Soulhunter Academy

by L. J. Swallow

  I stand. “I said, I don’t want to kill you anymore.”

  “Shit.” I’m alarmed as Keir stands too and runs both hands through his hair, holding his arms at right angles to his head. “I couldn’t stand being apart from you, as if you already held a part of me, pulling me back. That’s what’s complicated. And I don’t understand why. It makes no sense.”

  Keir’s words resonate through my soul. Fear hadn’t gripped me when Keir was away. Instead, I felt loneliness because of a guy I barely knew.

  We’re the way we were the first night by the fountain, gauging each other’s next move, but this time it’s different. Recent events replace suspicion with longing as I fight against allowing him to see the Ava I deny exists. But in return, I see the Keir he hides too.

  I step to him first and he drops his arms from behind his head.

  “What now?” I ask.

  Keir smoothes my hair from my face and places his lips on my forehead. I close my eyes, frightened of yielding to him again. Not because I think he’ll hurt me, but because he might take more of me away if he leaves again.

  Keir’s mouth touches mine, a tender kiss to match the night I turned my back on my soulhunter life, and he wraps his arms around me to draw me close. This is an eternity away from the assaulting passion of our first encounter, but the fiery heat from that evening shoots straight from memory and across my skin. My fear of his strength is turned into a longing to be held against his broad chest, to allow his hands on my body.

  Keir threads his hand into my long hair and pulls my face to his. His tongue traces my bottom lip and his hand caresses the small of my back. A lightning sensation shoots along my spine, and I wrap my arms around his neck, desperate for more. Keir’s kiss ends the numbness of my last few years as the power between us grows and surges to the centre of who I am.

  I pull at his hair too and welcome his tongue as he explores my mouth. In seconds, we switch from uncertain touches to need. I cling to Keir as he pushes me onto the bed. His bright eyes fill with the raw, primal look from the night he held me against the tree and sent us spinning out of control. Gently, he weights me down, lips moving across my face and to my neck. I fight the shaking response my body has to him, and fail. His fingers dig deeper into my waist, the world retreats and the only thing that matters now is us. Our touches. Our kisses. Who we really are to each other fades away.

  Keir’s fingers slide under my shirt and each touch feels like a shock to every raw nerve. My mind fogs, lost in him as his taut body covers mine. I pull at his T-shirt so our bare skin touches, and the cool metal buckle from Keir’s belt warms against me as we tangle. Keir’s raw power over me is consuming and I’m lost to everything but staying in this moment with him.

  Keir shifts against me, his arousal evident between his jeans and mine. I run a finger among his defined abs, tracing the pattern downwards until I reach the button of his jeans with shaking fingers. Within the centre of myself is an overwhelming need to be surrounded by and consumed by this guy.

  Keir grabs my arms and pins them over my head, continuing his devouring kiss. I wait for him to touch me, to slide his hand toward the wet heat between my legs, to continue his exploration of my body, but he stops abruptly and releases my hands.

  I hold his head away and look into his dark eyes. Our breathing matches, hot and heavy, and his heart pounds against mine. Burying his head into my hair, Keir swears. His weight remains on mine, the tall guy’s legs wrapped with mine as we grip each other, hearts thumping in unison.

  “I could lose myself in you,” he murmurs. “That’s never happened before.”

  “I don’t understand either,” I whisper. “But I’m not complaining.”

  Nudging his nose into the hollow of my neck, Keir’s lips brushes me before he draws away. With a quick kiss to my forehead, he sits and rubs his face.

  Disappointment chases away the desire. “Keir?”

  “I don’t think we should jump from enemies to lovers so quickly. I can’t do that.”

  Pushing myself up, body still trembling, I stroke his face. His words make sense, but he can’t stop. Not now. “Okay.”

  He takes my hand and playfully bites one of my fingers. “I’m not saying I don’t want you, but…”

  “I know. This is too much. You don’t trust me yet.”

  Keir frowns. “Is that bad?”

  “No, I don’t trust you either.” I laugh at his mock gasp. “Maybe more than I did, but I think we’ve got a long way to go yet. You can’t let an enemy seduce you.”

  “Not even just a little bit?” he asks, mouth tipping at the corner.

  “Okay, maybe a little.”

  The relief of the new understanding pours into me, fighting out my fear of betrayal. I’m closer than ever to my enemy, if that’s what he is. What the hell are we?

  “I don’t give a crap normally,” he says. “Sex and soulhunters. It’s a thing.”

  “What do you mean ‘a thing’?” I ask sharply.

  “Sex. Death.” He trails a finger from across the curve of my breasts and bites his lip. “Physical. But this. When I kissed you, my guard didn’t just drop, it plummeted.”

  My slowing pulse hikes again as his eyes remain on the swell of my breasts. I’m out of my depth too—will Keir drag me under?

  “Oh,” I say in a quiet voice.

  “I don’t know what would happen. Would we kill one another?”

  I giggle but his serious face stops me. “What do you mean?”

  “Because we’ll both be vulnerable.” He shakes his head. “Never mind.”

  Yes, I mind.

  “Besides, you look tired,” he says.

  “I worked this afternoon and I haven’t slept much recently.”

  “Do you want me to go?”

  I look up at him, the guy who lit something I don’t understand on the day we met, and gradually melted all the resolve I have to kill him. How can a kiss and a touch from Keir create a bond like this?

  “No. I don’t want you to leave me,” I admit.

  Keir draws a deep breath. “I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep—and try to control myself.”

  I laugh at him and lie down, shuffling across the bed, Keir next to me. He pulls me into the curve of his body, heart beating steadily against my back. I trace my fingers over his taut arms, pulling them tightly around me. Safety. Keir’s breathing deepens to match my own as he shares my fatigue. Closing my eyes, I soak up the warmth and comfort of him as the exhaustion of the week overcomes me and I sink into dreams of us.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  I rub my hands together against the cold and glance at Keir. He blows onto his hands and rubs them together, as he watches the house through narrowed eyes. Weeds fill the front garden and the fence is broken. Tucked between two other brick-built properties, the house looks unlived in compared to the well-presented neighbouring houses.

  “Is the place derelict?” I ask.

  “That’s what the demons want you to think. We’ll probably find them in the basement. Dahlia’s tracked these guys here—if we hang around we can finish the job.”

  I tuck my nose into the top of my jacket and blow warm air across my face. Winter here sucks. I haven’t hunted in this season before, and I bloody hate hanging around outside while tracking demons. Yeah, even with a smoking hot nephilim guy who only has eyes for me. I brush a distracting curl from his forehead, any excuse to touch him. Keir catches my arm and kisses my palm.

  “You don’t have to do the seduction thing with me anymore,” he murmurs and my cool body warms.

  “I wasn’t. We’re busy.”

  He grins. “Good.”

  This guy confuses me as much as when we first met. Spending time with him fills my days with light. We kiss, touch, even spent the one night together, but Keir won’t take things further, and it’s driving me bloody crazy. He wants the same—hell, I’ve felt his arousal against me the times we’ve been entwined. If I need to put up with the damn cold to
help hunt demons, he could at least warm me up.

  The uneasiness remains. As a soulhunter and a nephilim, distrust hovers around the edges of everything. Keir shifted my worldview and opened my eyes to the realities around us. As the weeks pass, the strange physical pull between us is heightened by our shared crusade.

  For the first time since Daniel, somebody treats me like a person. Keir never asks anything of me, refuses to add pressure, and only encourages me to help. I’m frustrated he won’t explain why he took the path away from helping the demon lords, and who the nephilim are siding with him. One day he’ll need to.

  Like me, he’s refusing control in order to live his own life, doing what he believes is best for him. That’s what underlies all this. We’re lost on the edge of our worlds, where we found each other.

  “Ava.”

  I wince as Keir’s hand grips mine. Two people approach the house opposite—tall figures in long, dark coats walking with a male gait. “Shit.”

  “We’ve watched this nest for a while. Frequent local attacks are drawing attention so we think the group will move on soon. I want them dead before they do.”

  “Nest?”

  Keir maintains his surveillance. “Vampires.”

  “Oh. I’ve never met one. I was warned to keep away though.”

  Keir runs his tongue along his teeth. “They’re one of the oldest kinds of demon we track, and definitely not as strong as my kind. You must have come across vampires?”

  “Nope, nobody sent me on a mission to kill one.”

  “Yet they sent you after a nephilim!” He rolls his eyes in an exaggerated manner. “What were they thinking?”

  “Shh.” I laugh and poke him.

  “Well, now’s your chance to meet one of the charmers.”

  My mouth parches, remembering my first lesson at the academy. These creatures are a different kind of demon, a race of their own and not a creation by the demon lords. They’re stronger and are rarely beaten. The poisonous death I’d face if I lost would be excruciating.

  We cross the road, approaching around the side of the house, away from the streetlights. Keir’s shoes crunch on the ground and he pauses, listening. Nothing. He raises a hand indicating I should stay here and moves silently toward an unlit, grimy window. He peers through before turning back and shaking his head.

  “Where did they go?” I whisper as he returns.

  He points downwards. “In the basement. I’m not sure if there are others down there though.”

  We move to the back of the house, and I strain to hear, unable to pick up any sound. Keir’s eyes are closed, as he senses more than I can.

  “There’re three of them—normally there’re more. The others must be out hunting.” He grins, eyes bright in the darkness. “Killing three will be a good start.”

  “Three? There’re two of us.”

  “They’re no match for a nephilim and a soulhunter.”

  I make a soft sound of disbelief. In the last few weeks, we’ve taken down pairs of demons together. But three vampires?

  “We’ll be fine,” he replies. “We’ll just take them by surprise.”

  “How?”

  “You knock on the door.”

  “Do what?”

  “Do your sexy Ava thing… tempt them out.”

  I fight a smile as he gestures towards the front door, and I walk over.

  Cracked paving leads to the door, and I knock. A light flicks on inside, and voices murmur. The door swings open, and a tall guy regards me with brown eyes almost black, eyebrows drawn together in suspicion.

  “Hi,” I say and flash my biggest smile.

  He rests his arm against the door so I can’t pass and I wrinkle my nose. He smells odd. Acrid. Dangerous. “Yes?”

  “Sorry, just wondering if you’ve seen my dog?”

  “Dog?”

  “Yeah, four legged animal, goes woof.”

  The confusion on the demon’s face detracts from his tough-guy-in-a-leather-jacket image, but he quickly composes himself.

  “No, sorry.”

  He begins to close the door and I stick my foot in the gap before the door closes completely. “It’s just he’s so little, and I’m scared something might hurt him if he’s alone in the dark all night.” I lower my voice and lean closer, holding my breath. “Did you know they kidnap dogs? For dog fighting? I’m so worried about my Troy.”

  “Troy?”

  “My tiny poodle. He might be scared and hidden in your garden—or basement. Do you have a basement?” I peer around him and twirl a finger into my ponytail.

  “Umm.”

  Obviously vampires are stupid.

  “What’s going on, Marius?” asks a gruff voice.

  “Girl here. Lost her dog.”

  A second vampire walks up and stands shoulder to shoulder with the first. They’re similar looking, pale skinned, slicked black hair.

  “What dog?”

  “Troy.” I bite my lip in an attempt to look as vacant as them. “Is there any chance he’s inside your house? I’ve asked the other neighbours.”

  The two glance at each other.

  “Sure, take a look,” drawls the second vampire, “Come on in, sweetheart. Let me fix you a drink.”

  I smile coyly. “Oh, that’s so kind, thank you.”

  In the empty house, a bare bulb hangs from a white wire, with no shade. The light illuminates stained beige carpets and bare walls. As I pass rooms, I peek inside. All empty; no curtains at the windows and boxes stacked in the corner of one room.

  “Just moved to the neighbourhood?” I ask.

  “No, we’re moving out soon.”

  The vampires head toward the back of the house, where a light filters through an open doorway where stairs run into the basement. The second vampire disappears down.

  Something moves in the shadows at the edge of my vision. Keir waits in a room to my left. I glance at the vampire in front of me, my adrenaline building. Don’t let him see Keir.

  “Oh, I thought I heard something in here.” I indicate the room Keir hides in.

  Marius cocks his head to one side. “You smell funny.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He steps forward, his dull brown eyes narrow as he sniffs. I step back into the room. “Do you often go around sniffing people? That’s not very polite.”

  “What are you?” he growls and extends long, white fingers toward my neck.

  Shit.

  I duck under him, grab his throat, pull him into a headlock, and spin him around. He opens his mouth to yell out as Keir steps out of the shadows, holding a stake, with the point against the vampire’s chest. Keir put his hand over the struggling vampire’s mouth, and I tighten my arm across its neck.

  “She’s a soulhunter. I’m Keir, and you just lost,” he whispers in the vampire’s face.

  Keir nods at me and I shove the creature violently forward, into the wooden stake he’s holding. Without a sound, the body crumples to the floor. In seconds, the soul pours out of the vampire’s open mouth, toward the window, and I swallow. Each time a soul leaves, Darius’s face appears in my mind.

  “Come on, two more to go.” Keir pulls at my arm. “The other went downstairs, right?”

  Holy crap. The vampire disintegrates and a pile of ash lays on the dirty carpet. Since when did—

  “Ava!”

  Snapping out of my surprise, I follow Keir back out of the room, and we creep along the hallway. He pauses at the top of the stairs, listening. “Okay, there’s definitely only two more. I’ll take the closest to the stairs and you grab the other.”

  “Sure.”

  I cover my nose with an arm as we head down the stairs, the odour from their den more pungent than any vampire. A single bulb lights the room, three dirty mattresses strewn across the floor, and the walls stained with something red. My stomach twists. Blood? Marius faces away and a second lies on his side on one of the mattresses. Another male, skinnier and scruffier than his associates.

  “E
asy…” whispers Keir and grins as he lifts the stake.

  “Yeah?” The first vampire turns round, shooting a hand out to catch Keir by the neck. Keir instantly sidesteps him, the vampire left grasping at air.

  The one on the mattress jumps to his feet, moving with inhuman speed across to his friend. I push both hands out and knock him to the floor, and the scruffy vampire grabs my leg, attempting to do the same to me. I kick out, foot colliding with his chest; he winces and swears at me.

  Behind me, Keir struggles with the first vampire and someone’s slammed against the wall. I glance over my shoulder. Keir pins the vampire halfway up the wall, his feet not touching the floor. Arm held upwards, Keir’s ready to stake him. I gasp and stumble as someone grabs my ponytail and drags me to the ground.

  “Don’t you fucking dare!” I cry at the scruffy vampire, kicking upwards with both feet into his chest. He’s weaker and can’t hold me, falling backwards instead.

  Ha.

  I kick him down and kneel on his stomach, twirling the stake in my hand.

  Fear pools in the vampire’s subdued brown eyes, peering from beneath a shaggy dark fringe. I hesitate. Why isn’t he fighting back? Never in two years of this life have I seen fear in a demon’s eyes. A pained yell, and then silence, comes from behind me, followed by the sound of the vampire slumping to the ground.

  “One down, one to go,” says Keir.

  But the vampire beneath my knees freaks me out. This reaction isn’t normal.

  “Do it,” he hisses, “I want you to.”

  Demons didn’t normally say that either.

  “Happy to oblige.” I raise the stake high into the air.

  “No, Ava! Stop!” Keir knocks the stake from my hand and drags me off the vampire. I struggle as he crushes me against his chest, squeezing the air from me.

  “What the fuck?” I push at him. “Isn’t this what you wanted me to do?”

  Keir’s grip remains firm. “No. This is Jack.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  I pull myself free. “Dahlia’s Jack? Isn’t he dead?”

  Jack slowly climbs to his feet and dusts down his filthy jeans, watching warily. “Yeah, I’m dead.” He backs toward the wall. “Hey, Keir.”