CONVICTION OF THE DAMNED: SUPERNO ACADEMY BOOK ONE

by Tierney Storer

  With a giant double sandwich, a packet of cookies and a large bottle of coke I flounced across the room to the couch, practically falling into my seat in eagerness for my food.

  “You weren’t drunk the last time we were here together; you were stone cold sober.” Xavier muttered. It was probably unwise to sit with the two boys, but I refused to eat in my bedroom and let all those crumbs ruin everything I owned. I was not a savage even if I was smashed.

  As if he had heard me, Ember waltzed down the stairs, joining his friends on the couch with a can of diet coke.

  “You not drinking?” I asked.

  “Nope. Never.” He answered, “I don’t touch drugs or alcohol.”

  “That’s cool. I wish I didn’t have to drink sometimes.” I muttered, before zipping my mouth shut when I realised what I had said. Ember’s eyes widened but I looked away.

  I ate my food and pretended to be super interested in the empty beer bottles that were strewn about the table. There were twelve in total, which meant I was most likely not the only one who was a little tipsy tonight.

  “Sweetheart, why did you run out of the lesson the other day?” Caleb interrupted the silence as I was almost finished eating; I hadn’t bothered wasting much time.

  “Why do you care?”

  Xavier repeated what I had said to Dari, a question on his tongue. He had clearly told Caleb and Ember what my words meant too which didn’t give me much room to lie.

  “I don’t think it’s any of your business what I say or do though is it? The four of us are not friends as I have said many times before.” Definitely not a good idea to have sat here.

  I gently placed my plate on the table and straightened out the beer bottles until they faced the right way. I didn’t know why people found it so hard to do things correctly, but I couldn’t keep staring at them like that. Even if it wasn’t my mess, it was my job to make sure they were right.

  “You still owe us an answer to our question though Princess. So, tell me what you meant?” Xavier leaned back on the couch and lifted his legs up onto the coffee table, infuriating me even more when he knocked over a bottle.

  People who put their feet on inappropriate furniture should be shot. I corrected the bottle he knocked over and debated offering him out with the intention of violence. But quickly recanted the thought when I remembered how our last fight ended.

  “If I answer will you take your feet of the table?” I snapped.

  Xavier nodded and laughed like the whole thing was a joke.

  “The foster father we had always told me that he could make it seem like I was never born if he wanted to, and that without him I would not exist; I was nothing. When you told me that he had actually made that happen I was a little pissed off okay?” I didn’t stop with that. More words came tumbling out my mouth and I could do nothing to stop them. “It’s also why I hate when you don’t call me Kaida. Because he always said that I was just a thing that he owned, and if I wanted a name I had to fight for it.”

  There were two bottles of beer left on the table and I stole them both before any of the boys could respond. I was an expert at knocking back drinks, even shitty bottles of slightly warm beer.

  “What kind of person says things like that?” Ember mused, a frown marring his pretty face as Xavier removed his limbs from the furniture.

  “He sounds unpleasant.” Xavier agreed and I couldn’t stop the laugh from escaping me as I told them that it was hardly the worst thing he had ever said. Or done.

  But I was not about to sit here spilling all my secrets to people I barely liked, so I quickly washed my plate and headed back to my room, refusing to participate any longer. I had barely opened my bedroom door before I was accosted again and slammed against the wooden frame by a steel Vampire cage.

  “Do you know how frustrating it is when you walk away the second anyone gets anything real from you?” Caleb snarled.

  Making sure to keep my voice steady I asked Caleb to move, but like usual he had no boundaries and stayed right where he was, pinning me against the door without a care.

  “You’re such a fucking dickhead.” I muttered, refusing to even look at him as the fear and demons rose to the surface of my head. “I hate you.”

  The words died on Caleb’s tongue, and he blew out a breath before grabbing me tighter and shoving his fangs deep into my neck. I didn’t panic, nor did I push back. I stayed still as a statue, allowing him to take as much as he wanted before I would kick him in the balls and run away. But like usual, my plan didn’t work out.

  Caleb seemed to grab me harder than usual, his strong fingers no doubt leaving bruises on my skin. His body was pushed up against mine, and I could feel the thick muscles of his leg as it rested in between my own. The pain of him feeding me was not there, the only thing I could feel was his lips against my neck and the warmth of his twisted embrace.

  I pushed my hips out, my body acting of its own accord, and my hands ran up along his bare arms. I trailed my fingers over his biceps and slowly moved up towards his neck, locking my hands behind his head and pulling him even closer to me still. For the longest moment we were locked together in a passionate embrace, the pair of us pulling the others body as though we weren’t already touching.

  I could feel the slow rise of dark thoughts pouncing on my brain as the haze of alcohol was slowly washed away. I hated to admit that like with Xavier, I enjoyed Caleb touching me, but only when I said so. And right now, I hadn’t so much as said a damn word. With a heaving sigh I shoved him off me, breaking the spell he had cast on my consciousness before I did something entirely regretful.

  “Go to bed sanguisuga, and stop harassing me.”

  My door was slammed shut on his shocked looking face just before I dropped onto my bed, the demons in my mind talking over one another in their haste to make me pay for my crimes. I didn’t consciously make the choice to touch Caleb, but the things that possessed me didn’t seem to care much for semantics. So once again I was trapped in an abyss, slowly sinking into my own pain with the knife that had become all too familiar with my skin lately.

  Laina

  I wonder if Tory knows her eyes have flecks of honey and gold in them. Or is it caramel? Yeah, it’s definitely caramel.

  “Do you think maybe we could go with red? Or is that a bit too bright.” Tory was holding up her Portal, showing me an entire catalogue of bedding options for my new room makeover. I had been here long enough that it was about time I bought a couple things for my room myself.

  I did like the bedroom design; it was all pale creams and greys. But the last week or two I had been filled with a niggling feeling that it was completely boring, and that surely it made me a bore by default. So now I was spending my entire evening struggling to decide what bits of décor I could add to make myself feel like less like a bowl of dry porridge.

  It wasn’t easy changing my entire personality like I wanted; turning myself into someone my sisters could actually be proud of was going to take me a rather long time. But I was prepared to do whatever it took and prove all those social media posts I had been reading about me being a pathetic little girl wrong.

  Yes because adding a pop of colour to my bedroom will totally make me badass. I didn’t want red, that was too much of a Kaida colour on the rare occasions she deviated from black. I wanted something different from my sisters, something purely me.

  “I think I want to dye my hair too.” I blurted out, already feeling great about the idea of change.

  I wouldn’t cut my hair; growing it out had taken so long that I would hate it short again. But being platinum blonde wasn’t anything I cared about.

  “Oh shit okay. I’m down for that; what colour?” Tory sat up excitedly on my bed, the edge of her dark purple crop top lifting and giving me a glimpse of her toned stomach and bellybutton piercing.

  “I think I want bright. Like pink, or orange or maybe even blue.”

  Tory thought for a moment, carefully chewing on the edge of her plum painted li
ps. She always had matching lipstick to her outfits, even if she wore completely bizarre colours, and she just so happened to suit them all. Yet I couldn’t remember the last time I had even wore coloured lip-gloss without fear of being called stupid.

  As we debated the different shades of colours we could find my Portal chimed with an incoming call.

  “Hey baby Lainy. I’m having a party this weekend. Kaida and Dari are down, are you and Tory? We could dress sexy and find ourselves an orgy.” Allie chuckled darkly, not even joking with her suggestion.

  I questioned Kaida via a text, but she agreed; she was indeed going to go to Allie’s party, and also loved the idea of dying my hair so much she even asked to join in with a change to her own hair.

  “As appealing as that sounds I’m going to stay in; I’m on my period and I can’t function right.” Tory groaned, and I had the weirdest urge to stay with her too.

  “I don’t like partying much, so I think I’d rather hang out here and look after Tory.” Tory’s brows rose and a bright smile lit up her face, telling me my idea had been perfect.

  I wasn’t brave enough to ask her out on a date just yet, but with the two of us hanging out completely alone that night, then surely I would be able to find an opportunity to ask her.

  “If we order the dye now it will arrive in the mornings post, so does Kaida know what colour she wants? I can add that to the basket whilst you pick yours.” Tory asked.

  I pointed out Kaida’s choice and debated my own. Agonizing over the colours for almost twenty minutes before deciding to let fate decide, with a simple roll of the dice. Or at least the roll of a virtual dice on my Portal.

  “What’s that, a three?” Tory checked the number with the corresponding dye, “Cool, guess you’re going orange!”

  ***

  Tory had gone to bed over two hours ago and I still hadn’t managed to get to sleep myself. The small gold clock on my wall was ticking along aggravatingly slow, each beat of the hand pounding through the room far louder than it needed to be.

  Three times I had gone to the kitchen and made myself a calming cup of lavender tea, but it had done about as much good for me as a nail to the head. I was restless and lying in bed until the sun came up wouldn’t do much to help me. With a resigned sigh I got up, throwing an oversized grey hoody over my pyjamas, and sliding the nearest pair of boots onto my feet before heading out for a walk.

  I had never been scared of the dark but even I had to admit it was creepy as hell walking around in the dead of night on your own. I stuck to the paths, basking in the small bit of light the lanterns along of the edge gave me. But it was still not enough to keep me from feeling the tingle of nerves up my spine whenever something flickered in the shadows of the buildings.

  Halfway along the path, inadvertently towards the whispering woods, I realised how stupid I had been to come outside alone at night. There were monsters roaming this school, and a shadow had even breached the walls not too long ago. Wandering alone was stupid without adding in the fact I had no powers to defend myself.

  The niggling feeling in my heart was growing stronger and I knew I needed to run back to my room and get somewhere a little safer. Almost as if the stars could hear my worries, the darkness in my mind grew, and shrouded my thought with nothing but whatever vision they were hellbent on ruining my night with.

  The club was packed tight, the writhing bodies of hundreds of horny young adults were dancing together under the light of the stars. The bass radiating from the DJ’s speakers was barely on the right side of being too much and the strobe lights flashing in time with the music were only adding the feeling.

  I was having a good night; God knows I needed it after all the shit I had been dealing with lately. Even my run under the moon earlier hadn’t done much to ease the tension in my bones. Nor did picking a fight with Allie. She had been good enough to hit me back a couple of times, but she couldn’t bring herself to actually hurt her alpha. It was a fucking nightmare.

  A pair of dark hands snaked around my waist, pulling me tight against their rock-hard body and almost crushing me with the weight of their comforting embrace.

  “Why so glum baby? You don’t seem good.” Mikel whispered, his soothing deep voice a caress upon my ears as he used his gifts to siphon some of my fear despite it not really working. He couldn’t feel my emotions, but he knew me well enough to figure them out.

  I turned around in his arms, resting my head against his chest and letting him completely cover me in his calming presence. He smelt like the ocean and happiness; just like always.

  “I’m just stressed,” I muttered, not wanting to put too many of my problems on his strong shoulders, “Mama has been insisting on sending Huan to deal with our problem, and I can’t seem able to convince her otherwise. I don’t want to hurt them again.”

  I barely liked my brother on a good day, but ever since the Darklight sisters had returned, and that teacher had been killed, he had been even worse to deal with. I didn’t know when he had turned from the goodhearted boy of my childhood to the bloodthirsty savage that was now dressing in his clothes.

  “So let’s get out of here and worry about it another day. We can go watch the stars. Maybe even grab a bottle of orange soda on the way?”

  Mikel grinned down at me, using his siren gifts once more to send me a bucket load of happiness even though we both knew I wouldn’t feel it. I could feel his powers, but they would not work; they were just a trick, and a nice thought.

  “Okay,” I agreed, grabbing his hand, and dragging him through the crowds to the exit, “I want orange soda.”

  Ten minutes later we were walking arm in arm along the dark street, an entire bag full of soda hanging in Mikel’s free hand, and the unmistakeable feeling of danger radiating through my bones.

  “Something is wrong.” I whispered, using all of my senses to figure out what I could feel. The taste of copper was burning on my tongue and the scent of death was making me want to heave.

  Mikel cocked his head, trying to figure out if there were any emotions he could catch a taste of. My wolf senses showed me when danger was around, but he could feel anything that was too far for me to see.

  “There isn’t anything here baby; I can’t feel-” Mikel’s words were cut off by the sharp severing of his head from his shoulders.

  I screamed in horror, as the shadow appeared out the depths of the night and began stealing away my boyfriend’s magic right out of his heart. The onset of rage and grief overwhelmed me, and I snapped, tearing my clothes to shreds as I transformed into my wolf form with death in my heart. I didn’t care if I died here. I didn’t care at all.

  A heart-breaking howl echoed through the night as I advanced on the shadow, using my venomous teeth to rip through its flesh over and over. Each time the tendrils burned my skin I tried harder, using the pain to spur me into action. Until there was nothing left of my enemy, and I was once again alone, with the lifeless corpse of the only person I had ever loved in this world.

  I jolted back to reality with a scream, almost headbutting the girl who was holding me in her arms. I blinked a few times, trying to control the ragged breathing escaping my shaking body.

  “You okay Laina?” Bette asked, barely out of breath as she carried me towards the dorms. “You were on the ground unconscious.”

  Hearing her voice only sent me more into a panic, as I desperately tried to figure out how to tell her what I had seen without saying a word. I wasn’t an idiot; one of the things I had first learned about being a supposed Seer was that telling someone the entirety of my vision would never change the course of fate; it would only secure it more. Haziel didn’t like the gifts he gave us being used to alter fate; we were simply meant to guide it.

  But I was too much of kind person to sit here and not try and prevent the agonising heartbreak I had felt Bette go through; even if I thought her boyfriend was a bit of a dick. It wasn’t that he didn’t deserve to die, but more that she didn’t deserve to feel the pain
of that.

  “You shouldn’t wander around at night Princess, there are a lot of monsters in these woods that are far worse than me.” Bette hummed under her breath as she let me go to my feet.

  She made sure to keep an arm on me as we walked up the stairs to our rooms, preventing me from falling smack onto my ass. I was trembling with what was definitely not the cold.

  “I didn’t mean to walk so far; I was trapped in a vision.” I replied, my throat dry from all the shouting I had been unconsciously doing. “Don’t get orange soda!” I blurted out, not knowing what else I could say.

  Bette raised a dark brow, a smirk tugging at the edge of her pink lips, as we arrived at the floor with her bedroom on.

  “How did you know I liked orange soda?” She asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. But the next time someone offers to get you some, say no.” Nice warning Laina, I’m sure that will work.

  “Okay Laina. I won’t get any soda.” She replied honestly.

  My mouth gaped and I was lost for words at her blatant acceptance of my odd behaviour.

  “It’s pretty obvious that you are a Seer, I trust anything you tell me without question. As would all the other Heirs.” Bette said, answering the question in my silence. “Even Kel would.”

  “Okay well good then…” That was unexpected, “and um, thanks for bringing me home.”