an imposter for the way I’d acted. Instead, her silence and their collective silence had proved the most ominous outcome I could think of. There was no way that everything her and Devin had witnessed that day, wasn’t going to come back to bite me. I knew it. And the suspense of whatever it was, compounded with Valenthia’s vision was driving me nuts.
Ulric had continued to be missing in action and I swear he was actively avoiding the food hall and other public spaces just so he didn’t have to bump into me. His loss completely. Or at least I wished it was.
“Have you found anything?” asked Valenthia, shutting yet another book she’d been looking in.
“No, you?” I asked, though the answer was pretty clear. We’d used our free period to go to the library to research vampire magic and charms as Valenthia was convinced she’d been under some kind of outside magical force that night. In the public section, which was huge and musty, we’d found nothing.
“Me neither,” said Natalie, concentrating on her book, an old tome about the occult practices of hexing people. “These are all for vampires to bone up on what other supes are capable of. From what I can tell, they’re informative but of no practical use to us.”
“Great,” I said, “let’s keep looking.” Madame le Boursier, the academy’s head of security walked past us, casting us a suspicious glance.
“I wonder what she wants,” whispered Valenthia. “You guys! I just realized we have our first Intro to Dark Magic class with Professor Varga next!” announced Valenthia excitedly, causing some vamps from another table across from us to turn around.
“So?” asked Natalie.
“Don’t you get it? Dark Magic,” pressed Valenthia.
“Okay?” I said. Introduction to Dark Magic had been scheduled into our timetables a bit later on in the semester to begin as soon as Vampire Nutrition with Professor Kragen had ended.
“We can ask him about charms! Why do the heavy lifting now when we can just ask?”
“But we can’t tell him we think you were charmed last semester, can we?” said Natalie, “and if we ask too many questions, he’s going to wonder why we’re so into it.”
“Right, we’ll have to get the info on the sly but at least he’ll teach us the basics,” insisted Valenthia, not in the least bit put off.
“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be helpful,” I smiled. “By the way, there’s something about your visions, I don’t understand,” I said quietly, “why would vampires burn me? Wouldn’t my witch blood be useful to them – look at how Lorna’s blood has helped you? Why would they simply waste it all by burning me alive like humans used to do centuries ago?”
“I don’t know, Kat. I’m sure I’m wrong. I don’t know how to read or interpret whatever I’m seeing, it just happens,” Valenthia raised her eyebrows and made a subtle eye gesture towards a section in the library, towards the back of the room. It was where le Boursier had disappeared off to. She stood up and held up a hand to us, to tell us wordlessly to stay where we were.
“Where are you going?” whispered Natalie but Valenthia turned, her back to us and walked in the direction of where we’d last seen le Boursier, through a maze of narrow aisles, crammed from top to bottom with the oldest books in existence.
“We should go after her, right? If she’s found, she’s not going to get away with it,” said Natalie, staring frantically from where Valenthia had disappeared, to me and back again.
“There’s more chance of being found if all three of us are back there,” I said trying to think it through, fighting my urge to knee-jerk and go after Natalie.
“But – ”
“How about we’ll give it three minutes? If she’s not back, we’ll try and find her?” I reasoned.
“This is certainly like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Natalie whispered, trying to distract herself by leafing through another ancient volume. I wondered how many students that had been through Bloodline Academy had actually read any of these books. Most of what we needed for class was handed out by our professors or taught practically.
A couple of minutes passed and Natalie put the book down, searching for my cue to go and look for our friend. I too, felt her anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I made to get up when suddenly we heard footsteps coming back our way. Natalie looked as relieved as I felt but as the steps came closer, I realized they didn’t belong to Valenthia. I narrowed my eyes at her trying to warn her and at that moment, le Boursier approached.
“Where did your little friend go?” she asked looking only at me.
“I don’t know. She said she’d be right back. I think she needed to get something from her room,” I replied, trying to keep my cool in case the question was meant to call my bluff. I’d probably mumbled on too much already.
“I hope I won’t find her loitering in the hallway,” said le Boursier, as she walked past us and exited through the main doors.
“What was that about?” asked Natalie, letting out a relieved gasp.
“I don’t think she saw her,” I replied. We made our way towards the back of the large room. As we walked, I began to wonder if Valenthia had just gotten lost. The aisles were dingey like most places below ground level in the academy and nothing was labelled. It took squinting closely at each book’s spine to get a hint of what it might contain. When we reached where we thought we’d find Valenthia, it was a dead end.
“Where could she be?” asked Natalie, spinning around. I was about to answer when I saw a brief and rapid movement from the corner of my eye. Valenthia streamed over to us, nearly causing a few of the flimsier books to fly off the shelf that she passed. “Where were you?” hissed Natalie, unnerved.
“
I was right there! You walked past me,” smiled Valenthia.
“It’s not funny!” protested Natalie.
“Did you find anything? And yeah – it’s not,” I agreed.
“I watched her go through that way,” said Valenthia, pointing at a wooden wall that said something in a golden script that I had no clue of. She pushed on it gently and it just turned transparent for a second and she walked through.”
“It’s got to be guarded in some way. If it’s not meant to be found there must be something inside that they don’t want everyone to see,” I said. “Let’s get out of here and think of what to do.” We made our way back to the desk we’d occupied and started putting the books we’d been poring over, back in their places. Or wherever we thought they went. Though the actual room was regal but for a library it wasn’t organized in a way that any of us had managed to decipher.
“Hey,” said a deep voice from behind me, making me jump.
“Oh, hi,” I said quietly, trying not to give away that I’d been scared out of my skin. Being part vampire and having the sharpest of instincts still didn’t prevent being crept up on. It was Ulric and the only thing worse than looking scared witless was gawking like a hopeful puppy dog, which I realized I was doing exactly as I did it. “How’s it going?” I said, trying to recover.
“Okay, thanks.” His eyes briefly met mine and I knew I hadn’t imagined the golden flicker that passed through them. Ulric automatically looked down at my arm with the blooming running across it. I cringed as I became aware that I was unconsciously clutching at it with my other hand. My blooming glowed, giving the otherwise dim place a silver hue. Damn my feelings and the way being a witch made my magic react. “I was actually looking for you,” said Ulric, forcing himself to look at my face again.
“Oh?” I replied. A rush of hope and nervous tension coursed through me. Natalie and Valenthia watched, glued to where they were standing.
“Yeah, I needed to – do you want to come outside?” he asked looking back at my friends.
“Sure,” I said, grabbing my things and making my way out, behind him, through the doors. Once we were in the hall, I looked both ways. It appeared to be clear. “Le Boursier came through here earlier so we should make this quick,” I said, more because I wanted to hear what he had to say as soon as possible than the threat of reprimand. Maybe his sister had come back and everyone could get back to normal? Okay, normal was a wildly inaccurate word that didn’t even begin to describe my life. I guess in my head, Ulric and I had stood some kind of a chance until Winnie had joined Lilith and gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd, causing her disappearance into thin air. I could dream.
“How have you been?” he asked.
“Good. Not bad, I guess,” I said. If prizes were being handed out for dumb answers, I was certain I’d have won the top one going.
“I’m really sorry I haven’t let you in, lately,” began Ulric.
“Me too. I mean, I’m sorry you haven’t,” I said. What I really wanted to say was that I’d missed him. That even standing there, feeling the spark between us, made my chest flutter and my magic rise. We took each other in. Ulric stepped towards me and my eyes met his in anticipation.
“I don’t know how to say this,” he began, “it’s a little awkward but I need you to come with me,” he said.
“What?” I answered pulled out of what had clearly been some pathetically, one-sided daydream.
“Principal Nadasdy requested to see you in his office and I was told to come find you.” He had to be kidding me. I just nodded. There was no hiding how ridiculous I felt for thinking his coming to see me had been because he wanted to. “Sorry, I didn’t want to be all official in front of your friends.”
“No, if you want to be all official the best way to do it, is one on one,” I replied.
“Don’t be like that, it’s not my fault. I’m just the messenger,” said Ulric, trying to come off like he was the victim. Was I meant to feel guilty or something?
“Well, thanks for the message, I know my way to his office. I think I can take it from here,” I said. If I sounded condescending, the way most other vamps treated the werewolves at our academy I didn’t care. In my case it was personal.
“Sorry but I need to escort you there myself or I’ll be in deep with them.”
“No. I wouldn’t want you to be in any trouble,” I said gesturing him to lead the way. As we walked, I began to feel very uncertain. Why did Nadasdy want to see me? it had to be related to the hearing. What else could it be?
“I’ve wanted to see you, all this time. I’ve missed you,” said Ulric, still not looking at me.
“And I guess you were told by the powers that be, to avoid me?”
“No but it’s been difficult. I feel like I let my sister down and I know I’ve been too pre-occupied. Plus, there’s part of me that feels guilty. I have feelings for you and I don’t know what to do about it. My pack’s falling apart since my sister did what she did. Even before that. Look, it’s not you, it’s completely me.”
Oh boy, here we go, I thought. I may have been romantically inexperienced but even I knew how to tell when I was being dumped. And that too, on the way to being doled out my punishment for the hearing. What could I say? The guy had impeccable timing. And then I was maddest at myself. For thinking he was different all this time. For waiting for the holidays to end like some love-struck loser so we could pick up from where things had been left. In the clods of dust and rubble where Natalie had been staked and killed.
“I think I’ll be okay from here,” I said, as we reached the office. Ulric knocked and stood back. Waiting. Duquette opened the door, further confirming what I already knew about why I’d been called.
“That will be all,” she said not even bothering to look directly at Ulric as she addressed him. As though it would lessen her status in some way. She waved him off and I had to fight a wave of annoyance that pulsed through me. This was not the time and nor the place to be an activist for werewolves’ rights. Ulric nodded, quickly disappearing back down the hallway and I hesitantly stepped inside the office. “Come in, Miss Quartz,” she said in a saccharine tone that was far more a danger sign than her blatant ill-treatment of Ulric had been.
Predictably, Devin was also there. And standing off to one side was Madame le Boursier. The space seemed larger than I remembered it from the last time I’d been there, several weeks ago, when Ulric, Natalie and I had been reprimanded for our part in the kidnapping of Lorna. Which they now knew had been a proactive rescue on my part.
“Come, take a seat, Miss. Quartz,” said Principal Nadasdy, standing up, behind his broad desk. His fashion sense that led him to wear historical garments from the turn of who-knew which century was still intact. His entire outfit, complete with the long-tailed coat and high top-hat were royal blue and his shirt was a shade somewhere between rust and tan coloured.
“I take it there are no guesses as to why you’re here,” stated Duquette closing the door and coming to stand to my side as I sat down on the other side of the principal’s huge desk. I had no idea how to respond without sounding either weak and petrified or deeply sarcastic so I said nothing.
“It’s about the hearing you attended at the Witches’ Council, I’m afraid,” said Devin, with no trace of remorse about him. “We couldn’t simply let go of what we saw there.”
“Am I going to be expelled?” I asked. What I really wanted to know was whether I was going to be exsanguinated.
“No, not at all!” said Nadasdy, wringing his hands together and laughing like I had made the funniest joke he’d ever heard.
“You’re our most powerful witch,” said Duquette.
“I’m your only witch,” I said before I could censor myself. Duquette’s pretty, frosted pink lips, instantly pursed giving her the appearance of someone who’d sucked a lemon. Death wish, much? I inwardly thought to myself.
“Indeed,” she said, regaining the poise she’d momentarily lost.
�
�Here’s the issue, my dear,” continued Nadasdy, what Professors Duquette and Devin saw at the hearing, isn’t something we can just overlook. You acted like a witch throughout and not a vampire in the least.”
“Now, we understand that you’ve been raised as a witch,” Devin filled in, “but you’re clearly a Sanguine at heart. We see it in your behaviour and feel it with your presence.”
“It’s a classic scenario where the lion forgets his greatness and thinks he’s a mouse because he was raised by rodents,” concluded le Boursier, speaking for the first time. Devin nodded. Duquette stood, statuesque, not deeming the words worthy of a reaction.
“Of course, we’re glad you didn’t do what the others did – including your friend, Miss Valenthia Lauden,” said Nadasdy.
Le Boursier briefly narrowed her eyes at him and just as quickly looked away. Shit. They knew Valenthia had drunk Lorna’s blood. Of course, they did. Two of them had watched me call her out when the Grand High Witch had made me do that stupid Revelation.
Nothing about that night was secret any more. “But instead of coming to us or simply not interfering until a member of staff could deal with the situation, you chose to take matters into your own hands,” Nadasdy went on. Jeez, just get on with the punishment, I thought. “Anyway, it all worked out because we truly know what an asset you are to us. You’re a rarity and unlike the witches who turned their backs on you, St. Erzsebet’s Academy would never squander such talent. Such promise.”
“What do you want from me?” I asked as it dawned on me that there were worse things than whatever punishment I’d thought of. Although, Valenthia’s premonition was at the top of that list.
“We want you to go on a special mission for us,” said Nadasdy like he was giving me something enticing to chew on.
“What mission?” I asked.
“I can’t reveal it to you until you do something first. Call it an initiation into what it is. A show of loyalty for what we have planned for you.”
“Oh, and let’s just say, we recently learned of your parentage. At least on your Sanguine side,” teased Devin.
Dark Spark: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) Page 5
