Darkblood Academy: Book One: Half-Blood (A Supernatural Academy Series) Read online

  Darkblood Academy

  Book One: Half-Blood

  G.K. DeRosa

  Copyright © 2019 G.K. DeRosa LLC

  All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, G.K. DeRosa LLC.

  Print ISBN: 9781070402239

  Cover Designer: Sanja Gombar www.fantasybookcoverdesign.com

  Published in 2019 by G.K. DeRosa LLC

  Palm Beach, Florida

  www.gkderosa.com

  Created with Vellum

  To the little squiggly baby in my belly that was my constant companion as I wrote.

  ~ GK

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Sneak Peek of Darkblood Academy: Supernatural Slayer Squad

  Also by G.K. DeRosa

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Prologue

  A scream tore through the silence, echoing down the halls of the quiet hospital. The essential first breath was drawn. It was over. Jacquelyn squeezed her eyes shut and with a final pant of exhaustion, slumped back against the pillow. Beads of sweat lined her brow, her body sore and every muscle screaming in agony. She kept her eyes closed not ready to meet the wailing creature the nurses were fussing over.

  “Ms. Bennett?”

  She recognized the midwife’s soothing voice but ignored it. The cries moved nearer, slowly dwindling to low whimpers the closer they got.

  “Ms. Bennett, it’s perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed after what you’ve been through. Please, open your eyes. Don’t you want to meet your daughter?”

  Jacquelyn resisted the urge to whip her head back and forth and shout, “No!” She clenched her teeth, her jaw clamped shut as she peeked through slitted lids.

  The tiny pink baby wriggled in the midwife’s arms, her gray eyes latching onto her mother’s. A flash of gold eclipsed the newborn’s irises, and Jacquelyn’s breath hitched. Her heart stilled. Was she seeing things? She ran her hands through her sweat-slicked hair, her shaky fingers catching in the tangles. She shook her head from side to side, the slow movement making her head spin. This wasn’t her daughter; she never would be.

  A crash of thunder exploded outside and lightning crackled across the pitch sky, the flash illuminating the dim hospital room. Her eyes shot to the window, the brewing storm providing something—anything—to distract her attention from the tiny swaddled infant the woman held out to her.

  “Ms. Bennett, are you all right?” The midwife handed the baby over to a nurse, and the two stood side-by-side staring at her.

  Jacquelyn continued to shake her head, her glassy gaze locked on the window. Unease churned her stomach, acid crawling up her throat. She swallowed hard, but it did nothing to quell the anxious stirrings. A shudder tattooed up her back, the thin hospital gown no match for the chill overtaking her bones.

  He was here.

  The air thickened, and pops of electricity skimmed her skin, raising every hair on her body. She could almost feel his dark magic clogging the room like thick, oily tar invading every crevice.

  The midwife and nurse’s expressions went blank before they froze, along with the other two hospital personnel bustling around the room. The slap of heavy footfalls resounded in Jacquelyn’s head, pounding in time with her erratic heartbeats.

  The baby’s wails doubled in intensity.

  Jacquelyn knew she should take the child out of the motionless nurse’s arms. The baby wasn’t safe. What if she dropped her?

  Would that really be so bad? A dark voice echoed in her mind. Then she wouldn’t be your problem anymore.

  The baby continued to squirm, her chubby, round face growing redder by the moment. Jacquelyn sat there too paralyzed by fear and exhaustion to move.

  A blonde man in hospital scrubs strode in, his intense gaze settling over her before moving to the child. His mere presence sucked all the oxygen out of the room. Jacquelyn’s lungs constricted and she forced in short, ragged breaths.

  He loomed over her. His perfectly angelic looks reminded her exactly what drew her to him in the first place. “You thought you could keep her from me?” His gruff voice was equal parts sinister and enthralling.

  She summoned every last ounce of courage remaining in her frail body and hissed, “I don’t even know if she’s yours.”

  The man moved toward the child, snatching her away from the nurse’s arms. Cradling the baby against his chest, a shadow of a smile curved his lips. He offered her his thumb and she stopped crying, her tiny fingers curling around his big one. “She’s mine all right.” Golden sparks lit up his irises.

  Jacquelyn’s lungs tightened further until even shallow breaths were a struggle. It can’t be. My child cannot be like him.

  “You will raise her as a human,” he began, moving toward the foot of the bed, “many half-bloods never show supernatural abilities at all.”

  She shook her head, all the blood draining from her face. “I can’t,” she spat. “I won’t.”

  The man’s light brows knit, his thin lips twisting into a frown. “You’d forsake your own child for no fault of her own?”

  “That’s no child of mine. She’s a monster just like her father.” She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to look at the baby or the man that plagued her nightmares. How could she have done something so stupid? One night of pleasure to be bound to these unholy creatures for a lifetime? No, she wouldn’t do it.

  His eyes frosted over, the icy blue colder than the fiercest snowstorm. He turned to glance out the window, and Jacquelyn followed his gaze to the full blood moon breaking through the clouds. The deep crimson hue sent a wave of goose bumps over her flesh.

  The baby cooed in the man’s arms, and another smile lit up his stern features. “I will call you Luna,” he whispered, “and one day you will hold more power over the elements than the moon itself.”

  The newborn’s fingers tightened around his thumb, her lids beginning to droop. He turned to Jacquelyn once more. “This is your last chance, woman. I’m offering you the opportunity to raise your child without any interference from me. This is not the first human child I’ve sired, and I assure you it won’t be the last. I take care of my offspring, but I do not interfere if I’m not needed. You and the girl can have a normal life together.”

  She shook her head furiously, her lips pinched. “I don’t want her. I don’t want anything of yours.” Snapping her eyes shut, she leaned her head back against the pillow shutting them both out.

  The tendon in his jaw quivered as darkness overcame his handsome features. “So be it.”

  Chapter 1

  “Come on, Jay
!” I shouted over my shoulder as I climbed the rickety chain link fence. “If Principal Greenfield catches us we’re screwed.” Reaching for the aluminum cross pole, I tugged myself over the top and braced for the fall.

  My Converse slapped the blacktop, a tremor snapping up my legs as I landed. But my ankles held. Last thing I needed was to sprain something right before graduation.

  I drew in a long breath to slow my racing heart. A balmy breeze brushed over my skin, sweeping blonde strands of hair across my face. Only a foot on the other side of the fence of Crestwood High, and I already felt free.

  “What’s got you in such a hurry, Luna?” asked Jay as he dropped to the ground beside me.

  “I don’t know. Do you ever feel like you need to move? Like if you spend another second in your skin, you’ll explode?”

  His light brows furrowed as he scrutinized me like I had three heads.

  “Okay, I guess it’s just me then.” I adjusted the straps of my backpack and turned toward the train station.

  “Must be senioritis.” He stepped up beside me and ran his hand through his thick auburn curls. “So where to?”

  Excitement swirled in my gut inciting a swarm of butterflies to take flight. “I was thinking we could check out that new coffee shop I was telling you about.”

  “The Supe Café?”

  I nodded quickly, chewing on my lower lip. It had been a year since the supernatural world came out of the closet, revealing its existence on primetime television no less. I, along with millions of other Americans, had watched stupefied at the revelation. But even now, an entire year later, supernaturals weren’t that common. Not in the suburbs anyway. I didn’t get into Manhattan that often, and according to the news most had settled in the Lower East Side and Alphabet City which was pretty far from our small town of Crestwood.

  “I don’t know, Hallows.” Jay shook his head. “Why are you so obsessed with meeting one of them anyway?”

  I shrugged. Because I found them fascinating, because the idea of escaping into a magical world and leaving the group home I’d been trapped in for four years seemed like a dream, because, because, because… I stilled my wandering thoughts and speared my friend with my best pout. “Are you scared? Jay McMasters… are you scared of a big, bad supernatural?”

  He frowned, folding his arms against his chest. “Of course not. I just don’t get what the big deal is.”

  I shook my head and picked up the pace toward the train station. The café was in the neighboring town, and I would go whether he was coming or not. Timing my escape from study hall had been no easy feat, and I was not letting this opportunity pass me by. Today was my eighteenth birthday, and it was the only present I’d get. Not even Jay knew. I’d had a pretty crappy track record of birthdays over the years so it wasn’t something I liked sharing. “Fine, I’ll just go by myself.”

  Jay’s footsteps only slowed for an instant before he sped up and appeared next to me once more. “Like I’m going to let you go by yourself. What if you get eaten by one of those things?”

  I laughed, weaving my arm through his. “President Lazaris doesn’t let just any supernatural into the human world. There’s like a whole series of background tests they have to pass. It’s worse than what it was for human immigrants back in the early days after 9/11.”

  William Lazaris had just become president when our two worlds collided and though he was all for unification, he’d been keeping a tight leash on things. The newest mandate called for any human with supernatural blood, or half-bloods as they were affectionately called, to be sent to special academies in Azar—the supernatural realm where the rest of the supes lived.

  The Supernatural Intelligence Agency or SIA had sent agents from Azar to comb the schools one by one. All human students were forced to take a blood test to determine their paranormal status. Even kids with a tiny percentage of demon, faery, witch or shifter blood were compelled to go. Some didn’t even have magic. They hadn’t made it to Crestwood yet, but I couldn’t wait to see who had supe blood in them. So freakin’ cool.

  “I don’t know. I still think some are sneaking in through the wards. My dad said there’s been an increase in weird animal attacks lately. Everyone knows that’s code for supe attacks.”

  Jay’s dad was the sheriff of our sleepy little town and overly paranoid if you asked me. “Whatever… it’s not like one is going to attack us in broad daylight at a café.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled as he hurried to keep up with my pace.

  The quick train ride on the Metro North had us on the outskirts of the city in no time. As the train pulled out of the station, I glanced at the GPS on my phone. Just a five-minute walk to Supe Café.

  “So have you figured out what you’re doing after graduation?” he asked.

  I shot Jay a narrowed glare and resisted the urge to snarl. “I already told you a million times. I’m not going to any crappy community college to get some B.S. two-year degree. Now that I’m finally eighteen, I can get a full-time job so I can afford my own place. Getting out of Astor Home is priority number one.”

  “You can always take a few classes on the side. And there’s nothing wrong with community college.”

  Ugh. Why couldn’t I ever keep my trap shut? The urge to stuff my old red Converse in my mouth was suddenly overwhelming. Jay was starting at CC in the fall. His parents were thrilled he’d gotten in at all.

  I stopped and turned to him, fidgeting with my backpack strap. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. It’s just not for me. You know how much I suck at school.”

  “Right, because I’m so much better?” He smirked and started walking again. “Come on, I think that’s it.” He pointed at a stretch of shops off the main street.

  At the very end, a neon sign hung in the window of a red brick building. The curtains were pulled shut, but the words Supe Café set my nerves a tingling—in a good way. I sprinted the last few yards with Jay panting to keep up.

  My fingers wrapped around the old doorknob, but it didn’t budge. I wiggled it a few more times, but it was locked tight. My heart plummeted. “What the heck?”

  Jay peered in through the window, but the heavy crimson curtain blocked any view of the inside. “Guess it’s closed.”

  I scanned the sign on the door and huffed. “It shouldn’t be. It says it’s open till midnight.” Lifting my knuckles to the dark timber, I knocked lightly. Nothing.

  Jay shrugged, turning back the way we’d come. “Come on, let’s go. We can try again another day.”

  “No way.” When Mrs. Sanderson, Astor Home’s friendly custodian, found out I skipped out on school early, I’d be grounded until graduation. I couldn’t give up that easily. I knocked again, louder this time. Jay fidgeted beside me, bouncing from foot to foot. I didn’t know why he was so freaked out by the supes. From what I’d seen on TV, they seemed pretty cool.

  Footfalls shuffling toward the door sent my heart rate skyrocketing. Jay’s wide eyes shot to mine, and we stared at the door until a hidden slat opened in the dark wood.

  “What do you want?” A gruff voice seeped through the opening first, then a pair of crimson eyes peeked through.

  My throat suddenly went dry. “Um, we…” I curled my fingers into fists and steeled my nerves. What was wrong with me? I’m not scared of them. “We just wanted to come in and check the new place out.”

  The piercing gaze scanned over me, an unearthly glow illuminating his ruby irises. The man’s eyes whipped toward Jay for a moment before returning to settle on me. “It’s just the two of you?”

  I nodded, and Jay elbowed me in the stomach. “I mean, some friends might come meet us later. They know we’re here.” I chewed on my lower lip, realizing how stupid I sounded.

  The lock clicked, and the door creaked open.

  Jay shook his head, his big eyes wider than I’d ever seen them. I grabbed his arm and tugged him in behind me.

  The scent of roasted coffee beans swirled in the air as I crept into the dimly lit
café. Something else tickled my nostrils—something smoky and sweet, but I couldn’t place the odor. As my eyes adjusted to the low lighting, the quaint coffee shop came to life. Cute chairs and tables were arranged around the small space, brick walls on all four sides. Framed landscapes filled the walls, each one looking like it came right out of a fairy tale—ice castles, stone fortresses and towers floating on clouds. A large bar with a few stools overlooked the fancy coffee machine where the barista whipped up a frothy concoction.

  It was only after turning back to Jay that I noticed the dozen or so eyes glued to us. I was so busy taking in all the details that I’d missed the glaring patrons. Eyes of all shapes and freakish colors bored into me, and goose bumps prickled my skin.

  “Now what?” hissed Jay.

  I scanned the room, my eyes landing on the barista. He gave me a warm smile, and my feet moved toward him. He was cute and young, probably only a few years older than us. As I got closer, he waved and then tucked a longish curl of black hair behind his ear—his very pointed ear.

  I froze, my feet halting of their own accord and Jay smacked into my back. He propelled me forward, and I practically barreled into the bar, knocking over two barstools in the process. The loud crash sent my pulse spiking once again.

  “Watch it, human.” The crimson eyes from the slat through the door appeared once again, attached to the body of a WWF wrestler. Jay’s eyes bulged out beside me as he stepped back from the hulking figure looming over us.

 
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