Page 33 of Venomous Lies (Greywood Conservatory for the Arcane #2)

Bricriu

SATURDAY

“ Y our hand is broken,” Professor Junchiro told Isla as he carefully turned over said hand. “Even with magick, it’s going to take time to heal. As for your head wound, it looks like a small concussion, nothing too bad to worry about.”

“Well, at least I have that going for me,” Isla muttered under her breath.

She must have gone through hell. Even with my blurry vision, I could tell that her broken hand was swollen and bruised, blood covered most of her clothes, and there was just something in her aura.

There was always a bit of cynicism present, but now there was something harder in how she held herself.

She had kept it together as we entered the library and bypassed the empty first floor to go into the back and down into the archives, where we had been previously. Better to be out of sight if people stumbled on us.

At least that was my thought as I used my illusion magick to take on my high fae form. No one else seemed to care, but it was a hard habit to break .

That hardness sharpened once Ambrose and Julian entered the room with Falke after we settled in the room. They were talking in hushed tones, but Isla wasn’t having any of it.

“You might as well speak loudly enough for all of us to hear,” she drawled, an undercurrent of anger hardening her voice. “I think we’ve all earned some answers.”

“That depends, Isla,” her brother said, his shoulders tense. “Are you going to answer any of the questions that we have?”

“After finding you pinning one of my best friends to the wall with a knife at his throat… I’m not answering any of your questions, Demir. Maybe try someone else.”

“What happened?” Falke asked, glancing between the two of them. The siblings were now glaring at each other.

“It’s been resolved,” Demir ground out.

“My mate thinks otherwise,” I retorted. He might be determined to ignore her obvious displeasure, but I could feel Isla’s anger boiling through our bond. “So, you should elaborate."

Did I emphasize our bond just to piss him off? Yes.

And it worked—even better than I imagined it would.

I could almost picture his dark eyes turning black as the air around him became weighted with the kelpie’s failure to control his anger.

Or maybe the better word would be jealousy .

Julian tried to interject, his hand rubbing his face. “Before we get into that, we should go over some other things, especially if Demir let him go.”

I swallowed hard as the vampire pushed off his weariness and settled down in front of Isla. The starkness of the scar along his face was more pronounced, telling me that on top of whatever power he had used, he was going to need to feed soon.

“We need you to answer questions, Miss Hallowes,” he told her sharply. “The evasions and back talk aren’t going to get us anywhere.”

“If I give you answers, I want some in return,” Isla countered, hissing as the healer shifted her hand. His blurry gray magick swirled around, helping her heal faster.

“We can do that,” Julian replied with a nod.

“There’s no way—” Demir started to insist.

“Your purpose here is to assist .” Julian’s voice was cold enough that everyone, including Junichiro, stilled. “Not to give your opinions. Do what’s asked of you, and beyond that, hold your tongue. I can already see that you being here is proving to be tiresome.”

Demir bristled at the vampire’s cutting remarks but was smart enough to not push him further.

No matter what was going on, it was clear that Julian was the leader of the operation. Even Ambrose and Falke were deferring to him. Isla, however, wasn’t that impressed given how she just stared at the man opposite to her with an arched eyebrow, waiting for Julian to make the first move.

Fuck, the two of them having a stand-off was going to make me fucking rock hard.

I needed a smoke.

Or ten.

“Keep it together, Bricriu,” Ambrose whispered softly, holding out a cigarette in offering. “This situation is already a fucking ticking time bomb.”

“You can start, Hellsing,” Isla directed, making even Ambrose pause. He froze with his cigarette poised at his lips. “Why should I be answering any of your questions out of everyone?”

I pulled out my lighter, turned it on with a quick flick, and inhaled.

“Besides the fact that we’re bonded?”

Coughing hit me as the same thing happened to Ambrose.

“Excuse me?!” we asked at the same time.

Falke was shocked enough that his mouth went slack, and Demir looked ready to punch something or someone.

Somehow, Isla was calm, simply watching Julian with an unreadable expression. Her mismatched eyes searched the vampire's face before turning to look at me.

The eye contact almost felt like an apology, but I wasn’t even sure how I felt. My brain was still trying to process that reveal.

“I’m not here to be bossed around like the others,” she shot back. She pursed her lips and pushed her hair back over her shoulder with her uninjured hand. “Try your intimidation tactics on them.”

“I haven’t even begun to try, Isla. When I do, trust me, you’ll know.”

“But I don’t trust you,” she said wearily. “Not any of you. I was going to be fucking kidnapped, and the only way I escaped… Well, I did what I had to do.”

“Kidnapped? By who?” Demir asked sharply.

“This is the last warning you’ll get.” Julian spoke softly though with enough menace that the hair on the back of my neck stood up on end.

“You are, and never will be, in charge of what is going on here. While you are here, I am the one you answer to and whose lead you follow. So focus on keeping your fucking mouth shut.”

“Is that an order?” Demir snarked, pushing his luck .

But it seemed that luck snapped.

No one intervened when Julian suddenly reappeared halfway across the room, holding Demir up in the air as if he were a fucking rag doll. He threw the younger man onto a table, which splintered at the impact.

He loomed over the dazed man on the ground and hissed in warning.

“You are lucky that I have the self-control you seem to lack. Find. Yours,” he snarled roughly. “Is that understood?”

“Yes,” Demir answered begrudgingly.

“Yes, what ?”

“Yes, sir .”

“If the dick measuring contest is over with,” Isla interjected, and it took every bit of my willpower not to laugh. “ I was supposed to be the center of attention.”

Ambrose didn’t have the same sense of self-preservation, chuckling darkly as his sharp gaze drank Isla in.

The door behind us to the library opened and Isla’s face drained of color as she saw whoever was standing there.

“I’d hate to miss a dick measuring contest,” an unfamiliar voice drawled. “Oh, darling, did you not tell them about us yet?”

ISLA

Right behind Kazimir were my friends. They eyed the fae warily, but clearly he had kept up his end of the bargain.

Echo was helping a limping and very hurt Aizel while Zhara walked in behind them, her eyes a bright, glowing blue that told me that she had recently shifted.

“Aizel!” I pushed myself up and pulled my hand away from the healer. I could deal with being sore. My friend needed healing more than I did.

Without looking back, I hurried over to them, brushing past Kazimir, and lifted the incubus’ head to look him over.

One eye was swollen shut, and his skin almost looked gray. He must have a more serious injury under his clothes, but there was no way I was going to get him more worked up than he probably already was, so it was time for my go-to—humor.

“You look horrible.”

“Always a boost to the ego, Isla,” Aizel joked, groaning when he started to laugh. The groaning turned into a cough that left his lips flecked with bright-red blood.

“Shut up and sit down,” I reprimanded him, gently helping Echo guide his brother to where I had been sitting.

I looked back to find Z right beside us, her expression tight with worry. Despite their current fight, she still cared about him a lot, and Aizel reached over, seeking her out. I moved out of the way, so she could be beside him.

I faced the new herbology professor. “He needs more help than I do. Can you please heal him?”

He searched my face, his sharp features gaunt in the lighting and gold eyes duller than the first time I’d seen him. Healing me beforehand and now was obviously taking its toll. Or maybe he had helped others during the fighting as well? I wasn’t sure, but Aizel needed to be looked over.

As he nodded and started assessing my friend, I checked on Echo. He was staring at me, checking over my new collection of injuries just as I was doing to him.

He had a busted lip and was out of breath, but generally, he seemed fine. A small smile from him signaled to me that he wasn’t too bad. His concern was mostly for his twin who’d begun to groan as the professor worked on him .

“What have you done, Isla?” Demir whispered in horror as Kazimir rested a hand on my shoulder, pulling my attention from Echo.

“Collecting mates, it seems,” he taunted.

A cruel smile filled his face. Illusion magick showed off the full effect of his fae beauty.

The magick hid the torn skin I had seen earlier beneath high, chiseled cheekbones.

Now, there was not a blemish to be seen.

A sinister smile twisted his lips, and his light-gray eyes were laser focused on me.

That smile grew into a grin when he caught me staring.

Mates… What the fuck is he talking about? We aren’t mates. I’d know if we were. Is he just trying to get a rise out of them?

Well, if he was, it worked.

The tension in the room rose with every passing second.

“Like what you see, Isla?”

“In passing,” I quipped, but it lacked the dryness that I was going for, which only made him smirk and laugh.

Fuck.

‘Focus, beastie.’

‘There's a lot that I could focus on right now, Cas. What do you suggest I start with?’

“Or were you going to surprise them with our bargain?”

“A bargain?" Hellsing asked from behind me.

“It helped me get my freedom,” I replied, keeping my stare trained on the fae.

“And Thatcher?”

“Dead,” I replied evenly. “Eventually, I’m sure.”

The smile on Kazimir’s face slowly faded, and the first glimpse of the real man behind his mask peeked out. He didn’t believe me, couldn’t believe me, but he desperately wanted to.

“Thatcher is the one that took you?” Falke asked, breaking the moment .

“Yes, he said that I would prove useful. Now, tell me, what the fuck are you doing here?”

I turned then, looking over everyone else.

Hellsing stood over Demir, who hadn’t moved from where he had been thrown, but both men had their eyes trained on me and the fae who still held on to my shoulder.

Bricriu was taking a long drag of his cigarette, and Ambrose was no longer beside him.

In fact, he wasn’t here at all. And neither was Wells.

Echo didn’t say anything, but he was watching everyone.

“We are here on an assignment,” Hellsing started, a true leader it seemed. His sharp, hard features darkened as he walked slowly toward me. “There is something happening at Greywood that we’ve been tasked with stopping.”

“Thatcher was part of that?” I asked, interrupting him.

“Potentially,” the vampire allowed with a slight nod. “But students have been going missing for centuries. We had just started making headway with the investigation when the recent attacks began happening.”

“The attacks on students?” Echo and Bricriu asked at the same time.

“Yes,” Falke supplied as Hellsing nodded again. “It put the entire campus on high alert, making it impossible for us to do our jobs.”

“We have no idea who is killing these people or why.”

“You’re not telling us everything,” I pushed.

“I’d hazard to say the same of you,” Hellsing deadpanned.

Just as I opened my mouth to say more, a magickal alarm blared, making all of us flinch, even Kazimir.

‘All faculty, staff, and students promptly report to the quad for instructions. I repeat, all faculty, staff, and students report to the quad for instructions.’

“I’ll go first, see what I can hear as people start coming in,” Falke said to Hellsing, then he left, moving much quicker than I thought possible.

“How are we just supposed to go about classes now?” Echo asked.

“For now, we need to act completely in the dark,” Hellsing ordered all of us, pointedly looking at me, and then Kazimir, who still hadn’t let go of my shoulder. “Stay hidden until after. Any new faces will draw attention.”

“Not a problem,” Kazimir answered smoothly.

Cool air replaced the warmth of his body next to me. It became even icier when a weight draped over my shoulders and wrapped around my throat.

I looked down to see that Kazimir had shifted into a white snake. Not the least bit subtle, but it would have to work.

‘Beastie… watch him,’ Cas muttered darkly, and I sensed a hint of jealousy when Kazimir’s snake body snuggled closer to me.

‘I will.’

Echo fell into step beside me as we followed Hellsing and Demir out of the building. My brother kept trying to get close to me, but I made sure to keep my distance. I was pissed off and annoyed, and that hadn’t changed in the past few minutes.

My footsteps slowed to a stop as I took in the full impact of whatever had happened.

A few buildings looked to be in ruins, and the surviving students all looked worse for wear with all manner of injuries. A lot of people were covered in blood. The teachers didn’t look any better. Ms. Belvedere’s left arm hung uselessly at her side.

Tallie from my forbidden magick class saw me and gave a silent nod in greeting, though she stayed by her group of friends. I nodded back with a small wave.

At least some familiar faces were here still.

“Students!” a voice called out, magickally projected to be heard by everyone.

A voice I’d know anywhere.