Rake was looking like he was about to panic when Tat said, “Sip, can’t you just enjoy the evening? Maybe Evan knows what he’s doing.”
Sip slammed her fists onto her hips and turned her considerable glare on Tat. The vampire flinched a little under her angry eyes. “Do not talk down to me. He can’t possibly know what he’s doing if he’s DRUNK.”
Before Rake could reply, the lights went out.
Chapter Seventeen
The blackness gave way to a disco-type red light and a roar went up from the crowd. I saw Evan hanging from a chandelier, waving his arms wildly and grinning. “Enjoy the party,” he cried, throwing silver confetti down on all of us as groups of students raised their hands up to grab at it.
I glanced at Sip. When the lights had gone off Rake had moved into a protective position in front of the werewolf, but now that it was clear that there was no threat, he backed off. Sip was giving no quarter. Her purple eyes still blazed.
“Just enjoy yourself,” he suggested. “It won’t be so bad.”
As it turned out, Vale didn’t catch us. Apparently they were, in fact, all occupied on the other side of campus. What actually did happen, though, might have been worse. Camilla, Daisy, and Faci threw open the front doors and everything came to a stop. The music blared for a moment longer, but some paranormal quickly raced over and shut it off and the hall was silent.
Daisy stood in front, Camilla and Faci flanking her. I wondered what had happened to Faci’s face to make him so ugly.
Daisy was dressed in black, but her clothes looked fine: a sweater and a long skirt, with black clogs. She appeared to be the perfect little school-girl except for the crazy look that seeped out of her eyes. Camilla was dressed in a green and white dress, with green tights. It was cold outside, but the dress looked on the warmer side, so I was sure she wasn’t cold. Faci, as usual, was dressed in robes, more like the clothing senior vampires would wear. Once, when we were on the road, Lisabelle had called him the little politician, because he acted like he thought he was an adult already.
This wasn’t entirely unexpected. I had been waiting for this confrontation, I just hadn’t imagined that it would happen at a Cruor party, of all the unlikely places.
I wondered where Dobrov was. I had not seen him at the party, even though last I knew he had been living in Cruor.
Evan staggered forward. Lisabelle stood with her back razor straight, her eyes scanning the room. I wasn’t sure if she was looking for a fight or a way out, but knowing Lisabelle it was probably the former. For one thing, there had to be more pixies nearby. Faci, Daisy, and Camilla wouldn’t challenge the entire school by themselves.
“Welcome,” said Evan, spreading his arms wide. The sleeves of his button down were casually rolled up and there was a red liquid stain on his shirt, probably from one of the drinks he had enjoyed. “This is Cruor dorm. I know you’re not usually welcome in Cruor - ever - given that you killed my queen’s sister and all, but I’m willing to make an exception tonight.” His eyes were hard and I wondered just how drunk he was, or if he had actually planned to have the three of them come alone to this party so that he could teach them a lesson, no matter what the cost later.
Daisy’s lip curled in disgust, and the movement pulled at her scarred face. “I don’t need to be invited. I will come if I want.”
“What’s the pixie’s excuse?” Evan asked, gesturing with his glass at Camilla.
The pixie in question folded her arms over her chest. “I go where Daisy goes,” she sneered. “I don’t need an invitation either.”
“What about you?” Evan asked Faci. The young vampire was standing with his feet apart, his hands hanging loosely at his sides. I was struck by the idea that these two had probably grown up together. Evan was a couple of years older, but they were both Rapiers.
“Parties aren’t allowed on campus,” said Daisy coldly.
“What are you? The party police?” Evan giggled at his own joke. A lot of the other vampires there, who had moved to flank him, laughed as well. Daisy’s eyes hardened. “Do not laugh at me,” she hissed. “You have no right.”
“I have every right,” Evan shot back, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “You’re interrupting my good time. All these paranormals came to relax and have a nice night and here you are, ruining it.”
Daisy stamped her food in frustration, for all the world like a small child who’d just been told she couldn’t have a cookie for dessert.
“You will cease this at once or I’ll tell Mom,” she seethed. “Cease!”
I glanced sharply at each of my friends in turn, not sure if we should intervene. We were all the way on the other side of the room and it would be difficult to get to Evan quickly.
Faci stepped forward and placed a hand on Daisy’s shoulder, his sunken eyes intent on Evan. The girl jerked, then stilled as Faci’s eyes went wide. Obviously she didn’t like to be touched, but Faci kept his hand on her shoulder, talking urgently into her ear. I watched Daisy’s face clear as Camilla continued to stand there quietly, as if she didn’t care at all what was being said.
It only took a second. In one breath Daisy was standing there, relaxed. In the next she had launched herself across the room, slamming into Evan before he even had a chance to raise his hands in defense. Daisy was small, but she looked like a miniature train slamming into a piece of flimsy cloth.
Evan crumpled as Camilla’s lip curled with sick amusement. Faci clasped his hands behind his back, a proud, almost fatherly look in his dead eyes.
Evan gave a cry of pain and struggled madly, but Daisy was hard to dislodge. She sank to the floor on top of him, biting, kicking, screaming, and wailing. Evan raised his arms over his head to try to protect himself from the small blows that rained down. Daisy used her fists, her little hands punching wildly. Next to me, Sip gave a sharp intake of breath. Her grip on my arm was painful.
“Lisabelle, should we stop this?” I breathed. Evan was already breathing shallowly, and his struggles were slowing down.
“Lisabelle?” I unglued my eyes from the fight, as everyone else continued to look on in horror.
Lisabelle was no longer next to me. Gasping, I looked around frantically. Of course, Lisabelle was making her way to the front of the room. Our fellow students were so intent on the battle that Lisabelle was forced to move many of them bodily out of her way.
“She’s something else, isn’t she?” said Rake in admiration. He was still standing behind us. Even if he wasn’t fighting, I felt safer with the massive vampire at my back.
Sip gave a bewildered look around, but when she realized Lisabelle wasn’t there she swore. “Why are we still standing here?” She was waving her hands around furiously, and nearly yelling. “Rake? Pick me up! Let’s move.”
His eyes widened in surprise, but as Sip started to give the command again he merely nodded. Gently, he wrapped his massive hands around Sip’s tiny waist and lifted. He placed the werewolf on his shoulders as if she weighed no more than an apple.
“Maybe you should shape change?” I suggested. It had been a while since Sip had used her werewolf form, and I thought she might have better luck getting through the crowd if she dodged around legs.
She looked over her shoulder and down. “No, I don’t want to be caught in that form when Vale finds us all here. Anyhow, I like this view.” Then she commanded Rake to get moving. Her hands were clasped under his chin, giving him an awkward look, as if he was wearing a baby’s bonnet.
He nodded and started to move through the crush of party-goers. Unlike Lisabelle, he didn’t have to throw anyone out of his way. They just moved.
“Get the lights back on,” Sip told me as I started to push through the crowd.
I nodded. The red lights were not enough to see well by. For all we knew the Baxters were already there, or there was another student on the side of the Nocturns who was about to stab Evan in the back. We had reached the point where we were at war with our fellow students. Conflicts that
had been simmering for years had now hardened into open battle.
Daisy and Evan were still grappling. All of the party attendees were afraid to interfere, but Faci had no such compunctions. With a gleeful cry and a sick smile he darted forward, landing a kick on Evan’s shoulder. The vampire cried out in pain; with Daisy still on top of him he was unable to avoid the attack.
Unfortunately for Faci, he was so intent on hurting Evan that he didn’t see Lisabelle coming until she used a dose of her own black magic. I had watched in wonder as she pushed her sleeves back, revealing her blazing wand, and I continued to watch in fascination as a stream of black fire shot out of it and raced to wrap around Faci’s middle. He wasn’t picked up, exactly. I was accustomed to seeing paranormals fly backwards into a wall. After all, it had happened to me several times. But this was different.
Faci struggled, but he barely had time to react. The black magic was rich and deep and he never had a chance. A crack, the sound of his head hitting the black tiled floor inside the entryway, was met with a massive cheer from the watching students. Lisabelle never stopped coming. Even as Faci struggled into a sitting position she slammed him down again. Camilla stood by, watching wide-eyed, as Faci was taken out of the fight.
Meanwhile, Rake was heading to help Evan, who was still in the clutches of the furious little hybrid. She had now started to slam his shoulders and neck into the floor, and while his arms were weakly pushing against her torso, it was to no avail. She was stronger than she looked.
“Get off him,” Sip yelled. “Rake, put me down!”
Sip started to squirm and Rake barely had time to set her on her feet before she raced to Evan’s aid.
Rake turned and looked at me. He was grinning. I was liking him more by the minute. “Precocious little thing, isn’t she?”
“Drives Lisabelle nuts,” I said, grinning. Rake’s shoulders shook with amusement. “Lisabelle needs a little excitement in her life,” he observed wryly.
But we didn’t have time to talk right then; instead, we raced to help our friend. Sip had finally decided to transform into a werewolf and was now standing over Evan, having frightened Daisy enough to make her let go of the vampire. Sip’s teeth were bared and her hackles were up, but I knew it wouldn’t take long for Daisy to regain her composure. Sip wasn’t big enough to intimidate a paranormal as powerful as Daisy for long.
“t would be good to have ONE week where we aren’t in a battle,” I told the werewolf that was Sip. “You know, just for something new and different.”
“I don’t like different,” said Rake, his voice booming in my ear. Sip changed her mouth so that she could speak and said, “You’ll learn to like it or I’ll know why.”
“Don’t mind her,” I told Rake. “She gets crap from Lisabelle all the time.” But the big vampire only chuckled.
I went to stand the other side of Evan from where Sip stood guarding him. He lay on the ground, unmoving. His eyes were bruised and his shirt was torn, and I had to look away. No matter how many times I saw a battle, or a friend injured, I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it.
Daisy, seeing that she was outnumbered, gave a howl of rage. Faci had regained his footing, but he tried in vain to protect himself from Lisabelle’s onslaught. She was a trained darkness mage and Faci was only seventeen. He was not ready for Public, and he especially was not ready for Lisabelle.
“Help,” he screamed, his voice cracking with fear.
Camilla jumped in on the action and I saw Lisabelle’s eyes spark. We all hated Camilla, but Lisabelle had taken a particular dislike to the pixie. Camilla immediately threw dust at Lisabelle, the pixies’ best and most common defense, and as it floated through the air it sprang to life, becoming hundreds of tiny vengeful butterflies. As they zipped toward Lisabelle they reminded me of the knives that had fallen out of the sky when we snuck onto Public, but I didn’t have time to think about that connection right now. Daisy had gone to check on Faci, while Lisabelle was busy beating away the swarm of angry insects.
Knowing that Lisabelle was fine, even against Camilla, I knelt down next to Evan. His eyes fluttered and his chest lifted, but he didn’t speak.
“Are you okay?” I whispered. His lips cracked in a smile, a bit of blood dripping down one corner of his mouth.
“I’m fine,” he said. “My plan appears to be working.”
“If your plan was to get beaten to a pulp, then yeah. Solid day’s work,” I said, at which he grinned, making his lip bleed even more.
“No,” he murmured, his voice growing weaker. “My plan was to see if we were being spied on. In case you were wondering, we are.”
I gave a heavy sigh. Was that what this had been all about? We already knew we were being watched, but maybe the paranormals who weren’t used to it had to be sure, and he did have a point: Faci, Daisy, and Camilla had showed up awfully quickly.
Speaking of Camilla. . . .
I looked at Lisabelle and almost laughed. She was leaning against the back of a chair, casually incinerating Camilla’s butterflies one at a time.
“Lisabelle looks like she’s about to yawn,” Rake said, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
Camilla, Faci, and Daisy left quickly after that. No other Volans were there, and they were massively outnumbered. One vampire sect was on their side, but one was not enough against the entire remaining student body of Public. Some of the other vampires assured us that they would take care of Evan, who had several broken ribs, a broken nose, and three broken fingers, not to mention a sprained knee and a bruised ego.
My friends wanted to walk me home, but I insisted I could manage. I had already decided to let my guard down that night. I had to see Keller, and I wanted a little time alone to prepare. Running into the lizards was a very real possibility, but it was a risk I was willing to take.
Once I was safely back in Astra I sighed with relief. I was in no condition to fight Daisy or Faci. My shoulder still wasn’t healed and I tired easily. Our Ultimate Tactical, which we still knew nothing about, was going to be interesting. I just had to make sure my friends didn’t get hurt trying to protect me.
I also had to make sure I didn’t die, because we weren’t really engaging in Tactical at all. Vale had just picked the students she liked most against the students she liked least, in the hopes that our near deaths would distract the campus while she stole my Mirror Arcane. Well, I wasn’t going to let that happen. Tonight was definitely a night for dreams.
I fell into bed and squeezed my eyes shut. Hopefully it would be Keller I woke up to.
I was not so lucky. It was Malle who was waiting for me.
“At least we’re in a different place,” I said, stepping gingerly over the dry and crusted ground. The barren wasteland had not seen rain in years and in every direction I turned, all I could see was more open space. There weren’t even any boulders to break up the monotony.
“Where do you think we are?” she asked, twirling her wand.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I don’t like to hang out in places that don’t have sandwiches on the menu.”
Malle didn’t smile.
“I should’ve known she didn’t have a sense of humor,” I muttered to myself, carefully keeping pace with her so that she never got any closer than she had been at the start.
“Think about where we are,” she said. “Maybe it will help you.”
Every time I saw Malle she was the one who asked the questions. I decided that it was my turn. I don’t know why she called these little meetings, you’d think she was preoccupied running the demon world.
“So, my mother was a dream giver?” I said coldly, my gray eyes never leaving her face.
Malle threw back her head and cackled. I flinched. Her neck did not look like it was strong enough to support her head as it flopped backwards.
“I thought you knew that! How silly of me. I keep forgetting that you don’t know anything.”
I took a step back and she narrowed her eyes.
&nbs
p; “Please do not do anything stupid. Just because you’re an elemental doesn’t mean you’re capable of beating me. You aren’t.”
I kept moving. I was worried she’d attack me, and I didn’t want to let her get too comfortable.
“I don’t want to fight you, Malle,” I told her honestly. “I’m not the one who likes war, death, and destruction.”
“Aren’t you?” Her voice was raspy, and every time she opened her mouth I had a hard time not looking at her broken and cracked teeth.
“Look at your track record. Every semester you’ve been in college, you’ve fought. When the hellhound came for you in Maine you would have fought if you had known how. You have the common affliction of lying to yourself about who you really are. Your perception is warped.”
“And I suppose your perception is always spot on?” I demanded, glaring.
She smiled coldly at me. “As a matter of fact, it is.”
Later, I might sit down and search deep inside myself to see if what she said was in any way true, but at the moment I refused to let her get to me.
“My mother, she was just a dream giver, but you killed her.”
“What happened to your mother’s a mystery,” she said, her tone unreadable. “That’s the truth. I’ve always been blamed, but no one’s ever asked me.”
“I’m asking you now,” I said, digging my fingernails into my palms to keep from yelling in frustration.
“I didn’t kill your mother,” she said, still in the same tone. “There was no reason. If I had found her, don’t you think I’d’ve killed you too?”
My mouth fell open and stayed that way. I blinked several times, taking in what she had just said. Did she have a point?
“Maybe you didn’t know where I was,” I argued desperately, but my words sounded hollow even to my own ears. “Maybe. . . .” I trailed off. Maybe a lot of things.
Malle shook her head. “See, this is what I mean about not knowing yourself properly. You decided I’m guilty without the slightest bit of evidence. Now you’re going to hold onto that notion for dear life, because it’s the one you’re comfortable with.”
Elemental Fire (Paranormal Public Series) Page 14
