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

by Rae Stapleton

  “More evidence?” Bodhi asked.

  Demas felt his blood pressure rise. What the hell was going on around here?

  “Yeah, I’ll get there. I hit the bank of light switches with the side of my hand, the overhead fluorescent lights blazed on, unfortunately blinding me in the process.”

  “And that’s why you don’t have a description,” Demas said.

  “Exactly. All I could make out was a blur of movement as the intruder slammed the refrigerated drawer and ran for the door.” He shrugged. “Next thing I knew, the intruder was gone, and I couldn’t even see if it was a man, a woman or a creature.” Grimm stared at his bare feet. “I’m sorry, Boss.”

  Demas patted Grimm’s shoulder. “It’s happened to all of us. I know you did your best.”

  “If your both finished, can we get back to work now?” Bodhi asked, arms crossed. “Where’s Eleutian, anyway?”

  “I left him in the evidence locker. That’s actually why I called you guys in the first place. Someone’s stolen evidence. I went through all the logs and discovered two items missing: the bottle with the silver liquid and the hair from Maggie’s bed.”

  “Damn it! I knew I should have kept that bottle.” Bodhi paced.

  “At least you got a sample,” Demas mumbled.

  Grimm nodded. “Anyway, I searched everywhere, but nothing so far. Whoever took the items must have worried they’d be traced back in some manner. Maybe fingerprints.”

  Demas nodded.

  “Eleutian joined in the search this morning. So far, nothing. That’s why I called you guys in to help. We don’t know who we can trust and there are a lot of boxes to go through.” Grimm said. “I’ll show you. Just give me a second to look Maggie’s corpse over.

  Demas backed up to give him room. He couldn’t wait to hear what Grimm had to say.

  Grimm started by laying his hand on her shoulder first. Demas turned to look at Bodhi and was surprised to see him flinch when Grimm touched the raw wounds on Maggie’s wrists. Bodhi could be such a softie, sometimes. After a few minutes, he gripped her hand then waved his hands roughly six inches above her body from head to toe as if he were realigning her chakra.

  “There’s definitely something wrong with this body,” He said, at last.

  “What do you mean?” Demas questioned, coming closer now.

  “I don’t know, but it’s spelled, that’s for sure.”

  “Can you read who the magical signature belongs to?”

  “Unfortunately, no. I can tell you it’s powerful though. Whoever did it, is more than just a witch. I feel like I should recognize it, like it’s tickling the back of my brain but I keep circling and coming up empty.”

  “That’s okay. Thanks for trying.” Demas turned back and covered the body before sliding the tray back inside and pushing the door nearly closed. “Let’s head to the evidence locker so you can tell me what’s going on in there. Bodhi, you stay here and dust for prints on this door.”

  “Is that my phone?” Grimm asked, reaching out to Bodhi.

  “Oh, yeah, about that. I suggest a new ringtone for me, Bad to the Bone, or the phone dies.” Bodhi smiled with teeth showing.

  Grimm pocketed his phone and led Demas down the hall to the evidence locker where Eleutian was up to his magical fingertips in files.

  “You look like you could use some help,” Demas said.

  “You’re not kidding. Did Grimm tell you? Two pieces of evidence are missing. We’ve been going through this whole stupid place, searching for the missing items.”

  “You think they’re still here?”

  “I do. For one thing, I can sense silver, it’s just not in the right place. For another, we don’t think anyone could have gotten them out of the building.”

  “So, you think they hid them to make it look like they were stolen.”

  “Exactly, we think they’ve mixed them in with other files.”

  Demas cursed. “This will take all night to sort through. We better get started. All right, go ward the morgue and then bring Bodhi back with you. We’ll divide the room into quadrants and work our way toward each other in the center.” Demas said.

  “What time’s the autopsy?” Grimm asked.

  “Someone will call us.”

  Demas had just set another file aside when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He fished it out and hit the speakerphone button.

  “The autopsy is starting in five minutes.”

  Demas led the way, with Grimm on his heels. When they opened the door to the morgue, they found Maggie’s body on the examination slab in the center of the room. The medical examiner and a diener stood next to her.

  “Gentlemen, thank you for arriving so quickly.” The medical examiner leaned forward with a scalpel in hand.

  They watched as the incision was made, and then impulsively stepped back at the stench that emanated from the body, even the doctor. There was decay and then there was this. The doctor recovered first. The diener used the rib cracker and managed to remove the sternum. He then ran from the room, heaving.

  Demas had smelled some noxious things in hell but he didn’t think even the seventh circle of hell was this bad. Even the doctor looked like he might hyperventilate and pass out. The putrefaction was so complete they would never be able to identify different organs. It was as though her outer shell of a body held primordial soup.

  22

  Midnight Witch

  C olten’s arm was slung lazily over my shoulders as we walked inside the academy’s gymnasium for the start of the assembly. The wooden pull-out bleachers were full of students. I scanned the bleachers, noting that there were tiny pockets of empty seats here and there. There was an empty swath around the Fate Clique where they sat, looking beautiful and bored. I guided Colten to the side near where we’d entered the gym, which kept the FC in front of me.

  I continued to scan the gym, looking for Zephyr and was about to look behind me when I realized he was straight ahead near the Fae bitches. Directly behind him sat the twin of one of the FC—I couldn’t recall her name.

  Headmistress Barnabus walked up to the podium set up in the center of the basketball court. She tapped on the microphone and said “testing,” three times. The microphone screeched and a number of students and professors covered their ears.

  “Excuse me, please. Everyone quiet down. I apologize for that. I know it’s getting close to dinner time and I’m sorry for cutting into your weekend. I’ll try to keep this short.”

  Cheers exploded from the bleachers.

  “Quiet please. Quiet!”

  Colten whistled in a high pitch. Everyone quieted.

  “Thank you, young man.” The headmistress forged ahead.

  Lennon Sidhe narrowed her eyes into what felt like a laser flaying my skin as Colten leaned over and kissed my temple.

  “Now, I’d just like to say that there will be a candlelight vigil next week for Maggie Howl, our poor student that passed away on Friday.”

  The crowd started chattering.

  The headmistress continued. “This assembly was intended to be quite short, but please take two things away from it. First, we will not tolerate speaking or noise making of any kind during the vigil, to respect the loss. Professors will be placed throughout the assembly and will hand out harsh punishment to anyone who breaks this commandment. Secondly, starting tomorrow morning through Thursday evening, we’ll have two counselors from the Supernatural Society on hand if anyone needs help dealing with Friday’s tragedy.”

  The FC, led by Lennon, stood and started down the bleacher stairs on the word ‘secondly.’ Lennon pushed the few people blocking their exit with her stiletto sandal, giving them quite the show as she stepped over them in her hot pink, short silk chemise.

  “Ugh,” the headmistress stammered. “Yes, yes, quite right. This concludes the assembly. Thank you.”

  I gritted my teeth. “One of these days, that bitch is going to get her comeuppance. She just trampled over the little bit of respe
ct the academy showed.”

  “Hey, Midnight.” Colten pulled me close and kissed the tears from my eyes. “Don’t let her see your reaction. That’s what she feeds off of—that and attention, which she takes by any means.”

  I wiped my eyes and nodded. “You’re right, and I know that. It’s just….”

  “I get it, honey.”

  We followed the crowd out. We’d only walked halfway across the expansive courtyard when the clique circled Colten pushing me out of their way.

  “Well, hello, handsome.” Lennon trailed her finger from his chin down to his waist. Farrah and Gwen stood behind him, playing with his hair. Trapping him. Marigold stood nearby but didn’t appear confident enough to join in.

  I walked up, “Do you mind, Lennon? You’re mauling my boyfriend.”

  “Ladies, do you hear an annoying buzz?” Lennon asked as she ran both hands over Colten’s pecs. “Oh, Hellangeline, I didn’t see you there.” Lennon turned swiftly with her foot out, knocking me onto my ass.

  Colten shook them off. it looked like he might have put a little extra effort in when it came to Lennon, but I couldn’t be sure.

  “What the fuck was that?” Colten shouted. “You all right, babe?” He bent down to help me up and gently brushed the dirt off my backside. He pulled me in front of him and wrapped his arms around me.

  I think it was for show for the Fae but he might have been guarding the family jewels and using me as a shield. They grabbed what they wanted.

  “What happened to the other one? Bodacious, was it? You can’t have them all. You don’t want to be labeled a slut, do you? Word travels so fast in a school. Rumors can ruin a reputation, you know.” Lennon tittered. Farrah, Gwen and Marigold laughed with her.

  “Come on, Colten, let’s get out of here.”

  “Oh, Colten, is it? We’ll see you soon, Colten,” Lennon added as she and her crew wandered away.

  “Hi there. Are you all right, miss? I saw what happened,” Zephyr said, pretending he didn’t know us.

  “Hello. Yes, I’m fine. My name’s Evie and this is Colten. Aren’t you the new student? Did you just move here?” I asked.

  “I did. My name’s Zephyr. It’s rather overwhelming to start at a new university part-way through the term.”

  “I can imagine. I just started here a few months ago, myself.” I looked around. “Hey, we’re going to Alexandria Bay for dinner. Would you like to join us?”

  “Sure, that’d be great.”

  Zephyr, Colten and I walked to the marina and climbed in the boat. We still talked as though we didn’t know each other until Colten had driven away from the dock.

  “Jesus, Evie. What the hell was that? Are they like that all the time?” Zephyr asked.

  “Actually, that was pretty mild.”

  “I wanted to slam my fist into the Queen Bitch. The only reason I didn’t is because she’s female. God, I hate bullies.”

  We walked to the steakhouse after docking the boat. Lucky for us there was a secluded booth in the back with no one nearby. “I want to call Demas or Bodhi to see what they’ve found out, if anything.”

  “Let’s order really quick, so we aren’t interrupted mid-call. Actually, now that I think about it, we shouldn’t use the speakerphone,” Zephyr said.

  “I’ll call Bodacious. See what’s what,” Colten said, wriggling his eyebrows.

  “Oh, hell, you’re never going to let him live that down, are you?” I asked.

  “What’s he talking about?” Zephyr asked.

  “It’s what the clique called Bodhi,” I said as I rubbed my temples.

  Zephyr snorted.

  Colten smirked as he tapped Bodhi’s name on his phone.

  “Hey, Bodacious, you busy?”

  His response was muffled, but we could plainly hear. “I don’t have time for stupid jokes, Colten.”

  “Give me that!” I yanked the phone from his hands. “Be careful, you don’t know what they’ll come up with for you.” I put the phone to my ear. “Bodhi. No, I’ll tell you later. What’s going on down there?” I didn’t realize I was frowning until Colten ran his finger down between my eyebrows, then started massaging my shoulders. Bleeding some of the stress away. I dropped my shoulders down away from my ears. “Oh no. Okay, thanks.”

  I set the phone on the table, not wanting to give Colten an excuse to quit working the knots out of my neck and shoulders. “Some of the evidence is missing, Grimm stopped someone from doing something to Maggie, and they believe there’s a rat on the team down there.” I proceeded to fill them in on everything including the condition of her body. “They’re all staying in New Orleans tonight and most of tomorrow. Poor Aunt Aurora.”

  “Your aunt can take care of herself and you know Demas will figure it out.”

  I nodded. The waitress set my filet mignon, baked potato and grilled Brussel sprouts down in front of me, then set giant steaks down in front of the boys. “Oh my god, are you guys Fred and Barney from the Flintstones now?” There was a massive hunk of meat attached to several inches of bone. “Is that a rib from a dinosaur?”

  Zephyr chuckled. “Yes and no. It’s a ribeye with part of the rib attached. From a cow. It’s called a Tomahawk.”

  My steak looked dainty next to theirs. I gave them the side eye now and then but we ate in silence. Secretly, I wanted to get back to school, — not that I expected to learn more tonight. I was getting anxious for the first day back after the murder of my friend. I wanted to find answers.

  The short ride back to the academy was very chilly but there was just something about the wind in my hair. I loved it. I turned to Zephyr. “At least we don’t have to pretend we don’t know each other now.”

  “We still have to be careful,” Colten shouted into the wind as he pulled up and Zephyr jumped to the dock to tie the boat off.

  Surprised, I asked. “Are you staying here tonight? You know the rules.”

  “You’re crazy, Midnight, if you think I would leave you alone. Z, as a new student, will be watched closer than I will.”

  We walked in through the main entrance. Keeping up the pretense, we said goodnight to Zephyr and that it was great to meet him. Most of the lights were turned down low so we headed to my room on the third floor. We moved quickly to avoid any questions about Colten. I had no more shut the door and locked it than Colten pounced. He’d lifted me off my feet and was thrusting his hips, still fully clothed, pushing into the door. His hands taking the impact, protecting me. We ate at each other’s mouth as if we were starving for something primal. Colten spun around and walked us to the bed. He let go and I slid down his body. I had on a three-quarter sleeve emerald sweater dress one minute and the next it was gone.

  23

  The Vampire

  M onday morning, after meeting with Headmistress Barbara Barnabus and getting the rules and run of the academy, Zephyr was officially moved in. His private dorm room included a bedroom, a sitting area with space for a desk, and a bathroom in the boy’s wing. He’d been given explicit instructions that unless invited, he was forbidden from entering any of the girl’s rooms.

  All meals were provided downstairs in the cafeteria, and he was expected to attend class every day starting this afternoon. He’d just finished unpacking when he heard a knock at the door. That must be the girl assigned to show him around.

  Yep. It was.

  “Hi, I’m Giselle Sprigg,” the girl said, sticking out her hand. She was a tiny redhead with a dusting of cute freckles across her nose. “You ready for your tour? I thought we’d start with the cafeteria; in case you were hungry.”

  Zephyr smiled. “You’re speaking my language. I’m always hungry.”

  “Really? Me, too. I actually work in the cafeteria part time, so I can get us the good stuff.”

  Zephyr wasn’t sure what counted as the good food in a cafeteria but he nodded anyway. He followed her down the corridor, checking out the oil paintings that lined the one wall as they went. He assumed they were of donors, or mem
bers—he couldn’t be sure. He’d heard Evangeline’s ancestors had been the original donors but he had no idea if any of these dour-looking people were related to her. Down the grand staircase they went. He ran his hand along the banister, stopping for a moment at the bottom to admire the ferocious winged beasts carved at either end.

  Giselle paused and looked back, “You coming?”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” He picked up the pace again. “The headmistress didn’t mention anything to me about work. Do all the kids have jobs here?”

  “Oh no, there’s just a few of us—the scholarship crew. Most of the kids here are spoil— ugh… privileged.” She cleared her throat suddenly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that. Something about you makes me want to bare my soul.”

  Zephyr laughed, “It’s okay. I’m not offended.”

  Giselle blushed, “What are you, anyway?”

  “That’s hard to answer. I guess I’m vampire but I’m also mixed,” Zephyr responded, purposely leaving out his stint as a hellhound. “You?”

  “Fae.”

  “Really? I can usually sense Fae.”

  “I’m only part Fae—like, a teeny tiny part,” Giselle answered, “I’m not exactly welcome among my own kind.”

  “Really? They’re prejudice, are they? That must be hard.”

  Giselle nodded. “I have a twin sister, Marigold, so I’m not exactly alone. She’s got more of the Fae magic—she absorbed all of my magic in the womb.”

  “Whoa! Now that’s cold.”

  “I know, right?! Who steals magic from a baby?” They both laughed, “Anyway, she’s a little more accepted around here than I am. Not that I care… much. And, here we are.” She twirled with her arms up, “The cafeteria in all its glory. You can have a seat here and I’ll go see what we’ve got.”