Chapter 16 Lazriel
~Lazriel~
Shit, I loved her bike.
And I loved her on it.
It was a custom Harley V-twin, a street beast optimized for agility and tricks. It was a rich, metallic amethyst purple with onyx-black on the engine block, pipes, handlebars, rims, and grip, creating a high contrast gritty edge.
I’d known she’d had the bike for a while, but seeing her work the beauty was a whole other thing.
It was uncanny, because with so much else she was incredibly cautious, but riding was one of those things where that went out the window, as had become undeniably apparent over the last two hours since we’d been roaring and stunting down the backroads surrounding the Academy.
I watched Velra surf her bike as it tore along the road beside me.
She zoomed by and I didn’t speed up to ride alongside her, enjoying watching her.
I actually stopped my bike and idled instead.
It got even better when she suddenly made her shadows encircle her and they pushed her, literally helping her leap up and spin into a flip, where they then carried her down, bringing her feet back to the saddle.
Wow.
“That’s new!” I called out to her. “And fucking amazing!”
She laughed so freely, then continued into another stunt, flipping herself until she was on her sexy little ass and riding the handlebars with her boots.
I couldn’t get enough of it.
A week and a half had gone by since she’d rain-checked our hang.
But it was finally happening, and that was what mattered.
Honestly, given what that motherfucker, Cassius, had dropped on me like a bomb about Sylas, it had actually given me some time to investigate, to put out feelers to try to obtain more details about what gravely ill actually meant to a necromancer. And how the fuck that could even be possible.
As much as I hated to admit it, Cassius had been correct—Sylas didn’t like showing weakness.
So me simply confronting him wouldn’t go over well, or help one little bit in all likelihood.
Knowing him, he’d either deny it or deflect and feed me some story that sounded believable, but wasn’t actually accurate.
Not that it had been easy to just let that go.
Although, we hadn’t seen that much of each other over the last few days as we’d all been bogged down with settling into classes. Once the calming first week came and went, it got intensive with the studying at Wraeven.
This was the first time I’d come up for air, except for one time where I went to Sylas’ dorm room and we spent the night fucking, where he schooled me in the many different ways to draw out intense, mind-blowing pleasure from both anal and cock play.
He’d most definitely delighted in the fact that I could bounce back just seconds after coming, and we’d taken full advantage of it that night.
And now there was this fun evening with Velra.
The three of us had made plans to have breakfast together in the Dining Hall before classes, and I was really looking forward to that togetherness.
I didn’t know where Sylas was tonight, as he’d just told me that he had something to attend to.
I knew he was part of a secret sorcerer group, just not any of the details, because of said secrecy.
I just hoped he was actually doing that and not his vigilante work.
Especially if there was actually something to this illness of his, and Cassius hadn’t just been exaggerating in a bid to jolt me from my pissed disposition when I’d shown up at his place.
Days ago.
Days ago I’d gone there, and none of us had heard anything from him.
He hadn’t contacted Velra. I knew because I had eyes on her.
He hadn’t done a fucking thing.
“Lazriel?”
I pulled from my thoughts to see Velra was gesturing at me to get moving, to pull off another stunt too.
Definitely down for that.
I patted the side of my bike, something I always did before a stunt.
Graverun goers and the student body at Wraeven in general referred to it as The Hound’s Shadow.
It was powerful, but not flashy. Utilitarian and brutal. And the growl from the engine was fucking beastly. Definitely wolf-worthy.
It was a Yamaha MT-10, matte black with green detailing. The reinforced rear tire enabled me to ride hard, and the upgraded exhaust had an awesome low, guttural sound. Then there was the green LED underglow as well.
I pushed from my current idled state and my bike roared forward, the powerhouse growl reverberating up my spine.
Starting with a clean wheelie, I let the front wheel hang high, my control tight around the throttle.
Then I surged ahead and stood up on the pegs, arms wide, before I slammed back down and angled into a sideways drift that burned rubber. The second tire caught again and I pushed my weight, employing my vampire speed to leap clean off the saddle.
I landed in a crouch on the bike’s tank to excitable clapping applause from Velra.
A moment later, I vaulted off the tank, letting the bike coast on its own just long enough for me to flip through the air, catch the handlebar mid-spin, then swing myself onto the saddle backward.
Velra whooped, her shadows swirling around her.
I chuckled, twisted back around in one fluid motion, then tore down the road and lined up my bike right next to hers.
I deployed the kickstand, then dismounted and leaned against it with a well-deserved cocky grin.
“Very impressive,” Velra said, throwing her leg over her bike in her purple leather pants. The motorcycle jacket was purple leather as well. And she looked stunning in it.
For my part, I’d just thrown on one of my worn black leather jackets over a white tank and a pair of gray jeans.
“Why, thank you, milady,” I said, giving a deep, dramatic bow.
A thrill ran through me as the whole thing had her laughing. So freely, so happily.
As she settled beside me against my bike, I told her, “What you did with your shadows was incredible. That’s new, right?”
“Yeah. I’ve been working on using my shadow magic for fun.” She smiled to herself. “As per Professor Nyvarra’s advice.”
“Oh, that was your extra assignment?”
“It was.”
Sylas hadn’t even known what it was, and Velra hadn’t yet mentioned it. Knowing her, it was so she could make sure she could achieve it before she brought it up—more survival mode stuff with her.
“Well, from what I just saw, it looks like it’s going really well.”
“It really is. It’s really freeing. And it’s kind of opened up new realms of possibility.
” An awkward look spread over her face and she looked away, wringing her hands, as she admitted, “It’s also helping me to better control that ability.
And my frost as well, because I started trying to use that for fun as well, like building little frost figurines.
It takes concentration, precision, and a stable mental state. ”
I turned sideways to face her. “We can talk about this without it being weird. There’s no pressure from me for you to hurry up with figuring that out.
I mean it.” She met my eyes again, and I kept going.
“I like this… us just hanging out like this. And if anything more is to come of it, you make the move—if or when you’re ready.
You doing this, not pulling away, and keeping me in your life…
it means a lot to me, and I won’t fuck it up by considering it some consolation prize to be your friend only.
Like you, I don’t have friends. Especially not close ones. So it’s special to me to have this.”
She stared at me for a few moments in what seemed to be a mixture of awe and relief, then she leaned against me and took my hand. “It’s special to me too.” She gave my hand a squeeze. “Thank you, Lazriel.”
“Nothing to thank me for.” I nudged her playfully.
“And, just for the record, I like you exactly how you are already. I wish you didn’t feel the need to ‘fix’ this aspect of yourself with your frost and shadow magic, where it sometimes bursts out of control when your emotional state is heightened.
But I also get why you want to, the peace of mind it will give you.
” I raised our joined hands and brushed a brief kiss across her knuckles.
“So, just know that I have no fucking doubt that you’ll accomplish what you need to there. ”
She went to speak, but then my senses—vampiric and wolf alike—shot into an electrified state.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, as I tensed up, my hand tightening in hers a little too much.
I pulled away and strode from our bikes, staring out down the backroad in the distance, zoning in on the internal alarm that had just gone off—the warning of a presence nearby.
Worse.
Us being watched.
“Someone’s here.” My brows knit, as I concentrated and added over my shoulder, “Or, several someones.”
“What? I don’t feel anything. My magic isn’t registering a threat.”
No. It wouldn’t. What I was sensing was on the very outermost fringes of sensory perception.
Whatever these assholes were, whoever they were, they were beyond stealth.
But my senses were miles beyond most others.
Not just the wolf and the vampire combined, but also the Ancient Vampire aspect that I carried with me.
I sucked in a breath and walked back to her.
“Aren’t you going to seek them out?”
“Yes. But I need to move fast. There’s magic up, I can feel it around them, just hiding their scent and sound, the latter working both ways so they can’t hear what I’m saying.”
“But you can hear them? Moving? Rustling? Breathing?”
“My resistance to magic is extreme, but not that extreme. The power I’m sensing is great. It’s not hearing that I’m using… it’s something more primal, instinctual, knowing there’s a presence, feeling the threat of it whirring through my veins.”
“Then what—”
“Walk to your bike. Look like you’re going to head out back to the Academy. I’ll follow—for a moment.”
“Lazriel, I’m not just going to leave you to—”
“Please. As if I don’t know you spelled the bracelet you gave me so you could track me with it, to make sure I’m okay.”
She paled. “I… uh…”