“Damn right, I am. I have been from the moment the first opened his mouth,” my boyfriend grumbled. “I couldn’t get Geiger on the phone at first, but then his assistant interrupted his meeting, and I conferenced him in to a live call of this.”
“Oh, I’m going to get spanked.”
“No, because they never contacted me, and you did the right thing to behave as if this was an attack on you,” Geiger said from Darby’s phone, others around us going quiet. “Keep the barrier up until the authorities arrive. We will have words about you not allowing the appropriate help that—”
“The warlock councilmen made the deal with Alpha Berman,” I explained. “That was the piece I finally got towards the end. They promised if his people came in and got me, which they couldn’t, he would get the crystals he needs for all the dragons’ castles in Africa. They were going to take me and hand me over. That was why this guy was so sure complaints would be filed with the right councils.
“Because no matter what species I am, the esteemed warlock elders would have had me declared a witch—which they plan to the moment they get their hands on me—and then can do with me anything they want. That’s exactly what this guy overheard being said to Berman. So they couldn’t help me, or they would have been in trouble with their councils should we have lost. Would you have risked that?”
“Yes, as you have to be protected,” Geiger reminded me gently.
“My life is not worth all of the lives here!” I shouted. “They were willing to tear through anyone here, Geiger. That’s how desperate they were. Berman made it clear they bring me back, or all their families are dead. They fail, and their families are gone. They were willing to kill anyone here who stood in their way. Their thoughts were clear that they didn’t care because they had to do this before Edelman got back.”
“And Edelman has been detained by crap the council set up for what should have been a routine meeting for the school,” Geiger seethed. “I understand. The rest we will talk about privately.”
“Backup has arrived,” Mel announced loudly.
My head turned so fast in her direction, I heard my neck pop. I followed her gaze, and relief filled me when I saw not only her parents, but the Vogels and their top people. A lot more than backup had arrived. The cavalry and real damn adults showed up to take over and handle the mess now that I’d taken out the threat.
Hey, I wasn’t knocking them, the Vogels were their priority. I got that and they were important and needed. I was grateful for the help now.
“We’re going to need witnesses to come over here and give us your names to contact and interview later,” Mrs. Rothchild declared as she broke away from Mr. Rothchild with a group of the clan. “We need to know who was here no matter what, but if you would like to stay out of this, we can notate that for the record and keep you neutral, as there were more than enough here.”
That immediately set some people at ease, and a bunch went to them to record they had been present and get on the neutral list.
I wished I could ever get that option.
“Tamsin?” Craftsman said gently, quietly, but with worry.
I blinked at him and realized he’d tried to talk to me before, a few times probably from the concerned looks I got from more than him. “Yeah, Doc?”
“We need you to lower the barrier, duckie.”
“I don’t want to until there’s less people,” I whispered, glancing away from them.
“Okay, if that’s what you want,” he agreed. “Is there anything else you need?”
“Permission from Pillay to fuel up in her class.”
“You have it, Ms. Vale, though I expect you’re off for the rest of the day,” Professor Pillay said from near Mrs. Rothchild. She came closer and gave me a worried look. “We can contain the smell if you lower the barrier. You don’t have to worry about that.”
I winced at her hitting the nail on the head. I could even smell the death, and I wasn’t a shifter, vamp, or dragon. Seeing death and smelling it were different. One or the other were horrible, but the combo just brought everything to another level, and we could take everyone’s shock to a full on panic, which I didn’t want.
Well, no one really ever wanted panic unless they were psychos.
“Okay, thanks,” I muttered, bobbing my head.
She nodded when she was ready, and I lowered the barrier, relief filling me when the smells of blood and stuff were all covered.
“Love, you okay?” Craftsman asked under his breath when he was suddenly in front of me.
I pulled away when he reached for me. “Are you? I just killed eight people, eight dragons, and you watched me do it. How are you not running for the hills? You’re going to call me a monster and hate who I am again, right?”
“No, no, and I never did that,” he hissed, trying to reach for me again.
We were interrupted by a temp portal opening, Edelman, White, and the rest of the deans hurrying through it. Shock didn’t even begin to cover their expressions and reactions.
Yeah, I was fairly sure I was going through the same, and I’d been there for the whole thing.
“Shock, yeah, I think I’m in shock,” I muttered and went over to my stuff. I didn’t have anything to wipe the blood off my sword and decided to just take off my shirt.
“Kid, you’re spiraling,” Mel whispered as she snagged my shirt in time. She took my sword as well, shaking me when I whimpered for
