I scowled, and Ivy broke in for me. “Well, at least Charlie can behonest,” Ivy seethed under his breath. “Unlikesome angelsaround here. Ones who like to gamble, and play with your feelings, and—”
I was enjoying listening to Ivy rant, before a shadow fell over our table. My gut churned in distaste as Mad Dog stooped beside Opal.
“Hey, pretty lady,” he rasped. “I’ve been looking to make a new friend, and word on the street is you’re pretty damn friendly. You need a new man to callDaddy?”
Opal looked down and cringed away. She wouldn’t stand up for herself.
But Ivy definitely would. He reached out and pushed Mad Dog’s face away from Opal— a risky move, but Ivy didn’t give a damn. “Can youpleaseget your disgusting face out of our presence? You aren’t wanted here,” Ivy snapped.
Mad Dog’s eyes flared. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. You two sluts sure love keeping it in the family.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Tears beaded in Opal’s eyes, and her lip trembled. She was seconds away from crying.
Ivy, though— when Mad Dog made that statement, he gotpissed.I was certain I saw Ivy’s fangs elongate just a touch when he spat, “If you want to take this outside, I’d be more than happy to kick your little bitch ass all over the prison yard. Then everyone will know you got the shit beat out of you by a whore.”
Mad Dog sneered and drew away. “You know what? I’m not interested. Her blood probably tastes like fish. She sure smells like one. Fucking animals, mermaids are.”
“Leave her alone!” Ezekiel stood up from the bench, ready to pick a fight. Opal had gone a deep shade of red.
“No one was asking you, tubby,” Mad Dog shot at him.
Ezekiel’s knuckles cracked, and my gut tumbled. He couldn’t get in a brawl with a vampire. Ez would lose, and Mad Dog would put him in the hospital for sure.
So I, the queen of distractions, had to think of something fast. I picked up the food that was on my plate and tossed it at Mad Dog. He ducked, and it hit a shifter on the back of the head.
The shifter stood up abruptly. “Hey! Who threw that?”
He rounded on Mad Dog, who let go of Opal. The shifter took one look at Mad Dog and said, “Oh, so it wasyou, huh? Take this!”
He tossed his plate at Mad Dog. Half of it splattered all over his face. Opal had to duck away to avoid being hit herself. The rest of his meal was flung onto the sweater of a witch a few feet away, who screamed.
“Food fight!” Ivy screamed. Joyfully, he grabbed his tray and tossed it across the room. It splattered all over Ghost, who’d been eating a few rows down. The warlock grinned as he pulled Ivy’s sandwich off his cheek, then threw it back.
In seconds, the cafeteria turned into a complete madhouse. Food flew everywhere. There wasn’t anyone who wasn’t hit. I flung up a water shield from a few of the cups lying around. I was able to protect the front of my uniform, but I got sauce in my hair and cream cheese all over my sweater.
Usually, I would’ve freaked— cause like, gross— but I didn’t have time for that. I just wanted to get my brother as far away from Mad Dog as possible. He and Opal ducked underneath one of the lunch tables, watching food fly and trying not to get hit. The guards rushed into the room, trying to control the scene, but there was a lot of food flying around, and it was hard to tell who was tossing what.
I headed toward my brother. Someone grabbed my arm. I knew from the tight grip it was Mad Dog.
“You always got something planned, don’t you?” he snarled. His breath smelled like sour blood. It made me cringe.
“You’d better get your hands off me.” My Fire was damn ready to singe this fucker into oblivion.
“If I can’t have the mermaid’s blood, I want yours,” he growled. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
I attempted to wrench away and failed. “You’re damn lucky Charlie isn’t here.”
“But he’s not,” Mad Dog snapped. “And by the time he finds you, I’ll have bled you—”
I smashed a fistful of Fire into Mad Dog’s face. He let out an enraged sound and let me go, clawing embers out of his eyes. I took off into a sprint. I knew I couldn’t outrun a vampire, but if Mad Dog got his claws in me again, I’d be in serious trouble. I glanced behind myself, but saw that Mad Dog was merely a blur. In milliseconds, he’d pounce.
Before Mad Dog could get to me, a huge gust of wind picked up in the lunchroom. It sent tables and benches flying. People screamed and got to the floor, to avoid being swept up in the windstorm. The gust sucked up Mad Dog in a powerful wind and slammed him against the wall twenty feet away.
The sound of concrete breaking echoed through the cafeteria. Before Mad Dog could move, the gust picked him up again, crushing him into the ceiling and making concrete chunks fall. The Air magic yanked him back down again, smashing him into the floor. The impact of his body made a small crater.
Charlie stood a few feet away, and it took one look to know he was fuming. Oberi was by his side in her unicorn form, tossing her head and scraping her hoof against the floor, like she wanted to charge.
Mad Dog trembled and tried to get up, but failed. Charlie had really hurt him this time.
