Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys

Spending the evening overseeing the school dance was right up there with killing myself on my list of enjoyable things to do tonight. And as Nova had oh-so-kindly chosen me as one of the attending teachers, I simply couldn’t wait to bound and skip my way down to The Orb to start watching a bunch of students get wasted and grind on each other.

Oh no wait, I’d rather put my cock in a blender.

The worst part of it all, was that I knew the Heirs were up to something and Darius wouldn’t tell me what. And since we weren’t exactly each other’s besties right now, I pretty much spent all of my time alone outside of classes. Until tonight of course. Tonight, I’d get to be in the company of hundreds of people I vaguely disliked while worrying what Darius was plotting and fearing that he was going to get himself in trouble.

I glanced at the clock as I lay slumped on my couch, shirtless with a bottle of bourbon balancing on my abs. Abs which were likely going to be lost to my ever-increasing drinking habit if I wasn’t careful. I’d been to the gym in the Lunar Leisure building earlier and worked out until I couldn’t see straight though, so I guessed it balanced out.

A knock came at the door and I groaned, sinking lower on the couch. I wasn’t drunk. I was being semi-responsible seeing as I wanted to watch out for Darius tonight, so I’d only had a few sips, but I was flirting with the idea of draining every drop, passing out and dealing with the fallout tomorrow.

The knocking came again and I cursed, placing the bottle on the floor and getting to my feet, shooting to the door with a burst of speed. I opened it, finding Gabriel standing there with a hard frown on his face and his wings folded at his back.

“Noxy,” I said in surprise, mustering something of a smile, but he didn’t return it.

He shook his head at me and pushed his way into the house, his wing slapping me in the face as he went.

“Uncalled for, but alright,” I muttered, swinging the door shut behind him and turning to him for an explanation for the unannounced house call.

“Orio, this is…” He looked at the empty bourbon bottles on the kitchen counter then to me and I felt like he was prying open my chest and glaring directly at all my poor decisions in life.

“What?” I grunted and his brow furrowed.

“This is getting out of hand.”

“I’m fine,” I said dismissively.

“This isn’t fine,” he growled, deadly serious. He never spoke to me like that. We only ever joked around together, he was one of the few people I could actually have fun with.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” I tried, but he folded his arms like a pissed off parent and I fought an eye roll.

“It’s worse actually,” he said, a bite to his tone. “And if you don’t get a grip, things are going to spiral. You have no idea what’s in the balance here.”

“Then tell me,” I said dryly, waving a hand. “Go on, oh mighty Seer. Tell me what fate I’m fucking up now.”

“The best one of your damn life,” he snapped and my eyebrows arched at the fury in his tone.

I looked around my empty home which was as hollow as the beating muscle in my chest and shrugged. “If it’s about Lionel, maybe you should be talking to Darius, because it’s down to him now. I can’t change his mind, he doesn’t fucking listen to me.”

“It’s not about Lionel,” he said, glancing away. “Well it is….but it’s not.”

“Well thanks for clearing that up,” I deadpanned, glancing at the clock on the wall, realising the dance had started ten minutes ago and also realising I didn’t care.

Gabriel walked over to the bourbon bottle I’d left on the floor, hooking it up and walking to the sink, pouring it down the drain while staring me right in the eye.

I ran my tongue over my teeth at his attitude. “I’ve got more of that.”

“No you don’t,” he said, a challenge in his gaze. “I snuck in your back window and took it from your bedroom.”

“Dammit,” I cursed. I had protection spells on this place that only allowed Gabriel and Darius through them, but clearly I needed to cut down that list.

“Now listen to me, Orio,” he said, slamming the empty bottle down on the kitchen counter and my spine straightened at the bossiness to his tone. “You have to start paying attention to your instincts. And I know you’re the most negative asshole in the world, but I’m telling you there’s hope here. There’s a way out of this shit pit you call a life.”

I clenched my jaw stubbornly but he didn’t stop, prowling over to me like a man on a mission and pointing at my face.

“You’re wasting yourself,” he snarled. “You’re so fucking special, Lance, if I could only show you, you wouldn’t even recognise the person I know you can be.”

“What do you want me to do then to be this special little person, Gabriel?” I hissed. “Put on a tutu and throw glitter around the room?”

“No, you asshole,” he got up close to me and took my face in both of his hands. “I want you to see your potential and step into it. Because the path you’re on leads you nowhere good, Lance. Do you get that? I’m talking about an early grave here. And I don’t really give a damn if the stars think it’s a bad idea to tell you that, because I’m done trying to nudge you in the right direction, I’m forcing your hand. So put some star damned clothes on, walk out that door and go do your duty tonight because if you don’t, I swear to you, you’ll regret it.”

I stared at him in surprise, his words finally cutting through the fog of miserable bullshit in my head. He was a Seer and I took that very seriously, because I knew the power he wielded. He could see my fate. And as much as everything seemed pointless, I didn’t actually want to die yet. And the look in his eyes said I wasn’t long for this world if I didn’t find a way to change. I had no idea how I was supposed to do that when the stars kept throwing shit at me, but I guessed I had to try. Because my friend looked broken for me and I didn’t want this burden weighing on him.

“Okay,” I agreed and the tension ran out of his shoulders, relief filling his gaze before his eyes glazed over with some vision. When he came back to me, he let me go and nodded, darkness wreaking havoc in his eyes.

“Why do you still look sad?” I asked, my chest squeezing uncomfortably.

“Because sometimes terrible things have to happen for new paths to arise, and I have to let them.”

“Way to soothe me, brother,” I jibed and he cracked half a smile, though it quickly faded again. He pressed a hand to my shoulder, faith shining in his eyes.

“I know you’ll do the right thing in the end. I trust you.”

“Wanna give me a heads up on what the right thing is?” I tried but he shook his head, a knowing smile on his lips.

He remained quiet for a moment then nodded stiffly. “At nine o’clock you need to be away from the Vegas and the Heirs for at least ten minutes,” he said. “Alright?”

“And you’re not going to tell me why, are you?” I sighed.

“Nope. But you’ll be fine, Orio. Just keep doing what I’ve suggested before now too.”

“Find the light, yeah?” I said with an eyeroll.

“It’s closer than you think,” he said with a smirk as he headed to the door. “I’m gonna hang around campus for a bit. I’ll catch you later.” He stepped outside, spread his wings and took off before I could answer his cryptic expression, but I was pretty used to him acting like he knew something I didn’t, so I wasn’t gonna overthink it.

I sighed then shot to the shower, washing in record time – which was saying something – then speeding to my room as I dried myself and throwing on a pale blue shirt and black slacks, vaguely styling my hair. Then I sprinted out of the house and raced along in the direction of The Orb, slowing as I reached the path leading to it where students were filing inside, all of them wearing fancy clothes.

My gaze cut through them all to the Vegas as they reached the entrance and my eyes dipped to Darcy’s ass before I could stop myself. She wore a fitted navy dress with lacy sleeves that hugged her curves so perfectly it made a possessive growl fill my throat.

I put on another burst of speed, following them inside, my eyes on her exposed neck where loose locks of black and blue hair tickled it, falling down from the bun she’d styled it into. My fangs tingled with the desire to drink from her, but a much more off limits desire simply to have my mouth on that golden skin took hold of me too.

I followed her inside like a shadow and watched as she looked around at the decorations, the place transformed into a ballroom with the theme of fall. Golden leaves swept across the room in an endless magical breeze and vines sprawled across the ceiling, their leaves turning green then orange, red, gold, before falling to join those dancing on the floor. She gazed up at the magic in fascination and I cocked my head as I watched her, wanting to see more of that look in her eyes again, the one where she seemed to devour the world in front of her. It made me long for the person I used to be, the one who’d once been so enthused by life, who’d thought anything was possible.

She started to move deeper into the crowd with her sister, seeming to be searching for somebody and I made the flash decision to snare her attention. Just for a second. So I could steal a little piece of her.

I moved up behind her, my fingers brushing her elbow and her head turned, her breath hitching as I moved to her side.

“Evening,” I murmured in her ear, energy buzzing in my veins like a drug. The interaction only lasted two seconds and yet as I walked past her, that energy remained in me and I held onto it as hard as I could, thinking of the darkness I’d been a slave to only moments ago and not wanting it to creep in again.

Washer waved enthusiastically at me from beside Nova at the bar and I sighed internally as I walked over to join them, knowing it was going to be a long ass night. But so long as I could steal the odd glance at Darcy Vega, maybe it wouldn’t be so unbearable. Though I couldn’t help but think of Gabriel’s words about terrible things needing to happen sometimes. And I had the awful, writhing feeling that the Heirs were going to do something they couldn’t take back tonight. And something in me shifted as I realised I was going to try and protect the Vegas from their wrath.