“Aubrey, fair’s fair. You wanted the Palladium and you got it. It’s up to you to deal with the consequences.”

The Dean looked more than slightly irritated that I was sticking my nose in, but before he could say anything, the vampire cast me a disparaging glance and spoke. “Oh, look it’s the little were-hamster.” He took a step towards me. “Except you’re not a were-hamster, are you? I don’t know what you are.”

Well, master of the scary undead, that makes two of us. I drew myself up proudly. “I am a student at this school and you will not leave that thing,” I jerked my head at the fallen Palladium, “with us.”

The Dean stepped up beside me. “For once, I agree with Initiate Smith. You will leave and take that thing with you.”

Aubrey completely ignored the Dean, keeping his gaze fixed on mine. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

I took a step forward until I was scant inches away from him. It was hard not to recoil away in natural disgust, but I held my ground and forced myself to maintain eye contact with him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I stated evenly.

“You broke into our trophy room. You swapped the original Palladium for,” he flicked his fingers downward, “that thing. So it is your fault and your fault alone that thirteen of our number have now been massacred by that wraith. I am holding you personally responsible.”

I felt the Dean move away from me and glanced over at him. He jabbed a finger in my direction. “You! I knew we couldn’t trust you. What have you done?” The venom he managed into his voice was rather impressive.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. I struggled to keep a hold of my temper. Why couldn’t the Dean let us sort out the vampires first before he came after me? That guy had no sense of priority. I returned my gaze to Aubrey.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Yes, I was in your house. You had a party there, maybe you remember it? I think,” I paused, putting my finger on my lips in mock concentration, “yes, I think I helped rid you of a wraith then.”

Aubrey licked his lips. “Do you have any idea what I am?”

“Why, Mr. Aubrey, sir,” I said sarcastically, “you’re a vampire. An undead bloodsucking affront to nature. Or so I believe anyway.”

“You are in some sense correct. I am indeed a vampire. And I do definitely suck blood.” He shrugged. “Perhaps that’s a personal failing, but there is little to be done about it now. It does mean, however, that I’m actually very sensitive to blood. More so even than other vampires. I can scent a drop of blood from a hundred metres away.”

I had a horrible feeling I knew where this was going. It didn’t matter, however, I had to project confidence and bravado. “Well, bully for you. As for me, I have a similar ability in that I can sense bullshit from a hundred metres away.” I smiled pleasantly at the vampire. “It comes in handy sometimes.”

Aubrey’s face suddenly twisted with an ugly snarl. “You were in our trophy room because you left your blood there. I know you thought you cleaned it up, but it takes more than a bit of spit and polish to hide blood from me.”

Alex spoke up. “That’s ridiculous,” he said, swallowing. “Even if she was in your trophy room, what I found for you was the Palladium. What is there on the ground right now is the Palladium. You know it and we know it. So pick it right back up and take it home with you.”

Thomas moved up from among the crowd, and stood next to Alex, balls of burning blue flame in his palms. “We are not without our own power, as you well know.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” sneered Aubrey.

“Well, actually, there’s a simple solution to all this,” the Dean interrupted. He motioned towards me. “You taste Initiate Smith’s blood here to see if she really was the person who broke into your trophy room and swapped your statue with another one. If she wasn’t, then you take your little Palladium back to London with you and don’t bother us again. If she was, then she can deal it and the wraith. And we will deal with her.”

Oh, you absolute fucking wanker. It appeared that the Dean had just worked out how he could get rid of me without requiring some complicated trap in the library. What hadn’t occurred to him was what might happen if Tryyl decided to show up here to reclaim his property. I wanted to scream at him that it was the vampires who’d created this problem in the first place by taking the Palladium from Tryyl and then torturing the poor creature. I was not the problem here and most definitely did not appreciate being made the sodding scapegoat.

“Dean Michaels, I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” said Alex nervously. “We shouldn’t give in to the vampires’ ridiculous demands.” I knew that Alex would naturally still be worried about what tasting my blood might mean, given that he thought I was still a Draco Wyr.

“I agree,” joined in Thomas. “We should not be held hostage by these bloodsuckers. They should just take their statue and leave.”

I sent silent thoughts of gratitude in Thomas’ direction. Unfortunately, however, it was all for nought. Without warning, the Dean flicked out a stream of blue light, catching me on my bare shoulder, where the fabric was still hanging off after Solus’ investigations. I yelped in pain and looked down to see a tiny trickle of blood appear and begin to drip its way down. Fuck. Aubrey sprang forward, grasping me by the shoulders and bent his head, red tongue flicking out. I sharply pulled up one leg, kneeing him as hard as I could in the groin, forcing him to bend over double in pain.

But it was too late. As soon as the vampire began to straighten, I could tell by the look in his eye that he’d lapped enough blood. Not only did he now have absolute proof that I was the one who’d been in his trophy room, but he also had a look on his face that suggested both wonder and puzzlement. Clearly, whilst he didn’t recognise what my blood was, he knew there was something different about it. And by the manner with which he was licking his lips, he had definitely enjoyed it. I thought back to Anton and what had happened with him when he’d tasted my blood, and my heart sank. Now I was really in trouble.

Chapter Twenty-two

I remained where I was, eyeing up Aubrey nervously, attempting to work out what his next move was going to be. There was an unerring look of satisfaction on his face, coupled with what was most definitely the gleam of a predator. I tried desperately to think of what I could do to end this stand-off. The last thing the academy needed was to have to take possession of the Palladium, especially now that Alex had confirmed that he couldn’t find the wraith’s physical remains. I inwardly cursed the vamps for not being courageous enough to deal with the problem on their own, and the Dean for thinking that he could.

As the pair of us stared at each other across the divide of a mere couple of feet, I became suddenly aware of some movement from behind me. Abruptly there were sounds of a scuffle taking place, and the muffled tones of the Dean shouting something.

I half-turned, trying to keep Aubrey within my line of sight, but also to see what was going on. What the fuck? My mouth dropped open in shock. Thomas had somehow jumped on top of the Dean, knocked him over and was now punching him repeatedly in the ribs. The Dean was trying to put his hands up defensively, and attempting to spark his magic into life to manage a counter attack, but Thomas’ knees were positioned in such a way around the academy head’s torso, pinning both him and his arms to the ground, that he was unable to move. The rest of the mages were all taking nervy little shuffling steps backwards, as if afraid to get involved.

“You great lumbering idiot!” huffed Thomas, as he landed one punch. “She’s one of us and you let that thing taste her.” He connected with the Dean’s soft body again. “Not only that, but you actually encouraged him to do it.” He hit the Dean square on in the face, and there was the distinct sound of his nose breaking. I winced.

“Er, Thomas?”

He ignored me completely and continued his barrage against the Dean.

“Jeremy!” I yelled.

He stopped for a moment and flicked a glance up at me. But I recognised that look. I’d spent half a lifetime giving that look to others. Thomas was in the throes of utter all-consuming rage and nothing was going to sway him from his current course. Shit. I jerked my head at Alex, who nodded unhappily, then we both ran towards the pair of them. I grabbed Thomas’ right arm and Alex took his left. The mage’s fists continued flying, his arms flailing in the air as we dragged him off the now prone and groaning body of the Dean.

“Goddamnit, Thomas, stop it!” I twisted myself round to look him in the eye. “Look at me! I need you to calm the fuck down. Right now.”

He continued struggling for another moment or two, then sagged, a flicker of conscious light crossing his eyes. Then, seemingly from nowhere, a jet of blue light appeared from behind and struck him smack bang in the middle of his forehead. Thomas fell backwards, hitting the ground with a painful thud. I spun round, only to see the Dean half sitting, arm outstretched and a look of grim satisfaction on his face.

I launched myself at him, knocking him back down. “What the fuck are you doing?” I hissed.

“Protecting myself,” replied the Dean in a voice that might have sounded physically weak but that held a ring of steel to it.

“He’d calmed down! You just attacked him just out of spite!”

The Dean’s sharp eyes fixed on mine. “Out of spite?” His voice rose. “Until you got here, Mage Thomas was a loyal soldier. Less than four weeks in and he’s all of a sudden like a rabid dog. And rabid dogs get put down, which is exactly what I’m going to do to you, Initiate Smith.” He spat the final words of my name out as if they were a curse.

I stared at him, completely taken aback by the fury and hatred in his voice. Jeez. It was a strange day indeed when I seemed to be the only one not losing it. Then a set of arms locked themselves in a steel grip around my chest from behind me and I was dragged off the Dean.