Demon Born (Hellfire Academy Book 1)

by C. L. Coffey

  “Your anger issues are a bigger problem than I thought,” he continued. “But your compassion for others is greater still.”

  I didn’t dare speak. The most eloquent thing my brain could manage was ‘huh?’ and I was completely confused by the amount of heat that seemed to be radiating from Gabriel’s gaze. Or was that his fingers?

  There was a raucous cheer from the gym, and it broke whatever spell had settled over us.

  Without another word, Gabriel turned and left his office.

  It wasn’t until I could hear him calling the class to order that I sank into the seat, surprised to find that I was breathing so hard.

  I was nervous about returning to Gabriel’s office later that evening, but we continued as though nothing had happened, and I came to the conclusion that maybe my adrenaline-fueled brain had conjured up that memory.

  Unfortunately, it hadn’t imagined the argument with Lottie, and I suddenly found myself eating my chili fries at a table by myself that night. I thought it would bother me more, especially when I could tell Lottie was talking about me, but it really didn’t. I also realized it was the only way I could be in the same room as Harrison without wanting to strangle him.

  By the time I left study hall and made my way back to my room, I was exhausted. For the first time in a long time, I wanted sleep. I’d been working my butt off for weeks, and I was entitled to one early night. Not that it was early, but tonight, lights out would mean just that.

  I grabbed my pajamas and a towel, quickly showering. When I returned to the bedroom, I was still alone. I might as well have been given my own room for all the times I saw Leigh-Ann. Yawning, I climbed up into my bunk, laid on my side, and turned out the sidelight.

  Tired as I was, sleep wouldn’t come. It hadn’t taken long for my eyes to readjust to the darkness, when I could clearly see Leigh-Ann’s empty bunk from my bed. I rolled onto my back, trying to trying to recall the nights over the last month. I’d been up studying every night until at least 1:00 a.m., and then up and out of the room by 5:00.

  In all that time, she had never been back to the room. Thinking back, her bed never looked slept in, either. Which would also explain why she always seemed so tired. I reached over and turned my lamp on.

  Enough was enough.

  I didn’t bother grabbing my bathrobe. It might have been cold, but I still couldn’t feel it, and at that time, I was unlikely to cross anyone’s path. I left the room and made my way to the Common Room.

  It was empty.

  Downstairs I stuck my head into all the classrooms even though there were no lights on, just in case she had turned them off to sleep. They were all empty. I had just crossed the dining hall off the list and was about to do the same for the library when something caught my attention.

  Right in the back corner, hidden by a row of shelves, was a table. Although vacant, there were books spread out all over it.

  I was halfway over when I felt a breeze. It was too strong to be a draft, and I changed direction, heading for the emergency exit in the corner of the large room. It was wide open, and a blizzard was already driving the snow inside. I leaned over, ready to pull the door closed, when I spotted rapidly disappearing footprints.

  My stomach plummeted.

  Without giving it a second thought, I ran out, following what was left of the footprints, trying to catch up with who I guessed was Leigh-Ann before the blizzard wiped them all out. They led me away from the college and towards the river that cut through the campus grounds.

  I picked up my speed, suddenly grateful for the fact that I could cover the distance so quickly. Gabriel might disapprove of me not hiding my speed, but this was one occasion when it was necessary.

  “Leigh-Ann,” I yelled, spotting the petite blonde at the water’s edge.

  It wasn’t until I got closer that I could hear her shouts. “Harrison. Harrison, where are you? Harrison?”

  I slowed, suddenly worried that I would have to go into the water looking for her brother. I didn’t feel the cold humans did, but would that extend to the frigid waters of a quick-moving river?

  “Leigh-Ann, where’s Harrison?” I asked, as I made it to her side. She ignored me. “Leigh-Ann, this is not the time to be hating me.” I stepped in front of her.

  She stared straight through me. The penny dropped.

  “You’re sleep-walking.”

  “Harrison,” she yelled again.

  The river was moving fast enough that there was no ice on top. Given how cold it was, I was sure if this was a lake, there would be a layer of ice over the top of it.

  I didn’t know how long Leigh-Ann had been out there, but even in her sleep, she was shivering. I glanced back, wondering if I should go get help. If Harrison was somewhere in the water, he would need help quickly, and I wasn’t sure I could look after them both.

  My gaze dropped to the snow on the ground. There were only two sets of footprints: mine and Leigh-Ann’s. Harrison wasn’t out there. I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Harrison’s not here,” I told Leigh-Ann. I gently put my hands on her arms, ready to lead her back to bed, when she awoke with a scream.

  The next thing I knew, I was flying backwards into the water. Thankfully, I had only gone a little way out, and I landed in the shallow end. It didn’t stop me from inhaling a lungful of water before I scrambled out, coughing and spluttering. My throat and lungs felt like they were on fire.

  “Where am I?” Leigh-Ann shouted, her eyes wide with panic.

  I got up, trying not to splash water over her as I moved beside her. “You were sleep walking,” I told her, trying to get my coughing under control. “You were shouting for Harrison.”

  Leigh-Ann looked from me to the water, to the college in the distance behind us, now barely visible through the snow, and finally back to me before she burst into tears.

  “Leigh-Ann?” I prompted, swiping dripping hair from my face.

  She quickly shook her head. “It was a dream,” she gasped out between sobs. “I think it was just a dream.”

  And then she launched herself at me.

  I gave her an awkward hug, not so much to do with the fact that I didn’t really do PDA, but more that I was conscious of water dripping off me like a waterfall.

  “We need to get you inside, into the warmth.” I could feel the strength of her shivers as she clung to me. I stepped back from her, then taking her hand in mine, led her back to the school.

  Aside from crying, she remained silent all the way to our bedroom. I sat her down on my sofa and leaned up to pull my blankets off the bed. Within minutes, she was wrapped up in a cocoon, but her teeth were still chattering.

  “I need to get you to the nurse.”

  “No,” she cried, her expression as panicked as earlier. “No, please don’t.”

  “Leigh-Ann, you’re freezing.”

  “Please,” she begged, clutching at my hands. It was like being held by a popsicle.

  “Fine. But you have to tell me what the hell is going on. And you have to take a shower to warm up.”

  “Okay.” She pulled the blankets tightly around her.

  I sighed and raked a hand through my hair, remembering that I was still soaked. “How come you’re not cold?” Leigh-Ann asked, noticing the same thing.

  I took a deep breath. “It’s a long story,” I told her. “But right now, I think you should get a warm shower. I don’t see how else you’re going to warm up.” Without giving her another option, I ducked into the bathroom and started the water.

  While Leigh-Ann showered, I pulled my soaked pajamas off and hurriedly changed into a second pair. Making sure to grab Leigh-Ann’s blankets from her bed, I sank into my sofa and waited for her to return.

  She took her time in the shower, not that I blamed her. When she did leave the bathroom, her cheeks were pink, and she wasn’t shivering as much. She hurried over to join me under the covers and curled up in a ball beside me.

  “I have nightmares,” she finally admitted.<
br />
  “What happens in them?” When she wouldn’t look me in the eyes, I scooted over and grabbed her hand. “Leigh-Ann, I promise that whatever you tell me won’t leave this room.”

  She looked at me, tears lining her eyes, and nodded. “They started at the beginning of my junior year of high school. At first, they were just strange.” She sniffed. “You know, like all the birds suddenly falling out of the sky, or the river would turn red, like blood.”

  “That sounds weird, but not too different from the weird dreams most people have.”

  “They weren’t too bad at school,” Leigh-Ann told me, biting her lip. “When I started here, they got worse. I would dream about things happening to me.”

  “You’d get hurt?”

  She shook her head. “Not seriously. In high school, I would be in gym class, and I’d stumble, and the volleyball would hit me in the face.”

  “That seems a long way from walking around in a blizzard.”

  “I know, but when I had gym the next day, I did stumble, and the volleyball did hit me in the face. I thought it was déjà vu or something, but then the dreams started getting stranger.” She turned, angling her body towards me and leaned forward. “I dreamed about the angels in New Orleans before it happened. My friend mentioned it in homeroom one morning, and I knew before she said anything that there was a man and that he was being carried by an angel with blue wings. Wings of light, not feathers.”

  “Okay,” I said, drawing out the word. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her, but I’d seen Gabriel’s wings, and they were gold, even if they were made of light.

  “I know it sounds crazy,” Leigh-Ann told me. She let out a bark of a laugh. “I thought I was having psychic dreams, and that’s crazy. But every dream I had would eventually come true. Whether it was what breakfast was going to be the next day, or if the news reported an earthquake in Asia. Then they started getting worse. I started dreaming that Harrison would die.”

  “But he hasn’t,” I said, gently. “He’s still very much alive.”

  “I know,” Leigh-Ann whispered. “But everything else has come true.”

  “Does this … have anything to do with why you don’t like Lottie?”

  “She used to be my roommate,” Leigh-Ann muttered. “We were friends.”

  “What happened?”

  “One night I had a dream that I found Harrison at the bottom of the stairs to the main hall. I remember finding him and holding him, trying to revive him. I woke up on top of Lottie,” she said, muttering the last part so quickly I could barely hear her.

  It wasn’t until she flushed a deep pink and looked away that I figured out what she had said. “Lottie thought you were coming on to her?”

  “I tried to tell her about the dream, but she didn’t believe me. She thought I was making up excuses.”

  “What about Harrison?” I asked. “He’s your twin.”

  “I know,” Leigh-Ann sighed, sounding thoroughly miserable. “We used to be so close, but Lottie told him what had happened, and he believed her over me.”

  “But he’s your twin,” I repeated. “Aren’t twins supposed to have some kind of bond?”

  Leigh-Ann shrugged. “We did. I told him Lottie had brainwashed him, and he told me he could always see that I was jealous of their relationship. They’d been dating for a month at this point. Then he even told me I’d taken it too far by trying to get with his girlfriend. I’m not gay, Kennedy, but if I was, Harrison would have been the first person I’d tell. And I swear, I never tried to kiss Lottie.”

  I squeezed her hand. “I believe you.”

  She looked at me, her blue eyes staring at me like saucers. Then she burst into tears and wrapped her arms around me. For the second time in as many hours, I found myself in an awkward hug. “Thank you,” I heard her mumble.

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  She pulled away and wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch, especially about sharing a room, I just ...”

  I nodded. She didn’t need to finish—I knew she didn’t want the same thing to happen again. Neither did I. “Will you please start sleeping in your own bed?” I asked her. “No more falling asleep in the library.”

  Suddenly Leigh-Ann’s face went white. “But what if I wake up on you? What if I’m doing something worse next time?”

  I gave her a smile. “I can think of worse things than being woken up by a kiss.”

  The fear didn’t dissipate. “No,” she whispered. “I mean, what if I try to kill you?”

  “Why would you try to kill me?” This time it was my turn to stare at her with my eyes wide.

  “You woke me up beside the river,” Leigh-Ann pointed out. She brought her knees up in front of her, holding the blankets tightly to her body. “What if I dream someone is attacking Harrison, and I wake up attacking you?”

  “What would stop you from sleepwalking to my room and doing that anyway?” I asked. “What would stop you from walking into someone else’s room and attacking them? At least if you’re here, I can stop you before you leave.”

  “You would do that?” she asked.

  “Of course. We’ll even put a bell on the door, so if you try to leave, it will wake me.”

  “Thank you.” Leigh-Ann sighed with relief.

  I sat back and relaxed into the cushions. “Are you warming up yet?”

  “Yes.” She paused, looking solemn. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” I asked, confused.

  “For listening, for believing in me, for waking me up ... I dreamed he was drowning. I would have gone in there, you know. The water must have been–” She sat upright. “How are you not freezing?”

  “Adrenaline?” I offered, panicking. “I ran to find you, and then we came straight in. I warmed up while you were in the shower.”

  “You should go to the infirmary,” Leigh-Ann told me.

  I quickly shook my head. “If I go to the infirmary, I’ll have to explain why I was at the river in the first place. I feel fine now, honestly,” I assured her.

  Leigh-Ann chewed at her lip, clearly not wanting to have to explain our nighttime activities to anyone. She nodded. “So long as you’re not going to catch pneumonia.”

  “I think we’re safe,” I told her.

  She gave me a nod and yawned.

  I glanced at the clock and groaned inwardly. “I think we should try to get some sleep.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The shrill shriek of my alarm roused me from my sleep, far too early considering our late-night adventure. I was still on the sofa, so I climbed up to the bunk and silenced the alarm before finally rubbing at my eyes.

  My first instinct, as it was every morning, was to look over at Leigh-Ann’s empty bed. It wasn’t until I climbed back down and saw the person curled up on the sofa that I realized this was the first time I’d seen her sleep in the room, and that she was a really heavy sleeper.

  Toying with the idea of waking her so she could move to her own bed, I glanced over at her bed. In the end, I grabbed the blanket from my bed and gently draped it over her. She could still sleep, unlike me.

  I hated these early mornings, and I’d always set my alarm for the last minute before I had to meet Gabriel. Rushing around the room, I dressed quickly. If I had to be up at some stupid hour in the morning, I wanted to be able to just roll out of bed and go straight down to the gym.

  Now, as I pulled a hoodie over my head and spotted the mess that was my hair, I was already regretting that decision. I tried to tame it back into a ponytail, but the bits too short to be tied back stuck up at haphazard angles.

  I spent so long just trying to make my hair look halfway decent that I was late. Gabriel was waiting for me, his arms folded as he watched me approach.

  “I’m sorry, I was–”

  “Enough with the excuses.” Gabriel didn’t wait for me, instead, he turned and set off at a ‘human’ pace out into the school grounds.

  Sighing, I took off after him. />
  Between finding Leigh-Ann and waking up, the blizzard had disappeared, and another foot of snow lay on the ground. This early, no one had been out to clear the snow on the long drive of the narrow country roads. Like every time we ran at this hour, it was nearly pitch-black. The snow clouds were blocking the light of the moon, and the sun had yet to get over the top of the mountain range around us. It was just another occasion for me to acknowledge that I found this easier than most humans would have.

  We ran the entire route in silence.

  Last night had worn me out emotionally, and I wasn’t in the mood for conversation anyway. Given that I couldn’t stop pissing Gabriel off when I spoke, it seemed he too was content for there to be no conversation. The only sound was the snow crunching beneath our feet.

  After a six-mile circuit, we returned to the college just as the sun started to peak over the tops of the surrounding mountains. Beside me, Gabriel finally slowed to a walk, breathing like he’d stepped out of the door and had not just ran up and down a mountain.

  “You’re doing better,” he told me.

  “Huh?” I asked, certain I’d misheard him.

  “You kept pace with me. If you can keep this up, I don’t see why you can’t return to your gym class next week.”

  My mouth fell open. “You know you just paid me a compliment, right?”

  He stopped so suddenly that I walked into him.

  I jumped back, staring up at him, bracing myself. We’d nearly managed to go the whole run without me saying anything to upset him.

  “Why do you sound so surprised?”

  It was a good thing his back was still to me, because at that point, I was doing a good impression of a fish.

  “I’ll meet you back in your office,” I mumbled, not forgetting about the next four hours’ worth of tutoring as I quickly headed in the direction of the locker rooms.

  The shower took longer than it probably should have as I enjoyed the feeling of the water cascading over my hair. I left it wet, braided down my back, the lingering water made it look almost black. When I left the bathroom, the sun was almost up, but Leigh-Ann was still asleep, snoring softly.