29. Draven
29
DRAVEN
Materialising in front of Tilly, I feel a sense of something weirdly warm when she sees me and her eyes light up. I grab her throat and kiss her, bruising her lips with the intensity of it. Plunging my tongue into her mouth, I make her breathless. She shivers, and I feel an added power boost. I know without looking that Vex has placed his hand on her lower back, touching her skin, making her shiver when she thinks about all the ways the two of us could make her come harder than she ever has.
Pulling back, I stare into her wide blue eyes. “That’s the kiss you should’ve given me this morning,” I say softly, too softly, so she has to lean in.
“There was nothing stopping you from kissing me that way,” she pants lightly.
Giving her a half-smile that quickly dissipates, I look at Vex. “What’s going on here?”
“Some student is missing in odd circumstances,” he answers without an attitude, which tells me this is serious.
“How odd?”
“A scorch mark left on his burned bed like a chalk outline kind of weird.”
Narrowing my eyes, I breathe in deeply. “The dead are dancing,” I murmur.
Vex’s gaze bores into mine. “What the fuck does that mean?”
I look around, but the hallway is too crowded. “Not here.”
Grabbing Tilly’s hand and gripping Vex’s shirt, I transport us to a secluded spot on the grounds near the menagerie.
“Oh,” Tilly moans, looking slightly sick. “It feels like my soul has been turned inside out.”
I chuckle. “It takes a bit of getting used to, so I hear. You okay?”
She nods, breathing deeply and then frowning at the racket the animals are making over the fence inside the menagerie. The shrieking of birds, the low growls of feral cats, the chattering of some kind of creature that makes my skin tingle, but not in the good way.
Something’s off. The sounds are agitated, almost frenzied.
Then Tilly moves closer to the enclosures, and everything goes silent.
Vex and I exchange a glance. He seems pleased in a way that intrigues me. What does he know that I don’t? But when I look back at Tilly, it becomes more clear.
“They sense you,” I murmur, watching her. She’s standing between Vex and me, and a powerful energy is pinging off in all directions. Desire and power and something darker. “Just like they sense death.”
“So what did you mean, the dead are dancing?” Vex demands, his hand still resting possessively on Tilly’s lower back.
I glare at his hand, but I do nothing about it. The possessiveness I feel for her intensifies, but at the same time, it feels right.
“Exactly what I said. There’s been an uptick in necromantic energy. I felt it this morning but couldn’t pin down why. It increased about an hour ago. Now we know. Someone’s playing with forces they shouldn’t.”
“That might be me,” she whispers.
My stare snaps to hers. “What do you mean?”
“It means she had a massive power rush in Dark Magick class earlier,” Vex says, moving protectively closer to her.
“How massive?”
Tilly puts her hands together and then makes an explosion gesture.
“Ah, that was you?” I ask with a slow smile.
She nods. “It was scary. But I felt something deep down. Something old and wild.”
The creatures remain eerily quiet, watching us through their magical barriers. A shadow cat paces closer to Tilly, its ethereal form rippling with interest.
“Are you saying someone’s raising the dead?” Tilly asks, her voice barely a whisper.
“Trying to. But they’re doing it wrong. Messily. That scorch mark you mentioned?” I look at Vex. “It’s a failed attempt at a resurrection circle. Amateur hour, but dangerous.”
“Blake Sterling?”
“My best guess.”
“So this Blake guy was trying to resurrect people and failed spectacularly?” Tilly asks.
A shadow moves at the edge of the menagerie, and all three of us tense. But it’s just a crow landing on the fence with an irritated caw. The only creature that seems unbothered by Tilly’s presence.
“The question is why,” I say. “Resurrection magick is impossible unless you have the right power. If you aren’t a Necromancer, you can’t do it. Properly or otherwise.”
“Unless you are using Black Magick,” Vex murmurs, his eyes locked on mine.
I don’t ask what he knows about that. Clearly, a lot. “Yes,” I say slowly, drawing it out. “But even then, what you will create are zombies that aren’t even able to do anything.”
“That sounds horrible,” Tilly mutters.
“It is,” I say grimly, remembering my first lesson with Dad. It did not go well. The horrors I unleashed will stay with me, probably for eternity. Thank fuck, Dad was able to undo what I did. But again, that isn’t something just any old fucker can do. Let alone a student. “Death has a signature. A scent. Right now, it’s all over the school. But it’s... wrong. Twisted. Like someone’s forcing it.”
“Or past tense,” Tilly mutters. “Where did Blake go if he tried this and failed?”
“Purgatory. But not the good kind.”
“There’s a good kind?” Tilly asks with a frown. “I thought it was a terrible place.”
“It’s complicated,” I mutter, not willing to go into the enormous explanation it would take to cover that subject.
The crow caws again, louder this time. Tilly jumps slightly, and both Vex and I move closer instinctively. The air feels charged between us, like the moment before lightning strikes. Mist curls around us, denser than the perpetual covering that usually clouds this place.
“We need to move,” I say sharply, reaching for Tilly just as Vex does the same.
The fog thickens with each passing second, and there’s something wrong about it. Something that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
The animals in the menagerie erupt into chaos again, but this time, not even Tilly’s presence can quiet them.
“This is not natural mist,” Vex says, his voice tight.
“No shit,” I mutter, pulling Tilly between us. The mist is almost solid now, cutting off our view of everything beyond a few feet. “We need to get back inside and figure this out.”
Vex’s hand slides from Tilly’s lower back to her waist, pulling her closer to him. Her breath hitches, and I can feel the way her body responds to him.
“Inside sounds good,” she says, her voice slightly breathless. Whether from fear or arousal, I’m not sure. Maybe both.
“I’ll transport us,” I say, reaching for them both. The tension crackles between us, and it’s not just from the supernatural mist anymore. The sexual chemistry is skyrocketing, and it’s making me lose focus as all I can think about is driving my cock into her sweet cunt while Vex fucks her from behind.
Just before I can make the move, a piercing shriek cuts through the mist. It sounds almost human, but it is distorted and wrong.
“Move,” Vex commands. The air grows thick and heavy, making it hard to breathe.
Tilly grips both our hands tightly. “Something’s coming,” she whispers. The pendant at her throat pulses, catching my attention.
“Inside. Now.” I concentrate, picturing the safety of the school’s walls. But something’s interfering with my power, making it harder to grasp the threads of magick needed for transportation.
The mist swirls closer, and within it, shapes form. Dark. Twisted. Wrong.
“Draven,” Vex’s voice holds a warning. “If you’re going to do it, do it now.”
I pull them both closer, channelling every ounce of power I can muster. The last thing I see before we vanish is a pale, reaching hand emerging from the mist before I land us in my bedroom, where Luc is loitering on the bed.