Page 29 of The Fallen
Marcus. Self-proclaimed “lady’s man.” In reality he’s an asshole himbo.
His voice is smooth and cultured as he begins the final stanza of the spell, but his pronunciation is horrendous. You would think after two years of study he would be better at this, but that’s what happens when you party all the time and pay others to do your schoolwork.
Marcus isn’t even a Summoning student. His talents are more of the ESP variety; although, he has almost zero controlover them and they are questionable at best. How he managed to get into the Academy, much less stay, is beyond me.
I shift uncomfortably on the chair, my ass throbbing as I glance up at Marcus and his group of idiot bros. Marcus’s voice rises in volume to beseech whatever they are trying to summon to answer their call.
Well, attempting to, anyway. Marcus is such a tool that he doesn’t even realize that the spell isn’t complete. He and his entourage won’t be summoning any female entity to bind into sexual servitude for the night.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of creatures that would stand in line to be used and abused by a group of horny guys all night long; I just don’t want to see Marcus succeed. The guy is an asshole and a bully and if I can humiliate him then I’m doing it. Yeah, I might get pummeled for it, but it’s worth it.
Marcus stumbles over one particularly difficult pronunciation and I snort out a laugh, coughing into my hand when he shoots me a glare from across the room.Yeah, yeah, glare it up, buttercup.Won’t change the fact nothing will happen. Granted, I don’t say any of that out loud.
Why? Because Marcus is six foot five and easily over two hundred and fifty pounds. That’s at least a hundred pounds more than me and at least a foot taller. I may take risks, but I’m not suicidal.
Okay, so the fact that I’m sitting in a rickety chair in a corner room of the Blackstar Academy basement would make my chances of survival on the slimmer side, I also don’t think Marcus is homicidal. At least, I really hope he isn’t.
Jacob, on the other hand, I’m fairly certain can be.
Sick fear curls through my chest. I mean, seriously, what are the odds of them letting me go after this? I know who they all are and I can easily go to the dean and report them. The only way to keep me from ratting on them will be to kill me.Lord knows, I have nothing they can blackmail me with and I’m stubborn enough that the threat of getting beaten isn’t much of a deterrent.
Yes, I’m man enough to admit that.
“Why did you kidnap me?” I demand and Mattie giggles. Fucking giggles. I grit my teeth and tears of frustration make my vision blur but I’m not going to cry.
“Hey, I think Sac is going to cry.” I narrow my eyes as I look at the group of guys in front of me. I really hate that nickname, which is the whole reason they call me it every chance they can.
Cody, Marcus’s best friend, walks towards me unsteadily. He’s in nothing but a pair of black boxers with glitter paint covering his chest and arms.
Did they decide to do this in the middle of a party?
He gives me a lopsided smile, baby blues struggling to focus on me as he reaches out and pats my cheek. It takes everything in me not to snap at his fingers. He’s drunk. Of course he’s drunk. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to do all this if they were sober.
Mattie stumbles over to me, an idiot grin on his face as he practically steamrolls into Cody. He giggles, a high-pitched sound that almost drowns out Marcus’s chanting. “S’okay, Sac. No need to cry. Marcus will probs let you get a blowie before we let you go.” His speech is so slurred I have a hard time understanding what he’s saying. He stumbles forward, one meaty paw landing heavily on my thigh before it slides up, He starts fumbling for the waistband of my sweats.
Hell, no!
I jerk away, slamming my back against the chair as I kick my feet at him. My sneakers slam into his shin, jolting me hard enough that I hear the crack of the chair before I’m falling backwards. I hit the floor with a thump, my breath knocked out of me. My legs are resting on the upturned chair and I stare pastthe tips of my shoes at the surprised confusion on the idiots’ faces.
They don’t get a chance to say anything before the spell starts to take hold. The energy ramps up, a tightening pressure that I can feel in my head. Like the beginnings of a migraine, but without the pain.
The thing is, I shouldn’t be feeling the spell working at all. It’s incomplete, with a mess of intentional mistakes.
I roll to my side, getting to my knees just as the power crescendos. A bright light bursts in my head, a scalp-tingling sensation that feels like a dam disintegrating in my mind and my senses flow outward.
Shuddering, I collapse to all fours, my forehead pressing into my wrists as the energy keeps increasing. This shouldn’t be happening. The spell isn’t set up to actually work. Unless that jack-brained Marcus messed with the incantation.
Suddenly, the energy disappears and I slump forward, my body slick with sweat and my breath shaky.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I blink quickly before lifting my head to stare at Marcus as he stumbles backward. Mattie, still attempting to recover after I kicked him, falls away and a thick metallic scent hits my nose. My eyes go wide at the scent of blood and I watch. As if in slow motion, as the drunk guy from earlier that I never bothered to remember the name of, collapses to the ground in the limp-limbed fall of the dead.
My heart goes triple-time as fear washes through me. But it’s not the all-consuming terror that the situation calls for. I should be pissing myself, but I’m not and I don’t know why.
Cody stares at the creature in a drunken stupor, not knowing if he should hightail it from the room or go to the aid of his friend and leader.
I personally would leave Marcus in a heartbeat, but I also hate the fucker. Guess that makes me biased.
The creature isn’t massive, standing a good six feet or so. Its lean form is muscled but not bulky and covered in ash gray skin that seems to shimmer with silver in the low light. Silver hair brushes its shoulders, curling slightly at the ends, and the long pointy end of an ear pokes through that fall of hair. There’s no way to know what gender it is, even with all the muscles, or if it even has a gender. The muscles of its back are equally powerful and graceful.
