Descending Into Darkness (Moonlight Academy Book 2)

My heart accelerated and I swallowed hard. Karina was in a state of shock and she wasn’t moving. I didn’t need to check if Marisa was truly dead. Her energy was completely absent.

I approached her slowly, instantly noticing a large knife that was stuck in her chest. Karina started pacing around, mumbling some incoherent words to herself. The faint scent of magic was making me a little dizzy. It was intense, raw, and even worse that it was faintly familiar. I just couldn’t remember where I knew it from.

We heard someone approaching, could see their flashlights coming closer. I didn’t even have time to gather my thoughts when we were suddenly surrounded by Mages, vampires and a few fae. They just seemed to have come out of nowhere.

“Stop where you are and don’t move, you have trespassed on the Elite Academy territory and you’re here illegally,” the loud voice said in English, although the male that had just spoken had a very thick Romanian accent.

“My friend was just murdered, we found her here just a few minutes ago, besides this is a public park,” Karina replied, sounding upset. Sudden beams of various energies started hitting me from different directions. I lifted my hands, still holding my knife as a fae approached me.

He was very ancient wearing a long black cloak, he also had a long snowy beard. Another cold shiver crawled over my spine. His hand started beaming with magical light. He quickly pointed it towards the corpse. Several whispers moved through the supernaturals that stood around us.

“Are there any witnesses?” someone else asked.

“No, we only just got here and we saw Marianne lying there,” Karina explained.

“You have been found here at the crime scene,” a female fae spoke, stepping forward. She too wore a long black cloak and she gave me a hard look, injecting her fae magic into me. I knew how to keep my thoughts to myself – it was one of the silver linings of training with Riley.

“No, hold on. We have done nothing wrong. We haven’t killed this girl,” I shouted, losing control.

“Exactly. We demand to speak to the representative from Higher Authority,” Karina shouted. She was panicking now and she wasn’t the only one.

“Marisa Foster was an Elite Academy student, so this matter shouldn’t concern you nor it should concern Higher Authority,” another voice said, as we saw another supernatural appearing from the shadows. “We have found you here, right at the crime scene, so we must treat you both as suspects until we learn otherwise.”

This supernatural was very handsome, he must have been turned into a vampire when he was still pretty young. Karina was furious, she looked completely shocked by this unexpected news. I bet that she had no idea that her friend was a member of Elite.

I was pissed too. It looked like someone was trying to frame us.

“What are you people talking about? Marisa couldn’t have passed trials for Elite,” Karina said.

This was the first time that I ever saw her so disturbed, but I wasn’t surprised.

We were being treated like street criminals and I was long past that now.

I looked around, counting five supernaturals all together that were staring at us with suspicion. They were all wearing dark cloaks with hoods that covered their faces. I suspected that a lot of them were probably involved with Elite, a few looked like teachers and some were most likely on the board too. I was curious about why they were all here tonight though. If they sensed us on their territory, then they must have sensed the killer too. I didn’t want to believe that Marisa had sent that text message to Karina. Someone else must’ve known that we were going to be in Bucharest tonight. And that was very concerning indeed.

“We are not obligated to discuss the Academy business with some shifter,” the fae female spat, folding her arms over her chest and giving Karina a disgusted look. “Tell us what happened here and who is responsible?”

“This is absurd. Don’t you think that we would have tried to run if we killed her? She asked us to meet her here twenty minutes before we found her,” I barked back. Several sparks escaped through my fingertips and the handsome vampire noticed. His eyes shone and his fangs extended. He was giving me a seriously intense look. I wanted to look away, but couldn’t. His eyes were so entrancing.

“Claude, escort them to the academy building, I’m not buying their story,” the fae with the thick Romanian accent spoken again. Within moments, two females approached her. One whispered something in her ear and the other handed her something, a book of some sort. I was ready to use my knives but Karina quickly grabbed my arms. I knew that getting violent wasn’t the answer, so I had to stay calm for now.

“You need to call principle Oldman from Moonlight Academy, we are both her students. Marisa was my friend. We didn’t kill her,” Karina said.

“Just keep quiet. You will have time to explain yourself later on. Now Claude, make sure that they are escorted to Elite. We are going to question them there.”

There was no point discussing anything right now. Claude, the handsome vampire nodded to the female fae and walked up to me and Karina. The fae female turned around abruptly and started marching away. I didn’t know what to make of her at all.

I could sense Claude’s energy, it was strong and it weakened me a little. Although he smelled nice, almost as nice as pretty boy. What the hell was happening to me?

I really had to pull myself together. This was not the time or place to fantasize about the opposite sex.

“Come on half breed. Let me show you the way to the Elite Academy,” he whispered in my ear. He had dark hair and darkish skin. Overall, he was my type but right now I had other, much more pressing matters on my mind.

I needed to speak to Karina alone. How did she not know that her friend had gotten into Elite. This was a big fucking deal.

“Why don’t you call the High Council. A supernatural has been murdered. They’ll need to investigate it,” I told him, wondering why the members of the High Council weren’t around.

“It’s private property. The High Council has nothing to do with this matter. I have no idea how you two got through the gate. I personally set up strong magical wards, no one should be able to trespass,” Claude stated and quickly added. “Besides, in Kildra we have our own rules.”

I thought that the High Council owned Elite Academy, but of course I was wrong. I brought my hands together and started rubbing my palms. It was damn cold, my face, fingers and my whole body was almost numb.

We kept walking in silence until we reached what appeared to be the academy buildings, surrounded by nicely trimmed lawns. This whole place was massive; there were several small buildings scattered around it.

I couldn’t believe that this was really the Elite Academy-the mysterious school that only certain supernaturals could attend. This school was only for the chosen ones. Even the trials weren’t accessible to common folks. I had heard many stories about it over the years and now I was walking around it’s grounds. Kildra was supposed to be heavily guarded, but somehow we just walked through the gate, entering this forbidden and magical place like we belonged here. I should have sensed the wards outside the gate, but we both thought that we were just walking into a park. Karina even said that she knew this place, so these circumstances were very odd.

The vampire touched the base of my back, like he was trying to push me inside when we reached the heavy wooden door. Heat jolted through me and I nearly jumped away from him.

His eyes twinkled at the corners and he smiled at me. He must have sensed it too. All the lights in the main building were still on. The door opened and we were greeted by a tall witch, holding a flashlight in her right hand. She held a magic wand in her other hand.

“Master Thorthon, the room is ready, the wards have been set in place,” she said to the vampire. Thorthon, what kind of surname was that? He wasn’t from Romania–that I was sure about.

Claude Thorthon, that name rolled over my tongue nicely, sending tiny shivers through my core. I really needed to stop fantasising about bloodsuckers. Having a thing for a vampire has gotten me into too much trouble already.

Ten minutes later, Karina and I were taken into a room that looked like a classroom.

“You two need to stay here for now and please don’t try to escape. We have set up wards everywhere,” Claude muttered, and then he left to go and talk to the witch.

“What the hell is going on in here?” I asked Karina as soon as he shut the door behind him.

“I have no clue. Marisa was a shifter but she never really embraced her shifting abilities. She couldn’t have passed the trials to get into Elite. I don’t believe in that for one second. We need to get in touch with Oldman,” Karina stated, looking around like she was planning to escape. The vampire was right though. I sensed the magical wards all around us. The energy in Kildra was thick and aggravating.

“And how exactly do you propose we do that?”

“I don’t know yet, let’s just wait and see what these morons decide to do with us. I don’t think they will keep us here all night long. I’m starving.”

My own stomach rumbled too. I knew what she meant. I wished we could go back to our stylish apartment in the city already.

I started pacing around, attempting to kill some time and think on my feet. Karina was much calmer now. Around half an hour later, Claude came back, this time he was with the female fae that had spoken to us in the park.

“It seems that your version of the story checks out. I have just spoken to principle Oldman. She believes that you two have nothing to do with Miss. Romanov’s murder, but some of the board members still want to take some precautions,” she explained, sounding bored with it all.

She obviously wasn’t too happy with the fact that we weren’t the killers.

“We told you we had nothing to do with Marisa’s death,” Karina snapped, then she stood up and her eyes started shining with yellow light. Was she going to shift? I hope not, because this was going to cause a lot more problems for us. The vampire had already taken away my knife from earlier but I had another two hidden in my jacket.

“It doesn’t matter. Right now you are still being treated as suspects at least until the real killer is found. Claude here is going to take you to your rooms,” the fae continued.

“So, are you arresting us?” I asked, thinking that this was bullshit. That snobby fae had no right to keep us here.

“No, you’re not under arrest, but we all need to take certain precautions to keep you both in one place until we have further instructions. We can discuss this matter in the morning. Goodnight to you both,” the fae said, ending the conversation abruptly and walked away.

She slammed the door and left us alone with the vampire. An awkward silence fell upon us. Claude was staring at me with the same intensity as before. The warmth inside my body mixed with that unknown energy and began stirring inside my core.

“You have no right to keep us here. I don’t get it how Marisa got into the Elite. There must have been some mistake,” Karina said, sounding pissed off. At least her energy was a bit less aggravating.

“I think you misunderstood principle Holland. Miss Romanov was just about to face trials for the Elite Academy. She wasn’t a student yet, but that’s all I am obligated to say at this stage. It’s very late and it has been a long day for all of us,” Claude explained.

That made more sense but I wasn’t sure Karina was buying it at all. She exhaled sharply and gave him a sharp look.

“Show us where we are going to stay tonight,” I said to him as I nudged Karina to follow.

“Oldman is going to be here in the morning,” she said after a moment. I wasn’t surprised to hear this. Oldman was the kind of person that needed to be wherever something was happening, especially when two of her own students were involved.

The Elite Academy building was huge, filled with creepy and odd little details on the walls and ceilings. All the corridors were lit by flamed torches mounted on the walls.

Moonlight academy was much more modern by comparison, Oldman embraced the technology, but here it looked like time had stopped completely. There were antique furnishings all around. Old paintings hung on the walls, and we saw several statues that looked like they were guarding entrances to certain chambers.

I felt like I was in some sort of spooky castle. Claude took us three floors up to a small chamber with two basic single beds. My craving for vampire blood came back, and it tickled the back of my throat. I tried to ignore it, but I could smell it everywhere.

“These doors and the whole academy are heavily guarded by various wards, so you won’t be able to shift and leave this room. Please ladies, obey the rules. Principle Holland can be very difficult and trust me, you don’t want to get on her bad side,” Claude said when Karina jumped on the bed.

It seemed that Claude had just read her mind, because she looked annoyed.

“I’m hungry, can we get some food?” I asked, thinking more about the blood than anything else. I hated that side of me, hated that since Lachlan that odd craving kept coming back.

Claude’s fangs extended as soon as I said it and he seemed surprised, shocked even. My stomach tightened with a new wave of desire. Damn it, was he reacting to my scent?

“No, the kitchen is already closed, you’ll have to wait until morning. You’re a half breed, but what kind?” he asked, pinning me with his heavy dark eyes.

“Half vampire,” I quickly corrected him, aware that my dear friend was listening to every word. Claude was obviously aware of the fact that I was more than just half breed. He could sense that something about me didn’t quite fit about my magic, energy and aura.

“No, you’re more than just a vampire, but that’s impossible,” he muttered, inhaling my scent. He quickly backed away towards the door. “Goodnight ladies, try to get some rest. I will show you around tomorrow.”

Then he was gone and the door was tightly shut, most probably locked, from the outside.

“He wants you Jaymin,” Karina said, like it was a cold hard fact. I sighed, tossed my hair behind me and took my jacket off.

“It doesn’t matter what he wants. I’m not interested,” I told her, having second thoughts about Elite. Everything about tonight stunk of horse shit. Someone must have led us all the way here, and I wondered who had send the text message from Marisa’s phone. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t the dead.

“We need to figure out who killed Marisa before they pin this whole thing on us,” Karina said, getting up from the bed and starting to pace. Her pink hair was messy. “I can’t shift, I tried earlier on.”

“You’re right, this whole situation is very suspicious. Did Marisa have any enemies that you know of, maybe a jealous ex or a friend. She was supposed to be facing trials, that might mean something,” I mused, trying to come up with some ideas and forget about this overwhelming craving for blood. Karina shook her head and laughed.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“No Marisa was a gentle being, she didn’t do relationships and she wouldn’t have any enemies that I know of. None of this makes any sense.”

“In that case, we have a long night ahead of us, trying to figure this out,” I said, looking out through the tiny window across the large estate. I still couldn’t quite believe that I was in the Elite Academy.