Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning

FUCK, BLOOD MAGIC FELT good. Every time I did it, I swear the high got better. It was focusing that was the problem. Using dark magic was deadly. I could bleed out here before I’d even realised what was happening.

I drew my magic into the darkness surrounding me, pushing at the wall of shadow which wanted to take me with it. It tugged and lured and sang promises of pure bliss, but if I went that way, I’d never come back.

I felt Darius follow me through as I broke the barrier and a strange tickling feeling made me think for a moment that there was some other presence with us too.

As the sweet edge of the euphoric feeling in my veins eased off, my vision cleared and we found ourselves standing on a dark cobblestone street beside a tall fence. My heart ticked with recognition. I knew this old road. We were to the east of the Acrux manor, just beyond its walls. Which meant Lionel was expecting a visitor by stardust.

I could sense we were in the recent past, guided here by the connection he had to that tacky dragon ornament and the will of us both to find out what he was up to.

This was nothing but a shadow of time gone by. The edges of the world blurred like a haze and if I focused on one spot too long, it faded from my grasp. We only needed to wait here to find Lionel though. Darius stepped up beside me the moment his father rounded the corner ahead. Lionel marched along, his dark cloak whipping out behind him as he moved, his powerful frame haloed by the moon.

The atmosphere shimmered before him like stars and a tall man stepped out of it, sweeping a hand over his wavey black locks. I committed his face to memory in an instant; everything from his thin moustache to his curling upper lip. He wore a dark green overcoat and a knitted red scarf which spoke of a severe lack of fashion sense. He dipped his head, although the gesture came off slightly mocking. “Mr Acrux.”

“High Lord Acrux,” Lionel snarled. “Have you brought it? I didn’t get you into that school just to waste my time.” He held out his hand expectantly.

“And I didn’t strike up this alliance to waste my time,” the man growled in an equally dangerous tone.

“This is getting rather one-sided, Alejandro. What use are you if you and your worthless family don’t do as I ask?” Lionel sneered and Alejandro reached into his pocket.

He took out a thick envelope and my eyes narrowed as I recognised the Vega Twins’ personal file. I’d read it back to front before I’d gone to Earth to find them. It even had a coffee mug stain on it that I’d left there myself. Everything about their birthright was in that document. And it certainly didn’t belong in the hands of Lionel Acrux. It had been locked up tight in Nova’s office.

“Here.” Alejandro thrust it at Lionel and I wished I could step into this memory for real and intervene before his hand closed around it. I didn’t know what he could learn from it that would assist him, but my gut said it was nothing good.

I looked to Darius and my heart hit top speed as I spotted Tory goddamn Vega standing behind him.

Her eyes locked with mine, her face as pale as a ghost’s. She stared at me, then looked to Darius and the men beyond, looking totally baffled as to why she was here. That makes two of us!

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” I bellowed, making both her and Darius jump. The memory swirled like mist then something crashed into my cheek, sending a spike of pain blooming through my skull.

Another blow came and I blinked, jerked violently out of the vision, finding Darcy on top of me, her reddened palm raised to slap me again.

“Fucking – what? What is happening?!” I roared, snatching her hand before she could hit me again. Her eyes sparkled with tears and some of them had spilled down her cheeks. A thousand terrifying worries crashed through me as I realised she was straddling me in a cave she had absolutely no way of getting into. Not without-

My mouth parted in complete horror as I saw it on the ground. The dagger. Darius’s dagger. And beside it was Tory, her arm wrapped in Darcy’s jacket surrounded by a huge puddle of blood.

“Help her!” Darcy begged, scrambling off of me and dragging me over to her sister. I threw a glance at Darius, the Leo mark on my arm pulsing strangely as he awoke from the vision. 

His eyes snapped to Tory and he swore, diving forward and pulling her into his arms. “Lance!” he demanded.

I dropped to my knees beside him, cursing between my teeth as I snatched Darcy’s jacket away and found the deep wounds on her hand and arm.

“How did this happen?” I barked at Darcy, resting my hands to her sister’s skin and healing her with every ounce of magic I had.

A royal Vega Heir is not going to die in my hands. Not here. Not in this fucking place. And not with a wound that can only be explained by one goddamn thing.

Darcy held her other hand, pressing her fingers to her neck to feel for a pulse. She buckled forward when she felt one, but I could hear it anyway, drumming softer and softer by the second. My stomach yanked and tugged as I tried to block out the desperate pain on Darcy’s face and focus on saving her sister.

“That dagger did this,” Darcy said, shaking her head at me. At. Me.

“She did it to herself. Do you have any idea how dangerous that dagger is?” I snapped and Darcy glared back at me, setting her jaw.

“Clearly, you asshole,” she snarled and I bit down on a retort. When Tory was sound and fucking well, then they’d get the full force of my rage. And they were going to seriously regret laying a finger on that dagger.

If they were the ones who took it, that means…

“Focus!” Darius shouted at me and I looked up to find sheer panic in his eyes, his mind clearly not on anything but the girl in his arms.

“I am,” I promised, healing magic pouring from me in waves and digging out the last of my power reserves.

Tory dragged in a breath as her wounds healed beneath my hand. I looked up and my gaze rammed into Darcy’s. 

“Where did you get the dagger, Blue?” My voice was a deadly soft trap to lure her in and she nervously avoided my gaze, leaning down to check on her sister. Darius hugged her to his chest, his eyes shut as he concentrated on pulling her consciousness back to her body, clearly unaware of what we were saying.

“Where?” I snarled and her gaze finally flipped up to meet mine again, her lower lip quivering with anger or fear. Maybe both.

“You know exactly where,” she whispered. “But are you really in a position to punish us after what we’ve just seen you doing, Lance?”