Bloodline Fallacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 5)

by Lan Chan

  Fury vibrated through me. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t get the mystical muzzle of my dream state to lift. Jacob’s smile was benevolent. He raised the blade. I stepped back as the painful memory of my injury flared to life.

  I flinched and tried to shy away as he reached out. His hand grazed my neck. A hacking cough exploded from my throat, but when I was done, my voice returned.

  “Stop it!” There was more pleading in my voice than I would have liked but dignity seemed irrelevant at the moment. A demon skidded into view chasing a woman with half her calf torn out. She hobbled by us, but the demon barely broke a sweat. The thing was playing with her, feeding on her fear.

  “Stop what?” Jacob asked. “This is just the appetizer. A small taste of what’s to come when our prince returns.”

  I slapped my fist against the railing. “I will never release him.”

  Jacob laughed. It was a scratchy thing of unrepentant glee. He snapped his fingers and the boat disappeared. We materialised on the balcony of a building overlooking a sun-scorched landscape of stunning high-rises on one side and squat stone houses on the other. The place was a mirror of the modern and the traditional. Luxury cars drove down streets that seemed to bend with the unrelenting heat of the sun. There was a pool on the ground floor of our building along with a bar and palm-lined gardens. People in long, flowing clothing occupied almost all of the floor space.

  “Look out,” Jacob drawled mockingly. It wasn’t meant for me. History repeated itself as a portal gaped open and spewed demons onto the unsuspecting humans. I screamed myself hoarse this time, trying to warn the inhabitants, but they couldn’t hear me. When I tried to leap over the railing, my paralysis returned. The last thing I saw of that picture was a demon rolling a man in a kaftan through the water the way a crocodile dispatched its prey.

  Another snap of Jacob’s fingers and we were in a quaint country pub amongst the late evening revellers. Snow fell in heavy drifts outside. If this was happening in real time, the weather suggested we were in the Northern Hemisphere. There were a few men sitting at the bar exchanging friendly banter about their favourite soccer teams. Couples and families shared meals in the seated dining area. A waitress no older than me ran drinks and meals to and from the kitchen. She spoke with a lilting British accent as she traded good-natured banter with the very cute guy behind the bar.

  “Don’t,” I said, stepping in front of Jacob as though blocking his view might somehow make him reconsider.

  “Don’t what?”

  My mouth went dry as the soul-crushing roar of a demon filled the pub. The world blurred at the edges as helplessness squeezed the air from my lungs. All this power and I was useless when it counted. I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and watch the carnage. At the same time, I felt like I had to. My eyes flicked to the blade in Jacob’s right hand. He grinned and offered it to me. I side-stepped like it was on fire.

  The top half of the waitress thudded onto a table on my left. She hit the table’s edge and rolled onto the floor, her eyes blank, and blood oozing from her severed waist.

  “Please,” I said. “They’re innocent. Just leave them alone.” As I spoke the words, it made me wonder why he was going after humans. There were hidden supernatural communities throughout the world that he could have infiltrated. It couldn’t have been fear. He’d already led an army into Seraphina once.

  “Why?” I asked again, my throat thick.

  Jacob stepped up to me. “Because, like the rest of your sluggish race, you need a little push in the right direction.”

  He shoved me in the shoulder. It was neither forceful nor particularly skilful. But I staggered back as unrelenting pain coated my nerve endings. The scream that had been building in my throat since that first demon appeared on the cruise ship exploded. Agony had me curling into a ball on the floor. I was oblivious to my surroundings. My body was an excruciating mass of fire. The dream world around me blinked in and out.

  “Lex!” Somebody called my name, but it sounded gargled like I was under water. Fingertips brushed my cheek, too cool compared to the blazing heat of misery. I banged my fist against what had been the pub’s sticky wooden floor, but my hand hit soft material instead. Jacob’s haughty face pushed in front of me. Loathing like I’d never known before sank its hooks into me. What good was having Lucifer’s blood if I couldn’t break out of a simple dream paralysis? White-hot rage blazed in my chest. I had carried the burden of being Lucifer’s scion for over two years. On the power totem, it should have been Lucifer, me, and then Jacob. But here I was crying on the floor again. Last time I had been helpless, he’d taken away my future.

  “This is for your own good.” He thrust the blade at me. With a force of will fuelled entirely by spite, I grappled for the Ley dimension. It flickered around me in a state of half-existence. Suffering melted my insides. I groaned and leaned into it, shoving all of my magic into a phase. The blade hit nothing but air. Crying out with the effort of using power in this state, I materialised to Jacob’s left and latched on to his wrist.

  Logical and smart were no longer words in my vocabulary. There was only pain and anguish and I was desperate to impart some of that on him. He tried to tug away. I dug my nails into him and locked my jaw.

  With my free hand, I traced a single Angelical word against his arm: Tahriah. Release.

  The world cracked all around me. Light, darkness, and colour fused to become nothing but background noise to the scream that ripped from Jacob’s throat. He staggered back. I allowed him to fall, but not before I snatched the blade from his grip. Hairline fractures ran along the dreamscape. It bled from the corner of my eyes and filled my ears with a roar akin to standing next to a jet engine as it took off. A million multi-coloured lights danced across my eyes, but I found myself staring inwards. All of the energy fled from my body as the hedge and bone magic detonated in fireballs of colour.

  The world disintegrated. Pieces of the dream fell like glass from a shattered window. The shards scattered over my skin in a million tiny pinpricks. Everything faded into nothing. Still I would not let go of the blade.

  26

  “Blue.” His voice was an anchor. Angelfire blazed in the darkness beginning in my periphery and then saturating my sight. “Let go of the Ley sight. I’ve got you.”

  A warm cloth dabbed at my mouth and cheeks. Gentle hands massaged my neck muscles until I was no longer tensing my jaw. His big palm settled on the nape of my neck, drawing delicate circles that helped me to focus my thoughts. Slowly, the frantic shaking of my body subsided. Somebody lifted my left eyelid. Ironically, the sudden influx of this dull light was more damaging than the Ley lights. I cringed as my eyelids filled with moisture. My head rolled on a heavily muscled shoulder, Kai’s woody scent tethering me to this reality.

  “She’s coming back.”

  The sound of urgent voices in the room sped up my recovery. My eyes opened. I almost yelped at the sight of Angus, Tyler, and Ivan looming in the small space of my dorm room. With all of our stuff, there was barely enough room for Sophie and me. Speaking of the kitchen witch, Sophie was cross-legged on the corner of her bed.

  Jacqueline leaned against the doorframe, her face pinched. Behind her shoulder, Professor Mortimer and Professor McKenna were trying to disperse a crowd of students.

  I was viscerally aware that I was sitting in Kai’s lap on my bed, his arms around me, his hand still clutching me possessively. With the nightmare still so fresh, it didn’t seem to matter.

  Angus knelt by the edge of the bed. Words spilled from my lips in a torrent before he could open his mouth. “...the constellation of stars put the ocean liner somewhere in the South Pacific. It was a tall, black glass building in the palisade of a city only recently wealthy. I’m not sure where...”

  I vomited descriptions and snippets of memory, as much as I could recall, in the vain hope that they might be able to intervene. When I was done, Tyler opened up a portal right in the middle of our room. Sophie gave a s
harp cry of surprise. I hadn’t known that was possible either. I tried to meet Jacqueline’s eye, but my head had lolled back against Kai’s chest and the effort to move wasn’t worth it. From this angle, I could see through the gap at Kai’s side to the mess of blood coating my blanket. I tasted it in my throat. Somewhere in the back of my mind, an alarm was sounding. I had a frightening realisation that the only reason I hadn’t broken down physically was because Kai kept healing me.

  “Malachi,” Angus urged.

  “No.” Kai’s arms cinched around me. The bond hummed along my shattered nerves, piecing them together from the disastrous after-effects of the Angelical. At the moment, all of my strength was borrowed. Still, I lifted my head. Memories of those unsuspecting humans filled my mind. “You should go.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe.”

  The definitive clutch of his arm around my waist would brook no more argument. Stony-faced, the elite guard jumped through the portal. It snapped shut with a quiet roar. Only when they were gone did Sophie hop off her bed. She snatched a hessian bag from her nightstand and wedged her way past Jacqueline and out into the hallway.

  “That’s enough,” I heard Professor McKenna say, “everybody back to your rooms.”

  There was some quiet grumbling, but the hallways cleared slowly. Sophie returned with a steaming mug filled with some pink-tinged broth that she tried to hand to me. My arms felt like they were weighted with lead.

  “I...” The adrenaline had worn off. I was running on fumes. Alarm punctured my chest, but before it could take hold, Kai settled his hand against my throat. Angelfire coated my skin and I was out like a light.

  The scent of raspberries and coconut filled my nose. My stomach was an empty pit. Hunger gnawed at me until sleep was no longer viable. I blinked my eyes open. They fixated on the teacup Sophie set down on my bedside table. She was rustling around in her ingredients chest, her back to me. Sometime in the night, the Nephilim Codex had been replaced on my nightstand. I groaned as the memory of clinging to Kai returned. It was becoming ridiculous to pretend that I didn’t want this bond.

  Sophie jolted when I wriggled out of the nest of blankets. “Hey,” she said, coming up and sitting beside me on the bed. I repositioned my pillow so it supported my lower back.

  “Hey yourself.” I reached for the mug. Look at that! I could use my arms. Miracles did happen. “Some night, huh?”

  Sophie eyes darted to the left. Not this again.

  “How long was I out?”

  She retracted her hand into the sleeve of her floral cotton blouse. “It’s been three days. It’s Sunday afternoon.”

  Three days! “No wonder I’m dying of starvation.”

  I blew the steam off the top of the cup and sipped. The temperature was perfect. It was like being enveloped in a hug.

  What I had expected was a wisecrack about my eating habits. What I got was a tiny twitch of her lips before she reached out and laid her hand on my knee. The concoction became ash on my tongue.

  “Angus asked to see you as soon as you woke,” she said. “He’s stationed himself in Jacqueline’s office.”

  I scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve eaten.” Her tea had awoken the ravenous beast inside me, and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate until it was sated. Unfortunately, the bond was a tattletale.

  Kai didn’t even bother to knock. He just appeared in a flash of green light and edged Sophie off the bed by plonking himself down.

  “There’s such a thing as a door, you know!” she huffed, catching herself before she would have rolled onto the floor. There was no indication he heard her. I clutched the teacup to my chest like a liquid weapon. I’d bet getting hit in the face with tea had never been on his list of ways to get attacked.

  I heard the door slam but didn’t divert my attention from the Nephilim mountain in front of me. My eyes roamed over his face like I was committing it to memory. As if I needed to! My attention snagged on the small scar that bled out from the crease of his lips on the left side of his face.

  Without thinking, I raised my right hand to trace the anomaly, my heart kicking wildly. Kai’s hand folded over mine. He threaded our fingers together and pressed them to his heart. I felt its steady thud through his baseball shirt. The intensity in his green eyes was a challenge. Tact didn’t seem to be in his wheelhouse at the moment.

  “Accept the bond,” he rumbled. I choked on a sip of tea and almost spat in his face.

  “You’ve got to be joking.”

  I tried to take my hand back, but he wouldn’t budge. “If we were bonded, you wouldn’t need me to heal. The bond would do it automatically.”

  I set the cup down because the danger of smashing him across the head with it was too great. “I can’t have this conversation with you again, Kai. I’m really tired and hungry.”

  The hand he had taken hostage uncurled as his thumb drew slow circles against my palm. I bit my tongue to stop the moan.

  “You love me.” At this stage, it wasn’t even arrogance. I loved him. He knew it. I knew it. The whole stupid supernatural society knew it. The only problem was that love made no shred of difference.

  “What’s your point?” Love was precisely what made my voice bitterly sharp.

  “The point is you’re just making us both miserable. I told you I don’t care about...” The fact that he couldn’t say the words spoke volumes. It ignited all of my insecurities. Sure, there was the issue of me being barren, but above that, above all else, was the problem of my connection to Lucifer. The elite guard might be able to brush aside the prophecies, but they weren’t the ones living it. I couldn’t afford to get side-tracked. My throat closed over. Mist blurred at the corners of my eyes so that when I blinked, the hard edges of his face softened.

  “Blue –”

  “You are a terrible liar.” I tried harder to snatch my hand back, feeling a twinge in my shoulder. “I love you now. But if we bond, how long until I start hating you? Until you start hating me?”

  He let me go this time, seeing that I would cause myself an injury to make my point. All these supernatural military types seemed incapable of deception. Wasn’t that in the job description? “Angus wants to see me.” I started trying to get up.

  “Wait –”

  “No!” I shoved at his chest. “You just stop it. Right now. I’m not some flighty moron who’s playing hard to get.” I latched on to his face with both my hands and looked him squarely in the eyes. “I’m going to say this one last time, Malachi. I will never accept the bond. So why don’t you stop making us both miserable and move on?”

  Rage-filled shock blunted his reaction time. Being small allowed me to duck away from him and out the door. So I was in my pyjamas. Who cares?

  I winced a moment later, as my feet curled against the cold floorboards. My mood when I barged past Alex and into Jacqueline’s office was darker than molasses. My eyes lit up when I spotted the food cart by Jacqueline’s desk. The presence of the headmistress and the elite guards was secondary to my food goals.

  “Lex!” Jacqueline said, surprise in her voice.

  “I’m up. You wanted to see me?” The latter part of that sentence was spoken through a thickly cut sandwich. Jacqueline made a mirror call. While I ate, Tyler walked through Jacqueline’s door and opened up a portal. Dorian, Nora, Declan, and Victoria arrived in consecutive order. Dorian lifted a hand in greeting. Both my hands were full of sandwich, so I gave him a nod.

  If he was disgusted by my eating habits, Angus didn’t comment. He indicated a spare seat as the elite guards pulled up chairs in a semi-circle around Jacqueline’s desk.

  I latched on to the handle of the cart and wheeled it over to the chair. Eating my feelings took on a whole new meaning. Especially when Kai marched through the door. The roast beef sandwich in my mouth became sawdust, but I pushed it down with a sip of Jacqueline’s orange juice. There was a bright red lipstick mark on the glass, but I didn’t care. I’d eaten dumpster food
at one stage. This was practically five stars. Kai stalked across the room. He opted to lean against the mahogany bookcase rather than sit. If he was trying for the enraged rhino look, he was succeeding.

  Nobody seemed to know how to start with me ploughing my way through the food. “Did you manage to find the massacre sites?” I asked between crunching into an apple. Angus leaned his head to the side. He hadn’t understood me with my mouth full.

  “Yes,” Kai answered, his voice deceptively neutral.

  “And?” My tone matched his. We were both full of shit. If everyone else in the room disappeared this second, Kai would have me pressed up against the wall, punishing me for daring to consider not accepting the bond. And I would let him. My stomach dropped out at how far gone I was. Where was Eugenia with her black-market contacts? At this point, I would pay anything to stop this gnawing in my gut.

  Angus shook his head, drawing my attention away from Kai’s smouldering intensity. “We were too late.”

  And that was me done eating. I dumped the apple on the trolley and swiped my hands on my pyjama bottoms. “But they were the right locations?”

  “Yes.” He leaned over and balanced his elbows on his knees. “They were all human world locations.”

  I’d noticed that too. “Why would he be going after humans?”

  Angus leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “They were stealing human souls and using them to create fissures in the dimensional barriers. They’re small but we’re going to have to monitor them.”

  “If they can do that,” I asked, “why haven’t they been doing it the whole time?”