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

it and nodded. Giselle backed up. Diana took the opportunity to snag Kai’s boot and drag him out of the circle. The contact of his body with the chalk smudged the drawing, but at this point it didn’t matter. Sweat poured off his brow as he fought with her to keep his soul intact.

Sophie had been crouched over her parents’ bodies. She straightened up now and drew her own circle. The flickering lights of the candles blazed and then spilled over. The flames turned blue and began to melt the salt and sand. They became one entity. In my mind, I felt the light of my power strengthen as she fed me hers. That was the beauty of being a kitchen witch. I got to my feet with the sword in hand.

Giselle met my gaze. “You should have been one of us,” she said.

“You should have asked me instead of trying to kill people I care about.”

She spat on the floor. The movement caused the backpack to shift. The buckle had come undone in the scuffle. “They’re not worth fighting for. They came to conquer us.”

“Maybe once upon a time.”

Orin made a squealing sound. I tried to latch on to his soul, but he was slipping. Even with the added strength my hold was weakening. I had one shot and it was going to be a shitty one.

“Kill me and this body dies,” Giselle said.

“Clearly you don’t know me very well.”

I surged forward. My sword clashed with the sheath of the demon blade. It jerked in her grip. She couldn’t wield it. She knew that much. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t good with a weapon. She’d been trained as an assassin after all. That training proved to be my undoing. I was in her body, but that didn’t mean that I had her muscle memory. If anything, her size felt unwieldy. I didn’t compensate properly for the longer reach of her arm and swung the blade too wide. I swore I could hear Diana groan at my mistake. Then I couldn’t hear anything else as Giselle brought the butt of the demon blade handle down on my temple.

I collapsed into a heap in the circle. My grip on the souls slipped further. I whimpered as I felt Kai scrambling towards me.

“Kill her!” I screamed with the last of my strength. Nobody moved.

Giselle looked down on me out of my own eyes. She didn’t smile. She didn’t blink. Her focus was locked on me. That’s why she didn’t notice when a copper-shrouded doll slipped out of the backpack.

No! Basil ran towards the fire.

“Don’t!” I screamed. Giselle’s face twisted in disgust. She’d lifted her foot and thought I was begging her not to hurt me. I tried to swipe at Basil, but he was already engulfed in flames. Sophie screamed when she realised what was happening. She tried to release her spell, but it was already too late. The fire ate up the wool of Basil’s mortal body like it was made of kindling.

I felt it the second his soul dissipated. Thunder rumbled through the assembly hall. My insides scrambled the way they did when Kai teleported me. Except this time there was only pain. The world somersaulted. I clutched at my queasy stomach. When I blinked again, I was the one standing. We’d switched back. Enraged, I slammed my foot into the side of Giselle’s head. What my body did physically was only a representation of what my magic did to her. It poured out of me in a gushing of black waves that engulfed her. She was no longer moving.

I dropped to my knees, the circle in my mind spinning so quickly I could barely keep up with it. The Ley lines spun their webs. I reached out with the darkness of my power and snatched at the very essence of Basil’s soul.

A hand swept across my forehead as a hooded figure materialised before me. I felt the wisp of wind against my cheek. A sense of calm tried to impose itself over me, but I threw Azrael off.

“No!” I screamed at him. “You can’t have him!”

There was an almighty crack and the door to the assembly hall splintered open. A pair of bodies shot through it. Max and Charles dropped to the stage. Max had another body in his arms. He flung it around like it was nothing but a piece of tissue. Skander’s neck was twisted in an unnatural angle. His eyes were unseeing.

“Oh my god,” Professor Magnus said. But it wasn’t at the sight of the Thompson boys. The doors opening released a spell that had kept them contained. The professor and Jacqueline stampeded through the assembly hall to get out and deal with the demons overrunning the school.

I was still scrambling to keep hold of the last of Basil. Lex, I heard him say in my thoughts. It’s okay. I’m ready.

“To hell with that!” I screamed. “If this bitch can steal my soul then I can do the same.”

And that’s when it hit me. I really didn’t like it but there was no other choice.

Really, little one? Azrael spoke in my mind. Is it worth it?

Will you stop me? I shot back, feeling time slip through my fingers.

He shook his head mournfully and disappeared.

“Professor,” I cried. “I don’t know what to do.”

Professor Mortimer frowned. “It’s not really my area of expertise either, dear. But you have a way of forcing things to fit.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring,” Professor Eldridge said to him. She had stomped in after the Thompson boys.

And then I felt Kai’s arms around me. His chest pressed against my back. His breathing was still ragged. “Let me help you, Blue.”

I opened my eyes and turned my head to the right to find one dishevelled jackass smirking at me. He had his hands over Skander’s broken neck. As I watched, skin and bone knitted together. I bit my lip. I didn’t know how to do this.

“I get it,” Kai said. “I finally understand.” His