Descending Into Darkness (Moonlight Academy Book 2)

“Oh my fucking God, you look stunning girl! I want to see Lachlan’s face when he sees you later,” Karina shouted when I was all dressed up and ready to go.

I smiled, still not believing that this was really me. I looked classically beautiful.

“Sorry ladies, but the Scot already left. He said he was going to call you Jaymin,” Marco said, walking into our bedroom but stopped when he saw me, his jaw dropped. Then he whistled. “Damn it girl, you scrub up well!”

His eyes zoomed me over like he still wasn’t sure if this was really me. My face heated up a little. Even my breasts looked bigger than expected.

“Yes, she looks so hot and sexy. Right, let me take a picture and where the hell has Lachlan gone?” Karina asked, sounding annoyed. I was a little disappointed too.

Why did he leave so suddenly? It seemed that all this effort had been for nothing.

“He had a family thing, but he said that he’s going to see you by the chapel Jaymin. He asked me to pass on the message,” Marco said, scratching his chin.

“Well, in that case, we have a bit more time to perfect your make up,” Karina said, rubbing her hands together.

An hour later, I was staring at the mirror still, pretty much speechless, not recognising myself at all. It was all rather overwhelming, but also very satisfying. Karina was very good with all this girly stuff. She’d used at least five different brushes on my face.

Two years ago I would never have hoped or dreamed of being in this position, agreeing to accompany a pure blooded vampire to some fancy dinner. Well, things had certainly changed, and I’d changed too.

“You must give me all the juicy details later dear. Remember, don’t let his father intimidate you. You’re amazing,” Karina kept saying when she was rushing me off towards the door. The heels were high and I was struggling to walk in them.

I was sure that I was going to break an ankle.

“Okay,” I said, suddenly having second thoughts. I needed to hush that other doubting voice in my head and just get on with it. The night had drawn in when I stepped outside the building, the sky was scattered with stars. It was freezing cold. My cheeks felt like they were made of ice, but I started walking towards the chapel.

I kept telling myself that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Hello mysterious half breed. Can I just say that you look absolutely stunning this evening,” a familiar voice startled me and I nearly jumped out my skin.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I turned around, seeing Claude approaching from the opposite direction. His eyes appeared red in the moonlight. A cold shiver crawled down my spine. Damn it, just my luck. Right now I didn’t need to have any confrontations between him and the pretty boy.

“Thank you Claude,” I answered. “I really need to get going, I’ll catch up with you another time.”

“Hold on, what’s the rush. I thought we could discuss some business, but you’re distracting me too much,” he whispered. His eyes were binding into mine, and I suddenly forgotten about the Scot. I just wanted to stay with Claude.

“What business? We still need that file that I told you about before, Marrisa’s boyfriend is still missing,” I said, reminding myself that my magic could be resistant to Claude’s compulsion. I just needed to focus.

“Then you need to accompany me to my office. We could talk there,” he said, and I was truly ready to follow him.

“What the hell is going on here? Jaymin, is this clown bothering you?”

Lachlan appeared out of nowhere. The anger was radiating from him. He was staring at Claude with daggers in his eyes.

Damn. He did look so handsome. He was wearing a suit and his fangs were out. Claude smiled, at the same time my magic soared through my core. They were measuring each other in silence while my heart was beating loudly inside my chest.

“Hello Lachlan. Me and the lovely Jaymin were having a conversation. Are you insinuating that she isn’t allowed talk to anyone here? I was also admiring how stunning she looks this evening,” Claude explained politely, but he was winding pretty boy up. I just knew it.

“She can talk to whoever she wants unless that person is you. Can you just fuck off and leave us be,” Lachlan barked, placing his hand on my arm. Another shot of electric current jolted through me and my knees nearly gave up on me. Claude narrowed his eyes at my cleavage, then licked his lips. I could feel his desire embracing me like an invisible light.

“Vampires like you shouldn’t claim something that doesn’t belong to you,” Claude said and Lachlan moved towards him so fast that I didn’t even have time to react. Luckily for me that I stood so close and something happened. My magic reacted before me. It stopped him. He made this specific hissing sound and appeared to be surprised.

I had a feeling that he was ready to rip Claude’s face off.

“Right, both of you need to cut it out,” I shouted as the tension skyrocketed

between all of us and the magic was zooming around. Claude was ready to throw himself back at Lachlan too. None of this was good.

“She’s mine,” Lachlan growled and I looked at him like he was speaking in another language. We needed to have a serious conversation about the way he was speaking about me. No one owned me, but right now I had to keep him calm.

I wasn’t a thing that he could own.

“She doesn’t appear to agree with that,” Claude snapped, sounding amused, but appearances were often deceiving. Right then, we truly needed to get out of here. Claude was testing pretty boy, he was trying to figure out how hard he could press his buttons, and he was very close to the limit.

“This is the end of this discussion. Let’s go Lachlan,” I said firmly, grabbing his elbow and dragging him away. I’d had enough of his mood swings. Both vampires were just about to go for each other’s throats for sure. I shot Claude an angry look and then dragged Lachlan in the opposite direction.

The Scot was raging and my thoughts were racing. He finally pulled away from me, breathing hard.

“What the hell was that about?” he asked, looking confused himself, then his eyes started moving downwards. He must not have paid any attention to the way I was dressed when he first saw me with Claude, and now he finally noticed Karina’s hard work.

His pupils instantly dilated and he forgot all about Claude because he was in my space.

“What are you wearing, you look so incredibly sexy,” he growled, turning me into a big pile of goo. Was it possible that Claude had used compulsion on Lachlan earlier on?

I was told that that ability didn’t work on vampires. My core was suddenly inflamed and my fangs extended. I was so embarrassed.

“Karina made me wear it, I thought you wanted me to impress your father,” I said laughing, but I was so bloody turned on. It was a bit out of control. We needed to be careful, maybe my team didn’t really care that we were dating, but this whole memory recall game scared the shit out of me.

“And you certainly live up to it, you’re fucking gorgeous and I’m planning to claim you as my mate Jaymin. I don’t take no for an answer,” he said, and then he kissed me so hard that it took me completely by surprise that I lost my breath. His lips were tender and soft, and he smelled of whiskey. His hand squeezed my buttocks and for a moment I was lost in these incredible sensations. The tip of his tongue grazed my left fang and my heart accelerated.

Lachlan was hard and by the time he pulled away from me I didn’t know my own name. My skin itched for more. I tried to breathe in, telling myself that it was Claude’s fault. We haven’t even gotten to that dinner and I was already losing control of myself imagining him as my delicious dessert.

“All right, all right. Let’s just go. I don’t know what is going on here but your aura seems off,” I mumbled, trying to put a coherent sentence together.

Lachlan’s blue eyes were so wide, sparkling with magical energy. It seemed like he was almost high on something. He glanced at his watch and nodded.

“You’re right. We are late, this won’t look good. Fuck hen, you’re driving me crazy. I don’t think I will be able to keep my hands off you during dinner,” he growled.

He grabbed my hand and we started walking pretty fast. We left the Elite territory, walking through the same gate where Karina and I happened to cross the night Marissa was killed. Lachlan got us a taxi, the ride took another fifteen minutes. Since I’d gotten to Bucharest, I hadn’t even had the time to visit the city.

The taxi driver was a human, he kept staring at me through the back mirror the entire drive. He was scared, I sensed it. Maybe he was afraid of Lachlan’s aura, which seemed very forceful tonight. Something was going on with him.

I was glad when the car finally stopped and we were dropped off in an obviously very posh area. There was a row of townhouses lined up on either side. The whole neighbourhood was filled with supernaturals. I could always tell. The magic drifted around the streets, vibrating over my skin like an invisible mist.

“Come on, but remember, let me do the talking at first,” Lachlan said sounding nervous. Hmm, that was odd, because he was never nervous. I needed to relax a little too. I looked good and Jonathan Moore wasn’t going to intimidate me.

We climbed the stairs until we reached the third floor. I instantly felt numbing pain in my temple and took a deep breath. Lachlan knocked. Jeremy was back in the city, because he was the one that opened the door. He gave me a warm smile and then before I could say anything at all he embraced me.

“Master Moore, welcome and Miss Clairmont. It’s so good to see you again. I hope master Lachlan had been looking after you very well?” he asked. I did like Jeremy. I liked when his magic brushed over mine gently. Only afterwards, I noticed that he was dressed in a suit.

“He is definitely trying to, how have you been Jeremy?” I asked him as he took the coat that Karina had loaned me too. The corridor was large and very modernly designed. Another source of energy took my breath away. The windows were shaded with heavy curtains. We could hear laughter in another room. I really didn’t want to go in there.

“Excellent Miss, and I heard that you have done very well since joining Moonlight academy. Madame Oldman is very proud of your progress,” he praised me and my skin heated up slightly. Jeremy was kind and made me feel like I was important.

“She’s one tough cookie alright, I expect my parents are already in the dining room?” Lachlan asked, and I sensed that he was a little nervous.

“Yes, everyone is waiting,” Jeremy answered and then gestured for both of us to follow him. My stomach started tightening with unease.

The energy was growing, rushing through my veins once again so that I was having trouble with my breathing. The dining room was huge, set with darker but elegant colours. Several vampires were sitting at the long wooden table filled with all sort of dishes and obviously plenty of blood too. This was going to be a very strange dinner indeed.

Jonathan was sitting at the head of the table, next to him there was a beautiful blond vampire. I didn’t know the rest of the supernaturals. There were around five others, all dressed up looking immaculate too. It was obviously a very sophisticated kind of event.

“Hello father, mother. This is Jaymin everyone, my girlfriend,” Lachlan introduced me. I gave him a shocking glance, wondering what to say or how to react. Jonathan Moore’s jaw twitched slightly when Lachlan said that, he looked at me frowning, but didn’t say a word.

“Oh hello darling. It’s so good to finally meet you. We have heard such a lot of wonderful things about you,” the female that had been introduced as Lachlan’s mother got up. She was very tall and had a thick Scottish accent. She was lean and looked maybe a little older than me. In any other company, it would be difficult to say if she was Jonathan’s wife or a daughter.

She gave me a kiss on the cheek and fussed over me and Lachlan for a little while. This wasn’t what I expected at all. I didn’t feel right being here, pretending that me and Lachlan were together.

“I thought you were going to show up alone son?” Moore asked.

“That was never the plan. Jaymin these are my parents’ friends and colleagues. My mother Catherine and my father Jonathan. Here is Roger, John and Thea,” Lachlan said, pointing at the other vampires at the table. I felt a little suffocated with the mixture of all these energies. They all smiled, but I knew that Moore didn’t look happy that Lachlan had brought me here.

Pretty boy whispered to sit down, pointing to the chair by his mother. She had grey eyes, immaculate make up and skin that was radiating like diamonds. I never really understood how vampires reproduced, but Lachlan had some of her features. She couldn’t have been his sire.

Jonathan picked up a fork and then waved his hand. Moments later two maids brought us plates, as the blood was being poured.

“So Jaymin right, tell us more about you. It always baffles me how my son chooses his partners,” Moore spoke, and a corner of his lip lifted up in what I could only presume was a mocking smile. I felt Lachlan stiffen next to me. I knew it was bad idea coming in here.

“There is not much to say, I don’t remember much from my previous life as a human,” I answered.

“Well in that case, maybe you could convince Lachlan to accept my proposition and mate with the female that I picked out for him,” Moore said, throwing this statement out there and probably wondering if it would stick. Lachlan looked at him with the mixture of dread and anger. It was official, Moore never believed that I was good enough for his son–his only son.