Descending Into Darkness (Moonlight Academy Book 2)

I woke up in the morning, instantly remembering every detail of this vivid dream. At least my migraine was gone. I felt fine, but that dream kept playing on a loop in my memories. Karina’s bed was empty, which meant that she was already up and ready.

The sun was streaming into the room as I was looking out the window. The weather was improving.

I slowly began to realise that Jonathan Moore’s magic was trying to influence me, but why?

Lachlan was obviously clueless about his father. Their relationship was for sure complex.

My mother must have had some fae genes. It was a memory from the past, not simply a dream. I was around twelve in that vision and my anger had triggered the magic inside me.

Was it possible that my mother had been trying to hide the fact that she was a fae?

I had so many questions in my head. She was so beautiful and she looked like a human. I was sure she didn’t have any typical fae features.

I rubbed my face and decided that I had to speak to Lachlan about his father today. There was something off about him, but pretty boy wouldn’t see it.

After breakfast, I went downstairs to hang around the grounds for a little bit. I was certain that we must have missed something there. The weather was cold. It was the end of November, so I was used to it by now.

On the other side of the grounds there was a building where trials were taking place. I could see the radiating light around it. Someone was creating very serious magic there. From the distance, I could see the whole place lit up by this golden aura.

I walked around the crime scene for a few more minutes and then went back to speak to the vampire that was responsible for clearing up the site. I knew that his statement was important too.

I walked inside another building and headed to the third floor where his office was located. I must have gotten slightly lost on the way because I heard someone shouting in the room to my right, the door was slightly ajar. Not thinking much of it I was just about to walk away when the same strong magic as yesterday hit me hard. And I lost my breath for a moment.

“I don’t know why do you want to continue working for Oldman. You’re wasting your talent in that academy… up here,” the familiar voice was shouting. I recognised that voice instantly. Jonathan was in the other room and he was probably with Lachlan.

Pretty boy wasn’t in the dorm when I’d left this morning. Marco didn’t see him and I didn’t want to ask too many questions. Karina already knew that there was something going on between us. I backed away, thinking that I should give them some privacy.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Their conversation was none of my business.

“Yes, you have been telling me this for quite some time. I don’t like the structure of the council; we both know that. Besides, I need to graduate and complete my education in Moonlight,” Lachlan stated, sounding confident. The memories from the earlier dream were so vivid.

It was strange that I remembered so much. The warmth was travelling down my spine.

“You won’t get to Elite if you keep hanging with Oldman. You’re ancient, a member of the clan of the most pure-blooded vampires in the world Lachlan, but you’re not living up to these standards,” Jonathan said with a mocking tone of voice. My heart accelerated, well I knew that Lachlan was old, but I didn’t suspect that he belonged to some kind of clan. “Your mother is ashamed of you. Now you’re proving to me that you don’t have it what it takes. It appears that I need to lower my expectations.”

That vampire was an arsehole. I finally began to understand what kind of relationship Lachlan had with his own father. Jonathan expected Lachlan to follow his path and pretty boy was having none of it. Damn it, maybe I had been wrong about him from the start. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he was ready to distance himself from his own family. That was interesting.

“Father, Moonlight offers the same level of education as other schools in the country. I like what I do,” he said, sounding bored.

“It’s not good enough for me and it shouldn’t be good enough for you either. As the only male member of this family you have a certain reputation to uphold,” his father continued.

Lachlan sighed loudly and placed his hand over his son’s neck so quickly that I didn’t even see how he got to him so fast.

Then he pushed him against the wall. Moore leaned over and said.

“Remember the family tradition son. I don’t like to repeat myself.”

It was time for me to bail, because my magic was rising fast and I didn’t want Moore seeing me here.

Something was going on with me and this sudden pain around my forehead was building again.

I rushed back to the dorm, feeling a little sick. This was none of my business, so why was I taking it so personally. Lachlan underestimated me in the beginning and now his own father was questioning his integrity. I didn’t know much about his past, but I suspected that it was probably hard enough to having Moore for a sire. He could never meet Moore’s expectations but I didn’t think he particularly cared about it either.

I was suddenly glad that there was nothing serious between us. Melody had warned me about powerful family clans. She said that these vampires were expected to follow the rules or die. Jonathan Moore didn’t want Lachlan to associate himself with the lower class.

The rest of the group was still out when I came back, but I saw them again right after lunch. This time Lachlan was with them. He looked paler than usual.

“I need to talk to you beautiful,” he said when he saw me on the sofa, reading a book about spells.

He sat next to me, and heat rushed through me instantly. I was trying to do some research using my fancy phone, but the swirling energy inside was very distracting.

I knew this was coming and we truly needed to talk. He probably wanted to bring up the subject of mating again.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Let’s go to your room. Karina is fooling around with Marco and Juda is in his room,” Lachlan muttered.

Damn it, so this was serious. I got up and strolled in the direction of my small bedroom, wondering if I could convince him that it was best if we just stayed friends.

Maybe he realised that us getting together would end badly for both of us, but we couldn’t avoid each other forever.

I stood by the wall, sensing the tension rising between us. Lachlan gave me a long look that reminded me a little of the time when Claude was staring at me when I first arrived here. It was strange that I hadn’t seen him around today. I was planning to ask him about that file. I had a feeling that he wouldn’t have said no to me.

“I want you to go with me to a dinner that my father is hosting in the city later tonight,” Lachlan said unexpectedly.

He completely caught me off guard. This wasn’t what I expected to hear.

“A party?” I repeated.

“Yes, it’s this boring family thing that my father has done countless times in the past. I usually have someone with me, well lately it was Ramona,” Lachlan replied with a bored tone of voice. I placed my hands on my hips. I couldn’t stand seeing him with that bitch, even now. She’d got what she deserved in the end and the tiny voice inside my head reminded me that I couldn’t let her get to me. Lachlan could sense when my pulse changed its pace.

“I don’t think this is such a good idea. Your father is intense; why don’t you take Karina?”

“Karina? No. She’s a shifter and that would just get me into trouble. I have to show up with a vampire,” he said, putting emphasis on the last word. I hated the fact that this sudden heat made me forget my carefully prepared speech as soon I was near him.

“And I’m a half vampire man, I don’t do official parties. I just wouldn’t fit in there,” I said. It was a straight no, because this was the last thing that I truly wanted to do.

“Shut up hen. You owe me this after showing up at the party with that clown. It will be over before you know it, and in a way I do want to annoy my father,” he explained, only confirming the fact that this was very bad idea.

“Is Jonathan your father or your maker? I thought vampires couldn’t father children,” I asked. In a way I needed to figure out how I was connected to pretty boy’s bloodline.

I wanted to gain my memories back, all of them, and find the damn vampire that had ruined my life. Deep down it was the revenge that burned my insides–the fact that he turned me into a freak.

“He’s my maker, but that means that he is my father– my sire. I don’t really want to explain it all, it’s complicated,” he said. “Olympia is my mother, she’s ancient, but she knows a lot of witches.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“I just thought she might help you to get your memories back.”

“No, I don’t want you to say anything to them about what I am. Oldman said that I was supposed to keep it to myself. She’s an ancient fae,” I explained, panicking that he was taking this too far. He got up and walked up to me, then touched my hand.

“Chill hen, I only thought that my mother could reach out to some of her contacts,” he said it gently, giving me a heated look. My heart accelerated and it wasn’t because of what he said. My feelings for him hadn’t just faded.

“No, no one was supposed to know about me and I want to keep it that way,” I said, firmly, now afraid that too many people knew about my secret. Oldman warned me that I wasn’t supposed to advertise the fact that I was a freak.

“All right, so we have a deal,” Lachlan muttered and then leaned over. “I still want to shag you and now we have an opportunity.”

I slapped his arm and push him off, but the smile lasted on my face when he left. My body desired his and there was no doubt about that.

Later on, when Karina arrived, I told her what Lachlan had proposed. She didn’t seem surprised at all.

“He wants you, it’s obvious, and that has nothing to do with his father,” she said, taking off several layers of clothing.

“I don’t know why he needs me there. We aren’t going to be an item. This whole thing is too risky,” I said.

“Don’t be so sure about that. Lachlan is persistent and he won’t just give up. You might as well go with the flow and see how it goes,” Karina said, winking at me. My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe that she was actually advising me to go out with pretty boy. “And you need to look amazing for this dinner to impress his posh family. Have you thought about what are you going to wear?”

I shook my head, realising that she was right. I needed to be elegant as it was some kind of official dinner. Facing Jonathan Moore wasn’t going to be easy at all.

She gave me a big smile.

“In that case I might have something perfect,” she said, sounding excited. We were supposed to be brainstorming ideas, trying to figure out how to track Marisa’s boyfriend, but instead we were focusing on girly things.

I was surprised that she wasn’t worried.

“What are you talking about?” I asked her. She was giggling to herself and I couldn’t help to smile. Moments later, she took out from the wardrobe, the most beautiful dress that I had ever seen. It was long, black and shiny.

I stared at it, thinking that she was joking. That dress was too much. I couldn’t possibly pull of that kind of look off.

“I brought this with me, hoping that I would be able to wear it to some kind of party, but obviously then we found Marisa and everything changed. We have the same build and I think this dress will look amazing on you. It’s exactly the thing you need to impress everyone at that fancy dinner.”

She was right. The dress was stunning, and I had never worn anything like that before. My heart started to beat faster.

“All right let me try it on,” I said, thinking that this was crazy. I couldn’t truly be considering attending that special dinner.

Karina squeaked with excitement, jumping up and down like a little child. She quickly rushed me to the bathroom and handed me the dress.

As I was staring at myself in the mirror, trying to process what was happening, the tiny voice in my head whispered that Lachlan was going to love it when he saw me later. As crazy as it sounded, I was going to rock that dress tonight.