She took the first left and ran down the hallway. I ran after her. When she pushed into the female restroom, I paused at the door, suddenly overcome by manners, but when I saw the scene before us, I barged in.
“What the fuck?” I asked, glancing around.
Blood stained the floor and one of the sinks, and Ava’s books and purse were scattered on the floor.
“She was taken too,” Erin said, her face pale.
To make sure we were dealing with the same demon, I channeled my magic and sensed the power in the restroom. The magic sparkled in response to mine—the same one from Harvey’s room.
“It’s the same demon,” I said.
Erin turned to me, her eyes downcast. “Now Ava is missing too.”
21
Erin
This couldn’t be happening. First Harvey, now Ava. We had to put a stop to this.
“Don’t you have to report this?” I asked Rey, knowing that the headmaster’s grip on him was much tighter than on me.
“I have to, but that doesn’t mean I will.” He glanced at me, those gray eyes almost silver. “Come on. We need Claire.” He exited the restroom and I followed, glad to leave such a gruesome scene. After I walked out, Rey closed the door and infused his magic on it. “Now no one will be able to enter and see it, at least not for a couple of hours.”
Then we walked out the building.
I stayed a few steps behind him on purpose as we walked to the Aster building. After what had just happened between us, I needed space.
Holy shit, I had practically confessed my feelings to him. I had told him about the soul bond and that I hoped he was the one for me.
But he wasn’t. He had even shown me his chest, and there was no mark there. At that moment, my heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. Rey wasn’t my soulmate. Then how could anyone else be?
My embarrassment demanded I either run, or put a sack over my head so I could hide, but unfortunately, two of my friends were missing. My love life drama could wait a little longer.
Rey and I entered the Aster building, determined to find Claire and break her out of any punishments, but we were surprised to see her seated on the stairs in the lobby.
With Tanner by her side.
Anger rippled through me and I stomped to them.
“Come with me, Claire.” I extended my hand to her. “You don’t need to endure this jerk anymore.”
Claire glanced from me to Tanner. Tanner nodded at her. She returned her gaze to me. “It’s fine, Erin. We’re fine now.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean you’re fine now?”
“We’re—”
Tanner wrapped a hand around her waist. “We made up.” He waved us off with his other arm. “You can leave now.”
The anger inside me only sparked more. “We aren’t leaving without Claire. Please, Claire, come with us. We need you.”
“It’s important,” Rey said, his tone serious.
Holding her hand, Tanner stood. “She can’t. She’s coming with me.”
“What the hell?” I gritted my teeth. “Claire?”
She looked at me with puppy eyes, but ended up shaking her head. “Sorry, Erin, I can’t.” She stood beside Tanner. “I’ll see you later, okay.”
Tanner started walking past us, jerking her with more force than necessary. “Bye,” he said, in a sing-song tone.
“Claire,” I called after her. “Please, we need you!” She didn’t even glance back as she left the building, her hand firmly in Tanner’s. “I can’t believe this. Why is she going with that jerk?”
“I don’t get it either, but we don’t have time for that right now,” Rey said. “We need to figure out how to find Harvey and Ava on our own.”
Shit, he was right. We couldn’t wait for Claire anymore. She would hear from me later, but there were more pressing matters in need of attention. “Right. Any ideas how we’re going to do that?”
Rey shook his head. “All I can think of is going back to the restroom or Harvey’s room and searching for more clues.”
“We already did that.”
“I know, but it’s all I have.”
Not liking this feeling that there was so much to do, but no direction to follow, I nodded. “Okay. Let’s go back to the restroom. It’s closer.”
Rey and I walked back to the Statice building. I felt like I was waltzing in a zigzag pattern around campus all day. And right now, I should be heading to class. Shit, I would get an absence and a negative mark for the day.
I shook my head. Focus, Erin. Harvey and Ava were more important than classes and grades.
Once inside the Statice building, Rey and I headed to the female restroom. The door was still untouched, with Rey’s magic strong. After undoing his spell, Rey pushed the door open and we stepped inside.
I wrinkled my nose at the scene. I had already seen the blood, the mess, but I doubted it wouldn’t bother me each time I looked at it.
Inhaling deeply, Rey closed his eyes and called his power. A moment later, I felt it like a fingertip running up my arms, a tangible thing that sent a chill down my spine. His magic filled the room, making the demonic power crack and stir to life.
“If only I could get a better hold on it,” he muttered. With eyes still open, he reached for me and grasped my hands. “Open your magic to me.”
I frowned at our joined hands. We had done this before, used our combined powers to close the demonic portal. It could work once again. I took in a long breath and channeled my magic. Once I felt it tickling inside me, I sent it to him. He easily took hold of my magic and added it to his. Our combined power overflowed the restroom, making it nearly suffocating.
The demonic magic reacted, kindling even faster and more violently, as if it was alive. As if it was a tiny demon screaming and fighting us.
But then I felt it. This magic wasn’t a hundred percent demonic. It was like Rey’s and mine.
I gasped. “It was a half-demon.”
Rey snapped his eyes open. “That’s what I got from it too.”
I dropped my magic and pulled my hands from his. As much as I liked him holding me, he had made it clear he didn’t want me. He had even proved he wasn’t the one destined for me.
“But who?”
“Zachary,” Rey said. “He had that breakdown. He must be acting on his promise to make us pay.”
But it didn’t make sense. If Zachary wanted me to pay, he would have taken Claire, not Harvey or Ava. Well, not that I would ever stand for them getting hurt because of me, but Harvey wasn’t as close to me as Claire. And Ava … I barely put up with her, much less being friends.
Either way, I couldn’t think of any other half-demon we knew who could have snuck into the academy and taken Harvey and Ava.
“We need to find Zachary, right now,” I said. “Any ideas where he could be?”
Rey shook his head. “No, but I think I know where we can start.”
Rey and I headed to Zachary’s house at the edge of Chasseur Ville. On the way, we were tensely quiet, but my mind was full.
Besides my worry for Harvey and Ava, I also thought of poor Claire, who I would have to sit down and have a nice talk with. She not only pushed me away, but she was dating a douchebag who had no respect for her. That was unacceptable.
But more than that, my thoughts revolved around the man seated behind the steering wheel a few inches from me.
I stole a glance at him. The sun was setting, bathing him with golden light, and giving him a godlike air. Holy shit, he was so freaking handsome. I liked every detail about him. His sharp nose, his set eyebrows, his gray, sometimes silver eyes, his red lips, the rough edges of his chin and his jaw. Until him, I hadn’t thought blond guys were for me, but the dirty blond hair worked for Rey. In fact, he made everything work for him. The student uniform, a suit and dress pants, even a long winter coat—it all went well with his tall, ripped body.
Being so handsome, and always there when I needed him, why couldn’t
he be the one from the soul bond? It was a sick joke from fate. Make me fall in love with one guy and then bind me to another.
I gasped out loud.
Holy shit, I loved him.
I loved Rey.
I hadn’t really thought of the word love for us. I had just thought he might be my soulmate. That I liked him enough for that.
But now I knew it with certain clarity: I loved Rey.
Tears of frustration came to my eyes.
“What is it?” Rey asked, glancing at me. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” I waited until he looked at the road again to wipe the tears from my eyes before they fell. I felt stupid for wanting to cry because of this, but this agony inside me was so strong, it was hard not to. “It’s nothing.”
I could see he didn’t buy it, which didn’t help. How did he want me to let him go, when he looked at me like that—like he cared, like he could slay the entire underworld to make sure I was all right?
I had to be imagining things. Because if that was right, he would have told me he liked me too—that he loved me too. He wouldn’t push me away.
Right?
Honestly, I didn’t know anything anymore.
Rey parked his car in front of Zachary’s house. He looked at me. “Zachary is probably unstable right now. Just … be careful.”
My heart yanked. Why did he do this to me?
Without a word, I climbed out the car and headed to the house at the end of the driveway. Rey was right behind me. I rang the doorbell and waited.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but when his wife—or ex-wife, rather—opened the door, I was surprised. From what Rey had told me, Zachary said Susan had left, which made me think he was still living here, and she wasn’t.
“Hi, hm, I’m not sure you remember me—”
“I do,” Susan said, cutting me off. Her tone was guarded, just like the glint in her eyes. “You’re Erin, and you’re Rey. You’re probably here to see Zachary.”
“Yes,” Rey said.
She crossed her arms. “You won’t find him here. I kicked him out a couple of weeks ago.”
“Do you know where we can find him?” I asked.
“Why?” Her tone was more guarded by the second.
Rey and I exchanged a glance. Maybe it was wrong of me to tell her the truth, but at the same time, she deserved it.
“The thing is, Zachary isn’t in a good place right now.” I told her about his meltdown, his threats, and about how Harvey and Ava were missing, and we thought he had been the one to take them away. “I know this sounds crazy.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Her chest deflated and her eyes filled with tears. “It’s all my fault. If I had talked to him, if he had explained better, if I had been more open, none of this would have happened.”
“Are you saying you know he took our friends?” Rey asked.
“I don’t know that. But going crazy, doing big things he regrets later, that sounds like Zachary.” She shook her head. “This half-demon thing scared the hell out of me.”
“You know, being a half-demon isn’t a bad thing,” Rey said, his voice soft. “We’re half-demons and we’re definitely not evil.”
She stared at us, clearly not convinced, but not disgusted or afraid either. “If only he would come back and talk to me.”
“Listen, we’re afraid he’s hurting our friends,” I said. “Do you have any idea where he might be?”
She hesitated. “There’s a cottage outside Chasseur Ville, following the north dirt road. It was his grandmother’s, and he used to visit it a lot when he needed to think.” She shrugged. “But I’m not sure.”
“That’s enough for now,” Rey said, before turning to me. “We should check it out.”
I nodded once. Then I looked at Susan again. “Thank you for helping. If Zachary comes back, try to keep him here. If we don’t find anyone at the cottage, we’ll come back to check with you.”
“No, wait, I’m coming with you,” she said, already stepping out the door.
Rey shot me a worried look.
“Look, we don’t know how Zachary will be,” I said. “It might be best if you stay behind.”
She puffed her chest. “I’m the only one who knows exactly where this cottage is. Unless you want to spend hours searching for it, then go ahead.”
Holy shit. When she put it that way …
22
Rey
It was hard to convince Susan to stay in the car while we checked the cottage first, but after some reasoning, she relented.
Erin and I approached the cabin with careful steps, as if booby traps would jump out at us at any moment. We spied inside a window and found our theory to be true: Zachary was in the cabin with both Harvey and Ava. Tied to chairs in the middle of the living room and their mouths bound, they looked like they had seen better days.
Beside me, Erin tensed. “We’ve got to do something.” She channeled her magic.
“We will, but let’s not rush into things,” I said. “If we surprise him, he might react even worse.”
She groaned. “Fine. What do you suggest?”
I wasn’t too sure. What I didn’t want was to surprise him and have him hurt Harvey and Ava. We had to either immobilize him, or approach him carefully and try to reason with him.
“I think—”
“I know you’re out there,” Zachary said from inside the cottage. “Stop hiding like cowards.”
“Fuck,” I muttered.
Erin went to the front door and opened it. Zachary stood in front of Harvey and Ava, his Dawnblade leveled at us. “I knew you would come for them,” he said, satisfied.
Erin raised her hands before stepping into the cottage. “How did you know?”
I went inside with her, keeping her close.
“Because you’ve been flirting with Harvey,” Zachary said, with a triumphant tone to his voice. “You like him. I saw you two on a date.”
So that was why he took Harvey. Because he thought Erin and Harvey were together. The fucked up jerk wasn’t paying attention. By now, even I knew Erin and Harvey’s date hadn’t worked out.
Right?
“What about Ava?” Erin asked.
“She was snooping around too much since the moment I took Harvey,” he said. “You know how that saying goes. Wrong place, wrong time.”
“Zachary, your problem is with us,” I told him, my voice even. “Let them go and fix this with us.”
“Fix this?” Zachary scoffed. “The only way to fix all this is if I could take my half-demon part and extinguish it. But since I can’t do that, I’ll have to accept who I am and kill you.”
He threw a darkfire bolt at Erin. I pushed her aside, creating a hole between us; the bolt flew past. Another bolt zipped toward me, but I raised a shield in front of myself.
On the other side of the door, Erin called her Dawnblade. It was a sight to behold. That crude but powerful blade in her hand.
“No killing, right?” she asked, her eyes on the target.
I hesitated. Randall had asked us to kill him, and here he was, hurting our friends, attacking us … wasn’t he bad enough to kill now?
No. That was the old me, the demon under Asmodeus’s thumb talking. I wasn’t like that anymore. I would like to think that I had been like that because of the circumstances, not because it was me.
“Right,” I said. We would find a way to stop him. If we needed to put him in one of the demon hunters’ prisons, then we would do it.
But no killing.
Zachary let out a loud, crazed laugh. “You two are ridiculous.”
Then he teletransported. He disappeared and appeared again right in front of Erin, startling her. He closed his hand around her throat and pushed her against the wall. “You’re dead.”
He pulled his sword back, ready to stab her.
Panic filled my senses. I summoned my Dawnblade and aimed it for his heart.
“Zachary, stop.”
The clank of his swo
rd hitting the floor rang through the room. Staring at his wife with wide eyes, he let go of Erin and stepped back. “Susan. What are you doing here?”
“I came to stop you,” she said, her voice shaky. “I came to tell you that I overreacted. That I should have listened to you, talked to you. That I should have understood.” She glanced at Erin, then at Harvey and Ava, who were jerking against the ropes around them, as if they would fade away. “But it seems I was wrong about you.”
“No, no, no.” Zachary took two steps toward her. Susan kept the distance by stepping back. “Susan, please.” He held her hand and pulled her inside the cottage, between all of us.
I went to Erin, who had one of her hands around her neck. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, breathing deeply. “I will be.”
“Zachary, what have you done?” Susan asked, with tears in her eyes.
“This is nothing, baby,” Zachary said. “If you forgive me, I’ll fix this. I’ll let them go. I’ll even apologize.”
“Apologize?” Susan shook her head, the tears rolling down her face. “I don’t think apologies can undo the damage you caused. Zach, what’s happening to you?”
“It was all their fault!” He pointed to us. “If they hadn’t found me, if he hadn’t blackmailed me, if I hadn’t joined the Black Knight unit. It’s all their fault, baby.”
“I’m afraid …” She sniffed, trying to contain her tears. “I’m afraid I don’t know you anymore.” She took a step away from him. “I’m afraid I never really knew you.”
“No, no, no.” Immense desperation was clear in Zachary’s eyes and voice. “Please, baby.”
He reached for her, but she retreated more.
“Zachary,” Erin called. “Come with us. We’ll take you to the academy and—”
“No!” he roared, throwing a bolt of darkfire at Erin. “I’ll never go back there!”
I jumped to Erin’s side and deflected the bolt, twisting it in my hands, and releasing it back toward Zachary.
“Zack!” Arms open, Susan stepped in front of her husband.
The Hunter Secret (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 2) Page 15
