Chapter 26
Horror: A creature of an origin not of this world intent on harming the indigenous population.
THE COMPENDIUM OF HORRORS
The student roster that Timothy had left behind sat on the desk next to Volume One of History of Nightsbridge. I needed to get it back to him. I popped it in my bag before heading for the door.
Clary stood outside, fist up, ready to knock. “Hey. You’re really going?”
“Yep.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” she said. “I don’t have any classes this morning, so I’ll wait in the dining hall for you to finish up, and we can grab a late breakfast.”
Why was she so nice? Why would she do that? Why did they all have to be so bloody caring? It made my skin crawl with unease and…guilt. Yeah, guilt seemed to want to be my best friend all of a sudden. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” She smiled, all sunshine and light. “Benedict’s coming too. He has a free period between nine and eleven, and he usually hangs out in the dining hall, downing several cups of coffee to wake up. He is not a morning person.”
“Who’s not a morning person?” Benedict mumbled from the sitting room behind her.
Clary winced. “No one.”
Of course, she was coming with me so she could hang out with Benedict. That made sense. So why was I disappointed? “Where’s Dori?”
“Trinity Tower. Heidi wanted to speak to her.” Benedict yawned and stretched. His dark hair was mussed up, and his uniform looked rumpled. He personified the can’t-be-bothered-vibe perfectly, while Clary, in her neatly pressed uniform, sleek hair, and bright, alert eyes, was the complete opposite.
But they say that opposites attract…
Clary wrinkled her nose at Benedict. “Did you sleep in that?”
He graced her with a lopsided grin. “Saves getting dressed in the morning.”
“Ew,” she said with a smile.
This girl had it bad.
“Hey, I bathed last night,” he protested. “Smell me.” He moved closer and lifted his chin, offering her his neck.
Her cheeks pinkened. “I believe you.” She backed away, and he chuckled and hooked an arm around her neck, dragging her in for a hug.
She relaxed and closed her eyes, letting him hold her for a minute before pulling away. “Come on, we should get going, or Ana will be late for class.”
I followed them out of the quarters. “Oh, by the way. I need to tell you guys what happened last night. Apparently, I sleepwalk now…”
* * *
Clary and Benedict walked me to class, and we made it there five minutes early. The doors were closed, and students waited outside. I recognized a couple from Selethis’s class at the front of the line—the girl with the sleek bob and another with purple hair—Carter and Pouvoir if I wasn’t mistaken.
It was almost nine, surely the doors should be open by now. “Why can’t we go in?”
“Advanced Horror is in there,” Clary said. “The students training to join the Carvers.”
“The Carvers that made the ratakan?”
“They do more than that,” Benedict said. “They dissect and study the Horrors that the hunt manages to capture alive.”
“There are holding pens somewhere in Nightsbridge,” Clary said. “But only the Carvers know the locations.”
Interesting. “You can choose to be a Carver?”
“You can choose to study for it as early as seventeen, but there are tests and entrance exams and all sorts of requirements. The biology of Horrors is complex and evolving, and all the cutting and medical stuff that goes into it…” Benedict shuddered, but my interest was piqued.
Drayven had mentioned Carvers to me, of course, but I’d been a little out of sorts, what with being under the influence of ratakan toxin.
“The Carvers are bio-Horror-engineers,” Benedict said.
“He made up that word,” Clary added.
“It’s a good word,” he said proudly.
The CCC had a department for the study and classification of critters.
I’d been thinking about applying before…
everything. Honestly, this was the first time I’d felt a fission of excitement about learning anything since coming to Nightsbridge.
Being a Carver would scratch an itch while I waited to get my power restored.
I could apply the skills I’d learned working for the CCC.
Surely some of the Horrors would have similarities to the critters outside the wards?
Maybe I could help the Carvers using the knowledge I already had.
At least until I found the Libra Veritas and exposed the Arcanum Imperium, of course.
I wanted to know more. “So how is Advanced Horror different from regular Horror? What does Vitra teach these potential Carvers?”
Clary answered, “101 is the basics. The five main types of Horrors that you might encounter as a Hunter. I’m not sure exactly what they do in Advanced Horror, but rumor is, they learn about the hidden Horrors and the new, evolving Horrors.”
“Surely students planning to be Hunters need to learn about them, too?”
“They do, but only when they’re seasoned,” Clary said. “Regular Hunters don’t go after the hidden Horrors.”
And seasoned meant the Hunters had made at least twenty-five kills…
The doors opened, and the waiting students stepped back to allow the Carvers-in-training out. Students dressed in head-to-toe fitted black uniforms of trousers and scoop-necked tunics with a black shirt beneath. I counted eleven, all with studious expressions. They filed out silently and dispersed.
“Now that’s not creepy at all,” Clary said. “Men in leggings…” She shuddered.
“It takes a certain type to do what they do,” Benedict said. “Dedication, too. They need twenty-five kills as part of the hunt while taking Advanced Horror and Carver 101. Then, several tests and a final exam administered by the Scentia Keepers in the Infra Sanctum.”
I shook my head. “Slow down a moment. Scentia Keepers and what?”
“Infra Sanctum. It’s a vault,” Clary said. “Beneath Nightsbridge. A library of relics and books. The Scentia Keepers run it.”
My pulse skipped. Could this Infra Sanctum be where the Libra Veritas was kept? “I’d love to see it.” Damn, I sounded a little too breathless and excited. “I mean…books and relics sound so cool.”
“Oh, you can’t see it,” Clary said. “No one is allowed in except students taking the Carver exam, and I’m pretty sure they’re restricted to a specific area.”
Yep, this had to be the vault Dharma had been talking about in her journal.
Becoming a Carver would get me into the vault. This was my answer. The route to my goal.
The door swung open, and Vitra appeared, looking as classy and elegant as always. Half his hair was pulled back in a knot, accentuating his commanding features. A jacket hung loosely off his shoulders. Hands tucked in his pants pockets, he was a picture of sophisticated elegance.
I couldn’t have this fine specimen of a man, but I could use him to get me closer to my goal.
Yep, Vitra was going to train me to become a Carver.
* * *
Vitra sat on the edge of his desk, mug in hand, his demeanor relaxed and easy, as if we’d gathered for a casual chat.
“Horrors are elemental beings who took root in our world after The Overshadowing,” he said.
“They’ve made Nightsbridge their home—spawning, procreating, and populating—and it is only the efforts of this Academy, its Hunters, and Carvers that the threat remains contained.
Locked away from the outside world.” He sipped his beverage.
“So, if you did your reading, then you’ll know what the five main types of Horror are.
Who would like to go first?” He scanned the room and pointed at a student in the back who I recognized from Combat 101.
“Mudarks,” the boy said. “Tiny creatures that live in underground colonies. They’re pests that keep growing in number. Oh, and they can band together to form one huge creature.”
“Good. Pouvoir?”
“Wood weavers,” she said. “They live inside trees, and some can disguise themselves as trees. They’re carnivorous.”
“Miss Clover?”
“Undines. Water Horrors that lay their eggs in the decaying bodies of their drowned prey.” She shuddered.
“Good, very good. What else? Mr. Trent?”
The boy in question did his best deer-in-tramlights impression. “I… I didn’t get a chance to do the reading.”
Vitra tipped his head to the side. “Didn’t get a chance or couldn’t be bothered?”
The student looked trapped, eyes darting this way and that.
Vitra sipped his drink and sighed. “Get out.”
“What?” Trent said.
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Mr. Trent.”
“Please, sir, I’ll catch up.”
“Yes, you will. You’ll do the required reading and the next four chapters, and I’ll be testing you on the content next class. If you fail, you’ll be allocated to Domestic.”
Trent looked about at his fellow classmates, as if expecting someone to stand up for him, but everyone was suddenly extremely interested in their notebooks. Vitra waited and watched, his body so still it was unnerving, until Trent gathered his things and quickly left the room.
“Miss Thistle, I hope you did the reading.” He graced her with a smile of confidence, and she practically preened.
“I did.” She glanced about, smug.
“Then please remind us of the last two main types of Horror.”
“Sylphs and salamanders,” she said quickly. “Sylphs will steal the oxygen from your lungs, suffocating you on dry land, and a salamander…well, it’ll burn you up. Top tip: do not light campfires in the forest as these can spawn salamanders.”
“The forest is alive,” Vitra said with a nod.
“A sentient entity that houses many more creatures than what we’ve learned.
New Horrors are born every decade, and the old evolve and change.
What we know today is not necessarily what will be tomorrow.
But we can learn a lot from the activities of the Horrors of today and maybe use that information to predict what might happen in the future. ”
Someone put up their hand, and Vitra lifted his chin in his direction.
“Is it true that mudark activity is increasing?” the student asked. “That their numbers have grown exponentially?”
Another student spoke up. “I heard there have been more proximity attacks on the boundaries the past few days.”
“Are the Horrors getting bolder?” a third student asked.
Vitra’s expression closed off. “That is a question for the hunt leaders and their teams. This is Horror 101, so open your books to Chapter Ten and read quietly.”
I flipped open the book to the chapter titled “Origin of the Salamander” and set to reading.
I was so absorbed in the text that I barely registered everyone leaving, and when I looked up, I was one of the last students in the room.
Vitra stood with his back to me, fiddling with his satchel and some papers.
The jacket was off, leaving his pert ass, snug in his dark gray trousers, on view. I caught a couple of students checking him out as they slowly walked past.
Good to know I wasn’t the only one lusting.
The door clicked shut behind the last student, leaving Vitra and me alone.
“Are you done looking, Miss Onyx?” Vitra asked.
Was I really that obvious? “Yeah, I’m done.”
He turned to face me and leaned back against the desk.
“You’ve probably heard that Constance and I are not exclusive in our relationship.
Maybe that gave you certain…ideas and…expectations.
But you should also know that I don’t fuck my students.
It is prohibited by the Coterie, but even if it weren’t, I have a strict policy not to bring my work home with me. ”
The way he said fuck, with such intent, sent a stab of unwanted desire through me. Vitra was like blessed rain after a drought, and my body ached to satiate its thirst.
But like Fel would I let him see it. Last night in his quarters had been a moment of weakness that I couldn’t repeat.
“You think I want to sleep with you?” Despite my resolve, the rasp in my voice betrayed me. I bit back a wince. “I don’t.”
“Liar.”
He smiled thinly and crossed his arms, causing his shirt to stretch and smooth over his muscle-rounded shoulders. What would it feel like to dig my nails into him, to grip him hard as he thrust inside—
Whoa. No. Bad, Anamaya!
“I saw it in your eyes last night,” he continued. “And I see it now.”
Clearly, I’d have to work on my body language, but like Fel was I letting him put last night solely on me. “The look in your eyes wasn’t exactly innocent either.”
“A momentary lapse, because, you see, I have a weakness for women wearing my clothes.” His tongue flicked out to lick at the corner of his mouth. “Makes me want to tear them off.”
The breath exploded from my lips. What was he doing to me?
He inhaled and closed his eyes for a beat. “And there it is. The unmistakable scent of arousal.”
Oh shit. “So what? You’re attractive, and I have eyes and hormones. It’s natural. It doesn’t mean I want to fuck you.” Yeah, I could use the ‘F’ word too. “Besides, I already told you, arrogance is a huge turnoff for me.”
“Your scent says different.”
“Whatever.” I gathered my stuff, shoving it all hastily into my bag, and headed for the exit. “Bye.”
I slammed the door behind me, wincing as his sexy chuckle followed me.
Whatever? Bye? Bye! That was the best I could do as a parting line? Gah!
Yash Vitra had a hard-on for me, despite his assertions otherwise. Student-teacher liaisons may be prohibited by the Coterie, but if I’d read him right, he’d toy with me like a mouse since he couldn’t claim me.
People tended to get attached to their toys, so I’d let him play, and when the time came, I would use the connection to my advantage. No fucking required.
Perfect.