Shadows of Eternity - Chap. 4

Yes, it has been a long time. Instead of working on new ideas as I've been extremely tempted to, I've been working on the old ones. Tell me what you think.

Chapter Four

I glared at the back of his head the whole class period. So this was Asher. The boy the giant seemed to have so much confidence in. No wonder. The boy controlled minds. And from my experience that morning, I knew he was powerful. Not so powerful that I couldn’t fight him, but he did have enough power to weaken me.

Weaken me for what, though? What was the big ol’ plan Curtis and Irta were hatching? Did I even care? I was escaping by the end of the week, if all went well, and I would be leaving this place behind.

When the bell rang, I made no attempt to talk to Asher. He didn’t look at me as he left the room ahead of me, and I knew that he probably wouldn’t give me the time of day again. I knew his type. He dated spoiled beautiful girls like that bitchy Shelia, and he followed orders no matter what they were. Just a pretty rich boy.

For lunch, I had to go to the cafeteria with everyone else. Not because anyone made me, but because I needed the blood that would be given with the meal. Already I felt my energy dwindling, my control slipping. The outburst with Asher had only been a warning; I never lost it like that. Usually, no matter what anyone said, nothing could get to me. In all the other Lugosis I had been silent and calculating. Here I had barely thought of how I would get out.

Stares bored into my back as I went through the lines, and I gritted my teeth. Was it the clothes? My wild hair? What? They’d never stared at me before, in the other Lugosis… or I’d just never noticed.

Blood. I really needed the blood.

The cafeterias in Lugosis were really set up like restaurants, minus the menus and waitresses and all that. There were booths along the walls, and large, round tables with candles as centerpieces on the floor. The whole right wall was made of windows, and the glass allowed the moon and stars to shine down into the school. Usually everyone talked quietly in the gently-lit room, and any human who walked in probably would mistake it all for a bistro.

After lightly filling a plate, I headed right for a dark booth tucked away in a corner. I couldn’t look anywhere but at what I held in my hands—a glass of cold blood balanced precariously on the tray. My throat suddenly felt too dry, and I quickened my pace, eager to get to the table.

“Irta wants to see you.” Yolanda brazenly stepped in front of me.

I didn’t realize I’d cracked the tray until a piece of metal fell to the tiled floor with a clink. “Great,” I forced myself to say. “Now leave.”

The girl didn’t move, of course. “She said now. I don’t exactly like being a lackey, but those who don’t listen to Irta usually pay big time, just to warn you.”

“Why, thank you. I don’t know how I would get by without you.”

The dark vampyre just smiled. “I have a feeling me and Mandy won’t have to put up with you much longer, so I can afford to be a little tolerant.”

Something about her just rubbed me the wrong way. And I couldn’t let the silent challenge slip past me unacknowledged.

Smiling in return, I slowly gripped the glass of blood, and let the rest of the tray drop the floor with a loud crash. Everyone was looking at us now, and I had the satisfaction of seeing a hint of annoyance and discomfort cross Yolanda’s face.

“Well, guess I better go see Irta,” I said, and downed the glass, not bothering to wipe my mouth clean of the red drops I knew clung there. Let her see the real me. Then, with a feral smirk, I shoved past her so hard that she stumbled.

“Miss Cole, you will come back and clean this up,” someone called after me.

I didn’t even look over my shoulder. But once I was out of sight, I licked my lips clean, barely tasting the blood. It always sucked when it was cold. I hated it.

The secretary in the office waved me past when I approached. The atmosphere in here was nice: Quiet, calm, soothing.

Then I got a whiff of someone behind a door marked GUIDANCE COUNSELOR, and I couldn’t help but stiffen.

“Come in,” Irta’s high, oh-so-prim voice rose to say, and I opened the oak door with an air of boredom. No one could ever get me to admit that I was uneasy around the hag—fear was something I hated even more then cold blood.

You don’t know her as I do. She will bring this place nothing but darkness and chaos.

“What’s this all about?” I asked without preamble. My instincts were alert, whispering carefully, Don’t give anything away. Get out.

What was with this place? It was just another Lugosi—nothing to be worried about. I must need more blood. The vampyre in front of me, sitting behind a massive desk, was nothing but a female. And a shrink, no less. No one to be sweating around.

“How have you adjusted?” Irta replied, matching my prompt tone.

That wasn’t what she really wanted to ask me. I didn’t know how I knew, but this creature wanted something from me, something that she wouldn’t ask for. “Fine.”

She dallied. “Your schedule is satisfactory? You don’t find any of the criteria difficult?”

“Nope.”

Irta nodded, and shuffled some papers around. She wasn’t nervous—just waiting for something. Me. Wanting to irritate her, I casually leaned back, pursing my lips in resolution.

She eyed me for an instant, and then folded her hands, eyes glittering. She seemed to have reached some internal decision. “You have not had any connection to the human or Lugosi world for quite some time, correct?”

“Sure.”

“Therefore you have no knowledge of Karloffs.”

I hated having to ask, but I took the bait anyway. “Karloffs?” Didn’t sound ominous or dangerous, so the question was asked easily enough.

She nodded once. “As you know, two decades ago the vampyre population began to explode. Precautions had to be made, order kept. In the summer of 1990 the Board of Directors designed and prepared the building of the first Lugosi.”

“I don’t need a history lesson,” I interjected. “A few things got past my learning block in the last few years.”

Irta looked displeased, but continued, “Just two years ago, the population problem arose again… for werewolves.”

I studied my nails. They were chewed to the quick—I’d developed the habit when I was a kid and hadn’t been able to cut it yet. “Yeah? So why aren’t they just thrown in here like the rest of us? We got the shape-shifters, the witches, and the Gifted. Hell, why not have rabid wolves in with the reject lot?”

Her dark eyes narrowed. “It is not our way to teach the students that they are ‘rejects’, as you put it. Everyone in this vicinity is special and—”

“—will add to the world in their own way. Yeah, I’ve been fed that bit before. Problem is, I have some difficulty swallowing it.”

You had to give it to the female; she didn’t lose her temper, though it was pretty apparent she was tempted to claw my face off. “If your conduct continues to be difficult and disrespectful, certain privileges here will not be at your disposal. And you will be forced to remain here while everyone else goes to the Match.”

“Match?” I repeated, studying the door and thinking about leaving.

“You didn’t let me finish,” she snapped. “Now, if I may continue my explanation of the Karloffs?”

Sighing quietly, I waved her on.

“We did, in fact, begin to have the… the wolves brought into Lugosi, thinking they would fit in as well as the rest of the different students.”

Loved how she put it so delicately. Different. As if we were the leprosy victims that were put behind walls simply for the humans’ safety. In truth, we were the victims of powers and change that the humans envied and feared.

“But only after a few days, it became evident,” Irta went on, “that vampyres and werewolves do not so easily mix. Down through the generations, we have always been natural enemies, and it is both sides’ instincts to fight and protect themselves.

“We had a mad house on our hands for a total of two days, fights breaking out where either both parties where seriously injured or a great deal of damage was done to the property.”

Seems like I was wrong about one thing—the vampyres weren’t as completely mindless as I had assumed straightaway.

“In fits of rage and thoughtlessness, our students were escaping the Lugosis and wreaking havoc upon the humans”—here the counselor gave me a hard glare—“and the Board of Directors took control once more. A new building was designed and built: Karloff. A school only for the werewolves. And now there are as many of them alone as there is us combined with the other species we have here.”

None of this interested me very much. “Okay. So what is a Match?”

Irta glanced at the clock. “A few months ago our Headmaster thought that the divide between Lugosi and Karloff needed to be bridged. He asked and was granted permission for the schools to meet a certain time, and play a game. Soccer, to put it simply.”

“Huh. A soccer game between vamps and wolves.”

“Vampyres and werewolves,” she corrected, scowling. Jeez, she hated me. “We prefer to use the proper terms in Lugosi, Miss Cole.”

I smiled. “Yeah… I know.”

Her thin face lost all expression. “I called you down to discuss something entirely different, and much more serious. I understand there was an incident this morning?”

If she was hoping for a reaction from me, she was disappointed. “Define ‘incident’,” I quipped. “I took a shower this morning. Found some clothes. Went to Chemistry—”

“You held a knife to Mandy’s throat.”

“Oh, that.” I brushed an imaginary piece of lint off my sleeve. “What about it?”

“You aren’t in trouble,” she said—I liked to think I imagined the regret in that statement. “Because Professor Howe made it understood that you were suffering from a frightening delirium.”

“So why bring it up?” For once, I didn’t show how irritated I was getting.

Irta leaned forward now, and, reacting instantly, I stood. She didn’t even blink as she looked up at me. “You need to tell me what you thought you were seeing,” she said, and I sensed how much she was restraining herself. “Because I was unable to be there for you this morning, I need to know from your own mouth what you were experiencing. And as your counselor, it is my duty to be sure that your mental health is stable.”

Forcing my muscles to relax, I smiled. “Me? Mentally stable. Okay.”

“What did you think you were seeing?” the vampyre asked again.

I studied her, thinking quickly. She obviously knew something about my babbling about the Beats; she wouldn’t be so interested otherwise. So I would have to lie my ass off—couldn’t give her what she wanted. Knowledge of the Beasts was pretty pathetic, mostly because anyone who came across them died. Is that what she was so eager to know? Just general information about the monsters that haunted my footsteps and my dreams?

No, it’s something more, a small voice whispered, throaty and wise. You’re the only one who can tell her what she wants to know, and as long as you’re valuable to her, she won’t hand you over to the humans.

“I thought I saw a… a werewolf,” I said, heavy-lidded and casual. “I came across a ton of them in the woods, and I was attacked a few times. Freaked me out, I guess.” That last part was hard to get out, but I was satisfied with my tone. Not too pained.

A shadow passing over her face, Irta opened her mouth again, probably to demand I tell the truth. Hey, I didn’t say I was that great of a liar.

“Well,” I interjected smoothly. “So sorry, but I’d better run to class. Don’t want to fall even more behind, right?”

Her mouth closed with a snap. Boiling, the female watched me lope to the door.

“Oh, Lindsey?” she said just as I had one boot over the threshold. Biting my tongue, I smiled brightly and peeked around the doorway again.

“What’s up?”

“As long as you refuse to wear the uniform, you’ll be helping the janitor with his duties every night after school.”

Lindsey, one. Irta, one.

“Later,” I replied, and, tossing my tangled red hair mockingly, left the office behind.

“Hope you see you again soon, Miss Cole!” the secretary said after me. Hating her pleasant tone, I ignored her.

I wasn’t going to go back to class. Now was as good a time as any to check out the gate and the rooftops. If I was leaving as soon as I planned, then I knew I had to get to work on the actual plan.

Glancing around, I closed my eyes, calling to the Mist as Josiah had taught me once. Surround me, great protector. Cradle me, graceful air. Mist…

It responded to my summons immediately, and I experienced that tingle in my fingers that I always got when I used one of the Elements. And when I looked down, everything from my feet on up was gone, only a faint shimmer in the moonlight.

I moved in the shadows of the wall as I approached the gate. Soon enough the huge, black iron doors were before me, casting strange, intricate shadows on the even ground. Approaching with a forced calm, I jiggled the handle slightly, testing the doors’ strength. It didn’t even move. Next I glanced at the padlock next to the gate, on the wall. The buttons glowed bright blue, and there was actually a little fingerprint identification screen there. So that possibility was definitely out, even if I did manage to find the code.

But climbing the gate… climbing could be possible. I noticed with excitement that Feodor’s mysterious green line was absent above it. For whatever reason, he must have supposed that I would never try to climb the wall right above the gate. I glanced around again, just to make sure no one was around, and put my foot on one of the swirling patterns the iron curved to make. Testing it, leaning forward and back, nothing happened. Satisfied, I set my other foot up, pulling my full weight onto it.

There was a small beep, and the next thing I knew, I was flying back, and hit a bench, shattering the seat.

“What the hell!” I snapped, jumping up and charging. I hit the iron so hard with my fist that it actually ached. I looked up at the archway with narrow eyes. Was there some kind of sensor?

“The g-g-g-gate holds a-a thousand v-volts of electricity, and goes off w-w-w-w-hen anyone t-t-tries to climb it.”

I glanced back at the puny boy who was standing behind me. I’d lost hold of the Mist when I’d been fricken electrocuted, so he could see me no problem. “Thanks, kid,” I snapped. “But I wasn’t trying to climb it. Just messing around.”

He was staring down at his feet, and all I could see of his face was an ear.

“You sh-shouldn’t be out here,” he said in a creepy whisper. “There’s e-e-e-e-eyes everywhere.”

“What’s your name?” I brushed myself off and looked up at the gate. Guess I would have to try the rooftops next… and if they were wired, too, well then hell, I’d try to break through the damn wall.

The boy didn’t answer, and was already shuffling away. I watched him go, frowning. Freak.

Then I had to laugh at myself. If he was a freak, then what was I?

“Hey! Why aren’t you in class? What are you doing?”

I turned to see a stern little man barging towards me. His hair was a shocking carrot-orange—making even my bright red hair seem tame and serene—and his brown eyes burned.

“Just taking a walk,” I said lightly, adjusting the neck of my sweatshirt. “Was having some trouble breathing in the stuffy classroom.”

He faced me, hands on hips and mouth pursed dangerously. He gave out a sense of humorlessness and anger, despite his size. I could flatten him.

“Who is your Professor at this hour?” he demanded.

I sighed: I wasn’t in the mood to put up with another condescending adult. “Beat it. Now.”

The persistent vampyre actually shoved his finger in my face. “If you don’t go to class this instant, I will have it arranged so that you have to stay here while everyone else goes to the Match.”

What was the big deal about the Match, anyway?

“Arrange away,” I hissed, losing it. I’d had it. For over two years I hadn’t had to answer to anyone but myself, and suddenly I was surrounded by stifling, simpering idiots who hadn’t ever had a taste of the forest air, the sweet sensation of the hunt, the burning desire and wild sense of freedom. No one here knew shit.

The little man whipped out a cell phone, smiling at me as if he expected me to cower at the sight of it. Oh, no, it’s an electronic device! What will he do, call Irta? Gah, my life is over!

“This is Roller,” he said into the mouth. “I have a female student here who seems to think the rules don’t apply to her, and I need your assistance…”

I wasn’t listening anymore. My thoughts were gone, and I was being driven by the fierce need to escape. Can’t take anymore. Got to get out. Can’t stand anymore talk… schedules…

“Hey—!” I heard Roller shriek. I was already flying through the air, and landed on the gate with a clatter.

Immediately the volts jerked through me, and with a scream, I held on, moving one hand and foot up using only the fierce determination and will that had kept me alive throughout the years.

“She’s climbing up the gate! The girl is climbing up the gate!”

My brain felt as if it was being fried, my skin peeling, my bones cracking. But still I climbed, uttering a scream now and then. Every time one got past my lips I clamped down again, groaning. The gate was practically quivering, thrumming underneath me as the electricity traveled through it then me.

Past the drumming in my ears and the excruciating pain, I heard three words that only urged me on: “Get her down.”

With one last cry, I heaved myself over the top of the wall, yanking my foot off of the gate and supporting myself with only my arms. I hung on, staring with wet cheeks and wide eyes out at the woods. Freedom…

“Not this time, Lindsey Cole,” a deep voice muttered in my ear, and two large hands closed around my upper arms.

I reacted immediately, kicking and laughing. “I’m not going back in there unless you kill me!” I spat in the sentry’s calm face. “So you’d better let me go.”

To my utter shock, the vampyre obeyed, an odd expression overtaking the coolness.

“What are you doing?” Irta shrieked. “Take her back down instantly!”

The sentry shook his head, reaching for me again. I hit him once, hard and aimed beautifully. His hold on the wall loosened dangerously, and he tipped back. Though I was weak, I braced my legs against the wall, trying to climb over the edge.

“Jonathon!” I heard a male voice shout. “What’s wrong with you? Go get Asher and Elson,” he said to someone else in a lowered tone. I had my right leg swung over the side, and I began to drag my other one over, too.

“If you leave now, we won’t protect you any longer, Miss Cole!” Irta called out. I was beyond listening, and finished pulling my other leg up. I sat on the wall now, and braced myself for the impact against the ground…

…until Asher’s voice, strong and compelling, rang out into the chaotic night. “You don’t want to do this, Lindsey.”

I froze, slithering whispers and feelings of conviction surging through me. You don’t want to do this, Lindsey. Bad, very bad. Think of the danger. Come back down. Come down to safety, Lindsey. Fighting against it but beginning to wilt, I hovered where I was.

Then, against my will, I swung my leg back over. What’s going on? I thought frantically, really freaked out for the first time since coming to this Lugosi.

“It’s better on this side,” Asher said soothingly as I uttered a short, baffled cry when I began to slide over the edge of the wall… towards them.

There was a huge group of vampyres—all adults—staring at me, watching me fight against whatever force they’d unleashed. The guards stood among them, too, arms hanging limply at their sides. At the front of the group stood Asher and another young vampyre I’d never seen before. All gazes were riveted on me.

I dug my nails into the stones, still battling Asher’s smooth voice and whatever was causing me to move against my will.

Then I looked up at Irta. She was smirking at me, her perfect lips curled up cruelly in satisfaction. When I saw that, knew that she thought she’d won, something in me snapped yet again.

“You will let me go,” I hissed, feeling my eyes burn as I transferred my attention to Asher. He frowned, blinking. “Now.”

Suddenly my legs were free. I was alone in my own mind. Nothing and no one stood in my way to freedom. Not bothering to take the time to ponder how this was possible, I swung right back over and quickly shoved off the wall. I landed hard, trembling but upright. There was nothing but forest before me, nothing but possibilities.

“No!” I heard Irta screech. “Get her! Elson, Asher, what are you two doing?”

“Bring her back,” I heard a calm, deep voice order—Curtis. I took off at a run, my sore body protesting. I ignored it.

Behind me there was a loud beep, and then the sound of the gate sliding open. Three guards were sprinting after me, their long legs already catching up to me. I cursed under my breath and pushed harder.

I was in the trees now. Branches scratched my cheeks and dead leaves crunched under my feet. The guards were louder than I, and I could tell how far behind they were both by the branches they whipped out of their way and their loud breathing.

And unexpectedly, inexplicably, I jerked to a halt.

The guards slowed, cautious and wary. Was this some sort of ploy?

But I hadn’t wanted to stop. I hadn’t told my feet to root to the ground. The cold air and the smell of the woods calmed me somehow, and instead of panicking, I considered why this was happening to me.

Damn it, I didn’t even get that far, I fumed. This power must be coming from within Lugosi. So there must be some sort of… Gifted one? That can control… movement? I suddenly remembered the kid standing next to Asher in the courtyard. Ah. Elson, Irta had called him. No wonder she summoned him when she saw me on the wall.

This Lugosi has too much power, I realized. I’m going to have to be smarter if I really want to escape.

Asher’s voice rang out through the darkness, and, turning my head, I saw him standing directly beneath a bright moonbeam.

“Come back, Lindsey,” he said. I noticed Elson standing next to him again, a silent and unmoving shadow.

My feet finally moved again, but in the opposite direction that I wanted. My mind continued to race, to put together these puzzle pieces. How had I gained my brief freedom from these two before? Hadn’t I… simply told them to let me go? But how had that worked?

“Go to sleep,” Asher whispered once I was two feet away from him. His hand rose from his side, hovering above my cheek as my eyes fluttered. For one instant I thought that he was about to stroke my cheek, but then his hand fell limply to his side again.

I was fighting still, but even I knew that I was losing this battle. Sleep… sounds so good… yes…

The ground flew up to meet me.