Sticks & Stones Spell Werewolf Bones: A Why Choose Academy Romance

by Rae Stapleton

  Evie startled when Zephyr spoke. “What are you doing out here without a jacket?” he asked, as he laid hers over her shoulders.

  “Be careful, Z. You’re starting to sound like Bodhi.” The look of horror on his face forced a laugh out of her.

  “We both know he would have cussed at you while he guided your arms in the sleeves, buttoned it up, and pulled the string to tighten the hood down,” he added with a sad half-smile.

  “Zephyr, please talk to me. Are you upset because Demas told your story? Did you not want me to know?” Evie picked up and threw an acorn in the water like a disappointed child.

  He wrapped his arms around her, sharing his warmth. “Yes, but not like you’re thinking. I think I’m over it, but to hear it told again brings the memory back.”

  “Tell me about it. I mean, have you talked to Demas or anyone?” Evie asked, looking into his dark brown eyes.

  He shook his head. “So, do you know how vampires live?”

  Evie shuddered, thinking, he supposed, about what she endured a few months ago. She said, “I was knocked out most of the time I was with Ludovic. I know some of them live together.”

  “Yes, we live in hives. There is the lead vampire, our sire usually, and a group of the vampires he or she makes. We’re like brothers and sisters, though some couple up.”

  Evie screwed her face up.

  “They’re not really related, so don’t make that face.”

  “None of you are related?” Evie asked.

  “Well, no, there are relations in hives. My mother and I were in the same one. Before that, we were living in a tenement in Chicago. Mom worked two jobs to keep us afloat and I would have worked, but she insisted on no job and that I stay in school. One night she was late, so I walked down to the diner to check on her and found her in the alley with a bloodsucker at her throat. I tried to pull him off, but he was too strong. He hit me so hard that my head bounced against the dumpster. I remember my mother screaming at him, but then it was lights out.

  “It turned out that my mother asked the vampire to turn her. She was diagnosed with cancer and only had a few months to live. She didn’t want to leave me alone and that was the only thing she could think of. Our sire frequented the all-night diner.” Zephyr blew out a breath.

  “If your mother asked to be turned, then how did you become a vampire?” Evie asked, sounding enthralled and horrified at the same time.

  “According to her, he didn’t mean to hurt me, just keep me away. My head was bleeding profusely. So, my mother asked him to turn me, too.”

  “Oh, Zephyr! I’m so sorry.” Evie looked up, tears in her lashes.

  He cupped her cheek. “Hey, it’s okay. My mother did what she thought was best in a moment of panic. Besides, if that hadn’t happened, then I never would have met you, Evie.”

  She smiled. “So, you lost your mother the night that Demas found you?”

  He nodded and stepped away. He could see Evie out of the corner of his eye, watching him look at the boat returning tourists to the mainland. She waited for him to continue.

  “You’re not going to give up, are you?” Zephyr asked.

  “No, if it’s this hard for you. I’d say you need to talk about it.” Evie picked up a few flat stones and tried to skip one, but it just plopped in.

  “That’s not going to work. The water is too choppy from all of the boats driving by.”

  She dropped the rest of them back to the small man-made beach of pebbles and rocks and dusted her hands together. “I’ve never done it before.”

  “I’ll teach you. We’d only been with the hive seven months or so. I still had a lot to learn about being a vampire. I will say my mother picked well. Our sire was kind and only turned those who asked, much like my mother. He didn’t kill to feed either. We don’t need much and we can glamour people, so they forget. We were friends.

  “The night of the attack I had been out feeding a few blocks away. I had just returned when I heard what sounded like running feet coming toward me. That’s why I ducked into the alcove. I could smell wet dog as they passed. Werewolves. They aren’t known for their stealth.”

  “I’m telling Demas you said that,” Evie sing-songed.

  He chuckled. “Hate to steal your thunder, but he probably heard me.”

  “Wait! What!?” Evie’s jaw dropped. “He can hear us all the way out here?”

  “You’re wondering about all the bad things you may have said now, aren’t you?” Zephyr asked.

  “Dammit. Yes. You,” she glared at him, “are avoiding the subject again.”

  He took a deep breath. “Fine. After they left, I smelled smoke. Before I could do anything, an explosion knocked me back into the alcove. I believe the boiler blew. The entire building was engulfed in flames, including the basement.” Evie wrapped her arms around his waist. “I was trapped by a wall of flames.” He coughed like he was back there. “Evie, what Demas didn’t say is that he ran through those flames to save me. Why would some werewolves destroy my kind, and another werewolf risk his life for a vampire?”

  Evie looked up to see bloody tears welling in his eyes. “Z, it’s just like humans. Some people want to destroy others that are different from themselves in some way. Color, religion, any reason. Then there are others that not only tolerate differences amongst people, but don’t even see the difference. They just accept, befriend, help. Demas is in the latter group.”

  Zephyr squeezed Evie tight. “I know that now. But at the time —” He shuddered against her. “We better get back before they send a search party out for you. Evie, thank you. I’m not sure if it helped but I appreciate your interference.”

  “Interference!” She punched him in the stomach. “Oww. Holy, abs of steel. Would you eat a cookie or something?”

  “Poor baby, let me see your boo-boo,” Zephyr said.

  “Never.”

  Zephyr watched as she marched back to the house. His mood was lighter anyway.

  14

  Midnight Witch

  Z ephyr and I joined the rest of the tracker team on the huge sectional. Someone had lit candles and they flickered in the growing darkness.

  “Well, now that we’re all up-to-date on Zephyr’s and my history, we need to talk about the investigation and then get busy running tests,” Demas said from his place in front of the fire. “First, let’s take turns updating each other on everything we discovered today.”

  “Eleutian, why don’t you go first?” Bodhi suggested. “Share your interrogation of the wolves.”

  “Sure,” Eleutian started. “It seems our friend, Howl, took over a pack in Louisiana, a few months ago—the Bayou Loup-Garous—when the alpha died without an heir. It turns out he may have been one of the zombies we fought.”

  Demas’ head whipped around to look at Eleutian. “I thought you didn’t get anything out of them.”

  “Sorry, boss, you assumed.”

  “You’re right, I apologize. That was right after I spoke to Howl.”

  Eleutian tipped his chin down in acknowledgment before looking at me.

  “My turn?” I asked.

  “Of course. You’re part of the team, Midnight!” Colten said.

  “Why don’t you grab the evidence?” Bodhi suggested.

  I proceeded to fill them in on what I knew about Maggie before running over to grab my backpack. “Bodhi and I found these items under Maggie’s bed.”

  “What is it?” Grimm asked.

  “Actually, I don’t know. We haven’t had a chance to look at it yet.”

  I pulled on a new pair of gloves and set each item on the large square coffee table in front of me. I laid out several sheets of paper and a cell phone. The guys gathered round for a closer look.

  “Oh, my goodness. They’re threats! Poor Maggie. She never said anything to me. I mean, I knew the Hate Clique targeted her, but not like this. I thought it was their usual mean girl taunts in the hallway and at lunchtime,” I said.

  “The Hate Clique?” Colten q
uestioned.

  “The mean girls who get off on torturing the rest of us.”

  “You’re making an assumption?” Demas asked.

  “No, it’s a fact.”

  “One of them tripped Evie earlier just for the hell of it,” Bodhi said.

  “That was Lennon Sidhe, the leader of the clique. Besides they signed their initials on these threats. FC.” I pointed to the bottom left corner of each page.

  “Wait, Miss Sidhe is one of the FC?” Demas narrowed his eyes.

  “Yes, it stands for Fate Clique,” I answered. “They call themselves the Fate Clique because they say that they decide every student’s fate.”

  “You know what the Fae are like,” Grimm said, “total goddess envy.”

  I smirked. “The rest of the school has different names for them like Hate Clique or Fake Clique that they whisper behind their backs. Some of them even call them the Darling Dreadfuls although that one encompasses all of the spoiled, mean supernatural creatures around here. Anyway, it’s sort of the only revenge available to us.

  “Really? She and the Headmistress were whispering earlier today. It sounded like they were arguing. Lennon didn’t take it well when I dismissed her,” Demas said, tapping a finger on his chin. “Grimm, I need you to go to New Orleans to oversee the forensic evidence processing and witness the autopsy on Maggie’s body,” Demas said. “After the voodoo doll of Evie that Bodhi discovered, I’m not sure we can trust them, and you are the best demon for the job.”

  “I’m the only demon, but I think I need to be near Evie to protect—”

  “We can cover Evie. In fact, I have something in mind already,” Demas interrupted.

  “What the hell kind of school did we send you to?” Zephyr asked.

  “You’re going to find out, Z. Congratulations! You’re going to the academy,” Demas told him.

  “Say what?!” Zephyr questioned.

  “He said, get your backpack, Junior.” Colten grabbed Zephyr in a headlock and mussed his hair. Or he tried to, Zephyr used his speed and slipped out mid noogie.

  “Hey! Get back here,” Colten said, reaching for him.

  “You know,” Zephyr said, ducking him once again, “I’ll be glad when I age more, even if it does take twenty years.” Zephyr looked in my direction. “Evie, you know I’d do anything for you, so of course, I’ll go. It’s just school. AGAIN!”

  I chuckled, “I understand. Once in a lifetime is enough.”

  “We need to be able to investigate,” Demas said. “Especially that clique thing —”

  “Hey, what do you think I’m going to do?” I asked.

  “Evie, you’ll be investigating secretly like Zephyr,” Demas answered. “Colten, you’ll be Evie’s new boyfriend. That’ll get you access and provide a reason should you be seen on campus since I know you’ll just follow her there anyway.”

  “Hell yeah, Midnight!” Colten hollered.

  Grimm shot Colten a dirty look and turned to Demas. “Why them? Why not me?”

  Demas stared at the troubled demon. “No one at the school has seen either of them, that’s why.”

  Grimm shrugged his thick shoulders and turned to the hallway.

  I jumped up and jogged to him. “Wait, Grimm, don’t you want to see the rest? It could matter when you review the evidence they have.” I dragged him by the hand back to the table.

  “Okay, so let’s see about this cell phone,” Grimm murmured.

  I held the power button down. Nothing. “It’s dead.”

  “I’ve got a charger that will work,” Zephyr volunteered.

  “Okay, so that was kind of a bust, but I found something else. Bodhi, do you have that envelope with the recorder I found under the canopy?” I asked.

  “Right here.” Bodhi reached into his duffel.

  “I was searching around the bed and happened to look up. It looks like audio only. Z, maybe you can figure it out? I guess we need to dust all of this for prints first?” I asked, looking around.

  “I finished setting up the lab in the outbuilding today, so it should be all ready for you,” Grimm said before walking down the hall.

  “What’s his problem now?” Demas asked.

  I looked at Demas. “Seriously? Gee, maybe it’s because you guys are always excluding him.”

  “My first thought was of you. Besides, he disappears all the time,” Demas said.

  “And why shouldn’t he? You keep excluding him until you want something from him, did you ever think about that?” I threw my arms up in frustration. I was tired of their attitudes toward Grimm. I headed down the hall.

  “Evie, wait! I’ll go,” Demas said.

  “Come on, Evie, let’s see what you’ve learned in your forensics class. We need to get to work,” Bodhi said pulling me by the hand. “And just so you know, I did thank Grimm for finishing the lab when I talked to him earlier.”

  “That’s great. Of course, you told us he was relaxing leaving Demas to think he hadn’t done anything. You treat him like an outsider. After three months at the academy, I know what that feels like. I thought you trusted him by now, after everything he did to help us. If you did, you would include him in everything instead of using need-to know tactics.” I picked up the evidence bags from the table and marched to the back door. As I swung the door open, I looked over my shoulder to see four ashamed faces. “Are you coming?”

  Bodhi grabbed his duffel as he and Eleutian followed.

  “Evie,” Bodhi said.

  “You know what, save it for Grimm. He’s the one you should talk to, not me.” I walked the needle-strewn path to our new lab and let the wind blowing through the trees cool my temper.

  He kept pace with me and nodded. “Okay, let’s work on the evidence.” We waited while Bodhi entered two codes by the door. The first to disarm the alarm and the second to disengage the three deadbolts blocking our entrance. It made sense to have the most security on the building housing any evidence. Bodhi turned to us. “Eleutian, you want to work on identifying this substance?” I watched as he handed him the vial containing the sample of liquid that had been found on Maggie.

  “On it. I want to examine the doll for magic, too.”

  “Good idea. Okay, Evie, how should we handle the fingerprints?”

  “We should photograph each page front and back first, for evidence backup and in case any of our processes damage the pages or makes any part of them unreadable.” I glanced at Bodhi, who nodded. “We have a few choices, but I think we should use ninhydrin reagent or an iodine fume chamber. I know there are a couple of other ways, but I’m not sure what you have on hand here.”

  “Yep, either of those would work and we’ve the ability to do them. Why not dust with powder?”

  “It’s difficult for most powders to stick to paper, although it could work. I vote for iodine. I’ll use the powder on the phone, though.”

  “Sounds like you know what to do, so get to it. I’m going to work with the mad scientist mage in the next room to see if that was silver nitrate. The more we can accomplish this weekend the better. I’m sure they won’t get to the autopsy until Sunday or Monday, but if we process everything we have and try to crack the recorder before you return to school, it’ll help. I would imagine Demas and I will head back to interview students tomorrow.”

  I turned to my assigned project and donned a fresh pair of gloves before pulling each page out of their respective evidence bags. There were eleven threats. I spaced them out upside down across the stainless-steel table, then proceeded to take close-up individual photos of each one with our professional grade digital camera. I flipped them all over and repeated the process. The threats were vile ranging from ‘Die Hairy Freak’ to ‘Talk and You’re Dead’—and I just couldn’t understand why the world was filled with horrible people who tortured others. When I shot the last threat, looking through the lens, I noticed a small brown smear. Hmm, I wondered if it could be blood. I hung half the pages in the fuming booth before I called Bodhi and Eleutian ove
r.

  “Guys! Come here!” I shouted because one of the machines in the other room was making a God-awful noise.

  Eleutian walked in and placed his hands on my shoulders, gently rubbing at the tension. “What do you need, darlin’?”

  “Oh, more of that, please.”

  He leaned forward and kissed my neck and then straightened, “Okay, sorry. I’ll be more professional and less handsy now, I promise.”

  I grinned and pointed to the smear. “Could that be blood?”

  “Could be. Let me grab my testing equipment. You’ve taken all your photos, correct?”

  “Yes. I’m waiting for the first batch in the booth.”

  Eleutian headed back to the other room. I wondered why Bodhi didn’t come over, too. Hell, I probably hurt everyone’s feelings worrying about Grimm. But they hadn’t been fair even though I realized they had more involvement with him. I guess everyone brings their own prejudice to the table. I quietly wondered if the rest of them had messed-up family situations like Demas and Zephyr or Grimm and myself.

  I looked at the pages in the transparent Lucite fuming booth to see if any fingerprints had appeared. Not yet, but I needed to keep an eye on it because the iodine fuming didn’t last long. It was a great option, albeit an old-fashioned method.

  When I turned around, I was surprised to see Eleutian back at the table. I hadn’t heard a whisper of sound. I joined him to watch the process.

  “We haven’t gone over this yet in class. Will you explain it to me?”

  “Of course, darlin’. It’s just simple chemistry. I’ll add a few drops of phenolphthalein to a swab, rub the swab on the stain and then add a few drops of hydrogen peroxide to the swab. If it turns pink, it will indicate that it could be blood.”

  “Could be?”

  “Yes, this is only a presumptive test which means there can be false positives. Other natural sources can make it turn pink as well. It basically tells us the possibility of blood is there and we need to do further testing, but I can’t do this until you test for prints. If there happens to be a print where I rub with the swab, I could damage it,” Eleutian said.