Page 15 of Fallen Heirs

It had been difficult enough to move beyond my issue of being touched after what that madman had done to me, to being able to be with my guys again. And then to stop hiding myself in sweats, protecting myself in them really.

There was so much more to work through.

But I couldn’t.

I was finally free of the black magic, something my mom had made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure. My mind and body were clear. I wanted it to stay that way. I didn’t want to be bogged down by all the rest that urged me to deal with it, to feel it.

I just didn’t.

I needed a break from it.

That was exactly what I was going to do.

I had been hoping to go about that through having Orpheus work with me to understand my ability to annihilate dark magic, but he’d adamantly refused.

He’d cited that it was too dangerous.

Whatwasdangerous was the fact that Constantine was still out there.

Yes, he was quiet right now after what my mom had done to him and taken from him, but that wouldn’t last. Not from somebody as psychotically determined as him. He’d be back, dosomething major, before we knew it. And the idea of not being ready for that didn’t sit well with me. I wouldn’t let it happen.

And, yeah, I wanted him to pay for what he’d done to me, to my mom, to all of us.

More than that, I wanted him dead.

It was something I could bring about too.

I was the last remaining being with angel blood and magic coursing through their veins. The one they should all be looking to.

But they weren’t.

Because of what had been done to me, they saw me as a problem rather than an asset.

I couldn’t accept that.

And I wouldn’t.

I had to go about things another way.

On my own.

But first I needed to master a certain skill.

Something Xavier had agreed to help me with.

He wanted to feel useful just like I did, to stop being discounted by the supernatural big wigs out there.

I couldn’t risk him by bringing him in on the full scope of my plan, but I could at least help him to feel needed through helping me here, teaching me how to hunt like a vampire. And it would also lead to him using those skills more and continuing to be more comfortable with that side of himself, something he’d told me that his therapist said he needed to continually work on.

We had a couple more weeks before Electi Academy reopened, so I was hoping I’d be able to get a lot of it down before we went back and were bogged down with classes, readings, and assignments.

“Why a vampire?”

I spun at the sound of Orpheus’ voice to see him leaning against the patio door, his arms folded across his chest as he regarded me shrewdly.

“What’s that?”

“Why do you want to learn to hunt like a vampire? Why not a phoenix? You could have asked Talon. More to the point, why not like a magic-wielder? Which you actually are. You could have askedme.”

---