Immortal Academy- The Complete Series

by S. L. Morgan

  She was extreme, but part of me wondered if she’d actually be the first to pick up on the evil at this school given her paranoia and hatred toward us. Now, she was in here, screeching like she was possessed about her own kind? She did know she was referring to her own people, right?

  Vampires never went off on themselves. They always held themselves above others and with supreme authority—no matter if they drank blood or drained energy from humans to live.

  The students were either staring at her with disbelief, covering smiles, or glancing at each other to get reactions…like I was doing.

  “So, we think it’s okay to bring in the witches with their obvious dark powers from the underworld to start spelling the blood-drinking vampires with a new craving? A craving of human energy? We think this is okay?” she practically screamed while possibly spitting on the entire front row of students. “It’s not okay. It’s of the underworld.” She laughed, and her tiny frame bounced frantically to match her cackle. “Of the underworld! There. I repeated it for you.” She growled. “That’s why it doesn’t work, you dark, vampire immortals. You were born to drink blood—you crave it!—but you fight it.” She drew in with a creepy whisper, “You fight the urge to feed on that blood, and now, instead, you think draining people’s energy because some dark witches told you it was okay…you think that’s acceptable? It’s new-age, supernatural doctrines and practices. You’re all evil, and this class will inform and expose all of you for what you are.”

  “What the hell?” I looked over at Dominic, who shared this class with me. “Is it me or is she just freaking nuts?”

  “You!” she snarled, pointing her long finger at me. “What’s your name, beast girl?”

  “Beast girl?” I said in disbelief while Dom exhaled in annoyance.

  “Just go with it. Class is almost dismissed anyway,” Dom said in a much lower voice than I’d just used.

  “Answer me, beast. Name?”

  “Jenna,” I said.

  “Stand up, beast.”

  I stood. “I’m not a beast, I’m a shifter,” I insisted.

  “Shifters are beasts. You may be in this pretty little form, but it’s deceptive, isn’t it? It’s just another one of the deceptive ways and practices of the shifters and the witches…you’re a beast! A dark, sneaky predator of the night. You are as evil as the vampire who drinks blood.”

  “Yep.” I took Dom’s advice and went along with this freak show.

  “You say that, but do you really believe it, nightcrawler?”

  “Nightcrawler?” I frowned with all these terms this chick was throwing out in insulting ways, “Isn’t that a worm?”

  “Yes,” she cackled as she clapped her hands together and looked up at the ceiling like she’d just had a Eureka moment. “You’re no better than the worm that’s threaded upon a hook, baiting innocent prey.” She looked at the auditorium, “All beasts at this school are. All vampires are. All fairies are. And—” She was sucking in air and sweating profusely at this point because she kept screaming at us and bouncing around like an Evangelist who’d caught the Holy Ghost, “and all witches are too. Nightcrawlers! All of you!”

  The chimes of the school rang out over the sound of the vampire, cutting off the crazy lady who’d been preaching at us about our dark ways and telling us that we were pretty much the epitome of evil for the last two hours. This chick was as looney as this school, and by this point, I had no idea if the students needed to worry about this nutcase killing them now or the school itself.

  “Come on, babe.” Dom took my hand as we moved out of the row we sat in together. “Well, dang, if anyone’s going to sniff out the evil in this school, it’s definitely that one,” he said as he draped an arm over my shoulder.

  “Part of me thinks she’s Harrison’s parting gift to us,” I said, leaning into his side. “Hey,” I looked up at him, pulling his shades on as we exited the first-floor auditorium and walked outside, “you seem like you’re handling things well.” I squeezed his side.

  “I’m doing a lot better than Professor Marguerite, I can promise you that.” His lips quirked up on one side. “That’s the most insane supernatural I’ve ever met in my life.”

  “Part of me thinks she might have escaped the supernatural mental asylum.”

  Dominic laughed and kissed the top of my head. “I would be willing to put money on the fact that you might be right.”

  “I can’t believe this is the first time we’ve really talked since getting back here,” I admitted, not even having seen him the day before—which was probably good since I was still pissed about the BS Melanie had pulled in our room.

  We stopped walking in front of the garden fountains, and he pulled me into his chest. “I know. I’ve missed the hell out of you.” He touched my chin, tilting my head back for a soft, yet lasting, innocent kiss. “You have no idea how hard it’s been to go through these staff meetings, and then I get elected to be the dorm master…it’s all insane. They’re treating me, Fin, Scott, and Ian like we’re staff now, yet we still have to go through all supernatural basic education with everyone too.”

  “It seems like keeping you busy is helping with your edginess.”

  “It is,” he shrugged, keeping his arms around me and sitting on the ledge of the fountain, “Once we get half a second, it would be nice to see if you learned any new magic tricks, though.”

  “Did you forget that quickly that Melanie is my dorm mate, and we haven’t had a second to breathe since getting back from our super non-stressful summer break?”

  “God, I keep forgetting you’re stuck with her.” He pulled me closer into where he sat. “How’s it working out?”

  “She’s kissing my ass, she actually ripped down all the fairy barf she had plastered on her side of the room.” I exhaled and ran my hand through his silky, thick hair, “The more she does to act like she and I are the best roomies this side of IA, the more I don’t trust her.”

  Dom smirked. “Now, you sound like Professor Marguerite.” His eyebrows rose up over his dark shades while he chuckled. “Is she the dark banshee who hides in the belly of this school?”

  I gripped the top of his hair in my hands, loving that this relaxed side of him was out again, and I bent down for another kiss. “She might as well be the devil too.” I laughed. “She’s a freaking leprechaun. They act nice, but that’s when I know something is up with them.”

  “I’m proud of you, beast girl,” he said, standing up after we both noticed our gang catching up to where we waited for them. “Should we warn them about their first vamp class?” Dom asked with his lips close to my ear.

  “Nah, it wouldn’t be any fun for them if they knew the surprise that awaited them.”

  “What?” Finley asked, being the first to catch on to mine and Dom’s soft laughter. “We all know Marguerite has a few brain cells missing, what’s new?” She grinned at us, “Is she worse than she was over the summer?”

  “That’s my next class,” Ian said, stepping up with Vannah’s fingers intertwined with his.

  It was nice to see that even through all of the weirdness of everything that was happening, Vannah and Ian were still happy together.

  “Mine too,” Vannah, Tanner, and Scott said in unison.

  “Is it really that bad?” Tanner pressed.

  “She will never trust supernaturals. Her mind has opinions of evil she can’t piece together,” Ethan said, walking up with Lusa. “She will believe we are all evil, because she studies it so much that it haunts her.”

  “The woman’s delusional,” Dom said. “Completely out of her mind.”

  “Her mind is filled with shadows,” Ethan said.

  “Shadows as in evil stuff at this school shadows?”

  Ethan shook his head. “No. She’s not the school’s target. Her shadows are created from fear. She could be in danger if she keeps fixating on evil, but not right now. She is so uncertain of life that she is one who the darkness won’t use. She will expose it too easily.
”

  “I can see that,” I answered Ethan while seeing the confused looks on my friends’ faces. “We’ll fill you in later. If we get half a second.”

  “I’m lost with the whole darkness, evil, and the fact that an immortal vamp is uncertain of life, talk,” Tanner said with a laugh.

  “Where you headed next?” I asked Ethan.

  “House Fae with Professor Constance,” Ethan smiled. “She’s lovely, and she has a pure heart.”

  “Just like you,” I poked my finger into Ethan’s chest. “Dom and I seem to have identical schedules this year, and that’s our next class too.”

  “Let’s hit it, bud,” Dom said, clasping my hand and gripping Ethan’s shoulder. “You all enjoy getting exorcised of your evil ways in House Draugar.” Dom smiled back at our friends who seemed more curious about what awaited them in House Draugar than the fact that Dom and I had the same class schedule.

  “Ethan,” I leaned forward to see him on Dom’s other side, “Maybe I can throw up my secret bubble tonight in yours and Dom’s room, and we can talk about the Guardians?”

  Ethan glanced at me. “Yes. This is a good idea.”

  “Alright,” I answered.

  “We’re still trying to figure out how you stole all their hearts, E,” Dom said with a laugh.

  “I didn’t steal their hearts, Dominic. They still have their hearts.”

  “I know, E,” Dom said with a friendly laugh. “That’s why I said it that way.”

  “You know it is difficult for me to understand when you talk that way sometimes.”

  “And that’s why you’re my guy and always will be, Ethan,” Dom grinned at him.

  “Dominic, you are very happy,” Ethan said, looking at me then Dom. “I am glad for this.”

  “I’ve got it under control, man, but Jen is right. We have a lot to talk about with what we’re going to do with defending this school, and everything Jen and I went through while we were gone.”

  “We will win,” Ethan said. “We will form a plan that will require discomfort, but this plan is our only hope unless you and Jenna merge the wolves.”

  “Not going to happen,” Dom said in a somber voice. “Why will any plan require me to suffer any more discomfort of dealing with my wolf longing to be united with Jenna’s? Nothing could be worse than that, man.”

  “The plan requires Melanie’s help,” Ethan said firmly.

  I literally tripped over my feet when Ethan said it and with the way he said it. Dom saved my face-plant into the glittery bushes outside House Fae and stopped all of us then and there.

  “Ethan, you do not joke. You do not lie, and you aren’t touched by evil because if it goes near you it dies…naturally. So, where the hell are you getting this idea from?” he growled. “We’re not bringing that crazed leprechaun anywhere near our plans. Ever.”

  “Then, I was wrong.”

  I sighed in relief when Ethan said that. “Thank God,” I answered.

  Ethan looked at Dominic and me. “I was wrong when I said we will win,” he responded with a hint of anger in his voice. “She is your only hope, Jenna. Your fairy magic needs hers.”

  “Ethan,” I tried not to yell at him. “I don’t need her help.”

  “Then you have to merge with Dominic for your powers. Melanie is the strongest fairy on this campus. She has to be brought into the plans, so she can help Jenna use her powers.”

  “This conversation is over,” Dominic snarled. “Let’s get into House Fae, and hopefully, I can pay attention to why some fairies need their wings ripped off according to Professor Marguerite’s theory of dark fae.”

  “Constance is pure.”

  “Good, maybe she can purify all of our minds after you just polluted them with that awful idea,” Dominic said, snapping on Ethan.

  “I gave you the answer,” Ethan said sternly. “You need to control your temper and your wolf. It’s very present, and I don’t like it.”

  “I’m good, bud,” Dom said, blowing out probably every last ounce of pissed-off energy that’d just bubbled up in him. “Let’s get into class.”

  Dom may have calmed himself down, but Ethan’s two options for seeing us win this battle at this school had me wanting to scream at the top of my lungs in anger and frustration. Why couldn’t anything be easy? Why was the hardest route always the route we had to take to save anyone’s ass?

  I was done with loopholes, stupid bonding crap, and now Melanie—the crazy leprechaun I hated—was the one person who could help me unlock the DNA code that I had zero access to in my mind? I was done and over it. Forget Dom’s temper raging out of control, I was the pissed off one now.

  Chapter Twenty

  We survived the first day, and unfortunately, Dom was held in some master shifter staff meeting that night, so we never saw each other after our evening shifter workout. So my working with my magic on Dom had to wait until he could get a break from the first week of changes the school had made.

  “Are you and Dominic getting along okay?”

  “Go to bed, Melanie,” I answered, trying to lose the idea that I might need her help, and just try to go to sleep.

  Dom had dismissed the massive unit of shifters he was assigned, with a statement that told me we were all going to start getting our asses handed to us in morning routines, and that today was pretty much a fun shifting day, and he hoped we all enjoyed it. By that statement alone, I knew I needed some serious rest.

  “I was just asking, sheesh,” she responded, and I heard her slam her head against her pillow.

  Dear God, how was that four-year-old even a consideration for helping us—me? Of all the people that Ethan’s oracle energy could pick up on, why did she have to be the answer?

  “Thanks.” I tried to be nice by answering her just in case she pulled some crazy, fanatical shit on me while I slept.

  The good thing about her kissing my ass was that she was not arguing with me, she never really pressed anything about Dom and me—though she tried—and she actually listened when I told her to shut up! That, in and of itself, was worth having the psycho leprechaun kiss my butt even if she did have some trick up her sleeve.

  The next morning, I woke up to an empty room. Thank God fairy classes were more intense than the shifters’ classes. They were mandated to report to their instructors an hour before us, which meant I didn’t have to see her glowing-red hair while I was trying to wake up.

  I was dressed in no time and down with the large group of shifters who were assigned to Dom. I glanced around, seeing that Ian, Scott, and Finley’s units were all the same in size too. It was crazy to put this kind of a workload on the head master shifters. They had to instruct all of us together and make sure they were good students too? Dom was right. They might as well have been staff and not forced into the learning curriculum, or IA should hire shifter staff to run these massive groups instead of using their students. They were taking advantage of the guys and Finley. There was no doubt about that.

  All of us had reported to the back lawns of House Braeclaw. I found my place four rows back from where formations had lined up, and I managed to watch Dom as he began marching through the long lines with his hands folded together behind his back.

  “Listen up,” Dom’s voice reverberated across the field. “I want all of you to know here and now that this unit will be the best unit that House Braeclaw and IA has ever had.”

  Dom stopped when a girl practically squealed out a yes in excitement. He slowly marched up the aisle she was in and stopped next to her while he went on to address the group.

  “Some of you might be thrilled that I’m confident to state that fact, but you shouldn’t be. This will take work. Your skills will be tested along with your mental strength, and I will switch things up in our routines for the sole purpose of making sure you’re uncomfortable.” He started moving through the rows again, “I will start by warming you up, then we move into skilled fighting techniques, drill-downs, and finish by shifting and taking the most ha
ted course—the Fae course—to force our inner animals to accept what they naturally hate. There will be times when I won’t allow you to shift, and we will walk the trails to train your inner animals to help mute the brilliant colors and lights. These are only a few of my objectives that will be put into place, starting this morning.”

  “Fighting skill?” I heard a kid call out, bravely, two lines over from me in the front row. “What is that doing to help us build muscle and power to beat out other supes, sir?”

  Dom stomped up the row I was in and marched directly to the mouthy kid. “Anderson,” he pulled his sunglasses off and hooked them over the neckline of his shirt. His eyes were silver- brimmed—alpha wolf in full effect—as he glared at the kid who stood almost as tall as he did.

  “My first name is—”

  “I’ll call you whatever I deem appropriate. Right now, I wouldn’t guess your name was Charles Anderson. I’d think perhaps a fairy name—something like Jules Goldbloom or perhaps even Charlie Merrywater.”

  “Sir, insulting your—”

  “I’m not done, Anderson,” Dom growled. “Don’t you dare imply that I am insulting you while you are the one who has insulted me by questioning how I run my unit. I watched you in your lion form yesterday. I will say that at first I was impressed, until it seemed as though you were mimicking the lions in the human realm, using the ladies to do all the work for you.” Dom pulled his shoulders back, “That, Anderson, is an insult.” Dom looked out at the rest of us, “I owe none of you any explanations, but perhaps this will help motivate you. Our kind is destined to be destroyed by other races because the rogue supernaturals have overrun our very own Supernatural Elite Forces.” He paused while pacing in front of us. “Why is it, Anderson, that our Elite Forces can’t handle their own supernaturals?”