One wrong step, p.20
One Wrong Step, page 20
Cas shrugged, lifting the pads high again so I could punch. “Some can. You get the odd infamous ancillary, who went above and beyond. But not very often.”
“That’s what Briar called herself; an an-silly. What is that?” I licked the salt off my lips.
“An ancillary? It’s like… a helping role. An assistant.”
“Like a sidekick?”
“Yes. They’ll never amount to heroism, but they’ll help others get there.”
Never amount to anything…
Fury prickled my spine as I launched into another round of attacks, shifting through everything I was learning about this world. “So, everyone has a Role, and they have to be worthy in that Role in hopes of a Great Story. To be infamous.” I thought out slowly.
“Yes,” Cas answered, shifting the pad at the last moment. I missed and my body swayed, unbalanced. But my arms were already moving, fending off another descending pad. Cas hit my arms instead of my head.
“No one is born worthy, and Great Stories aren’t just handed out. It has to be earned. Placing oneself in testing situations is necessary. Reaching your limit; always pushing your valour or wickedness. The Academy trains students to have the best chance. It’s also why they’ll take any opportunity to knock their competition down.”
“Trained to become heroes and aids, villains and monsters, all for a Great Story.” Squinting through my sweat and panting out laboured breaths, I recalled what Briar had said about why they hated my - Azariah's - parents. They’d a Great Story but had discarded their roles for evil and who knew what other reasons. They’d gone against the orders of this fucked up world.
Which prompted another question.
“Can someone from the Night Court have a Great Story?”
“No.” Cas’s words were sharp with no consideration. Lifting his pads, he tried to get me to punch, but I didn’t move from my spot.
“Why?”
“It's just not done.”
“But why?” And I could see Cas’s frustration as he dropped the pads. “You said no one is born worthy, that great stories are earned. You said they train heroes to beat the villains, so, what happens when the villains win? Isn’t that then their Great Story?”
“No,” Cas repeated, but this time he didn’t sound so sure. “Villains don’t get Great Stories. They don’t win and if they do, it's not celebrated. The best a villain can hope for is a malevolent title in a Great Story after they are defeated. That’s the only way they’re remembered.”
“So, what’s stopping a villain training to be a hero?” I asked, crossing my arms.
I watched as a frown pulled at his brows, the same expression Briar had worn as had Jade. It was as if my arguments and questions didn’t make sense. They couldn’t wrap their head around an alternative.
“Because they’re not worthy.” Cas’s chest rose and fell at a quicker pace. “They are incapable of doing anything but falling to their nature; their Role. You should understand that better than most, one just bit you.”
You shouldn’t have run. It’s like you were asking for it. Jade’s scorn rocked my mind.
“Right,” I eased out, thinking that was a shit excuse. “It’s their Role to wreak havoc, and the Hero’s Role to take them down.” A tight smile pinched my cheeks as I buried my sneer, which was the right choice. Cas relaxed.
“You’re getting it.” His words weren’t patronising, but I don’t think he even realised how crazy he sounded.
But I did.
This academy inspired the heroes to have an ego complex while encouraging the villains to embrace their darkest desires. Every day was a challenge to come out on top; to show no fear, to never back down. Prove they were the best. Show they were worth remembering. But if anyone wanted to change, be better, be mean, be respected, or be feared, God-help them.
It made me sick.
“And the ones that don’t make it?” I drew myself from the depths of my thoughts, interrupting Cas, who’d started talking about stance and pivoting.
“Huh?” he blinked.
“You said everyone wants to fulfil their Role. To be infamous.” I captured his gaze, pinning him in place. “What about those who don’t succeed? Those who die?”
Arms dropping, his face sobered. “You mean Cleo?” Stepping closer, Cas pulled off his pads, his hand falling on my arm, squeezing it gently. “I heard how you were the one to pull her out. Tried to save her. It’s not your fault, Zara. You can’t blame yourself for getting there too late.”
“But I wasn’t too late.” I shrugged him off, taking a step back. “I never had a chance because she was dead when she hit the water. I saw the bruises. I know she didn’t kill herself.”
“Maybe she hit something when she jumped.”
“Around her neck?” I laughed bitterly. “What did she do, walk into a low-hanging clothesline repeatedly?”
“You think she was strangled? Murdered?” Cas clarified. Tossing his pads to one side, he tucked his hands under his arms, her frown pondering. “But they investigated. They would’ve said if that were true.”
“Not if this place is hiding it.”
“Why would the Academy hide it?”
“Because…” My tongue flapped uselessly until it forced me to rub my brow in defeat. “Well, I don’t know. I just know what I saw, and I know people don’t tend to kill themselves bare-ass naked.”
Cas tilted his head with a wince. “But you didn’t know Cleo, you never met her. You don’t know what she was thinking or why she might have…” He sighed heavily. “You don’t know.”
“Yer, probably.” Releasing a long breath, I sighed too, knowing Cas was right. Yet no matter how I mulled the possibility, something didn’t sit right in my gut. “Thanks for the training. We should do it again sometime.” I smiled, taking a step back only to find my wrists locked in a tight grip, the strength unwavering as Cas yanked me against his warm chest.
“Oh, we’re not done training.” Cas hitched a grin that made my chest flutter. “That was just the warm-up. So, unless you like being a damsel… five laps around the training grounds.”
“Five?” I whined.
“That or you can continue to be bait?” He purred, looking down the length of my body. “The monsters in this academy do like to tease slow prey…”
I brought my foot down, crushing Cas’s bare toes with the heel of my new trainer. He released a string of curses, each as bizarre as the next, but I wasn’t around to listen. I was already sprinting for the door, singing over my shoulder. “Last one there is a rotten chew toy.”
Five laps. Phah!
I’d do six. And next training session, I’d do seven. The bastards within these walls wouldn’t win. I get fit, strong, un-delicate. No one could knock me down and if they did, they’d be sorry when I got back up again.
◆◆◆
So, I only made it three laps.
The training grounds were bloody huge, especially when Cas had informed me, jogging at his leisurely pace, that the route included the horse pasture. To my utter disgust, he wasn’t even puffing by the time I puked in the bushes outside the gates.
“Same time next week?” He grinned, holding back my ponytail. My answer was another retch. “You’ll get better, and it’ll get easier.”
“Lies. All lies.” I groaned, wiping the corner of my lip. “You just want to see me suffer,” I grumbled, straightening despite how my knees trembled. Back against the log wall, I froze as light fingers pushed a stray lock of hair out of my face.
Cas smiled softly, his knuckles gracing my cheek. “No. I think that’s the last thing I want to see.”
The memory made my thighs squeeze, my teeth biting my bottom lip before I popped a succulent strawberry between them.
Falling back to reality, my gaze snagged around the dining hall as the rest of the school dropped in for dinner. I’d showered, napped, and changed into shorts and a tee, before hunting for food early. Roast meats had lined the long tables, steaming veg and jugs of thick, aromatic sauce. I’d pigged out; having probably put on the weight I’d lost on that torturous run. However, I’d come here with a purpose. Something Cas had said snagged in my mind and as luck would have it, my purpose just walked through the door on the arm of a dog.
Waiting until they were sitting, I discarded my napkin and lurched from my seat, happily slipping into Mav’s before his shaggy ass could.
“Hay bestie.” I chimed, smiling at Jade’s sneer of disgust.
“What in the Inks do you want?” She growled, reeling as if I might be contagious.
“Get lost, Rabbit,” Larc growled, not spearing me a glance as he ripped the leg off an apple-squealing pig.
“Yer, you’re ruining my appetite.” Mav snarled. Hands either side of me on the table, he huffed directly into my ear, his rancid breath rolling over me.
“Licking your balls before dinner will do that to you, Mav.” I smiled, ramming an elbow into his gut, sending him staggering. “And you, Larc, you can go shag a lamppost. I need to pick your girlfriend’s brains for a moment, and I promise, you won’t even notice, seeing as you’re unaware she has one.”
Burning eyes snapped to mine and Larc’s whole body trembled as he slammed a fist on the tabletop. “I’m getting real sick of your insults, Rabbit.”
Raising one brow, I didn’t even let my lip quiver before slowly swivelling my gaze back to Jade. “See. Didn’t even defend you. It’s like he doesn’t give a shit about what’s between your ears, only what’s between your thighs.”
“Jade is my girl.” Larc wrapped an arm around her shoulders and, with a sharp tug, pulled her body against him. “I like all of her.”
“How… romantic.” I winced with a tight smile.
“What do you want Zara?” Jade finally spoke with a hiss. Arms folded; she wore a wide-necked shirt with an overlaid corset. I’d seen the flowing skirt as she’d walked in, it's emerald, green complimenting her dark features, but I’m sure Larc was thankful for its accessibility.
Tilting my head, I smiled, blinking innocently. “What? I can’t show up uninvited around you. You do it so often to me, I thought it was our thing.”
“During lesson time, I’m obligated to see you,” Jade spoke through grit teeth. “But this is the weekend, which means I don’t have to see you, at all.”
“Ah, my bad.” I shrugged. “So anyway, my question; where might one find a dead body?”
“Pretty damn close if you don’t move soon,” Larc growled under his breath, drawing my gaze.
“Why, are you offering to be put down?” I hissed back, baring my teeth.
Cas had made this clear enough for me. The Academy was a series of challenges, of bravo and acumen. Those who came out on top were those who dared, and I was done backing down from a chihuahua.
Larc bared his teeth, but Jade cut in before he could bark. “Why do you want to know? Did you kill someone or something?”
Changing my expression in a flash, I smiled at the fairy, “Not yet. I’m just wondering where I might go because when I do, I’ll want to pay my condolences.” I paused. “And drop off a squeaky toy for afterlife fetch.”
Now the whole table growled, and I couldn’t lie, it sent shivers of excitement up my spine. I’d found a button and boy, did I like pushing it. Jade must have seen as much because she stood with a sudden flourish, leaning over the table. She could have pressed our noses together.
“The basement of the academy has cold boxes to slow decomposition. It’s mainly used for dissection during Undead classes.” She snapped, “Now leave.”
Slowly standing, I took my time, picking a grape off the pile between us. “Thank you, Jade. You know, maybe you’re not the worst Ally in the history of existence after all. But not by much.”
Her face dropped, scowling with the force of thunder, but stepping out from the bench, I walked away. I had what I needed and enjoyed the process immensely.
I’d seen Cleo’s dead body. I’d seen the bruises on her neck. Counted fingerprints. One more look at her body and I knew I could prove it was murder, if not to anyone else, then at least to myself.
Because she was worthy. She was rememberable, and I’d be damned if anyone else forgot that.
◆◆◆
The basement wasn’t that hard to find, even if I hadn’t had a map. I found stairs that went down and kept going. With every flight, the air grew colder; the fires flickered out, and the sound of my steps echoed that much further. Everything you’d expect from a creepy basement.
As the stairs narrowed into a single flight and one long corridor, I came to a lonely room; the ceiling was made of vaulted arches that fell into pillars, the brickwork dusty with age. As Jade had promised, along one side was a bunch of freezers draws I recognised from every crime TV show ever, and I dashed over to them quickly.
Opening the first with ease, I gasped as the freezing air battered my chest, but scowled at the dark, empty interior. Moving to the draw below, I did the same, then the one above, then the next row and the next. But even as I reached the room’s end, every single one was empty. “What the fuck!”
“Problem, Love?”
Spinning on a heel, my gaze snapped to every shadow in the room until I snagged on one corner, finding the pale sheen of long fingers wiping themselves on a cloth. Stepping into the light, a row of pearly whites smiled wide enough that the tips of his fangs brushed his lower lip.
“You…” My lungs deflated as I took a step away from Nic.
“Me.” He cheered softly, making my gut plummet.
A devilish smile still in place, purple locks pulled back into a bun, the vampire stalked closer. Cheeks sharp like knives, jaw like a dagger’s edge, and gaze wickedly sharp, it was almost nice to see his nose had a slight crook to one side. Jumper sleeves rolled up, revealing his lavish brightly coloured ink, tattooed from knuckle to elbow. Tossing the cloth on a small island of tools, he moved to the wall of open draws and closed them, one by one.
“So glad you remember me.” Nic chuckled. “But this is not a place to study, and it is a Saturday. So why are you here?” His gaze dropped to my chest, my own eyes following as I found my nipples in two painful peeks. “Surely not to express your interest in me.”
I could feel my knees trembling, which had nothing to do with the cold.
Curiosity blazed in his eyes, but I felt Cas’s warm touch lifting my chin a little higher. I refused to fold my arms over my chest – refused to give him the satisfaction, and instead glared across the distance. “I’m looking for something and clearly, it’s not here. What about you? Searching for an upgrade to your coffin?”
Nic’s smile widened, though I saw his hands tighten on the doors. “Would you sleep in a slaughterhouse?” I frowned at his odd phrasing, shaking my head. “Then why would I sleep here?”
Regrettably, that made sense. “Then why are you down here?” I asked, finally folding my arms.
A sudden thought closed my throat. What if Jade had planned this? I wouldn’t put it past the bitch to send me down here, for snack time 2.0. Yet as I took a shaky step back, Nic growled.
“Mistress Lopez received word of my… lacking control the other day and thought a stint cleaning this hole was fitting justice.”
“You… you’re in detention?” I gaped; unsure I’d heard right. “But everyone’s been saying it’s my fault; that I ran from you.”
“Exactly!” Nic span, justified, and upon seeing my sneer, he sneered right back. “You also escaped, which Mistress Marina said is unbecoming of any fledgling vamp in her class. Especially to be taken out by a princess.” He hissed the words with almost as much disdain as I did, but I hardly noticed.
“Wait, your professor gave you detention because you failed to kill or… or capture me?”
Nic shrugged. “Obviously. No witness, no crime.” Shaking his head, he closed the last of the draws which I realised left him extremely close to me. Close enough to touch. “So, what were you looking for down here?” He breathed, eyes dropping to my lips, then my neck before lifting a single finger towards my collarbone.
But with a strike, Cas would have been proud of, I slapped it aside. “Touch me and they’ll be finding little bits of you for a week.” I hissed, throwing all my inner Buffy behind the words.
Surprise flickered behind Nic’s eyes as he stilled. Hitching half a lip, his gaze remained on mine, dipping no lower for a change. “Well, I’ll be. Every princess does have a death wish.”
Clenching my teeth, I took a step forward, pressing in until I was chest to chest with him, though my nose only just reached his chin. “Even if this princess did, she wouldn’t fall prey to a leach like you.”
I made damn sure I smacked into his shoulder as I forced my way towards the door. It was like hitting the corner of a building, but for what it was worth, he stumbled a bit. Keeping my head high, I didn’t look back, but more importantly, I didn’t run.
“She’s not down here.”
His voice stopped me in my tracks, and despite how my neck prickled, I turned slightly. “Who?”
“Cleo.” He gave me a knowing smile, hands deep in his pockets. “They returned her body to her family yesterday; just in case you came looking later when there wasn’t such a helpful leach around. Or one who’d already eaten.”
Watching his tongue dart over his fangs, I bit back my huff of annoyance. Of course, Cleo’s body was already gone. Why would it be that easy?
“But if this very full, very helpful leach was feeling generous, he might suggest where a princess might look to prove her case.” Nic slunk forward, his face half cast in shadow, turning his features predatory. “For a price?”
Fear licked my spine, but I refused to back down. Watching him carefully, I balled my hands into fists to stop them from trembling. “A price?”
Following my path with the grace of a shadow, he held up a solitary finger. “One drop.” He purred, “A dribble of your essence, provided as a gift, freely given by you…” His head tilted, smiling. “Agree and I’ll tell you where to look?”
Every cell in my body told me no. Every character from every film and TV show told me no. There was a hitch, a scheme, a vow, or an oath attached here. Had I learnt nothing from the hours of mindless watching with Derek, while Jocie was at work?
