Soulhunter Academy

by L. J. Swallow

  Sarah and one of the demons we followed. My anxiety morphs into panic as I watch the tall guy drag her across the alleyway. Sarah shouts out, and he hits her around the face. She trips to the floor, and the demon picks her up, slamming her against the wall. I cringe at the crack of her body, my feet frozen in place. I need to help. But the other demon is close. I could suffer the same fate.

  “Where’s the other one?” he yells.

  “Inside somewhere, I think.” Sarah’s voice is broken, and I’m sickened the rest of her will be too as he throws her across the ground.

  “You soulhunters hardly ever survive. Why do they bother sending you?”

  Sarah doesn’t reply. Or move.

  What holds me to stay in the shadows? This girl I went to school with, recently became friends with because we’re trapped in the same situation, is a victim. This world isn’t the same as our childhood anymore. We’re not kids.

  Will self-preservation stop me helping her? The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach is a reminder that who I am is who I’ll always be, however hard I try to bury her. Soulhunter Ava may have a “fuck you” attitude to match the one I’ve always had, but I could never run and save myself as someone dies in front of me.

  I creep up behind the demon, jump onto his back, and lock my legs around his waist.

  “Get the fuck off her!” I shout, holding the dagger against his throat. I hang on and hope to hell no other demons are around.

  “The other one! Fantastic—this saves me a job,” he says with glee and grabs my legs, easily disentangling them, and bucks me off. I manage to slash at him with the dagger, and he catches the blade as he knocks me to the floor.

  The demon touches his neck, then stares at the blood on his hands. “You soulhunter bitch!”

  Grabbing my hair, he drags me to my feet. In his eyes, I see death. Cool hands grip my throat as he squeezes, and I grapple with his fingers but have no strength. I stare back at him, willing the tears forming not to fall. His face fades, and lights dance in front of my eyes as I blacken towards a humiliating death in a back alley of the human world.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Someone drags me over their shoulder, and in my semi-conscious and upside-down state, I watch the tarmac pavement pass my face. The surrounding air still smells of the human world—I didn’t die and go to hell. Yet.

  Strong arms grip my legs, but I don’t have the strength to retaliate. The jolting of my assailant’s movements rattles my aching head, and I close my eyes, drifting back into the black. As I do, I’m struck that the person carrying me doesn’t smell of demon.

  He has a scent I recognise.

  I don’t know how long I black out for a second time, but I’m roused back to consciousness by a furious male voice I don’t know. “What the fuck are you doing? Why have you brought her here?”

  I open an eye. The ‘someone’ carrying me has dropped me in the corner of a room. The floor is uneven, and dirt smudges my hands as I push to sit. Metal beams crisscross the ceiling of the vast room, and the streetlight from a dirty small window is the only light. Two men stand at the opposite end of the room. Their figures are half-hidden by the shadows. I remain quiet.

  “What else could I do? Leave her to die?” Daniel. My spirits and hope soar at the sound of his voice.

  “But you happily left the other?” he sneers.

  “She was already dead.”

  The words push bile into my throat at the shocking reality how death follows me now.

  “The demon? Did it escape?” continues the angry man.

  “No.”

  “At least that’s one thing.” He pauses. “What happened to the soul?”

  Daniel replies in a low voice.

  “Why is the soul in the fucking crystal and not free? Break the crystal and let it go!”

  “No. I’m giving this one to Ava. She needs a soul to take back.”

  Am I dreaming? In my injured mess, everything is distant, as if reality is out of reach now.

  But my reality just changed again.

  “What for? She can’t go back now. And she’s not staying here—she’s a fucking liability. You know that.” I shrink back as the man’s anger rises.

  “Ava hasn’t seen anything. Knows nothing.”

  “Apart from you bringing her here.”

  “She has no idea where she is.”

  The cough from my injured chest I’ve attempted to hold in bursts out, and Daniel spins around. He strides over, but the other man remains in the shadows. Daniel crouches down and pushes the crystal into my shaking hand. I look blankly at the orb.

  “What’s happening?” I ask.

  He touches my face. “You have what you came for.”

  Through the dim, a softness in Daniel’s eyes forces the tears back into mine. “What happened to the demon?” My voice breaks. “To Sarah.”

  I drag myself to my feet and back away from Daniel, crystal in my hand. I look warily as the other man steps from the shadows. His close-cropped dark hair and sour face mix with a bulky frame to create a warning: this guy isn’t someone to mess with. He rubs his head with a large palm, eyebrows pulled tightly together.

  “Who’s he? A demon?” I ask Daniel

  The man snorts. “Do you think you’d be alive if I was a fucking demon, sweetheart?”

  Judging by the conversation he just had with Daniel, he’d prefer if I weren’t alive. I take in more of my surroundings. Old machinery and a strong smell of urine add to the feeling this derelict building isn’t a great place to hang out. I’m drawn to the large picture painted on the wall behind: a white circle with lines crossed through and like no symbol I’ve seen before. Where the hell am I?

  I want to curl up in a ball and close my eyes, so the nightmare will be gone when I wake up. My body aches, my head hurts, and someone died. Who am I fooling? I was never more than the scared Fated girl.

  “I can’t do this,” I whisper to Daniel, “I can’t do this….” My voice breaks, and I slump to the ground.

  Daniel squats back down and turns my head to face him. “Yes. Yes you can. Believe in yourself.”

  “I nearly died. Again.”

  “I believe in you.”

  Blood streaks his cheek, clothes dishevelled, but his eyes hold a look of earnestness and determination I wish I shared. Why would he believe in me? I’m no different to Sarah. I only survived because Daniel helped. Again.

  “You should’ve left me to die. I’ll never survive once my training finishes.”

  “Listen to me, Ava. You can. Integrate with the humans when Darius sends you for souls. Watch carefully. Plan. And never recklessly pursue them. You know these things. Follow your instincts—you were almost there tonight before Sarah dragged you off the path you chose.” He pauses. “Work alone. It’s safer.”

  The man behind laughs. “Why give her false hope?”

  Daniel twists around to look at the man. “Are you saying our hope is false?”

  “Who knows? Maybe it is.”

  Daniel keeps looking at him, and something unspoken passes between the two men.

  “Oh no, no way. Not going to happen,” says the man in a low voice.

  “Tough shit, Reuben. You’re not the boss of me.”

  The quiet standoff continues joined by my ragged breath.

  Ruben makes an exasperated noise. “Fuck, Daniel!”

  “I won’t be responsible for any more deaths. I’m done.”

  “Fine! Help her return to the academy, but you stay here.”

  When Daniel reaches out a hand to touch my hair, I know this is the end. In his eyes, the sadness I glimpsed last night is amplified. My breath hitches, and he leans his forehead against mine.

  Reuben huffs with displeasure. “And hurry up with your tender goodbyes, we have to leave. Now.”

  Daniel sits back on his heels, sliding his hand along my arm. “Wait here, and someone will come for you.”

  “Where are you going?” I ask in panic.

  �
�Nephilim,” remarks the other man, “Daniel’s coming with me to kill one. If he doesn’t return by tomorrow, he’s dead. Tell them—tell Darius.”

  What the hell is happening here? I sense I won’t see Daniel again because this man, whoever he is, is about to drag Daniel away to attack something that will kill him.

  “What’s happening?” I whisper.

  “One day I hope you find out.” Daniel rubs my face with the back of his hand, and I wince as his gentle touch stings a wound on my cheek.

  No. “You’re leaving me here?”

  “They’ll come for you soon. You have the soul.”

  “What about you?”

  Instead of responding, Daniel leans towards me and places his mouth on mine. This time the kiss is soft. A goodbye kiss. I want more… for him to kiss me harder and hold me. I need Daniel to tell me this nightmare will end. But the nightmare is my life now.

  I want Daniel, and he’s leaving me. I pull away, tears streaking my face.

  “Hurry the fuck up!” growls Reuben.

  A figure charges through the door behind, throwing himself towards Reuben. Daniel stands in alarm, and I shrink back as two other tall figures barrel into the room. Yellow eyes gleam through the darkness. I saw yellow-eyed demons in Daniel’s pictures on the first day, but the ones I met in the field had human eyes. The demons’ eyes shining through the dark, an animal-like pupil in the centre, belong to a stronger breed.

  I crawl into the corner. Ashamed. Too weak to do anything.

  The tall man shouts Daniel’s name, and Daniel pulls out his dagger, charging towards the first demon. Laughing, the demon strikes out and swats Daniel to the floor like an insect. I hold back from running to Daniel as he lies still on the floor.

  Will he die tonight?

  Light from the street shines through the entrance, illuminating the three, not two, demons. Dark, shaggy hair falls across their faces, but their features are shadowed. Three of them and three of us—but I’m no match.

  Reuben shouts and swears at one of the demons, who laughs at him but doesn’t approach as he catches sight of an object in Reuben’s hands. I can’t make out what he’s holding, but it’s not his dagger. Daniel remains prone on the ground.

  From the corner of my eye, I notice Daniel move. The group of demons focus on Reuben. When Reuben moves the item glints, but the size and shape are hidden. As Daniel edges across the floor towards me, the demons don’t drop their focus on his friend.

  “I’m sorry,” I say hoarsely to Daniel, “I don’t think I can help.”

  “You can’t. You have to hide.” He points to a metal object in the corner, a derelict machine as tall as I am and about two metres across. “Behind there.”

  “Daniel…”

  “Be Ava. Be strong and survive.” He seizes my face and crushes my mouth with a kiss dragging my remaining breath from my aching lungs. “Now hide.”

  I glance back to the demons, who remain transfixed on Reuben. My brain can’t take any more in one night. Even if I had answers, I couldn’t absorb them. Daniel stands and doesn’t look at me again.

  No goodbye.

  I do as he says and huddle into a corner behind the metal structure. Covering my head with my arms, I wait for somebody to locate me.

  A light flashes across the room and blinds my vision, yanking away the last piece of consciousness I grip onto.

  When I open my eyes again, I’m back in the sterility of the soulhunter world. The ceiling of the training academy hangs above me, the bright lights dazzling.

  What happens to me now?

  Chapter Sixteen

  TWO YEARS LATER

  I don’t “do” back alleys anymore. The kind of demons who hang around dank alleyways are boring. Stupid. No fun. And, while I’m stuck in this perpetual hell, I’m having fun. Even if it kills me. Besides, why spend the best part of a week stuck amongst humans, waiting for the dumb demons to start tracking me? Instead, I find them and finish my mission promptly.

  Daniel was right, I’m a hunter, and I won’t be hunted. The quicker I find the souls, the sooner I go back with one.

  I’m good. After two years, I’m the only surviving member of my original training group. Only four others returned the night I lost Sarah and Daniel. All guys, but not Tom. They wouldn’t recognise me now—I don’t recognise me now. My hair is aqua blue and changes colour with my moods. My eyes are hidden behind a wall of black make-up. I may as well carry a warning sign: don’t fuck with me.

  But the demons still try. Idiots.

  I rub a finger around the rim of my whisky glass and look across the bar. Like this demon. He knows what I am, and I know what he is, but the demon can’t resist. He thinks his strength is greater or we’re equal. The problem is he’s wrong. They’re always wrong. I hang in bars where I pick them up, or sometimes I wait for the demons to hit on me. Occasionally humans do too—the idea of touching one of them nauseates me as much as when a demon attempts to put his mouth on mine.

  But that’s my jealousy and anger at the human life—pity would be a better emotion, considering their physical weakness and ageing. But I have no pity. I hate they have what I want—freedom—and have no appreciation how lucky they are.

  I always sit alone, watching those around me. I choose quiet bars because I still hate the noise of human clubs, and because they remind me of the day Sarah died and Daniel disappeared.

  I think Daniel died, no one ever mentioned him again. He was as expendable as the rest of us. Some days I like to think he survived and that he isn’t mentioned because he betrayed the academy and the high angels. The days I tune into that fantasy become fewer as the months pass. The truth is, I don’t want to admit that Daniel died. Because if he did, one day I will too.

  I catch the eye of a demon and turn on my act: silly drunk soulhunter, depressed by her life and looking for solace. Suicidal sex. Then once he’s drunk enough, we leave.

  My usual plan of attack works again tonight. The hotel room we head to contains a bed and the usual hotel desk, chair, and little else. I always stay in hotels when I’m here, just with different levels of luxury and quality. I can’t wait to wipe off the smug smile he brought into the room with him.

  The demon runs his hand along my forearm, the tickling sensation repulsive, not arousing. As far as demons can be, he’s not bad looking. A bit skinny but there’s something sexy about his deep brown eyes and stubbled jawline. Sexy? Ugh.

  I switch my brain off and tell myself this is the easiest way. Fighting them hurts; seducing them is quick and generally painless.

  “Why’d you bring me here, soulhunter?” he asks, stepping forward and wrapping his arm around my waist.

  In response, I place my hands on his chest. Taut muscles, but I’ve touched better. I gauge the demon’s strength from his grip, and by running my hands along his body. Average. Easy.

  “Life is lonely. Boring. I saw you, and I know you’re a demon, but I’d rather screw you than a human,” I say and add just the right amount of slur to my voice.

  He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Aren’t you worried I’ll kill you?”

  I moisten my lips and then bite down coyly, looking from under my lashes. The demon’s eyes darken, and his grip on my waist tightens. “No. We can fight after we’re done. I’m willing to risk the consequences.”

  The demon grins, and his hands roam across my waist and under my shirt, his eyes on mine the whole time. I slap his hand.

  “Checking for weapons, sweetheart.”

  Stepping back, I unsheathe the dagger from the belt of my jeans and place the blade on the table. “Like that one? How about you?”

  He laughs. “As if I need a weapon.”

  We stand opposite each other, and I hope he doesn’t see the shudder in response to his sweeping gaze of my figure, the way he focuses on the swell of my breasts beneath my tight black top. The thought of the tongue currently moistening his lips anywhere near me sickens my stomach. Focus. His eyes shift back to mine. Oh
, here we go…

  Seconds later, the demon crushes me to the wall, and I twist my head away before his mouth can meet mine. He chooses to kiss my neck instead. Wrapping my hair around his hands, he pulls my head back. I remain compliant, heart racing from adrenaline. Gross, gross, gross. But if he had any bloody sense, he’d restrain my arms. Demons and sense? Ha ha.

  I twist around, duck under his arm, and jab an elbow into his throat. In surprise, he drops my hair, then grabs for me. I dodge and back away, waiting for his predictable next move. I meet his attempt at a body slam with my signature move—kick him in the balls so he sinks to his knees. With my strength he underestimated, I kick my heavy boot into his head, and he falls backward. I manage all this before the poor bastard realises what’s happening here.

  “You fucking…” I stamp on his throat before he can finish. Wide eyes look back at mine, shock registering. I grin at him as he looks over to my dagger on the table.

  “Do you think I’d let you touch me if I didn’t have a weapon?” I pull the dagger from my boot and lean down to hold the shining metal point against his cheek.

  He tries to talk but all I hear is a rasping sound. If we were still against the wall, I’d stab him now, but this position is too awkward. I’d have to release him first, and that won’t happen. I push down with my boot, restricting his windpipe until his eyes glaze into unconsciousness.

  “Thanks for the drink,” I say.

  He’s unaware when I stab him through his dark heart.

  See, I can be merciful sometimes.

  Dumb bastard should’ve crushed the crystal in my pocket. Not that he’d succeed. Sometimes they try, but the soul crystals are hard as diamonds.

  A grey mist snakes from the demon’s loosely parted lips, snaking into the air above his body. I snatch the crystal from my pocket and hold it upwards in my palm.

  The strange cloud over the demon’s head wavers, as they always do. Sometimes the souls in their mist form will dive towards a window, but they’re always pulled back to the crystal as if drawn by a magnet.

  Once or twice, they’ve almost broken free which confuses me. Why risk being taken by a demon again? Loose souls won’t last long. They’d be lost. Vulnerable.