by Jayme Morse
As the professor turned around, Noah picked up a marker and began to write across the board in large, messy handwriting.
Once Noah had finished writing, Professor Walker said, “He wrote ‘yellow moon’.”
I stared at the words that were written on the board in front of us.
Yellow moon.
“Now, let’s try something else,” the professor went on, his back still turned.
At that moment, Noah did a cartwheel—and then another—across the front of the room.
“I wonder if he’s ever taken gymnastics,” our teacher said.
There was no doubt in my mind that Professor Walker really had compelled Noah, which both fascinated me and terrified me at the same time. Not only did it make me nervous to know that, as a Cambion, I was also capable of possession, but there was something else, too.
It was the faintest hint of amusement in Professor Walker’s voice, in his eyes, in his smile.
As much as he may have warned his students that they shouldn’t ever possess someone unless absolutely necessary, the truth was that he thrived on it himself.
***
Lux
I had the hardest time staying awake for The Balance of Good and Evil. Professor Humblebee didn’t really have much advice to offer on how to protect ourselves from attackers, so instead the class took a philosophical turn again.
Tearing a piece of paper out of my notebook, I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to get to work on that letter to Nick.
Dear Nick,
As I stared at his name on the paper in front of me, I tried to figure out what to write. What was the right thing to say in this situation?
I couldn’t exactly write: So, I didn’t know when I kissed you that I wasn’t a human. It turns out I’m actually half-Demon, and there’s a possibility that humans might die when I kiss them. Let me know if you’re still alive because I’m worried about you. P.S. Sorry I kissed you and risked killing you.
If Nick read that—assuming that he was still alive—he would have thought that I belonged in a mental ward.
No, I needed to figure out a way to make it not seem obvious that I was trying to get in touch with him, while still figuring out a way to get him to respond to me. If that was even possible. Since, well, there was a chance that even if he had survived the kiss, I had already messed up our friendship beyond repair by kissing him.
I tried to push that possibility to the back of my mind. If our friendship was over, I could live with that. What I couldn’t live with would have been knowing that I had killed him.
I needed to focus on the letter.
I’m sorry I never answered your text. Things have been crazy. It’s a lot to explain, and I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to tell you everything that’s happened.
I just want you to know that I’m okay. I’m sure that people probably think I ran away. I suppose that’s true, in a way—I did go willingly, but there’s so much more to it than that.
Nick, this is going to sound strange, but I’m afraid that I might have done something to hurt you. I just want to make sure that you’re okay.
Can you write back to me and let me know if you are? It’s really important to me to hear back from you.
Love,
I stared at the word for a moment before deciding that it just didn’t feel right. I crossed it out.
Love ,
From,
Lux
I read through the letter I had written for a moment before sighing. It was going to have to do. I couldn’t think of any other way to get him to respond to me, not without spilling my guts out about everything. And I really wasn’t sure if that was allowed.
Sure, the other Demons were allowed to write to their families, but that was different. At least one of their parents probably knew that they were a Demon. But Nick was just a human. I got the feeling that humans weren’t supposed to know anything about Demons or Cambions or Demon Blood Academy or… well, anything that my life had become.
As I tucked the letter into my notebook, I sighed. I knew that this was the most I could tell him without crossing any sort of boundaries. I just hoped it would be enough to make him get back to me. There was always a chance that he would just ignore me completely.
At that moment, I glanced over in Zay’s direction and was surprised to find that he was watching me.
I quickly glanced away, trying to hide my smile.
At one point, it would have bothered me if Nick hadn’t responded. But aside from making sure that I hadn’t killed him, the truth was that I didn’t even care anymore.
For the first time in a long time, I felt alive—and it had absolutely nothing to do with Nick.
***
Zay
I had promised myself that I wouldn’t go back inside Lux’s mind for anything. I hated knowing that I was violating her privacy, but like last time, my curiosity had gotten the better of me.
I had known that Nick was who she had been writing the letter to, but I hadn’t been sure about what, exactly, she was writing. I knew that it really was none of my business, but still. I needed to know how strong her feelings for Nick were.
Now that I had overheard her thoughts, I knew that I didn’t have anything to worry about. Well, not really, at least.
Lux seemed to be over the idea of her and Nick ever having a future with one another. She seemed to have accepted that the kiss hadn’t ended the way she had been hoping for it to. It seemed like she was just genuinely concerned that she had killed the guy.
No, it wasn’t Lux who I needed to worry about.
It was Nick.
Chapter 24
Lux
“Wait outside for me, okay?” I asked Zay as we approached the Ladies’ room later that day.
He nodded. “Yeah, you know I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay.”
I smiled at him before turning in the direction of the restroom. As I stepped inside, I was surprised to find that it looked almost like a restroom in a human high school, with a row of stalls, and sinks, and a mirror, instead of what I would have expected to find in a castle.
As I stepped inside one of the stalls and closed the door behind me, I heard the bathroom door open.
A moment later, I heard what sounded like several pairs of shoes enter the room, their soles clacking against the tiled floor.
“This day has been way too long,” a familiar voice said.
“You’re telling me. I’m so over this whole Code Red thing,” a second voice said.
It took me a moment to realize that it was Angela and Brittany who I was listening in on.
“You guys, I heard something that has me a little freaked out about all of this,” a third voice—which I immediately recognized as Camille—chimed in.
“What did you hear?” Angela asked.
“Well, this kid in my Flight Lessons class was saying that he heard there’s a Demon hunter who’s posing undercover as a student,” Camille explained. “I don’t know what the chances of that are, but if it’s true—and it could be—then it could mean that we’re all in danger.”
“I doubt that one Demon hunter could hurt all of us,” Brittany said.
“No, I know that. That’s not what scares me. If they’re able to get one Demon hunter in, how many more will there be?” Camille insisted.
“I’m sure it’s probably a rumor,” Angela said. “I don’t think Kieran would let something like that happen.”
“I don’t know. Don’t you guys think it’s a huge coincidence that Lux Whitmore just happened to arrive this week and now suddenly there’s this whole Code Red thing is going on?” Camille asked.
My heart skipped a beat. I tried to be as silent as possible. The last thing I wanted was for the girls to know that I was listening to them—especially now that my name had been mentioned.
“Oh, I definitely don’t think it’s a coincidence,” Angela agreed. “I’m just not sure if it’s because of a Demon hunter or if it’
s because of… her.”
I felt myself growing annoyed. Someone else was blaming me for them being on high alert, and I hadn’t even done anything. It didn’t make sense.
“What do you guys think of her, by the way?” Brittany asked. “This is the first time we’ve really had the chance to talk about it without Kassidy around.”
“And you know we can’t be honest around Kassidy,” Camille replied with a snort.
“I think she’s a little weird,” Angela admitted.
“She seems nice, though,” Brittany said.
“She freaks me out. I’m not sure what it is, but I get this feeling that she’s just eyeing us all up and trying to figure out how she can make our lives a living hell,” Camille said.
What were they even talking about? I hadn’t thought I’d come off across that way at all.
“Well, Kassidy told me that Lux doesn’t even know the true extent of her powers,” Angela said. “Let’s hope that’s true, because I have this feeling she might go power hungry once she finds out.”
“Yeah, I have these feeling she might snap and become really destructive,” Brittany agreed.
“I think it’s all an act,” Camille insisted. “I think Lux Whitmore knows exactly who she is and she has some secret plot to destroy all of us.”
“Well, be nice to her. If she thinks you’re her friend, maybe she won’t do anything to hurt you,” Angela suggested.
“I saw the way she looked at me. Lux Whitmore will never be my friend,” Camille replied.
Well, at least I hadn’t only been imagining it earlier in the cafeteria when I’d thought that Camille didn’t like me. It was confirmed now, even though I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that.
I hadn’t even done anything to her. It would have been one thing if I had been a bitch to her, but it was almost as though Camille had decided not to like me before she had even gotten the chance to know me.
“I don’t know,” Brittany replied with a sigh. “I’m done with my makeup, you guys. We can head to class now.”
“Okay,” Camille said. “Oh, we’re supposed to ask Tyler about going to the dance with Lux this period,” she realized aloud, but it sounded like she was close to the door.
“That should be interesting,” Angela replied, her voice drifting further away.
A moment later, I heard the sound of the bathroom door opening and then closing again. I waited for a moment before stepping out of the stall and then washing my hands at the sink.
As I stepped back out into the hallway, I glanced over at Zay, who was waiting outside the bathroom for me.
How hadn’t the girls realized that I was inside the bathroom? I was sure that Kassidy must have told them that Zay was my Guardian.
I tried to think nothing of it, deciding the three of them must have been in their own little world or too worried about this whole Code Red thing to even notice that he had been waiting for me.
“You all good?” Zay asked me as I approached him.
I nodded, even though the truth was that the conversation I’d overheard had left me feeling uneasy.
Was it possible that I did have powers I didn’t even know about yet? I didn’t really see how that could’ve been true or how anyone could have known, considering I hadn’t even gotten my wings yet. What powers could I have possibly possessed?
That wasn’t the only thing about their conversation that had freaked me out a little.
If what they were saying was true—if there really was a Demon hunter who was posing undercover at Demon Blood Academy—who could it have been?
***
Lux
Professor Snyder was a soft-spoken guy whose glasses didn’t entirely complement his face and whose tall, lanky body resembled a giraffe. He reminded me of Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
While he sort of weirded me out a little, what was even more odd was his classroom. There were portraits of demonic creatures strung on the walls—evil-looking, dark creatures that I had never seen before.
We had yet to learn anything about them and I had to say that I was relieved. I was almost afraid to learn about what any of those creatures were capable of.
As Professor Snyder stood before the classroom with a serious look on his face, he began to say, “I’ve been advised to inform you about all of the weapons you can use on two types of potential attackers. My first piece of advice for you is that you should never try to attack anyone unless you are absolutely certain that they are trying to harm you. Regret is a terrible thing and something you don’t ever want to have to live with. Trust me.”
I couldn’t help but think that he was speaking from personal experience. It crossed my mind that he might have accidentally killed someone.
He wasn’t the only one.
“Let us begin with Angels, shall we?” Professor Snyder asked.
“Professor Snyder, are you teaching us about Angels first because we’re going to be attacked by them?” a guy in the front row asked.
“The reason I’m teaching you about Angels first is because they come first alphabetically,” our teacher replied. “Angels. Where to begin?”
He seemed to consider it for a moment.
“I don’t need to tell you how to spot an Angel, since you already know. The white wings tend to give them away.” He paused.
“Angels are some of the most determined otherworldly beings you will ever encounter. They are obsessed with the idea of eliminating us, even with the knowledge that it will eliminate one of their own. Yet, they are so self-righteous that they find it their mission to kill us,” he said, shaking his head frustratedly.
“I’m sure that all of you know by now that Angels represent light. So, how do you kill them, you wonder?” His bright amber eyes darted around the classroom for a moment, waiting to see if anyone knew the answer.
When no one responded, he explained, “The only way to kill an Angel is through darkness. Of course, you may be wondering, ‘What is the darkness?’ Well, it’s metaphorical, to some degree but not entirely.”
His eyes settled in on me then. “You are the darkness.”
With him staring at me the way he was, I couldn’t help but think that he was talking directly to me. But then his eyes moved to the other students.
“Each and every one of you is the darkness. No, you’re not bad… per se. Not all of you, at least. But there is a darkness within you, coursing through your veins. It’s a darkness that was written in your blood before you were even born. You represent the exact opposite of what an Angel represents. What this means is that it’s incredibly easy for you to kill an Angel with your own bare hands. However, there’s more to it than just that. Of course, an Angel isn’t going to just die because you’ve touched them. You may be Demons, but you’re not magicians.
“One of the conditions of killing an Angel is that they can’t be killed in broad daylight. The sun, the cloudless sky… Angels thrive under those conditions. Physically, they are at their weakest when the sky is dark. Your best shot at killing an Angel is at night, especially if there’s not even a moon in the sky. While Angels are also weaker during a stormy sky, they’re not at their weakest. It’s an uneven battleground, but they still have a fighting chance.” He paused for a moment.
“When it comes to killing an Angel, you can use just about any sharp weapon you want, but there is one condition. You must first cut yourself with the weapon. I know that may seem scary to some of you, but remember that cutting yourself won’t kill you. You have an incredible ability to heal like no other.” He paused. “The purpose of this is because only darkness kills Angels and darkness is written in your blood.”
He began to walk across the classroom. “The next type of predator we’ll be discussing are Demon hunters.”
I frowned. It was odd to think of myself as a potential predator’s prey, but I supposed that, technically, that’s exactly what I would be in the event of an attack. Well, that was only if we fell victim to the attacker, which was something I wa
sn’t planning to do.
“I want you to wipe away every preconception you have of Demon hunters. Modern pop culture has led most of us to believe that a Demon hunter is just some person who decides one day they think the world would be a better place without Demons, usually because a loved one was killed or possessed by one,” Professor Snyder said.
“What you should know is that Demon hunters are not humans. They are an evil of their own. They’re a different type of evil… an uncontrollable evil. They don’t kill us because they want to. No, in fact, many Demon hunters don’t want to kill us, but it’s written in their blood. It’s their biological instinct to kill us. They do it because they have no other choice but to kill us, not because it’s necessarily what they want. Some try to fight it, but it’s often impossible—which is part of what makes Demon hunters some of the most dangerous potential attackers out there. The reality is that you have one of two choices when it comes to Demon hunters: kill them or they’ll kill you.
“Demon hunters can be harder to spot than Angels. Even though they’re not actually human, they look just like them. So, how do you set a Demon hunter apart from any other type of attacker? One way to spot them is to know that they almost always travel in clans. However, in the rare event that a hunter does travel alone, you will typically know what you’re dealing with. When you come face-to-face with a Demon hunter, there will be this burning desire in their eyes to kill you. It will be a hatred unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. There’s something else you should look for, too—something else that can help you identify a hunter.” He grabbed a poster from his desk and held it up.
The poster featured a design. It had two swords that crossed over each other, forming an X. Above it was a pair of black wings, which I instantly recognized as Demon wings.
“All Demon hunters have a tattoo that looks just like this,” Professor Snyder explained. “The tattoo shows up when the Demon hunter turns seventeen, and it can mark itself on any area of their body.” His eyes drifted across the classroom. “If you ever encounter someone with a tattoo like this one, then you’ll know you must kill them or they will kill you. And there’s only one way to kill a hunter.”