Chapter Six
Darting back across the lawn, heart pounding in my chest from more than just the physical exertion, I turn that corner now to see that Adriel is still there. And now he is looking right at me.
My limbs are frozen, and I can’t seem to find any words to say. I end up staring dumbly at him, until he shakes his head at me. “You were listening, weren’t you?”
Of course, he knew. He is an angel. How dumb of me to think he didn’t know I was there.
I say nothing because I don't need to give him an answer to something he already knows to be true.
“I wish you hadn’t heard. What we have going on now, is just business. I have less than three months to make sure you survive what I did to you. That you are ready for year two, and what they plan to throw at you. The Magistrate has every say in what you’re learning here now and will likely continue to until you graduate.”
He is trying to scare me as well as be mechanical like if he is; then I can’t feel anything. Doesn’t he know that just being in his presence is like getting to see the brilliance of the sun up close?
You can’t help but allow yourself to be burned by it.
I want to scream and yell and tell him that he can’t act like this when I just overheard him telling Kagan that he is in love with me. I know there are more important things to do right now.
Like make sure I live to see another day.
I don’t bother putting my guard up but simply allow myself to suffer in silence, even as I want so badly to relive those fleeting moments we'd had. The time before I knew that he had been the reason for my downfall, from the beginning.
"One day you're going to have to fess up about your motivations," I let him know, trying to read him the way he reads me and getting nothing but static.
"That day is not today, but there is something I get to tell you today. Or rather, show you, if you're willing to come with me."
I narrow my eyes at him but then shrug. I would have to get used to being around him anyway. If any harm comes to me in his care, then I am sure his immortal life will end for it. So, I am pretty safe at the moment.
I let him lead me and try not to react as he passes right by me to get in front of me. It’s like a I can feel the forcefield of his space surrounding him connect with mine when he does, and then it’s over. That’s as close as we are ever going to get again.
I chant that to myself over and over so that I have to believe it and come to terms with it sooner rather than later.
I don’t expect the long walk he takes me on into the belly of the academy, to places I have never been. We go further down than the basement into a chamber that opens up into a dreary place that looks like it's a dungeon, a place to hold prisoners, and not a place that belongs inside a school.
"It took a lot to get the permission needed to gift you with this even though, technically, she is yours."
I give hm a strange look, but he doesn’t even turn his head my direction as he pulls out a key and takes a turn down another corridor, this one noisy. It is full of animals, like a pound, full of cages where dogs bark, cats mew, even horses rear up on their hind legs, disturbed by our presence.
I can’t tell whether we have scared them by being down here or if it’s they want us to get them out.
I feel sad for all of them for a moment before I try to rack my brain as to why I would be down here.
Unless...
At the end of the corridor, there is one lone cage facing us with an animal inside that is deadly silent. The only thing I can see from where I stand is a faint purple glow coming from two small orbs I can only assume are eyes.
I know instantly who this familiar is, and I gasp.
I have heard stories about her but had assumed, due to the law, that she would have been killed shortly after my mother died.
"How is she alive?" I ask, staying my distance. Ursula is a wild sort of familiar, and if she has been locked in here all this time, I doubt she is going to be instantly loyal to me. Getting too close when she is set free could be dangerous.
Adriel opens the door to her cage and beckons her forward, though she does not come out right away. "She was your father's, as you know, very powerful and very famous. Not only did they believe it would be harmful to their reputation if they destroyed her, but technically, the law says there is one familiar allowed per family unit. Your cousin is the owner of Jinx and as a minor remained in a different household. You only use him because he favored you after your transition. But that loyalty will only go so far, since he was never meant to be yours."
I have always known this. As fond as I have grown of Jinx, he would not do so well for me if it came down to needing him in battle. As a serious hunter, I would need a familiar by my side that could hold their own and would be loyal only to me no matter what.
I watch in awe as Ursula finally takes her first steps out into the open, maintaining a regal and slow stride even though she has been presumably locked down here for years.
Her fur is an inky black that stands on its end, and her eyes are that brilliant purple that glow like amethyst beacons for ships sailing in the night.
She now stands between us, her height reaching just above my hip.
"She’s gorgeous," I say under my breath, afraid to reach out and touch her for fear she will reject me, or worse, attack me. It can’t make her happy that she has been stuck down here, and she might blame me for that.
"I’m so sorry you’ve been locked down here," I tell her, trying to communicate. I know she is intelligent. My father used to insist they would have full conversations. "I didn’t know you were alive, or I would have fought for you to come out."
"You are the daughter of Samuel Graywood."
I look up at Adriel with wide eyes, and he cocks his head to the side in question. "She’s talking to me.”
He only smiles.
"Yes," I answer her back, looking back down at my new familiar, if she will have me, that is. "I am his daughter."
"I have mourned his death for so many years. It is a comfort to see him again inside of you. Do you wish me to serve you as I served him?” she asks me.
I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect her to be so willing, but then she begins to project memories into my head.
Memories of fighting demons with my father.
"Yes, will you learn to fight with me?"
Her answer is a simple bow of the front of her body, and I can’t help but smile, knowing a small piece of my father actually does get to be mine.
Only mine.
"Why don’t you take her up to your room and get her settled?"
"What about Jinx?" I ask him, feeling a little sad to let him go.
"I will have a car bringing Viviana herself up here to get him. I am sure she will be happy to be reunited with him, right?"
I nod, knowing it’s the truth. That cat has been her best friend since she was little even if she couldn’t train with him yet. He will acclimate to her again with no issue.
"Do you mind staying in my room? It’s better than a jail cell like that, but it’s still small."
"Can I be let out to run and train?" she asks me as I look down at her. I can almost feel the time down here weighing heavily on her.
"Yes, you'll be coming to classes with me five days a week, and I can take you out for runs sometimes on campus if you'd like."
"That will make me very happy."
I jump back as she rears her head back and lets out a howl, Adriel’s heavenly chuckle reaching my ears.
"I didn’t realize you were still here."
"Just wanted to make sure you got along alright to get her back to your dorm."
He doesn’t look directly at me, and my whole body aches for him.
"Adriel, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm?"
"I need to know if you were there at headquarters at all while they had me there."
I swallow a lump in my throat as I wait for him to tell me, to shatter any
thing that’s left for him in my heart. Because that would do it.
But he doesn't.
"No, I wasn’t. I couldn't. I keep telling myself I don’t want to know what happened to you, what they did, but then I feel like I have to know. If you'll tell me. If it’s what I think..."
His words are so quiet I can hardly hear him, even though his very presence has calmed the rest of the familiars, down here.
Not knowing of any other time we might be away from prying eyes or ears, I tell him every single horrible detail, and I can feel anger from both him and Ursula, who has sworn to protect me. It’s a good thing she wasn’t with me because she would have been as much as a danger to me in that situation as Adriel would have.
Adriel has slowly turned his back to me, his hands gripping the empty cell that once held Ursula.
As he begins to shake the bars, he lets out an otherworldly howl of anguish. I don’t ever want to hear an angel make that sound again.
"I'm so sorry," he says, now hanging onto the bars as if they are the only things holding him up. "I didn’t want them to do that. I didn’t even realize they would go as far as hellfire."
I reach out and touch his shoulder lightly, even though I know better than to comfort him, but he is so clearly affected by what was done to me.
He slowly turns around, and I see the streaks of blood running from his eyes just like they do from mine when I cry.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” I tell him quietly, trying to keep my own tears from flowing. I have shown enough emotions I shouldn’t, over what was done to me in there. If anything, I need to be angry, not sad.
“No, I needed to know. And you shouldn’t be the one sorry. Are you alright?” he asks, looking at me and my body for the first time if for nothing more than to assess me for permanent damage.
“I’m scared,” I admit in a low whisper. “For the first time, I felt afraid of what they might do to me.”
“As you should be.”
I stomp my boot on the concrete slab in frustration. “You say that, but it doesn’t make any sense. They’re the good guys, and you’re one of them. If I am not doing anything wrong, why should I fear them, Adriel? How can I trust you when everything you do is so cryptic? I am tired of searching for hidden meanings. I just want the truth.”
He reaches his hand out and brushes a stray strand of hair behind my ear. The gesture is simple enough, but my body is filled with electricity.
It’s like I have touched an electric fence and can’t let go of it.
“I watched you before I chose you. I had to, to make sure you were the right choice. I knew you would be stubborn and curious. That you wouldn’t heed any of my warnings even if I tempted you.” I can’t read any clear emotion in his tone, but it makes my stomach heat up to know he was watching me.
“I know who you are, Riley Graywood, and that it's hard for you to follow me blindly, but I promise you I am doing this for the greater good. I am doing this because your father would have wanted this for his daughter. Maybe not the torture and the lies, but the chance to make right what he didn’t live to succeed at. I just didn’t expect you to enchant me like this.”
I stand still as his face comes dangerously close to mine.
This could go so many ways, and I don't know if I should just surrender to what even my own blood wants, or if I should stick to the idea of letting him go forever.
Chapter Seven
I shove him away before I can change my mind. Ursula lets out one warning bark as I back away not wanting him to come any closer. If he does, I won’t be able to resist this time.
“I can’t do this with you. You tell me to forget you. To get over you. To let you go. Then, you come rushing back into my life and begging me not to tell anyone when I find out the truth of what I am. And then I find out you’re the one who caused this to begin with. That you’ve been hiding that from me. I think it over, and now you’re back in my life for the next several months because we have no other choice, and I catch you telling my boyfriend that you’re in love with me. I don't know how to let you go, but I don't know how to trust you either. This is so confusing.”
I am surprised by my own emotion, Ursula getting riled up next to me. It’s weird how we already have such a strong bond, and I wonder if being so much like my father is enough.
“I know. I understand what I have done. I told you I wanted to take it back, but I can’t, and I promise you will learn the reason for all of this, But you have to be ready to hear it. You still aren’t.”
“Who are you to decide when I am ready for something?” I hiss.
“Since it is my blood that runs through your veins.”
The retort sets my body on fire, and I hate it. I just want to rip my skin off, but then it wouldn’t do much other than show the scar tissue he’s already caused inside of me.
“I don't know what we are anymore, and I have a boyfriend that loves me that I should be with right now.”
I turn around, mostly talking to myself as I reach down and pet the clump of fur behind Ursula’s neck before being stopped.
“Wait, I want to earn your trust in this. Just do me a favor and do a little research into Aurora Witches in the near past. Say, the last couple of centuries. Let me know what you turn up.” I give a curt nod, not even turning around to look at him because I am too weak for that.
“Let’s go get you settled into your new room, Ursula. You’ll need food and rest since classes start tomorrow.”
I keep up a fast pace all the way to my room, breathing a sigh of relief once I can shut the door behind me.
An angry hiss comes from Jinx as his hairs stand on end, looking down at Ursula from the bed. “Now, don't you start that. You can both get along since you both like me.” I reach over and scratch Jinx’s ears to calm him down. “You are going to go back to your mommy soon, anyway. She’s going to come up here and get you.”
I swear he knows what I said because he begins to purr and lays back down on the side of the bed I don't peruse most of the time.
I take my time with spells, getting into the hang of using them for useful things as I set up the room for Ursula.
She soon has a large bed in the corner of the room as well as new bowls filled with water and organic food. She even has a rope toy we can tug with if she ever decides she wants to try. I don't know if she is the playful type, especially being a wolf and not a dog, but we could see about it once we get used to one another.
The clock ticks by slowly, and I get curious about what Adriel has said. Though, I don't want to leave my room right now. I don't want to have any more run-ins.
I pick up my phone and look at Jake’s number, then Kagan’s, scrolling back and forth between them as I try to decide which one I actually want to text.
I find it strange that Kagan has not tried to see me, even after hearing him tell Adriel he loves me. It hurts me enough that I feel like giving him the cold shoulder as well. So, I guess it’s time for Jake to meet Ursula.
Come to my new dorm. I have a surprise for you.
It isn’t but five minutes later that Jake comes to my dorm room, and I let him in as he starts ogling the size of it. I giggle when he doesn’t even notice the elephant, or should I say, wolf, in the room.
“How did you land yourself this place?”
“I think it has a lot to do with the Magistrate holding me hostage, and having to beg the school to let me come back, when it wasn’t even my fault I failed. Let me guess, you’re going to be spending the night here pretty often?” I ask him with a grin.
“Yeah, whether you like it or not.”
“As long as Vivi doesn’t get jealous.”
He gives me a look that tells me I better back off the subject for now, but I am barely holding back my laughter. “Oh, c’mon, it's not a big deal. I have seen the way you look at her.”
“Yeah, but I don't know if she could live with what I am, forever. Especially when we wouldn’t be able to have children.”
> “Woah, I don't think you’re that serious yet. Don't even worry about that right now. Plus, maybe by the time you want to have children the law will change.”
He sighs and flops himself onto my bed. “What? Are you planning on becoming part of the Magistrate at some point? Because if not, I sincerely doubt that’s ever going to happen.”
I know he has every right to feel the way he does. Yet, I wish he didn’t have to be such a downer right now. “Have you noticed the surprise yet?” I try changing the subject as I give Ursula an amused look. She stalks over to us, sniffing at his hand which is hanging off the side of the bed.
“What the – “ Jake looks down and sees the wolf and practically climbs on top of me in fear. “Riley, would you like to tell me why there is a wolf in your room; a large one with glowing purple eyes?”
I simply laugh, and Ursula lets out a doggish chuckle of her own. “Jake, I want you to meet Ursula. She is my new familiar.”
“How’d you score that?”
“Well, she was actually my father’s. Apparently, the academy has kept her down in a dungeon full of familiars without owners for all these years, in case I would want or need her. Isn’t she beautiful?”
She exaggerates a bow when he looks back at her, and I stifle another laugh. She is quite a character. I can see she is going to be a handful.
“She’s something else, that’s for sure. So, tell me, have you seen Kagan or Adriel yet?”
I nod, not knowing if I want to tell him all the juicy details. But alas, I am not good at holding back from my bestie. “I saw them both, but technically only one of them saw me. They were fighting, and then I went with Adriel to get Ursula.”
“So, you went with Adriel and not Kagan? Do I want to know how this course of events ensued?”
I shake my head, telling only a little white lie. “There’s not much to say about it, and I don't know where Kagan is. He hasn’t said a word or tried to come by today. Maybe he finally gets that I am too complicated to be with, especially with his father a member of the Magistrate.”
Aurora Witch (Paranormal Hunter Academy Book 2) Page 5
