Azazel & the Secret Ritual

By H.M. Clasher

The forest holds all the secrets

 

The Grayson School is an elite school for the children of the wealthy and powerful in a world where danger is always right around the corner, and power is sought by those eager to open the gates to the underworld.

When it is hard to figure out who the good guys are, the order of the fallen must turn to a young boy whose potential power excites and scares them.

 

Azazel always finds himself in one difficult situation after another.  When the people who have always looked down on him turn to him to complete an essential mission, he does not know whether he can trust them or not.

 

When he finds out why this mission is so important, he begins to doubt everyone around him, including people he loves.

Soon he finds himself sucked into a whirlwind world where other people's lives depended on whether he succeeded or not.

 

Azazel will have to depend on a stranger to complete his mission, but what side are they on?

 

For fans of Liv Zander, M.D. Massey, Tao Wong, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Paul Sating       Annette Marie Michael Taggart, Everly Frost, Jim Butcher, B.N. Miles, Barbara Hartzler

 

Azazel and the Secret Ritual is a dark fantasy prequel to the Power Bearer series of books.

 

P.S. You can follow Azazel's wild journey in Day of the Beast, Day of Atonement and Day of Judgment.

 

Click the Buy Now button to follow Azazel into the woods!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Quaesitor
• Release date: Nov 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215973592

Book preview

H.M. CLASHER

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Text Copyright © 2022 by H.M. Clasher

All rights reserved

Other Books by H.M. Clasher

Day of the Beast

Day of Atonement

Day of Judgment

Chapter One

Hanging upside down from the old tree in the middle of the school grounds was a normal occurrence for Azazel.  It was the teacher’s favorite punishment, though it must be pointed out that he only gave it to Azazel.  Azazel was fifteen at the time.  He was scrawny but nevertheless active or as the teacher and most of the instructors at the Grayson school called it, problematic.  Life wasn’t easy for him.  It hadn’t been easy for a long time, but he was at home in some ways.  He never knew what a home was like.  When everyone else left for break, Azazel stayed on campus, managing to create mischief on a daily basis.  The ground workers enjoyed his presence.  He made their days go by faster.  Despite their opinions about his behavioral problems, no one enjoyed seeing the brown-skinned boy with the charming smile and the intense eyes hanging from the tree other than the old man who ran the school.

The teacher as he was referred to by everyone, commanded a great deal of respect at the school.  He was wise and all seeing.  At least it seemed that way for most of the students.  Azazel always tested the teacher’s will and convictions.  He questioned the rules and pushed the boundaries.  There was an understanding between him and the teacher, as long as no one else knew about it.  Azazel was allowed his freedom to cause trouble, until he got caught.  If he was caught, the punishment was severe.  The teacher never once thought to throw the boy out of school.  This was something Azazel found surprising and troubling.  Many students had been thrown out for doing less than Azazel had.  Naturally this insistence on keeping him at the Grayson school made the boy a lot of enemies.  The teacher knew this would happen, and Azazel knew it was his great test, to keep himself from hurting the other boys.  He enjoyed having fun and pushing boundaries, but he was not mean.  He did not like hurting others if he didn’t have to.

The blood rushing to his brain fogged Azazel’s mind as he hung from the tree.  The tree branches had a life of their own and every time he moved around a little too much, they tightened their grip on his legs and arms.  He couldn’t muster enough energy to free himself from the tree if he wanted to.  His eyes opened occasionally when he’d hear voices of students walking by.  His eyes were blurry.  Azazel prided himself over his visual abilities.  He was one of the few students on campus who could look through walls and any other material.  As you can imagine, this has led to a few punches being thrown in his direction.  His favorite targets were girls.  He loved them, and he couldn’t resist the urge to look at them.

He searched around to see if anyone was nearby, but he could hardly see.  Everything merged into one, like a swirling canvas of impossibilities.  He felt like life was seeping out of his body.  He earned this punishment by stealing a scroll from the teacher’s room.  It was a scroll about mind control.  It was a subject he and his cohorts were slated to learn the following year, but Azazel didn’t have patience.  Despite his troublesome behavior, Azazel was an avid learner.  He learned at twice the pace of his classmates, but only if he was truly interested in the subject matter.  There were faults with his methods though.  While some of his classmates were able to open portals, Azazel could not.  No matter how much he practiced, he could not master that skill, though he desperately wanted to.  Then there was the bigger issue in the young boy’s mind.  At fifteen, his wings still hadn’t shown up.  As you can imagine that made him a target for mockery, and boys can be mean.

Such a boy had been watching Azazel struggling hopelessly against the great tree for at least half an hour.  Willard Grayson was a tall young man a year older than Azazel.  He was physically strong with short hair and a small mustache.  He was muscular for a boy of his age due to regular hunts with his family on the weekends.  Willard came from a notable family who had given their name to the school after donating a considerable amount of money.  He was a prince in every sense of the word.  True to fit, he was surrounded by four young men, all vying to be his second in command whenever he would ascend to the apex of the family line.  Ambition had a price, and that price was doing and saying whatever Willard wanted, lest you be cast out of the group for disloyalty.

Coast is clear Willard, said Joachim, a sixteen-year-old with long brown hair and a short scar on his left cheek.  Joachim had a peculiar smirk on his face that made him look more like a madman and less like a teenager.  He had a particular hatred for Azazel.  He had been baited into a fight with Azazel by Willard which ended with him having a broken arm and the scar as memories.

Alright boys let’s make the best of this.  Listen, I don’t want anyone to kill him.  This is not the point of this.  And also we don’t have a lot of time, if anyone sees us...well, I’ll be fine but the rest of you will be kicked out of school and your lives will be ruined, Willard said as the five of them strode towards the tree.

Azazel heard the footsteps.  He could make out some of the words being said but nothing was clear.  His mind couldn’t process the information coming in.  This was one of his least favorite aspects of this punishment.  He had been there for five hours at this point.  The teacher used to only keep him up there for three hours, which Azazel could handle.  He wondered if the teacher had forgotten he was there.  That was the only explanation for why he was still hanging on the tree, about to lose consciousness.

Water, please, Azazel said.  The boys laughed.

You hear that boys? Azazel wants some water.  You little prick, I love seeing you up here.  It brings joy to my heart, Willard said.

Willard, I think we should give the helpless little orphan some water, Orban said.  Orban was the biggest of the group.  He was a few years ahead of the others