Page 64 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 1

Lawson moved as fast as the lightning. One of his burly hands fastened onto Grayson’s throat. The other squeezed his wrist until the bones rubbed together. The pain though was good. It focused Grayson. Anger always made the power come. And the match was lit and the fire was burning bright.

“You little shit! You think you can speak to me--what? What the Hell?” Lawson’s voice went from a snarl to a wail.

Lawson’s eyes went huge. The lightning and thunder was keeping everyone’s attention. They didn’t see Lawson’s hands moving of their own accord off of him, releasing him. Grayson strove not to show his relief to have his throat and hand free.

Let’s see how he likes it, Grayson thought.

He forced Lawson’s hands around his own throat and made them squeeze. He’d never used someone’s own body against them before. But a hand was like a rock. An arm was like a board. He had a feeling that if he really tried, he could use the air alone to do this. It was a ticklish thought at the back of his mind or the tip of his tongue. He could almost know how to do it. Almost remember…

“What--what are you?” Lawson’s eyes were bugged out of his head.

You may wonder how I, Eyros, can be floating here in space. Is there some power I haven’t told you the Eyros have? Balthazar joked, but Grayson thought his eyes cut to them though the street lamps were only slowly coming back on. But no! This is the power of telekinesis. This is the power of the Ashyr Bloodline!

“What the fuck are you?” Lawson gasped out, his face purpling.

And that was when the lights came back on and Grayson saw an Ashyr Vampire dressed in deep green, holding one hand up towards Balthazar, keeping the Eyros Vampire in the air, floating, but her gaze was on him. She saw what he was doing.

She knew what he was doing.

She stared at him, but then her view was cut off as more Ashyr Vampires emerged from the crowd and blocked him from her. They levitated themselves, each other, sent objects spinning through the air, made the water leave the fountain and form water balloons--without the balloons--that they playfully splashed the crowd with. That was all he saw as he brought them into the trees.

“What--what are you?” Lawson asked for the third time.

“Someone you shouldn’t have messed with,” Mairead laughed.

Her voice came from behind him… as did the growl of a bear.

Ryder!

And then a panther appeared at Grayson’s side, teeth bared at Lawson.

Demos!

“I’m sorry it took so long for us to return, Grayson,” Eiji said softly. “It looked like help beyond what we could offer was needed.”

“You didn’t just leave,” Grayson said, not intending to say the words.

Mairead snorted. “No, silly! We wouldn’t leave you with that bully! I wanted to punch his lights out but Eiji said--”

“That it was best to have other people with certain skills handle it,” Eiji finished for her. “Humans are not very good against Vampires.”

“I don’t know about that. Grayson seems to have things in hand,” Mairead said with a frown clouding her face.

Grayson closed his eyes and felt a welling of pain and joy and hope. Had Seeyr been right? Had he found a place to belong? That was such a foolish thought. Yet he had it.

The bear--Ryder--lumbered around his side and roared at Lawson. His big body rested against Grayson’s side protectively. People shot around, all turning to look. Grayson released his hold on Lawson. The Weryn Vampire coughed and touched his throat but then drew down his hands as if they burned his skin. He was likely afraid that Grayson would cause them to strangle him again.

How many people saw that other than the Ashyr Vampire? Or more like, how many people saw and understood what I was doing?

Yet he didn’t regret it.

Not one damned bit.

Lawson’s gaze though was not on him, but flickering between Ryder and Demos in their animal forms. The panther growled. The bear started to get up on his hind legs making him stand over eight feet tall and almost as wide.

Lawson’s nostrils flared. His skin was the color of day-old cream. Those prominent veins looked like track marks in his skin. He breathed heavily. Betrayal was stamped across his features.

They didn’t betray you, you bastard. You betrayed them, Grayson thought.

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