He interrupts my musing. “All of these individuals are demons. Never be complacent.”
A murmur travels the room, but I can’t help it—I laugh. I should’ve expected that answer. When is Daniel going to share the important stuff such as how to kill the bastards? Or where do I put the souls I take? And most importantly—how many do I need to collect before I gain my freedom?
Shooting me another look, Daniel taps the keyboard again.
Another human-looking creature, this time with paler skin and red-rimmed eyes, appears on screen. These eyes hold a darkness that shudders through my body.
“This is a vampire. Do not approach them. They are not created by the demons—they are an ancient race who has existed in the human world for many years. No one is sure where they came from, not even the demons know. They are a mix of human and something unknown, capable of creating other vampires through killing and resurrecting humans. Lucifer’s demons need to be created and animated by human souls; vampires don’t and can multiply at whatever rate they decide.”
“Holy crap,” I mutter.
Daniel continues. “Luckily, they keep themselves cocooned in their own world and don’t mix or bother about our war. Recently, they’ve multiplied at a faster rate after decades in the shadows. We’re unsure why. They do contain souls in the same way humans do, and arguably these souls are as trapped as the ones stolen by demons.”
He pauses as if to say something else, and a shadow crosses his face. “But we don’t worry about those souls. If you do come across a vampire, run as fast as you can in the opposite direction.” A nervous laughter fills the room. And Daniel’s face darkens. “No, I mean it. Run the fuck away. Your angel blood will prevent them turning you into a vampire, which is good—obviously. But the agony of your death will be slow and torturous. And they will prolong the agony for their amusement.”
Shit. I rub my eyes, exhausted after the lack of sleep since I arrived yesterday, and slump down in my chair. How many more varieties of demon are there?
“And finally…”
Daniel hits a key on his laptop. I straighten. This picture is of a classically beautiful guy; the kind I’ve seen in photographs. This guy could be an angel but has darker blond hair, so looks more human. Blue eyes like cracked sapphire gaze from the screen, noticeable even though I sit at a distance. I’m drawn in and unable to look away. Surely this guy can’t be a demon?
“Nephilim. Have you read about them in your history books?”
I wish I’d studied harder at school.
“Yeah. Ex-angels. Half demon now,” replies Tom.
“Correct. They still hold all their angel powers. High angel powers. If you come up against one of these guys, you kiss goodbye to any chance of survival.”
Gently, I thump my head on the table and groan.
“Not one for hiding how you feel, are you, Ava?”
I straighten. “I didn’t expect this to be complicated. I thought there was just one sort of demon we had to kill.”
The people around me giggle, and Daniel smiles, but something in his expression smacks of pity. “You Fated never know. Do you think as many of you would signup, if you knew how dangerous this job really is?”
“How many soulhunters die?” A voice from the rear of the room interrupts. I twist in my chair to see Tom leaning forward, his broad arms crossed on the table in front of him.
Daniel hesitates. “I’m unsure how many die. The question you should ask me is how many soulhunters survive. Because I can give you an exact figure.”
5
I sit gingerly on a seat in the hallway outside the medical room, alone. With each passing moment the indecision whether I want to be here or not grows. Not that indecision is possible—I’ve signed my life away, literally. My back stings from the tracker a woman in a white coat pushed under my skin, around the time she injected me with something they said would trigger my powers. If only the Fated knew one injection is all empowerment took. Then they could fight to find someone who could bring the substance to them. Inject us all. Free us.
My head spins from the after-effects. There’s no pain, but the injection already consumes my blood because I tingle like someone is shooting volts through my veins. Tom half staggers towards me. Placing a hand out to steady himself on the wall, he slumps onto a seat.
“You look like crap,” I inform him.
“Yeah, so do you.”
I lean forward and stare down at my boots, pristine and black against the marble tiled floor. The academy continues to awe me. In pictures, I’ve seen the angel world with opulent rooms of gold and white, brightly lit and shining. The light bouncing off the gleaming white floor hits me with a brightness that’s still alien, even after two days here. I rub my eyes and look to Tom who sits with his large fists clenched on top of his knees.
“I hope we’re not going back to class with Daniel again today,” I say.
Two days of boring lectures about demons, humans, how to behave in the human world, how to track demons, and I’m over it. We’re training to be hunters, for fuck’s sake. Teach us how to kill.
“I doubt it. What else can he tell us?”
“How to kill demons now we know what they look like?”
Tom’s brown eyes fill with amusement. “I don’t think that’s something they can tell us. I think we’ll be shown.”
“Do you reckon we’ll fight some demons soon?”
“There aren’t any demons in here. I bet we practice on each other.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” I say, resting back and crossing my arms over my chest.
“You think you can take me down? I must weigh twenty pounds more than you at least.”
Tom laughs in my face, and this pisses me off. Since I slammed a door into him the other day, our relationship hasn’t exactly blossomed into a good one. He’s won over the other recruits, centering himself as the top dog, but I won’t follow their stupid school hierarchy. His arrogance doesn’t sit comfortably with my own.
“Winning a fight isn’t all about size.”
Tom stands and sweeps a gaze over my figure, eyes lingering too long on my breasts swelling beneath the tight black top. “Yeah, but you’re a girl. I bet I can take you.”
Anger flashes across my mind; not only is he suggesting I’m weak, he’s also looking at me as a potential fuck. I stand, and my chair scrapes across the marble floor as I do. Tom’s eyes crinkle with amusement, fuelling my anger further. “Don’t bloody look at me like that!”
Tom stands too, pulling to full height and looking down on me. “Calm down, Ava. I’m sure they’ll help the little girls overcome their weaknesses.”
“Fuck you!”
I slam my hands into Tom’s chest, and he stumbles against the chair behind. Before Tom gets a chance to react, I jab an elbow into his throat. He gasps before quickly regaining his composure, then grabs me by the arm, pulls my hand away and crushes my wrist in his powerful grip.
I yelp as he twists my arm behind my back, then regain composure too. I kick backwards into his balls. Hard.
“You bitch!” Tom leans forward, holding his hand against his crotch.
Staggering backwards, I draw in a ragged breath. “I might be a girl, but I’m a soulhunter. I’m equal to you, so don’t you ever look at me or treat me as any different to you.”
Tom opens his mouth to respond but stops as he looks at something behind me. I spin around. Standing in the hallway, arms folded across his chest, Daniel regards us expressionlessly. In response, I smooth my hair, adrenaline surging again. Crap.
“Inside here. Now. Both of you.”
Daniel gestures at the doorway behind him and steps aside to allow us through. As I pass, he catches my arm. In alarm, I look up into his face. Daniel’s eyes harden, but he’s fighting a smile.
He moves his face close to my ear. “You are not equal to him.” My fury rises again, but it’s replaced by shock at his next words. “You are far superior, Ava. Don’t ever forget that.”
Daniel releases my arm, but I don’t move, my breath catching in my throat. As our eyes lock again, the anger towards him is replaced with a disturbing mix of fear and something unwanted. Attraction. Attraction reflected in his eyes. I’m no expert, but when a guy who’s your trainer looks at you, he shouldn’t liquify your insides.
As Daniel chastises Tom and me about correct soulhunter behaviour, I only half-hear because his whispered words echo in my head.
No one has ever told me I’m worth anything before.
6
I stagger backwards, touching my stinging lip. Before I have a chance to check my fingers for blood, Daniel slams into me, and I lose my footing. Landing on my back, I manage to prevent my head hitting the floor, but the breath is knocked from my lungs.
Daniel towers over me, smiles down, and I take back every positive thought and feeling I had about him. “So, Ava. Hand-to-hand combat. Not as easy as you think?”
The other soulhunters laugh, and he joins in.
Sitting in a semi-circle around the large, wooden-floored room, the dozen or so soulhunters wait for instructions. After a week here, we’re finally learning to fight.
Daniel began the lesson with evasive answers to questions, informing us we can use weapons, but learning to fight hand-to-hand is necessary. He mentions my spat with Tom last week and suggests I continue to demonstrate my prowess. Daniel’s words sounded encouraging, and I agree.
Then he humiliates me.
We sparred for several minutes. Sure, I fought well, but the bastard used me as an example by showing everyone how weak I am. The fight switched from me with the upper-hand, to my landing defeated on the floor in seconds.
Daniel turns back to the class, straightening his sleeves. “Anybody else want to try me? Or would you prefer I taught you to fight properly? That way you’ll be able to anticipate your opponent’s moves, unlike Ava.”
I wipe my lips and study my fingers. Blood. When did I last bleed? My vision blackens—not because of the blood, but because I’m furious. I have never lost a fight. Ever. And I’m not starting now.
“Stand up when you feel like it, Ava,” he says casually, not looking behind at me as he walks towards the group.
I push into a sitting position and lean back on my palms, summoning the energy to move. The class refocus on Daniel and no one pays any attention to me. Anger pushes out logic as I jump to my feet and charge across the room. Launching myself at Daniel, I slam a shoulder into his back with all the force I have left. Daniel staggers forward a little, before righting himself and spinning to face me.
“Did you anticipate that move?” I retort.
Daniel raises a hand, and I wait for retaliation. I’ve overreacted in the worst possible way.
But in Daniel’s eyes, I see something different to what I expected. Not anger or amusement, but curiosity. I refuse to show fear and stare straight back into his softening gaze. Daniel slowly runs his tongue along his lip, eyes fixed on my mouth. My angry heat flares into something else.
I’m caught in the moment as buried memories of the rare times I kissed boys surface. But Daniel isn’t a boy; he’s a man who has survived years fighting demons. Someone with battle scars on his strong arms, and eyes that pierce my soul.
Daniel reaches out a finger towards my mouth, and I flinch as he gently touches my injured lip. An involuntary sound escapes my throat, and I’m unable to take my eyes from his. What the hell is he doing? The room falls silent, as if I’m the only person here with him.
Daniel bends forwards, moving his fingers from my mouth to my cheek, all the time watching my reaction. I lose my stiffened stance, yielding to the new heat pumping through my blood.
In a split second, Daniel seizes me by the throat and twists me round, holding me in a headlock. The movement is so quick I don’t have time to react. His knees push into the back of mine, and I sink to the floor, sprawling onto my hands and knees.
Daniel crouches down, studying me with his old look of amusement. “Physical force and threats aren’t the only way to disarm an enemy, Ava,” he whispers.
I fix my eyes on the floor, unable to believe I’ve been humiliated twice in such a short space of time. Strands of hair hang down where they’ve escaped my ponytail, and I hide my tearing eyes behind the lengths.
Daniel’s boots squeak across the wooden floor to the other end of the room, and I remain still. Focusing on returning my breathing to normal, I switch off from the events of the last five minutes.
I stand, rearrange my hair, and stride over to take my place next to the others. Daniel glances at me, and I tighten my mouth, eyes narrowed in challenge. This time he doesn’t smile when he looks away.
*
“Ava.”
I pause as I reach the doorway. I’m the first person to reach the door in my desire to get the hell out, and the fact Daniel calls me back isn’t subtle. Digging my nails into a palm, I wait as the rest of the soulhunters pass. I nod at Sarah as she takes my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. Learning to control my temper is a tough skill to master but needed. In this new life, not controlling my natural temperament now leads to painful consequences. Tom passes, throwing me a mocking smile.
The last person exits. I close the heavy metal door before I lose my nerve and run through after them. My childish expectations of joining a righteous army have disappeared with each day that passes. Humiliation at the hands of some asshole trainer is not something I’d predicted.
Pulling my shoulders straight, I turn to Daniel. “What do you want?”
Daniel rests against the opposite wall, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. “How are you finding soulhunter life?”
I tuck my hands beneath my arms. “This isn’t soulhunter life. This is training.”
“And how are you finding training?”
Daniel’s mood is hard to gauge. I half-wish he’d show his snide smile rather than an impassive face.
“I don’t think I’m having as much fun as you,” I say coldly.
He peels himself from the wall and approaches. “Fun? You think training soulhunters is fun?”
The hardness to his tone is matched by a tiredness in his voice, one reflected in his pale face. What is his deal?
“Isn’t it?”
“No, Ava. It isn’t.”
His self-pitying tone riles me. “So is this what you do for fun instead? Do you get your kicks out of humiliating people?”
“No.”
“So what the hell did you treat me like that for?” I cringe at the forceful tone to my voice and rein it back. The last thing I want is to be sprawled on the floor again. Or does he only do that with other people around?
Daniel rubs his forehead with the heel of his palm and crosses to the large cupboard at the end of the room. He pulls two bottles of water out and throws one over. I catch the bottle in surprise.
“There’re a lot of weak people who sign up to be soulhunters. I can pretty much tell who will live and who will die by the second or third day.” Daniel takes a swig of water, then points the bottle at me. “Occasionally, people like you arrive.”
I unscrew the cap and gulp the water. “What do you mean?”
“It means I think you’ve a chance of surviving, but you need to learn how. By that, I don’t mean I need to teach you which weapon to use and how to kill demons, but that I need to show you how to channel who you are. I need you to push out the Ava whose attitude will kill her if she doesn’t control it.”
I swill the water around my mouth, sucking on my sore lip. “You mean you’re not just a sadist who likes humiliating women?”
Daniel laughs, and the short sound bounces off the walls. “Doesn’t matter to me if you’re a guy or a girl. I don’t treat either sex differently to the other. But when I see people who can do this job and survive, I help them.”
The connotation of Daniel’s words trembles along my spine. He keeps saying this—that the recruits won’t survive—and his words make no sense. Th
e angels enlist soulhunters to kill as many demons as possible. Why send their soldiers unprepared and easily killed?
“Help? So you’d treat Tom exactly the same as me?”
“Nope, look how easily you attacked and disarmed him the other day. There’s no point wasting my time on him.”
I blink. “Wasting your time?”
Daniel sets the bottle on the table and approaches. He folds his arms to match my stance and stands centimetres away, and his proximity starts the rapid-fire heartbeat again. “Ninety percent of the time, the soulhunters I meet who succeed are female. Part of the reason is one you may find abhorrent but could save your life.”
“What reason?”
Daniel tips his head. “What did I do that allowed me to blindside you earlier?”
My head aches to match my chest. His combat skills are superior, that’s what. Daniel’s darkening eyes indicate a different reason, and I fight down the memory of the spark from his fingers on my lips. Not the combat. This. “Oh.”
“Oh.” Daniel breaks the intensity of the look the way he did earlier and grins as he repeats my word.
“Are you telling me I need to seduce demons?”
“No. But it could help.”
The idea of touching a demon in this way sickens me. Besides, seduction isn’t something I do normally, or have any clue how to. My mind whirls—what if this is part of what I need to gain my Will… No bloody way, I’ll kill the demon bastards before they can touch me.
I push a stray strand of hair from my face and reach for the door handle. “Can I leave now?”
“I don’t just think your attractiveness is what will help you succeed,” says Daniel in a low voice. “There’s a hell of a lot more to you than that. Like I said, I’m going to help you.”
“Why?”
Daniel’s green eyes sparkle as they search mine. “Because I can.” He pauses. “And because you’re worth it
7
Paranormal Academy Page 3
