Read Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) Online
Authors: Rain Oxford
Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) (8 page)
“Stop!” Alpha Flagstone demanded.
Brian ignored his alpha and dug his fangs in the
wolf’s shoulder. The wolf cried out in pain and turned his attack on the
smaller hyena. “Stop,” I said, not as loud as Flagstone. Brian instantly
relented and backed away. The wolf dived behind his alpha.
“That is interesting,” Flagstone said as Brian paced
between me and the wolves.
“I’m not really sure what happened,” I said. Henry
was my roommate and I knew he had a fiercely protective instinct deep inside
him, but Brian was a stranger.
“Brian sees you as more of an alpha than me.”
“But I’m not any kind of shifter. Why would he see me
as an alpha at all?”
“He may see you as more hyena-like. It’ll be
difficult making any more progress with him now.”
I wouldn’t apologize; Flagstone did ask me to
participate and he did pit the shifter against me. “Brian, shift,” I said. He
obeyed instantly and grabbed his clothes out of the piles strewn around the
room. When he returned to my side immediately after dressing, I was a little
frustrated. I didn’t want a hyena following me around. “What is Alpha Flagstone
working on you with?” I asked him.
He opened his mouth to speak, then blushed, closed
his mouth, and looked at the floor. “Females are dominant to males in spotted
hyena clans,” Flagstone explained. “Brian is the only male of six girls. He is
also one of triplets. Unfortunately, all six of his sisters tried to kill him
until his mother finally kicked him out. He is extremely shy and afraid of
other shifters, especially of females.”
“But he just attacked a bigger wolf.”
“He did, which means you got further with him in five
minutes than I have in the six years I’ve known him. I worked with him at the
children’s school. In fact, I was introduced to him after he locked himself in
his room and refused to let anyone in even to bring him food for days.”
Henry shifted his weight just an inch to the right,
subtly placing himself between the closest wolf and Brian. “I’m happy to help
if you want target practice for your pack,” I lied, “but I really can’t have a
pack of my own.”
Henry made a subtle sound in the back of his throat.
Whether it was a disagreement or a warning, I stopped myself from saying
anything else.
“Devon is acting as a liaison for the vampires at the
request of Vincent Knight of the wizard council and therefore will be around
vampires. A protective pack member might see an innocent gesture made by a
vampire as a challenge to his alpha and cause irreconcilable damage.”
Several of the wolves backed away and Flagstone
nodded. “That’s a good point. In any case, Devon, I believe you have a meeting
to get to.”
Grateful to finally get out of the room, I nodded,
left quickly, and didn’t linger at any classrooms. I was focusing on the
headmaster, which had always resulted in me finding him easily, so how I came
to stand in front of a staircase, I didn’t know. Every other step was missing.
Recognizing the stairway, I went up it and found
myself in the library where Heather and I had been in my dream. The spot I
found her at in the library was on the second level, so that was where I
started. Unfortunately, after half an hour, I still hadn’t found anything. Half
of the books were in foreign languages.
When I tried to put one of the books back, my
instincts fired up. Instead of putting it back, I pulled out three more books
and reached into the space. I felt a thin, flexible object and drew it out. It
was a black leather-bound journal about four inches wide, six inches tall, and
half an inch thick. On the very first page was a circle with symbols and
designs. It wasn’t the symbol that was on Heather’s note, but similar. The rest
of the pages consisted of designs and symbols similar to those in Vincent’s
book as well as what I recognized to be German.
A loud hiss made me jump and look up, where Ghost was
perched on the top of the shelf, glaring at the book. I closed it and put it in
my jacket pocket. “Not this time, cat. Nobody is getting this until I know what
it is.” The cat adjusted himself to pounce and wrestle the book from me when
the door to the library opened. We both froze.
“Why are we meeting in the library?” Kale asked. I
crouched down and peeked over the balcony to see Kale and Grayson.
“I wasn’t looking for the library. I was
trying
to find my office. This school is ridiculous. I thought Logan was insane when
he said he wanted to buy it from us. I was right.”
“Do we have any suspects?”
“Yes. I think Logan took the amulet.”
“Why?”
“To control us, of course. And I think he hired
John’s son to spy on us.”
“Then why did we hire him to find the witness?”
“He has John’s power; he will eventually find all the
answers. I want him to trust us when he does. Now, that roommate he has, Henry
Lycosa, keep an eye on him. If we can catch him doing something suspicious, we
can get his parents. I don’t even care about catching Henry; he’s just working
for them.”
“He would make a good weapon. Maybe we could use his
parents to–”
“No. Eliminating his parents is more important than
using his abilities. If we can lock them up for even a minute, they must be
dealt with immediately. Now, help me find my damn office.”
They left. I looked up to see that Ghost had
disappeared and figured he was probably telling Vincent what he heard. Of
course, Vincent could see through the eyes of the cat. I patted my pocket,
reassured that I still had the book, and left the library.
I had just made it down the steps when I nearly
collided with Erik. “Hey, Devon,” he said. He was out of breath. “I’m looking
for Headmaster Hunt or Clara. Have you seen either of them?”
“I haven’t, but I’m heading to Hunt’s office now. What’s
wrong?” He looked back as if afraid that someone had followed him, then took
the film canister out of his pocket and pulled out the gray stuff. It seemed
like any time he wasn’t using his hands, he was fiddling with the
play-dough-like substance.
“There was something in the tunnels.”
“Like what?” I asked, wondering if he had seen what
killed the vampire. If he was the witness, at least I believed he would tell me
what he saw.
“Something big. It knocked down the wall between my
room and the morgue. It was either a creature or one of the students is trying
to attack us. Either way, I need to talk to Hunt. I heard something roar this
morning.”
“I think I might know what you’re talking about.
Darwin and I were chased by something when we were down there in the morgue
last semester.”
“What were you doing in the morgue?”
I still wasn’t forthcoming about my job with other
people, and only a few people knew I came to the school as an investigator.
“Normal stuff people do in the morgue,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll help you
find Hunt’s office.”
I focused on finding the headmaster and came upon his
office quickly. He was in the chair behind his desk, writing a letter. Ghost
was sitting on the desk beside the letter, flicking his tail rhythmically like
the ticking of a clock.
“Good evening, Devon, Erik.” He put his fountain pen
down and sat back.
“Good evening, Mr. Hunt,” Erik said, obviously
uncomfortable. “There is something on the underground level. It knocked down
the wall between my room and the morgue.”
Hunt nodded. “I will send Alpha Flagstone down there
to take care of it immediately.”
Erik hesitated. “Just like that?”
“Of course. I cannot let any harm come to my
students.”
“Thank you. I’ll head to class then.” He tried to act
composed as he walked quickly to the door and shut it behind him.
“The vampires are a jumpy lot.”
“You would be also if you were as ostracized as them.
Most people treat plague victims with more kindness than wizards do with
vampires. I have worked very hard to get equal rights for them in our
community.”
“But you didn’t let them in the school before.”
“Before, the wizard council deemed it legal for the
wizards to openly hunt vampires. I could not let them in because it was not
safe for them. Have you had to stop many fights?”
“In the first three days? Not really. I think they’re
still trying to get used to their classes. I expect the pecking order will come
into question this weekend, and I bet it’ll be a bloodbath. Considering the
leeches, that–”
“Devon,” he interrupted. “You are frustrating
sometimes.”
“Actually, I meant that Tali and Jessica from my
potions class are planning to set leeches loose in Professor Barton’s potions
class.”
“Then that could be a problem. What did you find out
about the council?”
I decided not to tell him about the book, since Ghost
obviously wanted to take it. “How does Vincent not know? I thought he was a
respected member of the council.”
“He is John’s brother; the council is beginning to
hide things from him.”
“I believe the council is here because something was
taken from them and they think you have it. They didn’t say exactly what it
was, but they referred to an amulet.”
He groaned. “I can think of only one amulet they had
that would cause this much trouble and have them racing to retrieve it.”
“What does it do?”
“The council attained it from a cult in Egypt that
was using it to eradicate their competition. The amulet can render all
paranormals within fifty feet powerless. Shifters cannot shift, fae and wizards
cannot do magic, and vampires become mortal.”
* * *
Vincent’s book was on my desk when I returned to my
room. Darwin was correcting a physics book, which he did for fun, while Henry
wrote in a notebook. He shut his book and slipped it back onto his shelf when I
entered.
“What are you working on?” I asked him.
“A senseless hobby.”
“Why did you stop me from telling Flagstone that I
didn’t want a pack?”
“You said that you couldn’t have a pack, not that you
didn’t want one. You should never tell an alpha that you are incapable of
handling your pack. People will naturally follow a true alpha, whether they are
shifters or not. Alpha Flagstone is a pack shifter, unlike me, but he will draw
even solitary animals to him. Some people, like Brian, desperately need someone
in their life to teach them how to balance their inner and outer selves.”
“He should join Tanaka-sensei’s meditation class. Why
did he see me as his alpha when he just met me?”
“A lot of it will have to do with his personal life;
you might remind him of his father. However, most shifters can sense the
characteristics of a person, and your alpha side is difficult to miss. You
don’t have to challenge Alpha Flagstone, but you must not submit to him,
either.”
“Alpha side?”
“Like the cop thing, bro,” Darwin said, leaning back
in his chair and looking at me upside down. “You can naturally take charge and
you’re good at it. Most people will sense that and look to you for direction
when the shit hits the fan, but shifters are especially sensitive to it.”
I thought about past events in which I had to lead. I
was never social because of my magic, but in P.E. or whatnot, when I was
required to participate, I had always been voted up as the captain. It never
bothered me because my team always won even when I didn’t know anything about
the sport.
“I think I found out why the wizard council is here,”
I said, changing the subject. They both waited expectantly. “Something was
stolen from them, and they think Hunt stole it.”
“What was it?” Henry asked.
“An amulet that can render paranormals powerless.”
There was nothing in his demeanor or even expression that showed a reaction to
my words, but the subtlest hint of something in his eyes. It looked like worry.
He turned away.
“That’s not good,” Darwin said. “I’ve heard of
talismans that can strip powers temporarily or permanently, but that’s the kind
of thing where no one knows if it really exists or not.”
“This one does,” Henry said. “I only know that it is
too powerful to be in the wrong hands.”
“So you have an idea who took it?”
“I was referring to the wizard council as the wrong
hands. If Hunt took it, we can at least breathe easy. If someone else took it,
we may all be sitting ducks.”
My roommates called it a night and went to bed while
I sat at my desk to read Vincent’s book. I opened the book to a random page,
since it seemed the more I read, the more I had left to go. According to my
uncle, I understood it better the more I read because I absorbed the
information subconsciously. This was a book that would be extremely dangerous
in Darwin’s hands.
After many hours of flipping through incantations,
ancient scripture, and collections of theory and practice of magic, I was able
to pull myself out of the fog that reading the book always put me under. I only
had four hours before I had to get up and get ready for class.
Just before I settled down, I hid the journal from
the library in my pillowcase.
Part of me was aware that I wasn’t actually there;
the same part of me that knew this was real. Several times over the holiday, I
had dreams like this. I could see into the minds of vampires who passed me.
They were looking for an exit, while I was looking for an answer. I didn’t try
to decipher their thoughts; I just wanted an image. Someone started this, and
someone saw them.
I shuffled through the minds of every vampire within
my mental reach… which was all of them. There was a man that nobody looked
twice at. He walked calmly among the flames and vampires. He was a shark among
piranha.
* * *
At breakfast, I thought about my dream while Darwin
chatted about his classes. It was the kind of thing I might see in a normal
dream, but it didn’t feel the same. I had felt the heat of the fire, even
though I didn’t choke on smoke.
“Devon?” My roommates were both staring at me.
“What?”
“We asked if you were learning magic yet. We were
discussing how you can do things naturally and if the teachers here can teach
you anything.”
“I hope so. I learned a lot about magic last
semester, but I don’t really know what to do with that knowledge.”
“Well, you did pretty well in Alpha Flagstone’s
class,” Henry said.
“Everyone still thinks you’re a super vampire
hunter,” Darwin added. “Plus, they still talk about what you did to Zhang Wei;
they believe you can control shifters. Of course, in reality, you can control
everyone.”
“I don’t want to control anyone. I’ve been working
very hard to keep it at bay.”
“Then what else do you want to use magic for?”
I shrugged. “I want to learn magic because I know I
can now. I can use it in my job. If a door is locked, I can use magic to unlock
it. Or if there is someone shooting at me, I could do something.”
“Do you get shot at a lot?” Darwin asked.
“No, and I would rather not. I have some friends who
have connections with the cops, but I try not to get involved. Experience tells
me that partners can get you in as much trouble as they get you out of.”
“But we’re your partners,” Darwin insisted.
“At school, we can help him, but aren’t you going to
Europe this summer?” Henry asked Darwin. “You need an assistant,” he told me.
“Someone who can do magic and defend himself. Especially if you plan on taking
paranormal cases.”
I considered it. If I could find the right person,
they could make my job a lot easier. They could answer the phone or drive
Regina away. “I could ask Clara.” They both gaped at me. “If Clara can get rid
of Regina for even a minute, it’s worth it working with a vampire.”
“So what has you so distracted this morning?” Darwin
asked.
“I had a dream last light.”
He nodded. “Of Clara? It’s the blue hair, right?”
“It wasn’t that kind of dream. I actually dreamed of
the school being attacked. Only I don’t think it was a dream. I think it’s
really going to happen. I saw a man in the vampire level and there was fire
everywhere.”
“You should keep that information to yourself,” Henry
advised. “If you tell Hunt or one of the teachers, one of two things could
happen. Most likely they will say it was just a dream and that the school is
impenetrable. In that case, if the castle is attacked you will be a suspect,
while if it isn’t, you will lose credibility. The second scenario is that they
believe you, in which case, the council will either view you as a threat or try
to use you and your ability to their advantage.”
“I agree,” Darwin said. “Based on my observations of
your interactions with Hunt and his reaction to stress when his daughter
missing, and the factor of the council members being–”
“Darwin, please,” I interrupted. “I want your advice,
but I have to be in class in ten minutes.” Darwin had once spent forty-five minutes
telling me about why I shouldn’t use margarine
or
butter.
“Sorry, right. My point is, there is only a one to
five percent chance of a favorable outcome if you tell anyone, not accounting
for chaos theory. The odds are not in your favor.”
I continued rolling it over in my head all day and
paid very little attention to my classes. When they were over, I returned to my
room, asked Darwin to remind me when it was time to meet Langril, and I read
more of Vincent’s book.
At midnight, I waited for Professor Langril at the
edge of the forest. It was a clear, cold night and the wind was starting to
pick up, so it was an uncomfortable wait. Instead of coming out of the castle,
he emerged from the dark depths of the forest. “Come on in,” he said.
I peered into the dark. “Can’t you teach me where
there are witnesses?”
“Not at all,” he said before disappearing into the
forest.
With a sigh, I followed him, feeling more
apprehensive than when I first followed Astrid into the forest around our town.
After a few minutes, we arrived at a small clearing where the moonlight
illuminated the dusting of snow left over from the day before. “What are we
doing here?” I asked.
“You need to learn about the element of earth. What
do you know about it?”
“It’s the world I live on.”
“Earth is the element of strength, grounding, and
stability, among other things.”
“I thought fire was strength.”
“There are many forms of strength. Strength is not
always physical. Sometimes strength means giving up something you love for a
good cause, sometimes it is standing up to someone, and sometimes it is not
crying at a movie.”
“You are a very odd person, Professor,” I said.
“Am I? For your first lesson, you have to find me.”
He took two steps backwards into the shadows of a tree and disappeared.
My instincts warned me of danger. Trusting them, I
dived out of the way and hit the frigid dirt in time to avoid a shot of red
lightning. Langril had appeared behind me. Only, he wasn’t completely
corporeal.
As I stood, I mentally searched my surrounding area
for his mind just as he vanished again. Since I didn’t know what his mind felt
like, I couldn’t narrow my focus. Thus, the dozens of animal minds, mostly
small mammals, was very distracting. Unfortunately, I couldn’t sense any minds
as complex as a person’s.
Danger.
I felt the flicker of his mind and
presence as he appeared semi-corporeal right in front of me. His lightning
struck me in my chest and my legs gave out from the pain. It wasn’t a mortal
attack, only cripplingly painful. He was holding back. It was enough, however,
to break my slight grasp on his mind in an instant.
He disappeared again. “What the hell are you?!” I
asked. If this was wizard magic, then I had a lot more to learn than I thought.
The attack came from behind and I had no warning. It
wasn’t a burning sensation; it felt more like a muscle cramp through my entire
body that left me out of breath and my limbs weak. I yelled, but Langril was
gone a second later and I was able to catch my breath. I searched for the
psychotic professor’s mind again, but it was like I was alone. My head pounded
with a migraine.
Langril appeared in front of me again, though he was
solid this time. “I had hoped you were better than that,” he said,
disappointed. “You’re not ready.”
Panting, I climbed to my feet. “Ready for what?”
“Heather will be disappointed. Of course, she won’t
listen. If she makes you an offer, you must refuse.”
“Heather died,” I said, wondering, not for the first
time, how sane the man was.
“Earth is about strength. You fight your power, when
you should be controlling it. Your magic is who you are; denying it will never
help you.”
Once again, he turned and vanished into the dark.
Assuming my lesson was over and not wanting to hang out in the dark forest, I
returned to the school.
* * *
I was spot on with my predictions, as Saturday
morning began with a witch hunt over breakfast… figuratively speaking.
We had a new breakfast cook this semester who tried
to put a creative spin on a menu that was already teetering on the verge of
being inedible. Darwin threatened to starve to death on her kitchen floor if
she didn’t adhere to his “simplistic” demands. All he wanted was one item that
was unseasoned so that he could eat it without having an aneurism, since his
brain over-analyzed everything he ate. She gave him a bag of chips and told him
to get out.
Darwin and I were discussing the particular shade of
neon yellow that the chewy scrambled eggs had achieved, when we overheard
Jackson and his gang trying to rile other students.
“You should probably stop him,” Henry suggested.
I sighed. Before I could say anything, Addison sat
down beside Henry with her tray. They both angled away from each other and
focused too hard on eating their food.
“Awe, that’s so cute,” Darwin cooed. “Look, Devon,
they’re getting along. And it’s not even the full moon!”
“Henry is going to snap and bite you one of these
days.”
As I said it, Amelia sat down next to Darwin. “Do you
mind if I sit here?” she asked hesitantly. “Jackson is bothering my roommates.”
“No problem!” Darwin said.
I had to stop myself from saying anything. If Darwin
wanted to be with Amelia, I wouldn’t try to stop him. I hoped he didn’t end up
hurting. Henry and I were both very cautious about not touching him, but most
people just thought he had visions if he touched them.
I got up and went to where Jackson was preaching
about vampires taking over the school. “If you have serious concerns, you need
to take them to the headmaster,” I said. His gang of four guys puffed out their
chests. Seeing as how the last time I faced them, they ended up looking like
drowned rats, I wasn’t impressed. Then again, Jackson never learned, so I
shouldn’t have thought his followers would.
“You stay out of this, Sanders. I know you’re working
for them.”
“I thought you hated vampires,” Cassie, one of the
shifters at the table said to me. There were six others at the table, all who
watched me expectantly for my response.
“There is a particular vampire I dislike.” It wasn’t
a lie, but it wasn’t the truth, either. Hunt may have been convinced that
vampires killed no more than humans or any other paranormals, but I saw them
for their basic nature.
Shifters had all the same predatory advantages and
disadvantages as their beast did in the wild, but none of them were designed to
feast on people. Fae powers ranged from party tricks to weapons of mass
destruction, but most of their kind just wanted to be left alone. Wizards were
in a constant struggle for power, but they all made hiding from humans their top
priority. Vampires were insanely dangerous, perfectly designed for killing,
and, unlike all of the other paranormals, they were built to feed on humans.
So as much as I tried to shed my prejudices, I would
never trust a creature whose sole purpose was to kill. “If you attack the vampires,
Hunt will expel you before you can get underground.”
“Are you going to report us?” Jackson asked.
“I don’t need to. The headmaster sees more than you
know.” I purposefully didn’t glance over at Alpha Flagstone, who was standing
in the dining room doorway. However they managed it, I knew that Hunt was aware
of this conversation that Flagstone was eavesdropping on.
“If Devon isn’t in, I’m not doing it,” one of
Cassie’s roommates said. I didn’t know her name, but I figured Addison had
probably mentioned me in her complaints against Henry. Cassie immediately
nodded her agreement.
“If I get expelled, my husband will divorce me,” one
woman said.
“Thanik isn’t going to divorce you,” the guy next to
her argued.
“He’s counting on me graduating and being a teacher
next door to him.”
Seeing that I was no longer needed, I walked back to
my table. Darwin was talking Amelia’s ear off about Australia and their food.
* * *
Darwin and Amelia spent most of the day at the lake
and most of Sunday in the library. Henry spent the weekend trying to avoid all
of the girls, who knew very well when the full moon was. They acted like he was
completely up for grabs for three days. Addison apparently agreed, because she
wouldn’t let him out of her sight.
My weekend consisted of breaking up hunting parties
during the day and fights during the night. My astronomy class on Saturday
night was my only moment of peace, since half the class consisted of vampires
and the other half were fae who just wanted to learn. I was the odd man out in
the group of twenty.
Monday started with an actual cat fight between
Addison and another female cat shifter over Henry. Darwin and I rolled our eyes
and went to class. I had to prevent fights all day. Fortunately, some of the
students stepped in to help talk others down.
Several of the vampires were extremely peaceful,
which I assumed had to do with the synthetic blood they were drinking. Of
course, hateful people had a way of getting under anyone’s skin. Jackson’s
group would single out, ambush, and verbally antagonize a vampire until he
snapped, then scream like little girls that the vampire had attacked them and
that the vampires were uncontrollably violent. This went a long way in my own
acceptance. I hated bullies, and none of the vampires were the ones doing the
bullying.
Tuesday night, I left my room to find Hunt because my
instincts told me something important was about to happen. Instead, I ended up
walking right into a fight between two wizards over a young, sweet-faced
vampire who looked like she wanted to run away but couldn’t get past the
wizards to do so. It turned out one wizard was trying to defend her from the
other. I broke it up, but by then my instincts had stopped firing.
