Ex Nihilo Academy (12 page)

The next morning I am sitting in Demonology, the one class I have with Luca that I was able to hang on to with my newly revised schedule. I bypass my usual seat beside him and sit in the empty chair next to Tristan
instead. Nissa raises her eyebrows at me but says nothing. “Hey Lily! I’m really glad you decided to come tonight.” Tristan leans forward to give me a quick half-hug. Luca is turned away and talking to another classmate but I get
the feeling that he’s listening.

“So what’s this place like?” I grin.

“It’s called Worship and it’s very cool. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

“I’ve never been to a club before.” I add, leaning into
Tristan’s desk and trying my best at playing sexy.

“Well thank you for letting me be your first.” He winks suggestively and I giggle, more for Luca’s benefit than my own. “I have my own
boat so a bunch of us are getting ready together here first, then I’ll drive you into Belfast myself.”

Since when do you hang out with Tristan?
Luca clicks his tongue but I don’t even look in his direction.

“This place is fancy so dress nice.” Tristan says.

“Got it.” I smile back, batting my eyelashes at him.

“And Lily?”

“Yes?”

“The less clothing the better.” He winks again and I glance
over in time to see Luca shooting a death look at me.

You have to be kidding me
.

Well screw you, I say silently to the voice in my head. The last thing this little girl needs tonight is a babysitter.

* *

Worship turns out to be an old church that was built in the 1800s. The gothic arches and stained-glass windows have been preserved but the rest of the interior has been totally transformed. Pews have been replaced with
white leather booths and a glowing blue circular bar dominates the center of the room. The walls vibrate from the electronic music as pulsing green lasers dance along the walls. Immediately the group of fairies we’ve come with head
for the bathroom to do something called ‘fairy dust’ that they insist is totally organic and not bad for you at all. They invite me to join but I politely decline. They give Tristan a look but he just shrugs and once again I feel like a little kid trying to fit in. He offers to buy me a drink instead
and I accept. At least this way I can keep my hands busy and avoid the conversations about how great the fairy dust is. We are halfway to the bar when I see Luca draped across a stool talking to a very pretty dark-haired girl. He
is wearing a light gray cashmere v-neck sweater and dark wash jeans and he looks good enough to eat. He knew we were coming here tonight and I can’t help but wonder if he’s following me to fulfill his sworn duty. I shake my head in
frustration and down the tequila shot Tristan hands me. It burns like fire all the way down my throat. I’m not a drinker - I don’t drink but I can’t stand to see him here with someone else and I can’t stand the looks the other fairies
are giving me and I can’t stand how these heels are pinching my feet and I just want to block it all out. I wanted a wild night out and here is my opportunity. Tristan hands me another shot and I throw it back before dragging him on to the dance floor. Though I’m a little unsteady, either from the shoes or the
tequila, after a while I find that I’m enjoying myself. We dance together for a few more songs before heading back to the bar for another shot. I manage to swallow two more down before he corners me. Tristan, who’s bopping his head to
the music yells ‘hello’ to Luca who just rolls his eyes.

Can I borrow you for a second?

I pretend I don’t hear Luca and accept the mixed drink Tristan hands me. Luca sighs and leans into the bar.

“Nice outfit, Lily. Where’s the rest of it?”

“Har-har. I think it looks pretty good!’ I twirl around then lose my balance and he grabs me around the waist to steady me.

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Why, are you the supernatural police?” I hiccup and then laugh, and he scowls.

“Why are you acting like this?”

“Why am I acting like this? Well I would tell you but I
wouldn’t want to bore you with the problems of a little girl.” I’m swaying on my feet. His mouth quirks to the side. “You heard then.”

“Yes, I heard.”

“And you can’t think of any reason that I might tell Kennedy
that you’re not a threat and that I’m not interested in you?” I try and shove past him but he holds my wrist. “Obviously because I’m not a threat and because you are not interested in me.”

I say and he swipes a hand across his mouth in frustration.

“You are being a child!”

“I think we’ve established that.” A giggle bubbles up in my chest and I try to spin away from him but he pulls me back.

“Sorry, wrong choice of words.”

I throw back the rest of the drink I’m holding and push past him as I make my way back to the dance floor. Tristan seems to have disappeared with the other fairies but I don’t want to stop dancing. The dance floor is so
crammed with bodies that it’s shoulder to shoulder but I recognize the song that’s playing so I elbow my way in. And while I’m even more unsteady on my feet from the drinks, I love dancing and I know that it is something I could do
in my asleep. I sway my hips from side to side in time to the beat, bending my knees and dipping low. I see out of the corner of my eye that Luca has moved from the bar to the edge of the dance floor and he’s watching me. Well, screw him, I think to myself, closing my eyes and bopping my head to the music. I’m
deep into the track when I feel two hands slide around my waist and pull me back against a warm, sweaty body. I turn my head slightly to see a guy who looks like the typical college-type: handsome and tanned with a polo shirt and
gleaming white teeth that are glowing bright under the black lights. I smile back at him through heavy lids and keep dancing while his hands travel downwards to graze the front of my thighs, most of which are exposed by my
short skirt. Before I even have the chance to protest Luca breaks us apart, pulling me behind him with one hand and shoving the guy in the chest with the other. And though it seems like he barely touches him the college guy falls on his butt and goes skidding across the floor. The surrounding crowd barely even
spares him a glance and I get the feeling that this is not unusual behavior for Worship.

“What the hell!”

Without a word Luca bends down, grabs me around the knees
and tosses me over his shoulder.

“Put me down!” I scream as I pummel his rock-hard back but it’s no use - it’s like swatting at a fly. He finds a dark corner near the washrooms and sets me down, then walks me backwards until I’m pressed against
the wall.

“I know what you’re doing and guess what? It’s working.” He says in a low throaty voice, his arms coming up to brace either side of my head.

“What am I doing?” I reply, and then inhale sharply as my
heart beat speeds up.

“Are you deliberately trying to make me jealous?”

“I was just dancing. Why would that make you jealous? You know not everything is about you ‘Luca-the Great’!” I say and he flinches.

“That’s what you call what you were doing? Dancing? Because it looked like more than that to me.”

“Why do you even care what I am doing or who I am doing it with? Your secret is out and I’ve already relieved you of babysitting duty. You
are off the hook so I wish you the best and I hope that you and Kennedy will be very happy together!”

He stares at me, his dark brown eyes are almost black, then his gaze travels down my body and lingers on my plunging neckline.

“You will not dance with anyone else tonight. If you do I will remove each and every one of the guys you dance with by force. Do you understand?”

“I understand that you have somehow escaped from your cave
Cro-Magnon man. So why not just smack me on the head with your club and drag me away if I’m being that much of a pain in the ass?” I giggle then sag against the wall, closing one eye while trying to focus the other on Luca, who’s
starting to get a little fuzzy around the edges.

“That’s it, I’m taking you home.” He says just as Tristan appears beside us with my coat draped over his arm.

“I’ve got this, man.”

“You’re drunk.” Luca says accusingly.

“Nah, we fairies can hold our liquor.” He replies and Luca looks pointedly at me.

“Well most of us can. I’ll get her home safe.” A series of
emotions seem to flit across Luca’s face but he settles on a curt nod.

“I don’t think she’ll listen to anything I have to say right now but you’d better make sure that you take her right home.” He says as Tristan snakes an arm around my waist.

“Relax, man. Like I said, I’ve got this.”

The next thing I know we are back in Tristan’s red sports car racing down the highway and I’m not totally sure how we got there. It takes almost an hour to get back to Strangford and I’m exhausted and everything is
spinning so I bunch my jacket into a makeshift pillow and prop it against the window. I try and fight off sleep but my eyelids keep drooping. I feel Tristan’s hands resting on my knee. My eyes fly open when his hand travels up
to rest on my thigh.

“What are you doing?” I say, slurring my words. He swerves to the right and parks on the shoulder. He slides over as close as the console will allow and places his other hand on my waist. His mouth comes down on mine
as his tongue tries to push my lips open. I pull back and whack my head against the window.

“Tristan, stop.” His mouth finds mine again and his hand slips further up my thigh, inching up my skirt. My head is foggy and it’s
telling me that I want this but my body rebels.

I want this.
It’s like a whisper in my ear, encouraging me, but I fight it.

“No.” I moan.

“But we would be so good together.” He murmurs between
kisses. “Just let go. You want this.”

I want this.
But I don’t want this. My head is spinning and I have double vision. I press my lips together to try and fight off his probing tongue when I hear the horrendous screeching sound of metal
tearing away from metal. I look over with hazy eyes to see that the drivers’ side door has been ripped entirely off. My vision is blurry but I think I see Luca wrapping his hands around Tristan’s throat and pulling him from the car. I
stumble out of the passenger side and on to the street to where Luca has Tristan pinned to the ground with a knee pressed against his chest.

“I knew you were a bastard Powers, I just didn’t know you
were this much of a bastard. Never touch her again, never come near her again or I will kill you.” He hits him in the face repeatedly as I shout at him to stop. Tristan’s nose is bleeding and his eye is rapidly swelling shut.

“Luca, please. Stop.” I put my hand on his shoulder and he
tenses. I’m drunk and embarrassed and I just want it to stop.

“You are lucky this time, Powers. I mean it though, never come near Lily again.” Luca looks at me with unmasked rage on his face, then
wraps his arms around my waist.

“Hold on.” He pulls me against him roughly and lifts off the ground into the air. I squeeze my eyes shut, battling the nausea I feel. Flying with him is like a roller coaster ride in reverse. When I open my eyes we are
horizontal and I am clinging to him tightly, my toes touching his. The wind is cold and sends my hair whipping around my face. He doesn’t release his grip on me until our feet touch solid ground. I open my eyes and look around to find
that we are on the peaked roof just outside of my bedroom window.

“How do you know where I live?” I mumble and he stares back at me with such intensity that I feel the tingle of it all the way down to my cramped toes. He pushes open the window, sending me in first and following
after.

“I think it’s past your bedtime.” He says without a trace of humor in his voice as he leads me over to the bed. He pushes back the covers and I try to climb in but for some reason my legs won’t work. I giggle as I
slip and I can hear him sigh behind me. He lifts me with ease and puts me in bed, then slides off my shoes one by one. “Drunk doesn’t become you Lily.”

“I wouldn’t know because I’ve never been drunk before. Hey,
how can you even be in a church?” I say, smothering a hiccup that escapes my mouth. He sits on the edge of the bed and watches me.

“We usually can’t because we feel naturally repelled, unless of course people are doing tequila shots off the pulpit. Then it tends to lose
its sacredness.”

“You know what’s strange, Luca? I’m not even attracted to Tristan but it was like my head was telling me to go with it while my body was saying yuck.” My tongue feels thick and heavy and I think I must be slurring.

“That’s just another power you’ve yet to master, Lily. It’s called thought-planting. It’s like the power of suggestion tenfold and Tristan was using it on you to get you to comply.”

“It works on other fairies?” I say and he nods.

“It works on everyone. It is a very powerful, albeit very unfair way fairies can get what they want.”

“So I could use it on you right now?” I yawn and he smirks.

“What thoughts could you possibly plant in my head that I don’t already have?” “Cryptic, cryptic, always so cryptic.” I groan and pull the blanket up over my head. “The sad thing is I dressed like this tonight for
you and instead I end up kissing some goon. I’ve only ever kissed one guy before and that was my sort-of-boyfriend Tim in San Diego and it always felt like he was trying to lick the inside of my cheek and with Tristan it was like
having this cold dead slug in my mouth choking me.” I’m rambling and Luca clears his throat to interrupt me.

“If you don’t mind I’d rather not hear about who you’ve kissed.” I flip over on to my knees and crawl over to where he’s sitting on my
bed.