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Academy of ThaumaturgyBook One: Verboten Love

http://www.wattpad.com/223950-academy-of-thaumaturgy

Available for purchase at www.danaeayusso.comyou can also peek the cover at the website and the sequel, Academy ofThaumaturgy: Veils of Deception, is posted in the story group above.Currently I am working on the third installment: Lies of the Unified House.

The Chapter markers disappeared, sorry.

Academy of Thaumaturgy: Verboten Love

The morning air was exceptionally cold for the time of the year. Lucky forme, the sweat covering nearly every inch of my body was only adding to thefrigid temperature-that's sarcasm in case you missed it. I've never been afan of the weather in British Columbia. I really miss Northern California-thesun, sand and sandals-sadly I am stuck here.

The last signs of fall were crunching under my feet as I ran for my lifethrough the ancient maples, occasionally sliding on the frost covered leaves.Between the lack of visibility thanks to the dense fog hanging at tree level,the frost covering everything the eye can see-which wasn't much-and thesongs of the birds still in the area; it was a beautiful morning. It was if youoverlook the two hundred and twenty-five pound vyras quickly gaining onme, his snarling teeth glistening with salvia, breath coming out in hardfrozen puffs.

Welcome to my life.

Each stride I made covered more than a yard, but he was gaining on me, andfast. I splashed through a freezing creek. "Damn it," I complained under mybreath. The vyras growled. They don't particularly like water, so he jumped itin a single bound. I could have as well if I would have been paying attention.This sucks.

Once I broke through the trees, I ran across the lacrosse fields in a sprint;heart racing, ears filled with the deafening pounding of my adrenaline

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charged blood. The rain that had assaulted the region earlier in the weekcaused the drainage fields to flood so I veered towards them, and startedtrudging my way through the freezing knee-deep water. The vyras growledloudly in protest, the water wasn't deep, but it wasn't something he wantedto wade through. I looked over my shoulder at the snarling beast and smiled,

flipping him off. That set him off and he started after me.

Damn it! Why do I have to antagonize them?

Them? Vyras, werewolves, lycans, verr, fear, vir, wulf, weir, warg, garoul,take your pick it all translates to the same thing-pissed off wolf man.

At the end of the drainage field was a ditch, five feet deep ten feet wide. Fewknow about it but last year I had to help the groundskeeper for two hundredhours worth of community service after I put the headmaster's car in theaquatics center. Okay, that's a stretch, put is a little too vague, so let me

rephrase that. After I placed the former headmaster's new Mercedes in thebottom of the lap pool before a swim meet. Some would say that I haveproblems with authority, and for once, I am in complete agreement.

The vyras was closing in on me, but wouldn't be for much longer. Either thisplan was brilliant or was going to get me horribly wet with a damn vyras ontop of me.

The russet colored beast snapped at my heels so I mustered up my lastreserve of energy to put more distance between us. Teeth in the back of theankle hurt.

The ditch was covered in fog. I knew exactly where it was, I used to hidethere and drink beers with Slevin while he animated the push-mower,another strange and unusual punishment from the former headmaster.Drinking cold beers was the perfect way to combat the summer heat-okay,Slevin drank the beers while I drank Coca-Cola, I'm not much of a drinker.

When I was two strides from the edge of the ditch, I stuck my foot down andpushed off sending my body flying over the fog covered moat. I kickedthrough the air, please let me make it to the other side dry. Just as my feettouched down the other side, I heard a loud splash behind me. "Looks like

you're all wet," I laughed over my shoulder slipping across the grass pivotingtowards the school. Loud growls flowed from behind me, unfortunately hewas quickly closing the distance, and I was running out of energy.

The last of my strength was starting to falter as I ran into the main courtyardof the school. A group of students was lingering, looking bored and cold."Coming through!" I called out dancing around them as the vyras slid intothe courtyard behind me. I jumped over a grouping of benches getting a

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couple of laughs from some of the students. I couldn't run anymore, this wasjust crap and totally unfair, so I beeline towards a circular bench thatwrapped around a tall maple tree. I stepped up on it and scrambled up thetree, high into its upper branches where he couldn't reach me.

The vyras climbed up on the bench and growled at me.

"I told you that you wouldn't beat me," I taunted gasping for air.

Another loud growled rolled from his chest before his body started toelongate as he erected himself standing on his hind legs. The russet coloredfur blended away into a delicious caramel colored flesh covering his perfectmuscular body; tall and lean with abs I could wash clothes on, shoulderlength light brown hair with golden highlights and large black eyes. Magicalshorts act as a second skin, otherwise he'd be standing there completelynaked-you've got to love our schools fashion department. "You so cheated!"

Harper complained; his British accent makes everything he says soundintelligent and sexy.

"Oh come on," I teased flipping around so I was hanging upside down on oneof the branches, my hair within his reach. "I only cheated a little," I smiledinnocently at him.

"A little my ass, I really didn't feel like going for a swim this morning." Hehollowly complained wrapping a lock of my hair around his fingers. "What isthat now, seven to twelve?"

"Six to thirteen, my friend," I corrected flipping off of the branch landing infront of him. "Rematch tomorrow?" I smirked.

Before he could tell me no, he always tells me no, Master Dade appeared infront of us. "What the hell, Ari? Can't you follow directions at all?" he threwhis clipboard on the ground and ran his slender hands through his grayinghair.

"I'm sorry, did you just meet me?" I raised an eyebrow. "Honestly MasterDade, how are we supposed to get real world training when you give usboundaries?" I put on my best valley-girl accent, "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Big-Bad-

Terrible-Soulless-and-Terrifying upir, you stepped out of bounds so will youplease throw yourself on this stake?" I broke a small branch off of the treeand held it up. "Pretty please," I batted my lashes at him.

Harper jabbed me in the side with his elbow silently warning me to stoppushing my luck. "Chill out Buffy the Vampire Slayer," he whispered.

Master Dade rolled his eyes and picked up his clipboard calling over the

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other students. "Ari and Harper, twenty-nine minutes and seventeenseconds," he eventually said.

"Is that a new record?" I smiled like a cheesy game show host causing him tolaugh, but it was forced.

"No."

"What?" I demanded. "That can't be right! That is nearly a half hour of activeevasion." I really need to work on my hyper competitive nature.

Master Dade smiled smugly at me, "First of all, of all you were treed-"

"By choice," I corrected.

He ignored me, "And the record was set earlier today at thirty minutes and

twenty-eight seconds."

"Son of a bitch," I growled, I hate losing. "Who holds it?"

"I do," a smug voice said from the other side of the tree. I hadn't noticed thatanyone was even over there. A tall boy, correction, man, walked from behindthe tree and smirked at me. He was tall, six-four give or take, long but notlean, he was built with wide shoulders and broad chest, his sweat drenchedshirt pulled tight across his chest emphasizing his defined body. All of thatwas nice but his face held my attention the longest; pale skin, rugged manlyfeatures, wide jaw, wide full lips, the top one was slightly larger than the

bottom, but it worked, large bright multi-layered green eyes that weresurrounded in impossibly thick black lashes, and obsidian colored hair cut ina modern European style with long bangs nearly hanging in his eyes. Helooked strangely familiar to me, but I couldn't place from where. His eyeswere so beautiful that I almost started drooling.

He smiled wide at me, condescendingly of course, his perfect white smilewas dazzling, including a set of fangs-I hate vampires, they are all self-righteous, pompous assholes. "Viggo de Babineaux at your service," hebowed, his French accent was sexy to say the least.

My typical response to an asshole, I flipped him off and headed towards thegym.

"Ari, go to the headmaster," Master Dade called out.http://www.wattpad.com/223950-academy-of-thaumaturgy?p=2