Read Online Dark Waters (Elemental Book 1) by Rain Oxford - Free Book Online Page B

up.
    “That cat, Henry… he’s your roommate, right? I would
sleep with one eye open if I were you. Cats can’t be trusted. He’ll eat you
when you die. Now wolves are another story; we protect each other.”
    “Thanks for the heads up.” I rolled my eyes.
    When we got to the dining room, Henry joined us and
Darwin told him about the vampire. Of course, he embellished it until it
sounded like the teachers needed my help. “He just zapped her fanged
butt out of here with his super wizard skills!” Darwin said.
    Henry looked thoughtful, but said nothing.
    After eating, Henry and I headed to martial arts.
From the inside, the classroom looked just like any other exercise room; it was
well lit, the floor was waxed wood with mats, and there was a mirror along the
far wall.
    We were early, so we watched the instructor, who was
the Asian woman from the school board meeting, work with some other highly
trained students. Tanaka-sensei was extremely fast, fluent, and made what I
thought was a combative sport into what looked more like artwork.
    I couldn’t say the same for all of her students. A
wolf shifter and Zhang Wei were sparring. As tranquil as the tiger shifter was,
the wolf was no match for him, because the wolf fought with anger and
desperation. When Zhang Wei kicked the younger shifter in the chest, the man
shifted into his brown wolf form. He snarled at the tiger shifter and prepared
to attack, but there was a guard at the ready. Stationed throughout the room
were men in black ninja-like suits. The closest instantly shifted into a
massive ball python and coiled around the wolf.
    The wolf whimpered and thrashed as much as he could,
but the constrictor just squeezed harder until the wolf finally went limp.
Slowly, the snake shifted back into a man… with his outfit intact. I had never
seen a shifter who was able to save his clothing in a transition before.
    The wolf shifter returned to his human form and Zhang
Wei bowed to his enemy, as if the wolf had fought honorably. Zhang Wei greeted
me warmly when he saw me and beckoned Tanaka-sensei to me. Then he introduced
me as his friend, which I thought was high praise from a near stranger who was
Chinese. Of course, I wasn’t particularly educated in foreign relations.
    We did stretches to start with and learned the
routine exercises we would be using for the rest of the semester. By the end of
it, I was sore, but I was much better off than some of the other wizards. Then
again, all of the shifters made it seem like child’s play, including Henry, who
managed to appear elegant through the entire class.
    It turned out that Zhang Wei was Tanaka-sensei’s
assistant. He was also extremely hard on Li Na, who was taking the class with
Henry and me. There were ten other students, but Li Na had to work much harder
just to get Zhang Wei off her back.
     
    *          *          *
     
    After dinner, we retired to our rooms. Darwin arrived
a few minutes later with a stack of books. Once he set them down, he took off
his gray hoodie and adjusted his sweaty white t-shirt. I studied his wrists,
arms, and neck, and saw no signs of abuse. “Why do you wear the hoodie when
it’s too warm for one?” Henry asked before I could.
    Darwin shrugged. “I don’t like to be touched.”
    Henry and Darwin began studying, but I couldn’t
imagine that it would do me any good. Instead, I pulled out my notebook and
tried to work on the case. Ten minutes into it, my notebook still had nothing
on it.
    My instincts were normally uncanny; I never took more
than a week on a case unless it required long-term surveillance or computer
software. Here I was on my second day… I wrote down the information about the
five students who were killed as well as the vampire I confronted, just to get
something down. Then, because I couldn’t think of any more clues, I drew the
vampire I had seen… only, what I drew wasn’t right. My sketch resembled her more than the stranger.
    Damn…
    This