Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) (14 page)

Her hand tightened on mine. “It’s okay. We have to
get out of the building and this is the only way. Trust me.”

“What about your condition?”

“It’s cloudy, so I’ll be fine.” She tugged on my hand
until I followed her down the steps. It was hot and I started choking. She
pulled my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose. “We need to hurry.”

A hand landed heavily on my shoulder. Astrid’s face
became deathly pale with fear.

Suddenly, Astrid and I were sitting outside in the
grass next to each other. Rain poured heavily, but not so hard that I couldn’t
tell where we were. “What happened?” I asked. “How did we get out of the
building and across town?”

Astrid wrapped her arms around me and put her head on
my shoulder. “I don’t know.”

Her hands were covered in blood.

*          *          *

I woke, already knowing it was a memory and not a
dream I was waking from. Astrid was pressed against me. I pulled her closer.

“The day schedule sucks,” she murmured, pressing her
lips against my collarbone.

“Where were you yesterday?”

“Working.”

“Where were you on Monday night?”

She groaned, still half asleep. “Working. I was
looking for someone who might have been hiding a phone that was stolen. I found
one that made several international calls, which aligned with my timeframe. I
found it in a vampire’s room, but he has an alibi and said another vampire
might have left it in there. Apparently, both of his roommates are sluts who
like vampires.”

“Three of the four people you talked to are sick and the
fourth one is missing.”

She leaned away and opened her eyes. “How sick?”

“Dying sick. Do you mind if I look around in your
memories to see your conversations? Maybe one of them said something about
where they were, what they did, or who they were with.”

She nodded and pressed her face against my chest.
“Stay out of my childhood. Neither of us wants to see what I went through.”

I opened the ever-present connection between us and
thought of Astrid by the indoor pool. Instantly, the memories came up. She
chose these four people because she had asked the vampires she knew were
faithful who might have a phone. At first, she had gotten no response at all,
but then she mentioned that she could get real blood in with a single phone
call to Stephen and she ended up with four names. She spent less than a minute
with Kristen, who she found out had a phone, but Kristen had it on her. Conner
also had one, but it was dead because there were no outlets and he didn’t bring
a battery pack like Kristen. Mack had a phone that was confiscated by a
professor. Len brought his phone in case his mother needed him, though the
signal was horrible at best. He was also smart enough to bring battery packs.
However, he was very secretive about it, which was why Astrid had to leave the
party with him to get him to tell her anything. This was also a dead end,
because he accidentally fried it. She found this out right before he tried to
kiss her and she knocked his lights out.

I was both relieved that Astrid had nothing to do
with the case and disappointed I had no more leads. I closed the mental
connection between us and absentmindedly kissed her forehead.

“I had a weird dream,” she said, right as I started
to fall back to sleep.

My eyes popped open. “When we were kids? That day at
the science museum?”

She sat up quickly. “How did you know?”

“Because I had the same dream. Do you remember how we
got out of the building?” I asked. She shook her head. “I might know who does.”
I started to get up, but Astrid put her hand on my arm to stop me.

“Where are you going? It’s three in the morning;
everyone but the vampires and their professors are asleep.”

“You’re right.” I couldn’t be sure where his room was
since the building was different.

“Who here would know how we got out of the building
when we were kids?”

“My teacher trapped me in that room, but a man came
out of the dark. I forgot the entire field trip. I didn’t even recognize him. Professor
Langril was there.”

My Monday classes crept
along, as they normally did when I had to be somewhere as soon as possible. By
the time I finally got out of
Defense Against Elemental Attacks
, which
ran fifteen minutes over, Professor Langril wasn’t in his classroom. I let my
instincts guide me and wasn’t surprised to find myself on the top floor of the
dorms. I knocked on the door in front of me and heard a familiar answer.

Professor Langril was sitting at his desk when I
entered. He leaned back in his seat, tossed his red ball in the air, and caught
it. “I was wondering when you would come to me,” he said without looking.

I shut the door. “I know about your connection to the
school. Your Englishman name.”

He turned in his wheelie-chair and smirked. “I know
you know. Between you, who can never let anything go, Darwin, who can never
forget any little detail, and Henry, who can never relent for even a minute, I
knew it would only be a matter of time. Make a deal with Heather and you’ll
learn everything you need to know.”

“What kind of deal?”

“What kind of covenant would you normally make?” he
asked, his easy smirk changing into an almost malevolent grin.

“Why can’t you answer a simple question?”

“Because if you ask a simple question, you get a
simple answer, and there is no such answer to this question. You want to know
about the tower, your uncle, the shadow walkers, the keys… yet you ask me a
question you already know the answer to. You know who I am, but you haven’t
asked what.”

I was not a religious man, but my mind wasn’t closed
to it. I knew about the paranormal world, yet I convinced myself I was normal.
It was a lie. Thus, I was agnostic rather than atheistic. If I had plausible
evidence, I would accept it. There was nothing plausible about Professor
Langril. “Are you a demon?”

“What an inappropriate choice of words, not to
mention rude.” He didn’t sound offended in the least. “You could call me a
demon, but I could also call you one.” He tossed the ball in the air again.
“Heather is in danger and you can get her out of it. She can help you just as
much.”

“Heather is dead.”

“Yes, that is true.” He sighed. “The world must be so
black and white to you.”

“I thought you said I wasn’t ready and had to refuse
if she offered a contract.”

“I still think you aren’t ready, but these are
desperate times.”

“I had a memory of you when I was a child. You came
to see me at a science museum.”

He pursed his lips in concentration. “That sounds
very boring. I tend to forget uneventful things, don’t you?”

“No joking, no riddles, and no games. Was it real?
Were you there?”

“Yes. I have dropped in a time or two. I saw you as
useful. You were supposed to forget those times, though. You must have come in
contact with an object of immense power. Until the tower is destroyed, I will
be tenacious about stopping it. That means bribing, blackmailing, and
manipulating anyone I have to, including you.”

“I’m not going to make a deal with anyone without
knowing what I’m getting into.”

He sat back and grinned. “Whatever you say. Heather
is the persuasive one. By the way, if the headmaster’s right-hand man suddenly
left, who would have the best chance of killing the headmaster?”

“His deputy.”

*          *          *

On the way to Langril’s class on Tuesday, I caught up
with Becky. “So, know anything about the new rules the council wants to push?”
I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Trust me, my father tells me
nothing. I only see him when my mother guilts me into going to dinner with
them. He spends the entire time ridiculing my life choices and complaining that
he doesn’t have a son.”

Brian spotted me and started to say something before
he noticed Becky, turned, and ran in the opposite direction.

“What the Freud was that about?” she asked.

“He’s afraid of women.”

“Good for him. If women were running the council…”
She let the sentence go unfinished.

*          *          *

When I arrived at
Elemental Configuration
,
Professor Watson was speaking with a student and didn’t notice the fight that
was forming in the back of the room between Jackson and Dan. I really wanted to
ignore it. Unfortunately, Dan was sweating and when he tried to punch Jackson,
he missed and collapsed.

I brought him to the infirmary, where Dr. Martin said
there was no change in the situation. Mack was also still missing.

By then, even I was starting to doubt that Darwin
would pass his test. After we were done with our classes, we met in the dining
room for a before-dinner snack. The room wasn’t very crowded and we didn’t feel
like going back to our room.

Amelia found us and sat next to Darwin, unable to
offer him any comfort over his upcoming test. “Have you been able to overhear
anything about the sickness?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “It’s just fear now. Most are
afraid it was some kind of communicable disease.”

A low growl in the back of Henry’s throat and an
angry glare had us turning to the dining room entrance. Kale swaggered in and
gave the room a sweeping gaze… until his eyes locked on Henry. Students fell
silent as the council member approached our table. “Henry Lycosa,” he began
loudly, making sure everyone could hear. “You are under arrest.”

“For what?” Darwin asked.

Kale glared at him. “For the murder of Luana and
Matheus Lycosa.” Henry blanched.

“Your parents are dead?!” Darwin asked.

“Did you find their bodies?” Henry asked, ignoring
our roommate.

The wizard’s eyes narrowed further. “We suspect you
burned their bodies to destroy the evidence. Unfortunately for you, Holli Scout
witnessed you attacking them on the night of August twenty-ninth.”

The full moon.

Henry stood, his face becoming blank. “I’ll get you
out, bro,” Darwin promised.

“It’s okay. They’ll let me go when my parents are
found dead or alive. Just focus on your test.” He said something to Darwin in
Portuguese and then walked away.

Kale was obviously startled by Henry’s compliance,
yet he managed to contort his shocked expression into a sneer at Darwin. “See
you Saturday, Mason.”

“I’m not a bloody throwback, drittsekk. If you so
much as irritate Henry, everyone on the council will know you slept with
Chambers’s wife.”

“It hardly matters now; James is dead. In fact, the
only one who wasn’t sleeping with her was James.”

“Brenn i helvete.”

Kale walked out.

“That was suspicious,” I said. “Henry
hates
cages, yet he was willing to go so easily. What did he say to you?”

“He said the amulet was in his pillowcase. Did he do
it? I mean, he looked shocked, but maybe that was just because he was caught.
We know he has a secret. Maybe his parents did genetic experiments on him,
which explains his peculiar jaguar. It’s also a good excuse to snap and kill
someone.”

“No. He’s never been secretive about the wanting to
kill his parents; he would have told us if he killed them. Also, if he did kill
them, he wouldn’t be seen. Either Holli is lying, or she was fooled. I think
this is Gale’s doing.”

“He’s trying to get the amulet back. I get the
feeling the council isn’t going to give Henry a fair trial or wait for
evidence. Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“We’re going to use that damn amulet. I’m going to do
magic if it kills that smarmy goat and if any of those damn councilmen bother
my roommates ever again, they’ll be swimming with the fishes… in a volcano.”

“There is a wolf in you, isn’t there?”

He scowled. “And what if there is? You and Henry are
two of my pack-mates and everyone not part of my pack can suck it.”

“Grab the amulet and meet me at the burn field,” I
said. He nodded and took off.

“Is he okay?” Amelia asked.

“I think this is the first time since we got to
school that he’s okay.”

*          *          *

Fifteen minutes later, Darwin joined us at the burn
field. “You couldn’t have picked a closer location?” he asked.

“Shut up and concentrate. We’re going to do something
different. I used the amulet before and you already know how to use my powers
through a connection that I open. We’ll do just like what we did in Remy’s
class, except you’re going to light the candles with real fire.”

He looked around at the candles and frowned
doubtfully.

“Just think of Kale again. I’m pretty sure anger is
associated with fire.”

“But my mother’s power is camouflage.”

“You’re not a forest fae; you’re a genius. You have
the know-how and that amulet gives you everything else. You’re not going to
scare the council by making the walls pink.”

He nodded. “I’m not in a pink mood, anyway.” He sat
down and I sat across from him. In my opinion, he was making progress since he
hadn’t changed the color of anything in two days.

Opening a mental link between us was second nature to
me and his manic thoughts were as familiar as my own calmer ones. I pushed away
his compulsive calculations and focused on fire. The sun was high in the sky,
burning me slowly. I thought of grease fires, steaming coffee, fireworks, and
sunburns.

“Stop,” Darwin groaned. His mind took control and he
imagined the ocean.

“No. You need fire.” I opened my eyes and studied the
candles around us. “You need to do this yourself. I’ve created fire before and
you know how magic works.”

He nodded again and the image of a cauldron appeared
in my mind. The first time I created fire replayed like a video, except I could
feel it. I felt the excitement as I realized for the first time and without any
doubt that I could really do it.

Through me, Darwin felt that as his own excitement.
Images and sensations of fire flashed between us quickly and faltered on my
last kiss with Astrid.
“Why?”
I asked, but oddly, I knew the answer.
Heat built inside me as I remembered details of the kiss that I hadn’t even
noticed during the event. I never realized Astrid had an underlying scent of
strawberries or that she shivered when I started to pull away. I hadn’t really
seen the look in her eyes even when I was staring into them. They were more
green than brown, shinier than usual, yet the skin under her eyes were darker,
probably due to a lack of sleep.

I could feel her soft pants against my skin and
couldn’t resist pulling her back for another kiss… only we were kids again. It
wasn’t sexual as it had been a moment before, but it certainly wasn’t innocent.
In the memory of our first kiss, she gave off the impression of being fragile.
At least she was physically. Mentally, she was fearless, brave, and borderline
psychotic. After that one horrible night, I replayed everything she had ever
said at least a hundred times. Her sociopathic tendencies had always been
there.

She wasn’t a bad person, but she didn’t think like
“normal people” did. Of course, neither did Darwin. Hell, who was I to judge
anyone? She didn’t lack morals; her morals were just not exactly aligned with
mine. This conclusion led back to kissing her, except that the memory slipped
into a fantasy as her shirt slipped off.

This was fire. Passion was fire.

Although he never liked to sit still, Darwin’s focus
was much better than mine. His imagination, on the other hand, could use some
work. Within seconds, I saw and felt fire take form, split into thirty-one
parts, and line perfectly with the wicks of the candles. Reality returned to me
and I found myself breathing heavily. Darwin blushed, also panting. “Are you
planning on… seeing her again tonight?” he asked, staring too intently at a
particular candle.

“Perv. Lust over your own girlfriend.”

“I hope I don’t get as boring as you in my old age.”

I laughed. “Your I.Q. is higher than Regina can
count. If you want to be intimate with Amelia, get creative.”

“I tried; I suggested a sheet. She turned redder than
her hair and nearly had a panic attack. So, what are we going to do to help Nightshade
and Watson bring down the council? I guess we could just ask Watson to cut us
in.”

“Let’s play nice to get you past your test first and
we’ll come up with a plan to spring Henry out second if they don’t let him go
by then.”

“You don’t think they’ll kill Henry?”

“I don’t think they can.”

*          *          *

I was already heading for the door when it opened. It
wasn’t entirely sunset yet, but Astrid must have felt the same sense of urgency
I did because there she was, barging into my room and into my arms. Her mouth
met mine hard enough that I was surprised there wasn’t any blood. Lost in her
kiss, I somehow ended up in my chair with her in my lap.
God, strawberries.
It was the oddest thing to be aroused by, but she smelled so damn good.

Her lips broke from mine and she nipped gently at my
shoulder and neck as her hands tried to get the button undone on my jeans. My
head was so clouded that I missed how we went from the chair to the floor… or
where her shirt went.

Soft, warm skin… I licked a line of her skin from her
throat to her navel, purposefully avoiding her most intimate areas. Before I
was willing to give up my teasing, she pushed me off. Using her inhuman
strength, she got back on top and started kissing my neck again. When the sharp
tips of her fangs grazed my skin, I shuddered. It was with anticipation, not
revulsion. I felt it when she pulled back that she was about to bite.

“Get off him!” Darwin yelled, shattering the illusion
the vampire and I were under.

The illusion that everything was okay between us.

Astrid sprang back like she was electrocuted.
Obviously, she was as lost in the moment as I was. “Sorry,” she said quickly,
turning away. “I had a very strong dream and it… I needed to feel it for real.”