Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) (5 page)

“Did you kill people?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It was very much like an endless
nightmare; I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. I kept trying to retain
my human thoughts, and that only ever made it worse. It was a year later that I
realized vampires were sentient beings with completely different thought
processes. Learning not to trespass into other vampires’ territories was one of
the first lessons I learned. Eventually, I was recruited into a coven, but they
were more like a clan of rogues, so I broke away from them and found Stephen’s
coven. Now, Henry, you look familiar. What’s your story?”

My roommate shrugged. “I’m a jaguar shifter. I grew
up with my parents and nobody tried to kill me or them.” He left out the part
about being invisible when he shifted.

“Don’t most cat shifters kick their kids out at a
certain age?”

“I work for my parents, so that would be
counterproductive.”

“What do you do?”

“This and that.”

“Come on, Henry. Spill! We’re not going to judge
you!” Darwin promised.

“I think we should move on to you,” I told him. At
the time when I practiced my power on Darwin, I had gotten an impression of
Henry’s mind. I knew he was forced to do something he didn’t want to.

Darwin took the hint. “Oh, I’m boring. My dad is a
wolf shifter and my mother is a forest spirit, which is a very boring type of
fae. Basically, she can grow plants and camouflage things. My parents moved us
all over the world for my dad’s research.”

“Research in what?”

“Mostly environmental stuff. Since marrying my dad,
my mother studied science and became a paleontologist. My dad was a marine
biologist, but now he does whatever. Oh, and I can’t be touched because it
hurts and I see your death.”

“Okay, students. Everyone except for Michaels, Mason,
and Sanders can leave,” Kale said.

“What did you two do?” Henry asked.

“We didn’t do shit,” Darwin said, annoyed. “We
witnessed Jackson trying his usual crap and Kale is just a simpering wanker.”

Kale stepped up to our table. “Move along, the rest
of you,” he barked.

As Amelia and Erik stood up and left, Henry leaned
back in his chair and folded his arms. “I’ll stay.” He glared at Kale.

Kale glared back. “I don’t have a problem giving you
detention, Mr. Lycosa.” Henry said nothing back, so he returned to the front of
the room. “For your detention, you will clean the vampires’ chambers and take
them their meal.”

“What’s to stop them from biting us?” Darwin asked.

“Don’t anger them. Now get to it.”

We got up and left the classroom. Jackson closed the
door behind him and headed down the hallway.

“You’re going the wrong way, stupid!” Darwin informed
him.

“Fuck detention. If you want to listen to that
jackass, that’s your business.”

Darwin looked at me. “Should we tell Kale?”

“Do you really want to work alongside Jackson?” Henry
asked. I agreed with the jaguar. “You can go back to the room, Devon. We know
you hate vampires.”

“I already checked; I can afford to flunk Kale’s
classes.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t,” Darwin said, pouting. “I’m
going to fail my
Manipulation of Elementals
class on account of having
no damn fae magic.”

“Alright. Let’s get this over with. Just don’t get
any blood on you.”

We found our way to the lower levels of the castle
easily and stopped at the door. “What if that thing is still in there?” Darwin
asked, referring to the creature that had chased us out of the lower level when
we last visited the morgue.

Of course, we never saw it again, so I assumed it was
gone. “Well, then I’m sure it is enjoying the vampire buffet.”

I felt her presence right before the door opened to
Clara, who grinned darkly. She wore an emerald-green, satin and lace corset
with a short black, pleated skirt. “Three new recruits?” she asked.

“I think my jaguar would object to that,” Henry said.

“We’re the room and maid service,” Darwin added. “Got
a French maid uniform?”

Clara smirked. “Yes.” She turned and went downstairs.

We followed. The tunnels underground were lit with
torches every ten feet that went out after we passed them. “Kale gave us
detention and said we need to clean this place and feed the velociraptors— I
mean vampires.”

“How are you supposed to clean? What, are you going
to sweep the dirt? We could use some help with the blood preparations.”

“Great,” I said. She led us down several tunnels
until we reached the infirmary, where Dr. Martin was pouring blood from a jug
into small, clear plastic cups. Astrid had told me that vampires could drink
blood from a bag, but I couldn’t imagine they liked it very much. “Is that one
cup enough for a vampire?”

“This is partially synthetic,” Dr. Martin said. “It
is much more potent than normal blood, but also soporific. This amount alone
would make them nauseous at even the thought of drinking more blood. If a
vampire drank more than this, it would act as a tranquilizer. We’re trying to
set it up so that the vampires get their blood at sunset, but we’re not very
organized yet.”

Clara took another jug and helped him fill up the
cups. When they were done, there were forty cups. Clara took one and drank it
down with a grimace.

“Does it taste bad?”

“It has to be kept cold, so it’s sticky and
flavorless. The texture is weird, too. It’s like… grainy.”

“I can fix that,” Dr. Martin said.

He picked up a notebook and three white plastic trays
from his bench and handed the notebook to her. Henry, Darwin, and I took the
trays and divided up the blood cups on them. We followed Clara out and went to
the nearest door, which she knocked on. A moment later, a young woman answered.

“Good evening, Alice. Here is your drink.”

The woman frowned. “Are we really going to have to
live on this for sixteen weeks?” she asked, taking one of the cups.

Clara checked the woman’s name off her list. “I’m
afraid so.”

This was repeated several times before we got to a
door where no one answered. “What happens if they miss their feeding?” Henry
asked.

“Then they have to go to Dr. Martin directly.”

“And what happens if you catch them sucking on
someone’s neck?”

“They are arrested immediately and investigated. If
their victim did not consent, fully and with complete awareness, the vampire is
punished according to the rules of their coven. Everyone here is a member of my
father’s coven, since the council only made a treaty with us. Vampires in my
coven are allowed to coerce humans, but anything that is considered abuse or
endangerment is met with strict discipline from my father. Our vampires are
also not allowed to take a drop of blood from any paranormal without full
consent of the paranormal.”

“What if the vampire thralls a wizard into
consenting?”

“We have ways of detecting that. Punishment for
breaking either law is usually the removal of the vampire’s fangs.”

We covered ten more rooms before we came to another
where no one answered the door. Instead of moving on, Clara sniffed at the
door. Obviously not happy with what she smelled, she grabbed the handle and
turned it. I didn’t hear a lock break. Inside, I saw nothing unusual; it was a
basic room about eight-by-ten with a twin bed, a desk, two chairs, and a
dresser.

So the vampires don’t have roommates.

A man was lying on top of his covers in the bed I
knew something was wrong when he didn’t immediately wake. As if she wasn’t
already certain of the situation from the doorway, Clara went to him and
checked his pulse. “He’s dead,” she confirmed.

“He’s a vampire; he can’t be dead,” I said.

“Go get Hunt.”

“What is going on here?” Kale asked, suddenly behind
us. “A vampire has been killed?” He looked slightly sick to his stomach.
“Stephen will not be happy about this.”

“My father won’t jump to conclusions,” Clara said. “Get
Hunt and Dr. Martin.”

“I’ll get the doctor,” Henry said and left.

“Until we find the murderer, this school is on
lockdown. All students are to be confined to their rooms. Sanders and Mason,
that means you two as well.”

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Darwin and I both
ignored him. “Is there any blood or a wound?” I asked Clara. I would have
examined the vampire myself, but Darwin and I were blocking Kale and I got the
feeling it was a bad idea to let the council member enter the room. Darwin must
have picked up on it, because he didn’t move either.

My roommate shook his head. “I’m not as good as a
shifter with my nose, but I smell nothing odd at all.”

I moved aside as Henry returned with Dr. Martin.
Clara backed up to give Dr. Martin some space. He shined a small flashlight in
the vampire’s eyes. “Everyone out,” he said.

We went out into the hall and closed the door. The
silence was awkward as Kale glanced between the three of us, his eyes narrow
with suspicion. I was fairly certain that he was hoping one of us was the
murderer. About ten minutes later, the door opened.

“Who killed him?” Kale asked immediately.

“That is difficult to say, for there was no cause of
death.”

“He’s still alive?”

“No, he is definitely dead. There just wasn’t any
cause. He simply stopped being alive.” We turned as Hunt arrived with Flagstone
in his shifted form. The wolf shoved his way into the room, sniffed the body,
and looked at Hunt.

“There was a witness,” Hunt said.

I glanced at Darwin and he nodded before taking off
down the hall. If anyone was talking about it, he would find them.

“Kale, we are going to take care this,” Hunt said.
“You can get back to your work and we will let you know as soon as we have any
new information. Trust me; Rosin can track anyone.” The wolf in question sat in
front of the body and nodded.

Kale glared. “You better have information for me
soon, Logan.” He left.

Hunt turned back to Flagstone. “Now, what do you mean
there is no scent?” The wolf sniffed the body again for a moment and then backed
away. “Devon, someone saw what happened. I need you to find out who it was.”

“We’re already on it.”

“Good.”

“What was his name?”

Hunt looked at the body, ran his hand through his
hair, and sighed. “His name was Cooper. I know you still think vampires are all
killers, Devon, but even you must see this as a tragedy.”

I did. Even knowing what he was, I couldn’t imagine
the guy ruthlessly killing someone. He was probably seventeen, thin, with dark
brown hair and laugh lines. He looked no different than any human teenager.
Then again, I couldn’t write him off as innocent just because of his age.
Astrid killed at least three people before she was thirteen. “How many people
has he killed?”

“He never killed anyone. I was there when Cooper’s
brother brought him to Stephen. Cooper had cancer and was not going to live for
another month. Stephen changed him and taught him to get blood without hurting people.
Finish passing out the blood and do not let anyone suspect anything.”

We did as he asked. Clara was very natural and even
offered a few smiles, but when the doors were closed, I could sense her stress.
It took nearly an hour to go to every room. When we were done, Henry and I
returned to our room to wait for Darwin.

I opened the door to find Ghost sitting on my desk
with Vincent’s book beside him. “I’m sure you already know what happened,” I
said. The cat nodded. “Do you know who witnessed the vampire’s death?” Ghost
shook his head and hissed at the door.

Henry sighed. “We are not going to bed tonight, are
we?” He opened the door to find Addison standing there. She was already an
attractive woman, so I figured the blue tank-top with black boxers that she
wore was an attempt to seduce Henry.

“Didn’t you graduate?” I asked.

“This is my fourth semester. The wizard council wants
to see you.”

“Well, I’ll see Kale on Wednesday in class.”

She sighed. “I’m just the messenger. Please don’t
make my job harder.”

I nodded. “Alright. But you don’t get to ask me about
Henry,” I said.

Addie had managed to monopolize Henry’s attention
during the full moon for all four months of our first semester, so it seemed to
me that he really liked her. However, she couldn’t accept that he was only
interested for the three days of the moon. I had asked Darwin in private and he
said he never heard of that kind of lunar effect. Then again, Henry wasn’t a
regular jaguar shifter.

When Henry started to follow me towards the door, I
stopped. “You should probably wait here. Kale already doesn’t like me because
of John Cross. It would be nice if one of us graduates this semester.”

Ten minutes later, Addison and I were standing in
front of Mrs. Ashcraft’s old office. Addie knocked on the door and we heard
someone tell us to come in. I went inside and closed the door behind me,
leaving Addie outside.

Kale sat in the seat on my side of the desk while
another man sat on the chair behind the desk. The stranger was heavier set with
thinning, medium brown hair, dull blue eyes, and a bushy mustache. He wore a
light tan business suit. Unlike his daughter’s trusting eyes, his were
calculating.

“Mr. Sanders, thank you for joining us. I am Grayson
Adams.” He stood and reached out, so I approached the desk calmly and shook his
hand. “First of all, I would like you to know that the wizard council will not
hold you accountable for your father’s actions.”

“That’s a relief. So, which one of you sent Hunt to
kill me when I was a child?” He sat back down and gestured to the chair beside
Kale. I remained standing.

“That was an unfortunate misunderstanding,” he said
warmly. “You see, we were always suspicious of John Cross, so when we
discovered that he had an extremely powerful child who was being raised by
humans, we knew we had to put our secrecy first.”