Page 209 of Castings & Curses

She smiled and said, “He gave me a B. I vote you drain him like a kid’s pool at the end of summer.”

“Damn, Nad.” I laughed. “What happened to do no harm?”

“We are not humans, and they do and have done plenty of fucking harm. Yeah, give me a B. Impact my whole average.” She was putting the book away and mumbling though I could hear her so she was not speaking low enough.

“That was his first year.” I remembered that year and that B. The only grade lower than an A+ she had ever received. Ever.

“And I should have murdered him then. Saved you the headache of all this.” She had a wicked smile on her face when she turned and winked at me before adding, “And I see you don’t just like him in your…sleep.”

I gasped and hated that I could feel myself blushing as she laughed before sipping on her blood bag again. It made her teeth tinge red and gave her just a hint more…something in her aura when she fed. Her eyes didn’t glow though, at least not in the middle of the afternoon because she was feeding. Ugh. I had to grapple with the first of several embarrassing points and ask, “What did I say or do in my sleep, Nadia?”

She licked her fangs and demonstrated why she got an A in theatrics. All overdramatic movement and what I imagine a crazy person would sound like sleeping, she said, “Oh, Damien. You’re so good. So very good. So—”

“Sothat is enough. Thank you.” I held my hand up. I lost my appetite with her dramatic rendering of my sleep talk.

She giggled and reached for her nearly empty bag of blood. She took a sip as she silently scrutinized me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She smiled.

“Nadia! Tell me.” I wanted to strangle her.

“I don’t know. I mean. What are the chances that the one person you can’t seem to resist siphoning energy off of is who the all knowing Professor Hansen assigns you to?”

“I was assigned to—”

“An accident prone second year professor? Yeah. We all saw that pink slip coming.” Nadia rolled the bag to get the last of the juice out of it.

“Pink slip?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yup. Fired. I mean you can’t catch the school on fire and not expect some sort of action when no one authorized her to be in there to begin with. Whole scandal in the medical department. I was outside Professor Fang’s office when a few of them were talking about it. They were too caught up in their faculty drama to realize I was in the hall, waiting until it was too late and I had already heard it all. Scandal.”

“What was she doing, then? If not authorized magic. What was she trying to do in there?” I asked and considered she had requested me to be her TA. Was she trying to get me expelled too? Did I just luck out that she messed up before I was involved? Why was this semester turning out to be way more than I felt comfortable with and it hadn’t officially started yet?

“That, my friend, is still the question. Conspiracy theories abound. Everything from trying to get the school closed or discredited to simply seeking revenge on a particular student.” Nadia winked at me and I felt my spine go rigid. “Probably not you, per say, but…she did request you.”

“I know absolutely nothing about any of this.” I held my hands up.

“I know that. You know that. But going from the least experienced professor in the school to one of the most proficient makes a person wonder if you aren’t being watched.” She kicked back on her bed and looked at the ceiling where a poster of Keanu Reeves from the movie Dracula looked back at her. “Or maybe it’s just me.”

I gulped. She waved at him. I watched the poster just to be sure it did not wave back. After a few moments, I got up, grabbed my bag, and headed out for a walk to clear my head. No way was I a part of any misdoings. I kept myself in check around here. I was a good witch as far as the majority of the campus knew. My roommate had figured out my secret, but she had lived with me for several years now, so it made sense she would know something was different about me.

The dreams though. If I had been a sleep talker our freshman year, I am sure she would have tried to smother me. Nadia liked her sleep. Day, afternoon, evening. The woman didn’t need a coffin or a bed. Just a quiet place for more than a few moments and she was able to close her eyes, smile, and sleep like everything was right in the world and as it should be.

I stopped to sit on a bench and closed my eyes. I let the surroundings present themselves to me. I slowly inhaled and tasted the werewolves across the lawn playing some game with a ball involved. The mermaids, beautiful and deadly creatures, chatting by the fountain with their feet in the water. The troll grumbling because he got something on his shirt, ketchup maybe. And…I gulped, and my eyes flashed open.

I couldn’t even see him in the vicinity, but he was coming my way. I stood up and rushed in the opposite direction of his scent. I needed to avoid that man at all costs.

CHAPTER3

My TA workwas a bit more advanced than I was prepared for. Since we were down a professor, I was not just assisting and filling in as needed, I was actually teaching two of her classes under the supervision of my warlock professor and I needed help.

“Why are you asking me?” Professor Yoor asked and continued grading the paper on the desk in front of him. “You have a mentor.”

“You teach this class.” I thought that was the best argument for why I was in his office rather than the one at the end of the hall. I knew Professor Roark was in his office. I could smell him, taste him, feel his presence there.

“And you have everything you need to figure out how to teach it also. Good day, Peach. You were my best student when you took my classes. Don’t disappoint me now.” Professor Yoor pointed toward the door.

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