Zodiac Academy: The Awakening(87)

Falling Star:

I should have warned her too.



“Who is he talking about?” I demanded.

“I dunno. Do you think something has happened or-”

The doors of the bar flew open and Marguerite burst in, her blood red hair flying around her and her eyes wide with an excited kind of fear. “Geraldine Grus has just been attacked! They’re saying she might die!”

A cold stone dropped into the pit of my stomach at her words. We’d left that other bar without waiting for Geraldine to show up. What if she’d been hurt because she was alone, or was looking for us? I mean, the girl irritated the hell out of me with her devotion to our lineage but I never would have wished any harm to come to her.

“We have to find out if she’s okay,” I breathed, looking at Darcy in desperation.

“Come on,” she agreed, snatching my hand and dragging me towards the exit.

A tide of students and the other bar patrons had already come up with the same idea and we were stuck at the back of them, unable to force a way through. My attention snared on the kitchen entrance behind the bar and I towed Darcy towards it. My light-fingered ways had taught me to suss out escape routes on the run and I got the feeling that the staff entrance was going to be a lot less busy than the front door.

I hopped over the bar and Darcy followed right behind me as I led us straight through the kitchen to the exit which dumped us in an alley.

The cold air slapped me in the face and helped drive a little bit of the alcohol fuzz from my head.

A sleek black superbike was parked up in the alley and for a moment I couldn’t help but stare at it. I knew there were way more important things going on right now but that bike was top of the line, stupid beautiful in a way that just purred ride me. If it had been any other circumstances I’d have found a way to do just that but right now we needed to find out what had happened to Geraldine.

Goosebumps rose along my skin at the memory of the last alley we’d found ourselves in and we ran back to the street where a crowd had formed.

I shoved my way between the bodies and my gaze caught on a pale arm dangling from a stretcher as Geraldine was loaded into the back of a blue and grey ambulance. I fought my way to the front and released a breath of relief as I heard her voice.

She was mumbling about her family, asking for her mom and her skin was sickly pale but she was okay. She was alive.

The paramedic closed the door once she was loaded in and Orion was revealed, leaning against the side of the ambulance.

His sleeves were shoved back and his forearms were stained with blood. His skin was pale and he had bags under his eyes like he hadn’t slept for a month which I could have sworn hadn’t been there earlier.

“You saved her life,” the paramedic said to him seriously. “It’s a good thing you found her before her attacker could finish the job.”

“I was only just powerful enough. I haven’t got a drop of magic left,” Orion muttered and I realised with a jolt what that would mean.

I tried to shove Darcy back into the crowd before he noticed us but my movement had the opposite effect and drew his attention. My heart leapt as he shot forward with his unnatural speed and Darcy released a squeal of fright half a second before his teeth pierced the flesh of her neck.

I caught her hand in mine, squeezing it reassuringly as I waited for him to release her but instead of stopping after a minute or so like the Vampires usually did, he held her more firmly. A whimper escaped her lips as he continued to suck her power from her veins and anger built in me as I was forced to watch.

“Hey,” I snapped, shoving him roughly to try and force him off of her. “That’s enough!”

Orion released a growl like a goddamn animal which was a clear warning to back off but I sure as shit wouldn’t be doing that. Darcy’s magic might have been pinned down by this parasite but mine wasn’t.

I drew fire to my hands as I shoved him again and he finally staggered back with a curse, two hand prints burnt right through the fabric of his shirt and his flesh seared beneath.

“You’ve had enough!” I snarled, daring him to test me again as he glared at me, baring his fangs.

“Maybe you want to donate to the cause then?” he asked angrily and for a moment it seemed like he’d actually lost control.

A heavy arm landed around my shoulders as Caleb appeared and he released a deep growl in the back of his throat. “You might want to rethink that statement, Professor.”

Orion stared at us for a few seconds then shook his head to clear it. He released a heavy breath and his features softened a little.

“I haven’t been drained that low in a long time. I shouldn’t have tried to take so much all at once,” he muttered. Not an apology but I doubted he was capable of more than that.

“Well feel free to just steal all of mine then,” Darcy spat icily, clutching her neck.

The ambulance pulled away and Orion glanced about as if he were looking for someone for a moment before returning his attention to us.

“Come on, I can drive you girls back in my car,” he offered.

My lip curled back on instinct. He was a psycho who’d just attacked my sister and was half covered in Geraldine’s blood. He was obviously claiming to have saved her life but what if he’d been the one trying to hurt her? He was certainly capable of acting like a monster and he’d left the bar right before it had happened.