Page 1 of Locked

Prologue

LUKA

Theadrenalineofthechase courses through my veins as I watch Bale hunt the hellhound below me on foot. Both of us are born hunters, and if it wasn't for the fact that we were here on a mission from our father, we would likely enjoy ripping these assholes to shreds a little more. The low-lying mist that surrounds Blackstone Academy, paired with the dark pink hue of the dusk sky, makes it slightly more difficult to see the pair, even with my heightened senses.

I track them from just above the trees, watching closely as Bale swipes his hand out, missing the beast by a whisper. He weaves his way through the dense woods, the obsidian-black hound just out of his grasp. His kind are extremely agile, with reflexes well beyond most other supernatural beings.

This is the fourth hellhound hunt we’ve had in the last six months, and both of us are getting fucking tired of it. Students that enter the woods surrounding the academy are torn to pieces and left behind as unrecognizable corpses for us to clean up.

I had tried to beg our father to let me in on the meetings with the families. The raw emotion in the room would have been heaven to siphon, but Headmaster Pierce is the only one allowed to dole out the bad news. It's bullshit if you ask me, but what do I know?

Coursing through the mist, I pull my black wings tight against my back and drop down in front of the beast, halting him in his tracks. My body jolts on impact as I land, tensing immediately when faced with the sheer size of the hound. I suck in a deep breath, preparing for the carnage that is sure to happen. A single look at my twin and his manic smile behind the hound tells me all I need to know about how this is going to go.

While I’m confident that we can take him down easily, hellhounds are unpredictable and irrational. My hands fly up, palms facing the beast, in an attempt to show we are not here to attack straight off the bat. As much as Bale would love that, we need information from him first.

Where I am fairly rational, well as much as a demon can be anyway, Bale thrives in the chaos. His bloodlust overtakes any rational thought half of the time.

He approaches the beast from the tree line, his menacing, amber eyes looking over him in detail and taking in anything that we can report back to identify the asshole.

Smoke pours from the hound’s black coat as he looks around, assessing his escape plan. He’s covered in scars, the thick slashes marring his face while his coat has lightened, white patches. Most of them look older, the hair having grown back a lighter shade in some areas, but there are a number of marks on his face that look extremely fresh. This thing is bigger than the last few have been, his coal-like eyes level with my own.

“Who’s fucking sending you here?” I growl, stepping closer and watching him snap his teeth toward me in response. We’ve fought demons much more terrifying than him, so his efforts to strike fear fall flat. A gravelly howl tears through him as Bale rips his claws across the hound's heels, forcing him to collapse on the cold, damp ground before he can retaliate.

The two of us circle him while he tracks us with his glowing, ember-filled eyes, unable to rise because of his wounds. Someone is sending these beasts up through the gates for something, and we need to figure out who it is, fast.

“They have us coming through the gates of hell, and they send two kids to kill us off? Cute.” He laughs, his breathing steadying as his fresh wounds start to heal. Hellhounds have healing abilities, so Bale’s slashes will heal, given that they were a fresh cut with no supernatural power used. The cuts on the arrogant mutt’s face, on the other hand, look to have been done by a demon, one with enough power to stall the healing process.

“Who.” Slice.

“Fucking.” Slice.

“Sent.” Slice.

“YOU?” Bale roars, tearing his long, sharp claws into the beast's back with every word. He growls in response, gnashing his teeth in Bale’s direction but missing him completely, frustration marring his scarred face.

He starts to shift toward me, his lips pulled into a snarl as he drags himself off the ground slowly. Bale’s cuts are obviously not deep enough to slow him down for long.

“You boys don't stand a chance in hell itself to win this. Run back to daddy where you belong and off this plane before we tear it to the ground to find her.”

My eyes meet Bale's; a silent nod between us is all we need to finish off this asshole and send him to purgatory. As twins who have been hunting together since we could walk, we have this dance down to a fine art.

Bale locks his claws into the hellhound's shoulder blades and lengthens his fangs as he pulls its head to the side with his other hand. Blood covers his face as he sinks his teeth into its neck, tearing out a piece of smoking flesh and dropping it onto the forest floor.

“Fuck, these assholes taste like shit,” he laughs before ripping its head to the other side and piercing his fangs into the hound's throat, holding him in place for me.

My form comes out to play, towering over the beast while it thrashes in Bale's grasp. Piercing my tail forward, I slice the razor-sharp edge across his throat, forcing a gurgling sound from his mouth. His eyes widen, embers from the burning coal escaping rapidly into the cool air. Bale rips his teeth away with force, taking a piece of flesh with him as smoke billows out of the large wound. He tears into its chest with his clawed hand and removes its warm, beating heart with a wide grin on his face.

A sudden feeling rushes over my body, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. By the look on Bale's face, having dropped from a sinister grin to a scowl, he must feel it too. The wind carries a scent, sweetness and sin all wrapped into one. It has to be her. My chest is heaving, needing to take a few deep breaths before I do something stupid like run to her covered in hellhound blood.

“It fucking can't be. Father is full of shit. She doesn't exist,” he growls out before turning to walk back to the academy.

“Brother, I can scent her. She's here.”

CHAPTER ONE

WYNN

Itturnsoutthatburning down the entire school after years of being bullied relentlessly isn't the correct way to handle things. They were forced to close the doors for months, with the repairs alone costing them millions. My parents had filtered enough money into the place to keep me enrolled up until now, despite my behavior being frowned upon by the board for the last few years.

---