by K L Rymer
Felicity’s right beneath it.
A black shadow pushes her out of the way next, and now the pixie appears in Damien’s arms.
The chandelier crushes her table.
Well, her pencils are surely broken now.
The demon throws her down as we rush out the room. “What the fuck, Tinkerbell!”
“I’m... I’m sorry... I... I panicked!” she cries.
Damien growls. “You idiot! You need to keep it together—”
He’s cut off as an oil painting of Myrddin falls off the wall when we’re out in the corridor, and now it’s Zahara’s turn to push the bickering couple aside.
They both gaze at her stunned.
A cackle bursts from the Unseelie’s lips. “Hahaha, saved your lives! Thank me later.”
Thomas steps in now, taking the lead. “This is ridiculous, Bryn. It’s best we teleport. You’ve still got your pin, right?”
I pat my pocket. “Yes.”
The shifter nods. “Good. Everyone, teleport to the headmaster’s office!”
We all do as he instructs, and I hear Zahara purring, “My kind of man...”
One by one we pop out of the corridor, stopping outside Myrddin’s office. It’s no better up here. The walls are crashing down as that mysterious dragon continues to bellow.
Who and where did it come from? I thought Brynmawr and Gwyneira were the last two.
I go to bang on the headmaster’s door but it pries open by itself.
I step back, my heart in my mouth.
The others stand behind me.
“Bryn, what’s—?” Nora begins.
“Step inside, Bryn Williams...”
The others gasp. That is not Myrddin’s voice.
Despite my trepidation, I go to step into the office, but Angelina grabs hold of my wrist, shaking her head.
Her blazing, blue eyes scorch my soul.
She’s not the only one. In fact, they’re all pulling me away.
But... what about Myrddin? We can’t leave him, wherever he is.
“Bryn, its best we leave the academy...” Damien whispers, holding Felicity close.
I look back to the door, desperation kicking in at last.
That voice. I know it, I just can’t place it. Or I don’t want to place it.
I’ve heard it once before through the wood of Myrddin’s door. Just one year ago, actually, after I threw a fireball at Mattie and the man was crying for my expulsion.
I gulp.
Matthew Senior.
Where... how did he find a dragon? One that sounds twice the size of Brynmawr...
Unfortunately, when we rush up the corridor, we meet a skulking figure.
My heart thumps inside my ears now as the tears pour from my eyes. I don’t want to believe that it’s him, but there’s no mistaking that square, chiseled jawline.
And those white, glowing eyes. They don’t leave me. Not once.
Well, it looks like he got his powers back.
Matthew.
“I’m... I’m sorry, Bryn. But... I can’t let you go...”
Chapter 33.
The Humphreys won in the end. And Myrddin is still MIA.
They took over the academy on the wings of the great, Black Dragon in the end.
It turned out there were more dragons after all. The Black Dragon had been living beneath a glacier for over two thousand years, but many had believed him to be dead. There was a time where he was described as the Devil of the Land, and people in ancient times had greatly feared him.
But now he has returned to wreak havoc on the world once more.
Matthew Senior had been planning to wake him for years. Matthew Junior and Gwyneira were merely a puppet, a distraction to his real, diabolical plan.
I can’t believe we’d all been played a fool.
Even after I opened my heart to Mattie, he had only gone and betrayed me again.
I’m such a fool. The others had seen it coming from a mile away, but I let myself get swept up in his gorgeous, piercing grey eyes once again.
And because of my foolish actions, we are now trapped under the mercy of the Black Dragon.
Not only has Matthew Senior seized control of the academy, but the whole supernatural world too.
And we don’t have Myrddin to help us anymore. We truly are alone.
We still don’t know where Gwyneira and Brynmawr are either. I’d have thought the former would have turned up the moment the Humphreys took over the school, yet she never did, and it gives me hope.
It turns out the White Dragon was being sincere all along and truly meant what she told me in the dungeons of Camelot.
Mattie really is his father’s pawn.
It also tells me that she does truly love Brynmawr. My dragon...
I haven’t been able to get through to Brynmawr, and I hope to god he is all right and that Gwyneira hasn’t possibly killed him, but when I remember that tear-stained, scaled face of the white she-dragon, I know he’s safe.
She would never hurt him. She even chose him over the Humphreys in the end, and I have to hope that she is on our side.
Our best bet is to stay together. At least I still have my housemates.
We are Mendacious, Merlin’s army, and we can beat the Humphreys.
Damien proposes a plan one miserable day when we are all stuck up in Mendacious tower (Matthew Senior enforces strict, draconian rules now). I had been gazing sullenly out the window, taking note of the abysmal gray of the sky.
It was supposed to be summer, yet winter had taken over the land. It seemed the Black Dragon had brought the cold of the north with it.
We all stare at the demon aghast.
He stands beside his black, shadowy portal in the common room, the one that leads straight to hell.
Is he serious?
We’re already living in hell, and he wants us to go to another one?
Despite our qualms and fears, the demon shrugs, like he just told us we’re all going on a simple vacation.
“Why not? It’s our only way out of the academy right now without getting blood on our hands. If we escape to my father’s unholy kingdom, we’ll be safe. Well, safer... I’m his son after all. He loves me. He’ll take care of my friends for a while.”
Well, the anti-Christ isn’t wrong there. His unholy father really does love him (he’s even paying his tuition fees). Hopefully, he’s not some scary, horned brute with goat legs, and does in actuality look like Lucifer from Netflix.
In that case, give me a first-class ticket. Who needs that pretty mage boy when I’ve got tall, dark, handsome and evil...?
Felicity shivers, backing away from the shadowy corner. “But... you once said hell was no place for little pixies...”
Damien glances her way. “Nothing will happen to you, Felicity. Not while I’m down there. Besides, my father has been looking forward to meeting you.”
The little pixie’s blue eyes expand, and now she turns bright pink. “Really? He wants to meet me?”
Well, it’s good to know Felicity is safe, but what about the rest of us chums?
“And what about us? Are we safe, Damien?” I ask, crossing my arms.
Those probing, red eyes turn my way. “So long as you stick with me and don’t give in to temptation, then sure... you’re all right.”
I raise a brow. Temptation? I thought there was enough of that on earth.
The demon steps forward now, gesturing toward his portal. “So what do you all say? Make it quick. No doubt Humphrey will catch wind of our plans very soon.”
He’s not wrong. Since we’ve been on lockdown, Mattie has been keeping a particularly sharp eye on House Mendacious, the so-called ‘trouble-makers’ of the school.
I know deep down it’s not all him though. His father is just pulling his strings.
I wonder what lies and feeble threats he’s telling him right now. All to do with his mother, of course.
Zahara is the first to volunteer and no surprises. “I’m in. So lo
ng as we get to play AC/DC on our way down.”
I suppress a snort. The Unseelie really does know how to make light of a situation, even though she is a dark fae. She’s pretty much from a dark universe herself, so Hell will be nothing new for her.
Damien smirks and gets his phone out, and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” is already at the top of his playlist. “I’m already well prepared, Zee...”
A dark twinkle takes over the Unseelie’s jet-black orbs. “Let’s do this!”
Jack rolls his eyes, then says his first words all year. “Why not.”
Then Thomas joins his side and his inner wolf is shining through. His golden eyes glimmer and I catch Zahara watching him seductively.
Angelina offers me a pointed look then flicks her blonde hair aside, and I’m not surprised. She’s a vampire. She’s evil by default. “I’m in too. Maybe I’ll meet a few of my old victims down there while we’re at it.”
It looks as if she was feeding on crooks and criminals all along, and I suddenly have a positive opinion of her.
Soon all that’s left is me, Nora, and Felicity. I sigh. Of course I’d be left with the Magnanimous girls. Well, Magnanimous by default.
To my astonishment, Nora and Felicity take each other’s hands and join the rest, and now Damien scoops the pixie up in his arms, offering her an affectionate kiss. She giggles adorably.
“That’s my Tinkerbell.”
She takes her phone out and gets her own playlist up. “So long as we get to play my favourite song too.”
The Unseelie looks at her phone screen and almost vomits “Barbie Girl? Please...”
Now I’m the only one left standing. I hear that small whimper beside me, and my heart goes.
It’s Gelert.
At first, I think he is going to stop me from going, but then he nudges me forward, and tears pour from my eyes.
He can’t come with us. He may be a ghost when he’s on earth, but this beautiful, pure soul has already crossed over to the other side. His true home resides over that Rainbow Bridge after all.
Angels can’t go to hell. Simple enough.
I nod. “Okay, Gelert. I will go...”
With my angel dog’s encouragement, I step toward the others, and now we all face that dark, shadowy doorway of hell.
One by one, we follow Damien’s lead, and that darkness swallows us up.
Just before I’m completely consumed, I meet those sad, brown eyes of Gelert again.
“Keep an eye on the school while I’m away, Gelert. Myrddin is counting on you now.”
The old deerhound raises his head, and I smile as a look of pure determination takes over him. Now he looks like he could take on any foe.
Even a wolf.
That’s my angel dog.
I turn back to the portal and suck in a deep breath, embracing the darkness of hell at last.
See you on the other side I guess, Mattie.
END
Merlin’s Supernatural Academy: Finding the Dragon
...
Book #3
Chapter 1 - Bryn
So... Hell was not what I pictured it to be at all.
The moment I stepped out from Damien’s dark tunnel (one that made the creepy tunnel scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory look like Disneyland in comparison), I found myself in a grimy, urban street.
There were no flames or fiery pits of lava. There was just concrete and skyscrapers.
Sure, Hell is the dirtiest, grimiest city I’ve ever had the misfortune of looking at, but still... yuck. Where are the demons with pitchforks? Hell, I’d even take the three-headed dog Cerberus.
Boring.
The only person or thing waiting for us at the gates of Hell was some lame-ass guard in a security box, and he only granted us access into the city because of Damien in the end.
The living aren’t allowed in Hell after all (unless you’re friends with the anti-Christ).
The souls in this city truly are damned. They walk around with soulless, empty eyes, and they’re the worst humans imaginable. There are thugs, rapists, criminals, gamblers, con-artists, you name it. The only reason they left us alone was because they saw us with the prince.
And there is dirt and trash all over the place, and dodgy bars with flashing neon signs promising “Girls” and “Hookers”. The air stinks of damp and wet dog. Truly stagnant. And every so often you come across the glorious smell of urine and cigarette smoke.
The traffic was atrocious. It was permanently congested, horns honking and beeping into oblivion. Plus, road signs made no sense, so cars were crashing into buildings.
Damien led us all the way through that shit-show with Felicity hidden in his coat until we came upon a stark, black skyscraper that looked like something straight from Gotham.
His Unholy Father’s royal abode...
The guards outside let us through the rotating glass doors the instant they spotted that beautiful goth bastard, Damien. Then they directed us all to the penthouse suite, and that is where we have all been staying since we arrived.
I share a room with Angelina while Zahara and Nora stay in another. Jack and Thomas bunk together as Damien and his sweet little Tinkerbell stay in his apartment-sized bedroom.
I currently gaze out at that smoggy cityscape in my shared room with Angelina, while the vampire Barbie, on the other hand, lies on her bed, turning the pages of a magazine.
It turns out female demons are even hotter than female vampires. The stagnant air of Hell does them wonders. Since Clara, Jack’s Succubus, has been living on earth for some time now, she has lost a little of her hellish glow. Hence why Angie had always been the hottest girl at the academy.
But that sexy brunette on the cover of Angie’s magazine could even give the vamp a run for her money now. Just when I thought there could be no one more beautiful...
The city of Hell looks like a smoky sea from this high up. Just below the murk are a million blinking lights, but my only focus is what’s above me.
Hell’s sky is... there is no explanation. The best way to describe it is a void. A black, empty nothingness...
“There’s no sky...” I utter to myself.
Angie flips a page. “Did you expect blue skies and rainbows? Grow up, Bryn. We’re in Hell now.”
I scoff, peering her way. She doesn’t bother looking up. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re a vampire. Just another kind of demon in the end. I’m a wizard. Hey, by the way... did you bump into any of your old victims down in the city the other day?”
The vampire smirks down at her page. “Do you remember the gorilla with the shaved head and tattoos? The one who slapped your arse?”
I shiver. A huge ape of a man stalked us for a few miles, and he wouldn’t stop looking at my ass. He knew I was easy bait. Angelina, Zahara, and Nora can be deadly when they need to be (as one would expect of a vampire, Unseelie, and gorgon). Felicity was too busy hiding in Damien’s coat, so there I was left exposed to all the sexual predators of Hell.
I was the weakest in the herd after all.
It’s just a shame my fireballs aren’t as effective down here. The occupants are already dead. I can’t hurt them.
Damien stopped the ape in the end, and I would have kissed him and called him “My hero” if it weren’t for the jealous little pixie hanging off his leg.
Angelina glances up at last. “He was my first feed after my ban lifted. You may remember him from the news a year back. The one that raped all those women?”
I roll my eyes, shutting the curtains, then throw myself down onto my bed. At first, I was too afraid to have the bed closest to the window in case anyone broke in, but Damien assured us that it was impossible.
No one can get into his father’s penthouse.
“It warms my heart how you only go for those most deserving, Angie.”
The vampire flicks another page. For all her intelligence, it really boggles the mind why she still insists on reading that crap. Why would she need beauty tips an
yway?
I suppose the advice columns sure come in handy. Or maybe she just likes to check her horoscope...
“You may find this hard to believe, Bryn, but I have certain morals too. The night I found that guy, he was stalking a teenage girl down a dark alley. She was fourteen. As if I was going to let that ugly bastard have his way with her.”
My stomach gurgles then as I taste bile.
She looks up, her eyes flashing blue. “I saved that young girl from a traumatizing experience. I’m a hero. Admit it.”
I button my lips as I refuse to confess. I know it’s water under the bridge now, but I was just as innocent the night she decided to feed off me.
But I cave in the end. Despite her faults, Angie really is a stand-up vampire girl. A little shallow and vain, but she’s proven herself.
Unlike my ex He Who Must Not be Named...
Yeah, I’ve gone back to Harry Pottering his ass.
“Fine. You are the most beautiful, heroic vampire who ever lived, Angie.”
She smiles. “I knew you’d come to your senses, Bryn.”
The loud rumbling of my stomach takes us both by surprise next. We’ve still been getting fed in Hell. Believe it or not, the food is sublime. We are living in the Devil’s penthouse after all, but I always imagined that the food in Hell would have been rotten and covered in maggots.
“The Dark Lord promised us dinner would be in one hour...” the vampire announces.
“What do you care? You don’t even need to eat.”
She shrugs. “I still like a tasty dessert every now and then. Plus, the wine...”
She’s right. It’s the best goddamn wine I’ve ever had.
I bite my lip, gazing at the sexy, red-eyed model on the cover of Angie’s magazine. It’s something I’ve needed to say since we’ve arrived. I’ve been chewing myself up with guilt ever since, but the vampire needs to hear it.
“I’m... sorry I never listened to you about You Know Who. You were right. He was out to get us in the end. I got carried away, and now look at us, hiding down in Hell of all shitty places. Myrddin’s gone, and lord knows where my dragon is. I’ve not been able to get through to him since I’ve been here. He’s lost to me... and... and...”
