The Hunter Secret (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 2)

by Juliana Haygert

  Apparently, King Brikan had been involved in a lot of wars around the world, and was responsible for major catastrophes.

  My stomach dropped.

  And I was the daughter of this freaking demon.

  Well, perhaps this was good. This class, I meant. Perhaps in here I would learn a thing or two about King Brikan. I would learn more about my connection to him, and maybe even how I could defeat him if he came for me.

  Ha, what a dream. Me defeating an almighty king of the underworld? Not even in my dreams …

  I was so entranced in reading about King Brikan that I didn’t even notice the time passing. We were dismissed from class, and I picked up my things and went to meet with Claire for our free period. During the warmer months, we liked to sit in the square and look at the Blackthorn tree, but in the winter, we stayed in the cafeteria or media room.

  She was already waiting for me in the cafeteria with two Styrofoam cups of sweet hot chocolate when I got there.

  “I love you,” I told her.

  Claire winked at me. “I know.”

  I sat down on a bench around a round table beside her, took my warm cup in my freezing hands, and looked out the glass walls to the winter land around campus. From here, we couldn’t see much. Only the pathways, the Statice building, and lots of snow. Students walked by, going to and from classes.

  “Isn’t it odd to be back?” I asked. I was feeling odd, at least. This place was home, but at the same time, I felt like I didn’t deserve it. I was a half-demon … and not only that, I was daughter of the Supreme Demon. At first, I had trouble wrapping my mind around it, but during the last two months, I came to realize that denying it wouldn't change the truth. I was a demonic princess and my father would come for me.

  Which made me wonder, should I run again? If I stayed here, I would only be putting others in danger. Claire, my mother, Rey, and the other students. If I left, if I went far away, they would be safe.

  “Not to me,” Claire said. “Even though I’m only in my second year, this place has been my home for a long time now.” Right. I kept forgetting her father had been a professor here for many years, and she had been raised at the academy. “But I can honestly say it’s better now that I have a best friend.” She smiled at me.

  I smiled back at her. “I don’t know how you put up with me.”

  She bumped her shoulder on mine. “What do you mean? You’re pretty, you’re smart, and you’re fun. Plus—” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “—you’re super interesting with your half-demon blood and demonic princess legacy.”

  “Shhh.” I glanced around, afraid someone would hear us, but there were only a few people in the cafeteria and they weren’t close to us. “That isn’t interesting. It’s screwed up.”

  She shrugged. “At least it’s never boring.”

  I snorted. Well, in a way, she was right. So far, things had been complicated and a little dangerous. If life kept being never-boring, we were sure to encounter even worse problems.

  Speaking of problems, I remembered the half-demons list I was supposed to make. I wanted to talk to Claire about it. She knew everyone at the academy, even past and upcoming students, but the headmaster had told us to stay quiet about this task.

  Before I could make up my mind to tell her, a shadow fell over us. When I turned my head to see who had approached us, I almost dropped my hot chocolate.

  “Rey,” I whispered, in shock. What was the deal with this guy? Yesterday, he dismissed me, and now here he was, right in front of me. I braced myself, and my voice sounded a lot harsher when I asked, “What do you want?”

  “Hi, Rey,” Claire said in a friendly tone, totally ignoring my question. “How was your winter break?”

  Rey frowned. “Hm, it was okay.” He buried his hands inside his coat’s pockets. “This morning I realized we never got to close the demon portal.”

  “Holy crap, you’re right!” Claire sat straighter. “And that was what? Two months ago?”

  Rey nodded. “Yeah. There have been a few demon sightings around the mountain, so I was thinking we should close it.”

  “We?” I asked, lost. “Why we? You can do it by yourself.”

  “Erin!” Claire exclaimed.

  Rey fixed his gray eyes on mine. “I can’t. I need your help.”

  This was amusing. The guy who had shut me down last night was now coming to me for help. “My help? Why is that?”

  “I’m not strong enough alone,” he said, his tone even. If my harshness was getting to him, he hid it well. “I need your magic added to mine.”

  I held his stare, but didn’t say anything. In my mind, I understood what he was saying. We should close the portal so it would be harder for demons to get closer to the school. That was in my interest too. But I was still upset with him, and because of it, I wanted him to suffer too.

  “Erin,” Claire whispered. “You have to do it.”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  “Good,” he said, still sounding like a robot.

  “Are we using the same spell?” Claire asked. “Do you need me to bring the ingredients again?”

  Rey shook his head. “No, we won’t need a special ritual or ingredients to do this.”

  “Oh, all right.” Claire’s shoulders deflated. It was as if she wanted to be more active in our quests, poor girl.

  Rey took a step back. “We’ll meet here tonight and go out to the portal.”

  Then he whipped around and left.

  Claire fake-glared at me. “Did you need to be such a bitch?”

  I gasped. “Me? A bitch? He’s the one who told me off last night and now he wants my help.”

  “What?” Claire narrowed her eyes. “You saw him last night?” She slapped my arm. “How dare you not tell me?”

  I curled into myself, protecting my body from her assault. “It wasn’t a big deal. He had a message from the headmaster, and then wouldn't talk to me again,” I said, changing the truth a little bit.

  “Oh crap, there’s more to the story.” If Claire was a dog, her ears would have perked up. “Tell me more.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.” I sipped from my hot chocolate, thinking of what to say. “The headmaster just sent a note welcoming me back to the academy.”

  “What about your deal?”

  My eyes scanned the area again, but no one was close. Still, I kept my voice low when I said, “The headmaster still hasn’t sent for me,” I lied. Shit, I hated lying to her. I seriously had to measure if I could tell her all about the headmaster and his first mission or not, but it wouldn’t be now. Now, we had to finish our drinks and go to our next class. “Ready for class?”

  She smiled at me. “Always.”

  4

  Rey

  When I first realized we hadn’t closed that fucking portal, I thought about doing it alone. If I wanted to keep Erin safe, it was imperative that the portal was closed right away. I had even gone out there again and tried to do it, but I couldn’t. I was strong, but not strong enough to close it alone. I needed help.

  The only other people I knew who had magic at the academy were Randall and Erin. I didn’t want to bring it up to Randall, so my only choice was to ask Erin. As a demonic princess, she was sure to be strong. The question was, could she access all that power?

  When I arrived in the cafeteria, I thought about grabbing coffee for us, like I used to do when Erin and I trained late at night last semester. Then, I stopped myself. Yes, I wanted to get fucking coffee for Erin, but damn, I couldn’t. I shouldn’t.

  So, I just stayed put and waited.

  It didn’t take long for her and Claire to arrive.

  “Do you still have Professor Martha’s pass?” I asked Erin.

  She fished it out of her coat pocket, showed it to me, then stored it away. The way she was talking—or not talking—to me upset me. It got under my skin, but I did my best to ignore it because it was for the best. If she wasn't talking to me, it meant I had hurt her. If I had hurt her, s
he would keep her distance from me.

  But not tonight.

  I swear, if I could have used anyone else’s help for this fucking spell, I would have. But there was no one else. Only Erin.

  Once more, I had created a small interval between the guard change at the northeast outpost, and we used that opportunity to sneak out of the academy. The way to the portal was quiet and slow. The ambient light of the moon reflected off the snow, making it eerily bright for a late night. The snow hadn’t accumulated much beneath the clusters of trees, but it still made the trek a lot harder than it could have been.

  I couldn’t help but steal glances at Erin and Claire. Lately, I hadn’t seen Claire without two or more books under her arm. Tonight was no different. She had a tote bag slung over her shoulder and three leather-bound books peeking from the opening.

  As for Erin, she stomped in the snow with her thick boots, her arms crossed in front of her chest, and her brows curled down. I wanted to smooth that knot with my thumb. While at it, I could cup her face, run my fingers over her red lips, lean into her, inhale her sweet rose scent, and ki—

  Why the fuck was I thinking about that now? I had been trying to banish her from my mind for two months. Winter break had been the worse, but I had succeeded. I hadn’t gone to her. Now, she was right next to me. But it didn't matter. Why couldn’t I keep control of my thoughts?

  It wasn’t my thoughts I couldn’t control, though. It was my heart. My emotions. I felt too much for this girl, and she could never know.

  Finally, we arrived at the entrance of a cave at the base of the mountain.

  “It’s here,” I said, gesturing to the cavern. “The mouth of the cave is the portal.”

  Erin halted by my side and stared at the vacant space in the surrounding stone. “Are you sure?”

  I understood her skepticism. It looked like a normal cave with no markings, nothing different to tell this was a special, magical, and dangerous place.

  “I am.” It had been here where Asmodeus had called me to and taken me to the cemetery last November. I couldn’t forget this place even if I tried.

  “So, what do you need to do?” Claire gestured to her bag. “I’ve brought books on demonic spells, just in case.”

  A smile tugged at my lips, but I stopped myself. I could see why Erin liked Claire so much. She was good and kind and simple—not simple-minded, but simple to be around, simple to deal with. Easy. There was no drama, no rivalry, no attention seeking. And she was always prepared; it didn’t matter what came their way.

  “I don’t think we’ll need those this time,” I said. I looked at Erin. “All we need to do is activate the portal, then close it.”

  Erin’s brows curled down. “And how exactly do I close a portal?”

  “Imagine it’s a physical door and that you can shape it with your magic. With your hands.” I waved my arm in front of us and a black sheen of darkfire, the size of a door, appeared in the snow. “Like this.” I extended my arms, and with my hands shaped like claws, I molded the door to my will. Because I had conjured the door, it was easy to roll it up into a small ball. “The portal won’t be this easy, but you get the gist.”

  “I see,” she muttered.

  “Are you ready?”

  “You’re going to activate the portal?”

  I nodded. “Yup.”

  She let out a long breath and rolled her shoulders. “I’m ready.”

  I glanced at Claire. “You might want to stand back a bit, just in case.”

  Hugging her bag, Claire took several steps back and watched us.

  A little wary, I walked closer to the cave’s mouth. I cast a small sphere of darkfire in my hand and threw it right in the middle of the opening. The darkfire hit an invisible wall and dissipated in several rays. Then, the door appeared—an ancient stone arch framed the cave’s mouth, with demonic runes carved on it. Its power flared, brushing against me and making the hair on my arms stand on end.

  “Erin, watch out!” I cried, as a demon burst through the portal and ran past me in a blur.

  It was a screinor—a demon with long dark gray body, slicked with goo, a big mouth in a round head, and no visible eyes or ears. Their strike was strong, but their scream was the real weapon. When they shrieked, they disabled their victim.

  Thankfully, Erin knew this. She shot the demon with a darkfire bolt as the demon opened its mouth. The demon deflected the hit, but it was distracted for a second. Meanwhile, Erin glanced to Claire. “Your Dawnblade!”

  With shaking hands, Claire dropped her books and summoned her sword. She ran and handed it to Erin as the demon skid to a stop a couple of feet from them and opened its huge mouth again.

  My power thrumming inside my veins, I was about to shoot that fucking demon, but Erin swiped the sword wide and cut the demon’s head off.

  I stared at the demon’s body and head lying in the snow, a little impressed with her. Apparently, she had not only been training in hand combat with Professor Martha, but also swordsmanship.

  She nudged her chin at me. “That was it? Can we close it now?”

  “Yes—” Two more screinors made it out of the portal. “Fuck.”

  I extended my hand and my Dawnblade appeared. I jumped out of the way of the screinors and cut them down before they got too close to Erin. Were they running straight at her because of the mark? Was it calling them? Or did they know who she was?

  “Do it now,” Claire urge. “Quick, before more come out!”

  The Dawnblade disappeared from my hand and I faced the portal. A moment later, Erin was by my side.

  “So, just imagine it's a door and mold it with my hands?”

  “Right.” I nodded once. “Let’s do it.”

  I felt her power come forward, rubbing against me as it traveled to the portal. Following her lead, I channeled my magic again and enveloped the portal with it. I imagined it was fabric covering the cave’s mouth. I needed to fold it up in my arms and put it away.

  But it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Even with Erin’s powers added to mine, we still barely tickled the portal.

  I wondered …

  I reached for her hand and entwined my fingers on hers. I felt her magic fade as she glanced at me with wide eyes. “What are you doing?”

  “Uniting our magic.”

  She frowned at me. I closed my eyes for a moment and just felt it. We had a connection. We shared twin souls, which meant our magic was also compatible. We could act as one. So, I coaxed her magic, calling it into me.

  Her magic didn’t hesitate or protested. It jumped into me as if I was an extension of her, and obeyed my every wish. I sent our combined magic to the portal, and in no time, I saw the difference.

  The stone arch shook, fighting against us.

  Realizing what was happening, Erin stepped closer to me, her body pressed against mine, and rested her other hand over our joined ones. More of her power flowed into me.

  She was so fucking powerful.

  I threw all I had at the portal. The stone arch crumbled to the ground. Dark shadows rose from the broken pieces, swirling out of the snow and into the frigid air.

  “It’s done,” I whispered, amazed with our work.

  As if realizing she was touching me, Erin dropped her hands and took a large step back. “Right. We did it.” She turned her back to me. “We should go now.”

  I stared at the broken portal. After we unified our magic, it had been so easy. Almost too easy.

  “What is it?” Claire asked. She approached me. “Is something wrong?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I thought it would be harder.”

  “Three demons came out of it, and we had to join forces to do it,” Erin said, her tone curt again. “It was hard.”

  I didn't want to argue with her right now. I let the subject drop and guided them back to the academy. Because I didn’t know how long our task would take, I scheduled the next hole in the guard patrol for later. We sought shelter under a curved tree trunk and
waited.

  With magic, I cleared some of the snow around the tree, so we could be less miserable in the cold than we already were.

  Erin and Claire leaned against the tree trunk, and I stayed a couple of feet from them, watching for the patrol that was supposed to walk past the outpost soon.

  Eyes closed, Claire held on to her bag, as if she was afraid of losing her books. Erin’s brows were knotted, and she stared at her shaking hands.

  I reached for her and enveloped her hands in mine. “Are you cold?”

  She lifted her face, her eyes, somehow even more bright here in the near dark, found mine. “No.” She pulled her hands from mine, and hid them behind her back.

  Fuck, I had just touched her after being an ass to her. I couldn’t blame her if she was confused after so many mixed signals. “What is it, then?”

  She held my stare, but didn’t say anything for a moment. When I had given up on an answer, she said, “Besides that general we killed together, this was the first time I killed someone.”

  “Not someone, a demon,” I corrected her.

  “I know, but killing is still killing.” Her frown deepened. “I know that as a demon hunter I have to kill, and that demons are evil, but I hate being a killer.”

  “You can’t think like that,” Claire said. “I mean, I’m not one to be saying this. I won’t become a full-fledged demon hunter, and hopefully, I won’t have to kill any demons with my own hands, but you can’t think of yourself as a killer. You’re not killing an innocent person. You’re killing a monster who will kill innocent people. Your work as a demon hunter is an honorable one.”

  “She’s right.” I was glad Claire had intervened, because if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to control my emotions. Right now, all I wanted was to reach over again and hug Erin. “You have to think of it as a service to the world.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “I know.”

  Claire continued telling her about the big names in the demon hunter world. Randall was the most famous one by a mile, but there had been others who killed so many demons, or faced higher ones and didn’t die, who had become legends. These hunters had doubts and families and lives like most of us, but they kept going, because their job was important.