Half Blood Rising: (Moonlight Academy Book 1)

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  Lachlan was probably in the area, but I had no way to reach out and pass him a message. We’d never bonded that way, but I’d heard it was possible between lovers. Ramona still had her damn foot on my back, and she was pressing the heel of her boot into my spine. I was taking long deep breaths, trying to think about my options. The deal was going ahead whether I liked it or not. There was no way I could stop it now.

  The councillor appeared troubled but prepared to agree to anything. The ancient had his daughter, but this wasn’t why he was scared. I found it odd that such a powerful supernatural from the High Council was submitting himself to a vampire.

  Leonidas had something on him, because his daughter didn’t seem important to him at all.

  “Very well, then. I can convince others and charm the newest members, but this isn’t a long-term solution. Sooner or later, the High Council will figure out what is going on,” the councillor mumbled.

  “There are five talented vampires who must pass the admission process,” Leonidas responded automatically. “Your daughter is going to die tonight if we do not agree. Her energy is diminishing.”

  I felt tingling inside my body that began in my toes and then moved upwards. I was gaining power, but from where, I had no idea. I couldn’t let them win just yet. Half of my genes were from my fae family, and I suddenly remembered Oldman’s words. My magic was stronger than I realised. I was a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

  “Have you fucked him yet?” Ramona asked, leaning over me. “I bet he jumped into your bed the moment he found out I betrayed him.” She was obviously still jealous.

  My strength was returning, and I just needed to wait for the right moment. The pain was fading as quickly as it appeared. Her long blond hair was hanging next to my left side. Suddenly I had an idea.

  “Let her go, and I guarantee you’ll get what you want,” the councillor repeated. “Three of the elder board members are now dead. They have been making everyone’s life difficult. I assure you that I can make this happen.”

  I didn’t wait, I just pulled her hair, as a switch flipped inside me. That incredible power shocked even me, as I felt light rushing through my veins. It exploded through my palms. Ramona screamed, landing on her side and I shot to my feet, breathing hard. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw four other vampires making their move towards me.

  I kicked the bitch several times, hearing her bones breaking, and then removed the wooden stake from my boot and stabbed her in the back. I was glad I’d thought to bring it with me, just in case. Now was my “just in case” moment. My intuition had yet to let me down, and tonight was no exception.

  Foreign, dark, twisted magic embraced my body as two other vampires advanced on me. There was nothing stopping me now.

  I sank my fangs into one’s neck as he tried to grab me, and I ripped his throat out, kicking the other one in the stomach. There was an animal inside me that was repulsive, but I was fighting for my survival. The vampire roared with pain, falling to the ground before death could claim him. Another pair of hands grabbed me from behind. For a second, I couldn’t move as my arms were being stretched. I spat bits of flesh and blood on the ground. My breathing was whizzed.

  “You’re causing way too much trouble for me, my dear half-breed.” Leonidas was saying, approaching me. “Rodrick, sign the contract with the councillor. The board is ours, and it will be a new beginning. A new transition, the old times based on purity are finally over.”

  One of his vampires was holding me as I tried to free myself. I could feel the blood dripping from my face.

  His incredible blue eyes pierced through me. I craved him, desired his blood, as my fae side fought with my maker’s instinct.

  He touched my hair and moved it aside, smiling. Despite his age, he was still attractive. I wanted to taste him so badly now, even if my heart screamed no.

  “Don’t do it. The board will never allow dark magic to pass through the Elite Academy walls,” I whispered, not recognising my own voice. This was what Oldman had once said to me, and I remembered it. There was no place for dark magic in the Elite. Every single student who wanted in needed to pass the trials. This deal wasn’t going to happen.

  “You’re special, so very special, and I want you to submit to me. We have been waiting for you for a very long time. Ramona disappointed me. She was loyal, but I think you can do better than her, isn’t that right?” Leonidas asked, caressing my cheek with his hand.

  I had to close my eyes as his energy gave me strength. He was right; I was loyal, and he was my master.

  “For a drop of your blood, I can do a lot of things,” I said, licking my lips. I didn’t want this, and I didn’t want him, but, suddenly I couldn’t remember why I was here.

  He smiled again, and my entire body tingled. Part of me, my fae side was still fighting, but the other voice was muffled. I couldn’t submit to him, not now, not ever. No, this wasn’t what I wanted.

  Then his fangs extended, and a jolt of electricity rushed through my core. He grabbed the back of my neck, yanking my head to the side, and bit me, drinking in, and I moaned. In a matter of seconds, I was lost in the essence of ecstasy and pleasure. It felt incredible as he began to drink my blood, my entire body started to shut down. The voice of the fae was long gone. Nothing else mattered, only the fact that I was pleasing him—the master.

  He was taking too much, part of my soul—part of me that didn’t want to give up yet. I was falling, drowning in the darkness and slowly suffocating in pain.

  He was taking more than he wanted, addicted to the taste of me. There was fae blood in my veins, and he wasn’t expecting it to taste so good. I could sense everything, feel everything he was feeling.

  I was going to die here, and I couldn’t stop him. He was ancient, and I was going to become another victim. The clock was ticking, the seconds were passing … until it all stopped.

  The pain and pleasure. It all ceased, and I began to feel energy spreading warmth through my cells. It was shutting down the gloom, injecting me with strength like a virus. I was waking up, roaring with power I’d never felt before.

  He pulled away, and, suddenly began coughing up my blood. I felt light-headed, and I could barely stand on my feet, but at least I was lucid.

  He backed away, still spitting blood and stumbling. My blood was dripping down his face, and for a second, I thought he would fall to the ground. I thought I was going to pass out, too, but this energy inside me was helping. I felt it in my bloodstream, my bones, and nervous system, spreading faster than a wildfire. A few vampires appeared confused, while others glanced at each other.

  The ancient pointed at me, and his hand was trembling. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. I glanced at my hands, and my fingers were electrified, fire burned through my soul like an invisible flame. It was the fae voice, it found its way through.

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Leonidas.” I said, smiling at him. “My fae genes are much stronger than my vampire genes.” No one was going to stop me now, not even Ramona.

  Then, in that one moment, I did the one thing I thought felt right: I released the volcano inside me. The wind blew from the south, and it was like an explosion—my energy engulfed the entire space. The ancient collapsed to the ground, and a white froth-like substance spilled from his mouth.

  The other vampires rushed at me, but they couldn’t get to me. I started blasting white energy from the source, and they were thrown backwards.

  Then the mage who’d attacked me in the basement must have only just realised what happened. He attacked with everything he had, but it was too late. For a long moment, we were wrestling with each other’s power, but my magic spread everywhere. No one could conquer it. He looked terrified, and I laughed out loud. The dizziness, the pain, everything was gone in an instant.

  It almost felt as though Leonidas had awakened the other part of me—the silent fae that was always too afraid to become one with my soul. The whole place was r
adiating with magic; every creature around me collapsed to the ground. No one could survive this.

  The mage was thrown across the alley as I tried to gain control of this unexpected power. The councillor was gone, but his daughter was still lying unconscious—he’d left her behind.

  I felt like I was rising above the ground, enveloped in fire, like some sort of ancient god. I started walking towards the mage, knowing I had to end this once and for all. He was trying to get up slowly, but he was injured. Blood was gushing from his left hip. He was wearing the same coat he’d worn in the basement of the pub in Lviv.

  He glanced at me, and his lips started twitching. “It worked; I can’t believe it. The lord has been waiting for this moment, and it has finally come. He thought you had no magic, that you were his failure,” he started mumbling and I stopped, staring at him. He knew, he must have known this entire time.

  “Who was the vampire that decided to take my life?” I asked, but, honestly, it wasn’t that important to me any longer. I was so tired of everyone trying to manipulate me.

  “He’s the creator of all creatures, and you just passed the test. You’re his true daughter, and you could stand by him!”

  “There is no test, and I’ll never turn to the dark side. That deal is off the table,” I whispered, sensing death approaching. It was waving at him. He had to die.

  “You’re one of us now, made to serve him. If you kill me, he will never take you in,” the mage screamed, attempting to use his magic against me, but darkness was already taking over. I tried to cease the magical fire burning him, but I wasn’t controlling it any longer. He screamed as the flames consumed his body.

  I started backing away, wanting to turn around, but my energy had taken on a life of its own. It struck, pounded, and penetrated through me, burning him alive.

  I forced myself to turn and walk away, his terrifying screams were going to stay with me for the rest of my life. The streetlamps stopped flashing, and then complete silence filled the space. The mage finally stopped screaming—it didn’t take long. He was dead, and so were all the other vampires who’d arrived here with Leonidas. I didn’t even know how it was possible, but their corpses started burning. I searched for him, but he must have recovered somehow and escaped while I was killing the mage.

  Moments later, I collapsed to the ground as the energy left me, draining away the last bits of my strength. My body was shaking uncontrollably. Dorothy laid on the ground, several meters away from me. My head was buzzing, dull pain spreading along the back of my skull. I glanced around at the devastation I’d caused, thinking that this couldn’t have been me. I was just a half-breed without any magical skills. But I knew it wasn’t true. I had magic… Magic unlike anything I’d ever witnessed.

  I managed to crawl back to Dorothy, she was very pale, but alive. Then in the distance, I saw them, my team—the members of Moonlight Academy. I was seeing their stone-cold faces, staring at all the corpses around me, and I realised … I was death.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Proposal

  I didn’t know how much time had passed, but more and more people began appearing, walking and talking around me. For a long while, I just sat next to Dorothy, hoping she would come around. I glanced at my dirty hands; I was still shaking badly. Karina and Marco were talking to me, but I placed my hands over my ears, rocking from side to side. All I could remember was the fire and the mage’s screams.

  “Jaymin, is that you?” a voice asked, grabbing my arm. Dorothy was conscious, and she was glancing around, probably more disoriented than me.

  “Yes, it’s me, and you’re safe now,” I told her, still feeling the effects of that dark, dirty energy from the mage. I thought that after using my fae abilities, I wouldn’t have to deal with it, but the mage’s darkness had sunk its claws into me. This happened every time I killed someone, but this time, it felt a hundred times worse. My team was now surrounding me, and the smell of blood was making me nauseous. It was everywhere—the corpses were turning to ash as some members of the council tried to preserve them.

  “What the hell happened here, Jaymin?”

  It was Dimitry. He asked the question and I glanced at him, wondering how to answer that. I needed to pull myself together and tell them everything. I didn’t want to be taken by the members of the High Council for questioning. Moments later, a witch approached and covered Dorothy with a blanket; she was talking to her in another language. I accepted Dimitry’s hand and stood, my knees felt like they couldn’t hold my upper body. I was so weak, but I had to walk.

  “I accidentally walked up on them, the councillor was here, and he was just about to make a deal with the ancient vampire, Leonidas.” I started saying when Marco squeezed my arm. His warming energy felt like bliss.

  “I think you should stop asking her questions,” Karina said to Dimitry. “Now isn’t the best time. Jaymin is still shaken up. We need to get her back to headquarters.” I was light-headed and tired.

  “It was me. I think I killed them all with my fae magic. The ancient started drinking from me, and I thought I was going to die,” I whispered to them, and her eyes went wide. Everything was coming back to me, and I looked around, horrified. I’d killed them all—it was me, and soon enough, I was probably going to be arrested.

  Marco dragged his hand through his hair, and Dimitry seemed at a loss for words.

  “Hen, shut up, and let the High Council deal with it,” Lachlan said, who suddenly appeared next to me. “The girl is safe now, so our job here is done. You shouldn’t have run away.” He must have arrived with the others. He looked at the body of his ex-girlfriend and shook his head. I’d forgotten about Ramona. I didn’t think she was dead, but she wasn’t moving. I’d only staked her earlier, but maybe it was my energy that killed her.

  Leonidas escaped. I didn’t know how, but his corpse wasn’t here. We were now connected through his blood.

  “Did you really do this?” Karina whispered as we started walking back. “I don’t believe it. I thought you were only half-vampire, Jaymin.”

  Marco and Judas must have stayed behind. The Russian human police were there, too, I was seeing yellow crime-scene tape around the area. A lot of humans gathered around, trying to figure out what had happened here. The High Council was probably working with the human side of the law. Sooner or later, someone was going to figure out I was the cause of this whole massacre. Oldman couldn’t protect me, it wasn’t her job, but I hadn’t planned this. I didn’t want to kill them all.

  “I got us an uber, and right now, all these questions are unnecessary,” Lachlan said to Karina, sounding angry. “We need to get her out of sight, out of here.”

  My magic was still all over the place as they helped me inside the uber. I felt dizzy and nauseous from all the darkness that I had consumed earlier on. I was half-fae, now everything was clear.

  The rest of the night was a bit hazy. I realised Karina and Lachlan had taken me back to headquarters, then Karina helped me to bathe myself—she scrubbed all the blood from the shower. Images from the past kept flashing through my mind until I went to bed. Sleep came as soon as my head touched the pillow. There were no dreams and I was thankful, because I was truly resting, at least until I had to face the real world again.

  When I awoke, it was night-time. For a long moment, I had no idea where I was. Karina was snoring in the bed next to me, and when I glanced at her, I suddenly remembered everything. The pain was finally gone. I felt good, better than ever before—rested. The clock on the wall was showing around two a.m. I had no idea how long I’d slept. All I knew was, I was in huge trouble.

  Memories from the night before floated in my mind. Ramona was dead, the ancient escaped, but what happened to the councillor?

  I put on a pair of pants and a T-shirt and then headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. Was I truly able to create such powerful energy?

  “Finally, I thought you might be in a coma.” A voice startled me out of nowhere. When I turned around
, I saw Lachlan in his pyjamas, looking cute.

  I rubbed my eyes and took several generous sips of water. “How long was I asleep?” I asked him, feeling the familiar sensations in the pit of my stomach as he stared at me with the same intensity in his azure gaze.

  “Around twenty-four hours or so. Oldman told us to leave you alone, that you needed to regenerate your strength,” he said, and then yawned loudly. Vampires didn’t get tired, so I didn’t know what that was about.

  I was baffled, worried and curious to know what might happen to me now.

  “So, what now?” I asked him, although I realised that this wasn’t the question that I was supposed to direct to him. On top of that, I was hungry, and this time, not for blood, but food.

  “A few council members showed up here,” he said, taking a step towards me. “They wanted to question you, but Oldman sent them away. She has been very protective of you, hen.”

  “Why? Were they going to arrest me?” I asked in a whisper. I wasn’t even sure why I was whispering. We were alone, and it seemed everyone else was fast asleep.

  “Tell me what the hell happened out there. Everyone is confused as to how you ended up in the middle of everything and survived. For now, the council only wanted to question you. The main thing is, our job here is done. Dorothy’s free, the enemy was eliminated, so we’re going back to the academy soon enough.”

  I bit my bottom lip, trying to figure out what to tell him. Things were complicated enough, and I still had no idea if I could really trust him, not with everything I now knew about myself, anyway.

  “I need to speak to Oldman first, and you should go back to bed. It’s nothing we need to talk about right now, Lachlan. I’m sorry about Ramo—”

  “She’s not dead.” He cut me off. “Unfortunately, she survived, but she’s going to be arrested soon.” My jaw dropped; I couldn’t believe my energy spared her. It was a miracle, and in a way, I was glad she’d survived. At least I didn’t have to stress over another dead supernatural.