Resummon: (Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 6)

by Shawn Knightley

  Resummon

  Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 6

  Shawn Knightley

  Copyright © 2020 by Shawn Knightley

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

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  About the Author

  Also by Shawn Knightley

  1

  Naive little me dared to think that I had seen fear cross Rodrick’s face in the past. Or at least I assumed that was what I had seen when Rodrick and I ran over Parisian rooftops being chased down by a coven of irrational French luxra witchlings. Or when he saw my magic knock out a lamp post in front of Musée D’Orsay.

  Hardly!

  Nothing could possibly compare to the look that crossed his face once Lothar and I told him Margaux was locked up in one of the dungeons used for the trials with Jake guarding her and locksin chaining her remaining limbs to the cold stone walls.

  Lothar and I sat in the two chairs opposite Rodrick’s desk, having barged in and disturbed his solitude of monitoring professors and students to let him know that we had just committed an extremely punishable crime and brought it right to his doorstep.

  “Good lord,” Rodrick muttered under his breath. He studied me as if I had grown horns out of my head. “What have you done? I give you the space to act on your own free will and this is what you do with it?”

  He rose from his chair and let his eyes settle on Lothar. I could tell he was considering giving him a thorough beat down. And from the way Lothar looked back with utter indifference, I gathered he was used to it at this point.

  “Don’t blame Lothar!” I snarled at him. “I gave him my blessing to go after Alina. And it was my idea for us to get Margaux and bring her here. I broke through the magical barriers to set her free, not Lothar!”

  Rodrick’s eyes narrowed at me. For a brief second, I allowed myself to believe that was a good thing.

  ‘As long as his focus is on me and not Lothar.’

  That quickly changed when Rodrick swerved around his desk with his leather trench coat trailing along behind him. He flung the door to his study wide open and marched away with his hands bound into tight fists.

  “Where are you going?” I shouted him down. The bastard didn’t even have the nerve to answer me.

  I jumped up from the chair and chased him, not stopping until my hand was on his shoulder. He brushed me off and didn’t dare look me in the eye. He gave me no choice. I shoved my way in front of him. He tried pushing me aside but I refused to let him.

  “No!” I exploded.”No, no, no! You’re not going to the vixra council to tell them what happened!”

  “That’s exactly where I’m going.”

  Lothar stood by the doorway behind us, leaning into the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. “Keen on betraying your own as long as your arse isn’t in the fire, Dean Everleigh?” His deep voice echoed through the long hall.

  “I’m loyal to those who keep a level head on their shoulders far more so than those who simply share in my likeness. It’s a quality you clearly need to learn, Lothar. If you’re so determined to continue disobeying me I think it’s time the Northern Vontex finds a new home base. I’ll let Ellinor know you’ll require a change in residence. That is if the vixra council permits you to remain a Vontex at all after what you’ve done.”

  “You know what they’ll do to us if you go to them!” I shouted.

  He tried pushing by me again but I wasn’t having it. I let my magic pierce through my palm and pressed it gently into his chest, letting him know I wasn’t above firing him across the hall and sending his feet flying over his head the same way his strange enchanted mirror did to me. His eyes blazed with anger the second I released my magic and let it snake through my slender fingers.

  “You made your bed this time, Riley.” He lowered his head down to my level, making sure my gaze couldn’t leave his. “Now you have to lie in it.”

  He projected his magic through his body like a force field erupting from his skin and shoved me aside with no effort at all. It was the same trick he taught me in our lessons. Only he had obviously mastered it beyond what I could do.

  ‘So that’s how it is?’

  I could only think of one more card I could play. And playing it right in front of Lothar was a risk.

  “You’ve given me no choice then. I want a transfer,” I said in a calm and collected voice.

  Rodrick stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around to face me. “I beg your pardon? You’re not seriously threatening that again.” His brows snapped together at the sound of my words.

  “If you’re willing to go to the vixra council about this then you clearly don’t care about my well-being. Or Lothar’s for that matter. Or even Jake’s. And if that’s true then I can’t trust that I’m safe within these walls. God willing the vixra let me live and allow me to continue my studies, I want a transfer to the Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting in Hungary. I will complete my education there and join the Eastern Vontex.”

  “You’re right about one thing,” he snarled at me. “God might not will you to live let alone the vixra council after what you’ve done.”

  “Then my leaving is imminent anyway. Especially since you won’t vouch for me. You won’t see the bigger pictures at play here at all. We can potentially free Margaux from being possessed. I saw it happen at the Prescott manor. And if we can do that again, we can save my brother. If we’re successful, we can defeat the grandmaster and finish off the Dolch Erbe once and for all. But by all means, Rodrick, if angering the vixra council is what really bothers you over more of your students falling prey to the Dolch Erbe then that shows me where your loyalties truly lie. Not with me. So if you don’t mind, I’ll go start packing my things and head back to my father’s house in Derbyshire until I receive word from the vixra on what my fate is. Just make sure it’s Adeline that brings me the news because I don’t want to see your face again.”

  Now it was my turn to push by him. I walked up the stairs leading to the hidden opening in the stone floor only to feel Rodrick’s hand latch around my wrist. His scorching hot skin warmed my entire arm, reminding me of what his touch felt like.

  “You’re not leaving!” His voice was hushed as though he might be able to avoid Lothar hearing him. “And you’re not going to continue threatening to do so just to get what you want.”

  “This is bigger than me,” I scolded him. The familiar feeling of my stomach turning into a bed of hot coals returned to me in an instant. We hadn’t been this close since we were in Paris. It took half my focus just to keep my knees locked so I could stand firm. “It’s bigger than Dirk and I dare say it’s bigger than the vixra counci
l. Thousands of people have suffered at the hands of the Dolch Erbe and we alone have the power to make sure the inner circle dies and can never come back. Yet here you stand doing you’re best to subvert our every effort. I’ll gladly request a transfer for no other reason but to spite you. And it’s not a threat. It’s a promise.”

  His expression remained stern. Although, it didn’t fool me. I could see the wheels inside the depths of his mind churning, trying his best to figure out a way to appear stoic and composed while he was being tormented. He couldn’t tell me no without revealing to Lothar just how much he didn’t want me to leave. And we both knew that wasn’t an option for him. He already proved it when he backed down from attacking Lothar in the woods outside the fortress.

  I heard Lothar’s footsteps coming down the hall. He stopped at the foot of the stairs.

  “I will complete her training,” Lothar said, leveling up my words and giving them even more power. “I can even train Jake on how to properly brand her so she can have full autonomy as a lycan once we’re finished. She would probably prefer it that anyway given you seem content to constantly have her under your thumb.”

  ‘Aha. He’s caught on.’

  Rodrick shook his head. His forehead creased. I could tell he came to a decision. I only hoped it was the one I desperately needed.

  “Yes,” I said, doing my best to budge my wrist free of Rodrick’s grip. He refused to let me go. “Lothar can complete my training. And I’m sure Adeline would be willing to help out. I have a feeling it was her that weakened the magical barriers inside the dungeon so we could get inside. She doesn’t want Margaux sent off to some obscure Russian prison anymore than I do. Especially if we can free her. Now, what will it be? Will you help or will you ensure that the three of us are presented before the vixra council like a bunch of lowly criminals?”

  Rodrick pulled me closer to him. I could feel the heat of his breath coming out of his nose and striking my skin with scorching intensity. “You’ll be fortunate if that doesn’t happen either way.” He yanked me down from the steps above him and continued walking up the stairs.

  I trailed along behind him.

  “Wait!” I cried. “Where are you going? What are you doing? Give me a damn answer!”

  “The vixra are no doubt already aware that Margaux is missing.” Rodrick slowed down his pace for me to catch up. “We have a limited amount of time to see if we can free Margaux from possession. Ellinor will more than likely call back the vixra guard to pursue leads into finding her. And you.”

  ‘Wait, does that mean he’s going to help us?’

  “We’ll be lucky if they’re not here by dawn,” he went on. “So we best use the most of this night before all hell breaks loose.”

  A feeling of relief washed over me. He wasn’t walking away to head to the vixra to report our crimes. He was walking to the Bloody Tower where Margaux was tied up with locksin and hopefully still unconscious.

  Lothar caught up with me as we hustled to the Bloody Tower. I expected him to appear as relieved as I was. Only when I looked at him he didn’t appear the least bit reassured. On the contrary. He looked downright annoyed.

  What was he hoping for? That I would make good on my threat? That I would leave and maybe follow him to where ever the Vontex decided to live from here on out? Maybe that was exactly what he wanted. He would rather see me leave and get some sort of high ground over Rodrick.

  I shook my head, banishing the thought from my mind and hoping that wasn’t the case.

  I wasn’t sure how I had accomplished it but I managed to make both Rodrick and Lothar irritated with me in the span of about three minutes.

  Rodrick stopped at a door in one of the halls and opened it, interrupting one of the classes as the door slammed into the wall and echoed down the hallway.

  “What is this?” Professor Huxley asked, obviously agitated by the interruption. The sound of breaking glass erupted throughout the classroom. Only when I peeked by Rodrick did I see why Professor Huxley was agitated. He must have been teaching the students how to shift glass into their bodies without breaking it. A few were left with ghastly cuts on their arms from the startling bang of the door swinging open.

  “Ouch!” I heard McKenzie cry from the front of the class. She was ready to slaughter whoever came in only to realize it was the dean of the academy. She quietly picked out the tiny shards of shattered glass in her forearm.

  “There will be a great deal of noise coming from the Bloody Tower shortly and I need you to make rounds to the nearby classrooms. Be sure the students don’t come looking to see what it is. They’re required to stay in their classrooms until I say they can leave. Is that understood?”

  Professor Huxley shrugged his shoulders. “Of course, Dean Everleigh. But isn’t there always noise coming from the Bloody Tower during the trials?”

  “It will be more than screams this time around. My apologies for interrupting. Return to your lecture.”

  Rodrick moved away from the door and we continued down the hall.

  “All shifting stops until I return,” I heard Professor Huxley instruct the class. “If I see one shard of glass has moved I’ll turn the sundial over the room up to ten times the strength.”

  Whispers erupted throughout the class. I didn’t bother trying to make out what students were saying. I was too focused on the fact that I was actually getting what I wanted. Only to realize seconds later that it might be meaningless in the end.

  The last time I managed to see the real Margaux appear, it was a matter of seconds before she disappeared again. Adeline helped me weave enough magic to make it happen. I had Rodrick and the power from my bracelets filled with vixra magic. But would that be enough?

  I knew the truth if it wasn’t. I would probably rot in a freezing dungeon next to Margaux in an isolated Russian prison for fallen witchlings. And I would have no one to blame but myself.

  2

  The closer we got to the Bloody Tower the more I felt an intense pressure building up inside my stomach, threatening to come barreling out at any moment. My nerves weren’t confined in a tight bundle anymore. They were prickling me everywhere. My gut, my skin, even the tiniest hairs on the back of my neck. Every cell inside of me was standing at attention as though ordered by a military commander.

  ‘I’ve done this before. I can do it again.’

  Only I knew the truth. This time it counted. This time if I failed I would have nothing to show for my efforts. I will have kidnapped a prisoner of the vixra and aided in her escape. Even though I intended to give her a brand new prison. The very same one where Lothar tortured me with moonlight striking my body and forcing every bone inside me to break against my will.

  When Rodrick opened the door to the tower, I could hear Margaux three floors above us. I realized why when we entered the cell.

  She was fighting against the locksin, trying to burst free as the blue restraints sparked and tightened around her one wrist and both ankles.

  Jake watched in the corner with an odd sense of curiosity. “I’ve seen ‘The Exorcist’ dozens of times. It never looked like this.”

  “Because that was a demon,” Lothar said as he yanked the chain revealing the moonlight above us to give us more light to work with. The entire dungeon bloomed with moonlight cascading into the cold and dark tower. “This is a human taking possession of a luxra. I’d say there’s a distinct difference.”

  There was no crazy contorting of her head and throwing up in our faces like some demented Hollywood movie. This was a tormented soul trying to regain control and realizing she was losing it the second I walked in. She knew I had freed Margaux once. I could do it again. Or so I hoped. She didn’t know my magic was drained. I needed to keep it that way.

  Sweat dripped down Margaux’s face. Her limbs were turning blue from the locksin getting too tight and her eyes were bloodshot.

  Rodrick locked the door behind us and stood before Margaux with his arms crossed. “I don’t know who you are or what ha
s motivated you to destroy the lives of so many people but it ends tonight.”

  ‘You sound confident for someone who was against this five minutes ago.’

  Margaux finally stopped trying to break loose of the locksin and let her legs lay flat on the ground. She gave in to the locksin chains binding her with a thunderous grunt of frustration.

  “You wouldn’t say such things if you weren’t cursed to walk the earth as a wretched beast,” she seethed, speaking through her teeth.” You weren’t there. You didn’t see what your kind did to my coven.”

  “I’m sure it was beyond words,” Rodrick conceded. “Yet somehow, you saw fit to use your witchling magic to torment others and kill countless more. Eye for an eye never served anyone well. Few things in this world will motivate a person more so than loss. Miss Blackburn understands that. She’s been the victim of your kind having snatched away her brother and more than likely her mother as well. Is that how you reconcile what you’ve done? By rejoicing in watching others experience loss on the same level that you have?”

  “How many souls have you killed, lycan?” She snapped at him. “How many have died by the strike of your claws and the sharpness of your teeth? I’ve saved countless people from the likes of you. And I will continue to do so when the grandmaster finds me here.”

  Rodrick took a step back and gave one solemn shake of his head. “No. We’re here today to make sure he never has that chance.”

  Her chest moved in and out rapidly. She was nervous. I already tortured her once. She knew what it would feel like. But she didn’t seem particularly confident as Rodrick let the scarlet red light of his magic seep through his hands and weave over his arms in circular spirals. Which told me one thing. She wasn’t sure she could endure the pain again.