Nocticadia

by Keri Lake

Praying had never really been my thing, but I’d done an awful lot of aimless pleading on my knees over the last few weeks, and if God existed, he sure as hell didn’t offer much hope.

To my utter disappointment, she took my oversight as a show of growth. Or worse, affection. The very thought of such a thing sent a shiver of horror down my spine.

Perhaps that should’ve been good cause to turn him over to authorities, to act the hero for once in my godforsaken life. Heroics were boring.

“What separates monsters from good men is only a matter of perspective. In your eyes, I’m a sick fuck for what I’ve done to you. But I, on the other hand, see you as a parasite.”

I couldn’t help fantasize how incredibly gratifying it would be to slip a few larvae into his drink. Of course, that was just laziness talking.

A student by the name of Jenny Harrick. Was a total scandal. Rumor has it that he got jealous of her boyfriend and killed her. One of those, if I can’t have her, no one can deals.”

As I smiled down at it, a strange and foreign sensation swept over me. For the first time since my mother had died, I felt a sense of belonging.

She died giving birth to the two of us, and therefore, my father has crowned us—specifically me, as I was the latter to be born—as her murderers.

I want to be like him someday, my grandfather. I want to do something incredible and save lives.

“Only good men save lives, Devryck. Father isn’t a good man.”

Hit me was putting it mildly. It so happened, he’d struck a very specific part of my brain, consequently dislodging and activating a latent congenital prion disease. Zigliomyositis was the technical term for it, or Voneric’s Disease, as it was more commonly known–a rare condition only seen in an exceptionally small fraction of the population. Incurable and unstoppable in its destruction.

Something in the way he spoke, the passion I could literally feel infused into every word, sent a shudder of excitement through me. The man lived and breathed science–that much I could tell.

Such a sense of belonging was foreign to me. Even though I hadn’t been born into wealth, like most of the students, there was so much to Dracadia that went beyond old money. It existed in its own little pocket of intrigue, like stories of Pan and worlds far beyond.

Yeah, he was. An exceptionally good-looking and smart asshole. Sighing, I headed to my next class.

Without a doubt, Lilia Vespertine was going to be a massive headache. But she was my headache.

I’d been thrown out into a world that would’ve eaten me alive, had I not learned how to navigate it quickly and so young.

A vision of Hannah gently rubbing my back during one of my episodes somehow brought to mind Lilia in my office. Her gentle movements and caring eyes. Her delicate hand in mine. There was something about her–so genuine and real.

“Impervious?” “Yes. It means nothing bad can hurt you. Ever. When you feel like Death is coming for you, you say that word. Death can’t touch you, then.”

Don’t let a man take away this dream. Do whatever the fuck you gotta do to keep it.”

The girl had to be at least twelve, maybe thirteen years younger than me. A woman, but young. And a student, for fucks sake.

A wiser man would’ve kicked her out of his class and avoided the inevitable headache that was sure to follow. I’d certainly never professed to be the wisest.

They had no idea the girl was brilliant and witty. Too damn smart for her age. Too damn beautiful to be seen as something so simple and entertaining.

But not even Doctor Death could intimidate me at that point. My curiosity had been piqued. The walls of this place held dark secrets, past skeletons, that I intended to exhume with a sledgehammer.

“Quit fucking mocking me, Devryck!” He slammed his fist against my desk, though he failed to intimidate me with his anger. Shoulders squared, he stared at me with unflinching bravery, seeing as my patience had begun to wear thin already. “Her mother is the other missing woman. The runaway in your father’s fucked-up study.”

I was drawn to her, for reasons I could neither justify nor understand. A realization that annoyed the shit out of me. She was an itch on my brain that I couldn’t scratch. The maddening shimmer in the corner of my eye during lecture that distracted my thoughts. The kind of girl who seduced with nothing more than a single glance. A bite of the lip. And she’d captured my attention with steel hooks.

Just like that, Lilia Vespertine had become more than a student. She was a serious problem.

“From New York ... It was … Angelo. Angelo! It was Angelo! Angelo DeLuca!”

That power is the reason there isn’t any information on these murders. They wipe it all out of existence.”

The questions seemed endless, but proved to be a motivator for my investigations. Because I intended to get to the bottom of who my mother really was and what had really happened to her. And not even Doctor Death would stand in the way of that.

“Stay out of trouble, Curious Moth,” he said, as he strode for the door. Curious Moth. A nickname. A fitting one, too, given the fact that I had no intentions of avoiding the flame.

“That is the tragedy of women, isn’t it? We deny ourselves beauty for the sake of misleading men.”

“Good.” Brow winged up, she sauntered in front of me. “Wear it. Feel beautiful. And for god's sake, Lilia, enjoy yourself.”

“The wealthy possess an insatiable appetite for the rare and priceless. They stare because you’re the only thing worth staring at.”

A strange pull tugged at my chest. I couldn’t explain it. Even as abrasive as he was, I found him utterly captivating. Magnetic.

“Is it your intent to ignore the fact that another of your guests is clearly uncomfortable? Or is it only the wealthy donors whose comfort matters most, Edward

“Unfortunately, no. I heard a scream. When I found you, you were lying passed out. There was no one else. Did he touch you, at all?”

His dark chuckle tickled the back of my neck, and his eyes held a ruthless glint that slid through my bones. “My, you are a wicked little moth.”

He tipped his head, and I caught a flicker of intrigue in that coppery gaze. “Look at you. Such a bold moth. Far bolder than I gave you credit for.”

Another frustrated growl told me I was whittling him down. “I knew the moment you arrived at this school that you were going to be a major fucking headache for me.”

The girl was a problem. An incredibly beautiful, but annoying, problem. That she could stand there, making bold demands, while staring me straight in the eye had me wishing I could either throttle, or kiss, her. I couldn’t tell which compelled me more than the other.

Calling her beautiful was like calling the sun lukewarm. She’d blazed like the hottest part of a flame in that dress. And fuck me, I’d felt the heat.

Dandridge was nothing more than a waste of human body parts and precious oxygen.

And he had been right about one thing. I didn’t need Lilia fucking things up for me. Not because she was some lowly Covington girl, as he’d said, but because she was the only thing in the last ten years that’d managed to distract me from my research. Which meant agreeing to let her work in my lab might’ve been the dumbest decision I’d ever made.

The dead teach the living.

A true and genuine smile, and holy shit, it was the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. Straight, white teeth, and a dimple in his cheek. I wished I could’ve captured it, but it faded as quickly as it arrived, and I watched as his brows tightened and a look of panic claimed his face.

I liked that he was older. More mature. I’d always been attracted to older men.

“Under different circumstances …” The pause in his words carried a laborious heartbeat that smothered my own, as I watched the slightest smile play on his lips. A beat of hesitation. “I might’ve pursued you.” A nervous rush of breath escaped me. I gripped the strap of my bookbag in some faulty attempt to hold my composure, and swallowed past the dryness in my throat. “And I might’ve let you.”

His jaw shifted, lip curled in disgust. “Because you’re better than them. Stronger. And unfortunately, you’ll have to fight harder for what you want. But you have an understanding of things beyond their comprehension. You’re exceptional, Lilia. And by God, if you waste that intellect on the ignorant words of an envious shrew like Loretta Gilchrist, it will be the most egregious offense you’ve ever committed.”

Some kisses were said to feel like fireworks. His felt like a slow-drip anesthetic, silently siphoning my senses, until all I could smell, taste, and feel was him.

“The dead themselves are harmless. It’s what they leave behind that inspires fear.”