Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public)

by Edwards, Maddy

  Vital, normally accustomed to arguing with his queen, this time turned his immeasurable strength against the nearest darkness mage. The mage was an older man, short and squat, with a flat nose that looked like it had been punched several times. He was just raising his wand when Vital sprang. The darkness mage didn’t even get his wand up before Vital was on him like a wild animal tearing into its prey. The darkness mage screamed in agony, the sounds echoing off the walls of the hall.

  “Duck!” Dacer yelled, as a ball of fire, both deep maroon and red, pelted toward us. Sip and I ducked, Lisabelle did not. I twisted my torso to shield my face from the pulsing heat. Lisabelle raised her arm, exposing her tattooed wand, which now burned black.

  She stuck her arm directly into the flame.

  I flinched and looked away. Sip screamed.

  When I didn’t hear Lisabelle’s scream I inched one eye open. The fire was slamming into Lisabelle’s uplifted arm and her wand was absorbing it, burning with blood and power and then fading back to bright black.

  “Alright,” said Sip. “If she can fight. . . .” My friend sprang into the air, transforming to werewolf as she did, and darted head first into the mass of vampires.

  We fought a losing battle. Three darkness mages came at me and I didn’t know where to turn. Frightened now beyond clear thought, I crouched low and pulled a shield. My magic didn’t come easily; it seemed to know we were outnumbered. I had lost sight of Sip, while Dobrov had gone to his sister. I hoped he didn’t intend to challenge her, because I had a feeling he would lose.

  In front of me, Lanca was fighting Faci. He was faster, but she was obviously stronger. The problem was that every time she got the upper hand, three darkness mages flicked black fire at her arms and legs, bringing her down and giving Faci a chance to recover. He would fall and then push himself quickly to his feet. I started to have a feeling that his nose had been broken so many times while he trained to fight.

  Dacer had gone to challenge Castov, while Vital fought three darkness mages and was winning.

  Then there was Lisabelle.

  She was the only one who appeared to have the upper hand, and she was fighting against at least six vampires at a time. She thought nothing of turning one to dust while she broke another’s neck. It wasn’t pretty, but it was impressive.

  “Charlotte,” Lisabelle yelled, her back still to me. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said. My shield was holding, but barely. If any of the mages turned their attention elsewhere for even a second I would send a shock of power at them.

  I heard a cry. Sip was overwhelmed, having thrown herself into the middle of the battle.

  Dobrov hadn’t tried to fight his own blood, so Daisy had circled around him and now held Sip by the neck.

  “Stop this, stop fighting, all of you,” Daisy commanded. “Or I kill the werewolf.”

  We all stopped. Lisabelle stopped after giving one swift kick to the groin of an aggressive vampire. I kept my shield up but stopped attacking. Vital and Dacer came to a halt while Lanca gave a scream of frustration before halting as well.

  “That’s right,” said Daisy, her eyes hard. “Be good little sheep and die.”

  I felt the world slow as Daisy raised her hand to kill Sip. Lisabelle started forward and I heard someone, maybe Dobrov, yell in fury. Into the echoes of pain and anger that followed came the most beautiful voice I had ever heard.

  “Oh, I don’t think we’re there yet,” said Keller from behind me. Lisabelle grinned and Sip’s head snapped up. I sighed in relief and spun around. At least a hundred paranormals stood at Keller’s back, ready to fight the darkness. Lough was with them, brandishing his fist, but he gave a slight wave and smile to us.

  My boyfriend came forward, his eyes blazing. He never looked at me. Ice closed around my heart as I realized that he was not going to. In his eyes, I had betrayed his trust. I had done something unforgivable.

  After that it wasn’t much of a battle. Most of the darkness mages gave up and ran; the ones who stayed died. Daisy was one of the ones who ran. She knew she was no match for so many fallen angels and Airlees.

  “So, Lanca, are you going to kill him?” Lisabelle asked, glaring at Faci. Lanca looked at the man she was once supposed to marry and shook her head.

  “No,” she said. “I should, but no. He will live in the prisons here. At least for now.” I knew my friends were looking at me to gauge my reaction, but I had none. I was empty. Living did not mean anything anymore.

  Faci sat, impassive, his hands tied with black cord, his bent nose and sunken eyes giving nothing away. We had won this battle, but at what cost? Only time would tell.

  Epilogue

  We returned to Public the next morning, but I knew nothing would be the same. I had not slept at all, my mind focused squarely on Keller and on Malle’s desire to kill me. I kept telling myself that our breakup was only temporary, but I had no idea if that was true. At least I still had school, and the Fang was safe with the Queen of the Rapiers.

  But as it would turn out, I didn’t even have Public. That was made entirely clear to me, in a wholly unexpected way, when Dove and Professor Erikson met us at the entrance when we arrived. We had traveled back with Lough and Dobrov, attempting all the way to evade detection by demons. Since we were some of the last few visitors left at Locke, we assumed that most of the other students had already returned to campus.

  “What are you doing here?” Professor Erikson asked, glaring at us through the gateway. As usual, her hair was pulled back into a severe bun and she was dressed all in white. I found myself resenting her existence and wondering why she had not been at Locke to fight. Maybe I was supposed to be grateful that she hadn’t tried to kill me . . . but I was not.

  “We came for the semester,” said Sip, raising her white eyebrows. “I know we’re a day or two late, but it couldn’t be helped. Feel free to give us cleaning duty.”

  “The semester was canceled,” said Dove, his eyes like chips of black ice. “The place is closed. With the threat of darkness so great we can’t have such a high concentration of young paranormals in one place.”

  Sip dropped her suitcase while I stood there in shock. Lough and Dobrov both cried their protests.

  “So, what on earth are we supposed to do?” Lisabelle demanded hoarsely.

  “Try not to get killed,” said Dove, shrugging. “Or don’t. I don’t care.” Then he slammed the gates in our faces.

  Now we really were alone.

  The End

  ~

  Also by Maddy Edwards:

  One Black Rose Series

  One Black Rose

  August

  Autumn

  Susan’s Summer

  Paranormal Public Series

  Paranormal Public

  Elemental Rising

  Elemental Shining

  Spiral Series

  Spiral