Dark Fae (Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  I searched her eyes for the truth and found it shining back me. My mind worked over that nugget of information as I tried to figure out what to do with it.

  The answer came to me like a lit-up bulb and a dark smile pulled at my mouth.

  “Then I’m your Source too.”

  “You want to be my Source too?” I asked with a frown. It wasn’t exactly unheard of for Fae to offer themselves up as a Vampire’s Source but they were always weaker Fae, looking for the protection of said Vampire. And yet somehow I now had two of the most powerful Fae in the school offering to be mine.

  “Not happening,” Dante snapped from his chair behind me. “She can only have one Source and I’m already more than filling the position.”

  Ryder’s eyes flared dangerously and all the accusation in them was aimed at me.

  “That’s not true,” I blurted before he turned to violence. “The Vampire Code says that claiming multiple Sources is perfectly acceptable. It means I don’t have to drain so much from one person consistently so it’d be doing you a favour.”

  “See, Inferno,” Ryder taunted. “It’s perfectly fucking acceptable. So I’m hers now too.”

  I snorted a laugh. All the talk of me being his and now suddenly he was mine?

  “Fine by me,” I said before either of them could keep bickering over it. I wasn’t sure in what world they thought they were getting one up by agreeing to be my personal blood donors. As far as I could tell I was the only winner in the equation and I had zero issues with it. Every Vampire knew the more powerful the Fae you drank from, the better it tasted, the more exhilarating the buzz. I’d have to be fucking insane to argue against this situation for one second.

  “No,” Dante snapped, getting to his feet. “I don’t want you putting your mouth anywhere near him.”

  “Well sadly for you, you don’t get to tell me what to do,” I replied firmly. “And I’ve already made it clear I’m not going to pick between Oscura Clan and The Brotherhood so this seems like a pretty good way to show I’m remaining neutral.”

  “Unless you want to resign and leave the position to me?” Ryder taunted his rival.

  Static electricity rolled through the classroom as Dante’s eyes flared with rage. My scalp tingled as my hair lifted a little under the influence of his magic. Most of the students got up and scurried away to the sides of the room and Ryder cracked his knuckles, stepping closer too.

  Gabriel leaned back in his chair at the back of the classroom, not seeming inclined to move an inch though I’d bet there was a strong ass shield sitting around him right about now.

  I shifted between the two of them and a gasp came from several of the onlookers as if they thought I was suicidal or at least unhinged. Which I probably was for stepping between the gang Kings as they faced off. But this was about me and I refused to be used as a chess piece in their ongoing game.

  “Or maybe I should just ditch both of you and find a Source with less drama attached?” I suggested, though I was really hoping they wouldn’t take me up on that because the mere thought of their blood had tingles running along my skin and saliva pooling in my mouth.

  That stopped them. Which was fucking insane because being my Source shouldn’t have meant anything to either of them. It was beneath them. They didn’t need to bow to the whims of a Vampire with less power than them. It wasn’t how Fae worked. But for some reason their desire to win me for their respective gangs seemed to mean more to them than that because they both shifted their gazes to me and stopped their advance towards each other.

  “Settle down everyone! I’m here now!” Professor Titan called cheerily like he hadn’t just walked in on the brink of a battle. There was no way he could have missed it though so I guessed he was hoping that by pretending it wasn’t happening he might get his wish and find out it wasn’t.

  Dante dropped back into his chair with a smirk, brushing a thumb over the bite I’d left on his neck. “It hurts so good,” he said, his eyes on Ryder who stilled beside me. “Feel free to climb into my bunk if you need a top up in the night again, Elise.”

  I rolled my eyes and headed back across the room, nudging Ryder to make him walk too. He did so a little reluctantly, throwing an arm around my back as we went and very nearly skimming my ass.

  I shrugged out of his grip and darted forward to pick up my books from the floor where they’d fallen when Ryder had upended our desk, but a member of the Lunar Brotherhood beat me to it.

  I recognised him as Bryce something, Ryder’s second in command. He was tall and slender like a wraith and his dark eyes swept over me, assessing me from head to toe and seeming to find me wanting. I resisted the urge to hiss at him as I recognised another member of my own Order. Vampires didn’t tend to socialise together much unless they mated. It was a pecking order thing. We were pre programmed to secure the most powerful blood source available which always put us in direct competition with each other.

  I was fairly sure his power was an even match to mine from what I could sense and I imagined he was more than a little tempted to challenge me for access to the blood I’d just laid claim to. And in any usual circumstance he’d be well within his rights to do just that. If a Vampire claimed a Source then no other Vampire could bite them but they could challenge for it if they wanted to. In theory if Bryce challenged and beat me he could lay claim to both Ryder and Dante’s blood for his own. But as I hadn’t claimed them in the traditional way of overpowering them, I knew he wouldn’t. For some reason they’d offered themselves to me but the look in Bryce’s eye said he was more than a little envious.

  Two other brotherhood members flipped our desk back into its original position and placed Ryder’s things down again.

  Bryce stepped closer, the scent of too much aftershave assaulting me as he moved into my personal space and offered me my books. I reached for them but he didn’t let go, dark eyes looking past me to Ryder like I didn’t even matter.

  “Boss, are you sure about this?” he asked in a low voice. “Letting an unsworn Vampire use you for-”

  Bryce flinched as Ryder threw a hallucination at him and I pursed my lips as I continued to wait for my stuff.

  “Do you still want to question me, number two?” Ryder hissed and Bryce shook his head, dropping his eyes submissively.

  I tried pulling on my books again but he still wouldn’t release them.

  “Is she one of us?” Bryce asked, seeming unsure.

  “No,” I snapped before Ryder could reply.

  “Okay then.” The asshole yanked my books back out of my grip and tossed them on the floor before sauntering back to his own desk.

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” I snarled as I moved to gather them again.

  “If you want The Brotherhood’s help then you only have to say the word,” Ryder growled as he dropped into his chair. “Just one word. Yes.”

  “No,” I replied instantly, tossing my books onto the desk and moving to my seat. “I’m never going to belong to any gang. Or anyone for that matter. So stop asking.”

  Ryder hissed between his teeth but didn’t respond as Professor Titan started explaining our task for today. We were making Essence of Moonshine which was a strong healing tonic, particularly effective against poisons.

  “Bing bong!” Principal Greyshine’s voice came over the tannoy and everyone fell quiet to listen to him. “Just a quickie this morning gang! I wanted to remind everyone that having humpy pumpy in the classrooms is a no no. We’ve had to have strong words with six couples this week for defiling the desks and no one wants a tooshy print on their workspace now do they?”

  A girl on the far side of the room was burying her head in her hands while the guy sitting beside her high fived his friend in the next row. Titan was conveniently looking down at his desk like he hadn’t noticed and I wondered if he just didn’t want to deal with handing out a detention.

  “In other news, the FIB are asking for any information that anyone might have on a missing squad car which was seen
heading onto academy grounds. They’re willing to put it all down to high jinx if it’s just left out by the road with the keys so why not give it back, eh fellas? That’s all for now. Toodle pip and I’ll catch you on the flip!”

  “Unfortunately, I heard that cop car took a dip in the lake,” Leon said loudly as he sauntered into the room ten minutes late, buttoning his shirt up as he moved towards his desk. He flashed me a smile and I couldn’t help but grin back.

  “Did you do that?” I whispered as he passed my desk.

  “You wanna come with me next time, little monster?” he offered, looking down at me with excitement lighting his eyes.

  “Only if you let me drive,” I replied instantly.

  “You can sit on my lap,” he promised and my smile widened as I snorted in amusement.

  Ryder hissed beside me and Leon rolled his eyes before heading on to his own desk.

  Professor Titan paused as he found his seat then started taking speaking again as if nothing had interrupted him.

  I started taking notes, letting my hair fall down to create a curtain between me and Ryder.

  Ryder didn’t feel the need to break the silence so I continued to ignore him as I copied down the ingredients.

  A loud screeeeech made me look up as Leon started dragging his chair across the floor until he set himself up opposite me again.

  “Hey, little monster, you looking forward to playing with my balls later?” he asked and I laughed out loud in surprise.

  “What?” I asked, pushing my hair out of my face as I looked up at him.

  “At Pitball practice,” he said innocently, leaning back in his chair.

  His toe nudged against mine under the table and I shifted my foot, knocking his back.

  “Oh you mean when I wipe that smirk off your face and make you consider handing over the captain’s spot to me?” I taunted.

  Leon laughed and leaned further back in his chair, his foot nudging mine again and drawing a little smile to my lips as I realised it wasn’t accidental.

  Apparently Ryder was still ignoring me and he extended that courtesy to Leon too as he stalked away from us to gather supplies from the cupboard.

  “I was thinking we should spend tonight working on our tackles,” Leon said, pushing a hand through his long, blonde hair and drawing my gaze to the press of his bicep against his shirt. “You wanna be my partner?”

  I tapped a finger to my chin, pretending to consider it for a long moment then shook my head. “I think I’d just embarrass you when I pin your ass to the dirt.”

  Leon nudged my foot beneath the table for the third time and I hooked the toe of my shoe around the back of his ankle to stop him from doing it again. My lips twitched with amusement as his toe shifted against the back of my calf and a little skitter of energy ran through me.

  “I think I can take the embarrassment if it means being locked between your thighs,” he replied, twisting his foot away from mine suddenly then nudging my toes again. A laugh fell from my lips and he smiled knowingly. “Although, I’m a bit bored of women doing all the work for me, so maybe I’ll end up on top for a change.”

  “You must be terrible in bed if you just let the women do all the work,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.

  “Only one way to find out, little monster,” he challenged, kicking me again. I probably should have just drawn my feet back beneath my chair but I couldn’t help but nudge his foot with mine in response.

  “I’ll pass, thanks,” I said airily, though I let my gaze wander to the patch of bronzed skin on show where he’d left the top three buttons of his shirt undone.

  Ryder returned to the table and slammed the ingredients down while scowling at Leon. “That’s your cue to fuck off,” he snarled.

  “I’m not done talking to Elise yet, thanks,” Leon said dismissively, keeping his gaze fixed on me.

  Leon reached into his pocket with a wide smile, his eyes twinkling excitedly.

  “If you give her any more chocolate you’re going to give her diabetes,” Ryder snarled.

  “This is better than chocolate. I noticed you haven’t been chewing gum this week, so...” Leon placed a six pack of cherry gum down on the table between us and I couldn’t help but squeal excitedly. I reached for it, pulling one of the packets out right away so that I could have a piece while Leon smiled so widely I could have counted every one of his teeth.

  “Thank you,” I said earnestly. The chocolate had been nice but with me having zero funds I’d been depressingly lacking in gum for way too long now and I’d come to the realisation that my habit was more of an addiction. I’d been in serious withdrawal all week and he’d just given me my own personal heroin.

  “If you wanted gum so badly why didn’t you just buy some from the Kiplings yourself?” Ryder asked irritably.

  I glanced at him and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. I wasn’t going to admit that I couldn’t even afford some fucking chewing gum. It was mortifying and depressing and none of his goddamn business.

  I shrugged, refusing to answer as I pushed a stick of gum into my mouth and turned back to Leon with a smile as sweet as the cherry taste which danced over my tongue.

  I could feel Ryder’s eyes still on me and I shifted uncomfortably as I scrambled for something else to say. “What made you think of the gum?” I asked Leon.

  “I can’t get the taste of your cherry kisses out of my head, little monster,” he purred, nudging my foot again beneath the table. “And I wanted to make sure you still tasted the same when I kissed you next time.”

  Ryder’s foot slammed between ours and he smacked a hand down onto the desk as he leaned forward with a snarl. “I’m not going to ask nicely again, Simba. Stop playing footsie with my girl and fuck off.”

  Leon yawned like Ryder was boring him and I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing.

  “I’ll see you at practice, Elise,” Leon said, pushing himself to his feet. “Then maybe we can get dinner after and discuss our plays?”

  “Oh.” I glanced at Ryder who leaned back in his chair with his arms folded and a scowl etched so deeply into his features I wasn’t sure it would ever wipe off. “Ryder, didn’t you say something about dinner-”

  “No,” he snapped. “I eat alone. Everyone knows that.”

  I pursed my lips at him, leaning away as I forced aside the little stab of hurt which came with that rejection. Okay asshole, be like that.

  “It’s a date then, Leon,” I said before blowing a bubble with my gum and letting it pop loudly.

  He smirked at me then tossed a smug look at Ryder before dragging his chair away again.

  Silence descended on us and I decided to give my focus to the task at hand, lighting the Bunsen burner and sorting through the ingredients that Ryder had gathered. I could feel his gaze boring a hole in the side of my face but I pointedly ignored his death stare.

  “Seriously?” he asked eventually and I turned my eyes his way.

  “What?” I questioned when he failed to explain that question.

  “Leon the lion?”

  I sniggered. That still cracked me up.

  “He’s nice,” I replied. “And funny. And hot. Why do you care?”

  “I don’t. I just would have thought you’d go for more than funny,” Ryder said it like the word was dirty.

  “You don’t really know anything about me. And you always could have asked me to have dinner with you if that’s what you wanted?” I raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I didn’t. I don’t.”

  “Good.”

  “Fine.”

  Ryder snatched the moonbeam from me before I could add it to the potion and proceeded to correct every minor mistake I’d made.

  By the time the lesson was over, I had one perfectly brewed Essence of Moonshine potion, a piece of gum that had lost its flavour and an air of tension you could cut with a knife.

  Great.

  ***

  “Come at me harder!” Dante demanded, holding his arms wide as he
baited me.

  My Pitball shirt was riding up again and I tugged at the material irritably, wondering when the hell Leon was gonna get me a better fitting kit. He said that there was a funding issue and it had gotten held up, but I was more than fed up of bursting out of this one. I was gonna ask Coach Mars about it at the end of the training session.

  “You’ll regret that,” I snarled as I leaned forward, readying to rush Dante.

  Pitball practice was well underway and I was enjoying the chance to vent a little bit of my frustrations while we practiced our tackles as Leon had promised. We were rotating partners and I was eagerly awaiting the next change when I’d be partnered with Harvey Bloom. There was one really good reason for me to want some one on one time with Harvey; I’d spent a bit of time on my Atlas looking into him before practice. He was the last name on the list of Killblaze dealers the Kiplings had given me and I’d finally hit the jackpot.

  Harvey Bloom had multiple pictures on his FaeBook page with my brother. Apparently he didn’t go in for tagging people which would have made it a hell of a lot easier for me to track down their connection sooner. But once I started looking through his photos from the last two years, I found shot after shot of him and Gareth hanging out. I also had several other faces which I needed to put names to because it looked like I’d caught onto Gareth’s social group at last.

  Leon blew his whistle and I leapt forward, racing towards Dante with my teeth gritted and determination driving me on. He had well over a foot on me and about a hundred pounds, but I wasn’t going to let that deter me. Pitball was all about using whatever advantage you could take and though my position was offensive not defensive and I wouldn’t usually need to tackle like this in a match, I wasn’t going to shirk my training.

  With a cry of determination, I leaned forward and slammed my shoulder straight into Dante’s stomach. He instantly wrapped his arms around my waist, trying to lift me from my feet but I wasn’t going down without a fight.