Chapter 53.4

Vee and Amara broke out into a sprint, charging out the front door of the apartment complex and veering towards the cafeteria. They got a few funny looks as they ran across campus, but that was the least of their concerns. Code Yellow meant that a magical creature was loose on campus, it didn’t blend in with humans, and was possibly hostile depending on the context. The assumption was that this type of code would usually refer to otherworldly beasts of some kind, but everyone had agreed to be light on details in group texts.Unsurprisingly, Vee and Amara were the first to arrive. They found Kylie standing at the corner of the cafeteria, nervously pacing back and forth. She perked up as the girls arrived, even running up to them in a panic.

“I saw a— Fuck, I don’t even know what it is! It’s like a weird dog thing? And—” Kylie stammered.

“Where is it?” Amara asked.

“Bottom floor, I think it’s near the circle!”

Vee looked around, double checking that no one was listening in on their hushed conversation. Although they had several people giving them strange looks, no one seemed close enough to actually hear anything.

With a location, as well as some extra details, Vee quickly followed after Amara as she took off once more. “Amara, you go right, and I’ll check the other exit.”

Amara nodded. “Pincer move, got it.”

The girls split up, taking opposing exits in an attempt to block off all means of escape this creature might have. Vee slowed down slightly as she walked into the building, and dread pooled in her stomach as she saw several small groups of students sitting in the Bistro on the bottom level of the cafeteria.

As she didn’t see any students panicking, however, Vee felt comfortable turning her attention to the staff hallway near the back of the floor. Kylie said this creature was likely near the magic circle, which made sense; this particular magic circle was already connected to The Wilds, after all.

Pushing into the back hallway, Vee whispered a quick prayer under her breath to enhance her senses. She took a deep breath as her scope of experience expanded, then turned her attention to the building around her. She paused briefly in front of the bathrooms, and when she didn’t hear anything, she continued on. Next was a back entrance to the kitchen, followed by a staircase leading to more staff areas upstairs.

Approaching the room with the magic circle, Vee braced herself for trouble. It was a larger room, and was technically being used for storage of old appliances. Here, too, Vee didn’t hear anything.

Down the hall to her right, Vee finally heard the commotion she’d been expecting. She saw a small flash of fire, then Amara stumbled into the hallway with a tense grimace. A small black and green shape leapt from the shadows to her right, leaping off her chest and shoving her against the wall before it started charging towards Vee.

As it raced closer, she got a better look at it. Much like Kylie had said, it appeared to be some kind of large dog, or possibly a small wolf. It had thick, dark-green fur that almost shimmered as it raced through the hallway, and the look in its eyes all but confirmed it was nothing more than a confused animal. Baring its fangs, it lowered itself closer to the ground before springing at Vee exactly the same way it did with Amara.

Vee raised her hand, silently summoning her weapon of choice now that she knew what they were facing. A burst of dozens of different colors appeared in front of her, quickly coalescing into a brilliant beam of light that quickly took the shape of a decorative short sword.

However, less than a second after the sword appeared, it stuttered. The image faded, the firm handle of the blade faltered, and without warning, the weapon vanished completely.

Taken aback by the failure of her spell, Vee was completely unprepared for the creature as it leapt at her. She threw her hands up, narrowly catching the creature by the scruff of its neck before falling backwards to the ground. Her attempted grapple seemed to startle the beast even more, and instead of continuing to run, it snarled and tried to bite her.

Vee grabbed the bottom of the beast’s maw, doing her best to keep it from hurting her, but even that action proved difficult. Somehow, it wasn’t just her sword that had failed her, all her senses had reverted as well.

The creature repositioned, attempting one more bite as it fought against Vee’s grasp. This time, it completely overpowered her, and she braced herself for the pain of a powerful jaw closing around her shoulder.

At the last second, however, the creature squealed in protest as it froze in midair. Thin arms suddenly materialized around its chest, and soon the rest of Chloé followed.

“Bad… doggo!” Chloé muttered through clenched teeth. Her obvious struggle to contain the wolf didn’t last long, thankfully, as Amara ran up beside Chloé and quickly took her place, holding the wolf tight and wrapping her tail around its four legs to keep it from escaping again.

“Fuck, thanks for the save, Chloé” Vee gasped.

“I’m just glad I got here in time!” Chloé said, flying closer. “Are you okay? It didn’t bite you at all, did it?”

“No, I-I’m fine…” Vee mumbled, crawling to her feet. “Just… caught me by surprise, is all.”

A door opened from the hallway Vee had first traveled down, and with a burst of magic, Amara threw up an illusion that completely covered herself and the writhing wolf. Vee walked over the door, prepared for the worst, when a familiar raven-haired witch ran into the corridor.

“Vee! Where is it?!” Tessa gasped, her chest heaving.

With a sigh of relief, Vee’s shoulders relaxed. “We’ve got it contained, and no one got hurt. We got lucky; I’m pretty sure no one saw anything.”

“Thank… fuck…” Tessa panted. “Whew, I was not ready for that run. Alright, I’m here now, let’s take a look at this thing. Amara?”

In another small flash of hellish embers, the illusion covering Amara vanished, revealing her and the strange wolf in her grasp. Everyone crowded closer, taking the opportunity to get a better look at the creature.

Just as Vee had observed earlier, its thick green fur had a strange shimmering effect to it. As she watched, it even seemed to take on slight hints of red where Amara’s tail was holding it. Amongst the fur, the wolf also had small patches of moss, though it didn’t appear to be an inconvenience. Its darkened fangs glistened with spit as it looked around, snarling and trying to kick its way free, but there was no winning against Amara’s ironclad hold.

“Well, time to figure out how to contain this thing until we can send it back,” Tessa said. “Let’s carry it into the room with the circle for now, at least then it’ll be out of the way.”

The girls all helped to move the wolf into the storage room, and a minute later they were joined by Nick and Imani, who’d just finished debriefing with Kylie about what exactly she’d seen. With everyone present, they began planning out all the steps needed to keep the wolf secret until Tessa and Imani had finished building the portal to The Wilds.

Hours later, as the light of the waxing crescent moon shone down on Aurelius University, Vee found herself unable to sleep. She’d dutifully kept her eyes closed for several hours, trying desperately to find her usual comfort in Amara’s winged blanket, but such peace eluded her. Her thoughts were fixated on the events from earlier tonight; a ferocious wolf leaping at her, a sword appearing in her hand, then disappearing just as quickly.

Morbid curiosity won out in the end; its ferocity tempered with quiet terror as Vee pondered the implications of the worst-case scenario. She quietly slid out from underneath Amara’s wings, then the blanket, before looking back at the sleeping succubus. Amara grumbled slightly, but didn’t wake, just as Vee expected. She crept towards the bedroom door, opened it as quietly as she could, then silently left the bedroom and walked into Amara’s living room.

In the middle of the space, Vee crouched down and crossed her legs, folding her hands in front of her as if she were praying.

Vee closed her eyes, focusing on the connection deep inside her that tethered her mortal form to her angelic lineage. That bond kept her strong, it fueled her powers, and it was the entire reason she’d been born in the first place.

In recent months, she’d accidentally made the mistake of casually referring to this power as hers, but that wasn’t the case. Her Enochian heritage tied her to her Patron, the source of her life, and only through their divine blessing was she able to conduct the magic of Creation through her body. It was terrifyingly powerful, and only through utmost reverence could she be safe from any ill effects.

A prayer left her lips, one that she repeated over and over as she raised her hand. She opened her palm, focusing on her divine connection, and uttered the words of Creation that would return her sword to her.

Lights around the room flickered slightly, despite all being off for the night. Colors began to manifest around Vee, swirling and crackling with potential as she asked the divine magic to finish its journey once more. She forced her eyes shut even harder, desperate to prove herself wrong, desperate to force through the proper prayers no matter what.

The colors solidified, condensing into small beams of light that began to outline the blade. Vee refused to open her eyes, as if seeing the magic in this moment might scare it out, and simply continued praying.

With one last flash of light, the colors dispersed, and darkness overtook the room once more.

Vee’s eyes sprang open, and she gasped as her connection to the divine vanished. She’d never had such a tenuous hold on her angelic nature before, and panic began to set it. Her chest heaved, her heavy gasps began hurting her throat, and a single tear ran down her cheek.