by K. M. Raya
His mouth left hers, trailing down the side of her neck as he pinned her against the wall next to the entrance. A million wild ideas buzzed around in her brain. The possibilities were endless. She could let him fuck her right there and nobody would ever know… but should she? She was no prude. She definitely had a healthy appetite for sex and wasn’t ashamed of it. She knew how to fuck without connections. That might make her sound cold and heartless, but with the kind of life she led, how could anyone fault her for enjoying life's little pleasures now and again?
She was about to let things get that far when suddenly a crash reverberated around the room—shaking the walls and causing dust and debris to rain down over them. Jasper let her go, taking a protective stance in front of her that had Blue rolling her eyes. She nudged him out of the way. “What the fuck was that?”
A gurgling shriek pierced the air that had the two of them drawing their stakes without a second thought. They looked at each other with clenched jaws and darkening eyes. He nodded to Blue and she nodded back. They both knew what it was. That ear shattering scream only meant one thing. Vamps were near. The clouds moved in while they were inside the building. They covered the moonlight now, making the cemetery and rest of the forest almost pitch black. Her slayer eyes easily adjusted to the darkness, reflecting like a cat and letting her see exactly who was causing all the chaos. Two nasty looking vampires were perched on the tops of broken headstones as they faced down a man wielding nothing but his sharp claws.
Cole Harlan snapped his head in Blue’s direction, his glowing golden eyes widening as he took her in, stakes clutched in her palms, ready to lunge on these bloodsuckers. He snarled, “What the fuck are you doing out here!?”
Irritation bubbled inside her. “Is that seriously important right now?” She nodded to the vamps, who were practically salivating on the tops of those graves. Cole frowned, but as he went to open his mouth to no doubt say something snarky, a vampire lunged. In the blink of an eye, Cole no longer stood just feet away from Blue and Jasper; in his place was a gigantic black wolf the size of a small horse with glowing yellow eyes. His teeth were longer than Blue’s fingers, snapping around the vampire’s neck like biting into melted chocolate.
Jasper cursed and went for the second vampire. He ran at full Slayer speed, kicking it off the headstone before using the stone to heave himself up and over until he was crouching on top of its prone form. Cole was snarling and she could hear the tearing sounds of vamp flesh as his teeth ripped it apart piece by piece. Making a move to help Jasper, Blue made the near fatal mistake of not checking behind her because the next thing she knew, her face was buried in ice cold mud. Moving on instinct, she flipped around. Her fingers tightened around the thing’s nasty, squishy throat and squeezed.
A few years back, Greg had gifted her with a little something extra, something that was incredibly useful in situations like this one. Her fingernails were coated in a special silver infused nail polish and filed into slight points like small claws. The silver cut the vampire’s skin messily, and if it weren’t for the infusion, she’d have a much harder time choking it. Its gnarled and broken teeth gnashed away at Blue’s face, making her cringe back. It smelled like old, congealing blood and rotten flesh. She had to fight the instinct to gag.
The one stake still clutched in her right palm was facing the wrong way under the weight of the vampire’s body. It was moving so erratically that she couldn’t quite adjust her arm and bring it around at the right angle. Its teeth were getting closer to her face and making her sweat. If the nasty fucker managed to bite her long enough for its venom to lace her bloodstream, she’d be toast. Adrenaline flooded her body, as did fury, disgust and pity. She needed it off of her before she freaked the hell out. She could still hear Jasper and Cole nearby, still going at it with their own vampires, so they would be no help. Instead of focusing all her remaining energy on trying to turn her stake, she instead let it slip from her fingers all together.
The vampire’s eyes were level with her own as she went still beneath it. Triumph flared in its inky, dead irises as its face lowered even more. But the move caused her silver fingernails to pierce its dead skin until thick, black, oozing blood started to rain down on her like a waterfall of tar. Turning her head to the side, she clamped her mouth shut tight, trying her hardest not to let a single drop pass through her lips. After letting the stake go, she was able to flatten her other hand and slide it from beneath the vamp’s body and bring it up to its neck along with her other one. Once clamped down, she squeezed.
The sound that fell from the vampire’s broken lips was a horrifying mixture of a keening wail and a wet gurgle. Its teeth clinked and clacked like broken glass as it tried but failed to latch onto her face. More and more ice-cold blood poured over her body until she could no longer see the color of her own skin beneath the slimy, nasty shit. Her fingers dug so deep that she felt bone. She tried not to cringe as her fingers wrapped around the bare bone of the vampire’s spinal cord. She looked back up into the vampire’s eyes and froze. For just a moment, she could have sworn she saw a flicker of something there… something that looked an awful lot like fear… or maybe it was acceptance. Whatever it was, she couldn’t afford to dwell on it.
Blue pulled back hard, instantly snapping the vamp’s neck as its head broke loose from its body. The skin that held it together from the back ripped away and its body immediately went limp. Her fingers were shaking but she refused to let go of the head. There was a noise flooding her ears that overpowered any other sound nearby to the point that she couldn't even guess how the guys were faring.
It took a few seconds for her to recognize the sound. She was screaming. She was screaming and she hadn’t even known it. Not because she was scared. She was screaming out of pure fury. In the blink of an eye, though, the vampire’s body crumbled into dust through her shaking fingers until she was left clutching nothing but air. Laying there on the cold, wet forest floor, her breath heaved out in icy bursts of white steam in the darkness. Rain pelted her face and she could only hope that it would wash away a little bit of vampire blood that saturated every single part of her body.
Chapter Seven
The Headmistress’ office was dark and dreary, much like the rest of the school. There were no windows, creating a cave-like feel that had her all clammed up inside. The mahogany desk was heavy and old, and the plush chair Blue sat on was so large, it almost swallowed her whole. The entire room seemed like it was designed to make students and guests as uncomfortable as possible without adding actual spikes to the seats.
A tall, willowy woman swept into the room—all business and a no-nonsense attitude as her dark brown eyes locked on Blue. Her greying blonde hair was swept into a neat bun and her severe chin was sharp. Her slash of a mouth pursed when she looked down her long nose at the delinquent in her chair. “Thank you for being here, Ms. Graves. I trust you’re making yourself comfortable here at Arcane?” Her robotic cadence made her feel like she didn’t give a shit how comfortable she was, so she decided to give her just as bland of an answer.
“Yes, thank you, Headmistress.” Nothing about her tone was sincere, and Blue was pretty sure she recognized that, because there was a dark twinkle in her eyes that made her stomach feel uneasy. She was studying her too closely for someone who apparently wanted her there bad enough to bring her out of a decade long exile.
Placing her bony, hawk-like hands on her desk, she cleared her throat loudly. “About the… incident last night, how are you feeling now?”
It took all of Blue’s willpower not to snort. ‘How do I feel now? I feel like shit. I feel like it took three hours in a scorching hot shower and two bottles of body wash to scrub that vampire’s guts from my skin.’ “Uh, fine… I guess. I mean, it's not the first vamp I’ve dusted, so I really don’t see what the big deal is.”
The woman’s lips flattened into something resembling a smile, but sadly she missed that mark by a couple miles. Instead, she looked like she smelled someth
ing particularly unpleasant. That something being Blue, apparently. She had the distinct feeling the Headmistress didn’t like her very much. ‘What's new?’
“I wanted to assure you that this sort of thing is incredibly rare.” Blue squinted at her, but she continued. “Rare enough that it calls into question what you were doing in the woods so late at night while all the other students were accounted for in the dining halls.” She clicked her nails on the desk slowly. Blue just stared, waiting for her to finish what she had to say because obviously she wasn’t done. “It seems strange to me, that the vampires attacked precisely where you were at that specific moment. What are the odds?” Her tone made Blue bristle.
“What exactly are you insinuating, are you trying to ask me if I’m the reason the vamps were here?” she all but growled.
“Oh child, no. I'm simply curious as to the timing. As I said, vampire sightings are rare around these parts.”
She’d had enough. “Not to be too blunt here, ma’am, but I’ve been on campus for less than a week and a half and already I’ve seen instructors stake one of their own students on orientation day and helped fight off multiple vamps that I have no doubt would have made it to campus had we not been there to stop them… I had nothing to do with either situation and I don’t really appreciate the insinuation. You invited me here and I showed up.” She was becoming breathless. “Is this going to happen every time something goes wrong around here? Will I be questioned about everything because you people are too lazy to make the effort to find the real issue?”
The Headmistress stared at her for a long moment. Her shrewd eyes looked right through her as if they could see far more than she was letting on. Despite Blue’s outburst, she remained calm. It almost pissed Blue off. The audacity of the woman was incredible. After all her family had contributed to the school and the community, they treated her and her sister as if they were criminals by association. “As long as you keep your nose out of trouble, we shouldn't have a problem, am I right, Ms. Graves?”
“Am I excused?” she asked through gritted teeth.
Headmistress Merriweather looked pleased with herself as she gestured at the door with her long, blood red fake nails. “By all means…” It was all Blue needed to hear. She was up and out of her seat before the old bat could utter another word of insult.
The hallway was full of students, bustling around every which way, heading off to their respective classes. She had about ten minutes until she was needed in Orozco's class, so she ran to her dorm to change. She dressed in a fitted pair of running shorts and a dark red cropped tee. She’d learned from the last few sessions that she would be sweating like a pig on a hot southern day if she wore her sweatpants. Luckily, she had no qualms about showing her body. She knew she looked good, abs rock hard and arms toned. No body issues whatsoever. So why were her insides tingling with anticipation? It couldn't possibly have anything to do with a certain werewolf she knew she'd be face to face with in the coming moments.
*
Class had already started by the time she made it there. Orozco paid her no mind, no doubt aware of her meeting with Merriweather.
The second she entered the room she could feel his eyes on her. Cole stood to the side of a couple of students as they spared on the mats. His attention, however, was locked on Blue. As she met his gaze, she couldn’t help but remember the way he looked in his wolf form. He was beautiful. She remembered the black silkiness of his fur, contrasting with the yellow glow of his wolf eyes. Despite the fact that he’d been biting a vampire in half at the time, she wanted to run her fingers through all that fur and nuzzle her face into it.
Shaking her head, she snapped herself out of that particularly weird and disturbing train of thought. As if he could hear her embarrassing inner monologue, Cole smirked, still watching her every move. For the first time, she felt self-conscious. ‘Is this how regular human girls feel all the time?’ she wondered. If so, it sucked tremendously.
For the next hour, she spared with various students, albeit against their will. Apparently, nobody had an interest in touching the skin of a vamp lover. For the life of her she couldn't wrap her head around that one. Of all the things to accuse her of, why would they choose to pretend she took the side of the very creatures that ruined her entire life? Deductive reasoning didn’t seem to be a strong suit among Arcane’s pupils.
Blue plummeted to the mats and hit her knee hard. The blow had come from behind her and she was on her feet again in less than a second. Turning around, she came face to face with Cole. His now very dark brown eyes challenged her while his lips twisted into a grin showing her a glimmer of white fangs. How could she say no?
Without warning, Blue launched herself at him. With a grunt he went down, not expecting her to retaliate so quickly. He rolled them to the side, flinging her body off of him but she corrected herself before she could go sprawling across the room. Her stance was perfect—a slight crouch with a twist to her torso, ready to leap any which way should he attack head on. His eyes lit up in delight. She wondered idly how long it had been since he’d met a formidable opponent.
“What’s taking so long, dog boy? Got a tree to go pee on somewhere?” she taunted and his smirk only grew.
“Oh, baby girl, you have no idea who you're talking to.”
“I’m no one’s baby girl,” she muttered as he lunged low, swiping for her legs.
Her eyes honed in on his fingers which had transformed into claws. He was strong, she could tell. For a werewolf to half shift, it took an incredible amount of concentration and sheer willpower. Usually, when the wolf took over, that was it. They could shift back and forth, but to shift only his fingers was a blatant display of strength that she would be wise to take heed of.
“We’ll see…” he promised and for a moment, it made her pause.
‘Is he flirting with me?’ she wondered, but before she could think on it any further, Cole leapt into the air, kicking her in the shoulder before landing behind her and pushing her to the floor. She could hear the other students around her cheering him on and it pissed her off. They wanted her to fail. Even now they called out insults and laughed at her, despite how well she held her own.
“You gonna let them talk about you like that?” he whispered in her ear as he continued to pin her to the mat. His muscles were straining, but she could tell he was holding back.
“Please tell me you’re not about to hump my leg, Lassie. I’m not really into that sort of thing.” Her voice was muffled because half of her face was pressed downward, but she knew he could hear her because he rumbled behind her. He was laughing at her.
They grappled, but no matter how she moved, he was there to counter her. “Why were you in the graveyard?” he asked out of nowhere.
“Are we seriously doing this here?” she gritted out as she attempted to wiggle free. His hips were pressing down with force. Werewolves were damn strong, and she knew she wouldn’t beat him easily.
“Tell me and I’ll let you win. Why were you with Knightley?” he growled.
“Aww, is the wittle doggy jealous?” She smiled, showing her teeth, knowing she was slowly pissing him off more and more.
“I don’t get jealous, baby, but I do need to know what you were doing in that graveyard at that time of night with a Slayer you barely even know. Do you have a death wish?”
Finally, she was able to bring her foot out and backwards, flinging her foot into his crotch from behind. He grunted and rolled right off of her. She hadn’t wanted to fight dirty, but he’d left her no choice. She crouched above him as he glared up at her. Bringing her lips close to his ear she whispered, “I don’t share secrets with strangers.”
Cole looked up into her eyes then, shaking his long hair from his face as he did so. Fire burned there and she felt it scorch her all over. He licked his lips, eyes bouncing from her mouth to her mismatched eyes rapidly. He looked torn between being turned on and pissed off. She decided she liked that look on him. “But you’d share them with J
asper Knightley?” He seemed genuinely upset, and for some reason it made her stomach dip.
“Again, that’s none of your damn business. Are we done here?” She asked impatiently. The whole class was watching their little exchange with rapt attention and she was more than ready to get the hell out.
“Not even close,” he spit.
Looking deep into those fiery eyes of his, she brought her lips a hair's breadth away from his. “Good.”
Chapter Eight
A classroom door jerked open to her left, and before she could stop it, a hand reached out to drag her inside. “What the f—” she tried to curse, but that hand clamped over her mouth.
Her black slammed into the wall as she flitted her eyes around the room, hands already reaching for the stakes at her side. She froze, however, when she recognized the asshole pinning her there. His blonde hair was partially covered by his black hoodie, but there was no mistaking those eyes. Her confusion was replaced with heart racing awareness. Dresden glared at her—his dark eyes so close she could pick out notes of bright amber close to his pupils. “Shut the fuck up,” he snapped in a harsh whisper, pressing even tighter on her lips. She narrowed her eyes, but he didn’t seem to care. “Can you chill for a fucking second? I’ll let you go if you promise not to scream.”
Now that she knew it was only Dresden, she didn’t plan on yelling for help. He was an asshole, but she didn’t think he was actually dangerous. Reluctantly, she nodded, letting her body relax. He took a few long seconds of flitting his eyes between her brown and blue one, as if he was trying to figure out if she could indeed, shut the fuck up. Rolling her eyes, she slipped her tongue out and swiped it across his palm. With a curse, Dresden yanked his hand away, allowing her to take in a gulp of air and push him backwards.
“What the hell was that?” she spat, brushing off the sleeves of her jacket and straightening out the wrinkles on her shirt. “The hallway was empty, you know. If you really wanted to make out with me, you could have just asked.”