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

by Juliana Haygert

  “You mean …” Erin gasped.

  Tanner nodded. “Yeah, I’m your half-brother. King Brikan is my father.”

  “That still doesn’t explain why you were hiding,” I prompted him.

  “I found out I was the son of King Brikan last semester, so I spent winter break researching it,” he said. “I found out there was a demon that knew all about it. All you had to do was pay his price.” He let out a sigh. “It was a trick. I went to the demon and he possessed me. When he was inside me, he didn’t find out who I was, or rather whose child I was, but he did find out about you, Erin. He became obsessed with killing you for King Brikan.” He turned to Claire. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you. I remember everything from when he was inside me, but I had no control over it. All the bad things I did were Orzon’s doing. I’m so sorry, really.”

  Claire’s lower lip trembled. “I’m actually relieved it wasn’t you.”

  Tanner frowned. “I know you like me, or rather the other Tanner, but …”

  “You don’t like me,” Claire said, nodding. “I get it; don’t worry.” She attempted to smile, but it was clearly forced. “I forgive you.”

  “Thanks,” he whispered. “And to finally answer Rey’s question …” Tanner looked at me. “I decided to take advantage of the fact everyone thinks I’m dead. This way I can leave the academy and research the Demon Kissed Queens prophecy.”

  Erin’s eyes rounded. “You know about that?”

  He nodded once. “I found out when Orzon took the book from the restricted section in the library and destroyed it. We’ll have to find another one to discover more about the prophecy.” He paused, growing more serious. “I want us to team up to take down King Brikan, eventually.”

  I frowned, not sure about this. What if Tanner was fucking lying about all of this? What if he was working for King Brikan? Or even Randall?

  But what if he was telling the truth? Then, we would have some sort of secret weapon when the time came.

  Erin hesitated. “I would like that.”

  I decided to trust her choice.

  “Great,” Tanner said. “You’ll make a fine queen of the underworld.”

  Erin shook her head. “No, I don’t want that. I’ll help you take down King Brikan, if we can, but I don’t want to be a queen. If you want, you can have the throne for yourself. After all, you’re his son too.”

  “I confess the idea doesn’t appeal to me either, but I think we can decide on the details later,” Tanner said. “Now, I should leave the academy before someone else sees me.”

  “We’ll help you out,” I said.

  The four of us headed out of the infirmary, and into the darkness of the night behind the buildings. With my authority, I easily distracted the guards from one of the outposts while Tanner fled. He promised to keep in touch, before disappearing into the mountain behind the academy.

  In silence, Claire, Erin, and I made our way back to the dorm buildings.

  “What is going to happen now?” Erin asked, her voice low. “They all know who I am. Perhaps I should have fled with Tanner.”

  I opened my mouth to tell her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, when a mob came out from beside the Snapdragon building and surrounded us—several of the professors, staff, and full-fledged demon hunters.

  “You’re a half-demon, daughter of King Brikan, a demonic princess, and a Demon Kissed Queen,” Professor Graham shouted. “You deserve to die.”

  29

  Erin

  I was dragged into the school board room—which looked like a round court room—in the Aster building, and thrown in front of the entire school board and staff. Professors, secretaries, officers, and even guards filled the chairs.

  To add to the wound, the full-fledged hunters who had been at the ball were now in the room too.

  And all of them were agitated and arguing about what to do with me.

  In the back of the room, Rey stood, watching me with worried eyes. He had tried defending me when they surrounded me and took me away, but he had been one against many.

  The headmaster took the chair behind the high desk behind me, while my mother was among the others, yelling at them in my favor. She would end up outed as my mother, which would only make things bad for her too.

  I tried catching her eye to tell her to let it go, but she didn’t even glance my way while she told them it wasn’t my fault I had been born with the king of the underworld as a father.

  Someone brought up the fact that I had helped Farrah escape from the demon hunters—how the hell did they find out about that?—and this time, Thierry was the one to shout I had been naive and easily swayed.

  I didn’t know if his comment helped, or made me feel worse.

  Norah, the demon hunter who helped us with Farrah, also spoke up in my defense, though she didn’t make me feel stupid. She said they were mistaken about me, and that she vouched for me. That was quite touching considering I barely knew her.

  Finally, the headmaster stood up and said, “Silence!” The room quieted in three seconds flat. “I understand this is a sensitive situation. We’ll deal with it with the utmost care.” He sat back down. “We’ll listen to Erin, then to others who would like to state their opinion about the matter. At the end of this session, I’ll make a decision.” He gestured to me. “Erin, start.”

  I gulped, suddenly nervous with all eyes were on me. More than that, my fate was going to be decided in the next few minutes. I could be thrown out of the academy, or killed, or worse.

  I inhaled deeply and started, “I didn’t know I was the supreme demon’s daughter until a few months ago. I don’t feel any different from before and I think that if I had never found out, nothing would have change. I’m not evil, and I’m not on the side of the demons. My destiny is to kill King Brikan and to take the underworld from him. Isn’t that what all demon hunters want?”

  “Who says you’re not tricking us?” Kaitlin said. I had seen the female demon hunter during the ball’s preparations. “You’re here pretending to be good, just so we lower our guard. Then, you’ll attack and King Brikan will destroy us.”

  “I say we should consider another game,” Professor Graham said. “You could very well just kill King Brikan, then take the underworld for yourself. Who says you won’t be worse than he is?”

  “You’re all looking way down the line,” Professor Wesley said. “She’s a half-demon, and that already warrants her death sentence.”

  “Then we have to talk about all the other half-demons who swarmed the ballroom this evening,” Professor Eleanor said. She glanced at the headmaster. “Randall, care to explain?”

  Randall looked at her as if she was the gum stuck to the sole of his shoe. But eventually, he responded. “I’ve created a group of half-demons, called the Black Knight Unit, and they were the ones who saved you tonight, if you don’t recall. As Erin pointed out, not all half-demons are evil, and I believe we can integrate them into our society.”

  The protests escalated until they became a continuous roar inside the board room.

  “They all have to die!” I heard among the shouts.

  “She has to at least be thrown out the academy.”

  “Torture them! They must know secrets we don’t.”

  I was shocked about how horrible these people were, how many cruel thoughts they had in their minds. Did they only see black and white? There were no shades of gray when it came to supernaturals?

  “Silence!” the headmaster called again. This time, it took longer for the people to quiet down. “I’ve made a decision. Erin Delman will stay in the academy, under my protection. She’ll train with all of you so that she can help us take down the underworld when the time comes. Moreover, the Black Knight Unit will continue.” He stood. “This meeting is now over.”

  The professors and demon hunters still protested as Randall walked to me, and after grabbing my arm, escorted me out of the room.

  He took me to the doors opening to the cou
rtyard. “Go directly to your room and lay low for the rest of the weekend. Things will probably be tough for you for a while.”

  I nodded.

  The headmaster spun and walked away before I could thank him for sticking up for me and letting me stay at the academy. I heard the loud footsteps and the angry voices coming down the stairs, and I hurried out of the Aster building.

  By now it was the middle of the night, and all the students had been sent to bed hours ago, so I didn’t encounter anyone as I ran to the Gardenia building.

  I breathed in relief as I made it to the lobby safely.

  “Erin.”

  I turned around as Rey walked into the building. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

  “I just wanted to check on you,” he said, his voice and eyes soft. What the hell was he doing? This was too confusing for me. “That was crazy and I thought—”

  I steeled myself, knowing what would happen here. He would reel me in, and then cast me out like a dead fish. “It’s okay, Rey. I’m okay. You can go now.”

  Gray eyes turning silver, Rey ran a hand over his hair. “Fuck …”

  It happened too fast. One moment he was standing three feet from me, the next I was pressed against the wall. Rey was right on top of me, his body glued to mine, his hands on my waist, and his lips crashing on mine.

  I froze for a moment, at a loss of what to make of this moment. But before I could try to think this through, I melted into him. I sank into his soft, warm lips, into his deep, longing kiss, into his tongue that teased mine, that provoked me. Heat spread through my body as his hands traveled low, around my hips. Lost in the moment, I hooked a leg around his hips. My dress’s slit exposed my leg, and Rey’s hand smoothed across my bare skin.

  I moaned against his lips, and he groaned against mine.

  This … this was paradise. This was perfect. This was meant to be.

  If Rey wasn’t my soul bond, then how could I feel like this? How could he ignite such a flame inside me? How could his kiss and his body fit mine so well?

  As if hearing my thoughts, Rey groaned again and shifted his weight, aligning his hips with mine better, making me gasp with pure desire.

  I grabbed the collar of his shirt, barely noticing they had been torn into pieces. Oh, yes, it had been during the fight against Tanner, or rather Orzon. I had seen that Tanner had struck him hard at least twice during the fight, but after all the craziness that came after, I had forgotten to check on him. I slipped my fingers under his torn shirt, caressing his skin, feeling a nasty scratch over his collarbone.

  Worry about how badly injured Rey was overcame my desire, and I broke the kiss. I tugged at his shirt, and stared at his chest.

  The wound wasn’t too bad. It was a nasty scratch, but with the right ointment, it should heal nicely.

  What made my heart skip a beat—or four—was the mark above his heart.

  The soul bond.

  Rey had the twin soul bond mark.

  “Fuck. Erin—”

  “You have the mark,” I whispered, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. I glanced up at his eyes, so silver tonight, and felt them pulling me in. “You’re my twin soul.”

  “Erin,” he whispered. A groan ripped from his throat as he dropped me fast and retreated several steps.

  As if he had awoken from a spell, Rey whispered, “I’m sorry.”

  I frowned. “For?”

  “For … kissing you and holding you.”

  I wasn’t following it. “Why are you sorry for that?”

  “Because it shouldn’t have happened. You shouldn’t have seen the mark. I was doing such a good job hiding it before.”

  It took me a moment to process it all. “Wait. You just kissed me and now you’re pushing me away again? I don’t get it.”

  He ran a hand over his hair. “Erin, this is complicated.”

  I crossed my arms and held on to the rage simmering inside me before I broke down and cried in front of him. “Then make it uncomplicated by explaining it to me.”

  He let out an exasperated sigh. “I hid the mark before because I’m just trying to keep you safe, Erin. That’s all I want. To keep you safe. Forever. And to do that, I have to stay away from you.”

  “Bullshit!”

  He shook his head. “It’s true. Everyone who gets close to me ends up dead. Even the ones who really don’t want to get close to me. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

  “So you’re going to deny we are soulmates because you’re scared I’m gonna get hurt? If I read between the lines, that means you like me.” He averted his eyes. “You like me,” I whispered, not sure if I was upset that he had hid it and lied to me, or happy that he was the one for me, and that he felt the same as I did. “Just think about that. Just like me. Just be with me.”

  I hated the pleading tone of my voice—I was not a girl who begged for a guy to like her, but come on! He already liked me. He was my soulmate. Why didn’t he give in and be with me?

  As if warding himself against me, Rey took another step back. “We can’t, Erin. There are too many factors moving against us. We can’t be together.”

  I stared at him, disappointed. “So you’re giving up on me, on the unique bond we share, because of problems you won't even share with me? Sorry, but it sounds like you’re hiding something shady and using any idiotic excuse to push me away.”

  “It’s best if you think that,” he said, his voice deadpan.

  So, that was how it would go. He went back to being the jerk from the beginning of the semester, and I went back to being the lovesick girl who pined for him every second of the day.

  I was done.

  I was so freaking done.

  “Have it your way,” I said.

  Heartbroken, I climbed the stairs and went into my room.

  Still dressed in the pretty dress, with my hair half-done, and makeup—probably a little smeared—I threw myself onto bed, hugged my pillow, and promised myself I wouldn’t cry over him.

  What a big, fat lie.

  30

  Rey

  I left the Gardenia building with my tail tucked between my legs and my heart in my hand. I knew I had hurt Erin badly, but it was for the best. I knew it was.

  To drive my point home, she had almost died tonight again. It didn’t matter if it was because of me or not. She would be in even more danger beside me, and I couldn’t accept that.

  How fucking stupid I had been? Kissing her like that? I had no fucking self-control. And now the problem was, every time I thought about kissing her, about her lips on mine, about my body pressed against hers, I wanted more. I needed more.

  But I couldn’t have it.

  I also couldn’t stay here. Since choosing me, Randall always commented on how I would graduate and start working at the academy as a professor. He wanted me close, so I could learn everything—all lies, of course. Randall didn’t fool me. He might look like a deity to everyone else, but I knew his soul wasn’t pure. It didn’t matter what he wanted. I needed to get away from here. Following my instinct, I turned toward the Aster building, intent on knocking on Randall’s office this late at night and talking to him. He had to hear me out. He had to understand. I would beg, if I had to, to be sent to some full-fledge demon hunter outpost, preferably far away from here. There were plenty of outposts located around the world. I was sure he could find a fit for me somewhere.

  I was almost at the entrance of the building when Professor Crimson stepped in my way.

  “Professor,” I said, stopping before him. “What’s the matter?”

  “I have a deal to offer you,” he said simply.

  Another deal? I had plenty of those to go around already. “I’m not interested.” I walked around him.

  “I know about the soul bond,” he said.

  I stilled. “What did you say?”

  “I know you and Erin Delman share a soul bond.”

  Slowly, I turned around. “How the fuck do you know that?”

  “I won�
��t reveal my secrets to you,” Crimson said, his tone superior, as if he liked playing with me. “Will you listen to me now?”

  I didn’t want to, but did I have any choice? I crossed my arms. “Go ahead.”

  “Randall has gone too far,” Crimson said, his dark green eyes burning with fury. “Half-demons inside the academy? That’s absurd.” Apparently, he had found out about the soul bond, but not that I was also a half-demon. “I think it’s time for a change, and I want you to help me with that.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll help me take Randall down,” he said. “Discredit him, throw him in the dungeons, kill him, whatever, so long as I’m the new headmaster by the end of the year.”

  I pondered this. Crimson wasn’t any better than Randall in my opinion. At least, Randall was powerful enough that he could protect the academy and its students.

  As for the soul bond. Whatever. Erin had already found out about it. What if everyone else did? It wouldn’t change anything.

  I shrugged. “That’s not my problem. Find someone else to help you.”

  “I don’t think I made myself clear,” Crimson said, his voice gaining a harsh tone. “If you don’t help me, or if you tell Randall about this plan, I’ll kill Erin.”

  My heart stopped. “What the fuck?”

  “What? She’s a half-demon, the daughter of the king of the underworld. I bet I can easily implicate her and have her executed right here.” He gestured to the courtyard with the Blackthorn tree. “Are you willing to risk that?”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “Am I? Don’t you know what I’m capable of?”

  Oh, I knew. He might not show his claws in public, and most of the time, he looked pathetic when arguing with Randall, but I was sure Crimson would go to any lengths for his goals.