Page 29 of Caelum

TWENTY-EIGHT

EVE

Nerves filled me as I waited for the plane to land.

I wasn’t even sure if they’d want me here, waiting on them, but I wasn’t back at the compound now. I had free will, and after what Damon had told me, I felt like I needed to be around people who I thought gave a damn about me.

I needed not to be alone.

My throat felt tight and itchy as I stared up at the sky, waiting on the glinting body of the plane to appear in the distance.

I wasn’t even sure which direction it was coming from, so I could have been totally looking the wrong way, but it felt so much better than just staring into space as I pretended to read.

All those years alone at the compound, I’d thought I’d known what it was like to be lonely. But at Caelum, I was alone. Unless I had those four guys around me—even Dre would do at the moment.

He was mean, but I could handle him. At least, I thought I could. If I could deal with Samuel, then Dre’s horrible attitude could be remedied with a smack at some point in the future. Better that than to be ignored by everyone.

And I meant everyone.

It was like I was invisible.

Since they’d gone off, the only people to interact with me were my tutors and the faculty. Why that was, I didn’t know, but it hurt.

Made me feel even weirder than I already was… a Ghoul in the making .

Shivering at the thought, I tried not to recall what I’d been reading in the two days since the boys had gone and Damon had decided to reveal all about the Ghouls.

My future had always been bleak, but the prospect of having to eat humans was just so beyond me that I was…

No.

Suicide was a sin.

It didn’t matter that I wasn’t supposed to believe in that anymore. I had a few years for something to change, and in that time, maybe I could do some good.

Everyone had a purpose in life. Even if mine would be short, I could influence someone or do something that made my existence have meaning.

At least, I hoped so.

Swallowing the nerves that had been with me since my conversation with Damon, I kept my gaze up, uncaring that the sky was so blue it made my eyes water. I stared for so long and so hard that I almost missed the plane when it appeared in the near distance.

Rushing out of the common room where I’d been waiting, I headed past a few clusters of people who’d been studiously ignoring me since the boys had left. I was so close to the doorway that I didn’t take note of my surroundings.

Of course, there was no taking note when that leg definitely hadn’t been in my way until now.

I went flying, headfirst, over the guy who’d kicked out his calf to trip me. When I landed on my knees, I tipped forward, my hands scraping on the rug as I came to a halt.

There was dead silence for a handful of seconds, and then, there was anything but.

The laughter had my palms burning as hotly as my cheeks, and I lay there for a good five seconds, just processing what had happened. Processing what was going on deep inside.

My heart was thumping in my chest. Both from shock and from anger, and though I wished it weren’t my Hell Hound’s day, I knew that beast was the difference between me running out of this room in tears and getting my own back.

Before I could get a handle on my emotions, I felt the Hell Hound lunge to the surface. It had me rolling up onto my knees then getting to my feet.

I stared down at the smirking boy, wondering what had changed. Why the students had gone from ignoring me to trying to intimidate me in one fell swoop.

But even as I questioned it, the beast didn’t. It was there, burning away deep inside me, and when I reached for the boy, someone whose name I didn’t even damn well know, I could tell he was surprised.

He’d expected me to run.

To flee.

Like a coward.

But he was the coward.

Or he would be soon.

My hand snapped out and I grabbed him by the throat. My Hell Hound was there, strengthening me even as the people around him began squealing and shrieking as he clawed at my hands, trying to escape me.

I was weak in so many ways. Terrible in the gym. Useless when it came to fighting. Yet the souls that were going to be my downfall possessed a strength I felt certain was unusual.

Maybe it was because there were eight of them. Seven of which I knew from the boys’ descriptions, the eighth that was still lingering there, undeclared, hidden away, and only coming out at the mention of a few simple words…

Maybe it was that particular soul, though, that tipped the scales in my favor.

I didn’t know, probably never would, but at that moment, I was grateful. So grateful for the oddities in my nature that let me lift the guy off the couch by his throat. That enabled me to be strong when I could have been weak.

“I’m not a violent person,” I rasped, my voice deeper than usual, telling anyone within hearing range that my soul was in charge. “You ever do anything like that to me again, and I’ll tear your head off and make a mockery of what I just said. Do you understand me?”

His navy blue eyes blinked at me, wet from tears he was too big to let fall—shame he hadn’t been that big when he’d resorted to tripping me—his cheeks burnished with red even as his skin grew pale from lack of oxygen.

All around me, people had gathered, and I knew one of the guys, or several, were about to get involved, were going to save the kid who’d just tried to humiliate me.

In my periphery, I saw the glass coffee table. It was low to the ground, a flat piece of glass suspended in a frame.

Putting pressure behind the move, I hovered him above it and rammed him down into it so his feet slid around on the shattered glass. His cry of pain was music to the Hell Hound’s ears as his bare feet were torn on the shards as he danced and tried to maneuver off the glass.

“Do you understand me?” I rasped, my eyes on him, my focus branding him until he stopped squealing and his gaze was back on me.

“Y-Yes.”

My top lip curled. “Good.”

I didn’t care about the whispers that appeared as I headed out the door. Didn’t care about the shock I left in my wake. My Hell Hound was furious enough that I didn’t even care that I’d hurt the guy.

Me.

I’d hurt another person.

My brow puckered at the thought, and as reason began to return while my rage burned away, I staggered to a halt in the corridor.

Half turning, my intent to turn back, I saw a boy who’d been watching what went down in the common room veer around me when he noticed I’d stopped.

He looked at me like I was a loose cannon, and after being ignored for two days, I couldn’t find it in myself to care.

They’d thought me weak, had believed they could pounce on me like I was vulnerable, and I’d just proven them wrong.

I released a breath, hating that it was shaky, but I used it to stir me into continuing on my journey. Why I’d picked a common room that was so far away, I didn’t know, but I had, and I regretted it now.

Especially after that incident.

When I made it outside, I saw that the plane was coming to a halt about fifty yards away from the secondary gate they used to access the runway.

That day they’d left, I’d wondered why they hadn’t just used the main gates, but it was closed. Locked. The huge padlock around its rails was a testament to the fact it was only opened on certain occasions. It all made sense now, of course.

If anything made sense here, that is.

I headed toward the other smaller gate and waited for the people on board to disembark.

The only ones that mattered to me were the ones I knew, the ones who’d made an attempt to be kind to me. That meant there were five on board whom I wanted to see, but there were dozens of people who’d gone with them to Nigeria.

I’d Googled Nigeria, and it didn’t exactly seem like a vacation hotspot. Not according to something called travel blogs, at any rate. I wasn’t sure why so many of them had gone there, but I was just relieved they were back and I could be with people who’d accepted me.

When Nestor made it down the stairs with his arms hooked over Stefan and Eren’s necks, I gasped. The move was awkward on the narrow steps, but it was a testament to how weak Nestor was that they had to maneuver him that way.

As I stared at him, I saw there was someone waiting beside the stairs. I recognized the white uniform as someone who worked in the sickbay, and I assumed the chair with wheels was to help transport him.

I absorbed all that in a flash, and though it went unspoken that we weren’t supposed to leave the grounds, it didn’t stop me. I ran as fast as my chubby body would let me and didn’t stop until I was at the foot of the stairs, staring up at the three boys who’d made this place a home for me.

“What happened?” I cried.

They were surprised to see me, and Stefan even looked over at the gate as though imagining I was hollering at him from over there.

Scowling at him, I stacked my hands on my hips, ready to blast him for being slow to answer when Nestor whispered, “I’m okay.”

He didn’t look it. If anything, he looked the exact opposite of okay.

Now that I was closer, I could see that his throat was wrapped with thick bandages. Swathes and swathes of them, and even then, blood was spotting through.

Panic danced down my spine, and I had to contain myself as the nurse grabbed my arm and said, “Let me deal with this, Eve.”

I wasn’t sure how she knew my name, just did as bid and moved out of the way. When Nestor made it to the bottom of the staircase, she helped him onto the moving chair. I was at his side in a flash as the nurse began to push the chair over the grassy terrain.

I rushed with her, but I felt someone grab my arm, then I felt another someone grab the other.

Twisting around to glower at them, I demanded, “Let me go!”

Stefan’s mouth twisted. “No. You don’t want to be there when they check him over.”

My eyes burned with tears. “What happened to him?”

“He had an accident,” Eren told me, his voice calm. So calm that I wanted to slap him, but I didn’t because I saw pain in his eyes.

His throat… “Did he almost die?”

Eren nodded. “Yes. It was only because it was his Vampire’s day that he didn’t. ”

I blinked, racing through the many texts I’d been reading on that species. “He healed?”

Eren nodded. “Just enough to not die.”

Of course. Nestor was certain he was going to be a Gargoyle when his dominant soul was called up. He wasn’t a Vampire, but each soul came with perks. The days with the Lorelei came with the manipulative voice, and as I’d just experienced myself, the Hell Hound days came with massive bursts of strength.

“My God, if it hadn’t been his Vampire…”

Stefan’s jaw turned white as he clenched it. “We’d have lost him.”

“What happened?” I demanded, my gaze caught by the next two guys to descend the stairs. When they saw me though, our eyes connecting for a handful of seconds, they each broke the union and dropped their attention to the ground.

When they shuffled past me like they didn’t know me, I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or not.

Stefan and Eren wouldn’t like it if Frazer or Reed talked to me, but I’d have liked to check in with them. To ask if they were okay even though, visually, I could see that they were.

Determined to ask later when Nestor wasn’t a priority, I demanded again, “What. Happened?”

“At least you have some backbone.”

Dre’s sneering retort had me blinking in astonishment because I hadn’t even realized he was there. I scowled at him. “Shut. Up,” I ground out. “Do you always have to be such a… such a…”

“Jerk?” Eren prompted, ever helpful.

I glowered at him too. “No. Worse than that.”

“Bastard,” Stefan supplied, voice husky.

It wasn’t what I wanted to say, but I grabbed ahold of it with both hands. “Yes. Bastard .” The word felt powerful as it spilled from my lips. “You don’t like me, I get it. This isn’t about you. It’s about Nestor.” I looked at Eren again. “Please, tell me what happened. Was it…” I hesitated, “a Ghoul?”

Eren jerked back in surprise. “How do you know about those?”

“Damon decided I needed a lesson the day you left.” I swallowed, and the gesture felt unnatural with how dry my throat was. “Is that what happened to Nestor? A G-Ghoul got to him?”

Stefan winced. “Yeah. He knew what we were going to do and must have wanted to warn you.”

Warn me ?

When I thought about the sadness in Damon’s eyes, I realized I’d misinterpreted it. I’d imagined he was sad because he suspected I was a freak of nature, but instead, he’d known where the boys were going, what they were doing, and had anticipated them being hurt.

“Please,” I said on an exhalation. “Explain.”

Stefan grabbed my hand and, squeezing it, tugged me into his side. His arm came over my shoulder as he held me close, and we began to walk back toward the school.

“Did he tell you about nests?”

Sort of. I’d learned more in the time since though. Had devoured everything in the textbooks I’d requested from Damon.

It was irritating not attending regular classes because it meant I was always isolated, but the advantage was reading through the whole year’s syllabus in two days.

“Yes.”

“Did he tell you that they attack towns and cities? That sometimes, it’s more than just for food but for gain? Sometimes, hell, that it’s for both?”

I frowned at that. “No. I didn’t know that.” Apparently, there was more I needed to read. I imagined that to understand everything in this crazy world I’d tumbled into, I’d have a ‘to be read’ list taller than me.

Eren had rushed up to join us and was walking at our pace. I didn’t feel right until he grabbed my hand though, and as we bridged our fingers, he murmured, “The fights in the gym, it’s about more than just burning off some aggression. It’s about points. The four of us, Dre, Nestor, Stef, and I, we’re a unit. We won this semester’s competition and had the honor of heading the mission.” He pulled a face. “To a certain extent. We’re not alone. We have a lot of Enforcers with us. But we handle the recon and research, and we deal with informing the troops and telling them where to position themselves.”

“It’s a training exercise,” Stefan inserted. “But with a safety net.”

I processed that. “In preparation for when you do it on your own.”

“Yes.” He cut me a look. “We’re good, Eve.”

That had me scowling at him. “Obviously not that damn good if Nestor came back with half his throat missing. Did a Ghoul try to eat him or something?”

Eren’s dark complexion paled. “Yes.”

Sickness had me drawing to a halt. “No!” I cried. “No.”

“For fuck’s sake, he’s alive, isn’t he?” Dre growled, making me jump when I realized he’d been behind us all the time.

My eyes flared in irritation, and the Hell Hound, still not buried deep after the situation in the common room, had me spinning out of Stefan’s hold and untangling my fingers from Eren’s so I could stare at Dre.

“What. Is. Your. Problem?”

Dre snarled, “You. You’re a pussy and that’s the last thing we fucking need slowing us down.”

Taken aback, I growled, “I’m not a cat!”

“For fuck’s sake,” Dre spat. “How the fuck can you even argue with her when she doesn’t understand what you’re talking about?” I wasn’t sure if he was railing at Stefan and Eren or the universe as a whole.

“I don’t understand why you thinking I’m a cat makes you think I can slow you down,” I retorted, and I couldn’t help it—my finger straightened and I dug it deep into his chest as I prodded him.

My Hell Hound packed a punch into the move so he staggered back a few feet, gaping at me in surprise as he straightened up.

When he moved toward me, Eren was there, sheltering me from Dre’s wrath. “Back off, Dre,” he warned, and I heard the growl of his own Hell Hound. Mine and his almost saluted one another as I pressed my hand to his sides, clinging to him in thanks for him trying to protect me.

A warmth blossomed in my chest as I pressed myself into him. Though he stiffened at my touch, he relaxed a second later.

“You know what? Fuck this. I’ll be at the party if any of you give a shit about where I am.”

Dre stalked off, but only when I looked over my shoulder and saw that he’d headed through the gate did Eren and Stefan relax some.

“What party?” I asked.

Stefan shook his head at me. “Since when was your Hell Hound so strong?”

I shrugged.

He frowned. “Eve?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “The Were and the Hell Hound are different ever since I came here. I just used to be moody and feel like my skin was too tight for my body on those days. Now it’s different.”

“You’re allowing yourself to feel,” Eren stated softly. “It’s empowering the animals. They run on emotions even though their strength seems to be sourced elsewhere.”

Stefan nodded. “That could be it.” He grabbed my hand. “Still, don’t pick fights you can’t win, yeah?”

I decided it was best not to tell him about the dude back in the common room. Clearing my throat, I murmured, “Will Nestor be okay?”

He winced. “Yeah, but he’ll scar. ”

“But he’ll be alive. He can’t deal with a scar if he’s dead.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,” Stef said dryly. “But I meant… the scar might bother you.”

I frowned at him. “Why would it bother me?”

“It’s not going to be pretty,” Eren warned.

“So?” I huffed impatiently.

When I was on the receiving end of two sheepish smiles, I gave up. With another huff, I started toward the gate without them. They both grabbed each of my hands and tugged me to a halt.

“Where are you going?”

“The sickbay, Eren.” I wasn’t about to leave Nestor alone for anything.

“They’ll be working on him for a while,” Stef warned.

“Again, I ask, so?” I tugged at their hands. “Come on.”

I wouldn’t feel better until Nestor was directly in my line of sight, and even then, I had a feeling that still wouldn’t settle my nerves.