We didn't lose ourselves this time. I pulled my lips off of his, but not my arms. "Are you sure?"
He pecked my lips. "Positive. Let's go get some lunch." He opened the door and walked into the hall, leaving me no choice but to follow.
Of course, the moment I set foot in the hallway, Kristi rounded the corner. "Hello, Lou," she said smoothly.
Jayse stopped to wait for us.
"You go on, Jay," Kristi said. "Lou and I need to talk about the Candlemas Celebration."
Jayse rolled his eyes. "You two have fun with that. I hate planning stuff like that." Without another word, he left me to the crazy witch's clutches.
"Every year the school celebrates Candlemas," Kristi said as she walked serenely down the hall in her high heels. "And every year, we sing in their talent show."
Oh, no. Not singing. "I'm not a good singer."
"Oh, we don't sing. We lip-sync whatever human song is popular. We dress up and pretend to be pop stars, using glamours to make ourselves look like the singers. It's so much fun," she gushed.
"As long as I don't have to sing," I said.
"No, but you do have to be prepared to do glitter and sparkles charms. We do it in time to the dance."
I shot her a worried look. "Will there be time to practice?" I asked.
"The celebration is in a week. Haven't you noticed all the signs all over the school?"
I looked around with a blank expression, noticing the flyers and painted signs for the first time. "No, I didn't."
"Well, you have to come to practice tonight. In my dorm." She didn't even wait for me to agree, just walked off.
I guess I'm practicing my dancing charms skills tonight.
Chapter Five
"Not like that," Kristi said flatly. "Are you even trying?"
I smiled and tried to make it look less like a grimace. "Of course I am. I'm not much of a dancer."
"That's obvious." She rolled her eyes and pointed at the radio. The music cut off. "Maybe you should sit this one out."
"I'll help her," Sadie said helpfully. "I don't mind. We still have a week."
Kristi tapped her chin critically. "Okay, but if she doesn't have it down by the time of the show, she's not going up there with us." She sniffed and tossed her hair. "Assuming you get the dance down, these are the charms you'll use."
I watched her go beat-by-beat through the dance and shoot sparkles, glitter, and rainbows out of her fingertips as she chanted the incantations. Sadie wrote them down so I could practice in private. "Now, watch it with the music. You'll see the pretty stuff happens to the beat, and the lip-syncing covers up the sound of us saying the words under our breath."
Nodding, I paid careful attention to the way they moved their hands. The incantations were simple enough. This was stuff witchy little girls liked to do while they played dolls and tea parties. Did girls my age still go in for stuff like this? It seemed silly and frivolous to me, but I was in so deep there was no turning back.
"Okay, we need to discuss our glamours." Kristi stared at me. "You'll have to let one of us do yours." She preened. "It didn't go so well for you last time."
I tried not to glower at her. My glamour messing up was entirely because of her. My arm itched to lift and shoot one of those super-strong stinging hexes at her, but I resisted the urge. Estelle's obsession with getting Kristi back might not have been such a bad thing after all. The vile woman certainly needed to be taken down off of her high horse.
"That would be so kind of you," I said with a tight, fake smile.
Kristi's smile wasn't fake. She knew how much she bothered me. A glint in her eye made that obvious. "It's my pleasure," she replied. "Now, let's run through it again. Do try to keep up, Lou."
Something between Kristi and I had changed. Before, her false sincerity at least seemed genuine, even though I knew it wasn't. Now, she barely tried to hide her disdain of me.
"I'll do my best," I replied in a saccharine sweet voice. And I did do my best. Just because I was half vampire didn't mean I was graceful on my feet. Strong? Sure. Quick reflexes? Of course. Rhythm? Nope.
When Kristi couldn't stand seeing me fumble anymore, she called the practice to a halt. "Enough. Sadie, you better get her up to speed." She waved her hand, dismissing us. "Go."
We went, without argument.
As soon as we got down the hall, Sadie put her arm through mine. "Don't sweat it," she said cheerfully. "We'll practice every night this week and you'll be a pro in no time."
"I don't exactly want to be a pro," I said. "I didn't want to do the talent show, but Kristi insisted. Now she's acting like she wants to kick me off. I'm okay with being kicked off." Cheering from the sidelines was much more my speed.
"You can't get kicked off. Now that you're one of us, you have to do everything with us." Madison's blinked at me with wide, serious eyes. "It won't look right if you don't."
"I gotta say. I like you two, a lot. But these Sparkles rules are starting to get to me."
Sadie and Madison exchanged a glance and stopped. We walked aimlessly and had made it to the hallway close to the boys' dorms.
"It's not for much longer," Madison whispered. They both looked around to make sure nobody could overhear us. "Once we graduate, Kristi will probably move away. We won't have to see her until the reunion."
"Yeah," Sadie whispered. "We're just trying to make it through the school year. Once we do, we'll have a connection with Kristi and her family. It'll help our future careers."
"So, you're using her to get ahead in life?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Is it worth all the trouble?"
"Well, at first we were real friends," Sadie said in defense. "But as time went on, she changed. And then, if we stopped being friends with her, the whole school would've turned on us. Everyone wants to be friends with Kristi."
I shook my head at them. "I think you've got it all backward. You two are the ones people like. They're scared of Kristi. If you'd have broken away, I think they would've followed your lead."
They exchanged long glances. "But the book," Sadie said.
"It's in your room. In your possession."
"Yeah, but she could tell everyone we wrote in it." Madison hung her head. "We wrote some really bad stuff in there."
Sadie grabbed my hand. "We didn't want to, and we didn't enjoy it or the results of it. Some of those rumors ruined a couple of people's popularity. We felt so bad."
"Yeah, one girl even moved away," Madison continued.
I sighed. "I don't know what to do. At this point, she's here to stay. Maybe riding it out is the best option."
They nodded in unison.
"That's what we're saying." Sadie squeezed my hand before she let go. "We've got to go. There's a homework assignment we promised we'd do for Kristi. That's why we came in this direction. We need some ingredients." She pointed at the science lab.
"Okay," I said. "If you ever need to talk, I'm here."
They gave me quick hugs and disappeared down the science wing.
I sighed and leaned against the lockers. What would I do now? If I didn't follow through with my plan to take Kristi down, Sadie and Madison, not to mention all the rest of the school, would be under her thumb for the rest of our time here. I couldn't give up now.
My mind drifted back to my encounters with Brooks, Jayse, and Francis. Especially Francis. He was in his dorm. Could he feel me the same way I felt him? It wasn't as strong as right after we exchanged blood, but he was definitely in the boys' dorms.
I jerked upright when he moved. The little bundle in the back of my mind had me looking down the hall toward his dorm.
As he moved toward me, I couldn't help but walk that way, my body tingling in anticipation. He was coming for me.
My breathing shallowed, rapid bursts of air shooting out of my lungs. I hopped up and down to try to dispel some of the anticipation.
It didn't work. Every step Francis took toward me, I took one down the hall. I tried to go slow, but I wanted
more than anything to run full speed to him.
The door, still a few feet away, burst open and Francis stood in it, his dark hair flying in all directions. "I fell asleep," he said, running his hand through his hair.
"You did?" I asked weakly, fighting the desire to launch myself at him.
"I dreamed of you."
"You did?" I parroted, my voice even flimsier.
"Then, when I woke, I felt how close you were."
This time, all I could manage was a squeak. Francis strode forward and pulled me into his arms. His lips claimed mine in a war that I never wanted to win.
"I researched mates," he mumbled against my lips.
I made a purring sort of questioning sound to indicate he could continue, but also not stop kissing me.
He stopped kissing me with a small gasp. "What we've done," he said as he looked into my eyes. "It's not permanent."
"It's not?" Why did that disappoint me?
"No, but it can be. The more blood we exchange, the longer it lasts."
"So, maybe one more would last a while, but we wouldn't have to like, commit forever?"
"Right." He claimed my lips again, pushing me backwards and into the locker. Moving his kisses to my jaw, then neck, he whispered into my skin. "I need you."
Moaning, I nodded my head. "We're in a hallway." My body was a giant nerve, tingling and needy. I needed him as strongly as he seemed to need me, but not in the middle of the hall.
He pulled me away from the lockers and lifted me into his arms like I weighed nothing. With one arm behind my back and the other under my knees, he kissed me again as he walked into an empty classroom, then deposited me onto a table.
"Francis," I whispered as his fingers worked at the top button of my shirt. "We have to talk first, just for a second."
He stepped back, restraining himself. "You don't want to do it?"
Oh, yes I did. "It's not that." The sound of his heart pumping blood through his body filled my hearing. Swallowing back my hunger and desire, I sucked in a deep breath and continued. "It's the sex."
He blinked. "Oh. We don't have to have sex."
"We don't?" What a huge relief.
"No. It's supposed to make the exchange better to orgasm, but it's not necessary."
His blood pumped in my ears again.
"Do we have to have sex to have an orgasm?" Was I really saying these words?
He grinned, a mischievous smile that made my heart thump harder. His dimples made him look innocent, but I knew darn well he was anything but. "No, we don't."
His hands returned to my shirt. "Have you ever drunk another vampire's blood before?" I asked as he unbuttoned. He shook his head. "Me neither."
Grabbing the hem of his tee, I pulled it over his head, then took over unbuttoning my shirt. I would be faster.
He pushed the material over my shoulders, and I thanked my lucky stars for not putting on my sports bra this morning.
Francis growled when he saw my breasts pushed against my bra. I arched my back, desperate for him to touch them. He grabbed the bra in the middle with both hands and ripped it apart, making me let out a squeal of surprise.
I laughed as he threw the bra over his head. "You could've just taken it off."
His gaze never left my nipples. "That was more fun." Lowering his head, he took one hard nipple into his mouth and sucked.
His teeth scraped the skin there.
"Yes," I whispered, burying my fingers in his hair. "Do it."
His teeth sunk into the soft skin around my areola, and I shuddered at the sensation. Moaning, I enjoyed the feel of my body providing him with nourishment. Tingles danced along my skin, shooting from my nipples down my arms, down my abdomen, and straight to my core.
"More," I whispered.
He put his hand on my thigh, bare thanks to the skirt Kristi had instructed I wear. She'd called me that morning and said the Sparkles were wearing skirts today. So, I wore one.
Thank you, Kristi.
Francis slid his hand up my skirt and traced the side of my panties down between my legs. "Francis," I said desperately. He let go of my breast, removing his teeth, then licking the wound. I watched, fascinated, as the wound closed in seconds. I'd never fed directly from a human and had only heard about the healing after.
He straightened, and I grabbed his waist, pulling him close. "Touch me," I whispered urgently. To spur him on, I unbuttoned his pants and wrapped my hands around him.
Pushing his hips upward into my hand, he kissed me and slipped his fingers under the flimsy material of my panties.
"You're soaked," he said into my mouth.
I tasted my blood on his lips.
"Make me come," I replied, then began to pump my hand up and down. When his fingers slipped inside me, I snapped and bit his shoulder almost violently.
He froze for a few seconds, but I kept stroking him as the blood filled my mouth.
Heaven. Heaven was real and it was naughty. Pure bliss filled my body as he curled his fingers and pumped them perfectly, hitting the spot that would make me climb high. His blood hit my stomach like magic, warming me all over, revitalizing me. I felt stronger, smarter. And much more turned on.
Wiggling to the edge of the table, I sucked his shoulder and worked his dick. Repositioning gave him room to bite down on my shoulder, and gave him a deeper angle to finger me.
My orgasm washed through me, giving the nerve endings in my body relief as they strained in pleasure. Francis wasn't far behind me. Once my blood hit his system, his hips moved of their own accord, in and out of my hand. We stayed latched on each other through both of our orgasms, and for a few seconds after.
Slowly, I forced my fangs to retract, an unpleasant feeling. They liked being out, but it wasn't polite. Plus I bit my lip a lot when they were down.
The proof of Francis' orgasm was all over my hand and lap. Tucking himself back into his pants, he ran to the sink in the back of the room, returning with a few damp and a stack of dry paper towels.
I was surprised when he helped me clean myself up, but he wiped my legs with care, then pulled my skirt down as I reached under and adjusted my panties. The bra was no use, but he held my shirt out for me to put my arms in. I buttoned myself up while he grabbed his shirt from the floor and put it on.
Once I was dressed, I allowed myself a moment to marvel at the feel of him in my mind. Not only would I be able to pinpoint his location, I could feel his emotions. It was muted, faint, but if he had a strong surge of emotion, it would likely be distracting.
He stared at me with wide eyes. "This is insane."
I nodded. All I wanted to do was put my arms around him.
He felt the same way because he hopped up on the table beside me and drew me into his embrace.
We sat on the table and talked for a long time. Before I knew it, the clock on the wall chimed midnight. "I better go," I whispered.
He gave me a soft kiss and stood. "Yeah, it's late."
"Shouldn't mates get to stay together?" I didn't want to leave him. An urgency to stay near him filled me.
"There's a process, but it can be done." He cupped my face. "Do you want me to start it?"
I nodded. "Yes, but...What about Brooks and Jayse?"
"Do you want them there, too?"
I nodded my head, fear filling my belly. What if he changed his mind about me having feelings for all three of them now that we'd exchanged blood?
"I'd like that." He kissed my forehead and walked out of the room, leaving me feeling hopeful and sated.
I floated back to my dorm on cloud nine and slipped into bed without bothering to wash my face or change clothes. What a crazy day it had been and turned out wonderful.
Except for Kristi. What a troll.
Chapter Six
Saturday dawned bright and clear with sunshine streaming through my window. Stretching, I remembered the amazing night I'd had. A smile drifted across my lips as I thought about the feel of Francis' teeth sinking into my skin and
the magical orgasm from Brooks.
"What are you so happy about?" Tyler asked in a sleepy voice from the bed next to mine.
"Yesterday ended up being a good day," I said as I got out of bed.
Estelle stuck her head out of our bathroom and gave me a once-over. "I guess it was, you haven't even changed."
Wiggling my eyebrows at both of them, I dug around in my bureau for clothes and hit the shower as soon as Estelle finished brushing her teeth.
After dressing and wrapping my hair in a towel, I made my bed then sat on it. I didn't have anything on my agenda today besides practicing the stupid dance. Jayse had mentioned a date. Maybe we could do it tonight. Pulling out my phone, I sent him a text.
Hey.
He replied almost instantly. Good morning, sexy best friend.
My cheeks warmed at his compliment. What are your plans for the day?
A few minutes passed before he replied this time. Unfortunately, Brooks, Francis, and I promised Francis' mom we'd help her move.
Francis had mentioned that his parents were splitting up but hadn't gone into much detail. Not that I blamed him. We were bonded now, but it hadn't been enough time to totally open up. We couldn't help the strong pull of our blood. At least, I didn't think it was something we could change.
I sent Jayse a quick text to let him know it was okay and to be careful lifting heavy objects.
He sent back a bunch of laughing emojis.
"I'm going to hit the library," I told Tyler and Estelle. "I want to look something up."
"See ya," Tyler called.
The library was open constantly. Many of the students, especially vampires, tended to be active at night by nature, so the common areas didn't close.
I searched the card catalogue, then settled in an armchair in the back corner, hopefully not to be disturbed. I felt Francis going farther and farther away from campus as I opened the first book. They must be on their way to his moms.
Magical Mistake (Magic And Metaphysics Academy Book 2) Page 4