Chapter Fifty-Six

"So," Banksy leaned back in his chair, a fresh bandage stuck to the left side of his forehead. He glanced around Cross's room, his eyes resting for a moment on each of the each of the four other occupants.

Cross was lying on his bed, his shirt open to expose the bloodied bandages that were wrapped tightly around his chest. Lex sat perched on the edge, her tattered scarf tightly wrapped around her injured throat and bloodstains marring her clothes. On the floor Makina sat next to Lara, neither of the girls looking much worse for wear. Banksy chose to focus his attention on Lara, seeing as she was the last person he remembered before being knocked unconscious.

Banksy pointed to his injured head. "Would anyone care to explain… what in the hell happened to me? Or to the two of you for that matter?"

"Lexi beat me up, then killed a succubus," Cross murmured from his prone position. "Oh, and Lara is a succubus too."

"What?!"

All eyes turned to Lara, save for Cross who had long since closed his eyes. Lara fidgeted under the sudden attention. Beside her, Makina reached out, giving the girl an encouraging pat on the shoulder and a gentle smile.

"I'm sorry," Lara squeaked out, bowing her head repeatedly to everyone in the room. "I'm so very sorry. I didn't… I'm so sorry."

"Lara," Lexi's voice came out strained, every word accompanied by a slight pain from her wounded neck. "Why, don't you, start, from the, beginning?"

Lara twisted her hands back and forth. "I… I am a succubus, like Eliza. Eliza probably isn't her real name. Oh, but mine really is Lara. I promise!"

Lexi nodded for Lara to continue.

"I used to make friends with students during session breaks. They would come home and we would play. I knew that I was supposed to get close to them and steal their life force, because that's what we do. It's just…natural? No one has to teach us how. You see, a succubus can see it, how much life a person has. It attracts us and in turn… Well in turn people are attracted to us. We are predators." Lara glanced over at Makina and gave her a sad smile. "I'm afraid that might be why you are my friend now. I am sorry, Makina. Cross was likely attracted to Eliza for the same reason."

Cross sat up and glared at Lara. "I was no-guh"

Cross was thrown back against the bed by a gust of frigid air as Makina waved her hand to silence him. She turned on Lara. "How dare you."

"Makina," Lexi warned.

"No!" Makina shook her head.

"I'm so sorry." Lara said, bowing her head. "I know I was wrong."

"Of course you were wrong!" Makina said, lifting up her hand. Lara shrunk, but Makina only gave her a gentle whap on the head. "Don't think yourself so mighty as to be able to influence one as divine as me!"

"Huh?" Lara gave Makina a blank look. "You… You don't hate me?"

"Of course I don't, you foolish girl. I am annoyed with you, however. You could have saved me so much time and worry if you had simply informed me of all this to begin with," Makina said. "Really, you are such an idiot, Lara."

Lara's eyes began to water. "But…"

"Look I hate to be that guy," Banksy let out a heavy sigh. "But if either of you would like to do this whole friendship thing later and tell me why I am bleeding from the head! That would be great."

"Right, I'm sorry." Lara wiped her eyes, though a smile remained. "I realized after a few years, that I couldn't feed on my friends any more. It just didn't seem right. It was a very difficult, what I was doing was not natural, but I knew I couldn't keep stealing from them. Not just to benefit myself… But I was in pain every day. It felt like every nerve of my being was on fire. I could do nothing more than exist, and I didn't dare go near my friends, near anyone. I was scared if I did… I would have killed them, no matter my feelings. I spent almost a year like that, almost dead, holding onto life by a thread and that's when I realized something…"

Lara pushed off from the floor and approached Lexi. Tentatively, she lifted up her hands towards Lexi. When Lexi made no more to stop her, she carefully touched her fingers to Lexi's throat. A soft glow emanated from the tips of Lara's fingers, and Lexi let out a soft sigh of relief.

"I realized that pain is a force itself," Lara said quietly. "Pain in all its forms is energy. I don't need to steal their life, because I can take their pain."

"That would explain why this doesn't hurt," Banksy said, touching his bandage.

"Doesn't explain why I am still in pain though." Cross called from the bed.

"You can let him suffer," Makina muttered.

"How did you end up at the academy?" Lexi asked, steering the conversation back on track as Lara moved to assist Cross.

"I subsisted off the pain of my friends for a long time, but during one of their breaks I noticed a strange scent. One I had never smelled before," Lara said, lightly pressing her palms against Cross's chest.

"Eliza," Lexi said darkly.

"Yes." Lara nodded. "I didn't recognize it as another Succubus at first, but once I did, I knew I had to do something. Using… using my powers I was able to enroll myself in the school. Eliza, she did not like that. She warned me to leave, or else she would kill me. I knew she wouldn't. Even though she is… was, much stronger than me, she wouldn't be able to attack me without drawing too much attention to herself. When she realized that, she instead started hurting others. At first they were small injuries, because she wasn't willing to kill her own prey. When that didn't work though… she started to lose patience. She hurt anyone who even associated with me and I could only do so much to protect them. Because of my powers, people are naturally drawn to me… and I admit I was selfish. I couldn't give my friends up. That's why I had one of the professors go for help, though she doesn't know she did it."

"That was you?" Banksy said. He gave an impressed nod. "But, why didn't you just have the professor tell us that it was a succubus?"

"I am not able to take over the minds of others yet, only influence them. I didn't want the professor to even remember putting in the request. The more information she gave, the more likely she would remember what I had made her do. If that happened…" Lara frowned. "I was afraid of Eliza finding out what I had done. She would have killed the Professor and maybe even escape. I couldn't let either of those happen." She looked at Lexi. "I had no idea you and Professor Cross were actually members of the Sleeping Dragon guild. If I had known, I would have come to you right away."

"That's alright, you have done more than enough." Lexi assured her.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain this," Banksy said, tapping his head. "Why did Eliza come after me? I didn't set off any alarms when I broke into her office. I would have known. I mean, I even went to her room to do some maintenance and she didn't seem to know…anything?"

Lara lifted up her hand and pointed at Banksy's finger. "You cut yourself, didn't you? Sometime while in her room?"

"What?" Banksy looked down at his hand. "Yeah, a paper cut."

"It wasn't," Lara said with a shake of her head. "It was a trap."

"Huh? No, that's impossible. I checked for…Oh damnit." Banksy dropped his face into his hands. "I'm a fucking moron."

"Not that I disagree, but why?" Makina asked from the floor.

"I only checked for traps on the locks themselves. I didn't even think she would leave one on the files," Banksy moaned into his hands. "That would have been so easy to detect too."

"I see." Makina nodded before turning to Cross. "What does 'fucking' mean?"

"Moving on," Lexi said quickly, motioning for Lara to continue.

"Once a Succubus has your blood, they can find you. No matter what," Lara said, giving Banksy an apologetic look. "When I saw Eliza that night on her date with Proffessor Cross-"

"It wasn't a real date!" Cross hissed as he felt a sudden chill settle over his body.

"-I could smell her anger," Lara continued. "I knew she was going to do something, so I started tailing her. I think she knew, that's why she didn't attack you in her office. I knew she wouldn't stop, so I made sure to always be nearby. When she attacked you, I was able to surprise her. I couldn't do much more than that though, so I took you and hid us both with my glamour."

"So you were blocking me," Cross sighed from the bed, he sat up but a shot of pain through his chest dropped him back to the bed with a soft curse.

"I can only take pain, not heal," Eliza said softly. "If you upset your injuries, fresh pain will take its place."

"Right, then. Just gonna stay where I am," Cross grit out.

"Quiet, Cross." Lexi gave him a gentle tap on the leg before turning her attention to Lara. "You protected Banksy. Without you, who knows what could have happened. You have my thanks, and that of the guild." Lexi bowed her head.

"Yeah." Banksy rubbed his head awkwardly. "Thanks."

Lara began to tear up again. "You shouldn't be thanking me. I should be thanking all of you. I put you all in this position."

"Been in worse." Cross called from the bed, drawing another tap from Lexi, this one harder.

"So Lara, what will you do now?" Lexi asked.

Lara shook her head back and forth. "I… I honestly don't know. I would like to finish up this session, but after that I do not think I will be returning to this Academy. I think it is time to start somewhere new."

Lexi nodded. "We can help you with that. In fact, I think I may have an idea, I will need to consult with Servilia before making any promises though."

"Speaking of Servilia," Banksy tilted his head. "Did anyone inform her we finished? If not, I mean, I could… maybe give her a call or something… I mean if no one else is…"

"Yeah, Servilia," Cross said loudly from the bed, his Phoenix stone held out in front of him between two fingers. "We finished up here."

"Oh you dick," Banksy whispered under his breath, ignoring the smirk that Lexi shot his way.

"Yeah, everyone is fine. We should be heading home soon," Cross said, before his brow furrowed and his mouth set into a grim line. "You're kidding me? How can that… no I did, but I didn't… okay then. I see. I see. No, no I understand. Fine, I'll see you then." Cross dropped the Phoenix stone onto his bed, an unreadable expression in his face.

Banksy leaned over in his chair. "What's wrong with you?"

"Servilia says because I signed a legally binding contract, I have to finish out this session as a professor," Cross groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes. "I have to write and grade a final exam now."

"So we're staying?" Makina said brightly, turning to look at the Cross. He ignored her.

"So it would seem," Lexi said softly. "It would be unbecoming for me, as your Leader, to leave before the rest of the team. It also could cause some unnecessary questions to be raised if two students and the school counselor suddenly disappeared."

"About that. I think I've got a solution," Banksy said, lifting himself up out of his chair and hobbling over to Cross's desk. He retrieved a piece of paper and a pen. "I got a pretty good look at Eliza's handwriting. It wouldn't take me much to forge a letter. Make it look like she got fed up and quit. I don't mean to brag but…"

"Just shuddup and do it, Banksy," Cross snapped from the bed, still annoyed at his sudden turn of fate. Banksy ginned at him.

Lexi gave an appreciatory nod. "Good plan. I'll leave you to that then. After that, make sure to remove the blood from your room as well."

Banksy made a face. "Oh come on."

"Just be glad I am not making you clean up Cross's classroom as well," Lexi said

"Fine," Banksy grumbled, pocketing the stationary and slouching to the door. "But after that, I'm heading home. I didn't sign any contract so I'm not staying. My room is crap and my pay is too."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "Very well. Good work, Banksy. I'll see you at home."

"Yeah, you too," Banksy said before glancing down to look at Lara. "And thanks again, for saving my life and everything. That was brave. I owe you one."

Lara's cheeks turned a bright crimson and she looked at the floor. "Don't… don't worry about it."

"So, what now?" Makina asked with a yawn as the door clicked shut behind Banksy.

"Now, you two go to bed," Lexi said, shooing the pair out of the room. Makina tried to resist, but with a gentle tug from Lara she was quickly pulled from the room.

"I am going to go clean up your classroom," Lexi said after they had gone. She glanced at Cross out of the corner of her eye. He had managed to sit up, though the action obviously pained him.

"I'll help," Cross grunted. He started to push himself off the bed, but Lexi stopped him, one hand pressing gently on his chest until he fell back against the covers with a soft gasp of pain.

"You need to sleep as well. Eliza did more damage than I thought," Lexi said as she pulled her hand back. She gave him a coy smile. "Don't worry, you will have more than enough to do tomorrow. I expect your final to be extremely well prepared."

Cross made a face at her but made no further movement to rise again. Lexi gave him a curt nod and turned to leave, but Cross's hand reached out to catch her lightly by the wrist.

"Lex…" Cross frowned. "We still need to talk, you know."

Lexi stared down at him and gave him a soft smile. "It can wait, at least until you're feeling better." Her smile gained a few teeth. "That way, if I'm not satisfied with your explanation… well at least no one can say I had an unfair advantage."

Cross let out a hoarse laugh. "Right, then."