“He wants to meet you, very much.” His voice was deep and quiet. “But I have told him he must not frighten you. He thinks if he was able to look into your eyes and speak to you it would dispel your fear of him but I’m not sure about that.”
I wasn’t sure either. The idea of meeting a fire-breathing dragon face-to-face wasn’t exactly a comforting one. And I still didn’t understand why he wanted to meet me so much.
“Come—it will be dinner time soon and we’ll have to go to the Dining Hall,” Ari said. “No more stalling, Kaitlyn—you need to feed.” And he lifted his chin and bared his throat for me, just as he had that morning.
I saw a vein pulsing in the side of his neck and that tingling, itching feeling began in my upper teeth, right where my incisors were. My throat was dry and I felt my new fangs elongating and sharpening as they always seemed to do when I was hungry for blood.
Still, I held back.
“Do you think it might be better…” I cleared my throat, trying to think how to put it. “Do you think maybe I should…should drink from your wrist again instead…instead of your, uh, neck?” I asked Ari, hoping he wouldn’t take offense.
He looked at me steadily for a long moment.
“Dios—are you really that afraid of me, Kaitlyn? Or is it my Drake you fear?”
“It’s not that!” I exclaimed hastily. “Or, I mean, it’s that a little bit but it’s also…” I licked my lips, trying to think how to say what I needed to say without embarrassing myself to death. “Don’t you think it feels, uh, weird when I bite you?” I asked at last.
“Weird?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.
“You know…” I made a motion with my hand, feeling my cheeks burn. “Intimate,” I said at last.
“Yes.” He nodded. “It is extremely intimate. And very pleasurable, to be honest.” He cocked his head to one side, considering me. “Is it for you, too?”
“Yes,” I almost whispered, feeling my hands clench into fists at my sides. “And it’s weird to have such, uh, intimate feelings with someone I don’t really know.”
“We are getting to know each other, now,” he pointed out, smiling a little. “The more we talk, the more you know me and the more I know you.”
“I guess.” I hesitated, shifting from foot to foot.
“Look, if you’d rather drink from my arm, that’s all right with me,” Ari said, frowning a little. “Here.”
He took off his school jacket with its neat black lapels and the Nocturne Academy crest on one side and rolled up the crisp white cotton shirt sleeve to bare his right wrist. He held it out to me in a mute gesture of welcome and I felt my fangs itching again as I noticed a pulsing blue vein that almost seemed to be beckoning to me.
Hesitantly I approached him. His warm scent seemed to fill my senses as I took his wrist delicately in both hands, barely touching him.
He had really nice hands for a guy, I couldn’t help noticing. They were big and square and the nails were neatly cut and very clean. I wondered if they elongated into talons when he turned into his Drake and then tried to push the thought away.
My throat burned with thirst and I bent my face to his wrist, aware that he was watching me intently through half-lidded eyes. He held perfectly still as I bared my fangs and sank them into his flesh, piercing the vein with their curving points.
I had wanted to stand while I drank from him, to put a little distance between us and try to lessen the intense feelings that flowed between us when I took his vein. But I hadn’t counted on the effect his blood had on me.
At the first amazing mouthful, I felt a moan leave my throat and my knees buckled as sensations too strong to deny or ignore rushed through me.
“Cuidado, L’lorna!”
Ari caught me in his arms and the next thing I knew, I was in his lap—the very place I’d been avoiding. But his blood tasted so good and the feelings flowing between us were so strong, I found I no longer minded.
With another little moan, I curled up against him and drew another delicious mouthful of blood into my mouth, savoring it as it nourished and filled me.
His blood was strong, I thought—incredibly strong. Of course, I hadn’t tasted many kinds of blood—just Avery’s and the bagged human and beef blood Griffin had given me. But compared to those, the big Drake’s blood had an almost alcoholic quality to it—like really strong liquor.
Not that I had been in the habit of drinking hard liquor, of course. But my mom had let me taste Scotch once when I was younger—just enough to let me know I didn’t want any more of it. I still remembered the way that single swallow had bloomed fire in my belly and made my head swim.
Ari’s blood was like that—strong but delicious and it flowed down my throat like the finest wine. It occurred to me that if drinking from a human would be like eating at McDonalds, drinking from Ari would be akin to eating at a restaurant with three Michelin stars. He was a gourmet beverage and he was offering himself to me free of charge.
Why? The question drifted through my brain again but I pushed it to the back of my mind. Right now the blood pouring down my throat took precedence over everything else. I didn’t want to think about anything but how good it tasted…and how good it made me feel to drink from him.
Avery threw back his head and groaned as he continued to cradle me in his lap. Clearly he was feeling it too and just as clearly, he was enjoying our connection as much as I was.
God, could this really be right? Honestly, it was one of those things that felt so good, it made you think it must be wrong or sinful, just because of the wonderful, addictive pleasure it produced.
At last, I had my fill. Withdrawing my fangs from the big Drake’s wrist, I started to slide out of his lap on shaky legs. But Ari caught me in his arms and held me.
“Stay with me a little while, Kaitlyn,” he murmured, his deep voice rough with longing. “Don’t leave so soon. We don’t have to speak—just be with me for a while.”
I felt like I could hardly refuse, considering that he’d just fed me his blood. Besides, I wanted to stay with him—wanted to feel surrounded by his big body, safe in his arms. Wanted to know that for whatever reason, someone like him could want someone like me.
Though I still didn’t understand why.
47
Kaitlyn
I dreamed of The Fire again that night but this time, for the first time ever, the dream was different. I dreamed of being enveloped in flames, as I always did, but this time the flames didn’t hurt. In fact, they curled around me in a friendly way, reminding me of old friends who had come to visit.
In the dream, I didn’t hear the screams of my parents this time. Instead, I wandered around my old house calmly and peacefully, though I was totally engulfed in flames and the entire place was burning down around me. For some reason, this didn’t bother me a bit. I moved through their flickering shadows as though I was moving through water, seeing The Fire with new eyes.
It was beautiful, really, my dreaming self thought. The patterns of light and shadows…the gold and crimson and vermillion flames…the way it filled the whole house—including me—with its warmth and power…
I woke with a start, feeling strange all over. The scars on my back, which hadn’t bothered me in ages, were itching horribly. I tried to scratch them, but of course I couldn’t and they itched too much for me to even think of drifting off again.
Giving up on going back to sleep, I got up as quietly as I could and went into the bathroom I shared with Emma and Megan. The bathroom had been made for a whole dormitory of girls and there was a long mirror which stretched in a shiny, reflective rectangle over the bank of sinks.
Though I didn’t normally like to look at myself or my scars, tonight the itching was too intense to bear—I had to know what was going on. Pulling up my night dress, I stood with my back to the mirrors and craned my head over my shoulder, trying to get a look at myself.
What I saw made me frown. The scars on my back, which had been the same twisted pin
kish white as the rest of my body, seemed to have changed somehow. It was hard to tell, though, because there was a layer of dead, dry skin covering them.
When I saw this, I made a face. Well, gross! No wonder I was itchy.
Deciding the fastest way to get rid of the weird dry skin was to take a shower, I turned on the warm water and hopped in. There was a loofa with a long handle that I used sometimes when my scars felt extra tight or itchy. I used it now, reaching over my shoulder to scrub my back as well as I could.
At last the itching seemed to abate and I was able to turn off the water and dry off. Wrapping a blue towel around myself, I stepped out of the shower and turned with my back to the mirrors again.
When I dropped the towel, I let out a low gasp.
My scars had changed—they had rearranged themselves somehow into elongated shapes that mirrored each other perfectly.
“Okay, what’s going on?” Emma asked, coming into the bathroom with a yawn.
“Yeah, Kaitlyn, you’ve been in here for ages.” Megan came in right behind her. “Are you all right? Hey…” She squinted at the mirror. “What’s up with your back?”
Realizing I still had my towel drooping low around my hips, I started to cover up but Emma stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“No, Kaitlyn, let us see,” she said quietly. “Whatever it is, you know we won’t judge you for it—we love you.”
Megan nodded agreement.
“It’s hard to look at your own back so why not let Emma and I help? Are your scars hurting?”
“No,” I said tightly. “Not hurting exactly. They’re just…rearranging themselves somehow.”
“What? What do you mean?” Megan asked.
“And how is that possible?” Emma said.
“I don’t know. They just…moved.” I shrugged my shoulders, which made the new configuration of scars twitch in the mirror. “They used to be distributed all over my back,” I told my friends. “Kind of patchy where The Fire got parts of me but not others. But tonight I woke up all itchy and after I took a shower I looked and…” I shrugged again. “This is how they look now.”
“They don’t even look like scars anymore,” Emma said wonderingly as she and Megan examined my bare back. “They’re more like tattoos—only done in pink instead of blue ink.”
“And look—the skin isn’t rough anymore.” Megan touched the edge of one scar with her fingertip, making me twitch all over. “It’s smooth!” she exclaimed stroking my shoulder blade. “And look at the shape.”
“Triangles?” Emma wrinkled her forehead uncertainly. “Really long ones but…”
“No—wings! They’re shaped like wings!” Megan exclaimed.
“Like bat wings?” I asked, peering over my shoulder again and squinting at the mirror. “I guess that would make since. I mean, I am a vampire now. Don’t they have all those legends about Nocturnes being able to turn themselves into bats?”
“Griffin says all that is nonsense,” Megan said, sounding distracted as she continued to study my back. “He says some Nocturnes can have special control over animals—like his family does—but they can’t transform themselves into any other creature. It’s just not possible.”
“Then what does it mean?” Emma demanded. “And why is it happening?”
Suddenly there was a knock at the bathroom door.
“Okay, girls,” Avery’s voice said from outside. “I don’t want to see anyone in the altogether but can someone please tell me what in the world is going on right now?”
“Should we let Avery see?” Megan asked me.
I shrugged. Normally I was extremely shy about showing my scars and if it had been any other boy in the world standing outside that door, I would have given a firm no. But these were my Coven-mates and besides, I knew Avery wasn’t interested in me that way. Plus, he had the most magical knowledge of any of us, since he’d grown up in a magical family and come to Nocturne Academy very early. So maybe he could help.
“Let him in,” I said, just making certain that my more delicate areas were covered. Just because I was comfortable letting Avery see me didn’t mean I was immodest.
“Okay, what is going on in here?” he demanded, peering owlishly at the three of us. “Katydid, what are you doing in only a towel at three o’clock in the morning?”
“I had a funny dream and then I woke up because my back was itching,” I told him. “I took a shower and found that my scars had changed. Well, the ones on my back, anyway.”
“Changed how exactly?” Avery demanded.
“Well, just look at them,” Megan said, pointing. “They’re not rough anymore—they’re smooth.”
“And they’re shaped like wings,” Emma put in. “Don’t you think?”
“I don’t know.” Avery looked more wide awake now. He examined my bare back with a frown.
“Avery,” I said, appealing to him. “What’s going on with me? Is this a bad thing?”
He shook his head.
“Honestly, Katydid, I don’t know—I wish I did.”
“But does it seem magical in nature to you?” Megan asked anxiously. “I mean, it must be—right? Scars don’t just change like this, literally overnight, without some kind of magic.”
“Maybe.” Avery pursed his lips. “Or it could be some kind of reaction.”
“Like an allergic reaction?” Emma asked anxiously. “Like people get to shellfish?”
“How can that be?” Megan asked. “The only thing Kaitlyn has been eating or, er, drinking lately is…”
“Blood,” all four of us said at once and I felt a shiver go through me. Every once in a while this happened—it was like our minds converged and we all had the same thought or said the same word at the same time. Avery said it was a sign of an exceptionally close Coven—I wasn’t sure what it was but it always gave me a chill when it happened.
“More specifically, Drake blood,” Avery said, frowning. “And not just any Drake—you’re drinking from one of the most powerful Drakes in the Sky Lands.”
I remembered my thoughts earlier, about how Ari’s blood was like a strong liquor and how it almost made me feel drunk when I took his vein.
“Do you think…” I had to lick my lips which had suddenly gone dry before I could continue. “Do you think drinking Drake blood—drinking from Ari—is somehow changing me?” I asked.
Avery sighed.
“I really don’t know, hon—I wish I did. Do you feel like you’re changing? I mean does this…” He waved a hand, indicating the new configuration of my scars, “hurt at all?”
“No.” I shook my head. In fact, the new scars felt lighter and looser than my old ones had. And Emma had been right, if you looked at them right, they almost looked like tattoos. These scars I wouldn’t have been ashamed to show, I thought longingly. Why couldn’t something like this happen to my face?
Well, maybe it would if I kept drinking from Ari.
The thought filled me with a sudden burst of hope. I would do anything to get rid of my scars and if I couldn’t get rid of them, changing them would be the next best thing. Given the choice of looking like a burn victim or looking like a tattooed lady who loved ink a little too much, I’d take the tattoos every time.
“It doesn’t hurt,” I said again. “In fact, it feels better now than it did before. It’s not nearly as tight.”
“Well then, maybe it’s a good thing?” Emma’s voice rose with the question, indicating she wasn’t exactly sure if my new scars could be good or not.
“Whether it’s good or bad we can’t know tonight,” Avery said firmly. “Tomorrow Megan and I can go to the Spell Library and do some digging. We’ll look up Made Vampires and see what can affect them or change them in any way.”
“Good luck finding anything like my case, though,” I pointed out. “Who ever heard of a Made Vampire drinking from a Drake before?”
“Well, that’s true,” Avery acknowledged. “But for now…” He yawned hugely. “It’s time to get back to bed. As
long as you feel okay, Katydid?” he asked, looking at me.
“I’m fine, I guess.” I shrugged. “My body has gone through so many weird changes lately—what’s one more?”
“Well, promise to wake us up if you have any more itching or weirdness,” Megan directed.
“Or if you feel sick in any way,” Emma added. “So we can take you to the Healer.”
“I don’t need the Healer,” I said. “I just want to go back to bed.”
“All right. Goodnight then.” Since I was still wearing a towel, Avery gave me a swift peck on the cheek instead of a hug. “Sweet dreams and let us know if any more weirdness happens.”
“Good night, Avery—thank you.” I looked at all of them. “Thank all of you for being here for me and supporting me through…” I waved a hand, indicating the strange state of affairs I found myself in. “Well, through everything.”
“Of course.” Megan smiled at me. “We’ll let you get dressed.”
“But if you’re not back out pretty quick, we’re going to be worried,” Emma told me.
“I’ll be quick,” I promised and they all filed out, leaving me to change back into my nightdress.
But before I did, I took another long look at the strange new markings on my back.
What was happening to me? And would it happen anywhere else?
48
Kaitlyn
Well, for the next few days at least, it didn’t. In fact, nothing more out of the ordinary happened for over a week. Unless you count me going to the Drake’s Den twice a day to sit in Ari’s lap and drink his blood out of the ordinary, that is.
Though I never would have believed it was possible, I actually got used to doing it. I didn’t ask to drink from his wrist anymore, either. There was no point, really—my knees buckled with the first mouthful of his blood and he had to pull me into his lap anyway. So I might as well start out there and save us both the trouble.
Fang and Claw: Nocturne Academy, Book 2 Page 19