Academy of Vampires (Fireblood Academy Book 1) Read online

  Academy of Vampires

  by Nexus Jones

  Academy of Vampires

  Nexus Jones

  Copyright © Nexus Jones

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13:

  To all those who struggle to find their place

  For all those who seek the blood.

  PART ONE

  1

  Chapter One

  “Mira, the headmaster is going to be so disappointed with you.” Azeroth said, shaking his head.

  “Yes, I know. But they shouldn’t have treated me so badly the last time.” I said, trying to block the painful memories of taunting and physical violence I had endured.

  “We all know things at Vampire Academy can get tough...but that’s no excuse to just run away off the grid like that.”

  The funny thing is that no one at the academy cared that I disappeared until they needed me and my secret powers. I have no idea what those powers even are, because they won’t tell me out of fear for my own safety.

  So, they essentially keep me hostage, forcing me to go to this wretched school and train and hone my vampiric abilities.

  That might sound fun, but it really Isn’t. I promise.

  “I just want to live a normal life, Azeroth. You wouldn’t understand.”

  And he wouldn’t. Azeroth has lived this life for the entirety of his existence. He’s been in the vampire game, hunting demons and sending them back to where they came.

  It’s the typical life of a vampire. Although we get a bad reputation, we do serve a valuable purpose to the world. We sweep the Earth for demons and try to keep them suppressed and at bay.

  I mean, if it weren’t for us, the entire world would be teeming with them. And they’d possess humans, kill them, and probably destroy the whole world as you know it.

  So maybe you all should be a little more grateful instead of trying to paint us all with a broad brush.

  “This is the only life I know.” he said in his husky tone.

  The horse-drawn carriage pulled up to the black iron gates, which opened up as we approached.

  The academy was in an incredibly rural area of Massachusetts with nothing but farmland surrounding us. It was quite beautiful and idyllic, the grass and trees rolling in the distance.

  But the realities of the academy were anything but beautiful.

  A lump formed in my throat and my hurt pulsed as I started to get flashbacks of all the things that happened to me. They were so traumatic that I had to use a memory swipe spell in order to suppress them and my entire time at the academy.

  The carriage started to slightly bump as we travelled over the cobblestone road. The road was lengthy and lead towards the academy, a beautiful, yet dark and intimidating gothic structure.

  Probably the exact place you’d be thinking about that would house vampires.

  The school was originally a cathedral patterned after the Catholic church, and it certainly looked like it.

  The large stone tower was grand and swept upwards with height and grace. Surrounding the main tower were flying buttresses that helped to redistribute the weight from the main tower out more evenly. Surrounding that tower were smaller, yet equally impressive gothic stone structures that served as the main academic buildings, each with pointed arch entrances. Colorful stained glass windows created breath-taking sun-rendered effects.

  Obviously, the Catholic church and vampires never quite liked each other. We had gone to war against each other for centuries.

  But after the Great Truce of Rome a couple hundred years ago, we kind of just decided to chill out about all that.

  But I haven’t really paid that much attention in Vampire history classes, so what do I know?

  We pull up right to the beautiful building, and there are other vampires standing around. Class was probably over by now, and everyone was just chatting casually outside on the grounds.

  I took a step out of the carriage, and immediately eyes were on me.

  I heard a gasp.

  “Is that Mira?” a surprised voice said

  Oh great, I didn’t want to attract this much attention.

  Azeroth handed a bag of luggage to me.

  “This is your uniform and everything you’re going to need for school.” he said, giving me a pat on the shoulder, “Good luck. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from the headmaster soon.”

  “Thanks Azeroth.” I said through gritted teeth, taking the black leather bag out of his hand.

  He walked away but his place was almost instantly replaced with a lean blonde guy with green eyes, chiseled face, and a thin nose. His lips were thin and his eyes looked like they could sparkle.

  Austin Moonblood. The hottest guy in the entire school.

  Every girl wants him. And he can have any girl he wanted.

  My heart beats through my chest anytime I see him.

  Oh, what I would do to be his….To be in his arms as he caresses me gently.

  But no...I can’t.

  There’s something about him that’s eating at me. Something really bad, but I cannot exactly figure out what.

  Ah shit, it’s the memory suppression still lingering. I’m not exactly sure what’s bugging me about him, but I get a bad feeling at the pit of my stomach.

  “Austin...how are you?” I ask, blushing

  “Better, now that you’re here.” he said, raising his eyebrow, “I never knew that you were coming back, Mira. When you left, I really missed you.”

  “You missed me?” I said, swooning inside.

  I couldn’t believe a guy as hot as him would actually miss me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hideous, but I’m not the most beautiful girl either. I’m kind of a plain-jane. I don’t ever remember getting attention from guys this hot.

  “Austin...forgive me but my memory is kind of fuzzy right now.” I said, laughing nerovously

  He raised an eyebrow and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

  “Wait, did you swipe your memory or something?” he asked

  My eyebrows popped in the air, “Uh...yeah I did. How’d you know?”

  “I could sense the magic on you. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but I could sense that something was….off.” he said, his nostrils flaring open.

  He could smell the magic on me. Which isn’t a surprise at all given that magic itself tends to come with a strong scent.

  Depending on which spell you use, the smell shifts. It could smell as lovely as a bouquet of roses or as pungent as dirty socks. By rule, light magic tends to smell good and dark magic tends to smell bad.

  A memory swipe is generally considered “neutral.” So the scent is subtle, usually the smell of freshly cleaned laundry.

  Of course I hadn’t forgotten everything my magic wasn’t that great. But the moment I arrived back on campus, I was smacked right in the face with a bunch of latent memories that were slowly trickling back into my consciousness.

  “You remember where your dorm is, right?” he asked

  “Yeah, Redstone Hall….I do remember….” I said, trailing off and gazing into the distance.

  In front of me walks an older man in his fifties. His face was pale and wrinkled, black hair with grey coming around the edges, lines near the creases of his eyelids giving away his age. He was pretty thin and dressed in a black cloak that flowed in the air. He looked pretty worried as he proceeded towards me.

  Instinctively, I tensed up. I could tell that he’s an authority figure.

  “Mr. Longfang. I’d like to talk with Ms. Parker alone, please.” he said in an authoritative tone.

  “Of course, Headmaster Volkov.” Austin sa
id regrettably, giving me a wink before gracefully departing.

  Volkov’s brown eyes narrowed on me.

  “It’s a pleasure to have you back Mira Turner. It’s been a long month without you.”

  I blinked rapidly.

  “A month? It felt….longer.”

  “Well, when you wipe your own memory, I guess it can mess with your understanding of time.” he said, “You must not remember how grave of an offense that you committed.”

  My heart skipped. I knew this was bad, even though I was unsure of the degree or severity of it.

  I gulped. Before I could say anything, he cut me off.

  “Running away from Vampire Academy can result in a year or more in the dungeons if caught.”

  Damn, what happened to me must have been really rough if I were willing to risk imprisonment to just run away.

  “Sorry Headmaster. I don’t know why I did what I did, but please don’t lock me in any dungeon. I don’t do well without sunlight. I mean, how do you expect me to keep my tan?”

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in frustration.

  “Look, it seems like you have forgotten a lot, so let me fill you in a bit. This is your third year at the academy. You haven’t been a stellar pupil to say the least… You dropped out due to personal conflicts you had with the other vampires-in-training. We debated letting you just stay away from the campus until we got notice that demons have started breaching the realm far more often than before. They are getting more powerful, and we need as many vampires as we can get. So we had no choice but to take you back from your cozy life of pretending to be a lazy, videogame-playing human.”

  “Wait...does this mean that I won’t get to play my video games as much anymore?” I asked

  “Sorry kiddo, there are more pressing matters to deal with than your silly little hobbies. Go unpack your bags in the dorm. I assume you forgot where it is.” he said, pointing behind me.

  I turned my head to see a grey, three-story dorm building made of grey brick. It was beautifully constructed and matched the gothic architecture of the campus with stone steps leading up to an arched doorway with a dark brown wooden door. The windows looked worn by years of rough weather, but they had a certain character to them. Green hedges surrounded the periphery with orange-colored roses.

  When I turned my head around, Headmaster Volkov was gone, dust lingering in the air where he once stood, other students staring at me in the background.

  I threw the bag strap around my shoulder and turned around to proceed to my dorm. As I continued walking, I could see the other students whispering?

  What are they talking about? I wondered.

  I knew they were talking about me. I could feel their eyes dagger into my back as I continued walking away towards the dorm.

  Climbing up the stone stairs and stepping inside, can feel a rush of energy crash into my body. The inside of the dorm was simply beautiful. Checker-board patterned black and white marble floors, a sweeping spiral staircase at the back of the lobby that led upstairs. A stunning white stone statue of an Eagle, the school mascot, sits in the center.

  I weave my way through a few students and get some curious stares and whispers.

  I can hear you.

  While walking up the stairs, I feel my body being magnetically pulled into the upcoming hallway. I reach the top of the stairs and begin walking down it. The hallway was dark, with floating candles lighting the pathway. The floors were dark grey cobblestone and the walls were made of chillingly cold grey stone. It smelt like an old church, like I was walking down hallowed grounds.

  Closer. Closer. Closer. I heard in my ear. I couldn’t tell where this voice was coming from, but it felt so...good.

  You know that feeling you get when you’re wrapped in the warm, comforting arms of a loved one or when you’re sitting in front of a plate of your grandmother’s delicious chocolate chip cookies?

  That’s how I was feeling right now.

  My body was just moving, and I couldn’t control it. I was like a fish caught on a hook.

  I probably should be panicking, but I just can’t. Because it feels so right.

  My legs stop.

  I break out of my trance, and I’m standing in front of a dark brown oak door.

  Room 202.

  I place my hand on the doorknob and a jolt of electricity runs up my spine. My eyes widen and the hair on my arm stands up.

  This is home.

  I turn the knob open, and swing open the door to my room. As soon as my eyes lay eyes on it, I start feeling the connection grow even stronger. But I’m still not completely there.

  I scan the room to get a good look.

  It definitely feels like home, even though I’m still processing everything. The white drywall is covered with posters of my favorite boy band. The bed looks comfy, and there are two in the room, which I assume would be for the roommate. My comforter is my favorite color, dark purple. There’s a laptop sitting at the desk that’s placed right in front of the window that overlooks the entire campus.

  But there was something else that caught my attention.

  I could feel myself being internally moved towards a stone, a stone that sits right on top of the desk right next to the laptop, shining green.

  Touch me. Touch me.

  My insides tremble and my eyes water. My body starts moving towards it, and I can feel myself explode on the inside.

  My fingers shake as I reach closer. It’s like a magnet, and my body feels like pure metal.

  My fingertip touches the surface and a ripple of pure energy washes over me. My mouth gapes open as I take in a breath of fresh air.

  Holy shit, that was powerful.

  Colors fly across my eyes, and what looks like a bunch of photographs rush across my sight like a movie. It felt like forever, but I knew it was only a few seconds.

  I snatch my hand back from the stone and take a few steps trembling backwards. A few beads of sweat drop down my forehead.

  Slowly, my memories came back to me.

  “A memory stone.” I mumbled.

  I placed my memories in that stone before I took the amnesia potion and ran away from the academy.

  The stone itself looks like a normal stone to all except the vampire that places the spell on it. So, no one would be the wiser to my use of that illegal magic.

  Using magic to alter or manipulate memories is against the rules for vampires. Well, it’s not the biggest rule. It’s not like I drank blood from a human or anything. Doing that would get me banished from vampire society forever. However, it’s still against the rules.

  It’s not a super-major rule, but it’s definitely enough to get me in some pretty significant trouble with the higher vampires if they ever caught adrift.

  I placed my memories in that stone so I could access them if I ever needed them again. Think of it as an external hard drive for your computer. Pretty smart move by me, if I say so myself.

  “I’m surprised it worked.” I said to myself.

  I mean, I really was. Because, I’m not the greatest when it comes to casting spells. So, it was a risk when I decided to use magic to lock my own memory away.

  But hey, it worked out I guess.

  “Mira, you’re back!” I heard a surprised voice say from behind me.

  I turned around to see a girl dressed in a dark green sweater and a black skirt with high-legged socks that almost hit her kneecaps. She had long, flowing black hair and sharp green eyes. Her face was youthful and innocent, and completely stunning.

  I could tell that I knew her, but her name escaped me. My memories were still settling in.

  “I know you, but I can’t remember your name.”

  “Oh...You must have wiped your memory didn’t you? I told you not to do that, but you kept insisting to learn how. I’m Isadora Mellencamp, your roommate and best friend.”

  A smile crept across my face.

  “I knew I got a good feeling from you.”

  “Don’t worry,
the memories should start to fade back in slowly if you touched the memory stone again.”

  “Why did I try to wipe my memory in the first place?” I asked

  “Well….it’s complicated.” she said, crossing her arms, “You were getting bullied so badly by Chase, Ryan, and Austin that you just had to leave.”

  My eyebrows popped up. Bullied? By that hot guy that I met earlier. He was so nice to me, I could barely understand.

  “I met a guy named Austin just a few minutes ago. He was really nice. It’s hard for me to believe that he’s a bully.”

  “Oh man, you really did wipe your memory didn’t you?” she said in disbelief, as she arched an eyebrow.

  “Were they that bad?” I asked.

  I could tell the undertext of what she was saying. For some reason I’ve always been really good at detecting those kinds of cues.

  “They’re really bad.” she said with emphasis, “They are the three biggest bullies in the entire school. But they’re super hot.” she said

  “If they are such notorious bullies, then why are they still students here? Did no one want to kick them out?”

  “When you have as much money and influence as they have, you can do whatever you want…” she said, trailing off.

  Rich boys? They’re the worst. They think that because they have a lot of money they can do whatever they want and treat people however they want. They think they can behave with impunity, hurting and exploiting people.

  But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t somewhat jealous of them. There must be something nice about having that much power.

  I mean, I’d be much nicer with the power of course. I wouldn’t use it to exploit or hurt others. I’d be kind with it and use if I had the opportunity to. But of course, I’d never have that kind of opportunity. Not all of us are born lucky, and life is deeply unfair.

  “Well, hopefully I don’t run into them I guess.” I said, wondering if they were all as hot as advertised.

  “How much did you really forget?” she asked

  “I feel like the memories are slowly coming back, but it will take some time. I can’t believe I would really run away because of bullying.”