The Demon Kiss (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 1)

  The Demon Kiss

  Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 1

  Juliana Haygert

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Juliana Haygert

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Manufactured in the United States of America.

  First Edition June 2019

  www.JulianaHaygert.com

  Edited by H. Danielle Crabtree

  Cover design by Covers by Juan

  Any trademark, service marks, product names, or names featured are the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if one of these terms is used.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Thank you

  About the Author

  Also by Juliana Haygert

  Author’s Note

  I hope you enjoy reading The Demon Kiss!

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  Map

  Map of Blackthorn Hunters Academy

  Click here to view the map in a separate browser.

  1

  Erin

  I was freaking tired of my life. I desperately needed some action, something exciting, something that pushed me forward.

  But what?

  I stared at the stack of college application in my hands. If I went home with them, Aunt Paula would kill me.

  Ever since I first started talking about going to college a few years ago, she had said there was no way we could afford it, especially because there was no college nearby. We lived in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Colorado. If I wanted to go to college, I would have to move out, which meant, paying for tuition and living expenses.

  Sighing, I put the college applications down beside me on the wooden bench and closed my eyes, tilting my head up to the sky. The warmth of the evening sun brushed against my skin. Summer here was nice—not too hot, but still sunny.

  At this time of the day, people were leaving work and going home, walking through the main square—by little me, seated on a bench in the middle of the square—taking advantage of the nice weather before they headed home to have supper with their families.

  My only other option was to run away from home. Pack a bag, get on a bus, and see where it took me. I could find a job as a barista at a coffeeshop, or something like that, find a cheap place to rent, and live my life. Maybe I would be able to save enough to pay for at least a community college.

  The only thing stopping me was knowing that Aunt Paula would find me and drag me back by my ear. I had just turned nineteen, but she had raised me with an iron fist—firm and strict.

  Besides, I felt bad about leaving her alone. She had lost her parents, then her sister. I was all she had left.

  Although I doubted my aunt would expect me to have dinner ready—she often worked until late at night—I needed to head home. I stood from the bench as loud laughter reached my ears.

  I turned around and watched a group walk past my bench, toward the gazebo in the center of the main square. Narrowing my eyes, I sat back down and watched as they gathered in their usual meeting place. I knew them and they knew me, though we had never been properly introduced. This group of kids were my age and they had recently graduated from high school. If I hadn’t been homeschooled, I would have been in the same class as them. Although they didn’t come to the gazebo during the day, they lived there on the weekends and during the summer. It was where they planned all their parties and sleepovers and trips; it was where they brought ice cream and had barbecues and drank beer late at night.

  I could die of jealousy over their friendship.

  “We have only a couple more days together,” Mike said. He had been the quarterback of the football team. The team never won any important games, but he was well-known in town. Besides, his family was the richest around.

  “I’ll be gone in two days,” Karla said. She had been one of the cheerleaders who had dated Mike.

  “And I’ll be gone in three,” Jennifer said. Another cheerleader, but she was taken.

  “Me too,” Noah said. He had been on the soccer team and was dating Jennifer.

  Alisha clapped her hands together. “We should do something fun tonight.” Unlike the other girls in the group, she had played for the school’s basketball team. I had heard that she had gotten a scholarship to a big university to play basketball.

  “Like what?” Justin asked. He played football with Mike. “Go clubbing again?”

  I frowned. Besides a couple of bars, there weren’t any nightclubs in town. But it wasn’t unheard of for people to drive the hour to the nearest town just to have a night out.

  “No, let’s do something different,” Mike said.

  Noah popped a cigarette from the pack and put it in his mouth, unlit. “I know. Let’s go to the lake and go skinny dipping.”

  The girls protested loudly; the guys laughed.

  “How about we walk down the train tracks?” Jennifer suggested. “See if the phantom train comes at midnight.”

  “I’ve been there at midnight,” Justin said. “Nothing ever happens.”

  “How about the haunted house outside Liberty Creek,” Mike said, his eyes round.

  Alisha gasped. “Are you crazy? That place is haunted.”

  Mike rolled his eyes. “Do you actually believe that?”

  “Yeah, I heard a lot of people have gone in, and never returned the same,” Karla said.

  I had heard that too. Kids liked to dare each other to go into the house, especially at Halloween, and according to the rumors, they were never the same.

  I couldn’t say I believe it. It wasn't as if a ghost possessed them, or a demon attacked them, or a witch put a spell on them. That was all nonsense.

  There was no such thing as ghosts, demons, and witches.

  “I’m not so sure,” Jennifer muttered.

  “Me neither,” Justin said.

  “What about you, Noah?” Mike asked.

  Noah shrugged. “If everyone goes, I’ll go.”

  But the others shook their heads, clearly not amused by the idea.

  “I know.” Mike fished out his wallet. “I’ll pay two hundred bucks to each of you, if you go with me.”

  That was a thousand dollars. How could he simply give away that much money as if it was a handful of pennies? Rich people … I rolled my eyes.

  “Tempting,” Justin said. His family financial situation was much better than mine, but his father was ruthless when it came to money. Apparently, the son was too. “But I think I’ll pass.”

  Or not.

  “Seriously, guys.” Mike fished a bunch of cash from his wallet. “How about three hundred each?” Karla, Jennifer, Alisha, and Justin looked at each other, but no one said anything. “Noah, you want it. I’ll give it all to you if you go in the house.”

  Noah bit the butt of his unlit cigarette. “Nah, I said I would do it if everyone did. I'm not going in there by myself.”

  Something surged in me.

  It was like a ghost possessed me and made me stand up and say, “I’ll do it.”

  The group turned to me.

  “Oh, the homeschooled girl,” Karla said, her voice full of disdain. “Nobody was talking to you.”

  “Wait,” Mike said. “Erin, right? Erin Delman. That’s your name?”

  I crossed my arms. “Yes.”

  Grinning, Mike waved the money in the air. “Erin, if I pay you a thousand dollars, will you go inside the haunted house? Alone?”

  I shook my head. “You offered three hundred to each of your friends. That’s fifteen hundred. I want fifteen hundred.”

  I had no idea what I would do with that money. It wasn’t enough to buy my freedom from Aunt Paula, but it was freaking a lot!

  A sly smile twisted Noah’s lips. “I like h
er.”

  “What do you guys think?” Mike turned to the others. “We drive her there and watch as she goes in the house.”

  “Might be interesting,” Jennifer said, sizing me up.

  “She has to stay in there for at least ten minutes,” Alisha suggested.

  “No.” Karla shook her head. “How about an hour?”

  “Aren’t you evil?” Noah said with a chuckle.

  Karla shrugged. “She’s the one butting in.”

  Mike faced me again. “One hour inside the haunted house, alone. Are you up for it?”

  Shit. So much for easy money.

  I looked at each of them. They had gone to high school like normal kids, and now they all would be leaving this shitty town to go to college and pursue their dreams. They all also had way more money than me.

  A part of me resented them for having more opportunities than me.

  Because of that, I couldn't back down now. I lifted my chin. “Yes. I’m up for it.”

  The ride to the haunted house was quiet. Well, on my part. Mike drove his fancy Mercedes, with Karla in the passenger seat and Alisha in the back with me. They didn’t stop talking about their college plans, all the parties they would go to, all the fun they would have, and all the studying they would avoid.

  I kept my eyes trained on the darkening sky, wondering what the hell I was doing. Seriously, what had gotten into me? It wasn’t like me to do something crazy for money.

  But now that I was here, I couldn't chicken out. I would go through with this ridiculous game, get my money, and go home fifteen hundred dollars richer.

  When Mike turned onto a dirt-packed road, I knew we were close. I fished my phone from the pocket of my blouse and texted my aunt.

  Me: I’ll be late tonight.

  A moment later, my phone vibrated.

  Aunt Paula: Why? Is everything okay?

  Of course, she would think something was wrong. I had no friends and never did anything other than staying home and checking on her at work. I had never stayed out late, except for when I was craving ice cream from the food truck that sometimes stayed open past midnight near the main square during the summer.

  Me: Yeah. Everything is fine. See you later.

  Aunt Paula: Later.

  I was sure that, by now, my aunt had come up with fifteen ridiculous scenarios, trying to figure out why I was suddenly out. Like the forgotten college applications, she would kill me if she found out where I was going and with whom.

  When I was little, I had a phase when I couldn’t sleep at night. I thought there was a monster living in my closet. My aunt had been adamant that such things didn’t exist. When I watched horror movies and became afraid, she would yell at me, saying it was all make believe.

  Supernaturals didn’t exist, she always said.

  It took me a while, but I became convinced she was right by the time I was a teenager.

  As for the group I was currently with, my aunt didn’t like them much. She had had some heated arguments with Karla’s mother and with Noah’s older brother. She always complained the rich people of Spring Hill didn’t know how to spend their money, and wasted it on useless stuff. She thought they were vain, selfish, and arrogant.

  I thought so too.

  A moment later, Mike stopped the car at the end of the road. He pointed to a faded wooden sign nailed to a large tree trunk. “The house is supposedly that way.”

  We hopped out of the car and trekked toward the house, using the lantern function on our phones to illuminate the way. I went ahead, avoiding talking to them. Not that they would talk to me, not when they were whispering about me behind my back.

  “She’s crazy.”

  “Is she desperate for money?”

  “I heard her aunt is crazy. I think she is too.”

  “Did you know she’s not going to college? She’s going to stay here. I almost pity her.”

  I sped up, trying to put some distance between them and me, so I didn’t have to listen to their mean words. One thing my aunt had drilled into me was respect. Even when you didn’t particularly like someone or have anything in common with them, you showed them respect.

  I guess their parents hadn’t taught them that.

  Blinded by my rage and stupidity—seriously, why the hell had I volunteered to do this?—I only saw the house once I was practically at its doorstep. My stomach dropped as I lifted my head and took it in. The house was three stories tall, with a round turret on the right, a wrap and the d porch, and a balcony on the second floor. The wooden walls were rotten, the windows and doors broken, the roof either missing or caved in, and the grass around it overgrown.

  As if teasing me, a chilly breeze brushed past me, sending a shiver down my spine.

  “Now, that is one haunted house,” Noah said from right behind me.

  “You could say that again,” Justin muttered.

  Mike walked to me. “All right. See here?” He flashed the money again. “Fifteen hundred dollars. It’ll all be yours if you stay inside the house for an hour.”

  Why had I done this again?

  Too late to give up now.

  “Just sit tight,” I said, forcing my voice to sound normal, even. “See you in an hour.”

  Holding my breath, I walked forward. I forced my feet to keep moving at a steady pace, even when I stepped onto the porch and it creaked beneath my feet. Even when I pushed open the front door and almost fell back. Even when I entered the house and the light from my phone didn’t seem like enough.

  I halted in the foyer, trying to find my bearings before picking a spot to sit down and wait. Wide, curving stairs hugged the wall on the other side of the broken chandelier lying in the middle of the foyer, and an archway opened underneath the stairs.

  “Go farther inside!” Mike yelled from outside.

  Groaning, I closed my eyes for a moment and thought about the money. Money. Money. Money. It was the only reason I was doing this, right? Inhaling deeply, I opened my eyes and walked beyond the foyer.

  I crossed under the archway and found myself in a living room. Spiderwebs dangled from the high ceiling, and a few furniture items were covered by white sheets and dust. I put a hand over my nose, trying to cover the moldy scent emanating from the house, and breathed through my mouth.

  To my left, double doors, mostly off their hinges, opened to another room with built-in shelves that extended to the ceiling. It probably was a library once. To my right was another large room, which resembled a dining room, and beyond it the kitchen. The cabinet doors twisted on their hinges, and the appliances were missing, but it was easy to see this house was old—probably from a time when refrigerators hadn’t been invented yet.

  Despite the look and odor, this place wasn’t bad.

  I went back to the living room and looked around, trying to find a spot without a lot of dust so I could sit down. Something shiny flashed to my right. I looked in its direction. There was something underneath the couch.

  But I wasn’t here to find things. All I needed to do was sit down and wait. But as I turned my back, the shiny object underneath the couch seemed to shine brighter.

  “What the hell …?”

  Curious, I crouched down beside the sheet-covered couch and reached for the item. I picked it up and stood, my eyes on the strange item. It was a gold chain, with a pendant—thin metal twisted around a deep red stone. In my hand, it didn’t seem to shine as much, but it was still pretty.

  Very, very pretty.

  I glanced around the house. This necklace might have been here for years. If I took it, nobody would notice, right? I shook my head. What the hell was I thinking? Even if this jewelry was beautiful and expensive and ownerless, I couldn’t take it. It wasn’t right.