New: The Fluke

“WELL,” the girl started nervously. Aisling had finally convinced her to sit down on the sofa and we all sat or stood around her in various ways, eager to hear what made her so certain this calamity had occurred. She certainly wasn’t too keen on telling us, that was certain. She was very agitated, and seemed as though she needed to leave immediately. In fact, I could smell her fear and the sweat on her—it wasn’t pleasant.
“Take your time,” Aisling soothed. There was concern on her normally blank features and I was betting she was doing it on purpose. To me, she only seemed concerned about learning what information this girl could offer us and getting her to spill before she could bolt.
And that was hot.
The girl nodded, her freckled cheeks reddening. Again, she glanced at the door. After staring at it for another moment, she let out a breath and I saw the determination seep into her features. Whatever it was that she was scared of, she wasn’t about to let that fear stop her from tattling. I didn’t know what to think of that.
“Okay,” she started, staking a deep breath. “It was a couple of days ago. The rumors have said that on Wednesdays you can hear weird noises coming from the upstairs girls’ dorm.” She twisted her hands in her lap, her voice trembling. I could smell the horror, the disgust seep through her body just as clearly as I could see it on her face. “It was just curiosity, you know? I wanted to know if the rumors were true, that was all. I-I mean, I didn’t think that anyone would do something like that.”
“Kelli,” Aisling prodded gently. “Get to the point, please.”
Kelli—if that was her name—swallowed and nodded. “Y-Yeah. Sorry.
“Anyway. I made sure it was late so that I wouldn’t get caught out of bed in another dorm, and I snuck out. It was creepy that late and I’ve been out before, but this time was different. As soon as I got into the dorm, it was like the air got—I don’t know, heavier.” She shivered, obviously remembering and rubbed her arms. “It was almost like I couldn’t breathe, but I could see my breath because it was cold.”
“It was cold?” Aisling asked, her eyes sharpening. “You’re sure?”
Kelli nodded. “Yeah. I felt like I was gonna freeze to death, but I kept going. I figured someone was just practicing element manipulation, you know? Cullen assigned a test that morning, so I didn’t really think too much about it and just kept going.” She looked down, holding her arm. Her voice dropped and, although I could hear a pin drop in a noisy room with my heightened senses, even I was straining my ears just to make sure I heard what she said next.
“I went through the common room, the kitchen and the dining area and I didn’t get a single thing that jumped out at me.” She closed her eyes tightly and I almost felt bad for her, but if you went out investigating a scary rumor, then of course you’re going to get spooked. “I was gonna leave and tell Ruth that the rumors were just a hoax to scare lesser witches, and I was walking past the window by the bookcase when I felt it.” She bent over, breathing heavily, curling into herself and her fear filled the room, filled my nostrils. Even so, she kept talking. “It was the most . . oppressive thing I’ve ever felt. It was like I couldn’t breathe, but I had to follow it, I had to know.”
Cable reached out from where she sat beside her and grabbed her hand. Kelli gripped it gratefully, lifting a pale, almost stricken face up, obviously fortifying herself.
“Kelli,” Cable tried. Her pink eyes were luminous and understanding, but demanding the information we so obviously needed to start doing whatever it was the Ghosts did around here. Even I wouldn’t be able to resist a look like that and I had to remind myself that Cable was thirteen instead of the adult she seemed to be playing. “Keep going.”
Kelli stared at the younger girl for a moment, surprised, but she gathered herself and her voice filled the silence again, stronger this time, not hiding her disgust and upset. “The bookcase is a secret passage. There was a light coming out from a crack where one of them had left it open. I don’t think they did it on purpose, but if you don’t want to get caught, you’d figure they’d be more cautious.” She wrinkled her nose in a way that made her plain face turn ugly. “I followed the stairs up to where the light was coming from and there they were: five girls, chanting around a circle, each standing at one of points of the symbol they’d drawn. I’ve never seen an invocation before, but I recognized one, you know? “
Aisling’s eyes were spitting fire—very controlled fire. “Did you see them actually summon a demon?”
Kelli shook her head. “No. They just seemed to be powering up the circle. They stopped after a few minutes, and started arguing. Someone said they didn’t have enough power and they started blaming each other.”
“Did you see any of their faces?” Avery asked, his face just as serious as Aisling’s.
“No. They wore these weird cloaks that covered them all over. I couldn’t even make out their shoes, but I recognized one thing.”
I leaned forward, something occurring to me. “You saw Penelope, didn’t you?”
Kelli jerked straight. Actually, they all jumped and turned to me, telling me easily that I had been forgotten. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being so completely ignored, but we all had been giving Kelli our undivided attention.
“Yo—Who are you?” she asked shocked.
I smirked. “Basil,” I told her bluntly, delighted by her blush. “But that’s not important. It was Penelope, wasn’t it? I can smell her on you.” I inhaled deeply, taking in the scent that had disturbed me so much earlier. “No, that’s not right. I can smell her bear on you. There are others, too, but I don’t quite recognize them.” I looked at Aisling. “Is it possible to spell yourself so you don’t smell?”
Aisling stared at me with interest and I had to forcibly stop myself from licking my lips to entice her again. “Yes. Among many other things.”
“How do you know it was the bear I saw?” Kelli whispered, her voice holding both awe and fear.
I leaned back, eyeing her. “It may have been a few days, but strong scents stay on a person. That bear smells like Penelope, spit, tears and various other things I don’t care to mention. Just being around it for a minute is enough to get it on you.” I wrinkled my nose. “Besides, that bear is creepy as hell. Anyone who sees it probably has the same look you do right now.”
Kelli just stared at me, her eyes wide and her face pale, as if it wasn’t the bear that creeped her out, but me. I don’t know how I could creep anyone out when I was obviously so sexy, but there it was, plain as day on her face. It made me want to bite her just so that look would disappear. . . And maybe Aisling could join in.
“Was it?” Caine pressed.
Kelli gave him a blank stare. “What?”
Caine sighed, not caring to hide his irritation. It made me smile. “Was it Penelope’s bear you saw?”
“Oh.” She glanced at me and I watched as she visibly shook herself and tried to keep her eyes on Caine. “Yeah, it was. I didn’t see Penelope, but her bear was there. Anyone would recognize it.”
“I’m sure,” I agreed. “It’s the only one around here that moves.”
Kelli eyed me curious, her thoughts distracted. “Right.” She leaned towards me as if she was trying to get a closer look. “Are you the vampire everyone is talking about?”
I flashed her a toothy grin and watched happily as her cheeks flushed with fresh blood. “Would you like to find out personally?”
Her cheeks got even redder and I sat back smugly, glad I hadn’t lost my charm. Being around Aisling had made me start to wonder if I had had any at all, but it was apparent that Kelli was ready to drop at my feet in adoration, so Aisling must have something not connected in her brain that made her so obviously immune to my wiles.
Avery cleared his throat. “Sorry, Kelli.” He flashed me a glare that had my brows rising. “He’s already got a donor and doesn’t need another one.”
My smile disappeared immediately and this time I was the one blushing. “You are not my donor!”
Avery flashed me a grin and batted his eyes at me. “Aw, come on, bloodbag. We’re so compatible.”
He blew me a kiss and left me sputtering. “’Bloodbag’! I am not a bloodbag! And that is never, ever happening again, Avery!”
Avery merely smirked. “Methinks you protest too much.”
I snapped my mouth shut, thumping back against the windows and crossing my arms.
“Don’t pout,” Avery reprimanded. “It’s not cute.”
“I don’t want to be cute,” I muttered grumpily.
Kelli’s giggle floated around us and we turned her attention back to her, having forgotten her for the moment. “You two are really good friends. That’s good because there are some nasty rumors going around about you, Basil, but you’re just like everyone else, you know?”
My eyes narrowed. Rumors were never good. I knew firsthand what rumors could do. “What rumors?”
She shrugged, fiddling with the ends of her hair. “The normal ones, you know? You’re the first Fluke in almost a century and not everyone thinks that there should be any Flukes at all. A lot of people don’t like you being here.”
“People like who?” Aisling asked quietly, her voice deceptively light, disguising the deadly curiousness behind it.
Kelli must not have noticed because she shrugged again. “Well, any pureblood, of course, but especially Fury, Jasmine and Penelope.”
The room went deathly quiet, the air tense, but Kelli must not have noticed because she started animatedly asking me questions about vampirism as everyone exchanged looks. I tried to answer her questions with my normal charm, but even I could tell it was lacking. The air was too heavy, the seriousness that had come over everyone too obvious. Whatever it was that had suddenly scared them all into silence wasn’t something they were willing to discuss with Kelli in the room, and that was certainly something I agreed on.
For what it was, they played along with the mask of normality with an ease that almost scared me, but what freaked me out the most was that, when the clock chimed for 4:30, they all looked at me with mixed worry and pity. Kelli had yet to leave, but I had to get to class. The thought of leaving these people at that moment wasn’t something that sat well with me at all. In fact, I was content to just sit here and wait until they all told me what the pity party was for. Unfortunately, duty called and I did not want to deal with the wrath of any one of these teachers. At least not until I had something to fight back with other than harmless water balls.
As I left them behind and they pummeled Kelli with more details of what she had seen, I tried my damndest not to think that maybe I was stranded in the desert without a drop of blood in sight. Unfortunately, it was altogether too possible. After all, if Fury, Penelope and Jasmine all believed that Flukes didn’t belong in much the same way that pureblood vampires believed that Halves didn’t belong, then I was in for a world of pain. They may be girls, but they had been witches long before I even knew I was one and practice was a luxury I suddenly didn’t have.
I stopped, suddenly feeling my stomach drop to my feet. “Suck a duck,” I cursed.
I hadn’t been here long, but even I knew that Fury seemed to think she ran the school—and she probably did on some level—and that meant she had followers who thought what she thought without questioning whether it was right or wrong. I had seen the same thing at Gyn. If that also was true, then the Summonings couldn’t be just a coincidence. And if they weren’t, I was about to have a demon after my blood.
All too suddenly, that pity party seemed to be making sense, and it was impossible to deny that I deserved every bit of it.

“NO, NO, NO!” Cullen yelled in frustration for the umpteenth time tonight. I felt like my head was going to explode from concentrating so much and he didn’t seem much better off as he stopped himself from stomping his foot in the sand.
We were in the desert part of the Training Grounds and it was hotter than Hades summer home here. How the temperature was regulated and kept apart from all the other sections was an anomaly, but here I was, not more than a football-field length away from snow on one side and two football-field lengths away from a rolling forest on the other. It was strange and annoying, but I supposed I should be grateful. There was no sun here, Cullen had explained, but some sort of magic that was too high-level for me to understand made it feel like there was. At first, I had thought it was wonderful to be able to stand in the sunlight again and not burn, but that awe had faded quickly enough when Cullen had started the lesson. Right now, we were in the middle of the oasis under the few palm trees that offered shade and I was sweating bullets. Even during Obstacles I didn’t sweat this much. I was grateful that Cullen had made me change before class or I would be dying in my jeans and long-sleeve shirt.
Cullen stomped over to me, sighing as he squatted to sit next to me. He had been trying to get me to pick up the wind at least a little bit in this dry heat but all I could think about was the lack of water here. It was when I had started to draw on the oasis that Cullen had suggested that maybe a direct cut-off from water to work on the other elements wasn’t the best way to go. Although it was easier to concentrate when I knew there was water around, it was damn difficult to try and control anything when I didn’t know how and I also had never tried before.
“Okay,” he conceded when I glared up at him, panting from exhaustion. I was going to be dead after Obstacles and I would be lucky to be able to pay attention at all in Potent Spells. Maybe I should ask to switch the order of my classes. Cullen obviously wanted more time as well, so it might work in everyone’s favor if this wasn’t the class that was smack-dab in the middle of my schedule.
“Let’s try this different,” he suggested, starting to draw in the sand. “Elements are just like you and I—“
“Tired and frustrated?” I quipped.
He flicked my forehead. “No, laddie.” He poked my chest. “Ruled by the heart, is what they are. Emotions control everything; that’s why you’ve such a hard time letting that bubble of yours go.” He gestured to the drawing he had made in the sand. It was a heart surrounded by symbols I was guessing was supposed to represent the elements and next to those were equal signs with a different type of face. “Water is controlled by the will to protect and help.” He gave me a bland look. “You’re all about protecting yourself and not about fighting back and that’s why it takes so long for it to come down.”
He pointed to a symbol like a cloud. “Air is about the desire to change and move. All actions, all thoughts, all consequences start with but a wee movement, a bit of a change. If you wish it to be that way, then use the wind to move it to your will.”
He pointed to another symbol—a tree. “Earth. It’s the second easiest to manipulate because it’s all about healin’ and creation. Everyone wants to create somethin’, and using the Earth and all her glory does that for you.”
He pointed to the last symbol, fire, and something made my heart clench. I rubbed my chest absently, ignoring the sharp pain that throbbed behind my eye. Ignoring the cloudy areas of my memory that were starting to come into focus.
“Fire,” Cullen said, “is the easiest by far. It stems from the want to destroy and the anger that comes with it or extreme calm. Harnessing it is a tricky business, my lad, which is why it’s last on our list, but I’m starting to wonder if maybe we should start there.”
I blinked at him, panic lacing through my system for some unknown reason. The foggy parts of my brain had warning bells all around them and I was listening loud and clear. Whatever it was that I was forgetting, whatever it was that was lurking there waiting to pounce, was connected to fire. For that alone, I wouldn’t go near it. My whole being rejected the simple idea. “What? Why? I thought you said I wasn’t ready.”
He nodded, standing and patting the sand off his hands. “That I did, but maybe I was wrong.” He grinned mischievously. “I’ve been wrong before and I’m not shy about admitting it, so let’s hop to it. You’re easier to anger than anything else and your temper is more than likely something magnificent to behold, so let’s put it to the test, yes?”
I put out a hand, worried. “No.” I shook my head for emphasis, fighting the sudden urge to run away that scored through my system. “No, no. Not okay. I don’t want to learn fire. Let’s go back to wind.”
His brows rose in surprise. “What’s this? Fear? That’s not a healthy way to start. You’re supposed to be angry, lad.”
I glared at him, hating the trembling that had started to make my fingers shake. “I am angry,” I hissed. I stood, panic from something unknown seeping through my system and turning my veins to ice despite the heat around me. I clenched my fists, not wanting him to see how afraid I had become, but mostly because I didn’t want to see it, either. “No. I can’t. I just can’t. No fire, please.”
Cullen’s smile faded and he looked at me with a mixture of curiosity and worry. “You truly are afraid.” He stepped closer to me, a ball of fire appearing in his hand and I sucked in a breath, scared but unable to look away from the destruction he held in his hand. He tossed it and caught it again like it was nothing. “Why?”
I swallowed, my mouth and throat dry, memories I had been suppressing, trying to forget for far too long threatening to come out of the box I had nailed them shut in. They beat, they battered and they consumed and as I watched Cullen toss the ball of flame back and forth from palm to palm, I felt the box catch fire, too, and I screamed, grasping my head as I fell to my knees.
Pain laced through my head, sharp and piercing behind my eyes and I squeezed them shut in an effort to block it all out. When the darkness only proved to help the images start flowing faster, I gasped and opened them again, hoping, praying that they would stop, that they would shut themselves away again. I didn’t want to see this, I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want to deal with what I had done—what I knew was my fault.
But I couldn’t stop it any more than I could then and I watched helplessly as the scene played out before me like a bad movie, dragging me along without hope, without care.
“No!” I yelled as the memories flashed before my eyes—eyes that should have been seeing Cullen as he rushed to me, grabbing my shoulders as my bubble formed around us, trapping us even as it protected, as it condemned like it had that day.
“Basil!” Cullen shouted, grabbing my face and forcing me to look at him. His voice was far away, his face fuzzy behind the images that were too real to ignore.
Time overlapped time; scenery that shouldn’t be there casting a veil over what really was. When Cullen’s face almost faded completely, I knew I was trapped. I was damned to relive the horror I had so desperately forgotten, damned to be stuck in this shadow world until it was done—until the memory was complete. Cullen had opened Pandora’s Box by waving his ball of fire and now I had to watch helplessly as I remembered a time when I, too, could do just the same.
All too suddenly, I was a child again, playing so innocently with my sister—my beloved little sister. I adored her, I doted on her, I loved her more than anything and I wanted nothing more than to be her proud, strong and dependable older brother.
A whimper left my lips as I saw her there as clear as moonlight, standing in the sunlight with her dark curls and big, trusting eyes as she smiled at me.
“Shit!” I heard Cullen swear and the images flickered, fuzzing out, her laughter fading in my head even as it echoed. Cullen shook me. “Talk to me, Basil! You’re hallucinating something horrible. Tell me what you’re seeing. I’m here with you, all right?”
Part of me steadied, part of me panicked, my heartbeat galloping in my chest with an effort to sort out what was real. Talk? Talk to him? Why? What would it change? It wouldn’t change anything, it wouldn’t help. She was gone. I had done everything I had promised never to do. I had failed her. I had been able to help, to save her and I hadn’t—I couldn’t.
“Basil!” his voice snapped over the roar of the water around us. He shook me again. “What are you seeing?”
I focused on his black eyes, seeing my pained, frightened face reflected there and wanting the calm and control I saw him trying to give me. I also saw the anger, the self-loathing and guilt that had flooded me—an old guilt, a new one—and that’s what made me start to talk. I wanted to tell him everything I had been holding in; everything that no one else knew. All the things I had promised to never look at too closely ever again. I just wanted someone to know. I had kept it in for so long that I had convinced myself it wasn’t real, that it was just a nightmare. But it was real, and nightmares always carry some truth. It was a truth I needed persecution for, punishment for the crime that I had committed all those years ago. Cullen would be the one to give it to me. I could accept that.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out and I realized that my throat had closed up, a lump forming there that I wasn’t sure I could talk around. I tried to breathe and couldn’t, heaving in air, not getting enough as it left me again, wheezing as I tried to catch my breath.
Cullen pulled me tight to him in a hug and cradled me against his big chest, making me feel so small and helpless as I shook and tried to breathe, the roar of water a constant sound in my ears. I was cold, I was wet, I was afraid, and I felt like that child I had been all those years ago.
“Tell me,” Cullen tried again. He stroked my hair with one hand, the other wrapping around my back and resting on my chest. A gold glow was emitting from his palm and I could breathe easier, the panic controlled, but still there, waiting. “What are you seeing?”
I found my voice, but the images were strong, violent, too real to ignore and I wanted to disappear, I wanted to die. I deserved to die for what I had done, and yet I was still here, still alive. Why was I allowed to live?
I closed my eyes, hoping the visions would disappear, but they only became more vivid, but the panic was kept at bay, my body starting to warm slowly, making it easier to talk, easier to want to.
“My sister,” I tried, swallowing when my mouth didn’t want to work right. My tongue felt so heavy. “She was so small. I just wanted to show off, to make her proud.” Cullen’s hand steadily stroked my hair and I realized that I was in his lap, comforted and feeling a sense of security, of safeness I knew was a spell. Even so, I was grateful. Until my body calmed on its own, he wasn’t going anywhere—not because of my bubble, but because he wanted to be here. I knew that without a doubt. “We were playing in the shed on our property. It’s where we went to fool around so our parents wouldn’t find us.” I squeezed my eyes tighter, fighting the sorrow, the guilt, the hurt from the past that threatened my entire being. “I was getting better at controlling it—the fire. I could make little animals, so I showed her. I made a cat this time. She had always wanted one and if I made the fire cool enough, she could play with it.” I took a shuddering breath and my voice broke as I continued. “I overestimated my control. The shed caught fire by the door.”
I covered my face with a hand, ashamed, haunted and unable to shut out the horrifying memories, the nightmares that so often shaken my reality. “God, we were so young and scared. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to get some water but the air was so dry and the shed was burning faster and faster.” Cullen squeezed me and his hand stopped on my hair, steady and strong, but not moving as he strained to hear me over the rush of water from my bubble. I knew that he would hate me too once he found out. He, too, would condemn me like my parents, but I couldn’t stop. I needed to tell someone. Anyone at all. I wanted someone to understand what I didn’t, to make sense of it for me. And if condemnation was all I got from him, then it was more than I deserved.
“What happened, Basil?” he pressed quietly.
I shook against him, my bubble spinning faster as a new wave of panic streaked through me, cutting through his spell. The memories grew stronger and suddenly all I was seeing was flames, all I was hearing was the screaming of my sister. “The ceiling,” I gasped, curling in on myself as once again I tried to ignore the sounds, the smells and then images I could never really forget. Even after all this time, the memory was as clear as if I were happening now. “The ceiling fell and I pushed her out of the way, but she went too far and I couldn’t get back to her before my bubble trapped me.”
“Mary mother of God,” he swore.
“I tried,” I cried, not even realizing that tears that I had pent up were spilling unchecked down my cheeks. I could feel the guilt, feel the panic, the horror, the fear, the helplessness as fresh as if it were happening right now and I couldn’t let it go, I couldn’t get away from it. “I couldn’t get out. I beat at it, I screamed, I yelled, I tried everything, but I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t get to her and she wouldn’t leave me. She was so young, so afraid, so brave and I killed her.” I sobbed, my eyes wide as they stared at my hands. I could see the blood there still, feel the pain, remembered the helplessness. It was overlapped with the now and I heard the hysteria in my voice, the weakness there, and I hated it just as much as I hated myself.
Cullen gathered me close, his spell long forgotten and his voice heavy with sorrow, with guilt, but there was no condemnation, no anger. “Basil, it wasn’t your fault. You were out of control. You just wanted to be a good brother and you were. You tried till the very end to save her.” He grabbed my hands and turned them over, looking at the fleshy parts of my palms and the sides of my pinkies that had scarred over from that day. His eyes held sadness, sympathy and calm certainty. “You tried your best, putting yourself in harm’s way like this, beating yourself until your hands couldn’t take it. It was her choice to stay.”
I stared at him. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t. He hadn’t been there. I tugged at my hands, but he didn’t let go. “No, you don’t get it. I was trapped in—“ I gestured wildly around us at my bubble “—this as she screamed, as she suffocated and collapsed and then burned until there was nothing left! She died while I was safe! Where’s the justice in that? It was my fault! I couldn’t save her from the danger I had put her in. What kind of brother—what kind of person am I?” I looked at my hands, remembering the blood, the pain, the anguish. The scars were barely visible now, but they were there, they were real, they were a constant reminder of what I had done, of the consequences of trying too hard, of being careless—of caring too much.
“You listen to me, vampire,” Cullen snapped and I listened desperately, wanting someone to change this. To take away the guilt even my parents placed on me. “You were a great brother. She stayed because of that, not to torture you. You’re dishonoring her memory by thinking she stayed to torture you. Not once do I believe that she would have done this out of spite.” He stopped, staring hard at me. “Basil, how old were you?”
I sniffed long and hard, rubbing my nose on my sleeve and warbling out, “I was seven and Maribell was four.”
“Jesus,” Cullen whispered in horror. He pulled me close again and hugged me tight. “I am so sorry, laddie. I really am. No one should go through something so bad, but I can’t take the memories from you, but know that your Maribell loved you. I’ve no doubt about that. She was too young to feel otherwise. But you are not to blame, you hear? To be so young and to have such power, it’s a frightening and heavy responsibility. You did nothing wrong. All you did was love your sister and there’s no wrong in that.”
“But I—“
“No,” he interrupted firmly, his fingers digging into my arms for emphasis. He softened his voice. “No, Basil. Your actions were for love, not hate or malice. That alone is worth more than a thousand more memories with her.”
“I’m just—“ I started, new tears welling up, new hurt slicing through me as my old wound closed over just a little and was cut anew in guilt. Suddenly I was wailing like a baby, my bubble popping, splashing around us in a puddle as my despair filled me, overwhelming in its guilt as I cried and cried out the tears I had never cried for her, the tears I hadn’t thought I was allowed. “I’m so sorry! I’m so. . I’m just so sorry.”
Cullen held me steady, his arms strong and comforting and giving me a sense of security I had long forgotten I needed, doing what my father should have done all those years ago. “She knows, Basil. Wherever sweet Maribell is, she knows.”