Page 33 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 3

“You’re so funny, Ryder!” Grayson gave a laugh he hoped didn’t sound as brittle as he felt hearing this. “He’s actually a good friend of Charlie’s. Charlie is the Mirryr that organized this party. He asked you to come, didn’t he, Ryder?”

Not-Ryder, obviously having no idea if this was true or not, just nodded and flashed his teeth in another smile. “Yeah, right, Charlie’s the best.”

“He definitely throws the best parties,” Mairead brightened again.

“The one will definitely be memorable,” not-Ryder said, but for all the worst reasons.

Balthazar, I think this Vampire is a War Childe, Grayson said.

Why do you think that? Oh, never mind, I trust your instincts, but that makes things more dire. They’re supposed to be–

Crazy. Yes, this one is on edge. He’s prepared for violence already with me. I think he fully expects to go out in a hail of glory, Grayson said. So he’s contemplating right now whether he needs to hold himself back.

Zealot. Wonderful, Balthazar said with a sour sound.

He’s looking around, waiting to see if there’s a big enough audience. The people are starting to surround the dance floor, Grayson realized, seeing the crowd start forming a circle around the flashing, sudsy dance floor.

I don’t think you should wait any longer. Get him out there now, Grayson. Everyone’s in place, Balthazar said.

Plan is on, Grayson said.

He grasped not-Ryder’s hands in his and pulled the Sect Vampire out onto the dance floor. “I think it’s time we got this party started, don’t you?”

Ryder had gotten to listen to only half a conversation. Half a conversation that had him wanting to charge down the stairs and damn the consequences. Grayson was in danger. Grayson was in the hands of the enemy. An enemy he had created.

Legion, you bastard. I will make you pay for this. I will take everything I gave you away, Ryder thought.

He searched his mind, his memories, for Legion’s face, but nothing came. It was a big, black blot. He expected Weryn to be offering up those memories eagerly, but no. Nothing.

“Get me down to that dance floor, Fiona,” Ryder growled.

“On it,” she agreed.

Fiona touched his shoulder and the world shifted.

They went from the top of the crowded staircase to a secluded corner of the basement.

The place was packed. Sweat, blood, cum and Legion.

He could still smell Legion all over this place even though he knew it was illusory.

It was just his knowledge that his fledgling was behind this that caused the scent to linger.

Legion was not here. They were hiding elsewhere, ordering others to do their dirty work and die for it.

Isn’t that what the Immortals did with the War Children? Made them, wound them up, and sent them to kill each other while we stayed back in our Ever Dark cities, thinking we were safe?

Perhaps Legion did have a bone to pick with him. Maybe all War Children did. Between him and Kaly, it was likely hard to know who was the bigger villain. Kaly had started the War, but Weryn had taken it to a before unseen level of bloodshed and death.

Grayson and Ashyr are innocent in all of this. Legion just wants to kill him to hurt me. This is cowardice. If they want a fight, they should come get it.

He started towards the dance floor, but Fiona’s hand on his arm stopped him. He spun around, ready to snarl. She didn’t look impressed. Instead, she appeared empathetic, but firm.

“There’s a plan,” she said.

“I need no plan,” his voice was low, almost guttural. He recognized it. This was Weryn’s voice.

Yet he didn’t hear his old self in his head. He expected to the moment he’d scented Legion, but Weryn was not there. Except maybe he was. Maybe instead of being deep inside of Ryder’s skull he was right underneath the surface of his skin.

“Do you want to put Grayson at risk?” Fiona lifted an eyebrow.

When he opened his mouth to object, she continued, “Grayson is in that Mirryr Vampire’s hands.

He could break Grayson’s neck before you could take a step.

Slash his throat before you can breathe.

Gut Grayson before you can snarl. This is not the way. ”

“But we cannot leave Grayson in his clutches! Grayson is the victim!” Ryder cried.

She nodded. “But we also cannot let on that we’ve discovered their plan either.”

“So what is your plan? You have one. I can tell, Scout,” Ryder said in Weryn’s voice.

Fiona’s forehead crinkled in confusion for a moment at his words, but then the confusion cleared and she nodded. “Yes, I do, Soldier. Except it’s our General’s plan.”

“So what is it? And tell me it involves blood,” Ryder growled.

She grinned. “Not quite yet. The General wishes to question him, remember? This Mirryr sought to replace you. That was his first mistake, because we can switch him out with you without anyone noticing.”

“You mean to teleport us over to them and–”

“Teleport him out. Leaving you there,” she said. “It will be so quick and smooth that no one will notice the difference.”

“You can really do that?” Ryder’s eyebrows rose.

“Please, Ryder! That’s nothing,” she laughed assuredly. “Now are you ready to dance?”

He nodded.

Not-Ryder had let Grayson lead at first, but he soon took over and was drawing Grayson out to the very center of the dance floor. Eiji and Mairead had been following after them, but Eiji had managed to hold Mairead back so that they were separated by several couples.

Good job, Eiji-sama.

Not-Ryder glared at all of the couples around them until they started to move away, forming a circle of space between them and everyone else. Grayson tasted the bitter bite of adrenaline in his mouth as not-Ryder turned to face him.

He reminded Grayson now of an angry bull about to charge. His shoulders were rounded. His head was down. His form was hulking instead of tall and proud. Ryder was huge, but not-Ryder simply looked monstrous. Grayson’s stomach flipped and his mouth went dry.

The fire in his chest to feed his gift was at a white-hot level.

When not-Ryder reached for him, he was repelled.

His hand was literally pushed away from Grayson.

Not-Ryder stared at it dumbly. Grayson realized he had created some kind of forcefield around himself that would keep anything and anyone away.

That’s new, he thought. Or at least, new for me now.

To distract not-Ryder from his perplexion over what was happening here, Grayson began to dance.

The music had a thumping beat. It made one want to move.

Grayson allowed his body to simply follow the natural rhythm.

His hands lifted into the air. His hips shimmied and shook.

His legs shifted beneath him in a liquid motion.

Not-Ryder stared at him as if mesmerized.

Grayson was in a human body, but there was something of an Immortal about him still.

The grace was there, waiting to be rediscovered.

And not-Ryder was digging it. Was fascinated by it.

Was even attracted to him for it. There was something about him that drew the War Childe.

Of course there is. The Immortals made them and ruled them to the bitter end, Grayson realized. Even now, I can feel the broken bonds that are still there, wanting to reconnect.

Grayson slowly turned in a circle. This allowed him to see that the crowd had swelled around the dance floor.

Their faces showed a certain slackness as if they weren’t quite sure where they were or why they were here, but they had to come.

Quite literally, they’d had to come. Grayson’s jaw clenched.

This was an abuse of a gift. This was treasonous.

He finished the circle to face not-Ryder once more.

The Sect Vampire wasn’t even attempting to dance, but was just standing there, watching him.

The couples on the dance floor were thinning as the crowd was growing.

Grayson guessed that part of the Hum’s command was to leave just him and not-Ryder on the dance floor so that there was a maximum view of what’s coming.

Even me being Weryn’s chosen fledgling adds to the damage this will do. People will see the Vampire I’ve chosen destroy me, Grayson realized further the perfidy of what Legion intended.

Not-Ryder cracked his neck. First one way then the next. He rolled those massive shoulders back. His fangs were out. He wore a parody of a smile. But he was clearly a predator. Grayson kept dancing.

Come at me, big guy, Grayson thought with a snarl.

Like the bull that he so reminded Grayson of, not-Ryder pawed the ground with a boot. He was about to charge. Grayson smiled. Not-Ryder lowered his head and…

The lights went off. Someone screamed. Someone else let out a shrill laugh.

Then everything was back on again. The disco ball was spinning.

The suds began to fall. The music boomed.

The crowd was blinking as if waking up from a dream.

They looked around themselves uncertainly.

But then some began to dance to the music and others grabbed the hands of forgotten partners.

Grayson looked at his dance partner. And the angry smile became a tender one. His heart rose in his chest. His eyes actually burned with tears. Ryder! Ryder was there!

His lover swept him up into his arms, spinning him around. Grayson held onto Ryder. He breathed in the scent that was right, not wrong. He touched that beloved body. He swallowed the scream of rage and anguish that had been working its way out of his mouth. Ryder kissed him again and again.

“It worked,” Grayson laughed a little hysterically. “It worked!”

“It did. Fiona got him in the darkness. I think she could have done it with the lights on,” Ryder said.

“I’m sure that’s true. She’s brilliant. Hold on, I’ve got to see if there are any more–I know there’s one–just a second,” Grayson said.

His gift, which he had been feeding that fire for, swept out of him and didn’t just encompass the people nearest them or those just in the basement or even those just in the Mirryr House, but also caught anyone nearby.

Everyone looked around confusedly, but they had no idea it was him.

That was when he found another structure in a person who was trying to run away.

Balthazar, I think I found that Syrin, Grayson told him as he shared the location of the person.

And now we’ve got her too! Good show, Grayson, Balthazar laughed with relief.

Not just me. All of us. Please thank everyone for me , Grayson told him.

Oh, yes, of course! We are a team. Go Team Immortal! Balthazar chuckled. Will you be coming to interrogate our Sect friends now?

Grayson put his arms around Ryder’s neck and answered, In a moment. I want to enjoy this party. Just for a little while.

Ryder looked down at him with eyes full of love and they began to slowly sway to the music together.

Eiji and Mairead came over to their side.

Grayson grinned at both of them. He gave a silent thanks to Eiji who simply smiled and nodded.

The four of them were soon joined by countless others on the dance floor.

For the first time that night, he and Ryder simply enjoyed this splendid party.