by Katie May
My men?
“What are you talking about?” I demand. “Frankie?”
She shakes her head slowly, more blood forming. “Don’t trust them.”
Even in death, she’s still a cryptic bitch.
“I need more than that.” I try to rein in my impatience. It’s not her fault she’s dying.
“Who do you think I got the venom from?” she croaks. Her breath heaves with a shuddering breath.
And then she dies.
On the floor in front of me, the dagger I shoved in her heart protruding upwards.
I don’t feel any guilt as I stare at her fallen body. I don’t grieve her. She was a murderer herself, and I know without a shadow of doubt she would’ve continued killing if she had the chance. I did the world a favor. But it’s still a dead body—the body of my teacher, no less—and I’m already the prime suspect of numerous other murders.
How the fuck am I going to explain this?
Chapter 44
Violet
I don’t know if I should be grateful or terrified when Dimitri and Frankie enter the classroom. Dimitri takes one look at the dead body, and a single brow quirks.
“It’s not what it looks like,” I hurry to defend. Dimitri smirks.
“It looks like there’s a knife in your teacher’s chest, and you’re standing over her with a bruised face and blood on your hands.”
“Oh.” I feel my insides twist in half a dozen knots. “Then it’s exactly what it looks like.”
Frankie rushes to my side instantly, eyes wide in his face. I have no idea what transpired between Dimitri and Frankie down in the tunnels, and I don’t care.
At least, I don’t care now. I’ll probably pester them tomorrow for details. At the moment, I have a much bigger problem—a problem the size of a body.
“Are you okay?” Frankie asks, hands hovering over me but never touching.
“She’s fine.” Dimitri waves a hand dismissively. Condescending asshole. He ignores the daggers I hurl his way with my eyes, choosing instead to kneel beside Diedre. “Impressive kill. Straight in the heart.”
I release a half-hysterical sob. “Oh yeah. I’m just a regular, old assassin.”
Without responding, he grabs a white cloth from his pocket and rubs at the hilt of the dagger. His movements are mechanical, practiced. I’m ninety percent sure he’s humming under his breath.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, stunned. He flashes me a brilliant smile, showcasing two rows of perfectly white teeth and noticeable dimples. I hate that my heart stutters to a stop at being on the receiving end of such a smile.
“Why, getting rid of fingerprints, of course.” He resumes his task, painstakingly slow.
There’s so much I want to ask him, want to demand of him, but I know now isn’t the time. Why was he with me during every murder? Who hired him to kill the headmaster? Why is he helping me...if that’s what he’s doing?
Dimitri is an enigma, and I can’t tell what team he’s playing on. He’s the bishop on the chessboard, the player that can change the game completely.
“I’ll take care of her,” Dimitri continues, indicating the dead teacher with a bob of his head. When I open my mouth to protest, he clicks his tongue. “You have to learn to trust people, Ms. Dracula.”
“I thought you said I was too trusting.” I wrap my arms around my stomach, suddenly unbearably cold. It could be shock. Though Diedre Stevens isn’t my first victim, her death feels different from the others. Maybe because I knew her, talked to her, somewhat befriended her. She betrayed me, and I…
And I killed her.
“That’s because you don’t know who to trust,” Dimitri says evenly, and Diedre’s words come back to me.
Don’t trust your men.
She was lying, wasn’t she? She had to be. Just like she lied about Dracula not being my father. Just like she lied about me not being a vampire. Desperate women will do anything to escape death. She wanted to confuse me, to drive a wedge between me and my new friends. My men.
Right?
“Take Ms. Dracula to her dorm, please,” Dimitri instructs Frankie. When neither of us jump to do his bidding, he repeats, harsher, “I said, take Ms. Dracula to her dorm.”
Frankie hesitantly places his hand on my lower back, as if unsure of where to touch me. I want to lean against him, show him with my actions that I forgive him, but I don’t. My mind is reeling, spinning, and I can’t slow it down long enough for me to focus.
“How…?” I face Dimitri. “How are you going to get rid of her?” There’s a disconnection between my mind and body. My words and my brain. I feel disembodied, as if I’m floating high above surveying the scene below. The girl standing with her arms around her and a pale face isn’t me. She can’t be.
It feels like I’m watching a movie in front of me, that I am an actor and not the director, helpless to change the scenes as they scroll across the screen.
Dimitri’s smile is cold—as cold as his eyes. “It’s amazing what you can do with a mirror, Ms. Dracula.”
And with that cryptic response, he dismisses me.
Frankie walks into my room with me. He hasn’t said one word to me, and I haven’t said one to him. The tension between us is almost palpable. Already, I’m as taut as a string on a violin.
Diedre’s words echo in my head. A continuous loop. I know I shouldn’t trust her, but what reason would she have to lie?
I’ll need to talk to my dad. Soon.
I remove my bloody trench coat, not bothering to put it in the laundry basket. Knowing Dimitri, he’ll steal it when I’m asleep anyway. I rip off my suit jacket and shorts, crawling under my covers in only a tank top and a pair of panties.
The silence implodes with Frankie’s heavy sigh.
“Violet…” he begins. He tentatively perches on the edge of my bed, keeping his body a respectable distance away from mine. A part of me wants to breach that distance, the distance that feels like a canyon between us. Another part of me needs space after everything that happened. Frankie scrubs a hand through his light brown hair, body shaking. There seems to be a thousand thoughts running through his brain. Abruptly, he turns to face me. “Compel me.”
“What?” I was not expecting that.
“Compel me. Ask me anything you want to ask me. I can’t lie if you compel me, and I want you to hear for yourself the truth.” There’s no denying the sincerity in his voice. The earnestness. He needs me to do this because he knows, as well as I do, that we’ll never be able to regain trust without it.
“I don’t know—”
“Please, Violet.” He implores me with his eyes to give in, to allow him to prove himself to me. They ensnare me, hold me hostage, and fuck, if I don’t give in.
“Fine,” I huff, crawling forward. Frankie gulps—no doubt his instinctive reaction when coming face to face with a predator—but he doesn’t shrink away. “Tell me the truth, Frankie. Did you plan to kill me?”
His eyes glaze over, a dopey smile crossing his handsome face. This close, I can see a slight scar through his eyebrow. No, not a scar. It almost appears to be stitches, dark against his porcelain skin. From when he was created?
“No, never,” he answers immediately. No hesitation.
“Why did you do it? Why did you go along with it? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
His eyes twitch—the only indication he’s nervous about this line of questioning.
But he’s helpless to resist the allure of my compulsion.
“Because I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be your hero. I only discovered what he had planned yesterday, when Headmaster visited me. But even if Dimitri hadn’t swapped the elixirs, you would’ve been fine. The one I created would’ve made you laugh for an hour. You would’ve been fine.” His words rush together, as if he’s desperate to release them all in one breath.
My heart warms. He wanted to be my hero?
Swoon.
But at the same time, I’m furious with him. He put bo
Stupid, stupid boy.
“Why would you do all that for me? What makes me so special?” I ask, heart clenching.
And then he says it. Compelled. In my room.
“I think you’re my mate.”
It’s like I’ve been zapped with electricity. I’m not sure I’m even capable of speech anymore. I stare at Frankie like he’d just suggested we go moon some nuns.
Mate? Me? Him?
Fuck. Is it too late to pretend I don’t speak English?
His eyes widen imperceptibly, breaking free of my compulsion, and horror fills his face. I don’t know if it’s because of my shocked expression or because he told me in the first place.
Mate.
I’ve heard of mates before, obviously, but the majority of monsters live their whole lives never meeting theirs. And that’s if you have a mate to begin with. I can’t deny I’m attracted to Frankie. I like him.
But I also like…
I like others. A lot.
“I shouldn’t have...I’m sorry.” Frankie staggers to his feet, stumbling, before darting to the door.
Fix this, Violet! Compliment his dick!
“I’m...I’m sorry,” he repeats before I’m capable of forming words, and then he’s gone.
Is he apologizing for telling me the way he did?
For being my mate in the first place?
Does he think I don’t like him like that?
With a muffled groan, I twist and belly flop on my bed, burying my face in my pillow.
Fuck. Why do you have to be such a fuckup, Violet?
Because that’s what I am. I push people away. I had a man declaring to be my mate, and he ran from me.
Mate.
What am I going to do?
I’m right.
When I wake up the next morning, my bloody clothes from the night before are gone. I don’t know how Dimitri got into my room, and I don’t care.
I don’t care about anything at the moment.
My mind is sluggish as I dress, taking care not to disturb my injuries. Most have already healed, but the rope burns from the god-blessed restraints remain on my skin. The bruises on my face are already fading to a light yellow color—thank fuck for advanced vampiric healing.
After dressing, I exit the dorm building. The campus is surprisingly quiet, most students attempting to sleep off their hangovers, as I move through the woods and to the cafeteria.
Our usual table in the cafeteria is empty. No Vin. No Frankie. Hell, not even Jack and Mason are present. There’s a pain in my chest, a clenching sensation, that quite literally stalls my feet. Loneliness threatens to drown me.
I don’t like this feeling. At all.
I try to focus on the positives: Diedre Stevens is dead, and she won’t be killing again.
I’ll ask my father as soon as possible about her outlandish claims.
Until then, I’ll attempt to survive school.
A school that hates vampires, particularly me. And a school that has three sex clones running around, but I don’t want to think about that.
And boys? Don’t need them. I’m making a vow right now: for the rest of the school year, I won’t even think about cock.
You heard me right. My vagina will be cockless, as will my mind. I won’t think about mates or feelings or any of that emotional shit.
I sit at my usual table, wondering where the guys are—and then mentally berate myself for breaking the sacred rule.
Thou shall not think of cocks.
More than one student throws me a vicious glare, the anti-vampiric movement growing every day, but I ignore them. Hopefully, with the end of the murders, the hatred will die as well.
But I’m Dracula’s daughter, despite what Diedre insisted, and I’ll survive whatever’s thrown my way.
Bring it on, bitches.
Epilogue
Mason
“How long have we been hanging here?” I ask, voice catching in the wind. Hux—and I can tell it’s Hux by his trademark scowl—bares his teeth.
“Too long.”
We’re fucking lucky we’re not mere mortals. We’d be dead a long time ago for how long we’ve been upside down. All that blood rushing to our heads…
Our cocks.
My cock.
What if this fucks up Little Mason?
I picture Violet then. Her pouty mouth and soulful eyes. Those long legs visible in the short skirts she likes to wear. Her heaving chest.
My pride and joy stands at attention, eagerly awaiting sweet pussy like a good little soldier. He’s as enamored by her as I am.
Hux’s eyes are wide with horror.
“Why the fuck are you hard right now?”
“I needed to make sure the Stabber was working properly,” I reply. It’s disconcerting to be upside down, to see your feet in the air as your arms sway. I’m grateful my beanie is enchanted; the last thing I need is a bunch of angry ass snakes biting my face.
“Stabber,” Hux repeats slowly. “Is that a normal thing? Do men of this time name their penises?”
I blanch. “Dude, don’t say penises. It’s weird. Say cock or dick or Violet’s favorite word, Pickle Thumper.”
Yeah, I’m an ass. Sue me.
“Pickle Thumper.” His brows scrunch in confusion. “Jack is mentally shaking his head at me.”
We swing in silence for a moment, but there’s only so much peace and quiet I can take before I go insane.
“I’m going to sing,” I warn my companion.
“Don’t you fucking dare—”
“Pinkie, oh Pinkie! Love me with that Pinkie!”
So I’m really, really an asshole.
At least I have a cute smile.
We hang for another few hours, the sun now high in the sky, when the snap of twigs alerts me to a new presence.
Dimitri Gray stands at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed over his chest. Amusement dances in his eyes.
“Errr...a little help?” I ask.
“Normally, I’d just leave you for dead,” he begins, and my heart sinks. “But I’m afraid we have a mutual interest now.” He stalks forward and cuts first my rope and then Hux’s. I twist at the last second, landing on my back instead of my neck.
“Mutual interest?” Hux demands, already on his feet. Showoff. I’m much more slow to get up, ignoring the stab of pain from my fall.
Dimitri’s smile is honestly quite scary. Why can I picture him standing over my bed with that exact smile?
Oh god. Now I’m picturing him popping out of drains on the side of the road, a red balloon in his hand.
Without bothering to answer, he turns on his heel and walks back the way he came from.
“Why do I have the distinct feeling our mutual interest is Violet?” I whisper to Hux, and I watch him tense beside me, struggling to control his temper.
“If he harms my precious treasure, he’ll pay,” he threatens, and I don’t doubt him.
No, what I do doubt is that Dimitri intends to do Violet harm.
Dimitri has a role to play in Violet’s life, of that I’m certain. I just don’t know which part he plays, which piece on the puzzle he connects with.
“Come,” I say to Hux, ignoring the growing ball of unease in my stomach. Everything about Dimitri evokes that reaction, and it’s not just because he’s a scary as fuck assassin. “Let’s get to our girl.”
Our girl.
I kind of like the sound of that.
Acknowledgments
As always, I have a team of people to thank! Thank you to my amazing alphas and betas! I don’t know where this book would be without your help.
My family, of course. Thank you. Your unconditional support and love means the world to me. I don’t know where I would be without you.
And finally, my readers. Thank you for reading this book. For joining me on Violet’s journey. I feel so incredibly lucky I have you guys in my corner, supporting me.
About the Author
Katie May is a reverse harem author. If she’s not writing or reading, you can find her playing games with her family, watching horror movies, or skydiving. Just kidding. Feel free to reach out to her anytime! Or join her reader’s group for exclusive content Katie’s Gang - Katie May Readers’s Group.
Also by Katie May
Together We Fall (Completed):
1. The Darkness We Crave
2. The Light We Seek
3. The Storm We Face
4. The Monsters We Hunt
Beyond the Shadows:
1. Gangs and Ghosts
2. Guns and Graveyards
3. Gallows and Ghouls (Coming December 2019)
The Damning:
1. Greed
2. Envy
3. Gluttony (Coming Soon)
Stand-Alones:
Toxicity
Not All Heroes Wear Capes (Just Dresses)
Her Immortal Legacy (Co-write with Elena Lawson):
1. Chasing Time
Afterworld Academy (Co-write with Loxley Savage):
1. Dearly Departed
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