CONVICTION OF THE DAMNED: SUPERNO ACADEMY BOOK ONE

by Tierney Storer

  “You’re such a loudmouth whore.” Caleb scowled, dashing his controller at Ryder’s skull.

  Ryder snatched it out the air at the last second and calmly placed it down on the wooden side table under the nearest window. Friends it is then, I would have thrown it back at him.

  “No need to be jealous of me being better than you.” He replied before running over and locking his hand through Caleb’s curls, smashing his face into the coffee table.

  Caleb laughed hysterically like the idea of being assaulted was funny to his twisted mind. Though from the little I had seen of his behaviour it probably was.

  “You’re just pissed I’m moms’ favourite.” My sisters raised their brows at the mother comment in unison, but now that I knew I could see how similar the two vampires looked.

  They had the same shape to their eyes and identical cocky grins. Apart from Ryder having green eyes and Caleb having blue there wasn’t much else to see that was different. Caleb seemed like a younger version of Ryder.

  “I want everybody on their best behaviour. The dorms are a drama free zone, and I will not tolerate any shit from anybody. Do we understand?” It’s not like were the ones who attacked them earlier!

  Every person in the room nodded leaving Ryder satisfied with his job done. He waved us all off and jumped over the couch, snatching up the controller out of Xavier’s hands as Caleb ran to collect the other one whilst cursing out his brother for being a bitch.

  “Come on, let’s go check out our rooms!” Tory squealed, grabbing my hand, and pulling me along to the room I was about to spend the next four years of my life in, and the very first one that was mine and mine alone. I can’t believe I'm here. I can’t believe I'm not insane.

  Dari

  Don’t get me wrong the idea of having a room to myself, including a proper bed and decent closet space, was absolutely mind blowing and I was the most grateful girl in the history of the universe. But the Heirs shared the same four basic white walls as us and that left a bitter taste in my mouth that I couldn’t quite swallow.

  Laina and Tory had disappeared to their rooms right away, not a care between the two that we were sleeping under the same roof as the devil. Or maybe Devils was more accurate considering they acted as a pack in their misdeeds. Only Ember seemed to be distancing himself from them, and with a curious glance at us he flitted up the stairs to his room.

  Kaida was the only one as apprehensive as me; her feet were glued to the pale grey rug that took over half the damn floor, refusing to budge an inch until she fought whatever argument was going on inside her head.

  “At least we know why Ryder did such a shit job of explaining things to us.” I whispered to Kaida, grabbing her hand, and inspecting the wound I had discovered when we walked up the stairs.

  Her palm was covered in dry blood from a three-inch-long gash, that was recent, and I made a mental note to check her for weapons later on. I knew she would find a way to hurt herself even without a knife, but the least I could do was try my best to prevent her ridiculous tendencies as best as I could.

  “Are you slating me Princess?” Ryder asked, his stupid Vampire hearing able to listen in on my conversation with ease.

  Ryder was going to get real irritating quick if he didn’t stop being so damn nosy. I hated being spied on.

  “Yeah, I am stronzo,” I raised my voice, figuring airing my grievances was my best bet, “I said you did a shit job of telling us things when you barged into our apartment earlier on and now, I understand why.”

  Kaida huffed at the impending argument but didn’t stop me from saying a word; she knew I was right.

  Ryder paused the game and put his controller down slowly, turning his delightfully carved body round to face me. It really was a shame he was such an idiot; I would have loved to run my hands across his bare skin. Jeez I need to get laid.

  “Are you implying I am playing favourites?” He asked, his face a deadly serious mask of pretend shock. At the same time as Caleb asked what a stronzo was.

  I didn’t want to argue a losing battle, and I knew that he wouldn’t care less about our predicament, but I couldn’t stop myself from complaining when something was wrong.

  “Yup. Blondie is your brother; you obviously tried to fuck us over by not telling us anything today and letting your pet leech assault my sister. I guess you forgot to mention your crown when you accosted me this morning.” The Heirs laughed and Ryder joined in, once again proving me right.

  I honestly didn’t know why Ryder had bothered to come and find us if he so clearly didn’t want us here being a risk to his brother’s throne. The whole thing seemed rather redundant.

  “You’re slightly off there; I don’t have a crown. Caleb’s dad is the current King, and I have a different dad to him. I have no more claim to any of our Kingdoms than a human does.” Half-brothers then, explains the different eyes.

  I tried to remember the name of the Kingdom Caleb’s dad ruled, but I came up short, either way I knew I would never want to visit it once I remembered. If it were run by a bloodsucker, I was highly doubtful it could ever be more than a cess pit of criminals, and I had no desire to get involved in any of that drama again.

  “Okay so that one minor detail is off; doesn’t change the fact you’re a self-serving dick.” Ryder ignored me and carried on like I hadn’t spoken.

  All the Heirs paid no attention to us, except Caleb who was staring at Kaida with a furrowed brow. I could have sworn I saw him sniff the air a couple times like a dog.

  “Caleb also did not assault your sister; Vampires are allowed to feed on whoever they please, it is your responsibility to protect yourself from the so-called attack and the fact you couldn’t do it is nobody’s fault but your own.” Okay this is not a good school to be in.

  The fact we didn’t know Vampires existed before this afternoon didn’t seem to be a valid thing to Ryder.

  “L'avrei battuto se non fosse stato un vampiro.” Kaida complained to me, pointing out the obvious that if we hadn’t been up against a Vampire, then the fight certainly would have ended differently.

  “È pedante. Non lasciare che ti arriva.” He’s pedantic, don’t let it get to you.

  Ryder raised a thick brow, waiting for a translation I would never give him.

  “Fine. But my point still stands that you deliberately left us in the dark about pretty much everything else. You went all Twilight on us and that was it, there was never even the slightest mention of fiery birds and shit like that.” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest, and ignoring the way Ryder’s wicked grin made my spine tingle.

  He knew we didn’t know how to prevent a Vampire attack; he was just being a typical arrogant fool who thought he was better than everybody else around him, and I for one was bored of it and everybody in the world that was like him.

  If he is the stepson of the king I doubt he has ever had a day of unhappiness in his entire spoilt life. Of course he would not understand or care about our situation.

  “Wrong again Princess; you would never have believed anything I told you about this place. It took a bunch of coercion for you to even let me through the front door, what makes you think you would have believed anything I would have told you? Stop blaming me because your parents left you to rot in the mortal realm completely unprepared.” Asshole.

  Ryder had me beat. Despite everything inside me knowing he was wrong and that he could have done more, I also knew that he was right in that regard. We hadn’t believed him or even wanted to listen to anything he had to say.

  “Non ne vale la pena, vai a letto e possiamo capirlo da soli. Sai che non abbiamo mai avuto bisogno di nessuno prima d'ora.”

  Kaida urged me to drop it, pointing out we had never needed anyone else before to help us, as she headed for the staircase to her room.

  She had almost made it when Caleb called her name. She turned around so slowly I could have sworn time stopped.

  “What?” Kaida barked, her eyes cutting him to a million pieces. Sh
e had long ago mastered a death glare I was envious of.

  “You’re bleeding.” Caleb replied, tilting his head to the side, and letting a blonde curl escape his perfect styled tresses.

  I wonder how long it will take for Kaida to try and kill him?

  “No shit sanguisuga.” Kaida hissed through her teeth. I chuckled as my nickname of leech was used, “You fucking bit me.” She crossed her arms over her chest, wrapping her injured hand under her other arm in a last-ditch attempt at hiding her wound.

  Caleb rolled his eyes and jumped up, heading towards Kaida with an angelic smile that I didn’t trust. From my limited encounter with Vampires so far it was blatantly obvious that their innocent appearances were a façade designed to ease the nerves of their prey. They may have looked like angels, but they were more demonic than even the worst of humans.

  It was only fitting really that the flicker of fear jolted across my sister’s face.

  “I meant I can smell more blood than that; are you injured?” Like she’d tell you bloodsucker.

  “What do you care stronzo?” Kaida backed herself up against the wall in a desperate attempt to become invisible. “Se mi tocca è morto.” If he touches me, he’s dead.

  Caleb stopped approaching her with a small frown teasing the edges of full lips. I tensed up on the off chance I’d have to drag his sorry ass away from Kaida if he tried to stick his teeth in her again.

  “I'm only offering to heal you; as my new meal ticket its only right I make sure you are in top condition.”

  He held his hand out as Kaida swore, refuting his point about her being his dinner.

  “Unless you want to keep whispering about me in whatever language that is and bleed all over the carpet.”

  “I’d rather bleed to death than let you touch me again.” She seethed, bolting up the stairs two at a time, leaving no room for any disagreement.

  Caleb hovered where he stood for a second, almost looking like he debated following Kaida up the stairs. But with a shrug of his broad shoulders, he flitted back to the couch, continuing the game where his brother had left off. I gritted my teeth, fighting the urge to yank the blonde leech up by his hair and show him exactly how I treated men like him in the mortal realm.

  Unfortunately, until I was stronger there was nothing I do, I had to allow the monsters in this hellhole to treat us how they pleased whilst I figured out how to stop them, ideally before Kaida’s head exploded. Obviously, I would fight anybody if they hurt my sisters, but I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I’d achieve anything more than getting my own butt kicked.

  All I could do was hope that they would get bored of being rude after a couple days and we could go about our business until our inheritance was ready to collect and we could run.

  “Are you finished with your tantrum Princess or are there more things you’d like to complain at me for?” Ryder sneered as I walked out the room. I didn’t bother to give him a response.

  Down the corridor was another large stained-glass window with two oak doors next to each other and a hideous painting of a field on the wall opposite. I opened the room with my name on and shut the door behind me with a gasp. It was perfect. I had never given much thought to how I would decorate my own bedroom on account of that never being a possibility, but now that I was here, I could have cried.

  The walls were a pale cream, the floor a thick gray carpet that I wanted to roll about on forever. A giant stained-glass window took up most of the far wall, showing off a portrait of what appeared to be a Dragon flying in the clouds. A set of thin floaty curtains hung either side, allowing plenty of light to saturate the room when it eventually became morning again.

  A double bed stood on the right side of the room with a plush velvet headboard, white bedding, and a variety of throw cushions in yellow, cream and gray. A thick knitted blanket hung over the edge; the grey wool heavenly soft to the touch.

  I immediately jumped onto the bed with a giggle, lavishing in the softness of what was no doubt the most expensive mattress I had ever lay upon. The rest of the room was simple; white wooden furniture that included a bedside table, desk, and bookcase. In the far-left side, there was another door that I presumed led to the closet but was far too concerned with my bed to check it out for now.

  The entire room was clean, spacious, and wonderfully calming on my soul. It was perfect for me in every way imaginable and I had no idea how the school had even created it.

  “The designer is a seer; she can see what you want and make a base room perfect for you. You can add your own choices whenever you feel like ordering new things.” A voice said from the door, answering the question inside my head.

  I bolted upright, cursing my beating heart for betraying the fear I had felt at the interruption. Ryder grinned as he stood in the door, leaning against the frame without a care, twiddling his thumbs.

  “Can you read minds Vampiro?” I blurted out, ignoring the chuckle he had at my expense.

  “Not really. I'm just incredibly good at reading people.” He came closer, eyeing up my bedroom with a curious stare.

  I didn’t know what he was doing here but if I was being honest, I didn’t really care. If he weren’t here to bite me, I had no objections to anything, even arguing with him some more.

  “I didn’t have you pegged for the feminine type.” He paused, his long fingers trailing the edge of the fairy-lights that dangled down the edge of the ceiling. “I expected you to have loads of skulls and demonic shit everywhere, not stuff like this.” Ryder pointed out the fluffy cream rug at the side of my bed, a curious sparkle in his green eyes.

  Ryder was not the first person to presume things about me. I was the girl who was always so boisterous, strong and ‘one of the boys’ and for some reason people equated that with being less feminine. In all reality I loved makeup, clothes, glittery things and basically anything that was cute or fluffy. I didn’t mind being an enigma, even if it was annoying to constantly be stereotyped.

  It had always baffled me how people thought girls couldn’t like makeup and deadly weapons or be a pro footballer who loved pink glitter. There was no need to put people inside a box.

  “Fluffy things and pastel aren’t inherently feminine, but don’t get me wrong I'm going to be purchasing some knives and things to decorate my walls with. Gotta add a little bit of danger.” I bit back, not totally lying. I had every intention of getting myself a sword now that I knew they were legal to own here. “But either way, don’t come in here trying to insult me testa di cazzo.” Dickhead.

  Ryder muttered something under his breath and ran his hand through his hair.

  “I'm not insulting you Princess; I think it’s a good thing. It means I haven’t got a read on you yet and I kinda like it when I have to keep guessing.” He closed the bedroom door and headed towards me, coming to a stop awkwardly at the foot of my bed. “Also are you speaking Italian? I swear cazzo means fuck or something like that.”

  A part of me worried about the implications of him being so close to me, in a room that barred all sounds escaping, but the rest of me was far too preoccupied staring at his hands and wondering what they’d feel like yanking on my hair. Bad Dari, he’s your enemy, even if he is hot in an asshole kind of way.

  “I called you a dickhead Vampiro, and if the room is soundproof does that mean you’re about to murder me, and you didn’t want my screams getting out?” I pointed out the closed door.

  Ryder rolled his eyes and perched on the bottom of my bed, biting on his lower lip.

  “What I'm about to say doesn’t leave this room, okay?” I nodded at his request, and he sighed, the mask of indifference he wore slipping away slightly to reveal a boy out of his depth.

  “I'm sorry for not helping you and you sisters much, but you have to understand I have no choice but to be a dick to you, and that I will continue being one from here on out.”

  I interrupted with a dry laugh, pointing out that apologising but refusing to stop the behaviour seemed rather redundant.
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  “I get it doesn’t make sense, but you have to understand that my loyalties lie with the crown and my brother; I can’t be seen helping out what is basically our enemy.” Ryder explained.

  He glanced at me and back to the floor, his behaviour awfully strange considering the way he had greeted us. “Your parents were not the nicest of people, and besides that when they died, they took all their secrets with them, a lot of which were to do with the safety of Mirane…”

  If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought Ryder had empathy for me. Don’t go pretending he’s got emotions you idiot. You know better than that. Boys like him are brilliant liars.

  “I will help enforce whatever the Royal families want the Heirs to do with you guys. But I just wanted to make it clear that I won’t enjoy it; I'm not an asshole despite what you might think. But if it comes down to you or them, I have to side with them even if I have no grievances against you.”

  I sat up straight, letting my feet dangle over the edge of the bed and pretending not to notice Ryder smirking at my height. I was average for my age; he was just a tall freak who belonged in a Norse storybook.

  “I understand more than anyone about family loyalties, so I don’t need an apology or anything from you.” My teeth gnawed at my bottom lip, wiping away the last of my lipstick. “And Tory told us a little about how our parents destroyed the fifth Kingdom, so I do get why people hated them.”