Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(38)
Caleb tilted his head as he regarded me and a slow smile spread across his face. “You know, I’m not sure I’ve ever fed from anyone who hates it quite as much as you do,” he said, almost to himself. “The other Fae have grown up knowing about my kind and they just accept this as part of the chain of power but you...”
“Yeah, I hate it,” I snarled. “So why don’t you get your kicks feeding off of someone who enjoys your twisted brand of creep and leave me alone?”
Caleb released me and jumped up, leaving me scrambling in the sand at his feet.
“This girl is my personal Source,” he said loudly to the group who had gathered around us which I realised had grown to at least fifty people. “If any other Vampire wants to feed from her then they can take it up with me, spread the word.”
A weight built in my gut as I managed to regain my feet and I glared at him.
“I’m not your personal anything,” I snapped.
“Feel free to try and stop me, sweetheart,” he mocked. “But until you manage it, you can consider yourself my own personal juice box.”
A deep laugh drew my attention to my left and I noticed Darius goddamn Acrux watching this interaction with amusement. Why did he have to be here to witness this? Why did there have to be four of them at all? I just wanted to keep my head down and get on with my own business but I was beginning to realise that the Heirs had zero intention of letting me or my sister do that.
“Well if all of the Vampires are fully replenished, I’d like to get on with my lesson,” Professor Pyro announced, putting an end to any further discussion about the ownership of my blood.
I simmered with rage as I forced my attention onto the teacher, firmly turning my back on Caleb and Darius. A deep growl emitted from one of them and the hairs along the back of my neck stood on end. I remembered what they’d said yesterday about turning my back on them being an insult but I didn’t give a rat’s ass. If they were content to torment me then the last thing I’d be doing was showing them any respect.
“As it’s the first class for the freshmen, I want the rest of you to pair off and take some time reacquainting yourselves with the techniques you learned at the end of last year. You should have been practicing over the summer and I’ll be coming around to look for improvements once I've got these guys going.” Professor Pyro shooed the older students away but Caleb and Darius stayed where they were, their gazes fixed on me.
“What are you still doing here boys? The last I checked, you were sophomores,” Pyro said as she fixed the Heirs in her penetrating gaze.
“We just wanted to see how powerful the new Heir really is,” Darius said and a wave of discomfort filled me as I realised they planned on watching my first attempt at wielding fire magic.
“Well unfortunately for you, ogling the new girl isn’t part of the syllabus,” she replied dismissively, shooing them again and a little of the tension left my spine as the Heirs retreated.
Darius cast one last look at me as he walked away and I cursed myself for noticing the way the tight outfit clung to his muscular body before turning back to my teacher.
“So. The task for today is simple. I want you to bring a flame to life in the palm of your hand and maintain it. If you can manage that then I want you to form it into an orb. The tighter you wrap the power, the hotter it will burn. Don’t get sloppy - your suits will protect you from burns but your hands and faces are vulnerable. It’s down to your control over the flames to keep them from turning on you. If anyone is having trouble summoning the power from within yourself then you may draw it from the sconces to conserve energy. Miss Vega, if your power has been too depleted by Mr Altair to cast your own flame then you’ll have to use the sconces too.”
My rage increased as I realised what she meant; Caleb might have weakened me enough to hurt my ability to perform in this class. Asshole!
With a flicker of anger I thrust my palm out in front of me and willed a flame to life. My hand burst alight so quickly that I had to flinch back as the flare of fire almost claimed my eyebrows as trophies. The beam of red flames shot right up into the sky and lit the low clouds with an orange glow before I snapped my fist shut in surprise, extinguishing it.
“Holy cow,” Sofia muttered and I glanced at her with wide eyes.
Professor Pyro snorted a laugh. “Looks like we don’t have to worry about your power being too diminished after all,” she said appreciatively. “You’re going to have to work on your control if you’ve got that much to offer while you’re only at half capacity.”
A satisfied smile pulled at my lips as the flood of power faded from my veins. Sure, that had scared the crap out of me but it had felt damn good too. I could feel the Heirs looking at me again and I hoped my show of power was enough to make them leave me alone.
“Keep working on trying to build and maintain an orb,” Pyro commanded as she began to move between the students and I tried to focus my mind on the task she’d set me.
I took a deep breath, holding my hand out again as I willed a flame to life. This time, my whole hand was engulfed in a fireball as big as a labrador and I squeaked in surprise as I tried to rein it in. It shrank to a cocker spaniel then lurched right to bull mastiff before I was forced to extinguish it.
Professor Pyro approached me once she’d made a round of the other freshmen and watched my attempts with a keen eye.