Duke of Darkness (Empire Of Storms #1)

Chapter 6

The school was enormous and ancient. Alison was sure some sort of royal family had lived here before, if royals actually lived in the state of Michigan. The dark shadowhunter named Virgil led the way, carrying four of Madame T's bags as if he were lifting large sacks of air. He barely broke a sweat walking up at least fifty flights of stairs and down endless hallways.

There were countless of windows with matching curtains aligned on the walls, accompanied by oil paintings and portraits. The walls complimented the dark marble floors with perfect amounts of showmanship. It really was like a modern day castle, Alison could hardly believe it. She was so taken by the interior, she hardly noticed the distance between herself and the group.

"Hello?" A friendly voice interupted.

Alison recognized his blue eyes, the sweet ring in his voice. And a smile that could out shine the sun. "Sorry I uh got side tracked.."

"By the walls?"

"And the ceiling too." She gestured above them, to the intricate designs of gold and midnight blue.

The shadowhunter laughed, his accent flowing smoothly. "Keegan Blackthorn, I'll be escorting you and your things to your dorm."

"Thank you," She nearly gasped "I'm Alison. It's nice to meet you."

"Alright Ms Alison, if you'll follow me I'll lead you towards your dorm." He smiled, a bag in each hand.

Keegan was tall, but casually walked at a slower pace so Alison could keep up. He lead her to a door, behind it a poorly lit stairwell. He explained that Downworlders and Shadowhunters had to be separated. There was stiff tension between the two classes, prejudices that were hundreds of years old.

"Figures." She mumbled "Whenever you encounter something new, you either choose to hide it, fear it, or kill it."

"What about learning from it?" Keegan suggested. "They surely do that in your mundane movies."

Mundane. That's what she was called. "Yeah but the main characters usually hide because learning means dissecting or harvesting or weaponizing."

He stopped, turning slowly to face her. "You read a lot, don't you."

"What gave it away? The glasses? Pointy edges sticking out from the inside of my suitcase?"

"It's the sarcasm really. That and the pointy edges help."

Alison found herself laughing as they finally reached the bottom. Keegan's constant chatter made her forget her surroundings, how the golden embroidered walls slowly faded into cold black stone. This house, no castle, was old. There were bound to be some skeletons in its closet, but Alison never thought she'd be sleeping beside it.

Keegan stopped, acting as a door between Alison and the next room. From what she could see, the area was poorly lit by an odd mixture of candle light and standard light bulbs. The walls look constantly damp, a thick layer of chipping stone from start to finish. It had then occurred that this probably used to be a dungeon of some sort and now she was living in it. With monsters.

Suddenly, a large, pale hand pressed against her shoulder making Alison yelp. Keegan turned and frowned at the sharply dressed man behind him. His skin felt as cold as they looked, his light hair kissed the nape of his neck. "Deepest apologies little one, I didn't mean to startle you."

"What are you doing here? It's morning you know, I thought you would be..."

"Asleep? You know I've lived in the mundane world for a good seven decades right? I'm use to adjusting my bedtime." The man stated as if Keegan should have known from the start.