Page 119 of Plug and Drain

Susie was moments away from throwing up herself. She clenched her hands tightly and forced air in through her nose, trying to settle her stomach as the raw bloody scent hung heavily around them.

In need of reassurance, Susie glanced at the staff members, but there was none to be found. They looked shocked, and Zott’s face had turned a waxy shade of green. Only a couple of teachers seemed to have the sensibility to go and reassure the students.

Susie’s empty stomach roiled.

She’d always hated the smell of blood. Most shifters did. Wolves were natural hunters, but hunting as a means of survival was very different to witnessing pointless slaughter.

Amidst the chaos, Arken remained perfectly still, his eyes out of focus as he held the extracted spine high, his fingers red as he clutched it tight. It was a terrible thing to behold, the bones still covered in torn muscle and organ tissue. Long rivulets of sleek, silky blood dripped down in front of Arken’s face to his feet.

It was too morbid to watch, but Susie could not look away.

Suddenly, Arken jerked into motion, the connected bones rattling as he flung it through the air.

For a second, Susie thought he was throwing it down into the crowd of first years. But he’d flung it straight at the pike. A loud buzzing zap sounded, and as if magnetised, the spine instantly wrapped around the pike tightly. It was twisted around the pike in a way that human spines were not designed to bend. A loud, triumphant shriek erupted from the pike, followed by a blast of air that rustled clothes and whipped hair violently. Susie nearly lost her footing as she shielded her face from the wind. Several students fell. Zott toppled over and nearly squashed an unimpressed Marmala.

Several first-years panicked, lurching into motion. A male vampire knocked into Susie as he stumbled backwards. She helped steady him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied automatically, her attention returning to the pike at the height of the stairs.

Dark clouds had appeared above, obscuring the sun and throwing the scene into shadow. The spine glowed, bathing their faces in an unearthly red.

The blood no longer ran down the pike. Instead, the blood had separated from the bones like oily droplets in , and the sparkling red beads floated in the air, swirling slowly around the pike in an ethereal vortex.

Susie remained rooted to the spot, ignoring the sound of Sarah’s voice as she pulled on her arm. Susie stared transfixed at the string of cartilage and tendons wrapped around the weapon’s shaft, the tip of the tailbone extending up past the transition to graze the lethal blade. As she watched, it began to disintegrate, decaying at a rapid pace until it was gone.

The remaining flakes of bone fluttered away, vanishing before they reached the ground. The last of the eerie whispers faded into distant echoes before silence fell.

Everything was still, the whooshing of air in her ears replaced by ringing.

Susie felt another tug on her arm. She finally tore her gaze from the pike and realised it wasn’t Sarah at all.

It was Molly.

The timid first-year peeked out from the depths of her cloak’s hood.

“Molly? I was looking for you earlier,” Susie said.

“Come away,” Molly urged. “It’s not safe to stay here.”

Susie shook her head. “I can’t. I need to talk to Arken.”

If he’ll even talk to me.

But it seemed imperative that she go to him. None of this was right, and she didn’t care what the rumours said about his violent past, or that she hardly knew him. This was not like Arken. He was hurting.

And he shouldn’t be alone.

She ignored Molly’s attempts to draw her away, but she couldn’t make her feet move forward, either. She gazed up at Arken, calmly rinsing his hands in an engraved basin that had been brought to him by another teacher. As he dried his hands on a towel, he looked like a stranger. But his hands were trembling.

They never did that.

“He used blood magic,” Molly whispered.

Susie snapped her head to look at the wolf. “What? How do you know that?”

“I…I just do.” Molly bit her lip worriedly.