Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
About a week after my announcement, an anonymous message hit DeadDrop saying that since I was a blood witch, the power to bind the hallows into the All Hallows was in my blood. So all anyone who wanted to ensure their victory had to do was drain it from me.
I immediately refuted that, of course! I said that witch magic must be wielded by a witch, not a psychopath with a jar of blood.
The psychopath then replied, If blood’s not enough. I’m sure a soul will do.
I shuddered, a chill went down my spine remembering the first time I read that sentence. The majority—the princesses most of all—knew enough about magic to know you couldn’t play fast and loose with the requirements of a spell. If I told them a living Avos witch was needed to take the power into herself, then share it with those she chose, then they’d believe it until they had facts stating otherwise.
But that didn’t stop them watching my every move. And it didn’t stop chancers and sneaks from convincing themselves I was better off dead.
One of them being Connard.
For days after the start of the Hallow Hunt, which I had officially dubbed it, Connard used every minute of class time to berate and shout at me. He ordered me to hit up DeadDrop and announce that I made an “error.” Werewolves, vampires, leeches, fae, and the rest of the Others were not eligible to share in the power of the All Hallows, and if and when any of the hallows were found, they were to be turned over to him until he determined which demon among us was worthy of them.
I just goggled at him like the nutcase he was, but no one else did. The princesses and their Sins gang girls shouted right back at him, telling him he was looking right at the demons who were most worthy, so he’d better get the fuck out of their business.
It all devolved so fast and hot, that on the seventh day of my worst week in Great Invasion class, Connard bellowed over all the shouting that I was to get on my knee right then and swear a binding oath to never give the All Hallows power to an inferior.
I said no before the lunatic even finished his sentence, and he attacked me.
That same eerie ball of green light shot from his fingers as he bellowed—hate twisting his mean mug into something unrecognizable.
Then he burst into demon confetti.
Just like that. Before I could think to duck, Connard exploded and his magic ball disappeared along with him, leaving us all blinking and shocked in his wake.
After which, it was decided that we would not be getting another professor for The Great Invasion. The headmistress didn’t come out and tell us this herself, of course. Instead, she delivered the message through Erlik.
“All of hell wants in this place and closer to you,” Erlik said, looking me straight in the eye that day. “Also thanks to you, girl, we know how lacking our security is when it comes to advanced glamour magic, so we’re not taking the chance of hiring another assassin, or giving another Hallow Hunter an edge by gaining access to you.”
He clomped off the platform. “And speaking of the Hallow Hunt,” Erlik breezed on. “The headmistress wants the identity of all four hallows by the end of the month, or she’ll lock you in a dungeon so dark and deep, you’ll wish Connard killed you.”
It was that day I learned I was wrong. Erlik was the one with the best exit lines, not Lucifer.
Ever since, classes had pretty much been on hold, and the academy shut down even tighter from outsiders, and through it all, Ronin was nowhere to be found.
I rose to my feet. “Would you mind taking your notes to Erlik for me? So he can deliver them to the headmistress?” I asked Nik. “I’ve never met the woman, but I’ve got a feeling her threats are promises.”
“They are.” Nik shuddered like everyone did at the mere mention of her. “They very much are.”
“I’m heading out.”
Nik waved me out the door.
Stepping out into the hallway, I went left instead of right—heading deeper into the demon wing.
I didn’t want it to, but my thoughts returned to Ronin... just as they did at least ten times every day.
He really was gone. On the day he confessed his love for me, I told him I wanted him to disappear from my life. I wanted him to die.
I don’t know if he did the latter, but he most certainly did the former. Ever since that day, no one in the academy had seen or heard from Ronin Belphe.
With Abaddon devolving into a bed of chaos, the rule confining the different species to different wings was relaxed—so much so, that I was reunited with Tristan.