Page 6 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 1

Grayson slapped the man’s cheeks and started asking him more questions to keep him conscious. He doubted that the answers would be lucid. The Sect of Dawn answer showed him that.

But who would make that up? And why?

“Why do you think the Sect of Dawn is after you?” Grayson asked, seeking something to ask the man about to keep him conscious.

“Maybe we shouldn’t ask, Grayson,” Sam suggested. His big bushy eyebrows lifted, showing that his eyes were bloodshot, but they were surprisingly lucid. “Maybe it's best we don’t know.”

But before Grayson could take the question back the man was answering, “Because I got the ticket. The golden ticket.”

The man winced and sweat started to pour down his clammy forehead. His eyelids were fluttering wildly as if he was having a seizure.

But Grayson was caught up in what he had said. “Golden ticket?”

It can’t be. He can’t have an invitation to the academy! Grayson thought and almost let out a wild laugh of disbelief. One hundred people in all the world get them and one of the students just happens to walk into the convenience store?! No. No way.

He had thought he was safe here. In this obscurity. No Vampires or the Vampire-adjacent as he thought of the wannabes and worshippers would bother coming into this run-down neighborhood to this even more run-down store. It wasn’t like the Vampires desired Doritos, Coke, or some candy and he was sure that the wannabes would wish to keep their bodies pure by “eating clean”. There was nothing here except the week-old oranges that would fit that bill. Yet here this man was.

It can’t be possible. It’s like I’m being hunted.

“To the–the academy. They want it. Eliminate me and send their own person in,” the man wheezed. “Can’t let them do that.”

“The Sect of Dawn wants to send in one of their own people to the academy with your golden ticket?” Grayson asked, his eyebrows lifted.

The man didn’t answer. His eyes were closed and he was leaning over as if he were about to be sick, but Grayson knew the man simply didn’t have the strength to sit up. Yet he managed to stuff his right hand into the inside pocket of his trenchcoat and draw out an envelope. He left a blood fingermark against the pure, white paper. A name was written in gold calligraphy. It was Gregory Starn. The man shoved the envelope at Grayson as if he wanted to be clear of it or, like the ring of power in Lord of the Rings, as if he desperately wanted it but knew it was bad for him.

“I can’t use it. Can’t let them have it,” the man wheezed. “Not going to let them win.”

“Don’t take that, Grayson! He got stabbed for it!” Sam warned as he looked at the door over his shoulder just like the man did.

The paper felt expensive under Grayson’s fingertips. There didn’t seem to be much inside the envelope. Maybe a single sheet of paper. He recalled that the students were to be given directions to a gate to get to the Ever Dark. Maybe that was all that was in the envelope. Coordinates to the Vampire World. For a moment, he wanted to rip the envelope open and see what was inside. He shook himself. He was avoiding Vampires, not seeking them out.

But still, this envelope was worth… Well, he couldn’t imagine how much. Yet wouldn’t the golden ticket be attached to an individual? It wasn’t like the Vampires would let someone else in even if they had the right ID. The Eyros Bloodline Vampires would know they were lying about their identity. But then again maybe the Vampires would be impressed by a person’s ingenuity and cruelty to get in? But there was one thing that Grayson was sure of.

“The Vampires will know if their enemies take your place, Gregory. Those mind-reading Vampires will figure it out right quick.” He grasped the man’s trembling hand and tried to put the envelope back into it. “You need to hold onto that.”

“They’ve figured out a way to–to pass. Why–why do this to me otherwise?” Gregory asked.

Grayson didn’t want to say that it could be just terrible luck. Or that the Sect of Dawn was dumb. But either answer would minimize what this man was going through.

So Grayson tried to change the subject to something important, “Is there someone we can call for you? A wife? A husband? Kids? Parents?”

The man shook his head and he wouldn’t take back the envelope. Only more of his blood stained it. Grayson grimaced and stuffed the bloody envelope into the back pocket of his pants. He would deal with that later. The man was clearly not going to the academy tonight regardless.

The front door gave a shudder and the bell rang once. All three of them snapped their heads towards it. But no one was coming in. It was just the wind. The storm had evidently increased in fury.

“Lock the door,” Gregory said through trembling lips. Whether he was cold from loss of blood or fear wasn’t clear to Grayson.

“We need to keep it open for the ambulance,” Grayson said.

“They said ten minutes. Should be here soon,” Sam agreed though he couldn’t quite take his eyes off the door either.

“No ambulance is coming,” Gregory said softly.

“Of course on is. But I can call again,” Grayson said, reaching for his phone.

But Gregory was shaking his head. His brown eyes were open fully again, and though they were glassy, they were full of intelligence. “If an ambulance were coming we would be hearing its siren by now. The police too. But there’s nothing. The street is empty, too. Strange for this road at this time of night, no?”

Grayson slowly looked back over at the door. Gregory was right. How often had he heard the wail of sirens in the night even when they weren’t coming down this street? Plenty of times. And the road should have been thick with traffic. People honking at pedestrians who threaded their way through cars rather than crossing at the cross walks. Even with the rain, he would have expected the prostitutes and the drug dealers who lingered in doorways to be out. But he didn’t see one person.

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