Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

I would really have to take some kind of History of Other Species class at some point if I could ever get out of Home Ec or Elementary Casting. It would be good to have more knowledge of the people I was now surrounded by—their traditions and customs and legends—it would go a long way towards helping me fit in at Nocturne Academy. Or so I hoped.

Just as I was rounding the bend closest to the volleyball net, I saw Sanchez throw the football into the group of girls again…

Only this time it hit Kaitlyn right in the side of the head.

It was impossible to know if the big Drake had aimed for her on purpose or if she’d simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn’t care, anyway.

I ran off the track at once, forgetting all about my wounded heels and the knife stabbing my side. My only goal was to get to my friend who had crumpled to the ground and was clutching the side of her face.

The un-scarred side.

“Kaitlyn? Kaitlyn—are you okay?” I skidded to a stop beside her and fell to my knees in the grass, reaching for her.

She was moaning softly, her hand over the right side of her face—the pretty side, I thought dismally. I put an arm around her and she leaned towards me blindly.

“My eye,” she whispered and I heard tears and panic in her voice. “Megan, I can’t see!”

Her one good eye! I felt rage burn through me as I held her tight.

“Hang on—I’m going to get you to the nurse. Uh—there is a nurse on campus, right?” I asked her.

She nodded and I helped her to stand, though she was wobbly, as though the blow to the head had made her dizzy.

Just then, Sanchez came jogging up, a slight smile playing around the corners of his mouth, as though he thought the whole thing was funny.

“Oh snap—did I hit you, freak?” he said to Kaitlyn, laughing a little. “Damn—guess I did! I think I got you on the good side, too—guess you’ll be a freak all over now.”

Kaitlyn started to cry—a low hopeless sound that tore at my heart and suddenly I wasn’t just angry—I was infuriated.

“Hey, asshole!” I jumped to my feet and snapped at Sanchez, who looked at me in apparent surprise. “In case nobody taught you better, it’s not polite to call people names—especially after you hit them in the head like the asshole you are!”

“What did you just call me?” he growled, bending low to shove his face into mine. I saw his dark brown eyes change to bright yellow and smelled the acrid tang of his sweat in my nostrils. It let me know the beast inside him was close—very close—to the surface.

I guess I should have been afraid, but his implied threat only made me more enraged. I was so angry I felt like I was tingling all over—like sparks of fire were rushing through my body and filling my veins instead of blood.

“I said you’re a small-minded, small-dicked, asshole,” I snarled in his face. “Not only that, you’re a bully!”

Then I slapped him as hard as I could.

The minute my hand connected with his cheek, it felt like something had left me and gone into him. The rage I was feeling somehow transformed itself into force because his head rocked back and he staggered backwards, though he was so big there was no way I should have been able to move him—at least not with physical strength alone.

Sanchez put a hand to his cheek, his blazing yellow eyes widening, then narrowing with rage.

“Why you little puta,” he growled. “I should have taught you a lesson yesterday but you’re sure as hell gonna get one now!”

He started to come for me, one beefy arm drawn back, his fist cocked to punch. But suddenly Reyes was there, getting between us and stopping the blow that was meant for me as he caught his friend’s fist in one large hand.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Reyes’ voice was tight with anger, his own eyes glowing a molten gold as he shoved at the other male.

“What the fuck, Reyes?” the enraged Drake snarled, trying to get around the other boy to go for me again. “This little puta slapped me, I’m gonna put her down for it!”

“What’s wrong with you, acting like a cabron all the time?” Reyes demanded. “Picking on those who are weaker than you—trying to hurt females? She was right to call you a bully—that’s what you are!”

His words seemed to catch Sanchez completely off balance. For a moment he just stared at Reyes as though he wasn’t sure he’d heard him right.

Then Reyes shoved him as hard as he could and Sanchez staggered backwards. He found his balance and his face turned into a snarl of pure hatred. As it did, his mouth seemed to elongate strangely, looking more like the snout of an alligator than that of a human. At the same time, his teeth became long and sharp, glittering in the bright morning sunshine.