by Ginna Moran
Aspen growls so softly in his throat I’m not sure if I’m hearing things. “Could be Monterey.”
My eyes widen. I know I heard him speak, but Aspen’s mouth didn’t move. “What the hell? Did you just project your voice into my head?” The second the thought escapes my mouth, panic engulfs me. “Can you listen to my thoughts?” Ah, hell. If that’s the case—
“Shit,” Aspen murmurs. “Not only are her eyes flashing like crazy, but she’s also gained her super hearing.”
“What?” My voice rises in pitch. I reach up and prod my teeth with my finger. No fangs. I’m not transitioning. I can’t be. I feel the same as I did before. Just sore and achy.
The four of them inch even closer, caging me in between their muscular bodies. Berkeley tightens his jaw, turning his face expressionless. His brothers look to him like they want him to do all the talking.
“Fiona,” Berkeley says, touching my hand until I let him hold mine. “The vampire who bit you released his venom. You’re transitioning into one of us.”
Hudson’s com device chimes, and he breaks our circle and swipes it off the coffee table from next to another device, one covered in blood. It’s Culver’s. I know it. I can smell his blood on it from here. For the first time, my attention draws to the rest of the room. I’m in the Kings suite on a couch. I’m alone with them, and from the video feed displaying the sunset outside, I’ve been out for hours.
“I got it,” Hudson says, returning to sit on the floor in front of me. He taps the screen a few times, and a projection lights up from his phone.
A part of me dies.
Anger bursts through me, and I manage to scramble to my feet in an attempt to block the projection on the wall, one that leaves me cold and empty—completely grossed out and mortified. The video feed is from my dorm room. They had a camera in there. They were watching us.
“You sick bastards!” It takes everything in me not to attack all of them. “I can’t believe this. I thought you guys were different.”
“Fi, no. Wait. It’s not what you think.” Berkeley closes the space to me.
“How? That’s my room. You were recording my room. You’re sick.” I rake my fingers through my hair. Two soft voices—mine and Berkeley’s suddenly whisper through the air. I spin to look at the projection, tears burning my eyes. “OhmyGod. Turn it off!”
Berkeley swears under his breath and races to Hudson to grab the com device, but it’s too late. Everyone watches our passionate kiss turn into more. Tapping the screen, he flicks the projection off and continues watching the screen as if he can’t pull his gaze away.
His eyes flick to mine and back to the screen. My heart thrums in my chest, my emotions hot and wild. If I stay, I might attack. I want to attack all of them for invading my privacy. I don’t know why I thought any differently, that this place wasn’t full of twisted monsters. And it’s not only the Kings I’m pissed at. I got too close. Too trusting. I let them charm me, thinking that maybe I was different to them.
Blinking the tears from my eyes, I head toward the door. I refuse to stay in the same room with them. I need out and fast. I need air. A weapon.
“Don’t let her leave,” Berkeley says without moving from his spot.
Hudson materializes in front of me. “Sorry, love. You heard our first in line. You gotta stay, especially if someone’s out for us.”
For them. Yeah. Of course he’d think only about himself and his brothers.
I surprise him by grabbing the front of his shirt and swinging him around, my muscles crazy-strong. He stumbles, and I jerk the door open and rush into the hallway.
“Don’t let her go!” Berkeley calls. “I mean it.”
Aspen appears in front of me next, and I spin to dodge him. Torrance catches me from behind, lifting me off my feet. I jerk my leg up and kick Aspen in the groin, sending him to his knees, dropping a whole slew of F-bombs.
I thrust my head back, refusing to get dragged into the room, head-butting Torrance. The scent of his blood snaps something dark inside me, and I thrash hard enough to kick off the wall, sending us back. I land on top of him and flip too fast for him to catch.
He releases a warning growl at me, and I full-blown yell in his face, unleashing my rage at him. I open my mouth to bite him, nearly getting his throat, but strong hands rip me away. The world blurs, and I land hard on my ass in a grand bedroom with a king-sized bed, mahogany furniture, and plush rugs over shiny dark wood floors. An ornate-framed mirror reflects my image to me from its place over a dresser, and I scream and pick up some sort of metal statue and chuck it, shattering the mirror into a thousand glittering pieces of glass.
“Someone’s going to hear her,” Hudson says from the other side of the door. “Why are we doing this?”
“I have to show you something,” Berkeley says.
“If you even try to share that video feed of you and Fiona, I’ll cut your throat out.” It’s Aspen.
“I should hold you down and let her kick you,” Hudson adds.
Berkeley growls, the guttural sound piercing my heart with panic. “Shut up and listen. We caught who killed Culver.”
“Was I right? Fiona described someone who sounded like Monterey,” Aspen says.
Berkeley doesn’t respond, but I hear Culver’s familiar voice cut through the air as he plays the video of me killing Culver.
“Shit. I don’t believe this,” Hudson says. “That can’t be right. She’s a donor. A little feisty, but what she did...impossible.”
“Do you need to watch it again?” Berkeley asks.
“No, what I need is to talk to her,” Hudson says.
“Look what she did.” Something crashes as Torrance’s voice booms through the air. “Fuck that. She killed Culver. She could kill you.”
“You’re damn right I will!” I yell, pounding my fists on the door. “You betrayed my trust. You used me. You’re cowards. All cowards.”
The door to the bedroom flies open, and Berkeley rushes me. I fly off my feet and hit my back on the bed. I snatch a pillow and chuck it at him, sending feathers dancing through the air. He grips a dagger in one hand and a thermos in the other.
“You need to calm down, Fiona.” His commanding voice stops me from arguing. “I want to give you the benefit of the doubt but you’re making it difficult.”
“Are you kidding me?” I ask, clenching my fingers into my palms.
He holds out the thermos. “Drink this. It’ll help settle you down so we can talk like rational people.”
“I think we should report her to the headmistress,” Torrance says.
Berkeley chucks his dagger at him with perfect accuracy, sinking it into his shoulder. Aspen and Hudson restrain Torrance before he can retaliate, and Berkeley rushes and slams the door on them.
He returns to me and hands me the thermos. “Drink.”
Fear forces me to accept his offering. I untwist the lid and bring it to my mouth. My stomach rolls at the gross scent. I sip it anyway.
Cringing, I cover my mouth, but I can’t swallow. It’s not vampire blood. It’s human.
I spit the blood in Berkeley’s face.
Chapter 11
Unexpected Inheritance
“SHE’S NOT A VAMPIRE.” BERKELEY’S voice remains even as he speaks with his brothers on the other side of the door. “The venom didn’t take. I don’t know why yet, but her eyes stopped flashing and she doesn’t have fangs.”
I clear my throat. “Of course I haven’t changed. I’ve been vaccinated against turning into your kind.” It’s a flat out lie since I grew up in a rebel community and only those in the city get any sort of vaccines, but they don’t know that.
“There is no vaccine against vampirism. The Vampire Uprising was started by a bunch of vampire vigilantes that decided to cull the human population to stop the trashing of the world we’re stuck living on for a long-ass time,” Aspen says. “The donor population believes what Blood Life Corp wants you to believe. The Blood Hunger Plague was caused b
y the most powerful of our kind biting humans with venom and then abandoning them to cause chaos that they could swoop in and act as heroes by getting everything in control.”
I frown at his words. That’s not exactly what I was taught about how things went down, but it’s pretty close. The asshole vampires responsible—they should pay.
“So like Aspen said, you were not vaccinated,” Berkeley says.
“Like you would even know. You’ve never been to my colony. We’re not human-only. Vampires are part of the resistance too. They have their ways.” I don’t care if they believe me or not, but I’d rather claim a vaccine stopped me from turning completely than letting on to the fact that maybe since I carry the dhampir mutation, I might not change. I never thought about it before and never needed to.
“Maybe she’s immune,” Hudson says. “You know how kids and the elderly don’t transition and die. Maybe her immunity resisted and instead of killing her, she worked through it.”
Berkeley sighs. “That’s an interesting theory.”
“Who cares why,” Torrance says, his deep voice full of throaty annoyance. “All that matters is that we get our story straight. I don’t know about you, but there is no way I want the headmistress and board to find out about Fiona. I want her contract. Culver didn’t lose his life so that she can be taken. And then what? It would be a waste.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
Berkeley releases a strange noise. “As first in line, I’m going to have to deny your request. She is mine now. We’ve already proven our compatibility and attraction.”
“The hell? That’s not how this works,” Aspen says. “She’ll be my blood source. I was with her first.”
Something crashes. “Screw the lot of you. I’m requesting to transfer her contract to me.” The door flies open, and Hudson stands in the doorway. “Come on, Fiona. We’re going to Headmistress Rasmussen immediately.”
I stand in shock, overwhelmed by their desire to claim me for themselves. “What? No. I’m not going anywhere.”
He tightens his jaw. “You killed the head of our coven. The board drains for far less. Is that what you want? Do you have a death wish?”
“No, but—”
“Then come on,” Torrance says from behind him. “We’re wasting too much time. We will stick to your story about an intrusion, but don’t think we’re through here. You destroyed everything we worked for.”
Fury rushes over me. “You guys are fucking assholes. Just like Culver. I can’t believe I even fell for your charm.”
Hudson presses his lips into a thin line. “We could say the same.”
I don’t get the chance to run or fight. Hudson sweeps me off my feet and tosses me over his shoulder like the property he thinks I am. I stretch my arms and drag up the back of his T-shirt to scratch my nails into his skin. All he does is shift me, dropping me a foot to scare me into thinking I’ll crash to the floor. Swinging my fist, I punch him right on the ass cheek.
Torrance catches me before I smash into the ground. All four of them growl at each other. The rumbly noise sets off my fear instincts, and I thrust myself away from Torrance only to find myself in Berkeley’s arms. Swiping a dagger from who the hell knows where—his jacket or something—he aims it at his brothers, stopping them from trying to steal me away.
“We’re not settling this like a bunch of outcasts,” Berkeley snaps. “She can’t be a personal donor if you all rip her apart.”
I squirm in Berkeley’s arms. “Put me down! I’d rather go with any of them over you. You fucking creep. Do you always record acts of intimacy or was it just to show your brothers that you managed to seduce me in a moment of weakness?”
Berkeley releases me, but no one takes his place. “Fi, no. I swear. It wasn’t like that. We had no idea security did that until Hudson used Culver’s access code to check the security feeds in the hall. The headmistress didn’t inform us. I don’t think Culver even knew. The only time security reviews anything is by request or if there is an incident, and it usually goes through the proper channels. We were fortunate that Hudson and Aspen excel in security and technology. No one will see those feeds. I swear.”
I clench my fingers into my palms. He sounds honest enough, but I don’t know if I believe him. “Yeah, right.”
Berkeley releases a groan and grabs my hand, tugging me away. He spins me so that his brothers can’t see me. I yank my hand back and hold my palms up, pressing them into his taut chest. Stupid muscles. Why do they have to feel so good touching them through his shirt?
Leaning down, he risks closing the space. “Please, you have to believe me. I wouldn’t have gone so far if I had known. I’d—”
“You’d have just ensured I wouldn’t find out. Now you’re saying all this because you don’t want me to put up a fight against the insufferable claim you want to put on me. Fuck off, Berkeley. It’s never going to happen.” I try to step away from him, but he moves with me.
“Fi, I know you’re freaked out. I’m sure you didn’t intend to kill Culver. But the fact is that you did. If you fight against me, you’ll ruin your chance at a happy life. I understand donors far better than my brothers. I know we could move past this. We can build a relationship we both enjoy. I’ll be good to you. Unselfish.” His hazel eyes capture mine but not in the horrible mind manipulation way. “I can forgive you for what you did. I wasn’t as close to Culver as they were.”
“Forgive me? You forgive me?” My chest rises and falls with my deep breathing, his words jabbing at my control. “Fuck you, Berkeley. Do you know why Culver was in my room to begin with?”
He rubs his hand over his neat beard, pinching his chin in the process. “He expressed his desire to bite you, so I assume it was because of that.”
I close my eyes. He knew. They probably all knew what he was planning to do. “Do you know why I killed him?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he asks, lowering his voice. “He pushed you too far. He threatened the one person you consider family.”
Standing up on my tiptoes, I hover my lips close to his ear. “All of that might be true, but I killed him for trying to punish me because of you. He bit me with venom because of you. He wanted to transform me and cast me to the shadows so that you wouldn’t want me.”
He shivers under my soft breath. “He was wrong.”
“Then prove it. Don’t let your brothers stake a claim. Bite me with your venom.” I don’t know where the thought comes from, but I can’t stop the overwhelming need to do anything I can to get out of this academy. Out of this position as a blood source. I’ll give up my humanity and turn to the shadows to guarantee it.
“Fi,” he murmurs. “You don’t really want that.”
I scowl at him and ram my hands into his chest, sending him stumbling back. “The hell I don’t. Anything, and I mean anything, will be better than ever getting claimed by any of you.”
A strange bell rings through the air, drawing everyone’s attention toward a small screen inlaid into the wall by the door. The King brothers look at each other and then to me. It sounds similar but softer than the alarm that went off in my dorm room at the start of the night yesterday.
“We have to go before anyone realizes Fiona and Rylie aren’t in their dorm,” Hudson says.
“Where is she?” I feel like the shittiest person in the world at the mention of Rylie’s name. I was so concerned about me that I had forgotten about her. I should’ve insisted on seeing her the second I woke.
“In her new room. She’s under sedation,” Berkeley says.
“New room?” I ask.
Torrance laces his fingers behind his head. “Enough with the questions. We have to go. Now.”
Torrance doesn’t give me a chance to argue. Snatching my hand, he pulls me against him and lifts me off my feet. The world blurs.
***
Headmistress Rasmussen sits behind her grand desk, just staring at the King brothers. Her tight mouth gives nothing away. I don’t know exactl
y what I was expecting from the announcement of Culver’s death, but it wasn’t this.
It’s like the death of a vampire doesn’t garner any sort of emotion apart from annoyance and inconvenience. For calling Culver their brother, the Kings show no grief or sadness. It’s weird as hell. If I had just lost a sibling, I’d be devastated. All these guys seem to want is to figure out how to divide their unexpected inheritance.
“We’d like to personally allocate resources to the academy’s security force to assure something like this doesn’t happen again.” Hudson’s gruff voice draws my attention away from the headmistress.
“We’d also like to file the proper paperwork to ensure my new position as head of the upcoming King Region.” Berkeley straightens his shoulders.
Again, Headmistress Rasmussen doesn’t react.
“We are all willing to take on the necessary classes to fulfill the requirements needed to continue the region head training program without Culver.” Aspen shifts, curling and uncurling his fingers.
“And if you’d allow us a few extra minutes of your time, we’d like to discuss Culver’s donor contracts.” Torrance flicks his attention to me. He remains expressionless despite the tension stiffening his tall frame.
Headmistress Rasmussen stands up from her chair and ignores the four of them to saunter across the room where I planted my ass on the couch while the brothers ignored me to tell the headmistress a half-assed story about Culver getting attacked and killed in my dorm room.
She tilts her head slightly, searching my face. “Ms. King, you are excused. Please make your way to your third class. Do not speak of the day’s events to anyone. Do you understand?”
I bob my head. “Yes, Headmistress.”
“Torrance, please escort Ms. King and return here promptly.” She doesn’t look at him as she says the words, keeping her gaze on me. “Someone will retrieve you at the bell to take you to the rest of your classes. I’d like you to return to my office after dismissal.”
I scrunch my nose. “So this is it? I just continue as if nothing happened?”