Demon Accords 8: College Arcane (28 page)

“We should. Test them, that is,” Jetta said,
spooning some yogurt into her mouth.

“That would require guns and shooting and
someplace to do it,” I said, relieved that nothing like that was
possible.

“Yeah? So what? We got guns. Must be an old
quarry or something around here,” Jetta said.

“You’ve got guns? What about the school
rule?” I asked, my relief gone.

“It specifically says no guns in the school.
Doesn’t say we can’t have a truckload in the parking lot. Which we
do. What do you expect? We aren’t all super witches or super
soldiers. You honestly think Mack and I would attend a school with
werewolves and disarm ourselves?” she asked, frowning at me like I
might be brain damaged.

“Okay, okay, I didn’t think it through,” I
said. Caeco who hadn’t even flinched at Jetta’s pronouncement,
instead looked up from wherever she’d gone mentally.

“Declan, do you know what reactive armor is?”
she asked.

“Ah, no,” I answered.

“On tanks?” Mack asked, sitting down on my
other side with a heaping plate of bacon and hash browns.

“Exactly,” Caeco said.

“Sure, but why are we talking about it, and
where were you when I woke up?” he asked, directing the last part
at me.

“
He
was training… with Tatiana
Demidova, Stacia Reynolds, Chris Gordon, and that giant vampire
dude, Arky or whatever,” Jetta said.

“What?” he almost yelled.

“And
she
was in your room this morning to
wake him up,” Jetta added, stealing a piece of his cherished
bacon.

“Tatiana or Stacia?” he asked.

“Tatiana,” I said, but before I could say any
more, Ashley and a tired-looking Ariel arrived.

“What’s going on?” Ashley asked.

So I spent several minutes explaining my
morning. Mack sat mouth agape and the two girls gave each other a
meaning-filled look.

“That explains a lot,” Ariel said, poking at
her cereal.

“Like?” Caeco prompted.

“Ariel had bad dreams last night,” Ashley
said.

“And?” Jetta asked.

“Many of my precognitive visions occur while
I sleep. Some happen in daytime, but the bulk of them are in
dreams. Last night, I had awful dreams of people fighting outbreaks
in Germany and Turkey. Chris and Tatiana were not there to help,”
she said, looking wrung out.

“You see the actual demon outbreaks?” Caeco
asked.

“I sometimes see them hours or days in
advance, other times minutes. Last night was, I think, the minutes
kind.”

“You’re saying people died last night because
Chris and Tanya came here to train me?” I asked, horrified.

“Looks like,” Ashley said, giving me a
serious look.

“I didn’t ask them to. I didn’t even know
they were coming,” I protested.

“Of course not, Declan,” Caeco said, shooting
Ashley a look of her own. “They can’t be everywhere and there are
always outbreaks that they can’t cover. But do you understand what
this means?” she asked me.

“I’m responsible for people dying?” I
replied.

“No, you dope,” Caeco answered, giving me a
sympathetic look. “It means that Chris and Tanya feel your training
is so important that they have to handle it personally, even if it
means missing some outbreaks.”

“If it helps, Oracle’s PortalSafe devices
closed the gates very quickly… at least in my dreams. It’s just
that no one can handle these things as fast and smoothly as Chris’s
group,” Ariel said.

“So we need to up your game as fast as
possible, Declan,” Caeco continued. “Back to my comment on reactive
armor.”

“It’s explosives sandwiched between armor
plates that go off when an antitank round hits. The explosive
either disrupts the plasma jet of a shaped warhead or the
penetrator rod, if it’s that kind,” Mack explained.

“Exactly. So here’s my idea. What if you
built your shields to do something similar? Either with electricity
or just kinetic power or what-have-you. A shaped charge sends a
plasma jet at something like five miles per second, but the
reaction is as fast or faster.”

“So no matter how fast a vampire or were is,
if they attack me, my shields blast them back?” I asked.

“Exactly,” she said. “You should give it some
thought while you’re at class, then later, before dinner, we’ll try
it out.”

“And we can shoot you, too?” Jetta added,
with more enthusiasm than I felt was appropriate.

Chapter 26

Website Design was a blur, as I was either
doodling thoughts on my shielding or wondering if innocent people
were dying while I was sitting here in class.

After class, I followed my normal routine to
head to the Student Center for lunch. A familiar brogue assaulted
me as I was ordering a sub sandwich.

“And are ye thinking of eating the whole
bloody thing yerself, are ye?” came from behind me.

“Hi Ryanne. And yes I am. It’s only a sub,” I
said.

“Only a sub, he says. Declan, if I ate like
you lads, me ass would look like two bulldogs in a tater sack, it
would,” she said, shaking her head. A couple of guys walking behind
her were busy eyeing her form and I was pretty sure they weren’t
thinking of dogs or potatoes.

“So what does a fair maiden of the Emerald
Isle eat to maintain such a svelte and lithesome form?” I asked,
adopting a cultured tone.

“Oh such complete and utter blarney. Ye’ve
kissed the Stone then, have ye?” she asked, even as she held up a
salad to answer the question.

“No, never been to Ireland, let alone Blarney
Castle. Would like to, but you know how it is. An entire clan of
Irwins would most likely murder me,” I said, thanking the lady
behind the counter as she handed off my seafood salad sub
masterpiece.

“Now yer jest talking shite,” she said,
grabbing my elbow and steering me toward a table. “After what I’ve
seen ye do, I think ye could probably be crowned King of the
circles,” she said.

I started to snap out a witty reply but
stopped. “Wait, you’re serious. Not about the king thing, but you
don’t think my mother’s killers would come for me?”

She settled into an open table in the corner,
her green eyes uncharacteristically serious.

“Declan, I’ll be honest with ye. Most of the
circles already know of ye.”

“You told them,” I accused.

“Of course I told them, ye box head. Ye never
told me who ye were or that it was some great bloody secret. So
naturally, I told me sisters about ye. Being the grand gossips that
they are, word spread fast,” she said, holding up one finger to
stall my response. “Then yer aunt showed up and explained about ye
and herself and, well, I passed that along too. Yer the biggest
news to hit the Irish circles in years. Me damn cell’s been ringing
nonstop. And ye can thank me for not giving out yer own number or
they’d be calling you, too. I know for a fact that they’ve sent
emails to yer aunt’s website. Has she no said a word then?”

I sat back, stunned, while she poked her
salad without much enthusiasm. “She’s still a bit mad at me,” I
finally said.

“Bah, what witch isn’t going to read their
own mum’s grimoire? Bloody nonsense, if ye ask me. She should be
glad ye didn’t just burn the stupid bloody wolf to cinders or that
gobshite Jenks.”

“So what have they wanted—the people who call
you?” I asked, fighting to kill the blossom of hope that had taken
root inside me.

“They want a fecking introduction is what
they want. Like I’m yer bleeding agent or some shite,” she said,
watching me take a bite of my sub, her eyes a little covetous. Her
salad was mostly getting pushed around instead of being eaten.

“Do you eat a lot of salads in Ireland?” I
asked.

“We don’t grow a whole lot of this leafy
shite. Lots of root veggies,” she said.

I pushed the other half of my sub her way and
her eyes lit up like it was gold at the end of the rainbow.

“So if I was introduced, what would they want
of me?” I asked.

“Babies, most like,” she said, taking a huge
bite of the sub, eyes closed in pleasure.

“What?” I asked.

“Yer the most powerful warlock anyone’s heard
of and yer mum was a fecking legend. They want to breed ye back
into the lines.”

It was a repeat of what the witch that had
worked to contain me in the missile silo, Krista, had said. I
hadn’t really believed her then, especially as she didn’t know how
strong I really was. I absently wondered if she gotten out before
the asteroid hit.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Just remembering something another witch
said to me once. But if I understand you, then I need to stay away
from Ireland for what… ever?”

“What, ya think they’ll chain you up and
breed ya like a prized bull, do ya?” she laughed.

“Actually, that’s pretty much what this other
witch said, although I think drugs were mentioned.”

“I won’t lie to ya… There are some what might
treat a male like that, but yer stronger than most circles, unless
I miss me guess.” She looked at me with raised eyebrows until I
shrugged. “Drugs would be a mighty iffy thing with a witch of yer
power, Declan. If they fecked it up, you’d like to get free and
then they’d all be fecked, wouldn’t they?”

“Well, I wouldn’t trust any of them. They
killed my mom,” I said, taking a bite of sandwich. She went quiet
and I glanced at her. She looked hurt.

“
Them
, Ryanne. I said
them.
Not you. But
really, shouldn’t I be careful with ladling out trust?” I
asked.

“No, no ye shouldn’t. In fact, ye hardly know
me. Ye probably shouldn’t trust me either, as I might be scheming
to get ye in me bed and get pregnant with yer child,” she said,
wrapping up the sub remnants a bit violently. She stood up, grabbed
her book bag and tray, and headed to the garbage.

“Ryanne, I said it didn’t include you.” I
scrambled, gathering my own stuff. She was halfway across the room
as I attempted to catch up without dropping my things everywhere.
By the time I got rid of my garbage, she was out of the room. I
jetted through the process, completely failing the Vermont code of
recycling, and shot out into the hall, looking around for her. She
was standing by the wall, just outside the lunch spot, waiting.

“Did you hear me? I said it didn’t include
you,” I said again as I approached. She looked up, eyes watery.

“And did ye hear me? I said, ye shouldn’t
trust me on account my intentions are less than grand,” she said. A
couple of kids walking by looked over curiously at our little
drama.

I started to brush off her ridiculous
comment, but something about her posture stopped me. She was
serious.

“What?” was the best I could come up.

“Declan, why do ye think I’m here? At
Arcane?” she asked.

“To go to college and learn witch stuff,” I
said.

“No, ye moron,” she said gently. “I could go
to college in Ireland if I really wanted to and I already know more
o’ the Craft than this school could teach me, yer aunt not
withstanding. Declan, I was sent here to find you… to lure you back
to Ireland. We knew you were strong before, back when ye stood
toe-to-to with me sisters, but after last night? Well, nobody
dreamed any single witch could command so much, let alone a male.
The leader of me circle has as much as commanded me to seduce
ya.”

“That’s crazy. She wants you to get
pregnant?” I asked, trying to picture her giving up her freedom for
a child she didn’t even want.

She wiped her eyes, blinked a couple of
times, and took a deep breath. “Let’s walk to class.”

We headed out of the Davis Center and across
campus. After a few minutes, she spoke again. “I was excited for
this trip. Getting time here in America without the chaos of a
tour. Don’t get me wrong, I luv touring, but to stay in one spot
for five months and make friends, take classes and the like, well
that was a gift from the goddess. And ye seemed an okay sort of
lad, so it wouldn’t be horrible like to see if I could work me
wiles on ye.”

I looked at her, both eyebrows up. “Don’t be
giving me that look. Ye know what I mean. I only met ye the couple
of times, so ye could have been a great tool or complete moron, now
couldn’t ye?”

“You just called me a moron a moment ago,” I
pointed out.

“But not a
complete
one. Anyway,
when I got here last week, I thought I had all the time ye see, at
least several months. And I like Britta, even if her sister is a
savage twit who’s shagging her way through every bob in Arcane. And
you turned out to be a surprise. I mean, I knew ye had a thing for
standing up for the lasses, but then yer protecting little kids and
fighting werewolves and ye had to go and show off yer power last
night and now it’s all bollixed up.”