Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) (10 page)

Lisabelle greeted her last,
giving her a hug. Lanca’s cheeks became a little rosy, and I could see that she
was pleased by the unexpected gesture of warmth from the darkness mage.

Speaking of Vital, he was
stationed a few feet behind Lanca. Also dressed in black, with his pale hair
pulled back and his hands clasped behind his back, he looked intimidating. He
gave me a slight nod but kept his real focus on scanning the crowd. I had to
imagine that he didn’t like it that Lanca had come to this party. There might
be a lot of security because of all the important paranormals in attendance,
but there was also a lot more to watch.

“We’re sitting at the high
table,” said Lanca with resignation. “But I’ll see you all after dinner. I also
insisted on sharing your cabin, so we’ll have time to catch up before we all
depart in the morning. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course you’re always
welcome,” said Sip happily. She leaned forward and said hoarsely. “Will you
introduce me to the faeries? They know the dragons.”

Lanca’s eyes sparkled. “I’d be
happy to.”

Sip beamed. “Thank you,” she said.

“What’s this interest in
dragons?” Lisabelle asked. Sip just waved her off.

Once they had left, we all took
our seats again. Caid had sat down, but now he rose again to greet the queen of
the blood throne.

The night air was cool, but not
cold. It was a perfect night to be outside.

For the first time since we had
arrived, I took the time to scan the crowd. There were many faces I didn’t
recognize, but I did see tiny Professor Korba, who was seated on the lower dais
with Keller. Most of the paranormals in attendance were adults; I didn’t see
Dobrov or Daisy, or Adver, Evan, or Kia. Apparently not all of Public’s
students had been invited to this dinner, or maybe they’d just had prior
commitments.

To my dismay, before Caid started
speaking I saw a pretty girl rush up to Keller. Vanni was a fallen angel who
was about to start her sophomore year at Public and who had massive crush on my
boyfriend. He didn’t return her feelings, obviously, but I still hated that she
flirted with him.

A sharp elbow in my ribs drew my
attention to Lisabelle.

“Jealousy is not your color,” she
said dryly.

“Neither is brown,” said Sip
helpfully.

I clenched my jaw and forced
myself to look away.

“Good evening,” Caid’s voice
boomed across the tables. “Thank you for joining me.” He paused for polite
clapping, and once it subsided he continued. “I would like to take this
opportunity to thank Professor Dacer, for without him this evening would never
have come off so perfectly.”

More clapping as Dacer, who was
seated at the head table with the other committee members and several important
looking paranormals I didn’t recognize, stood up to take a bow.

“He looks splendid,” Sip
whispered.

“He looks like he belongs on top
of a cake,” Lisabelle muttered. I couldn’t really argue with her.

Dacer was dressed all in white,
complete with a white cap, a white suit with white buttons, and a white cane.
Even his shoes were white. His face paint was dramatic and black. His eyes
looked more like cat’s eyes than like a paranormal’s, and he wore bright red lipstick.
His nails were painted an eye-smarting shade of red. To my surprise, hanging
around his neck was a white mask. In all the time I had apprenticed with him I
had never seen him wear a mask.

“Thank you,” he murmured. “It was
nothing.”

The clapping and cheers lasted
for a long time. Of all the professors, Dacer had to be one of the favorites.
As I watched Caid beam I decided that my mentor was just as popular with his
peers as he was with his students.

Once Dacer sat down, Caid stood
up again. Clearing his throat and holding his glass, he said, “I have a little
speech.” There were mock groans all around the yard, and he smiled. “I know, I
know, you just want food. Soon you shall have it, but I have a couple of things
to say first.”

He took a deep breath and I saw
his chest expand. He looked out over the crowd, his eyes growing serious.

“These are trying times for
paranormals,” he said. “There is no getting around the fact that we have fought
battles, we have lost loved ones, and we have lost parts of ourselves. It has
been difficult. It has been heart-wrenching, and it is not over.” The crowd was
stock still. Caid hadn’t said anything about darkness, but he was basically
acknowledging that we were almost at war.

At least, that’s what I hoped he
was doing.

“It is likely to get worse before
it gets better,” he continued. There were slight stirs around the tables. I
caught sight of Mound, who sat with some other pixies, including Korba, at one
of the tables near the front. His eyes locked on Caid, he didn’t move.

“I do not wish war, but I do wish
strength,” Caid said. “Sometimes the two are entwined. For when that day comes
when we have to decide to stand and fight, when we must know who the brave are,
it will be a dark day indeed. I wish you all strength. I am glad we are here
together now, and I hope for many more summers of happiness.” He raised his
glass. There was a spark of movement as everyone tried to grab for their
glasses. It was a strange closing to his speech.

“Do you think he realizes we’re
already at war?” Lisabelle whispered in my ear.

“I don’t know what he realizes
anymore,” I muttered back. Lisabelle looked at me sharply. For once I had a
darker view of the future than my darkness friend. I felt like Caid had a
public face and a private face, and the two were very different.

Now Caid waved his hands. “Eat,”
he yelled. “Eat and enjoy the evening.”

Servers appeared silently, laden
with massive trays of food.

Next to me I could see Sip
straining.

“What are you doing?” I asked,
frowning. “Aren’t you hungry?” It had been a really long time since we had last
eaten.

“Yes,” said Sip, “but I want to
see the faeries.”

I had forgotten about them, but
now I looked around. They must be on one of the daises, I thought, and sure
enough, that’s where I spotted them. Dacer and Lanca were seated three seats
away from each other, and between them sat a man and a woman. They reminded me
of pixies, but only slightly. Many pixies, but not all, had a slightly green
tint to their skin. Cale was one of the few pixies who did not. He was also
bigger than most other pixies. Korba needed several stacks of books to see over
the table he was seated at, but Cale was normal-sized.

The faeries were not small. In
fact, the king of the faeries was probably as tall as Dacer, while his wife was
taller and less delicate-looking than Queen Lanca. What was remarkable about
them was that they sparkled. Both had white hair and eyes, and they were
especially striking amidst all the vampires. They were both also impossibly
beautiful.

My friends were looking in the
same direction I was. “They look young,” Lisabelle murmured. “I guess that
makes sense. He became king when he was only twenty-five, when his father died.
He was only a little older than Lanca is now.”

“Are they on good terms with the
Rapiers?” I asked. “Or any paranormals? They weren’t at Lanca’s coronation.”

“No, they aren’t very social.
There are actually loads of faeries around, but they refuse to engage in the
normal paranormal practices. There is no way that when we go to war against the
Nocturns they will help. They will watch and remain neutral.”

The faerie queen now turned her
attention away from Lanca, her white eyes searching the large crowd until they
landed on our table. There they stuck for several moments.

“She knows you’re talking about
her,” Sip chided. “Don’t get us in trouble.”

Lisabelle shrugged. “I’m not
sharing secrets.”

“I guess not,” Sip grumbled.
“Still, stop causing trouble.”

“But it’s just so much fun,” said
Lisabelle.

The first course was soup. After
that there was salad, then three main courses followed by a cheese course and a
dessert course. The desserts were incredible.

Dream berries were on the menu,
as were diamond chocolate, lace chocolate, silk chocolate, and pretty much
every other kind of sugary deliciousness imaginable.

I was happy, truly happy. I just
wondered how long it would last.

We spent hours eating and
talking. Trafton had spent his summer, as usual, traveling around the world
surfing. He had tons of stories of narrowly avoiding sharks and of getting
lost. As a matter of personal policy he refused to dream himself out of
trouble, a policy that some would call stupid, but it made for many great
tales. Rake had spent his summer in Europe, interning with a vampire sect there.
He said they were much more laid back, but not to tell Queen Lanca that. He was
happy to be heading back to Public. We had such a good time and laughed so hard
that Lough seemed to forget how much he disliked Trafton. Lisabelle was the
only one who didn’t talk about her summer. When I had pressed her earlier in
the summer about what she was doing with darkness magic she’d been very vague,
and I knew she wasn’t about to get specific in front of company. Instead she
sat quietly, sometimes listening, sometimes looking off into the distance.

The later it got, the more
relaxed I felt. Many of the paranormals I had seen before, at Lanca’s
coronation, where we had united to defeat Malle. Many came up to our table
because they knew Lisabelle or Sip. And Trafton, it seemed, knew almost every
paranormal there.

“Is your sister here?” I asked
Lough. His sister Kair worked for the paranormal government. She was dating
Sip’s brother Sulver, but I didn’t see either of them.

“Nope,” said Lough. “She wasn’t
invited. She was very impressed when I told her I would be coming.”

“Rake,” I said, “why were you
invited?”

“Rake is the son of the Radverous
king,” said Lisabelle, as if it should be obvious. I started. Rake was vampire
royalty?

The large vampire shrugged. “It’s
not something I like to talk about.”

“What he means,” said Sip, “is
change the subject.”

Rake gave the werewolf a smile.
“I’m so glad I have an Airlee here to translate what I mean.”

“It’s getting cold, isn’t it?”
Sip asked me, ignoring Rake. “I should have brought a sweater.”

“I can get you one,” said Rake,
starting to rise.

Before Sip could tell him he
didn’t need to, most of the lights went out. The only ones left were the
candles that clustered at the center of each table. Somewhere nearby a
paranormal gave a high-pitched scream, then there was a series of loud popping
sounds, as if a gun had been fired, which led to more cries and yelling. In the
crowd’s desperation to leave the party, several paranormals bumped into the
back of my chair, making it hard for me to get up. The cries continued as
Caid’s back yard started to fill with smoke.

The party was in total confusion.
I could barely see through the haze of smoke. I gasped as it became hard to
breathe, and soon I couldn’t see, either. Instinctively Sip, Lisabelle, and I
locked hands and ducked under the table, but not before I spared a glance
toward Keller.

Unfortunately, there was too much
smoke for me to see him. I couldn’t even see the table next to us, let alone
the dais.

“Shouldn’t we run?” Lough asked,
ducking under the table after us.

“We can’t,” said Lisabelle.
“Everyone else is running.”

“Sometimes the majority is not
wrong,” said Lough, then covered his mouth to cough.

Lisabelle snorted. “We can’t get
out. There are too many paranormals, and we can’t even see. Besides, we have to
make sure our friends are alright.” I thought of Lanca and Dacer, who were at
the high table with Caid. I wondered if he had planned this whole attack. I
wondered who the demons were after.

With a great roar I heard the battle
begin. The screaming intensified, as did the smoke, but I heard less running
than before. Hopefully lots of the paranormals had gotten away.

“What’s the plan?” Sip asked
Lisabelle, as the darkness mage rolled up her sleeves. Sip was very calm, but
she looked ready to spring into action at any moment, while Lisabelle’s wand
was already a pulsing black, filled with collecting power. My ring shone
brightly, as did Sip’s and Lough’s.

“We have to see what it is,” said
Lisabelle. “It just sounds like demons.”

“Just?” Lough asked in dismay.

“It could be worse,” said
Lisabelle. “There could be darkness mages with them.” She winked at the dream
giver.

“We know there are hellhounds
around,” I added. “We will probably run into some of them.”

“Now I’m not so surprised that
there aren’t many pixies here,” said Lough. “I guess since not too long ago
they wanted you dead, Charlotte, it makes sense.”

“For all we know there are still
a lot of pixies who want Charlotte dead,” said Sip grimly.

Sometimes I almost forgot that
there was a bounty on my head. “Thanks for the reminder,” I muttered.

Lough grinned apologetically at
me. “Any time.”

“Where did Trafton and Rake go?”
I said.

“Trafton ran away like a girl,”
said Lough bitterly. “Rake is trying to get to Lanca to help Vital protect
her.”

“Saying I ran away like a girl is
an insult to girls,” said Trafton, ducking under the table. Lough glared at his
fellow dream giver as the other paranormal gave him a satisfied smile.

“I wouldn’t leave Lisabelle,”
said Trafton, now grinning in the direction of the darkness mage.

“No matter how many times I ask
him to,” said Lisabelle. “Alright, we’re going to try and get to Dacer. Keller
and Lanca should be there as well. Everyone keep your backs to each other. Do
not engage in any long battles with demons. It will only tire you, and we have
no idea how many there are.”

“Let’s use the table as
coverage,” Trafton suggested.

“Yes, I’m sure the table couldn’t
possibly catch fire,” said Lisabelle. “We aren’t in an action movie.”

“More’s the pity,” Trafton shot
back.

“I think he has a good idea,”
said Sip. “We don’t know what’s going on out there.”

“Because you made us duck under a
table as if we were afraid,” said a disgruntled Lisabelle.

“Caution can be a good thing,”
said Sip. “We’ll live longer.”

“And know less, apparently,” said
Lisabelle. “Hey, Charlotte, where are you going?”

I had started to crawl out from
under the table. I needed to get to Keller, and my friends’ argument was taking
too long this time.

“Turn over the table,” I ordered.
“I need to see.” The cool air had turned hot and dry from all the smoke, and I
found myself wondering what was on fire. I still couldn’t see, but I was pretty
sure the smoke was coming from the lake and not the house, which was good.
There were small children and Caid’s servers in the house. If the demons had
attacked and killed defenseless paranormals right under Caid’s nose there’s no
telling what would have happened. For starters, it would mean that President
Caid was even more evil than I could have imagined.

The second I got out from under
the table I saw what was happening and realized that we didn’t need the table
for protection. But I almost wished we did. The smoke was clearing and I could
now see clearly to the dais and beyond.

There were demons, alright.
Hundreds of them floated over the water, but they weren’t attacking. Instead,
they were all blazing with fire. In the air over Lake Timarity they had formed
a ring, and through the ring was another slash of demons in the shape of a
seven.

“Wow,” said Lough, who was right
next to me. There was a smudge of dirt on his cheek and his beautiful suit was
rumpled, but he didn’t seem to care; his eyes were locked on the display. The
demons had come to warn us. No more would they be ignored. Last semester Caid
had left Paranormal Public in the hands of kidnappers and hellhounds as if it
hadn’t mattered at all. With a ring of fire and a seven, the demons were now
making sure we knew it mattered.

“This is bad,” said Sip, her eyes
filled with worry. “I need tea.”

Lisabelle and Trafton also rose
from under the table. All the paranormals on the dais had turned around to
stare out over the water. A couple of Caid’s guards were standing in front of
him, right at the water’s edge, in case the demons decided to attack. Hearing
murmurs behind me, I turned around. It was no longer difficult to see, with the
demon fire bringing as much light as the party lanterns had before then were
extinguished. Behind us, safely near the house, were most of the guests who had
run. In front of us were the rest of the people I cared about the most.

Keller turned to look in my
direction, and our eyes locked. He was fine, and I gave him a slight nod. I
didn’t want to move because I didn’t want to draw the attention of the demons,
although they looked pretty busy at the moment. Dacer, the faeries, and Lanca
all watched them calmly. I felt a sense of pride swell at how angry Dacer
looked. He would never run away from a fight.

“Why aren’t they moving?”
Lisabelle asked, her black eyes snapping. “What are they waiting for?”

“I have no idea,” said Sip. “It
can’t be good.”

It wasn’t. There came a howl, and
I saw a troop of hellhounds, or just their burning red eyes, speeding out of
the woods to surround the lake. They were looking up at the demons as the fire
that burned in the air intensified.

“That’s going to explode,” I
cried.

“No it isn’t,” said Lisabelle.
“They’re going to run. Look.” She pointed behind us, where I could see that
Mound and several of the other paranormals who had run away were now preparing
to fight. The journalist was talking furiously to the few other pixies who had
come to this gathering.

“I don’t like waiting,” said
Lisabelle. “I like confronting.”

“You’re confrontational? No.
Way,” Sip drawled. “It’s not one of the top ten words I would use to describe
you.”

Lough snorted. “That might be
true.”

President Caid stood up and
stepped forward, making his guards stir nervously.

“What do you want?” his voice
boomed out over the water. There was no question that the demons heard him. The
tightly packed flames made it difficult to tell exactly how many there were,
but surely there were several Demons of Knight among the others.

“Don’t just stand there, go up
with the other guests,” a voice behind us sneered. Inwardly, I groaned. All
summer I had barely even thought of Zervos, and now here he was, standing
behind us, dressed in his customary black with his salt and pepper hair and his
familiar sneer firmly in place. Lisabelle quickly pulled her sleeve down,
covering her wand.

“We aren’t going to run,” said
Sip. “We have more experience at fighting demons than most of the senior
paranormals here.”

“You are children,” Zervos
sneered, his black eyes reflecting the fire. “You do not have the slightest
understanding of what you are doing or the consequences of your actions.”

“You mean like that time you
caught us and turned us over to Vale?” Lisabelle said. “Talk about
consequences. Then we were stuck there with you all semester.”

Zervos’s chest puffed up and I
saw his fist clench. For a second I thought he was really going to hit
Lisabelle, but he restrained himself, his jaw working until he had his fury
under control.

“Where is your wand?” Zervos
asked nastily.

Lisabelle shrugged. “I didn’t
think I’d need it.”

“Just as stupid as your uncle
then,” Zervos spat.

“Are you going to march us to the
president again?” Sip demanded, crossing her arms. She was giving Zervos her
evil eye, and I felt a little bad for the professor. But when Zervos’s eyes
snapped to the werewolf he just shook his head.

“I am not here in an official
capacity,” he explained patiently, as if he was talking to a child. I am simply
here to enjoy the food and observe.”

“You aren’t afraid or shocked
that the demons are here?” I demanded suspiciously.

“Oh, suspicious girl. All the
most powerful paranormals gathered in one place?” Zervos shrugged his sharp
shoulders and grinned nastily. “What did Caid expect? Peace, quiet, and
daisies? Of course the demons would come.”

“Look,” someone close to the
house yelled, “they’re dispersing.”

The demons were indeed flying in
every direction around the lake. They were also speeding to join some of the
hellhounds that waited by the water. I started forward, but Lisabelle held me
back.

“Let them go,” she said.
“Confronting them will only bring bloodshed.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw
Zervos give Lisabelle a quick look. It disappeared from his face the instant I
noticed it, but I thought it might have been something like respect. I had no
idea how much time had passed, but with the demons leaving there was no longer
enough light to see by. Their departure was also causing pandemonium again, as
paranormals were afraid that the demons would attack.

They didn’t. Instead, they left
as quickly as they had come, leaving a trail of heat in the cooling evening
air.

One demon, though, one that
happened to be much larger than the others, hadn’t budged.