Half-Blood (Covenant 1)

There are conflicting schools of thought on the origination of the Apollyon and his purpose. Popular belief states the gods who hold court in Olympia bestowed the gift of the four elements and the power of akasha, the fifth and final element, upon Ethos as a measure to ensure no pure-blood’s power superseded that of their masters. The Apollyon has a direct linkage to the gods and acts as the Destroyer. The Apollyon is known as

“The one who walks among the gods.”

Since the birth of Ethos, one Apollyon has been born every generation as dictated by the oracle…

The section then proceeded to list the names of the other Apol yons, stopping in the year 3517 in the Hematoi calendar—1925 AD.

We so needed updated textbooks.

I skimmed past that part and turned the page. There was another part describing the characteristics of the Apol yon and another passage I was unfamiliar with.

My breath caught as I read it once, then twice. “No way.”

Throughout time, only one Apollyon has been born to each generation with exception of what came to be known as “The Tragedy of Solaris.” In the year 3203 ED (1611 AD), a second Apollyon was discovered in the New World. The palingenesis awakened Solaris (last name and parentage unknown) into power on her eighteenth birthday, setting in place a chain of startling and dramatic events. To this date, there has never been an explanation of how two Apollyons existed within the same generation or why.

I read the section again. There were never two Apol yons. Ever. I’d heard legends when I was a kid about the possibility of two, but I’d chalked them up as… wel , legends. Continuing on, I quickly ascertained I didn’t know jack.

It is believed the First sensed the marking of another Apollyon upon her eighteenth birthday and, unaware of the consequences, joined her in the New World. The effects of their union were chronicled as vast and damaging to both pure-bloods and their masters, the gods. Upon meeting, as if they were two halves meant to be one, the powers of Solaris shifted to the First Apollyon, therefore the First became what has always been feared: The God Killer. The power of the First became unstable and destructive.

The reaction from the gods, particularly the Order of Thanatos, was swift and righteous. Both Apollyons were executed without trial.

“Whoa… ” I slammed the book shut and sat back. The gods, when threatened, didn’t mess around. One Apol yon acted as a check and balance system, able to fight anything, but if there were two of them at once?

There was an Apol yon now, but I’d never met him. He was kind of like a celebrity. We knew he was out there somewhere, but we never actual y saw him in person. I knew the Apol yon focused on daimons instead carrying out justice against pure-bloods now. Since the creation of the Council, pures no longer thought they could take on the gods—or, at least, they didn’t say so openly.

I sat the book aside and turned off the lamp.

Poor Solaris.

Somewhere, the gods had goofed up and created two. It wasn’t like it was her fault. She probably hadn’t even seen it coming.

***

As the excitement of the Summer Solstice bubbled through the Covenant, I settled back into the life of a half-blood in training. The thril of my presence had worn off, and most of the students who remained at the Covenant during the summer grew used to having me around. Granted, the fact I had kil ed two daimons secured my awesomeness.

Even Lea’s bitchy comments became less frequent.

Lea and Jackson broke up, got back together, and as far as I knew, were broken up again.

During the times Jackson was a free man, I developed a routine of avoiding him. Yeah, he was pure sexiness, but he was also super-fast with his hands, and on more than one occasion I’d had to remove them from my butt. Caleb was always quick to point out I had no room to complain since I’d brought it on myself.

Another sort of odd routine developed, but this was between Aiden and me. Being that I was always crabby in the morning, we usual y started off practice with stretching and some laps—basical y anything that prevented us from talking. By late morning, I was less likely to bite off his head and more receptive to digging into the real stuff. He never mentioned the night he’d busted me at the party and we’d talked about each other’s need to become a Sentinel. He also never real y explained what he’d meant by, “I remember you.”

Of course, I came up with a crap ton of ridiculous explanations. My talent was so amazing that everyone knew who I was. Or my antics in and out of the training rooms had made me a legend in my own right. Or I’d been so stunningly beautiful he couldn’t help but notice me. That last one was the most absurd. I’d been gawky and a total dweeb then. Not to mention someone like Aiden would never look at a half-blood in that way.

During training, Aiden was stern and rigid in his methods. Only a few times did he seem to slip up and grin when he thought I wasn’t looking. But I was always watching.

Who could blame me? Aiden was… hotness incarnate. I alternated between staring at those ripped arms and being envious of how he moved with such fluid grace, but it was more than just his ability to make me drool on myself. Never in my life had I met someone so patient and tolerant of me.

Gods know I’m annoying as hel , but Aiden treated me as if I were his equal. No pure real y did that. The day I’d embarrassed myself by chal enging my uncle seemed forgotten, and Aiden did everything to make sure I was coming along as expected.

With his guidance, I was getting used to the demands of training and the tol they took on my body. I even put some weight on. The dweeb part was stil up in the air. Aiden still wouldn’t let me get within ten feet of any of the cool-looking weapons.

On the day of the Summer Solstice, I tried approaching the wal of destruction toward the end of practice.

“Don’t even think about it. You’d cut your hand off… or mine.”

I froze, one hand inches from the wicked dagger.

Dammit.

“Alex.” Aiden sounded a bit amused. “We only have a little bit of time left. We need to work on your blocking.”

Groaning, I pul ed myself away from what I real y wanted to learn. “Blocking again? That’s al we’ve done for weeks.”

Aiden folded his arms across his chest. Today he wore a plain white tee. He made it look good, very good. “That’s not al we’ve done.”

“Okay. I’m ready to move onto something else, like practicing with knives or defense against the dark arts.

Cool things.”

“Did you just quote Harry Potter? ”

I grinned. “Maybe I did.”

He shook his head. “We’ve been practicing kicks and jabs, Alex. And your blocking stil needs work. How many of my kicks have you been able to block today?”

“Wel … ” I grimaced. He already knew the answer. I’d only managed to block a handful. “A couple, but you’re fast.”

“And daimons are faster than I am.”

“I don’t know about that.” Nothing was as fast as Aiden.

Half the time he moved like a blur. But I stepped into position and waited.

Aiden walked me through the maneuvers once more, and I could’ve sworn he slowed down his kicks just a bit, because I blocked more than I ever had before. We separated, about to start another round of kicks when a whistle sounded from the hal way. The culprit—bronze-haired Luke—stood at the door to the training room. I grinned and waved.

“You’re not paying attention,” Aiden snapped.

My grin slipped from my face as Luke and a couple of other halfs disappeared from view. “Sorry.”

He exhaled slowly and motioned me forward. I complied without argument. “Is he another boy of yours? You’re always with that other one.”

My hands dropped to my sides. “What?”

Aiden brought his leg around fast. I barely had time to block it. “Is he another guy of yours?”

I didn’t know if I should laugh, be pissed off, or be ecstatic that he’d noticed I was always with the other boy.

Flipping my ponytail over my shoulder, I caught his forearm before it connected with my stomach. “Not that it’s any of your business, but he wasn’t whistling at me.”

He jerked his hand back, frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I raised my brows at him and waited for him to get it. The moment he did, his eyes widened and his mouth formed a perfect circle. Instead of fal ing on my ass laughing like I wanted to, I struck out with a vicious kick. Aiming for the vulnerable spot under his ribcage, I almost squealed at how perfect my kick was going to be.

I never made contact.

In one nifty swipe of his arm, he knocked me to the mat.

Standing above me, he actual y smiled. “Nice try.”

I propped myself onto my elbows, scowling. “How come you smile when you knock me down?”

He offered his hand. “It’s the little things that make me happy.”

I accepted, and he hauled me to my feet. “Good to know.”

Shrugging, I brushed past him and grabbed my bottle of water. “So… um, are you going to the celebrations tonight?”

The Solstice was a big deal for the pures. It kicked off more than a month of social events leading up the Council session in August. Tonight would be the biggest celebration, and if the gods were going to bless them with their presence, tonight would be the night. I doubted any would, but the pures got al dressed in their colorful sheaths just in case.

There would also be a ton of parties held on the main island—none of which us halfs were invited to—and I mean none. And since al the pures’ parents would be home, there would be no festivities at Zarak’s house. However, rumor had it there would be a beach party hosted by the one and only Jackson. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make an appearance or not.

“Probably.” Aiden stretched, flashing a strip of taut skin along the band of his pants. “I’m not real y big on that stuff, but I need to show up at some of them.”

I made myself focus on his face, which was harder than I realized. “Why do you need to?”

He flashed a grin. “It’s what we adults have to do, Alex.”

I rol ed my eyes and took a drink. “You can go and hang out with your friends. It wil be fun.”

Aiden looked at me strangely.

I lowered the bottle of water. “You do know how to have fun, right?”

“Of course.”

Out of nowhere it kind of hit me. I don’t think Aiden could have fun. Just like I couldn’t bear to real y, real y think about what’d happened to Mom. Survivor’s guilt—or at least that’s what I thought they cal ed it.

Aiden reached over, tapping my arm. “What are you thinking?”

I glanced up, finding his steady gaze on me. “I was just…

thinking.”

He backed off, slouched against the wal , and eyed me curiously. “Thinking about what?”

“It’s hard for you to… have fun, isn’t it? I mean, I never real y see you doing anything. I’ve only ever seen you with Kain or Leon and never a girl. I did see you once in jeans…

” I trailed off, flushing. What did seeing him in pants have to do with anything? But that had been an amazing sight.