They led the vampires responsible for the attack away. They were still fighting and snarling at the guards that had arrived to take control of the situation. Jorta returned to his wife and daughter. Elise reached out tentative fingers to latch onto her husband’s shoulder as he bent down. A shudder moved through him and his eyes were stark with confusion and disbelief. He snugged his daughter closer and the three huddled among the debris. The room itself seemed to tilt sideways. Platters of food and serving dishes had crashed to the floor, cutlery and decorations scattering as if a small tornado had whirled through the room and done its best to leave it in ruins.
Emerald’s small frame shuddered and one look at her darkened eyes and vacant expression made his heart thunder. The vision still held her in its grasp.
He grasped her small shoulders and shook her. “Emerald, come back to us, baby. Let it go.”
Her eyes rolled white and her lips parted as she relaxed and collapsed into her parents’ arms. “Too late… too late… too late…” she whispered over and over.
Jorta’s eyes met his wife’s over the top of their daughter’s head. What was too late?
Emerald’s strange pattern of mini-seizures were no surprise to her parents. She’d started having her odd attacks when she was still in the toddler stage. She told them all the monsters had attacked and killed her horse. They’d at first scoffed at her childish ramblings, since the horse in question was alive and well in his pasture. They’d paid better attention when a matter of days later several Juggat Dragons had broken through the westernmost perimeter of the pasture and killed him in the wee hours of the morning.
The pattern had continued. Emerald saw things. She wasn’t always able to explain what was going to happen. She saw fragments of what was coming and sometimes—most times; she had a tough time understanding what it meant. This was one of those times.
Elise held her trembling daughter closer, stroking lean fingers through the silk of her hair and whispering endearments. Fear, sudden and absolute, made her shudder. She was as sure as she’d ever been of anything that she didn’t want to know what ‘too late,’ meant.
#
Jorta stood next to the detail of guards standing watch outside the cells in the castle keep, far below the castle within the labyrinth of twisted passages. He stared deep into the shadowed corners of five different cells, each holding a vampire that had suddenly lost his or her mind and attacked the human members of their staff in broad daylight and without provocation.
“I thought they were in the same cell. Why are they separate?” he wondered aloud.
Joseph nodded. “They were. When they had no one else to attack, they turned on each other. It was the strangest thing. I’ve seen no one, human or vampire, do that. Like rabid dogs they were,” he admitted in confusion.
Jorta stared at the young soldier. “You shouldn’t be here, you know, let the other vampires handle this. I can’t believe you didn’t leave with the others.”
Joseph was fully human. After the attacks, nearly 80% of the staff that were not vampire had packed up bags and left. The loyal, and perhaps foolish, 20% remained.
Joseph shrugged, grim. “Maybe. But we’ve been friends for over 20 years, Jorta. I don’t know what happened. But this isn’t you and it isn’t him. It’s like he was poisoned somehow. Nothing else makes sense. If we all flee at the first sign of adversity… I don’t know. Who’s saying we won’t be the next ones afflicted by whatever this is? I want to know what’s going on, and I think the best place to find those answers is right here, don’t you?”
Jorta grimaced. “Maybe,” he acknowledged. But he wasn’t sure.
He spotted his father in the third cell. Ab’et hadn’t acknowledge his son and had instead hidden in the darkened corners where it was difficult to make him out in the dim lighting. But Jorta knew his father’s scent, and though crazed with madness, he knew the red glow of rabid eyes in that cell belonged to the father that had raised him with a firm, but fair hand.
Like Emerald, he’d been a rare birth in their world, the product of Ab’et and a human witch. He had emerged fully vampire. His mother hadn’t survived his birth.
“What happened to you, father? Someone—something has poisoned you, made you mad with bloodlust. But what?” a guttural growl issued from one of the cages, low and filled with rage.
“I’ll find the answers. I promise,” he finished.
#
I stood in front of the mirror combing my hair, pulling the length back into a ponytail and adding an attractive hair-tie to match my fresh jeans and the new shirt I’d picked up the week before while shopping with Sirris and Kimmy. I picked up my eyeliner and bent in over the sink towards the mirror.
I wasn’t sure why I was bothering, taking my time and primping for a bunch of people whose opinion meant less than nothing to me. It wouldn’t be for Nick, who was still not talking to me. His stubbornness drove me mad. He should support my studies, not give me grief because something had come up and I’d had to cancel our plans. I ignored the guilty knowledge that it hadn’t been for the first time.
I stood back and examined my handiwork. Extra thick to reflect my dark mood. It was perfect.
With a sigh, I flicked the switch and cut the lights, grabbing my zippered hoodie on the way out the door along with my pack. The heavy fleece wasn’t enough, and the chill air bit into my shoulders and slipped down the back of my neck. I shivered.
Nancy lived on the outskirts of Bitterroot with her family when she wasn’t at school, so it was easy for her to go between residences at will. During breaks and holidays, I lived with my mother on the other side of the mountain in Breathless. Until recently, Sirris had lived with her father in town as well. But the fire the semester before had taken care of that, and when the two of them rebuilt, it was farther up Shephard’s Mountain and closer to the Tuttles homestead. Break didn’t start til next week and I let the dorm hall door fall closed with a bang behind me as I headed down the trail towards Bitterroot. I missed my mother, but with a short huff of air I remembered I wouldn’t be seeing much of her during break this time. She’d picked a great time to be called away on some conference halfway across the country. By the time she returned, our time together would be measured in days. I’d elected to stay with the Tuttles in her absence.
I pushed my hands deep in my pockets as I walked. I thought about the summer before and the budding relationship Nick and I had forged by the end.
I’d gone through my change then too, unprepared and early. I was lucky I hadn’t died. I grimaced. The first time didn’t count. I’d had no control over what happened that day when we found out what Jayne was. When she saved us all and almost killed every human and dragon in the valley at the same time. My dragon, new and untested, had protected us.
Strange how that wasn’t what I remembered most. What I treasured was Nick’s kiss and how it felt to fall off the top of the world and feel that push of air beneath my leathery wings. That had been the best day of our summer.
I’d experienced my dragon several times since, and I was getting better at preparing for what came before my change. I blushed. And what came after when I returned to my human form—naked.
I paused on the bluff overlooking Bitterroot, staring down at the small Magical town as dusk descended and the lights winked on one by one.
I moved down the hill into town. It was time to get this over with.
#
Nancy answered on the second ring, her smile reaching her eyes as she invited me in.
“Sadie, glad you could make it. We have a taco bar set up and a couple of the girls brought desserts. Come on in and join us. We were just getting ready to get the boring stuff out of the way. You know, studying?”
I had to admit, the dragon shifters from class were a friendly bunch of Magicals and Other. A small ping of regret settled deep. They just weren’t mine. I missed my buds.
I followed her into the living room.
“Hey, Sadie! Over here, come
keep me company.” Macy spoke up, balancing a tray of food on a small folding table where two other shifters were joining her. Which left the fourth spot open for me. Swell.
“Let me grab a plate then, and I’ll be over.” I got in line.
Macy was a third-year student and knew her stuff. She consistently pulled straight A’s with no effort, where I worked hard enough to scrape a bare B.
I’d just sat down and taken my first bite when Paul spoke up. “Hey, didn’t know you were coming Sadie. I’d have walked with you if I’d known.” He stared at me, a smear of taco sauce on his upper lip and his eyes staring at me with puppy dog eagerness. Ew!
I gave him an uncomfortable shrug and dug into my food. My taste buds exploded with pleasure and I remembered I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
I looked up at his earnest face and forced a smile. Which was why I hadn’t told him. I knew he had a crush on me. Paul easily passed the six foot mark by several inches. He was thin and all legs and arms, still growing into the large man he’d be in a matter of years. And he was easy on the eyes and simple to be with. His sense of humor made us all laugh. But he left me cold in the attraction department, and I didn’t want to give him any ideas. He deserved better, and I was crazy over a certain brooding sorcerer that drove me crazy more often than not.
“Thanks, but I needed some me time, if you know what I mean. I wasn’t real good company.”
His smile slipped. “You mean time to think about your prefect, Nick Seul?”
I started and scowled. “I’d rather not think about him actually,” I muttered beneath my breath. Maybe Paul was sharper than I gave him credit for.
His expression turned rueful. “You know, if you ever tire of waiting on Mr. Attitude…” he left the last unfinished. We shared a small smile as the room grew quiet and Nancy stood up to speak.
I didn’t have time to admit that Nick wasn’t the only one with attitude. We were both full of it. I would have eaten poor Paul for breakfast in the relationship department. He needed someone sweet and uncomplicated, like Macy. I caught her expression of longing as she stared at him when she thought no one was paying attention. Macy followed him around like a besotted groupie. She was a perfect foil for his simple nature. I hoped Paul woke up soon and realized that fact before Macy’s unreturned affections wandered elsewhere.
I turned to listen to Nancy, pulling my notepad and pen from my bag as she talked about the upcoming final on Wednesday we all had to score high on. I wrote down everything she told us, adding the comments of other students who filled in any holes in her extensive notes. There weren’t many. Nancy was easily the top student in Shifting 101.
“Don’t forget, the three most important supplements are zinc, magnesium, and B-12. Make sure you aren’t deficient in any of those.”
An hour later, she wound down. “So, now that the necessary stuff is out of the way… I have a bunch of games in the corner there.”
Several students got up to look at the selection. Macy grabbed our attention from across the room. “What do you think of Pictionary? Does that work?”
Everyone nodded. I groaned inside. An hour later we were immersed in the game and laughing and having a good time. At least, that’s what I told myself as I couldn’t stop laughing at the corny picture Paul drew that looked way more like a Juggat Dragon that an alligator in the swamp. Not that anyone here would have the faintest clue what that was. My smile faded.
They were a fun group to hang with I admitted to myself. I’d had a decent time, but my mind kept conjuring a picture of Nick the last time I’d talked to him, and the hurt he disguised behind a scowl and the bucketful of attitude that was usually mine to dish.
I didn’t stay long after that, making my excuses after the second game while the party was still going strong.
“Stay a while, Sadie. What’s lit a fire under your butt, anyway?” Paul implored.
“Sorry, I didn’t sleep well last night and we have that test tomorrow,” I started. Paul went to stand up and I held up a hand.
“Don’t even think about it, Paul. Stay with your friends and have fun. I have some stuff on my mind I’d like to sort through on the way back, okay? I’d like some time to myself.”
He sat back down looking disgruntled. I made my goodbyes, stepping off the porch and heading up the path towards school.
It was close to ten when I crested the lip of the bluff above town and looked back. Earlier, the lights had just been coming on. Now the entire town was backlit against the dark crest of the woods. Rule 9 lay nestled in its dark depths and well hidden by night. We were already nearly two months into the new year and semester, but I remembered our summer adventures on Greylock Mountain like they had happened yesterday.
I determined to make a call to Franz Hobert as soon as possible to see if the council had decided on whether to stay and fight for their homes or run and hide once more. The Hunter’s Guild, an organization made up of mercenaries and Magical hunters, had done a good deal of damage to the camp and families of Dragon Shifters that made their home there. War was coming to Greylock Mountain, and I was going to miss it.
I wondered what Niel was doing and missed the handsome face and quirky sense of humor of my cousin. A smirk lit my face when I recalled how jealous Nick had been. Only Niel hadn’t been interested in me, anyway. One yucky kiss had told us both all we needed to know about our lack of attraction. Besides, he had a thing for my strange roommate, Fern.
Nick and I had sorted things out. My smile broadened and goosebumps sprang up on my arms as I remembered making up with him.
Then my smile slipped. And now I’d ruined it all over again. Smooth move Cross, I chastised myself as I moved into the empty dark courtyard of Rule 9 academy and headed for my dorm.
CHAPTER THREE
“I can’t help him—them. I don’t know what to do, Elise. They are like rabid animals. Last night two more went ill and had to be locked up. We are down to a handful of humans, diehards. The fools. If they were smart, they would all leave.”
Elise watched her husband pace the length of their chambers, wearing the carpet thin. Emerald was in her own room, claiming a headache. Her episodes always seemed to bring them on.
“They stay because their families have served us for centuries, Jorta. We are their family and they trust us to find the solution.”
He whirled on her, face like a thundercloud, and for just a moment, Elise’s heart gave a jolt of fear. But that was ridiculous. This was her husband, her Jorta. She trusted him.
“But what if there isn’t one? What if this is all there is, a sudden descent into madness…”
Elise’s mouth firmed. “We’ve been through a lot Jorta. We lived through the last, we’ll make it through this too. Have faith, husband. We need to figure out what is causing this. If it’s a disease…”
“Then we are all screwed,” Jorta finished, grim. He ran his hands through his hair, the ends standing in spikes as he tore at it in frustration.
“You should see them. We had to feed them. They tore at the bags in a frenzy of blood lust, savage. I’ve never seen anything like it. No control, not a single ounce of it. Even our ancestors could control their animalistic urges to hunt and feed better than that.”
Elise stared at him, something about what he’d said niggling at the back of her mind. What was it he had just said… when they fed?
“What if it’s not in the air? Maybe it’s not a disease at all. That would explain why we haven’t been afflicted. What do all the afflicted have in common? What do they share.?”
He laughed; it was a bitter sound. “They were all vampires,” he noted.
Elise rolled her eyes. “What else, don’t be thick here, I’m trying to help.”
“I know, I’m sorry. Think, dammit.”
“What about the wine supply? It can’t be the blood, after all, that’s kept at a perfect temperature and locked in a vault below in the cellars. But anyone has access to the wine cellars,” she mused.
“Maybe. But then who should we single out to test your theory on, Hmm?” he added with sarcasm.
Elise frowned darkly. He was right. How should they test it to find out? They weren’t scientists. They had none on staff nor any in Wyndoor that would know about what they needed, either. She had a fleeting memory of someone who did, someone human. But she dismissed it out of hand. They were here in Wyndoor, in their own dimension, sealed off from the outer dimension of Earth.
“There is another problem, a pressing need we have to address,” Jorta admitted.
Elise looked up at him with no real surprise. She knew what was coming. “We are going to be running low on blood soon. Most of the humans have fled the castle, and those that remain are not in enough numbers to keep us supplied. We both know firsthand what hunger does to a vampire’s ability to act civilized.”
Elise squirmed in her seat. She remembered every moment of that nightmare, the gnawing need, the desperation. She hadn’t admired the person she had become.
There was a sudden knock on the door and they both jumped, eyes flying in alarm to the sound. Jorta moved to the door.
“Who is it?” he asked, ear to the door.
“Marta, I have your supper.”
Elise met her husband’s eyes in relief. Since the unpredictable attacks and spreading insanity, Jorta had decided it would be safer for them all to reside in their own quarters and take their meals there. There were other families in the castle doing the same.
Jorta stepped back and opened the door. The aging woman that entered had run through the halls as a child, as had her own parents and grandparents. Still, he wondered at the wisdom of her deciding to remain. It was no longer safe at Wyndoor Castle for any human.
Rule 9 Academy Series Boxset: Books 3-5 Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy (Rule 9 Academy Box Sets (3 Book Series) 2) Page 27
