Heart and Revenge: Slayer Academy (Book 2)

by Cassidy Summers

  Rylan points out where all our preferred weapons are, proving just how well he knows each and every one of us. He then grabs a box from up high and places it on the table. I head over to find it full of daggers. I grab a few and jam them into the loops on my belt then make my way around, finding any other weapons that I would find useful. Though my gun and dagger would be my best bets, but for good luck, I load up a second gun and find I have absolutely nowhere left to stash it, so down the bra it goes.

  “Did you just put a gun down your bra?” Rylan asks as the boys finish loading up.

  “Well I’d usually put it in my purse, but it didn’t match my outfit,” I say, trying to keep this gloomy mood as light as possible.

  He rolls his eyes and orders us out of the room and we all follow behind in silence. I look up to the stage and realize Kaylee is gone, and if Rylan noticed her absence, he doesn’t let it show. I focus my eyes back to the path before me, deep in thought as we exit the Great Hall and make our way out across campus and down to the parking lot.

  This is it.

  The nervous anticipation of the looming battle comes over me. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to the boys or Millie. God please, don’t let this be the last time I set foot in this school. I have too much unfinished business.

  Rylan produces his keys and does the sexy, over the shoulder unlocking thing as we approach his beast of an SUV. Luke makes his way up to the front passenger seat, but I grunt and beat him there. “Yeah….no, I don’t think so,” I say opening the door and climbing right in. He scowls and eventually makes his way to the back.

  Sucker.

  Rylan smirks at me, clearly having seen my little display of immaturity and I grin back for the quickest second before averting my eyes when the boys finish getting in. Rylan quickly starts the engine and adds to the line of SUV’s that are all trying to make their way out of the parking lot.

  I notice his iPod sitting in the center console and I quickly plug it in, knowing damn well, this is not the time for a little sing-along, but hell, I need to do something to calm the boys who all appear incredibly anxious in the back seat. I hit shuffle and feel my own calmness spread over me as the music fills the car.

  “Dude,” Luke grunts from the backseat as he takes in the music. “You’ve got Britney on your iPod.”

  Rylan rolls his eyes but I see a faint grin sitting on his lips. “My girlfriend put it there.”

  My eyes bug out of my head. Did he seriously just go there? No way.

  “What?” all three boys exclaim from the backseat. “Since when do you have a girlfriend?” Luke asks.

  Rylan scoffs. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, kid,” he states, leaving his response at that.

  The boys know better than to question Rylan any further, they wisely zip their lips as a grin plasters itself over my lips. Wow. It seems the upcoming battle has Rylan wanting to play with fire.

  I quickly glance across at him to find those gold speckled eyes already on mine, sparkling with the knowledge of our secret. I tear my eyes off him, not wanting to give anything away.

  I pull my phone out and send Jacinta a quick text.

  Bianca – We're on our way. Give it a bit and make your move. I don’t know where they took her.

  Jacinta – Damn, I was hoping they might have decided against the attack. You just look after yourself. We will handle Kaylee.

  Rylan gives me yet another curious look as he notices my phone in my hand again. “I'll explain later,” I say quietly, the boys unable to hear me over the music. He gives me a small nod and focuses back on the road.

  I decide on one last message before I tuck my phone away.

  Bianca – Hey, Millie Bear. I’ll be back before dinner. I love you so much. Be strong.

  Millie – I love you, too. Pizza is on the menu tonight. I’ll save you a piece.

  I let out a shaky breath, knowing this is going to be one of the hardest days of my life.

  Chapter 25

  Forty-five minutes later, we pull up at an abandoned building with a large parking lot and everyone begins to pile out. Men and women of the Front Line are everywhere, searching around and looking for Rylan so he can give his first order. We wait patiently for another ten minutes as more cars pull in adding to our numbers.

  The boys know better than to question Rylan any further, they wisely zip their lips as a grin plasters itself over my lips. “There’s an hour and a half before the fey will arrive. The vampires will slowly trickle in on foot, most likely from the road. We have a short hike through the forest behind us and that will bring us out on the other side, facing the area in which they plan to meet, also giving us roughly an hour for reconnaissance.” The group around me nods in understanding “Right, let’s move,” he says, stepping forward.

  The whole group moves as one, silently through the thick forest. I follow side by side with Rylan, knowing he would be nervous about my presence here. I do what I can to come across as brave, but I recognize the look in Rylan’s eye when he glances over at me. He knows I’m a fraud. He knows I’m freaking out and it’s killing him that he can’t comfort me right now, hell, it’s killing me too.

  Just as he expected, we come to a clearing with an hour left before the fey are scheduled to meet with their vampire army. Rylan sends half our soldiers to the other side of the clearing so when it comes time, we can form a barrier much easier. He checks and double-checks that there are no fey or vampires here yet before sending them across.

  We all stand in absolute silence while we wait for the show to begin and if this was any other time or place, I would have been whining about my feet aching from standing still for so long, but as it is, I don’t even notice it.

  Twenty minutes before showtime, we catch sight of the first vampire making his way into the clearing, coming from the road just as Rylan had expected. As soon as the vampire makes it to the center of the clearing, more begin to show and eventually, they’re coming in by the truckload. Kaylee was close with her estimate, but I would say it is more like two hundred vampires.

  The vampires stand around impatiently as they wait for the fey to show up. I notice how different they look compared to the vampire that killed my father. These creatures don't look or act anything like the predators that they are capable of being. None of them are looking beyond each other, listening for footsteps or for the three hundred or so heartbeats pounding in the forest all around them. With no clear leader among their ranks, we watch as they turn on each other viciously. Twenty or so of their army are now nothing but rotting bodies.

  I take notice of the wind howling around us, bending the trees and scattering the fallen leaves. I wondered if Rylan positioned us downwind from the vampires intentionally to push the scent of human blood further away.

  I notice a familiar set of faces standing within the crowd of vampires, still yelling and shoving like children in the clearing, and it hit me all at once. The poster of the missing couple at the gas station in town.

  The masses of vampires standing before us are brand new and unseasoned, the attacks in town have all been orchestrated by the fey. It makes so much sense seeing as normal vampires don't make alliances with other supernaturals, it's unheard of. But these are confused and untrained vampires that have been created to lead the fey into war and face our Front Line in their place. I’d assume the majority of these vampires wouldn’t recognize the difference between a human heartbeat and an animal’s.

  In a sudden show of force, the fey appear, catching the attention of every vampire and human around and I’m shocked to see such a huge group of fairies at once, at least two hundred. Now, if we could take them all out, it would be a game-changer. But still, I’m not too concerned, two hundred fey and now one hundred and eighty vampires against the four hundred soldiers of the Front Lines. This will definitely be interesting.

  “Thank you for coming,” a dark voice says, sending chills down my spine. I immediately straighten as I zone in, looking for the face to g
o with the chilling voice. “It’s our pleasure to announce that together, we will take down The Guard and we will rule the free world,” he roars before continuing to go on and on about how they will rule and eliminate the human race, yadda, yadda, yadda.

  “What’s wrong?” Rylan whispers right beside my ear, his proximity soothing me and giving me courage.

  I indicate with my head toward the Fairy Knight who’s currently commanding his army, wanting to avoid as much talking as possible to not alert our enemies of our presence. “He’s the one who took me from the mall, him and the brown haired one beside him,” I tell him as softly as possible, not taking my eyes off the fairy.

  Rylan nods as his face sets to stone and I know without a doubt, Rylan will be the one to take those two out.

  The fairy addressing the vampires begins to wrap up his speech and I watch as Rylan raises his gun, the rest of the Front Line follow suit. Rylan holds up his hand, fingers outstretched, our signal to wait. We do just that, waiting for Rylan to give the go-ahead. The vampires begin to turn and Rylan makes his move, his hand snaps into a fist and suddenly four hundred men and women dressed in black tactical uniforms swarm the clearing, making a thick line to the exit of the park, holding four hundred guns up in protest.

  The vampires and fey halt their progression as they take in our show of force. Gasps and horrified screeches come from the back of the pile which I assume to be some of the regular fey, along for the ride.

  “What is the meaning of this?” The lead Fairy Knight says.

  Rylan takes one step forward, indicating that he’s the leader here. “What is the meaning of this?” he asks, throwing the fairy’s words back at him as he indicates towards the crowd of vampires. “Creating a vampire army is illegal and you must be punished.”

  The Fairy Knight hesitantly looks over the Front Line, easily making the calculations that our numbers are similar to theirs, though considering the vampires' strength and the magic capabilities of the fey, while practically non-existent outside of their Kingdom, is still there. I see the moment he makes his decision. He will still go ahead.

  “You child, need to learn your place,” the fairy snaps at Rylan. “How dare you intrude on our meeting after murdering our Queen.”

  “We have simply come to right some wrongs,” Rylan says as innocently as ever.

  “The only wrong done here is the death of our Queen,” he says, driving home the point, that yes, Rylan did kill their Queen. Some of the fey begin to flee, pressing a finger to their left wrist and disappearing into thin air, leaving maybe one hundred and fifty of them.

  Rylan smiles. “I’d do it all again, given the chance, of course,” he taunts as he tries to make more of the fey stick around. After all, the more we take out now, the less threat they are in the future

  Waiting them out sucks. Get on with it already. All we need is for them to attack first and in the eyes of The Guard law, we’re good. Hmm…

  I lower one hand off my gun, as slowly as possible so I don’t draw attention to myself and reach down to my belt, right where my silver dagger hangs firmly against my thigh. I slide my finger down the edge of the blade until I come to the sharp tip at the end. I press my finger into the tip and give it a quick flick, cutting the tip of my finger and drawing enough blood to gain the attention of the vampires. I squeeze my finger and let the blood freely drip into the dewy grass.

  I smirk as a gust of heavy wind blows back in their direction and watch as the scent of human blood truly hits them. A frenzy begins and the vampires instantly rush forward, but we’re ready. Guns aimed, the front row lets loose, taking out at least eighty vampires before they reach us.

  The Fairy Knight suddenly appears right before Rylan. “I will be the one to avenge my Queen,” he snarls as he moves forward into Rylan.

  Rylan does nothing but smirk as his hand lashes out with such speed, instantly slicing the Knight’s throat and he falls to the ground a moment later with a shocked expression.

  “I would have liked to do to him what he did to you, but we don’t really have the time,” Rylan grunts to me as he grabs a vampire by the arm and yanks him back into him, easily taking him out. I step up so I’m side by side with Rylan once again and jump straight into the hand to hand combat. Pulling my dagger free and going nuts.

  I’m distantly aware of more regular fey disappearing out of fear, but I know in my gut that the Knights and Warriors still linger around. I’m faced with vampire after vampire and I do my best not to take in what I’m actually doing and just concentrate on the job at hand. I’ll have time to reflect on my actions later.

  I hear the familiar grunts of my classmates and know that, at least for now, they are all still alright.

  I fight back to back with Rylan, catching his fast, lethal movements. I take a mental snapshot and file it away in my ‘things to think about later’ file. God, that man is a machine. I stay right by him, just as he instructed, taking on as many vampires as possible, and the occasional Fairy Knight, who I must say, I take down in quite a brutal way, though, they deserved it. We begin to work as a team, Rylan taking them out from behind if he finishes with his quick enough. I try to do the same for him, but let’s be honest, he’s just too good.

  The battle rages on and I know if I was in training, I’d certainly be exhausted by now, but the adrenaline keeps me going. Hell, I don’t even know if I have any injuries, I’m sure I probably do, but I’m not here to cry about a few cuts and bruises.

  A fist is slammed into my stomach and I’m launched through the air. I don’t fly far as I crash into the fray of the other fights around me. I steady myself and focus every ounce of attention on the bastard before me. The old vampire is on me in no time and I know he isn’t stuffing around.

  I launch myself forward, kicking my boot into his chest. He blocks my kick by throwing it away like it is nothing and I realize just how strong this guy is.

  He continues stalking me, his eyes pulsating a sickening shade of red. I give it everything I’ve got, but he continues swatting me away like a fly. Somehow, I end up on the ground and the vampire comes down on top of me. Shit. This is it. Fear swims through my veins as I take my last breath. “I’m going to enjoy you,” he grins as he begins to lean over me, his fangs slicing into the delicate skin of my neck.

  “Over my dead body,” Rylan snarls from behind him, bringing his dagger down so hard, I see it protruding from the front of his chest, perfectly piercing his heart and stopping just millimeters from my face. Rylan pulls his dagger free and tosses the vampire to the ground beside me with a thump. He offers his hand to me and hauls me to my feet, quickly checking over my wound. “Are you okay?” he calls, getting straight back into the battle.

  “Yeah. Thanks.” I grunt to Rylan as I face another vampire. “Let’s add more strength work to my training. I think I could use it.”

  “Yeah,” he replies, calling over the sound of the battle. “I noticed that.”

  We continue on for what could have been minutes or hours and I make sure to glue myself to Rylan’s back. There’s no way in hell I’m allowing myself to get that close to a vampire's fangs again.

  I hear a terrified yell behind me and I turn to help. I find Luke on the ground with a vampire happily feeding on his neck. “No,” I scream as I dive towards them, jumping on the vampires back and bringing my dagger hard across his throat. The vampire crumples to the ground with a sick gurgling noise and I quickly look over Luke and hope he’s only unconscious and not dead.

  Rylan brings his fight over to me, so we can better protect Luke’s body and I notice both Tom and Alex do the same.

  At least another hour later, the battle seems to be dwindling down, though we don’t stop until every last vampire and fairy in the vicinity is dead.

  I look around frantically for more but stop when I realize it’s finally over. I take in the scene before me and tears begin to fly as I realize that there are not only vampires and fairy bodies on the ground, but some of our own. The te
ars grow thicker as I realize we must have lost at least forty soldiers.

  A warm hand is placed on mine. “Come on,” his soothing voice says. I look up into Rylan’s eyes and see the same misery in his. “You don’t need to see this,” he says, motioning to the officials who have shown up to dispose of all the bodies.

  I take a deep breath which apparently is a mistake as I take in the smell of blood heavy in the air and my heart breaks all over again.

  I let Rylan lead me away and notice out of the corner of my eye, Alex leaning over Luke’s body. I stop in my tracks which also brings Rylan to a stop. He glances back, taking in what I’m seeing. “It’s okay, he’s just unconscious. He’ll be fine.”

  I nod and turn away from the boys. “I didn’t realize I’d care so much,” I mumble.

  “It’s funny the things you realize about yourself when you’re in battle,” he says.

  I agree in silence as we continue making our way out of the park, dodging fallen bodies and pools of blood. We head back through the forest on exhausted legs and wait by the car for the rest of our people to return.

  “You’re pretty banged up,” he says looking over my body.

  “Yeah?” I ask. “I honestly can’t feel it. I think I’ve got too much adrenaline going through my body.”

  “You’ll notice it later,” he says. “Especially your neck. You’ll have to get a shot for that.”

  A shiver runs down my back at the thought of taking a shot, but if it’s got to be done, then it’s got to be done. I turn and study myself in the car window and realize Rylan is right, I am indeed banged up. My hair is definitely not in a nice, neat little bun anymore, I have dirt and grime smeared over my face and body, my arms are covered in cuts and bruises, and then there’s my neck, which I’m sure will need a few stitches. I’m just lucky he missed the artery.

  I cringe at the sight of myself, wishing I could just climb in a shower, but I know that won’t be happening for a while. First, we’ll have to debrief, then I’m sure Rylan will drag me to the infirmary which will take the rest of the day and only after that will I be free to clean myself up.