Van Helsing Academy

by Stacey O'Neale

  In any other circumstance, I would’ve prepared myself for an attack. But something inside of me said that this wasn’t one of those situations. I shifted around in my chair so that we were now facing one another. “What’s your name?”

  “Astin,” he answered, still staring at the older boy.

  “I promise I won’t hurt you, Astin.” I tried to assure him, hoping he might look me in the eye. “You are free to say whatever you like.”

  He bent down on one knee and pulled down the front of his shirt to reveal a long scar across his chest. I heard gasps coming from witches and warlocks at the table. It became clear that what he was showing me was new to them as well. “The reapers came to our family home when I was ten. They said someone had reported us. They said we were using black magic and killed someone. It wasn’t true,” he insisted. “My parents were afraid of it. They knew that kind of magic had consequences, but the reapers wouldn’t listen.” He sniffled, and a single tear rolled down his chubby cheek. “When they tried to arrest my mother, my father fought back. They hit him in the chest with a taser and then arrested him. We never saw him again.”

  “Why?” I asked, surprised by the higher pitch of my voice. “What happened to him?”

  “He died in their custody.” The older boy appeared at Astin’s side and put his arm around his shoulders. I saw the resemblance. They had to be brothers. “The coroner said the taser hit his heart and caused a massive heart attack.”

  The palm of my hand twitched as I thought of my taser wand. The weapon I had used countless times and never once thought about the damage it caused. I was only concerned about myself and my safety. My stomach churned. “I’m sorry for your loss. I truly am.”

  The older boy’s eyes welled with tears. “It destroyed our mother. She locked herself in her room and refused to eat until she wasted away.”

  “That’s how we ended up here,” Astin added. “We found the reaper that used the taser on our father. We planned to use black magic on him, but they caught us and punished us both.”

  The older boy pulled up the bottom of his shirt and revealed a long angry scar over his ribcage.

  “Did you tell the courts what happened to your parents?” I questioned. “Surely, they would’ve shown you leniency.”

  The older boy laughed along with other witches and warlocks at the table. “You don’t get it, do you?” He shook his head. “You’ve been living in your perfect world where everything is fair and right, well, guess what? The world doesn’t work that way for the rest of us. It’s not fair or right or just. It’s harsh and cruel, especially if you’re one of us.”

  A knot swelled in my throat, and I swallowed hard. He wasn’t wrong about any of the things he said. I did live a privileged life. My family name had given me every available advantage. My eyes darted between them, and I saw the truth in their story. There was no denying the terrible things that had happened to them. The reapers who did this need to be brought to justice. “Tell me their names, and I will see that they never spend another day in a reaper uniform.”

  “No,” the older boy rejected. “If we did that, they would seek revenge. My brother and I will get out of here in a few months, and all we want is to live our lives in peace.”

  “You can’t let them get away with it.” I insisted. “What they did to you was horrible.”

  Astin put his small hand on top of mine. It rattled from nervousness. “What matters now is that you know. You’re the only one here with the power to make changes.”

  Although his story was horrid, it didn’t represent all reapers. There are bad apples in every occupation. I put my other hand on top of his and smiled warmly at him. “What happened to you and your parents was atrocious, but I can promise you that reapers are there to protect you. What you experienced is not the norm.”

  Kiera slammed her fork against the table, crumpling the metal in her palm. “Do you honestly believe that, Mina?”

  “Reapers spend years training before they go out into the field, and we follow a strict code.” I turned my head to face her. “The system isn’t without flaws. We all know that, but hating us or refusing to follow the laws of the covenant, isn’t the answer. We need to work together if we want to see real change happen.”

  “But that’s just it, Mina,” Kiera argued. “I came from a family that followed the rules. My father was once the leader of our pack. He believed in the system, and we did everything we could to set an example and follow the covenant.” Her eyes welled with tears. “But that wasn’t enough.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “We disagreed with a rival pack over land. The situation got bloody, and we asked the reapers to intervene,” she sniffled. “They showed up at the scheduled meeting with military weapons, circled us, and open fired into the crowd. I was the only survivor, and I was sent here as punishment.”

  “But, why—”

  “They didn’t give any reason, Mina. They didn’t have to because they are the law, and if you go against them, you’re the enemy.” She grabbed my hand. “The world is not as black and white as you believe, and what happened to Astin and me is more common than not. I’m confident every supernatural in this academy has a similar story.”

  I scanned the room. The supes all around me were nodding their heads in agreement, while others had tears running down their faces. “Is this true?” I asked.

  A riot of voices broke out all around me. It was hard to hear one person over another, but many of them displayed scars on their skin—evidence of burn marks, lashes, bullet holes, and knife wounds. An ache burned in the center of my chest, getting stronger as the evidence continued to build. I didn’t know what to do. It felt like my entire world was crumbling, and everything I’d grown up believing was a lie.

  I was still trying to make sense of this in my mind when I asked, “How could these horrible things happen to this extent without reports or complaints?”

  The crowd parted, and Sacha appeared with several members of his pack. He wore another fitted black t-shirt that showed off every muscle in his upper body, and a pair of tan cargo shorts. The loud voices around me quieted to whispers. “Fear is the answer, Mina.” His glare turned to Kiera. “We don’t ask for help or file complaints because we’ve seen what happens to those that do.”

  I couldn’t even look at Kiera. The knot in my throat had swelled to the point that it was hard to breathe. I sat back down, worried I was about to have a panic attack. “I don’t know what to say,” I managed to mutter out.

  “You don’t need to say anything,” Astin replied. “We only wanted you to understand, and now that you do, you have to decide what you are willing to do about it.”

  “I’m only one person,” I said to the crowd. “I may be a Van Helsing, but I am here with you. I don’t have access to the outside world, and even if I did, I don’t know how much sway I have anymore.” I saw the disappointment on their faces, and I knew they needed something more. “But when I get out of here, I will use every shred of influence I have to forge better relationships among the factions. If we work together, we could push for change, but I can’t do it alone.” I stared into each of their eyes and asked, “Will you stand with me?”

  “I will,” Kiera announced, wiping the wetness off her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I’ll help in any way I can.”

  “Us too,” Brianna stated, motioning that the Queen B’s were all three with me.

  The room erupted with support from every faction. It was like they were waiting for something like this. There was an overall sense of comradery and hope within them all. It affected me as well. It was like my eyes were open for the first time. I saw the supes as more than the dangerous, powerful creatures that they were. They may be magical, but within each of them, there was also humanity.

  And, together, we might be able to save the covenant and each other.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The next few days were surreal.

  My daily routine was the same,
but the overall feel of the academy changed. Supes who had previously shot me dirty looks were now waving at me in the hallways. When I walked into each of my courses, I sat next to supes. They even invited me to participate in their study groups. Supes joined our table at lunch, and there was a sense of unity. As a reaper and despised public figure, it was invigorating.

  Finally, there was a moment for all factions to come together. Well, most of us, anyway. Sacha seemed to support me, but he still had members of his pack watching my every move. There were eyes on me at all times. Little did they know, I had Kiera keeping tabs on them as well. Thanks to her, I had a window of opportunity. His pack met each night in the cafeteria for dinner at seven. That gave me one hour a night for undisturbed sleuthing.

  Before I came to the academy, my father gave me everything I would need to hack into the surveillance system. He also showed me how to hide it. Security checked through my suitcase when I arrived, but when the metal detector went off, they assumed it was my alarm clock. They didn’t know I gutted the inside of the clock and filled it with my hacking equipment. Each of the pieces was small enough to go unnoticed.

  Two days ago, the headmaster left his office, and I was able to install a mousejacking exploit antenna to his wireless keyboard and a graphics processor to his computer’s motherboard. That gave me his passwords along with remote access to his laptop. I would be able to view everything he had on his computer from the library. All I needed to do was insert my Wi-Fi hacking adapter into the library’s computer, and bam, I was in their system network.

  The best part was that they would never know I was there. If the IT department noticed someone accessing their surveillance footage, they would see the headmaster’s IP address. I was so close to getting everything I needed; I was practically giddy. If my father were right, the footage would ID the vampires I killed as members of Cassius’s clan. We could prove his brother sent assassins to kill him, and I could simultaneously take down his brother and clear my name.

  Kiera came to our room to tell me that Sacha and his pack were in the cafeteria. I slid the hacking adapter into my hoodie pocket and headed down to the library. The lights were off, and all of the doors locked. I searched my pocket for my jack-knife lock picking set, which looked like a Swiss Army pocketknife. I unlocked the door within seconds. I was fortunate that there were no surveillance cameras here.

  I guessed they assumed no one would want to rob a library.

  I kept the lights off as I strode toward the computer, furthest away from the door. This far back, no one standing in the hallway would see the light. To be safe, I shifted the screen to face away from the wall. I used my jack-knife to access the motherboard and inserted the hacking adapter. When the main password screen appeared, it only took a moment for me to link the headmaster’s computer to this one.

  I was inside the network.

  I sat down in the chair and combed through his files for the surveillance footage. I had hoped it would be simple. I searched through the list of data in the network hard drive, but each of the folders had numbers as labels instead of names. If I wanted to find the footage, I’d have to open every folder to see what was inside. This process was going to take a lot longer than I anticipated. It could be weeks before I found the right one, and I’d have to break into the library each time.

  The clock drew closer to eight, and I still hadn’t found what I needed. I shut down the computer, removed the adapter, and headed for the door. There had to be a faster way to do this. If I had the file number or even the file range, I could get what I needed in a matter of minutes. What I required was an experienced hacker. They would know a lot more about this than I do, but who could I trust?

  I jumped back when the door flung open. Sacha strode inside, took one look at me, and crossed his arms. “I knew it,” he proclaimed.

  I tried my best not to show any emotion. “You know what?”

  “I knew you’re a spy,” he stated firmly. “You broke into the library, and I’m certain it wasn’t for reading.” He scanned the room. “My best guess is that you needed to access the computer when no one else was around.”

  “You’re wrong.” I had to give him a reasonable excuse, or he’d report me. “I wanted a book from the forbidden section that they guard.”

  “Oh, please,” he rolled his eyes. “Your family probably has copies of every book in there, which means you needed something beyond their reach. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You needed access to the academy to retrieve something they couldn’t get.”

  A cold shiver raced up my spine. Sacha figured out a big piece of my plan. If he told the headmaster, he would insist I empty my pockets, and he would find the hacking device. I heard a voice coming from the hallway that sounded like the headmaster. I peered around Sacha to see that he had left the door wide open. There’s no way the headmaster wouldn’t notice and come inside. I had to act before I blew my cover.

  I stepped closer to Sacha. “Listen, I know you don’t trust me, but if you go along with this I will tell you everything you want to—”

  From the hallway, the headmaster asked, “What’s going on in there?”

  I put my hands on Sacha’s cheeks, closed my eyes, and pressed my lips against his. Every nerve in my body sizzled all at once with a combination of excitement and fear. It didn’t escape my mind that he was an alpha shifter, and could snap my neck like a pretzel anytime he wished. He jolted in surprise, and then he did something I wasn’t expecting: he kissed me back. My mouth opened slightly with his, and his tongue slipped inside my mouth.

  It seemed that my covert plan to hide my reason for being here had morphed into actual kissing. I was full-on making out with the sexy-as-all-hell shifter who had only days ago accused me of being a spy for the high council. His hands slid down my sides. They settled around my hips as the tips of his fingers dipped below the waistband of my jeans. He made a noise that sounded like a moaning growl.

  His arms tightened around me, closing the small amount of distance between us. I could smell sandalwood soap and the natural woodsy scent of his skin. I lost track of time—lost track of everything. All I could think about was more touching, more kissing. Desire and need rippled through me in waves, and a sound I’d never heard before came out of my throat. His hands slid lower, and a second later, he wrapped my legs around his waist. My back pressed against a cold surface, which I assumed was the wall.

  A bright white light flashed. My mind was somewhere else. The vision was fuzzy but soon came into view. I was in the room I’d seen before. This image was a piece of my stolen memories. The bed was there against the wall, and there were voices all around me. I tried to move, but I couldn’t. I scanned the room, searching for something I recognized, something that would tell me where I was or how I got there. I zeroed in on a kitchen table with something on top. Blueprints. An architectural layout of a building, but which one?

  There was a commotion, and the memory faded away. I opened my eyes as a light switched on in the library. Sacha released my legs, and I was standing on my feet again. Wobbly, but standing, nonetheless. What just happened? Something had broken through the block in my mind, but what? How? I glanced up at Sacha, but I couldn’t figure out the expression on his face. It was a mix of confusion and fear.

  The headmaster stared at us with his fists on his hips. “What do you two think you’re doing in here?”

  “I’m sorry, headmaster.” My heart pounded so hard I heard it in my ears. I was sure my face was blood red. “We were talking, and things escalated.” I met eyes with Sacha, begging him to go along with it. “We wanted to be alone, so we came here. It was stupid, and we won’t do it again.”

  “How did you get in?” the headmaster asked with narrowed eyes. “Those doors are locked every night.”

  “Someone must’ve made a mistake.” Sacha cleared his throat. “The doors weren’t locked.”

  “You both will receive two weeks' worth of detention for this.” He motioned his hand toward
the door. “If you don’t leave right now, you’ll end up with three.”

  We both scurried out of the room in record speed. Neither of us said another word until we got to the dorms. Before he reached the stairway that led to the boys' dorms, I grabbed his bicep. “We need to talk about what happened back there.”

  He stared up to the ceiling, drawing my attention toward the surveillance camera pointed right at us. “Not right now.”

  “Fine,” I agreed, but I wasn’t letting him leave until I got some answers.

  I followed him to a secluded corner, out of the view of the camera. He stood with his arms crossed, giving me the impression he wasn’t in the mood to answer any of my questions. “What?” he asked.

  “What did you do back there?” I took a few steps toward him and lowered my voice. “How did you get in my head?”

  “What are you talking about?” he questioned. “You’re the one who was all over me.”

  He told me once that he smelled the compulsion on me, so he might already know what was happening. “When I kissed you, I could see a blocked memory. I want to know how you did it.”

  A flash of worry came over him, then a split second later, it was gone. “I didn’t do anything to you, reaper. Whatever happened was in your head, not mine.”

  He was lying, but why? “I haven’t had a memory return since I woke up from my coma, but when I kissed you, one returned out of nowhere. Do you expect me to believe it was a coincidence?”

  His jaw clenched as he sneered at me. “I don’t care what you believe, reaper, but I will make one thing clear: the kiss didn’t mean anything. I’m not the least bit attracted to you.”

  Wow, he was full of shit. Maybe he didn’t like the idea of kissing a reaper, but he was into it. I’d bet my life on it. “That’s a good thing because I don’t date supernaturals.”

  “Keep fooling yourself,” he dismissed with the wave of his hand. “I can smell the lust coming off of you even now. The scent was so thick in the library I was practically swimming in it.”