by G. K. DeRosa
From the corner of my eye, a dark shadow and sharp teeth filled my peripheral vision. I squeezed my eyes shut as I waited for the tear of flesh along my neck. But it never came. Instead, a black blur zipped by and pummeled into the third gorabora demon I’d missed.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and goose bumps erupted over my skin. The scent of musky sandalwood swirled in the air. Ryder? My eyes fixed on the dark form as it disappeared into the mass of fighting bodies. I darted after it, my boots slipping through the blood-soaked grass and slowing me down. “Ryder!” I shouted, but the figure melted away in the shadows.
“Are you okay?” Drake coalesced beside me, sweat and blood slickening his brow.
I whipped my head back and forth. “I think I just saw Ryder.” I pointed at the mob of fighting supes.
Drake stood on his tiptoes searching in the direction I’d motioned, narrowing his gaze. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I felt him. Every fiber of my being was certain of it. “He saved me,” I mumbled. I knew how stupid it sounded, but he had. That gorabora demon was about to take a big chunk out of my neck.
Drake’s light brows furrowed as he tugged me toward the others. “Come on, we’ll talk about it later. Right now, we need to finish this.”
I tried to squirm free of his grasp. “But I have to go after him. He’s here, I know it.”
The ice prince’s hold only tightened around my bicep. “Absolutely not. This place is crawling with demons. We need to end this and get out of here before one of Luxora’s minions catches sight of you.”
I dug my heels into the ground and scanned the mob for the dark blur, for the familiar form I knew better than myself. He was gone. “Fine,” I muttered and let Drake drag me back toward the others.
Logan’s leathery wings were out and sharp fangs had burst from his incisors. He battled against a blood-red demon with leathery skin and a bad attitude. Calliope too, was going head-to-head with a nasty scaled creature. There was something about seeing our new instructors fighting by our side that made my heart swell—despite everything.
Drake called out to the team, and everyone halted mid-strike. The eight of us joined hands as Logan, Calliope, and the gargoyles held the demons off. “Everyone get down,” the gargoyle shouted to the other supes.
“Let’s raze these effers to the ground,” I roared, and a chorus of whoops rang back from the team.
Power surged between our clasped hands, heat hemorrhaging across my skin and rippling through my insides. Our gazes locked on each other, and we began to chant, “Demonium evacuae, demonium mortem, disparetem!” Raine and I, who were on opposite ends of the line, splayed our hands out and a scorching flash of fire blasted from our fingertips.
The sizzling wave rolled over the remaining demons, bathing them in a fiery glow. Flames licked over their skins as hideous shrieks filled the air. The noxious scent of charred flesh wafted over the once pristine park. Once the smoke had cleared, nothing but sooty ash remained.
Chapter 5
“It was him, Cillian. I’m sure of it.” I pinned the headmaster with my steeliest look across his massive desk. “He saved me, and that means the Ryder we know is still in there somewhere.”
The angel’s gaze flickered to Logan who was perched on the armrest of the couch. His silvery brows were scrunched together as he watched the dancing flames in the hearth.
“Logan?”
“Hmm?”
“Did you see anything?” Cillian asked.
He shook his head. “I wish I had. I would’ve tackled the bastard and brought him in.”
My gaze whipped back to the headmaster when Logan’s earlier words sprang to mind. “And why didn’t you tell me that Ryder had only killed bad guys?”
Cillian leveled the gargoyle with a glacial glare and huffed. “I didn’t want you to get your hopes up. And although Logan is right, his victims were a bit unsavory, that doesn’t justify his killings.”
“Maybe not, but it does mean a small part of him is still in there somewhere. Is still aware of what he’s doing…” I slumped into the chair in front of Cillian’s desk. “That gorabora demon would’ve bitten my head off if Ryder hadn’t intervened. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t still care.”
Logan stood and began pacing in front of the fireplace. “Speaking of the gorabora, that attack had Luxora’s name all over it. My team along with a whole horde of vampires did what we could for damage control, but there’s no way we can keep this one out of the media.”
“I know.” Cillian dug his fingers through his blonde curls, tugging at the ends. “I’ve already gotten a call from the president. He’s scheduling a special televised address for this evening.”
“He is?” My eyes bugged out. How was he going to explain this one away?
“He has to discuss it, or it would only make matters worse. The last thing we need are humans in a panic.”
Two soft knocks on the door turned everyone’s attention to the entryway. Darby opened the door a crack and poked his head in. “Calliope and the team are here for the debrief.”
“Thank you, Darby, show them in.”
Calliope, Drake, Raine, Triston and the rest of the squad marched in. They’d all showered and changed, and I became painfully aware of how gross I looked. After portalling us back to the academy, I’d come straight to Cillian’s. My black sweats were splattered in demon blood and guts, and nasty unidentified goop coated my tangled hair.
Cillian rose and addressed the supe squad, who had filtered into the office and stretched out over the couch and chairs. “Well done today, team. Logan has given me a quick debrief, and it sounds like everything went perfectly according to plan.”
Logan stepped up next to him and gave everyone a smile. “You guys did great. There’s no way we could’ve pulled it off without you. Not with the numbers they had.” He paused, his wide jaw grinding. “I’m worried that things will only get worse. Luxora is becoming more brazen in her attacks, and it won’t be long before the human world becomes aware of what’s going on.”
“So why don’t we go after her?” The words popped out before I could stop them.
“To the Underworld?” Drake asked.
“Why not?”
“Umm, because it’s the Underworld, half-blood,” hissed Raine. “You don’t simply go down there and take on one of the warlords.”
“So we’re just going to sit around and wait until she attacks again? And again?”
Raine shot me a hate-filled glare. “You’re the only one of us she wants dead so why should we risk it all for you?”
“Enough,” Cillian barked, smacking his hand down on the desk. “Arguing amongst ourselves won’t help anything.”
“Anyway, we all know Luna only wants to go down there because of Ryder.” She crossed her arms over her chest and sneered.
My feet propelled me forward, but an arm whipped across my torso stopping me.
“Don’t let her get to you,” Drake whisper-hissed. “She’s just trying to rile you up.”
Cillian cleared his throat. “Regardless, what Raine said is true. We cannot simply go to the Underworld in search of Luxora. That’s her home territory, and she’ll be surrounded by her guards. We’d have no hope of beating her there.”
“But she never comes to Azar or the human world,” I huffed.
“Except for you.” Drake’s lilac eyes glimmered. He turned to Cillian and Logan. “What if we use the human as bait?”
Neither responded for a long moment.
“Why does Luxora want Luna so bad anyway?” Aeria asked.
No one on the team knew about the dark oracle’s prophecy either. Not that we knew the specifics, only that it existed and whatever it had said, was enough to spook the dark lord.
My gaze bounced to Cillian’s, and he nodded. It was time to come clean about everything.
I turned to my team, and mostly my friends, and steeled my nerves. “A lot of you have wondered why a random human h
alf-blood ended up at Darkhen Academy. I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now, but Cillian and Ryder thought it was best for everyone’s safety that you didn’t know. That’s not the case anymore.” I paused to fidget with my fingers.
“What Luna is about to tell you must be kept in the strictest confidence.” Cillian’s brilliant blue eyes locked on each member of the team. “Raine, are we going to have any problems?”
She rolled her eyes. “No.”
“This isn’t only Luna’s secret. It’s also that of the President of the United States.”
My teammates’ eyes widened, some brows furrowed and others’ mouths dropped. Only Drake’s expression remained cool and collected as always.
“My father is a high warlock as I told you before. Some of you may have heard of him, Garrix, the supreme warlock of the Coven Council.”
Raine’s mouth formed a capital O, her mossy green orbs blazing.
“And that’s not all. He’s also the President of the United States.”
“What?” asked Scarlett.
“Garrix is a skinwalker,” Raine muttered. Her eyes widened as she put the pieces together. “By the gods, the president is a supe.”
A wave of surprised mumbles rolled across the room. Even Calliope hadn’t known.
“Which is why we kept this from you for so long,” Cillian interjected. “There are only a handful of people who know President Lazaris’s true nature, and it’s imperative we keep it that way. Everything the president and the Etrian Assembly have fought so hard for would crumble if word got out of what he was. Are we clear on the importance of this secret?”
A murmured chorus of yeses filled the room.
“That still doesn’t explain why Luna can open portals.” Raine’s glare had turned from totally hostile to morbidly curious.
“That’s because she’s not simply a witch, Raine.” Drake smirked. Apparently, there was still some animosity between the ex-couple. I wanted to smack him. If they started hooking up again, at least she wouldn’t hate me so much.
“She’s a true half-warlock,” said Cillian. “The first female ever.”
“How is that possible?” asked Raf as another round of excited mumbles filtered across the headmaster’s office.
“We don’t know.” I folded my arms over my chest, feeling slightly exposed. Now that everyone knew the truth, it made it more real.
“And wait, what does this have to do with Luxora?” asked Triston.
“When she tried to kidnap me last semester after the dance, she said her oracle had seen something. That I would somehow put a stop to her evil master plan or whatever. Or at least, she thinks it was me. That’s why she wanted to drag me down to the Underworld to find out.”
Raine’s gaze met mine, and her lips puckered. “So again I ask, why would you ever risk going down there?”
“Because I’m tired of hiding out and waiting. And yes, I do think we should find Ryder too. Cillian and Logan have been searching Azar for months and have come up empty. Who better to find him than us? That’s why we’re all bound, right?”
“But I don’t feel him anymore,” Aeria said. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
“Me neither,” I mumbled. “But I know a part of him is still in there. He isn’t completely lost to the demon. Yet. I saw him out there today, and he saved me. Now it’s our turn to save him.”
“You don’t know it was him,” Drake muttered. The prince had been surprisingly quiet during the entire conversation.
“Yes, I do.”
Drake shook his head and exhaled a frustrated breath. “Did he speak to you? Did he say he wanted to come back? If Ryder’s still in there then he could return whenever he wanted, right? So why hasn’t he?”
I shot Drake a narrowed glare, my fists clenching at my sides. “I don’t know. Maybe he can’t. Maybe he needs our help.”
“Okay, enough, you two,” said Calliope. “We’ve all had a very long day. Let’s take the night off to recoup, and we’ll talk more on this in the morning.”
“Calliope’s right.” Cillian moved toward the door. “Get some rest, team. You’ve all earned it. As a matter of fact, I’ll excuse all of you from classes and training tomorrow. Take a day to relax and recharge.”
A wave of whoops and yeses rang out as my friends filed out of the headmaster’s office. I just didn’t have it in me. I couldn’t rest or relax until we brought Ryder home.
Chapter 6
It had been two weeks. Two whole weeks and Cillian still refused to let us go into the Underworld to find Luxora—or Ryder.
“It’s just too dangerous, Luna.” Cinder and Bella trotted along beside me as we circled the practice ring. “I know how badly you want to find him, but if you get yourself captured by Luxora in the process, it’s kind of going to defeat the purpose.” My best friend winked at me, and I couldn’t help but picture her brother, Flare, and his trademark winks.
“I know, I know. Believe me, Cillian reminds me every time I bring it up.” My fingers tightened around Zeus’s reins and he yanked me forward, nearly pulling me out of the saddle. “Sorry, buddy.” I patted his neck, running my fingers through his silky mane. We’d finally come to an understanding, the wily unipeg and me. I spent most of my evenings getting lost in the clouds with my trusted confidant.
“You know what you need?” Cinder’s lips split into a mischievous smile.
“What?”
“A girls’ night out.”
“No, thanks. Movies on the quad don’t hold any appeal for me anymore.” They only reminded me of that sneaky vampire, Des, and how stupid I’d been to trust him.
“No, silly. I mean a real girls’ night out where we actually leave campus.”
Scarlett sidled up behind us with her unipeg, Manx. “Did I just hear something about a girls’ night out?”
I shook my head with a grin. You couldn’t get anything past my new roommate’s super vamp hearing. “Cinder’s trying to convince me, but I’m not so sure about it.”
“I think it’s a great idea and exactly what you need. I’m tired of you moping around our dorm room.” She pulled a colorful flyer from her coat pocket. “And I know the perfect place. Tonight’s the grand opening of a new club in Nocturnis, and since you’re such a Hitched fangirl, you’ll totally want to see who’s deejaying this evening.” She handed me the flyer with a wicked grin.
I scanned the vibrant print, and my eyes widened as they landed on a familiar name. “Lucíano is the guest DJ? As in the super hot vampire Kimmie-Jayne dated on the show?”
“Yup. And he’s also my blood brother don’t forget. I can totally get us in, and maybe we can hang out with him backstage.”
I bit down on my lip to stop the squeal from sneaking out. I loved Lucíano on Hitched, and I’d been so disappointed when he’d been eliminated. Sure, he was like a hundred years old, but it didn’t hurt to ogle from afar, right?
“So what do you say?” asked Cinder.
“I don’t know…” It was Friday night, but I doubted Cillian would grant me a pass to leave the academy to go dancing at a vamp club. Though the demons had been quiet the past two weeks, my angel guardian always remained vigilant.
“I can talk to Cillian,” said Scarlett, practically reading my mind. “We can hold our own in a club full of vamps with my necromancy powers and your warlock ones. And we can always invite Raine and Aeria to come along for extra fire power.”
I rolled my eyes. “Or we could lie.” A night out with Raine wasn’t exactly what I’d envisioned for a fun girls’ escapade.
“Or not, whatever.”
“Ooh, I’m sure Maxi and Alissa would love to come,” said Cinder. “I know they’re not in your supe slayer squad or anything, but they’re still dragons.”
I’d take those two over Raine everyday—powers or not.
“Come on!” Scarlett whined.
“Okay, okay. Let’s do it.”
I hated lying to Cillian, but there was no way I was getting off campus
any other way. Besides, it was partially true. I was portalling us to Nocturnis to hang out with Scarlett’s family—technically, Lucíano was her blood brother. I only left the nightclub part out.
As we tumbled out of the portal right in front of the club, the thundering beats spilled out onto the streets. A massive line of supes stood behind a velvet rope waiting to get into the new hot spot. I glanced up at the bright red neon sign with the bold lettering—True Blood. Nice name.
Adjusting my skimpy top and tugging down my short leather skirt, I followed Scarlett to the door. The massive, industrial building reminded me of the ones in the Meatpacking District in New York City. Bright spotlights rolled over the gathering crowd as supes dressed to the nines filled the sidewalk. Scarlett skipped the line altogether and went straight for the towering bouncer who loomed in front of a crimson curtain.
The guard’s fangs slid out as we approached, deep ruby rimming his onyx irises. He sniffed the air, and a smile split his full lips. “How can I help you ladies?” His gaze raked over Maxi and Alissa, and I could see the goose bumps popping over their skin.
“Eyes over here, big guy.” Scarlett locked her dark orbs on the bouncer. A haze settled over his irises, and his jaw slackened. “We’re on Lucíano’s list. Scarlett plus three.”
He nodded and stared down at his tablet. After ticking something off, he opened the velvet rope and ushered us in. “Enjoy your night, ladies.”
Scarlett led us down a dark, narrow corridor as the music doubled in intensity. At the end of the hallway, an arched doorway opened to a massive circular space. Brilliant spotlights swirled across the multi-leveled dance floor as a floating DJ booth hovered over the center. My gaze drifted up to the LED rainbow of lights displayed across the roof three floors up.
