Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys

Three months in the Mortal Realm and I was finally getting close to my goal. The crystal in my hand hummed with the energy of a nearby Vega and I waited for her to appear with a prickling sensation rolling down my neck. This one was Gwendalina, or Darcy as she was named here. The crystal recognised each of them in turn and the differing vibrations in my palm told me which of them was approaching. I could practically hear her name whispered by the crystal, it was something intangible, on the edges of my consciousness. I could feel her. And it didn’t feel like a heavy cloak of darkness wrapping around me the way I’d expected, it felt like sunshine in my palm.

A couple of Tarot readings and a little nudge from my friend Gabriel after he’d called me last night had led me here today, standing outside some guy’s house as rain drizzled lightly around me and I kept it back from my skin with the most subtle air magic I could conjure. Though honestly mortals were sceptical enough of the world that if I stood here on a gust of air and did fifty backflips while conjuring a water horse, someone would find a way to discredit it. They’d write it off as some trick or illusion. Technically I wasn’t allowed to cast in front of mortals, but also technically I’d never been one for following the rules.

It took a lot of skill to break the law multiple times a week alongside the son of the most ruthless Councillor in Solaria. But we managed it, partly as a fuck you to the grand old Dragon Lord, slightly because we wanted to hunt Nymphs – which was another layer of illegal in itself – but mostly because we had a score to settle with said Dragon Lord, and I was working to give Darius Acrux an edge against his father when the time came to unseat him from the Council.

Of course, Lionel Acrux had been trained in dark magic by my own mother and father so really I was just repaying the favour in kind to his son to make sure he could face whatever his asshole father threw at him. We were only playing as fair as Lionel was, so who gave a fuck if it was illegal? Breaking the law only mattered if you got caught. Which I didn’t plan on doing. Because that would land my ass in Darkmore Penitentiary and screw ever going there. That place was a death sentence in itself, so if I had to die in my attempt to destroy Lionel Acrux, at least let it be outside in the free, star damned air.

My fingers buzzed as the energy in the crystal grew more frantic and my mind daggered back onto my task. And more specifically, my problem. Because ensuring Darius sat his ass on the Council had been my one purpose worth living for these past years, since I’d been bound to him as his Guardian and forced to give up my life in pursuit of Darius’s future. And the only comfort in that was that I’d one day see Lionel fall at Darius’s hands, and know that I’d been responsible for that in some way, helped hone his Elemental magic and taught him in the ways of dark magic so he became the most fearsome opponent Lionel had ever faced.

But now…fucking now, there was an issue with that plan. The kind of issue that no one could have predicted, apparently not even the greatest Seers in the land had seen it coming. At least not until the Vegas had turned eighteen and their magical signature had stirred into existence, then every Seer in the kingdom had felt it. The shift in fate. The huge fissure metaphorically ripping up the centre of our world and changing everything.

The Vega twins were alive, the two girls born of the old king and queen of Solaria and thought to have been lost in the fire that devoured their parents after they were murdered by Nymphs. I swear I’d felt it too, waking in the early hours of the morning on the eleventh of June as the stars seemed to whisper something in my mind which I couldn’t understand, but I’d known without having to decipher the words that it was crucially important. I hadn’t slept another wink that night, speaking with Darius who’d been roused too, plagued by nightmares of fire and death.

The next day it had been announced that their magical signatures had been detected in the Mortal Realm and the Councillors had called a meeting to decide how to proceed. But I’d known from the moment it was declared that this would happen. They’d be found and brought to Solaria to train because that was the law. And even if it hadn’t been, the Councillors could hardly ignore the raving lunatic royalists who’d partied in the streets like wild animals when the news of the Vegas’ continued existence had been announced. I swear to the fucking moon, if I had to watch one more news report of a royalist rejoicing by stripping their clothes off and shaking their tits or cock at the camera, I was gonna kill myself.

Anyway, Lionel had thought it would be a great idea to elect me to be the one to fetch the Vegas so I could ‘suss them out’ for him. And now it had been three star-damned months since I’d started hunting the Mortal Realm -specifically the entire state of Illinois – for the two changelings twins who were about to alter the history of my world. So that was my summer gone, and I’d be back to teaching little assholes at Zodiac Academy tomorrow.

Today was my last day to get my hands on the twins and I’d finally pinpointed their location, so I needed to get hold of them ASAP and drag them to their Awakening tonight.

“Come on, where are you, you little life-wrecker?” I muttered under my breath.

My gaze was fixed on the road, the heightened sight of my Vampire Order making my eyes twitch onto anything that moved, from the yawning cat across the street to the squirrel moving up in the tree above it and shaking its tail aggressively.

A flash of blue in my periphery made my head whip sideways and I frowned as I spotted the back of a girl with blue-tipped hair as she ran through a garden to my left. She made it to the open window of the house I’d been watching, reached up and started hauling herself inside. Her sneakers kicked against the wall and she growled angrily as she fought to get up, her head disappearing through the window as I sidestepped to get a better look at her.

Her ass wiggled left to right as her hips got stuck in the tight gap – an ass that was drawing way too much of my attention. My fangs prickled as they extended and I ran my tongue over them, fighting down that carnal urge in me. It was just a reaction to her power level, I was sure, so I wasn’t gonna think much into that. Besides, why shouldn’t I take a bite out of a Vega? They weren’t going to be helpless for long, so why not make the most of it while it lasted?

Probably better get them to class before I went about savaging them though. I was supposed to be a professional after all.

A police siren droned in my ears and I worked to tune out the blare of it, my senses too sharp when it came to noises like that.

The girl all but fell inside the house and my eyebrows arched. What the fuck is she up to?

I walked alongside the house and used a concealment spell to drag the shadows closer around me as I slipped through the front gate and headed up to the window to peer inside. Was this Vega a little thief?

The police sirens drew closer and one glance sideways said they were about to pull up, so I put on a burst of speed and shot away to the garden, vaulting the fence and darting behind the cover of a tall tree. I wasn’t supposed to use my Order gifts like that, but I also didn’t have a single fuck to spare on the matter.

A cop ran up to the door and battered the thing down with a couple of his friends and I cursed. The first day I catch up to one of the Vegas and she pulls some dodgy theft and gets arrested?

Yeah…no. That wasn’t gonna happen. I wasn’t going to return to Solaria empty handed. Again.

My Atlas buzzed in my pocket and I took it out, finding a message from Gabriel. I’d asked him to keep an eye on my fate today and it looked like it had paid off. He was a good friend and one of the best Seers in the kingdom. We’d met several years ago while I’d been studying at Zodiac and he’d been sent here on a field trip from his own academy. I’d ended up being drugged with a lust potion by a fangirl and he’d looked after me – after the potion had made me try to suck his cock. Damn, me and him were unlucky with shit like that, but we’d weirdly bonded over it. I was still sworn to secrecy over the second time someone had tried to drug me and Gabriel had ended up as the victim. He said if I ever told anyone what had happened to his dick that day, he’d kill me. But he knew he could trust me. Still made me laugh whenever I thought about it though.

Noxy:

Vision unclear, but you need to take the cash, Orio.

What cash?

“Hey – stop!” a female cop called.

My head snapped up as the thump of footfalls sounded this way and I glanced out past the tree as the cop chased Darcy Vega across the grass. The girl was already on her knees by the fence with a wad of cash stuffed into the back of her belt as she started clambering through a hole beneath it that looked like it had been dug by an animal. The cop was gaining on her, powering her arms back and forth like a superhero.

“I need this money – it’s not even his!” Darcy cried just before the cop grabbed her ankles and started trying to haul her back.

That’s my Vega, bitch.

I shot out of my hiding place, cursing this day as the money tumbled free of Darcy’s belt and fell everywhere.

“No!” Darcy shouted in anguish.

“Sarge!” the cop cried for backup as I came up behind her, her body falling into my large shadow.

“Let go of her,” I commanded, using Coercion to make her listen.

The cop immediately released the girl and Darcy scrambled away under the fence before kicking it in fury.

I scooped up her cash before she could even think about trying to get hold of it again and I pushed it into my pocket.

I looked over the fence as shouts sounded behind me and I was forced to run away in a blur of speed, vaulting through gardens and trying to keep my eye on the blue tipped hair of the Vega running through the trees to my left. I finally made it to those trees and rushed into the shadows, casting a silencing bubble around me to keep my movements hidden.

But as I looked around, I couldn’t see where the fuck she’d gone.

Fate’s closing in on you, Darcy Vega. You can’t outrun me.

***

I’d followed the humming of my crystal to a rundown part of the city and now I was sitting in a bus shelter as I waited for one of the twins to appear again, twisting a Tarot card between my fingers as a sleeping drunk guy who stank of beer and piss sat beside me. The crystal was only good enough to get me into the general area they were in and as their power level was so strong, it couldn’t help me lock down a location more specifically than this.

Fuck this day. Fuck this job for that matter. Even though my life had been stolen from me a long time ago, I had still never gotten used to being Lionel Acrux’s skivvy. Some Fae were cut out for being subservient but I certainly wasn’t one of them. I’d dreamed of ruling my own life since I was a kid. It had been bad enough when my mother had expected me to join the illegal family business of assisting the Acruxes with any and every dark magic need they could desire, but to now be forced into it and work as a professor of all the star damned things, just so I could keep an eye on Darius, it was soul destroying. Literally. Because my soul was in pieces since that magical bond had been forced upon me and the constant urge to protect Darius at my own detriment now lived in me like a foreign body. It was a succubus feeding on my life force, and sure I loved Darius as a friend, and sure, I wanted to protect him in a normal he’s-my-best-friend kind of way. But I hadn’t planned on giving up my free will for the guy, or tolerating a single second more of his father’s bullshit than I had to.

I’d had a chance to play for the Solarian Pitball League. I had literally been on track to be a star and I’d given up so much during my time studying at Zodiac Academy because of that. I’d missed out on partying, on drinking with friends, on having friends. I mean, yeah, I was a Vampire and solitude was one of my favourite things anyway. But maybe I could have had…more. Now any chance of more had been well and truly flushed away by Lionel, and any sadness I’d felt about missing out on drinking was forgotten considering I was potentially a borderline alcoholic these days.

A punk of a Pegasus had broken into my office last term and stolen a bottle of bourbon from my desk. Suffice to say, the little asshole had triggered my magical alarms and I’d thrown his ass in detention, making him roll in Griffin shit in his boxers until he broke out in an unbearable rash. But he’d already managed to sink most of my bourbon before I got there. That was around about the time I’d realised I might have a drinking problem.

A sheet of rain had swept through the city and it was persistently damp now as I sat impatiently there in the shelter and darkness began to fall. The drunk jerked awake with a hiccup, then lifted an old beer can still clutched in his hand to his lips, shaking out the final drops of it into his gaping mouth. My gaze slid firmly back to the road as I rolled the crystal within my palm, the low, thrumming sensation of it telling me both twins were close. But where?

Together, their magical signatures felt like night and day, coinciding in perfect harmony with one another, like they couldn’t exist apart. The sensation was warm and cool at once, and they didn’t feel like Solaria’s utter and catastrophic downfall – which was what I’d expected. These were the children of the Savage King, daughters of cruelty, oppression, murder. Their family name left a bitter taste in my mouth and I wasn’t going to be fooled by the feel of them. The Savage King’s magical signature could have felt like kitten kisses and cotton candy for all I knew. Didn’t mean he wasn’t a raging motherfucker who’d ruled with an iron fist and made the entire kingdom fear him.

“Saw a cat over there this morning,” the drunk slurred as he pointed across the road and I offered him a hard glare which warned him that I was not in the mood for conversation. I enjoyed talking with very few people in this life as it was and I loathed small talk with strangers. Especially drunk ones who stank of piss. “It looked like you.” He jerked his chin at me and my scowl deepened. “That’s the look it gave me!” He gestured at my face and my fangs prickled with the urge to rip his throat out so I didn’t have to listen to his rambling a second longer. “It had the most angry face I ever saw. And I thought, that cat’s unhappy, he is. He’s sad inside.”

“Stop talking,” I commanded, using Coercion to solve my problem and his next words died in his throat. Mortals were putty in my hands; it was far too easy to manipulate them. Which was why we had strict laws in place that forbid us from doing so. Last year, a mortal trafficking ring had been exposed in eastern Solaria. They’d been kidnapped from this realm and were being Coerced into sexual slavery for Fae. Fucking twisted. Mortals couldn’t even survive in our realm for that long, so that story had taken an even darker turn when the FIB had uncovered the first mass grave.

My kind had the capability to be evil. It lived in us all. Our entire society was built on gaining power and we were all easily swayed into claiming it over weaker Fae than ourselves. I guessed mortals were a tempting place to gain a power high when your magic wasn’t strong and you were beat down by Fae with superior gifts daily. A lot of the assholes involved in the trafficking ring had been weaklings, half had ended up in Darkmore Penitentiary, half had died during the raids. I hope they’d been screaming when they went. There was nothing that sickened me more than a Fae who abused their power. I guessed that was because I knew what it was like to be crushed beneath the heel of someone I couldn’t win against. And Lionel Acrux was the epitome of an abuser. He beat his son black and blue to try and forge him into the image of himself, but Darius wasn’t like him, no matter how much he wanted him to be.

As darkness fell entirely and the drunk got on a bus at last, the door of the apartment block across the street opened and Roxanya, AKA Tory, stepped outside in an oversized leather jacket and what looked like men’s jeans and biker boots. The energy shifted within the crystal in my palm as she crossed the street and I tugged my hood up, using magic to draw the shadows closer around me. Her magical signature invaded the crystal until all I could feel was what felt like the cool kiss of the moon against my palm. It was strange how two twins could feel so different, but I supposed all siblings were unique in their own ways. My sister had been the opposite of me. Optimistic, funny, playful – fuck, I miss her.

Tory jogged off down the street and I stood up, heading after her at a distance and running my thumb over the crystal like I was trying to urge something else out of it. I was partial to the night considering my Order was linked to the moon, but for some reason I missed the touch of sunshine in my palm and the warmth of her sister’s presence. I ignored that odd feeling and followed Tory as she walked a few blocks. Her headphones were in and her head bobbed occasionally with whatever she was listening to and I internally rolled my eyes at her. Did this girl have a death wish? She was walking through a rough part of town at night and anyone could have come up behind her with a knife. Or sharp teeth.

She eventually turned into a multistorey carpark, pulling up her hood and ducking her head as she walked straight beneath a security camera. I flicked my fingers, using a gust of air to snap the camera clean off the wall and gently lowered it onto a grassy verge as I followed Tory inside. My vague plan was to corner her, explain she was a lost Fae princess who needed to come with me tonight to her Awakening then go pick up her sister along the way and get going. It was either that or kidnap them, but that was a plan B I’d only resort to if I had to. I had specific orders from the Councillors to ‘be professional.’ Which was bullshit, but whatever. I’d give it one good attempt, but either way they were coming with me tonight because I was done with the Mortal Realm. I couldn’t feel the stars here in the way I could in Solaria, and with each passing day my magic felt harder to grasp. It was taking its toll on me and I needed to go home before I got ill. I’d probably spent more time here than I ever should in my lifetime.

I lost sight of Tory but there was only one place she could have headed so I started walking up the ramps to the higher levels, the crystal in my hand urging me toward her.

As I rounded onto the third level, a blonde woman in a tiny pink dress, high heels and fishnet stockings stumbled out of an elevator and her eyes landed on me. “Well hey there, cowboy, you looking for a ride on a wild pony?”

“No,” I said simply, walking towards the next ramp, but she jogged after me, laughing raucously like I’d said something particularly funny. I wasn’t sure what exactly was funny about my dismissive refusal, but each to their own.

“I guess a pretty boy like you has a wife waiting at home for him, huh? But what are you doing out so late without her? Are you looking for trouble?” she asked, trying to take my arm but I just quickened my pace so she couldn’t. As a Vampire, I could move faster than the wind if I wanted to, but I could also walk consistently at the pace of a late commuter without breaking a sweat.

“Come on, two hundred for the night,” she offered, breaking into a jog to try and catch me.

The roar of an engine sounded and I cursed as I rounded the next ramp and shrank back into the shadows just before Tory came speeding past me on a motorcycle, tearing down the ramp at high speed.

The hooker came running up the ramp toward me and I growled in frustration. “Shut your eyes,” I commanded the girl and her eyes stamped closed immediately. I put on a burst of Vampire speed and tore back down through the parking lot, following the humming of the crystal in my palm as I raced after Tory Vega.

Fuck this night.

I raced through the city in a blur after her on that motorcycle, moving fast enough so as not to be seen, knowing this was breaking a bunch of rules but not giving a shit anymore. I needed to get hold of the Vega twins and take them to Solaria soon or I was gonna lose it.

I finally reached a bar where Tory’s energy hummed louder within the crystal and I slowed to a halt in a dark alley across the street.

I crossed the road, walking past the row of motorcycles outside and shoving the door open. It was like one of those moments in the movies where everyone looks up and knows you’re entirely out of place there. But did I give a fuck? Not one. Because I was the most deadly creature in the room, even if I was wearing a nice shirt.

My fangs pricked my tongue as huge biker dudes with tattoos on their tattoos glared at me over their beers. I walked straight up to the barman, ignoring them all and walking over to Tory Vega who was throwing back a tequila shot, her baggy outfit now changed out for something far more clingy and showing off a lot more skin.

Finally.

“Can I have a word with you?” I asked, fighting to keep my tone polite when all I wanted to do after this long ass three months was throw her over my shoulder and toss her into a cloud of stardust, sending her all the way to her new life. But I guessed I could spend my very last aura of patience on trying this the nice way.

“Are you lost?” she asked with a smirk. She looked me up and down, clearly thinking what everyone else in the bar was as I studied her pretty features and the suspicion in her green eyes. This was my enemy. She may have been small, but that meant nothing when you were Fae. The power residing within her veins made my throat burn with the need to drink from her, but I reckoned that was a surefire way to scare her off for good. And as I had a job to do…

“No. I’ve found exactly what I’m looking for,” I replied, trying to tune out the droning heavy metal music which was playing havoc with my heightened senses.

“Good for you. I’ll see you around.” She started to walk away from me but that was gonna be a fuck no, so I grabbed her arm.

“What the hell do you think you’re-” she started.

“Take a seat with me,” I Coerced her, done with asking nicely. 

She instantly dropped into a chair by the bar and I sat down beside her, releasing her arm. She had absolutely zero mental shields, and though I’d expected that, it still took me by surprise. Even without magic, Fae were taught young to work on mental blocks that helped them fight against Coercion, but this girl seemed to have zero ability to resist me. That was gonna make their time at the academy hell until they could figure it out. Pity.

I felt the bartender looking between me and Tory and I resolutely ignored him as I gave this pain in my ass my full attention.

“You drinking tonight then, Tory?” the bartender asked as he filled another shot of tequila for her.

“I think I’ll give it a miss after the events of last weekend,” she said and I guessed that meant she was a regular here. This kind of looked like a place where dreams came to die – and I’d know all about places like that. 

The bartender leaned closer like he was settling in for a chat. “Well one of these days I might-”

“Leave,” I commanded in irritation and the guy instantly headed to the far end of the bar.

Tory raised an eyebrow at me. “I think that’s my cue too,” she said, hopping down from her seat and slipping back between the crowd of leather-clad bodies just like that.

“Give me the fucking strength, stars,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes and shoving out of my own seat. I pushed after her through the crowd, moving with a spurt of speed while no one was looking and snatching hold of her arm. I wasn’t letting go this time. I had the Vegas in my sights at last and I’d be taking them back to Solaria kicking and screaming if I had to.

“We need to talk,” I growled, but it didn’t look like she heard me over the loud music.

“Back the fuck off,” she snapped, twisting her arm out of my grip and disappearing into the throng of bodies again. A few assholes overheard her and stepped into my path, cracking their knuckles like goons as if they really thought they were about to give me a beat down. It was laughable really.

“Get out of my way,” I snarled, my voice ringing with magic and they all scarpered like cowering mice. I strode through the gap that had opened up for me, hunting for Tory as my fangs sharpened in fury. That’s it. I’m done.

I strode through the bar to the exit, throwing the door open as my upper lip twitched with the urge to peel back on a snarl. But showing a bunch of mortals my fangs probably wasn’t the best idea, so I kept my inner Fae in check as I headed onto the street and my gaze locked on Tory on the back of some dude’s bike.

“Stop!” I roared, trying to Coerce the guy driving, but he loosed the throttle at the same time so my voice was lost to the roar of the engine. A snarl really did escape me then and I marched across the street into the shadows before sprinting after her with my Vampire speed, tearing along the roads in a blur that I just had to hope no one could see.

The guy dropped her off a block away from her home and I followed her all the way back to her apartment. I waited in the darkness of someone’s porch while she unlocked the door then shot up behind her, figuring I finally had her cornered and I wasn’t gonna fuck it up this time. They were both gonna hear me out and if they didn’t like what I had to say, well tough shit. That wasn’t my problem.

“We didn’t finish our chat,” I called to Tory, knowing I was gonna freak her out but at this point I didn’t give a damn. She looked back, her eyes widening with fear at finding me right there behind her and the pounding of her heart reached my ears.

Proving she didn’t actually have a death wish in this city, she turned and fled up the stairs.

I walked calmly after her, kicking the door closed and carving my fingers through my hair. I was tired and pissed off, and I didn’t wanna be here in the first place. So now this was gonna be done in asshole mode. Which happened to be my default setting.

I shot up the stairs, my mouth watering as she continued to run and the urge to hunt her burrowed into my core. It was damn tempting, but entirely against the Vampire Code and I’d probably be thrown in prison for it considering who these girls were.

“Stop!” I called, Coercing her to do so and she did. For all of two seconds anyway, then she fought it off and kept running.

I arched a brow, kinda impressed by that considering she had zero training but then my mood sharpened to rage again because for fuck’s sake, I was getting tired of this game.

I put on a burst of speed and shot up behind her, slapping my hand over her mouth to stifle her scream. In that moment, the urge to feed reared up in me like a beast. I’d caught my prey. I got to eat. That was only fair.

I gritted my jaw, fighting hard against that instinct and taking a slow breath.

Don’t bite her. Keep your shit together.

I swallowed down the jagged lump in my throat and fought away the thirst, but the strength of her power tugged on the instinctual needs of my Order and begged me to devour every drop of her blood.

No. I’m not doing it. I’m not a slave to my thirst.

“I’m Professor Orion. I’m not going to hurt you and you’re not going to scream. You want to let me in.” I released her and stepped back as she stared up at me, fear bright in her eyes, but she was caught in my snare now, the power of the Coercion I used leaving no room for her to wriggle out of it this time.

She opened her mouth as if she was going to refuse my command, then shoved her key in the lock and turned it.

“Come in,” she said sweetly. Better.

I stepped close to her in case she somehow got it into her head to run off again, knowing these Vegas must have been immensely powerful even if they didn’t know it yet. I offered her a flat smile as I followed her inside and pushed the door closed behind me, casting ice within the lock for good measure to keep it shut tight. While Tory wasn’t looking, I took the rock from my pocket which was concealing my satchel with my notes in it and removed the magical cast keeping it hidden, slinging the satchel over my shoulder.

I took in the tiny, rundown apartment with a sweeping look then my gaze moved almost involuntarily to the girl curled up on the couch watching TV. Her head whipped around and her eyes fell on me and her sister, making my heart bunch up into my throat. The prickling in my fangs grew immediately more demanding and the urge to feed from her was almost impossible to fight off. Facially, she was the same as her sister in every way, the only difference between them the blue tipped ends of her hair, and yet…

My gaze roamed over the crease between her eyes as she frowned at us, then my attention shifted to her lips as she wet them. Full. Pink. Appetising – fuck, stop it.

This girl was beautiful in a way that ran somehow deeper than her skin, in a way I could feel. She took me in with equal scrutiny and for a moment it felt like we were two animals about to rip into each other’s flesh. No, it was something other than that. It wasn’t a fight I wanted, my cock was stirring in my pants and a possessive growl was building in my throat. Both Vegas were attractive, but something about this one was mesmerising. I couldn’t for the life of me tear my eyes away from her.

“Hell no.” Darcy stood up, giving me the opportunity to study the pyjamas she was wearing which were covered with fluffy bunnies. My lips twitched as my fangs tingled harder. She looked like one of those rabbits, innocent, wide-eyed, just like my prey. Yet something told me what lived in her was purely feral and not easily tamed. “Go to his place, Tor, are you crazy? Are you really expecting me to clear out so you can defile our only bed?”

Great. She thinks I’m here to fuck her sister.

Not that it matters what she thinks. She’s going to be my student as of tomorrow.

Tory shook her head. “Obviously not. This guy just…well he wanted to come in alright?”

“And that’s acceptable why?” Darcy asked in utter confusion and amusement ran through me. This was quite fun actually. She was too fucking cute getting all angry while wearing those ridiculous pyjamas.

“What are you staring at?” Darcy demanded, addressing me for the first time and my eyebrows arched. The bunny girl bites.

“I thought I was coming here to collect a couple of eighteen-year-olds. Must have gotten the wrong apartment, little bunny.” I chuckled, enjoying the way her cheeks pinked and she started getting flustered. I could hear her rampant heartbeat from here. And it was making me hungry.

Her eyes fell to the pyjamas she was wearing and her cheeks blazed with more blood. Blood I wanted to know the taste of. No, I needed to know the taste of it. Did it taste like her magical signature felt? Was her blood liquid sunshine? Warm and so fucking inviting that keeping myself from it right now was the biggest chore I’d ever faced. Feeding from this girl would be the eighth deadly sin, but fuck if I wanted to commit it.

“Who the hell are you? And why are you in my home insulting me?” Darcy looked to her sister again and Tory gave her an apologetic shrug before turning to face me.

Darcy moved to join her, slipping off the couch and standing shoulder to shoulder with her twin, giving me a chance to compare them up close. I gazed down at the two little thorns in my side and wondered if I was standing in front of the biggest threat to ever face Solaria. I was caught off guard by how much I didn’t instantly hate them. And I hated everyone, so that was saying something,

“You were getting me a drink,” I shot at Tory and she promptly walked into the kitchen and poured me a glass of water, giving me an opportunity to study Darcy up close. What was it about this one that was so alluring? My instincts were going haywire and my throat was burning with the thirst. I hadn’t fed in too long, that’s what it was.

Darcy stared at me with equal ferocity then her brow pinched as realisation crossed her features. “You’re a cop. You were there today.”

“Where exactly?” I asked innocently, liking the way my mere presence seemed to rile her up into a storm.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” She pointed at me as her heart rate picked up even further and I liked that I was affecting her like this. Though I definitely shouldn’t have been thinking the thoughts crossing my mind about her. That blue hair would look so fucking good wrapped around my fist.

By the stars, she’s gonna be your damn student, idiot.

Tory returned, thrusting the water into my hand with a strained expression as she tried to fight off my Coercion and Darcy frowned at her, clearly sensing her unusual behaviour.

I offered her a word of thanks then tipped the water into my mouth, hoping it might do something to shift the ache for blood from my throat. I drained every last drop, each time I swallowed hoping it would weaken the bloodlust a little, but as I finished it and placed the glass down on the kitchen counter, I found myself even more bloodthirsty than before.

Maybe I just need some space.

“I’ve been chasing around after you two all day.” I strode to the couch, throwing myself down onto the spot Darcy had vacated and stacking my hands on my stomach.

“Just leave Tory out of this. I was the one who took the cash,” Darcy said, worry lining her voice and I thought it was pretty funny she believed I was a cop when I was a lawbreaker through and through. You have no idea what I’m capable of, princess.

“Except you didn’t get the cash, you dropped it,” Tory pointed out and I smirked.

“You mean this cash?” I lifted my ass and tugged the wad of money out of my back pocket, waving it above my head.

Tory strode over and snatched it out of my hand, perching on the coffee table before me as she counted every last note.

When she was satisfied it was all there, she looked up at me with an icy glare and I saw a glint of Fae in her. Nothing that would give me nightmares though. On the whole, the Savage King’s daughters seemed pretty un-savage if I was being honest. And as I looked around their crappy apartment, I started to feel uncomfortable. This place was a shithole and they were royalty. If they’d been raised by their parents, they would have been richer than every Fae in Solaria. They would have known wealth unlike anything they could even imagine. They wouldn’t have been counting out that cash like it was the thing that provided them life itself.

I’d been building a file on them while I was here, going through their hospital records, their foster homes, building up a picture in my mind of the life they’d led. And honestly, it was a shitty one that I wouldn’t have wished on any kid. I didn’t wanna feel sorry for them, because they were about to be on the other side of a war I’d be firmly their enemy in. But witnessing the hell they’d been enduring was unsettling.

“So what do you want?” Tory demanded. “People don’t just hand cash over unless they want something for it, Mr Orion.”

“Professor,” I corrected, figuring it was best to set the boundaries now. Especially as I was still thinking about little miss bunny pyjamas in my periphery and what her body might look like beneath all that baggy material.

“How old are you?” Darcy asked.

“Old enough to be a professor.” My eyes whipped back onto her and I was instantly snared in her trap again. Maybe she was a Siren, her Order about to emerge, and she was somehow wielding her powers over me already, drawing me in and becoming a dark desire I couldn’t ignore. Sure, I’m gonna go with that.

Darcy moved to stand before the couch, folding her arms as she waited for an explanation.

She looked stern, but she was exuding fear too, uncertainty, and she kept looking at me in a way I couldn’t quite understand. But I had a feeling it was the exact same way I kept looking at her.

“You’re going to listen to me and remain calm and collected,” I said in a powerful tone to Coerce them and make sure this went off without a hitch now I had them cornered.

Darcy nodded easily and fuck, I liked that. I liked it too much, having her obey me. She was a princess, daughter to a man I despised, my mortal enemy right here in the flesh. And I owned her in that moment.

She dropped down beside Tory on the coffee table and they both gave me their full attention. At last.

I beamed at them satisfactorily, preparing to pop their sad little poor life bubble and thrust them into a world of unimaginable riches, fame, and more enemies than they could shake a stick at. One of which was me, because I was firmly team Heirs – despite how some of them irritated me – and even more firmly team Darius Acrux.

“Since your eighteenth birthday, you have both been giving off a signature that my kind can sense from a world away. Literally.” I paused, letting those odd words sink in. Darcy opened her mouth to ask a question but I held up a hand to stop her, continuing on before they could start freaking out. “I will explain, just keep calm.”

Darcy nodded and I took one torturously long moment studying her mouth. By the moon, that mouth.

“Go on,” Tory encouraged. Right yeah, the stuff and things I have to say.

I leaned back in my seat, rubbing a hand across the back of my neck. “I’m not a beat-around-the-bush kinda guy, so here it is: you’re not human. You’re Fae. Which means you have an unawakened power in you defined by the stars themselves. You belong in Solaria: a mirror world of earth where Fae rule. Are we keeping up?” Amusement simmered through me at dropping the bomb just like that. Maybe I was enjoying rattling the Savage King’s twins just a little.

They both shared a look that confirmed they thought I belonged in an insane asylum so I just continued on, figuring they’d either believe me or they wouldn’t but when I dropped their asses off at Zodiac Academy, they’d likely get the message.

“You’re both Gemini,” I stated. “Hot-headed, hence the Coercion I’ve used on you to keep this all running smoothly. Especially as we’re already running late,” I muttered, lifting my wrist to check my watch. I really was pushing the limits now. Their Awakening was due to start any minute.

“Gemini…as in the star sign?” Tory asked.

“Precisely,” I said. Ah good, they’re not absolute morons. “Gemini is an air sign so once your powers are Awakened you’ll-”

“Hang on,” Darcy spoke over me and my fingers itched with the urge to punish her for that. If she’d done so in my classroom, I would have made her pay severely for it. As it was, I supposed I could be lenient this once. She’d soon learn I was not to be fucked with anyway. Of course, then my treacherous mind ran to the dangerous place where my punishments involved me pushing her down on my desk and spanking her ass raw, and I cursed myself internally.

What the fuck’s the matter with me?

“Do you really expect us to believe we have powers? Like magic?” Darcy scoffed.

“Honestly? I don’t care what you believe. But I have a job to do and part of that job is explaining this to you. Frankly, I’d rather not waste my breath as you’re going to find out soon enough anyway,” I said, my tone sharp enough to cut through glass and her eyes narrowed on me like she wanted to rise to the challenge in my voice. Come at me, little Fae, I’ll show you what real power looks like.

“What does that mean?” Tory asked with a frown.

“It means I’ve been trying to speak with you all day, but apparently breaking and entering and stealing motorbikes was on your agendas so I’ve been running around after you like a dog. And I really don’t like chasing people about so let’s just say I’m not in the best of moods right now.”

Darcy pursed her lips and that bratty expression got my fangs prickling again.

My mouth tightened in irritation and I checked my watch again, finding we were out of time. “Right, we’re going.” I stood, tugging out some stardust from my pocket and they both stared up at me in utter confusion. Oh it’s about to get a whole lot more confusing, Vega girls.

“Wait a minute.” Darcy stood too and I gazed down at her with a bland expression that gave nothing away of the voracious hunger I was feeling over her. “You said we’re Fae? What does that even mean?”

“We’re a different race. A better one.” I shrugged and she scowled in a way that sent a hot flash up my spine. By the stars, this girl. “Careful Miss Vega, expressions like that are punishable in my classroom.”

“Vega?” Her nose wrinkled and I remembered they literally had no idea about anything. “That’s not my name. Wait, please tell me you’ve got the wrong twins?”

I shook my head in frustration. “That is your true surname in Solaria. No one will call you anything else once you get there, mark my words.”

“Er- excuse me?” Tory cut in. Her jaw was gritted as if she wished she could have shouted those words, but thanks to my Coercion she was just an angry dog on a leash. “We’re not going anywhere with some creep from the lobby. What drug are you on exactly? Judging by the fancy attire I’m gonna guess coke?”

I gave her a predator’s smile at those words, the fire in both of their eyes making the monster in me rear its head. “Look, I have far better things to be doing with my time than standing here in a dingy apartment with a couple of girls who think I’m an addict with a screw loose. But I didn’t get a choice in the matter. So just humour me, will you?”

“You haven’t explained anything.” Darcy shook her head in refusal. “And why should we believe anything you say anyway?”

I snatched up my satchel, flipping it over and pouring the contents out onto their coffee table. A waterfall of papers fell everywhere, pages and pages of every piece of information I’d collected on them during my time in the Mortal Realm falling onto the surface.

I sifted through it all, extracting a photograph of their adopted mortal parents on their wedding day. Darcy snatched it from my hand, hugging it to her chest as tears gleamed in her eyes like she thought I’d been about to burn it.

“What are you doing with a photo of our parents?” Tory hissed.

“They’re not your parents,” I said coolly. “You’re Changelings. Fae born. Elementals with natural magic flowing in your veins. Your real parents swapped you for the twins born to that couple.” I pointed at the photo in Darcy’s hand and her brows tugged together.

Those people were just mortals, and these girls were not grasping the magnitude of who they really were.

“That’s not true. You’re insane. Why would they do that?” Darcy demanded.

“My guess? You were in danger,” I said with a shrug. The queen must have foreseen their deaths, but if she’d known it was coming, how come she hadn’t been able to change her and her husband’s fate? “Or maybe you just annoyed them as much as you’re annoying me right now and they decided to swap you for less irritating twins.”

Tory looked like she was about to punch me and I would have laughed my head off if she’d have tried.

“Get out,” Tory said in a measured tone like I’d actually listen.

“Fine, I tried.” I took the small silk black bag from my pocket and untied the strings. “Shame to lose out on your inheritance though. Your real parents were the wealthiest family in Solaria.”

“Right,” Darcy muttered, but I’d dangled the carrot and it looked like Tory was gonna bite.

“Wait…wealthy?” Tory asked, stepping closer, her anger clearly lessened. The way she’d snatched that cash from me had shown exactly how desperate they were for money, so if that was what it took to entice them, then there was plenty of it to do that with. But it looked like Tory was more lured by it than Darcy.

“It can’t be true, Tor,” Darcy said under her breath.

Tory shrugged one shoulder. “Let’s hear him out.” She gave her sister a look I couldn’t see and I fought a smirk.

“Yes. Hear me out,” I insisted and suddenly Darcy nodded, influenced by me again and giving me another little power trip. I tugged the photo from Darcy’s grip, eyeing it for a moment with a frown. “Look, I’m not trying to shatter your little daydreams about this couple but they’re just two random humans who got caught up in something much bigger. You don’t know them from Adam. And neither do I for that matter. The fact that they’re dead is a tragedy but they aren’t your blood. And blood’s all that matters in my opinion.” Especially when your blood is the Savage King’s blood. I shrugged, glancing between them. “You two would do anything for each other, I hope? Because this shitty life can go away like that.” I snapped my fingers. “All you have to do is agree to enrol at Zodiac Academy. You’ll get full board, have your own beds-” I gave the couch a pointed look, “-and your inheritance will cover the cost of your stay plus you’ll receive a monthly stipend from it. Once you graduate, it’s all yours. But only when you graduate. That’s the law.”

“So you want us to go to some school?” Tory asked.

“Yes. But not just any school. The best school.” It really was the fucking best. “So what do you say?”

“I say you’re crazy,” Darcy said and I had a vision of showing her just how crazy I could be. Not an appropriate one though. The kind where she was pinned beneath me gasping my name.

Focus.

“Yeah… but I do want the money.” Tory elbowed Darcy in the ribs and she frowned.

“It’s full board?” Darcy looked to me again, pulling on a lock of blue-tipped hair. It was very distracting.

“Every meal,” I swore. “So?” I tapped my foot impatiently.

Neither of them answered.

“Just say yes and come with me,” I growled, over this conversation.

“Yes,” they both said in unison without a moment’s hesitation.

I grinned from ear to ear, my job finally complete. “Should’ve done that in the first place.” I jerked my chin at Darcy. “Go get dressed, if you show up like that at Zodiac you’ll be eaten alive by the other students.” And me.

She headed out of the room and I was left with Tory as she remained under my spell.

“So there’s…a lot of money?” she confirmed.

“Heaps,” I confirmed and her eyes glittered.

A beat later, Darcy returned from the bathroom in tight jeans which clung to her round ass and a black tank top that hugged the hourglass curves of her body. Ah, great. Why couldn’t she have been covered in Heptian Toad skin?

For some reason, her twin of the exact same figure hadn’t stirred anything in me, but this one had my cock throbbing and my mind spinning with filthy fantasies I could never, ever act on. You fucking idiot.

“You mentioned magic…” Darcy said probingly.

“Yes,” I said, attempting to look elsewhere only to find myself staring at her again. “Water, air, fire, earth. You will both possess one Element, perhaps two. Your parents were very powerful, so I expect you will be immeasurably gifted.” And if you are, the Heirs are going to lose their shit. But of course you are, of course you’ll make this difficult.

I prised open the silk bag, pinching some stardust between my fingers and sprinkled it in my palm.

“What’s that?” Tory whispered as Darcy inched closer to get a look at it.

“The rarest substance in Solaria and the quickest way to travel: stardust.” This will be fun. I lifted my head with a demonic smile. “Welcome to your Awakening.”

I blew the stuff right into their faces and they gasped in time with one another. The stardust cascaded over us and their shitty apartment faded away as we were yanked into the ether between worlds, carrying us to Solaria, taking me home at last.

My feet hit the ground and Darcy stumbled into me, her forehead bumping against my chest. Her hand pressed to my stomach and the point of contact sent a burning, almost unbearable need in me to take hold of her. Bite her, claim her – get a fucking grip.

I grabbed her shoulders, jerking her around to face the circle of new students in The Howling Meadow ready for their Awakening as my heart thrashed and rioted in my chest.

Darcy stepped away from me and my fingers balled and unballed as I stared after her, a growl rolling low through my throat as I worked to fight against the thirst, and the other, hungry part of me which had awoken.

Darcy glanced back at me in alarm. “What’s going on?” she asked, her green eyes dancing with panic. I guessed this really was a mindfuck.

“Did you just drug us?” Tory rounded on me.

“What is it with you and drugs?” I muttered. “Remember to keep calm,” I commanded, needing them to get through this without making a complete scene.

I had to know what Elements they possessed. Lionel would be waiting for me to call and give him a play by play of everything that had happened tonight, everything I’d learned about the Vegas. But there was one thing for sure I wouldn’t tell even Darius about this night. That I felt a pull to one of them that defied all logic and made my hatred for them deepen. Because of all the concerns I’d had about the Vega twins returning to Solaria, none of my imaginings had conjured up this.

Maybe it was the power of their blood that called to me, but as it was only Darcy who had made me fucking burn with unwanted need, I doubted I could put it down to that. One thing was for sure, I’d be cutting these twisted urges out of me just as soon as I could. And they were not going to affect anything about what came next. Because the Vega twins would not be ascending to the throne. It was my duty to make sure of that. And no girl with blue-tipped hair in bunny pyjamas was going to fuck with my plans.