This is a story about vampyr but surprise, surprise Vampires are the good guys. Not all of us are though. And then there's me, a half vampire, half Lamia. The bad guys in this story. The first to have ever survived till teenage hood. Sending me to Reaper Academy to decide my future in the vampire community sounds like a bad idea. And the boys? An even worse idea. Not Julian though. He's everything a woman could want, if I could call myself that. Ares is who I'm talking about. Dark, mysterious, sexy Ares that draws me in even though I should want nothing to do with the likes of him. My name is Helena and this is my story.
Chapter 1 Reaper Academy
Chapter 1
"War is coming, Helena. War is coming."
Opening my eyes, I looked around, this time no longer fearing the nightmare that always had me clawing into my sheets and ripping it into pieces, a reminder that I wasn't normal.
That I had never been.
Today was going to be a good day, father had said.
More like a life sentence, but I always agreed with whatever Papa said.
Today is my eighteenth birthday and if everything goes well, I'm going to be shipped to Reaper Academy by the end of the week.
Too fast for you?
I'm Helena Shaw, a citizen of the Island country of Spatos, revered by the world for advancement in technology and harmony between different species, the species being the humans and vampires, the country governed by Councilors, who were of both species.
Eighteen years ago, another species, Lamias were part of the citizens of Spatos until the war and the creation of the magical mist that separated us from them.
The mist was on the outskirts of Antiope, the fallen city closest to the Milton Forest which was now also a part of the mist and Lamia territory.
Close to that great mist stood Reaper Academy, a training school for vampires and half vampires to harness their gifts because the mist was weak, they said.
Once you were sixteen, you were tested and if found to be of good health, sent to Reaper Academy to harness your skills in order to either become an enforcer for the city, a guardian for any of the councilors or what was called an elite team, set aside for the day the mist fell.
The humans also had an academy, the Enforcement, that trained those interested in becoming enforcers for the city. Very few got the honour of being a part of the elite team or Guardian status.
Being sent to an academy was every teenager's dream, except it wasn't mine. Especially because I wasn't vampire or human.
I was an abomination, a half vampire, half Lamia. A Vami. The first to ever survive birth.
After the war and the Lamia were banished, the rest that remained were hunted and killed off, save my mother, a Lamia, who'd hidden because she was pregnant with me.
Apparently, she had had a vision that I was destined for greatness, according to my father and had died giving birth to me.
For six years, my father had hidden me, watched me to see if I would drop dead, before confessing to the Council and pleading that my life be spared.
That was the beginning of the end of life as I knew it. We were brought from Erros, a city in the South where I'd been born to Anthios, the capital city where the Council resided.
My mood was watched round the clock by Enforcers, everywhere I went, people stared at me in fear and awe, the only reason I hadn't been stoned to death on the streets being the announcement of the Council that I would be instrumental to the defeat of Lamias if they ever crossed the mist.
I didn't have any friends at school but I didn't mind. The one person who had wanted to be my friend, Lizzie, a human had run screaming after I showed her my Lamia form.
My father was the only one who loved me, not like he had a choice in the matter but I guess I had to be grateful that I hadn't been abandoned in front of Welma's orphanage babies home.
Being a Vami wasn't all bad, I was prettier than most vampires and vampires had ethereal beauty, my hair as dark as night that stopped at my waist and my eyes a bright hazel like my mother's.
I had her petite height but my father's smile and curves for days on a slim body, that made some humans want to ask me out even though they worried whether I'd eat them alive or poach their organs, all rumors that were unfounded, because like vampires and Lamias, I lived on blood. Animal blood and human blood bought at a blood bank.
Vampires could walk under sunlight for a while but couldn't tolerate it like humans did, so they preferred nightfall for most activities. Lamias on the other hand were night creatures and had almost zero tolerance for sunlight.
As both, I could walk around in the sun but it wasn't something I liked to do.
Vampire abilities ranged from increased speed, strength, sharpened senses, presence of fangs and black eyes. They could be killed by decapitation, fire or stake to the heart from wood from the mountain ash tree that grew on the riverside of Gaith, a city in the West.
Lamia abilities ranged from increased speed, strength, sharpened senses, snake like flexibility, fangs and claws that can paralyze a body part when cut and white eyes. The paralytic effects usually wore off after 24 hours. They could be killed with silver or sunlight.
I'd spent majority of my life learning my abilities, and while I could walk in the sun, had increased strength and heightened senses, the ability to change my eyes to both black and white and snake like flexibility, I tired out quicker than the average vampire, a trait the Councilors thought was weak, and a reason why they mandated that I be sent to Reaper Academy, even though I didn't want to.
Not because I didn't want to learn to defend myself, especially when I was vulnerable to all the things that both Vampires and Lamias were which made me a target, but because I was terrified.
Some went to Reaper Academy and never survived the training. I didn't want to be an Enforcer or Guardian or Savior.
I wanted to be a seamstress like my mother. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice. The life of my father, an Enforcer was on the line. My life was on the line. I needed to prove my loyalty to the Council and my country. The only way to get out of this was if the blood work showed an ailment or something in my biology that made me unfit to go.
I prayed for a miracle as I walked into the city lab by myself, but if there was anything I knew about the gods, it was that that they never answered when I spoke.
Chapter 1 Reaper Academy
13/07/2022
Chapter 2 Welcome to Antiope
13/07/2022
Chapter 3 A Minder
13/07/2022
Chapter 4 Room 100
13/07/2022
Chapter 5 Ares
13/07/2022
Chapter 6 Shit list
15/07/2022
Chapter 7 Knocked out in Physical combat
15/07/2022
Chapter 8 A trip to the physician
20/07/2022
Chapter 9 A magnet for trouble
20/07/2022
Chapter 10 To be a minder
20/07/2022
Chapter 11 Before the Joining
03/08/2022
Chapter 12 The perfect mentor
03/08/2022
Chapter 13 To fight and not win
04/08/2022
Chapter 14 The Rabbit and her master
05/08/2022
Chapter 15 The Love blade
07/08/2022
Chapter 16 The hand of fate
08/08/2022
Chapter 17 To court death
09/08/2022
Chapter 18 Close your eyes, Helena
09/08/2022
Chapter 19 The Strategy
11/08/2022
Chapter 20 Challenges and confessions
12/08/2022
Chapter 21 No intentions to fall in love
14/08/2022
Chapter 22 The girl in the hallway
16/08/2022
Chapter 23 The River where the moon rises
17/08/2022
Chapter 24 The Dance of War
18/08/2022
Chapter 25 The Aftermath
19/08/2022
Chapter 26 Dreams and thoughts
20/08/2022
Chapter 27 To be an airhead
22/08/2022
Chapter 28 Dwayne and Julian
23/08/2022
Chapter 29 The voice in my head
02/09/2022
Chapter 30 Like father, like son
03/09/2022
Chapter 31 Phoebe
05/09/2022
Chapter 32 The Lamianth
07/09/2022
Chapter 33 Dwayne's test
07/09/2022
Chapter 34 The treasure of Reaper Academy
09/09/2022
Chapter 35 Confused hearts
09/09/2022
Chapter 36 Questions
10/09/2022
Chapter 37 Never mind, I was wrong.
11/09/2022
Chapter 38 Watch your flank
12/09/2022
Chapter 39 Why, Helena
13/09/2022
Chapter 40 Do your best.
14/09/2022