by Ginna Moran
Hudson grabs her and locks her in a gaze. “Who are you?”
Hell. I guess she wasn’t convincing enough.
Fear crashes through me as Hudson opens her mind. She can’t resist his mind manipulation and says, “Rylie Reynolds.”
“Where are you from, Rylie?”
Her face turns red as she tries to resist, but it’s no use. “Mount Light Haven.”
“Shit,” Torrance says, grabbing my wrist to stop me from running. “They’re Blood Rebels.”
Aspen growls. “Get them in the car.”
Chapter 4
Academy of Vampire Heirs
I JIGGLE THE HANDLE ON the door for the tenth time, trying to get it to budge. I couldn’t see much of the estate past the looming wrought iron gate Hudson drove us through. The assholes basically threw us at a guard and ran for it. Then that guy separated me from Rylie despite our pleas. Now, I’ve been locked in this tiny medical exam room with no response no matter how much I bang on the door.
Finally giving up, I shuffle back to the high bed covered in thin paper and sit down, regretting it immediately. I swear under my breath and stand, twisting to glance at my ass. I can already see some bruising peeking out from my jeans. Unbuttoning my pants, I tug them down a bit and shift to look at the damage in the stainless steel cabinetry.
“Damn.”
I jump at the masculine voice, pulling my attention to the now open door. Heat floods my face at the sight of an attractive vampire just gawking at my bruised naked ass that I’m not quick enough to cover from him.
“Why didn’t you knock? Get the hell out,” I snap, trying to slide my pants back up. I cringe at the pain radiating through me. Now that my adrenaline has worn off, I hurt everywhere.
“May I take a look?” the vampire asks, coming into the room despite my demand for him to leave. “I’m a trained medical professional in human health. I promise you there isn’t anything I haven’t seen.”
“Except my ass,” I say, turning away from him.
He remains expressionless, though I swear his hazel eyes smirk at me. “Not true. I just saw it, and it could use some medical attention. Were you injured anywhere else?”
I shift on my feet and groan. “Do you not have a female practitioner on staff? Maybe someone...not so hot.” My. Dumb. Mouth. But seriously. It makes a good point.
“I’m sorry, Miss...” He lets his voice trail off, waiting for me to fill in my name for him.
“Just call me Fiona,” I mutter.
“Nice to meet you, Fiona. I’m Berkeley. I’m aware of your current circumstance, so I must request you provide me your last name for proper documentation. I’m required by Blood Life Corp law to run you through the database to verify you’re not a runaway.” He glances up at me from his tablet. “And also, to answer your question, due to the short notice, I’m the only health keeper currently available. The nearest woman practitioner would not waste her time coming here to take care of something I’m qualified and plenty capable of handling.”
“So not even like an old guy or something?” Damn it. This is awkward as hell.
“I’m also the old guy, if you’re speaking of literal age and not the physical state of a donor.”
Turning my attention from the tiles, I sneak a gaze at him again. Berkeley looks to be in his mid-twenties, boxy jaw, dark brown hair styled with some sort of product that keeps it neatly combed in place. His trimmed beard gives him a rugged edge along with his obvious muscles flexing against the tightness of his white dress shirt. And those hazel eyes of his. I can’t help myself from peering into their depths. One second they’re more green than brown and when he shifts his chin, the lighting catches in them, showing off a golden tint.
I purse my lips. “You know what? I’m good, really.”
Berkeley shrugs at me and motions to the cot. “Then take a seat so I can go over your medical history before the exam.”
“Standing is fine.”
Waving his hand, he motions to the bed. “I must insist you sit.”
This damn guy.
Clenching my jaw, I spin on my feet and drop my pants. Silence fills the room as I catch him off guard. I bet he was expecting me to fight more or to suffer, but there is no way I’m sitting, and he’s obviously not going anywhere without the information he wants.
I shift and glare at him. “Uh, hello? You’re making me extremely uncomfortable staring at my ass like that.”
Berkeley snaps his attention to my face, and I swear blush crawls across his cheeks. Clearing his throat, he strolls to the cabinet and grabs what looks like a tiny gown from the stack folded neatly on the top shelf.
“My apologies, Fiona. I wasn’t expecting you to be this injured. Would you please tell me if it was caused by one of the vampires who brought you in?” If I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was concerned for me.
“Yeah.”
His jaw twitches. “Were you struck?”
My eyes widen at his question, and I grimace. “I promise you that if someone slapped my ass this hard, they would no longer be around. The guy was lucky I only kicked him in the nuts for dropping me.”
A strange expression crosses his face, but Berkeley’s features harden once again, not allowing me to read him. “I will take note of that. Now please, if you can undress completely and change into this gown, I’ll treat your injuries and proceed with your health exam.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond and pulls a curtain to divide the room and to give me some privacy. I hesitate for only a moment and force myself to shimmy out of my clothes. I ease the gown around me, the back conveniently missing.
“While you finish changing, I’m going to ask you a few questions. Please answer truthfully. There is no point in lying. The headmistress of the academy will not hesitate to pull the answers out of you herself, and while it won’t hurt you, I’m sure it’ll be unpleasant.”
I stare at his silhouette behind the curtain. “Headmistress? What’s that? Where am I, anyway?”
Berkeley moves around the room, gathering stuff I can’t see. “Headmistress Rasmussen is the woman in charge of the Academy of Vampire Heirs, which is where you are.”
“Like a school? Why the hell am I at a school?” Education among the donor population was reformed to the bare minimum, focusing on trades unless deemed worthy of higher professions. In Mount Light Haven, the elders taught everything of the back-world, including basic education, so that we’d never forget the human history vampires want us to.
Berkeley’s fingers grip the edge of the curtain. “Are you dressed?” he asks without answering my question.
“If you can even call this tiny gown clothing. It doesn’t even cover my ass.” I hug myself, watching him slide open the curtain.
He has the nerve to smile at me. “That’s because you’re wearing it backwards.”
I gape at him. “Wait. That would mean...?” My cheeks burn like the gates of hell, and I cover my face with my hands. “Please don’t tell me you want to see my vagina. I’ve had a health check recently.”
His eyes flash silver, his face shifting from teasing to something else, something indecipherable. Tingles crawl over my skin at just the way he drinks me in without actually trailing his eyes down me. And damn. My body reacts, my lust clearly displaying itself as my nipples harden, and I rub my legs together. I lick my lips, and he drops his gaze lower to my mouth.
Catching himself, he smooths out his features and shakes his head at me. “That won’t be necessary at the moment unless something abnormal comes up in your blood work or you have personal concerns. Even then, I’d recommend bringing in a specialist. So no, I don’t need to see your reproductive organs.”
The fact that he purposely says need instead of want doesn’t go unnoticed by me. He knows it. I know it. And my body definitely knows it. I suppress my urge to make a joke—because really, the elders would deem me a traitor to humanity for even humoring such a fantasy—and straighten my shoulders.
“So only my ass,” I say, playing with the short hem of my gown.
“I’ll work as quickly and gently as possible,” he says, again keeping his face expressionless except for his damn eyes.
I close my eyes and spin around. “Just hurry.”
Berkeley helps me onto the cot, draping a sheet over my back and legs. I don’t know if it makes it better or worse, so I keep my eyes closed and try to think of something else besides his cool fingers brushing across my skin.
“Try to relax,” he says, his soft voice digging under my skin.
“You try to relax dropping your pants in front of me.”
He chuckles. “Maybe if it weren’t under these circumstances. Ask me any other time, and I’ll prove that I can.”
I giggle, and I mean full-on giggle, the thought way more amusing than it should be. Twisting my neck as far as I can, I glance at Berkeley, spotting the wide smile lighting his face. He doesn’t look at me and concentrates on cleaning my skin before applying some sort of cream that numbs the pain of the bruising and scrapes from hitting the asphalt. Finally releasing a breath, I relax and turn around to rest my chin on my arms.
“See, this isn’t so awkward now, is it?” he asks, draping a sheet over me to cover my skin. Rolling up a chair, he sits next to my head and removes his clear, nearly invisible gloves and tosses them in a bin.
I peek up at him. “It’s still completely awkward.”
“But at least you feel better, right?”
I don’t want to agree with him. I’m annoyed that I do. Because whatever he did—he’s far superior to the health keeper who tended to the wounds in our community. If I injured myself during training, the pain sometimes lasted for days.
“At least my ass does. As for the rest of me...” I groan and thunk my head on the cot. “What’s going to happen to me?” Without the pain, I can think more clearly. “What about Rylie? Where is she? You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
“Your friend is fine. She’s already received her medical exam, answered everything she’s needed to, and is now with the headmistress. As soon as we’re through here, you’ll see the headmistress as well,” he says, touching my elbow.
I frown against my arm. “You sure you don’t want to run away with me or something?”
Silence greets me, and I tilt my head up to look at him. His hazel eyes flash silver at the thought. My heart picks up speed, and I silently beg him—or maybe the universe—to give me a break. I don’t know what exactly this academy is, but if it’s full of vampires, it might not be good for donors. Right now, that’s what they have to think me to be. If they find out about my dhampir mutation... I can’t think about it.
“I can provide you blood, so you won’t have to worry about that,” I add.
He blinks. “Fiona, please don’t suggest such a thing.”
I inhale a small breath. I don’t have to ask him to know he considered the suggestion. “Why not? I don’t want to be here. I didn’t leave the safety of my colony for this. You seem nice enough. Nicer than any vampire I’ve encountered.”
Leaning away, he tips his head toward the ceiling and scrubs his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I’m training to oversee the Donor Division of my coven’s pending region. I can’t do anything to jeopardize our standing. My coven leader will shun me and outcast me.”
Desperation twines around my chest, snaking tighter and tighter until I struggle to breathe. “Please, Berkeley,” I beg, my voice only coming out as a whisper. “What if you just got my friend and me to the gate? We can handle ourselves from there.”
His features sharpen as he masks any and all of his thoughts from me so that I can’t use them against him. “I think it’s best if we proceed with discussing your health history.”
Like that, he shuts me down.
Anger rushes over me, and I manage to push myself up and ease off the cot without flashing my vagina at him. He jets to the door and blocks my way. Revealing his fangs, he releases a warning growl.
“Sit down. Now.” He points back to the cot. “I will not ask you again.”
I ignore him, inching my way closer.
“Fiona, this is your last chance. Sit down or you’ll leave me no choice but to inform the headmistress of your failure to comply.”
Still, I ignore him.
He disappears, leaving me standing alone in the room. Fear trickles through me, and I stare at the open door. “Berkeley, wait. Wait!”
I guess I was wrong about convincing him to help me, and the last thing I want is to have someone break into my mind. With the right question, they’ll discover my secret. I’ll be dead or worse.
Berkeley materializes in front of me, meeting my gaze with a frown. “I don’t have time for your games.”
I step forward, twining my fingers together. “I’m sorry, okay. Can you blame me for trying?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know much of anything about you, so I can’t say.”
“Then let me tell you.”
Without a word, he motions me to sit on the cot. I ease myself down, relief flooding through me at the lack of pain from the gesture. I shift and cross my legs, pulling the sheet over me like it does much to hide me.
“My name is Fiona Flamme,” I start, resting my hands on my lap.
“And how old are you Fiona?” he asks, pulling out his small tablet.
I consider lying about my age and declaring myself to be a minor. People under the age of eighteen aren’t required to donate blood, only people considered adults.
Berkeley tightens his jaw. “Before you lie, I want you to know that I’m usually ninety percent accurate in my educated guesses when it comes to donor ages. To me, you look between twenty and twenty-two.”
Sighing, I say, “I turned twenty last month.”
He nods and smirks like he’s pumping his fist in his mind. “Have you ever donated blood?”
“Depends on who you ask.”
“Been bitten?” His eyes study me with anticipation.
I hold his gaze. “Yes. But only during a blood exchange, not for donations.”
While I can’t see his fangs, I sure as hell can hear the click of them extending. I can’t tell whether or not I like his response. Whether he now thinks I’m an easy target for a quick bite. But who am I kidding? I did beg the guy to run away with me in exchange for blood.
“Are you a virgin?”
“Are you?” It’s my turn to smirk. “You know, I can tell if you lie. I’m eighty-five percent accurate in my guesses.”
He flicks his gaze to mine like I’ve asked the most ridiculous question. “No, I’m not.”
I open my mouth to tease him, suggesting that his hand doesn’t count.
“And by your lack of admittance, I’m going to assume your answer is the same,” he says, cutting off any chance to lighten the mood.
Swinging my arm out, I backhand him. “Hey, you can’t just assume.”
“I’m not assuming. I’m making an educated guess from what I know of Blood Rebels, the fact that you’re female in a male-dominated territory, and you’re twenty, which I know unregistered donors of the resistance believe to be a prime child-bearing age.” He catches me off guard, his assessment pretty accurate of a lot of the women from my community.
“Maybe if I stayed longer,” I say, looking at my hands. “I ignored six possible suitors in the last week. The elders were getting annoyed. According to Ms. Maggie, my standards were too high and I had a duty to our community.”
He touches my knee. “Is that why you left and came to the city?”
“Yes.” I peek up, catching him staring at me. “I don’t agree with the purpose they pushed on me, but I’m also certain I won’t agree with whatever the hell you want to do with me either.”
He doesn’t respond and taps away on his tablet. I shift nervously and lean forward, trying to get a glimpse of what he’s writing, because it’s obviously more than what I told him.
After a couple of quiet minutes, Berkeley se
ts his tablet on a rolling tray and gets to his feet. “I think your responses will suffice. Let me take a quick look at the rest of you to make sure you don’t have any more injuries. Then I’ll draw your blood and you can get cleaned up and changed. Does that sound good?”
“Well, it doesn’t sound bad.” I slide off the cot and stand in front of him. “I honestly thought you’d ask a lot more medical questions.”
“I’ll get everything I need from your blood work.”
“I guess that’s something.”
Berkeley offers me a smile, not one that quite lights up his face but a smile that makes this all seem far less troubling than it should be. It helps that I think he’s hot as hell, and he reminds me of the blood sources back home—not as intimidating as the rest of the vampires I’ve met so far in the city.
He’s quick to draw my blood and decides that I should take a shower to clean off the dirt and blood from my body before tending to the scrapes and cuts on my palms, arms, and knees. Within the wall and behind a door I thought was a cabinet hides a small shower. Berkeley closes the curtain and waits on the other side for me.
I can’t stop myself from standing under the steady stream of hot water long after I already washed myself.
“This won’t be your last chance to bathe,” Berkeley says, passively suggesting that I hurry my ass up without being rude. “I hate to interrupt what sounds like quite the enjoyable time, but I can hear someone coming to check on you.”
Quickly shutting off the water, I grab the small towel from the hook and wrap it around my body. I peek out of the curtain and catch Berkeley messing on his com device. He puts it away and freezes at the sight of me. Starting from my dripping hair, he trails his gaze down my still glistening body all the way to my bare feet.
“What?” I ask, trying not to shift on my feet under the weight of his gaze.
He quickly composes himself. “Nothing. I had just expected your injuries to be a bit worse. Your friend was pretty beat up.”
I swallow and lick my lips. “I consumed vampire blood recently.”