by Cate Corvin
“Split up.” I turned, my boots crunching on the smooth pebbles at the bottom of the ravine. Tori was a shadow at my side.
Tenebris dissipated, spreading out to check the perimeter of the forest biome. By now, Aislin and her trusted two were probably close to the middle, in the dense, more jungle-like areas that held hidden traps, but Sura, being a tank of a human being, was more than enough to keep them busy.
The ravine gave way to a little gully, complete with an idyllic burbling waterfall. Tori raised her eyebrows. She moved with light, cat-like steps, only the rustle of cloth giving away her position.
I stopped short of the blue-green stones lining the pond, but she kept going out of curiosity, just as I thought she would.
A swarm of tiny ondines burst out of the pond, darting and jabbing at Tori’s face. She threw herself back in surprise, slipping on the turquoise underfoot, and landed on her back.
The tiny faeries swarmed her face and she swatted at them, but the ondines just exploded into water droplets when she hit them and reformed immediately after.
She reached for the cold iron dagger at her thigh and the ondines scattered.
I knelt next to Tori as she panted for breath. A drop of blood shone on her lower lip, red as a ruby, and I found myself touching her face, wiping the droplet away with my thumb.
She stared back up at me, the little flecks of green in her eyes standing out bright, barely breathing.
“Exactly as I thought. Something as simple as ondines almost took you out.” I dipped my hand in the pool, washing away her blood. The ondines didn’t come back. We had a long history, them and I. “When the time comes for practical missions, you’re going to be the weak link in the chain.”
Her lips tightened and she jumped up to her feet. “I wasn’t expecting you to sabotage me.”
“You missed out on three years of lessons.” I watched her smooth her jacket. Bits of hair had come loose from her bun. “Any other member of Tenebris would’ve known what to expect here. You have no practical experience with vampires or Fae.”
Tori snorted. “Knowing the terrain by rote isn’t the same as practical experience. I have plenty of that.” She planted her feet, arms crossed over her full chest, and gave me the look I’d come to hate so much over the summer.
There it was again. Miss I-Killed-Moonspawn-Before-You, Queen of Rubbing It In My Face.
White-hot anger scorched my insides black. I slammed into her, enjoying the way her eyes widened and lips parted when I gripped her throat and shoved her back against the ravine wall.
Her nails dug into my arm through my jacket, and I pushed closer, every muscle in her body tight as a wire and pressed against me.
Only inches away, close enough to kiss, but all I saw was that fucking look on her face when she told Father that his new wife was worried that she wouldn’t measure up to what he’d had before. A confession that had led to the destruction of everything I’d loved and lost.
That was the day he’d begun the annihilation of Mother’s memory, destroying that last bridge connecting us.
“Killing a few dogs isn’t the same as taking on a vampire court,” I hissed between gritted teeth. She swallowed, her throat working against my palm. “Everyone here but you has studied for years to be at the top of the hierarchy when they’re let loose in the world. When you come face to face with a Fae prince, tell me how your practical experience in the backwoods will help you.”
Tori sneered, the first expression of open disdain she’d ever given me. It was almost astonishing, stifling the rage in my veins.
“Yeah? You ever meet a Fae prince, Will? Did you read a tidy little paragraph in your nice, safe library and practice how you’d kill one on a dummy?” Her eyes flashed, dark rage boiling to the surface. “We’re in the same fucking boat, and you are going to give me the chance to prove myself without being an absolute cock about it. I’m done asking you to be friends- you’ve made your thoughts on that clear.”
She released my arm and grabbed my collar, yanking me even closer. A bare centimeter between our noses, her warm breath on my lips.
“But next time you want to play some juvenile joke on me with your friends, I’m coming for you next.”
My cock was hard as iron, pulsing with the thought of her moaning, coming for me in an entirely different context, ripping my shirt and fucking me in pure anger-
Tori’s tongue slipped out, ran over her lower lip where the faintest traces of blood remained, her eyes never leaving mine. I’d pushed so close my thigh was between her legs, pinning her to the ravine wall.
All I had to do was push forward a little more, grind against her and see what sort of sounds she’d make for me while we were alone…
Christ.
I released her and turned away, fixing one specific memory in mind. She was a snake, burrowing into other people’s lives and memories, poisoning them against each other.
“Let’s go.” My voice was cold as ice, anger and hate for my own weakness flooding me. “They’ll have the orb by now. Don’t fuck up again.”
She followed me back to where Sura was gathering the rest of Tenebris, most everyone bruised, bleeding, and bloody.
But Lux, to my satisfaction, was in much worse shape, and Aislin Liddell’s face was tight.
The orb had been lying on the pebbled ravine bed in plain sight. In typical Professor Ermengol fashion, the exercise was never about finding the orb. It was about establishing a pecking order, seeing who’d slacked over the summer and who’d put in the extra work.
The professor herself stood at the top of the ravine, a hooded, veiled woman- one of the Dread Mothers, those few slayers with inherent magic- beside her. The tiny slayer laughed.
“A bunch of crybabies, the lot of them,” Ermengol said. “You’ve got your work cut out this year, Mater Dolorum.”
Tori gave me a cold look, but I relished it. She’d just received the first, and only, lesson she would get out of this school.
We’d see if she’d take it to heart.
CHAPTER FOUR
________
TORI
My first week passed in a blur.
Every morning started with the god-awful wake-up chime, followed by a breakfast that, while not filled with pleasant camaraderie, was no longer filled with a chorus of moans blasting through the cafeteria every time I opened my mouth.
Sura saved a seat beside him every day, but he’d withdrawn a little bit. He hadn’t made one overt innuendo since that first morning.
Even Will didn’t fuck with me. He cut opaque glances my way when he thought I wasn’t looking, and I studiously avoided meeting his eyes at those moments.
The bastard had gotten hard while he’d pinned me against the ravine, and worse, I’d been wetter than the damn waterfall, every muscle taut just to prevent myself from grinding against him. The past week had been wall-to-wall mental images that were way too vivid for my liking: what if I’d strained forward and bitten that full lower lip? What if I’d reached down and run my fingers over his thick, pulsing length? What if-
My cheeks flamed every time that moment popped into my head, usually at the most inopportune times, like when I was supposed to be taking notes in Knightley’s classes, or when Professor Ermengol decided we looked too distracted and needed to have flaming swords thrown at our heads.
After Ermengol’s classes, which took up most of the afternoons and evenings, everyone scattered. Some went to the library, which I was allergic to, and many back to their own rooms to study.
I was definitely in the latter group, until Friday evening.
Sweat dripped down my face and seemed to soak through every inch of my white shirt as we trudged back to Tenebris Hall. Ermengol had set up a fun little obstacle course, given Will a big stick and plonked him on a platform at the end, and told us to steal the flag behind him or pay in pull-ups.
Needless to say, Will had a great time, and now my arms felt like soggy noodles.
“Time to get w
et, Tori,” a deep, husky voice said in my ear. I almost jumped out of my skin and looked at Sura, who’d crept up behind me. How could such a big guy move so silently?
“What?” I couldn’t tell if that flutter in my stomach was irritation, or the anticipation of more flirting.
“Get showered. We’re going out to Club Bathory tonight. Wear something small.”
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open like a complete moron for a second, then shut it with a snap. “I don’t own anything small- not in the way you’re thinking, anyway. And what’s Club Bathory?”
He had the longest lashes framing those black eyes. It just wasn’t fair. And I had a suspicion of precisely who owned Club Bathory, named after Elizabeth Bathory, a vampire countess who’d bathed in the blood of hundreds of virgins.
“It’s the seat of the Clouded Court,” he said, slinging a thick arm around my shoulders. “Which is why we’re going. Best to get a leg up on the practical assignments while we party. And I’d like to see you in something besides this.”
“I’m not partying,” I muttered. Partying was one-hundred-percent not on the agenda for getting top marks in Libra. “Or wearing a dress. I don’t even have one.”
“Ask and ye shall receive.” He halted, keeping me pinned against him, which was horrifying because I was drenched in sweat, far from my best, and… hell, it didn’t matter what Sura thought. Still, I’d have preferred to be showered and clean if he was going to hold me against him like this.
He knocked on a door that said ‘Lydia Hurst’. She was one of the quieter girls, always on the perimeter of things, but she’d never been rude to me, and- oh, fuck. She was roughly my size.
She answered the door and blinked up at Sura in surprise.
“Hey, Hurst. Do you have any small, slutty black dresses?”
Lydia looked at me and I grimaced.
“Sure,” she said, popping my bubble of hope.
A minute later, Sura shoved me in my own door and threw a tiny slip of fabric in after me. “Pick you up at eight, babe. Think sexy thoughts.”
My door shut behind me. I threw the scrap that called itself a dress at the wall and peeled off my sweaty uniform before retreating to the shower.
Eight, my ass. He could eat my ass, because there was no way I was going to a vampire-run club, let alone one that was the throne of the local court.
In a tiny dress that would show off every pulse point on my body like a neon sign saying BITE ME.
I reached for the shampoo and heard the groan of pipes through the wall, and Sura’s water running.
Okay, cool, so he was naked right next door, with nothing but this tissue-thin wall between us. I could deal with that. It wasn’t like he was jerking off for my benefit anymore.
The steaming water suddenly didn’t feel anywhere near as hot as the blood rushing through me. It was too easy to imagine him in the shower on this side of the wall, how cold the tile would be under my hands while he slid his cock in and thrust against my ass-
I swallowed hard. It’d been so long since I’d slept with anyone, I was willing to fantasize about my teammates, and shitty, awkward shower sex, no less.
Okay. Time to make it realistic. If Sura was here, the height disparity would completely ruin everything, because his cock would be closer to my belly button than my pussy… and if I tried to suck him off, I’d just get a faceful of water the entire time.
So, drowning and sucking dick at the same time. Awesome.
Sadly, the realism of this scenario was doing nothing for the fact that my body was hyper-aware that he was naked only about a foot away.
At least he wasn’t groaning. Because if he was, then I’d be thinking about him with that thick length in his hand, stroking himself until liquid beaded at the tip…
Almost without thinking, I reached down, slipping my fingers between my lips. My clit was so swollen just from thinking about Sura that it took me only seconds to bring myself to a desperate, panting climax, one hand on the shower wall holding me up while my knees turned to jelly.
This was ridiculous. Maybe there’d be humans in Club Bathory. We had weekends free to do what we pleased; I could find a nice, safe human guy, go back to his apartment, and fuck his nice, safe human cock until all these urges were satisfied.
But I knew that’s not how it would really pan out. Humans were weaker, slower… it’d be like trying to use a vibrator with the batteries worn down to their last drop of juice. Not worth the damn time.
Besides, I’d probably hurt whichever poor guy I picked. When I did finally get laid again, I didn’t want gentle. I wanted rough, screaming, pounding sex.
My mind flashed back to Sura, and I deliberately wiped that thought away. Teammates, not bedmates.
Then Will, his jade eyes sharp as daggers, erection throbbing against me.
Stepbrother. Fuck.
I blew my hair dry and considered the little slip of silk lying on the floor. Human guy. Nowhere near as satisfying, but not in the danger zone. I might even be a Good Samaritan and rescue his pitiful ass from the vampires who’d suck him dry.
It was better than lusting over a guy who hated me, and his very fuckable best friend.
I regretted the tiny dress, which barely covered my ass cheeks. I wore my boots and thigh holster with a silver dagger clearly displayed. The glamour on it would prevent any humans from noticing it; almost all slayer armor and holsters were glamoured to look like average human clothing. It was best to blend in.
The sun was still low in the sky as all of Tenebris stormed through the Caitland-Moore and down the marble steps. New York’s endless skyscrapers were lit up with a bloody glow, but nobody looked twice at what looked like a typical group of college-age students.
Anyone who could see through glamour would know exactly what we were; no slayer was stupid enough to go unarmed, especially in a vampire’s territory.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only girl wearing a hoochie dress; Apolline and Selena’s ass cheeks actually were out, so technically, I was the prude of the bunch.
It’d been obnoxiously gratifying when Sura’s eyes had glittered as he looked me over; even Will had gone silent, a muscle twitching in his jaw. He hadn’t looked my way since.
I hoped it bothered him that I was slandering the Godalming name by letting my tits and ass out. Here’s your podunk, dickhead. Percival was probably clutching his pearls somewhere right now, sensing a disturbance in the family honor.
With that thought in mind, I grew exponentially more cheerful. Mom might be married to a millionaire with an actual mansion, and I might be matriculating at the most prestigious slayer academy in the country, but at the end of the day, I was still Victoria Holmwood. I wore cut-off shorts, holey tank tops, hoochie dresses, and I didn’t have to give a good goddamn what anyone thought.
Several taxis pulled up, sleek black with a small silver crest on the passenger door. “Libra has their own drivers,” Sura said. “We’ll be using them for our practical missions, too.”
Will was holding the door while Apolline and Selena climbed into the back of the taxi ahead of ours, his green eyes fixed on us.
“Ladies first,” Sura said. Gilcrist Rigel opened the other door and got in. Great. It would be a Tori Sandwich.
I climbed in, trying and failing to avoid touching Gilcrist with my bare legs. Through the windshield I saw Will slam the back door on Selena and stride away.
Sura got in, filling most of the taxi on the right side, his irresistible scent filling the small space. His fingers brushed my thigh, leaving a trail of goosebumps.
“Bit cramped, this,” Gilcrist said, and his door flew open. Will grabbed his collar and yanked him out, then slid into his spot.
My lungs were shriveled little pods in my chest that refused to re-inflate. Will rapped on the back of the driver’s headrest, and I realized there was no one in the driver’s or passenger seat, but the wheel turned on its own and the taxi pulled away from the curb.
“Why doesn’t
someone sit up front?” I asked, my mouth dry. “Passenger seat’s open.” No matter how small I made myself, Will and Sura were both enormous men by any standards, their legs pressed against mine.
“That’s the bodyguard’s spot.” Will didn’t even try to lean away. What the fuck kind of game was he playing with me now? “They don’t like people sitting in them.”
“And… what are they, exactly?”
“Bound cacodemons.” Sura looked perfectly at ease with being squashed in the tiny taxi, his knuckles lingering near my knee. He looked at the driver’s seat like he could actually see the thing driving. “Best not to piss them off. Every once in a while, they get a burr up their asses and try to go on strike.”
I folded my arms and tucked my elbows in, but the guys just seemed to fill the empty space with themselves, crowding in on me again. My heart was a steady, painful thump, so loud I was sure they could hear it.
The worst part was the thong I was wearing under the so-called dress, because I’d had nothing else that wouldn’t blatantly show. My bare cheeks were all over the soft leather of the seats, and shower masturbation had done absolutely nothing to take the edge off. I sent up a quick prayer that I wouldn’t be leaving any sort of… evidence of my tension.
Will stretched his arm out on the seat, enveloping me in the scent of mint and cedarwood, and Sura’s knuckles moved a tiny bit north, grazing my thigh.
Human guy only! Nice, safe, bland… unsatisfying human guy.
Hell, maybe there’d be other slayers who weren’t Libra alumni hanging out in Club Bathory. That’d be a good compromise.
“So, what are the rules of the Clouded Court? Will King Guilloux be there?”
Will tilted his head towards me and my heart stuttered a little. “Probably not. The actual throne is underground, but the entire Club Bathory building is their property. His court runs the club itself.” His lips tightened a little. “Don’t get ahead of yourself while we’re in there. It’s legal for humans to willingly bleed themselves, and you will see it happening. They’ll allow us to bring weapons in, but if you pull a knife on a vampire in there while they’re following the letter of the law, you forfeit your life to the King, and Libra won’t lift a finger to help you.”