by John Corwin
She laughed. "No. Follow me."
We left the castle and walked between the dormitories, off campus, and down a road lined with what looked like mansions of various designs, some large as a condo complex, and others no larger than a couple of single family homes linked together.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Greek Row."
"As in fraternities and sororities?"
She nodded. "Yes, and filled with complete snobs. There's a house out here that has been empty for a long time. I've heard it was haunted, or cursed."
"When was the last time anyone lived in it?" I asked.
She tapped a finger to her chin. "I think a fraternity leased it, but my boyfriend told me the university evicted them for holding party that almost got everyone killed a few years ago."
"Too much alcohol?" I asked.
Her face grew serious. "No, they were summoning the dead."
Chapter 28
"A ghost summoning party?" I asked, aghast. "What kind of idiots hold a party like that?"
Lina laughed. "Frat boys, I suppose."
Just thinking of ghosts running loose in an abandoned frat house made my skin crawl. "There aren't any dead things on the loose in this house are there? Maybe I should reconsider a cardboard box."
She made a nonchalant wave with her hand. "I'm sure the house is empty." Lina stopped at a path that wound through dense trees. We walked down the path and through a rusty iron gate hanging open at a lopsided angle. Beyond, crouching like a boogeyman, stood a rectangular, gray-stoned complex straight from a horror movie. Vines and creepers wound up the exterior, but otherwise, it didn't look too much worse for the wear.
I felt as though I were in a black-and-white horror film as we walked to the front door. The wood and black steel bands looked almost new.
"The preservation spell still seems to be working," Lina said. "There might be a few spider nests inside, but I'd be happy to help you clean it up."
I gulped. "Spiders?"
Lina said a word, and the door opened with nary a squeak. Inside, the large foyer opened to hardwood floors shining beneath a light coating of dust, and a tarp-covered table and mirror sat against one wall.
"The university banned the fraternity from campus, evicted them from the house, and interdicted the building, but it only took some drunk students a couple of hours to hack the interdiction spells and get inside." She led me into a large den with a fireplace large enough to spit and roast a cow, walked up to a tarp, pulled it back to reveal a pool table. Another tarp concealed what looked like a foosball table.
"People come here to party?" I asked. That certainly wouldn't be good.
"If they see the house is occupied, they'll stay away," Lina said.
"It could be kind of awkward," I replied, imagining a group of drunken revelers bursting in while I traipsed around the house in my underwear.
Lina led me through rooms, upstairs to bedrooms, down into the basement, and even further underground to a locked iron grate. Apparently, another group of students had put their own interdiction spell on the grate to prevent anyone else from going inside. I conjured a ball of light at the tip of my wand, and held it through the bars, but saw only a staircase leading further down on the other side.
"What's down there?" I asked.
She shrugged. "This is the first time I've been here. Someone said they heard there are old dungeons down there, and they blocked this off to keep students from getting lost or hurting themselves."
A shiver sent goose bumps racing up my back. "Dungeons? Thank god this thing is locked." I rushed back upstairs, two steps at a time, feeling a chill against my back the entire time. I wasn't sure why the thought of dungeons caused such a strong reaction in me, unless it had something to do with my time as a prisoner with Maximus.
Lina rushed up after me. "Are you okay, Justin?" Her large brown eyes filled with concern.
I glanced down the dark stairwell. A chilly sensation ran icy fingers up my arms. "Yeah. Just bad memories, I guess." As we walked back into the main den, I thought about more practical matters. "Will the university evict me if they find out I'm here?"
"I don't know." She led me down a hall, opening doors, and looking inside until she found a room with what looked like a brass bird bath embedded in the floor. Lina picked up a crystalline sphere, and set it inside the indention in the center of the brass construct. The crystal ball flickered on. Lights in the hallway blazed to life, and a background hum reached my ears as power was restored.
"This place doesn't use electricity," she explained. "Like most things here, it's powered by aether from ley lines."
"Cool," I said, unaware that such a thing was even possible.
Lina and I walked back to campus. "You sure look tired," I said, unable to keep my mouth shut about it any longer.
She regarded me with a tired smile. "I have to work hard, Justin."
"To impress Alejandro?" Her older brother was pretty impressive in the Arcane department, at least from what I'd seen when we'd first met.
"No, to prove to myself that I'm good enough." She sighed.
We reached campus. I gave her a hug before we parted ways. "I have faith in you. Just don't make yourself sick, okay?"
She smiled. "I won't." Her eyes lingered on mine for a moment. "Have a good day, Justin."
Since I'd agreed to meet with Vallaena every afternoon but Saturday, I headed for the school. I wanted to see her, but not for practice. Rage boiled my blood as I thought about her talking with Nightliss. As usual, my aunt waited on a bench in the rear gardens. And also as usual, she offered me a sultry smile when I appeared. It took all my willpower not to punch her in the face.
"You told Nightliss about the angel heart cure," I said, a growl rising from my diaphragm. I loomed over her. "She offered her heart—her life—to me."
"Did you take her up on the offer?" Vallaena asked, raising a golden eyebrow. "No, of course you didn't. Even with the fate of our world in the balance, you won't take the ultimate sacrifice even when freely offered."
My fists clenched. "She's dying. You took her will to live, and gave her a reason to die. I warned you not to tell her, Vallaena. And you did it anyway." Anger swelled inside me, but I pushed it away, snuffing out the heat until all that remained was a cold fury. "I want you to leave. We're not going to have these little classes anymore."
A slow wicked smile spread across my aunt's lips. "Oh, but you have no choice. Not if you want to ally yourself with the Daemos."
"I'll find someone else to teach me."
"I think you'll find very few takers."
"Then I suppose I'll just have to let the Daemos fend for themselves," I said, turning and walking away.
"Don't walk away from me, boy," Vallaena said, her voice still calm, but with an undertone of warning.
I kept walking.
"You're throwing everything away for one half-dead Darkling who is of no use to you."
I kept walking.
"You're being an idiot."
I almost said something, but I'd been called worse. I heard footsteps behind me on the stone walkway as I rounded the corner.
"You will not walk away from me," Vallaena suddenly snarled, and blurred in front of me. "You will take your lessons and do as I say if you want to survive."
"Is that a threat?" I asked calmly as my guts froze in place.
"Take it for what you will, boy." Her lips curled into a sneer. "I have put too much time into your education to let you throw it away over your dark little plaything."
My right hand shook. Somehow I maintained control. Pushed it back until only a lake of frozen anger remained. I would not let her bait me into a fight. "Go to hell." With that, I shoved past her.
Vallaena snarled. "You will not ignore me!"
Her iron grip clamped around my bicep, and flung me back down the pathway. Thankfully, I'd anticipated something, mainly thanks to her daily attempts to beat me senseless, and managed to land on my feet with a
thud, sliding backwards. I looked up at the sound of clacking on the stone, and saw Vallaena in mid-shift, her skin turning a deep blue, horns sprouting from her forehead, and her muscles swelling. The clacking noise came from six-inch stilettos which looked ready to burst apart as my aunt's feet strained against them.
"Oh, crap," I said. My cold fury turned to bowel-clenching fear. I knew with deep certainty that this wasn't one of her little tests. This was for real, and my enraged aunt was ready to tear my head off and drop-kick it into the forest. I did the only thing I could do, reaching deep inside me for every bit of strength I had. Then I turned and ran like my butt was on fire. One look back told me what I already knew. My aunt was a lot faster in succubus form.
She chanted something in the furious voice of a woman who just found lipstick on her husband's shirt and fully planned to emasculate him in the most horrific way imaginable. Dark pools of liquid seeped through the earth ahead of me. Something struggled in the dark pitch, jerking, straining, snarling as it rose like a monster from a tar pit.
Snarling? Oh crap!
She was summoning hellhounds.
By now, Vallaena was only thirty yards or so behind me. I briefly considered veering for the forest where I might have a chance to lose her in the undergrowth. But I knew the hellhounds would be right behind me. My only other choice was magic. I pulled out my staff, and shook it to full length.
A black shape leapt from the earth. Before I could react, the hellhound clamped its jaws on the staff and wrenched it from my hand. I stumbled, nearly fell, as the sideways jerk fought my forward momentum. I leapt over another hellhound as it freed itself from an oily pool, and lunged for me.
I was out of options. Well, unless I considered apologizing to Vallaena. When I looked back again at her snarling face and flaming eyes, I realized it might be too late even for that.
My demonic essence clawed at my insides. It raged and slammed against my barriers. I could almost hear it in my head, demanding I free it. Demanding I give it a chance to live another day instead of dying painfully, torn to shreds by hellhounds.
Vallaena won't really kill me.
Then again, hell hath no fury like a woman pissed off. And I had just scorned the hell out of a woman who thought her poop didn't stink. Everything she'd done to me during our lessons had usually involved sexual innuendo. The only thing I sensed from her now was pure death.
FREE ME!
I flinched as the words rang in my head. Had I thought that, or was my spirit really talking to me.
DOES IT MATTER?
Actually, no. It didn't.
Instead of opening the cage a crack as I usually did, I broke the cell doors down. A dark presence filled me, spreading through my chest, my arms, my fingers, running down to my legs and toes. There was no anger. No fear. Only the will to survive another day.
I spun in place. Vallaena, flanked by hellhounds, rushed me. As I turned to meet her, my body swelled, muscles coiling like serpents beneath my skin. Deep beneath the surface, I sensed the mindless beast eager to rampage and destroy. But instead of letting it ride the wave of change to the top, I struggled to stay afloat of the roaring tide in my head. Just as I felt myself hitting the place where I would no longer be able to keep the beast at bay, I slammed a barrier of will between it and my reasoning mind.
My clawed hand slapped aside a diving hellhound. I reversed the swing, and backhanded the next black beast, sending it yelping and skidding across grass already shredded from previous practice sessions. And then my aunt was on me. Our arms locked onto each other's shoulders with a thunderous clap. I felt claws digging into my flesh, drawing blood even through the toughened skin. I snarled, and increased the pressure, forcing droplets of blue from her.
She roared, showing fangs on her beautiful but terrifying face. I slammed my head forward, ramming my horns against her nose. She cried out in surprise, and I used the opportunity to end the stalemate and flung her sideways. Vallaena spun through the air, crashing into a tree at the border of the forest. It shuddered, showering the area with acorns.
My warning senses tingled. I spun. Grabbed a hellhound by the throat. Threw it at my stunned aunt. Two more hellhounds came from my side. I slammed the ground with both fists on instinct just before they reached me, shaking the ground, and knocking them off kilter. I gripped each one, and slammed their heads together with a thunderous boom. The two hounds dropped senseless from my hands.
Vallaena struggled to her feet. Saw her hellhounds, and screeched a battle cry that echoed through the forest and probably all the way back to campus. She charged, her body growing even larger, manifesting into full demon form. I knew if I tried to match her, to allow myself to fully manifest, I'd lose control of my consciousness. As it was, the beast inside slammed relentlessly against what little control I had left.
Words Bella had once spoken to me echoed in my head. It's not always about brute force. It's about using your brains. Use their strength against them.
Flicking into my incubus sight, I drew in magic, drinking deep from the swirling energy all around me. I crouched, preparing myself to meet Vallaena's hulking shape. The beauty in her features was gone, replaced by raw bestiality. She closed to thirty yards. Twenty. Ten. Five. At the last minute, I dodged to the side, threw out my hands, and pretended I was my favorite neighborhood web-slinger, just like the day I'd saved me and Shelton from sliding into the Gloom.
Strands of webbed energy shot from my hands, wrapping around Vallaena's thick waist as she blurred past, her clawed feet tearing up clods of earth, spraying dirt in my face. Even with her supernatural reflexes, there was no way she could stop her extra mass on a dime with all that momentum. I imagined the strands becoming flexible. They stretched and stretched, slowing her to a crawl. She reached the apex, and stopped. But only for an instant. With my feet entrenched in the ground and muscles bulging, I jerked on the magical web. It snapped back like a giant rubber band.
Vallaena zipped over my head at what seemed like the speed of light, her body a blue blur. I was so shocked by her speed, I nearly forgot to release the magic holding the slingshot together, dissolving it just before her momentum would have pulled me after her like a Chihuahua leashed to a charging car's bumper. She crashed into the forest, cracked through several saplings, and vanished into the gloom. A moment later, I saw the top of a particularly tall tree shudder with impact. The thud echoed like a thunderclap. Spider bats shrieked, flapping away from the commotion.
I winced. That had to hurt.
Something roared in the distance, its ravenous bellow echoing from deep within the woods. The tragon. Even with our, um, disagreement, I couldn't let that monstrosity eat my aunt. I ran into the forest, following a trail of broken saplings, uprooted bushes, and finally found Vallaena lying spread-eagled at the base of a huge tree with a demon-shaped divot in its thick trunk. Blue blood streamed down her animalistic face, running down her cheeks and pooling in her huge demon ears.
As I watched, her body began to shrink back to normal. Another roar reached my ears, this one much closer, so without further ado, I picked her up, and ran for the safety of the shield. Once back in the meadow, I placed her on the ground, keeping an eye on the unconscious woman until she returned to normal size, and her blood had turned to a red hue.
Exhaustion heaped atop my back, rolling over me like a wave. I'd pushed myself today, physically and mentally. I'd actually used magic while manifested. The thought thrilled me, but now my body was paying the price. At least I was safe for now.
Pawed feet padded behind me. I turned and stared into the glowing yellow eyes of a hellhound.
Chapter 29
Mustering what energy I could, I directed a growl at the hound. It cowered, whimpered, and rolled onto its back. Raising a demonic eyebrow, I reached over and scratched its belly.
"Good boy," I said, my voice still deep with the demon form.
Its tongue lolled.
I watched the other hellhounds struggle to their feet. I
fought to remain in demon form, but my body wasn't having it. My sight blurred and wavered from the strain. Soon I'd lose control to the raging beast trapped behind the thinning wall of my resistance. I would just have to face the hounds without my demonic advantage. Gritting my teeth, I pushed and beat back the beast, stuffing it into its psychic cage. My body shrank back to normal size just as the hellhounds, still somewhat wobbly on their feet, came toward me. They stopped. Sniffed Vallaena, and rolled onto their backs in front of me. Since my aunt hadn't taught me anything about hellhound summoning, I wasn't sure why they were suddenly my best buds, but assumed it had something to do with my kicking their rear ends rather soundly and proving I was the boss of them.
Vallaena moaned. Pressed a hand to her head, and sat up. Her bloodshot blue eyes met mine. "You."
I nodded. "Me."
She pinched the bridge of her nose, head bent as if in silent prayer, though I figured it had more to do with the worst headache of her life. After a full minute or so, she looked back at me. "You defeated me."
"Yep." I tried not to gloat, but the look of disbelief on her face was just too precious to pass up. "Kicked your butt."
Vallaena nodded, face pensive. "I am sorry, Justin. I should never have talked to Nightliss."
I rocked back on my heels with shock. "Did I get hit on the head, or did you really just apologize?"
"I am desperate for you to be healed. If you succumb to the vampling curse, we will all succumb to the Seraphim." She looked up at me. "Do you understand?"
I nodded. "But your behavior is no excuse." I sighed and offered her a hand. She took it, wincing, and I pulled her to her feet. "If you try to manipulate my friends again, I will leave you in a heartbeat."
Her eyes grew large and hopeful. "Does that mean you're not leaving my tutelage?"
I offered her a smile. "That apology just earned you another chance."
"Well, I think you have proven yourself today, nephew." She took my hand in both of hers. "I am proud of you."
