Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(37)
“I’m fairly sure Darius and his bromance crew know exactly what I think of them without me needing to worry about hiding it. Besides, if he asked me I’d happily tell him to his face that I think he’s a jumped up little ass wipe who needs to get a new hobby which doesn’t involve tormenting people.”
Sofia’s mouth fell open and I could tell she was caught between shock and laughter. I was glad when a giggle finally escaped her.
As we came to the end of the path, a huge building rose up ahead of us. It looked a bit like the Colosseum where the gladiators had fought in Ancient Rome but the brickwork was all black.
Our conversation stalled as I stared up at the stone dragons and gargoyles who glared at us from their positions along the wall above our heads.
We moved beneath an arch and found a female Professor with short red hair and deep bronze skin waiting for us.
“Come along girls, you need to get changed and out into the arena,” she commanded, not bothering with introductions. My timetable had informed me her name was Professor Pyro and I offered her a faint smile as I hurried to comply with her instructions.
Sofia and I made it into the girls' changing rooms where a row of hooks held bags with our names written on them. I lifted the one with Roxanya Vega scrawled across it, my nose wrinkling at the name I refused to accept as my own. There must have been someone I could talk to about changing everything official to say Tory. I could cope with the Vega thing if I had to but Roxanya was a girl who should have grown up in this strange Fae world and I wasn’t her. Tory had been my name throughout everything that had shaped me into the person I was today and I had no interest in shedding that persona now or in the future.
I opened the bag and pulled out a matching pair of deep red leggings and a long sleeved shirt. The material felt almost silky but it was stretchy at the same time. I swapped my uniform for it and eyed myself in the mirror for a moment as I adjusted my black hair.
The outfit was skin tight and accentuated my curves in a way that somehow drew more attention to them than it would have done if more skin was on show. Though as I’d literally paraded around naked in front of most of the members of House Ignis last night, I didn’t imagine it mattered.
I pulled on a pair of white sneakers last and waited while Sofia finished changing too.
Some more girls were arriving and I noticed more than one hostile glare aimed my way as I glanced between them. Not wanting to engage in any further altercations with my classmates, I quickly hurried out into the arena with Sofia.
“I’m so excited about this class,” she admitted as we moved out into an open stadium filled with sand.
My first impression of thinking it looked like the Colosseum was only compounded as I looked up at the stands which ringed the arena. Around the walls, four plinths were lit with crackling fires and alternated with four gurgling water fountains.
As I took another step, the ground beneath my feet lurched and I almost fell flat on my face. I wheeled my arms to steady myself and the earth shuddered again.
I tipped backwards, wondering what the hell was happening to me just as strong arms caught me.
“Thanks, I-” I cut myself off as I looked up at my saviour and found Caleb Altair grinning down at me, his mess of blonde curls making him look almost angelic in the midday sun. But I knew he was no angel.
“You wanna watch out for that. The ground around here can be mighty unpredictable,” he purred and I suddenly remembered that he was the leader of House Terra; the earth house. No prizes for guessing who’d made the ground shudder beneath my feet.
Sofia shuffled away from us but I couldn’t blame her for wanting to avoid the attention of the Terra Heir.
“Right. I’ll be sure to do that.” I snatched my arms out of his grip and tried to step back but the earth lurched beneath me again and I was knocked to the ground.
Tittering laughter rang out around me as some of the other students drew close to watch and I scrambled to push myself upright again.
Before I could, Caleb dropped down, straddling me with a wicked grin which revealed his lengthening canines.
“Oh for the love of god,” I snarled as I slammed my palms into his chest. “You’d better not be about to-”
He caught my wrists in an impossibly strong grip and shoved me back down to the ground as he buried his teeth in my neck.
I let my sailor’s mouth loose on him, cursing him with every foul name I could think of and adding a few colourful new creations to the mix as well. I could feel my blood and power shifting out of my body and into his and it made my stomach roll with disgust.
The laughter around me grew as I tried to buck him off but he was like a goddamn ton of bricks. Superhuman strength in a superhuman leech.
“That’s more than enough, Altair,” Professor Pyro muttered, her tone bored instead of reprimanding. “She needs some energy left if she’s going to be able to perform in my class today.”
Caleb removed his fangs from my neck and I watched in morbid fascination as they withdrew into normal looking teeth again. He licked the last drops of my blood from his lips as he looked down at me, amusement flickering in his eyes.
“You have no idea how good you taste,” he said without a hint of shame and I scrunched my nose up in disgust.
“You’ve got what you wanted from me so why don’t you just get the hell off of me?” I snarled, yanking at my wrists again as he kept them pinned in the sand.