Even though they looked nothing alike, the other two vampires were brothers. The curly-haired one that Sip had fought was Cover and his brother was Cove.
Cover was the talkative one, while Cove, who had fought me, barely said three words the whole time.
Once we were finished we went our separate ways to prepare for the coronation. It was time to watch Lanca become queen of the Blood Throne.
“It’s a good thing Lanca thought about my outfits,” I said, smoothing my hand over the blue silk tunic I wore.
Lisabelle entered. She wore a black dress covered in ornate designs done in black thread. Her arms were covered, but enough of her chest showed so that you could see the blood red jewel she wore at her throat.
“Lisabelle, you look beautiful,” Sip breathed. “I wish I could wear black.” She glared down at the brown jacket and trousers she wore. “Or blue.” Even though I was showing signs of all the elemental disciplines, my clothes were still blue, for water, and Sip loved that color.
Tonight was the coronation. Once Lanca was queen of the Blood Throne, her powers would increase threefold. All her friends were relieved. The walk back to our rooms after our sparring session with the vampires had been an uneasy one. We were all on edge.
We had seen no fallen angels; they were apparently still hidden away together, and to my great frustration that seemed to include Keller. But vampires were gathering for the night’s events, and the four vampires with us were already very late. That just left the other Airlees and the pixies.
At least I hadn’t seen Camilla again, but I had a bad feeling I’d see her at the ceremony, and as usual it wasn’t likely to be pleasant.
Other Airlees were quiet. Lough’s family was heading to dinner when we went back to our rooms, and we waved. Dobrov was still with them. He was clearly more inclined to avoid his own family than I had expected.
The feeling of foreboding that had grown inside my gut throughout the day was ready to burst. It was too quiet.
There were no signs of the other darkness mages, the ones on the side of the demons. They must have been put somewhere out of sight of the rest of us, probably wherever President Malle was.
“If you keep smoothing your hand over your dress like that you’re going to wear out the fabric,” Lisabelle said.
I looked at her and grinned. “Nerves,” I said. She nodded sympathetically.
“Malle should not be here,” Sip said hotly as she finished buttoning her brown jacket. We were just about ready to go, and I had to take a deep, steadying breath.
“No, she shouldn’t,” said Lisabelle. “But Lanca needs to keep all the paranormals happy, so her options were limited.”
“Malle is not really a paranormal anymore,” said Sip, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “She’s trying to kill us.”
“No, but the darkness mages who support her are a powerful faction,” said Lisabelle. She was munching on a chocolate chip muffin, none of us having had time to eat a real dinner. “This ceremony better have food. I need sustenance.”
“Need fuel to be nasty?” Sip asked as she fixed one of her coat buttons.
“No, that just comes naturally,” said Lisabelle. There was a tap on my door and for a second I hoped it was Keller, but before I could reach it I heard Lough’s voice.
“You ladies decent?” he yelled.
“We’re better than decent,” Lisabelle called back. “We’re downright impressive.”
The four of us walked to the opening ceremonies in peace and alone. My friends’ parents had already gone ahead, and for once Dobrov was not with Lough.
“What did Dacer say about the kidnapping yesterday, anyway?” Lisabelle asked. “Who does he think did it?”
“He thinks it was a prank,” I said, shaking my head. “Dacer is always on my side, but he said there’s so much tension between the paranormal types, especially with Malle and the darkness mages here, that everyone is on edge. He told me to just be careful and not to go anywhere alone.”
“Yeah, good thing he told you that. Otherwise you might have gotten into a fight with some vampires and put yourself at risk,” said Lisabelle.
“I don’t like it,” said Sip. “Someone should do more. Find out who it was. If it was a prank, and yeah, I could see Camilla doing something like that, they should be held responsible. You haven’t seen Keller since.”
“I know,” I murmured. “I know.”
We walked along in silence for a while, then Lough’s face brightened. “Oh, I have news! I think I know who my sister is dating. She kept sneaking away, but I knew she wasn’t going far because she’d come back fairly quickly, so I assumed it was another Airlee.”
“Oh, really?” Sip asked, skipping to keep up with the rest of us, because of her short legs.
“Yeah,” said Lough. “She’s dating one of your brothers. There are so many I can’t keep track, but I would recognize that hair and those eyes anywhere.”
Sip skidded to a halt. “Wait, you followed her?”
“Of course,” said Lough. “I’m her brother. It’s my duty to snoop. Besides, who knows what she was up to. Now I know she’s dating someone I’ll probably like.”
“Maybe you two will end up related,” said Lisabelle. Then she cackled, clapping her hands together. “Oh, that would be perfect.”
“I need to meet your sister,” Sip mused. “None of my brothers is married yet. They’ve barely had serious relationships, at least any that they’ve shared with me. This is exciting!”
“But werewolves and dream givers don’t usually date,” said Lough. “My sister is kind of worrying about it. Like, what your parents will think.”
“My parents are pretty cool,” said Sip. “They just want us to be happy. They don’t follow all that stuff. Besides, a werewolf with dream giver powers would be awesome.”
“Is that how it would work?” I asked. This wasn’t a topic that was ever discussed. I had once asked Lisabelle about it, because Lisabelle really has no problem offending the world, and even she had said that it was taboo.
“We should probably talk about it later,” said Lough.
“Yeah,” said Sip. “Here we go, but it must be Sulver. He’s in grad school near where the paranormal council operates. This is awesome.”
“So is this,” Lisabelle observed.
We had entered the hall. The decorations for the coronation looked nothing like the decorations from the night before. This time the hall was entirely covered in black velvet, the floor with a rich black carpet that had a massive red rapier, the symbol of Lanca’s sect, worked into the center. Even the chairs were covered in black velvet. It did not look like the same space.
Given that I had barely seen the other paranormals, I half-expected the hall to be empty, but it was entirely full - and silent.
Fear was heavy in the room. The fallen angels sat on one set of bleachers, entirely in white, an almost blinding effect compared to the black of the darkness mages to their left and the deep greens of the pixies to their right. As the backdrop to the throne that Lanca would sit on for the ceremony the vampires sat in their customary black. That left only the Airlees, who were, as usual, a varied mix of colors. The darkness mages, of course, wore black. Among the latter I looked for the gnarled figure of Malle, but I did not see her.
“Impressive,” Sip breathed.
She was right. The room was incredible. The lighting was red, burning from a chandelier in the middle of the open ceiling.
The red light centered on the Blood Throne, which was placed at the center of the Rapier carpet. The Throne was like an ornately carved chair, all dark wood and cushions. Behind the vampires who framed the throne was a black curtain, where I assumed Lanca, and hopefully Vital, were waiting for the ceremony to start.
“Let’s find our families and sit down,” said Lough, heading for the Airlee section. We were careful not to look to either side, but not looking at the fallen angels to see where Keller was might have been the hardest thing I had ever don
e. I managed it, because now was not the time, but I missed him with a dull ache that thudded in my ears and refused to go away. If we had been at Public, I would have found him and told him that earlier that day I had learned how to kick a guy where it would really hurt, and that despite the fact that I didn’t think of myself as a fighter, I kind of liked it.
“Hi,” said Lough’s mother. I hadn’t met her before, mostly because she worked all the time, but Lough looked a lot like her. I could see where he got his flaming red cheeks. She was also short and a little soft looking. His dad, on the other hand, was tall and thin, his red hair balding and his spectacles halfway down his nose.
I knew his mom did research of some sort into paranormals, but I couldn’t remember what his dad did.
Between the two of them was Lough’s sister. She had straw blond hair, big brown eyes, and a tiny nose, and she was way taller than Lough. She was dressed in the fine grays, light blues, and silvers that dream givers wear for special occasions. She was pretty in a quiet sort of way. I could see how one of Sip’s brothers, growing up in the craziness that was her household, would be drawn to someone with such quiet confidence. She didn’t appear to have any of her brother’s nervous energy. Instead, she just smiled.
“Finally, I get to meet Lough’s friends,” she said, sticking her hand out as she was introduced.
“Yeah,” said Lough, beaming. “This is my sister, Kair.”
Sip’s parents were sitting behind the Loughphtons. Her brothers, all five of them, were sitting another row behind them. I had only met two of them, including Sulver, since the others traveled and worked far away. I waved anyway, and they smiled back at me. We positioned ourselves in front of Mr. and Mrs. Loughphton for the night’s festivities. Across the way I saw Dobrov, waving in our direction. He was sitting next to Daisy, who gave him a ferocious glare and ripped his hand out of the air.
“I guess she still holds a grudge,” Lisabelle commented as she arranged her sleeves. She had been very careful since we arrived at Locke to keep her tattoo hidden. She had already made it clear that she didn’t want to give other darkness mages the idea, but Sip and I agreed that we weren’t sure other darkness mages could pull it off anyhow.
“I don’t think that will change,” said Sip. “Maybe if you were nicer to her.”
My eyes searched for Keller, but in the sea of white fallen angels I didn’t have time to spot him or his family before the lights dimmed. I did see Professor Dacer, mostly because unlike every other vampire there he was not wearing black. Of course not.
“Dacer is in fine form tonight,” Lough commented, following my eyes. I could hear the laughter in his voice, and I had to agree that Dacer certainly had a sense of humor. He wore an eye-smarting suit of yellow and pink, probably in part because those colors were not the usual ones of any paranormal group.
The suit itself was yellow, but it was outlined in neon pink. As I looked at Dacer more carefully, I realized that it was really more like pants and a knee-length tunic than his usual suit. He hadn’t worn a hat of any kind, probably out of respect for those who had to sit behind him. Instead, he had tied several flowers into his hair behind his right ear. Dacer treated his wardrobe as a blank canvas that was to be painted anew each day and used as a means of self-expression. As a result, the other vampires around him sat at a little distance as usual, but he never seemed to mind.
“That’s hilarious,” said Lisabelle, her eyes bright. “Remind me to introduce him to my mom.”
“He probably already knows her,” I said. “They’re about the same age.”
Lisabelle nodded thoughtfully. Lisabelle’s mother was an interior designer, but Lisabelle didn’t take after her at all, a fact that Lisabelle said really upset her mother.
“Are all the paranormals here?” I asked, looking around. The hall was massive.
“Most of the ones in the U.S.,” Sip explained, taking off her brown jacket and laying it carefully over her knees; she was fastidious about not letting her clothes get wrinkled. Underneath her jacket she wore a brown button down shirt with a high collar. It wasn’t the most flattering color on the very pale werewolf, but it was what she liked, so she had stuck to it.
“There are exceptions, of course,” said Kair from behind us. “The very young and the very old, for example, and paranormals working emergency services, and some who still had work to do. Lisabelle’s uncle Risper, as a Committee member in charge of Public, is a notable absence, for example. Lisabelle’s parents, too.”
“Uncle Risper’s busy,” Lisabelle said. She ignored the comment about her parents, but her face flushed and she carefully avoided eye contact with Kair. Risper hadn’t been seen since we discovered that he was the famed thief Elam and was searching for the artifacts on the wheel of power.
I did my best to avoid the gazes of other paranormals, but I could feel their eyes on me. Very few of them felt friendly. I wondered what my fellow students had told their parents and friends about me, and I wondered how badly one of the darkness mages wanted to put an arrow through my heart right now.
The red lights dimmed further and the throne was thrown into darkness. Complete silence fell and the air felt close and tight. After a pause, murmurs went up through the crowd, with everyone waiting to see what Lanca and the Rapiers had planned. I hoped for any sign of movement, eager to see Lanca glide up to take her rightful place at the center of the vampire world.
My eyes were locked on the Blood Throne. When the lights came back, much stronger than before, Lanca sat on the throne. Behind her stood several vampires I didn’t recognize, most of them older and hard-faced. But with them stood Dirr and Vital, and I felt better knowing that Lanca’s guard was there protecting her. He surely wouldn’t let anything happen to my friend.
“Dirr looks proud,” Sip murmured. Lanca’s sister was dressed in white, apparently having taken this rare opportunity to wear something other than the vampires’ customary black. Her hair flowed over her shoulders and down to her hips in perfect waves, framing her tiny body. She was a smaller version of Lanca, but I knew she was just as tough.
I gazed at Lanca’s young sister. Sip was right. She was beaming.
“She’s proud of her sister,” Lisabelle said in my ear, “for doing what she has to even after what happened to their father.”
Lanca sat razor straight on the gilded throne, her face unreadable, her eyes hard. Her hair was shaped into a massive cloud of black ringlets and her white gown showed off her ivory skin. There was intricate beading woven into the fabric, probably vampire runes I would never be able to read, but in any case I was too far away to see them clearly. Her lips were ruby red, as if she had just drunk blood and her eyes burned with heat. She was a queen.
I smiled, taking it all in. If felt like an immense weight was lifted from my shoulders with Lanca safely installed as the queen of the Blood Throne. I knew she would be a powerful ally to the paranormals who fought against darkness.
The explosion at the center of the room, exactly where Lanca sat, seemed to come out of nowhere. My world spun out of control and my ears started to ring. I was surrounded by screams, and the Blood Throne shattered into a thousand pieces.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I rocketed backward. Time slowed as I flew through the air. My ears were ringing and my eyes stung, and I was instantly covered in smoke from the force of the blast. I wondered how my shoulders and neck would feel impacting the bleachers.
The light that had so recently returned was extinguished in the massive explosion, and we were again plunged into darkness. All around me I heard panicked screaming and felt the heat of fire.
My magic flowed out of me, bursting backwards to cushion the impact of my fall. Without the cushion I would have died, but even with that force protecting me, I slammed into the seats several rows behind me and felt my shoulders crush into metal. An elbow slammed into my side, and I could only hope it was Sip or Lisabelle and not someone unfriendly.
I didn’t so much fa
ll to the ground as crumple into a ball where I had hit and stay there, immobile. My eyes watered when I tried to open them so I kept them tightly shut. My body refused to work properly, so I didn’t move.
At least I worked up the courage to reach out.
There was a body next to me, the skin hot and grimy from the blast.
Though it was agony to move, I made myself roll to the side and reach out with both hands. Every bone in my body throbbed and protested.
I ran my hands along a collar and up. I reached short, spiky hair and almost smiled.
Faintly, I heard a noise.
“What was that?” I rasped, coughing.
“Stop petting me,” came Sip’s voice from directly below me. “I’m a werewolf, not a dog.”
“At long last you realize,” drawled my other third’s voice from somewhere in front of us.
“Lisabelle?” Sip called hopefully. “That you?”
“Who else would have such a biting retort after she was almost murdered?” Lisabelle asked. I felt movement along my right arm and squinted the barest amount. Lisabelle knelt next to our friend.
“Why is it you who always gets hurt?” Lisabelle muttered, glaring down at Sip as if it was somehow the werewolf’s fault.
Sip stared down at her arms, which were becoming a mottled purple, as if someone had spilled a bottle of paint over her body. It made me wince just to look at her.
“Ouch,” I said. Sip looked up at me and shrugged. Her eyes were watering and red, but she wasn’t crying. “I’ll be fine,” she murmured.
I looked around and tried to get my bearings. All around me I could hear cries and muffled sobs, but I couldn’t see any other paranormals.
“Of course you will,” said Lisabelle, eyeing Sip as our werewolf friend continued to examine her arms. “Are you going to study those bruises or get some ice and deal with them? We have stuff to do.”
“I was just thinking that mottled blue SO isn’t my color,” Sip moaned.
Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) Page 16
