Emblaze (2 page)

I pulled my jumper off. „The windows are going! Close your eyes!" I commanded my classmates, who were now starting to react. Only half of them took me seriously, burying their faces in their knees. Maybe they thought I was taking them hostage. It probably didn"t look good when I pulled out my very lethal-looking dagger from it"s „glamoured" sheath, the glamour acting as a camouflage to ensure no one even knew it was there. Once revealed, though, all eyes could look nowhere else.

„Oh, dear God," Miss Kinkaid whimpered.

But there wasn"t time to help them anymore because right then three exiles cam crashing through the glass windows with the force of a freight train, showering almost all the glass and surrounding woodwork straight into the room and over everyone.

Exhibitionists!

I saw a few people hit by stray shards of glass, but nothing major. Yet.

Three against one was bad. Three against one - who also had fifteen defenceless humans to protect - was worse. A white-haired exile clapped sights on me immediately and started lunging in my direction. I had less than a second to react, knowing I couldn"t leave the other two free to get expressive with their own version of art on my classmates - main and torture.

As the exile prepared to land, I dropped my dagger and rolled, narrowly missing his fist and giving myself just enough time to grab the next strawberry-blond exile and hurl him like a bowling ball into the third one before Whitey was back on top of me. I paid for the move, my head pounding into the nearest desk, splitting the desktop in two.

Whitey threw me to the ground and straddled me before proceeding to pummel fist after fist into my face, all within seconds. I managed to wriggle enough to get a knee to his gut and scrambled back, jumping to my feet.

Two more figures cam flying through the now glassless windows, landing gracefully behind the three exiles. They didn"t hesitate, just pulled their daggers and jumped into the fray. I breathed out a sigh of relief, before landing a fist into the face of an exile moving in on me. My strike packed enough force to throw him to the wall, giving me a chance to grab my dagger and draw upon the power that welled in the base of my stomach. I called it up.

My signature amethyst mist cloaked the room and I smiled as it encircled me. The exiles all stopped moving , stilled by my power and unable to break the hold.

I could feel a trickle of warm blood slipping down the side of my face. That earlier head-pounding had caused some damage.

„Hey, guys," I said to Beth and Archer, biting my lip.

My classmates started to scream or cry. I didn"t blame them.

Beth and Archer simultaneously raised their eyebrows. „This is the third time in five days, Violet."

I walked over to Whitey, slumped against the wall. He could hear me, and could talk if needed. He watched me coming, knew what I could do to him. The very same thing that had led them t me let him know just how powerful I was. Yeah, apparently … I radiate the stuff.

He was young. Not just in looks but in experience. I was willing to bet he hadn"t been here much longer than a year, which was more than I could say for the other two. Millennia of existence as angels really didn"t prepare them for taking human form. This one looked awkward in his body, like it was the wrong fit. No surprises he was male. They all chose to be male, at least
almost
all. From their point of view males were superior and females the lesser gender, with no power and the added disadvantage of monthly bleeding.

Idiots.

This one didn"t look more than my age, his bright white hair standing tall. He"d used one of those granny hair dyes and it was turning purple. I almost laughed, imagining him becoming human and then spending the next few weeks experimenting with hair colours.

Miss Kinkaid rose to her feet, shaking like a newborn foal against the wall, leaning against it for support.

„V-V-Violet, put … put that w-weapon away. We need to call the … police," she said, losing almost every other word in a hiccupping sob.

I sighed. This wasn"t good. And even though we had it covered, I wondered it we might be causing some kind of psychological damage to these people later in life. Griffin, the head Grigori in this city, assures me not, but still …

At least the art studios are in a separate building, otherwise the entire school would have charged in on use by now. As it was, I could hear people moving in our direction already.

„I wish it were that simple," I mumbled, not taking my eyes from the exile who would have killed me with a smile, before finishing off everyone else in the room out of a misplaced sense of righteousness and, more practically, to cover the evidence. Exiles were thorough, if nothing else.

„Do you want me to make you human?" I asked, glancing at the other two exiles. During an outright attack like this, we weren"t required to make the offer and I knew what their response would be anyway, but I still felt the need to verbalise it.

Yeah, Sentimental.

The exile didn"t respond, he just continued to look at me like he was envisaging ripping my head off. I tightened my grip on my dagger.

Archer cleared his throat. Unfortunately, I knew why.

I held back a sigh of frustration. „Do any of you have a message for me?" I asked, sticking to our latest protocol.

The exile didn"t pause to consider his words, while the other two simply growled.

„I exceed you in every way! I"m more powerful than you can imagine and when I kill you, others will bow at my feet!" he exclaimed, unable to contain the anger from his human form, an emotion that his previous non-corporeal self could not process. He was already well down Delusional Way.

Not exactly the message I was looking for, but good enough.

In time with Miss Kinkaid"s shriek, I ran my dagger through his chest, being sure to make it a fast killing wound. It didn"t need to go through the heart, lots of other places would ensure an exile"s end. The only essentials were that a Grigori blade inflicted the injury and we made it count. Otherwise, exiled angels were damn near impossible to get rid of.

Archer didn"t hesitate, taking out one of the exiles and then spinning on the spot to face the other, his blade slashing straight across the neckline.

I looked away. Archer was old school, and very good.

Two of my classmates, Jeff Willis and Meredith Faro, chose that moment to break out of shock and into hysterics. Jeff"s pitch was the highest. At least no one was trying to bolt this time.

It wouldn"t last long, Beth had already moved in on the other students. Every Grigori had a particular strength and we were all a bit different. Beth"s strength was memory. Like all our gifts, though, it wasn"t endless. She had about a ten-minute window of opportunity and only about a half-hour „wipe" capacity
and
she needed to have touched her target in each case.

She started with Miss Kinkaid, who was now silent, despite her mouth being wide open and paused in a potential tense scream. Beth brushed her hand comfortingly.

„It"s okay. Everything is okay now."

She moved by her, then on to the next, touching everyone in some way, even those who cowered from her, before moving in to give them each a good stare.

„Help is on the way," she said soothingly. „Would you all look at me for a moment?" she continued, pushing a little sweetness into her voice, which had everyone slightly entranced.

Beth was old school, too.

Archer jumped back out the window and disappeared, while I walked around, making sure all evidence of the exiles" presence had gone. Their bodies were the easiest part; as soon as they were „returned", whatever magic had given them a physical form quickly disappeared along with their remains but every now and then other remains were left behind. Weapons usually, but more recently we had started to check for other things that might hide a message, even though I knew Phoenix wouldn"t bother with such plotting. He liked to deliver messages in person.

„You have all been in art class, like any other day. Vandals have been causing havoc in the area and just like they did on
Friday
last week," Beth shit me a loaded glance, „a gang of guys rode by on their bikes, hurling rocks through the windows. It was just lucky that Miss Kinkaid was so quick to act that you all managed to huddle into the corner in time. A few of you were caught by flying glass but you"re all okay and know you are safe now.

Unfortunately, none of you managed to get a look at any of the perpetrators. Does everyone agree?"

My teacher and peers all began to nod.

Beth waited until she was satisfied. „Okay. Now sit silently until we are gone. Do not pay attention to us and you not remember us once we have left, all except Violet, who is your classmate and was huddled in the corner with the rest of you."

They all nodded again.

Archer made me jump when he came bounding back through the window with a number of brick-sized rocks ham mocked in his Road Runner T-shirt. He scattered them around the room to explain the shattered glass, dropping a couple on top of the desk I had broken with my forehead.

„It"s just lucky your school doesn"t have video cameras, otherwise this would be a lot more difficult," he noted.

Rapid footsteps sounded down the hall. Beth and Archer both tensed.

„It"s okay, just Spence," I said. I could sense Grigori, not as easily as I could exiles, but I ran with Spence every day - I knew his gait well enough to be sure this was one of our kind.

Spence almost slid into the room, then looked at my classmates, saw they were held in a momentary daze and took about one second to put all the pieces together. He snorted. "I"ve missed it, haven"t I? Jeez, Eden, you could"ve at least called me!"

Yeah. I felt bad. He"d been close and Spence loved a fight.

„Sorry. I barely had time to call in Beth and Archer."

We all knew they were the first to call in these instances. Beth"s ability to make problems

… go away, was essential.

„Shields?" Spence asked, just as I started to feel the purr of another arrival.

„Yeah," I admitted, hating that I still wasn"t strong enough.

There was another thump as two more feet were propelled through the window. I raised my eyes to the roof.

Did everyone have to be here?

Lincoln took in the scene in much the same way as Spence. His eyes landed on me immediately after. "You"re hurt," he all but growled.

I sighed. "No, I"m fine. Stupid, but fine," I said, trying not to focus on him, not that it made any difference. His very presence sent every part of me, human and angel, into overdrive.

He looked like he wanted to come closer but after a considering look at my head he must have deduced the wound wasn"t that bad and instead turned to Beth. "How long do we have?"

„About thirty seconds until this lot come good," she said, taking Tristan"s phone from his hand, no doubt deleting his recent footage.

„And about a minute until the school rains down on this building," Spence said.

I grabbed a few tissues from Miss Kinkaid"s desk and started mopping the blood from my face. It really wasn"t bad.

„Violet, are you okay from here?" Lincoln asked.

I sheathed my dagger and tied my hair back into its original ponytail. „Yep, you guys go."

Spence went out the back door the way he"d come. Archer and Beth leaped out the window. Lincoln moved to follow but paused briefly.

„Is that yours?" he asked, gesturing to my charcoal drawing, now on the ground.

„Yeah."

His brow furrowed. „It"s beautiful … and awful, too. What is it?"

„It"s me."

„The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the
body. After all imaginable care has been taken to heal them
up, still there will be a scar left behind."

Francois de la Rochefoucauld

I didn"t know if I"d ever truly be able to function again after Jordan. Or if I wanted to.

Losing Rudyard … and Nyla - the way their souls had been so savagely torn apart. The scream, the last noise that fell from Nyla"s lips sounded in my ears constantly. Haunting me.

And even though I pretended I was fine - it took everything I had to force myself not to scream along with her.

The hardest part was the thoughts that snuck into my mind when I wasn"t holding them out. The selfish ones that made me wish Lincoln and I hadn"t waited, that we had allowed out souls to come together completely before Rudyard"s death, before knowing that to do so would be damning each other to a tormented fate like Nyla"s.

I shivered, wrapping my arms around my waist and quickly pushing those feelings that made me hate myself from my mind.

Steph was already waiting for me at my locker. She was talking to Marcus, her ex-boyfriend. Somehow, they were still friends. Only Steph could manage that situation so well.

Maybe I should get some pointers.

When I arrived, he was already saying goodbye, planting a kiss on her cheek and giving me a charity peck too, before dashing off to catch up with his friends.

I smiled when I looked down at the folder resting in her arms. She had an English paper on top - a big A+ was circled in red. With all her extracurricular workload lately you"d expect things might slide in other areas but Steph stayed on top of everything with her particular brand of Steph-finesse.

She moved in close to me, lowering her voice.

„I heard about your art class. Are you okay?" she asked, looking over her shoulder nervously as if she expected secret agents to drop from the ceiling at any moment.

I held back a sigh. „Yeah. It was my fault."

„Was there, you know … Did Phoenix send a message?"

„No," I said, a little more forcefully than I intended. It seemed like the only thing people asked me these days.

She nodded, looking worried but also sensing my need to move on to a different topic.

„Sal sent me a text today," she said, expertly transitioning. „They"ve asked for permission to return but it"s not going well." She frowned. „Spence"s decision to stay here without consulting the Academy didn"t exactly smooth the way. He thinks it"ll take another couple of weeks before they decide what to do."