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Dark Waters (Elemental Book 1)

Page 16

by Rain Oxford


  “Vampires can enthrall their victims.”

  “Blood. How much blood was missing?”

  He sighed. “Not a lot.”

  “This is the fourth body since school started. Why were the five bodies drained of blood before school started, yet none of the four since have been?”

  “Maybe the killer did not have time. This is a busy school.”

  “No, that doesn’t feel right. Maybe it’s not the same killer. Maybe it’s a copycat killer, or an apprentice.” I opened another cabinet and pulled out another bed. Professor Hans. No defensive wounds, no signs of violence, no bruising.

  Another girl; the first victim at the school. The same lack of any signs of trauma. Finally, I pulled out Heather’s slab and studied her again. With closer examination, I found that all their fang bites were different; different depth, different spacing, and different sized punctures.

  I checked their mouths and found they all had foam in their mouths and slight discoloration on their lips. I wasn’t a cop or a doctor, but I wasn’t an idiot, either.

  “I need a sample of their blood.”

  Hunt got supplies out of the glass cabinet and started taking blood samples. I labeled them and was secretly thankful I didn’t have to take the blood myself.

  “I’m going to take this to Dr. Martin.”

  “You are a peculiar man, Mr. Sanders.”

  “I only have an idea of what happened to this people, but what I do know for sure is that this is not a vampire attack, which means that the vampires were framed.”

  * * *

  Hunt said he was going to check with Vincent to see if there was any news on Remy. Even knowing Darwin didn’t want to go into the morgue, I was worried when he wasn’t at the door. This level of the castle was perfect for vampires and other dubious characters. Although vampires didn’t attack the students, it was a vampire that attacked me in the courtyard.

  Of course, I also had no evidence for the wizard council to prove that vampires didn’t kill the students, only my word.

  Most of this floor of the castle was hollowed out rock tunnels. Besides the fact that there were no windows, I could tell it was far underground. I used my penlight, but there were some tunnels that split into numerous paths, and I didn’t want to get lost in a maze. I heard a sound when I was passing a door and hesitated.

  I had two options; I could keep going and hope to run into my missing roommate, or I could open the door and see if he was in there. With an internal groan, I opened the door. The first thing my light landed on was the skeleton of a rat. Only, the rat had to have been at least as tall as a horse to have a skeleton that size. I shut the door.

  “No more doors,” I said out loud. I remembered the history book Darwin found on the traps that Heinrich Baldauf designed when he build the castle.

  About five minutes later, an odd sound started as a light growl and grew into a deep roar that vibrated throughout the tunnel. I aimed my light down one end of the tunnel and down the other, not sure which way the sound came from.

  “Darwin?” I called. I sensed movement ahead and aimed my light. Darwin ran towards me.

  “Run!”

  I didn’t hesitate or ask questions. He was a really fast runner, but when I heard something huge gaining on us, I found I was able to keep up just fine. We ran for about ten minutes until we reached the staircase that led up to the main floor of the castle. At the top was a door, which we slammed shut once we were through.

  Darwin put his hands on his knees and I leaned against the door, hoping we lost whatever was chasing us. “What the hell was that?” I asked. We were both panting.

  “I… I don’t know. It was big… had big damn teeth…”

  “Why did you run off?”

  “Had to go to the bathroom.”

  * * *

  I sent Darwin to listen for any odd rumors that might be going around. Focusing on Dr. Martin, I stumbled upon his lab almost accidentally. And I nearly missed it.

  Glass bottles were smashed on the floor, books were torn to bits, and herbs littered the floor like brown and green snow. Dr. Martin sat in a chair in the middle of the room with his mangy cat.

  “Spring cleaning?” I asked.

  He looked up at me and smiled vacantly. “Hello, Devon. No; I was robbed. Someone took the poison and the water. And something else. I can’t remember.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No. Before I was trapped by the syrus, I was working on something. It was really important. When you stopped the syrus, my project was gone.”

  “So someone trapped you in order to steal it from you. Now someone stole the water?”

  “And the aconite. It was my aconite that was taken and used to poison the lake. Something made it more potent, which is why it affected you so quickly.”

  “Can you still test something for poison?”

  “Yes, I think I can scrounge up enough ingredients.”

  I held up a ziplock bag of blood-filled test tubes. “Test all of these you can. I’ll be back soon.”

  I ran straight back to my room and sighed with relief to find Henry at his desk.

  “I need you. Quick, right now!” I barked when he just stared at me.

  “Um, bro, it’s not his time of the month,” Darwin said from his bed.

  “Oh, shut up. I thought I sent you to find out what the other students are saying. Henry, do you have as good a sense of smell as a wolf shifter?”

  “In my jaguar form, yes.”

  “Then I need you to shift and track down a scent.”

  He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Nobody gets into this school because they’re normal, Devon. I never shift unless I have no other choice. You need to find someone else for this.”

  “Scaredy cat,” Darwin jumped down from his bed. “Henry’s just grouchy because he hasn’t been sleeping. I think he’s having nightmares about his fiancé finding him.”

  “It’s not her, it’s the damn spiders.”

  “I haven’t seen any spiders. I’ll go spy on people and send Zhang Wei your way.” He glared at Henry and left the room.

  The jaguar shifter sighed and turned back to his work. Only then did it occur to me that he might have acted so high and mighty because he had as much trouble fitting in as Darwin and me.

  Ten minutes later, Zhang Wei and I were looking for Dr. Martin’s room. It took a long, frustrating twenty minutes before we finally found it, only to find that Dr. Martin wasn’t there. His cat sat glaring at us on the chair, which was still in the middle of the room. The debris, however, was completely gone. In fact, all of the bottle, books, and ingredients were right back on their shelves… as if the room had never been vandalized in the first place.

  “Can you smell anything?”

  In answer, Zhang Wei pulled his shirt over his head. “I will shift and track the most potent scent,” he said, stripping his pants and boxers off. It dawned on me that anyone could have walked in any moment, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  The cat stared at him suspiciously.

  When Zhang Wei shifted into a fully grown tiger, the cat continued to stare… suspiciously.

  The tiger sniffed around the room for a moment before he headed out the door. He was not in a hurry; he took time to sniff at doorways and meandered down the halls and stairways like a tiger in a zoo paced his cage. Eventually, he stopped at a doorway, sat on his hunches, and roared.

  The door burst open to reveal a startled Mrs. Ashcraft.

  “Mr. Sanders, what is the meaning of this?”

  Cliché? Sure, but why not? It’s not like she’s the vice principal or anything… oh, wait, she is. “Mrs. Ashcraft, when was the last time you saw Andrew Martin?”

  She blanched. “I don’t know what you’re implying, Mr. Sanders, but you need to return to your…” she stopped at the same time I heard heavy footsteps approach. I didn’t need to turn; I recognized Hunt’s walk.

  “Mrs. Ashcraft,” I said calmly and clearly. “When was the
last time you saw Andrew Martin?”

  “Thirty years ago. When he died.” She growled the last part between clinched teeth. Zhang Wei snarled at her and she stepped back.

  “When was the last time you were in his lab?” I asked.

  “I’ve never been in his lab.” Zhang Wei snarled again.

  “He does not believe you, Rebecca,” Hunt said, stopping beside the tiger.

  “I have been working here for over fifty years, Logan. You can’t accuse me of---” She stopped herself midsentence.

  “Of what?” he asked. “I did not accuse you of anything. I would like to know what you are afraid of being accused of. I would also like to know why you were seen talking to an uninvited vampire in my school.”

  The sense of danger hit me hard and I reacted on instinct. Before she could strike with the swirling white energy that formed in her right hand, I reached out and wrapped my power around her mind. It felt like I was trying to contain fire in my hands. I could do it, I could even snuff it out if I pressed down on it, but it would hurt to do so. It wasn’t hot, it was just powerful. It wasn’t even her mind but the magic inside her that slowed me down.

  Yet I could do it.

  I felt her mind like a living mass of thoughts and feelings and magic. I wrapped my will around it, visualizing it settling down. Her thoughts and feelings were simple; she wanted more power. She was greedy, manipulative, and hateful. I was stronger than hate. Thus, I forced my will over her mind until her magic stopped struggling against me.

  “Stop,” I said, surprised by the sharpness and depth of my voice.

  Her face fell slack and she took a step back in retreat.

  I didn’t let my own surprise distract me. When she took another step back, out of the doorway, I entered the office. “Sit down.” I thought I would have to send her some mental image, but she instantly responded by sitting in one of the chairs before her desk. Something new pressed against my mind. It wasn’t an attack… this was fear. She was afraid of me. “When was the last time you were in Dr. Martin’s lab?”

  “About an hour ago. I waited until you left his lab.” Her voice was soft, almost vacant.

  “What were you looking for?”

  “Blood.”

  “Why were you looking for blood?” Hunt asked. Alpha Flagstone and Professor Nightshade entered the room, obviously having followed the headmaster at a distance.

  She didn’t react to Hunt’s question or even his presence. She stared, not really at me but through me. It was eerie, and with every moment, my power over her was growing. “Did you trap him with the syrus?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Blood.”

  I sighed, getting frustrated with her short answers. “Tell me what happened to Dr. Martin when he was trapped in the syrus and why.”

  “Devon, maybe you should pull back on the---”

  “I wanted to take the school for myself. I wanted to be headmistress, so I knew I needed an alliance. I found some rogue vampires who were willing to follow me in exchange for power. Andrew created a partially synthetic blood that could sustain vampires and help them control their unruliness. I knew this would cause the vampires to side with Logan, so I created the syrus. It was designed to drain his energy until he died. I destroyed the blood.”

  “What about the aconite?”

  “I didn’t do anything with the aconite. That wasn’t me.”

  “And the student records in Hunt’s office?”

  “I broke into Logan’s office to put Clara’s profile in the school as a throwback fae. I realized then that the records had already been tampered with.”

  “What about the murders?”

  “I had nothing to do with the murders. I only wanted to take over the school, not kill any of the students. The vampires who work for me had nothing to do with the deaths.”

  “And Remy?”

  “I don’t know where she is or who took her.”

  “Did you send the vampire who attacked me outside the dorms?”

  “Yes. I figured that since vampires were already attacking the students, nobody would suspect one more death.”

  “Devon, let her go.”

  When I started to, I felt her powers return to her and my own irritation. I didn’t want to let go of that power; it felt wrong.

  “Devon, you can destroy her mind if you hold on too long. Let her go.”

  I didn’t want to kill her. I didn’t want to be a killer. As quickly as I could, I released her and pulled my mind away.

  She swayed, shocked and confused. “What did you do? What happened?” she asked.

  Hunt frowned. “You do not remember sitting down or telling us about how you tried to take over the school?”

  “Logan, I would never try to take over---”

  Hunt cut her off by waving his hand over her face. She instantly passed out and fell back in the chair. “Take her to the dungeon,” he said. Flagstone picked her up as easily as if she was a ragdoll.

  “You have a dungeon in the school?”

  “Of course. It is typically used for detention when students neglect their homework.”

  “Is it safe to come out now?” Dr. Martin asked, appearing in the doorway.

  I jumped and Zhang Wei snarled, obviously startled as well. “Where have you been?” I asked.

  “Here.”

  “Welcome back, Andrew,” Logan said easily. He showed no sign of surprise in seeing the man after a thirty-plus year absence. “Good to see you again.”

  “Okay, I need an explanation.”

  “Well, it was kind of my own fault for getting tricked in the first place,” Dr. Martin said. “I knew one of Logan’s staff was up to no good… but I thought it was Rosin. I tried to do a protection spell, but it went wrong and then Rebecca tricked me. The syrus was meant to hide me from anyone who was less powerful than her and suck my energy until my icky, sticky death. My spell protected my energy, but because it was aimed at the staff of the school, the only person who was able to remove the syrus was someone who was more powerful than Rebecca and did not work at the school. On top of that, only you could find me until the truth of Rebecca’s betrayal was revealed.”

  “That is one convoluted mess.”

  “Welcome to the wizard world, Devon Sanders. And here you go.” He handed me a vial of dark maroon liquid. “The blood you asked me to test for you was positive for aconite.”

  The victims were poisoned with aconite, which meant a vampire couldn’t have bitten them. I had proof for the wizard council.

  Damn.

  Chapter 9

  I was a wizard. For the first time in my life, I knew I wasn’t just a weird guy with a bad past. I mean, I was a weird guy with a bad past, but that wasn’t all. This was my chance to really make my future what I wanted it to be.

  And I was sitting in class learning about the atomic properties of iron.

  I stared at the chalkboard blankly, daydreaming that a vampire would attack so we would have an excuse to get out of class. Professor Roswell wasn’t a boring man, I just wasn’t interested in metals. He set his chalk down and turned to explain something. When he turned back to his board, he froze.

  “Where did the chalk go?” he asked. He scanned his half-sleeping audience suspiciously. “Who took the chalk?”

  Several students looked around the floor, but a woman up front raised her hand. “If the chalk is gone, can we all go now?”

  He scoffed, went to his desk, and retrieved a box of chalk from the middle drawer. “I never run out of chalk,” he said proudly, set the box on the desk, and returned to his board. There were several groans in the back, but I was watching the box on his desk.

  A gray cat paw reached up from behind the desk and fished the box away. A few minutes later, the professor started cursing. I would have thought it was funny if it wasn’t so ridiculous. At least the cat got me out of class, I thought when the professor decided to let us go after all.

  In potions, Professor Lan
gril was missing and there was a note on the door telling us to sit in the classroom and write letters to the wizard council requesting more funding. Trying to focus was hopeless. I daydreamed about saving Remy from a cold, dark dungeon with some extravagant magic by defeating the bad guys… only I didn’t know who the bad guys were.

  Who the hell would want to frame vampires? A thought occurred to me like a jolt. I didn’t know who my enemy was, but I had an idea. I stood from my seat in the middle of class and walked out, ignoring the protests of my classmates.

  I strolled aimlessly, wondering if my idea was more dangerous or brilliant. I didn’t even know if Hunt would agree to it, but I found myself walking into his office without knocking. Once again, he was speaking into an iron bowl in his library. When he turned to me, the bowl hovered in midair and the contents lit with blue fire.

  “What you plan to do is very dangerous,” he warned me.

  I gaped. “How do you know what I planned to do?”

  “I know that look on your face.”

  “How? You haven’t known me that long.”

  “You want to use your powers to see into Remy’s mind. That is incredibly dangerous and you do not know how to control yourself very well yet.”

  “And if I don’t, we may not find your daughter until it’s too late.”

  “I know. That is why you are going to practice on me.”

  “No,” I answered immediately. “I had enough trouble letting go of Mrs. Ashcraft’s power, and I know you’re a lot stronger than her. I need to practice on someone with a strong mind and no power.”

  “I take it you have a person in mind?”

  “I do. I just hope he trusts me enough.”

  * * *

  Four hours later, Darwin was sitting across from me on the floor. “Just be careful,” he said. “My mind is all I have.”

  “I won’t hurt you.” That sounded so familiar.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Henry asked. He sat next to us, ready to do whatever he could to help if something went wrong. “You just discovered you could control people.”

 

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