Half Blood Alliance
By JK Allen
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About this ebook
Half-Korean Bree Gracie's life is changing fast, as she knew it would. Just turned sixteen, she will be moving into the Alliance house with the other angelborn trainees. She's been preparing for this day her entire life. Having an angel for a father meant she always knew w
JK Allen
JK Allen wrote her first story when she learned how to write and hasn't looked back since. Common writing themes that can be found in her work address identity, everyday magic, and the type of strength and courage that can be found in ordinary people. Her reading tastes are as varied as the genres she enjoys writing, from Jane Austen to Diana Wynne Jones. When she's not writing, you can find her painting, drawing, or lost in the pages of a book.
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Half Blood Alliance - JK Allen
half
blood
alliance
half blood alliance series
jk allen
copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior permission of the publisher or the author, except in the case of brief quotations, embodied in critical reviews, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by U.S copyright law.
Copyright © 2022 JK Allen
For permissions contact: julia@hijinkswriter.com
Format provided by L. Bachman
www.lbachman.com
978-1-955311-02-1
978-1-955311-03-8
Second Edition
dedication
To my mom, who I will always
remember and treasure.
Oma, you were the best person I’ve ever met,
and you are gone too soon.
Miss and love you forever.
chapter 1
T
ali took her time. She was in charge here after all, no matter what the humans thought. When they summoned her, they thought they had all the power. But how wrong they were. The circle was there for their protection, not the other way around. And that meant something. Little did they know.
When they called on a demon, it was up to the lesser demons to obey. Technically, she was one. But she was an important one. One of Azaziel’s right hand men, well, women. Well, young woman. She had been only sixteen when she had been turned into a demon. Too young.
Fate had not been kind to Tali. She had once been angelborn, a descendant of the angel Grace, meant to protect the humans from demonkind. Then it had all gone wrong when Ginny was discovered. His precious daughter. That wench had ruined everything. First with Aiden, then somehow with Pat. Then Tali had been promised more power than even Ginny had. Real angelic power from the Scroll of Ain Soph. She had tasted it for only a moment, the best moment of her life. The only time she had truly been alive. But it was only for a moment. Life had been cruel.
Aiden had released heavenfire on them all. Betraying his own people with such a vile act that could kill them. An angelic gift, heavenfire was divine judgment. It had turned them all into demons for their so-called sins. As if what she had done was really that bad. Signing a simple scroll, working for Jacob. So what if he was a half-demon? The angelborn deserved to be in power, and they were using him as a means. It wasn’t wrong. Not really. Not worthy of this punishment anyway. An eternity as a demon. And it was only for increasing the powers and gifts she already had as an angelborn, to get more powerful than Ginny. How could that be wrong? It wasn’t as if she was just a human to begin with.
At least she wasn’t like the other Lazarines. The former angelborn who had signed the scroll and been turned. They were disfigured, grotesque. Horns, talons, fangs, scales, you name it marred their features. Her skin had turned ashen, demons all had corpse-colored skin, but she still looked human for the most part. Could pass, and that’s what kept her important. She could do what the other Lazarines couldn’t. In the meantime, she had to deal with this summons.
It started with the words. She didn’t know who had first taught them to the humans. Jacob’s father, Shemiazaz, had been the first greater demon, turned from an angel for his sins. The words were what brought them to the mortal realm. All the way from Perdition where they were imprisoned. All the way through the smoke, the smoke that formed her corporeal body in the mortal realm.
She slithered her way into the room, trying to be as dramatic as possible. The humans appreciated it, whether they realized it or not. It terrified and thrilled them. There were four of them in the room, wearing red robes with hoods drawn over their faces. A big ominous looking book lay on the table next to the leader. She laughed as she looked around at the humans, which made the man in the front of the circle frown. She could only see his lips scowl, but that made her smile wider. He would be fun to play with.
Why do you laugh, demon? You don’t look so scary,
he said with a sneer. It was clear he had dropped his voice at least an octave as he crossed his arms.
Why hide behind a circle for protection then?
she asked, looking at her nails. They were stronger than ever, strong enough to pierce skin.
He scoffed. I’m not stupid. I won’t erase the line for you.
You might. If you knew what was good for you.
She glanced up, arching her brow.
He uncrossed his arms. What’s that supposed to mean?
Tali scoffed. I’m not an ordinary demon. I can offer you certain… things.
You look pretty ordinary to me.
Test me. You called for a reason.
He nodded. We did. We require you to—
I don’t listen to you,
she interrupted.
Then we will keep you here as long as it takes for you to.
She laughed. You think that’s a threat? I have eternity. How long do you have?
Enough time. You will do what we want.
What do you even want?
We want someone dead.
Her hand rested on her jutted out hip. Easy, try asking. That’s nothing to me, but you don’t control me.
His lips drew up in one corner. Kill them, and then we talk.
Sighing, she cocked her head and asked, Name?
Jennifer Lee Smith.
They broke the circle and Tali left in a whirl of black smoke, skirting around them the way Azaziel had taught her to. Using the ancient magick to transport herself around to where the target mortal was. It was easy enough for her. She had been doing it for decades now.
Jennifer was sleeping quietly in her bed, hand tucked under her cheek, mousy brown hair in a tangled frizz around her face. Glasses lay on the pillow next to her. Probably the only thing that has ever lay next to her, Tali thought with a sneer. There were many ways to kill a person, but she had to consider what the cops would think after. And what those pathetic humans would. She decided to go for dramatic.
When she left, the room was splattered in red. Unfortunately for the humans that summoned her, they were the only suspects. And their signed demonic book was conveniently dropped in the middle of the crime scene. No one told Tali what to do.
chapter 2
B
ree held back tears as she grabbed her favorite sweater, the last thing to throw in her bag. It really shouldn’t have been a big deal, moving out. She would still be in the same town as her parents, still be able to see them, especially her dad, but this seemed huge nonetheless. She had just turned sixteen, and was moving into Alliance house. Finally.
She was angelborn, daughter of the angel Grace, and ready to begin her formal training. She would have started sooner, but her mom was your typical, strict Korean mom and wouldn’t let her move out until she was old enough, sixteen at least. Her birthday was last weekend, so her mom had no more excuses. The thing Bree had been looking forward to her whole life was now painfully in front of her, and she was terrified. She felt as though she was being thrown into the hands of strangers to fend for herself.
Her father was the angel Grace, but his human name this go around the world was Ben Gracie. Therefore, she was Bree SueJin Gracie. SueJin was her Korean name. But at least her American friends could pronounce it. They had a harder time with her mom’s name, EunYoung. In a twist of fate, it actually meant grace as well. Her parents were made for each other.
They had met back in Seoul. Her dad was there on some mysterious mission, helping a child who got sick, when he met Bree’s mom. She was always at the local teahouse or dabang he went to. It was where she liked to go and think. She was an artist, creating pottery. She would grab her books and go sit in the teahouse, look at the art, and draw up her own designs. Of course she noticed Grace. EunYoung was happily surprised to find out that he noticed her too. Quite a bit. And not only was he handsome and nice, he spoke perfect Korean. He offered to help her with English and within a year they were engaged.
She was religious, so it was easy to show her he was really an angel, and explain his mandate to protect humans by marrying and having children of his own. EunYoung believed in angels, but the thought of demons terrified her. She agreed to love him and that her family would become divine warriors. It was easier to agree to before Bree was born, EunYoung had explained to Bree before. But she would keep her promise.
Bree fretted with her shoulder-length, almost black hair, which badly needed to be brushed, but she couldn’t be bothered with that with her nerves feeling so frayed. She didn’t want to leave her room, didn’t want to leave her mom. Everything she had always known was about to change, and she didn’t feel prepared. A tear slipped past her resolve, just as the door opened behind her.
She knew it was her dad before his soft, reassuring voice spoke.
It won’t be all that different,
he said, hugging her from behind.
She turned into his embrace, instantly feeling relief from the anxiety and grief that was clouding her heart. He had that effect on people, being an angel.
What if everyone hates me?
she asked in a too small voice.
The ones that matter won’t.
She swallowed and swiped at her eyes. He was right of course, but it didn’t stop her from wanting everyone to accept her. The Alliance house was where some angelborn went to train. Angelborn were more than just descendants, they had all come into contact with demons and had their angelic abilities activated. They could use sigils in the Angelic Tongue to do what some would call magick, and they trained to fight demonkind and protect humans from them. Being a secret society sort of worked for centuries, but that had all changed when corruption took over the Alliance overall. Gideon was the ringleader of that mar on the record of angelborn, but he was a demon now, stuck in perdition. The house was waiting for her, to teach her how to work with weapons and finish learning all things Alliance. And the others at the house were around her age besides the teachers, but she never knew how to act around her peers. She was always worried about doing or saying the wrong thing. And that’s the last thing she wanted to do at the new house.
We better get going,
her dad said with a soft smile. His auburn hair winged up around his ears, making him look mischievous no matter how serious he was trying to be. She grinned at him and shouldered her bag. It was time to say goodbye to her old room and her old life. She took one last look around, its lavender walls glowed in the evening light. She mentally said goodbye to it and followed her dad out of the room, down the hall, and out the red front door, holding her breath as she went across the thresholds.
Alliance house was basically a mansion. One of the only ones in town. Lockewood was a smaller midwest city, the type of place you couldn’t avoid running into someone you knew. Where people felt they were entitled to know everything about everyone. Bree found it tiring. High school had been a weird time. She existed, not really a part of any one clique, but not bullied too much either, until recently. Now she would be leaving public high school, leaving behind her best friend, Rebekah. And just in time. Rebekah had just turned on Bree, starting rumors of Bree being beat by her mom and saying racist things against Bree. Bree couldn’t understand why, but she was glad to put it in her past.
The ride was quiet. They let a Kpop band say what they couldn’t. Her mom tried to hide her sniffles in the front seat, but Bree could see the slump to her shoulders and the red that rimmed her mom’s eyes in the mirror. It tore at her heart even more, knowing that this was harder on her mom than her. Hard as it was to just deal with her own emotions, she was crushed under the weight of her mother’s added pain. Of saying goodbye, and change.
The house crested above the hill, sprawling on its property with its wraparound veranda and many windows. The gardens were nothing to sneeze at either, and Bree wanted desperately to be alone in them. Plants were easier to deal with than people. They invigorated her and reminded her of her time with Bill, the guy from her literal dreams, meditating on their chakras while on their travels. She would take time tonight to explore the property alone. Collect her thoughts underneath the stars and the sallow moon that captured her mood perfectly. For now she had to climb out of the car, keep from crying, and unpack. She had the strength for none of this, feeling a weight on her chest that seemed to keep her from catching a full breath. Sighing, she unbuckled herself and grabbed the nearest bag.
Don’t worry about your bags, the boys will take them to your room,
Dad said before getting out of the car. Bree shrugged, then climbed out herself. He pulled her suitcases and bags out of the trunk and left them next to the car for the guys to take up.
She found herself facing her mom then, and the tears really did threaten to spill on both sides.
"Oma, please don’t cry. If you cry, then I’ll cry," Bree said in Korean.
"Why would I cry, you’re ten blocks away. And I don’t have to cook for you anymore. I am happy. No reason to cry." Her voice wavered, revealing how emotional she really was. Her mom rarely cried, and Bree felt her resolve shrink.
But she steeled herself and said, "I’m glad you are happy, Oma."
Study hard. I don’t want you slacking off now that I am not there to quiz you. And don’t go crazy about boys. Remember what you are here for.
Yes, mom.
I love you. Now go clean your new room.
With that, she hugged her daughter briefly, and climbed back into the car.
Dad walked up to Bree next. Your mom isn’t good at goodbyes. So I will take her home now. She loves you so much, you know. I do too. So if you need anything, you talk to us. I want you to work hard, but also make friends and do some fun stuff too. You’re still a kid, so enjoy it while you can. Love you, babaloo.
Bree smiled at her dad’s nickname for her and gladly accepted his hug and kiss on the forehead. She said her ‘love yous’ through the car window and waved them off down the road. Then the emptiness sank into the pit of her stomach. Her chest was a cavern and her stomach was a void. She quickly left to explore the backyard, avoiding the people all waiting for her inside. She had been to the house a couple times before with her dad, usually waiting on the veranda, or in the inner garden. But she knew it was more extensive than that, and she wanted to explore. She could see the boys grabbing her bag as she wandered down the rose path.
It was a small trail that led away from the backyard’s inner garden, which was a typical layout for a garden. The path was comfortable, but maybe a bit small for two people to go side-by-side. It wound its way back into sprawling trees and a really old fountain of an angel. It had seen better days, but had a charm about it for being so old. The water was green and smelled a little musty, though not unpleasant. The statue itself was starting to