Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2), Lan Chan [readict TXT] 📗

to turn sour. I couldn’t take my eyes off Skander. Even though he could hardly move his body, his eyes were clear and sharp. They were a mundane light brown. I wasn’t sure why I was expecting anything different.

He smiled at me. Had he smiled at the people he sacrificed before he performed those rituals? “You’re the little girl with the demon blade?” Skander asked.

I couldn’t say a word. It wasn’t fear that stopped me so much as incredulity. Never in a million years would I have imagined being in a prison with a serial killer. In this dimension or the human one. It took me a while to remember that there had been plenty of sick people in Nanna’s psychiatric hospital. Lots of those people had killed as well.

“My shackles,” Skander said. He’d tried to stand but found he was too weak to do so without the balance of his arms. Giselle grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him up. Though she wasn’t nearly as tall as he was, she was clearly sporting some serious muscle.

Rather than continue to stand, Skander used the change of position to sit down cross-legged. “Come on then,” he said. “At least bring me the blade so I can see what we’re dealing with.”

I straightened my back and stepped forward. Kai wouldn’t allow anything to happen to me. I knew that without a shadow of a doubt. Even without our fraught relationship he wouldn’t let anyone under his care come to harm. Still I catalogued everything in front of me. I used a trick Basil had taught me to watch for changes in energy level.

There was a dark ring of what felt like shadows around Giselle and the other two guards in the room. The circle I drew around them flickered. It must be hell to constantly be around criminals. Especially magical ones.

I didn’t even need the circle to see how listless Skander was. He might talk a big game, but he was tired. At least physically.

I crouched down a metre away from him. Gingerly, I drew the demon blade from behind my back and laid it out in between us. Close enough that he could see it. Not close enough for him to reach it. Not that he would be able to with his hands bound behind his back.

Skander leaned forward a little. I tensed.

It was slightly comforting to see Giselle didn’t move an inch. I had a feeling if she were ever scared, we were all in for it.

“Interesting,” Skander said. “This is not its original form.”

“How in the world do you know that?”

He smirked. “I don’t think you would want to know, kitten.”

I let the nickname slide on account of my memory dredging up the reason why he was able to know things about the demonic world that most of us couldn’t.

“Do you ever feel anything when you touch the blade?” Skander asked. If his hands were free, I imagined he would be stroking his short beard. He had a kind of nervous tick about him. At the same time his accent was slightly lilting.

“Not really.”

“Has it never bonded with your blood?”

I reached out to touch the tip of the blade. Once upon a time that tip used to be a razor-sharp point that curled out into a wave. “I’ve been stabbed with it.”

“But you didn’t give the blood willingly.”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“Demon blades are forged in blood. Right now, your blade doesn’t know you. It still clings to the aura of its previous master.”

“You talk about it like it’s alive.”

“Why can’t it be?”

I tapped at the metal. It made the usual hard metallic sound. “Why don’t you ask your guards whether they think of their swords as just instruments?”

“We’re not talking about their blades.” He was dreaming if he thought I was going to let him segue into another topic that could lead to him learning something about Kai and Astrid’s swords.

He smiled for real this time. “Cautious little kitten.” When he tried to shuffle forward, Giselle put out her foot to block his way.

“Close enough,” she said.

He sat back heavily.

“How do I know what you’re telling me is the truth?” I said.

“You’ll just have to take my word for it.”

I glanced up at Giselle. “Isn’t there something you can give him to make him truthful?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Truth potions are distorted by what the user believes. He’s insane enough to believe his own truths.”

“You’re just going to have to do as I say,” Skander said.

I picked up the blade. Holding it out to him, I used the tip to tilt his head up. “I’m not doing anything you wouldn’t do. You think I need to bleed?”

I nicked his cheek with the tip of the blade. The slash of blood wasn’t deep but it was enough to drip onto the tip.

I watched, slightly nauseated as the blade absorbed the blood just as it had mine. There was a moment of stillness and then the blade began to smoulder. Streams of smoke hissed from the metal. The blade turned dull. It started to rattle against my hand.

I wasn’t sure how, but an image ripped into my mind. One of the sword biting into Skander’s neck. It pierced him right through the voice box. It was almost like it had gotten a taste of his blood and wanted more. The tugging became urgent.

The blade almost jumped out of my hands. I clamped down hard and dragged it back.

“Blue...”

Kai was suddenly right behind me.

“I’m fine.” I bit my bottom lip. The circle happened immediately. They were always my go to. I sliced open the skin of my pointer finger. Using the knowledge of binding blood magic Basil had taught me, I drew a circle at the hilt.

“Good girl,” Skander said. ‘Brand it. Make it yours.” It was by far the creepiest thing I’d ever heard.

“Shut up!” Kai snapped.

“Kai,” I said. The sword tried to pivot in his direction. “Step back.”

I didn’t have the presence of mind to check if