Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Book 2 Chapter 19

19

“Well, that was something,” I say to Tina when I return to the dorms.

Tina and I aren’t exactly close, but since it’s certain now that I won’t be polluting her family’s pure vampire bloodline by dating her brother, she’s been a little more chill. And by a little more chill I mean that she hasn’t elongated her fangs at me in almost a week.

“You ran out of there pretty fast,” I say, tossing my school issue jacket onto my bed. “I’m guessing you felt the same way I did during Maddox Tralano’s…rally?” There’s no other word for it. She was gathering the troops and firing up their blood.

Tina doesn’t answer me. She must still be mad that Larissa sat with me during Tralano’s speech. I’m probably in trouble now.

“I think she’s totally nuts,” I go on. “And did you know that she’s the one who—Tina?”

My roommate is lying in bed, the covers pulled around her protectively. Like a true vamp, Tina doesn’t sleep. When she is “on” her bed, she’s usually floating above the blankets. But she’s in the fetal position right now, and shaking like a leaf.

“Tina?” I walk over to her, noticing something on the floor between our beds.

“Gross!” I use a tissue to lift up a tiny, dead scorpion. “Oh my gods! Tina, did you see this?”

She doesn’t respond. There’s sweat pouring off her brow, and her mouth is locked shut as she convulses slightly, like she’s fighting the urge to puke. Oh gods. I’ve heard that when vampires puke it gets…messy.

I gingerly wrap the scorpion inside the tissue, being careful not to crush it.

“I’ve got to get this to the infirmary,” I tell her. “They said the plague was started by a bug bite, that’s why they fumigated. This thing must have come through the portal with us when—”

“I’m not sick,” Tina says, her mouth barely opening to let the words out.

“Um…you look pretty sick,” I tell her.

She does. For the first time in my life I can actually say a vampire looks like s**t. Tina’s skin is waxy, her hair sweat soaked and…only blonde. Her green streaks are gone. That’s weird. I’ve never seen her without them.

“I’m not sick,” Tina repeats, but a little runnel of blood escapes from one of her nostrils as she says it.

“Tina…” I say, approaching her cautiously. “You honestly do not look good. I think you need to come to the infirmary with me.”

“I’m not sick,” she says again, and tries to show her fangs, but they only erupt halfway. She grips my wrist, squeezing. Even her freaky vampire strength is gone. “I do not have the plague.”

“Of course you don’t,” I say. “I mean, duh. You’re a pureblood vampire, and the plague only affects shift—”

I pause as things click into place.

Tina, so concerned with keeping up appearances.

The time I caught her pulling her hand through her hair and adding a streak of green, which Cassie said was a shifter trick.

Her preoccupation with keeping Val away from me, and having him marry someone with a great vampire pedigree. She’s trying to protect him from the truth.

Oh. My. Gods.

Tina’s gaze meets mine, bright, burning, begging.

Tina isn’t a pureblooded vampire.

That means Val isn’t either…

Does Larissa know? And if not, would she still want to marry him?

I hurry to the infirmary. A witch at the quarantine area stops me, but when I show her what I’m holding she goes white. Then she snaps, “Follow me to the infirmary immediately.”

I know the witches are under a ton of pressure right now with the outbreak and since it’s where I was going anyway, I resist the urge to snark back.

Inside the lab, there’s normal looking equipment, like microscopes, but also bubbling cauldrons. Next to an eye wash station is a stone table carved with runes.

I spot Metis, the healer in charge, and make my way over to her. She’s busy looking through a microscope, then reading an incantation from a book.

“Excuse me…” Her sharp eyes focus on me.

For a moment I lose my words. I’m not prepared for the weight of her gaze. I know she’s a Titan, older than the Greek gods themselves. Her presence is intimidating, her eyes bright with ancient knowledge.

She looks me up and down. “You’re the dragon?”

“Yes,” I say, and add a “ma’am” for good measure.

She humphs. “You’re tall, and have ample muscle tone. If you weren’t a shifter I would think you’d be more suited to my daughter’s academy.”

Wait, there are other Academies? Of course there are.

“Your daughter?” I ask stupidly. Maybe I should spend more time studying.

“My daughter Athena. She is the headmistress of sss Academy. I’m sure she’d love to get her greedy hands on you, but no shifters allowed. Not like Hades and his Underworld Academy. He’ll take anyone. Anyone dead, anyway.”

I hate to interrupt but I feel like Metis is losing interest in me. “I…I found this. On my dorm room floor.”

Again her full attention snaps to me and I feel like I’m a specimen under her microscope. But then I hand her the dead scorpion and it’s like I’m no longer in the room. Or even the same planet. Metis carefully places it in a specimen bag and then calls for the other witches and warlocks in the lab.

Just like that—I’m forgotten. By everyone.

They huddle around the insect, so solemn it almost looks like they’re in the midst of a funeral. Then one of the warlocks asks, “Who had scorpion in the office pool?”

“I think it was Rose.”

“And maybe Warren too.”

“Definitely not me. I went with a killer bee.”.

“I thought mosquito was a winner.”

“You and half the staff here.”

“Enough.” Metis almost whispers the word, but immediately everyone goes silent. “My choice was a loser in the pool and thus my interest in this topic has ended. Let us move on. This ugly insect which has apparently cost me several gold coins in a fortune too vast to be counted may be the answer to our patients next door. Let us discuss this further.”

Another spirited discussion erupts with wizards and witches talking over one another.

One of the warlocks says there’s no way it’s the cause, as scorpion venom only incapacitates, but someone else hazards that it could be a bio-weapon created by the monsters. Then they get into a hypothetical argument about what the goal of a bio weapon that only affects shifters might be. It quickly gets technical and way over my head.

Finally, one kindly witch notices I’m still there and tells me I can leave.

I back away and head down the hall, to the room with the quarantined shifters. As soon as I found that scorpion, a plan to sneak inside was already forming in my head. If the plague was caused by that scorpion, I won’t catch it by checking on my fellow classmates.

I spot Greg and, in the bed next to him, surprisingly, Jordan. I hadn’t seen him at the rally but I didn’t realize…

I rush to them, circumventing the lion in the middle of the room. They brought in a cage for Rochelle and she’s pacing back and forth, snarling occasionally. When I reach Greg he gives me a sad smile.

“Not you too, Edie?” he asks.

“No, no…I just wanted to check on you. And Jordan, I didn’t even know you’d gotten sick. What happened?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I woke up this morning and when I went out for my run I couldn’t shift. I just…nothing like this has ever happened to me before, I swear.” He looks on the verge of tears. “This is the first time I’ve been unable to perform …”

I hug him, then hug Greg and sit at the foot of his bed.

“The worst thing,” Jordan is saying, “is that you don’t truly know what you have until it’s gone. I mean, when something is just there all the time, you take it for granted.” His eyes go to Hepa who is helping another patient.

“That’s really deep,” I say.

“And who is gonna want to bang a shifter who can’t shift?” he asks.

Greg actually laughs. “Okay, he’s back now. Hi, Jordan.”

“How are you really?” I ask Greg.

“Bored. Mostly. There’s talk about making us—the infected—go home. Permanently.”

“They’re gonna kick you out of school?” I say in a voice way too loud for the sick room. Quickly, I modulate my volume. “I won’t let that happen.” Although I don’t know what I could do to stop it.

Greg shrugs. “Well, if we’re shifters who can’t shift, we’re actually just humans.” He stops, apparently remembering that I couldn’t shift for most of last year. “Sorry, Edie. But it’s true.”

I spot Fern and drop my voice to a whisper.

“Look, I’m pretty sure I found the cause…a baby scorpion. It must have slipped through the portal, that’s why I got stuck on the other side. Remember that bite on your back, Greg? I think it rode through with you.”

“But that’s only four living things,” Jordan argues, and I see that he’s used his fingers to calculate. “The portal key was set for five to return, including your mom.”

I don’t know what to say to that, and I hate the reminder that our entire mission failed and left my mother gods knew where.

“Um… guys?” Greg says. “I think I know why it closed. Five things did pass through. I sort of kind of might have snatched a beetle out of the air right before we left. And if I didn’t masticate—”

“Whoa dude, don’t beat yourself up.” Jordan says. “Everybody masticates. It’s normal and natural.”

“Chew, Jordan,” I tell him, and he apparently takes it as a command because he immediately starts doing it. “Masticate means chew,” I clarify.

“Ohhhh,” Jordan says. “Well, yeah. I guess that would do it then. If Greg hadn’t crunched down on his snack yet and there was a scorpion riding in on him—”

“Great, so it’s definitely all my fault,” Greg says, tears sprouting.

“Maybe,” I tell him. “But if it hadn’t happened, I never would have found Nico, and he would’ve died out in that desert.”

“I am totally blaming you for that one, then,” Jordan says to Greg. “Nico is a total dick.”

“Oh come on, he’s not that bad,” Greg argues. “He’s come and visited us almost every day.”

“What?” I’m shocked. “How did he get away with that?”

“He snuck in.” Jordan rolls his eyes. “He said no one keeps him out when he wants in. It sounded sorta sexual.”

“Jordan, everything sounds s****l to you,” I point out.

“Okay fine,” he shrugs, giving that one to me. “But when I asked if he was afraid of getting sick he said, ‘Tralanos don’t let themselves get sick. It’s a weakness.’”

“Yeah,” Greg adds. “I’m kinda getting the sense that his mom is a piece of work.”

“Oh she is, just wait until you get better and have to start attending her class.”

“If we get better,” Greg corrects, looking gloomy once more.

“You will,” I assure him. “I gave the scorpion to the healers. I’m sure it’ll be only a matter of time before they have a cure.”

“Yeah,” Greg’s face lights up. “I’m sure you’re right.”

“I gotta go, but I’ll come back as soon as I can.” I hurry over to Fern. “I need you to come with me. Now.”

“Is this about the mons…?” The words die on her lips when she sees my face. “Edie, what’s wrong?”

I pull her out of the infirmary but we’re stopped by a group of vamps. Val is among them. Today his shirt features a merman and says, Be Mermazing. I think of Darcy and don’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You know the rules, girls. No one leaves without being tested.”

Val steps forward, his expression as unreadable as ever.

I sigh and give him my hand. He takes it gently, his eyes meeting mine.

I forgot how cold he is. Cold in a way that I find really hot.

Slowly, he leans forward, exposing his fangs. He bites into my wrist.

The first time I had this done, they assured me that a bite alone couldn’t turn someone into a vampire, there’s a whole process involving the victim willingly also drinking some of the vampire’s blood. And…yeah, ugh. I’m not doing that.

And yet I have to admit, there’s a strange, pleasurable sensation from a vampire bite. A rush. I gasp, trying not to let the good feeling get to me. But because it’s Val all my other emotions are mixed up and I can’t help but blush, wondering what it would feel like for him to bite me other places.

“Clear,” one of the vamps says of Fern. I guess they’re still testing the witches to make sure that it doesn’t jump species, or…remembering Tina’s mixed blood, I entertain the thought that maybe Mr. Zee has the vamps doing the blood test to sniff out any Moggies.

Val raises his head and keeps staring at me, still holding my wrist. There’s so much I want to say to him. To ask him. He doesn’t even know that I’m aware of his secret. He doesn’t know that I don’t care if he’s a pure vampire. I wouldn’t care if he was part poodle.

“Clear,” he echoes.

He drops my wrist. The bite is already fading; a vampire’s saliva can actually have healing properties if they choose to excrete it. Val walks away and I stare after him, wondering if I should tell him about Tina. No. I’ll wait and see what Fern thinks. Maybe I’m overreacting and Tina just has a bad summer cold or something.

“Edie,” Fern prompts and the trance is broken.

In hushed whispers I explain to Fern along the way. I don’t think she truly believes me until she sees Tina for herself. She gets right to business, taking Tina’s temperature.

Tina opens her bleary eyes. “I didn’t ask you to bring me a healer.”

“She won’t tell anyone,” I promise her. “It was this or the infirmary.”

Fern looks at me. “I’m good at keeping secrets.”

“This isn’t affecting her like it is the shifters,” Fern tells me. “She looks a lot worse off than the other infected. Maybe…” Fern hesitates. “Maybe she’s not a purebred vampire?”

Tina hisses at us. “Don’t you dare say that aloud.”

“No one else is here,” I assure her.

“You and she are already too many! If anyone finds out, our family will be ruined.” Her eyes go dark and small red droplets spring from them. She’s crying blood.

This freaks me out so much I try to make her angry again. Anything other than her quiet desperation.

“Okay then, well in that case, I’ll just let you die.”

She looks up at me, sees that I’m not serious, and actually laughs weakly.

“What do you think?” I ask Fern.

“She needs a blood transfusion. Preferably from a pure-blooded vampire.”

“How the hell are we going to…wait, can you ask Marguerite?” I hadn’t even bothered to check in with Fern and find out if they were still together after the proclamation. To be fair, I was also thinking about how Fern let the monsters on campus, so neither of us is winning a friend of the year trophy.

“Marguerite?” Tina musters the strength to lift her head and give us both a semi-decent death stare.

“I’ll ask her for her blood, and I won’t let her know what it’s for,” Fern promises. “Just don’t tell anyone that we’re still together.”

“I would never,” I assure her.

“Ugh. Who cares about anything you do?” Tina’s eyes drift closed.

“I think that’s Tina’s way of saying she won’t tell anyone either,” I interpret for her.

Fern nods and hurries off.

After making sure Tina is as comfortable as possible, I know there’s no more putting it off.

I go to find Val.