by Sofia Daniel
“You can sleep in my bed tonight,” Raphael said.
“Thank you.”
“Wait a minute,” growled Nero.
“Alicia’s had a busy day and is probably still tired from the bonding ceremony,” said Raphael. “You can have her tomorrow, but right now, she’s sleeping with me.”
Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes at his pretense at reasonableness, I stood on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss on his lips. Raphael scooped me up into his arms and carried me across the room.
“Sweet dreams, brothers.”
I rested my head on his chest and kept my expression tired and natural as I watched his older brothers seethe.
Gangbang avoided.
Raphael stepped through his doorway and closed the door. As soon as we were alone, he set me on my feet.
“Raph.” I stared into his green eyes. “Can we just hold each other tonight? I really don’t want to do anything, and I can’t face sleeping in that crate.”
His smile faded into a look of concern. “You just want to cuddle?”
I gave him a soft nod, hoping he would show mercy for once tonight.
“Of course.” Raphael placed his hands on my shoulders and pressed a kiss on my forehead. He took my hand and led me to the bed, where we sat.
After we undressed, I lay with my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and I blew out a relieved breath. For reasons I couldn’t articulate, tears gathered in my eyes. When I blinked, they landed on his flesh.
“Don’t cry.” Raphael stroked my hair. “I know we had a bit of a rough start, but you’re better off under our protection and not with any of the other vampires.”
“Do you think so?” I placed my hand over his heart, thinking he was right. The only thing protecting me from the fate of Miss Margolyes was the brothers’ status as the sons of Lord Stryx. Captain Tanar’s stare had made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“You’ll get used to us,” he murmured. “I promise.”
He held me in his arms, stroking my back until his arm dropped away, and his body went still. I lay on his chest for several minutes, not quite knowing if this was how vampires slept.
“May I use the toilet?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer.
“Raphael?”
When there was still no answer, I pulled myself out of his embrace and stared down at his slumbering form. Raphael looked innocent while sleeping, and my hands itched to punch his beautiful face until it bled. Instead, I backed out of the room and grabbed a dressing gown on my way out.
In the reception area, a fire flickered and popped in the hearth, filling the room with the scent of wood smoke.
I headed toward the crate under the pretense of looking for the potty, fully expecting one of the boys to pounce on me and ask where I thought I was going. But when nobody stirred, I turned back and edged toward the door.
It was time for me to find the onion woman.
Chapter 8
I searched everywhere for the onion woman, but she wasn’t in the kitchen, the pantry, the laundry room, the storerooms, or in the hallways. I even checked the library to see if she had hidden among the books, but she wasn’t there.
As I passed one of the few windows that overlooked the courtyard of the embracing statues, I caught sight of a figure darting about outside in the sun. It was a large, long-haired man wearing a denim jacket and matching jeans.
I stopped to take a better look. As if by some form of extra-sensory perception, he became aware of my observation and turned around.
My heart thudded. I recognized the face behind the shaggy hair. “Gates?”
He mouthed something and beckoned for me to go downstairs. With a nod, I raced through the hallway to the nearest stairwell and dashed down the stairs. When I reached the ground-floor window, Gates was standing on the other side, smiling.
Tears filled my eyes, and warmth filled my heart. He had survived becoming a werewolf and was looking healthy. “What are you doing out there?”
He tapped on his ear, grinned, and mouthed something.
I smiled back and shrugged. If only there was a better way for us to communicate.
“Don’t trust the dog handlers,” said a voice from behind.
I spun around and came face to face with the onion woman. “Where have you been?” I asked. “Term has started, and—”
“Let’s go down to the kitchen, where it’s safe to talk,” she said.
I turned around to look into the courtyard, but Gates had already gone. When I turned back, the onion woman was halfway down the hall, heading for the nearest stairwell.
“Wait a minute.” Rushing after the onion woman, I followed her down the stairs, through the laundry room, the pantry, and into the kitchen. Instead of going to her usual station, we passed the stainless-steel kitchen and entered a huge storeroom.
The door slammed shut after us, and I said, “What happened to you? When you didn’t show up, I had to complete a bonding ceremony with the Stryx brothers.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Obviously, you found a way to sabotage it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be whining about being stuck with those boys.”
“How do you—” I dropped the question. She had been a concubine of Dracula’s. Of course, she knew what it felt like to be under the influence of such a bond. Heat flared across my cheeks. “We didn’t use blood.”
Her brows rose. “How did you get them to use semen?”
“I told them my blood was toxic. They think everything I did under the influence of sunstone was due to a strange frumosi power.” I glanced around the brick-walled room. “Where were you?”
“Waiting for you to open your third eye,” she replied.
“I don’t get it.”
She folded her arms across her chest and gave me an impatient look. I realized she wanted me to work something out for myself.
With a sigh, I asked, “Do you have the power of invisibility?”
“I’ve been using it for days, waiting for you to be able to see me,” she replied.
“You were here all along.”
“That’s right.” She gave me an approving nod and gestured at a doorway. “Congratulations on being able to see and hear me today. There was no point in teaching you how to escape until you could see the wards.”
Excitement bubbled up in my chest, and I walked toward the exit. “What’s next?”
She reached into the apron of her black dress and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Now, you’re going to learn how to burn a hole through the wards.”
I gave her an eager nod. “Do I need sunstone?”
“Give me your left wrist.” I held out my arm, and she tied another braided bracelet around it. “This is the next best thing and will help you focus your magic, so you can use the power of the sun to burn through the wards.”
“Really?”
She ripped off a piece of paper, held it in the palm of her hand, and gave it a hard stare. A heartbeat later, the paper yellowed, caught fire, and burned away.
My mouth fell open as she sprinkled those ashes to the floor and handed me a strip of her paper.
“Right,” she said. “Concentrate your magic onto your hand and see if you can burn your piece.”
I glowered at the paper on my palm, and it caught fire. As soon as the flames grew tall, I turned to the onion woman and said, “Look, I’m doing—”
The paper reverted into its unburned state.
“It was burning a second ago,” I said.
“That was you fooling yourself. One more time and put some power into it.”
I tried over and over until sweat poured down my brow with the effort of conjuring up imaginary flames. The onion woman left the storeroom, brought a pair of large buckets, and turned them around to create makeshift seats. While I continued trying, she hand-spun garlic skins into string.
Nothing I did seemed to make the flames real. As soon as the paper turned warm, the fire disappeared, leavin
g the paper unburned.
“If it’s going to take two weeks like it did for me to see through your invisibility, I probably won’t survive.”
“Why’s that?” She laid out a foot-long string across her lap and pulled out more garlic paper.
“Those boys.” My cheeks heated at what I’d had to do to them earlier to avoid getting bitten, and what they’d made me do before they’d allowed me to climax. “They’re determined to make me die of humiliation.”
“Then let that be your motivation,” she snapped. “The sooner you can burn a bit of paper, the sooner you’ll be able to burn a hole through the wards.”
I nodded and glowered at the scrap of burning paper in my palm, hoping that this time, the fire was real. “How long until I can make myself invisible like you?”
She snorted.
I glanced at the onion woman, and the fire disappeared, leaving the paper pristine. “What?”
“Becoming invisible is nowhere near as easy as burning a piece of paper.”
My shoulders sagged, and I let my mind wander to Captain Tanar’s new vision for the academy. “Do you know what happened today?”
“I was in the dining room last night,” she said. “Dracula’s paranoia must have gotten out of proportion if he’s decided to leave Tanar in charge of children.”
“What’s he got to be paranoid about?” I asked. “Hunters?”
“Hunters aren’t just stake-happy frumosi, you know.”
I curled my fingers around the piece of paper and imagined setting it alight. “What do you mean?”
“You know they descended from Dracula’s brother, Radu?” She finished spinning another piece of string and laid it out across her lap. “He’s the biggest hunter of all.”
“Huh?”
“Did anyone tell you the origin story of vampires?”
I shook my head.
“Back in the fifteenth century, when Vlad and Radu were prisoners of the Ottoman empire, they summoned a spirit who offered them power in exchange for their souls.”
Nodding, I opened my fingers and tried not to sigh at the unburned paper. “Like a demon?”
“Dracula never said,” she replied. “They both signed up for the deal, and both gained magic, but after a hundred years, the spirit returned to claim their souls. Dracula hid his, and Radu promised to hand his over at the end of his lifespan.”
I rubbed my temple. “How can a person hide their soul?”
“In exchange for a thousand virgins, Lord Lilin taught him to hide his shadow.” She gathered three strings, knotted them together with her teeth, and wove them into a tight braid. “That’s why when you look at a vampire, there’s an empty spot over their heads. It’s the missing soul star chakra.”
“Soul star—”
“All of the offspring he had since then have been born immortal and soulless.”
“Which explains why they don’t have reflections,” I muttered. “What about Radu?”
“He discovered a way to extend his lifespan by drinking the blood of vampires.”
My hand dropped to my side. “Hunters feed on vampires?”
“Those trained in the ways of Radu. Other hunters snatch vampires out of their homes and hand them over, thinking they’ll be slain.”
Shaking my head, I blew out a long breath. “At least now I know why he’s so paranoid.”
“And desperate for an army of day-walkers to protect him from hunters. He also captured frumosi and turned them into knockers to power his wards.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Vampires and hunters were as evil as each other.
The onion woman completed her braid and wrapped it around my neck. “This will give you the boost you need to reach the next stage of your development. Don’t come back until you can burn something with your magic.”
I placed the paper in the pocket of my dressing gown and thanked the onion woman. Afterward, I hurried through the deserted castle, passing dead-eyed knockers busy with their daily tasks.
Pausing at the window of the embracing statues, I surveyed the courtyard. The sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows. From the looks of things, it was nearly three o’clock in the afternoon, a few hours before sunset.
There was no sign of Gates, and my heart sank. It would have been nice to catch up with him and discover how he was getting on with the other werewolves, but I pushed him out of my mind and hurried back to the brothers’ suite.
Fire crackled and popped in the hearth. I rushed toward the fireplace and stamped my cold feet, trying to get circulation back into my toes. Eventually, the ends of my toes started to tingle, and the soles of my feet warmed.
Strong arms wrapped around my middle, and Raphael’s cedar and sandalwood scent filled my nostrils. “Where did you go?”
Last term, when I was lonely and desperate for a friend, I would have melted into his touch. Looking back at his words and actions, he’d only seen me as a plaything not worthy of respect. Why else would he let his brothers insult and humiliate me? I despised his guts, even if my body had formed a sexual bond with his.
Keeping the resentment out of my voice, I murmured, “Sorry, did I wake you?”
“I’m a light sleeper.” His warm lips nuzzled my neck. “Especially around twilight and dusk.”
I made a mental note to keep my excursions to the middle of the day when I could be assured the vampires would be asleep.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Raphael turned me around and brushed strands of mahogany hair off my face. His dark, green eyes dropped down to my lips.
Before he could get any strange ideas, I jerked my head away. “That potty is degrading.”
He gave me a warm smile. “I’m sure the knockers can find you a few china chamber pots.”
Annoyance fizzled through my belly. Maybe vampires didn’t need to use the bathroom and didn’t understand anything about human waste, but they had to know animals pissed and shat all day long.
I gave him what I hoped was a sad smile. “Humans are used to indoor plumbing.”
“But you’re—”
“Frumosi, I know.” I placed a hand over his heart, wondering if I’d one day get a chance to break it. “But you have to understand that I didn’t know that until September.”
He pulled me into his hard chest and pressed a kiss on my forehead. “Come back to bed.”
Nodding, I let him lead me back to his bedroom for the last few hours of sleep. Maybe if I concentrated enough, I might be able to set him on fire with my new frumosi powers.
At breakfast, Captain Tanar dressed Miss Margolyes in a leather bikini top and what I could only describe as a loincloth. He sat her on his lap and made her feed him sips of sangria from a golden goblet.
A lump of pity formed in the back of my throat. I ducked my head and tried not to look at the older woman’s eyes, which were red-rimmed with tears. Professor Proust sat at the far end of the high table, occasionally sparing his former consort a worried glance.
Nero took a sip of his sangria. “Margo’s looking better these days.”
Dante shot me a gleeful smirk. “Do you think we should dress our whore like that?”
Raphael placed a hand on my thigh. “I think you’d look nice.”
“What do you think, whore?” asked Nero.
My stomach knotted with dread. If I shot back with something rude, the assholes would parade me in an even more humiliating costume by lunchtime.
I peered up at Nero and Dante, whose eyes glinted with amusement. Something about their smug expressions told me that if I called their bluff and agreed, I’d also end up dressed like a fantasy slave girl.
Tilting my head to the side, I said, “It might be cold for classes, but I wouldn’t mind a few of those outfits to wear around your suite.”
Nero’s nostrils flared. “We can take you shopping. There’s a black market in London that sells this kind of thing.”
My heart pounded. “Is that allowed?”
“We have the we
ekends free to do as we wish.” Dante sipped his sangria. “But we’ll only take you if you’re good.”
Nodding, I cut myself a piece of blood sausage and chewed. I couldn’t let them know I was excited at the prospect of leaving the academy or they would take advantage of my desire and demand something I wasn’t prepared to give… like my blood.
Miss Margolyes cried out and squirmed on Captain Tanar’s lap. The vampire had bitten her again and lapped at her neck. My gaze met his, and he winked.
A jolt of panic shot through my heart, and I glanced at a sad-looking Professor Proust and wondered if he ever regretted his indifference to my requests to help Zarah when she had been abused by the Coven of Bitches.
The first class of the day was Basic Protection, which contained only Frumosi students. Miss Margolyes slumped behind her desk, still dressed in that leather bikini top and loincloth. Bite marks covered her neck and arms. Some of them had scabbed over, and others glistened with blood.
My chest tightened. The captain was likely using her as an example of what would happen to frumosi who opposed his regime. I could think of no other reason why he would bite an obedient teacher in public, leave her with scars, and parade her in such humiliating clothing.
“I’m sorry, everyone,” she whispered.
One of the boys in the class raised his hand. “How can we protect ourselves in a situation like yours?”
Her eyes glistened with tears, and she lowered her gaze. “You can’t.”
“But you said—”
“Can’t you see what’s happening?” snapped Kat. “All this time, Miss Margolyes has been teaching us useless crap that won’t work in the real world.”
I bit down on my bottom lip but held my silence. Kat was only voicing what I had been saying the previous term.
Miss Margolyes glanced in my direction. “If anyone has any escape plans, I’d like to hear them.”
I stared back at her and wrapped my arms around my middle. Last term, I had asked questions in class to get the others to think about the futility of our situation. Gates had tried and gotten himself beaten down.
Miss Margolyes had seen vampires mistreat frumosi and hadn’t cared because she’d been paired with a vampire who had treated her well. Now that she’d become the plaything of Captain Tanar, she suddenly wanted to escape.