"Aren't we stopping at the front desk or something?" I ask Bryce, mostly to distract myself from my other train of thoughts.
He grunts, clearly put out by the mere gall of me asking him a question. "We don't want to draw any more attention to you than needed," he admits.
I scoff. "So what, they gave you the keys in advance and told you where our room is?"
"Yes." He doesn't stop walking, but he does pull a keychain from his pocket and dangles it in front of me.
"All right then," I mutter. Am I going to end up with this special treatment the entire time? Because I'm not sure I like the idea of that.
"We're here," he says eventually, standing in front of a door that glows faintly blue.
"Is it supposed to be like that?" I ask.
"It's the spell to stop you leaving the room." He doesn't sound like it bothers him at all. He slips the key into the lock and twists it.
I'm not sure how I feel about stepping into the place that's going to be my home for the next few years. I know I wanted this, but a small part of me definitely wants to reconsider the idea. Why did I ever think it was a good one?
To my surprise, Bryce holds the door open for me.
"Thanks," I say and step inside. I may not like the man, but he's going to be my keeper for at least a little while, it seems like a good idea to at least try and stay on his good side.
It's more spacious than I thought, and nothing like the vampire quarters I've heard about that are nothing except a room. We've been given something more like a flat with a small kitchenette-slash-living-space and three doors. I assume two of them are bedrooms and the other one a bathroom.
Papers lie on the table in the centre of the room. I assume I'm supposed to read them. Perhaps it'll include more information on exactly what I'm allowed to do here.
"That's just your timetable," Bryce says when he notices my interest.
The door clicks shut behind him, locking the two of us into the room.
"Is it bad that I'm disappointed?" I ask.
"Yes."
I roll my eyes and stop paying attention to him, searching the rest of the room. The fridge and cupboards are well stocked, and some of the food there even seems like it's my favourites. Did Ashryn remember from back when we were at the guild? Or did she guess? The only thing I'm sure of right now is that she's behind this.
Abandoning the kitchen, I check in one room and then the other, deciding that the one with blue wallpaper and a matching bedspread is mine. I make my way inside, then notice the suitcases next to the bed. I slowly unpack, examining the clothing and other things I've been provided with. Some of it isn't my style, but other bits are. Overall, it's a decent haul and will help me fit in at the academy.
I snort. Why am I worrying about fitting in? I'm the only human at an academy full of witches and vampires. There's literally no way I'm not going to stand out. It's one of the unfortunate facts about this situation.
But at least I have a small amount of freedom, and it's far better than I could have imagined a few months ago. When I look back at my life, this is going to be the moment it started. Free of the guild, free of hunting. I can finally be myself.
Chapter Four
I walk a couple of paces behind Bryce, trying not to get in the way of any of the vampires charging down the corridors on their way to lessons. I'm not sure if the ones who hit me as they pass are doing it on purpose, or if they're just eager to get to class. I hope the latter, but I know what vampires are like.
And I shouldn't blame them. I did exactly what they blame me for. I'm lucky to even be alive, never mind attending classes with them.
"This was a bad idea," I mutter to myself.
"You're only realising that now?" Bryce demands.
"Your leader is the one who has been encouraging me to do something with my life and stop living as a prisoner," I snap. Ah, right. I can blame this whole situation on Ashryn and not on myself. That's the better way to go with things.
"She's not our leader."
"But she speaks for him, doesn't she? I heard the two of them are as thick as thieves."
He growls. "You won't speak of such things."
"I mean, technically, Ashryn was a hunter. Doesn't that make her more like me than you?" I shouldn't be saying any of this. Not when I know it'll wind him up.
"She helped bring down the guild."
"You realise none of us were there by choice, right?" Why am I revealing this to him? All it'll do is give him ammunition to use against me in the future. "For me, I was seven. A little older than some, younger than others. Your Ashryn was my age too, though I believe she was just found. Not me, though. I was sold. My Dad walked me up to the front door of the guild and walked away with a bag of coins. Rhetorically. I don't know how much he was paid for me."
Bryce remains silent, no doubt made uncomfortable by my words.
"He thought I was freaky. He didn't like it when I knew about things that would happen before they did." I shrug. "I guess it is kind of creepy. But I was a child. I didn't know not to say things."
His silence is far louder than I thought possible. Does that mean I can keep speaking? Or should I stop before I end up telling him too much?
"I saw the fall of the guild," I whisper the words I've never told anyone.
Bryce finally stops walking and turns, grabbing hold of my arm and dragging me into an empty classroom. Is this a victory?
"What are you talking about?"
"Seeing the destruction of the guild?" I shrug. "I don't know. I saw it in a dream a few times. At first, I didn't know what it was, but as events started to unfold, it became clearer. I never told anyone about it. Everyone thinks I'm this good little hunter, the poster girl of the guild. But I'm not. I saw it would fall and I did nothing."
"What could you have done?" he demands.
"Told them it was Ashryn who'd lead the enemy to the door? That would probably have done the trick. Though they worked it out anyway, I had nothing to do with that."
"You can't talk about things like that here," he hisses.
"Things as in the guild, or things as in being able to see the future? I'm pretty sure that's a normal thing in a school full of supernaturals."
"That doesn't mean you can go around telling people things about your past. People have tried very hard to keep your presence here a secret."
"Pfft. And they've done that how? By spelling a room so people can't enter and making it obvious an enemy lives there? Or giving me a guard who walks around acting as if I'm the scum of the earth?" I demand.
"As far as I'm concerned, you are the scum of the earth," he mutters.
My eyes blaze with fire, and I jab a finger at his chest, not hard enough to hurt by any stretch of the imagination. "No. I'm not. Have I done some bad things? Yes. But there's one thing you seem to forget. I had to do those things."
"You should have refused." Hatred burns in his eyes.
I step back and cross my arms over my chest. "Really? I should have refused to do the things adults were telling me? Maybe if I'd arrived at the guild when I was fifteen. But at seven? What were you doing then?"
Bryce frowns.
"Exactly. You were probably playing video games, or with toy trains. You got a childhood. I didn't. So when you're thinking about all of those bad things I did, remember that it was worse people who made me do them."
"You could have stopped once you realised..."
"I've stopped now," I point out. "And I did what I could, when I could. It wasn't much, but I did save lives." I almost got caught a couple of times too, but I leave that bit out. It's irrelevant. I'm not trying to make him feel sorry for him. I'm trying to get my point across.
He doesn't say anything, though I can tell from the way he's standing that he's mostly just annoyed I'm right. He doesn't want to feel anything other than hatred towards me.
"So, some things are going to change," I say, hands on my hips. "I get that nothing can be done about the room. Everyone wants th
e vampires in the dorms to be safe from my stakes, and me safe from being chomped on in the night, either because I'm human, or because I'm a hunter. But we can do something about how you're acting around me."
"How I'm acting?" He raises his eyebrow.
"Yes. How you're acting. Now the way I see it, we have three ways to play it. You can be my old friend, my brother, or my boyfriend. Your call." I pause. "Brother may be pushing it, given you're a vampire and I'm a human, but I think we can pull it off if you prefer."
"And what if I don't want to be any of those?" he asks.
"Then we're going to have a problem," I answer honestly. "Because I'm not going around with even more of a target on my back. Most people probably have at least an idea about who I am. I'd rather not advertise that." Maybe I'm being callous, but this could mean life or death for me, and if there's one thing being an ex-vampire hunter has taught me, it's not to let anything kill me.
"Fine. What do you want?"
"To turn up to my first lesson with someone that doesn't look like a guard," I repeat.
"Okay, but only because this is my job. Don't expect me to actually like you."
"I wouldn't expect you to. If it helps, I don't particularly like you either."
"Good, we're in agreement."
"There's a first time for everything," I quip.
The warning bell sounds, signally it's time for us to get to our class.
Bryce sighs and uncrosses his arms. "Friends. We've known each other for a long time."
"Good. I can work with that. Do I get to call you a cute nickname?" I wonder how serious he's being about this. Will he stick to it or not?
"Do whatever you want, Lily. I don't care."
I chuckle. I'll make him care. But not right now. I have other things to do first. Like, survive my first class full of vampires.
Thirty to one is not good odds in a fight. Let's hope lessons are different.
Chapter Five
The classroom stills as the two of us walk in.
"Do they know who I am?" I whisper.
Bryce chuckles. "No. They can just hear your pulse."
"Oh." I don't think it had ever crossed my mind that I could be seen as nothing more than a snack at the academy. Now it's all I'm going to be able to focus on.
I take the only empty seat in the classroom and wait for him to sit down next to me. Or to complain about the fact he has to. But sure to the agreement we made, he's acting civil. I'm not sure anyone would mistake us for friends, but I can live with that so long as he doesn't start acting like a guard, it's fine.
The professor raps on the board, calling the attention of the class to the front. He's older than I expect a vampire teacher to be, but perhaps that's my own prejudice talking. Not all vampires are turned, some are born, and they can choose to grow old, I think. I'm not sure I understand it. One of the many reasons I found myself questioning the guild for the first time.
"I'm Professor Jefferies, and I'll be taking you for history of vampire hunting..."
My eyes widen, while Bryce snorts next to me. I resist the urge to pull out my timetable and double-check we're in the right place. I don't remember any of the listed classes being about vampire hunting, and I would have remembered that.
"You're in the right place," Bryce assures me.
Great. I roll my eyes. Just what I need, surprise lessons on vampire hunting. As if I need to know more about it. Then again, they say history is written by the victors, and it's clear to me that the vampire hunters guild are not the winners in this situation.
"We'll be starting the term with ancient history, and then moving forward to more recent events. Normally, we teach the modern semantics first so you're able to protect yourself, however in light of certain changes, that's not necessary," Professor Jefferies says.
Huh, they must not know who I am. Not if they're talking about things like this. Now I'm intrigued as to what they think I'm doing here.
"Does anyone know when vampire hunting started?" he asks.
A hand shoots up in the air.
"Yes, Mr Davids?"
"No one knows when it started. But most people assume it did when humans first learned about vampires," the student says.
"Very good. The first recorded instance was in the third century and involved the deaths of over fifty vampires. No one knows who was responsible, though many religious sects claim responsibility."
Another hand shot up in the air.
"Miss Hayes?" The professor raises an eyebrow.
"Why do the religious institutes accept us now?"
"That's an excellent question," he admits. "There are some that don't believe any of the supernatural races should be allowed to live, much less be a part of society. But they're governed by the laws which were created when we all came out of hiding."
"But sir," Miss Hayes says. "Aren't there some supernaturals still in hiding?"
He sighs deeply, as if he has to deal with this line of questioning every year. "We believe so, yes. But until we came out into the world, most of the supernatural types were unaware of one another. The witches and wizards always knew the most about the others, but even their knowledge was limited. I suspect some kinds still stay in the shadows..."
"Like the Shadow Association?" she blurts.
"They're nothing but a myth," he assures her. "I've been on this earth a long time, Miss Hayes, and I can assure you, I've never come across anything that suggests the Shadow Association is real."
I glance behind me to find the girl who has been asking the question pursing her lips as if trying to stop herself from saying more.
"But back to the vampire hunts. We'll be studying several different types. Some hunters were nothing more than dangerous rogue men, like the infamous Van Helsing. Others were more organised, not unlike the recently defunct hunter guild."
I swallow the lump that's formed in my throat while he's been talking. I know of several hunters who'd go the lone wolf direction if they could, including my ex-hunting partner, Ravi. I shiver at the mere thought of him. I know he isn't free to do as he wants, he's locked up far more tightly than I ever was, and unable to get to any of us out here. But somehow, that doesn't matter.
The professor starts to explain some more things about the first vampire hunts, but I zone out, not wanting to face the horrors my people have inflicted on theirs. I've known it's wrong for a long time, but I never thought I'd have to deal with it.
Ringing fills my ears, and the air surrounding my vision blurs.
Oh no. Not now. I'm in the middle of a room full of vampires, now isn't the time for a vision, even if it will take my mind of the all-consuming guilt.
"Go away," I mutter, even though I know it won't do anything. I've never been able to stop my visions before. I don't understand anything about them, not even where they came from.
"Are you all right?" Bryce whispers.
I shake my head but don't say anything. I can't. The vision is coming.
Everything around me is hazy, almost as if that part of the scene hasn't been determined yet. I don't worry about it, I've had visions like this before, and they just come back when there's more information. Not that I want that, but I've long since accepted this is what happens.
I lift my hands and stumble back. Why are my hands bloody? What's happening to me?
The vision fades as quickly as it arrived, leaving me shivering.
Bryce shrugs off his jacket and drapes it around my shoulders without saying a word. I frown. That's a quick turn around from him, though I suppose I shouldn't be complaining about that when it helps me.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"No problem," he mutters. "What happened?"
I glance at the professor at the front of the room, checking he's still talking and not paying us any attention. I don't want to be kicked out of the academy, all it'll mean for me is a quick trip back to my lonely room with nothing more to do with my time.
"Vision."
"Ah. That explains
the eyes."
"What happened to them?" I ask.
His brow furrows as he looks at me.
I sigh. "I've always made sure I was alone as soon as I felt a vision coming," I admit.
"Then why didn't you know?"
I wave around the room. "I'd draw more attention if I got to my feet rather than less," I point out. "Besides, being able to see the future isn't likely to get me killed here. At the guild, it would have."
"Hmm."
When it becomes clear he isn't going to say anything else, I turn my attention back to the class at hand and start to take down notes, despite the uncomfortable topic.
For his part, he seems to have gone back to his usual surly self. I'm sure it will only get worse when we're back in our room together, though I've come to accept it's something I have to get used to.
Chapter Six
The library is bustling with students, which makes me think this is a terrible idea. I should have gone back to our rooms to do my work, but the idea of spending more time with only Bryce for company was too much, and I'd come here instead.
I tap my tablet, pulling up one of the reference books that's supposed to be required reading for my next class. Unfortunately for me, it's a dull one, detailing a lot of unnecessary things about the history of our world. I don't see why I need to know there was a rumour in the early nineteen hundreds that the royal family were shifters. It's ridiculous.
"Why is any of this relevant?" I ask out loud.
"What?" Bryce asks, not looking up from his own tablet, nor pulling his attention from the apple he was munching on.
"Why do I need to know about rumours about the royal family? Ones that were proved wrong less than five hundred years later. Isn't that a blink of an eye in vampire time?" I demand.
Bryce shrugs. "Isn't that what coming to academy is all about?"
"Useless information?"
"Precisely. You're here to gain a qualification in useless," he quips, seeming more impressed with himself than he had any right to be.
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