Half Blood Rising

My nerves were slowly beginning to get to me. Lachlan’s lover kept glaring at me, so I gave her one of my sharpest death stares. Afterwards, she tossed her hair behind her and smiled at Lachlan. Our conversation about my origin earlier on had left me a bit restless. I didn’t want him sharing my personal information with that bitch. I looked away—whatever. I wasn’t going to allow him to have that sort of effect on me right now. I was stronger than that.

“Come on, sit down,” Oldman said. “We are only having an informal chat right now.”

Jerry lightly nudged me, and I took a seat next to a girl with short, bright pink hair. She was a shifter. I sensed her energy, and her aura was bright, inviting, and positive. Her inner magical energy was much more defined than anyone I’d ever met before. I’d read in one of the books at the library that they tended to keep within their packs, and they stayed away from humans. She gave me a bright smile; her bottom lip was pierced, and she had several tattoos on her arms.

“I was just showing Miss Jaymin to her room,” Jerry said.

“We’ve only been together a few minutes. I wasn’t expecting everyone to arrive so early.” Principal Oldman smoothed her skirt and turned to address the room.

“Welcome to Moonlight Academy, everyone, the first school to ever be established in order to educate supernatural young creatures,” she began, glancing around the classroom. “In a moment, I will be going around and introducing each of you, but first, I would like to tell you that, each one of you here today are from different backgrounds, different breeds. That doesn’t matter, because you are all students here.

“Here at Moonlight, we work with everyone, but we aren’t the kind of academy you are most likely used to. The high council gives us certain jobs and tasks, and, sometimes these missions can be quite dangerous. Everyone present has just been accepted—you’re all new—and you will be assigned together as one team. In exchange for taking part in these ‘missions,’ you receive a free education, along with room and board. If these jobs are complicated, many times students receive financial rewards.”

This sounded too good to be true. We were going to get paid for being students and taking part in missions? There must be a hack somewhere. Others didn’t seem too concerned, so I decided to continue on and listen. Oldman was fae with a certain taste and style. She must have been good at her job if she managed to work her way up into this position. After the meeting, I was planning to find the library and do some research on this place.

“Any questions before we start the introductions?” she asked, but no one said a word, so she continued, “Let’s start with Karina. She’s a shifter from Sweden, and, unfortunately after being exiled from her pack, she had to learn how to survive on her own, and, sometimes, in the toughest of environments. Her gifts will be quite useful in this group.” Principal Oldman smiled and turned her head. “Then to my right, we have Marco—he’s fae. In the past few years, he’s been living in London. He earned his living by stealing valuable items. I’m certain I needn’t remind you that fae magic can be extremely unpredictable. Marco is quite skilled, and I hope each of you will get on well with him.”

I glanced at the dude on my right. He was dark haired, tanned, and a very handsome supernatural. He didn’t look like a thief at all. Oldman wasn’t prepared to say that the fae were the most powerful creatures amongst all supernaturals, but I sensed what she meant. I suspected that Marco had lived for quite a long time.

They could manipulate the weather, read your mind, and make you go completely mad. These were just a few of their abilities, but most had to learn their skills over years of study under someone’s guardianship. Marco winked at me and Karina—he seemed extremely confident.

and sipped a glass of water, then she turned to me. “And here is Jaymin, half-vampire and a rogue. She has been hunting creatures wanted by the council for the past four years—very dangerous fugitives, I might add. Her track record is quite impressive, so be watchful of her. And opposite Jaymin, is Judas, a

student here at Moonlight. His family has strong connections to the Elite, but that doesn’t mean his place there is secure. Lachlan is

with a silver spoon in his mouth, so I’d been partly right about him. Maybe that was the reason why the mages wanted to get information from him. Lachlan smiled at

that. Marco winked at me once again when I glanced

healing abilities and spectacular fighting skills. She grew up in Ukraine in an orphanage, so she can relate

She just looked Slavic, but she must have been turned when she was young. I was a little taken aback by the fact she could heal people. I’d never heard of a vampire who could do that sort of thing.

was stuck with pretty boy and his top-model vamp. Too bad, but I had to make this work somehow. I wanted this opportunity, and I was willing to

In the afternoon, I’ll call upon each one of you to sign an agreement with the school—the contract I mentioned earlier on,”

the Elite.” Marco went first with one of the most important questions. “I decided to enrol here because I want to get in. Can you tell us about their requirements?” He had a deep voice, and his darker skin shone in

the entire school, just another added bonus. Other supernaturals most likely weren’t affected by the heat like I was. I was curious about the Elite Academy, too. Many supernaturals had talked about it, but to me, it had always been like a distant dream that would never

unique and ancient, and we don’t have much insight on their specific admissions process. At Moonlight, we believe these trials will require a combination of your abilities, skills, magic, and intelligence. We are

main reason why so many students didn’t make it to the Elite. I’d heard that they only accepted a handful

else to ask, but I did need to find out if she could help me with getting

I’m Karina, by the way,” the shifter with pink hair said, approaching me after I was outside. I was so relieved that I wouldn’t have to share a room

was so addictive, but in a positive way. She

bottom lip, wondering how to tell her nicely to get lost. “Principal Oldman might call us in later, you know, for the contract.” This was bloody pathetic. I didn’t want her to know I’d come here with nothing to wear,

… maybe I’ll catch you later,” I suggested, thinking I really needed to get a grip.

voice. I was never good at making friends, making any kind of connections with other creatures, but this was different. I had to

the principal if she had any spare clothes,”

laughed like we were the butt of their joke. God, I hoped this wasn’t going to be like high school, although I couldn’t remember anything from that part of my life. But from what I’d heard, high school drama could be dreadful.