by Jayme Morse
A look that I couldn’t quite identify passed through his eyes. “No, there are no portraits or photographs of your mother here, since she wasn’t a Demon.”
“Oh.” I had been slightly hopeful that there was a chance that I would get to see not just one but both of my parents for the very first time. I supposed that getting the chance to see one of them was better than getting to see neither of them, though.
I glanced back over at him. “Zay? Is Benjamin Whitmore… I mean, my father… is my father still… alive?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” he replied quietly.
“I see.” I swallowed hard, trying not to let it bother me.
I wasn’t sure why I had even gotten my hopes up at all. As far as I was concerned, my birth parents had been dead to me for years. Because of that, I had ended up in the foster system, being tossed from one foster family to the next like a frisbee. Somehow, I’d had the bad fortune of never getting adopted the way that most kids were when they were just babies.
Now, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it than bad luck. When I had met all of those prospective adoptive parents, was the reason none of them had wanted me because I was half-Demon? Was it possible they had somehow sensed that there was just something “off” about me? Had they known that half of me would potentially grow up to be… evil? I’d never had many friends and boys had never liked me, and now I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because of the demon vibes I may have been casting out into the universe.
“So, is that enough proof for you? Are you willing to believe that you’re part Demon now?” Zay asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Well, I do believe that Benjamin Whitmore is my father,” I replied. “Those genes are apparently very dominant. But how does anyone know for sure that I’ll even get wings? What if he was a Demon, but my human genes are dominant? What if none of the Demon genes were actually passed down to me?”
“It doesn’t work that way,” he replied, shaking his head. “You will get wings at some point in the future, Lux. But there’s something you should know.”
“What?” I raised my brows at him questioningly.
“Your wings… Well, they might be different from everyone else’s,” he explained.
“Different how?”
The bell rang a second time then.
“We’re going to be late for Possession class,” Zay told me. He turned and set off down the hallway, in the direction of Kieran’s office.
“Zay, wait!” I called after him. He continued to walk quickly down the hallway, staying a good five steps ahead of me.
When I finally caught up to him, I tugged on his arm. He turned to face me, a stone-cold expression on his face.
“How will my wings be different from everyone else’s?” I pressed.
“I-I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that.”
“You can’t just say something like that and not tell me,” I insisted.
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before shaking his head. “I… I can’t. I’ve already said too much. If Kieran knew that I even told you that much…” He trailed off.
“What would Kieran do?” I questioned.
“I don’t know,” he replied quietly. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Then, without saying another word, he went inside the classroom.
What a great Guardian he is leaving me out here in the hallway by myself, I thought to myself bitterly.
I just stood there, both confused and annoyed at him. How could he tell me something like that without telling me everything?
Of course, I knew that I shouldn’t have even been surprised at that point. For whatever reason, it seemed like no one wanted to give me direct answers around here. It was beyond frustrating.
I was fairly certain that everyone at Demon Blood Academy was keeping secrets from me, and I was determined to find out what they were.
Chapter 9
Zay
“I was fairly certain that everyone at Demon Blood Academy was keeping secrets from me, and I was determined to find out what they were.”
Lux’s thoughts filled my mind as I sat down at a desk. I knew Kieran would have called me a hypocrite if he knew I was listening in on her thoughts. I hadn’t liked that Kieran had entered Lux’s mind, and yet, there I was doing it myself.
The thing was… I hadn’t wanted to enter her mind. No, in fact, I had promised myself that I wouldn’t enter it, that I wouldn’t listen in on her thoughts under any circumstances. It was a personal invasion of her privacy, a boundary that I hadn’t wanted to cross with her. And yet, I couldn’t help myself.
I’d just needed to know what she was thinking. More specifically, I needed to know what she thought of me.
“I’m not sure how I can find out what these secrets are, but I feel like it has to do with my name. That’s where I’ll start. I’ll figure out how everyone seems to know who I am and why.”
As much as I wished Lux knew the truth about everything, I had to make sure, somehow, that she didn’t find out. It wasn’t that I didn’t think she deserved the truth, because she did. Regardless of what Kieran thought, Lux deserved to know everything. She deserved to have a say in all of this. She deserved to make a decision, rather than have a decision made for her. I hoped she would get that chance, eventually, but right now, I needed to do everything in my power to protect her from the truth.
No, I thought she deserved to know, but at the same time, I didn’t think she was ready for that. She had only just come to terms with the fact that she was half-Demon. Once she knew everything, she would realize just how much danger she was in. To be honest, I wasn’t sure that she would ever be ready for that, but right now definitely wasn’t the time.
Her thoughts went silent as she entered the room and sat down a few desks in front of me. I found myself staring, but that was how I seemed to spend most of my time lately—staring at her, drinking in her beauty, and becoming intoxicated by her sweet, fruity scent.
The more time I spent with Lux, the more difficult it became to ignore how stunning she was. There was something about the way she moved, something about the way she looked at me, that just made me want to kiss her.
Of course, I knew I couldn’t do that. And not only because I wasn’t sure how she felt about me.
The truth was that I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen if I kissed her. There was a chance that nothing would happen, but there was also a possibility that it could ignite changes the world wasn’t ready for yet—changes that could affect both the human world and our realm.
At that moment, Kassidy entered the room.
Crap.
I hadn’t even known that she was in this class. Things had never smoothed over between us since the night before. I had gone to the dorm room she shared with Lux early that morning—which was when I had heard Lux snoring—but Kassidy had already been gone.
I was afraid we were going to have a blowup argument at some point today, and I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. There was just too much going on right now for me to worry about her.
As Kassidy entered the room, everyone smiled and waved at her.
“I wonder why Kassidy is so popular,” I heard Lux think to herself. “She just doesn’t seem like the type of girl who would be so popular… at least not in the human world. I sort of wonder if her popularity has something to do with her being the Headmaster’s sister.”
Yes. Yes, you’re onto something, Lux, I thought to myself, knowing that even though I was inside her mind, she couldn’t hear me.
Kassidy’s family’s connection to Demon Blood Academy was the very reason she was so popular around here. Well, that and the fact that most of the other Demons in school feared her.
The Blakes were some of the most well-known Demons in history. The only Demon who had been more powerful and popular than them was Benjamin Whitmore.
Demons had feared Benjamin Whitmore. His power had been out of control. I hadn’t wanted to tell Lux the t
ruth about her father yet. The truth was that he was one of the worst Demons to have ever lived. His secrets had been plentiful, and the list of people and otherworldly beings he had killed had been even larger.
Due to his power, Benjamin Whitmore may have been popular, but he hadn’t been well-liked. When Nolan Blake—Kassidy and Kieran’s grandfather—had killed Benjamin Whitmore, the Demon world had rejoiced. The Blakes had become even more famous in our world than they had been before. They were legends.
Except, no one in our world would ever be a bigger legend than Lux Whitmore. Her very existence was legendary in itself, in more ways than she knew yet.
As Kassidy slid into the desk in front of me, she turned around to face me. Her burgundy-painted lips twisted into a smile. “Hey, you.”
I pulled myself from Lux’s mind so I could focus on Kassidy and glanced over at her with a smile. I knew that it was an uncomfortable smile—a forced smile—but it was the best smile I could muster. “Hey.”
“Are you going to the dance Friday night?” she asked me.
“I’m not sure. That all depends.”
“On what?”
The way she narrowed her eyes at me made me think of a snake that was ready to strike.
“If Lux is planning to go.”
“Are you kidding me?” Kassidy asked.
“No.”
“So, your entire social life revolves around Lux Whitmore now?” Her voice was full of annoyance.
“Your brother made me her Guardian, remember? I have to go wherever she goes.”
“Right.” Lowering her voice, she said, “How silly of me to think that you could ditch the bitch and do this one thing for me. My mistake.” She turned her back to me then, dismissing any further conversation.
I couldn’t help but feel relieved that she was done talking to me. The thing was, me and Kassidy had known each other our entire lives. We had always gotten along well, for the most part. And the truth was that I always had felt something for her, but things had changed. The reason things had changed was obvious to me.
Lux hadn’t even been at Demon Blood Academy for a full 24 hours yet and already my feelings on everything had changed.
The truth was that I wanted Lux Whitmore more than I had ever wanted anything before.
Knowing that being with her was forbidden, that the two of us were supposed to be off-limits, should have scared me. It should have scared me to know that the potential consequences were grim, that this whole entire thing could implode if I let it.
But none of that was enough to stop me. I wasn’t sure if this thing could even be stopped. This connection I felt to her, this undeniable chemistry… It all felt unstoppable.
I wasn’t sure yet if the way I felt was mutual, but if it was, I didn’t think there was a way for any of this to be stopped.
The consequences may have been deadly, but it was a risk I was willing to take if it meant I stood a chance with Lux Whitmore.
Chapter 10
Lux
It was hard for me to not eavesdrop on Zay’s argument with Kassidy. It made me feel sort of guilty to know that I was at the center of the argument. I also had a feeling that it was going to make things awkward between me and Kassidy, which was the absolute last thing I needed, considering Kassidy was my roommate.
At that moment, a guy walked into the room, snapping me out of my thoughts. He was a tall guy with dark blonde, longish hair who looked like he couldn’t have been much older than I was. He was attractive in a Viking sort of way.
“Good morning, everyone,” he began.
Holy smokes. I had definitely not been expecting that adorable Australian accent to come out of his mouth.
“It appears that we have some new students here with us today. I’m Professor Walker. I will be your instructor for Possession. Let’s give a warm welcome to Kyle Stallone, Eloise Kunz, Pippa Knight, and,” his bright, shimmering amber eyes caught on mine as he said, “Lux Whitmore.”
Yet again, there were whispers throughout the room at the mention of my name. To be frank, I was getting tired of it.
I sunk down in my chair a little. It was one thing to be talked about, but this was worse than any other rumor that had ever been started about me back in high school in the human world. Even the Evan rumors hadn’t been this bad. At least I had known what those rumors were about, but this? This was worse. I was entirely in the dark about why anyone even cared about my name.
Everyone seemed to know who I was. My very identity seemed to be reason enough to make people whisper, and I didn’t even know why. It was the most frustrating thing ever.
“So, we’re going to start with the basics today.” Professor Walker walked to the front of the classroom and laid his binder down on his desk. “Possession. What is it, exactly? Two words for you. Mind control. I’m not sure how many of you newbies are aware of this yet, but Possession—and controlling one’s mind—is an ability that all Demons have. It’s something that most of you will likely do at some point in time. However, it’s not something that I personally recommend doing.”
He began to walk across the marble floor, his eyes moving across the classroom. “Controlling someone’s mind can have negative—and, at times, even frightening or devastating—consequences if you aren’t careful. Before you decide to enter someone’s mind, it’s important for you to understand exactly what it is you’re doing. That’s the purpose of this class and the very reason you’re all here—so that I can provide you with the information and tools you need to safely possess another individual… should you choose to take part in this risky practice at all.”
As he paused, his eyes caught on mine again. They lingered there for a moment, until he began to speak again. “So, let’s start off with a question. How many of you have ever done something when you were back in the human world that made you feel like you had absolutely no control?” Professor Walker paused. “Now, before you answer that, allow me to elaborate. It might have felt as though your own brain wasn’t functioning at the time—like something had just completely taken over you. Maybe you felt like it hit you out of nowhere. Afterwards, you might have wondered why you were inspired to do this particular thing that you might not have done if you were in your right mind. It may have even felt like you were compelled to do it. An example of this might be that you were driving a car and you ended up in a location that you hadn’t intended to go to. Not because of an accident or because you got lost, but you just drove to a random destination for no reason. Now, how many of you have had this happen to you? Let’s see a show of hands.”
I swallowed hard. The first thing that came to mind was the one thing I didn’t really want to think about at all, the one thing that had haunted even my daydreams for months. The Evan Thing.
As the other students around me raised their hands, I slowly put mine in the air, too.
“So, most of you appear to have an experience like this,” Professor Walker said with a nod. “It doesn’t surprise me. Most people go through it at some point or another. While certain illicit or prescription drugs can have similar effects in humans, it’s much more likely that the reason you did that particular thing—the reason that you felt so compelled to do it—was because you were compelled. It’s extremely likely that a Demon got inside your mind and forced you to do that thing you did. You were possessed without even realizing it.”
He paused. “I know this may seem a little scary and like a lot for you to take in. The thing is, taking control of someone’s mind and compelling them and their body to do things they might not do otherwise is scary. This is why you must always proceed with caution any time you choose to control someone in this way.”
Professor Walker moved to the front of the classroom again and began to scribble on the whiteboard. “Now, let’s just think of some of the reasons why a Demon might want to possess someone. Lux, can you think of a reason a Demon would want to control someone else’s mind and body?” He glanced over at me.
I considered it
for a moment. “Maybe the Demon wants to commit some type of crime, but they don’t want to get caught. If they use someone else to do it for them, it can never be traced back to them.”
The professor nodded. “Yes, very good.”
He wrote on the board: 1. To carry out a crime. Then he glanced back at the classroom at the other students.
“Kassidy, can you think of another reason?”
“Yes. If the Demon knows whoever they’re possessing on a person level, they might possess them in order to interfere with their life.”
“Can you give me an example of what you mean?” Professor Walker asked.
“Yeah,” Kassidy replied. “If a Demon girl is in love with a guy and he’s dating someone else, she might compel him to kiss her in front of the girl he’s dating in order to break them up. That way, he would be all hers.”
“That’s certainly a reason why a Demon would compel someone,” the professor agreed with a nod as he added a second reason to the whiteboard.
2. For their own personal gain.
“Some other examples of this might be cheating on a test or compelling their boss to give them a promotion or—”
As he continued to speak, his voice just began to fade away into the background. I could only seem to focus on the fact that Kassidy’s example sounded like she had put a lot of thought into it. It almost made me wonder if she had somehow been referring to Zay and me. Of course, there wasn’t anything going on between us, but I wasn’t sure if Kassidy knew that—especially not after overhearing their little argument.
I raised my hand then. “Professor Walker, I have a question.”
“Yes, Lux?” he asked, glancing over at me.
“Is it possible for a Demon to only control the mind of a human or can they control the mind of another Demon, too?”
“That is a very good question. The answer is that Demons are, technically, capable of possessing anyone—humans, of course, and every otherworldly being. However, only the most powerful Demons are able to possess another Demon.” His eyes lingered on mine for a moment. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned to the rest of the students. “Class is dismissed for today. Tomorrow, we will begin class with a discussion on the consequences of possessing someone.”