Deadly Alliances (Dark Shifter Academy #5)

Chapter 22 Shea

The trek through the many halls and stairwells was excruciating. Every single one of my alarm bells was screaming inside me, urging me to run. But I couldn’t leave Julian. Something terrible was about to happen. My brain insisted on denying the obvious, despicable truth, but my soul knew there was only one reason Hadrian would take Julian anywhere after reversing the daywalking spell.

It’ll be over soon. Just get through it. Don’t feel. Don’t feel!

Why did I agree to this? Why did I think I could do something so brazen? I was foolish and reckless and every bad thing Gram always feared I was.

When we reached the large room of branching stairwells, Hadrian went to one near the center, yellow caution tape hanging limply to the railing. We traveled upward until we reached a room that had obviously taken damage in the attack. The exterior wall had been replaced with some sort of material, though the color and texture were off. It was more charcoal than obsidian, rougher than the smooth walls predating the repair.

Hadrian sneered at it but moved to one side to begin his ascent. I followed him with feet heavy as lead, dread pooling in my stomach and slowing me like I was dragging an anchor. But Hadrian showed no signs of irritation for my slow pace, patiently staying only a few steps ahead of me the whole way.

Marguerite was already at the top when we got there, her precious cargo absent from her alabaster arms.

She looked at Hadrian and smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’ve done as you asked. Julian is in the Sunroom.”

Sunroom. Oh, please, no!

“Excellent. Shea, I’d like you to do the honors.”

My heart thudded into my spine, and I looked back and forth between the two. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. What would you like me to do?”

Hadrian pointed to a crank on the wall. “Rotate that a few times, and you’ll see.”

I cautiously stepped forward, for the first time realizing that one of the walls in this narrow space was glass. Squinting through it, I could make out the silhouette of a body slumped on the floor, and I knew it must be Julian.

Fear hammered in my chest, flooding an icy heat over every inch of my skin. I prayed desperately for something to make this stop. Another shifter attack, a riot from the Initiates, a rogue vampire going on a killing spree—anything to interrupt this horrible nightmare.

But as I shuffled toward the crank, there was only silence, the watching eyes of Hadrian and Marguerite on me like a spotlight. No one was coming to save me from this terrible choice that wasn’t even mine to make. And if I stopped now, we’d both die. Arya would continue to be manipulated by her sadistic father and fail her prophecy. Tobias would be tortured to death in the dungeons. And this vampire-shifter war would be won by the wrong side.

By some awful twist of fate, everything hinged on me following through with this. So I did the only thing I could do. I shut off my emotions, hardening my mind, heart and soul so thoroughly that no feeling could penetrate in either direction. Then I lifted my hand.

I pushed on the crank, and it spun easily. Light began to pour in on the other side of the thick glass, first in a sliver, then widening. Julian pushed back to the edge of the room as the beam of light got bigger and bigger. I looked to Hadrian, hoping he’d give me a signal to stop, but he didn’t, his eyes now focused only on Julian. Marguerite stood beside him, her posture rigid.

As smoke began to rise from Julian’s exposed arms and his yells of pain filled the sunroom, I turned my head, casting my gaze to the black wall beside me. Hadrian could make me torture Julian, but I’d be damned if he was going to make me watch. If only I could shut my ears off, too. Despite the walls I put in place, the sound of Julian’s screams shredded my heart.

“I believe that should suffice,” Hadrian said at last, his tone almost bored.

Relief pulsated through my tainted veins, and I reversed the crank with more gusto than the first time. The light slowly closed until the room was once again shrouded in darkness. But Julian’s cries carried on. It took every ounce of my focus and willpower to keep from crumbling to the floor and adding my cries to his.

Hadrian stepped toward me, patting me gently on the shoulder. “Nicely done, Shea. You’ve earned your place here. For now. How soon can you perform the daywalking spell on me?”

My mouth was dry, and finding my voice was difficult, but when it came out, it was devoid of emotion. “The spell requires the petals and roots of a moonflower picked under a full moon, and the seeds of a sunflower.”

He pursed his lips, a flicker of irritation flashing in his dark eyes. “And do you have those items?”

I shook my head robotically.

His jaw shifted. “Why did you not tell me about these stipulations when I asked about the spell?”

I met the challenge in his eyes, fear no longer able to touch me. “Between the attack by the shifters and reversing Julian’s spell, I didn’t get much of a chance.”

He nodded, though he didn’t seem satisfied with my answer. “Well, lucky for you, the moon will still be full tonight. I’ll have someone fetch the ingredients you require, and in the meantime, we’ll assign you to a vampire.” He turned to Marguerite. “Marguerite, I trust you’ll have Julian cleared out shortly.”

“Yes, Hadrian. Thank you.” Marguerite bowed, but there was a stiffness there. I couldn’t be sure, but I suspected she didn’t take as much enjoyment from watching her plaything burn as Hadrian did.

Hadrian gestured for me to follow him down the stairs, and I started in that direction with both eagerness and reluctance.

“Wait,” Marguerite said, stopping us both at the first step.

I looked at her, wondering what fresh hell she was going to throw me into next. There was something vulnerable in her eyes, even as they shimmered with determination.

“I’d like the witch assigned to me.”

Shock reverberated through me like the gong of a bell.

“Ah, what a novel idea,” Hadrian said, tilting his chin upward as he considered. “I like it. Very well. It’s done. Shea, I’ll have your class schedule sent to your room. Have fun, you two.”

In the next breath, he was gone. I guessed without me slowing him down, he was free to use his full speed. I was glad to finally be free of his presence, but not at all thrilled to be in the custody of Vampirella.

“Come, Shea,” Marguerite called like I was a dog as she opened the door to the Sunroom. “Let’s get Julian cleaned up, hmm?”