Academy of Blood and Magic

15🖤

The boy who'd been murdered near Arlington had been a fellow sorcerer named Donald Davidson, a former classmate. He'd been a very quiet, sweet kid. He was a year younger than me and we'd been in similar related art classes and I would frequently help him with assignments he struggled on. Not a lot of people knew him very well since he was so quiet and could be extremely awkward, but he had a kind heart and always meant well. He was a little overweight, had reddish-brown hair that grew a little too long, a round face, and soulful blue eyes.

He didn't deserve to have his head cut off and have all the blood drained from his body.

I sat on my bed, crying my eyes out. Despite not knowing Donald that well apart from our conversations in class, his death still hit me hard in the heart. I cried for his life being cut short, for his family, for the fact that he had such a brutal death that he didn't deserve in the least.

Arlington was going to be shut down for the rest of the week. This had been the second murder near the school and there was an ongoing investigation as to what happened. In the first murder, the sorceress had had all of her blood drained from her. With Donald, the second victim, he'd had his head completely severed off his body. It happened only a few blocks away from the school, at the back of the public library that sat at the end of the street. He'd been leaving the dance when the attacker struck, and I had a strong feeling that the attacker had been the person who'd been watching me. The thought filled me with fear, that the fact that the murderer was possibly following me. I needed to tell my parents.

Everyone was now taking the murders more seriously, which they should've in the beginning. I should've been taking it more seriously, not worried about homecoming, spending time with Brandon, school, problems with Tristan.

East Haven was still in session today. Of course, they were. It wasn't a student from there that had been tragically murdered and mutilated.

A soft knock at my door had me looking up. Mom stepped in a concerned expression on her face.

She took one look at my face and rushed over to envelop me in her arms. I cried into her arms.

When I managed to pull myself together, I pulled away and said, "I didn't know him that well, but he was a sweet kid."

She nodded in sympathetic understanding. "I know. In high school, a lot of my classmates died. I didn't know any of them well but I was still extremely upset to hear what happened to them. I cried too."

"I can't believe East Haven is still open right now, after what happened to him."

"Me too. Do you need to stay home?"

I thought about it.

"The school emailed me this morning," she said. "They said there's a lot of safety precautions in place and are making sure that all of the students are safe and secure."

"Why are people just now taking this seriously? Was someone bleeding out not enough? It took a person's head to be cut off for them to finally realize there's a freaking problem and it needs to be solved before someone else gets hurt."

"I know, honey." She didn't try to defend the school's decision or justify everyone's - including myself - lack of concern over this.

My phone rang. I looked at the caller ID. Brandon.

I held it up for her to see. She nodded and stood. "I'll give you some privacy."

She left the room.

I answered the phone. "Hey."

"Hey," he answered back, his voice gruff like he hadn't gotten much sleep. He'd heard about Donald as well. "How are you holding up?"

"Not the best," I admitted. "He was the last person on earth that deserved that."

"I know. It sucks."

"How are you?"

"I'm sad Don died. He seemed like a cool kid. I feel bad for his family. Are you going to school this morning?"

"I don't know. It's bad to miss -"

"Lyric, there's a freaking murderer out there, and someone you know just died. You need to take the time for yourself. I can tell you're upset."

I took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Do you want me to come over?"

"Yes, please."

"I'll be over in ten minutes."

I reached out to Eve, Jesse, and my other friends, Emily, Anita, Marcus, Hunter, and Max to make sure they were okay and holding up. Like me, they were upset about Donald's death despite not knowing him well. It made me feel better to confide in them and have them confide in me.

Brandon came over and stayed with me for the majority of the day. His presence calmed me.

We watched TV with my parents for a couple of hours. They continued to make an effort to get along with Brandon the whole time he was there and I started to relax. I believed that things were going to continue to improve between Brandon and my parents.

He stayed over for dinner but had to leave after. Despite being a badass vampire and being eighteen years old, his mother wanted him to come home so she knew he was safe and he never wanted to cross his mother. I had him text me to let me know he got home safely and I didn't relax until he did.

I went to school the next day, feeling better after getting to spend the day before with Brandon and my parents, and felt like I'd be able to go back to school. It was only one day, but at East Haven, it would be like one month.

Despite not having to go to school, Brandon still picked me up and drove. Being around him before having to enter calmed me and we talked the whole way there, the topics ranging from restaurants and movies to Jo pulling his hair this morning, carefully avoiding Donald.

There was police tape wrapped around the side of the building, cop cars parked in front of the school, the blue and red lights flashing but no sirens in the air, human and supernatural police officers gathered around inside the tape. Students gathered close around the spot, staring and gawking, their cell phones out to record and take pictures, the sickos multiple students backed away from the spot and heaved the contents of their stomachs out in the bushes that grew by the entrance. Dread formed in my stomach as an idea of what was happening formed in my mind.

A police officer, a shapeshifter by his dark green aura, stepped over the tape to bark at the gawking students to put their damned phones down and get away from the scene or he'd lock them up, causing everyone to scatter like whimpering puppies.

When they finally moved away, I saw what they were gawking at as well as Brandon.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed as I hastily opened the passenger door to get sick on the pavement by the car.

The body of Nick laid there, his chest completely torn open, the contents of his internal organs spilled out on the ground beside him, his eyes open and lifeless as they gazed up at the sky.