CHAPTER 09:
The ball was still underway when Rowan strutted into the spacious, ancient office that had an arched ceiling. Athena still wasn't in here and neither was Headmaster Hale. Rowan snatches away the folder I had as I glare at him, but meet Creed's astute eyes, "Can you hack cameras? Is that how you're able to get around undetected?" He asks me slowly. No longer in a cuddly mood, I guess after seeing what I just did, I wouldn't be either.
Rowan scoffs, "This is nothing. They literally have nothing."
"Probably because we set Houser up." Credence mutters as I watch Lucian and himself sit at the comfortable couches. And three other males I came to know as Hayden Khan, Reid Sly and Theorin Thorn, all of them extreme high guards of the crown, the one situated here that is.
Rowan faces me, "You will have to let us in on your work now that we know." He snaps, Creed gives him a warning look as each of them drop into their seats by the couches, I heard the strange, alluring music from down below and slowly moved to the window of Hale's office, it showed a court room ball with clear view of ball and everyone in it.
I remove the clips from my hair, breathing silently but still inhaling the air. I felt eyes on me from behind, but I ignore them, listening to the Celtic songs and closing my eyes at it. It's breathtakingly enchanting. The door opens and Headmaster Hale's presence couldn't be ignored as she steps in, but no Athena, "Professor Athena is forced to handle the ball while I have to deal with the mess one student appears to be able to make." She says lowly, I look to her and she stares me down. I'm not deterred. I was helping her ridiculous school, if anything, she should be grateful.
Rowan places the folder on her desk, "She left school grounds to impersonate a professor from the Lúthien Academy to manipulate a professor at the Melian Academy. We followed the student for protective purposes, only to see she used—Headmaster Hale?" He questions slowly as Hale studies me but holds a hand up to stop Rowan for a moment.
She opens the folder and glances over the paperwork, "The job you discovered and Athena had tasked you, I don't see what the problem here is when this student is Athena's apprentice. She is showing more promise than any other student and you called me here to speak of her for punishment? For protecting this school better than you are doing as of right now?" She questions him and the one-eighty made me look to Rowan, even Legion stare at the Headmaster, frozen by her status change.
"All Legion members and you, Professor Rowan, can leave and return to the party. I would like to amend the student's efforts in making the school better and being challenged by a professor and our most prestigious elite that should be impressed by her work, not suspicious of it." She spits, slamming the folder down, moving to the door and waiting for them all to get out.
Rowan stares at her, "Hale, I don't understand why you're—"
"Do not question me, you can go. This will not be brought up again. You'll remove Celeste Caesar's name as first contestant and you'll do so immediately." She orders, directing them and I stare at the Headmaster, what the hell did Athena tell her? Rowan, a pale vampire that steps out of the room last, after Creed's ember eyes hold mine and I fold my arms, staring up at him. He steps out first. Once they're all out, Hale closes the door and whispers an incantation under her breath, making the entire office...soundproof.
She stares at me for a long time, "Would you like a drink?" She asks me.
I stare at her, "What has Professor Athena told you?" I ask her, slowly.
She grabs a glass, pours some sort of whiskey inside, at least it looked like whiskey, "You've been abused by your foster father, you've worked in Athena's care long enough to understand how to unravel secrets and Athena—I trust her more than I have ever trusted anyone. When it came to my attention that Athena helped you, and with what you're doing, it's helped us more than even Rowan has, and it's challenged him. I sure cannot argue with that." She smiles, sitting at her desk, staring only at me.
Damnit, if Athena were here right now, I could see the truth in this.
She studies me, "You look very familiar though. I can't put my finger on it. Do you have relations to royal families in the elemental realms? Perhaps another one, maybe not within this realm?" She asks me.
I shake my head, "I wouldn't know." I mutter.
She leans forward, "You have my permission to do what you need to here, so long as it doesn't endanger the students or the reputation of the school. Professor Athena has never been so protective of a student before, I wonder if there is more history there than she will care to tell me. However Athena and I—I owe her many favours over the years and this is the first time she's ever called on one. I will not lie and say I'm not intriguingly curious to know what you two are up to here, but I am not so blind as to get in her way." She murmurs, astutely moving the file back to me.
I stare at her, "I'm not here to affect anyone here, know that and what I'm doing here, to learn, and to be safer than I've ever been and I don't appreciate Professor Rowan breathing down my neck, so to speak, because who the hell knows whether vampires breathe or not." I tell her and she giggles lightly. After more small talk, she lets me leave.
The shield around the room drops and I open the door, stepping out. The lot of them were seated there, waiting. I close the door behind me, "Celeste." Creed's deep voice questions behind me.
I still and face him, he stands there in the middle as the rest of them look between us. Rowan stares at me, eyes narrowed. I stare at the lot of them, before turning back, "Wait." Creed calls out, but I continue walking and moving down the steps. Rowan appears in front of me, but I walk around him.
"Where's your office, Rowan?" I ask casually.
"Take a left, turn a one-eighty degrees and tell me what you and Professor Athena did to convince the principal to tell me to take you off the contestant list?" He asks me, roughly.
I smile, "So funny, I forgot to laugh. Don't worry, I know where it is." I wave him off, moving up a flight of stairs as they follow. Rowan's door had a PIN number on the door.
He smiles tightly, "You will need me to get in. Now, discuss with me what just happened." He gestures to me.
I look at Creed, "I would much rather talk to the head of Legion, instead of an abusive bloodsucker." I say to Rowan, before turning to his pin code and grabbing my phone that had a pin reader through a card, I slide that in and get his code in under forty seconds after a simple data analysis.
The door opens.
I look at a stilled vampire, "You should get better security," I state, stepping into his office and switching the light on easily, "Now, where's that painting you thought you could buy off to entrap a former lover into those cold arms of yours where you think she'll forgive you for whatever you did back in the day but never will?" I wonder, stepping inside and seeing it behind the desk, it wasn't wrapped up, but looking at the thing, I place it on his messy desk.
Rowan observes me closely. I snap my eyes up to his as the others just stand there watching too.
Rowan's blank expression is a sign of emptiness, I stare at him, "Do you wish to say something or just let me continue talking because I can do this all night, Rowan? I don't care for your status, your reputation or the kind of creature you are, but I will use it to my advantage because while you think you're doing a good job here, keeping students who don't know any better supposedly safe, is actually the opposite of that." I tilt my head at him.
Before continuing, "Those games, those exercises, you told me every school does it, but not like that. Nothing like those exercises you made because they don't have the money for it. So, unless you want me to search up on you, and believe me, I'll do a much better job at it than whoever you used to get information on my file, then you'll tell me right now why the fuck you would put students through that? It's unethical, disgusting and damaging and liable for punishment, this time serviced on someone who's practiced in killing." I say slowly, Rowan's entire expression rolls on thinly veiled anger.
"Holy shit." We hear at the door.
Elrond stands there in a suit, wide-eyed next to Taylor, Genevieve and...Serenity. It was Serenity who spoke. Genevieve grins my way, Taylor is wide-eyed and looking at me like I'm a sunrise after centuries of darkness.
Hayden grabs Elrond and pulls them in. Serenity stares at Rowan, then at me, "What is going on here?" She whispers, shakily.
Credence scoffs their way, "Spying on us, were you?" Nah, Credence, they were just doing laundry at this hour. Bloody imbecile.
I drop down in Rowan uncomfortable office chair and run a hand down my face, "You four are meant to be at the ball." Rowan mutters.
"We heard the commotion." Elrond says slowly, staring at me, stilled.
I stare at him, "Have you heard of the saying 'snitches get stitches'?" I ask him, randomly.
Genevieve giggles, Elrond clenches his jaw. Serenity stares at me closely, "You know how to fight?" She says slowly.
I smile with no meaning. It's notoriously easy to fool vampires if they think you're just a small, uneducated bimbo with no expertise. The dumbbells were fun and you couldn't get mad because the puppy-eyed look works every time. Future reference, for a guy as old as you, don't trust anybody. Especially someone who looks like they're as innocent as a peach, because those ones, are the ones you should be most afraid of. Now, I'm gonna take this, since it belongs to Professor Athena and myself, you have all been through enough tonight with all the snitching, stalking and...gosh, what's the word, manipulating and yelling. For a vampire, you'd think you would keep those emotions in check, but with Athena and myself, you're a bloody child holding a red balloon asking for attention from an evil clown, and if you seriously don't get that reference, I'll send another 'accidental' dumbbell to your balls.
I wanted to say that and much more, but I refrain from it, "You put students through hell to make them better. Twenty percent of those students dropped out. Five percent have nightmares, showing reports to the three separate mental health and physical health councillors here. Three percent are in the hospital, scared out of their minds. One student had a heart attack, wouldn't have made it if it weren't for medical treatment." I state.
Staring at Rowan, he clenches his fists, "Those documents are sealed. Not even Professor Athena would have access." He snaps my way.
I tilt my head higher as I look at him, "Not to me. I made it into your office in seconds. I survived hours before your fucked up initiation begun. You are a phenomenal shit show, because you think you're still training soldiers for some crown's army almost three hundred years ago. I can get reports dating that far. What my job is, Professor, is to beat people like you, not physically. Not the way men seem to have no problem with. You publicly punched me for answers and even then—you didn't get them and now you're frustrated because I have history with such cases." My tone of voice low while the rest of them still. Even Genevieve, her eyes widen.
I lean against the desk and stare at Rowan, who stills as he stares at me.
I take a deep breath, "Those games are to challenge students, keep a reputation for a school where others will build alliances just to defeat this one. Headmaster Hale trusts me because I will think outside the box you supposedly nailed down like a coffin as your bloody bed. You wanted power, but you didn't believe anyone else could obtain it. Now you're back in the dark and putting vampires in shadows where not even their own sight can navigate the area. It's like giving a child a loaded gun and telling them not to play with it. An hour later, the child's dead. How many hours have you been unsafe in a darkness you cannot navigate, Rowan?" I ask him, the metaphor making Genevieve, Serenity, Taylor, Elrond, even the Legion, even...Creed, look at me in an entirely new view.
Rowan studies me, "Why won't you be a contestant?" He asks me.
I close my eyes, "That is not of your concern."
"Your voice sounds different...but I don't know the accent." Serenity says slowly.
I stare at her, "You wouldn't, and like I said, not of your concern. Professor Rowan, you're only job here is to teach these students to the best of your ability, to prepare them in protecting others. Do that, but leave me out of your teachings. I don't need you to teach me how to fight, I don't need you to put me in a game that was made to hurt and kill off students from other schools just to stand on a higher podium. This school shouldn't have the reputation of being the best killers." I shake my head as I look at him, feeling my eyes practically drooping. Tired, yet again.
"You sound like a detective." Taylor blurts out.
"Not a detective." I mutter, rubbing my temple.
I stand and grab the painting, "I'm taking this and I won't hear arguments about it. Rowan, lessen the percentage of students getting hurt and increase the percentage of students getting into jobs that allow them to come back home to their families, friends and those they love. Don't publicly humiliate but direct and for fuck sake, show that you can be approached in the light, not avoided because of the dark." I mutter, opening the door and leaving them with just that.
When I got back to my dorm, I stare at the male sitting at my desk.
I place the painting down against the wall by my window, all in front of Creed, "What are you doing in here?" I ask him.
"Are you seriously nineteen?" Creed asks me from the desk.
"Yes. Though I feel much older than that, believe me." I tell him, removing my heels.
I sit down against my bed and raise an eyebrow when he moves from the desk and lies down next to me on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as we both do, "Those metaphors are going to screw with him." He muses, moving to face me on his side.
"That was the point." Werewolves and vampires. Even in this world, they got along like a fire against a cat's fur.
"I've never met someone like you before." He murmurs.
"Earl had better lines there." I giggle when he pokes my side, I turn to face him, on my side. I relax, the man made me feel normal, made me feel safer than I've been with anyone. His ember eyes never leave mine, "Why did you follow me?" I ask raising an eyebrow at him.
"They said 'date.'"
His answer wasn't enough. I sigh and move on my back, "I didn't schedule a date, the dude was just trying for something a tad bit too far into the future for me. I didn't get the information I bloody wanted because he was too focused on his arousal." I mumble, moving my hair aside in annoyance when it got tight under me.
I catch him tighten his look before kicking off his shoes, they drop with a thud against the side of the bed, "You keep saying it was a job, even talking about Rowan with his job and before he hit you, you weren't wary or always angry with him and since then, he's felt lesser than usual. Tenser, stricter." He whispers.
"Because he screwed up with me." I answer with.
"I've never seen him off guard." He responds.
"Do we need to talk about him right now or did you have other questions, Creed?" I pose, glancing over to him. I didn't realise I was so shit when choosing men, but I didn't have that feeling with him. Then again, he could just be pulling me in, but I could have fun, at least while I'm at it here.
"Can you read minds too? Because if so, then I'm screwed." He chuckles when I pull my favourite pillow out from his head and close my eyes, dropping against it.
"You wish."
He grabs the other pillow and the bed creaks every time he moves, "I know that if I ask you a question about yourself, you'll either lie, which you suck at doing, by the way. Or you'll give me a glinting smile and say nothing. Which can make a man go crazy." He talks, but I don't bother opening my eyes.
"I can lie, thank you very much."
"Most people fumble with whatever they have close by, either their clothes, jewellery, watches or skin. You just stay stand still, like a pawn on a chessboard, you wait for the player to make the move, and then you evaluate it. You don't lie, or rather you can't, so instead, you stretch the truth enough to get nowhere. That's how I know Evermore is a school you know nothing about," He whispers, I feel a finger tap my nose, "For a wolf, you know how to control your pulse rate, can't see if you lie there. Your emotions are sealed like a vault, but expression—you play it like a song on your face. Far too many beats and hidden sounds that makes me want to learn every one. Each turn you surprise me. Like a date with a teacher twice your age and has the wrinkles to prove it. You hated his dinner, you hated the fact he wanted to dance and the whole time, you wanted to run." His voice grows softer and softer.
"Mhmm." I hum.
"And I'm talking to myself now." He chuckles next to me, I felt all else drift to nothing, even when a duvet moved over me and a door closed about twenty minutes later. I smiled and opened my eyes five minutes after he left. Sucker.
Moving to the painting, I remove it from the frame, before pausing at the sound of a creak behind me. Before getting whacked against the head head enough to crack my skull. I saw stars and darkness before I could stop it.
********
I knew I was tied up tight, the scent and smell of the air made me think of chemicals and weeds in a garden. A forest too, I heard it. I blink around, rain and thunderstorms outside. And the stickiness of blood against the side of my head. I jerk my arms, grunting, "I wouldn't do that." The voice so familiar and so distinctive all at once.
Innocent until proven bloody guilty.
Because stepping around me holding a plate of hot food was Professor Noris. I take a breath, glad that I was still wearing my red one-suit, I look at him, he places the plate on the table, no glasses on and he had no shirt on either, "What? No, fearful gaze. I know you like your poetic notions, but I did expect more from you." He points his fork at me.
I listened closely, we were in a cabin of some kind. There was a stream, water close by and the unmistakable silence of mountains. In the forest with no one else in sight, "How far is this from Nocturne?" I ask, casually.
"Nocturne could be north, east, south, west." He shrugs.
"You hit me because I'm blonde, under five foot five, similar to Hannah's description and three other girls. Probably a sexual offender, you either got abused as a kid by someone of the same phenotype. Older sister? Aunt? Mother?" I propose, leaning back in the seat I'm tied up in, "Has to be one of those, or you were hurt by a friend? Someone random maybe. Reason for specific female victims. Did you rope Jensen into it too?" I ask next, shrugging.
He cuts into a perfect slice of medium rare lamb, well-seasoned, not that I'm complimenting this guy. If anything, I should have seen this coming, "Wrong on all accounts, I'm afraid. I'd offer you food, but I can't trust you not to drop a knife in my eye the way you accidentally dropped a dumbbell on Rowan's feet or how you used very fascinating devices to inject a serum into Genevieve's system when you realised she'd been poisoned. Then, you lied to her about it helping her advance to help her defeat Serenity, give her one up on you. Oh, look at this, your phone rings yet again, this time with an unknown number. Let's answer this one now you're awake. You're going to tell whoever it is that you needed a break day. If my name is mentioned, your death will be slow, if not, it will be painless." He informs me.
I raise an eyebrow when he answers the call and I don't say anything, waiting, "Celeste." I tense at Athena's voice.
"Yes, I'm here." I say to Athena, casually, keeping it nonchalant.
I stare at Professor Noris, before I hear Athena's voice, "Celeste, where are you?" She asks me immediately, "When your classes recorded you absent and Genevieve as well as Clarissa checked in on your room, you were nowhere to be found. Rowan here also says he scented bleach of some sort on your floorboards, covering up blood. A similar situation to the way you found Jensen. Are you alone?" She asks me, after explaining all that.
I purse my lips. Noris gives me a solid look, "Oh that, I was just cleaning up the damage on the arrow. Remember when I took that to my room." I tell her, shrugging in the rope.
It's silent for a second, "The arrow? You pulled that out and left it on the ground."
"I picked it up when I left to check for poison." I answer with.
"What the hell is going on?" She asks me, rougher this time.
I purse my lips, "I'll be back by three in the afternoon tomorrow. You can debrief me then, I'll be in the pool. Haven't tried it yet, looks interesting." I murmur, tilting my head at him.
"Normally fire wielders aren't accustomed to the pools, not often at least." Credence decides to pitch in.
Noris ends the call right then and there. He cracks the phone against the fireplace he hasn't turned on yet, which I thought was smart, to a point, "How did you avoid cameras getting me out of my dorm?" I wonder, trying to get comfortable, it will put his guard down.
"I borrowed your abilities. The ones you kept hidden, your majesty." He says with a smirk.
I frown at him, "What makes you call me that?" I ask him.
Confusion floods through me...but surprisingly not fear.