Villainous Hearts (Academy for Villains Book 1) Read online

  She sniggers but coughs into her hand when Knightford glares at her.

  "You have each been assigned to a house,” the headmaster resumes. “There are seven in total and allocations have been decided upon based on which sin brought you here. I will now hand you over to our matron, Miss Torrigan."

  A young woman steps forward. When the sun hits her auburn hair, each strand shimmers like iridescent scales. Something tells me she's a mermaid. I listen to her call out everyone's name and assign their houses. I'm not surprised when Murie and I are given Wrath.

  "We're going inside," Murie says, linking my arm with hers. Her teeth are chattering, which I know is a nervous habit of hers. “Confession, I'm freaking out."

  "Me too, but don’t worry. We’re in this together.”

  She nods and pats my hand shakily. I swallow down my own nerves and follow everyone onto the bridge. We barely step on it when a hand clamps on my shoulder and tugs me away from Murie. The same hand pulls me into a tight embrace, my face pressed against a muscular chest, and my senses fill with a heady cologne.

  "I thought I'd never see you again!"

  See me again? I shove my fists into his chest and push him back. He lets go reluctantly and I take a good, hard look at him. It's evident immediately that I have never seen this boy before. I'd remember his fiery-blue hair and amber eyes. His irises are vertical, almost like a dragon, but dragons don't have such flawless complexions. This boy's pale skin is absent of any scales, though there's an apparent glow about him, like the coronas of the moon. He's hot—that much is clear—but he's also mistaking me for someone else.

  "You don't remember me?" He searches my eyes with a pained look drifting over his face. "My love..."

  "Okay, big guy. I'm gonna stop you riiiight there." I step away from him, my body tensing in anger. Hot or not, I'm getting some weird vibes from him. "I have no idea who or what the fuck you are."

  "Who's this?" Murie stops at my side and eyes the boy just as skeptically.

  I shrug at her. "Hell if I know. I think he’s gunning for a black eye because he keeps calling me his love."

  The boy's eyebrows knit together. "It's me… It’s Hades!"

  I eye him curiously. "Neat name but I still don’t know who you are.”

  "I've waited many years for you, my lo—"

  "Don't call me that," I warn, seconds away from losing my shit.

  "This can’t be right. We're meant to be together!" Hades steps forward and grabs my arm.

  For what feels like an eternity, I just stare at his hand gripping me like a vise. My heart rate spikes and my blood runs cold in my veins, pounding furiously in my ears. Before I can stop it, my power takes over and pink fire explodes from my body like a shield, knocking Hades off the bridge and into the water. I march over to the side and point at him, my serpent hair hissing in warning.

  “Stay the hell away from me you sexy sonovabitch psychopath!”

  Hades splutters water from his mouth and grasps the edge of the pier. Lifting my hand to hex him, Murie pulls me back and drags me across the bridge to the castle. My hands are shaking and my pulse thrashes in my ears when we reach the other side. Gods, I want to kill him!

  "Who even is that psycho?" I glance at Murie, hoping she can shed light on the asshole that is Hades because I sure as hell don't remember him.

  "That psycho is our Defense teacher’s son," Loki quips as he walks past us, winking at me in particular. "Nice going there, snake girl. You sure know how to put on a good show."

  I glare at the back of his head. I'm tempted to let one of my snakes bite him on the ass just for calling me that. Murie’s hand on my shoulder helps to remind me of where I am.

  “Urgh,” I grumble at her. “Villains get punished for having fun and the cute guys are always batshit crazy.” I look up at the sky and shout from the top of my lungs: “If the gods could stop fucking with me now, that would be great!”

  “Shhh, they can hear you,” Murie hisses in a whisper.

  She actually believes the Sea God can hear our every word.

  “He’s too busy riding waves and eating oysters to pay any attention,” I tell her, my hair turning back to normal.

  She laughs just as the shadow of the castle stretches over us. It’s way bigger up close than I thought it would be. The doors are already open and we hurry through with everyone else. Seven people await our arrival in the conical vestibule. They stand in a straight line and they’re all different species, from vampires and fae to centaurs and sea creatures. My eyes land on the boy standing at the end, the only one not in a school uniform. His black shirt is tucked a little sloppily into his jeans, his sleeves are rolled up to the elbow, and his red tie brings out his crimson eyes. He catches me staring at him and flashes a grin while dragging a hand through his wavy, jet-black hair. His fangs gleam in the light pouring down from the sconces on the walls.

  Vampire. Of course.

  I peel my gaze from him and focus on the boy breaking up the line. His silver cornrow hair stands out against his dark complexion and he has blue dots painted on his chiselled jaw and around his eyes. I'm not overly familiar with the markings, but something tells me they're to do with Atlantis. I bet Murie would know.

  "Wrath new bloods,” the boy shouts in a deep, husky voice. “I’m Kallias. Follow me."

  Kallias turns on his heel and climbs the stairs without a backward glance. A group of students rush after him. As I prepare to follow in Murie’s wake, the headmaster pulls me to the side.

  "Miss Eyre, I would like a word with you in my office.”

  My heart sinks a little. I know it’s about Hades.

  “But my things—”

  “I have already sent them to your room. Muriel will handle them, won’t you?” He slides her a veiled glance, and my sister nods vigorously, her mouth agape. “Then it is settled. Come with me.”

  Casting Murie a longing glance, I have no choice but to follow Mr Knightford through the crowd of students. He leads me down a maze of corridors until we reach a gold staircase that spirals like a coiled dragon. I can see my scowl in the reflection of the banister. At the top, we enter an open-planned office with dark wooden furniture and bookshelves towering over a broad desk. Everything is clinically neat, from the polished floorboards to the three pencils aligned neatly on his desk beside a small stack of paperwork. I could use the desk as a mirror, it has been polished so much. Mr Knightford motions me to sit at the other side, and as I do so, I hear the door lock.

  My pulse spikes and I crane my neck, watching as he walks over to his desk. He doesn’t sit in his high-backed leather chair as I anticipate, choosing instead to gaze out the large, floor-to-ceiling window with his hands clasped behind his back. A deafening silence stretches between us and I grow desperate to break it. If I am to be punished, I’d rather he just got on with it.

  “I’m sorry for lashing out earlier,” I start, watching him turn on one heel.

  The unmasked section of his face looks startled as his gaze lands on me. He lifts a brow and widens his eyes, for a moment looking somewhat startled, and yet, the glimmer of emotion vanishes as quickly as it emerges. It’s like he has pulled on another mask to hide behind. I bet he does that a lot. He doesn’t strike me as the emotional kind.

  “Yes, I must say your actions disappoint me.” Settling into his seat, Mr Knightford straightens and splays his hands flat on the desk, his face now wiped clean of emotion. “I do not tolerate violence, Miss Eyre, especially toward a member of my faculty. However, am I right in thinking you were perhaps defending yourself?”

  I nod, and he clicks his tongue.

  “Then I will dismiss what transpired earlier. Frankly, I don’t tolerate unsolicited physical contact either and I will be having words with Hades to get to the bottom of his actions. Rest assured, he will not step out of line again. If he does, you will report to me. Understood?”

  I nod, telling him, “The boy claimed to know me, and yet I have no memory of him.”

  Mr Knightford nods thoughtfully. “I would suggest you steer clear of him. Hades is not the kind you want to be associated with.”

  My stomach clenches nervously. “What did he do to be sent here?”

  “Hades single-handedly took down an entire Paranormal Crime Unit. He freed thousands of criminals for a cause he has yet to disclose. Hades will spend the rest of his days here until he confesses and it is my job to ensure that he does.”

  I blow out a whistle. “Whoa. So he’s the real deal, huh? I mean, when it comes to villains.”

  Mr Knightford just stares at me.

  “Cue laughter,” I mumble.

  He frowns. “I don’t understand?”

  “I said I’ll be sure to steer clear of him, sir.”

  He nods and the long pause is extremely uncomfortable. I notice how tense his shoulders are and how much he’s clenching his hands into fists, his knuckles blanched.

  “Is that all, sir?”

  “There is one more thing... I’m your father.”

  I gawk at him. So the headmaster of this academy is also crazy? Great. Just fan-fucking-tastic.

  “Okaaaay then, sir. While it was good talking with ya, you should know that I’m not Luke Skywalker. I’m not a Jedi or Stormtrooper or whatever the hell happens in that thing. It’s Murie’s favourite, not mine. I’ve always preferred Lord of the Rings. If you’d told me that I must take the One Ring to Mordor then maybe I would understand, but—”

  “Your mother left you outside the Forbidden Temple,” he interjects, and every inch of his expression tells me that he truly believes what he’s saying. “She was tricked by a sorcerer into believing the Temple of the Gods would heal you, that the gods would remove your curse. By the time I found out, you were already gone.”

  He stands from his chair; the movement making me flinch, and walks around his desk to my side. Taking my hand into his, he stares intently into my eyes, and suddenly I notice how similar we are. Our eyes are the same, except for the color, and he has a dimple on his chin like I do. I’m still not entirely sure I believe him.

  “For eighteen years, I have looked for you. I was beginning to wonder if perhaps you were lost forever, but the gods have smiled upon us this day and reunited a grieving father with his long-lost daughter. You’re as much a part of me as my flesh and bones, and I don’t ever want to lose you again.”

  Despite my best efforts, I blink the tears from my lashes and they roll onto our clasped hands. Mr Knightford moves his hand to retrieve a photograph from his inner coat pocket. He turns it around, and more tears fall.

  It’s me.

  I must be only a few months old and I’m being carried in the arms of a young, beautiful woman. She’s smiling at the camera and holding me up like I’m the best thing in all the realms. My hair is short and curly, not a single snake in sight. I always thought I was born with the curse. But this makes me wonder if it happened at a later time.

  “This is my mum?” I take the photo from him, committing every detail to my memory. We have the same nose and lips and color of hair. She’s also wearing a primrose necklace, but unlike mine, it’s not made of stone.“What happened to her?”

  Mr Knightford pushes off his desk and turns away. I follow him with my gaze over to the window, watching as he loses himself once again to contemplation.

  “She died shortly after losing you. Your mother was never the same after it. She blamed herself for your curse and only wanted to help you, but when she came back to see if you had been cured, you were gone.”

  “Seceila took me,” I whisper, looking back at the picture, my hand going to the necklace hidden under my shirt. “She heard me crying and took me with her. What was my mother’s name?”

  He turns, just a fraction. “Yvanna.”

  “Yvanna,” I repeat the name slowly. “It’s very beautiful.”

  “Your mother had a beautiful soul. I see her in you.”

  The compliment makes me blush and feel all warm inside. For all my life, I have thought that my biological parents abandoned me because they hated me. Now I’m told they only left me because they wanted to help me. To cure me. My head spins with so many questions. Was my curse really so terrifying that I was worth giving up?

  “We have much to discuss,” Mr Knightford says, walking back over and taking my hands in his. “For now, you must rest. You’ve had a long journey.”

  “But I have too many questions.”

  He smiles, the lines around his eyes crinkling. “As do I. We have the next three months to ask them, and the rest of our lives, if you’ll let me be part of yours. I don’t want to lose you again, Zara.”

  My chest tightens at the tears gathering into his eyes. All I can do is hug him in reply. When I pull away, he folds my fingers around the photograph.

  “Keep it. Your mother would want you to.”

  Words fail me. I can only nod as I slide the picture into my pocket and stand from the chair. The exhaustion pulling at my bones is overwhelming. I so desperately want to ask him all the things, but he’s right. We have the rest of our lives to make up for lost time.

  I leave his office and follow the signs for the dormitories. After Kallias shows me to my room, I find Murie draping her favorite blanket over the foot of her single bed. She rushes over when she sees me and grabs me by the shoulders.

  “What’s wrong? Did Hades annoy you again? I swear to Poseidon, I will bitch slap him with all six of my tentacles.”

  “It wasn’t Hades.” I show her the photograph, my heart racing despite the smile curving my lips. “I just met my real dad. He’s the headmaster.”

  Chapter Three

  “I can’t believe it,” Murie says for the one-hundredth time. “Mr Knightford is your dad.”

  “Tell me about it. First, I get attacked by a loco cutie, then the headmaster says he’s my biological dad and it’s not even…” I glance at my watch. “Six-thirty. Way too early for this shit. But that does remind me. Food?”

  Murie stares at me like I’ve grown another head. “How can you think about food at a time like this?”

  “How can I not? We haven’t eaten in like two hours.”

  “Has it been that long already?” She grasps her stomach in mock horror.

  “Come on. Let’s see what food this prison—I mean, academy—has to offer.”

  I drag her by the hand out from our room. Much to my surprise, once we finally reach the canteen after only two wrong turns, the variety of food isn’t half bad. We grab some burgers and look for a place to sit. My gaze lands on Hades who stands only five feet away from me, his knuckles blanched white as he holds his dinner tray. He takes one hard look at me before turning on his heel and marching off.

  That guy is going to cause me trouble. I’m sure of it.

  “Zee, over here,” Murie says, nodding at the only vacant table in the cafeteria.

  We set our trays down and dig into our food. It’s the first chance I get to assess my fellow students and I’m amazed by how normal they all look. Sure, some of them are staring at me like I’m an unusual commodity, probably because I had a fight on my first day, but they look harmless enough.

  Well, as harmless as any other young offender can look.

  I lift my veggie burger and go to take a bite. That’s when I notice the shadows in the corner of the hall. I can just make out a pair of legs, and a hand resting on the table. A crimson ring on his finger gleams in the light and so do the eyes hidden in the darkness.

  “There’s someone staring at us,” I say to Murie, putting my burger down.

  She looks around the hall, wiping the ketchup off her upper lip with her tongue. “Almost everyone’s been staring at us after you knocked Hades on his ass.” Her gaze lands on the shadows and she frowns. “Oh, him. I heard about him from Kal.”

  “Kal?” Now it’s my turn to frown as I look at her. “Who’s Kal?”

  “Kallias, our year head. He helped carry your luggage up to our room and we saw the Shadow Boy on our way. I thought Kal was gonna slug him one.” She lowers her voice and leans in, and I notice she’s dropped ketchup onto her shirt. Typical Murie. “Apparently, everyone blames him for the death of a girl who died here last year.”

  “That’s horrible. Did you catch his name?”

  “Dracula.”

  “As in the Dracula? Prince of Darkness? Vlad the Impaler?” I glance at the boy, but he’s no longer there.

  “Not the Dracula. It’s his son,” Murie answers, swallowing the last of her burger. “Got sent here for trying to take over his father’s castle in Transylvania.”

  “Actually, I’m afraid you are mistaken,” a soft, velvety voice whispers, making me jump in my seat. “I was sent here for another reason entirely.”

  We turn to see Dracula standing behind us. My breath hitches as I realise he’s the vampire I saw earlier—one of the Head Boys. A grin slides onto his lips and he runs a hand through his short wavy hair, flashing a series of black hoops hanging off his pointed ear. He’s much taller than I expected and paler. His black coat slides around his knees, the intricate patterns are a vibrant blood-red, just like his eyes and the ring on his finger. There’s now no doubt in my mind who this vampire is.

  “I’ll give you a hint,” he says, winking at me. “Inimă mea.”

  “Is that Romanian?” I ask, loving his sexy accent.

  He nods and wiggles his eyebrows at me. “The most romantic language in the world.”

  Murie snorts and shoves a handful of fries into her mouth. He looks between us with an amused smirk on his face.

  “Now let me guess why you two are here.” He places his hands on the table in front of me and peers into my eyes. His glowing red ones search mine as though he’s reading my thoughts. “Ah, I thought as much. You were sent here because you turned someone’s wood into stone.”

  We stare blankly at him, though I struggle to keep the smile off my face.

  Dracula huffs at his lack of applause. “Come on, admit it. That was hilarious.”

  “Ever heard of personal space?” I push back in my chair, my smile getting the better of me. “And it was hilarious. But you clearly heard me talking about it on the ship.”