Page 11 of Fortune Academy: Year One
Faint, pink and blue lights made the place look cute and inviting, but I couldn’t shake the tingling sensation of warning that traveled up the back of my neck. If I registered my blood here, then there was really no going back. I’d be in the system illegally and if I was discovered as a fraud, I’d be expelled and never let back in.
“Couldn’t I just apply like everyone else?” I asked and wrapped my arms around my chest. “What if this isn’t a good idea?”
Dante held out his palm and waited for me to take his good hand. When I relented and slipped my fingers into his, he gave me a gentle squeeze. “This is the safest way for you to learn about your powers and master them. If you went through the normal registry then your blood would be tested and flagged. I need to override the system when we register you.”
“Why would I be flagged?” I squeaked, starting to feel self-conscious.
Jess’s words came back to me again.
You’re a monster.
You’re supposed to work for us.
What the hell kind of creature was I that my blood would trip a security alarm at a place like Fortune Academy? Why did Kaito have to bind my powers? What powers was he keeping in check that were so dangerous that he wouldn’t even tell me what the hell I was?
“Hey, Lily. Stop freaking out on me.”
I blinked a few times only to realize that Dante was leaning heavily against the fountain and looked like he was seriously ready to pass out. “Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked. He was right, I was freaking out, but if he passed out on me I’d freak out even more, and plus I felt kind of bad for him. Dark circles had formed under his eyes and he scrunched over as he tried to steady himself against the fountain, looking like he was on the losing end of an internal battle.
“Damn dark mage did something to me,” he grumbled, then produced the stub of his hand. “Damn it, usually it’s healed by now.”
I tried not to pass out at the sight of blood and bone. The wound wasn’t bleeding freely, but looked more like a cauterized end where a hand should have been. “Do we need to get Kaito?” I offered, my voice wavering as queasiness settled over me.If the sight of gore made me uneasy, I hoped that meant at least I wasn’t a vampire.
Dante chuckled. “Already looking up to him, are you? That’s good. If you’re ever in trouble then Kaito is the right guy to go to.”
“I’m not looking up to anyone,” I shot back. I didn’t mean to sound defensive, but I was just trying to help. Kaito obviously had a good relationship with Dante. If anyone would know how to handle regeneration powers gone wrong it would be him—certainly not me.
“Yeah, okay,” he said, chuckling as if he didn’t believe me. “It’s better for you if you learn to trust Kaito, but I get it. That’ll come in time. I didn’t trust anyone right away either and it saved my hide a few times.”
Curiosity made me want to ask him questions, but Dante decided that pow-wow time was over. He positioned my wrist over the clear fountain and pulled out his blade. He whispered something I didn’t understand and it glowed to life. An army could have descended on us and I wouldn’t have noticed. The blade was gorgeous and its power called to me with warmth and enticement.
“Focus,” Dante said, his words kind but stern. He awkwardly pushed my wrist to wrist on the basin’s edge with his elbow. It was hard to boss me around with one hand. “I’m going to cut you, okay? I need you to drop the blood into the basin and then stay very still.”
Something in my panicked at the idea. Most people were used to cuts, but I’d been extremely careful in the bar with any potentially sharp object. For some reason the idea of cutting myself was terrifying. It was as if I had a limited supply of my blood and to lose any of it would be devastating, but I knew it was an illogical reaction. It had kept me from applying to Fortune Academy on my own, which apparently was a good thing. I would have triggered some bad mojo with them and never gotten the help I needed. I never would have met Kaito or Dante, and something told me that they had answers I needed, and perhaps I was more interested in them than I should be.
Dante rested the blade at the crook of my wrist and waited for my approval. I knew I had to say something to give him permission to cut me, which gave me a strange sense of power and relief. He wouldn’t hurt me or do anything without my permission, at least for now.
“Do it.”
Dante didn’t hesitate and sliced across my skin. I expected it to hurt, but it was more like a cool breeze that swept across my wrist. I couldn’t look down right away. Just the idea of seeing my own blood made me dizzy, or maybe that was already from the blood loss. Fuck, I was such a baby.
Dante flinched, then dunked his blade into the water and washed it with his cloak.
“What is it?” I asked. He seemed disturbed, but I was the one with a blood aversion issue. He was a badass hunter who chopped off his hands to pay debts to dark mages.
“I need to concentrate,” he snapped, then closed his eyes and circled the blade in the water.
I knew I shouldn’t have looked down, but curiosity won over.
What I saw confirmed any doubts I had that I was a monster.
My blood wasn’t red... it was black.
No Pressure
“What the fuck, Dante,” I said, breathing in deep and slow so that I didn’t pass out and drown myself in the basin of murky water. It had been clear a moment before, but now my blood—my very blackblood—mixed into the waters and made it look like a swirling basin of shadows.
“Kaito warned me that might happen,” he said. The way he kept his voice low and monotone was a tell. A guy like Dante didn’t freak out, but when he got super calm, it meant that something was wrong. He continued to swirl the blade in the water and energy sparked from the handle. Dante flinched each time the snap of blue power struck him, but he didn’t pull his weapon out. “It’s just a side-effect of your heritage. Don’t worry too much about it right now. I’m blocking the flag system so that it doesn’t detect it.”
