19. Chapter 19
T he next morning after everyone had left, Aron had reminded her she was supposed to be late to class, followed by a quiet argument about why he couldn’t be seen leave her room. Lennox made her way down the stairs followed by an annoyed-looking Aron. They made it all the way to the front door without trouble and she opened the door for him to slip out. She closed the door gently and made her way into the kitchen needing some coffee for a hangover cure. As she turned the corner she was surprised to find Rosalyn with her hip against the counter and a cup of coffee of her own.
“Hey, don’t you have class this morning?” Rosalyn asked.
“Decided to give myself the morning off. Sometimes you just gotta relax, you know?” Rosalyn paused as she eyed Lennox. “Well, maybe you do, sneaking out Aron like that.”
“I wasn’t sneaking him out.” She denied as she poured a cup for herself.
“I’ve never heard that door shut so quietly. Nox, you know no one is going to judge you for how you grieve.”
“Eww, Ros- Absolutely not!” She scrunched her nose at the implication.
Quickly, she explained everything that had happened the night before. From drunk texting Aron and discovering he had a much more caring side than she thought. Then to the rediscovery of Rue’s ring, Lennox’s eyes saddened as her eyes darted to her hand where the ring now lived. Rosalyn’s eyes drifted to her hand where the citrine ring sat. The demon’s usual cheerful demeanor softened. Something inside her sank at the look on her best friend’s face. I’m not that fragile… Am I? Lennox questioned herself and how okay she actually was for the first time. If I’m being honest with myself, I’ve never felt more unsteady.
“Don’t worry about it, what about you? How have you been handling everything? I know I threw those nightmares on you.”
“Well, I can’t lie and say I’m not worried. But, until we see any red flags or potential hunters, I guess we just keep moving forward. I just miss Felix and Rue.” Rosalyn admitted.
“I do too.” She peered at her mug for a second.
Rosalyn moved from her spot at the counter and motioned toward the small island in the middle of the kitchen. The two women pulled up bar stools and set their mugs down. There was a silent understanding in the air, which dissipated when Lennox spoke up once more.
“So, tell me what’s new in the world of the lovely Rosalyn?”
“Well, I’ve actually been spending some time with Octavious! Girl, let me tell you, he is the absolute sweetest!” She smiled wistfully as she told her.
“Well, I could’ve told you that.” Lennox laughed into her mug.
“I know, but we just never got to hang out like that, you know?”
“I think I have an idea.” Lennox agreed and thought back to how fast she had dismissed Aron.
The two sat in the kitchen for a while as Lennox told her all of the Octavius stories she could. Happy that her friend was having fun, she took their mugs over to the dishwasher and placed them on the top rack as they laughed.
“You’re telling me Felix and Wyatt took him out in the middle of the night and lit half the woodland on fire?” She asked incredulously.
“Not that they were trying, as they claim the fire got a little too tall while they were off by a tree.” She framed the last words in air quotes.
Rosalyn tilted her head toward her and shook her head, “Boys.”
“You know, you would think dating women is easier.” she pointed out.
“Well, now you can say you really pulled an Aron, you missed a whole class.” She pointed out as she laughed.
Lennox turned to face her friend and checked her watch. “Crap, you’re right. I gotta go get ready to be late for the next one.”
As classes ended for the day, Lennox made her way from the room and peered around the hall. To her left her eyes fell on Remi who waited for her, their daily walk back to Omega to make sure she got there without any trouble. At least it’s not Coyote or any of the security team insisting on walking with me. She made her way over and smiled at the werewolf she had at least gotten to know.
“Hey! How was class?” She asked.
“You know, the usual- Aron walking in at the tail end and Celia giving him absolute hell the moment he walked in.” An entertained smile crossed Remi’s face.
The two walked down the halls each scanned the crowd for danger as students passed them. Lennox pulled her bag a little closer as her heart rate started to climb due to new found anxiety in large crowds. It was the first time she had ever been nervous within the gates of the school, but now it was almost as if there could be danger around any corner. Outside of the Armaros dreams, she had a recurring dream of walking around the school alone and turn the corner of the hall to find Rue and Felix dead followed by Rosalyn, Wyatt, Donnie, and the rest of the school.
Lennox forced herself out of her thoughts as they made their way through the front doors. Her eyes drifted to the water fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Other students quickly made their way in and out of the building and pulled their jackets closer in the cold breeze.
“How is Celia? Have you guys been on any fun dates recently?” Lennox asked in an attempt at conversation, calmer now out in the open.
“Really good actually, we were supposed to go into town for something she had planned. Things have been a bit- busy recently so we moved it to this weekend.”
“Understandable, I hope you two have fun.” Lennox nodded and glanced over at her.
Something seemed off about Remi, the usual determined spark in her gaze had faded and she seemed more on edge than usual. She waited for the two of them to make their way past the fountain and out of the u-shaped courtyard. Once they were on the cobblestone path to Omega, Lennox finally spoke up.
“You never have to tell me something you’re not comfortable with, but is everything okay? You seem a bit off and I just want you to know you can talk to me if you need to.”
“Yeah, I just…” Remi paused and chewed on her lip. Her brows furrowed as she seemed to consider her next words. “It’s been a strange couple of days if I’m being honest.”
“What’s been going on?” Lennox asked as the wind blew her hair in her face.
With a sigh, she returned her gaze to Lennox, the werewolves face flushed bright pink in the cold. Guilt flashed in her eyes and it almost seemed she wouldn’t want to share. Remi’s eyes darted around them one last time for anyone who may hear them before she started to speak.
“Can I trust you to not tell anyone about this? If anyone ever knew… I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Promise me if I tell you, you won’t say anything.”
Lennox frowned, worried. “If you’re in danger, your brother and I need to know so we can keep you safe too.”
“Can we talk about it somewhere private and warm?” She asked.
“Of course, my door is always open.” Lennox agreed.
She nodded as she tucked the section of blonde hair behind her ear and Remi’s brown eyes trailed off to the house as they approached. After they stepped inside, they went up the stairs straight to Lennox’s dorm room where the Head of House closed the door behind them. She held her finger up to tell Remi to wait and moved over to her metaphysical supplies, pulled out a silver metal box with poppies carved into the surface and opened the latch. Lennox pulled out an incense stick, pinched the tip of it with her thumb and pointer finger and waited for smoke to rise from her fingers. She placed it on the table by her door as the trail of smoke rose into the air. As she turned to Remi, Lennox brought over her computer chair for Remi and motioned for her to sit.
The demon took a seat on her bed as Remi did and nodded. “As long as that is going you’re okay to speak freely.”
“Thank you. I just-” Remi paused and spoke carefully. “The other day I made the mistake of going somewhere alone. When I was on the run over the last few centuries from hunters, I got caught. I was held for over a year in their house to train the next generation. When I was walking down the halls, I came across-”
Remi’s words were cut off by a cough and Lennox’s eyebrows tilted down “Do you want some water?”
She cleared her throat and tried again. “No- I’m fine… I was walking down the halls and I came across…”
The name came out as gibberish each of the four times she attempted. After the words stumbled over themselves, she stood in frustration, Remi’s irises shifted to bright yellow as she paced around the room. Lennox couldn’t hear but the woman started to mutter to herself and looked out the window. Why? Oh, oh no. They can use magic. The realization hit her as the glimmer of magic caught her attention. It gave off notes of the ocean breeze but was easily recognizable as a type of concealment spell that had been used to guard the hunter's identity.
“It’s okay, they put a spell on you so you can’t tell anyone anything that could reveal them.” She explained in hopes it would comfort her.
“Can you reverse it?” She asked desperately.
“I don’t think I’m able to, no. But maybe your Uncle Fang or even Elder Anderson's sister, Cleo can. From what I know of him, he’s very skilled at magic. Maybe Cleo will be able to ask the right question to get information while he tries to break the spell.” Lennox suggested and stood.
“Let’s go then.”
Without more than three words and a nod, Remi went to the door and opened it. Lennox quickly stood, grabbed her bag, and followed her out of the dorm again. She glanced over at the woman and swore she could see the rage burn in her eyes. I should let one of them know we are coming. Lennox brought out her phone as they walked the campus ground and dialed the security team's phone.Within a few rings, a deep voice answered the phone.
“Mathias Bloodfang, everything okay there Miss. Cade?”
“Yes and no, Remi has some information that could be helpful, however, there's a concealment spell.” Lennox explained quickly.
There was a small pause on the other end before the man’s voice came out even deeper, underlying anger in his voice as he spoke quickly. “Meet me in the security office. I’ll get Coyote and Cleo.”
“We’ll see you in ten.” She agreed.
The security office was about the size of the average classroom in the building. In the far left corner sat about thirty monitors all with different views of campus and two chairs. In the right corner were three small desks and a closet which had a small clipboard next to it that had a list of weapons. When the two girls entered the office Lennox took notice of the seemingly broken door frame. Bloodfang shrugged off and muttered something about a false emergency when she had asked as they waited for Cleo, the immortal human hunter.
It took ten minutes for the woman to arrive from Elder Row, and once she did the room fell silent. Cleo behind one of the very few desks, her brown hair was pulled tight in a ponytail but still looked eerily like her sister, Elder Andromeda Anderson. Andy was right, they would confuse people. The Elder had told Lennox about her sister and how the two had become immortal. Cleo had gotten sick, so Andy’s soul was sold off to Lucifer for a chance at a new life.
Coyote arrived a minute after Cleo, as he walked in the room and his gaze immediately settled on the wolf between herself and her Uncle. The man moved forward, worry in his eyes as they scanned her for any injuries.
“Is everything okay, Remi? Why didn’t you come to us before?” Coyote asked as he gripped her by the shoulders and continued his inspection.
“You have us now, remember? Everything isn’t all on you.” Bloodfang added.
“I’m fine. I didn’t want to worry you two. You’ve spent centuries worrying.” Remi moved over to the left chair, her eyes still lit with frustration. “What matters is I have information that could help the school and I can’t say it. So as soon as we fix that, I’ll be able to explain everything. Can you break it, Uncle Fang?”
Coyote moved to sit in the other chair and took behind one of the other two desks by Cleo. Lennox kept her eyes on the woman as she took her seat, weary as she had never met a hunter with morals. However, everyone trusted Elder Anderson so most seemed to be open-minded to her help which she tried to be as well. The seven-foot man moved behind his niece and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll do my best, kid.” He closed his eyes and silence fell over the room. After only thirty seconds he sighed, cursed under his breath, and peered over to her.
“I can’t, it’s bound to an object. If we find whatever the spell is bound to then I can.”
Remi growled and turned to Cleo. “Alright then, try to ask me something. Maybe we can work around this thing.”
“I will do my best,” she agreed.
Over the next several hours Remi obscurely explained what had happened in her past. Then the events that lead up to whatever occurred in the hall. Unfortunately even with the most basic or carefully worded questions, when she tried to give more details to identify the person the words came out as gibberish. Each time she started over, she became more desperate and frazzled.
As the words refused to come out Remi became increasingly angrier and Coyote insisted they take a break. However, she rejected the offer and insisted they keep going until an alarm on Lennox’s phone pulled their attention away. With a quick glance down she saw it was already time to lock the houses down. Right, I’m not allowed to do security tonight. Quickly she shut it off, she looked apologetically at the group.
“It’s okay, you all should get your rest and we can work on this tomorrow.” Cleo instructed the room.
“No! We have to keep going! What if someone else gets hurt because of me?” A tear fell down Remi’s face only to be quickly wiped away.
“I agree Rem, but we have to rest to be able to figure this out,” Bloodfang stood. “Do you want to bunk with your brother and me tonight?”
“Actually, yes.” She let a long breath of defeat out, and rubbed her already red eyes.
“Cleo, would you walk Miss. Cade to Omega Alpha?” Coyote asked, as he took his spot beside his sister. “Don’t worry, she knows the way.”
Lennox stood and nodded as they all made their way out of the room. Cathwulf must be on night guard tonight. We are so close to getting them. Lennox kept an eye on Remi as well, worried for her. She pushed down the small amount of hope that had drifted up and hid her own frustration from the others. After she had listened to the finer details of the woman’s time with these hunters, she realized just how bad Remi’s time with them had been. The way she had described their various training methods, stumbled over names as she pushed through the tongue tie, and showed them the word “Dog” that had been carved into the woman’s left ribs.
When the group reached the grounds, they parted toward their separate homes. Remi and her family headed toward the Elder’s homes, Lennox and Cleo toward the sorority. The woman held a polite conversation about her time at the school and gave her condolences to Felix and Rue. A false smile held to her face as they chatted about everything that had happened at the school up until today. The whole conversation started to feel like a small interrogation but knew Cleo meant well enough to gather as much as she could to help them.
Once they reached the doors of Omega, Wyatt popped out from his guard position. She felt the woman beside her grab her arm and pull her slightly behind her defensively. Wyatt’s serious expression was replaced by a laugh when his eyes fell on the two.
“Lennox Cade, late to curfew? I better take a picture, this will never happen again!” He joked, and took out his phone.
“Mr. Steele, I know you and Aron are on guard tonight, but don’t sneak up on people.” Cleo scolded and shook her head with a hand on her weapons belt.
“My bad Miss Hunter Anderson, won’t happen again.” Wyatt teased.
“I’ll leave you here Miss. Cade. I’ll see you soon I hope.” Cleo turned on her heels and made her way toward the Elder homes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Wyatt.” Lennox smiled softly, relieved the day was done.
“Night, Nox! Tomorrow I’ll tell you about my study date with Eden Miller. Get some good rest.” Wyatt smiled back and made his way down the stairs to make his rounds.