Half Blood Rising: (Moonlight Academy Book 1)

by Joanna Mazurkiewicz

  “Oh, okay,” I muttered, and awkward silence stretched between us. There were a lot of things I wanted to say to him, but it was neither the time nor the place. He wanted me, but I still needed time to process everything that had happened. My future was still uncertain. I had no idea what was going to happen to me…

  “Jaymin, I was wrong about you from the start,” he began, but I placed my finger on his lips. He was warm, and that made me desire him even more, but I couldn’t be with him—not now at least. I didn’t know why I’d built up this wall inside me, but it was there, nonetheless.

  “Let’s not do this now. I need some time to digest everything. I’m not really sure what’s going to happen once I get back to the academy,” I said, wanting to press my lips against his. It was like a push and pull magnetism… I wanted him. I didn’t want him, and yet I couldn’t stay away from him. “The council is after me and I’m not completely innocent.”

  “Oldman has connections, you don’t have to worry, hen,” he assured me, but he couldn’t have known that. Besides, I was an experiment: half-fae and half-vampire. The council was going to find out about me sooner or later. Oldman wouldn’t be able to protect me forever.

  “I’m going back to sleep, and I suggest you do the same, Lachlan,” I told him, knowing well enough that I hadn’t given him any concrete information about us or about my past. There was a reason why I kept getting snippets from my past when we were intimate. In this life as a vampire, I was a virgin, but maybe in my other life, I hadn’t been.

  For me, it was far too dangerous to get involved with a man, especially in my situation, but thinking about it, I probably wasn’t completely clueless. My libido had been going slightly berserk ever since Lachlan turned up in my life, and that had to mean something.

  “Whatever, hen, but just remember, you can’t get rid of me so easily,” he said as I turned around and started heading towards the bedroom. I couldn’t stay up right now, because that meant I’d have to really get into the gritty and gruesome stuff with Lachlan. And I didn’t want to talk about it. I also didn’t trust myself to be alone with him. My thoughts were dirty even now after everything we’d been through.

  Karina was still snoring when I returned to our room, and for a while, I just stared at the ceiling, trying to remember every detail from my previous memories. Fae, there was fae magic inside me, so powerful that I couldn’t even comprehend it. It was hard to fall asleep for fear that, tomorrow, I may not be a free supernatural any longer. The council was getting close, and I wasn’t anonymous anymore.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  A new beginning.

  Karina was a bit shocked seeing me awake and ready for action around seven o’clock in the morning. Apparently, everyone was done with Moscow and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

  She jumped on me, hugged me, and asked millions of questions before she allowed me to explain anything at all. She had no idea I’d woken up in the middle of the night and bumped into Lachlan in the kitchen. Everyone else was a little shocked, too, when they saw me at breakfast looking lucid and not a giant mess.

  “I mean, you can all stop staring at me. I’m fine, well, and I ain’t planning to kill anyone today.” I tried to joke, but it just added a bit more fuel to the fire.

  “It’s not a joke,” Dimitry said in his thick Russian accent, and I thought he should audition for films, he would have been a great actor.

  I started eating, realising my stomach was growling with hunger, while everyone else was staring at me. Roxanna made excellent coffee and eggs. I was going to miss her.

  “Okay, I mean, we’re heading back to Kiev soon enough,” I said, thinking I owed the group an explanation, but first, I needed to speak to Oldman about everything that had happened that night. Apparently, she’d already returned to Kiev for an urgent matter, and I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her yet. Our flight was leaving this afternoon. In a way, I was looking forward to getting back to a normal routine. I was so done with being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “How are you feeling?” Judas asked me, and I was a little surprised that he’d asked the question first. I placed a large pancake on my plate and splashed some syrup on top. I was bloody starving.

  “Good, the dark energy has almost diminished, and I managed to sleep for a while,” I said and started eating.

  Lachlan was watching me as usual, sitting opposite me. That seemed to satisfy Judas and everyone else, at least for now, because for a long moment, no one was saying anything. We were all trying to enjoy our breakfast.

  It wasn’t going to be easy to reveal the real truth, but we were all partners and they needed to trust me. This nightmare was behind me, but the horrific memories remained. I could still hear the mage’s terrifying screams, but I just had to breathe.

  After breakfast, Dimitry had given a little speech, praising us all for the job we’d completed, wishing us good luck in the future. It was possible that, at some point, we would return to Moscow, but for now, everyone seemed to be done with Russia.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Karina asked later as we were packing in our room. The plane was leaving in about three hours, and our ride was going to arrive at any moment.

  “I’m not a hundred percent, but I’ll get there. The whole thing is complicated,” I told her, trying to fit everything into a small suitcase. “Once I talk to Oldman, I’ll explain everything, but please, bear with me. I just don’t want to scare you.” She seemed to accept my answer, because she nodded and didn’t press any further on the subject.

  An hour later, we were sitting outside our gate ready for departure. The airport was busy, and I felt a little sick. Nerves about flying were slowly getting to me, but once onboard the plane, I ended up sitting next to Lachlan. He even held my hand during take-off.

  “I’ve got you, beautiful, so chill out and just enjoy the ride,” he said once our seatbelts were buckled, and everyone else was settled. My heart was thumping loudly inside my chest during the entire flight. I was scared, but Lachlan kept talking to me, trying to distract me from my nerves and the fact we were several thousand feet in the air.

  I was overjoyed when we landed and managed to go through security quickly. A van with the Moonlight logo was waiting for us at the airport. It was extremely humid once again in Ukraine, and I kind of preferred it that way. Russia’s summer seemed disappointing.

  “I hope we won’t have to leave for another mission anytime soon. I’m kind of exhausted,” Karina said, once we returned to our dorm. Nothing had changed there, it was basic, and it stunk of mould a bit, but it was our little home. I was so relieved being here again.

  “I hear that,” I said, jumping on the bed. It was going to be a relaxing day today, but first, I needed to head to Oldman’s office, so I could get this conversation over and done with. “I’ll be back in a bit; I think the principal is in her office, and we’re overdue for a chat. Don’t start any parties without me.”

  “Don’t sweat it,” she said. “I think the boys want to have drinks at the bar down the street later, that’s all. We aren’t planning anything else.”

  I took a deep breath and told myself she was probably expecting me. The council hadn’t arrested me yet, so I had nothing to worry about—at least for now. However, I didn’t want to celebrate too soon.

  Several minutes later I stood outside her office, still a little hesitant, suddenly filled with anxiety that soon I would have to leave Moonlight. Oldman must have sensed me outside, because she opened the door as I was just about to walk back to my room. This was absurd. I told myself that she was on my side.

  “I was just about to send for you,” she said, giving me a smile. “Come on in.”

  She was diffusing some essential oils and the smell calmed me instantly. I wasn’t planning to hide anything, I needed to be open and honest about what happened out in the field; otherwise there was no point staying at Moonlight. Catherine Oldman was fae, and maybe she had similar experiences with her magic.


  We sat down and silence filled the space for a little while.

  “So, let’s just get straight to the point, shall we?” she said. “The High Council has been pressing me to question you, but I have managed to steer them away for now. Tell me everything you remember from that night.”

  I was slowly calming down, and I had a feeling she had something to do with it. I took another deep breath and started talking. She didn’t need to know I had a little disagreement with Lachlan or the fact we’d been intimate. It wasn’t relevant, but everything else was.

  It wasn’t easy going through the events of that night once again, but Oldman was listening, taking everything in. I went over how I’d felt when we’d arrived at the club, when I started to feel the magic there, then colourised my fight with Lachlan a bit, and then my lonely walk around the streets when I needed some time away. When I got to the part where Leonidas started drinking from me, the principal appeared horrified, but I kept talking. I remembered that moment very clearly, then paused, preparing to tell the worst. My stomach tightened, but it was time to be honest with myself, honest with her.

  “And then I just exploded, I mean, it was like my energy became a ticking time bomb, exactly the way you described it before,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “All the vampires were killed instantly, and then I burnt that mage alive. The fire came out of nowhere, the flames consumed him in a matter of seconds. He was dead before I knew it.”

  Catherine Oldman’s eyes widened in shock as she tried to process this information. I was expecting that kind of reaction from her, but that wasn’t all I needed to say. There was more to it.

  “So, it was you,” she said.

  “Yes, it was my magic that killed all those vampires, but I couldn’t control it. Even the flames, I didn’t want him to die, but it just happened. The mage said something to me before he died. He said that his master thought I had no abilities, that the experiment was successful, and if I killed him, I couldn’t stand by him,” I explained, trying to remember everything he’d told me.

  That was it—my confession. I was expecting the worst, because I’d committed heinous crimes against supernaturals, even if some of it had been in self-defence. Oldman was probably thinking about reporting me to the council now, and they were going to arrest me. I was ready for it. I was a monster, something that shouldn’t exist. I was too dangerous to be walking free—like a ticking bomb that could go off at any moment. Silence stretched for some time as Oldman was thinking. It was hard to read her emotions or aura. She was much more experienced than me, so she knew how to keep her mind closed off.

  Then she stood from her seat, paced around her office for a bit before saying:

  “You’re fae—a very powerful one, and a half-vampire. A unique half-breed … this is incredible.”

  “Didn’t you hear what I said? I killed all those vampires. I was the cause of that massacre. I’m a freak,” I said, raising my voice, thinking that maybe she didn’t really understand what happened out there.

  “Sit, Jaymin, and calm down. You’re not a freak,” she said. “You’re an extraordinary creature who hasn’t been trained. Those vampires were working against the council, so no one is going to miss them. And the mage, well, apparently, he has been on the council’s radar for quite some time.” I did what she said, although I wasn’t sure if this was really happening.

  “Right, so what’s going to happen now?” I asked. I was certain I didn’t want to return to the streets. That part of my life was over for good.

  “Your future is here in this school, and we will help you unleash your potential. We will train you, so this sort of outburst won’t happen again. Fae magic is extremely complicated, and combined with your vampire abilities, could be lethal. I’ll find a way to direct the council’s attention away from you,” Oldman stated. “Things with the Elite Academy are still complicated, as well, from what you’ve said, I understand that the councillor was working against them, so that issue needs to be addressed. In a few months, you and possibly Lachlan, will go undercover as students of the Elite. We need some inside information, and going forward, someone from the council believes this is a reasonable solution.”

  At that point, my jaw was on the floor. Oldman couldn’t be serious. She was going to keep me in the school, and then send me out on another mission? This sounded unbelievable.

  “But what if someone finds out what I—”

  “We don’t need to worry about that for now. Just study and train hard. I will assign a personal advisor to you for your curriculum. Let me worry about the council from now on. You’re special, Jaymin, more than you realise, but that energy of yours—it must be tamed, and that will take a bit of work.”

  Her words echoed inside my head. I’d wanted to learn who I was for so long, and now it was finally happening. Oldman kept staring at me with amazement. I thought this was really the end, that she was going to expel me.

  “Thank you, Principal Oldman. I mean, I have no idea what to say,” I said, standing from my chair and reaching out for her hand. She shook mine, smiling.

  “No need to thank me,” she added. “It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t control yourself. Now, go and enjoy the rest of your day. Classes resume tomorrow, and everything will follow through. You have done well, so has the rest of the team. The school has been compensated, and you will be paid as well. This is good news, Jaymin.”

  That was the end of the conversation. I nodded, and then left her office, feeling like I was walking on clouds. A huge weight dropped from my chest. Someone had finally given me a chance, even after what I’d done.

  “See, hen, I told you that you couldn’t get rid of me so easily.” A thick Scottish accent startled me outside the door. I turned around, seeing Lachlan. He was leaning against the wall as if he’d been waiting for me the entire time. He looked good wearing a grey T-shirt and slightly unshaven.

  “I figured as much,” I said, walking up to him. The bloodlust returned. I wanted him again.

  “I think this next task will be awesome. Me and you working closely together,” he said, sounding mischievous. “I won’t be able to keep my hands off you.” There was that sparkle in his eye. I bit my bottom lip and then did something I thought I’d never do under any other circumstances. I brought him closer and then kissed him hard. It was unexpected, I didn’t plan it, but in that moment, my feelings were so overwhelming, and my instincts took over.

  He groaned as I caressed his mouth against my own, nipping at his lip between my teeth teasingly before darting my tongue inside his mouth. He seemed shocked at first, but then he responded. His tongue grazed my fangs. Then heat began consuming me again. Lachlan grabbed the back of my neck, turning my head to allow more access, and I knew it was time to stop this.

  “What? What was that about?” he rasped, staring at me with his fangs descended as I playfully backed away.

  “Nothing, I was just testing my theory.” I giggled, turned around, and ran back to my dorm, thinking I was going to regret that later. He seemed too shocked to follow me.

  He was right; we were stuck together, but this time, the future seemed much brighter than before.

  The End of Book 1

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