Descending Into Darkness (Moonlight Academy Book 2)

Lachlan’s father could sense me, so I had to be careful. I didn’t bloody care that he was a member of the academy board and the council. The rules were supposed to be the same for everyone and now he was breaking them. Vampires weren’t supposed to use compulsion on other creatures, but I didn’t think anyone particularly cared or followed them.

“We had to find a few things about two students. We are conducting our investigation,” Marco replied mechanically. He was supposed to be resistant to vampire charms, but it was Jonathan–this vampire was much more powerful than any of us realised.

Anger rose inside me and I took a step forward, sensing I was going through a moment of deja-vu.

Then Jonathan turned around and must have sensed me. His expression changed, growing tense and heavy. He must have recognised my magic. I wasn’t planning to be seen around here.

“Well, well, well… who do we have here. Isn’t this Mrs. Claremont?” Lachlan’s father said. It was strange calling him that, because at the end of the day, Jonathan was Lachlan’s maker. I had been told many many times before, that vampires couldn’t conceive children.

“Hello Mr. Moore,” I said, smiling, knowing well enough that I couldn’t hide here.

In an instant, Marco was released from the compulsion spell. For a moment he looked a little disorientated, then he saw me and Moore.

“What’s going on here Jaymin?” he asked.

“Maybe Mr. Moore can tell us that,” I said, folding my arms over my chest and giving Moore a stinky look. His authority didn’t scare me, but the way my magic reacted to his was very odd and worrying. It almost felt like my blood had started to boil. My energy was shifting and circling around me.

Moore looked annoyed, probably because I had interfered in his spell, but whatever. He wasn’t supposed to be here, taking advantage of Marco. He looked at me and an instant pain lanced through my head. It felt like someone had just sliced a knife through my brain. I thought I was going to pass out.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you two, but if you must know, I just arrived and I was heading to speak to Principle Holland. You should not have access to these parts of the building,” he said.

I wasn’t really listening. My head was hurting now.

“We are here because of the murders and I was doing research in the library earlier on. I don’t understand how we are supposed to solve this murder if everywhere we go we have restricted access. Maybe you can help us Mr. Moore. We need a file for one student – our potential suspect,” I told him, although my voice was uneven.

Something was going on with me and I didn’t know what it was. Moore’s presence made me a little weak.

That vampire radiated with powerful magic, it was something that I had never sensed in anyone else previously. My pulse was sky-rocketing and my fingers were sparkling. Both Marco and Moore noticed straight away of course.

“This institution was established thousands of years ago and Principle Holland has a responsibility to protect it. Moonlight has an excellent reputation, so work up to it if you really want to get in here. Overcome obstacles that are put in front of you Miss Claremont,” he said, completely dismissing everything I had said.

We all needed that file, and I didn’t understand why they were refusing to give it to us.

“Mr. Moore, it’s just one file and we can sign a none disclosure agreement. We all want the same thing right? Essentially we want to find the killer before someone else gets hurt,” Marco said, sounding pissed off.

Someone was approaching, but Moore kept staring at me the entire time. My headache was intensifying.

“Father? What are you doing here?” the familiar voice asked. The pain stopped as quickly as it had appeared. Lachlan seemed as surprised as we all were. Karina and Juda were right behind him. Jonathan’s energy took over, it spread around the room pulsating with steady beats.

At least I could breathe normally again.

“You do not need to ask such silly questions Lachlan. You knew that I was planning to visit and evaluate your work. I see that your team has not made much progress, all I hear is excuses,” the ancient vampire stated, putting emphasis on the last sentence.

I was ready to punch him.

Lachlan pinched his eyebrows, and then he glanced over at me. All of a sudden, the lights in the corridor came on, and they began flashing every few seconds. The energy was active, but the intensity of it took my breath away. It immediately started raining outside, I could sense it.

Was it possible that I had brought on this sudden change of weather? I didn’t think that I was that powerful.

Yes–my own inner voice answered.

“We have made progress father and I will explain everything tomorrow–”

“Lachlan, I haven’t got time for chit chat. I must head over to see Principle Holland right away. Remind your team about the rules son,” Jonathan said cutting him off and then the lights around us stopped flashing. He moved passed me, touching me with his arm.

In that moment another spasm of pain rushed through my core and I reached out to catch my balance against the wall. The tension eased as soon as he vanished and I have never felt more relieved.

I had no idea how that vampire had affected me in such a way.

“No offence Lachlan, but your old man is a dick,” Karina stated and it seemed that everyone was ready to agree with her. Pretty boy looked very disturbed and he was clenching his fists. I didn’t know what kind of relationship he had with his father, but I had a feeling that it was complex.

“He’s not going to help us at all, that’s for sure …. on contrary he will make this more difficult for me,” Lachlan answered with a heavy voice.

“Well, I went to the library earlier on and the librarian asked me to leave. She said that I wasn’t allowed to be in that section,” I explained.

“Everything is in that file and we have to get our hands on it. Did anyone manage to find out why that vampire has vanished?” Juda asked, looking around. We all shook our heads.

It seemed that someone, in fact everyone, was trying to hinder our investigation rather than help. What the hell was going on in here?

“No sweat. We will get to that file somehow, but for now, we need to figure out what the hell had happened to that vampire. Someone was bound to know something. We just need to be more vigilant now too, because my father has influence over Holland,” Lachlan stated.

“I was making progress with that vampire girl when he showed up. I don’t even remember her leaving,” Marco muttered, scratching his head with confusion. He had no idea that Moore had used compulsion on him. “Anyway, I’ll see you guys later, I need to find her again.”

Karina nudged me and we started walking away. Now the back of my head was hurting. The boys were right behind us. I wanted to ask Lachlan what his deal was when it came to his father. It seemed that the two of them didn’t truly get on.

It seemed that Moore was a difficult person to get on with for everyone. I planned to bring this subject up with Lachlan sooner rather than later, but right then I felt so drained. He had been avoiding me since that party.

That night we all had dinner together in our common room. Marco cooked some delicious smelling oriental dish. Lachlan was very quiet, he seemed lost in his own thoughts. He didn’t even try to make eye contact with anyone.

Around midnight, I felt so tired, so I headed over to my bedroom. On top of that my head was still hurting like hell and I just wanted to lie down in the darkened room. At least the craving for blood had gone away, even with Lachlan being in the next room until I drifted away completely.

I must have been around twelve. It was strange staring at myself. I was in my own room in the other life–the one before this one that I knew.

There were some posters on the wall and my younger self was sitting on the bed, writing something in a notepad. There were headphones over my ears.

The music was loud and it was probably rock. I was tapping my foot on the floor at the same time.

Just then, a woman walked into the room. She had a kind face and I remembered her from the van. She tapped me on the shoulder.

“There’s a phone call for you. It’s Jess,” my mother told me.

I took the phone off her and put the headphones away.

My mother had dark hair, but we had the same eyes. Pure green with sparkles in them that lightened when something or someone made us angry.

“Hey Jess, what’s up? Did you find out anything?” I asked, squeezing the phone around my fingers. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest.

This boy that I liked in school was supposed to ask me out to this party. Mum didn’t know and I knew that she wouldn’t let me go anyway. I loved her to pieces, but sometimes she was very uptight. I was planning to tell her that Jess was organising a sleepover. I hated lying to her.

I didn’t even know how I knew it, but I was feeling all these emotions swirling inside me.

She wouldn’t understand if I told her the truth. Michael was so handsome and he was on the basketball team. Mum thought that I wasn’t old enough for dating.

“I don’t have good news. Apparently he asked Madeline to the party,” Jess said and my heart sunk inside my chest.

“What? You’re lying to me, he couldn’t have. He told me how much he liked me,” I cried, talking to her as the tears started streaming down my face. Jess was my best friend and I knew that she would have never lied, but I was heartbroken. There was silence on the other side of the phone for a moment.

“I’m sorry Jaymin, but Tara saw them together. He’s not worth it, Tom is much nicer,” Jess was saying, but I wasn’t listening to her anymore. I threw the phone down and then got up. My blood pressure was rising fast. I started breathing really really hard, looking around.

I wanted to trash everything, my things, my entire room.

Jess was still on the phone; I could hear her asking if I was still there.

This wasn’t fair, I liked him and this hurt. My whole body suddenly hurt. Every cell was pounding with energy.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Tears forced their way from my eyes and something started happening to me. The air was suddenly thicker and that long electric current rushed through my spine. I was crying, feeling so lost and betrayed.

I remembered him telling me that I was special and that he couldn’t wait to kiss me. Stupid, stupid girl and now he was saying all these things to someone else.

Seconds later, all the things in the room started levitating above the floor. Books, clothes, and other bits were swirling all around me while my heart was jackhammering inside my chest. My jaw dropped and my stomach tightened. I didn’t understand what was going on. Electricity rushed through my fingers. Was it me?

Was I responsible for this mess?

I felt a cold draft, the wind picked up but none of my windows were open and the doors downstairs were shut too. More things started to move on their own, swirling around me. It was some invisible force that was doing this, it couldn’t be me. Magic? no, magic didn’t exist. This was impossible.

Books, clothes, make up, and everything that was lying loose was being lifted above the floor.

“Jaymin, what the hell is–”

It was mum and she didn’t finish her sentence as she opened the door to my room. Her eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat. For a long moment she just stood there watching, then moved her hand and everything stopped. All my things fell back on the ground.

She got to me before I could say anything and embraced me. I was so confused I stopped crying, now wondering what had just happened here.

“Jaymin, don’t worry, you’re okay. It was just an accident. This happened to me too,” she was saying to me.

“Mum I cannot breathe, mum,” I said as then she finally let go of me and I looked at her with confusion. “What do you mean that this happened to you too?”

She looked quickly away and smiled. My room was in a complete mess.

“Nothing hun, this was nothing. It was probably wind from downstairs,” she said, still dismissing my question. I could tell when she was lying to me.

“Mum, what’s going on? It wasn’t wind, please explain. Is there anything wrong with me?” I asked her, thinking about other times when something strange happened. There were little things that I had noticed in the past, but I never really paid any attention to them before now.

She bit her bottom lip and her eyes soared with light or maybe I was imagining things again.

“It’s your magic, you have my genes, but I want you to forget about it. No one cannot know and this shouldn’t happen again. If you won’t use the magic it won’t bother you. Darling please let’s pretend that this never happened. You were upset and your emotions took over. Trust me it’s better this way.”