The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #2)(46)

She screeched and flailed backward, eyes rolling as the blood poured down her face. I blinked and stared as her eyes, which had been a light brown, darkened to a solid black, filling the entire orb. Like a cat seeing a Christmas tree for the first time.

Her fangs elongated.

Oh, crap on toast.

She shot forward, her extended claws coming straight for me as she lost control of her blood lust. I caught her by the wrists and stepped back, bracing against the force of her tackle. She snapped at me, hissing and spitting blood in my face.

“Gross.” I tightened my fingers around her wrists and snapped one forward, catching her in the jaw. “Stop hitting yourself.”

I drove her other fist up into an uppercut. She screeched, one fang piercing her tongue. “Stop hitting yourself.”

God, how many times had Rory done this to me, if not with such vehemence? How enraged had I been as I’d tried to stop him but couldn’t because he was so much bigger? Again and again, I drove her fists into her face until the rage slid from her, and the black of her eyes faded back to a light brown.

Not until she was on her knees and gasping for air did I stop.

My breath came in deep, slow takes. “You come near Wally, me, or any of my crew, and that threat you made? That will happen to you. Capiche, rat drinker?”

That sounded like something a guy would say, right? A quote from a movie. Maybe I should have said, “I’ll be back.”

Her head lolled.

“Say you understand.” I gritted the words out as I tightened my fingers even more.

“I…” she spat to the side, a gob of blood. Disgusting. “Understand.”

I let her go and took a step back, bumping into a body.

The smell of an open grave washed over my nose, and I knew in my belly it was a vampire. Orin had caught up to me.

Only it wasn’t Orin.

A hand dropped onto my neck, fingers tightening with a power I knew could snap my spine in a second if he chose.

“Come with me,” a male voice said,

He lifted me by my neck, and I could barely touch the floor with the tips of my toes. Panic sliced through me. He was behind me and I couldn’t reach him with fists or boots. “Orin!”

“Coming!” he yelled back. There was no sound of him hurrying. But I could feel him getting closer, like a sense of pressure. And then it faded. “I...Wild…” He breathed the words. “I can’t.”

“I am his master,” the voice said, and it struck me that I’d heard it before. This was the smiling vampire who’d escorted us out of the first trial.

“Jared.” My head swam with the lack of oxygenated blood getting through, but at least I’d remembered his name. “They tried to kill—”

“Save it for Director Frost…girl,” he said. There was no emotion behind his words, no anger, no nothing. And he knew. Knew I was a girl.

I was done.

The double doors of the director’s office swam into view as the last of my vision faded. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor in the room, heaving for air on my hands and knees.

“Caught this one fighting in the halls,” Jared said. “What do you want to do with her?”

Crap, had the director heard that last word?

“The same as the others,” Director Frost said. I couldn’t see her. I was still hanging on my hands and knees, knowing I was about to be kicked out.

The vampire’s hand clamped on my neck again, and I was lifted as the doors burst open behind us. I was dropped to the floor for a second time. I rolled on my back to see Orin, Pete, Wally, and…Ethan sweep into the room. Mind you, Ethan looked like he’d just swallowed a shot of sour puss, but he was there.

“They threatened my life, Director,” Wally said, turning her neck to show off the wounds. “And Orin heard them saying they should have killed me and used the missing students as a way to hide the body.”

“I did hear that. Wild was protecting our team, making sure that no one tried to hurt Wally again,” Orin said. “That is the sign of a true leader.”

Pete nodded. My eyes went to Ethan. He was the one with the pull here, not us.

He grimaced. “Wild is part of our team. My father…would be very disappointed should we lose his help.”

I rolled onto my belly and pushed onto my knees so that I could see the director’s face. I expected her to look as pissed as a cat thrown into the bathtub. But her eyes crinkled at the edges as if she were holding back a smile.

“You make a fair point, young Helix, even though it surprises me that you would stick your neck out for someone else.” She tapped the desk with a single finger. “Fine. But seeing as you have decided that you are a crew, you will all room together. Jared, make sure your student understands that should there be any trouble between the girl and her male roommates, he will be the one to bear the cost.”

The cost. As in being kicked out. I can’t say how, but I felt Orin straighten. “I accept that charge.”

“Everyone, out.” She clapped her hands together, ending what could have been a very bad scene for all of us. “Except you, Mr. Johnson. You and I are going to have a chat.”

The others filed out of the room, eyes down. Jared paused at the door. “Do you wish me to stay?”

She smiled at him, but it was sharp, and predatory, and downright pissed. “Get out, Jared. I may be old, but I’m not dead.”