I arrived to class before anyone else. I wanted to get there as early as possible, not only to prepare, but also because I wanted to get a little bit of reading done before the quiz.
As soon as I walked inside, I noticed there was very little daylight pooling into the classroom. I could hear the rain beating against the window, and again, it was another gloomy day.
I sat at my desk and flipped through my textbook as I waited for Vanessa and the others to arrive. I wanted to read more about blood bonded weapons since I still had many questions. Like why did the blade cause the wendigo and the centaur to turn to stone? That didn’t happen when Vesta used it … and I’d been wondering about that all night.
When I came across the chapter I was looking for, my eyes scanned the pages until I found an interesting passage.
“A blood-bonded weapon may carry the soul of its master once they have passed onto the next stage of life,” I muttered aloud. “While the master of a blood-bonded weapon is living, she alone may utilize the power harnessed within.”
I furrowed my brow. If that were true, then why did the blade exhibit extraordinary abilities when I used it? I wasn’t its owner.
I continued reading the text, and then I found my answer.
The power contained in blood-bonded weapons may only be used by a select few once the weapon’s owner is no longer in the living world.
So, the only logical explanation was I was considered to be one of the selected few … but why? I still had so many questions roaming through my head, and I was about to read more until a low growl broke me away from my train of thought.
I snapped my head up and saw Vanessa standing in the doorway with a feral black wolf by her side. The beast’s fur was the color of night, and it had a pair of sharp, ice blue eyes that were both alert and threatening at the same time. I should have been startled, but the sight didn’t faze me, not after everything I’d already seen.
“Good morning, Professor.” I grinned.
Today, Vanessa was wearing a black ebony gown with a white lace collar that reached her ears. Her dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and her pretty face was contorted into a scowl.
“Using the classroom to do some extra reading, I see,” she said as her eyes darted to the open book on my desk.
“Well, no one was here,” I replied. “So, what’s the harm?”
I tried to maintain eye contact with her, but it was difficult not to stare at the wolf by her side. I could feel its gaze on me, so I made eye contact with it, and it continued to stare me down. Then it growled deeply and bared its fangs in my direction.
“Easy there, Isobel.” Vanessa smiled. “He’s no threat to us.”
“Who is Isobel--” I started to ask, but then she raised her hand to cut me off.
“This is my familiar, a bonded creature,” she replied. “And if you pass the final exam, then you will receive one, too. No use wasting familiars on weak preschoolers, after all.”
“Will I get a wolf, too?” I asked as my eyes widened eagerly.
“No,” Vanessa sighed with impatience. “You’ll start off with something smaller, like a mouse or a chipmunk. Then, as you progress with your magic, it will evolve into whatever you desire.”
“I see.” I tapped my finger thoughtfully against the desk and smiled to myself.
A familiar of my own would be fucking awesome.
As I daydreamed about my own animal buddy, Vanessa marched over to her desk and pulled open a drawer. Then she rummaged through it with her brow furrowed until she finally found whatever it was she was looking for.
“Here,” she said as she walked over to me with a book in hand.
She slammed it down on top of my own open book, and this one looked to be in better condition than the textbook she initially gave me. This tome was quite beautiful. It had a sage green cover and a crimson spine with golden letters carved into it.
“In Libro Bestiae,” I read aloud from the cover.
“The Book of Beasts,” she translated. “Study it and learn the name of every creature in that book and what power they carry. It will come in handy one day. That is, if you actually take the time to study the material.”
“Thank you,” I said as I set the book aside, smiled smugly at her, and crossed my arms. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
“We shall see,” Vanessa snorted, and then took a seat behind her desk.
“I’ve gotten this far, haven’t I?” I smiled.
“True, but you should heed my warning,” she said as she met my eyes.
“Which particular warning?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.
There had already been so many insults and warnings from her that I was losing track.
“The one where you shouldn’t overestimate yourself,” she sneered. “It might get you killed.”
“We’ll see about that,” I answered in the same icy tone.
She furrowed her eyes at me and was clearly irritated. The wolf must have sensed her anger because it curled up at her feet and rubbed at her ankles, and Vanessa slowly petted Isobel as the other preschool witches began to pour into the classroom.
When I glanced up to watch them, Vesta shot me a look before she sat behind me. I couldn’t read her expression clearly, but if I had to guess, it was a mixture of worry and jealousy.
Akira slammed herself down on the chair beside me a moment later, and when I turned to look at her, I noticed bruised colored shadows under her black eyes. Her short dark hair was also disheveled, and her clothes were all wrinkled.
“Akira,” I whispered. “No offense, but you look like shit. You alright?”
“Well, that’s none of your business,” she snapped with her head down, and she refused to meet my eyes.
“Fine,” I said with my hands raised up in defense. “Forget I asked.”
She huffed in silence and then turned to face me.
“Fine, if you must know,” she sneered, “I went back out into the woods after everyone went to sleep.”
“What?” I hissed. “What the hell possessed you to do that?”
“Nothing possessed me,” she replied, and her hostile voice was suddenly laced with confusion. “Why would you think I was possessed?”
“It’s just an expression,” I sighed. “What I meant to say is, why the hell would you go out into the woods alone after what almost happened to Vesta?”
“I could protect myself,” the dark-haired witch answered with a defensive snarl.
“Well, even so,” I grumbled. “It was stupid.”
“Whatever,” she snapped and rolled her coal black eyes.
We sat in silence for a moment, while everyone waited for Sweeny to arrive, since she was the only witch not in her seat.
“Did you manage to actually hunt something else down?” I asked after a long moment.
I couldn’t help it, I was curious.
“No,” Akira sighed and sunk in her seat. “I only managed to find fairies, gremlins, and pixies.”
“Well, I’m sure the gnome blood will do fine,” I reassured her, but I couldn’t stop my lips from twitching upward.
“It’s not fair, though,” she snapped as she whirled on me. “How did you manage to find a fucking wendigo? And kill a centaur? I just don’t understand how you find them.”
“Honestly,” I replied, “it’s more like they find me.”
“Whatever.” She shook her head. “It’s so unfair.”
We all continued to wait in silence until Vanessa glanced at the ghastly grandfather clock by her desk and huffed impatiently.
“Does anyone know where Sweeny is?” she asked. “Class is about to officially start in two minutes.”
“Maybe she couldn’t kill anything,” Morgana whispered as she tucked a dark curl of brown hair behind her ear. “Stubborn witch that she is, it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“What was that, Morgana?” Vanessa called out.
“Nothing, Professor,” Morgana replied in a louder voice, “just thinking out loud.”
“Well, if she doesn’t show up, it’s not going to go well for her--” Vanessa started to say until there was a crash at the door.
Sweeny stood there with a vial in her hand, and her already scarred face had fresh new cuts in different places. Her long auburn hair was tangled with leaves sticking out of it, and her skin was shiny with sweat and blood.
“Apologies, professor,” she panted. “I’m not late, am I?
Her voice quivered at the last question, and I realized it was the first time I’d ever heard the witch sound afraid.
“No, but you were cutting it dangerously close,” Vanessa said with a frown. “Please take a seat.”
Sweeny nodded and collapsed into a chair behind me.
“What happens if we’re late to a quiz?” I asked Akira in a whisper.
“You’re dead.” She shrugged. “Literally. Burned at the stake, because if you don’t show up, it’s taken as a sign of weakness and defeat.”
“Will you two shut up?” Sweeny hissed from behind us. “I can hear everything.”
“We’re not even talking to you,” I snapped back.
I was done with her constant bullshit.
“You impudent, unintelligent, mortal piece of--” she started to say, but then Vanessa cut her off.
“Silence,” the professor demanded with a raised hand. “The quiz is about to begin.”
Everyone, including myself, pulled out their blood vials as Vanessa started to walk around the room with her arms folded behind her back. Then she glanced down at Akira’s vial, and her face remained stoic as stone.
“Gnome blood.” She nodded. “Not terrible.”
She ignored me and headed toward Faye and Morgana’s table instead, but when she looked at their blood, her face remained neutral. She was clearly not impressed.
“Blood of leprechaun and fairy,” she sighed. “Alright, better than nothing.”
She then turned her attention toward Vesta and Sweeny.
“Imp and gremlin blood,” she mused. “A little more impressive, but not by much.”
Finally, Vanessa headed back in my direction, and her stiletto heels clicked against the marble floor. When she looked down at my vial, though, her expression swiftly changed from neutral to shocked. Her full mouth slightly parted open when she picked the vial up. Then she held the glass tube up to the candlelight, and her eyes fixated on the bubbling blue blood.
“Wendigo blood,” she whispered. “How did you--?”
“What?” I asked when she couldn’t finish her sentence. “Is there a problem with it?”
I smirked to myself, since I knew I’d knocked it out of the goddamn park.
“This is … impressive,” Vanessa replied in a low voice. “I-I can’t believe this.”
“I just did what I was supposed to.” I shrugged. “Wasn’t that the objective? To hunt down and kill something?”
Her eyes darted back to me, and deep resentment shone in her icy blue orbs. I knew it was killing her to see me not only succeed, but to prevail as well. I was going far and beyond at this point, and she hated every moment of it, which brought me some strange satisfaction.
I smiled as she set the vial down and then cleared her throat.
“Now for the sacrifice,” Vanessa muttered without further comment. “Let’s begin.”
She snapped her fingers, and six humans appeared. They were all bound in chains, and they were all gaunt looking men, with pallid skin and red-rimmed eyes. I also noticed they were barely dressed, and the only thing they wore was a yellow-tinted loincloth.
Suddenly, it took me by gruesome surprise when I realized we were not going to be taking the life-force of a plant … but of a human. Then I considered if I should be disgusted. I apparently wasn’t human, right? If I was, the devil wouldn’t have allowed me to be here or whatever.
Still, if I wasn’t human, and I wasn’t a witch, what was I?
I shook my head to rid myself of my questions. Now was not the time for moral, existentialists doubts. I needed to focus on passing my quiz, because if I didn’t, I was dead, and this thought problem would be moot point anyway.
“Bitches,” snarled one of the men as he wildly stared at us. “May the gods punish you for your sins, and may you burn for centuries in hellfire.”
“One can only hope,” Vanessa replied with a dream-like sigh. “Now, witches, who will be going first. How about you, Akira?”
I heard the dark-haired witch gulp before she nodded her head and slowly stood up. Then she approached the human on the far right of the room. He had a long, scruffy beard and hate-filled green eyes, and he spat at her as soon as she neared him.
Akira gasped in shock and anger before she brought up her hand and slapped him as hard as she possibly could.
“Don’t let your temper get the better of you, Akira.” Vanessa smiled. “He is vermin … nothing more.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Akira took a deep breath to compose herself. “Apologies, Professor.”
“That’s quite alright,” Vanessa replied. “Carry on.”
Akira took in a deep breath and then yanked the man by his chains and dragged him over to Vanessa’s desk, where the ingredients, plus a knife and cauldron, were all laid out.
The dark-haired witch measured out the correct ingredients, and when it was time to cut into her skin, she dug the blade so deep into her palm that I could hear the skin splitting apart from here. She flinched, and her black eyes watered as she let the thick, crimson blood drip into the cauldron.
“What in God’s name are you going to do?” the man shrieked at her side. “You evil, callous, wicked whores!”
“Silence,” Vanessa hissed, and she was clearly irritated. She flicked her wrist, and then the man’s mouth dissolved into the skin. His eyes bulged, and he let out a muffled scream as if someone had just taped his mouth shut.
“Fuck,” I whispered under my breath.
“Pretty awesome, huh?” Vesta murmured from behind me.
I turned around and saw she had leaned forward in her seat. Now, her chest was low enough for me to glance at the curve of her lavender breasts peeking through the opening of her buttoned blouse.
“It’s intense,” I muttered. “I’ll give it that.”
Sweeny snorted, and I turned my attention back to Akira and her performance. I still wasn’t sure how to feel right now. I had no idea that we’d be killing humans, but this was my life on the line. I couldn’t be questioning the way the quizzes worked.
It was all about survival at this point.
I watched closely as Akira recited the incantation, and as she dipped her blade into the brew, I knew the final step was coming.
The dark-haired witch took the blade and sliced the man’s throat with one quick, practiced stroke. She cut so deep that I heard the sound of bone and cartilage tearing. Akira’s eyes turned from raven-black to snow-white as the man’s body began to convulse, slowly turn into dust, and crumble into ash below her. Then she opened her mouth as a white mist emerged from where the man once stood, and it was like she was inhaling the smoke.
It only lasted for a moment, and then her eyes turned from white back to their natural color.
The class applauded, and I intensively joined them. I knew I should have wanted Akira to fail since that was probably what she wanted for me, but I had to admit, that had been an impressive display.
“Take whatever remains and save it for your weapon forging,” Vanessa instructed.
Akira bent down, picked up a small black hair from the pile of dust, and returned to her seat.
The rest of the women took their turns with their human sacrifices, and each one succeeded and returned with a small piece of their sacrifice.
Once everyone was done, Vanessa turned her blue-eyed gaze to me.
“Cole,” she cooed in a sweet faux voice. “You’re up.”
I nodded and headed up to the last and final human. His red-rimmed eyes were as large as saucers, and he was trembling.
“Mercy,” he groaned. “Please have mercy on me!”
I nearly apologized and told him I wished it could be different, but I knew it would have been seen as a sign of weakness. So, I ignored him as I started to measure out the ingredients into the cauldron. Finally, I tossed the human heart into the brew, watched as smoke emerged from the potion, took the knife, and cut my hand open. I knew the more blood that I used, the more powerful the spell would be, so I cut as deeply as possible into my skin and watched as a steady stream of blood seeped from my hand and down to my wrists. Then I squeezed the blood into the potion and inhaled sharply.
It was nearly time for the last step, and I braced myself for what I had to do.
“Ego autem le dealaset cor eius pythonissam, advoca en sanguinem luna,” I recited.
I then neared the man with the same bloody knife in my hand, and I raised it up in the air, ready to slit his throat open.
“You fucking cunts,” he shouted as I stood in front of him. “I swear the elders will see that you all burn in--”
He never finished his vow, because with a quick slice, I cut his throat and watched as the life drained from his eyes. The man convulsed, and his body violently shook, as if he were having a deadly seizure, and the entire room felt like it was shaking as well.
The desks rattled, and suddenly, the man exploded into a cloud of dust. Then a white mist evaporated into the air and started to move toward me. My eyes felt like they were rolling into the back of my head, and my lips parted on their own as I inhaled his soul.
My entire being seemed like it was on fire. It was like I was taking a drug … one that made my whole body course with electrical energy.
When the room stopped shaking, my eyesight returned to normal, and I looked down to see a pile of bones where the man had once stood.
“Well done,” Vanessa said after a long moment.
None of the witches clapped as I turned to face them. They all had their mouths parted open and stared down at the bones on the ground.
No one else had managed to leave actual bones behind, and I wondered what that meant.
“Why--” I started to ask, but Vanessa shook her head.
“Your blood was the most powerful,” she explained, “that’s why you have so many bones left. Now, take whichever one you want. You’ll be needing it to forge your own weapon for the final exam.”
The other witches groaned as I reached down to pick up his skull.
“Will this do?” I asked.
“Yes,” Vanessa replied with a firm nod. “Now, unfortunately for the rest of you, you may have passed the quiz and retrieved the soul of your sacrifices successfully, but it also means you will not be entering the final exam with the most powerful of weapons. This will make it more difficult for you to proceed, but not impossible. I know plenty of witches who have succeeded without the help of a powerful weapon. Now, class dismissed.”
Akira slammed her book shut and stormed out of the classroom. The rest of the witches followed, and I gently picked up the skull and my books before heading back to my own room. I decided not to head to the banquet hall like the others because I wanted to try and use my textbook to forge my own weapon.
The sooner I did, the better.
When I was back inside my own room, I started to get to work. I read chapter after chapter about blood-bonded weapons until it felt like my eyes were going to bleed. Finally, I came to the section that explained how to forge a weapon after a sacrificial spell had been completed, and relief flooded through my body.
“Here we go,” I muttered to myself.
According to the text, I’d need to acquire a cauldron, thistle, nightshade, snake-skin, yarrow root, and wormwood, and I knew I’d be able to find all these ingredients in Vanessa’s classroom. For a split second, I worried what the professor would think if she discovered I’d broken into her room, but then I decided I didn’t care.
Nothing was going to stand between me and passing the quiz.
So, I closed my textbook and swooped my cloak over my shoulders before I headed out. Then I quickly jogged down the staircase and toward the classroom, and I silently prayed the door wouldn’t be locked. The light was dim in the halls, and I wondered just how late it was. I knew I’d been reading for hours, so it could have been midnight for all I knew.
When I reached Vanessa’s classroom, I took a deep breath before I pushed the door open and stepped inside. I was lucky the classroom itself was left open, but what about her armoire? I quietly headed toward it and pulled back the doors.
It was locked.
“Damn it,” I grumbled aloud.
I glanced around the dimly lit room, and my eyes fell on her desk. Maybe she had a spare key in there somewhere?
As quietly as possible, I went to her desk and pulled the first drawer open. Inside, there was a small pendant, a quill, loose sheets of parchment paper, a needle, and chocolates.
“Shit,” I muttered.
I checked the other drawer, and at first, I was surprised since it was completely empty. That made no logical sense to me, though. Why would one drawer be filled with random stuff while the other was bare?
I reached inside the drawer and touched the bottom slat of wood. It sank down, and I realized the bottom part could be removed. So, I lifted it up, and to my relief, I saw an iron key inside.
I smiled to myself as I retrieved the key and made my way back to open the armoire, where I punched the key into the lock and turned it clockwise. I heard a satisfying click and then pulled the doors apart.
Inside, there were rows and rows of ingredients, and luckily for me, everything was labeled in English. I spotted jars of rat tails, pig’s feet, leathered human flesh, cow tongues, and various colored powders.
I grabbed everything I needed and set them on a nearby desk, so I could lock the armoire up and put the key back where it belonged.
But as soon as I turned around to close the armoire doors, I heard a deep, familiar growl behind me.
I slowly turned to face the doorway, and as I expected, Vanessa’s wolf was sitting right there.
“Hey, there … Isobel,” I whispered as I thankfully remembered her name. “Take it easy, girl.”
She snarled again and then started to bark hysterically, and I knew she was trying to call Vanessa and bring her here.
“No,” I hissed, “don’t do that. Hey, how about a treat instead?”
The wolf stopped barking immediately and then tilted her dark head to study me.
“Yeah.” I grinned. “You want a treat. Let’s get you a treat.”
I turned back around to face the ingredients, and I spotted the jar of flesh. I didn’t bother to wonder what kind of meat it was exactly. I just unscrewed the lid and tossed a piece in Isobel’s direction.
She walked over and licked the raw meat plastered on the ground. Then she snarled in satisfaction before she took the entire thing in her mouth and chomped down on it. After she swallowed and licked her lips, she whined and was clearly desperate for more.
“Here,” I muttered before I tossed another piece into the air.
The wolf jumped up and caught the meat. She chewed loudly, and when she decided that she was done, she turned away from me and walked out the doorway.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I locked the armoire and then collected the rest of the ingredients and cauldron. Then I headed back to my bedroom and set up everything in an organized way.
My stomach growled loudly as I opened the textbook to the incantation page. I wished I had something to eat, but I knew I needed to finish this blood-bond weapon first. I was determined as hell to accomplish this in one night.
I read the steps and began to add the ingredients into the cauldron. To my surprise, it seemed to be a simpler spell, compared to the blood sacrifice. Or maybe, I was just getting used to all these incantations and potions.
I couldn’t be sure which one it was.
Once the brew was complete, I soaked the skull into the greenish-blue mixture, like the text said, and when I pulled it out, I read the incantation aloud.
“Alliges duplicia sanguinem meum,” I whispered.
At first, nothing happened. I sighed in impatience and was about to try again until the skull started to shake on its own. Then I nearly dropped it as it began to morph into a long, shimmering dagger.
When it was complete, I studied the weapon in my hand.
The hilt was made of bone, but it was painted black and had a small skull carved into it. My name was engraved on the blade itself, and I marveled at its beauty. There was something so extraordinarily satisfying about crafting my own weapon. I’d made this with my own two hands, through my dark power alone, and it looked totally badass. I grinned as I tucked the blade into my waistband, and then I retrieved the other dagger from underneath my bed.
Now that I had my own weapon at hand, I decided right there and then I would return the first dagger to its resting place.
So, I left my bedroom and quietly made my way back to the armory. There was no sleeping wolf on the door this time, which I thought was strange, and as I pushed the door open, I was startled to see Vanessa was in there staring at the weapons.
“Ah, Cole,” she said as if she’d been expecting me. “Come on in.”
She stood by the table lined with blades, and it took me by surprise when I realized she was only wearing a black robe instead of her usual conservative dresses. The gown itself was so sheer it was difficult not to look at her breasts as she turned to face me, and her usually tied up hair was now in loose, dark curls that spiraled down to her slim waist.
“Professor,” I said as I cleared my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I should ask you the same question.” She smirked as she turned her attention to the blade in my hand and then laughed. “So, you were the one who took Matilda’s blade? I’d been wondering where that went.”
“You knew it was missing?” I asked.
“Yes.” She shrugged. “And I had a feeling you were behind it … especially after I saw how immersed you were in the weapons chapter today.”
“Right,” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, I just came by to return it.”
“Tell me … did the wendigo turn to stone and crumble into ash?” she asked as I placed the dagger back where it belonged.
I had to brush past her as I set it down on the table, and I could feel her warm breath on my neck as I did so.
“It did.” I nodded. “How did you--”
“And did you manage to successfully forge your own weapon?” she cut me off.
Instead of answering her question with words, I pulled my own dagger out of my waistband and showed it to her.
“Ah,” Vanessa mused with a furrowed brow, “so you did. I hate to admit it, but this is quite impressive.”
“Thank you,” I said before I tucked the blade away again.
That was the second time she complimented me today, and it felt good to hear those words coming from her beautiful lips.
We stared at each other for a long moment before she shook her head. Her breasts bounced as she did so, and again, I had to fight the urge to lower my gaze.
“Well, good night, Cole, and thank you for returning Matilda’s blade.” Vanessa studied me with an unreadable expression. “Try to get some rest, will you?”
As she brushed past me, her nipples grazed my arm, and I watched as she strutted out of the armory and down the hallway. I stared at her perfect body until it was entirely out of view, and I was left feeling confused.
“What the hell was that?” I asked myself aloud.
It seemed like she’d been flirting with me.
Well, almost.
I shook my head and made my way back to my bedroom, and I was slightly aroused and bewildered at the same time.
When I returned to my room, I was shocked to see a plate of hot food on my desk. There was roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, and carrots on a golden platter.
I could only imagine this was Cordelia’s doing.
“Thanks, Cordelia,” I said aloud.
As I ate, I wondered more about the next class, which was Premonition. I wondered who would be teaching and what the quiz would be like.
If it was anything like Blood Magic, I knew I would be faced with a set of new challenges, but I was ready to take them on.
In fact, I silently vowed to ace the next class, just as I had aced this one. More importantly, I couldn’t wait to see the look on the other witches’ faces when I beat them at their own game.
It was a delicious notion, one that I could already taste.