The Hunter Secret (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 2)

by Juliana Haygert

  Because it was her sword, I guided her through each of the steps, but I let her do it all herself. When necessary, I gave her a hand. Otherwise, I stayed away. This was such a special blade, I wanted her to feel proud of it—not only because the tree had given the sword to her, but because she had been the one to make it.

  The Dawnblade wasn’t made the same way a normal sword was, and this Dawnblade was even more elaborate. We had to reshape the odd mix of wood and metal that formed the blade, create a hilt—which Erin insisted looked like the vines and thorns from the Blackthorn tree, add the indentation around the pommel that would later be occupied by magical gems, and then infuse it with magic.

  One of the forges had a magical core—Randall never told us how that worked, and no one dared to mess with it—so hours later, when we were sweaty and tired, Erin put her almost-done-blade inside that forge. Instantly, the magic enveloped the sword, glowing a bright white light and illuminating the entire room.

  When the shine was gone, I said, “It’s done.”

  With a satisfied glow in her eyes, Erin picked up the sword from the forge. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

  It really was. The blade was long and slightly curved, resembling a scythe. The material was unique—a mix of magical wood from the tree and metal. The hilt looked like several vines interwoven, and thorns lined the pommel, leaving enough space between them for the gems that would come later. When Erin twirled it in her hand, a dark glow covered the blade.

  I had an idea. “Wait, it’s not ready yet.” I reached for her Dawnblade, but stopped before I touched it. “May I?” She nodded and handed me the sword. I lay the sword on its side in my open palms. “Now, rest your hands over mine.” Erin frowned, but she did it. Our hands touched, with the blade sandwiched between our skins. “Now, infuse it with your magic. That way, your Dawnblade will be even more special and unique.”

  She closed her eyes and sent her magic into her sword. I stared at her, and sent my magic too. If she was my soulmate as the twin soul bond said, then my magic would be compatible to hers, and welcomed inside her blade.

  We pushed our magics into the blade. It hummed with so much magic, but it held firm and true, even better than I expected.

  Soon, I reared my magic back and pushed the sword toward Erin. “It’s ready now. Congratulations on your amazing Dawnblade.”

  She looked up at me, her smile wide and true. “Thank you.” She held her blade by the hilt.

  “Now, do it,” I urged her. “Make it disappear and appear like we do.”

  She frowned. “How?”

  I stretched my arm beside me. “I just think about it.” My Dawnblade appeared in my hand. “Then I imagine it gone.” My sword faded into thin air.

  Erin cleared her throat and spread her legs apart, as if she was getting ready for a fight.

  I thought she wouldn’t get it at first, but I should have known better. The moment she extended her arm beside her, the sword was gone. A moment later, it appeared again.

  “I did it,” she cried, her pitch high. Happy.

  I nodded. “You have a special connection with your sword. Treasure it well.”

  “I will.” She glanced at the blade a moment before it disappeared again. She turned her bright smile to me, making my fucking heart wrench again. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” I told her. “But just remember. This is a special Dawnblade. For now, don’t let others know you have one like that.”

  Her grin diminished. “I understand.”

  As much as I wanted to spend the rest of the evening and night hidden away with her, my resolution of being civil and not doing anything stupid only went so far. I needed to get away from her now.

  “We should go before we’re considered missing,” I said.

  Erin nodded. “Right.”

  Together, we walked out of the classroom. The sun was almost set, and the entire school was quieting down for dinner and curfew.

  Feeling like my will was fading, I didn’t escort her to the Gardenia building. Instead, I bid her a quick goodnight outside the Orchid building and went for a walk around the Lotus lake at the northeast corner of the academy.

  The fresh air would be good for my mind.

  But there was nothing that could cure my fucking aching heart.

  13

  Erin

  It had been stupid of me, but after the day Rey and I spent several hours forging my Dawnblade, I thought we had turned a new leaf. We had bonded that day, even if not romantically, but as friends, as buddies. Despite all the shit going on between us, that day showed me we could still get along fine. I had even told Claire everything about it—the sword, the forging, the bonding—and she had agreed with me.

  Until that day was gone and he avoided me again. A week and a half passed and I only saw him in class, and even then he barely looked my way or talked to me.

  Really?

  Sometimes I wondered if he was almost a thousand years old. He was acting more like a sixteen-year-old boy.

  Claire and I had just left the cafeteria after lunch when the air around the academy started bustling. Girls ran amok and shrieked as if they were about to see their idols.

  Oh, that meant the Blackthorn Hunters were back at the academy. Sure enough, I soon received a note to meet with Thierry in the Aster building.

  This time, he was waiting for me in the lobby.

  “Erin, I missed you,” he said, sounding so sincere, it spooked me.

  “Shall we work?” I asked, showing him the notebook I brought.

  Per the headmaster’s request, we went to an empty, smaller meeting room on the first floor and started working on our task: the guests list.

  I started writing down the names of all the full-fledged Blackthorn Hunters. There were thirty-four of them stationed in the mountains, but I then learned that there were many other outposts around the world.

  Thierry told me that though Randall had settled in the United States and opened an academy here, he had lived all over the world, and had established several smaller units of the Blackthorn Hunters. For this ball, many of these hunters would come.

  “Not all of them, though,” Thierry said. “After all, we need hunters to stay put in case they are needed.”

  I guess that made sense. Next, I started writing down the hunter’s immediate family members.

  That sparked a question. “What about you, Thierry? Where’s your family?”

  So far, he had been smiling and flirting with me as much as the first time I had met him. But with that question, Thierry straightened and grew serious.

  “I come from a prestigious demon hunter family, though my parents were killed during a battle a few years ago.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling for him. Knowing how terrible it was to lose someone special, I understood his pain.

  “Before that, I was always considered the golden boy of the academy,” he said, and to my surprise there wasn’t a hint of arrogance in his voice. He was just being sincere. “People loved me. Well, I guess they still do.”

  I snorted. “You should have seen the girls earlier. Whenever you hunters step foot in the academy, they swoon so hard.”

  He tilted his head, his hazel eyes fixed on mine. “What about you? Did you swoon?”

  How to answer that? Should I play this game? Should I flirt with him? My mind went directly to Rey, but my heart wilted. Why was I thinking about the jerk who had rejected me?

  I could try this. I could flirt back. What was the worst that could happen? If in the long run I decided it wouldn’t work, then I would back off.

  Just like it with Harvey.

  Wasn’t that part of life?

  But I thought about breaking Thierry’s heart, the same way Rey had broken mine time and time again, and I hated it. I hated giving him hope without being sure of my feelings.

  In the end, I decided to take a step forward, but still hold back somehow. “Maybe.”

  His smile widened. “I’l
l take it.”

  I glanced at the list in my notebook. I thought for a minute, then started adding the name of the professors, the staff, and their families.

  For some reason, my mind ran wild, and I thought of which professors had been full-fledged demon hunters before having to step down. Professor Eleanor, Harvey’s mother, was one of them. Like many of them, she also had lost her ability to be a demon hunter during a battle against a demon—Asmodeus, Rey’s father.

  Which made me think of another question …

  “Have you had any exciting missions so far?” I asked, not sure exciting was the right word when you were risking your life. “I mean, you’re pretty young …”

  “I graduated four years ago,” he said. That put him in the range of twenty-six years old, exactly how old I thought he was. “So I’ve been on many exciting missions. The one I’m working right now is pretty exciting, if not puzzling.”

  “Can you tell me what it’s about, or are the details confidential?”

  He chuckled. “Nah, I guess I can tell. I’m leading a chase for a fae. A female frost fae, actually.” My heart stopped. “A few weeks ago, she was in West Hill. She destroyed half of the town. I’m sure your professors talked to you about it.”

  They had, but more than that, I had seen it. I had lived it. Only Doreen had seen Harvey and me there. A few more hunters had seen Rey, but since Rey was well known among them, they didn’t think much of it.

  “Yeah, I heard about it,” I muttered.

  “She escaped somehow, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll find her someday and kill her.”

  My stomach dropped.

  Oh no.

  I opened my mouth to tell him it hadn’t been Farrah who had destroyed the town. I wanted to tell him it had been the shadow fae. I also wanted to tell him Farrah had saved me from them.

  And I had helped her escape.

  If I told him that, he would report me to the headmaster. Worse, I would be interrogated by Thierry and the other hunters. They would think I was an accomplice and punish me.

  Shit, I couldn’t say anything.

  I shut my mouth again, and for the rest of the afternoon, I focused on creating the long guest list, and nothing else.

  When I got back to my room after my meeting with Thierry, Claire was waiting for me by my door.

  “You won’t guess what just happened,” she said, practically jumping up and down with excitement, making her cute curls bounce.

  I unlocked the door. “What?”

  We stepped into the room. Claire closed the door and leaned against it. “Tanner asked me out.” She squealed.

  I smiled at her. “That’s great.”

  In truth, I wasn’t so sure how great that was. In the last ten days, I had paid more attention to the guy, and unfortunately, I started becoming a little wary of him. I blamed Rey for instilling the doubt bug in my mind. If he hadn’t showed me how upset he was about Tanner, I wouldn’t have paid attention.

  But I did, and I had seen how arrogant he could be. In front of Claire, he was kind and gentle, always smiling at her. Once she turned around, he scowled at everyone and treated them as if he was better than them. I had even seen him yelling at one of the kitchen staff the other day.

  I had been meaning to talk to her about him, but I could never find a good moment. And now that he had finally asked her out, I felt bad for bringing it up.

  My only hope was that Tanner matured soon. That he was a great guy to Claire, and stopped being such a self-absorbed brat.

  “We’re going on a date soon,” she said, her green eyes twinkling. “Will you help me get ready?”

  “Of course,” I said, thinking of when she had helped me get ready for my date with Harvey. “We can ask Harper for her stilettos again.”

  “Oh no.” Claire shook her head. “I could never walk in those heels.”

  I chuckled. “We can borrow them early and start practicing.”

  We made other silly comments like that while I put away my books and organized my things for the next day. Then, we both headed downstairs to eat dinner.

  “Oh, wait,” Claire said, stopping in the middle of the staircase. “I forgot something in my room.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Something Tanner gave me.” She started backing up. “Go ahead, I’ll meet you there in a couple of minutes.” She rushed up the stairs.

  I shook my head, a little worried. I wanted her to be happy, but I wondered if she would be truly happy with Tanner.

  After a long exhale, I went down the rest of the stairs. I was crossing the lobby, heading toward the cafeteria when I heard soft sniffles. I paused, thinking I was mistaken, but I heard it again.

  On instinct, I followed the noise to a corner of the lobby, where a hallway opened to the back of the building and led to the back door.

  There, seated on the floor with her back against the wall, was Harper.

  “What happened?” I asked, kneeling beside her.

  She wiped at her eyes. “Nothing.”

  “It doesn’t seem like nothing.”

  Her eyes filled with tears again. “It’s silly.”

  For some reason, I wanted her to talk to me. Maybe it was sympathy for knowing she had lost her two best friends, or maybe it was something else. I just knew it bothered me to see her like that. “Tell me and I’ll decide if it’s silly.”

  She sniffed again. “It’s Claire.”

  I stiffened. “What do you mean?”

  “I like Claire, all right,” she confessed, taking me aback. Wait … Harper liked Claire? For real? “But I heard earlier this afternoon when Tanner asked her out. I guess they are dating now.” A thick tear rolled down her cheek. “And I’ve got no chance.”

  I sat down beside her. “Ah, Harper, don’t feel so bad.” I honestly didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t want to tell her Tanner was a douche and it probably wouldn’t last, because I didn’t want to give her hope. What if Claire’s touch was magical and she easily changed Tanner and he became the nicest guy around? But I didn’t want to tell her to forget about Claire, not yet. First, because it was too soon. Two, because if I could choose for Claire, I would choose Harper. I patted her arm. “It’s going to be okay.”

  Harper rested her head on my shoulder. “You think so?”

  I let out a sigh and decided to be honest, “I hope so.”

  Hope. That was the thread that led my life. I hoped I would live to the end of the day. I hoped I would get good grades. I hoped I didn’t embarrass my mother anymore. I hoped Ava and I didn’t cross paths. I hoped I forgot about Rey soon. I hoped Thierry turned out to be an amazing guy and I fell in love with him.

  Moreover, I hoped my father, the supreme demon, forgot I existed and never came for me.

  14

  Rey

  Avoiding Erin for the last couple of weeks had been way too hard, especially after our time together forging her Dawnblade. A week ago, I found out Thierry had come to campus to work with her on the ball’s preparations. It had taken every ounce of my will not to go spy on them. To not interrupt them again before Thierry not only kissed her hand, but also her lips.

  Trying to get Erin out of my mind for a change, I headed out of the academy to meet up with an old friend.

  I drove past West Hill, onto an isolated road that led to a small ranch at the base of the mountain. Here the snow still covered most of the ground, and the road leading to the main house was thick with ice. I drove slowly and parked my car beside the beat up truck in front of the barn.

  With her long brown hair tied in a loose braid, Vaira stomped out the house, stopped by the edge of the porch, and pointed her finger at me. “No, I don’t want to see you right now. Get off my property.”

  Did I mention she was a friend? Yeah, that was a fucking lie. We were more like acquaintances and not good ones.

  About a hundred years ago, Asmodeus sent me on a contract-dealing mission for Zeltov, another prince of the underworld. He said there was a
woman in her early thirties who was about to lose her mother and she would do anything to avoid that grim fate. So, I went to her and offered a contract—if the woman gave her soul to Zeltov, her mother would be saved. The woman didn’t hesitate.

  But there was a catch. Like me, the woman was half-demon, daughter of the prince she had sold her soul to. And because of that, the prince was able to bind her to him indefinitely. Like mine, her contract didn’t have an end date. Like my story, her mother lived for a long time, but in the end died and left her alone.

  However, I was able to get rid of my contract when Asmodeus died. I was still immortal and powerful, and I would always be a half-demon, but my ties to the underworld had been severed.

  Vaira’s were still intact.

  I had always felt bad for brokering her contract and dooming her to such a horrible fate. Because of it, I tried checking on her occasionally, but she always pushed me away. Truth was, she hated me for what I had done.

  I couldn’t blame her.

  “I came with an offer,” I said, knowing that didn’t sound good at all.

  Vaira put her hands on her waist. “Are you fucking serious?”

  “Just hear me out.” I took a couple of steps toward her, soaking my boots and feet into the snow. “Randall is creating a unit of half-demons. He says he wants to show the demon hunters that not all half-demons are evil. He wants to introduce them to the demon hunter society.”

  She scoffed. “Randall is crazy.”

  “He’s also powerful,” I said. “A few months ago, he killed my father and I was freed of my contract.”

  Her eyes widened. “Randall killed Prince Asmodeus? I hadn’t heard that.”

  “You live buried in this ranch.” I gestured around. Besides the main house and the barn, there was only snow and trees covered with snow. “How can you hear anything out here?”

  “Get to the point, Rey,” she warned, her eyes narrowed.

  “If you join us, you might end up on Randall’s good side. Then if you ask, he might kill Prince Zeltov for you.” I paused for effect. “And you would be free of your contract.”