There’d been no answer. Rooms had blurred as I’d raced down the tiny hal way toward her bedroom and pushed open the door. What I’d seen would haunt me forever—
blood, so much blood, and Mom’s eyes, open and vacant, staring at nothing.
“We’re here.” Kain leaned forward eagerly.
Al my thoughts vanished as my stomach did a funny twist. I turned and stared out the window. Deity Island actual y consisted of two islands. The pures lived in their fancy homes on the first island. To the outside world, it looked like any normal island community. Smal shops and restaurants lined the streets. There were even shops run by mortals and tailored to them. The pristine beaches were to die for.
Daimons didn’t like to travel across water. When a pure turned al dark side, their elemental magic twisted and could only be accessed if they were touching earth. Being out of contact weakened them. It made an island the perfect hidey hole for our kind.
It was too early for anyone to be on the streets, and in a matter of minutes we passed over the second bridge. On this part of Deity Island, nestled among marshlands, beaches, and forests virtual y untouched by man, stood the Covenant.
Rising up between the endless sea and acres of white beaches, the sprawling sandstone structure we passed was the school where pures and halfs attended classes.
With its thick marble columns and strategical y placed statues of the gods, it was an intimidating and otherworldly place. Mortals thought the Covenant was an elite private school where none of their children would ever have the privilege of attending. They were right. People had to have something super-special in their blood to make it this far.
Beyond the main building were the dorms and they too boasted more columns and statues. Smal er buildings and bungalows dotted the landscape, and the massive gyms and training facilities sat adjacent to the courtyard. They always reminded me of the ancient coliseums except ours were enclosed; hurricanes could be a real bitch around these parts.
It was al beautiful—a place I loved and hated at the same time. Seeing it now, I realized just how badly I’d missed it… and Mom. She’d stayed on the main island while I’d gone to school, but she’d been a fixture around the campus, popping up and taking me to lunch after classes, swaying the old Dean to al ow me to stay with her during the weekends. Gods, I just wanted one more chance, one more second to tel her—
I checked myself.
Control—I needed to be in control right now, and caving in to the lingering grief wasn’t going to help me. Steeling myself, I climbed out of the Hummer and fol owed Aiden to the girls’ dorm. We were the only ones moving down the silent hal ways. With it being the beginning of summer, only a few students would be running around.
“Get cleaned up. I’l return for you in a little bit.” He started to turn, but stopped. “I’l find something for you to wear and leave it on the table.”
I nodded, at a loss for words. Even though I was trying to push the emotions down, some of them seeped through.
Three years ago, my entire future had been perfectly planned. Al the Instructors at the Covenant had praised my abilities in the training sessions. They even went as far as to say I could become a Sentinel. Sentinels were the best—
and I’d been one of the best.
Three years without any training had set me back behind every half. A lifetime of servitude most likely waited for me
—a future I couldn’t face. Being subject to the pures’ wil s, having no control or say over anything—the possibility scared the crap out of me.
A possibility made worse by my nearly al -consuming need to hunt daimons.
Fighting them was ingrained in my blood, but after seeing what’d happened to Mom, the desire skyrocketed.
Only the Covenant could provide the means for achieving my goals, and my absentee pure-blooded uncle now held my future in his hands.
My footsteps felt heavy as I moved around the familiar rooms. They were ful y furnished, seeming larger than I remembered. The room had a separate living area and a decent sized bedroom. And it had its own bathroom. The Covenant offered only the best to its students.
I took a longer than necessary shower, reveling in the feeling of being clean again. People took things like showers for granted. I knew I had. After the daimon attack, I’d hit the road with little cash. Staying alive had turned out to be more important than a shower.
Once I was sure al the grime was washed away, I found the neat stack of clothes left on the smal table in front of the couch. Picking them up, I realized at once they were the Covenant-issued training attire. The pants were at least two sizes too big, but I wasn’t going to bitch about it. I brought them to my face and inhaled. They smel ed so, so clean.
Back in the bathroom, I craned my neck. The daimon had tagged me just where the neck sloped down to the col arbone. The tag would be an angry red color for the next day or so, and then fade to a pale, shiny scar. A daimon’s bite never left the skin undamaged. The nearly identical rows of tiny indentations made me queasy and also reminded me of one of my old Instructors. She was a beautiful older woman who’d retired to teach basic defense tactics after a nasty run-in with a daimon. Her arms had been covered with pale, half circle marks a degree or two lighter than her skin tone.
One tag had been bad enough. I couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like for her. The daimons had tried to turn her by draining her of al her aether. When it came to turning a pure, there was no exchange of blood.
It was a frighteningly simple process.