Dark Waters (Elemental Book 1) (17 page)

My investigation. He was so dedicated to keeping my
secret that he wouldn’t even say the word out loud. When he opened the envelope
and unfolded the letter, his face turned a sickly shade of green.

“What’s that look for?” I asked. “Is that a letter
from the IRS?”

“Worse. My fiancé found me.”

Darwin burst out laughing. “Your what?” I asked.

“It-it was an arranged ma-marriage.” His voice
stumbled and cracked. Darwin fell out of his seat with laughter.

Twenty minutes later, the three of us were in our
room. I locked the door and we put our three chairs in a triangle formation so
we were facing each other. I opened my mouth, only to hesitate. Trust didn’t
come naturally to me anymore.

“Well, go on then. We haven’t got all day. I have a
love letter to write for Henry’s fiancé,” Darwin teased.

“What do you think of humans?” I finally asked.

He shrugged. “The same as puppies and kittens,
really.” Henry shot him a look.

“You like them then?”

“Oh, yeah. If they’re cooked right, at least.”

Good thing I’m not a human then
. “I’m going to
kill someone tonight,” I said solemnly.

They both stared at me for a second, and then Darwin
smiled. “No worries. I can totally help you hide the body. We can bury it by
the lake. I got your back, bro. We’re in this together. Whatever that asshole
did to you, he has this coming to him.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Henry scowled at Darwin with
disapproval. “The lake is the first place anyone would look. We will hide the
body in the forest and make it look like an animal attack.”

They were absolutely serious. I didn’t even have to
warn them first that they couldn’t tell anyone. Finally, I told them my story;
I told them about Astrid, Cody, being human, getting hired undercover to
investigate murders, and my trip with Hunt to the vampire coven.

By the time I was done, it was well into the middle
of our second classes. They both stared in thoughtful silence. Even Darwin had
dropped his playful attitude. “So, you thought you were human when you came
here, but now you know you’re not?” Darwin asked. I nodded. “Then one of your
parents had to be a wizard. It was probably your father, because that would
explain why Astrid tore him to pieces. Vampires like wizard blood more than
human blood.”

Henry shook his head. “It wasn’t because of that.
Devon said his father was abusive when he drank. That is why Astrid mutilated
his body.”

That made absolute sense, while also being
horrifying.

“You could have trusted us when you thought you were
human, but I’m glad you trust us now,” Darwin said.

“I concur,” Henry said.

“Just say you agree like normal people, ya dork,”
Darwin said. Henry glared at him and then turned to his desk and opened his
textbook, effectively dismissing Darwin. Darwin smirked at me. “Hey, since your
first girlfriend was a vampire, are all your pickup lines tailored to
bloodsuckers? I mean, do you go up to a woman and ask if she sucks or blows? I
think you should do that.”

I rolled my eyes and turned to my desk… to see
Vincent’s book right out in the middle of it. I got the hint and started
reading. Just in case I ran across something of the same language, I pulled out
the note I found in Heather’s pocket and studied it for the hundredth time.

After a while, I pushed the book aside and took one
of my textbooks off the shelf. I had schoolwork to do. Suddenly, Dr. Martin’s
cat was there, studying Heather’s note. “Don’t tell me you can read that.”

The cat glanced at me, picked up the note in his
teeth, and vanished.

“There goes your evidence,” Darwin said.

“Evidence of what? Stupid cat.”

*          *          *

There was a knock on the door. I looked up from my
Metals
textbook, but didn’t stand. Henry was at his desk, studying, while Darwin was
sprawled over his bed reading manga. Darwin sat up and made a weird face.

“Déjà vu, anyone?” he asked.

Henry sighed and went to the door. He paused with his
hand on the door, sniffed it, growled, and opened the door. Addie stood there,
glaring at my roommate.

“I told you I’m not---”

“No, I’m done with you,” she said, snarling. “I’m
here for Devon.”

Henry and Darwin both looked at me. “Um…” I didn’t
want to hurt her feelings, but I was less of a keeper than Henry. “I’m not
really ready for a relationship right now.”

She rolled her eyes. “Guys are all the same.
Professor Langril wants you to see you in his office. Sounds like you missed
his class today. I’m supposed to take you there.”

“I wouldn’t do it, bro,” Darwin warned. “She might
decide she’s your permanent chaperone and start spreading shit about you when
you try to go to your classes on your own.”

“Darwin, what is your problem?” she asked angrily.

“Bros before hoes, yo.”

I stood with a sigh. I figured if I didn’t go, there
would be bloodshed. “If I’m not back in three hours, don’t sell my stuff,” I
said.

“When can we start selling your stuff?”

“After my funeral, and only if you go to it.”

“I gots the perfect dress,” Darwin said. “I can do
tears and everything.” I shut the door.

“Your roommates are weird as hell,” Addie informed me
as we left the dorms.

I nodded. It was a clear day with lots of sunlight,
but my skin was still crawling.
Maybe I am getting paranoid in my old age.
Knowing that Astrid had followed me after I shot her was going to stick with me
for a while.

“Henry really doesn’t want to see me anymore?”

Addison was a cute woman in her early twenties with
wavy, golden blond hair, big, bright blue eyes, and a round face. She could
have made a great clothing model, pop star, or adorable niece. I couldn’t
imagine she got dumped very often. Then again, there are some people who I
thought were great until they opened their mouth.

“He said he warned you it was a three-day deal.”

“That isn’t normal.”

“I would really rather not be involved. When you were
with Remy the other day, did she say anything odd? Maybe about someone
following her?”

She frowned at me. “I wasn’t with Ms. Hunt.”

“Addie, I saw you. You brought her tea.”

“I haven’t seen her in nearly two weeks.” She sounded
so sincere and confused.

My skin crawled worse, but we had just arrived at
Professor Langril’s door, so I couldn’t question her further. She walked off
without another word. I opened the door and went inside the potion class. There
was a large desk at the front of the room, which hadn’t been there the last
time I was in class. The torches that hovered around the room were dimmer than
usual.

“Missing class is not a good habit to have, Devon,”
Professor Langril said. He was leaning back in an office chair with his feet on
the desk and was tossing a red ball up in the air.

“I had something I had to do.”

“Damn. I was hoping you would say you were in a fight
with a vampire, had to help the headmaster find his daughter, or even that you
ran into an ex-girlfriend. Any of those excuses I would have taken. But no. You
had to make this difficult. Congratulations, you are the first person I have
ever had to give detention to.”

“You don’t
have
to give me detention.”

“Oh, but I do. First, you have to learn the potion
you skipped out on today. Second, you have to clean the C-Five library.”

“Today?!”

“Yes. The entire library… or maybe just one section
of it. I haven’t decided yet.”

The potion-making portion of the punishment wasn’t
difficult at all. Professor Langril showed me how to make a minor healing
potion, but he told me we would make stronger ones in the next semester. “This
is one most wizards don’t know, because it’s German in origin. In fact, I
learned it from a great friend who used to work here.”

“Andrew Martin?”

“Yes.”

“He’s not dead, you know.”

“Well, that is good news. Focus now.” The fire was
set and the ingredients were in the cauldron… I just had to put the healing
magic in it. “Imagine healing someone. Imagine wounds just disappearing, skin
stitching, blood clotting in---”

“Getting weird now, Professor.”

“Sorry. That is a bit morbid, I guess. Do it however
you want, you’re the wizard.” He patted me on the shoulder and walked back to
his desk.

“Wait, you’re not a wizard?”

“I am there, but not here.”

“You are a wizard there?” I asked as he put his feet
back on the desk. He nodded. “Where? What do you mean?”

“Like Heather. Except she’s a wizard here and not
there.”

“What are you talking about? Wait… Heather is…”

“My daughter. Heather is my daughter there, not
here.”

“Shit. I’m sorry for your loss. I don’t know how you
can still teach class. Surely Hunt would let you take a few weeks off when your
daughter was just killed.”

He shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. It happens.”

Okay. Professor Langril is insane
. I turned my
attention to the potion with great difficulty.
Healing
. I focused on
what I felt when I healed Astrid. For several minutes, I played the scene over
and over in my head.

“Good. Now, let’s see how well you did,” the
professor said. He moved to sit on his desk and watched me while I filtered the
potion and poured it into a single dropper bottle. Professor Langril then took
a cloth… which had appeared on his desk… and applied three drops to the cloth.
“Take off the bandage,” he said.

I did, but I hadn’t changed it since the vampire
attack, so it stuck. I pulled it off anyway. Before it could start bleeding
badly again, Professor Langril pressed the cloth to my forehead. After a few
seconds, he started wiping my cut, which stopped stinging at all.

“All gone.”

I reached up and felt my forehead. There wasn’t even
a scar.

“Now, you can keep your potion this time. Time for
the second part of your detention.”

We went to the library. I didn’t worry about running
into anyone since Professor Langril was with me, but I was getting more
concerned about his sanity by the minute.

“That section. Start there,” he said, pointing to a
shelf of books. They were all spotless. “Take each one down, dust it off, and
put it back. Don’t open any of them, though. You’re not allowed to open them.
Remember that very carefully.”

“Right. Got it.” I managed to hold my tongue and got
started on the books. At least it was daylight. The skylights definitely made a
difference. I started on the bottom row at the far right and made my way left.

It wasn’t until I was halfway through the third row
that I felt it. The book I touched had no title, and it shocked my fingers
enough to make me jerk. The thick, heavy book fell out of the slot, hit the
ground, and opened.

I crouched in front of the book, but didn’t touch it.
On the top of the page was a symbol very similar to the one on Heather’s note.
Under it was a sentence almost identical to the one on the note, except the
second word was different. The rest of the page was written in what appeared to
be German.

“I told you not to open any of the books,” Langril
said, startling me. He stood only a foot behind me.

“Heather…” I hesitated. The professor wasn’t my
client and I had no idea what this was, but he was her father. Besides, I had
to know
something
. “She had a note in her pocket. It had a symbol and
said this except it---”

He slapped his hand over my mouth. “I know what she
had in her pocket,” he whispered harshly. His eyes started all around the room
as if he was afraid of someone listening in. “All I need to know was if you
recognized it. Yes or no?”

He didn’t remove his hand, so I nodded.

“Did you destroy the note?” he asked. I shook my
head. “Why the hell not?”

I pushed his hand away, stood, and backed up against
the bookshelf. “The cat took it,” I whispered.

His eyes widened. “What cat?”

“The cat with one blue eye and one gold. Dr.
Martin’s---”

“Shit!” he yelled, no longer bothering to whisper. He
clinched his hands angrily and turned away. “Not Ghost! Anyone but him!”

Before I could ask what he was talking about, he
walked into the darkest corner of the library… and vanished.

I recognized the gentle
presence of the undine, but the small pressure wasn’t sitting on my chest this
time. “Wake up, Devon Sanders.” The voice did not belong to the same undine as
before. I opened my eyes and looked down at myself, but was careful not to sit
up. She was sitting very comfortably on the most private part of my anatomy,
and she didn’t look like she was planning to move any time soon.

This undine was almost identical to the previous one,
except her hair, eyes, dress, and wings were purple. Just like the other
undine, she was only about six inches tall.

Fortunately, I had a sheet between me and her tiny
body, but it almost felt like an innuendo.

“Good morning, Devon Sanders.”

“Um, good morning. Do you mind moving… somewhere
else?”

“Yes, I do, Devon Sanders. I sit where I choose. We
know that you have started to expel the hate in your heart. We are pleased.
However, your actions at the house of the vampire king proved that you need the
help of water to achieve your inner peace before your hatred consumes your
soul. We do not agree on how to help you.”

“Okay.”

“Adesra wanted to bring you into our realm and show
you water in its purest form, but I disagree. After seeing you at the lake, I
wanted to give you another reason to let us guide you.”

As she said this, she started to grow, slowly at
first, but with increasing speed. Her body heat and weight grew with her size
until there was a regular-sized woman sitting in my lap with iridescent wings.
I sat up and tried to scoot away, but she leaned forward and kissed me. Her
lips were soft, sweet, and warm.

This didn’t feel like Regina, who only kissed me when
she wanted something or tried to distract me. My instincts were confusing; I
was in danger, but I felt like I could trust the undine. I turned my face to
break the kiss and her mouth trailed down to my neck. Meanwhile, her hands had
skillfully removed the sheet between us and were expertly manipulating my body
like only someone with magic could.

I felt her magic invade my mind and tried to block
it, but I was too slow. Her dress was gone and my body was obeying her command
instead of mine. It wasn’t unpleasant by any means, just unexpected.

She stopped and sat up. “You seem to be having
trouble getting into this. Perhaps your heart already has love for someone
else.” She wiped her hands upward from her face and over her hair.

I gasped; it was no longer a stranger’s face inches
from mine. Her face was identical to Remington’s, and as her breast swelled, I
realized her body was changing to match the temperamental witch’s as well. I
couldn’t resist; I leaned forward, reached behind her, and felt the most
perfectly formed ass of any woman I had ever seen.

Then she was kissing me again. Whatever part of my
brain that knew this wasn’t Remy, my body didn’t get the message. Between her
already powerful pheromones and the inhumanly perfect woman writhing against
me, I didn’t stand a chance.

Until I suddenly felt sick.

I pushed her away as my stomach rebelled at the
movement. My tongue, now free of hers, was burning. I tapped my mouth gently.
It was becoming numb.

Poison
. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. What is wrong?”

“You poisoned me.” I tried to climb down the steps,
but nausea caused me to slip and hit the floor.

“I have not poisoned you!”

I braced myself on my desk as the world spun. “You
were in the lake?” I panted.

“Yes; I live there.”

It was the same poison that was killing the kappa
then, only the undine were immune to it. I made it out the door, down the hall,
and to the stairwell before I collapsed. My arms and legs were growing numb. I
threw up and narrowly avoided tumbling down the stairs.

I was lucid enough to realize I was being picked up,
but not enough to determine who was carrying me down the stairs. I threw up at
least twice more before I was dropped roughly on a wooden desk. The first face
I focused on was Mrs. Ashcraft’s, and even in my incoherent condition, I knew I
didn’t want her as my doctor.

“Get Dr. Martin. It’s the lake poison,” I said. Or
tried to. Whether that was what I actually said or not, my preferred doctor did
not appear.

Someone shoved the small opening of a bottle in my
mouth, but I thrashed and fought it until I saw Hunt.
Hunt wouldn’t poison
me.
That was my last thought before my body gave up and I passed out.

*          *          *

I felt myself being lifted into a sitting position
and a potion being forced down my throat. It tasted like ginger and went down
like cough syrup. Worried that Mrs. Ashcraft was trying to off me, I opened my
eyes. I was alone in Hunt’s office with Dr. Martin and Darwin. Darwin was
asleep, curled up in Hunt’s chair. “He was the one who carried me here?” I
asked worriedly. Only then did I see he had on rubber gloves. “What happened?”

The world was still spinning, but at least I could
feel my arms and legs.

“You were poisoned with aconite. It was the poison in
the lake water you gave me. Fortunately for you, I have a cure for that. Hunt
gave you something to help, but this works better,” he said, showing off his
dark blue bottle before it vanished. “Not the water, but for you. See, the
antidote must be ingested after the poisoning, and it’s poisonous to kappa. The
lake will have to be cleaned, and there isn’t much reason to do that before we
know the cause of it being poisoned in the first place. Oh, and here.” He
handed me a small, white, plastic trashcan.

“What’s this for?” The instant the words were out of
my mouth, my stomach flipped and I vomited in the can. I didn’t stop even when
my stomach was empty, I just dry-heaved white foam.

“The poison is now clear from your system, but this
potion only works on you once a month, so try not to get poisoned again. Now, I
must be off. I have work to do.”

I still couldn’t manage to speak before he was gone.
I set down the trashcan and settled back as the nausea slowly faded. Hunt
entered a few minutes later. “You are looking better.” He eyed the trash
dubiously.

“I just puked my guts out. I’m sure I smell like
roses.”

“Who poisoned you?”

“She didn’t mean to. One of the undines woke me up
and tried to sway my loyalties by… kissing me,” I said.

His expression was patient, but surprised, as if he
wasn’t sure he heard me right. “One of the undine visited you? That is… very
interesting. I would not tell people that if I were you. Wizards can be very
greedy when it comes to monopolizing power.”

“So wizards don’t get many visits from the undine?”

“No, they do not. Some extremely powerful wizards can
see
undine, but the forces of nature are not allies of mortals. What did
she want?”

“One of them visited me a few days ago and said that
I needed to let love in my heart or I was going to go down a dark path. She
also said that some dark forces had their eye on me. Then a second undine
visited me last night. I don’t believe that she was trying to hurt me. A few
days ago, I found out from the kappa that the lake water was poisoned. She
comes from the lake, so she has the poison all over her, but I guess she is
immune to it.”

“And you got poisoned from kissing her? Why would you
kiss a being you just met?”

“Well… she was pretty.” It seemed like a really bad
idea to tell Hunt that the undine had taken the shape of his daughter.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be that easy.

“While you were unconscious, you called out Remy’s
name several times,” he said casually. His eyes weren’t casual.

“I…” I had no answer.

“My daughter is old enough to make her own decisions.
Whether I agree with them or not, I will respect her choices because I do not
want to lose her. If she chooses to enter into a romantic relationship with
you, I will not object. However, I am her father. If you betray her or upset
her, I will disembowel you in a way that is both inhumane and unsanitary.”

My organs quivered. “I understand.”

“Good. Now, we need to find out what you were
poisoned with.”

“Dr. Martin said it was aconite that is poisoning the
lake.”

“Dr. Martin?” he frowned.

“Yeah, he just went back to his lab. You had to have
passed him in the hall. He didn’t tell you what it was?”

“Devon, the only people who have been in here with
you besides myself are Mrs. Ashcraft and Darwin.”

*          *          *

I spent the weekend on mandatory bed rest. It was
more for show than anything, as Hunt thought my quick recovery would be seen as
suspicious to anyone who was watching me. By Sunday night, I was going nuts.

Darwin brought a dinner plate to me and climbed up
onto his own bed. “So, there was another murder last night. Word on the campus
is that you were injured trying to confront another vampire on Remington’s
location, which means you couldn’t have attacked Megan, the shifter who died
last night. You got your reputation as a hero back.”

“How do you always know what everyone is saying?”

“It’s my thing, bro. I listen. Everyone thinks I have
some powerful fae ability to see people’s futures when I touch them, so that’s
cool. It’s nicer than being called a throwback. Jackson is still going on about
Heather’s murder. The way he describes it, he and Heather were supposed to hook
up that night.”

I sat up.
How does he know anything about her
murder in the first place?
Either one of the teachers was blabbing his
mouth, or Jackson saw her body himself. “I have to go see Hunt,” I said,
jumping over the side of my bed. I needed a little exercise after spending days
unending in bed. Darwin sighed and followed me without saying a word.

Right as we were passing the entrance to the dining
room, we heard a growl. Van, in his person form, was circling Addison and
Henry. Addie had blood on her wrists, her shirt had several tears, and she was
shaking. There were four shifted gray wolves surrounding them.

“You are making a mistake, Van,” Henry warned the
wolf shifter. He didn’t move towards his attacker, but he kept himself between
Van and Addie.

“Go get Flagstone,” I whispered to Darwin. He nodded
and ran off.

“You cats are all the same. Filthy, despicable
creatures,” Van said.

“You are the one trying to gang up on an ocelot; a
cat one tenth your size. Then again, you don’t strike me as someone who can
take on a mouse on your own.”

“Henry, don’t antagonize him,” Addie said.

“He attacked you because your cat is smaller than his
wolf. Do you really think there is any reason left in him?”

“Enough! Walk away, Henry, and I will forgive your
defiance this once. You don’t even like Addison.”

“Whether I like Addison or not, I will not let you
attack her.”

Van’s clothes tore as his body reshaped in the span
of about ten seconds. It was not a particularly pretty sight. In fact, it could
have done with some sparkles and a
poof
, instead of the slow sprouting
of fur, audible cracking of bones, and mouth elongating into a snout.

I felt his approach in time to get out of the way as
Flagstone sprang into the room in his wolf form. There was no disadvantage for
the professor; he was quite a bit larger than Van in this shape. He also didn’t
pause to ask questions.

Before Van could turn his attack on the older wolf,
Flagstone crashed into his side and tore viciously into his throat. Snarls,
grunts, and snaps filled the room and drew students to the commotion. Henry
took Addie’s hand and they came to stand with Darwin and me. Van’s friends just
backed away, still in their wolf form.

Van tried to bite back, stand up, or kick, but
Flagstone was way too fast for him. He would strike, pull back, and strike
again, over and over. After a few minutes of this, he clamped his jaw over
Van’s throat and growled. The smaller wolf whimpered and twisted around to
display his belly. Flagstone released him, stepped back, and shifted.

“You are a poor example of your pack. For endangering
the lives of other students and disobeying my authority as your acting alpha,
you are hereby expelled from Quintessence.”

Van shifted back. “You can’t expel me!”

“I just did. Now get out before I really hurt you.”

Van looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he
stood, shakily, and limped out of the dining room. Although there was blood all
over him, I couldn’t see any wounds. One of the four gray wolves glanced at
Flagstone before running after Van. The remaining three wolves backed down.

“Everyone return to your rooms. If anyone is here in
fifteen seconds, you will have detention.” The room emptied in a flash, except
for Henry, Darwin, Flagstone, and me. “Henry, come to my office.”

“I did not start this, Alpha Flagstone.”

“I know. Unfortunately, Van is going to tell his pack
that you attacked him and they’re going to be sniffing around your parents. You
need to be prepared.”

Henry nodded and followed him out. Darwin looked at
me. “I can’t believe that.”

“What, that Henry stood up for Addie against another
shifter?” I asked.

“No. I can’t believe there was a wolf fight in our
dining room and I didn’t get a chance to take bets.

*          *          *

Hunt. Find Hunt.
I repeated the thought over
and over again in my head. It wasn’t surprising at all to me that I found
myself standing before his office almost immediately. I knocked, heard no
response, and entered. Instantly, I knew three things; we were alone, danger
was afoot, and there was a letter on Hunt’s desk.

I approached the desk and picked up the letter, but
it was written in a foreign language. The paper was old, the ink was dark
green, and the handwriting was familiar, even though the language wasn’t.