AHAVA TRIVEDI
COPYRIGHT
Dark Spark
Bloodline Academy: Book Two
Copyright © 2020 Ahava Trivedi
www.ahavatrivedi.com
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations in a book review. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.
ABOUT Dark Spark
My light magic is growing stronger. But my bloodline just got a lot darker.
I never dreamt that drinking blood would unlock my light magic. And I never dreamed that unlocking my magic would lead to arousing my inner vampire.
I’m Katrina Quartz, a Crystal Witch who’s also a Sanguine vampire. This means I’m a vampire by blood and as it turns out, my bloodline carries some pretty dark and heavy secrets. Just as I have a bombshell dropped on me, there’s another. The Bloodline Academy vamps want me to prove my loyalty. That or they’ll make those I care about pay.
Oh, and if things weren’t intense enough, I’m suddenly in a long-distance relationship and sparks are starting to fly with another romantic interest – a pure-blooded Sanguine vampire.
If choosing a side between the Supernatural Light Alliance and the vamps at Bloodline Academy, was perilous before, things just got intense because neither is what it’s cracked up to be. Only one thing’s for sure – somebody’s going to get hurt.
To bonds that prevail over time and distance.
Chapter 1
“Don’t forget to answer only if you’re spoken to. And, give short answers – one word if possible,” said my professor, Etienne Devin. His almost black eyes, gleamed at me, intensely.
From the time we’d left Bloodline Academy, Professor Devin had been instructing me on exactly how to answer for my upcoming hearing at the Witches Council. “Miss Quartz, it’s very important, so please pay attention. On the chance that they shut us out, you’ll be representing St. Erzsebet’s,” he tried again. I nodded, although I was sure he picked up how non-plussed I was about the whole thing. “I don’t want you to be caught off guard,” he concluded, steepling his fingers as our black stretch-limousine crept through New Orleans. Even through the darkly tinted glass of the windows, I could feel the heat of the sun, penetrating inside.
“Oh, blah, blah, Etienne, get me a violin, you’re too kind,” my other professor, Trista Duquette, chimed in. Checking that her hot-pink nails were satisfactory, she shot me a condescending glance, her close to iridescent eyes, menacing, yet gorgeous. “Look, sweet-pea, here’s the deal in language you’ll understand,” she said. Her lips were flushed with a matching gloss, the same as her nails. “You don’t like us and the feeling’s more than mutual. We have our reasons for keeping you on with us but other than that, we’re here today because you and your frenemies, completely bombed at the first semester by getting tangled up with your former coven. Now we want to see exactly what those a-holes at the S.L.A. have decided to do about the perceived slight of the academy students involved.”
“Exactly,” agreed Devin, whose concern had been veiled in wanting the best for me. I knew this was all a lame ruse. They didn’t care about me. Whatever the Witches Council could say or do, it was clear that I had helped to rescue my former High Priestess. Even if I was blamed for her kidnapping in the first place, I was at a point where I knew the truth. I didn’t care two hoots. And neither did the vamp profs at the academy. Their desperation wasn’t through feeling responsible about me, it was to keep an eye on what went down.
“So, what should I say? About Lilith and the gang?” I asked, referring to the vamps who had orchestrated the entire plot to kidnap and kill the High Priestess. The same students who were now missing from Bloodline Academy with the knowledge of all the staff, including the principal, as to what had become of them. Something they hadn’t shared with any of us.
My roommate Natalie and I had feared the worst for their fate. They had been the enemies. Our enemies. But the swiftness with which they hadn’t been seen and nor heard from had still been concerning. Natalie suspected that they’d been delivered their final deaths by none other then the professors and the school’s security team.
“You’ll say what you know,” replied Professor Duquette with pursed lips.
“Which is?” I persisted.
“That they were expelled for their gross misconduct,” said Professor Devin sharply. Our ride was a silent one as we wove our way out of the city and towards the sprawling swamplands along the great Mississippi River. The slight prickle of the heat despite it being January, had told me that a storm was coming to an otherwise cloudless sky.
“And we’re off to a great start. The least they could have done was to have had this thing after sundown. But of course, they wanted to give us the finger before we’d even set foot anywhere near them,” Duquette said, rolling her eyes and turning away with disgust.
Even I agreed with her. It did look like a power-play, calling vamps to attend a hearing at noon. But I could hardly blame them. Vampires on S.L.A. territory at night, and that too, such powerful ones, would have been like putting two, rather darkly inclined foxes between the chickens. Devin made me feel more uncomfortable than Duquette. At least with her acidic demeanour, I knew where I stood. He continued to watch me, with interest. Like I was a specimen at his disposal, there for him to study.
We approached and turned onto the long path that led up to the Supernatural Light Alliance Head Quarters in Louisiana. I’d only ever heard of this place and even looking around, couldn’t quite believe it existed in plain sight. It reminded me of my old coven from the outside but was on a much larger plot of land. About twenty houses worth the one I’d lived in whilst I’d been a member of my coven, the Circle of Quartz.
Our limo pulled up right outside the large estate and two uniformed security guards immediately walked over to us. The driver, a human worker at Bloodline Academy, who had said not a word throughout and looked like he was under some sort of vampire compulsion, arbitrarily rolled down his window.
“What’s your business here?” asked one of the security personnel. He was a handsome guy with bright white hair and purple eyes. Definitely a shifter of some kind, though not a werewolf.
“On business,” managed our driver.
“And what would that be?”
“We have a witch who’ll be attending the hearing in the Crystal Wing. We’re her guardians,” replied Duquette, looking put out to be talking to the shifter. I flinched. Hold up, since when were they my guardians? I briefly thought about Babette, my other High Priestess and adoptive mother.
Technically, although Lorna, the High Priestess who’d been kidnapped by the now missing vamps, was also my adoptive mother, it had always been Babette who fit the term best. I wondered if Babette would be at the hearing. What did I care? She hadn’t even tried to make contact once since it had all gone down with Lorna. That was actually inaccurate. Babette’s absence went back further than that. She hadn’t been in touch since I’d found myself at Bloodline Academy. Some mother she’d turned out to be.
“All the folks who’ll be attending the hearing, get out of the car, please,” said the shifter. We stepped out into the day and he checked each of us, scrutinizing every part of me the most. “You, go through the main entrance, the Cry
stal Wing is marked with signs. It’s all the way down at the other end of the hallway,” he instructed me as another shifter, one who was a werewolf, joined him. “You two can come with me,” he stated to Devin and Duquette.
Devin flashed me a look that said, remember what we told you, and I walked up the wide stone stairway to the main double doors. Inside it was refreshingly cool. There was such a lightness to the feel and energy of the place that its’ magic enveloped me and was very palpable once inside. I felt bright as my arm tingled and my own blooming reacted to its environment. By comparison, I realized how much darkness I’d gotten used to at Bloodline Academy.
My inner witching magic yearned to be included, amongst that in the hallowed halls, as small swirls of power radiated off my arm and shoulders. The place was empty and yet didn’t have that deserted feel.
Instantly spotting the sign for the Crystal Wing, I made my way in its’ direction across the hall. The whole space was enormous and I inspected the high ceilings, which appeared domed from the inside although they hadn’t been that way from the outside. There was definitely potent magic at play.
The bright cream walls that swept downwards were lined with regal portraits of prominent witches and warlocks. I recognized some of them from the few spell books I’d studied at the coven. It seemed like a lifetime ago and yet it came back as I read the names and briefly explored the hall.
As I concentrated on each picture, it lit up a different colour depending on the source of its owner’s power. I went up to the portrait of a witch who looked like my best friend Safi’s close relative for the fact that she was an exact image of her. Her lively emerald eyes looked back at me and she had the same beautifully high cheek bones, set within her luminously mocha skin. The only differences between her and Safi were that she looked slightly older than Safi and her hair was a deep burgundy. The picture lit up bright pink, making me take a step back to admire it. The golden name plaque read ‘Rose Quartz’. Rose was Safi’s middle name too.
I wondered how many generations ago Rose Quartz had roamed these halls and what she’d done to be so famous within the S.L.A.? I reached the door that said Crystal Wing and took a deep breath and knocked. The tapping sound I made echoed through the hall and instantly came back to me.
I waited but no one opened the door. Up to this point I had successfully pushed away my nerves but I began to get uneasy. What could the S.L.A. do about what had happened to Lorna? Would it count that I had helped to rescue her? I suddenly realized, thinking of Safi’s relative hanging on the wall, that Safi was basically untouchable given her family’s longstanding place at the S.L.A. If there would be any blame about what had happened, I’d be the one bearing it. And of course, being half vampire didn’t help at all.
I hesitantly opened the heavy door and entered the Crystal Wing. It was another long hallway only this time, it wasn’t lined with portraits but held thousands of different crystals, all shapes and sizes. Each exuded some kind of magic. The crystals looked like they were just suspended in mid-air close to the walls but there must have been a strong enchantment holding them in place. I was willing to bet that if the wrong being so much as touched one, they’d quickly wish they hadn’t.
I slowly walked past and as I reached the other end where another door awaited. A witch with striking green hair and eyes became visible with a soft pop. Her eyes beamed so brightly that I did a double-take to check that they weren’t crystals as well.
“Katrina Snow Quartz,” she said pleasantly, “you’re early, do come in. It’s the second door to your right.”
“Thanks,” I said following her.
“I see you were admiring our building’s power source,” she remarked, amused by my gawking expression.
“That’s what these are?” I asked.
“Yes. They’re obviously so much more but they hold onto magic a lot better than any of the other earthen elements. “Go through and take a seat. I’m Angel Jade by the way. I’ll be back here if you need me.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, as the Jade Witch smiled and popped out of sight again.
I entered the room which was empty. That helped calm me a bit. I’d hate to have walked into a full room of witches waiting to begin. Like some over-stuffed courtroom, waiting to piece things together, rightly or wrongly.
My attention was pulled to my name and picture glowing in front of a chair that was in a row, along a long wooden table that ran through the centre of the room in a triangular fashion. There was a chair that resembled a throne at the far point of the triangle. I went up to my name and image, which was like a light hologram as I put one hand through it. It was the only such image in the room giving me no clue as to who else would be attending.
I sat down in the seat that I figured was designated for me and my glowing image and name instantly started to fade away. I waited for the others to enter the room, tracing the swirling magic on my blooming. It was what my boyfriend Ulric did when we were on edge and it always calmed me down as it pulled me into focussing on him. That was another loose end – Ulric and I. I thought he was my boyfriend for a very brief time after the night Lorna was kidnapped. Of late, I had no clue where he was at. Or where we were at. If there even was an us.
One gruelling problem at a time, I reminded myself, wondering if my two vampire professors would be allowed to enter the room at all. I found myself strongly hoping they wouldn’t. They weren’t the ones that had been summoned, I was. Safi’s hologram came into view and my pulse quickened. She’d be seated across from me, leading up, closer to the point where the witch or warlock on the throne-like chair would be. She walked in and I too stood up running over to her and we hugged.
“Hey lady! Long time no see,” she said with a smile that told me nothing had changed between us.
“I’m so happy you’re here too!” I said as we walked over to the table and took our seats.
“I’d love to catch up properly but I just found out a few things from my mom on the way here.”
“You didn’t come from the coven?” I asked, confused.
“No, I’ve been having some time away since everything went down. I’ve been with my mom – that’s why I haven’t communicated with you recently, sorry.”
“That’s okay, I understand you must have been busy,” I replied. In truth, I’d really noticed her absence since our first semester had ended and I’d stayed behind in the mostly emptied academy for my holidays. Even my roomie Natalie had left to be with her vampire family and the Black Banes who were our resident werewolf students had all gone off campus to train.
“Have you been spending time with your handsome werewolf?” Safi raised her eyebrows suggestively, bringing Ulric right back to the forefront of my mind.
“Not that much,” I shrugged. Ulric, my kind of, maybe, boyfriend had promised to stay behind with me during the break. It had seemed like an ideal way to spend the holidays and as my feelings for him had grown I’d been excited about us spending some serious alone time.
The first three days of our break had been amazing. Ulric had made me feel like I’d never done before – with anyone. We’d spent our time exploring New Orleans and he’d been kind, caring and proud to be with me. He’d basically given the finger to his pack who’d more than raised eyebrows when they’d seen us together. The only one who’d been wary but not outright hostile had been Ulric’s alpha, Kane.
Then, Ulric’s sister Winnie had gone missing. To be honest, I hadn’t known how to feel about her disappearance. She’d hated me as much as Lilith and the gang who’d kidnapped Lorna had and was one of the party’s directly responsible for bringing Lorna close to death. But she was Ulric’s sister. And no matter what she’d done, Ulric was still her brother. In the end, I’d encouraged, even forced him to go and locate his pack so they could help track her.
I’d spent the time alone with no one to talk to but Darius, a down and out, Novus vamp who’d mostly used the time to love-bomb humans who were easily seduced by vampires. And I’d m
issed Safi even more than when I’d newly left the coven. At least her absence made sense now and I was relieved it wasn’t that she’d chosen to stay away. Whatever her mother had felt about me before I was discovered to have a vampire bloodline, she sure didn’t like me afterwards. As a pure-blooded witch, I was everything people like Pearl Quartz had an innate bias against. Whether they ever admitted it or not.
“We don’t have a lot of time, my mom and brother will be here soon,” said Safi, in a hushed voice, “they’ve officially disbanded the coven this morning.”
“What? Already?” I hadn’t expected that. I had expected it to take months if not years. Even magical red-tape was still red-tape.
“Yep. As of right now, the Circle of Quartz no longer exists.”
“So where will everyone go?” I asked.
“Apparently all the teen witches, including me, have been accepted into Superno. Exceptional circumstances and the like,” said Safi, trying to sound casual. I felt the excitement pouring from her anyway.
Superno was the coveted school for supes of all shapes, sizes and species. Well, mostly all. Of course, vampires were outrightly banned and werewolves did get in but one had a higher chance of winning the mortal lottery than getting admission to Superno. Most of its graduates ended up being big influencers either within the S.L.A. or in the world at large. It was where Safi’s brother Aviar studied and her mother, Pearl, taught part-time. It was where I’d dreamed of going for as long as I’d been a Crystal Witch but never made much mention of it as their standards for acceptance were very high. I’d always suspected that I’d never stood a chance and that was before I discovered I was also part Sanguine vampire.
“Nice! Congratulations to you!” I said, “and lucky for everyone else,” I forced a smile thinking of every one of my former roommates getting the chance that I never would. But I actually was happy for Safi. Another thought I’d never shared with anyone was that Safi had been wasted at our coven. Her magic had been minimized by Lorna and she’d never been encouraged to reach her full potential. She deserved this even if it had been achieved due to the weirdest of circumstances. Even if my former roommates totally did not deserve admission to Superno. “What about the younger witches?” I asked.
Dark Spark: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) Page 1
