Page 1 of Alluring Darkness
1
RAINA
Apparently, I’m not emotionally stable enough to be an assassin. They say that I’m too short-tempered, lack restraint, and that I’m downright unhinged. Given that I poisoned my seventh-grade chemistry teacher for not recognizing my genius, I’m inclined to agree.
That was one of the times when I was glad that my father was a hitman. When I came home and proudly told them what I had done, he went back there and covered it up so that it just looked like a tragic accident instead. But after that, my parents decided that I was ill-suited to follow in my father’s footsteps to attend Blackwater University and become a contract killer. So the burden of upholding our family’s great legacy has fallen solely on my brother’s shoulders.
And as I look down at his bruised and unconscious body, I can’t decide whether I want to kill the person who did this to him or killhimfor not telling me that he was in danger.
“I don’t understand,” my mother says, tearing her gaze from Connor and turning it to the nurse standing next to the bed.
“Mrs. Smith—” she begins.
“Do notMrs. Smithme,” Mom snaps. Her pale green eyes flash with anger as she stabs a hand towards where Connor is lying sedated. “How could this have happened? This is a school forhitmen! People whose entire skillset involves hurting others. Surely there must be rules preventing the students from murderingeach otherbefore their education here is done!”
An apologetic look drifts across the nurse’s freckled face. “Well, yes, of course there are. But—”
“Then how come my son is lying here, looking like he was beaten within an inch of his life? We’re lucky that nothing is broken! His whole future could have been destroyed. So what, in God’s name, happened?”
“Well, he, uhm…” She clears her throat and glances around the rest of the university’s hospital wing, as if she’s afraid to be overheard. Then her worried brown eyes shift back to us. “According to witnesses, your son almost shot Eli Hunter during a training exercise.”
My mom goes unnaturally pale. Narrowing my eyes, I frown at her since I don’t understand what caused the reaction. But the nurse keeps speaking.
“So we suspect that this was payback for that,” she finishes.
“Then why hasn’t anyone done anything about it?” I ask, scowling at her.
Uncertainty swirls in her eyes, and she looks at me as if she doesn’t even understand the question. “Because it’s Eli Hunter.”
“What does that even mean? Who the hell is Eli Hunter?”
Both the nurse and my mom whip their gazes around as if they’re afraid that someone heard my outburst. Then Mom slides hard eyes to me and shakes her head.
“Raina,” she says, her voice full of quiet admonishment. “Enough.”
With great effort, I bite my tongue to stop my angry retort. Crossing my arms, I settle for a scowl instead.
Since my parents decided nine years ago that I shouldn’t become an assassin, they have kept me firmly out of that world. I know that my father’s side of the family has been hitmen for generations and that our family is one of the great ones, or we were before my dad died at least, but that’s practically all I know about this bloody world of theirs.
“Is there any risk of… continued targeting?” Mom asks, shooting a pointed look towards Connor’s battered body.
The nurse gives her a helpless look that I think was supposed to be sympathetic. “Unfortunately, yes. According to rumors, the Hunter brothers have been overheard saying that they will make your son’s life a living hell this entire year.”
Mom runs a hand over her face and then through her blond hair. “God help us.” Desperation floods her features as she looks back at the nurse again. “This is his senior year. He needs to do well.Weneed him to do well, otherwise…”
She trails off.
Deciding that I’ve heard enough, I spin on my heel and stalk right out of the hospital wing.
“Raina!” Mom calls after me.
But I don’t stop. And she doesn’t go after me. She thinks that I’m being emotionallyunstable again and that I’m storming out to throw an angry tantrum. Technically, I know that Iama bit unhinged. But sometimes I just wish that people would stop assuming that I never think anything through.
Even though I don’t understand everything about this world and this university, I understand enough to know what I need to do now.
Following the signs, I make my way out of the hospital wing and through the academy’s administrative building until I reach the admission’s office. Undecorated concrete walls stare me down as I pass through the corridors.
As opposed to other elite universities, this one wasn’t built to be beautiful. It was built to be practical. Isolated on a stretch of flat grasslands, it’s far enough away from the nearest town that no one will hear the gunshots that no doubt always echo from this sprawling complex of buildings. There is also a forest and a lake close by, which I assume are used for various training exercises. But I don’t know for certain, since Connor’s explanations of what exactly he studies here have always been very vague.