Demon Born (Hellfire Academy Book 1)

by C. L. Coffey

  There was no escaping the person who couldn’t make up his mind whether he wanted to kill me or not.

  “D’Angelo?” I snorted, staring at the inky words on the page. “He might as well wear a neon sign.” And he wanted me to hide what I was?

  I shut the book and shoved it back into my bag. I didn’t care if Gabriel was lying to me about not feeling as tired anymore—if I had to stay up all night studying to get weekends for myself, I was going to. I didn’t want to spend a moment longer with him than I had to.

  The sun was slowly starting to rise as rays of light crept over the mountains. As I watched, I tried to decide whether or not to return to my room—Leigh-Ann had to return at some point. It was either that or continue in my explorations of the school. My choice was made for me when the common room door opened, and a face I instantly recognized stepped inside.

  Harrison was cute in his photo, but the picture didn’t do him justice. He was halfway across the room before he realized I was even there, and he stopped, his blue eyes wide.

  “Oh.” He smiled. “Sorry, I didn’t realize there would be anyone else here.” He glanced at his watch before looking back to me with his head cocked. “What are you doing here?”

  Like his sister, his features were soft, and he also had the same twang when he spoke, but with only a few words, I suspected he’d be much easier to get along with.

  “It was as far as I got exploring.”

  “You haven’t made it to the dining hall yet?”

  I shook my head.

  “You want a guided tour?” he offered. “Breakfast will be served in five.”

  “Sounds good.” I rose to my feet. The thought of a coffee and a slice of toast felt appealing at that point.

  “Just a second then,” he said before hurrying over to one of the tables. He retrieved a textbook before returning to me. “I’m Harrison, by the way. And you’re my sister’s new roommate? Dora?”

  “If that would be Leigh-Ann, then yes,” I said. “And it’s Kennedy.”

  He gave me a sympathetic smile. “Dora’s still pretty.”

  “If you’re six and want to go travel the world,” I said dryly.

  “You get that a lot?”

  “I’m glad to see everyone but me knew I was coming.” I let out a long sigh.

  “My father’s a senator. I only knew my sister was getting a roommate because he did.” He frowned slightly as if contemplating telling me something.

  I was all ready for telling him that I had already met his sister, and that her reception was as cold as the weather outside, but he changed the subject before I could say anything.

  “Have they given you your academic advisor yet?”

  I nodded. “Gabriel.”

  He looked puzzled before realization hit him. “You mean Professor D’Angelo?”

  I nodded.

  “Tip number one: you never refer to a professor by their first name.” He held the door open.

  I walked out, back into the hallway. “He was the one who brought me here.” I shrugged.

  “Professor D’Angelo is my academic advisor too.” Harrison nodded. “What’s he like?”

  “You haven’t met him?” I asked, surprised.

  “Nope,” Harrison said. “He’s new just like you. So, what’s he like?”

  “A stickler for the rules,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  Harrison’s smile disappeared, then he shrugged and grinned. “I smell bacon.”

  It wasn’t much of a tour. There was a second staircase at the back of the school. Although less grand than the one in the main entrance, it was still large enough for four people to walk down at the same time. This one would get the most use: if boys weren’t allowed in the girl’s wing, and vice versa, then this was the only way we could walk down from the common room together.

  As the sun continued to rise, so did the students, each in varying degrees of wakefulness.

  Harrison seemed to know most of them, returning countless ‘mornings’ and waves. Evidently, I was walking to breakfast with one of the most popular guys in the college.

  The dining hall looked like every other school canteen I’d ever eaten in, although I was surprised at how busy this one was. I couldn’t help my eyes widening at the amount of food available. I grabbed a couple of slices of toast and a coffee before following Harrison to a table in the far corner of the room.

  The table of six already had three occupants. Two girls and another guy. “Everyone, this is Kennedy,” Harrison announced as I sat down. The three faces stared at me. “She’s Leigh-Ann’s roommate.”

  Harrison took a seat next to an exceptionally pretty Asian girl with delicate features. She leaned over to kiss him, making sure to keep her brown eyes on me.

  I kept my expression neutral as I took a sip of my coffee. Although Harrison hadn’t mentioned he had a girlfriend, it hadn’t even crossed my mind to ask him about his dating life.

  At my lack of reaction, she broke away and turned to face me fully. “Lottie,” she said, flicking her black hair over her shoulder. “This is Simone and Cody.”

  “Are you rich, troubled, gifted, or a combination of the above?” Simone asked, setting her fork down beside an untouched plate of scrambled eggs.

  “Huh?” I gave her a blank stare.

  “Well, you’re at Greenwood Prep, affectionately known as Good-Riddance Prep,” Simone said bitterly. “The school masquerading as a college where the rich, famous, or fed-up dump their kids who can’t go to a normal college.”

  I glanced around the dining hall, which was quickly filling up, and examined the occupants. They were all well looked after, and judging from the handbook I had skimmed earlier, being here was, although costly to their parents, also a guarantee to get them a good job. Or maybe it was just their wealth and connections.

  What different lives we lived.

  I turned back to Simone, unable to stop the arched eyebrow.

  Lottie gave me an exasperated sigh. “I’m rich. And gifted.” She laughed. “My mother is Vanessa Tseung.”

  I gave her a blank stare.

  “The designer.” She prompted.

  “Oh.” I gave her a polite smile. Though I still had no clue who her mother was.

  “Simone is rich,” she continued, apparently taking my response as an understanding. “Her father is currently building his fifth hotel in Dubai. Cody, on the other hand, falls under troubled.”

  I turned my attention to the red-head and gave him the once over. He looked harmless. “I may or may not have held a house party in my parent’s summer house in the Hamptons,” he informed me, then grinned. “There may or may not have been alcohol present,” he continued. “And my dad’s Veyron may, or may not, have ended up in the ocean.”

  “So you’re troubled and rich?” I asked.

  His grin widened. “Very.”

  “And Harrison’s father,” Lottie started.

  I shrugged. “Senator of Texas.” I finished for her.

  Lottie smiled, then inclined her head. “Now, which are you?”

  “Dora.” A voice called from across the hall.

  I turned in the chair, spotting the owner of the voice instantly.

  Dean Pinnosa.

  “Dora?” Simone repeated with a snicker. “I thought your name was Kennedy.”

  “It’s my surname, and I don’t go by Dora,” I said through gritted teeth as the saint called my name again, pushing me to stand.

  “If Dean Pinnosa has you on her radar,” Lottie muttered, “I guess that makes you troubled too.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Ignoring Lottie, I walked over to the waiting saint.

  Conscious of the fact that Pinnosa’s summons had all but silenced the hall, I kept my head high as I made my way around the tables. I followed her into the hallway and closed the door behind us.

  “You called?”

  “You called, what?” Pinnosa folded her arms as she glared disapprovingly.

  “You called, Ma’am?
”

  “Leigh-Ann came to see me last night. She requested you move.”

  “All I did was say hello,” I said, unable to keep from sounding defensive.

  “I told her it wasn’t an option,” Pinnosa said. “I have also informed her that to give you both a chance to bond, I am requesting the two of you spend your evenings this week assisting the librarian.”

  My mouth fell open. “That sounds like punishment.”

  “It is. Both of you were out of your rooms after lights out last night.”

  Before I could tell her that the only reason I had been out of my room was because an archangel had requested it, she had already left, leaving me fuming.

  “Everything okay?”

  I turned, finding Lottie behind me. Considering how delicate looking I thought she was, the girl was surprisingly tall—only a couple of inches shorter than me.

  “Roommate issues.” I sighed.

  “It won’t get any better. Leigh-Ann is evil.” Lottie linked her arm with mine. “Come on, our first class is English, and Professor Bell is an ass.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked as she led me to the classroom.

  Lottie rolled her eyes. “He hates it when you’re late, then he picks on you–”

  “No.” I cut her off. “What do you mean, my roommate is evil?”

  “Watch.” She pulled me to one side, and I spotted my blonde roommate making her way to the room we were waiting outside of. “Morning, Leigh-Ann.” Lottie flashed her a smile.

  Leigh-Ann’s face darkened, and she shot Lottie a glare. “Pretending to befriend the new girl?”

  “I’m not pretending anything.” The smile remained fixed on Lottie’s face.

  “Please. You’re so fake, even Barbie is more real than you. And you’d better watch your back,” Leigh-Ann added, directing the comment at me.

  I stared at her, suddenly feeling exhausted. This was supposed to be college, not high school—we were all old enough to act like adults without the pettiness that came hand in hand with high school, weren’t we?

  “Violet, Leigh-Ann. Why aren’t you two at your desks?” the question boomed down the corridor.

  “Who is Violet?” I muttered, confused, as I turned to see an approaching man.

  “What do you think Lottie is short for?” Lottie hissed at me before smiling brightly at the man. “Sorry, professor. I thought I should introduce you to Dora.”

  “It’s Kennedy,” I said through gritted teeth.

  “Oh yeah.” Lottie gave me a dismissive wave, unlinking our arms. “Whatever. Kennedy.”

  I gave Professor Bell a half-hearted wave.

  He was shorter than me by about half a foot, but the way he examined me I would have believed him to be a foot taller. He carried some extra weight, which his suit didn’t seem to hide, and his face had several wrinkles around his eyes, though he seemed friendly enough.

  “Yes, I was told there would be two new students starting today.”

  “Another student?” Leigh-Ann asked. She chewed at her lip as she looked past me.

  “Will you and Violet please take your seats, I will introduce Kennedy to the whole class, don’t worry.” Professor Bell ushered them in. He closed the door and turned to me. “You decided you were going to attend class today then?”

  I blinked, confused as to why it sounded like he was implying I hadn’t been there until now out of choice until I realized there was another person behind me. I could feel my face heat up as I wondered how the hell I managed not to notice him. Aside from the fact he’d been standing next to me, he was hot.

  Really hot.

  He leaned against the wall next to me, and I couldn’t help but inhale his scent. He smelled of summer despite the fact there was several feet of snow outside. He looked older than the other students. I was willing to bet he was older, like me. He had dark skin which contrasted with his unusual blue eyes; eyes that were staring intently at me.

  Feeling my neck heat up, I shifted my gaze, instantly noticing he only had one hand. The other was … well, there wasn’t one. Just a stub poked out from under his blazer. I could see enough of the redness to guess the healing had happened within the last month or two. I looked away.

  “I don’t have a hand,” the guy announced, scowling at me. “Congratulations on noticing. I’d shake yours but …” he held up the stub.

  “As you so frequently feel the need to point out, Ty,” Professor Bell said before I could apologize for staring and upsetting him. “Maybe if you stopped playing the victim you could learn to adapt to having one hand and do something more productive with your life instead of lingering around the back of the church, smoking. Which you’re supposed to refrain from doing to help your injury heal properly.”

  Ty let out an irritated sigh. “Maybe you all need to acknowledge that I’m an adult and this is my second time at college.”

  His gaze never left me. If anything, the intensity seemed to burn through me.

  “And it’s my choice if I smoke or not. It’s none of your business.”

  “It is my business when you don’t turn up to my class, or any class, when you’re being given a second chance. You would also do well to remember that no one is forcing you to stay. If you want to leave, go ahead.”

  Professor Bell waited patiently, all while keeping a pleasant smile on his face. When Ty refused to respond, he nodded.

  “Seeing as this is the first lesson for both of you, you can sit with each other and help each other catch up.” He stuck his hand into his bag and rummaged around before a brand-new copy of Dante’s Inferno was thrust into my face. “I only have one spare. You will have to share for today.”

  The book broke the staring contest that Ty and I had somehow engaged in, and I took it from the professor. I followed him into the room and stood by the professor’s desk at the front of the room as indicated, hyper-aware that Ty was right behind me the entire time.

  “Settle down, class,” Professor Bell said.

  Whether it was the instruction or the realization that there were two new students at the front of the class, the room fell silent.

  “As you can tell, we have two new students joining you today.” He turned to me and Ty. “Given that the both of you will be the topic of conversation for the next few days at least, could you put some ease on the gossip mill and tell the class a little bit about yourselves?”

  “Ty. Ty Hamilton.”

  The room went silent. Deathly silent. The class wasn’t big, only about twenty students or so, but when none moved or spoke, it was eerie.

  “We thought you were a ghost?” A girl in the second row blurted out.

  A ghost?

  Ghosts didn’t exist, did they?

  And yet I was a nephilim, and I had been brought by an archangel to a college run by a saint …

  I shot a look in Ty’s direction. He looked too corporeal to be a ghost. When I glanced up at his face, I was surprised to find his attention still fixed firmly on me, even though the entire class was practically drooling over him. “I’m not a ghost.”

  Feeling my cheeks go warm, I turned my attention back to the class. All things considered, I didn’t think it was so bad that I believed the statement, and I didn’t appreciate the hostile attention from him.

  And then I remembered that most of the student body were human so believing one of them could be a ghost would have been ridiculous, at least to them.

  My gaze skimmed over the faces in my class. How many in here were nephilim? And how would I know if they were?

  The class burst into chatter and movement.

  “Settle down,” Professor Bell said. “Ms. Kennedy, anything you want to add?”

  “It’s just Kennedy,” I corrected him before escaping as quickly as I could to the only free table near the back of the classroom. Moments later, Ty slipped into the seat next to me with more grace than I had managed. I placed the book between us, fumbling slightly as I turned to the required page, then, angling my body, tryi
ng to sit as far from Ty as I could while still being able to read the book.

  By the end of the lesson, I had no more knowledge of what the book was about. After hurriedly agreeing to whatever Professor Bell was asking of me—I wasn’t paying attention—I darted out of the door, trying to catch up with Lottie.

  My next class was history, and I had no idea where I was going. By the time I had escaped, the hallway was empty.

  Empty, except for Ty. “You got history next too?” He waved his hand, gesturing down the corridor. “Whoever called this place a college must have been drunk or high when they picked that name. This place is a school.” When he wasn’t angry, there was a drawl to his voice. Not Texan like Harrison, but close. Then it hit me: there was a hint of Cajun in there. Louisiana?

  “And you would know?” I folded my arms.

  “I was in my final year at Tulane before I got dragged out here. College is supposed to let you grow into adults. This place keeps everyone a kid as long as possible.”

  “That’s a bad thing?” As far as I was aware, people didn’t want to grow up, right? Okay, maybe I’d had different expectations for a college, and maybe they were right, but being a kid again—only having to worry about making it to class on time and getting homework done? That wasn’t completely unappealing.

  “A ‘college’ for nephilim run by a saint? They all think we’re evil. This is just a way to keep us logged and tagged until they need to use us as bait.”

  My mouth fell open. “You know about that?”

  Ty just rolled his eyes.

  “I thought we were supposed to keep it a secret?”

  There was another eyeroll. “Or maybe you’re part angel? Goody-two-shoes.”

  “I’m not—” Ugh. I wasn’t letting him distract me with that. “You’re a nephilim too?”