The Evil Headmaster

by Dora Blume

  She took a deep breath and met his eyes. His were on fire with desire. She moved her hand up to his shoulder to massage his shoulder a second then dropped her hand. “I promise we are finishing this discussion later.” She whispered.

  He dropped his head next to her ear. “You can count on it.” He breathed. She could feel his hot breath on her neck before he withdrew. A shiver ran down her back.

  “If you’re done, ahem, bandaging Jessie, could you wake up the guy next to you? It’d be nice to have some perspective on how he ended up in the building with the demons but not possessed.” Sloane turned slightly to roll her eyes at Erik before facing forward again.

  “Sure,” Jessie turned to place her hand on the guy's shoulder. “Hey, wake-up.” She pushed him a little harder.

  Sloane reached inside of her bag and handed Jessie a capsule. “If he didn’t wake to you two back there, I don’t think he’ll wake up to a few shoves. Try this.”

  Jessie took the capsule and snapped it under his nose. He blinked and sprang forward. “What the hell?” he said. “Where am I?” He looked to Jessie then Erik.

  “You’re in a car. Don’t worry we’re Shikari. We got you away from the demons who took you.” She rolled her voice to be soothing.

  “Oh shit, where’s my daughter?” he asked, eyes darting around the car. “Did you get her?” His voice became panicked. He reached his hand out and gripped Jessie’s arm. “Tell me you got to my daughter?” he pleaded his eyes sad.

  “Ouch, can you let go? I just got shot.” He dropped his hand. “Thank you. She wasn’t in the building with you. We’re on our way to the Muller school because demons have possessed students there. Could your daughter be one of them?” Jessie asked. He focused on her as she spoke.

  “Yes, she goes to school there. They grabbed her first. I tried to fight them, but one of them knocked me out before I could do any real damage. Her mom lives in Colorado Springs. I need to call her. Do any of you have a phone?” He asked.

  Erik handed him his. “Who’s her mother?”

  “Caroline, she’ll freak out when I tell her I lost our daughter. She’s at the very least going to kill me.” He began dialing, and Jessie placed her hand over his on the phone.

  “She already knows,” she said, her voice low.

  “What? How could she already know?” he asked.

  “She was with us when we arrived. She must have heard something. She took off, and my bet is she’s at the school, now with the others.” Jessie explained.

  “Oh, others? What others?” he asked.

  “My father is Bryant. I talked to him before we went in to get you. He said there was an emergency, and they were all headed there. We didn’t know what it was until we got it out of the demon here. Now we’re going there to help them.” Erik said.

  “Why didn’t you go right away? I’m only one; they have many,” he said.

  “Because they had me, too,” Sloane said. She waved a hand up but didn’t turn around. She was slumped in her seat as Mike focused on driving.

  “Oh, I see,” he said.

  Mike took the next turn, and they could see the school in the distance. “You guys ready? Because there’s going to be quite the battle inside here.” Mike looked to Sloane and reached his hand out to take hers.

  “Always,” she squeezed his hand tight.

  Chapter 17

  “Okay, do we have a plan or are we just charging in?” Erik asked from the backseat.

  “Erik, why do you always need a fucking plan?” Sloane asked, throwing her arms up.

  Mike placed his hand over Sloane’s and shook his head. “We don’t know what’s going on in there, so for now, we’re charging in. We don’t have much of choice.”

  “Well, I’ll go first. That way I can freeze any demons as I go. As long as they don’t have the amulets, I should be able to freeze them,” Jessie said.

  “I also know the school. I can lead you through it. I’m Nick, by the way. I don’t know if Caroline told you anything about me.” He shrugged. “She isn’t a forthcoming person, so I doubt it.”

  “No, she hasn’t told us anything about you. We know a little about your daughter and that she lived with you. That’s about it.” Jessie said.

  “Yeah, as I said she isn’t forthcoming. I think she likes to keep the world from knowing about us. Our powers might have something to do with it. She keeps us protected, even from our people.” He looked from Jessie to Erik.

  “I completely get that.” Sloane huffed up front. “So, this whole getting to know your stuff is fun and all, but we kinda need to get in there right now.”

  “Yes, of course. My daughter may be in there.” He moved his hand to the door and jumped out. Erik grabbed Jessie’s hand, and they both exited the car. Sloane and Mike got out at the same time.

  “Does anyone need weapons? I have a duffle in my trunk.” Mike asked.

  “I could use something. Although, I’m not sure I need it.” Nick followed Mike to the trunk. He tucked an XDS-9 into his waistband and patted Mike on the back. “Thanks, man.”

  “Anytime.” Mike closed the trunk. Jessie, Erik, and Nick took the lead. Mike and Sloane followed close behind.

  Erik stopped momentarily at the door to gaze into Jessie’s eyes for just a moment, then opened the door for them to stroll through. He shook his head as Sloane bounded on the balls of her feet ready for anything. The entryway was empty. Erik stopped to listen. He figured he could find where they needed to be quickly. Most of the thoughts were coming from the chapel.

  He glanced toward Nick. “There’s fighting in the chapel.”

  He narrowed his eyes at Erik. “Can you hear thoughts, too?” He asked.

  “Yes,” he hustled toward the chapel. He wanted to reach out to Caroline, but he wasn’t sure he could. He’d never tried. Caroline made it seem easy, but her power may be different from his. He reached out as if he were trying to talk to her. He pictured her sitting across the table from him and sent out his thought. Caroline, Caroline, are you there? Are we heading to the chapel? He stopped and listened. He blew out a breath when nothing happened. Then he felt a small flicker in his mind. Get your damn walls down, idiot! Caroline screamed in his head. Get your ass in here, now. We need you. She projected. He reached the door of the chapel and threw it open.

  He saw Bryant first, punching a young man in the nose. The boy doubled over and held his hand to his face as blood streamed over his lips and chin. He saw Caroline was fighting hand to hand with another female girl. He looked to Jessie, “Freeze them, quick. They’re all possessed students and Shikari. Please, Jess, we have to save them.” His gaze looked desperate as he scanned the room.

  She raised her hands and froze the students nearest to them. She began running to the back of the room, and Erik followed. She froze as she ran. Some students didn’t freeze as she went, but she didn’t stop until she’d made it around the room. The students who hadn’t frozen were being knocked to the floor by other Shikari members in the room.

  Caroline walked toward Erik and Jessie. “It’s about time you got here. It took you that long to get through the damn building?” She scolded.

  “Well,” Nick stepped forward. “They were saving me.”

  Caroline’s mouth dropped, she recovered and closed it quickly. “Oh, it’s good to see you, Nick.”

  “Is it?” he asked, narrowing one eye at her.

  “Of course, when I heard about students being possessed at the school I rushed over here.” She looked to Erik and Jessie. “You understand why.”

  “Yes, is your daughter okay?” Jessie asked.

  “I don’t know. I got here and started helping. I haven’t been able to find her in the crowd of students.” Caroline looked around frantically. “I need to find her.” Caroline rushed around the room checking each of the students as she went.

  Sloane walked up to Jessie and Erik. “Looks like we missed all the fun.” She crossed her arms over her chest. Mike walked up behind her and rubbed h
er shoulders.

  “We’ve got bigger problems. They’ve possessed more students at the school in Colorado Springs along with adults there. If they can accomplish that, they will go after the order. I don’t know how they’ve been able to possess Shikari, but they are. We need to figure out how before this goes any further.” Erik said.

  Bryant walked up to the group. “I couldn’t agree more. We need to contact the order. Let them know what’s going on here. They need to be aware that they may be next.”

  “Isn’t that what you normally do, being the head of the Minneapolis area and all?” Sloane said a little too cocky, and Mike squeezed one of her shoulders a little harder. Bryant glared at Sloane, and she felt a wave of calm spread over her. “Oh, no, you don't. You can’t use your power on me. I know better.”

  “This isn’t the kind of thing you discuss over the phone, dear. We wouldn’t know who was possessed over the phone. If they’ve already gotten to them, we will tip our hand. The demons cannot become aware of our knowing. We’re going to need to go there in person.” Bryant explained.

  “Well, we need to take care of the school here, first.” Sloane shot back.

  “I do believe we need to split up. Some of us will need to travel to the order to warn them. Sloane, Mike, Jessie and Erik, I trust you can stay and take care of the school.” Bryant looked to Erik then Sloane.

  Mike wrapped an arm around Sloane’s waist, and she leaned into him.

  “We should be getting to the other school. We believe the headmaster there may be a leader of the demons. He seems to be masterminding the operation here in Denver. We need to find out who’s behind all of this if we have any chance of stopping these demons.” Erik explained.

  “Agreed,” Bryant said. “Erik, Mike, Jessie, and Sloane should go back to Colorado Springs. You can handle the situation there. You’ll need Shikari hunters from Denver to help. There very well may be quite a few possessed at the school. Coordinate with Magnus. He’ll get you the help you need.” Bryant stroked his beard as he directed everyone.

  “Okay, so we regroup after everything is cleaned up here?” Jessie asked.

  “I think we need to wait until tomorrow to go after the other demons in Colorado Springs. We’ll need to keep this quiet until then, so the other demons don’t know we’ve stopped them.” He stopped and gave Jessie a meaningful look. “Jessie, you need to rest. You’re supposed to be recovering from a bullet wound. We need to recuperate before we go into another battle.” Erik said.

  “We should go back to Caroline’s house.” Jessie looked around the room. Various students were being dispossessed and helped. There was a young girl being held by a woman in an iron embrace. Many were being attended to and bandaged. “Speaking of Caroline, where is she?” Jessie asked.

  “I don’t know. She went to look for her daughter. Do you think she found her in another room?” Sloane glanced around, but there was no sign of her.

  “We should go find her. Make sure her daughter is alright.” Jessie strode to the door of the chapel.

  “I’m going to find Magnus and discuss who should be going to Colorado Springs and Kansas City. I will meet up with you shortly.” Bryant turned and headed toward the pew.

  “I’ll try to reach out to Caroline.” He concentrated and tried to send his thoughts out to her.

  Caroline, where are you? Erik projected.

  He got a quick reply. Erik, I can’t find her. She’s not here. What happened to her? Her thoughts were jumbled and panicked.

  “We need to find her. Caroline’s daughter is still missing. She’s freaking out.” Erik hurried down the hall in the direction of Caroline’s frantic thoughts.

  They found her in the band room. Jessie stepped in front of her. Caroline whipped her head around. “Her stuff’s here, but she’s not. Why isn’t she here? I found her backpack in the practice room. I thought maybe she hid in here, but I can’t find her anywhere. Come on we have to keep looking.” Caroline raced out of the room.

  “Okay, everyone split up. We have to find Caroline’s daughter, Nicole.” Jessie followed behind Caroline.

  “Do they just forget I’m a tracker?” He glanced to Sloane and jerked his head back toward the band room. She followed him to the girl’s backpack. He picked it up and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. “She’s not here.” He opened his eyes slowly and spoke low. “Go let them know. We are wasting time here. She’s not in the building.” Erik nodded and raced to find Jessie and Caroline.

  Sloane took Mike’s hand. “Any idea where she is?”

  “I think they are on the way to Colorado Springs. I think she’s possessed; her essence isn’t as strong as another Shikari. I can’t explain it exactly, but it’s faint. I’m not sure how long I will be able to feel her if they get too far away. We need to head toward her now.” Mike carried the backpack and headed in the same direction as Erik.

  Erik was stopped at the end of the hall. His hand was on Caroline’s shoulder. She was hunched over, gripping her stomach. Mike called, “Come on we need to go after her.”

  Caroline snapped up and went running in his direction. Her eyes wide, “You know where she is?”

  “I can sense her, but it’s faint. We need to go before I lose her altogether.”

  “Okay, lead the way.” The determination in her voice was strong.

  “Alright, let’s get to the car. Caroline, give your keys to Erik. He and Jessie can follow us in your car.” They raced to the exit and into the cars. Mike raced onto the highway and sped toward Colorado Springs.

  “Could she be going home after her school was attacked? Maybe she was coming to see me.” Caroline said as she realized they were heading out of the city.

  Mike exchanged a glance with Sloane. “Yeah, maybe,” he said focusing back on the road.

  “That’s got to be it. She got away from the fighting and ran. I taught her well and with her gift. I’m sure she got away.” Caroline was speaking more to herself than anyone in the car.

  Sloane looked over to Mike, and her lips thinned into a hard line. “Are you going to tell her, or am I?” She asked Mike.

  “I think we should wait.” Mike cautioned.

  “She deserves to know.”

  “Fine, Caroline, your daughter's essence is faint because I think she’s possessed by a demon,” Mike spoke smoothly.

  “What? That can’t be she’s too powerful. She’d never let herself get possessed by a demon.”

  “What do you mean, she’s too powerful?” Sloane asked.

  “She has a special gift. Unlike any, I’ve heard of in the Shikari. It’s why I try to keep her away from other Shikari members. She went to school here, but she knew not to talk about her abilities. Just like she’s not supposed to discuss Nick’s ability.” Caroline took a deep breath. “I guess it’s important for you to know. So, Nick’s power is to manipulate the elements, and I can read minds as well as send thoughts. My daughter, well, she can influence your thoughts. It’s like she can plant a thought in your mind and compel you to act on it. That’s why I try to keep her protected. She lives with Nick because he can protect her. They both have very special powers. It’s also why we chose to live in Colorado Springs rather than Denver. Nick chose to move to Denver after the, ah, the divorce.” She sat back in her seat, chewing her lip anxiously.

  “Wow, that’s one hell of an ability.” Sloane blew out a breath.

  “We need to save her. That’s my baby.” Caroline gripped her hands into fists.

  “Of course, Caroline we’ll get her back,” Mike said giving Sloane a look. She rolled her eyes back at him.

  “Did anyone tell Nick?” she asked. “He should know.”

  “He’s in the car with Erik and Jessie. They’re following us. He said Nicole was with him when they took him. When he woke in the car on the way to the school, he asked where she was. I’m sorry, we didn’t know at the time the demons had her. We’ll get her, Caroline. We won’t stop until we do.” Mike reassured.

 
Chapter 18

  The shrill of the phone broke the silence in the car. “Who is it?” Jessie asked.

  “Bryant,” Erik swiped his finger over the phone to answer. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Magnus is sending help your way. They will be there in the morning after everything is cleared up here. We’re still discussing going to Kansas City to alert the order in person. We’ll work out the details, and I’ll inform you of our decision.”

  “We may need help sooner than that. Demons have taken Caroline's daughter. We’re in route to Colorado Springs. We’re following Mike, who is tracking her. Any chance we can get some help sooner than tomorrow?” Erik asked.

  “I’ll confer with Magnus and let you know as soon as I can,” Bryant said.

  “Okay, call me back. We need to know. If we track her to the school, we’re going to need help. Is there anyone in Colorado Springs you can call to help?” Erik asked.

  “I’m not sure. I’ll get back to you.” He hung up.

  “Ah, okay.” Erik set the phone down in the center counsel.

  “Bryant said they’re sending help but not until tomorrow. I let him know we needed them sooner. He’s getting back to me, I guess. He hung up kind of abruptly.” Erik shrugged and focused on keeping up with Mike who was racing down the highway.

  “Caroline is the head of Colorado Springs. She could call in help sooner than Magnus. I’ll call a few friends and let them know what’s going on. I’ll see what assistance I can round up.” Nick sat back in the seat and began scrolling through his phone.

  “If the battle is at the school, I’m not even sure we have enough people in the area to go against them. The school had so many possessed teachers and students. They’ve been working on this plan for months. I can’t believe no one was noticing.” Erik shook his head. They weren’t supposed to be able to possess hunters.

  Erik’s phone began ringing again. “It’s Mike. Hey, man, we’re right behind you.”

  “I know, I lost Nicole. I could sense her one minute and the next she was gone. We’re going to drive by the school, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to go in.” Mike’s voice was somber.