Chapter 26 #2
Or I did. I don’t know what time it is or how long I’ve been out. At least mentally I’m no longer feeling the effects of whatever drug Asier gave me. I’m probably fired.
Callahan’s hand squeezes mine. “You’ll probably say no but. . . could I just pay – “
I rip my hand away and turn in the opposite direction as him. He doesn’t finish what he was saying. Good. It would probably just make me mad anyway.
“You could always pay me back if you wanted to later,” he tries.
When I don’t answer he sighs and doesn’t reach for my hand again.
“You were only out for about thirty minutes, but the healers want you to stay for the rest of the day to make sure you’re alright.
They said you should also stay the night but they can’t force you. ”
Only thirty. . . ? That means it’s around seven thirty – maybe. I could technically just show up late to Magic History and then go to the rest of my classes. That way today wouldn’t be counted as an absence.
Throwing the sheet off me, I push myself up and will myself to make my feet move. Callahan jerks back and out of the corner of my eye I see him glare at me.
“Don’t even think about it, Mavyn. You’re still practically paralyzed.”
Except I won’t be.
Taking my wrist, I pull up my sleep shirt and bite myself. I’ll have to run back to my room to change and then run to class. How freakin nice would it be to shadow twist right now. That or fold.
The pricks of pain don’t register, but my venom does.
Because of how hungry I was during that party I had attended, I wasn’t able to control my venom when I bit the demigod. However, normally, I have excellent control of it. Both the aphrodisiac aspect as well as the defensive aspect.
Like with other creatures who inject venom into their prey, it’s usually something that either neutralizes or strictly kills them. If I injected enough of my venom into someone I could eventually kill them, but right now I measure the dosage for a paralysis effect.
On anyone else it would do just that – paralyze them. But because it’s me and with the help of the blue belladon in my blood, it becomes a counter antidote to both poisons and venoms. Meaning it will neutralize the effects of whatever drugs I was given.
Needles of pain begin stabbing my legs as it begins working.
My blood drips from my tongue to the side of my mouth.
I let it waste. My poison infused blood that tastes like the best thing you could ever taste.
Then I remove my wrist from my mouth and wipe the rest of my blood on my face onto the sheets.
Berries with a hint of floral clog my nose and I even scrape the sheet against my tongue to try and get the taste out of my mouth. But it worked. I can now move my toes and while pain slices along my feet and legs, I let it.
At least I’m alive.
Throwing my legs over the bed, I stand and turn towards the door. Callahan is standing in front of the pathway with his back straight, shoulders wide, and arms crossed. As if he could stop me.
“You need rest.”
“I need to get to class.”
He glares at me. “Your body was put through extreme trauma the last couple days. Class can wait. Varian won’t fail you.”
This is going to be fucking annoying.
“Move, Callahan.” I take a step towards him but he doesn’t budge. I contemplate comparing him to the sun devil with controlling my life, but that would be a step too far. There is too much self-loathing and hatred within him, I don’t want to break him.
I do, however, do the next best thing.
I roll my sleeves up and hike my shirt up and barrel straight for him. Immediately he moves out of the way, his arms going in the air so as not to touch my bare skin. Since he’s only wearing a short sleeve shirt and not his uniform he isn’t as covered.
“Mavyn what the fuck!”
As soon as I pass him I bolt for the exit. Pulling my shirt down and not bothering about my sleeves because I can’t have him catch me and I’m also on a time crunch. Students walk here and there, most of them turning towards me as I run and Callahan bellowing my name behind me.
Regulating my heartrate and blood flood, I up my pace and focus on my breathing instead of the pain shooting up and down my legs.
Rounding one of the corners I see Jullia with her arm linked with Asher. Her face lights up when she sees me and opens her mouth to speak but I’m already past her.
“I’M COMING TO CLASS,” I shout back with Callahan yelling after, “NOT A FUCKING CHANCE!”
Ignoring him, I make a beeline straight through the courtyards until I get to the west side of the building and I can see the dorm rooms. I don’t have the longest legs, but when all else fails, run. After the sun devil I made sure I was able to run faster and longer than anyone if I needed to.
Sometimes that’s the only thing you can do. And I don’t mean it just because of the devil or the shitty foster houses. You could be the strongest, most powerful being known, but even then there are times when all you can do is run.
It’s not weak. People associate running with fleeing and cowardness and self-preservation in a negative aspect. It can be – to a certain point. But facing the monsters, bravery, selflessness. . . children shouldn’t have to do that. People as a whole shouldn’t have to only endure.
I ram through the door of my dorm and take the stairs two at a time to my floor.
When I get to my door I barely slip through before slamming it shut and invoking a barrier.
Asher had created a spell so me and Jullia don’t have to use our keys to keep locking and unlocking the door, but if someone has our key they can come and go. Which, Callahan does.
So I create my own barrier to keep him out and hopefully he just assumes it was another protection Asher made for us when he put the spell and sound barrier up.
A second after I solidify it there’s a crash into my door. It actually shakes the entire wall.
“Mavyn! This is bullshit, you need rest!” There’s a click from the key unlocking the door but when the knob twists the door doesn’t budge. “MAVYN!”
I huff a laugh as I quickly turn to my wardrobe and begin stripping. It takes me a moment to actually process that I did just run all the way over here. And I ran without my umbrella. Meaning I was. . .
No. The storm clouds. That’s why I hadn’t burned. I had been so caught up I didn’t realize I nearly killed myself by going head first outside. No wonder Callahan kept screaming at me to stop before I went outside.
There’s another bang on the door as I start getting dressed. I wish I could shower, but there’s nothing I can do about that.
“Mavyn! Even if you get ready I’m not letting you leave this room. This is a hard no for me, you need to rest. You’ve locked yourself in!”
I roll my eyes at him. True, true. . . but there’s still the window. And since there’s enough cloud cover I can walk outside without my umbrella, I’m just taking that exit.
Callahan keeps knocking on the door but I ignore him and roll on my thigh highs. Then I slip on my flats and pull my desk a couple inches away from the wall before standing my chair on top. My bed still looks like a mess, most of it ashes, but I’ll deal with that after everything else.
Stepping onto my desk, I rip the blackout sheet away and flip the latch for the lock. There’s a loud-ish snap as the frame snaps up and there’s a crunch from the ivy covering it. I have never been more grateful for that sound barrier Asher made. Callahan can’t hear a single thing.
Stepping onto my chair, I push the window all the way up and heft myself over the edge. There’s a sharp bite in the air as a rain scented breeze blows. It makes me smile as I get to my feet and crouch down.
Pushing the window shut, I close my eyes and let another key within me, sitting in another lock to another door within me, twist. This door only cracking the barest bit open and allowing me to curl those vines that had covered the window before back over the glass.
Since I can’t lock the door from the outside like this, this is the next best option.
Satisfied, I close and lock that door within back up and softly hum to myself as I walk along the roof.
I take my tablet out from the inside pocket of my blazer and check the time.
Seven twenty-eight. It almost feels like a miracle.
Even though I can’t run to the opposite side of the school in only two minutes. . .
I check my surroundings. There’s nothing but the forest curving around the back of the dorm and the only creatures with blood I’d be worried about are ones still inside the dorm or further away.
There’s a chance I could be seen, but it’s not unheard of for vampires to have certain types of magic. Elemental portaling is common, afterall.
Strengthening the storm, I wait for just the right moment. Reaching into the ether and then I blink. Like always, it feels like my feet didn’t even leave the ground. And thankfully, there’s not a single body out that could have seen me.
I blink again at the courtyard I landed in. This one technically on the outer side of the main building with no roof. And all I have to do is go through the entrance that leads into the building and Professor Asier’s class is right down the hall.
I make a run for it. Straight down the hall I can see the open door and Professor Asier’s desk. The bell rings and he turns towards the door. Normally he keeps it open and I’m right there. But his gold ringed red eyes latch on me, make eye contact, and at just the last second his door slams shut.
I’m too close to stop my momentum and I slam into the thick wooden door.
Pain vibrates through my bones and shocks the rest of the pain I had been trying to ignore. It also doesn't help that my legs, which are still prickling with the last remnants of numbness, shoot shocks of lightning up from my feet. The blisters are only just barely healed.
I slam my fists into the door and the force actually shakes it.
That rage I had felt two days ago flickers. Like embers sparking once more after the fire should have been doused. The bell hadn’t even finished ringing when he shut the door. I wouldn’t have been late. I would have been right there, on fucking time.
I get it. They hate vampires. I have my secrets. I’ve challenged someone who is very clearly at the top of the food chain. But this kind of pettiness. . .
There’s no physical lock on the door, but there is some sort of spell or barrier. I run my fingers over the wood and once more twist that secondary key in its lock. The door not even opening, but it’s enough for me to feel.
Some sort of lock made of shadows and. . . golden flames. A chain wrapping the door that also extends over the entire room.
Closing my eyes, I twist a third key within and let that magic slip through the links of the chain. Roving over golden aura until I find the actual lock.
In my head I envision it like a vintage metal lock you use one of those skeleton keys to open. Then I curl claws into it and crush it.
It splinters to pieces as the door swings in. I step through the doorway to a class that goes silent and a professor that is staring at me with pure shock. It would be amusing, but I don’t waste time and take the stairs closest to me to the third row.
Pulling the chair next to Jullia out, I set my tablet down and sit. My friend is also staring at me with wide eyes, but she says nothing and whips her head to the front as the professor roars my name.
Softer, giving everyone whiplash, in a voice I should be wary at, he demands, “Who the fuck do you think you are interrupting my class?”
My skin is bruised, my feet are on fire, lightning strikes of pain are shooting up my legs and spine, my bones ache, my head is pounding, I am still starving. . . but it all disappears when I meet the devil's eyes.
Vivid, pure red iris’s ringed within stark gold.
So much power. So much demanding aura. He doesn’t have to expel any magic because you can see it in his eyes.
The amount of control he has, and the force that’s shown just by looking at him.
It had rivaled Callahan’s father by leagues.
I’d bet the only thing he would have to bow to was the primordials.
Could I get him to somehow bow to me?
His fangs flash at me as he snarls, but I don’t apologize for that thought – or for letting him hear it.
“I am a student,” I state calmly, answering his demand. “One who wants to learn.”
The tension in the room could be cut with a dull knife with how taunt it is. Everyone barely breathing as they watch us. Waiting to see what the Professor will do. I’m a bit curious myself. Wondering if he’s going to retaliate against me, or be a good boy and teach his lesson.
Something flickers between us and he drops a mask over himself. In a blink, doing what he had done in the infirmary, he neutralizes his face and back is the stoic blank-faced professor.
“That spell on the door was a Devil’s Lock, Ms. Tsuki,” he rumbles through the room.
Leaning back in my chair, I cross my arms and hold in my smirk. “I know.”
A muscle in his jaw feathers right before he turns around to face the chalkboard.
Almost. . . almost, I say the devil who claimed me thought they were fun games.
But then I’d have to explain how they were games and how a human learned how to break the locks that are known to be nearly impossible to crack.
I bet it’s just killing him. The curiosity and frustration. Too bad he won’t be getting the answers from me.