by Jayme Morse
“Kieran is waiting for you right in here. All you have to do is knock.”
“Wait. You’re not going to just leave me here… are you?”
I just stared back at him dumbfoundedly. How could he just bring me to this place and dump me off to face this Kieran guy alone?
“I’d stay with you if I could, but Kieran wants to speak with you in private,” Zay explained. “Don’t worry, Lux. I’ll be around.”
Then, without saying another word, he continued his way back down the hall.
Don’t worry? Don’t worry?
Who was he kidding? This was even more nerve-wracking than being sent to a new foster home. At least when that happened, I knew who I was about to meet. I had no idea who Kieran was or what he wanted. For all I knew, I might have been walking into some sort of trap. Maybe Zay had saved me from Alice just so that he could deliver me to Kieran, who also wanted me dead.
I tried to push the thought away. I needed to be brave.
Once Zay was completely out of sight, I turned back to the door in front of me. Swallowing hard, I forced myself to work up the nerve to knock. I reminded myself that, regardless of what this Kieran guy wanted from me, he was the one who had the answers to all of my questions. And I needed answers.
I extended a shaky hand to knock, but the door was pulled open before I even had the chance to.
A guy, who appeared to be in his early twenties, stared back at me. He had short black hair and the fairest skin I had ever seen. He was tall and slender, yet something about him seemed strong. Powerful, even.
It was his eyes that stood out to me the most, though. Like Zay and the girl in the hallway, he, too, had amber eyes. Something about his were slightly different from theirs, though. Theirs were a light shade of amber, bordering on a deep gold. Kieran’s were gold, too, but there was a fiery shade of red in the center that just seemed to burn like embers. I had never seen anything quite like it before, but just staring into his eyes made a shiver spiral its way down my spine.
“Lux Whitmore, I’m Kieran Blake,” he said, extending a hand.
I reached for it. As our skin brushed, a jolt of electricity crashed through me. It started in my fingertips before radiating through my arm. It was cold at first and then it turned fiery hot, reminding me of the times I’d burned myself while cooking. The sensation ascended my upper half before cascading its way down my spine, to my toes.
I hunched over, consumed by the pain.
What the heck had just happened?
“So, it is true then,” Kieran murmured, his eyes lingering on mine. “Not that I ever doubted it for a second.”
Even though he was speaking out loud, it felt like he was talking to himself. “What’s true?”
“Everything that I have ever heard about you,” he replied.
I glanced up at him. “And what, exactly, have you heard about me?”
“Please, Lux. Have a seat.” He motioned to the desk across the room.
Still recovering from the shock of the jolt, I slowly made my way over to the chair and sat down.
Kieran slid into the seat behind the desk and then glanced over at me, his eyes locking on mine. “I see that you’ve arrived safely.”
“I’m alive, if that’s what you mean.”
He nodded. “Your existence is very important to us.”
“Why?” I asked.
Kieran’s lips fell into a flat line. “You’re more special than you realize, Lux.”
“Is that why Zay knows my name?” I blurted the main question that was still floating around my mind. “How does he know my name?”
The faintest smile touched Kieran’s lips. “You have a bit of what one might call a reputation around here, Lux. In fact, you will come to find that just about anyone you interact with at Demon Blood Academy will recognize your name immediately.”
I frowned. “How could I possibly have a ‘reputation around here’ if I don’t even know anything about this place?”
Kieran studied my face. “Tell me, Lux. How much do you know about your birth parents?”
“My birth parents? What do they have to do with any of this?”
The knot in my stomach tightened again.
“Just humor me. How much do you know about them?”
“I really don’t know anything about them,” I admitted with a shrug. “The only thing I know is that I was left at a hospital when I was just a baby.”
“I suspected that would be the only thing you knew.” He sighed. “I don’t want to overwhelm you with anything I’m about to tell you next. I know that a lot of this may seem unbelievable to you—” Kieran began, but I interrupted him.
“How could you possibly overwhelm me more than I already am? The entire reason I’m here is because a guy—who just happens to know my name due to this so-called ‘reputation’ of mine—brought me here. And he didn’t just bring me here. He flew me here, which means he has wings. Everything else seems pretty believable in comparison, doesn’t it?”
Kieran’s eyes lingered on mine. “One might think so, but the truth is that you’re rather... unusual, Lux.”
“Unusual how?” I narrowed my eyes at him, both annoyed and surprised that he had the audacity to call me unusual, given the circumstances.
He must have caught onto my annoyance, because he quickly replied, “I didn’t mean that to sound offensive. It’s just that most people don’t react this way when they come here.”
I leaned back in my chair. “How do they react?”
“Just… differently. More afraid than you seem to be so far,” Kieran murmured.
Apparently, I was a really good actress.
He rose to his feet and moved across the room. As he glanced out the window, he said, “That boy who brought you here—Isaiah—”
My eyebrows lifted questioningly. “Isaiah?”
“Yes. He goes by Zay.”
Oh. So, that was what it stood for.
“There’s something you need to know about him.” He paused. “He’s not human, Lux.”
“I know that already.”
“You do?” Kieran looked surprised. “What did he tell you, exactly?”
“He didn’t tell me anything, but he didn’t need to. I was able to come to my own conclusion. Humans don’t fly.”
He nodded. “That’s a good assessment. So, if you don’t think he’s human, what is it you believe he is, then?”
“Well, it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” I asked. “He has black feathery wings. He can fly. He’s some sort of bird shifter thing. I’m pretty sure he must be part raven.”
“Raven?” Kieran let out a little laugh. “That’s certainly a creative guess.”
I frowned. “He’s not part raven, then?”
“I’m afraid not.” He paused, his jawline tightening. “Lux, Zay is the same thing I am and the same thing you are—the same thing your birth father was.”
“So, what you’re saying then is that I’m not human, either?”
“That would be correct.”
I hesitated. Even though I didn’t like the sounds of that, I couldn’t help but think that it must not have been that bad if I was whatever Zay was. Zay didn’t seem that bad. I didn’t even doubt his intentions anymore. I may not have known him for very long, but the truth was that I trusted him with every ounce of my being. If he was really bad—if he was really out to hurt me—then I wouldn’t have been there right now. So far, all he had done was save my life.
But a realization hit me then.
“It doesn’t even make sense that Zay and I could be the same thing as one another.” I glanced over at Kieran. “How can I be like him? I don’t have wings.”
“Not yet.” His eyes locked on mine. “Your birthday was a month ago.”
“How did you know that?” I asked.
“I know a lot about you. Turning sixteen will bring about some changes for you. That’s the entire reason we brought you to Demon Blood Academy,” Kieran explained.
I
thought about the name of the academy again. Demon blood. Did that mean I was a demon?
“We wanted to get you here as soon as possible,” Kieran continued. “We wanted to intervene before those changes start to take effect. It’s not an easy process to go through alone.”
“You mean before I get… wings?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“Among other things,” Kieran agreed with a nod. Then he walked back across the room and sat down at the desk again. “You may have already noticed that our eyes are all the same color here.”
“How could I not notice?” I wasn’t about to tell him that it was pretty freaking creepy. I didn’t want to offend him, especially since I had no idea what he was. If he wasn’t human, what magical abilities did he have, aside from, I assumed, being able to fly?
Opening a drawer, Kieran pulled out a mirror and handed it to me. “Look at your eyes, Lux.”
Shooting him a confused look, I glanced down at the mirror. I expected to look into my familiar dark blue eyes, except… they had changed.
My left eye was the same exact color as Zay’s, the same golden shade of amber. My right eye was still blue, but it was no longer the same shade of dark blue. It had changed to a lighter shade of blue, a shade that reminded me of a cloudless sky.
Confused, I glanced back over at Kieran. “I don’t understand. My eyes have changed color since yesterday, but… how?”
“It’s one of the things that we knew would change once you turned sixteen,” he explained. “It’s likely that coming to the Academy may have made them change color quicker. Being around others of your kind can quicken these sorts of changes. Your wings will probably make their first appearance very soon, too.”
“So, are you going to tell me what my ‘kind’ is, or are you going to just leave me wondering?” I asked frustratedly. I was supposed to be getting answers, but so far, he had only left me with more questions.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to beat around the bush. There’s really just no easy way for me to say this, so I guess I should just come out with it,” Kieran replied with a sigh. “You’re a Cambion.”
My eyebrows lifted in question. “A… what?”
“A Cambion is half-human, half-Demon,” he explained. “Your birth father was a Demon, but your birth mother was human.”
I just stared at him like a deer in headlights. I felt like I was going to be sick. I tried to speak, but it felt like my words had lodged themselves into a lump in the back of my throat.
How could any of this have been possible? How was it possible that I could have been something as dark as a Demon?
And yet, it made sense. I was at Demon Blood Academy.
When I didn’t respond, Kieran continued. “We’re all Demons here — Zay, me, everyone. Zay’s wings weren’t bird wings like you thought. They’re Demon wings. And our eye color… All Demons have amber eyes. You only have one amber eye. That might be because you’re only a half-breed, but it’s hard to say. It’s possible that your right eye might change color later on.”
He studied my face, waiting for my response. When I didn’t give him one, he continued. “I’m sure this is all incredibly overwhelming for you right now. It is for everyone we bring here.”
“Actually, why did you bring me here?” I snapped. “Why did you tell me any of this? Because I really would have rather not known about any of this if we’re being completely honest.”
“I know it’s a lot for you to take in right now, Lux... I do. But it was important for you to know. As I already explained, we brought you here because we wanted to make sure you were in a safe place when the changes began to take place in you.” He paused. “Do you have any questions, Lux?”
“Yes, I do have a question.” I swallowed hard because I was pretty sure I already knew the answer. “Basically, what you’re telling me is that I’m evil, right?”
Kieran looked taken aback by my question. “I never said that.”
“But if I’m part Demon, then it must be true. I’m at least part evil,” I insisted.
He frowned. “It’s a stereotypical human belief that all Demons are evil. There’s good and bad in everyone, Lux. Are there bad Demons? No doubt. But there are bad humans, too,” he pointed out. “That’s a big part of the reason why we brought you here.”
“Because I’m evil and a threat to humans?”
“No. To prevent you from becoming evil,” Kieran explained. “You see, Lux, Demon Blood Academy is a boarding school for our kind. And though there are far less Cambion here than there are full-blooded Demons, we teach them, too. It’s our mission to train you to be the best Demon you can be.”
“I was brought here to go to a Demon school?” I stared back at him, wide-eyed.
Kieran nodded. “Yes, that’s the reason you were brought here.”
I swallowed hard. Apparently, my comparison to Hogwarts hadn’t been too far off.
“I didn’t properly introduce myself before, but I am the Headmaster of this academy,” Kieran told me. “You will be living in the dorms during your stay. Your lessons will be much more hands-on than they are in a typical human school.” Reaching into his drawer, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “This will be your schedule.”
I glanced down at the first class on the list.
9:00 AM – Flight Lessons
“Flight lessons?” I asked aloud, glancing back over at Kieran.
“Did you think that you would just know how to use your wings?” He chuckled. “I hate to be the one to inform you that it doesn’t work that way. It takes a good amount of practice, just like driving a car.”
Not that I would have known anything about that. I had never driven a car before. It was sort of ironic that I would fly like a freaking bird before I had ever gotten the chance to drive a car like a normal teenager.
Then again, it looked like I wasn’t a normal teenager. I was a Demon teenager.
“I don’t even have wings yet,” I pointed out. “How do you even know that I’ll get them?”
Or what if, like my eye color, I only got one wing? The only thing that would have been weirder than having wings would have been having one wing.
“You will,” Kieran assured me. “In the meantime, you can watch the others fly and absorb everything that you’re learning until yours make their appearance.”
I continued to read through the schedule.
10:00 AM – Possession
11:00 AM – The Balance of Good and Evil
12:00 PM – Lunch Break
1:00 PM – Deception
2:00 PM – Demonic Creatures
By the time I had finished reading through my courses, goosebumps had erupted all over my arms. The fact that I was actually expected to take all of these courses, half of which sounded completely terrifying (Possession? Demonic Creatures?) seemed so unreal.
“I’m not doing this,” I replied, handing the schedule back to Kieran. “I can’t.”
“Lux, please give it a try before you decide.” There was an almost pleading look in his reddish eyes. “I know it might not feel like it right now, but it truly is in your best interest.”
“I don’t see how,” I muttered.
“It is. You just need to trust me on this.”
I scoffed. “Trust you? How can I trust you? You guys brought me here to this mysterious castle without even asking me if I wanted to come here. I don’t even know where we are. What state are we in? Or are we in another country?”
“Actually, we’re in an alternate realm, away from the human world.”
Another realm? “Are we in Hell?”
Kieran looked amused by my question. He leaned in a little closer.
“Do you see fire?” he asked pointedly.
“Well, no.” I paused. “Why am I in danger?”
He frowned. “I didn’t say you were in danger.”
“You didn’t, but Zay did. The first time I met him on the beach, he told me my life was in danger. What am I in danger of?”
I questioned.
Kieran’s jawline hardened, and his eyes darted away from mine and down to the floor. “Zay was only trying to scare you. He figured that you would be more willing to come with him if you believed you were in danger. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“If that was true, then why did that girl, Alice, break into my foster mom’s house to try to kill me?” I asked. “Why would she want to hurt me when I’ve never even met her? What is the legend she was talking about that had to do with me? Oh, and who is Cielo?”
Kieran glanced over at me sharply. “Cielo?”
I nodded.
The red part of his eyes clouded over with a dark look. “I don’t know anything about any of this, but I can assure you that we will look into it for you. My guess is that they must have gotten you confused with another Lux.”
I sincerely doubted that could have been true. It wasn’t like I had a common name like Jennifer or Ashley. How many girls named Lux lived in my city?
“For the time being, however, you can feel rest assured knowing that Demon Blood Academy is the safest place for you right now,” Kieran went on. “Our security here is superb. You have nothing to worry about during your stay. I promise you.”
Even though he seemed completely sincere, I wasn’t sure how much I could trust a Demon with red eyes… even if one of my eyes was Demon-like, too.
Chapter 4
Zay
“She’s here,” I announced as I entered the room.
“Who’s here?”
Kassidy didn’t even bother to look up at me from the book she was reading as she lay on the bed in her dorm room. She twirled her shoulder-length black hair, which had bright blue streaks in it, around one finger as she flipped through the pages.
“Lux Whitmore.”
That brought Kassidy to full alertness. Closing the book, she sat up on the bed and turned to me.
“Lux Whitmore is… here? At Demon Blood Academy?”
“Yup. And all thanks to yours truly.” I shot a proud grin in her direction.
“How did you manage that one?” The look of surprise hadn’t left her amber eyes yet.