Dark Spark: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2)

by Ahava Trivedi

  Le Boursier walked, now several steps ahead of me. I’d been so captivated that I’d fallen behind. I picked up my own pace to catch up. Until I had at least some basic bearings of where I was, I couldn’t afford to lose sight of her. We walked through the room we’d entered through, to a second, equally large one. Just as it began to dawn on me, how odd it was that the place was completely unguarded but for its’ magical glow, I saw something that made me want to scream.

  ***

  I automatically clapped my hand over my mouth, to stop myself from making a sound. Whatever it was, I had never seen anything like it before and nor had I heard of whatever creature it was meant to be. There it stood, guarding the second entrance to the next room.

  My instinct was to look away but my eyes couldn’t help but stare. Its’ form was what could loosely be described as human but it towered over le Boursier, who now stood right in front of it, like a bear. Its’ skin was the palest I’d ever seen and having spent a semester hanging out with vamps, that was saying something.

  Unlike a shifter, who when in their human form were usually enhanced by their subtle carried over, animalistic features, this person or, I didn’t want to call it a thing but…whatever it was, its’ facial features were warped. Almost distorted. The creature had a few characteristics of an animal from the dog family, the way its’ mouth and nose protruded outwards. Its’ ears were pointed and it had no hair but instead, matted fur that spurted from the top of its’ head. I noticed two bumps on either side of its forehead from where stumpy horns grew, making it look part goat.

  I watched as its’ eyes developed a red halo around the parts that were otherwise, dark and frantic. The red rings around its’ eyes reminded me of the first time I’d met Natalie. Hers had done the same thing when she’d been in the direct presence of my blood sample. Like whatever it was, was in the middle of changing into a vampiric state along with a mixture of other traits.

  “I take it you ate well?” le Boursier said to it curtly.

  “Yes, madame,” came a deep and gravelly response. From his mouth, protruded two, large fangs. Much longer than those of vampires, these looked like thin stakes that could easily gouge.

  “Who else has been on duty in your spot today?”

  “Just me,” grunted the creature, sniffing the air. I froze, mid-breath. It moved off to one side of le Boursier and I immediately knew it had sensed me.

  “What is it, Rugrem?” asked le Boursier in a way that made the way staff at the academy spoke to werewolves, seem like polite banter.

  “Don’t know for sure,” said the creature named Rugrem, taking a stride closer to me, sniffing again. I moved, in a circle, around le Boursier.

  “What are you doing now? Why are you smelling me? Focus, you cretin, I need some answers!” commanded le Boursier. Rugrem moved aside and I finally drew a relieved, breath.

  “What can I do for you, madame?” asked the giant beast, gazing down like a scolded puppy dog. The sight of him cowering like that disturbed me. I’d envisioned vampire guards to be something akin to the shifters policing the S.L.A. headquarters. Suave, strong and empowered. The creature before me was only strong. Even the clothes he wore were of the roughest material, the type used to make burlap sacks. He gave the appearance of both, a guard and a slave.

  “I need to see a list of all the charms and hexes that were granted from last semester up until now. And I need to know, to whom.” I stood even more bolt upright than I’d been a second ago.

  Why was le Boursier so concerned about this? Had she too been spying on us? She must have watched us going through the books that day. It was too big of a coincidence. Rugrem nodded and gestured le Boursier to follow him to a large desk at one corner of the room.

  Once there, he went to a drawer on the other side and pulled out a ledger. It looked very similar to the file that le Boursier had gone through about me, on the day I’d been admitted to Bloodline Academy. She instantly yanked it from his grasp and began to go through it. I watched from over her shoulder as she went through each page.

  “Good, nothing has been handed out that I don’t know about,” said le Boursier after closing the book.

  “Was there some problem?” asked Rugrem, as le Boursier walked to the other side of the room where I observed what looked like a glass jewelry cabinet that housed a range of little trinkets. There were earrings, bracelets, necklaces and tiny but ornate pins, the kind that pilots wore, that would make a discrete addition to an outfit.

  “None of the final year students are to come down here anymore to access any of these,” le Boursier replied, continuing to eye the objects on the other side of the glass. “And if any of the professors take anything, you’re to inform me, straightaway.”

  “Is this to do with that Crystal Witch or her friend who was given one of these?” asked Rugrem, causing me to take a step backwards. My heart raced and I began to wonder how much longer my invisibility would last.

  “You don’t get to ask the questions,” snapped le Boursier.

  “As the Head Grunch in charge of keeping everything safe down here, I do need to know,” said Rugrem, not backing down this time, adding, “just so I can inform the others of the changes and why they’re important.”

  “Fine. It is about the necklace I checked out last semester that was given to the wrong student,” said le Boursier.

  “Ah, this one,” said Rugrem pointing a hand with lengthy talons towards the cabinet. “It was meant to go to the Crystal Witch, I remember.”

  “Correct but her stupid friend thought it was a gift for her from some boy she had a school-girl crush on. Apparently, she isn’t as stupid as I’d assumed. She’s been asking a lot of questions.”

  “One of Hungary’s finest,” commented Rugrem, at the necklace. So, it had been a set up. And, one that hadn’t been intended for Valenthia but for me. And le Boursier had been in on the whole thing. I wondered if Nadasdy and the rest of them knew more than they’d let on. Obviously.

  “And Rugrem?” said le Boursier in a low purr.

  “Yes, Ma’am?”

  “Up the security on the Dark Spark.”

  “But Ma’am, most of our guards are already assigned to its’ spot here, around the clock.”

  “Assign more. I want an entire army ready to defend it, if ever the need arises,” said le Boursier. What the hell was the Dark Spark and why was it so important?

  I felt a burst of magic rumbling within me and knew I needed to leave before my strong, brewing emotions, made my barely controllable magic boil to the surface and give me away. If that happened, they’d do more than just give me a charmed necklace. I slowly, tip-toed in the direction we’d come from, continually looking back at the two of them still inspecting the charmed pieces of jewelry.

  I could tell that the beastly security guard, could sense something in the air as I moved off. He sniffed again and scanned the area. That was when it dawned on me that the first time, I’d done this, I’d noticed that my magic had caused a shield to expand around me, like a bubble. It was the same this time and if they came too close, they’d either end up inside my little bubble with me or dissolve the magic by encroaching upon the sphere that had enveloped me. Either way, I’d become visible to them. I kept walking, one step after another, although my eyes were glued on Rugrem.

  “Madame, were you up close with the Crystal Witch earlier today?” asked Rugrem. I wanted to break into a run. To stream my way to the wall, where I still needed to figure out a way to get through to the other side to go back to the regular library. But if I did, I was afraid my magic wouldn’t hold and I’d become visible.

  “No. I saw her friends outside in the library. Why?” responded le Boursier, still busy with the cabinet.

  “I can really smell that you’ve been near a Crystal Witch. It’s very strong all around you.”

  “Where, exactly do you smell it most?” said le Boursier, her attention no longer divided.

  “If you’d allow me?” asked Rugrem,
going close to le Boursier.

  Panic rose inside me as he sniffed the air and walked in a circle around le Boursier. Had I imagined his ears pointing towards my direction? Slowly but surely, if I didn’t do something, I knew that he’d find me. And if he did, I wouldn’t even make it out of Tempus Fugit to be able to run away.

  At least if I was caught here and now, I wouldn’t have to run from turning Safi into a vampire. I shook off the thought that it had to be a choice between my survival and Safi’s. And besides, if I was caught, he wouldn’t kill me. No, le Boursier would take great pride in shuttling me back to Nadasdy’s office where they’d probably decide to make me watch as they wreaked havoc on Safi and others I cared about. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. “Kat, where are you? Are you okay?” I heard Valenthia’s thought. She wasn’t thinking anything else, which meant that at least there wasn’t any immediate danger outside where her and Natalie were waiting for me.

  Deciding to try something I’d never done before, I continued to concentrate on the shield of invisibility I’d conjured up around myself and at the same time, I also began to focus a part of my attention on the charms in the cabinet next to where le Boursier was standing.

  Rugrem continued sniffing and as he looked up and in my general direction, I startled myself and both of them as transparent ripples emanated through the air and threw open the glass doors of the cabinet. Rugrem’s attention immediately went back to the charms, a few of which had now started flying out of the cabinet. I swiftly broke my own focus from them so my magic wouldn’t call them to me, right to the spot I’d been nervously rooted to.

  “What is going on?” demanded le Boursier, obviously unhinged by the totally unexpected occurrence.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing,” said Rugrem, diving to the floor to save the Hungarian necklace that came crashing to the ground midflight, as soon as I stopped summoning it.

  “Don’t just sit there, you fool, call the other grunches – now!” commanded le Boursier, as Rugrem stealthily got back on his feet and rushed through the exit closest to them.

  I took the opportunity to take a few, cautious steps away from le Boursier, just to make sure my movement didn’t break my shield. When I knew it hadn’t, I streamed my way back towards the wall. I held out my hands and felt for it. Not knowing the proper way to leave the place, I concentrated on summoning my magic as a way to get me through. To my surprise, the wall turned into glowing violet waterfall of energy and bracing myself, I ran right through.

  Chapter 9

  “Where did you get to? We were starting to get worried!” said Natalie. Having made my way back through the library, I sunk down in a chair next to her. Valenthia nodded with vigour.

  “Le Boursier was just on the warpath with me – what an attitude problem, anyway, it seemed like she was onto us or something,” said Valenthia.

  “Let’s get out of here, I have so much to tell you,” was all I said. “Oh. and rescind my permission to read your mind,” I reminded Valenthia.

  “Done,” she smiled.

  We made our way back to mine and Natalie’s suite. It was the safest place we knew, where hopefully we wouldn’t be eavesdropped on by students or faculty. Once there, I told them about the necklace as well as what else Tempus Fugit held, including the beast Rugrem, who’d been referred to, as a grunch.

  “I knew I’d been charmed!” announced Valenthia, excitedly. “I’d never have betrayed you guys like that otherwise!”

  “That’s great. But the charm was meant for me. Le Boursier had engineered it that way. It ended up being given to you, by mistake. Why would she have wanted me to have it?” I pondered.

  “Maybe you were meant to attack your High Priestess?” offered Natalie. It made sense. I almost came out and told them what Nadasdy had asked of me. What stopped me from doing so was that I knew they’d ask what I’d do next. And I couldn’t tell them about my plan to run away or they’d want to get involved. Any information they had, could prove deadly for them in the long run. I wasn’t risking either Natalie or Valenthia this time. The less they knew the better. That way if they were questioned by the likes of Duquette, she’d soon realize they really had no idea.

  “What was that beast called again?” asked Natalie.

  “His name was Rugrem. He referred to himself as a grunch,” I said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’d never seen nor heard of anything like him before,” I said.

  “It’s the local version of what’s otherwise known in south America as the Chupacabra,” said Valenthia, “the goat-sucker, in Spanish. There are stories about them sucking the blood of livestock. Until you described it, I always thought the creatures were hearsay.”

  “Are they shifters?” asked Natalie, “Or vampires?”

  “They’re neither, really. And they’re clearly one of the academy’s best kept secrets because if vampires like us don’t know about them, nor will anyone else,” replied Valenthia.

  “They guard the charms and other vampiric artefacts,” I said. “And le Boursier talked to him – he was the grunch in charge – worse than how they treat the werewolves.” My friends exchanged a sideways smirk between themselves which told me that no matter how intense our topic of conversation, it didn’t preclude them from teasing me.

  “Have you and Ulric patched things up yet?” asked Natalie.

  “Still not going to let that go then?” I replied, as my face deceived me and flushed bright red. And of course, my blooming glowed an iridescent silver, letting me down too. “I thought Moldark was flavour of the month right now?”

  “Can’t there be two? said Valenthia, wistfully, “Guys do it all the time.”

  “But seriously, you should at least go on a date with one of them,” said Natalie.

  “And we’ll live vicariously through you. Actually, Nat, what do you think of the new guys?”

  “Luc and Clifton?” asked Natalie, lounging on her bed.

  “Yeah,” said Valenthia, fiddling with a strand of her smooth lavender hair, with a fond smile. “You go first. Who do you like?”

  “Well obviously as a Sanguine, you could have your pick of either. And as I’m not bold enough to go after a Sanguine and anyway, Clifton isn’t my type… I think Luc’s pretty dreamy,” said Natalie, “and the accent – ooh-la-la!” she blushed.

  “Okay, good because I prefer Clifton,” smirked Valenthia.

  “You really do have a type, don’t you?” I teased, noting that much like Riskel, Clifton was yet another gorgeous blond. Hopefully he wasn’t as arrogant or dumb. Or dangerous. Although being a Sanguine vampire almost definitely sealed his fate about the arrogance. I hoped at least he wouldn’t be dense or double crossing. Natalie went to the fridge and promptly returned, carrying three bottles of blood. She held hers up, as did Valenthia and I.

  “Here’s to avoiding the pitfalls of getting charmed by le Boursier, and to finding boyfriends this semester!” said Valenthia “And Kat finding two!”

  “We should hit a cozy blood bar sometime this week when we have another free!” said Natalie, getting giddy on a swig of her bottle.

  Finding out about the charm had really relaxed the tension between the three of us. I watched them, as sadness and dread began to spread in my stomach and up towards my chest, throughout the rest of my body. They had no idea that this would likely be one of the last times we’d all get to hang out like this.

  My time at Bloodline Academy was running out one way or another. Either I could stay here until I was punished for not going against my best friend, or I could leave on my own terms. I still wasn’t sure about Ulric coming with me though. If we were caught, it would be akin to a death sentence for him. And if we weren’t, I had no idea what that would even look like or where we’d end up.

  Chapter 10

  My body hurt all over thanks to Duquette’s class. Actually, it was directly thanks to combat with Moldark, who despite not having any witching powers, was still managing to kic
k my ass. In his own way, he claimed that he felt the same about my techniques, which had markedly improved from those first few classes. But the guy was on fire.

  Duquette had stuck to what she’d said at the first class of the semester that there was to be no swapping of sparring partners once chosen. This wasn’t without reason, the most important being that she wanted each pairing to know their partner’s technique, strengths and weaknesses inside out to reveal them to the other. She wasn’t wrong, we were often most oblivious of our own abilities and blind spots.

  At the end of this semester, the whole class was to do a test where we’d all take turns to demonstrate moves with each classmate and be ranked according to performance. What these rankings would imply, hadn’t yet been revealed to us but being in a class of vamps meant that overall abilities in mortal combat were already through the roof. Luckily for me, this was one thing I wouldn’t have to worry about as Ulric and I were leaving as soon as morning came.

  ***

  I watched Natalie as she slept, silently and peacefully. She had asked me a couple of times in the hours before she’d gone to bed, why I was distracted. I hated hiding things from her. Each time she’d inquired, I’d felt like the distant boyfriend who was about to dump her. She didn’t know what was awry but would be left to piece it all together. It was the only way. It was to save her later on.

  I silently opened the dresser drawer, grabbed my bag and stuffed the few clothes I had into it. I folded up my uniform and placed it into the drawer. I looked back at the bed again where Natalie was asleep. A tiny part of me wanted to shake her awake and take her with us. I couldn’t help but fear that being left behind, she’d be punished by mere association.

  But if she came along and we got caught, it would be much worse. I wished I’d asked her to invite me into her mind. That way I could have always checked up on her. I hadn’t done so because it would have been a can of worms. If Nadasdy even got wind of it, they’d have made it their mission to get to me through her.