“I can’t.”
“And why not?”
I scanned my surroundings, taking in the dark, gothic buildings and spiny trees. “It’s difficult to explain,” I said. “I just want to know about Hannah. What did the doctors say?”
“Not good at all. They don’t know what’s wrong with her. They detected a compound in her body that’s foreign to them, and they say it keeps changing. I’m not sure. They bombarded me with a bunch of scientific terminology, but all I want to know is that your sister’s going to be fine.” Was Mom crying? She never cried. My mom was always brutal. Tough. Fierce. She stayed firm and never wavered in any situation. “Whatever that thing in your sister is… it’s taking over her body, and I don’t know how much longer she’s going to last.”
Miles did tell me that after the bite, she only had a month to live. With our current timeline, my sister had only slightly more than two weeks left.
I hadn’t even figured out how to get out of the Sanctum.
“How is Dad taking it?” I asked.
“He’s been angry at everything. Come home, Verity,” Mom said. She paused, then continued. “Why did you leave the day Hannah got admitted? The hospital told us that you called for an ambulance. What happened that night?”
“I don’t know.”
Mom sensed my lie even across a phone line. “You do.”
“I really don’t.” A queasy sensation settled in my stomach.
“Tell me the truth. You have something to do with what happened to your sister and you’re too afraid to admit it. Please. Any information will—”
“It was a coincidence.” The guilt that clawed my chest was unbearable. The vampire I’d failed to kill had gotten to Hannah. If I were more effective with my hunting, Hannah would never have found herself in this predicament. “I’m not sure what happened to her. I left before even seeing her.”
“I want answers,” Mom said. “You can’t run away from this conversation forever. You’ll have to tell us eventually. Don’t you want to save your sister? Don’t you love her?”
“I do.”
“Then why are you being so difficult. Tell us—”
I ended the call.
My guilt was eating me from the inside out, and the connection was becoming unstable anyway. I didn’t want to hear the desperation in the way Mom talked anymore. There was blame there, too, and Mom was justified in her accusations. Hearing it and having to face what I’d done wrong was too painful.
I heaved a sigh, my sins weighing heavily on me. I placed the phone inside my pocket and began my walk back to the dorms. Should I discuss this with Grey? He was resourceful. I wouldn’t be surprised if he came up with a plan.
A soft moan interrupted me from my thoughts.
Moaning?
It was coming from around a corner, behind some bushes. I paid more attention to where I was and realized I was close to Cassius’s tower. Did I make a detour? Maybe I’d been unknowingly drawn to him again. I shook my head, frustrated by myself and my foolish heart.
I followed the moaning, curious about where it was coming from. It grew louder as I neared the corner.
My gut was telling me to back away from this. The moans probably came from two horny students making out someplace they shouldn’t. I was about to head back to where I came from when from behind the wall, I spotted white hair.
Cassius.
“Hmmmm,” a girl moaned. A weak mewl followed shortly after.
My ears buzzed. I took a step to the side to give myself a clearer view of what was going on. Cassius peered upward, meeting my eyes. He had his arms wrapped around another girl, just as he’d hugged me. The girl’s neck arched upward, exposed to him. Cassius had his fangs buried in her skin. A trickle of blood dripped from down her neck to her collarbone.
He fed from her like a beast.
Vile hatred snaked up my insides. The sight was so hideous that I wanted to look away. I didn’t. I stared, accepting the ugliness of it all, letting myself bathe in my revulsion. I stiffened and curled my hands into fists, digging my fingernails into the flesh of my palms.
After having his fill, Cassius extricated himself from the girl’s neck. He took a step back and, from the pocket of his cloak, pulled out a rag. He supported his victim, hugging her so she wouldn’t fall to the ground, and pressed the rag to her open wound. His feeding seemed to have weakened her knees. Cassius picked the girl up, carrying her as he did me that night, and carefully set her down on a bench behind them, making her comfortable.
I watched them the entire time, allowing anger to swirl in me.
“It’s rude to stare,” Cassius said. The girl slumped onto the bench. She was dressed in a frilly white dress that emphasized her innocence. She looked frail and like a doll.
“You’re feeding.”
“Vampires feed. Are you jealous that it’s not you I’m feeding from? You’re welcome to offer your blood if that’s what you want.”
His chiding tone pushed me over the edge. I couldn’t stand to hear it, and so I strode up to him, hand raised and ready for an attack.
Cassius saw through me like glass. “It’s not going to happen a second time,” Cassius said. He drew me in, pulling me against his taut body. The girl’s blood was still red and glistening on his lips. I craned my neck and looked into his eyes. They were no longer red, but a bright and enrapturing purple.
So beautiful.
And yet so tragically terrifying.
“I am not jealous,” I said, trying my best to hide the pain in my voice.
Cassius traced his hand down my spine. Shivers quivered down my back, tingling toward my toes. “I fed from her because of you.” Cassius gripped my hair, yanking my head backward. “I haven’t fed in years. Ever since the Ravaging I’ve abstained from blood, and yet, now that I’ve met you, I can’t stop thirsting and needing and wanting.” He flashed his blood-covered fangs at me. “I hate you so much, Ver.”
“Don’t blame your monstrous ways on me,” I said through gritted teeth.
Cassius growled. “I’m only like this because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. The thirst. The hunger. I’ve been using blood slaves to abate it, but it’s your blood, your body, your soul I want.”
“The hate is mutual.”
“I want to destroy you.”
Cassius wasn’t hurting me physically, but my heart ached because of him.
I struggled against Cassius’s embrace, but I was no match for his strength. He unfurled his wings from his back, and the vampire lifted himself toward the skies, taking me as his captive.
Sixteen
Verity
Cassius brought me to a secluded area of the Sanctum. Tall statues of crying angels surrounded us in a circular pattern. In the center of the circle was a concrete slab. It looked like a sacrificial altar.
Was this where he was going to rip me apart?
Cassius set me down. My feet felt numb as they landed on the cobblestone beneath. “You drank from the girl,” I said. “And you left her like that.”
“One of her collectors will be with her soon,” Cassius replied. “He’ll return her to one of the blood farms, where she can recover.”
“Blood farms?” I asked. “You’re talking about her like she’s livestock.”
Under the moonlight, Cassius looked far too ethereal. His white hair and sharp features gave him an angelic appearance, emphasizing how inhuman he was. If he was a monster, then he must be the most beautiful monster to ever exist. “Better a blood slave than a kidnapped human. Blood slaves know no other purpose than to provide sustenance.”
The idea was absolutely repulsive.
“They’re not legal under our council system, but the officials turn a blind eye to them. They provide an easier source of blood.”
“Hypocrisy at its finest.”
“I’m not proud of it. But these humans… at least they’ve never tasted freedom before.”
“And that is a good thing?” Incredulity fo
rced the pitch of my voice up a couple notches. “How can this even be condoned?”
“Blood slaves don’t know what they’re missing. Ignorance is the key to their happiness. The more they know, the more they suffer. We keep them in secluded farms, far away from civilization, and they sleep through most of their lives, woken only when they are needed.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Your justifications are repulsive.”
“They weren’t my idea,” Cassius said.
“I’ve had enough of you.”
I needed to see him dead and removed from this world. I turned on my heels. I couldn’t stand to be in his presence anymore. But before I took my first step away from him, Cassius grabbed my arm to stop me. He forced me to look at him, and in that instant, his pupils turned from purple to red.
“I feed and feed and try to take away my longing for you,” he said. “But the hunger keeps returning, and it comes back too soon. You are a curse upon me, Ver.”
I blinked, and a moment later, I found a dagger in my hand.
I glanced at it, focusing on the foreign metallic sensation that kissed my skin. In its steel blade, I saw my own frightened reaction.
“What is this?” I asked.
“Take my heart, Ver,” Cassius said. “It is yours if you want it.”
My mouth dried up from shock. Was Cassius actually asking me to kill him?
He brushed my hair from my face. “That dagger… it has the power to harm a fullblood. You won’t find anything like it anywhere else. It was spelled by a witch many, many years ago.”
“Why?” I asked.
Cassius dragged the dagger closer to the center of his chest. “This is what you came for. My heart. And I’m giving you the means to take it.”
I shook all over. Cassius shifted the angle of my hand so that the tip of the dagger rested where his heart beat.
A whimpered sounded from my chest. “No.”
“No?”
“Because…” A tear escaped the corner of my eye. Why was this so difficult? I thought about the girl Cassius was trying to save. He’d shown compassion then. And the pain in his eyes… A true monster wouldn’t be able to feel pain like that.
But he’d also hurt me.
I hated Cassius because he made me question everything I believed about vampires. It was easier to discriminate blindly.
A pounding thudded in my ears.
“Do it, Ver,” Cassius said.
“No…”
“You’re stronger than this. Don’t you want to save your sister?”
I thought about the call with Mom. She’d sounded so worried.
Cassius gripped my hand, covering my fist with his large fingers, and pushed the dagger deeper into his chest. He groaned at the pain. “Where is the tenacity I saw in you? Was it false? Was it a lie? Show me that you’re stronger than this, Ver. Show me that you can kill like the heartless hunter you a—”
“No!”
“Do it!” His face contorted, filled with fiery rage. He was gorgeous and terrifying and wicked.
I tugged the dagger away, using all my strength to pull myself from him. Cassius let me go. I stumbled backward, almost tripping on my own feet, but regained my balance before I fell. I was breathing heavily, my chest heaving, and the rise and fall of Cassius’s chest echoed mine.
“You didn’t do it,” Cassius said. He looked at me intensely. “You didn’t… Why?”
I asked myself the same question.
Failure.
The consequences of my inaction rang loudly through my mind. Cassius had given me an opportunity to save Hannah, and I’d discarded it too easily, just like an idiot.
I bit my tongue. My ineptitude tasted bitter on it. “I… I don’t know.”
With large strides, Cassius closed the distance between us. He reached out, and before I knew it, his lips crashed against mine.
Seventeen
Cassius
Verity didn’t take my heart.
Ruin her.
Destroy her.
Hate her.
But most of all, I wanted to love her. I fought against that desire as hard as I could. I saw how the other students treated her and allowed it to happen, even though my instincts urged me to protect Verity.
I’d given her the means to hurt me, thinking that she would be just like Janella. Janella wouldn’t have hesitated in using me at all. She would have ripped my heart from my chest to serve her means. I’d always known that about her, but I loved her anyway. I’d loved foolishly and I’d been hurt.
And I’d made myself vulnerable again. I couldn’t understand myself. Being next to Verity made me lose my senses. Logic was nonexistent. I’d devised this ludicrous plan to test her because, for the first time in what felt like forever, I wanted to believe that the world didn’t have to be so cruel.
I felt when I first saw Verity. She was both light and darkness. The pain of hope. And seeing her gave me a desire I haven’t experienced in far too long. Seeing her had given me a longing for a better future.
A future in which I didn’t have to be so lonely.
I wondered whether I spoke from desperation. I thought I was going insane. That was why I’d avoided her the last week. I wanted my rationality to return, but it never did. So I slipped into vices, drinking from blood slave after blood slave to rid my thoughts of Verity.
It didn’t work.
Verity had thrown the dagger from her hand, the weapon making a sharp, clinking noise on the ground. She’d discarded her desires, and I was alive because of it.
I held nothing back, letting myself loose, and took her lips.
She tasted sweet.
Delectable.
Her form melded against mine, like two halves of a whole. Her intoxicating scent encompassed, surrounded, enamored me. I dragged her to the altar and pushed her onto the stone slab, resting her back on it. I was rough. Brutal. I heard her whimper from the pain and allowed myself to enjoy her soft mewling. I breathed in deeply. She was everything I’d ever wanted, and that didn’t make sense. “I need you,” I said.
She cupped the back of my head and drew me toward her.
Did she actually enjoy this pain?
In one swift movement, I tore apart Verity’s shirt. The buttons snapped from the fabric, falling away just like my self-control was. I shifted her collar and ran the back of my hand down her skin. I pushed her hair from her neck, exposing her jugular to me. My senses heightened, and faintly, I heard her pulse picking up in tempo.
I bit her.
Her blood poured into my mouth. She squirmed underneath me, but I continued taking from her, drinking and drinking and…
A haze fogged my mind.
I told myself to stop.
You’ll kill her. You’re going to drain her dry and then you won’t have her anymore.
Stop!
But I couldn’t. She tasted too good. Pleasure filled my veins, rocking through my body as her delicious blood flooded my tongue. I shouldn’t have lost control of myself, and now that I’d given in, it was too much. I rocked myself against her center. Already, I could smell her wetness gathering between her thighs. I imagined myself sheathed inside her, her walls massaging my cock, clenching it and milking my seed from me.
I wanted to seed her. Make her mine.
Stop!
I summoned enough restrain by using every ounce of my willpower. I yanked my head away from Verity, tearing my fangs from her skin. I’d created a bloody mess. Her white blouse was stained red, and her skin had turned a lighter shade in comparison. I licked my lips, reveling in the aftertaste.
It wasn’t enough.
Verity had weakened. Mascara streaked down her face, smudged due to the tears that poured from her eyes. Her hands were slack at her sides. Her eyelashes fluttered as she studied me with a hooded expression.
“More,” she said.
The girl enjoyed being broken.
“More?” I asked.
“Please.”
/> “I’ll kill you if I have any more of your blood. I can’t.”
Still, it was tempting to have my fill.
Far too tempting.
Verity shook her head. “Please, Cassius.”
I scanned her with newfound curiosity. Verity had shed her inhibitions. There was no more hatred. She’d lost her mind, just like I had, both of us shackled to our desires. Lust had made us fools.
“Please.”
Her begging unhinged me.
I climbed onto her then reached underneath her skirt. I pressed my palm onto her center, which was covered by the fabric of her underwear. She was soaked.
Had she actually felt pleasure from my drinking?
That usually didn’t happen with humans. Only vampires enjoyed sharing blood.
I gazed upon her, curiosity filling me.
I’d paused for too long. Frustrated, Verity took my wrist and pushed my hand harder against her core. “Please,” she said again.
Any more begging, and I wasn’t sure what I would become.
I pushed the fabric aside and slid two fingers into her. She was warm and wet as sin. “Fangs, Ver,” I said. I hissed. My arousal strained against my pants. The tension was unbearable, almost torture.
Verity’s mouth hung open. She arched her spine and fastened her hand to my shoulder, using me for support. “It’s not enough, Cassius.”
“No, it isn’t,” I replied. “It won’t be until you’re moaning, soaked and screaming my name.”
I placed my hand over her throat, careful to avoid the wound I’d caused, and squeezed gently. I wanted her to know that she was mine, and if any other man dared claim her, I would tear him limb from limb.
I’d never wanted anything this much before.
I pushed myself upward and tugged my pants from my hips, exposing my arousal to her.
“This is what you do to me, Verity,” I said.
Her eyes traveled to my length and widened.
“Are you ready?” I asked. She had to be. I wanted her to be ready for me to mark her, take her. I was going to tear her apart before putting her back together, making her mine.
Fullblood Academy: A Vampire Academy Mild Bully Romance (Vampires of the Sanctum Book 1) Page 12