Chapter 23.2

Amara felt silly, waiting outside Whitmore Hall while wearing such ill-fitting clothes. She’d considered shifting into the Dean ahead of time, but she didn’t want to confuse Vee when she arrived. Thankfully, Whitmore was slightly further away from the busier parts of campus, and the chances of running into any other students were small.

She didn’t know what to say once Vee arrived. They’d only talked twice she she’d returned to campus, and both conversations had been incredibly stressful. Amara replayed them in her mind, wondering if she might gain any insight she could use to put Vee at ease, but she kept drawing blanks. She wished she could just sit Vee down, explain everything from the start, but getting Vee to agree to such a conversation seemed like an impossible task, especially given the threat of the cult.

After roughly half an hour of nervous fidgeting, Amara finally saw someone approaching the building. Their aura was incredibly faint, which meant it wasn’t Tessa, and it definitely wasn’t a demon.

Amara held her breath as Vee approached, wondering what she should say. Should she say anything? Would it be better to focus on the task at hand? Before she could make up her mind, Vee had closed the distance. She paused for a moment, then moved to the brick wall to join Amara in leaning against it.

“…Amara,” Vee said.

“H-hey Vee. Thank for, um… reaching out. Were there any problems finding your book?”

“No.”

“That’s good! I have no idea how many demons are running around campus right now. The only one I know for sure is Mr. Mendez.”

“Mendez is a demon?” Vee seemed genuinely surprised. “Fuck! That’s why he was acting weird!”

“Do you think he knows you’re an angel? Can demons sense that kind of thing?”

Vee glared at Amara. “Sometimes, it depends on the strength and particular skillset of the demon in question. You can’t sense me, can you?”

“Well, I can see your aura, but it doesn’t look any different than anyone else’s.”

“My aura?” Vee asked.

“That’s what I call it, at least. I can sense traces of, I dunno, some kind of energy around everyone? But because of this, I can… well, I can intuit certain things. There’s nothing in your aura that seems angelic, or anything like that.”

“What do you mean, intuit things? Are you doing something to me?” Vee seemed on edge, and stepped slightly further away.

“I’m not doing anything! I just know, like… how horny you are, or when you last had sex…” Amara’s voice quieted, nervous to be talking about sex at a time like this; she didn’t want to make Vee any more uncomfortable.

“Right, succubus,” Vee sighed. “Should’ve known.”

Both girls went quiet. Amara wished she had something else to talk about, but she couldn’t think of anything. It also didn’t make sense to talk about tonight’s plan until Tessa arrived. Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait much longer; Tessa was only five minutes late, practically a new record for her.

“Please, don’t stop the party on my account,” Tessa said. She looked over at Amara, her eyes running over the clothes she was wearing. “What’s with the outfit? You planning on shifting again?”

“That was the plan, yeah. I figured, if we’re going to be in the Dean’s office, we might as well have the Dean with us.”

“In those clothes? He would never wear that.” Vee said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, a strange outfit makes more sense than secretly being a shapeshifter. It’s just a precaution if we run into a janitor or something. If we find a demon, they’ll see through me no matter who I look like.”

Tessa stepped between Amara and Vee, changing the topic. “So, what’s the plan? Break in and steal the book back?”

“It’s not stealing, Tessa, it’s mine,” Vee said.

“Of course, morality bends to your whims, never the other way around.”

“Tessa! Shut up!” Amara said, grabbing the witch’s arm and squeezing her tight.

Vee, clearly annoyed, walked over to the back entrance and held her hand up to the door. After a few seconds, a small flash of light surrounded the lock, and the door swung upon on its own. “I’m not against getting my hands dirty, Tess. You coming or not?”

A smug look crossed Tessa’s face, and she past Vee into the building. “Not bad, holy girl.”

Amara followed soon after, and when Vee walked inside, she closed the door behind her. “Alright, I should change into the Dean now. I’m gonna duck into that bathroom, gimme a sec.” Walking over to the bathrooms, Amara quickly pulled her clothes off, then shapeshifted into Samuel Halsen, Dean of Aurelius University. She didn’t like that she had to disrobe to shift, but her shifting always spawned flickers of hellfire, and she didn’t want to risk damaging Nick’s clothes. She was happy with the face she saw in the mirror, and was pretty sure she’d be able to trick any random students or faculty.

Dean Halsen was a slightly smaller man, with a tendency to hunch forward. He had short grey hair, with greyish-blue eyes that sat comfortably next to his prominent crow’s feet. Amara had never seen him in person, other than from a distance at a few large events, but had seen his picture hundreds of times on the campus website. As she walked out of the bathroom, her hands adjusting the last few buttons on the shirt, she saw Tessa and Vee adamantly ignoring each other.

Tessa looked over, examining Amara’s new look before whistling. “Nailed it, as always. You wanna give us some light?”

Amara nodded, summoning a small flame to hover in front of them. As she did so, she immediately noticed Vee flinch in surprise and take a few steps back. “Fuck, maybe a little warning next time?” Vee said.

Guilt rushed through Amara as she spoke. “Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t think—”

“Yeah, obviously” Vee said, interrupting her. “Just try not to burn the place down, okay?”

Amara stammered, unsure what to say, but ultimately decided it would be best to stay quiet. She walked in front of the others, taking the lead as they started up the stairs. No one talked, and their footsteps echoed off the walls as they passed the second floor, eventually landing on the third.

While they walked, Amara tried to keep an eye out for any unusual electrical signals. She still hadn’t found the time to really experiment with her improved vision, but she wondered if she might be able to detect things like cameras or other sensors. To her knowledge, the campus didn’t have surveillance equipment like that, but she’d started assuming that the school had hundreds of secrets she didn’t know about.

As they slowly walked towards the Dean’s office, Amara felt a strange tingle on the back of her neck. When she turned, she saw Vee had closed her eyes, and appeared to be casting some kind of spell. Although worried it might be something aimed at her, Amara stayed still, and hoped this was just a natural response to being in the presence of divine magic. Her fears were allayed when the spell dropped, and Vee looked up again.

“I’m still sensing the book in the same place,” Vee said. “We’ll have to go through his assistant’s office first.”

At the end of the hall, they found a large door that marked the entrance to the Dean’s office. A large window sat in the door, the glass clouded to give privacy, and simple block letters said “Samuel Halsen, Dean.” As they drew close, and Amara reached for the handle, she hesitated. She could hear something in the Dean’s office.

“Someone’s inside,” Amara whispered. “I’ll go first, try to figure out what’s happening. You two stay hidden.”

Both other girls nodded, and Amara couldn’t help but notice that Tessa had pulled out her switchblade. With a deep breath, Amara grabbed the handle and opened the door.

The office she walked into was empty, and the lights were off. A series of filing cabinets sat against the wall to her right, and a few chairs had been placed to her left. The assistant’s desk had been set up in the back left corner, and on the far wall, Amara could see the door leading to the Dean’s actual office. This door was partially ajar, and a light had been turned on inside.

Amara looked back to Vee and Tessa, signaling that they could enter the assistant’s room, and they hurried inside. Trusting that they could take care of themselves, Amara approached the door and pushed it open, walking inside.

“Hello?” Amara asked, doing her best impersonation of Dean Halsen.

As she entered the Dean’s office, she saw a man rummaging through a large ornate cabinet. He flinched slightly, then turned to look at Amara. His broad, sharp face lit up with a fake smile, and Amara tensed in surprise. She was standing face to face with Sebastian Wellington.

“Dean Halsen! I thought you’d left hours ago!” Sebastian said, his voice calm and confident.

“Why are you in my office, Sebastian?” Amara asked.

“I could ask you the same thing, Samuel.”

Amara tried to look past Sebastian, hoping to see what he’d been doing, but he was large enough to block her view. “It’s my office, isn’t it? I think you’re dodging my question.”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t be here, but I have good cause.” Sebastian turned back towards the cabinet and pulled something out of it. “In fact, I suspect we’re both here for the same thing.”

When Sebastian turned back towards Amara, she saw a large book in his hands. It had a faded brown cover, and she recognized it immediately: Vee’s Enochian Texts. “Is that so? What could you possibly want with that?”

“I had the same question, actually. Why would a book like this be in the Dean’s office?” Sebastian closed the distance between himself and Amara, holding out the book. “Still, I’m a busy man. How about, rather than bicker back and forth, you just take this book for yourself, and I’ll be on my way?”

Amara looked down at the book nervously. She could feel the intense angelic power radiating from it, and she knew she couldn’t touch it without revealing her identity. “Just put it back where you found it, thank you.”

“What’s the matter?” Sebastian asked, a devious smirk appearing on his face. “Afraid to touch it? It’s not like there are any secrets between us… Amara.”

Amara gasped in surprise. “How did you—”

Before she could finish, Sebastian shoved the book against her chest. It’s energy immediately reacted to her own, but she did her best to hold onto it despite the pain; she needed to keep it safe for Vee. Her entire body felt like it was seizing, and flickers of holy energy leapt from the book as it continued to attack her. Hellfire cascaded down her body, and she unexpectedly returned to her own form, Nick’s clothes now mildly singed.

“Don’t give me that crap, Amara, I know everything. You do a terrible impression of the Dean, by the way.” Sebastian placed a hand on the book, shoving Amara against a wall. “Brandon was all too eager to tell me about you, but even without the hint I would’ve felt your presence. I’ve spent years preparing myself, my body has been hand crafted to be a vessel for demonic power.”

Amara struggled to stay standing amidst the angelic assault. “Why are you throwing your life away? You’ll die as soon your ritual’s complete!”

A deep, confident laugh echoed from Sebastian’s throat. “You dare act like you know more than me? You’re the one wasting your potential! Why try to stop me? I’m bringing your kin into this world, I could give you power beyond your wildest dreams!” Without warning, Sebastian struck Amara’s face, and she fell to the ground.

“You… you can’t do anything!" Amara gasped. "This magic isn’t yours!”

“It will be soon. I know how to bind the demons, how to bend them to my will. They’re so blinded by their own arrogance, they think I’m just another foolish mortal, desperate for scraps of their power.” Sebastian grabbed Amara’s chin, forcing her to look at him. “It’s a shame you won’t be a part of my future.”

Fear flooded Amara, spurring her to action, and she tried to summon her chitinous gauntlets. One hand clutched desperately to Vee's book, refusing to let Sebastian steal it back, and the other erupted in pain as she fought against the Enochian magic. Chitin crawled across her skin, and her clawed hand darted for Sebastian's neck. The energy from the book, however, had slowed her movements, and the mad cult leader managed to intercept her attack, grabbing her wrist tight. Amara's moment of defiance, fortunately, had unwittingly created the perfect distraction; Tessa was standing in the doorway, her tattoos flaring, and her switchblade hurtling through the air. She was clearly aiming at Sebastian's neck, but with a flick of his wrist he managed to deflect the knife at the last second. Rather than burrowing into his throat, as Tessa had likely intended, the blade instead sliced open the side of his neck. Sebastian grunted in pain, releasing Amara as Vee and Tessa ran into the room.

Tessa’s knife floated back to her, and Vee had summoned the same holy blade Amara had seen on Halloween.

“It’s three on one, fucker,” Tessa said. “You’re not getting out of here alive.”

“We all know the succubus is useless now,” Sebastian said. He rolled up his sleeves, neck still bleeding, as an insufferable grin appeared on his face. "I can easily take on two inexperienced children."

Tessa attacked first, running at Sebastian as her tattoos continued flaring. In addition to throwing a series of quick punches, trying to use her size to her advantage, Tessa was also manipulating her knife, continually slashing at Sebastian while she tried to keep him distracted.

Vee ran to Amara’s side and quickly pulled the Enochian Texts off of her. Amara gasped with relief, the pain receding as she tried to stand up. By the time she'd gotten to her feet, she saw Sebastian gain the upper hand against Tessa. He shoved her back, her head colliding with a wall, and she fell to the floor.

Vee tried to take advantage of the distraction, running at Sebastian with her sword ready. She fared much better than Tessa, her form practiced and controlled as she managed to land a series of cuts. Sebastian, however, seemed unnaturally fast for a human, and was easily deflecting Vee's sword from doing any serious damage. It only took him a minute to start taking the advantage, pushing Vee back as he gained ground.

By this point, Tessa seemed to have recovered, and her tattoos flared once more as her switchblade raced towards Sebastian. The cult leader reacted quickly, unexpectedly grabbing the knife out of midair and redirecting it towards Vee. His intent was clearly lethal, and he was aiming the blade at her heart, but Vee managed to deflect the attack slightly. She screamed out in pain as the knife sank into her shoulder, and she fell backwards onto the Dean’s desk.

This whole time, Amara had been trying to shake off the effects of the Enochian. Her movements were shaky, her chitin refusing to manifest correctly. Seeing Vee in trouble, a furious anger erupted in her, channeled it into a burst of hellfire directed at Sebastian. The flames landed, clearly catching him off guard, and he jumped away from Vee in a panic. He ran to the door, quickly putting out the pieces of his shirt that had caught fire, and glared at the three girls.

“This isn’t over! If you try to stop me, I won’t hesitate to kill all of you!” Sebastian ran out of the office, his gasps growing more and more distant until he’d vanished completely.

With the fight over, Amara felt her adrenaline fading, and she looked around to see how everyone else was doing. Tessa seemed alright, but Vee was clutching her shoulder, blood staining her shirt. “Vee! Are you okay?”

Amara ran closer, trying to help Vee off the desk, but Vee knocked her hands away. “Don’t fucking touch me!” she hissed. “You tried to set me on fire!”

Looking at the injury, Amara could see traces of burn damage on Vee’s shirt, and she started panicking. “No! I-I didn’t mean to, I was just trying—”

“Enough! Amara was able to scare Mr. Wellington away; he was clearly ready to kill us.” Tessa said, cutting Amara off. Vee tried to say something, but Tessa kept talking. “We weren’t ready for a fight, and that’s not Amara’s fault. It’s not mine, it’s not yours. Besides, we got your stupid book back, didn’t we?”

By this point, Vee had crawled to the wall next to the door and was leaning against it. She moved her hand, looking at the stab wound, and winced as she pulled her shirt down off her shoulder. “Whatever. We could have done worse, I suppose. This wound isn’t as bad as it looks.”

Amara sat on the floor, looking at Vee’s injury. “Does your book have any healing magic?”

“Thankfully, yes,” Vee said. She pulled her book closer, propping it on her leg as she opened it up. After a minute of flipping through pages, she seemed to find what she was looking for. When her mouth opened, the voice that left it was the most beautiful thing Amara had ever heard. It wasn’t just her body that was singing, it felt like her soul was joining in as well. Her voice had extra layers that seemed to defy the limits of a human body, and the music cascaded off the walls in a way that didn’t seem possible.

At the time, however, Amara's entire body started seizing in pain. Mild shocks traveled through her body, her skin started itching, and an unnatural metallic hum reverberated through her skull. While her ears were enjoying the singing, her soul seemed to be violently rejecting it. She felt as if someone were dragging a cheese grater across her very essence, and she grabbed the sides of her head to try and block out the sound. Still, as painful as the experience was, she couldn't help but look as Vee's wounds slowly began to heal, the skin knitting itself back together in a matter of seconds.

When Vee finished, she closed the book and stood up. Amara fell backwards, releasing her grip on her head as she sighed in relief, the Enochian no longer drilling into her head. Vee moved quickly to the door, not paying any attention to Amara, but stopped after a moment. With a heavy sigh, her eyes glued to the floor, she quietly started speaking. “I guess this adds credence to your claims that Amara’s not involved with this cult. It’s suspicious that he was here tonight, of all nights, but… he did seem like he wanted to kill you. We have my book back, if nothing else, so we’ll need to put together a battle plan. How are we going to stop him?”

Amara stood up, following Tessa and Vee out of the Dean’s office before closing the door behind them. “Nick is trying to find a time where all the teachers in the cult are busy with classes. We think we might be able to make a move while they’re busy.” she said.

“Nick had better not be planning on joining us,” Vee said.

“Absolutely not!” Amara said. “He’s only human, after all.”

“Good. Shoot me a text when he’s found a time, and we’ll figure out the details from there.”

The girls walked in silence through the building, and it only took a few minutes for them to find the exit. The cool night air washed over them, and Tessa had to part ways to head back to her apartment. Vee and Amara were left alone, as they lived relatively close to each other, and the awkward silence continued.

“Um… I’m sorry about the fire,” Amara said quietly, after a few minutes of walking.

Vee didn’t say anything. Another few minutes passed, the only thing filling the silence were the sounds of their footsteps on the sidewalk. When she finally responded, her voice was tense, but also strangely hesitant. “Just… don’t let it happen again.”

Amara couldn’t think of anything else that felt worth saying. There was plenty she wanted to say, sure, but she felt like Vee had become a stranger overnight. The Vee she remembered was always smiling, happy to help others, an overwhelmingly positive person. The girl she now walked next to was sullen, cold, and blocked off.

Soon enough, the time came to part ways. Amara took a deep breath, did her best to sound sincere, and spoke up. “G'night, Vee. I’m happy you’re helping us.”

“It’s not really something I can ignore, is it?” Vee said. She turned to leave without saying goodbye, and Amara couldn’t help but notice that her voice was still bitter. When Amara got home, she briefly texted Nick with an update, and collapsed into bed. She barely slept that night, instead spending every waking minute going over the events of the night.