Darkblood Academy: Book Three: Demons

by G. K. DeRosa

  “Patience, my dear.”

  Right on cue, a portal opened at the end of the hall. The scent of sulfur permeated the air, and a horde of demons spilled out from the dusty red landscape.

  “How could you?” I whirled at my traitorous teacher. “You’re the one that’s been working with Luxora and letting the demons onto campus all along, aren’t you?”

  “You never should’ve come here, Luna.” A tiny hint of remorse laced her tone.

  The creatures fanned out through the corridor, barreling through doors to get into locked classrooms. I thanked the stars it was early and the majority of students were still in the dorms. But it wouldn’t be long before these monsters found them. Fear rippled through my veins as images of a grisly massacre filled my mind.

  No. I couldn’t let that happen.

  “Where’s Luxora?” I demanded. “She’s here for me, right? Just take me to her and leave the academy.”

  The sorcerer, Nicodemus, or whatever, wagged a finger at me. “It’s too late for that, little human. The dark lord wishes to make an example. This academy will be burned to the ground so you and your meddlesome friends can never interfere in her plans again.”

  Oh, this was bad. Really bad. “Help! Someone get help!” I screamed as I banged on the invisible barrier.

  Demons trashed the corridors, hauling lockers to the floor and ripping doors from hinges. A few screams tore through the hallway as the monsters invaded classrooms. I cringed. What were they doing to the students?

  More and more demons spilled out of the portal until the entire hallway was crammed with them. A few headed up the spiral staircase to the other classroom levels, and I lost sight of the ones that found the covered walkways leading to the dorms.

  Cinder. My heart constricted. Please, keep my friend safe.

  Panic spilled through my insides as I helplessly stood there watching the demons wreak havoc on my beloved school. Where was everyone? Where was Professor Malindra or Professor Arcana? Surely they could stop this.

  This was all my fault. I never should’ve insisted on setting a trap for Luxora. She’d been one step ahead of us the whole time, no thanks to Ms. Sexy Succubus. Anger unfurled in my gut, and I focused deep inside to the source of my magic. Nothing. Not even a flicker. Whatever this mystical cube was, it was robbing me of every trace of my powers.

  At the opposite end of the hallway, over the horde of demons, a golden glow caught my eye. Magnificent wings unfolded over the crowd as Calliope and half a dozen nephilim flew over the chaos.

  “Calliope!” I shouted. The hallway exploded into a battleground as the nephilim attacked the demons with their shimmering angel blades.

  My new instructor caught my eye from across the way. She lurched toward me, but two demons surrounded her. She arced her sword and sliced through the air, taking one of the monsters down with a single blow.

  A few seconds later, dozens of students raced down the steps wielding all sorts of weapons. Shifters, vampires, witches and warlocks all joined in the fray.

  “Someone get me out of here!” I shouted. The other students were fighting hard, but they weren’t trained like we were. I squeezed my eyes shut as a shifter fell in front of me, her bright green eyes now dim and vacant.

  My lungs constricted as images of Ash filled my mind. “No!” I growled and pummeled at the invisible barriers trapping me. I was stronger than this. I glared at Nicodemus who’d joined the fight, whipping fireballs at innocent students. Fury expanded in my core.

  I was more powerful than him. I knew I was. I just had to unblock that power. Focusing everything I had on the cords wrapped around my heart, I felt a flicker of energy. Our bond was the key. If I could somehow access it…

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I pictured Drake and his lilac cord, then Raine and her emerald green one, then Scarlett and her deep crimson. One by one, I tugged on each individual cord until something sparked inside me. It was only a flicker, but it was something.

  I concentrated on the small flutter of magic and poured all my energy into it until it grew. The bubble swelled in my chest, inciting a fire within. The heat surged through my veins until my magic burst from my fingertips and shattered my prison cell.

  All the sounds and smells of the battle rushed at me, the magnitude of power I’d summoned nearly knocking me over.

  Nicodemus spun at me, his eyes wide and his wrinkled lips forming a capital O.

  Splaying my fingers, I summoned two fireballs and whipped them at the sorcerer. He barely had time to get a shield up. They bounced off it and smashed into a nearby demon.

  I got sucked into the battle as more demons rushed from the portal. No matter how many I took down with my magic, ten more appeared in their place. As I shot by the mass of vile creatures, I found Calliope going head to head with a rather nasty reptilian-looking demon. Her mighty wings were unfurled, bathing the battle-torn hallway in an ethereal glow.

  “Luna, you have to close the portal!” she shouted as she brought her sword down in a powerful arc, and the monster’s head rolled to the ground.

  “Right!” I called back as I sprinted toward the vortex, hurdling over bodies strewn across the floor. Nausea crawled up my throat, and I couldn’t look at the ones in the Darkhen uniforms. I didn’t have time to mourn them now. I had to figure out how to close the portal ASAP. I also needed to get the rest of the team back here. With my magic in full power, I could feel them, their individual cords tightly wrapped around my chest.

  Last time I’d summoned a portal and brought them to me I’d done it subconsciously, so I had no idea how to replicate it.

  I reached the portal as more demons tore out of the Underworld to join the fight. Stretching my arms out, I whirled energy balls at them as they crossed the threshold. Some were thrown back into the abyss, but too many still made it through.

  Two nephilim appeared, flanking me and fought the nasty beasts as they attempted to break through our line. My mind whirled with spells and enchantments, but nothing that would help me close a portal I didn’t create. Controlling my own magic was hard enough, but someone else’s?

  “Luna, the portal!” Calliope’s shout echoed over the melee.

  “I’m trying!” Curling my fingers into tight little fists, I repeated the words of the incantation. “Portalis serratum, portalis serratum.”

  Nothing. I muttered a curse and blasted a slithering demon worm with a fireball. “Go back to hell, all of you!”

  The cords laced around my heart tightened, the lilac one glowing particularly bright. My team was trying to reach me, and I needed them. Sprinting away from the portal opening, I focused all my energy on my friends. Heat rushed through my chest, and I gasped from the rush of power. It burned through every inch of me, blazing across my skin. Throwing my hands out, a surge zipped through my veins and coursed from my fingertips.

  Another portal opened, only a few yards from the one still spewing monsters. Drake was the first to tumble through, followed by Logan, Zephyr and the rest of the crew.

  My entire body sagged from the massive amount of energy I’d expended. I leaned against the wall while I waited for my head to stop spinning.

  “It’s about time, human,” Drake said. He tried to play it off, but I could feel his concern zipping through our bond. It was the most I’d ever felt from him.

  The supe squad sprang into action, and I raced back to the Underworld portal determined to close that sucker. A whole slew of nephilim, led by Raf and Calliope battled it out with the advancing demons as I approached.

  Okay, I can do this. Squeezing my eyes shut, I inhaled a deep breath and tried to sense the sorcerer’s magical signature. That had to be the key to shutting the portal down.

  The source of my power was weak, the explosive fire that usually filled my chest nothing more than a flickering flame. But I had to do this. Focusing on Nicodemus’s dark aura, all the sounds of battle fell away, only my throbbing heart roared across my eardrums.

  Until a hand clamped arou
nd my neck.

  My eyes jolted open to meet a pair of chilling black orbs. “Luxora…” I choked out.

  “I’m tired of these games, little girl.” Her iron hold tightened around my throat, and darkness filled my vision. My lungs burned as I tried to suck in a breath, but the dark lord’s dainty fingers were crushing my windpipe. She dragged me to the portal as my mind grew hazy.

  “Stop!” A familiar, rough voice growled.

  My head spun as a face coalesced in front of my blurred vision. Dark hair tumbled over sculpted cheeks and a wide-set jaw. Even barely holding onto consciousness and his inner demon darkening his expression, I’d recognize Ryder anywhere.

  “What are you doing here, brother?” Luxora hissed.

  “This wasn’t the deal, dear sister.” His corded arms pressed against his tautly muscled chest. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen him in so long, but he looked bigger than I remembered. Brilliant yellow eclipsed his irises as he glared at his half-sister.

  “I lied, Ryder. I never intended on leaving the human alone. Not when she’s so valuable.” Her hold around my neck loosened an inch, and I dragged in a raspy breath.

  “But you said—”

  She raised her hand, cutting him off. “Your feelings for this human girl grow tiresome, brother. I’d hoped you would have come to your senses by now. But even with your demon loose, you cling to her.”

  “Let her go,” he snarled.

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible, and you know it.”

  “Ryder,” I rasped out as Luxora took a step back toward the portal. I struggled against her, but she was too strong, and I was weak, my magic depleted.

  Luxora extended her hand to Ryder. “Come, brother. Return to the Underworld and rule by my side as you were always meant to. All you have to do is forsake the human girl once and for all.”

  His eyes met mine, and the storm of emotions brewing below the surface crackled the air between us.

  “Luna!” Drake barreled his way through two gorabora demons, cutting them down with his blazing faery sword.

  Ryder lunged.

  It all happened in slow motion. Ryder pummeled into Luxora, throwing us both to the ground. She released me as my head bounced off the stone floor, and stars danced across my vision. Holy hell! Was it possible to crack your skull that easily? The hit siphoned all the remaining air from my lungs. I rolled over to my hands and knees sucking in oxygen like a starved animal. From the corner of my eye, Ryder’s clawed hand raised and struck down, talons ripping across Luxora’s abdomen. Her shrill cry pierced the incessant sounds of battle.

  Nicodemus suddenly appeared, popping out of a glimmering purple cloud. He eyed me, then Luxora and Ryder who were rolling across the floor like wild beasts. The sorcerer raised a hand, and a lightning bolt burst from his fingertips.

  “Ryder!” I screamed. His head swirled to mine before the brilliant flash hit him and sent him flying across the room. “Ryder!” I cried out again as his body crashed into a wall and crumpled to the ground.

  I willed my legs to go to him, but I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. It hurt to breathe, and my head spun like crazy. As I gripped the cold stone floor, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his motionless body across the hall.

  Drake was at my side a moment later, helping me to my feet. “Can you stand?”

  Tears streamed down my eyes, blurring my vision, but I nodded anyway. My knees wobbled, and I braced myself against him, willing myself to remain upright. “Ryder…” I muttered.

  He shook his head. “There’s no time.”

  “Now!” Calliope’s voice rang out over the melee. Zephyr appeared beside Drake, and I could just make out Raine and Aeria on the other side of the dragon shifter.

  Drake’s hand clasped around my fingers, and a rush of energy zipped over my skin. “Come on, Luna, hold on. We need you.”

  “I don’t have anything left,” I murmured.

  “I know you can do this.” His face blurred in and out. He began to mumble the words of the dark spell emblazoned in my mind, and my lips moved in time with his. Raw power hemorrhaged through my veins.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter 12

  “I’ve been out for two whole days?” I stared at Cinder, my eyes bulging out of my head. I pushed the pristine white blanket off and attempted to sit up, but my best friend stood from the chair perched by my bedside and gently pushed me down.

  “You have to rest, Luna. Cillian said you used enough magic to knock out an entire coven. He didn’t expect you to wake up for days.” She exhaled slowly. “He’s pretty pissed at you by the way.”

  I rolled my eyes and my temples throbbed, making me wince.

  “Oh yeah, and you had a concussion, and a few cracked ribs. The healer says you should be as good as new in a couple of days, but you have to rest.”

  I let my head slump back on the pillow as I scanned the sterile infirmary. “Tell me everything that happened after I passed out, again please.”

  “Like I said, I wasn’t there, but from what Raf told me, you guys did that fiery wave thing that you do and obliterated all the remaining demons. Luxora and Nicodemus got away, but Aeria and Scarlett captured our traitorous teacher, Ms. Mikalson. Cillian’s been grilling her for info, but so far she’s been playing hard to get—for once.”

  I smirked. Now I didn’t feel so bad for hating the sexy succubus for the past year for no reason. Other than her relationship with Ryder.

  Ryder’s name had been on my lips since my eyes opened, but a part of me was scared it had all been a dream. Had he really saved me again? Cinder hadn’t mentioned him so maybe I’d hallucinated that he’d protected me from Luxora. Or maybe he was dead, and I wasn’t ready to hear that yet. So I gnawed on my lower lip as Cinder recapped the rest of the story.

  “We lost a lot of students…” Cinder broke off as her voice cracked.

  I jolted upright, my heart staggering. “How many?” She hadn’t mentioned that part the first time around.

  “Twenty seven.”

  My lungs seized, and it was like my ribs were being cracked all over again. “No…” The attack had been all my fault. I was the one with the bright idea to lure Luxora out. Now dozens of students were dead because of me. I stared up at my friend as guilt ricocheted through my chest. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Cinder. If anything had happened to you—”

  She squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. “I’m okay. Most of us are alive because of you. Raf said they fought hard, Luna, all the students together. Regardless of which house they were from. He said he’d never seen anything like it, and that was because of you.”

  “Because I led the queen of hell right into our school.”

  She shook her head. “No. You couldn’t have known what would happen. The idea had been to lure her away from here and into the human world where everything had been carefully planned. I’m just as much to blame as you then. I suggested you guys go after her in the first place.”

  I huffed. “You’re the last person whose fault it could be.” Her hand still covered mine, and I tugged her into a hug. “I’m so sorry about all of this.”

  “If there’s anyone you should be apologizing to it’s Cillian. When he returned to the academy, I thought his head was going to explode. This is the first time in hundreds of years that the school has been assaulted. I overheard him talking to Logan and Calliope, and he’s dead set on revenge. It looks like you might get your chance to go to the Underworld after all. Too bad Ryder—”

  “Ryder?” My spine straightened. “He was here wasn’t he? I didn’t hallucinate him?” I slid to the edge of the bed determined to see him even if I looked like the walking dead. “I need to see him.”

  “He was here. He’s not anymore, Luna.” Her golden eyes darkened as she pushed me back once again.

  “What do you mean?”

  “He was injured pretty bad. The healers did the best they could until the SIA showed up.”

 
“The Supernatural Intelligence Agency came?”

  “One of the professors sounded the alarm when the demons flooded campus. When the agents recognized Ryder, they arrested him. He’s wanted for so many deaths, Luna…”

  My stomach plummeted, and all the hope from a second ago vanished. “So what happens now?”

  Her slim shoulders lifted, a sad smile crossing her face. “I don’t know. Cillian hasn’t even been able to see him yet. He said he was going to speak to the director of the SIA to put in a good word, but I’m not sure if he did.”

  “I need to see Cillian. He has to help Ryder. Did you guys tell him that he saved me from Luxora? If he and Drake hadn’t been there, I’d be trapped in the Underworld right now.”

  “He knows, and he swore he’d do whatever he could. But Ryder… he’s not the same, Luna. Raf saw him before they took him away and—he’s just not the same.”

  “He’s still in there somewhere, Cin, I know it. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have saved me over and over again.”

  My best friend gave me a half-hearted smile. “You’re right, Luna. And if anyone can get him back, it’s you.”

  I clenched my jaw and nodded, determined to do just that no matter the cost. Bits and pieces of Ryder and Luxora’s conversation flashed across my mind. Even with his demon in charge, he hadn’t let her or anyone else hurt me. I owed him.

  Turning to Cinder, I gave her my best puppy dog eyes. “Hey, do you think you could grab me some food from the banquet hall? I’m kinda starving.”

  “Yeah, sure.” She wrinkled her cute nose. “I remember the food from the infirmary being pretty tasteless.” She stood and headed to the door but spun back at the last minute. “Stay here, got it?”

  My head bounced up and down, and I lay back, pulling the blanket up to my chin. “See you when you get back.”

  The moment the door slammed shut, I leapt out of bed. If I portalled over to Cillian’s office, I could be back before she returned. But that would require using more magic… I searched for the source of my powers and found the glowing embers in my core. They weren’t quite as fiery as normal, but they were back. Maybe I could pull strength from my squad. I focused on the seven diverse cords wrapped around my heart, Drake’s lilac one the most brilliant with power. I could just make out the eighth one – Ryder’s, it was black and barely there, but I clung onto it with everything I had. I’d get him back somehow.