13. ~Talon~

13

~Talon~

It was really weird being back here after everything that had happened.

And, worse, without Orpheus here alongside us.

Alongside me.

I hadn’t been without him in years.

As if that weirdness wasn’t enough, before we’d come back here, something had happened the other night at Abigail’s house.

I’d heard a commotion as I’d been studying and getting ready for going back to Electi Academy and I’d found Alena in her mom’s study angrily going through her grimoires and muttering things to herself about darkness and “there must be a way”, a whole lot of things that hadn’t made sense without context.

I’d left and gone to find X, because Ore hadn’t been due back from Exemplar for another couple of hours.

And then he’d teleported into the corridor upstairs as I’d been headed to his room. When I’d asked why Alena was upset, he’d merely claimed they’d had a bad night hunting. Then he’d stormed to his room wherein he’d shut the door so violently it had ripped off its top hinge.

And then Ore had come back really late, hours later than he’d been slated to.

He hadn’t even come to greet any of us and I’d found him outside tending to the garden he’d been growing for the last few weeks.

I’d gone out there to ask him if he knew what was up with Alena and Xavier, but he’d merely shrugged it off, then changed the subject, telling me he was going away to spend some time in the Dark Fae Realm when we went back to the Academy.

That awful news had taken precedence over everything else.

Him actually leaving for another realm, being that far away.

It had hit me in the gut. It had been bad enough knowing he wouldn’t be coming back with us, but for him to be all the way in the DFR was way worse. He’d given me an IC Watch to try to take the edge off, so we could still communicate while he was gone.

I’d been trying to throw myself into my studies and focus on that. And when I’d had some time on my hands, I’d been planning out some more details of my supernatural orphanage idea, looking for some possible locations too, as well as figuring out some of the intricacies of how it was going to run. Really, I needed Ore’s input for the latter, because that sort of thing was his forte. But for now I was doing what I could. I was good with figuring out what the orphans would need, things I’d been without myself and wished I’d had after I’d lost my parents.

The time I’d spent with Xavier and Alena between classes and during the evenings hadn’t been as much as I’d liked, and things with the two of them had been kind of off since that night at the house when they’d both come home in a temper. They wouldn’t say a word about what had happened, though.

They were keeping me out of it and it really wasn’t going over well.

I didn’t like these secrets between us.

We were supposed to be on the same page these days.

It had to be something about Constantine, something they thought they were protecting me from, that they needed to shield me from.

It was bullshit.

After me holding onto my control the night Constantine had tried to push me over the edge, I thought I’d proved that I could handle shit now.

Unless it wasn’t about protecting me.

Maybe one of them had done something they weren’t proud of, something fucked-up that they were keeping quiet. Maybe Ore really hadn’t known what had happened and they were keeping it from him .

I blew out a breath, putting it on hold for now.

I snapped out of it as Professor Dominique Targus of the Foundations of Spell Casting class started handing back our assignments.

I waited patiently—a big deal for me—as she made her way through the rest of the students and to the back of the class where I was at.

Fortunately, the class was actually halved at the moment because a bunch of students hadn’t returned from the break. There was basically a boycott going on right now that the Academy was trying to combat, as they fought to reassure the students’ families that the army aspect had been disbanded and the students wouldn’t be taking part in anything of the sort going forward.

“Excellent work,” Professor Targus spoke as she reached me and handed me back my paper.

I started in surprise. “Really?”

I wasn’t exactly known for getting the best grades. My GPA was average at best.

But as I took the paper from her and saw the A written in the top corner, it was undeniable. I’d done a great job. Nah, more than that, I’d kicked some major ass.

Wow, I guess when I focused up, I could really pull off something spectacular.

There hadn’t been that much else to focus on during the last few weeks of being away from the Academy. Sure, we’d been fucking and spending time together, but then everyone had had their moments of doing their own things too. Ore at Exemplar and tending to his garden, Alena going through her mom’s grimoires and trying to find things in order to understand and know her better, then X with his writing—apparently, he was right at the end of his novel now—and the two of them doing all that hunting training too.

“I’m framing this,” I told the professor.

“You absolutely should. Think of it as a turning point. If you can achieve this once, who knows what greatness you’re really capable of, Talon?”

I beamed out at her. “Thank you.”

She smiled back. “Keep up the impressive work,” she told me, before moving on to the next student a couple of desks away from me.

I guess with everything that had happened lately, it had calmed me, and brought about a seriousness toward my studies that I hadn’t really had before. I’d been more focused on the social aspect with X and Ore, then Alena too. But after almost losing the Academy and the life I’d been building here, I guess it had brought it home to me just how lucky I was to be able to carry on and get back to it.

Especially knowing that Ore wouldn’t be here to ground me anymore.

It had me recognizing that I needed to take on the responsibility myself, instead of leaning on him to help me get to remain here even with my abysmal grades and all that.

Maybe us not being joined at the hip actually had an upside then.

Class let out and I slid my assignment proudly into my black messenger bag, then headed on out into the corridor. It was time to meet X and Alena for lunch in the quad. Then I had my favorite Pyrokinesis class right afterward, something I was looking forward to now that I’d been able to turn a corner with my control, thanks to Constantine’s mistake that night, actually. And now that the traitor, Callum Cornwell, was no longer teaching the class. I was excited to show the professor and the other students what I’d learned, what I could do now without bad consequences.

As I made my way down the not-so-crowded hallways because of the fewer students around now, one of the up-and-coming sorcerers, Roland Weir, who was obsessed with X’s father, came right for me. He gave me a chin lift right before he bumped into me, his thick dark curly hair brushing across my face in the process, a moment before I felt a piece of paper being pushed into my hand.

“My bad,” he spoke briefly, before carrying on down the corridor like nothing had happened.

I crumpled the paper in my hand to hide it, mindful of the new cameras that the Academy had put up in the corridors and outside the chambers, in the quad, a whole lot of areas. It had been ordered after everything that had gone down, one of the protocols the dean had put in place to try to show that Electi Academy was safe to return to again.

There were some blind spots, though, something X had used a discreet spell to identify for us.

So, as I pushed through the main doors and out into the quad, I snuck under an alcove where the cameras didn’t reach and opened the folded piece of paper, taking in the note inside. It was how we’d done things as Obsidian when we’d first started it up. Word of mouth had replaced it later on, along with set routines and procedures that the students had become familiar with. But word of mouth wouldn’t really work now with so many students missing. There were too many breaks in the chain. Usually, we would go to the heads of the little factions and cliques here who would then spread word to their particular groups.

I leaned against the alcove wall as I took in the message Roland had passed to me.

Obsidian,

We’re still with you. The army is necessary and we’re ready and willing to fight at any point. Not victims, but soldiers. Trust in that like we trust in you.

Remaining Student Body.

I smiled as I singed it to ashes with my phoenix fire just to be safe.

Then I sent a quick message to Ore via my IC Watch.

He needed to be aware of this.

He needed to know that the students agreed that the wrong decision had been made in expelling him and putting the kibosh on the army.

I waited a few minutes for him to respond, but nothing came.

Sighing, I stepped out of the alcove and headed over to the quad, spotting Alena and X already approaching our bench.

I slowed, though, when I caught sight of them standing in front of it and whispering in each other’s ear, neither of them looking happy, both of them showing some really tense body language.

That was it!

It was time to figure out what was going on with them.

I employed my supernatural hearing and zoned in on their conversation.

“If you’d given me more time, they might have talked. Maybe not that clear bastard, Jonus, but his buddies.”

“Alena, you employed fucking necromancy! You were ripping their hearts out of their chests!”

“I wouldn’t have actually done it. It was merely a threat.”

“Was it? Are you certain? Or did your obsession with getting to Constantine take you over?”

“It’s not obsession, it’s good sense. That psychopath is still out there. We finally had a lead, then it was snuffed out. You said Exemplar took them away. There’s no way it was random because they didn’t even know beings working for Constantine were there, or they would’ve been dealt with before we could even cross paths with them. So I know it was you who called it in. You took our one lead away! Exemplar won’t force any intel from them, they don’t go in for torture or severe interrogation techniques. In all likelihood, without proof, they’ll just be let go and disappear into the ozone with their master.”

“Torture isn’t something you should be going in for either.”

“Really? So you don’t think we need to do whatever it takes to find that motherfucker then? That we shouldn’t pull out all the stops to prevent hell from befalling us again?”

“I don’t think you should be compromising who you are, or trading on the dark side to get it done.”

“Sometimes there’s no other way.”

“I don’t agree with that.”

“You agree that he should be killed now. You didn’t before. So you’ve changed your tune once, you could—”

“I won’t change my tune on this. Nothing that leads you down a dark path, Alena.”

“Hence you refusing to do any further hunting with me.”

“Yes.”

“Maybe I should see what Orpheus has to say about this. If he knew we had a lead, that we’d actually encountered beings connected to Constantine, these new acolytes of his—”

“Fuck, Alena. He already knows.”

“What?”

“He showed up just after you left that night. He was the one who removed them from the vicinity.”

“You’re telling me that Orpheus Hart sent our only leads along to Exemplar ?”

“Yes.”

“Something doesn’t add up there.”

“It does when you factor in that Ore’s been severely shaken by everything that’s happened, especially what was done to you. He’s not himself. He’s been hiding it by keeping busy with his time spent up at the compound. And in fucking, of course.”

“No. I mean, I know he didn’t want me getting involved in this again or putting myself in danger, but I figured once you and I had managed to get a lead, we’d take it to him and he’d get back on board in our fight to find and take down Constantine.”

“Apparently not.”

“So he’s not with us now?”

“Not on this.”

“And you’re not either?”

“You need time to come down from what happened with those vampires, then we can revisit it.”

“Really? You’d do that?”

“As long as you swear to me you won’t employ something as fucked-up as necromancy again.”

“What if I need to in a defensive capacity?”

“Fine. As a last resort, but not offensively, or as a form of torture.”

“Agreed.”

I saw X reach out then and cup her face.

“I love you and I’m only telling you this in the name of that, all right? I want the best for you. I want you happy and safe.”

“I know and I love you for it. I’m sorry I got out of control with them. Have you thought about what they promised you?”

“Yeah. It was obviously a ruse. Constantine wanted my magic for something and he’ll clearly say anything to get it. It’s just false hope. Besides… I’m okay with being the way I am now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ve made my peace with it in a way I haven’t been able to before. Doing all this hunting with you, calling on my vampiric skills and abilities so much in a positive way… it’s really helped. But you already figured that, didn’t you? It’s the other reason you asked me to do this with you?”

“You got me. I thought it might help you, yes.”

“Well, you were correct. Thank you, beautiful.”

They finally took their seats at the picnic table on the same side of the bench beside one another and they began pulling their lunches out of their bags. It looked like they’d both just picked up sandwiches this time.

With that note I’d actually forgotten to get mine from the cafeteria.

Fortunately, I did have a peach in my bag for when I got extra hungry, so I pulled it out and walked on over there to join them.

“Hey,” I said casually, sitting down opposite them. “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Talon,” Alena greeted me, reaching across the table and stroking my hand.

“Okay morning so far,” X told me. “Just getting back into the swing of things. You?”

“Great. I got my first ever A.”

“What? Really?” X asked.

I nodded proudly.

“Congratulations!” Alena cried excitedly.

“Well fucking done,” X said, giving my shoulder a squeeze.

“Thanks.” I took a bite of my peach.

X frowned at me. “Is that all you got from the cafeteria?”

“I forgot to go. I got distracted.”

“By what?” Alena asked.

I leaned closer and lowered my voice to barely above a whisper, “By Roland passing me a note on behalf of the students left here. They’re still with us on the army thing, they want to fight against the Constantine threat. I passed it onto Ore, left him a message.”

“Wow,” Alena breathed.

“Good luck getting a positive response from him on that,” X said. “He’s Exemplar’s bitch now.”

I glared at X. “Tone it down.”

“It’s the truth. I’ve already had it out with him.”

“Oh, you mean when you and Alena went hunting for that fucker without me and even got a lead that none of you bothered to tell me about?”

There. It was out there.

They both tensed right up.

“You overheard our conversation just now, listened in,” X put together well.

I nodded.

“I’m sorry, Talon,” Alena at least had the decency to offer.

Unlike X, who told me, “We had to keep it from Ore because of his new stance and telling you would’ve meant it getting right back to him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh, but I do.”

“All right,” Alena said, holding up her hand. “Let’s not make this more antagonistic than it already is because of the subject matter.” She looked at X. “Regardless of the reason, it’s not a nice feeling to be left out, is it?”

X sighed. “No, it’s not.” He eyed me. “Okay, I’m sorry we couldn’t tell you. But the reason for us not doing so still stands.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Apology accepted. Don’t do it again, though.”

“I wish it wasn’t even needed at all. You know I don’t like secrets and I’ve always had an issue with Ore keeping them. But the way he is now… what else can we do?”

“Have it out with him?”

“Firebird, I told you I already have.”

“Well, maybe he just needs time. Maybe that’s why he went to the DFR, to figure shit out, not just to see his father.”

“Let’s hope, because we need him on this. His way of doing things, his power. And having the army with us won’t even mean much if Ore isn’t prepared to step back into his position as its leader. He’s the one they’re trusting in, the one they’re prepared to follow.”

“The power doesn’t just lie with Orpheus,” Alena said. “ I can take up the mantle.”

“An angel going against Exemplar will be considered a massive threat,” X warned her.

“And a Dark Fae Prince doing the same isn’t?” she questioned.

“The difference is, my father can best him if it came down to it. He can’t overcome angel magic, though,” X told her.

Just the thought of that sort of confrontation befalling Alena made my gut twist. “No. Let’s just give it time with Ore. He’s in the DFR, if anything’s gonna have his current stance shifting, it’s being around Saryan Hart.” I grasped Alena’s hand on the bench top. “Please, firecracker, don’t do anything extreme. I couldn’t stand it if you put yourself in that position. Let’s just focus on classes right now, take in some normalcy for a little while.”

“He’s right,” X said, thankfully backing me up, despite how obvious it was that he really wanted to smite that fucker, Constantine, too. “You’re past your shutdown phase, dealing with your grief and what happened, now we can bask in some normalcy, some downtime from all the insanity, like Tal is saying.”

She sucked in a breath, then stroked my fingers in hers. “Yeah, you’re right. I promise.”

Thank fuck. I eased back. “How about tonight the four of us get to some down and dirty fucking in your chambers, Alena? We’ll bring Ore into it via my IC Watch, kind of like a phone sex hologram sort of thing?”

Alena’s eyes hooded. “Sounds perfect.”

“Shame I can’t sink my fangs into him,” X said, regretfully.

Yeah, he’d really gotten into that with Ore lately. It had turned out that Ore had a hard-on for being fed on.

“You can bite me,” Alena offered.

“Me too,” I said, drawing attention from them both. “What? I want to know what it’s like, what’s got Ore so into it.”

“Mmm, it’s on, firebird. You too, beautiful.”

As we settled into eating our lunch, excitement bloomed as I thought about what was going to go down tonight.

Definitely something to look forward to.

Just like my next class and showing off my abilities without any fallout this time.

There was a lot to look forward to actually.

A lot beyond all the darkness and pain of late.

And I was absolutely here for it.

I wanted to immerse myself in it for as long as possible.

Because, with the way our lives were, we all knew that couldn’t hold for long.

We had to run with these perfectly imperfect moments as much as we could.

Was that not the essence of life in a nutshell?