Hex Girl | The Dark Child Prophecy Series

Chapter One: Help, I'm Alive

I yawned behind my hand before going back to reading the dusty tome in front of me. I had been awake since eleven in the morning after going to bed around four, just before sunrise. Living with vampires as a human wasn't easy on my sleep schedule. For thirteen years, my older brother and I had been wards of the Mezdor family. After the tragic death of our parents at the hands of vampires, James and I had managed to escape our parents' Italian condo into the night. We had been on a family vacation.

We hadn't known just how involved our father was in supernatural affairs; we hadn't even known that vampires existed. It had been hard for me to understand at the age of seven. James was the one who had found the letters and overheard the phone conversations. He explained to me that our father was an engineer who produced modified weapons for the Shadow Stalker vampires, and our mother was a witch who served as a familiar for the vampires' spells.

As a kindness and apology to our family, Queen Eris Mezdor placed us within her family. One of her closest confidantes had volunteered to be our guardian. And thirteen years later, I had begun studying witchcraft under the tutelage of the queen's brother, Avalon Mezdor, as he taught his sons how to use magic. James had become one of the top recruits for the Shadow Stalker's league of spies. He wanted revenge on the vampires who had killed our parents. I didn't have a mind for violence or revenge. James swore I was just "too nice," and that I would never hurt anyone with malicious intent.

I blinked heavily, feeling sleepy again. It was going on eight in the evening and the sun would be setting in a matter of minutes. After thirteen years, I would've thought my sleep schedule would have shifted towards a more nocturnal-friendly habit. But instead, I spent my summers trying to split my time between night and day so I could tan in the sun and be around normal humans. Come winter, I would switch to being almost fully nocturnal to match my guardians.

Reading the same paragraph for the third time in a row, I sighed and began to rub my temples. This was a losing battle, but I wanted to try and get as much done before Luce and Adrian woke up. The two Mezdor sons were both my fellow students, and my best friends. I had been their shadow for years. Their father taught all three of us. Adrian specialized in the darker arts, learning necromancy and voodoo behind closed doors. It wasn't exactly the line of magic Avalon had wanted him to specialize in. Luce was a strong all-around user, preferring to work with the elements and earth-based magic, just like me.

I sighed softly as the thought of Luce crossed my mind. I'd been crushing on him for years after understanding his half-demon heritage. Since he was adopted and I was under his family's guardianship, we both understood one another's feelings of being an outsider. As a little girl, Luce had scared me. I hadn't liked his tail and crimson eyes. He had seemed too different, unsafe. But we grew close and I began to see beyond his physical differences.

And I was certain he liked me more than what we were, too...

I reached for the Italian carbonated cream soda and took a sip. It was warm and slightly flat from having sat open for the past two hours. I sat the drink back down and began to read again, finally managing to finish the page and flip to the next one. This particular spellbook was filled with protection spells. I was determined to learn as many as possible.

A few months previous, my brother and I, and the entire Mezdor family had been held hostage. The only two that had been left free were Eris Mezdor and her father, Logan Mezdor the Blood Warrior. The man who had taken us was named Connor Mezdor, the immortal half-lycan and brother to Logan. For revenge against his brother, he had taken each of the family. And for good measure, he took James and I, too. His terms were simple: either Eris kill her father to have us returned, or he would slaughter us all in ways unseen.