by Mia Archer
I blinked a couple of times. Okay then. Not what I was expecting. It almost sounded like she was admitting what she was to me. Almost.
She hadn’t come out and said she was a vampire who liked long walks on moonlit beaches where she could prey on other couples, but it was close.
I needed to play this carefully. Maybe she was trying to bait me into giving something away. If she was trying to get me to give something away that meant she was probably planning on killing me as soon as she had what she wanted.
But oh how incredible it would be if it turned out that I was the thing she wanted. If she threw my book aside and I laid back on the table and…
I shook my head. She might not be working her vampire magic on me, but it would seem that the magic of having a hot girl putting the moves on me was more than enough to turn my crank.
Not for the first time I found myself wishing I’d had more experience with girls back home. Forget having experience hunting down vampires. Right now what I needed was some basic knowledge on how to deal with a cute girl who liked me.
A cute girl who also happened to be a vampire, so I guess I could’ve done with some training in vampire killing and how to deal with cute girls. A package deal.
“Look, I had fun at that party and it’s been really fun seeing you again, but you’re doing this whole intense thing and I…”
“You’re hiding something from me Lisa,” she said.
“And let’s stop on that for a minute,” I said. “How did you know my name was Lisa? That’s just a little creepy. Were you stalking me online or something?”
Breezy. I needed to sound breezy as I gathered my things. Like I was some stupid college girl who had no idea the girl standing in front of me was a bloodsucking monster who could rip me limb from limb. Like I wasn’t pissed off that she’d killed my best friend. Like I hadn’t sworn vengeance on her.
Vengeance that I wasn’t quite sure she deserved now that I’d met her.
Her hand shot out. Came to rest on my own. Those eyes were hypnotic. And I’m not talking in a scary vampire dark magic sort of way. They were hypnotic in the way you’d expect from a hot girl checking out a girl she liked.
Oh magical powers that turned the universe! I was not ready to deal with this. Why couldn’t this be as simple as finding the vampires and telling the Coven Mother so she could kill all of them?
Why did I have to find myself falling for one of them, damn it?
“Lisa, there’s something about you,” she said.
Her voice was choked. As though she was having as much trouble with this conversation as I was. Maybe even more trouble since she obviously wasn’t keeping up an act like I was.
“Ivy, this really isn’t a conversation we should be having,” I said. “Like you have no idea.”
Maybe serious would get away from her. If she’d just leave me alone then I could pretend I never found anything. It’s not like the witches back home would hold that against me. They’d sent me out here with no magic to hunt some of the most dangerous supernatural creatures known to our kind.
What did they expect?
“What is it about you?” she asked. “You almost remind me of a girl…”
A girl. I reminded her of a girl. There was only one girl I could think of that I might remind her of.
Fury took me. One moment I was trying to act like a girl off at college for the first time with no idea how to talk to a pretty girl.
The next I was launching myself at her. I didn’t care that she was a vampire. I didn’t care that she could snap me in two without breaking a sweat.
All I cared about was that I knew the girl she was talking about. The bitch had to be talking about Selene, and suddenly all the doubt I’d had about whether or not she was the one to kill her melted away. Fucking vampires and their fucking hypnotic magic making me think impossible things!
I slammed into her. We tumbled and rolled around, finally coming to rest with her on top of me.
Pressing against me.
I still felt an impossible fury burning inside me, but there was something else that burned in me. she felt so good. This was so wrong. she stared at me as though I was a crazy woman.
I guess I was a crazy woman. I’d have to be crazy to try and assault a fucking vampire, after all. Who knowingly attacked a bloodsucker?
I wasn’t thinking about any of that though. No, I was thinking of the way she felt pressed into me. The way she wasn’t using those claws to take me out. The way her fangs weren’t descending to snuff the life out of me.
She was just a girl looking down at a girl. A girl she liked. I was a girl looking up at a girl I liked. I was a mess of confusion. She killed Selene. She didn’t kill Selene. I wanted to kill her. I wanted to kiss her.
Yeah, the confusion won out. I wasn’t sure what to do. So I pulled her down and into a kiss.
My eyes went wide in surprise, so I saw her eyes doing the same as our lips locked. Sure I hadn’t had any experience with kissing, but already I could tell this was a kiss that blew all of the greatest kisses ever experienced right out of the water.
The fire turned from anger to desire. I hated that it turned to desire. I hated that I wanted her so badly. I loved that I needed more. I tightened my grip.
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?”
And just like that the moment was gone. We both turned and looked up in surprise. Kendra stood there, and I could’ve kicked myself.
I’d been so distracted by Ivy that I’d completely forgot I was meeting her here to “study” tonight.
20
Ivy
“What are you doing here?” I growled.
Kendra looked between me and Lisa and it was clear she didn’t know what to make of the situation. It was obvious from her surprised expression that she did find it a little odd to find me on top of Lisa.
Thankfully I was well beyond the point of being embarrassed. She could stare all she wanted.
I felt a bit of triumph if I’m being completely honest. It was clear Kendra wanted Lisa, and it was doubly clear I’d scored a point in a competition she didn’t even know she was in.
“I could ask the same of you,” Kendra said. “Usually the women you’re with are a lot more punctured at this point.”
My eyes narrowed. I could take that more than one way, but I knew she wasn’t clever enough to be making a joke. Kendra was surprisingly good at the one thing she did, but that meant she had a surprising lack of imagination when it came to everything else.
“I would never,” I hissed.
“Oh yeah? Well from where I’m standing you’re on top of my girl and that means I’m going to have to do something about it,” she growled right back at me.
“Your girl? Excuse me?” Lisa asked. “I don’t remember ever saying I was your anything!”
I looked down at her and smiled. A moment later I was looking up at a stack of books with stars dancing in my vision.
It had been paradise for the few moments I was on top of her. I hadn’t realized I could feel that way climbing on top of a human. I hadn’t felt that way about another human since being turned.
Totally worth it, even if it did line her up for the perfect opportunity for a sucker punch.
“What was that for?” I gasped.
“That was for Selene! And for the way you… I don’t know!” she shouted.
I winced. Shouting wasn’t good. Shouting would draw the attention of the librarians. I didn’t need that right now.
“Selene?” I asked. “Who are you…”
Then it hit me. Selene. There was only one girl she could be talking about. The witch. The one Diana killed.
I should have been furious. I’d allowed myself to be taken in by a pair of pretty eyes that belonged to a witch. I should have been on my feet trying to take her out before she had a chance to kill me.
Though if she truly was a witch there wasn’t much chance of that happening. I was surprised she’d held back so far. Could that p
ossibly mean she felt something for me?
The thought was encouraging. Both for my love life and for my continued existence. I didn’t much fancy the idea of being turned into a pile of ashes as I got hit with the business end of her magic.
On the bright side at least I wouldn’t feel anything. Maybe. Unless she wanted it to hurt.
From the way she glared at me I got the feeling she might want it to hurt.
“The girl was your friend?” I asked.
“What are you talking about?” Kendra asked.
“Shut up!” both of us snapped.
“I know what you did to her,” Lisa said. “She was my best friend and you killed her.”
“I promise you I didn’t…”
“I saw the memory where you killed her!” Lisa shouted.
Damn. Was it my imagination or did some of the shelves shift with her shout? You could never be sure with witches. One moment everything was fine and the next moment you were in the middle of a magical maelstrom full of the energy that turned the universe.
“You should really keep your voice down,” Kendra said. “The librarians…”
“I don’t give a fuck about the librarians,” Lisa said. “All I care about is this bitch is lying to me. She’s using her vampire hypnosis on me and she’s lying about killing my best friend.”
My mind reeled. I didn’t know what to make of any of this, even as it made sense. It made a lot more sense than I cared to admit.
If they were going to send someone then naturally they would send someone who could project the right combination of beauty and innocence. Two qualities that were guaranteed to draw in my kind.
She’d played the part perfectly. She’d walked right into the sorority and gotten Diana’s attention as well as my own. I wondered if she’d even used some magic on me.
But no. That was impossible. If she was using magic on me I would’ve noticed. Though it did explain why she was able to push away some of the compulsion I’d unwittingly used on her.
She was dangerous indeed if she could resist compulsion.
I stared at her, then looked to Kendra. Realized I was trapped between the only two people on campus who could conceivably kill me in a fair fight.
I wasn’t even sure I could take either of them in an unfair fight, and it’s not like that mattered since there was no way to make this fight unfair.
“Lisa,” I said, holding a hand out to her.
I was surprised to see that my claws were out. How long had they been like that? Had she noticed? Did she think I was threatening her?
That was the last thing I would ever want to do, and yet from the way she looked at me it was clear she saw me as a threat.
I forced myself to my knees. Then to my feet. I stood proud before her, the woman who’d saved our people. A vampire who’d run this campus from the shadows for several generations.
“I can promise you that mine was not the hand that killed your friend,” I said.
“Oh yeah? Then why did I see your face? Why was that the last thing she ever saw before she went… wherever it is she went?”
I arched an eyebrow. I had to remember that I was the head of my vampire coven. I had to remember that she was a witch who was sent to destroy that coven I’d worked so hard to keep safe over the long years.
That meant this was business. I couldn’t let emotion get in the way of business.
Even if the only thing I wanted to do was rush forward and hold her in my arms. Something told me Mother would take a dim view of that if she could see what was happening.
And there was no guarantee this wouldn’t get back to her somehow. I shivered at the thought, as much because that meant she would no doubt try to kill Lisa as because I feared her wrath myself.
“I am truly sorry for your friend,” I said, and I was surprised to realize I meant it.
Before she’d been merely a witch. An inconvenience. The reason death might come raining down on the sorority at any moment because of Diana’s stupidity.
Now it meant much more to me though. Because it meant something to Lisa. Obviously her friend’s death had deeply affected her, and while I couldn’t quite bring myself to feel sorry for a witch who did what that girl did at our house, at the same time I could feel empathy for Lisa and the pain she obviously felt now that the girl was dead.
“Okay then,” Lisa said. “If you weren’t the one who killed her then who was?”
I sighed. Looked away. Tried to look to the books for some comfort or advice, but it appeared we were in a part of the stacks that mostly held Phd dissertations for exercise science majors.
Somehow I doubted I was going to find much wisdom from someone who got a doctorate in gym class.
“I’m afraid that’s coven business and I’m not at liberty to say who landed the killing blow,” I said.
It ripped at my heart to say those words. Mostly because I could see she didn’t buy it. I expected lightning and magic to come flying from her fingers and burn me where I stood.
If her glare was pure magic then it would certainly be enough to reduce me to ash.
But she didn’t. She took a deep breath and let it out in a long disappointed sigh. I think it was that disappointment more than the potential death and destruction that disappointment might bring that hurt me the most.
“You’re no better than any of the others,” she finally said. “I thought you might be different, but I see now I was wrong.”
She turned to leave, but Kendra was right there next to her with a hand on her shoulder. For a moment I burned with jealousy. How dare she put a hand on Lisa?
That jealousy only lasted the space of a breath. Lisa reached up and touched Kendra’s hand lightly. A touch I would gladly kill for. Then she pushed Kendra’s hand away and deliberately took a step back.
“You can’t leave her alive, Lisa,” Kendra said. “Not after all you’ve done. If you can’t do it, then I will.”
“What are you talking about?” Lisa asked, confusion plain on her face.
It occurred to me that it was possible Kendra had been just as dishonest about what she was as I’d been. The dishonesty didn’t pain me, it was second nature for me after so many years of leading a double life, but if I could use Kendra’s dishonesty against her?
“You didn’t tell her?” I asked.
She shot me a warning glare. A glare that said things would go very badly for me if I kept talking.
I didn’t care. If she came at me it would be more than an even fight. She might be the most competent of the slayers on campus, but that didn’t mean she stood a chance against the oldest vampire on campus.
Even if it would be one hell of a fight. A fight that would likely end with me being kicked out of the library permanently.
The wrath of the librarian was swift. The power of their shush like thunder. Their memory long.
“You shut up, vampire,” Kendra said.
“Why should I listen to the likes of you, slayer?” I replied.
Lisa looked at Kendra as though she was seeing her for the first time. As though several questions that had been roiling inside her were finally being answered, and she wasn’t sure she liked the answers.
She took another step back from Kendra, and I couldn’t help but smile. Good. She’d heard some of the stories I’d hoped she’d heard.
“Slayer? What’s she talking about?”
I wondered what she’d heard about the slayers. They were a source of derision and terror among my people depending on how competent the local chapter was, they seemed to be surprisingly decentralized, but the legends weren’t just for my people.
What sort of legends had gotten back to Lisa’s people? That they hunted vampires?
Perhaps Lisa had heard the rumor, completely false, that they also sometimes hunted mages? Witches? That was a particularly nice rumor that’d been spread by wilier vampires to drive a wedge between two of our greatest potential enemies over the centuries.
“I’d hoped to keep t
hat from you until you had a chance to get to know me better, until I had a chance to explain…”
“Is there anyone here who’s been even a little honest with me?” she growled, and this time I was fairly certain I didn’t imagine the stacks vibrating and rumbling around her.
Even if she and Kendra seemed oblivious to the way she seemed on the verge of pulling the library down around us.
“Look, Lisa, I’m sure if you would just give me a chance then…”
“I’m not going to listen to a murderer,” she said. “That’s what you are. I don’t care what… I’m not going to discuss this with you any longer.”
She turned to Kendra. She didn’t look any happier with her than me, but she did grab her by the arm.
“And you. You’re not killing her,” she said.
“But you said it yourself. She’s a murderer! How many people…”
Lisa pulled on her arm and yanked her away. Kendra glared at me. It was clear she didn’t like leaving me alive, or undead, to continue doing whatever it was slayers thought vampires did in our free time.
She acted as though we had the time to murder twenty-four seven, which would’ve made this sleepy college town the murder capital of the U.S. Ahead of Chicago, Newark, and Cabot Cove combined.
I watched as they walked off and disappeared around a corner.
It would seem it was my fate to never get close to that alluring creature who’d caught my interest. More’s the pity. I thought of going after them, but movement caught out of the corner of my eye stopped me.
“What’s going on up here?”
I turned to see the one thing that worried me almost as much as the way Lisa had been shaking the stacks without realizing it. A young librarian glaring at me over glasses and under hair pulled up into a tight bun. The air crackled with her fury.
I fought the urge to sigh and roll my eyes. The librarian wouldn’t like that, and I was going to have to talk fast to get out of this.
21
Lisa