Darkbeam Part I

Chapter 10

It was late when I got back to Dragonia Academy.

The school was quiet and everyone was asleep, apart from a few rooms. I could only hear hollow sounds as their rooms were actually soundproofed.

I found a silver piece of paper on the floor outside my door. I knew who that paper belonged too. Irene.

I knew what it was going to say. She wanted to see me and I couldn’t. I’d ended up giving the beast everything he wanted.

I couldn’t give him that too. They would definitely expel me.

I picked up the note. Scribbled in elegant cursive letters, she demanded to see me. There wasn’t just one date, but time slots for the rest of the week and the next one.

Every day. She wanted to see me every day. WHY?

I chucked the note in my drawer and rubbed my face hard.

Lucian’s bed was still empty. How long did he need to recover? Was he even going to come back? The beast loved that, but I hated not knowing if he was okay or not.

I took a shower and forced myself to sleep, praying that the nightmares would stay away.

The next morning, I went to the cafeteria. Every single person’s eyes were on me as I walked up to the buffet line.

I got a couple of greetings from girls as I dished up.

“Blake,” Chef said. “Nice to see you up again.”

I grunted, resenting his insinuation. Copper-Horns.

I found an open table outside and in less than thirty seconds, George, Brian, Tabitha, and everyone who was everyone joined me.

I wanted to explode but I ate my breakfast and went to class the minute the bell rang.

Time flew today; I dreaded seeing Irene. My palms were sweaty. What was she doing to me?

Professor Edward called my name. “You can go,” he said in his brisk Irish accent.

I packed my bag and went for Irene’s tower. I should’ve just skipped her today, but she would report my absence to Master Longwei and that would lead to more questions. I didn’t have all the answers right now.

So I wiped my sweaty palms against my trousers and trudged up the steps that led to her room high in the tower.

I reached out to knock.

“Enter!” she yelled out before my fist even connected with the wood.

I opened the door.

Her face lit up and she gave me her brilliant smile. I was glad for the first time that my heart couldn’t be heard; this would’ve been embarrassing.

“I didn’t think you were going to show.” she said in her honey-sweet voice.

“I wasn’t sure if I should.” I was being honest, too honest.

“Well, I’m glad you did. Sit.” She smiled.

I dropped my backpack and took a seat. I lay on my back and closed my eyes.

I missed this tower, the formality of it. I missed talking to her.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. You tell me, Irene. What am I doing here?”

“You know it’s mandatory to see me as the Rubicon. You’ve missed quite a few sessions.”

I chuckled at her word choice. If only she knew the sessions I had in mind, she wouldn’t say that to me.

“Something funny?” she asked.

“No, quite the opposite.” My tone was gloomy.

“Then talk to me. What has been going on with you lately?”

“I’m having dreams, dreams I don’t know how to interpret. Whether they’re my imagination or something to come.”

“Tell me about the dreams.”

I looked at her with one raised eyebrow.

“Give it a shot.”

“Fine. I think I’m having dreams of my rider.”

She squinted. “I don’t understand.”

“I think it’s my rider or what she would’ve been like if she was alive.”

“She?” Irene said.

“Yeah, I was always under the impression that it was a he until the dreams.”

“Tell me about them. What do you feel? What do you do? How do you know it’s about your rider?”

“I know how it sounds, okay? My rider doesn’t exist. They’re just stupid dreams.”

“Nothing is stupid, Blake. Try me.”

It was silent for a moment and then I just opened up. The words poured out of me and I told Irene about every single dream. She listened eagerly without saying a single word. So I kept talking. “And that’s that. It’s the last dream I had.” I looked at her. “Do you know what it could possibly mean?”

She squinted thinking hard. “I know you want me to tell you that it’s about your future, that it’s your Moon-Bolt side awakening within you. But I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s what you think it is. Wishful thinking.”

“Wishful thinking.” I rubbed my face hard. “What about what I feel in this dream? Does that sound remotely like anything real?”

“I don’t know. I wish I had the answer, but you know I hardly see anything good when it comes to you.”

I nodded, feeling sad. “Yeah, my curse. Everything I try to accomplish is completely hopeless. I might as well just give in.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not hopeless, okay?” She got up and came to sit next to me. She’d never sat this close to me before.

She rubbed my arm. If she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t touch me like this.

The beast was awakening. It wanted more.

Don’t, Blake, just don’t.

It took a deep breath. I should be going. Now was a good time, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have the strength to fight anymore.

She came closer to me then and her lips brushed against mine.

I froze. What the f**k?

She kissed me full on the lips. The beast took over and pulled her closer. Her body was warm against mine. I grunted softly as her hands twirled in my hair and her kiss deepened.

She tasted amazing. I wanted more.

She finally stopped. “We shouldn’t do this.”

“Shut the f**k up.” It didn’t even sound like me. Before I knew it, she was pinned against the wall and my shirt was off.

My lips trailed all over her skin. Her breathing grew faster and our clothes disappeared.

She moaned softly in my ear as I thrust myself inside her again and again. She tasted amazing and being inside her was worth every single forbidden second.

I didn’t care anymore. It felt great when the beast got what it wanted. It was rejoicing. Maybe I could hold on just a tad bit longer.

She offered me a cigarette afterward. I didn’t want to leave, but she probably had another student soon.

We’d somehow made it to her bedroom.

Who knew sleeping with a three-hundred-year-old Moon-Bolt would feel this way. She... tamed a part of me.

I hadn’t felt so free in a long time. So rested. Ready for whatever faced me next.

She took the cigarette away from me. I rested with my head on her belly and she looked down at me.

“You don’t regret this?”

“You’re the Moon-Bolt. Do you see me regretting this?”

She laughed.

“No, I don’t,” I said and kissed her. “But I do need to go unless you want others to know.”

“Oh, damn,” she said. “Why do you have to be a student?”

I laughed. “Just a few more years and then I’m finished.”

“Still,” she said.

I got up. I slipped on my pants and looked for my t-shirt.

“So, same time tomorrow?”

“You bet,” I said and bent over the bed, kissing her goodbye. “And I’m quite possessive, Irene, so I’d better be your only.”

She blushed. She didn’t say a single word, just shook her head.

I pulled on my shirt and blew her another kiss as I slipped on my shoes. I left before her next appointment.

I still couldn’t believe what the f**k just happened. I didn’t even have to kiss her, she’d gone for me. Me.

I took a deep breath as I left her tower. For the first time in a very long time, I was looking forward to tomorrow.

I couldn’t get Irene out of my head. Her smell overpowered my senses. The beast inside was purring. It wasn’t a real sound, just what it felt like. It was at peace and so was I.

I was glad that this sensation resulted from something as simple as Irene, and not murder. Those were the hardest to deal with. I couldn’t do the nightmares anymore.

I doubted the dreams about the redhead would come again.

I felt sad about something I never really had to begin with. It showed just how f****d up dreams in Paegeia were.

They were so real.

The Shifters believed that the strong ones guided people on the right path, the path to their destinies.

I chuckled. I guessed it was one of the reasons why Isaac wasn’t ready to take over from his father.

He didn’t believe in any of that crap.

I closed my eyes and slipped into a rare, blissfully dreamless sleep.

A tap on the window woke me. At first I thought I was hearing things, but the tap persisted. I opened my eyes and went to the window.

Huge wings flapped outside in the dark. A giant eagle hovered just beyond my reach.

Isaac? What was he doing here?

I opened the window. The wings disappeared instantly as a pair of strong arms grabbed the ledge.

I hauled him into my room. He immediately pulled on the jeans that were in his other hand. I tossed him one of my shirts.

“You know it’s late, right?” I asked.

“Dude.” He smiled. Something was different about him. “Dude,” he said again. “‘Never-Breath’ is one of the best songs you’ve ever f*****g written.”

I started to laugh. “Please tell me that’s not why you came.”

“I had to. You don’t have a f*****g phone and I need us to record this. The song, the tune. It’s brilliant.”

“Okay, calm down.” He plopped onto the couch and I flipped on the lights.

“You want a beer?”

“Sure,” Isaac said. “Your room is the s**t. f**k, dude, this is the first time I’ve been here.”

We both laughed.

“How did you find my room?” I grabbed a beer from the mini fridge.

“Your smell.”

“My smell?” My eyebrow arched.

“Not like that,” he said and accepted his beer from me.

I sat on the couch opposite him. “You keeping me hanging? Hum the melody.”

“Better. I’ll sing you the f*****g song.”

Isaac had a brilliant voice and it was weird how they couldn’t get booked without me being the lead singer.

He started to sing the tune and made the beat, which was soft and low, with his mouth. Goosebumps crawled over my arms and neck when he started singing the lyrics.

He closed his eyes. His voice went up in just the right places. He felt each word exactly the way I did.

In the chorus, it was as if he was begging death himself to put him out of his misery. Just how I felt. Whom did I need to see to turn her into a reality?

I wiped tears from my eyes as Isaac finished the last verse. I shook my head. “I think you got it.”

“Yeah, it just fits so f*****g perfectly. Don’t you think?”

“It does.”

“Is that how you truly feel?” he asked.

I really didn’t want to think about the dreams anymore. “I did. I hate the darkness. The constant fighting, not knowing where I’ll be and what s**t I’ll do tomorrow.”

Sympathetic sadness cloaked his expression. “You really imagine her as a girl?”

I chuckled. “Actually, no, I actually think it would’ve been a guy. But this industry needs a good take-me-back type of song, don’t you think?”

“f**k yeah.” He fiddled with a loose thread in his jeans. “So are we going to record it?”

“Sure.” I shrugged. “Why not?”

“Yes,” Isaac pumped his first. “Oh, before I forget—the phone is ringing nonstop, dude. We have gigs lined up. Please tell me you can do this.”

“I’ll try. I can’t promise anything, Isaac.”

“That’s all I want. Well, I’d better get going.” He finished his beer. “Before the old man discovers I’m gone.”

“Yeah, who knows what he would do this time?”

We both laughed. Isaac had slept many a night in jail because he hadn’t told his father where he was. So the police came looking for him and when they found him drunk out of his wits, they locked him up.

I was never around to bail him out or beg the officers not to take him. Some friend I was.

He put down the empty bottle. “See you, dude. Don’t forget, five o’clock Friday, my place. And get yourself a f*****g phone.” He took off his shirt and jumped on the ledge. “Bye.” he pulled off his jeans and dove.

An eagle burst out of Isaacs form and I watched him fly away as I closed my window.

I felt happy and sad at the same time.

He’d done an amazing job with “Never-Breath.” I couldn’t write music without him.

Life for now was good. And that was all I needed at this moment.