Daring Provocation (Shadow Veil Academy Book 3)

by Heather Renee

  I’d learned my lesson the first time I kept things from her, and I never wanted to go back to that dark place again.

  “Well, four students arrived at school, but they never checked in for their classes. Marek thought he sensed something outside the school grounds a few days ago, but with all the comings and goings, he didn’t think much of it, since whoever it was didn’t leave behind any dark magic.

  “We’re supposed to go scouting for signs of either someone lurking or the students. Best case scenario, we find them in one of the outbuildings being idiots and ditching class. Worst case, we find some bodies.”

  My body tensed. This wasn’t as simple as I thought it was going to be, and even if I told Raegan the truth right when we got back, she was going to be pissed for having been left out. But, if we were expecting bodies and she was already having fun with her friends… I had no intention of going back to get her.

  “So, you need my help scouting since you’re not supposed to be shifting per Headmaster Stone’s request?” I asked after I took a minute to consider his words.

  “Correct.”

  “And why can’t you shift?” None of it was really making sense, and I wished I’d been involved in the original conversation.

  “Because Marek is being paranoid. I don’t know exactly. It’s not often I question my king unless I want to risk his wrath. I know you haven’t seen it yet, but his dragon can be insane. Now that he knows Malina has no problems killing him, I’m hopeful we’ll see the real Marek when the time comes.”

  Nobody had really talked about the fact Marek hadn’t used all of his abilities when we needed it most. I didn’t say anything, either, because I should have known something was wrong the moment he asked me to kill him as a backup plan. Yet, I’d accepted it and done as I was told, which I regretted more and more as the days passed with Malina still alive.

  We started walking through the front gates, and there were so many questions I wanted to ask about this other side of Marek that apparently existed, but I didn’t. A part of me understood why the fight against Malina failed just a few months ago.

  Whether or not his feelings had been returned or if the bond had been fabricated, Marek had loved Malina. His heart had been true, and I should have foreseen him having an issue with trying to end her.

  Had Raegan chosen to go with Malina in the beginning and I’d been asked to destroy the love of my life in order to protect the greater good, I’m pretty sure I would have told them all to piss off.

  As we crept further into the forest that was still within the cover of the academy’s shield, I tried to remember where all the cool places to ditch had been my first year. Even though I’d already been working for Malina by then, my mission had been to fit in as well as I could and be the most sought-after elf at the academy.

  I’d become the smartest kid in all of my classes and made friends with everyone on a surface level while keeping my fake inner circle small and exclusive. My biggest mistake had been using Lyssa in part of that disguise. I had known she was trying to do the same per her father’s demand, but it wasn’t fair to use her the way I did.

  As soon as I had my first interaction with Raegan, I’d known I had to break things off with Lyssa, but when I did, it had been a disaster. She’d gone off the deep end trying to win me back in an attempt to make her father happy. Having her on our team worried me because of that, but Raegan seemed to see something in her, so I tried not to stress on it much.

  “So, is there anything else we should be looking for besides checking the outbuildings for students?” I asked.

  “Any traces of dark magic or signs people have been out here who shouldn’t be.”

  Nodding, I focused on my own power and pushed it out as far as it would reach, which was about a half-mile. If there had been any dark magic practiced wherever we were searching, I’d find it.

  About an hour later, we still hadn’t found anything. We’d explored all of the outbuildings and walked almost the entire perimeter of the school grounds. The only exception was up in the mountains, but I refused to search there at night, which was quickly descending, or without more people. If someone was out there, we didn’t need to be stupid and put ourselves in a bad spot.

  “What if they’re not within the academy’s shield?” I asked.

  Talon shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

  “I’m not walking the several miles back, so you either need to be okay with me teleporting us or run fast,” I said.

  “I think if I can handle going through the portal from Drakken to here, then I can handle teleporting.” He puffed out his chest, making me really hope he threw up. Well, as long as it wasn’t on me.

  My hand grasped his shoulder, and in Raegan’s words, I zapped us to the edge of the academy. When we arrived a second later, I stepped away from Talon as he swayed, but unfortunately, he recovered fast.

  “I haven’t been outside the academy yet. Where should we head?” he asked.

  My eyes scanned the surrounding area as I thought about our options for a minute. The students would have been on foot. Even if they’d been lured away, it would likely have been close by.

  “Let’s go left. There are some farms down the way that might be the perfect spot for some kids to cause trouble.”

  Talon laughed. “You call them kids like you’re much older than them.”

  I shrugged. “If they insist on acting like children by taking off, then that’s how they’ll be treated.”

  He eyed me curiously. “Where is the guy Gemma used to bitch about being reckless and completely wrong for her best friend? I assumed you to be a rule breaker.”

  “That was before I had Raegan and realized how easily I could lose her. I’m sure you felt that way when Sylas had Gemma. Don’t get me wrong, I still like to have my fun and bend the occasional rule, but it will come in moderation until Malina is no longer breathing.”

  Talon’s face turned a few different shades of red at the reminder of when Gemma had been used as bait for Sylas to take Raegan to Malina. Both of us had suffered that day, and it was one I hoped to never repeat again.

  “Speaking of, did you figure your shit out with Gemma yet?” I asked since we didn’t really have much else to talk about while searching the properties around the academy.

  “Marek said there isn’t anything he can do unless a bond kicks in. There’s something stirring, but I don’t know. It’s weird.”

  “I get it. It was like that when I first met Raegan. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

  And that was it for our deep talk. Feelings weren’t really my thing.

  We came up on a farm with an old barn that’s door was slamming against the side of it from the wind.

  “Shall we?” I asked.

  Talon didn’t bother responding. It was the first sign of something out of place and, while it could have just been the wind that blew the door open, it also could have been someone leaving it open in haste while trying to escape.

  We ran until we arrived and slowed down to check out the exterior. My magic wasn’t sensing anything dark, but my guard would still be up until we cleared the whole structure.

  Talon made a hand signal, telling me that he was going to go around the back, while I headed in through the open entrance. I wasn’t sure splitting up was the best idea, but he was gone before I could object, so I went with it.

  Creeping into the barn, my eyes scanned the area and confirmed quickly that people had been there recently. There were footprints in the dirt everywhere that hadn’t been disturbed by time, and a pile of hay in the corner had a blanket over it with an imprint of at least two, maybe three, bodies.

  Before I could look closer, there was a commotion followed by a grunt where I assumed Talon was, so I raced that way, no longer caring about stealth. Using what we’d learned from Phox earlier in the day, I called on my magic and, instead of creating a simple orb, I used my inner power to create a defensive shield.

  The circular magic swi
rled with teal and deep purple colors as I held it in front of me with my left hand and readied another magical defense in my right. Phox had shown us we didn’t have to carry physical weapons on us in order to protect ourselves, and I was going to put that theory to the test.

  As I came around the final corner, my right hand readied to throw the power I’d gathered. Just as I lifted it, I realized there was no one there. Not even Talon.

  “What the hell?” I murmured as I moved forward to the back door slower than before.

  “Down here,” Talon grumbled right before I almost stepped on him.

  He was hidden beneath some metal sheets that looked like they’d been ripped from the roof. “What happened to you?” I asked as I began to pull the pieces off of him.

  “The damn door was booby-trapped. There wasn’t anything to see on the backside, so I was going to come in this way instead of going back around, but when I stepped inside, my foot hit a wire and all this shit came crashing down on me.”

  When he was fully uncovered, I saw scales covered his arms and knew he was pissed he hadn’t seen the trap beforehand, but there was nothing we could do about it now. Unless there was someone hiding up in the loft I noticed when I first came in, the place was empty anyway.

  “You good?” I asked.

  “Yeah, what did you find?” he replied as he dusted himself off.

  “People have definitely been here, and recently. The booby-trap confirms that, but I didn’t see anyone. Let’s check upstairs before we take off to tell the others.”

  He nodded, and we headed for a rickety set of stairs. We went up separately since I wasn’t sure it would hold both of our weights at the same time and I went first in case it was another trap. Talon was still groaning about the cuts from the metal, and I didn’t feel like hearing him cry about splinters, too.

  When I got to the top, my body froze. I’d never seen anything like it, and my blood began to boil. I still hadn’t managed to move out of the way when Talon got to the top step, but all he had to do was look sideways to see what had me immobilized.

  My first scan counted three bodies, but on the second time around when I began to gather some sort of composure, I noticed another in the corner. None of them looked familiar, but they could have been incoming first-year students, or they had been helpless humans.

  Whoever they were, they’d been slaughtered, and their blood was splattered on the walls around us. Three girls and a guy, none of which were old enough to die.

  “Look at their necks,” Talon said.

  My eyes moved to the first girl, and then I confirmed with the remaining three: puncture wounds from a set of fangs.

  “We have to get back now. They need to know about this. All of them,” I ground out between clenched teeth.

  A vampire had done this, and whoever they were, I was going to make sure they regretted hunting in our backyard. These were pointless deaths, likely only made to send a message.

  Well, message received, and we’d be sure to answer back.

  Chapter 7

  There was a pounding on Gemma’s door, and I groaned, because I’d lost the bet. The guys had come to break up our party a half-hour before I thought they would. Always the fun-ruiners.

  “Pay up, bitches!” Gemma laughed.

  She’d come within five minutes of guessing, but until we confirmed it was actually them, she wasn’t getting anything from me.

  While the others grumbled, I went to the door and opened it, expecting to see two overbearing men, but what I found were two very fearful ones.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as Enzo pulled me into his arms and Talon pushed past us.

  “Inside,” he murmured in my ear.

  Nodding, I let him lead me back in and waited not-so-patiently for them to tell us what had them so wound up. My mind instantly went to Malina, but no alarms had been sounded, and there wasn’t chaos all around, so I assumed it to be something else.

  “Is Jules okay?” I asked. While I cared about many of the others around the academy currently not in the room with us, she was the only one I didn’t think I could live without.

  “Yeah, Jules is fine. We need you to listen to us in full before interrupting. You’re going to be pissed, and you can yell later, but at least hear us out first,” Enzo said gruffly.

  Instead of saying anything, I made eye contact with Gemma and silently agreed we’d behave. It was the others he may have to worry about. We had no control of Peyton, Finley, and Lyssa, who were all still present.

  Talon cleared his throat and began. “Headmaster Stone reached out to me earlier and asked if I would take Enzo to go check some of the outbuildings for missing students who didn’t show up in any of their classes today.”

  My mouth opened to ask why we weren’t included in said task, but Enzo squeezed tight around my waist, reminding me I was supposed to listen first.

  Talon continued. “I approached Enzo after class and let him know I needed his help with something, but he didn’t know the full extent of it until after we were already on our way to search for the students.” This part was probably only said for my benefit, and it did help to know Enzo had no idea what he’d been agreeing to. “We didn’t find anything within the academy grounds that would suggest they’d been taken or that someone had made it through our defenses.”

  “So, then what’s with the pissed off and freaked out faces?” Lyssa asked.

  This time, Enzo answered. “We didn’t only search within the academy grounds like Alistair asked. We went beyond the perimeter to check the farms nearby. We came upon a barn that appeared to be abandoned with the main door swinging open. So, we went in to check for signs of the missing students.”

  “You didn’t think it would be smart to come for backup before going into an unknown situation outside the protection shield?” I snarled. He wasn’t the only one allowed to be protective. He’d made a stupid decision, and I planned on making sure he was fully aware of that.

  “We had it under control, and we’re fine, so there’s nothing to be worried about when it comes to our safety,” he replied coolly.

  My eyes gave him the death glare before he continued and relayed to us what they’d found. I had a feeling they were leaving parts out, but all was forgotten when they got to the end of their story.

  “Whoever they were, they were killed by a vampire,” Enzo finished.

  “How do you know there is only one psycho lurking around the school?” Finley asked, her face turning several shades of red. Her race already had a hard time fitting in. If this got around the school, it would only get worse for her kind.

  “We don’t, but we hope,” Talon answered.

  “We need to get back there with the headmaster and retrieve the bodies,” I said. It didn’t sit right with me to leave whoever they were in the barn for any longer than necessary. They deserved better than that.

  Enzo nodded. “Agreed, but we can’t all go. If our whole group left the school grounds at once, it would throw up too many red flags if people saw us.”

  Gemma leaned forward, her “don’t mess with me” face firmly in place. “If we need to be discreet, then we will leave in smaller groups, but it’s all of us or none of us, including the two of you. We’re tired of being left behind. It ends now.”

  There was no bothering to hide the grin that formed on my face. I loved my best friend so damn much. We’d both grown tremendously in the last two years, and I was proud of the person she was still growing into. She could have easily let it be the four of us who went—the guys would have been okay with that—but we were a “leave no woman behind” kind of group now.

  Even if our group had just formed, we’d slowly been building our sisterhood over the last two years. Bringing us all together for the new classes was only going to make us stronger and a force to be reckoned with.

  The five of us ladies would give Enzo and Talon all the hell necessary for them to realize that, and if they were smart, they’d learn quickly that we weren’t
to be messed with.

  Enzo and Gemma had a stare down I hadn’t witnessed since my first year at the academy. It used to stress me out, but not anymore. Instead of worrying about their disagreement, I had the sudden urge to grab some popcorn.

  Then I remembered we had more important things to worry about than egos being upset. “Alright, Gemma has made a solid point and if Enzo had any kind of legitimate counter, then he’d have said so already.

  “Here is the new plan: Talon, Gemma, and Lyssa will go to the headmaster and see if he’d like to come. The rest of us will head outside the gates and wait just beyond the barrier. If we see anyone, we’ll let them know we’re just running to town for some supplies. A group of four will not be out of the ordinary for us.”

  Enzo moved his glare to me next, but it didn’t faze me, and he knew better. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  Peyton and Finley were having a hard time holding in their excitement, so I let them go ahead and waited until everyone else left Gemma’s room before grabbing Enzo’s hand. “You’ve gotten a lot better, but when we are confronted with a problem, we finish it together or not at all. I won’t waver from that, and you need to be okay with it one-hundred percent of the time.”

  His hands cupped my face. “I know, and thank you for reminding me.” He paused, seeming to struggle with the words he wanted to say next. “I’m just afraid. I can’t lose you.”

  “And you’re not going to as long as you stand by my side.”

  His lips turned up into the smile I loved so much. “That I can do.”

  “Good, then let’s go catch up with the others.”

  He nodded, but instead of moving toward the door, he pressed his mouth to mine and gave me a soul-branding type kiss. “I needed that first.”

  We both had needed it.

  Taking his hand, we left Gemma’s room and locked up behind us. The others were waiting at the platform for us before we split up.

  “See you soon,” Gemma said with a hug for me and then each of the other girls, including Lyssa, even though she was joining Gemma’s group.