Page 33 of Slayer

She nodded, relaxing her stance. “Finnigan Magnus never called me a buck-toothed beaver again.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I loved her too. Both she and Harper were so easy to talk to and so sweet and accepting. This place was growing on me already.

Harper petted Luna’s hair like she was a dog who needed calming. “She can get a little unhinged sometimes but she’s the most loyal friend you could ever have,” Harper said.

“Thanks, bestie.” Luna blew her a kiss.

The center of my chest ached at their exchange. There was a yearning that bloomed inside me. I realized in that moment that I wanted that kind of friendship. As a child, I moved around too much in foster care to make close friends, and the group home was always chaos with kids coming and going. Only Rae seemed to be a constant companion, but it was still surface level. She was older, so having her age out before me meant we didn’t have much time living together.

“Welcome, new Nightguard Academy hunters!” a familiar voice boomed out of a speaker system.

We all pivoted so that we were facing a raised stage and looked up to see Harper’s dad, Professor Walters.

“My fellow professors and I are eager to teach our newest class of hunters to learn to defeat humanity’s greatest threat,” he thundered, and everyone cheered and clapped. “Over the next three years, you will progress in your studies here, training day and night and going on field missions, all in an effort to graduate and be recruited as hunters in the guild.”

There was more cheering and smiling faces around me. I found it interesting it was only a three-year program versus the four years we did back home for college.

“And for those of you who passed your final, you will be getting your hunter marks on Monday.”

He held up his arm, and I noticed the black runes shimmered in the light with an opalescent sheen, almost like they were glowing.

So he was a hunter too? Or maybe he was before he decided to teach? I wasn’t sure how that worked. An excited ripple went around the room, and there was more cheering, myself included. The marks were pretty badass. I glanced across the room to see Asher, arms folded as he leaned against the wall and scowled.

I guessed he wouldn’t be getting his marks, and I felt guilty about that, but only slightly. It wasn’t my fault the club I was in got attacked and I ran. He shouldn’t have followed me if it was going to break some rules.

“As you know,” Professor Walters said, his voice growing somber, “being a hunter is a great and dangerous calling. There are many sacrifices made to follow this calling. Therefore, not everyone will be chosen to apply to join the guild at the end of your time here at the academy, but I assure you, all of you will be useful to Veil Haven in some way. So please relax and enjoy yourself tonight, because Monday starts the hardest three years of your life.”

The clapping following that particular part of his speech was very faint.

“Buzzkill,” Luna muttered to Harper.

Harper nodded, giving me a tight smile.

“So three years of training and you might not even become a hunter?” I asked Harper.

She nodded. “My mom said you met Jane at the DNA archives today?”

I dipped my chin in agreement, and Harper went on.

“She was in my mom’s class and failed out her first year.”

Ouch. So if you weren’t a hunter, you were relegated to office work? I guessed that wasn’t so bad as long as it paid well. A steady job was a steady job. But part of me wanted to be a hunter now that I knew it was exclusive. My ego wanted to prove I could do it, and protecting humans seemed like a valiant cause.

Luna leaned in. “Some students who flunk out try to apply to other less reputable schools and apply to the guild that way. There are options.”

Harper winced. “Like Blood Bane Academy? Eww. I could never. They’ll recommend anyone to the guild, and then most die in the field because they’re ill-prepared.”

Blood Bane? There were more academies? It sounded like it.

I had an inquisitive mind, so this whole thing was fascinating to me.

“So your dad is a hunter but also a professor?” I asked.

Harper nodded. “He did the night watch for about five years, and then one of my parents needed to stay home with me and have a more normal schedule. My dad chose to teach and be at home with me, and my mom remains on the night watch.”

The night watch. Was that…what the school was named after?

Luna seemed to pick up on my confusion. “The night watch is like being on the front lines in a war. You go to the mortal realm almost every night and slay vampires. Six p.m. to six a.m.”