Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) (15 page)

“Dobrov thought he would come say
hi,” said Lough, sounding slightly strangled and very relieved that we had
showed up. “Nice of him.”

I glanced at Vital, but he didn’t
look the least bit fazed by the interaction.

“We were just discussing the
other vampire sects,” said Lisabelle cheerfully. “Dobrov, which are you a part
of?”

Dobrov raised one of his
shoulders in a half shrug. “Raor.”

“Ah,” said Lisabelle. “They’re
further south.”

“Warmer is better,” said Dobrov
haltingly, his eyes cast to the ground. “All this snow is ridiculous.”

“Doesn’t it make your skin feel
better?” Lisabelle asked.

“Pretty sure you should not ask
stuff like that,” said Lough, shaking his head and trying not to laugh.

“Nothing makes my skin feel
better,” said Dobrov quietly.

“Sorry,” Lisabelle murmured,
actually looking apologetic. We continued on in silence until I saw two figures
walking toward us down the hall.

“Oh no,” said Sip, wrinkling her
nose like she smelled a rotting onion. “Incoming.”

“At least we have Vital with us,
so if we need someone to restrain Lisabelle we have help,” said Lough, his
voice ominous.

“What’s going on?” Vital asked,
pitching his voice low. “All I see is a couple of pixie students.”

“A couple is two more than we’d
ever like to see,” said Sip. “Those two particularly.”

“Cale’s not so bad,” I said,
looking at my old crush. Red-haired Cale barely registered now that I was with
Keller, except I felt a bit on edge and nervous because Keller hadn’t come
around to our room first thing in the morning. I had thought I’d see him long
before this, but of course I hadn’t known that we’d be attacked, that Lanca
would show up to escort us personally into her realm, or that we would have
more bugs than a beehive in our apartment.

“Well, well, look who it isn’t,”
Camilla sneered. “Truly, I was hoping to avoid this while we watched the
coronation of your . . . um, friend.”

Camilla Van Rothson was beautiful
by any standard. Her skin was a very slight green and her blond hair tumbled
gloriously over her shoulders and down her back.

Lough, who was walking next to
Lisabelle despite the fact that her proximity usually made him combust into a
pile of awkward crush-like behavior, firmly clamped his hand on her arm,
silently ordering her not to say anything.

“We have more reason to be here
than you do,” said Sip. Her purple eyes blazed.

“You need a bodyguard to walk
around Locke?” Camilla sneered, pointing at Vital, who stood silently. “He
doesn’t look like much of a fighter.”

“Camilla,” said Cale nervously,
“he’s won the paranormal world fighting championships three years running and
is probably the only paranormal who could literally kill us with a look.”

Camilla shut up instantly and
gave a second look at Vital, who stood impassive while we all bickered it out.

“So, Lanca is humoring the
elemental, just like everyone else,” said Camilla, looking almost bored.
“Surprise, surprise.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” sad
Dobrov, stepping out from the back of our group, where he had been standing
quietly. For the second time Camilla blinked in surprise. Apparently she was
used to just running into Sip, Lisabelle and me, but the addition of the
vampires and Lough was throwing her off.

“Dobrov,” said Cale, pleasantly
enough.

“Cale,” said Dobrov, nodding in
return.. It was more of a greeting than he had given us, but of course Cale was
a very good paranormal. He was kind and considerate and had helped me when I
had first reached Public. I was just sad that he was dating such an awful
pixie, and it had come close to ruining our friendship except when she wasn’t
around.

“Let’s keep moving,” said Vital.
As we filed past each other Lisabelle stuck out her foot. Camilla, busy
gossiping to Cale and pretending we didn’t exist, never saw it, tripped and
lurched forward with a screech. The only thing that saved her from slamming
into the black carpet, which really didn’t feel very soft under my feet, was
Cale, who reached out and grabbed her.

“Whoops,” said Lisabelle,
covering her lips with her hand. “Darkness mages are so clumsy.”

Camilla righted herself in no
time. Pixies are agile creatures, and no one would ever accuse Camilla of not
being a very capable pixie. Her eyes blazed as she looked at our group and her
lip curled upward.

“You keep talking about the
darkness mages,” she said. “By the end of this trip I think all the paranormals
will have a very different idea about them, and we might not have to put up
with you for much longer.”

Before she could say anything
else Cale tugged her away, his eyes sad. She continued to rant about darkness
mages all the way down the hall, while our group stared after her.

“Was that a warning?” Lough
asked.

“No,” said Lisabelle. “That was a
threat.”

Vital took us upward. We didn’t
say anything else about our run-in with Camilla or ask any more questions about
Vampire hierarchy or Lanca’s safety. Now that Dobrov was there, the time for
private conversations had passed. I wanted to ask Lough if he knew where Keller
was, but thought better of it. I didn’t want anyone besides my immediate
friends to know how desperately I missed him, just in case one of my enemies
decided to use our love as a way to hurt me, or worse, him.

We had been in the breakfast hall
the night before, but however we had gotten there, it was not by the normal
means of climbing stairs and walking down dimly lit passageways. So when Vital
took us through a plain set of doors and we found ourselves in the dining room
I was surprised.

“Here we are,” said Sip. I felt
like she was looking around for blood spatter from the dog, but there was none.

Lough craned his neck upward.
There was more light today.

“How high are we climbing?” Lough
asked, his voice faint.

Now that a little creature wasn’t
being tortured I had more time to look around. The breakfast hall was nothing
like the dining halls at Public, probably because it was rarely used. Vital
said that when there were no visitors, vampires liked to eat alone.

This morning most of the people
we saw in front of us were not vampires. In fact, I had barely seen any other
members of the Rapier sect. They were in mourning, after all, and behind closed
doors preparing for the coronation.

“Yeah,” said Lough reverently.
“This is cool.”

We all nodded in agreement except
Vital, who had seen it all before.

The design looked like it was
based on the fact that vampires could float. We walked through a large set of
red double doors and were forced to look upward, because the food court was
built into the side of the hill at a sloping angle, several stories above our
heads.

“How do we get up there?” Sip
asked, staring. Above us we heard the clank of silverware, the sound of voices,
and the chewing of food, but all we could see was a series of ledges spiraling
away from us.

“You use those,” explained Vital,
pointing to a series of ladders hanging down next to each ledge. “Once you have
your food, there are tables set further back in the mountain.”

“Why are there so many separate
little eating areas?” I asked. “Why aren’t we all together?”

“So that we can avoid each
other,” said Lisabelle. “Good thing, too, because I can’t think of anyone I
want to see right now as much as I want to see a heaping plate of pasta. Come
on.” Not waiting for any of us to catch up with her, she marched to the nearest
ladder. Gathering her black skirts so that when she was in the air nothing was
exposed that shouldn’t be, she started to climb.

“Only Lisabelle,” Sip muttered.
“No group discussion, no decision-making process, just go go go.”

“I have to admit,” said Lough,
patting his tummy, “I’m hungry too.” He quickly followed the darkness mage and
started to climb. I stared skeptically at the ladder. “It doesn’t look that
sturdy,” I said, shaking my head. “What if it falls?”

“It won’t fall,” said Sip, her
eyes bright. “Vampires are good craftsmen, and I’m sure lots of paranormals
climb each day. Besides, you have friends here that can float. They’ll catch
you if you fall. Won’t you, Vital?”

“Friend? Float? Catch?” Vital
asked, but Sip wasn’t listening. She had started to say something about how
hungry she was, and then she had followed Lough.

Dobrov stood awkwardly. “Dobrov,”
I said. “You don’t have to ask to join us. You are more than welcome.”

He didn’t acknowledge that had I
said anything, but he turned and headed for the ladder and started to climb
after Sip. Far above, Lough gave me one pained look, then returned his
attention to not falling and off the ladder and dying.

I looked at Vital. “Are you
coming with us?”

He shook his head. “My job was to
show you here. I need to get back to the Lady.”

I nodded. “Do you think we’ll see
her before the coronation?”

Something flashed in Vital’s
eyes, but it was quickly gone. “As you well know from recent experiences, only
the Princess can say.” His lips slashed in a grin. “I don’t want to say more
here, but I wouldn’t put it past her.”

And with that he was gone, having
reminded me that this place could not be trusted, that everything we said was
potentially listened to. It made shivers run up and down my spine.

I had just turned around, ready
to climb the ladder after my friends, when I saw a familiar set of blue eyes
and a shock of dark hair on one of the other ledges. My heart leapt and all
traces of unease disappeared as I smiled at Keller. Usually he wore a t-shirt
or hoodie and jeans. I liked it about him that he was a casual dresser, but now
he wore a white button down and slacks and I realized that he looked good in
that, too. He looked good in everything.

And now, here he was.

My heart leapt for joy, but I
felt nervous after not having seen him for weeks. I had been thinking about him
all the time, of course, but it was different to see him in the flesh.

He smiled back, but the smile was
hesitant. I started to look for the ladder that went to his terrace, my eyes
following each path as it wound upward. He gave a slight shake of his head, but
I didn’t get it. I smiled back and nodded, motioning that I wanted to come up.

Another slight shake.

I frowned. I would have started
climbing by now, except that I didn’t see a ladder that went to his ledge.

I raised my eyebrows in silent
question. What was going on?

“Charlotte, let’s go. If you
think I’m waiting for you to eat you’re confused,” Lisabelle’s voice called. My
friends had already reached the top of an empty ledge, one of the higher-up
ones. I knew I should start climbing, but first I looked back at Keller. This
time he was not alone.

Standing with him were three
white-haired, blue-eyed fallen angels. At least two of them could be relatives;
they had the same nose and broad shoulders as Keller. The other was female, and
even from where I stood I could see that she was not a fallen angel. She didn’t
have the pale skin or the silver ring; her eyes were hard and her hair was
clipped short. The glimpse of Keller that had erased the chills running through
me came back in force when my eyes met hers.

I didn’t even bother looking at
Keller again. He would explain when he had the chance, but obviously he was
with senior paranormals who didn’t want to be disturbed. Trying not to be hurt
or look directly at him was difficult, so instead I concentrated on climbing.

I was anything but a fan of
heights, and even though I knew, especially with Keller there, that I couldn’t
get hurt, I had to force myself to focus on climbing.

One hand in front of the other,
and then one foot, I kept telling myself.

“There you go,” said Lisabelle
dryly. “You might get here by Tuesday.”

Once I reached my friends I felt
much better, even if I did feel eyes boring into my back. But that was nothing
new. As the only elemental, I was used to being stared at.

The ledge was just the beginning.
On either side of the wall were trays of food. Most of it was recognizable, and
some of the smells wafting to my nose were even pleasant, but there were a few
dishes that I had every intention of staying away from, especially one that was
filled with something massive, brown, and boiling that look uncomfortably like
hot excrement.

“I’m pretty sure those are Dung
beans,” said Lough, seeing where I was staring and the face I was making.
“Perfectly harmless. They’re a delicacy in Europe.”

“Yeah, as long as you don’t have
taste buds,” I muttered. “And we’re not in Europe.”

Further back into the ledge was
what could only be described as a cave. There was one table, something like a
wooden picnic table, where I assumed we were supposed to eat. It was
illuminated by one black lantern. My friends had chosen an empty cave on
purpose, so we wouldn’t have to share it with any of the other paranormals who
had gathered to attend Lanca’s coronation.

“Vampires really are not big on
light,” said Lough, rubbing his chin. “Where did Vital go?”

“Back to Lanca,” I said, glancing
toward the edge. “I don’t think he likes to be away from her.”

“Let’s eat,” said Sip. “They
don’t have pasta for Lisabelle, though.”

“It’s breakfast time,” said
Lough. “Even if we can’t see the sun.”

“We aren’t at the top, are we?” I
asked, realizing that there must be more mountain above us.

“No,” said Dobrov. “The top is
where the coronation happens.”

“Is it dangerous?” Lanca was in
enough trouble from her supposed allies. She did not need to worry about dying
at her own coronation on top of everything else.

“Just for Lanca,” said Dobrov.
“She’ll have to prove that she can lead. There hasn’t been a vampire queen in
hundreds of years. One way or another, vampires have always found a way around
that.”

“What does that mean?” Sip said.

“Nothing good,” said Lisabelle
and Dobrov at the same time.

We ate mostly in silence. At one
point I asked Sip where her parents were, and she explained that they were far,
far away from where we were staying, because we were staying so close to
Lanca’s personal chambers. They had decided to eat in their room, but she
thought we’d see them later.

“My mom says I’m an adult now,
and she’s making my dad give me some space,” said Sip.

“Obviously your mom hasn’t spent
much time with you,” said Lisabelle.

It wasn’t until we actually sat
down with the food that I realized just how hungry we were. There had been
apples on the table in our room the night before, but we had been too tired to
do anything but climb into bed. So at this point it had been over twenty-four
hours since I had eaten a proper meal.

We sat in silence for a while,
concentrating on the food. When we were finally finishing, Sip asked, “Was that
Keller over there? When is he going to visit, and do you know where he’s
staying?”

I sighed. I should have known my
friends would notice.

“Yes, I don’t know, and I don’t
know. He was with senior paranormals, not his friends. I’m not sure who they
were.” Apparently all my friends had noticed my being rejected by my boyfriend.
Great.

“One of them was Saferous, a
fallen angel on the paranormal council,” said Dobrov. “Another was Castov’s
wife.”

“Ah, that explains why she gave
me the creeps,” said Lough.

“You don’t even know Castov,”
said Lisabelle. “How do you know you wouldn’t like him?”

“Because Lanca doesn’t, and Lanca
is my friend,” Lough explained, taking one last large bite of beans. All of us
stared at him, trying not to look too grossed out. Even Dobrov looked a little
queasy.

“So?” Lisabelle said.

“So,” said Lough, “it’s called
closing ranks. You support your dear ones. My friends are my dear ones, and if
Lanca doesn’t like him and he doesn’t treat her well, that’s really all I need
to know.”

“What happens at the coronation?”
Sip asked.

“I’ll explain,” said Dobrov,
making eye contact with the werewolf for the first time. Sip held his gaze and
he didn’t look away.

Lisabelle leaned over to me and
mouthed, “Progress.”

“Princess Lanca has to prove that
she is capable of leading,” said Dobrov. “On top of taking the crown. It will
involve a series of tests, all of which will be witnessed by, well, whoever
wants to watch.”

“So, everyone?” Lough asked,
waving his fork around.

“Yes,” said Dobrov, staring at
his plate. “That’s why the coronation room is at the top. We will all be
sitting outside, looking down on her trial. If she proves herself, she will be
crowned.”

“When she proves herself,” said
Lisabelle, starting to clear plates. There was a chute next to the table where
you just shoved your dirty dishes. It was very handy.

“What if she doesn’t prove
herself?” Sip asked worriedly. I was afraid we already knew the answer, and
Dobrov’s scared face said that our worst fears were justified.

“If she doesn’t then she dies,”
he said. “And Dirr takes over.”

“So, that’s probably what Castov
wants to happen? Who would lead in that situation?”

Dobrov shrugged. “I’m not even
sure. It has never happened. There will be a series of trials for her, or
competitions. Each of the vampire sects and each of the paranormal types will
get a chance to test her.”

“Wait, but she inherited this.
Why does she have to be tested?” Sip asked, confused.

“Supposedly because ruling the
Rapiers is very difficult, and this is considered to be a valid way to test
competency,” Dobrov explained, though his eyes betrayed his skepticism.