43. Vex
43
VEX
After hitting the shower, I groan when I remember that I have a night class tonight for Advanced Dark Magick. These are the creatures that can’t move around in the sunlight, or whose preference was night classes. Rubbing my face after everything we learned and went through in the underground chambers, I sigh and get it together. I was offered the chance to TA here by Blackthorn once we figured out our family connection because he knew I needed the outlet for the Dark Magick that lives inside me. Now I think he also knew something was coming. And that something happens to be a five-foot-two blonde with rainbow hair and curves, which I could study for years.
I need to make some time to think about all of this, but now isn’t that time. I make my way to the lecture hall and stride inside, with seconds to spare.
The magick feels different after sunset in Advanced Dark Magick. It’s thicker, more responsive.
Slipping into my chair behind Night’s desk, I watch him start the lecture, and my blood heats up when he demonstrates corruption spells, the darkness weaving between his fingers like silk.
The temperature drops suddenly and, expectedly, due to the magick being used, but it feels off. I sense it in my runes first. A ripple of wrong that makes the sigils under my skin burn.
The classroom windows explode inward.
Shadow creatures, not unlike the guardians we saw earlier underground, pour through. They’re ancient, purposeful, and moving with an intelligence that makes my blood run cold.
“Containment circles!” Night shouts, already weaving defensive spells, unsurprised by this invasion, which immediately makes me suspicious as fuck.
I launch myself over the desk as the first shadow reaches for a student. Dark electricity erupts from my hands, cutting through the creature. “Get behind me!”
“Stand down, Vex.” Professor Laurent appears in the doorway, her magick crackling violet. “This is a staff matter.”
“Like hell it is, and in case you forgot, I am staff.” I throw up a barrier as more shadows stream in.
Two more shadows manifest, their forms more solid than any I’ve seen before. They appear to be looking for something or someone. Night’s defensive spells barely touch them, which is wrong on so many levels, considering his power level.
A student screams as one of the creatures grabs her. I blast it back, but three more take its place. The air grows thick with competing magick. Night’s darkness, Laurent’s violet shields, my own power crackling black and deadly through the air.
“We need to get out,” I shout over the chaos, herding students toward the door. But Laurent blocks it, her face set in grim lines.
“No one leaves, until they find what they’re looking for,” she says steadily.
What. The. Fuck.
Before I can respond, the temperature plummets again, but this time it’s different. A familiar energy signature flows over me, making my runes burn in recognition. I turn to see Matilda in the doorway behind Laurent.
Laurent tries to block her, but Matilda’s power flares, controlled and steady, shoving the professor aside like she’s nothing. Laurent’s eyes follow Matilda’s every move with an intensity that sets my teeth on edge. The shadows suddenly stop their random attacks, all turning toward Matilda like compass needles finding north.
“Fascinating,” Laurent murmurs, and I don’t like the clinical interest in her voice. “They respond to her.”
“Get the students out,” I snarl at Night, who for once doesn’t argue. He ushers them toward the door, but the shadows surge forward, creating a barrier of darkness.
“Let them go,” Matilda commands, her power rolling through the room. The creatures pause, then attack her instead. She throws up a shield of pure darkness that makes my runes burn in recognition. She is using magick so dark that it makes my mouth water.
But something is very wrong here. Laurent’s watching like this is exactly what she expected, her violet magick completely dormant now. When I turn to confront her, she’s gone, just fucking vanished and left to this chaos.
“Matilda!” I shout as three shadows converge on her at once. She holds her own, that impossible darkness consuming each creature she touches, but there are too many, and she doesn’t have the experience to be doing… any of this.
A vampire tries to dart past the fight to reach the door, but one of the shadows whirls, its claws extending toward her throat.
Matilda moves faster than should be possible. The darkness around her explodes outward, wrapping around the vampire and yanking her to safety as Matilda takes the hit instead. The shadow’s claws tear into her shoulder, but she doesn’t flinch. Her eyes go completely black, and the temperature drops so low that frost forms on the windows.
“I said,” she growls, her voice echoing with power, “let them go.”
The darkness pouring from her hands isn’t like anything I’ve seen or felt before. It’s older, deeper, and scary as fuck.
“Get down!” I roar, channelling power through my runes. Dark electricity arcs across the room, catching the three shadows. They screech a godawful sound that makes the windows smash.
The shadows pause in their attack, twisting as if caught between two competing commands. Night’s spells finally start having an effect, his magick tearing through two smaller creatures.
I fight my way to Matilda’s side, our magick intertwining naturally. Dark electricity and ancient shadow working in sync. But these things just keep coming, reforming almost as fast as we can destroy them.
“They’re not trying to kill anyone,” Matilda says through gritted teeth as we stand back to back. “They’re testing me. Testing us.”
A shadow lunges for her throat. I grab it with crackling hands, channelling enough power to level a building. The creature screams, but before it can reform, Matilda’s darkness consumes it completely.
“Us?” I manage between attacks, but there’s no time for answers. More shadows pour through the windows, and all I can do is react.
Night’s finally got most of the students behind a barrier near the door. The shadows keep pressing in, forcing Matilda and me closer together until our shoulders touch. The contact sends a jolt through my runes that has nothing to do with battle.
“Ready?” she asks.
“For what?”
Instead of answering, she grabs my hand, and out of the corner of my eye, the Araxi familiar launches itself at Matilda, attaching itself to her injured shoulder. But she doesn’t flinch. Power slams into me. Her ancient darkness fuses with my dark energy, combining it into something new. Something devastating. The shadows closest to us retreat.
“Now,” she commands, and I let the power flow freely between us. This is my purpose. This is why I’m here. To let her power overflow into me so she doesn’t annihilate the world.
The resulting explosion of magick tears through the room like a bomb. The remaining windows shatter outward, desks splinter, and shadows dissolve into nothing. The few that are left flee back through the broken windows, disappearing into the night.
In the sudden silence, I become very aware that I’m still holding Matilda’s hand. She’s breathing hard, blood seeping from her eyes and nose, but her gaze is clear when she looks up at me.
“What the hell was that?” Night demands, lowering his barrier.
“That,” Matilda says, swaying slightly, as she pats the Araxi, who has somehow healed her shoulder. Or maybe she did that herself? Either way, she’s fine. “That was a message.” She turns to the vampire, who’s still shaking. “Are you alright?”
She nods but can’t seem to find words.
“Laurent,” I growl, remembering the professor’s convenient disappearance. “She knew this was coming.”
Matilda takes a step and stumbles. I catch her before she falls. “You’re drained.”
“I’m fine.” But she doesn’t pull away.
Looking at the destruction around us, I know she’s right. This was just the beginning.
But the beginning of what?