Waking Darkness: A Supernatural Academy Paranormal Romance (Academy of the Underworld Book 1)

by Laney Powell

  Mikhail was a restful person to be around. Was it some sort of fate that I’d see him tonight, on the night where my stress levels were sky high? Not only because of my personal shit, but someone else was potentially hurt, and it was close to me, again.

  After a third glass of water, I held up a hand when he brought me another.

  “Let’s sit down,” he said, taking me to the chairs in front of the fireplace.

  A little part of me was disappointed, because there was a long distance between us. You know, if one wanted to kiss, or something like that. And despite all that had just happened, I wanted to kiss him again. Not to feel better, but because I liked him.

  However, he must have known what I was feeling because he sat down and brought me onto his lap. I was pleased I didn’t have to ask. He cuddled me close, and I let myself relax into his arms, neither of us speaking.

  Finally, Mikhail broke the silence. “What’s going on here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do you want?”

  “You,” I said, looking up and cupping his cheek in my hand. I kissed him once, twice, and then his hands came up to cup my face as he leaned into our kiss. I could feel the point of his fangs brush against my lips, and it made me want to pull all of our clothes off. It was intoxicating. I felt alive and drugged all at once.

  Mikhail broke it off first. “Not just me, though. Am I right?”

  I kept my hand on his face as I nodded. “No. There are more.”

  He leaned down to kiss me. “Is this what you want?”

  I nodded again.

  “Then I want what you want.” He kissed me, and slid an arm under me. Picking me up, he took me over to the bed. I slid over, reaching for him as I did so.

  He kicked off his shoes, and got under the blankets with me, wrapping his arm around me as I snuggled against his chest. I wanted him, badly. But right now, this felt like what was supposed to happen. His long fingers trailed through my hair, and every so often, he would kiss the top of my head.

  The temptation to run my hands all over his body was there—several times, I nearly did it. But being with him was so easy, and calm, that I was willing to relax, and sleep.

  I woke when Mikhail eased his arm out from under me.

  “Don’t go,” I said sleepily.

  “You know I have to. Go back to sleep, Raven.”

  “But—” I said.

  I felt the touch of his lips on mine, and I reached for him. I heard a soft laugh, and then a sliver of light from the hallway as he left. I snuggled down in bed, wishing he was with me, but glad to be safe and—

  I woke up to the buzzing of my alarm. Blinking, I looked at the time. Mikhail had been here, and the room two doors down from me had exploded, and he’d slept with me. Not the way I really wanted, but I had to admit, it was what I needed. A warmth bloomed in my chest. He was good with what I wanted.

  I felt good for the first time since Carrick had walked away as I got ready for the day. I met my friends for breakfast and I could tell that they were all looking at me carefully, although as before, no one asked questions. We were all talking about the explosion, and what had happened. No one knew. The room belonged to two other first years, both dragons. Neither had been seen yet this morning. The fact that we hadn’t heard anything made me hope that they weren’t there when the room was bombed.

  And everything was great until I got to the last class of the day, Guidance. The one filled with Ordeal sirens, and worse, with Sorcha.

  She gave me the super evil eye as I came into the classroom, but didn’t say anything. Zoe started class but stopped as a voice came over a loudspeaker. Or what sounded like one—I didn’t see anything that looked like a speaker in the classroom.

  It was Madame Perpetua. “The explosion that occurred last night was neither as bad, or as good as we hoped. There was one student in the room, and unfortunately, that student, Marcus Correll, did not survive the fire. Please go directly to your rooms after dinner tonight. That is all.”

  There was complete silence in the classroom. Then two of the girls began to cry. I didn’t know Marcus, and hadn’t even seen him. But the thought that another student had died—and how horrible the situation was—tears filled my eyes.

  Which was when Sorcha decided to pounce. “I don’t know what you’re crying about, Stray! You don’t even know him!”

  “I don’t have to be personally connected to feel something,” I snapped. “I get it that you might have trouble understanding that!”

  Her mouth opened in shock. “I find it interesting that you understand anything! What is even more interesting, Stray, is that this never happened before you came here!”

  I wondered if Xavier had told her that their past was nothing more than past, and if she’d put two and two together. Whatever else I could say about Sorcha, she wasn’t dumb. Just super, uber bitchy.

  “Sorcha!” Zoe’s voice cracked like a whip. “Sit down and be quiet! This is no one’s fault.”

  “Really?” Sorcha asked, looking around at the other students. “First the classroom that she was supposed to be in gets attacked, and the person who sat in front her was killed. Now the room next to hers—”

  “It wasn’t next to mine!” I shouted. Her words sent a thrill of fear through me. Was she right? Did this have something to do with me?

  “It’s in your classroom! In your corridor! How can it be anything else?” Sorcha looked around, her eyes angry and wild. “And there haven’t been any attacks at Darklight in decades! I checked! But the Stray shows up and all of sudden, two students are dead?” Her voice rose, and the other girls in the class were talking, the conversation getting louder. I could hear a ringing in my ears as Sorcha kept talking, her hands gesturing, but her words fading as I watched her. There were nods from the girls nearest her, and I could feel the heat of angry, frightened eyes on me.

  “That. Is. Enough!” Zoe thundered, clapping her hands. For a moment, everyone froze. I couldn’t move. Then I felt the myself relax a little and knew the freeze had passed. Had Zoe done that?

  “That is enough,” Zoe said again. “Sorcha, your words are not only incorrect, but extremely unkind and unhelpful. I expected better of you,” she said, and I saw Sorcha’s head drop. “I expected better of all of you. Class is dismissed for the day. No!” she shouted. “All of you stop. Raven, you may go to Madame Perpetua’s and please let her know what happened. The rest of you will sit here until I am sure Raven has removed herself from whatever it is you have allowed yourself to become.”

  Feeling the eyes of everyone on me, I picked up my messenger bag, and left the classroom. I nearly ran to Madame Perpetua’s, my heart beating like a race horse. When I got to her office, I slammed the door behind me.

  “Miss Nox, what is the matter?” Madame Perpetua was at her desk, surrounded by papers.

  “Zoe sent me here from the Guidance class,” I said in a rush.

  “Yes?”

  “Because,” I said, and had to lean over to catch my breath. I didn’t realize, until I came into her office and closed the door, how unsafe I felt. My heart was thundering. I finally managed to tell her what happened.

  Madame Perpetua’s face, never overly expressive, might as well have turned to stone. I’d say that this was her super pissed.

  Good, I thought. Sorcha deserved all the shit that was about to fall on her.

  “Please stay here, Miss Nox,” Madame Perpetua got up, and moved to the door. With a decisive click, it shut behind her.

  Leaving me to deal with my rising fear.

  Chapter Fifteen

  How long I sat there, I had no idea. There were no clocks in this office, which I found to be both maddening and disconcerting. But there were large windows here, and I walked over to look out.

  The whole building was made of stone. It looked like one of those medieval houses you saw in Europe, big and sprawling and imposing. There were beautiful gardens all around, which I hadn’t seen because I hadn’t bee
n outside since I got here. I had my windows at the top of the room, but I couldn’t see anything out them.

  Which made sense, if this really was an old medieval house.

  The door opened and I whirled around, my heart in my throat.

  It was Devin Calpurnicus. “What are you doing in here?” he asked, with his usual blunt manner.

  “Trying not to be killed by a mob,” I shivered at the thought.

  “What are you talking about?” Devin took another step in.

  God, he was handsome. His blond hair fell across on side of his face, and he was pale in that sexy, languid way some men are. His eyes weren’t as dark as they’d been when I saw him before, but more gray. Silver, almost. But his lips were full, and a reddish pink. I wanted to kiss him, to have him kiss me. The thought of his lips on my skin made me shiver.

  “Are you all right?” Devin asked, seeing me shiver.

  “No,” I said, and told him what had happened in class.

  “She really is a menace,” he said. “Is this all because of Lasker?”

  Lasker? Oh, Xavier. I wasn’t used to thinking of him by his last name. “Maybe,” I said, “But she seemed like she really meant it.”

  Devin shrugged. “She could be onto something.”

  I recoiled. “What?”

  “It’s not your fault, but this could be directed at you.”

  “How can you say that?” I whispered, horrified.

  He looked at me, and yes, his eyes were silver. “There’s a lot of evil shit in our world. It’s not us, generally, despite what the rest of the supes think, but there is a lot of evil. Didn’t I hear you were having nightmares? Are you still having them?”

  I couldn’t fathom how I’d just been thinking about kissing him and now we were having this conversation. “Yes. Not every night, but yes.”

  “What do you see? The same thing, something different?” His voice was neutral.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust him now, but if he knew, that meant people were talking. Might as well put the truth out there. “I hear someone roaring and laughing. Mikhail—”

  “Andrek or Tottenham?”

  What? Oh, last name again. Well, I knew for damn sure his last name wasn’t Tottenham. “Andrek,” I said.

  “The vampire,” Devin replied.

  I nodded. “Yes. The vampire. He looked into them and said they were coming from a demon.”

  “You told Madame?” he asked.

  “Why does everyone ask the same thing?” I almost shouted.

  “Because she’s old, and she’s been around a long time. She’s seen more shit than most of the supernaturals on the planet,” Devin said calmly. “And she’s the head of the school. She’ll keep you safe, Raven.”

  It was the first time I could remember him saying my name and something about the way he said it caught my attention.

  “I didn’t know when I came here that I’d be in danger,” I said slowly.

  Devin came closer to me, and I realized that he’d been still as we were talking. He stopped next to me, looking out the window. “It’s always dangerous for us,” he said softly. There was a weight in his words, and for a moment, he looked very old.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because there will always be those who fear us, and then those who want to use us, directly or indirectly. Why would a demon want you?”

  “I have no idea,” I said. “I’m open to any, if you have them.”

  He turned to look at me then, and my breath caught. It didn’t matter that he’d just agreed with Sorcha the Rabid Barbie, or that he made me unsettled with how he was speaking. I leaned toward him, and kissed him.

  He blinked, and leaned back. “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I wanted to.”

  “Why?”

  Madame Perpetua had told me he was smart, brilliant even. I wasn’t seeing any of that here. “Because I’ve wanted to since I met you.”

  “But you and Lasker—” he began.

  I kissed him again. When I pulled back from him, he was staring at me, and his eyes had gone dark gray, like storm clouds over the water. “I want him, and I want you.”

  “Why?”

  “What are you, five?” I asked, but I smiled to take any sting out of the words. “I don’t know. I don’t understand it myself. I’ve never liked more than one person in the past, but I like all four of you and—”

  “There are four of us?” Devin asked.

  “Yes. And you’re one of them. If you want to be,” I said, crossing my arms and looking at him, refusing to look away. I couldn’t. His eyes were fascinating. Everything else about him was still, but his eyes showed you what was going on within.

  “What do the rest say?”

  “Well, two are good. One is… not,” I said, not wanting to share anything about Carrick. It wasn’t mine to share. I looked away for a moment.

  Devin was next to me before I had time to breathe, and yanked me to him, kissing me with one hand twining into my hair, and the other around my waist, holding me close. I could feel his hardness pressing against me and there was an answering wetness to his desire between my legs. I ran my hands up into his hair, feeling that lock that fell into his face, dragging it back, letting my nails scratch along his scalp.

  He moaned into my mouth.

  A noise at the door had us both springing apart like guilty kids. When the door opened to Madame Perpetua, Devin was leaning against the window frame, arms crossed, eyes silver once more. He glanced at me, and I saw them flash.

  I stifled a grin. I was a safe two feet from him, although I doubted either of us fooled Madame Perpetua. Which was fine, as long as nothing was all out in the open. I wasn’t ready for that.

  “Thank you for coming in to check on Miss Nox, Mr. Calpurnicus. You may return to your tasks,” Madame nodded at him.

  He looked at me as he pushed himself lazily off the window frame, mouthing, “Later,” at me. “Yes, Madame,” he said as he walked to the door.

  The moment it closed behind him, Madame Perpetua turned to me. “I have spoken to the class, and I have dealt with Miss Calloway,” she said. “She will not be attacking you like that again. You have my permission to skip the Guidance class the rest of the week, if you choose.”

  I opened my mouth to take her up on it, then stopped. “Thank you, but I’ll be in class tomorrow.”

  “Oh?” Madame looked at me.

  “Yes. I didn’t do anything wrong. If that’s what people think, it’s on them. I’m not going to hide or chance because they’re all batshit,” I said. “Oh, hell, I’m sorry—”

  Madame waved. “I understood your meaning, Miss Nox,” she said. “You are excused. You may go to dinner. But after what happened, everyone is to be back in their rooms directly after dinner, understood?”

  I nodded and then left. I didn’t want to say to her that being in your rooms didn’t seem to make a difference. We weren’t safe anywhere.

  Chapter Sixteen

  All of us cried over dinner. Nicola, Carla, and Bettina all knew Marcus. His roommate, a dragon named Oliver, had gone home. No one had seen him since last night.

  “I heard what happened in class,” Carla said abruptly. “You know we don’t feel that way, right?”

  “What if she’s not totally wrong?” I whispered.

  “What?” Bettina grabbed my arm. “What are you talking about?”

  “What if it’s something after me?” I told them about Devin’s theory—without naming Devin as the one who’d brought it to my attention—and there was silence when I finished.

  “That is so twisted, but I can’t totally say no way,” Bettina said slowly.

  “I know,” I nodded. “I didn’t want to think it, but it makes sense.”

  “Not really,” Carla said. “Why would a demon be after you?”

  I shrugged. “Why does he keep showing up in my nightmares, night after night? It kind of seems personal.”

  “But you’re a siren, not a demon
,” Nicola said.

  “Unless there’s some of both,” Bettina said.

  Everyone looked at her. “What else would it be? Demons usually harass people related to them, or people useful to them. That’s their MO,” she shrugged. “So we need to figure out what this demon wants from you.”

  When she put it like that, it seemed so simple. “That’s it?” I asked.

  “Research doesn’t lie. You just have to find it,” Bettina said. In her, I could see Mikhail’s stillness, and Devin’s practicality. No wonder I liked all three of them so well.

  “Thank you,” I said. “I was starting to feel like a freak.”

  “We’re all freaks here,” Nicola said. “You just have to pick your type.”

  “Well, unless your name is Raven Nox, and then you get four picks,” teased Carla.

  I smiled, but it wasn’t really four. I hadn’t seen or heard from Carrick since I’d told him the truth. I honestly thought Devin was going to be the tough one, but it was Carrick.

  And I missed him. I missed them all. If I wasn’t going to have a roommate anytime soon, I was going to ask them to start staying with me. If there was something to this idea that nightmare demon was actually after me for a reason, and it wasn’t just standard demon fare to haunt humans, I didn’t want to be alone.

  Well, and the sex. I smiled, seeming to join in the laughter of my friends around me. The sex was a definite plus. Now all I had to do was put my plan of choose your own roomie into action. Sadly, it looked like Carrick wasn’t going to be part of that, and acknowledging that, even just to me, made a piece of my heart break.

  Damn it. He was supposed to be mine.

  But I couldn’t—and wouldn’t—force him.

  After dinner, I went straight to my room, head down, not meeting anyone’s gaze. I had all kinds of intentions of being brave but right now, I just needed to get to my room and close the door on the world around me.

  There was also the hope that Devin, when he said later, meant later tonight. Either way, I had to be in my room right after dinner per Madame Perpetua, and I didn’t want to break the rules. I was on her radar and in her office more than enough at the moment.