As I had that thought, all of the huge soap bubbles burst all at once and sweet-smelling droplets rained down on everyone’s heads.
Up until then, except for the muttering going on at our little table, the Dining Hall had been almost completely silent. I wasn’t sure if it was part of the happy-gram spell or that everyone was just so stunned they didn’t know what to say.
However, when the bubbles burst, people started talking again—and from the looks they were throwing at me and Ari, none of them were happy with us.
“Holy crap, Kaitlyn,” Avery muttered. “I think maybe you’d better get out of here. Do you see the way the Drakes are glaring at you?”
“The Nocturnes do not appear to be feeling very friendly either,” Griffin said grimly. “A Made Vampire is considered by many to be an abomination—I am very much afraid they will want to hurt Kaitlyn in some way, simply for being what she is.”
“Let’s go!” Megan hopped to her feet. We were across the vast flagstone floor from the carpet that camouflaged the entrance to the Dungeons, where the Norm Dorm was located. But if only we could run fast enough and get to it…
Too late. An angry crowd of Drakes was already storming towards me. They were followed by some equally angry Nocturnes. All of them were shouting and pointing at me and there was disgust mixed with rage on their faces.
Staring at them, I had the same feeling women accused of being witches must have had during the Middle Ages when the enraged crowd came to burn them at the stake. I was trapped—trapped with no where to run, nowhere to hide.
Bravely, my Coven-mates stood to defend me. I saw Griffin bare his fangs and Avery was already whispering a spell under his breath. Megan had pulled out a long silver pin and was preparing to prick her finger, Even Emma who had no supernatural weapons to call on, was standing at my side, a defiant look on her face.
But what could so few do against a mob, I wondered in despair?
This was all my fault for believing that I could ever be good enough for Ari—for daring to aspire to a place higher than the one I deserved.
Something was going to happen here—something bad—and I was going to be the cause of all of it.
54
Kaitlyn
The mob of angry Drakes and Nocturnes was almost on us when Ari suddenly pushed through them and emerged at the head of the pack.
For a moment I was desperately afraid Ari was one of them. Would he be angry for the humiliation the bubble’s depiction of us together had caused? Would he try to hurt me to prove that we weren’t really together? Would he treat me like a piece of trash, that needed to be thrown away, like the Breedloves had?
I had no time to answer any of those questions because at that moment, Ari reached me and grabbed me by the wrist.
My Coven-mates must have been worried for me too, because I heard Avery say, “No!” sharply and Griffin hissed,
“Reyes, if you hurt her—”
“Dios, I’m not going to fucking hurt my own L’lorna,” Ari snapped at them. “I’m going to claim her.”
And then he stepped up on a chair and from there to the top of the table, pulling me up with him as we faced the angry crowd together.
55
Ari
I didn’t know who had produced the nasty little piece of work that had been shown in the glittering soap bubble, but it wasn’t hard to guess what effect it would have on my classmates. Even before the spell of the bubble was over, I could hear angry muttering and see the dark glances the other Drakes were throwing at me.
But I was a powerful Drake—my wings flew higher than anyone else’s at the Academy. None of them would dare to attack me.
Unfortunately, Kaitlyn had no such protection.
As soon as the bubbles burst, an angry mob of both Drakes and Nocturnes was up from their seats and rushing towards her. I looked at where she was sitting in relation to the exit and judged it was too far away. And the entrance to her dormitory was blocked by the crowd.
There was only one way I could think of to defuse this situation and it was going to require a little help from my Drake.
Get ready, I told him. Kaitlyn is being threatened.
He roared angrily and spread his wings within me. A Drake will do anything to protect his L’lorna—which also means ‘treasure’ in the most ancient language of our kind. I knew that before he saw Kaitlyn hurt he would kill every last person in the entire Dining Hall.
I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that.
But in order to stop the possible apocalypse, I had to act quickly.
Shoving my way through the crowd, I managed to get to Kaitlyn before anyone else could. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her up to stand on the table with me and then, using my loudest voice I shouted,
“Stop!”
It did no good—the crowd kept coming. In just another moment they would be upon us and Kaitlyn’s Coven-mates would be hurt or killed as well.
“Let me,” my Drake said inside my head.
“Be my guest.”
I took a step back, mentally, and let him have control. He opened my mouth—our mouth—again, and this time what came out wasn’t a word or even a roar.
What came from our mouth was a gout of flame, fifty feet long. It burst out of me in angry profusion, burning over the heads of the assembled mob like a blast from a flame thrower.
That stopped them.
Not one Drake male in a thousand is able to execute a partial change so subtle that he can breathe his Drake’s fire while still retaining his human form. I say that not to brag, but as a matter of fact. I
