Descending Into Darkness (Moonlight Academy Book 2)

It was very quiet over the next few days, so we acted as if we were done with the investigation. This was our tact to make sure that we could enter the trials without any problems. I kept thinking about Claude. He was the only person that could get us inside that building, but Lachlan wanted nothing to do with “this clown.”

We had to leave Elite for good, at least this was the impression that we were giving to others. We were going back to the Ukraine empty handed. We left very early in the morning to make sure that we didn’t attract too much attention to ourselves and relocated to the apartment in the centre of Bucharest. Apparently, Oldman had tried to convince Holland to let us into the trials, but he didn’t want to hear her arguments.

I wanted to speak to Claude, but there was no time and I couldn’t jeopardise our plan. There were lots of unanswered questions hanging in the air. I knew that Leonidas had been involved from the very beginning. He still wanted to have influence within Elite.

Alexa – the witch, was brewing potions for us in the other room and Lachlan was getting very impatient.

“How long before the potions are ready?” He kept asking her, knowing well enough that she needed some time to prepare everything.

She gave him a long look before she sighed loudly.

“At least two more hours. The liquid needs time to mature. Besides this is a very complex potion Lachlan. I suppose you don’t want to change into some random animal after you consume it?”

I sneered and Lachlan gave me an annoyed look, then he left the room. I had no idea what was wrong with him. Ever since we returned from Transylvania he had been acting strange and he was always in a bad mood.

“I don’t think this whole thing is such a good idea. Claude is going to be suspicious, he won’t believe that we just left. We must preserve our integrity. No one is going to hire us if they hear we couldn’t solve such high-profile murders,” Karina said, drinking some tea. Marco was out as usual and Judas was on his phone.

“Lachlan seems to have a plan,” I muttered although I was not convinced if there was anything set in place.

Over the next few days we got to know Alexa a little better. She said she had lived in Holland most of her life. She was part of the witches’ coven there and worked for the local supernatural politician as a spell caster.

“My life was perfectly normal. I was always so careful and organised. That was until a few weeks back when I went to collect some paperbacks from that vampire in the centre of Amsterdam. He must have used compulsion on me, because the next thing I remembered was you Jaymin,” she explained yesterday when we’d sat down to dinner.

The new apartment was huge and we were right in the middle of the city centre. Lachlan kept reminding us that we had to be careful whenever we went out.

He was mainly concerned about Marco, who had been absent for most of the day.

Pretty boy was Oldman’s right hand and even if I had other ideas, I had to stick with the team.

In the end Judas and Lachlan went for a walk. They were frustrated and had had enough of sitting around. The potions were still maturing.

It took several more hours for Alexa to be sure that everything was in order.

I had just finished reading a book, trying to take my mind off everything. The smell of herbs wafted around the whole apartment. This whole situation was frustrating, so I was happy when the waiting time was over. Alexa looked exhausted, she was flustered and her blond hair was tied up in a ponytail.

Moments later, she was pouring a very thick dark liquid into five flasks that were set out on the table.

Lachlan, Marco and Judas returned just in time for us to begin the spell. I was nervous for some reason.

“Right, let’s get this show on the road,” Marco said, lifting the flask up to his nose.

It must have smelled disgusting because he made a growling sound. Lachlan just shook his head, picked up the flask, and drank his in one go.

His scent was driving me crazy again. The flashback from that time when he’d kissed me came back. I was craving his blood once again. I tried not to think about him at all, but sometimes it was difficult to ignore these emotions that were building inside me.

We still communicated, but something had changed between us and I couldn’t explain what. I was supposed to be glad that he wasn’t pushing me into this whole “mating thing”, but I wasn’t.

“Each one of you will take the appearance of another person. You will have around forty-eight hours in that body, after that, the potion fades and your cover will be blown,” Alexa explained, whilst waiting for the potions to take effect.

Karina and I exchanged nervous glances with each other. I stared at the liquid, waiting for something to happen. My mother’s face flashed through my mind and I picked up the flask. The potion was still warm. Oldman and even Lachlan, had warned us that this was a very complex potion and if any of the ingredients were missed the consequences would be severe.

We were entering the trials as potential academy students to find the murderer of Marisa and the other student.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

We were all aware that some of the tasks were deadly, so we were literally risking our lives to conclude this case. Judas took his flask and lifted it close to his mouth.

“Well I think it’s time to say cheers,” he muttered and then drunk the liquid, emptying the whole thing in one go.

Nothing had happened so far with Lachlan or Marco since drinking their potions first.

“Bottoms up,” I finally said, smiling to Karina, feeling scared.

The liquid tasted worse than I’d expected; like mud. The consistency was vile. I had to swallow it a few times for it to finally go down my throat. Then, I felt the burning in my stomach.

Seconds later, the pain exploded around my gut and I screamed. It was difficult to explain what happened afterwards because I woke up on the floor a little while later.

I wasn’t the only one that had passed out. The rest of the team was on the floor too.

“Everything is working as it should. Your aura’s are shifting. It’s normal to pass out after consuming such a strong potion. I don’t think you should waste any time – go straight to the Academy now,” I heard Alexa saying, as she was helping me to get back up on my feet. I glanced at my hands. My skin colour was now black.

I glanced at Lachlan. He looked like a human on steroids. He had a longer and much fuller face, however his expression remained the same. I could just tell that it was pretty boy in a new body.

He must have grown at least twice his normal size. Marco and Judas were now ginger shifters and they looked like twin brothers. Whereas Karina had long, silver hair and was slightly taller too.

“I don’t like this,” Marco complained running his hand through his hair in front of the small mirror.

He kept staring at his new reflection like he couldn’t believe that this was truly him.

“Too bad, because this is your new look from now on. Let’s get moving guys. Judas and I should leave first, then the rest of you can follow. Our main objective is to eliminate these vampires, or at least expose them. Either option is good,” Lachlan announced.

We had discussed his plan over and over again during the meeting yesterday. Once we were inside the trial’s building, we couldn’t really help each other get through it unless we ended up together. The main objective was to survive and track down Leonidas’ men. This whole investigation had gone on for far too long. Oldman wanted to finish the job and move on already. I didn’t think she cared much about the politics within Elite.

“Good luck,” Alexa shouted after them when Lachlan and Judas headed out. I was a little disappointed that pretty boy didn’t even say goodbye to me. It was possible that this would be the last time we all saw each other.

“Damn Jay, you look strange in braids. I just can’t get used to it,” Karina said, staring at me.

“I do indeed feel strange in this body, but we haven’t got time to play with magic,” I said, wanting to get on with this. “Let’s go.”

She nodded. Marco was going to be the last to leave.

I put on my leather jacket that was a bit small now. My knives were hidden around my ankles in my boots. I wasn’t planning to get rid of them even though everyone said that weapons weren’t allowed inside. I was going to take my chances.

Alexa wished us luck and five minutes later, I was outside with Karina. Alexa was staying behind. For now, her job was done. It was up to us to figure out who was behind these murders.

We split up on the street. I wanted to hug her and I thought she would do too, but we just quickly walked away.

It was better not to bring any more attention to ourselves as a lot of pedestrians were already staring at me.

I quickly called an uber. The driver kept staring at me all the way to the academy. I told him to drop me off outside the park. This body felt a little restricted. Moments later, I found myself right outside the gate, the same one where Karina and I had ended up when we were supposed to meet Marisa. The gate was locked, but that was expected. I used a magical code to break the wards and then made everything look as intact as it was before. After that I just raced all the way to the academy building.

We had never been allowed to enter the trial territory within the Elite. Any potential students had to sign special contracts before the trials even started.

Elite Academy was the most powerful school for supernaturals in the whole world, and the school protected their secrets pretty well. Holland wanted to break away from the High Council which was not always possible.

I headed straight to the end of the park where a huge amount of energy was radiating around.

Soon enough, I approached the huge wooden door, the magic from inside was radiating and zooming through my energy. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do. Someone was supposed to wait for me here, at least that’s what I had been told.

I stood there like a moron, wondering if I was going to be the only one that wouldn’t be able to get inside, when the door finally opened.

My jaw dropped and for a second I thought that I was having hallucinations seeing Professor Ripley heading towards me. He was with someone else that I didn’t recognise, probably another professor.

I couldn’t believe that he was actually here, this was some kind of trick. That damn fae hated me. I didn’t know how and why he was suddenly a member of Elite Academy.

Wasn’t he supposed to be in Ukraine?

“Name?” he barked at me. Somehow that made me feel better a little because it seemed that he was just rude to everyone.

I wasn’t the only one that he treated like shit.

“Angelika Rust,” I answered, not recognising my own voice. It was deep and I didn’t like it.

He scanned the clipboard that he was holding with the pen. Then looked at me again, his magic was shining more than usual. Alexa was a very skilled witch. She knew exactly what she was doing.

“Your first task is in the room ahead. Just walk straight ahead until you reach the door, then enter,” the other professor stated giving me an encouraging smile. He was a shifter and he seemed much kinder than that idiot that I knew so well.

I just nodded and moved past both of them. It was pitch black inside, but my eyesight was better than any other human and I could see another door in front of me even with Alexa’s potion coursing through my system.

Seconds later, the door opened up and several faculty members walked through them carrying bodies. I stopped for a second, wondering if I was supposed to see this. A few vampires glanced at me, but they didn’t say anything as they moved past me.

They continued to carry them out as quickly as they could. I glanced at a few corpses that had possibly been potential students and my stomach turned. One was completely deformed. He was a fae and he was now dead. The other one was unrecognisable and I couldn’t tell if it was a male or a female. The body was completely burnt. The smell was horrendous too.

They vanished quickly and I found myself standing in front of another door.

Fear started creeping up my spine. Damn it, I had been waiting for this moment for so long. I had dreamed of taking part in Elite trials and now I was ready to chicken out?

No way. I wasn’t going to give up now, so I pressed the door handle and walked inside.

I found myself in another large room. Several torches were burning on each side, lighting the space. The smell of blood was strong.

I noticed that all the windows were covered and there were four Marble pillars in each corner.

“Jaymin?” someone startled me all of a sudden.

Second later a male came out of the shadow. My heart skipped a beat then raced triple time. It was Lachlan in his new body. I couldn’t believe my luck once again.

For a split second I had been ready to attack him, as he was still huge and unrecognisable.

“Oh, I am so glad that you’re here. Have you seen dead students being carried out of this room?” I asked him, feeling a little relieved that I wasn’t going to be here alone.

“No, I have been standing here for twenty minutes waiting for something to happen,” he muttered, confused.

I was just about to ask him about Ripley when we heard a loud scream followed by a bang like something heavy crashing on the ground. We both looked at each other fully alert.

This was it, the start. Lachlan winked at me and quickly vanished into the darkness. I followed him, thinking that this was going to be interesting.