Chapter Eighteen
Farren
“What the fuck?” The second girl screeches and takes a step toward me, but before she can move an inch more, my magic releases a stream of shadows that look surprisingly like Storm and Kill’s.
I watch as they wrap around her, making sure that they cover her mouth as well, since she’s making a godawful screeching sound.
When I look back at the guys, they’re all watching me, shocked. Storm and Kill’s gazes are switching between my shadows and me rapidly as they try to figure out what just happened.
I’ll deal with that in a minute, right now, I have a threat to make.
“I’m going to kill you,” the girl under my blade hisses.
My laugh is dark and edged in violence, “Oh, that’s adorable.
There’s just one tiny problem, the second that you make the move to try, you’ll find yourself gargling on your own blood.
I can move quicker than you can, and I have far less to lose.
Are you sure you want to make that threat to my life?
” I dig the knife into her neck, a bead of blood rolling down it, and making her whimper.
“I-I-I won’t try to kill you,” she stutters, immediately taking back her words.
I laugh again, “I know you won’t, but there’s something more important that I want you to understand.”
“What?”
“Storm’s mine, touch him again and I’ll take your fucking hand,” I pause as she whimpers again, “got it gorgeous?”
“Fucking hell,” I hear Loki mutter, the heat in his voice evident.
My focus returns to the girl, and she nods quickly.
“I need a verbal vow,” I sing happily, aware of how utterly unhinged it makes me sound.
“I promise, I won’t touch him. None of us will. I’ll spread the word that Storm is yours.”
“All of them are,” I add for good measure.
“What?” She asks, a note of incredulity mixing with the fear.
“They’re all mine, and they’re all off limits,” I growl.
The guys all have massive shit eating grins on their faces as they simply nod in agreement, and the crowd that I am only just noticing gasps.
“I promise,” she screeches as the knife digs in harder.
I let her go, and she crumples to the floor.
“Good girl,” I mutter with a sharp grin.
Looking over to the woman still wrapped in shadows, I follow my instincts, twirl my finger, and the shadows unwrap, coming back to me and offering a surprising amount of comfort.
While the majority of them dissipate, some stay, wrapping around my legs and moving up and down.
I like it, it makes me feel protected, so I decide that since they aren’t causing any trouble, I’ll leave them where they are and not ask them to disappear completely.
The guys stride toward me, Kill and Storm, looking like they’re about to devour me, and I grin.
“Whoops?” I say.
“So fucking hot,” Rival grins.
“I think you had better all come with me,” an unfamiliar voice interrupts, and the crowd dissipates immediately.
The guys move closer, not shielding me, but standing next to me, and I smile.
My gaze quickly finds the speaker, not someone I recognise, but I would assume from the level of authority in his voice that he’s a teacher here, although he doesn’t look that much older than we are.
He’s not particularly dressed like a teacher either. He’s got combat gear on. If we were to come under attack right this moment, he would be ready, and the number of concealed weapons on him rivals mine, which is extremely interesting.
There’s an edge of violence to him as well that I recognise. He’s easily as tall as Reaper, with black as night hair, and eyes to match.
Huh.
“The new Headmaster, I presume?” Storm asks, his voice cold, and coming to the correct conclusion far quicker than I did.
The Headmaster smiles slightly, showing a flash of fangs that don’t look like any that I recognise, at least not from that small glimpse anyway.
He nods, “That would be me. Now follow me, please.”
I shrug, and we all walk after him as he heads back into the school.
“You should probably put the shadows away,” Storm says quietly to me.
I shake my head, “Nope. I don’t want to, and they’re not hurting anyone.”
Storm’s eyebrows rise as his wings flutter behind and his horns spark.
Kill chuckles, and I feel his tail wrap around my wrist, and my shadows react as they start to play with his tail.
“Well, if you’re keeping yours out,” Kill says, and his tail and horns get whisps of shadows that dance around them.
“Wow, okay,” Zev mutters from behind us as we walk through the halls, and the Headmaster seems to ignore us from further up ahead.
Both of us look at Storm.
“Come on, brother,” Kill smirks, a level of challenge in his voice.
Storm hesitates for only a moment before his own shadows come out to play. He, of course, has to outdo Killian, so his shadows form one of the shadow dog creatures, and after it nudges my hand for pets, he then moves to walk beside Poca, who is still in his invisible form.
The Headmaster doesn’t say anything, although I’m pretty sure that he is more than aware of what’s going on back here.
I have to admit that I don’t immediately dislike or distrust him, not like I did with the last Headmaster, and since I definitely haven’t gotten more trusting since then, I’m hoping that it means that he’s not up to anything nefarious, at least he’s not at the moment.
He also doesn’t seem as stuck up as the last one, and if Tishrel is right, then it would seem that he’s not as easily influenced or brought like him either. First impressions suggest that he’s going to be exactly what this academy needs.
I have this feeling, an uneasy stirring in my gut that something is coming, something even more of a threat than the God who wants to take over the Underworld, and if that feeling is correct, then we’re going to need as many good warriors as we can get.
Those who will actually do their jobs and do them well, not just those who want the notoriety that comes with being trained at the Black Onyx Academy.
Shit.
I really don’t like the feeling. It’s bad enough that we’ve got to deal with the God. I really hope that I’m wrong, that the feeling is related to that and not something else that we need to worry about.
I’m brought out of my thoughts as the new Headmaster pauses to open the door for us, and Storm and Kill call back their shadows, making them disappear again.
We walk into the office, and my eyebrows rise at the changes.
It’s no longer split into two, and it doesn’t appear that he has a secretary.
The décor is dark and edgy, with lots of really interesting relics dotted around the room, and a whole wall of ancient-looking books that I desperately want to get my hands on.
I nudge Rival unnecessarily since he’s already eyeing the books with interest. He smiles down at me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. I’m entirely unsurprised when my shadows wrap around his wrist as well.
Wanting to make sure that Poca has made it through the door, and isn’t stuck outside, I look back at the door that we’ve just walked through, and I smile slightly when I realise that the Headmaster appears to be holding the door open for him, I try not to let my shock show as the Headmaster waits until Poca is completely through before closing it.
I narrow my eyes slightly.
Opening the bondlines, I ask, “Can you guys see Poca?”
“No, I figured he was either invisible or stayed back in the room with the other two,” Storm replies.
“Why?” Kill asks.
“I’ll explain later,” I reply, and then close down the bondlines.
I would explain now, but I want all of my focus on the new Headmaster. I’m now even more interested in figuring out who this guy really is and if he’s a threat to us.
It could be a coincidence that he held the door open for longer, maybe he heard something in the hallway and paused to check it out.
I don’t like coincidences though.
He doesn’t invite us to take a seat, not that there are enough chairs for us to sit down anyway, and he doesn’t sit down either.
I prepare myself to be chastised for threatening and attacking a student.
However, his gaze doesn’t land on me at all, as he instead focuses on the guys, and I narrow my eyes.
I thought I was past people looking down on me or just plain past me because of who my father was, and what they had mistakenly perceived me to be.
Apparently not, and my opinion of him lowers.
“I’ll make this quick, I know that you’ve only just gotten back,” he starts. “I know that it may be strange heading back to classes after you’ve been gone for as long as you have, but on Monday that’s what you will be doing.”
I try not to let my suspicion show in my expression, he said that almost as if he knew that we had been gone for a lot longer than everyone seemed to think.
Not that it would matter if I did let my suspicion show on my face, because he still won’t fucking acknowledge me.
Why does that bother me so much?
“Understood,” Storm replies.
The Headmaster nods, “The classes are more geared toward combat and warfare theory, since so many teams haven’t survived.
In the past, the goal has been for as many teams as possible to pass through all of the trials so that we have a strong army in place to help guide and lead others in the inevitable eventuality that there is a war. ”
“Are the games always a precursor to a war?” Mayhem asks.
The Headmaster nods, “Always. As I was saying, in the past, that has always been the goal, and yet we’re losing teams, a lot of teams. No one is sure whether there is something else going on, or whether it’s purely because Black Onyx Academy was run so poorly by my predecessor and he bent the rules for anyone who was willing to line his pockets or willing to owe him a favour. ”
“That’s unsurprising,” Kill mutters, his arms crossed over his chest and looking as unimpressed as the rest of us.
Aldrastos hums in agreement and then ploughs on with what he has to say, “Cause problems, don’t take it seriously, and you’re out.
My door is always open, should you need me.
However, if you come to me with petty shit, then expect to do laps of the entire school grounds, and then sword practice until you drop.
You all know better than most what the trials consist of because you were on one of the longest ones that we’ve had.
It’s not over yet.” His serious gaze travels over all of us, once again skipping me, as he adds, “I suggest that you use this time wisely before you get called for another trial.”
“Understood,” Storm replies.
“Dismissed,” Aldrastos nods.
We all turn around to leave, and once we’re out of the door, I try to push away my annoyance at being so easily dismissed by him.
It shouldn’t bother me, it really shouldn’t. I’ve been treated the same way my entire life, but it is bothering me this time.
Probably because the guys don’t treat me that way, and everyone I have dealt with recently hasn’t treated me that way, not even the princes underestimate me.
“He could be worse,” Loki says as we head back to our room.
“Agreed,” Kill adds. “He’s straight to the point and doesn’t mess around. It’s exactly what this academy needs.”
Aldrastos
I glance up from pretending to read the papers on my desk and watch as they all walk out the door. Farren’s Hellhound stops briefly to turn back to look at me, and I raise my eyebrow in question, before it turns to follow Farren.
An interesting familiar to have, definitely not normal, and more intriguing than it probably should be. As if I need another reason to find the violent and deadly woman intriguing.
My eyes drift to her arse as she follows her team out the door.
Fucking hell.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
I’m here to find the team that is supposed to be able to help save my realm, a realm that no one remembers even exists anymore. I’m not convinced that someone from this realm is capable of it, but I do as is requested of me, and we’ve run out of time.
At this point, I am willing to try anything to help the realm.
If the realm dies, it will have catastrophic consequences. It’s why the games have been called, although no one knows that’s the reason why yet, and I am not permitted to share that information.
The situation is dire, and here I am checking out a student’s arse.
I mean, she’s not much younger than I am, but that’s besides the point.
For fuck sake.
What concerns me the most is the reaction that I had to her when I watched her almost slit that student's throat.
It was sudden, primal, and the hold I have on my beast slipped for the first time since I was a youngster.