Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys

I shot across the locker room for our Fire Elemental class and pushed a hand into my blonde curls as I stood before the mirror, taming out the tangles that had formed in it from racing across campus to get here today.

‘Who are you trying to impress?’ Darius asked dryly from behind me where he sat on one of the benches, lacing his white sneakers for the class.

My gaze shifted to him in the mirror and I gave him a taunting grin. ‘Who do you think?’

Darius huffed out a breath which was laced with smoke from his Dragon and he leaned back in his seat, arching a brow at me with his shirt still fisted in his hand and his inked chest bare. He flicked a silencing bubble up around the two of us before continuing.

‘Seriously? You’re planning on flirting with the girls our parents have specifically tasked us to get rid of?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, man,’ I confirmed, my gaze shifting from him back to my own appearance as I continued to tussle my curls until they fell into the perfect kind of haphazard mess to soak panties for miles around. ‘The Vegas are seriously hot and seriously powerful. Tory tasted like a fucking drug and I plan on getting high on her over and over and over again. I know we’ve gotta get rid of them and all that, but I see no reason to miss out on the good times while we can grab them.’

‘So go after the other one,’ Darius muttered. ‘Roxy is in my House and I want her under my heel.’

There was a ring of command to his tone which just wasn’t gonna fucking fly with me and I straightened my spine, turning to look at him with an eyebrow raised.

‘Under your heel, yeah?’ I teased. ‘Because I’m getting the feeling you want her under you in a much more interesting way than that.’

‘You know what our parents want us to do,’ Darius replied, not answering my taunt as he got to his feet and tugged on the shirt which was provided for this class, the dark red material clinging to his flesh like a second skin and outlining all of his muscles just like mine was for me.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ I agreed flippantly because I knew what the official Council line was on the matter. The Vegas were a threat we couldn’t tolerate and they needed to go. I heard it loud and clear. But my mom wasn’t always as cut and dry as the rest of them and she’d given me further instructions than just blindly trying to force the Vegas out. She wanted me to figure them out, work out what made them tick and decide whether or not they really could pose a threat to us. After all, we’d all been intended to serve beneath the Savage King’s daughters one day if fate had played out differently and they’d grown up here with their parents alive, so she wasn’t willing to just blindly ignore the threat their level of power could cause us. Which meant she wasn’t opposed to me getting a little more friendly with the girls if I wanted to. And sure, she hadn’t at any point told me to try my luck with one of them, but she also hadn’t banned me from it either. And ever since I’d sunk my fangs into Tory Vega’s throat, I’d been hooked on the idea of her as thoroughly as a drunk was hooked on booze, so I wasn’t going to be backing off just because Darius didn’t like it. ‘No one said I couldn’t have any fun along the way though, did they?’

Darius’s eyes flared with irritation but if he wanted to tell me to back off then he was going to have to flat out say it. Besides, I had no intention of agreeing to that even if he did.

‘Those girls are going to be trouble,’ he said, glancing in the mirror and sweeping his own dark hair back away from his face with much less care than I’d just given to mine.

‘Oh I’m counting on it,’ I replied with a dark laugh.

We strode out of the locker rooms and Darius let the silencing bubble fall away as we strode out into the colosseum like structure where our lesson would be held. I called on my fire magic, letting the heat of it roll through my veins as I prepared for our class and one look at Darius said this one was going to get messy.

Yeah, he was all kinds of pissed at me over the Vegas, but I was willing to bet it had a lot more to do with wanting one for himself than it did with following our orders like good little Heirs.

Professor Pyro was chatting to a couple of freshmen who had already arrived for the class and I moved to stand against the wall next to the girls’ locker room with one goal in mind.

Darius came to stand at my side, an irritated noise escaping him which he clearly had no plans on expanding on, so I just offered him a grin which revealed my sharpening fangs.

‘Let me guess, you have a taste for Vega?’ he deadpanned.

‘Yeah. And seeing as our latest little problem fucking hates it when I bite her, you should be egging me on. Because all you care about is hounding them out of here, right?’

‘Right,’ he agreed but that demonic look in his eyes said he was holding his tongue against more he wanted to say.

‘She got under your skin last night then, huh?’ I pushed and he shrugged.

‘I guess. She has a way of taking me by surprise, but I’ll have her in hand soon enough.’

‘I bet.’

Just then, Tory Vega strode out of the locker room with another little freshman girl at her side and my gaze fell to the curves of her body in the skin tight outfit required for this class. The blood red material hugged her round ass so perfectly that I wanted to sink my teeth right into it like it was a damn apple.

I cut a glance at Darius and the heat in his eyes had practically turned volcanic as he watched her, that dark anger in him stirring with a primal kind of desire which had my hackles raising. I’d heard him when he’d tried to claim her the moment she’d arrived here and one glance at the rigid muscles and fierce hunger in his eyes made it more than clear that he still wanted that. But there lay the problem, because I wanted to lay my claim on her too and I wasn’t a creature who would easily back down.

I stepped out of the shadows, stalking after her as she walked away and my gaze stayed firmly locked on that ass of hers as I drew on my earth magic and a smirk tugged at the corner of my lips.

A twist of my fingers had the ground bucking at her feet and she almost fell, arms wheeling to steady herself while her friend scrambled aside. I gave her a moment to believe she’d survived that, then bucked the ground hard enough to take her out.

She fell backwards and I shot forwards, catching her before she could hit the ground and sweeping her down in my arms like a lover dipping a girl for a kiss.

“Thanks, I-” she began, but as her dark gaze focused on me and my cocky smile, she cut her words off flat, anger brimming where gratitude met a swift death. 

“You wanna watch out for that. The ground around here can be mighty unpredictable,” I purred, tugging her upright but keeping hold of her arms like I was still steadying her – but I wasn’t going to be letting go any time soon.

The little blonde freshman backed up, her eyes wild and searching for any signs of a teacher to intervene, but they wouldn’t. This was a Fae eat Fae world, and I was hungry for a taste of this one.

“Right. I’ll be sure to do that.” Tory snatched her arms out of my grip took a step back like she thought it would be so simple to escape me. With little more than a twitch of my fingers, the earth beneath her feet bucked again and my heart leapt as she fell on her ass at my feet, an offering at the altar of a deity. 

Barely smothered laughter rang out around us as the other students moved closer to watch the show and Tory made a move to get up, but I wouldn’t be allowing that.

I pounced before she could do more than scramble backwards a few inches, my knees landing either side of her hips and a grin on my face which revealed my sharpening fangs as they tingled for a taste of her blood. I could practically smell it from this distance, the power in her veins humming like the intoxicating scent of addiction which I was more than happy to succumb to.

“Oh for the love of god,” she snarled, slamming her palms into my chest and I couldn’t say I hated the way her hands felt against my body. “You’d better not be about to-”

I caught her wrists as she tried to shove me again, a low snarl escaping me as I forced her down beneath me, my body pressing to her curves and my cock liking that a whole hell of a lot as I brought this powerful creature to heel and drove her into the ground beneath me.

My fangs found her throat without me even making the conscious decision to bite her and the gasp that escaped her lips as they pierced her flesh was enough to make a groan of pleasure build in my chest.

I drank deeply, the heavenly taste of her singing over my tongue and washing down my throat as her rich power spilled inside me and filled me to the brim.

Instead of just giving in like I expected her to, Tory started cursing me as loudly and colourfully as she could imagine, her hips bucking between my thighs in an attempt to force me off of her despite the way my venom had weakened her.

I growled in reply to her struggles, driving her down beneath me and losing myself to the bloodlust as the taste of her power totally overwhelmed me. She was like the best kind of sin, my body and the beast in me falling prey to the allure of her and my cock was definitely more than a little interested in her too. Luckily for her, the way I had her pinned meant I wasn’t actually dry humping her while taking her blood so she probably wasn’t aware of that little fact but the more I got of her, the more I wanted and I knew I wasn’t going to be giving her up after this. Darius may have wanted to lay a claim too, but I was willing to pick up the gauntlet of his challenge because this girl was all the right kinds of obsession which I was aching to dive into.

“That’s more than enough, Altair,” Professor Pyro sighed from somewhere nearby and I was forced to remember the class surrounding us. “She needs some energy left if she’s going to be able to perform in my class today.”

I forced myself back with some difficulty, withdrawing my fangs and licking the last drop of blood from Tory’s soft skin before pushing myself back and peering down at her. 

She looked seriously good pinned beneath me like that, black hair fanning out across the ground and dark eyes flaring with a furious kind of hatred that just got me even hotter for her somehow.

“You have no idea how good you taste,” I commented, licking my lips to chase the last of her taste from them while she scrunched her nose up at me.

“You’ve got what you wanted from me so why don’t you just get the hell off of me?” she demanded, yanking at her wrists again while I kept them pinned in the sand above her head. I probably should have been letting go, but she was so unlike any other Fae I’d ever met that I found myself lingering, drinking her in and trying to figure her out.

I tilted my head as I regarded her and a slow smile spread across my face which I knew would only serve to incite her further. “You know, I’m not sure I’ve ever fed from anyone who hates it quite as much as you do,” I commented. “The other Fae have grown up knowing about my kind and they just accept this as part of the chain of power but you…”

“Yeah, I hate it,” she snapped. “So why don’t you get your kicks feeding off of someone who enjoys your twisted brand of creep and leave me alone?”

Did she just try to give me a command? Oh no, that shit wasn’t going to fly with me. If she thought she hated me before then things were about to get really interesting. I released her suddenly and leapt to my feet, my hard on thankfully sinking enough that the tight outfit I was wearing probably didn’t reveal it to everyone in attendance.

“This girl is my personal Source,” I declared, my gaze trailing across all of the Fae in our class and making sure there wasn’t so much as a flicker of dissension from that claim. “If any other Vampire wants to feed from her then they can take it up with me, spread the word.”

Tory shoved herself to her feet, looking like she’d dearly enjoy punching me as her fists closed at her sides and her eyes flared with rage. “I’m not your personal anything,” she said.

“Feel free to try and stop me, sweetheart,” I teased, knowing she had zero chance of that. “But until you manage it, you can consider yourself my own personal juice box.”

Tory looked ready to spit, but her attention was snared by Darius as he laughed loudly from the front of the crowd to our left. She looked even more pissed to find him watching our little interaction and I could tell that she hadn’t picked up on the tension in his posture as he stood with his arms folded across his broad chest. His poker face was damn good and I was sure everyone around us believed he was thoroughly amused by seeing me grind the Vega princess into the dirt and bite her against her will. But I could see the demon in his eyes as his gaze moved from her to me and I knew he was pissed. 

I cocked an eyebrow at him in a challenge and he lifted his chin in reply. Yeah, we were going to be working through some of our Alpha bullshit really fucking soon because the tension between us was tight enough to snap. We still loved each other, but sometimes the other Heirs and me had to go head to head just to relieve the tension of all the testosterone which hung in the air around us. And it wasn’t like any of us were afraid of a good fight – in fact, I knew for certain that we all relished it, and with Tory Vega’s power flooding my veins, my own blood was humming with the desire to give him what he wanted.

“Well if all of the Vampires are fully replenished, I’d like to get on with my lesson,” Professor Pyro announced loudly and Tory abruptly turned her back on the two of us in a clear dismissal.

A deep growl rumbled from Darius’s chest at the insult and I barely suppressed a hiss, my muscles tightening with the desire to put her in her place once more. No one turned their fucking backs on us and got away with it and now this little thing had done it twice. 

I took a step towards her, but Darius caught my arm, the barely restrained anger in him clear as a single word fell from his lips, so low that I only caught it with my Vampire hearing. 

‘Later.’

I tensed, not liking him telling me what to do, but I could see the sense in it. Our Vega problem was clearly going to take a while to fix and she’d literally just been pinned at my mercy in front of the whole class. We didn’t need to prove our dominance over her again just yet. 

“As it’s the first class for the freshmen, I want the rest of you to pair off and take some time reacquainting yourselves with the techniques you learned at the end of last year. You should have been practicing over the summer and I’ll be coming around to look for improvements once I’ve got these guys going.” Professor Pyro shooed the older students away but me and Darius stayed where we were, our gazes fixed on the defiant little Vega.

“What are you still doing here boys? The last I checked, you were sophomores,” Pyro said as she fixed us with a penetrating gaze. 

“We just wanted to see how powerful the new Heir really is,” Darius said, his lips twitching in amusement as Tory shifted uncomfortably in front of us though she still refused to turn and face us again, like having two monsters at her back was no concern to her at all.

“Well unfortunately for you, ogling the new girl isn’t part of the syllabus,” Pyro replied haughtily, shooing us again and we were forced to leave unless we wanted to try and pull rank with a teacher.

Tory turned to watch us go and my hackles raised as I saw her eyes sweeping over Darius’s body in a clear eye fuck. Nah, that wasn’t going to work for me. I elbowed my Dragon friend as he eye fucked her right back and he turned away to stalk across the arena with me with a grunt of frustration.

‘So, am I going to be beating your ass now or are we saving all of that pent up aggression for later?’ I taunted.

Darius cut me a look, his eyes flashing with the golden slits of his Dragon for a moment as smoke coiled from his nostrils and I grinned in anticipation of our fight.

‘Now it is then,’ I agreed, flexing my muscles as we kept walking, heading for a wide open area on the far side of the arena where we could really show off our power without having to worry about any powerless idiots getting in our way.

‘Maybe you should consider getting another Source,’ Darius growled as he flicked his fingers, flames writhing over his hands like scurrying ants.

‘Give me one good reason why you would want me to do that and maybe I’ll consider it,’ I tossed back though I absolutely wouldn’t be considering it. Tory Vega’s power was an indulgence I had no intention of ever giving up unless she grew powerful enough to stop me from claiming it. And as there was no chance of that happening any time soon, I fully intended to have my mouth all over her as often as Faely possible. And as I tossed a glance back at her again, I was happy to admit to myself that I was hoping I could do that with or without my fangs being involved. That girl was hot and she didn’t just take our shit. I liked the bite in her almost as much as I liked biting her and I wanted to get closer to her for more reasons than just claiming her blood.

Before I could get too lost in that daydream, a ball of fire slammed into my chest and I was hurled across the arena before crashing into the wall so hard that the air was driven from my lungs.

Darius laughed loudly, his dark eyes flaring with excitement as I shoved myself to my knees and I snarled at him for the cheap shot while sparing a moment to heal the pain of my injuries from my flesh.

Then it was on.

I leapt to my feet and hurled a fireball directly at him, using it to blind him as I raced around to his left with my Vampire speed and fired my real shot at his side instead. Of course the asshole had been expecting that and he dropped to his knee, his fist crashing into the sand and sending a ring of potent flames out around him in every direction before he even locked on to my new location.

I threw my own power back at him, forcing the flames to part around me and firing a series of missiles his way.

Darius stood and took the blow, his jaw gritting as he dug his heels into the ground and just let the magic crash into his chest like a psychopath, ignoring the pain of the fire and relying on his suit to stop it from burning him. 

He took the time to craft his magic into a more refined shape and I rolled my eyes as a huge Dragon built entirely of flames lunged to life at his back.

‘So predictable, man!’ I taunted, shooting aside as the fire Dragon roared and more flames spilled from its mouth in my direction.

The other students were starting to pay more attention to us now, some of them racing away to safety on the far side of the arena, others surging closer to watch the show. But I couldn’t spare any attention for them, my eyes staying glued on my opponent as I raced around him and conjured my own fire creations into existence at my back.

Snakes built of flame sprung from the ground in the wake of my footsteps, my intention to take down his Dragon with the might of many instead of just going at him head on with another huge creature.

Darius laughed as his Dragon took flight, the beast crashing into my snakes which spat flames of their own and lunged at it in response.

I tried to keep hold of them, but as the Dragon crashed into them, their flames began to merge with the beast as Darius stole control of the magic and latched it to his own.

I created more and more of the serpents, aiming them after the Dragon as it took off and began firing down on them from above while a smile bit into my cheeks at the strain of welding so much power at once.

It was burning from my flesh, making my whole body sing with the buzz of flexing my magical muscles and one look over at Darius gave away just how much he was enjoying this fight too. But this was more than just a game of war, we were fighting for the win and neither of us would be giving in easily.

My snakes began to overwhelm his Dragon and a laugh of victory tumbled from my lips as I saw it coming, but of course the bastard wasn’t done. With a snarl of effort, Darius raised his hands and conjured a second Dragon out of the water fountain to our left to rival the size of the first, his brow beading with perspiration at the effort of commanding so much power all at once. But it was worth it. And though I scrambled to reinforce the fire magic of my snakes, they didn’t stand a chance against so much water and as the glimmering Dragon dove into the swarm of my creatures, he doused them out of existence and my magic shattered.

Darius gave a cocky whoop of victory and I scowled at him as I panted through my exertion and the two Dragons did a victory lap of the arena.

“Always the cheat,” I called, folding my arms as I glared his way because the asshole knew we’d been playing with fire and bringing water into it was a bullshit move.

Darius started laughing and I shot towards him with a snarl, ready to finish this fight and come out on top after all.

I slammed into him before he even realised I was coming, my fist colliding with his solid jaw as I took him to the ground.

Darius snarled at me as he quickly fell into the fight, the animosity and anger that had been brewing between us finally finding an outlet as we gave in to the brutality of our punches and the satisfaction of trying to beat the ever loving shit out of each other.

His fist cracked against the side of my skull like a stars damned anvil striking a blow at my brain with the force of his fucking Dragon muscles. He was a huge bastard and his physical strength was damn near impossible to match no matter how big I was myself.

‘Fucking – Dragon – asshole,’ I hissed between blows and he laughed as he managed to roll us so that he was on top of me, his fists crashing against my chest in punches powerful enough to crack my fucking ribs.

I snarled ferociously as I lunged at him, my forehead connecting with his nose and making a loud crack ring out which was swiftly followed by a curse of pain and a spill of blood.

I managed to get the upper hand for a moment, landing on top of him and using my speed to strike his ribs, chest and stomach over and over again before Darius roared and threw his weight up to flip us over once more.

His hands locked tight around my throat and I hissed between my teeth as he began to choke me out, a savage grin on his face beneath the blood which now stained his teeth.

‘Mother-fucker,’ I ground out and his grip increased, his knee driving down on my chest as weight pressed me down. 

I tried to buck him off but the pain from his weight crushing my cracked ribs was damn near blinding and despite my thrashing, it soon became clear that I’d lost this fucking fight.

Darius’s eyes flashed with deadly intent as he continued to choke me out and I was pretty sure the asshole would actually wait for me to black out unless I admitted defeat.

But I didn’t want to do that. Even as spots danced before my eyes and my lungs burned with a desperate, hungry energy, I still didn’t want to give in. But my ears were ringing and my limbs were growing weak and with a furious sense of frustration, I forced my hand out and smacked it against the ground beside us three times to let him know I gave up.

Darius grinned widely as he released me in an instant, straightening up and healing his own face before swiping the blood away with his water magic.

I sucked in a few huge breaths then started laughing as the tension finally fell away between us and I looked up at the big bastard of a Dragon who I loved with all the ferocity of the sun. 

Darius offered me his hand and I took it, letting him pull my to my feet as I pressed my other hand to my ribs and healed the damage to them so that I could take a deeper breath.

“I’ll get you next time,” I warned him, slapping his back.

“You said that last time,” Darius mocked, elbowing me and I had to suppress a groan. Power wise we were all definitely evenly matched but with Darius’s Order influencing his build he was now over six and a half foot tall and his muscles had muscles on them so even my six foot two couldn’t compare. Asshole.

I opened my mouth to respond, but a prickle along my skin made me look around instead and I found we had an audience I hadn’t been expecting.

Tory Vega stood there with her arms folded and a look of resignation on her face which almost overshadowed the clear dislike she was giving off. Professor Pyro was at her side and it was clear they’d been waiting for us to finish for some time.

I pushed a hand into my hair as I gave Tory my attention, eying her neck as I ran my tongue over my fangs. I’d just used a good chunk of the magic I’d stolen from her and I couldn’t help but wonder if she might have a little more going spare…

“I have a new assignment for you, Mr Acrux,” Professor Pyro said, her gaze on Darius and my attention peaked.

“Yes, Professor?” Darius asked, giving her his polite teacher voice which did very little to hide the brute in him in my humble opinion.

“I’d like you to give Tory here some one on one tutoring to help her learn to harness that tempest of power within her. I tried to guide her myself but she needs someone more powerful than me and as the most accomplished fire weaver in the academy, you were the obvious choice.”

Darius’s attention flicked onto Tory, his spine straightening as he regarded her the way a wolf might eye a lamb and I had to suppress a chuckle because I knew for a fact that he would have absolutely zero intention of helping a Vega do a damn thing.

“Of course, Professor Pyro,” Darius agreed, though I knew it was bullshit. “Only, I do have a full timetable at the moment so it may be better for her to choose someone else.”

“Okay,” Tory agreed with a bright smile, making it clear she absolutely didn’t want his help anyway and I had to fight a laugh as Darius bristled at the insult. “Never mind.” She began to turn away from us but Professor Pyro stopped her.

“That’s not a problem,” Pyro said firmly, giving Darius a pointed look. “You can train her on Thursday evenings after dinner and we can add Mondays if necessary.”

Darius’s gaze darkened and I could practically taste smoke on my tongue from the fire which I knew was burning in him at that command. No fucking way he’d be doing any such thing and for the look on Tory’s face it was pretty clear she didn’t want him to anyway.

“Yes Professor,” Darius agreed and Pyro nodded before leading Tory away again.

We watched her go and I leaned a little closer to my friend as my eyes stayed glued to that perfectly round ass of hers.

‘How are you going to get out of that then, brother?’ I teased.

‘Simple,’ Darius replied, his gaze still very much locked on the Vega princess too. ‘I won’t. But if she actually expects me to show up then she’s going to have to make me. It’s what a real Fae would do after all.”

I sniggered at that, knowing full well that Tory wouldn’t be able to do any such thing. And as she tossed a glance back over her shoulder at us, it was pretty damn clear she wasn’t in any way happy about this either.