by Cara E Holt
Infernal
The Hexborn Series
Book 1.
By Cara E. Holt
Published by Cara E. Holt.
Copyright © 2019 by Cara E. Holt.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
License notes
This e-book is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the publisher.
Cover designed by Fantasia Covers.
Contents
Prologue
Saying Goodbye
New Beginnings
Guys like him do not Worry Me.
You Have got to be Kidding Me?
The Ouroboros
I can Handle Myself Black.
Illegal Fights and a good Spanking.
You are Joking Right?
I Think I’m Going to Puke
No one Controls Me.
It’s Already real, Little Raven.
Like Chocolate and Wine.
Blood Drunk.
She’s Already Taken.
Fetch Doggy.
The Black Dragon
Naughty Little Witch.
Like a Unicorn is to Glitter.
She was Always Watching.
Curses can be Nasty Things.
Prologue
Carlisle. 1614.
The witch is dragged out into the courtyard, her dress that was once a pale blue is marred with dirt and grime from the grim dungeon she has been held in for the last two weeks. The courtyard is lined with witches all in black cloaks. They had all come to watch the spectacle. Over to the east is a raised platform where Carsten Black sits, his eyes follow the woman across the courtyard as she walks. He sits beside his father and the members of the council. His eyes glower at the witch as she is brought to the centre and tied to the wooden pole that rests amidst a bed of wood.
“Morgana Bennett you have been found guilty of treason against the Wiccan council. Your crime is taking a lover when you are engaged, and breeding a hybrid abomination. Your punishment is to burn at the stake.” A smile twitches at the lips of the high councillor when he delivers the sentence. “Do you have any last words?”
Morgana Bennett lifts her defiant green eyes to his and smiles. “Is it a crime to love another? He is my soul mate, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. We will be reunited again my love and I.” She rubs her swollen belly. “My unborn child will be the downfall of the council one day.” She turns her eyes to Carsten Black and his father. “You Blacks, I have always detested you. I would rather burn than be tied to one of you for the rest of my life. Know this Carsten Black, I curse you and your bloodline, all female witches in your coven will be born barren, never to breed another Black spawn again.”
Carsten Black stands, his fists clenched at his side, with wisps of wind swirling from his palms as he struggles to control his rage. “How dare you curse my family. That creature you carry in your belly will die with you. I curse you Bennett’s.” His blue eyes burn with rage and hate. “I curse that every Bennett female born from this day forth shall die before they reach adulthood.” He looks to the high councillor. “Burn the bitch and let’s have done with this.”
The high councillor nods to the cloaked figures, they all step forward and light the pyre at the witches feet. Morgana tips her head back and looks to the skies and laughs as the flames start to surround her.
“One day you will all get what you deserve. My daughter will raise hell on you all. She will lead an army that will take down your council and you will bow at her feet, as her power holds you her prisoner.” Morgana releases a hysterical laugh, her body shaking with it, and as the flames consume her, she never takes her eyes from Carsten Black. Her eyes full of vengeance and promise, she never screams, she never cries, as the flames consume her and take her from this life to the next.
Saying Goodbye
I had defied my mother once again tonight and sneaked out. In my defence, it was my last night of freedom and I just wanted to let loose and enjoy it. After today it would be nothing but work and homework for three full years, so I don’t think it is unreasonable of me to want to enjoy myself tonight. I can’t explain where it came from, but I felt this need deep within me to live my life to the fullest. I was by far an angel, and had tested my parents resolve at every hurdle in my eighteen years of life, but after tonight, I would knuckle down and be a witch that my coven could be proud of. I would walk away from that snobby academy in three years time with the best results, and show everyone that witches from the lower covens were just as capable as those from the elite.
The club was busy tonight. This place was a regular haunt for me and some of the girls from my coven. It was also owned by the delicious Dagen, a two hundred year old vampire, who let’s just say I was more than friends with. I sway my hips to the music and close my eyes, feeling the music and letting go. Two hands grab me by the hips from behind and they start to move their body in time with mine. He leans into my ear and I can feel the stubble on his face rub against my skin.
“Come home with me tonight?” He asks me. His voice sends a shiver down my spine.
I turn around smiling, and wrap my arms around his neck. “Dagen. You know I can’t. I leave tomorrow.”
He grins as he continues to move us to the music. “Exactly. It’s your last night of freedom. You need to enjoy yourself.” He takes my ear lobe in his mouth and nibbles playfully on it. “You know I’ll give you a good send off my little witch.”
I chuckle. “Oh I know you would Dagen, and as tempting as you are, I am for once going to be sensible and say no.”
He releases my ear and looks down at me. At six foot he towers above my five foot four frame. Dagen is sex on a stick; with cheekbones chiselled by a god and a body built of solid muscle, he was sinfully tempting. “Who am I going to play with when you’re gone?” He asks his chestnut brown eyes smiling.
I laugh in response. “Come now Dagen, we both know you will have no problem in that department.” I gesture with my head at the group of girls dancing near us who are all eyeing him up.
His upper lip curls in distaste. “Humans. They taste dull compared to you little witch.” He grazes his fang along the vein in my neck and I groan. “Let me taste you one last time.”
I groan as his fang once again skims my vein. “One last time.” I murmur on a moan, as he lifts me and I wrap my legs around his torso. He carries me off the dance floor, and through a door into his private office. Dagen sits me down on his office desk and steps in-between my legs.
“You’re my addiction, princess.” His eyes burn with hunger and lust.
I groan when he licks up my neck. He sinks his fangs into me and sucks and I close my eyes and fist his shirt in my hands.
“Oh yes.” I moan.
A vampire drinking your blood was one of the finest ways to get off. He sucks harder and I moan again, leaning into him, allowing his fangs to sink further into my vein. His hands snake up my bare legs and I slap them gently when he gets too close to my underwear. I feel his smile against my flesh. He sucks again, and I moan as I feel myself reaching that crest of a first-class orgasm.
“Again, please.” I beg him, needing him to get me there. He sucks hard again, and I crash over the edge moaning loudly as I come. “Holy cauldrons.”
He leans up, his eyes red with bloodlust and his mouth dripping with my blood. I pull his head down to mine and kiss him, tasting the coppery taste of myself on his lips.
“Stay.” He demands, pulling my body flush with his.
I pull back and sh
ake my head. “I need to go.” I wipe the bloodstain off his lips with my finger. “You look after yourself Dagen. I’ll come and see you when I’m home for the holidays.”
He leans into my neck and swipes his tongue over the puncture marks, instantly healing and sealing the wound. “Knock them dead at that place princess.”
I grin and wink. “You know me Dagen.”
I whisper a spell to open the door of our home and I quietly sneak inside. I have barely put my foot on the hallway floor when the lights come on, and my very pissed off mother stands there with her hands on her hips in her pyjamas.
“Elara Latimer! I expressly forbid you going out tonight.” She growls.
“Hi mum.” I answer, giving her a little sheepish wave. “It’s my last night here. I wanted to say goodbye to my friends.”
My mum steps into my space and takes my chin in her hand and inspects my neck. “Does saying goodbye normally include sucking your blood?”
Sighing, I gently remove her hand from my chin. “Come on Mum, you were young once, it’s called having fun.”
“Elara, you know how the coven would react if they found out. Fraternising with vampires is deeply frowned upon.” She sighs and runs a hand through her dark unruly curls. “Do you realise how lucky you are to have been offered a place at the academy?”
I roll my eyes. I had heard this speech many times in the three months since our high priestess had summoned me to her chamber, and delivered the news that I had been offered a place at Thorne Shadow academy for witches.
“That academy only takes witches’ from the finest covens in the world. This is an amazing opportunity for you and our coven. This could lead to a match into one of the elite covens for you.”
I groan at the reminder about the importance of making a good match. It may be the year 2020, but in my world, age old traditions still stood firm, and one of those was that every witch was matched and married by the age of twenty-one, which gave me three more years of precious freedom before I was saddled with a husband.
“I still don’t understand how the offer of a place came about. I mean who was it that made an application on my behalf?”
My mum pushes me gently up the stairs. “The application was done anonymously, so we will likely never know, but that isn’t what matters now. What matters Elara, is that you go that school, and excel and make a name for our coven.”
“Yes mother I know. You have told me like a hundred times.” I turn and face her, leaning on the door frame of my room.
She touches my cheek and smiles sadly. “Life is fleeting Elara; we must grab the opportunities that come our way when we can.”
I smile at her words; it was something she had said to me often over the years. Her eyes would always brim with tears when she would say it, and I always wondered what regrets she had in her life that made her determined for me to live mine fully.
“Now get some sleep. It’s a good job it was me who caught you sneaking in and not your father.”
She was right there, my Father would have been livid if he had caught me and I would not have gotten off as lightly as I had with my mum.
“Good night Mum.”
“Good night my butterfly.”
New Beginnings
I stare up at the large and imposing building standing before me. It was a huge mansion house set in the countryside in rural England. Thorne Shadow had been grooming the next generation of the finest witches and wizards for centuries. Only the elite witches and wizards got the opportunity to attend here. Covens like mine that were very low down in the system never got a chance to walk the corridors of this academy, yet here I was.
“Did you pack your spell book?” My mum asks me, as she flicks some lint off my coat.
“Yes mum. That is the fourth time you have asked me.” My eyes catch my dad’s and he shares my smile.
“Halina, stop your worrying. She has everything she needs and more beside.” My dad pulls me in to his embrace and kisses the top of my head. “Knock them dead my girl.”
My mother pulls me from him and envelopes me in a tight hug. “Now remember be on your best behaviour, study hard, and take everything opportunity you can to learn.”
I kiss her cheek as I prise myself from her tight grip. “I promise.”
My Dad places an arm around Mum’s shoulder and starts to guide her towards the car. “Ring us once you are settled honey. Go on inside now.”
I nod and give them a final quick wave as they pull off back down the long driveway. I turn and with my bags floating along behind me, make my way into the school entrance hall. The entrance is a hub of noise and bodies as students all dressed in the Red and grey uniform of the academy stand around chatting. I take in the grand entrance and its high black ceilings. Portraits of famous witches adorn the ancient walls. Hector Fray the witch who invented the fire portal looks down on me, and beside him is a portrait of Mayla Black the high witch who was pivotal in creating the accords.
A loud gong jerks me from my perusal of the hall of fame. Standing on the steps that lead through the double doors into the heart of the academy is Mistress Isolde Southern, headmistress of the academy, and a member of one of the three most powerful covens in existence. She was a regal looking witch, standing tall at five-nine with a model like svelte figure. Her platinum blonde hair was neatly held in a low bun and she wore a black dress that clung to her slim frame. She had piercing brown eyes that you could tell missed nothing.
“Welcome everyone to Thorne Shadow Academy. This is the start of your three year journey here with us, and I would like to remind you of the opportunity you are being afforded by attending our school. I will take you through to the school hall now were you will be placed into your areas of specialty.” She turns abruptly and the double doors open.
We fall into place behind her and follow her inside. The great hall was huge and was lit by large glass chandeliers that lit up the darkly painted red walls and ceiling. Already seated where students from the second and third years, all kitted out in their identical and immaculate uniforms. We are ushered to rows of benches at the front of the hall and all take our seats. I knew what to expect next as I had read a book that my mum had bought and insisted I read, that told of the history and traditions of the academy. We would each be called up to the front and our index finger would be pricked with a needle. The blood from our fingers would then drop into the marble font that would reveal the element of magic that was most prevalent in us. Whichever element this revealed would be our house for the next three years.
“Can the Princeps for each element please come to the front?” Mistress Isolde commands.
Five senior year students walk to the front and take their places either side of Mistress Isolde. The first is a girl, with fiery-red hair and an upturned nose, who wears a bow of white around the neck of her shirt. She was the leader of the house of Air. Next to her was a tall and broad shouldered guy with a buzz cut and deep brown eyes, his blue tie indicated he was of house water. Following on from him was a girl with almost white-blonde hair that was plaited all the way down her back to a point that reached past her navel. She wore a bow of Silver around her neck that was the colour of the house of Aether. On the other side of the headmistress stands the one with the smouldering eyes, whose tie identified him as house of Fire. I studied him intently. He had a head of almost black hair that hung over his forehead. His eyes were the palest colour of blue, the paleness of them was startling in a beautiful and mysterious way. He had angular high cheekbones and full lips, and he stood at the front with a brooding look on his face like he had better things to be doing than this. As if he has sensed my staring he looks my way and catches my eyes. His frown deepens and then he looks away, clearly bored and disinterested with what he saw. I had no doubt that he was likely from one of the power covens as he had that sense of importance and arrogance about him. I pulled my gaze away from him onto the next principes. This guy had dark hair like fire guy, but his eyes were a deep green colour lik
e mine. There was something familiar about him that I couldn’t put my finger on. His house was Earth, identified by the green tie that he wore. All five were final year students so all around twenty years of age.
One by one we are called to the front until eventually it was my turn. Holding my head high, I step forward and offer my finger up to the headmistress. The needle pricks my skin and blood pools and she guides my hand over the black marble font. My blood drops into the water and turns it from clear to red, swirling in small circles as it decides my house. The circles start to quicken and the symbol for earth appears, but before the headmistress has chance to direct me to that house it swirls again, and changes to fire. She frowns and studies me intently.
“It looks like you have two stronger elements, both earth and fire.” She looks undecided what to do, when the fire principes steps forward.
“She would be better suited for house earth.”
Mistress Isolde bobs her head as if considering this and then, when the water swirls again and reveals the fire symbol she makes her decision. “House fire.”
Fire guy frowns, and I can tell he isn’t happy but he steps back and gestures with his head for me to join him. I’m fuming at his attempt to keep me out of his house. I step forward and join them. As I pass him he scowls at me, his pale blue eyes burning into me.
The rest of the students are placed into their elemental houses and we are escorted by our princeps to our dorm rooms. I am the last one to be taken to my allotted room, and I can’t help but think that this is done on purpose by the ice man – the name I had christened blue eyes with.
“You are down here.” He barks out briskly walking down a dimly lit corridor with me chasing after him. He abruptly stops causing me to almost run into him, he holds out a hand that squashes into my face and stops me hitting his chest. He swiftly removes his hand and rubs it down his trouser leg like he is wiping off unwanted germs. I cock up a brow and smirk, this guy was the worst.
