Solasta Academy: Blood & Moonlight

Chapter Nine

Arzhel

He should be sleeping. It was at least three in the morning, and he had early practice in two hours but could not possibly shut his mind off to get a minute of rest. Rolling over to the side as he heard a ping from his phone, he turned it on and found a dozen messages from Lottie and Jade. SOS, all of them said. Then the last one popped up seconds ago, stating one word that took hold of his mind two days ago. It's Calia.

Quickly, he shot up from his bed and pulled on a pair of sneakers before running out of his dormitory as his hands shook with worry. There was only one reason why her roommates would text him in the first place. It was about Calia and who knows what kind of trouble she got into once he left her hours ago. His legs screamed at him as he ran across the courtyard where Alemont Tower stood but did not listen. He was Captain of the Lightball team in the first place and this was why. Arzhel was the fastest runner since Solasta was founded. Calia was the genius and he was...well, he mastered the art of running a long time ago and now he could use it in the field. When he entered the Tower, he made sure to glamor himself and quietly walk up the stairs to the top level where the girls' room stood. It took only a minute but it felt like forever for Arzhel, whose mind was buzzing with fright over Calia. He did know what he would do if something happened to her.

Arzhel knocked once and that was all it took for Lottie to pull open the door and push him inside. Shutting the door with a slam, her gray eyes were darkened with the same worry he held on his face. "What happened?" he questioned, pulling the Vampire off of him. He looked around to find Calia but she was nowhere in the living room. And her bedroom door was opened... "Where's Calia?" Jade, the Witch that loved to steal objects from everyone including himself, sat in the middle of the room with a circle of candles around her and a map of Solasta on her lap. She was chanting an incantation as he noticed a vile of blood that made him freeze in place. Silver blood. Calia's blood whenever she was in a different state. Gods, this did not look good.

Jade stopped and glanced over to him. "Start talking, Koen. We need to find her."

"Not before you tell me where the fuck she is."

Lottie interrupted, her hands waving in the air. "Calia just walked out muttering about a girl being dead. Then her eyes glassed over like she was having a fucking nightmare and we tried following her but she fought us off. I didn't know she had that kind of strength in her."

Gods, this was not good at all. "Listen to me, you two," Arzhel started to say, making Lottie and Jade pay attention to his words. "We do not have time to debate anything about Calia except on where to find her. When this is all over, she will tell you everything." Turning toward Jade, he asked, "Find anything?"

The Witch stood up quickly and folded the map in her hands. "The potions lab on the second floor."

Lottie did not wait for him or Jade as she used her Vampire speed to run across campus to find Calia. Sometimes he cursed himself for not being fast enough for an ordinary Vampire, but he tried. Every day he tried to be good enough as a Fae. But most of the time, he wasn't. Arzhel Koen was the one everyone overlooked, thinking he was only a moody teenage Fae that liked to kick a ball around. He was so much more than that.

He could hear the rapid beat of his heart against his chest once he finally caught up with Lottie who was trying to hold on to Calia, who kept trying to move closer to the dead body laying on the floor. No, not a human corpse. A Werewolf. Moving next to Calia, he wrapped his arms around her as he tried to do last time if he wasn't so freaked out. This time, he was calm. Even when one of his classmates was murdered right in front of him. Emma St. John. Her white fur was coated in blood as she lay unmoving, her ears missing and eyes clouded. Gods, this was not good at all. Another murder happened and Calia somehow found the victim first. Arzhel caressed her cheek gently, the silver blood dripping onto his palm but he refused to acknowledge it. "Calia," he whispered. "I know you can hear me. It's time to wake up now."