Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) (7 page)

Darwin grabbed the doorknob to run at the same time I
grasped his hoodie to stop him. The doorknob flashed and turned yellow. “I
don’t want to do it!” he said.

“Do you want get expelled?”

“Yes!” His voice cracked. He was lying.

Henry got up and pushed Darwin into the seat.
“Darwin, settle down. You will do this or I will smack you very lightly on the
hand.” Darwin’s eyes widened with fear. “You are twenty-two; it’s time for you
to act like an adult.”

Darwin’s eyes narrowed in anger. “You’re only three
years older than me. You can’t trick me into getting angry; I’m too smart for
that. I know what I’m capable of.”

“You hide behind your intelligence.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty stupid. Why are you pushing?”

“I do not want you to be expelled for your
stubbornness. I have seen you shift your claws and teeth, so I know there is a
wolf inside you.”

A weird choking sound made us look at Ghost, who was
suddenly sitting on my desk. The cat looked more amused than angry, which was a
first. Despite the fact that I saw him quite often, it always surprised me how
mangy he looked.

“You got something to say, fleabag?” Darwin asked.

Ghost made the same hacking sound again… the old bastard
was laughing. “What are you here for?”

He narrowed his eyes and flopped down on his side for
a nap. “There’s something really wrong with that damn cat,” Darwin said.

“Yeah, but he always seems to give us the key we
need. Ghost…” He opened one eye to glare at me. “Are you here for something or
to give us something?” I asked. He purred and I rolled my eyes. “Get off my
desk.”

He reached out his paws in a stretch and then stood.
Watching me with a mixture of glare and delight, he emphatically extended the
claws on his front paws and dug them into the wood desk.

“I’m going to regret this.” I reached out with my
power to communicate with the cat. I felt the minds of my roommates and went
for the unfamiliar consciousness. The cat was not a person, but not a normal,
wild animal, either. He welcomed my intrusion.

Instantly, I saw his memory. Through Vincent’s eyes,
I saw an underground cavern in a circle of fire. Outside the fire, blood was
pooling on the ground.
Okay, so my uncle is weird. I already knew that. What
should I be looking at?

Vincent held his hand outward and the fire turned
blue. Langril appeared on the other side of the fire. He smirked and pulled the
red ball out of his pocket. “What’s your angle this time, Vincent?”

“We need to either destroy Krechea or destroy the
tower.”

“I’m not letting you destroy the tower.”

“Then you need to let us use your key so Logan and I
can–”

Langril’s cold laugh was ominous. “You wouldn’t last
a day in Dothra.”

“You don’t want Krechea freed any more than Logan and
me. What is it you want for your help?”

He was no longer amused. “Save Heather. Bring Heather
back and I will let you destroy the tower.”

“You know I can’t make a deal with her because of
Ghost.”

“Your nephew can.”

“Leave Devon out of this. Had Heather gotten the key
before she was killed, you two would have banded against Logan and me. You are
not turning my nephew against me.”

“You’re getting really attached to him, yet I suspect
he doesn’t know anything about you. Does he know that John–” His words were
drowned out by distortion for a moment. Vincent’s glare was not encouraging.
“I’m starting to think nothing could sway Devon’s mind. He’s got your
stubbornness.”

“You realize that Krechea had the shadow walkers
possess Logan’s golems to kill him, right?”

“Of course. Krechea has all of my grimoires and my
teachings.”

“Then he knows that killing us is easier than finding
the last key himself. You know him more than the rest of us. Does he know about
Devon?”

“He’s seen Devon, but as long as Devon doesn’t look
him in the eyes, he can’t know the power your nephew has. If he learns, he will
try to get Devon to attain the key for him. He’s smart, though; he’ll study
Devon first to decide whether to use force or coercion.”

It was startling to be forced from the cat’s mind as
a stronger one took over.
Vincent
. I opened my eyes, back in my room,
and the cat vanished. “How the hell is that supposed to help?” I asked the
empty space.

“What did you see?” Darwin asked.

I relayed the vision as we went outside to the clearing
in the forest where I had my earth training meetings.

We reached the clearing and Henry held the amulet out
to Darwin, who took it hesitantly. “Sit down and concentrate, just like I
showed you.”

“I don’t like sitting still.”

I knew that. Trying to get Darwin to sit still was
like trying to hold a football underwater. “Sit,” I said, pointing to a large
rock.

He rolled his eyes and did as ordered. With a
dramatic sigh, he closed his eyes and fiddled with the talisman in his hand.
Henry and I settled on a log to wait. It was a nice night, at least. After
about half an hour, Darwin stood. “This is ridiculous.” He tossed the amulet at
Henry and stomped away.

I sighed and stood. “Henry, can you give me a minute
alone?” He nodded and left. After a few minutes, I leaned against the nearest
tree and looked up. “Did you have fun following me?”

Astrid jumped down with a gracefulness only a vampire
could achieve.

“Getting shot multiple times, called a monster,
rejected repeatedly just because I’m not human, and forced to hide from the
sunlight in a dumpster? Oh, you mean for the last few days. No, but that other
stuff was a blast.”

“I don’t remember you being sarcastic as a kid. I
could have been killed in that house.”

“It’s not my fault you were slow and your friend is a
psycho. How long did you know it was me?”

“I can sense vampires, remember? Did you step on the
wire on purpose to put me through that?”

“Of course not. I didn’t know what would happen. Some
people like pushing buttons, I like pulling on tripwires. Why didn’t you say
anything at your apartment if you knew?”

“I didn’t think you would follow me back here.”

“You should be thanking me. If it weren’t for me, you
would have a real investigator tailing you.”

“Who hired you?”

“Regina. She called a P.I. company to set up an
investigation on you, and Stephen has some guys on the lookout for that kind of
thing. We can’t have someone investigating a paranormal.”

“I thought it was the council’s job to watch for that
kind of thing.”

“We never rely on wizards to do their job. Our butts
are on the same line. So, I intercepted the request and told Regina I was
assigned to her case.”

“And?” I prompted.

She grinned. “And…” She pulled a small notepad out of
her back pocket. “August twenty-forth, nine-thirty, subject goes rollerblading
in the local park until noon, where he was abruptly asked to judge a wet
t-shirt contest before winning a three-dollar coupon to Hooters.”

“Really? You’re making up bullshit to mess with her?”

“It’s hilarious. And I get paid for it!”

“Then why have you been following me around?”

It wasn’t her smile that changed but a subtle tone in
her eyes that made her appear absolutely serious. “Maybe getting shot multiple
times, called a monster, rejected repeatedly just because I’m not human, and forced
to hide from the sunlight in a dumpster is worth it.”

“Tell me you didn’t come here just because of me.”

“No. I actually have a real job to do here. Some of
Stephen’s information was leaked to an enemy coven in Canada. He took a lot of
damage from it. We were able to track down communications, not to a person but
a place. We’re pretty sure it’s a student here.”

“Do you need help?”

“This is nothing I can’t handle. It does mean I’ll be
sticking around here for a while. Would you flip out and shoot me again if I
suggested we go get something to eat together?”

“You can eat human food?”

“You’ve known me for over twenty years and now you
ask me.” She walked away and I followed after a moment.

My instinct didn’t warn me of danger, despite the
fact that I was walking alone in the woods at night with the single greatest
predator to ever exist on land. This made me wonder how a vampire would fair
with a great white or a box jellyfish.

“I can eat food, but I don’t need it,” she said,
unaware of the battle going on in my head. “I eat it for the taste mostly. Some
vampires can’t stomach it at all and some just want the sensation of chewing.
I’ve also heard of the disgusting synthetic blood they have here.”

“You didn’t try it last time?”

“I didn’t need it. I heard there was going to be a
supplier of chewing gum, cigarettes, and gummy bears.”

“I know. Darwin is the supplier.”

We arrived at the dining room just as three of the
teachers’ assistants started passing blood cups out to the vampires. As I got
my food in the buffet line, I heard a vampire mention that they should have
tomato juice for the non-vampires to feel included.

Astrid sat in my usual seat, so I sat next to her and
Darwin sat down on the other side of me a few seconds later. Henry sat across
from us, not at all concerned with Astrid’s presence. Astrid was scowling at
her cup, while Darwin began examining his food for any unexpected ingredients.

“So, are you here as a student?” Henry asked.

Astrid shook her head. “Officially, I’m here to make
sure my coven is behaving appropriately, not being given special treatment or
being treated unfairly, and that their curriculum is appropriate. The treated
windows are a huge plus. The distribution of blood needs work. A non-vampire
could easily get one.”

“Dr. Martin said it would work as an unpleasant
sedative on non-vampires,” Darwin said. “Does it taste as bad as they say?”

She grimaced, and drank it. “Worse,” she said with a
shudder.

Darwin started talking about foods of different
cultures that were delicacies in that culture and considered revolting in
others. This made Henry and me a little nauseated. Astrid, on the other hand,
went very pale. She suddenly got up, threw her cup in the trash, and then threw
up in the trash.

The woman next to the trash screamed before asking
Astrid if she was okay. Astrid said she was fine and sat next to me. “That
blood isn’t going to work.”

*          *          *

Intermediate Alchemy and Potions
was my first
class on Tuesday morning. I had to use the map to find the room. It was one of
the more normal rooms; it had a flat floor, large windows against the south
wall, and had six round tables instead of desks. Professor Barton was an
average-looking wizard in his mid-fifties.

I approached his desk before class started. He
stopped organizing pages and smiled up at me. “Hello, Mr. Sanders.” He stood
and reached out his hand to shake mine. “I have heard a lot about you from
other professors.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Professor. I was just
wondering if the classes are random or…”

“I understand you were Professor Langril’s top
student for two semesters in a row and this might be unusual for you. However,
Professor Watson took over scheduling this semester and he thought you would be
better suited to my advanced class.”

I studied the students entering for a moment. All ten
of them were students I recognized and liked working with. Also, it was no
mystery that Langril was insane and often had us doing extremely dangerous and
often pointless tasks, so I knew Professor Barton’s class would be safer.

“With all due respect, Professor, I would prefer to
transfer back to Langril’s class.”

His eyes widened. “Really? What for?”

“I like that class.”

He nodded. “You will have to get his permission, but
it’s fine with me.” I nodded and left. It only took a minute to reach Langril’s
class. I knocked and entered. Everyone turned and Mack dropped the cauldron in
his hands.

Professor Langril had eight classes a week from
beginning potions to advanced. His classes were often small, as most students
wanted other professors like Professor Barton or Mali, who were both
respectable and taught a range of regular and advanced classes. The students
who did take Langril’s classes, however, usually wanted to remain in them, so
each of his classes tended to stay together throughout their required potions
classes. For this reason, I saw the same five classmates I had my first two
semesters… with one edition.

“Hey, Devon,” Jackson said, uncharacteristically
polite.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I’m Professor Langril’s assistant.”

“I’ve never seen anyone escape the nuthouse and then
voluntarily return,” Becky said.

“It’s Stockholm Syndrome,” Andi told her.

“That doesn’t work on cops.”

“I’m not a cop,” I said. They both rolled their eyes
in disbelief.

“Welcome back, Devon,” Professor Langril said as he
entered the classroom. “I thought you had escaped. Mack, clean that up. We
don’t need another shoe-melting incident on the first day of class.”

There were still stains of melted rubber, burns, and
blood all over the stone floor from previous spills, the majority of which were
Mack’s doing. Students in Langril’s other classes thought we routinely
performed blood sacrifices in here. Of course, we played along by checking out
creepy books from the libraries or leaving weird equipment in the classroom
that we found in storage.

At the end of class, everyone else left quickly,
including Jackson.

“Why did you choose to come back to my class?” the
professor asked when we were alone.

I shrugged. “Because I think I have a lot to learn from
you.”
Not necessarily potions, though.