Demon Accords 8: College Arcane (41 page)

“But now he’s a rogue force, only roughly
aligned with the government, and he’s basically the equivalent of a
nuclear power,” Krupp said.

“As you just said, no one controls him. Which
is why there have been attacks on Toni and her parents: to control
him. They all failed, fairly spectacularly, and as a result… they
stopped. So for the time being, his neutrality lends itself to
stability,” I replied.

We had argued this point around and around in
class. There were no solid answers and for every point I had made,
I already knew the counters.

Krupp looked like she might press on, but her
partner leaned forward.

“So, Declan, now that you know how far out of
our element we are, do you have any suggestions?” Mazar asked.

“Am I being arrested or anything?” I
asked.

“No, Director Velasquez was correct. Your
actions clearly reflect self-defense,” Mazar said.

“Okay, that’s cool. Um, with the whole law
enforcement thing, I think you need to hire some supernaturals to
work for you. Some of the psychic kids here would be awesome cops,
like the telepaths and psychometric kids. Weres of any kind make
great fighters and trackers. They could pick up stuff at a crime
scene that would blow away your CSI techs. And witches can do all
kinds of things. My aunt regularly finds missing people for the
Chittenden County Sheriff’s department. They just think she’s
psychic,” I said.

“What else?” Mazar asked.

“When does the tournament start?” I asked
Gina. My team and Delwood’s had been seeded for Friday’s playoffs
and I hadn’t paid much attention to the early rounds timetable. I
had planned today as a down day—so much for that.

“Three o’clock. That’s a good idea, Declan.
You would be able to see firsthand the kinds of skills we were
talking about. The kids have their own sport, Wytchwar. It’s played
with avatars on a model game course in our basement level. You
would learn a lot by watching them play. This afternoon, we start a
three-day tournament. If you’re lucky, the game’s creator might
explain it to you, if he’s free,” Gina said, turning to me.

Both agents looked my way. “I could probably
spare some time,” I allowed, mentally waving goodbye to my dreams
of a long afternoon nap, preferably with Caeco. “Can I go now?”

Krupp nodded, then asked, “What exactly is an
avatar?”

“Kind of like a mini-golem. Each kid in the
school has one tuned for them. We sort of mentally drive them,” I
said.

“Golem?” Mazar asked, eyes wide, at the same
time Krupp asked, “Drive them?”

“Well, I linked each avatar to a kid, and
they kind of share awareness and motor function with it. Some
skills are spelled into them, like movement skills, so that the kid
doesn’t have to be a witch or telekinetic to operate them,” I said
to Krupp. Turning to Mazar, I explained further, “Real golems are
fairly autonomous. These mini-versions won’t function without a
human operator. Kinda like a remote control airplane versus those
drones that the DARPA guy had.”

“So they’re not real golems?” Mazar asked,
disappointed.

“No, those take a lot of time and planning to
build. I haven’t made one for years,” I said.

“You make golems?” Mazar asked, enunciating
each word slowly and carefully like she didn’t want there to be any
misunderstanding.

“I have. I made a golem dragon for my own
version of the game when I was a kid. Also made a big one to haul
firewood, but my aunt made me get rid of it.”

She was speechless, but I could see the
wheels turning in her head as she processed that. A second later,
my brain caught up. Israeli—theologist—golems—Judisim and rabbis,
who made the first golems. Ah.

“Okay, I’ll catch you later, at three,
downstairs,” I said, making my getaway and thinking of a short
nap.

Chapter 36

I made it almost back to my room before Janek
and Darina stepped out in front of me.

“Ah, hi,” I said, looking between them for
clues as to what they wanted.

“Hi Declan,” Darina said, then smiled. It was
kinda creepy. The girl never smiled… now I knew why.

“Declan, we wondered if we might have a
moment of your time?” her brother asked.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“We have been requested to make an
introduction,” Janek said a little nervously. Whoever made the
request was someone who he either feared or respected or both.

“Right now?”

“Thank you, that would be terrific,” he said,
turning and leading me down the hall to the student lounge.

A man was sitting near the door to the
lounge, which was uncharacteristically closed, and he came to his
feet as we approached. Middle-aged, very fit, with gray at his
temples and wearing an expensive-looking suit.

“Declan, this is our father, Kral Vrana,
Alpha of the Carpathian Pack,” Janek said.

The guy looked like a bigshot, rich and
powerful, which made the slight signs of tension stand out. His
eyes darted around too much and his movements were tight. Not what
I expected from a werewolf bigshot.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” I said, thinking
this would be quick and I could still catch a snooze.

“A pleasure,” he said, turning immediately to
his son. “You, Janek, need to make the introduction.”

“But father,” Janek began, but his dad
interrupted him, speaking in what I assumed was Hungarian or
Romanian or some whatever.

“Very well,” Janek said when his father wound
down. He took a deep breath and opened the door to the lounge and
led me in.

A giant, at least six-ten or better, stood to
one side, watching everything, the handle of a frigging sword
jutting up over one shoulder. But he wasn’t the most interesting
thing in the room. Two women were sitting on one of the couches,
maybe two feet apart. One was blonde, really pretty, but old, like
thirty maybe. The other was older, maybe even forty, and serious,
with dark eyes and dark hair. I looked back at the blonde, who
watched me with a slight smile. Dark, dark brown eyes that were set
off by her blonde hair, wearing an expensive dark blue dress suit.
Very put together, extremely polished. Her gaze was interested,
while the woman next to her studied me as well but with a slightly
bitchy look that said she already didn’t like me. She was wearing a
long dress and bright blouse, very Eastern European looking.

Achtung!
Yeah, danger. No shit, Sorrow.

Janek cleared his throat. “Elder, may I
present my classmate, Declan O’Carroll. Declan, I have the honor of
introducing you to Elder Senka of the Coven.”

I don’t know shit about the Coven. But I’d
heard Tanya and Chris speak a little bit about Elder Senka. Enough
to scare the crap right out of me. I had no idea how to address her
and she was much more dangerous than the sword-wielding giant
glaring at my back.

“Your Grace,” I said. Okay,
so we’d been watching a lot of
Game of
Thrones
on TV. It just friggin’ popped
out.

The other woman snorted. Senka turned her
head just ever so slightly and the woman stiffened.

“I am not royalty, Declan.
Just call me Senka, but I do appreciate the
respect
,” she said, glancing sideways
at the woman. That one rolled her eyes… slightly and
quickly.

“This is Veleslava Majtas, who has served me
for many years. She is, like you, a witch,” Senka said. Veleslava
snorted again and said something foreign, maybe Hungarian. Whatever
it was, it was derogatory and about me.

Janek spoke back to her in
the same language, his tone even but firm. He spoke at length and
although I couldn’t understand a word of it, I could tell two
things: he spoke well and he was defending
me.

The woman crossed her arms and looked pissy.
Senka looked amused.

“Well spoken, Janek. Declan, I’ve wanted to
meet you for some time. Janek’s family has a long relationship with
me and when I heard he was here, I asked for this introduction,”
Senka said. Her accent was full-on Brit and it was pretty awesome.
Her personality was overwhelming, completely overshadowing everyone
else in the room.

“Ah, me, ma’am?” I asked, confused.

“I am deeply interested in my granddaughter’s
life,” she said, not bothering to tell me who her granddaughter
was, although I already knew that much.

“Now, Tatiana is currently in a bit of a…
snit. So I haven’t exchanged many words directly, you see, but I
have plenty of eyes on both her and Christian. I discovered some
time ago how much they both favor a young male witch. Naturally, I
had to see for myself.”

“Ah, see what, ma’am?” I asked in brilliant
response. If she was testing my intelligence, I think I was
failing.

“Why, the boy… my apologies… the young male
witch with so much power who Christian likes so much. My
grandson-in-law does not get on with witches, Declan. Not at all,
except for you,” she said.

“Ah, and my aunt,” I pointed out. Not sure
why I offered that up. Still not representing too well.

“Yes, your famous aunt. Even Vel will accede
to her solid reputation,” Senka said. Veleslava shrugged, which for
her seemed to be a big concession.

“But Veleslava is steadfast in her belief
that no male could wield even a tiny bit of the power that has been
ascribed to you,” Senka said.

A ball of fire appeared in Veleslava’s hand.
She slowly moved it out in front of us and pulled her hand away,
leaving the ball floating in space.

“Put it out,” the witch said, daring me with
her dark eyes.

The ball was shielded, that was obvious, as
was the fact that it was a test of my strength. That pissed me off.
Sorrow made a suggestion, just a floating image of a spell
super-imposed on my vision. I saw it as glowing runes, a slight
variation of the spell Sorrow had offered with Macha and her
powerful assistant. I took it and laid it like floating spiderwebs
over the fiery orb as I pretended to bend down and inspect it.

“So, if I understand, you came all this way
from Europe or wherever, to meet me?” I asked Senka, now ignoring
the orange ball of flame.

“Well, to be truthful, I also met your young
friend Ariel. I had heard there was a Seer here. Nice girl.
Skillful, I think, but only in a narrow range. I asked her about
you,” she said with a smile. I waited, ignoring the smug look on
Veleslava’s face.

“My specific question was about how it was to
be a precognitive in a school of supernaturals. Did her classmates
bug her for test answers and predictions of course material, that
sort of thing. She answered that most of them did, with the
exception of her close friends. She said not a single friend had
ever asked her for a prediction or reading. I was intrigued, so I
pressed further. She said it was as if her roommate, you, your
girlfriend and your roommates had never even thought of it. Which
is really terribly odd, don’t you agree?” Senka asked.

I hadn’t ever thought of it and now that
she’d pointed it out, I didn’t know why. I couldn’t recall ever
even considering asking Ariel for a prediction. I shrugged. “I
suppose it is,” I said, baffled.

“I asked her why that might be. Her
answer—she felt that she was right in the middle of something
really important, something brilliant. And when that occurs, the
Seer is as blind as everyone else, and at some level, you all knew
it. Absolutely fascinating,” Senka said.

“Do you know how old I am, Declan?” she
asked. Uh oh. Danger. Danger.

“No ma’am. And I wouldn’t ever presume to
guess,” I said.

She laughed, her dark eyes holding me in
place. “Suffice to say I am the oldest of my kind. Living this long
is not easy. In fact, most Darkkin die by their own hand soon after
they reach five hundred years or so. Boredom and loneliness. One
must find new and interesting things to keep life… spicy. In all my
years, never have I lived in a more interesting time. Do you know
how I spend the majority of my time?”

I thought about it carefully, pretty sure
where at least some of this was going. “Dealing with the fallout of
the Battle and Emergence?”

“Exactly so. Christian and Tatiana have
thrown our society into upheaval and chaos. Darkkin across the
planet either fear for their lives or rally for battles they are
certain are coming, or want to start. Mortals flock to religion, or
their politicians, demanding to be protected from the Darkkin who
have lived among them forever. For hundreds of years, I led the
Coven in suppressing all knowledge of vampires from the mortal
world to prevent just this upheaval. And now it is all for
naught.”

She seemed strangely okay with that fact.
“How do you feel about that?” I asked, maybe unwisely.

She looked at me archly.
“When Tatiana was born, many prophecies were made. The end of
Darkkin, the ascension of Darkkin over mortals, the end of days,
even the second Coming. I didn’t believe in any of those. But
I
knew
something
was coming, something vast. So while many feel I should be enraged
over the Emergence and I should be punishing Tatiana and her
Chosen, I have done nothing of the kind. Do you know
why?”