Page 50 of Dead Wolf Falling (Bad Moon Academy 2)

“The witches are an interesting set of supes, because they’ve worked hard to stay out of the wars. When shifters and vampires were busy attacking humans across the world and vice versa, the witches were busy fortifying their covens, building their numbers, and growing stronger.”

“Didn’t the witches attack shifters and vampires though?” I ask, remembering tiny details from the brief overview our school gave. The main points were to let you know, regardless of how human they looked, supes were dangerous.

“They did.” He ruffles his hair and yawns. “A few covens of dark witches went on an attack, going after other witches, shifters, vampires, and hunters alike.”

My ears twitch at the word hunter.

Not with the hunters again, seriously,Joan whines in my head.

Shut your trap. They’re so interesting.

“The hunters are gone now. . . right?”

Carter grins. “You’ve been reading?”

Lifting a shoulder, I stare at my nails. “Sometimes I study.”

“You’re right. Hunters are extinct, though not because of the dark witches. A vampire named Nix can be credited with that.”

“She killed them all? Why?” Layla asks, glancing between the two of us, all of her earlier awkwardness now gone in light of learning more about this world.

“Hunters were the strongest of supes, once fully trained, of course, and they’re driven by a need to kill bad things. So given vampires or even shifters being, well, wild, they would come in and take care of the supes who posed a danger to humans and the other supes. Anyway, long story short, some hunters pissed off Nix, this very old vampire, and she and a few other vampires went and wiped them out.”

“If they were stronger than them, how did they do that?” I wrinkle my brow. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Carter shrugs. “You’d be amazed at how strong vengeance can be. Nix worked with Blood Mafia, a big grouping of vicious vampires, and launched a series of surprise attacks. Once she took care of the mature hunters—or the ones who awakened and had the full use of their powers—it was easy for her to take out the rest.”

“So she’s really dangerous.” Layla runs her fingers through her hair.

“She is, but she’s been in hiding for at least twenty years, so we don’t really have to worry about her. Blood Mafia keeps to themselves now in San Francisco. The elders have come to terms with them.”

“Shifters and vampires living in harmony?” I snort. “What would Jacob and Edward say?”

Carter gives me a funny smile, like he’s trying to understand but doesn’t quite get there.

“Eh, I’m more concerned about how Selena would feel.” Layla shoots me a grin.

“True, she’s a badass. I want to be her when I grow up.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about with Edward and Jacob, but I do loveUnderworld, and I’ve come to find after being changed that most of those same stigmas are true between vampires and shifters. It’s almost like our nature won’t allow for more than one supernatural race.” Carter rubs the bridge of his nose and yawns again. “Okay, why don’t we call that good for the day? We have two minutes before class is out.”

Flipping my notebook closed, I shove it into my backpack and head to Layla’s desk, stopping to wait while she gets her stuff put in her bag.

“Pretty wild, huh?”

She searches my face, looking for any sign of anger left over from her comment to me earlier. When she doesn’t find any, the tension bunching her shoulders together eases and she chuckles.

“That a few vampires took out an entire race of supes? I think you mean terrifying.”

“I think we’re safe from vampires, at least while the wards are up. We can worry about them once we take out... the trash.” I wrinkle my nose, hating that I almost said I want to kill Jinx out loud. Something tells me she wouldn’t be too happy about that, though a part of her has to anticipate it.

Layla lifts an eyebrow at my quick recovery. “It’s starting to stink.” Pressing her lips into a thin line, she glances at Carter who is waiting by his desk for us.

“Ready for lunch?” he asks.

Our stomachs growl in answer and he shakes his head. “I sure hope they brought more food than yesterday.”

I laugh and start to head out of the classroom. Layla grabs my arm once we’re in the hallway, turning me toward her.

---