by Lucy Auburn
Because what kind of monster—even a street rat like me—kills her own father?
So I press against the dark power of death with all my strength, and the strength being lent to me by the guys. But we’re weakened. I’ve been fighting Meyer all night; I put Lana’s heart back in her chest and somehow spirited her away to safety with a sliver of phoenix heart. As for the guys, well, they’ve been wrung out and used by Meyer on a near-daily basis to keep the headmaster under his thrall and spread his calming influence through the whole campus.
Even all together like this, I don’t know if we have enough to drain a powerful Grim like Meyer. I can feel his connection to the death energy, can practically taste the arcane power that makes him tick, but it doesn’t seem to budge no matter how much I push against it.
And he’s struggling against his restraints, the knee Mateo shot nearly healed already.
“I can shoot him again,” Mateo offers, aiming the gun at the other knee. “I’m sure he’ll survive the blood loss.”
“Do it,” Ezra says.
The cocky demon’s finger depresses the trigger.
Meyer’s eyes fly to the barrel of the gun.
And something shifts on the wind.
I feel it as time slows. As the man who taught me, who told me to call him Leo, who betrayed me then revealed that he’s my father, reaches out and uses his power to bend the very reality around us to his will.
I can feel him slow down time itself.
But I can’t quite jump into the stream and follow him.
He’s done something to his Grim time powers. Something that makes it impossible for me to jump in the pool with him. Something he, of course, never taught me how to do or how to fight.
I know so much more than I used to, but I’m still useless when it comes down to it.
The bullet leaves the chamber of Mateo’s gun, but it doesn’t connect with Meyer’s other knee. He’s already moving, gone, siphoning more and more power from Laena’s death as he flits towards her body with impossibly fast steps. I don’t know why, but I have the overwhelming sense that once he’s drained the rest of the death energy that’s settled around her body, he’ll be impossible to capture.
Before I can figure out how to slip into my own time stream and follow him, the air around us shifts.
My vision blurs.
A figure appears in the clearing near the dorms, impossibly bright and red with power, tall and majestic.
It’s the headmaster. She’s returned.
Petra and Sam are with her, a tiger on her right side and a wolf on her left, majestic and strong in every single way. Red fire writhes around her arms; her shirt is torn and in tatters where her heart was plundered from her chest, but somehow she still looks put-together and impressively in control. However many deaths she has left, however many times she’s died, none of it is written in the confident, warrior-like expression on her noble face.
She looks like she could burn Meyer to death with a snap of her fingers.
Based on the way he jerks to a stop, turns to her, and hovers near Laena’s body, I have the feeling he shares my sentiment.
The headmaster glances in his direction. Flames curl around her fingertips; at her side, both shifters growl, their haunches braced, claws digging into the soft earth as they prepare to pounce and eviscerate the Grim.
At the last moment, before anyone can make a move—before I can gather my wits and concentrate on draining his power—Meyer grabs Laena’s limp body by the neck and wrings the last little bit of energy from her recent death. Black energy surges around him, sinks into his skin, and gives him impossible strength and vitality.
His eyes flick towards me for just a second. With real regret in his voice he murmurs, “I’ll come back for you, my girl. No matter what happens, we will be together in the end.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I don’t respond at all. Part of me wants to tell Mateo to shoot him in the heart, but instead I just... watch him. And wonder what it makes me that I’m related to someone like him.
Then the power flickering beneath the surface of his skin surges out to meet the cloud of death energy around him, forming an impossible, glowing shield. I lift a hand to block out the light, squinting my eyes as they tear up. By the time it fades and I dare to take my hand down, Meyer is gone.
With him he takes the answer to every question I have about who I am, where I came from, and what it is that I can do. All of it, just... gone in an instant.
The motherfucker.
In this case, quite literally, since it seems he quite probably fucked my mother in order to bring me into existence. Which kind of takes the heat out of the insult.
Raising her hands, the headmaster aims a huge stream of red fire directly at the place where Meyer was only a moment before. Her face twists in anger as the fire burns nothing but air, and she jerks her power back into herself with a grimace.
“Well, fuck,” Lynx says, letting his empty rope drop, eyes studying the space where the Grim was. “Where do you think he went?”
The four demons, the headmaster, and the two shifters all look at me, as if I know the answer to Lynx’s question.
But the truth is I have no idea.
He’s been my father all my life, apparently, and my teacher for months besides, but I’ve got no fucking clue where he might be.
“He’s burning in Hell as far as I’m concerned,” I tell them, ignoring the sympathy in Lynx’s eyes, the way Petra paces towards me and faces outward as if to protect me. “We can find him in the morning. Right now I’m more worried about making sure he’s left the academy grounds completely and can’t come back—and doing whatever we can to lift the spell he somehow put on all the students and teachers without anyone noticing.”
Chin lifting, the headmaster takes a step towards me. “That’s not for you to worry about, Dani.” She lets her hands fall to her side, their bright red flames retreating beneath the surface of her skin. “This school is my responsibility, and I’ve failed woefully in protecting all the students who fall beneath my supervision. It’s my job to correct that—and to make sure that Meyer really can’t come back.
“Although,” she adds, “if my knowledge of Grim spellwork is correct, I suspect that the moment he left he sealed his fate. The magical wards he put on this place the day you arrived were effective—out of all his lies, I’m sure that night he told the truth. He left our grounds, but I don’t think he’ll be able to come back any time soon.”
Ezra stiffens, his bladed katana held loosely by his right hip. “You’re sure of that? Because, to be frank, you haven’t seemed very lucid or sure of anything recently, from what little I’ve seen while we were being used by him.”
“I’m certain.” Her voice is as strong as iron and just as unbreakable. “But just in case, I’ll be patrolling the grounds all night, prepared to incinerate him the instant he reappears. I won’t let him put his spell over me again.”
“For all our sakes, I hope you’re not underestimating yourself.”
The headmaster’s eyes flash. “If I am, you’ll be the first to know.”
I wince, both at the headstrong way Ezra confronts the headmaster, and at the reminder that he’s been under Meyer’s thrall ever since that night in the woods when I doomed all four of them by trusting the wrong person. It’s also strange to realize that both Sam and Petra are studying Ezra, seeing him and the other demons face-to-face for the first time, after I spent so much time and effort trying to keep the phoenix and Grim sides of me separate.
Not that it did much good, I’m realizing now. I trusted the wrong Grim in my desperation to believe that side of me could be good or truthful—now we’re all paying the price for my brief naivete. The old Dani who lived on the street would have never fallen for Meyer’s secret bio dad shit; clearly all the flavors of cereal and the branded blazers they’ve given me here have made me soft.
“Hey.” Voice pitched low, Ezra reaches out and gently squeezes my shou
lder; I startle, unsure how he even got so close to me so suddenly. “It’s not your fault. He’s not your responsibility. She,” he motions towards the headmaster, “can catch him and do whatever it takes to nullify the threat. You haven’t even taken your first set of finals at this school.”
“Do I look that pitiful?” I tilt my head up towards him, feeling the moonlight stroke my face.
“You look like you’ve been through far too much for one person.” Reaching down, he threads his fingers with mine, uncaring of the drying blood on my skin. “Time to share the burden.”
I nod and squeeze his hand, leaning forward as he sheathes his sword and reaches up to push my hair behind my ear. But internally, my gut is churning, and I can’t stop looking at the tatters of Lana’s clothing—even as she hurries towards me and throws her arms around my neck, practically shoving Ezra aside.
“Thank you, thank you,” she murmurs into my hair, squeezing me so tight that the air leaves my lungs. “I don’t even know all of what happened here, but I do know I wouldn’t be alive and still standing if not for you. I owe you a favor, Dani.”
As she loosens her embrace, I step back and give her a tight smile, wishing it was just me and the demons again. “Could I trade that favor for passing grades on my finals?” I ask, only half joking at most. “Because it’s been a long semester.”
The headmaster’s brows knit together in confusion. “What do you mean, finals? It’s not even December yet.”
All the blood drains from my face as I realize just how much time she’s lost. Thankfully, as I try to form the words to break the news to her, I’m spared by Petra, who shifts back into her human form and nudges the headmaster’s shoulder to get her attention.
“We should probably talk about that,” she says gently. “You’ve been a little out of commission for a while. No one noticed, but... if things are going to get back to normal, we may need to talk about rescheduling this semester’s finals. Or canceling them altogether. I’ll fill you in on everything you missed.”
I send the wolf shifter a grateful smile as she leads the headmaster away. Meanwhile, Sam paces through the woods in tiger form looking for any lingering threat, leaving me alone with my guys.
Standing with the four of them underneath the moonlight, I’m suddenly aware of the fact that we lost more time to Meyer’s deviousness than we ever had together in the first place—as well as another inconvenient truth.
In order to free them from his enslavement, I reforged the bond we had with each other.
And I don’t even know if that’s what they would have wanted, or chosen for themselves, if I’d stopped to give them a choice. In my head, I had no other option, and it was more than justified—after all, Meyer was using their powers, especially Mateo’s memory-stealing abilities, to bend the academy to his will.
But maybe they’d rather be completely free of me, like we planned oh so long ago, unbound not just to Meyer but to anyone with Grim blood inside them. After all, despite all I know about them and how close we’ve become in our time together, I’ve no idea what’s waiting for them back in Purgatory—or what they might be forced to give up by the bond I’ve forged between us with a dark, blood-driven spell.
So I glance into each of their tired eyes and hurriedly explain, “Re-bonding us was the only way I could undo what Meyer did. I’m sure there’s some way... he had all these spell books he kept from me... I mean, I could break the bond without someone like him taking advantage...”
I trail off awkwardly, aware suddenly of the heat pooling in my cheeks, the blush that must be visible even under faint moonlight that filters in through the clouds overhead. The truth is, I never want to say goodbye to them again. But I don’t know how to say that without sounding like a total ass.
As I trail off awkwardly, the guys exchange glances. Then Lynx meets my eyes and steps forward, wrapping the loose rope that nearly caught Meyer around his fist.
“We should talk about the bond,” he says, stepping in as always with his knowledge. “Our time with Leo was... illuminating. He didn’t take care to keep secrets from us. We were able to learn a lot of things every time he summoned us. I’d even say he was careless.”
Sebastian grimaces. “No doubt he thought demons like us wouldn’t put the details together.”
I glance back and forth between them. “What do you mean? If it’s about him being my father, he told me that... if it’s even the truth.”
“It is,” Ezra says gently, and I don’t like the pity in his voice. “He wasn’t lying about that.”
“What he was lying about was the nature of the bond between us.” Lynx glances towards my hands, which are still writhing with orange-and-black energy. Sheepishly, I pull my power back down beneath my skin, and feel tired almost instantly. “We weren’t bonded to you accidentally, Dani.”
“I summoned you. I know that much.”
“It’s not just that. What we are to you—what you are to us—it’s part of your nature.”
I must still look confused, because Ezra fills in the blanks. “What Meyer did, severing the bond, he knew it was temporary—it couldn’t hold. We’ve become a part of your magic. All Black Phoenix have a soul bond with at least one upper demon. It was in one of the many books he owned that he held back from you, an obscure bit of info he didn’t want you to know.”
Lynx adds, “When you draw on your wings, you draw on your connection to us, which couldn’t be fully severed even by dark magic. You draw on our power when you perform spellwork, because that’s how Black Phoenix work. Without us, you’d never be able to assume your full powers.”
Mateo reaches out and chucks the bottom of my chin. “What these nerdy assholes are saying is: you’re stuck with us, whether you like it or not. And vice versa, because we can’t return to Purgatory now that we’re bonded to you. Trust me—we tried whenever Meyer was asleep. It didn’t work. He may have stolen the bond, but he couldn’t destroy it.”
“This is where we belong now.” There’s something fierce in Sebastian’s voice. “The mortal plane will be our home as long as you live in it.”
Staring at the four of them, I’m overwhelmed—and grateful. Saying goodbye yet again might’ve destroyed me; literally, apparently, and not just emotionally.
Half-jokingly, I tell them, “I guess I’m gonna need a bigger bed.”
Chapter 3
There’s no time to relax now, though. As soon as Sam is done patrolling the area for any remaining threats, he shifts back to human form and tells me, “We’ve got to move the body before any of the other students find it and the whole campus freaks out.”
I give him a look. “And you’re telling me this why?”
The significant glance he aims at Lynx, Sebastian, Ezra, and Mateo makes it clear. “I figured you could have them... help or whatever.”
“I thought shifters were strong.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve never exactly touched a dead body. And we don’t want to panic everyone—although if that spell the bastard cast is still in effect over the whole campus, maybe they’re too hypnotized to freak out. Still, it seems disrespectful to just... leave her here.”
Ezra speaks up. “I’ll carry her.” His expression is muted as he approaches Laena’s prone form. “I’m the one who did the deed, after all, no matter who was in the driver’s seat at the time.”
His sorrow and pain is unmistakable, even as he tries to push it down under a brusque mask of indifference. That’s Ezra, though: carrying huge burdens on his shoulders. In this case, as he slings Laena’s body into his arms, quite literally.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I remind him. “You weren’t in control.”
“I know.” A muscle jumps in his jaw, though, like he’s having trouble reminding himself. “Where should we take her?”
“To my office.” The headmaster strides out of the woods, chin up, Petra hurrying a step behind her on much shorter legs. She looks world-weary and more than a little angry; no doubt getting caught
up on everything Meyer did to her has revenge plots swirling in her head.
“I’ll call a helicopter and have her airlifted to the closest morgue as soon as possible. It’s how we took care of the other bodies... and to think, I believed we’d seen the last of all that.” Reaching out, she lightly strokes Laena’s cheek, and I shudder at the strange tenderness of the gesture. “This is the fourth student who has died this semester. It’s time something was done about it—no more half measures. We’ll bring the fight to them.
“The Grim threat will be nullified.” Her eyes glimmer like two hard gemstones. “Permanently.”
The headmaster’s words ring in my head as I trudge down the hallway towards my bedroom, four distinctive footsteps following in my wake. I can’t stop thinking about the fire in her eyes, the harsh intentions written in every line of her body. It’s haunting me even more than watching Ezra carry Laena’s body up to the roof, where Petra put a white sheet over her and settled in to watch vigil for the arriving lift.
It was the way she said it more than the words, as if she was proposing a war.
The Grim threat will be nullified.
When I first came here, I was wary and confused. I didn’t know who to trust—except for myself. Though I grew to trust the headmaster, a few of the shifters, and of course my demons, that came back to bite me in the ass when I trusted the headmaster’s judgment in her hiring of Meyer.
Now she’s swung completely in the opposite direction, and I don’t know how to feel. Some part of me wants to scorch the whole world to the ground, salt the earth, and never hear of a single Grim killing any phoenix or shifter again. After seeing the very heart taken from a phoenix’s chest, I share her fury at the threat they present.
But at the same time, I was born one of them. I still am one of them, in my own Black Phoenix way. So I don’t know who I’ll be without them and the opportunity to discover my roots that they present.
I wanted so badly to believe at least one of them could be good that I almost let it destroy the best thing I have going for me. I can’t let that happen again.
