Elemental Air (Paranormal Public Series) (21 page)

“I’m not throwing him a party,”
said Sip, sticking her small nose in the air as only she could. “I’m throwing
him a gala.”

“Whatever.”

“There’s something else,”
Lisabelle whispered to me while we painted. “It’s about Dacer.”

“What?” I whispered back.

“Oliva is wondering if Dacer
knows something he isn’t repeating about the demon attacks, because he’s the
only one who spends a lot of time in the Long Building. Besides, there was that
strange symbol on the library after it blew up.

So Lisabelle had seen it too.

And whatever it was, Dacer was a
suspect. The situation was just getting worse and worse.

Despite the early denials, as the
weeks passed Oliva could no longer pretend that the demons couldn’t come and go
as they pleased. Whether they were getting onto campus through the catacombs in
the Long Building or by some other means, the Power of Five force field was not
keeping them out any longer.

I heard no mention of Dacer or
the strange symbol I’d seen on the library, but I knew that didn’t mean
anything. If Oliva had suspicions about my mentor he would keep them to himself
until he had proof. Meanwhile, I felt sick. I couldn’t loose Dacer, and I knew
he had nothing to do with the demons.

One cold fall day, as the leaves
were just starting to turn from summer green to rusting brown and orange, we
had class outside. The grass was brittle under our feet, but we were still
happy to be outside instead of cooped up in Cruor.

Then, at a point when Professor
Zervos had turned his back on the class for a moment, Faci started to cause
trouble. Zervos didn’t like any students, regardless of dorm, but Faci was
different. Zervos ignored Faci, almost as if he was afraid of him and didn’t
want to show it. I was never sure, though, because Faci seemed to like Zervos,
and of course just like Zervos he was a Cruor who treated me and my friends
like garbage.

While Professor Zervos dealt with
someone on his Contact Stone, Faci was having a delightful time trying to hit birds
with miniature fireballs. At first he failed miserably, much to Lisabelle’s
delight. We were near the forest, where most students usually came onto campus
at the start of the year and where Lisabelle had come to protect me when I had
arrived for second semester.

Faci’s aim improved as he went
along, and soon he was hitting the birds he targeted.

“Do something,” Sip ordered me
out of the corner of her mouth.

“Like what?” I asked, as the
first bit of fire struck a bird.

I called the wind. It was becoming
a very useful trick. At the same moment, Lisabelle went for the fire. The
swirling wind came easily to me; I barely had to think to call it with my ring
at this point. Lisabelle had more of a time of it, because she was directly
fighting Faci’s magic. The vampire saw what Lisabelle was trying to do right
away, and it just made him redouble his efforts. But even if Lisabelle couldn’t
overpower Faci, I could still use the wind to redirect the stones. At least I
hoped I could.

As it happened, though, Lisabelle
was stronger. She started extinguishing the fires earlier and earlier, and Faci
got more and more frustrated.

“Stop it,” the vampire hissed.
“How dare you get in my way? You don’t even have a wand.”

“Oh, believe me, she dares,” said
Sip, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring.

Just then Zervos came up to us
like a clap of thunder, his fury clear in every line of his pinched face. He
was so enraged he could barely speak.

“Oliva,” he managed to spit out.
“Where is Oliva?” His eyes looked around frantically, as if he expected to see
the president of Public just casually hanging out in the grass watching Faci
try to kill innocent animals.

“I didn’t DO anything,” Lisabelle
said furiously, as Faci melted back into the pack of students. “I was just standing
here.”

“Ms. Verlans, your just standing
there is the equivalent to a normal paranormal setting off a bomb,” said
Zervos, his eyes bulging. “No one go ANYWHERE. If you so much as move I will
see you punished.”

Zervos stormed off as Faci
snickered. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what the noise meant. It was hard
to tell.

“Faci,” Lisabelle said, her eyes
burning, “you sound like a bleating sheep being strangled.”

“You strangle poor little
animals?” Faci asked. “That’s so mean.”

Remembering the dog Faci had
tortured at Vampire Locke, I flinched. In many ways I dated that as my first
direct experience with evil. When Faci had then killed Lanca’s sister Dirr, I
realized that he was far worse than Camilla or Daisy, because with Faci the
hate wasn’t just words. He enjoyed killing, and killing little animals was
clearly only practice for bigger things.

“Lisabelle, don’t you have a cat
now?” Faci asked, sounding bored as he examined imaginary dirt under his
fingernails.

I was amazed that Faci knew
exactly what button to push. Lisabelle came forward with such fury I felt the
earth underneath me shift. Daisy, who had been standing quietly, quickly
stepped in front of Faci, and my friend skidded to a halt, unsure even in her
rage of what to do next. Daisy was the only student I had ever seen who gave
Lisabelle pause, but I didn’t think it was because Daisy was especially
powerful. I thought it was because Daisy was especially crazy.

“What are you going to do?” Faci
asked, still in that casual drawl. “Hurt me? I do believe Zervos told you not
to move.”

“If you go near that cat I’ll see
you skinned,” Lisabelle breathed, her eyes looking like black pools of anger.
All the other watching students held their breath. I had never seen anyone bait
Lisabelle before, but Faci was enjoying it.

“I’m sure I won’t,” said Faci,
finally looking up. “I was just thinking it was such a waste of space,
that cat. I’m sorry you had to wind up with it. If you ever want me to take it
off your hands, just ask.”

Lisabelle took a deep breath and
started to turn around, giving Sip a casual shrug. The werewolf relaxed next to
me, the tenseness that enveloped her whenever Lisabelle was fighting seeping
away. Daisy moved back to her place among the students, and Faci returned to
gazing at birds.

Without warning Lisabelle spun
back around. Daisy had moved and Lisabelle now had a clear path to Faci.

I didn’t have time to stop her,
and neither did Sip. Lisabelle brought her arm up so quickly, and the burst of
black flame shot out so fast, that all we could do was stand and watch in
horror as Faci sustained a direct hit. Lucky for Faci, his ring called up a
shield, but the vampire still went flying backward and slammed into the ground
in a curl of gray smoke.

Lisabelle kept going forward.

Daisy stood there, dumbfounded
for just a moment. Then she started to move. Sip transformed and raced to block
the hybrid; for some reason, Sip wasn’t afraid of Daisy the way Lisabelle was.
The werewolf released a low growl, and then the visiting New York City werewolf
crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. If I hadn’t known better I would
have said that he was impressed.

I rushed forward and grabbed
Lisabelle’s arm. I had forgotten about the wand, and I let go with a cry as
soon as I touched it. Lisabelle was so consumed with fury she barely noticed,
but at least she had stopped blasting Faci.

The vampire struggled into a
sitting position. He looked a little shocked, but he was otherwise unharmed.

My eyes were watering, my hands
burned, and I stumbled away from my friend. Sip, who had sufficiently cowed
Daisy, returned to her human form.

“Are you alright?” Sip asked me,
rushing forward and turning over my hands. They were unmarked. I had a feeling
that Lisabelle’s magic had recognized me as a friend and protected me from any
serious harm.

“Yes,” I said. “I think so.” Then
I looked at Lisabelle.

The darkness mage stood with
fists clenched at her sides, breathing hard. I had a feeling she was trying to
control a great rage as she watched Faci struggle to his feet. His eyes, so far
back in his head I had trouble seeing them, were watering, and he was coughing
from all the smoke. There was a hole in the layers of clothing that covered his
chest, where Lisabelle had scored a direct hit.

Faci pushed himself to a standing
position and glared at the darkness mage. “I’ve spent years hearing of the
fearsome Lisabelle Verlans,” he spat. “Is that really the best you can do? I
would have thought you’d kill me, but you didn’t even break the skin.” Then he
cackled and stepped toward her.

“Let’s go, Lisabelle,” said Sip,
but she didn’t touch our friend. Lisabelle turned to us, barely glancing at all
the students who were still watching wordlessly.

“Maybe I’ll go after that cat
after all,” Faci said.

I flinched and made another grab for
my friend, knowing she was faster than I was and that my attempt was probably
futile. To my initial great relief, the blasting power that shot out of her arm
wasn’t directed at Faci but at the ground right in front of him, creating a
massive black hole. But just at that moment Faci stepped forward. With his face
registering shock as his eyes met those of a smiling Lisabelle, he dropped
entirely from view.

Lisabelle gave a tiny, smug
smile. The rest of us stood there with open mouths. Sip in particular looked
horrified.

“Go visit Satan,” said Lisabelle
casually. “He likes visitors.” Then she turned to face Zervos and Oliva, both
of whom had arrived and were looking stunned themselves.

I raced forward, but I already
knew what I would see. There was most definitely a hole in the ground, and I
couldn’t see the end of it. Deep down, getting quieter and quieter, I thought I
heard a voice yelling.

Lisabelle had blasted a hole in
the Earth all the way to hell, and Faci was on his way there. Of course, he
would probably be returned to Public by morning, and there was a good chance
Lisabelle would be expelled, but at that particular moment I smiled.

All around us, other students
stared at the darkness mage. “Lisabelle,” said the New York City werewolf,
Nolan, “you’re just full of surprises.”

After the incident in Zervos’s
class, the problems at Public went from bad to worse. One strange event after
another kept us on edge and on our toes. Buildings would close even though
students were still supposed to have class later that day. Oliva led a group of
professors that included Dacer and Zervos into the catacombs in an effort to
figure out where the demons were breaching the campus defenses, but there was
no sign of a break-in. Dacer told me privately that all the professors feared
we were having a repeat of the Malle semester, when Public’s president had a
hellhound hidden in her office. It wasn’t that they suspected Oliva, just that
they thought someone on campus must be complicit in the attacks. Dacer said
that Oliva too thought that someone on campus, probably a senior paranormal but
maybe even one of the students, was letting demons in to create havoc.

Dacer acted like he didn’t know
he was a suspect. It tore at my heart, because I knew that he loved Public more
than anything.

As Lough had said when I was
talking to my friends about it, Dacer loved Public more than he loved his
favorite designer, Lain Macantire, which was saying something.

My other worry was Caid. He had
talked to Malle about doing something for her, but despite all the chaos, I
still had no idea what that something had been. I wondered when it would, and I
wondered who Malle had been talking about. Sip and Lisabelle thought it was me,
but I wasn’t so sure.

Either way, the gala was fast
approaching, and in between all the worries about Public’s safety and the
Nocturns, we still had to study. Zervos was piling on so much homework I was
pretty sure I was going to drown in it. Korba mostly just had us reading and
discussing defenses. He was very careful about the issue of having us actually
practice, meaning he wasn’t letting us do it.

“What’s the use of knowing about
all this stuff if we never put it into action?” Sip complained after a
particularly boring class.

“What do you care?” Lough said.
“You’ll just transform into a werewolf and chomp on demons no matter what else
is going on.”

“Werewolves don’t chomp,” Sip
corrected. “We bite.” Lisabelle was about to say something, but before she
could get a word out of her mouth, Sip said, “I must be off to a meeting.”

And with that she was gone.

“Are they meeting every day now?”
Lisabelle asked.

“Are you two still not speaking?”
Lough asked, watching Sip hurry off. This meeting was in the new dining hall,
between meals.

“She isn’t speaking to me,”
Lisabelle corrected. “I have no idea why.”

“Couldn’t possibly be something
you said,” Lough murmured. I grinned.

“Maybe you should apologize,” I
suggested. “Even if you don’t know what exactly you did. I’m sure Sip would
appreciate the gesture.”