Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) by Lan Chan (best e ink reader for manga TXT) 📕

flap of Kai’s wings where they’d shot out of his back was weakened. He had a second in the air when he’d lifted off before having to land again. It was excruciating to push his body past its current limits. But Kai had been born to protect. He would do it until he took his last breath.

The Sisters knew that. It was why they were attacking his friends. Neither of us would be able to concentrate while they led the assault on the people we cared about. When we slipped, they would take him down.

And in the back of Kai’s mind, I felt the knowledge that he couldn’t use his blade to defend. The angel blade had been made with one purpose in mind. To kill demons. The Sisterhood weren’t demons.

“Kai,” I whispered. “I’m going to send you something.”

“Don’t, Blue.”

But I was already shifting the focus of my thoughts. I saw the demon blade where it sat inside the sheath beside my bed. Wrapping my thoughts and will around it, I called out. “Morning Star!”

At first nothing happened.

The Sisterhood made another attempt to get at Luther. He had been on the edge of the group that Max protected. Max took a swipe at the shadow that breached his defences. He was quick. The tip of his claws sliced through the mist. But it didn’t strike real flesh. Luther yelped as something grabbed him by the throat.

Kai came bearing down on them. He wrenched Luther away from the shadow. If he were at full alertness there was no way he would have left his side open. He’d yelled at me enough during our lessons to prove that much. But he was weakened. The blade bit into his side like it was butter. The assailant made the hit, retracted her sword and disappeared.

I felt every rivulet of pain as though I were the one being cut. Kai grunted, shoving Luther clear of the danger zone. He doubled over, grasping.

“Move!” Kai yelled.

“You can barely stand –” Max protested.

The next attack cut them both off. Three shadows descended on the group Max was protecting. Rage turned his grey eyes into orbs of gold. He lashed out at the closest attacker. Somebody had the wherewithal to try and shoot the orbs of shadow.

Diana’s voice cut through the din. “Let them have it!” she screamed. Dozens of magical fireballs sailed through the air. They might not be a match for the Sisterhood individually, but they weren’t helpless either.

The sudden onslaught of magic had the shadows reconsidering. They disappeared once more. Now that the Sisterhood saw the shifters weren’t going to be easy targets, I had a feeling they would refocus their attention on their original mission. Kai must have thought the same. With the last of his strength, he shoved himself away from the crowd of kids.

The Sisterhood chose the moment when his wings allowed him to touch down on the ground to strike. Kai and I both felt the instant when they unsheathed their swords as they materialised. And then the sound of dimensional barriers tearing had me smiling. The demon blade shot through the barrier. Instead of heading for me, I sent it to Kai. He reached out to catch the hilt as though it had been made for him. He brought it up to block the first strike of the Sisterhood’s attack.

The clash wrought sparks of energy that set the underbrush alight when it touched the leaves. The demon blade did not like that it was being wielded by a Nephilim. It fought Kai’s hold, but I forced it to comply. Something to the left of my mortal ears exploded.

“We’re in!” Professor Mortimer cried.

Astrid wasted no time teleporting. She came down beside the group of shifters. She grabbed the youngest ones and teleported them out as the older kids hustled the younger ones out the door on foot.

All around, the illusion was breaking down. Soon there would be nothing inside that magicked building besides Kai and the Sisterhood. The shriek of fury they emitted was like fingernails on a chalkboard. One of the shadows went for another strike. The other tried once more to rip Kai’s soul away. I grabbed on to it and yanked back. The effort sapped the last of my energy. But it was enough. The whisper of the last thought the Sisterhood had before they fled reverberated in my mind: Traitor. You want to know why they have no contingency against us? It’s because they hunted us down like animals and considered us extinct.

I collapsed onto the sand. My eyelids fluttered closed as the circle around me failed. The last thing I remembered was somebody brushing the hair off my face. And then everything went dark.

22

It was too bright inside the infirmary when I opened my eyes. They might as well christen this room after me considering I was here so often. Somebody who knew me well had left a tray of food beside the bed. I was stuffing my face with fried chicken and thickly cut chips when Doctor Thorne knocked on the door.

He glided in with that eerie gait of a reptile.

“We really should stop doing this,” he said. “You spend more time in here than you do in classes.”

“That’s what I was just thinking,” I said, between bites. “How long this time?”

“It’s only been fourteen or so hours. You didn’t actually sustain any physical injuries. You just needed time to refuel.”

“How is everyone else?”

He sat down beside me. “Shaken. Up until now they might have been labouring under the assumption that the Sisterhood was behind the attacks. Now that it has been confirmed, there are talks of the Councillors going into hiding.”

I pushed the food away. “You mean we’re under attack and the people who are meant to lead us are going to cut and run?”

He nodded. “In a sense. But they are in grave danger, and without their leadership, we might be lost.”

I snorted. “Or we could be better off. Not all of the