by Sofia Daniel
He helped me out of my underwear at normal speed, tucked us under the sheets and curled around my body. Resting his erection against my ass, he slid an arm under my head, so it served as a pillow and wrapped the other over my waist, so it served as a vise.
I lay within the confines of Raphael’s body and waited for him to fall asleep. My muscles ached from combat conditioning, and my eyes drooped. As I closed my eyes and allowed myself to sleep, I made a mental note to remember to get up in a few hours. I really needed to speak to the onion woman about the hunters.
Around midday, I approached the window leading to the courtyard of the embracing statues. Dust motes danced within the sunlight streaming into the darkened hallway, and I paused to catch a few rays of vitamin D.
Raphael’s dressing gown hung down to my ankles, and I pulled it down my shoulders to expose more skin to the sun.
Gates stepped out from behind the statues, dressed in a denim jacket and jeans. He grinned at me and pointed at a door on the right of the courtyard.
With a frown, I followed his direction down the hall and pushed open a door that led to a stairwell. Behind the stairs and to the left, sunlight streamed through a keyhole. A bolt of excitement shot through my heart, and I rushed to the external door.
“Stephens?” asked Gates.
I knelt at the keyhole and peered out to find Gates doing the same. “It’s so good to see you! How have you been?”
“They’re telling me I transformed and tried to eat you.” He paused. “I don’t remember much from that night, except that you tried to help remove my shackles.”
I turned my gaze away from the keyhole and sighed. The incident with the crazed werewolf had been pushed to the recesses of my mind. It had been beyond horrific.
“Is that true?” Gates asked. “Did I really attack you?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said.
“I’m so sorry.” His voice broke.
I rested my palms on the wood and murmured, “There’s no need to apologize. You didn’t know you’d become a werewolf.”
We knelt opposite each other in silence. I was no longer the girl who had been desperate to partner up with Gates. I belonged to the Stryx brothers. But for this moment, I wanted to feel like things were back to how they had been last term.
“Does the transformation still hurt?” I asked.
“It’s supposed to,” he replied. “The others taught me how to shift into a dire wolf. If I spend the full moon in that form, I can avoid the agony of turning into a werewolf.”
A lump formed in my throat, but I tried to inject some cheer into my voice. “That’s good.”
His chuckle was harsh and bitter. “Not really, but we have to make the best of things, right?”
“Suppose so.” I rested my head against the wood and closed my eyes. Poor Gates had been in a juvenile detention center when they’d snatched him in the middle of the night. I wondered if he ever thought about his family.
“Why do you smell of vampires?” he asked.
My heart sank. So much for the pretense of feeling like the girl I had been the term before. “Remember the Stryx brothers?”
“Those three wankers who kept staring at you from across the dining room?”
“They’ve made me into their concubine.” I held my breath, waiting for a barrage of abuse.
Gates paused for such a long time, I had to peer through the keyhole to see if he’d gone. I met his now amber eyes, and he gave me the saddest smile.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “I guess a person can’t really change their fate, no matter how hard they fight against it. The vampires always win.”
My throat thickened. He was the last person I expected to admit defeat. A voice in the back of my mind reminded me that he’d always managed to escape, and now was my chance to discover how he’d done it.
“How did you manage to leave the castle?” I asked.
“Through the front door,” he replied.
“What?” I jammed my face against the keyhole.
Gates tilted his head to the side, giving me a skeptical look. “There’s a panel you can just walk through.”
“No, there isn’t.”
“There is.” He braced his hands on his denim-clad knees, as though getting comfortable. “And there’s another set of doors with an open panel at the back. You have to squint a certain way to find them because they look solid at first glance.”
I rubbed my chin. “Maybe you could always see them because you got bitten on your first night.”
Gates’ shoulders sagged. “Scratched.”
“What?”
“At the time, I thought it was a giant dog, but it was a she-wolf. She pounced on me, and one of her claws nicked my skin.” He blew out a breath. “That’s all it took.”
A shudder ran down my back. “Are werewolves contagious all month long?”
“Only on the full moon,” he replied with a wistful note in his voice.
A howl sounded in the distance, and Gates turned around. “The alpha’s calling. I’d better not be late.”
I pressed my hand on the panel of the door. “Take care of yourself.”
“Thanks.” Gates stood, turned away, and ran.
I knelt for several minutes afterward, staring at the patch of courtyard Gates had occupied. Had his transformation affected his personality, or was he now happier to have left the academy?
The old Gates would never have gone running because someone had called him. Maybe the werewolf alpha was stricter than the vampires.
Later, I roamed the castle in search of the onion woman, but she was either making herself invisible again or had found another hiding place.
On my way back to the boys’ suite, I stopped by the entrance and ran my hands along the panels of the double doors. They were all made of solid oak, and not a single panel appeared transparent. I blew out a frustrated breath. Had Gates lied? He had no reason to, now that he was no longer a student and lived outside the castle.
Stepping back, I closed my eyes and focused on my third eye. Ever since seeing the boys’ bestial eyes and sharpened incisors, I hadn’t dared to activate that part of my magic for fear of seeing something alarming that I couldn’t fight or escape.
“Come on,” I whispered to myself. “See what you can do.”
This time, I closed my eyes and focused on the spot in my forehead. A thin film of garlic paper had formed over that chakra, and I pulled it off with my mind. Without opening my eyes, I could see the door. Most of it was dull, dead wood, but a panel on the far left glowed as bright as sunlight.
My heartbeat accelerated. This had to be Gates’ escape route. He’d probably been able to see it all along because the bite had transformed his senses.
“Is this what you do during the day?” asked a voice from behind.
Opening my eyes, I spun around to find Zarah standing behind me, still dressed in her school uniform. Her blonde hair hung down the side of her face, hiding her neck.
“What are you doing out of your room?” I asked.
“Trying to find a way to escape, just like you.”
I hid my surprise. The Zarah of last term had been too afraid to defy the vampires. She’d also collaborated with Micalla to lead me into a trap.
“Any luck yet?” I asked.
“No.” She folded her arms across her chest.
I glanced down the hallway, ready to make my excuses and return to the boys’ suite when Zarah cleared her throat.
“I know what you did.” Zarah stared at me with her watery green eyes, not saying anything for several moments.
My lips tightened. Did she want me to protest and spill my secrets? I folded my arms across my chest, mirroring her movement and waiting for her to reveal her hand.
Eventually, her pale face twisted into a rictus of anger. “You killed Micalla, and I’m going to tell Lady Mantis.”
Chapter 10
Palpitations seized my heart. The walls of the vast entrance hall seemed
to close in on me as I gaped at Zarah. This was the girl who had been abducted on that same, fateful evening. The girl I’d tried to save from the Coven of Bitches’ fangs.
She’d betrayed me by helping Micalla ambush me, and now she would betray me again by reporting me for a crime she couldn’t possibly have known I’d committed.
Zarah placed her hands on her hips and glared up at me with defiant, pale eyes. My hands twitched to slap the confidence off her face. How hadn’t I noticed all this time that Zarah was a bitch?
Trying to keep my voice calm and measured, I said, “Do you know what you’re saying? Who’s going to believe that a frumosi can kill a vampire?”
She raised her chin and leveled me with a hard glare. “You could do it.”
“What?”
“I saw you slap Dante and burn the side of his face. He had a hand-shaped welt for weeks that couldn’t be healed. And you did something to Raphael when you thought he had thrown you to the werewolf.”
Blood roared in my ears, a mix of fear and fury. My mouth opened to tell her that I’d used sunstone against the boys, but I clicked it shut. Zarah would only barter that information to Captain Tanar and get me into further trouble. Instead, I shook my head, not holding out any hope that she’d believe my denial.
“The last time I spoke to Micalla was outside the Yule ball.” I placed my hands on my hips. “And I don’t even remember seeing her the next night in the dining room at breakfast.”
“She was in the basement, waiting for you to walk past,” said Zarah.
“Well, she must have missed me then. After breakfast, I went straight to my room.”
Zarah stepped forward and whispered, “You didn’t.”
I clenched my teeth. “What are you talking about?”
“I was in our room, and you weren’t there.”
“Did you check the shower?” I snapped. After I had reduced Micalla to dust, the boys had shown me a passageway that led straight to Frumosi tower. I’d gone straight to the bathroom and gotten cleaned up, only to find Nero sitting on Zarah’s bed.
Zarah lowered her eyes and frowned.
A spring of hope filled my chest. Her memories of that day weren’t perfect, but mine were as clear as water. It had changed my fate and reduced me to sleeping in a dog crate to avoid servicing three horny vampires.
“Do you remember walking in on Nero and me?” I asked.
Her pale eyes bulged. “What?”
“Kat was there, and so were Annette and Captain Shanks. Remember?”
“Umm…”
“She accused me of playing hard to get with the Stryx brothers, and you backed her up.”
Zarah dipped her head and rubbed the back of her neck. “That sounds familiar.”
My shoulders relaxed. Back then, she’d been recovering from anemia and was probably still tipsy from the Yule ball. Even if she remembered collaborating with Micalla to kill me, it looked like the rest of that day was fuzzy. Slowing my breaths, I managed to return my heartbeat to normal. Perhaps I could talk her out of blackmailing me.
In a softer voice, I added, “Look, I don’t know what happened to Micalla. Maybe Lady Mantis will get a ransom note from the hunters, or maybe Micalla will return from getting whisked away by Lord Lilin. But you shouldn’t throw out dangerous accusations and waste the time of powerful vampires.”
Zarah shook her head. “I didn’t see her leave the academy.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to grind my teeth with frustration. “Can you account for everyone’s whereabouts on the last day of term?”
“No, but—”
“So, you don’t know if she left to go shopping and got herself abducted or murdered by hunters,” I said.
Zarah glanced from left to right as though trying to think through my train of logic. “No, but—”
“I’m sorry your aunt got killed, and I’m sorry you ended up here. Something similar happened to my family. I had a mother, a stepfather, and a little brother. But they’re dead. Just like your aunt.”
Zarah stared back at me, her lips parted with shock. It occurred to me that this was the first time I’d thought about Mom, Steve, and Daniel since fainting at the start of this term, and the grief that I’d expected at the mention of my dead relatives was still missing. But I couldn’t dwell on that, nor could I let Zarah continue her true but baseless accusations.
“We’re both in the same shitty situation, and I never turned on you.”
My hands twitched to rest themselves on her shoulders, but right now, I just wanted to wring her scrawny neck.
“I even made a deal with Micalla before the Yule ball to have the girls leave you alone. Do you know why I did that?”
She stared up at me, eyes wide. “Why?”
“Because I cared about you.” My insides cringed at my newfound manipulation, but I pushed that feeling aside. Zarah needed to shut her careless mouth. “Please don’t betray everything I’ve tried to do for you by making up stories that could get me killed.”
She blinked several times and stared off into the distance but didn’t speak.
My throat dried, and a bolt of anger surged through my arteries. The girl was so stubborn. Last term, she allowed the Coven to continue feeding on her, even though she was well within her rights to withdraw her consent. The girls had drained her to the brink of exsanguination. But she still clung to the belief that they were protecting her. This term, she wouldn’t let go of the notion that I had murdered Micalla.
“Alright?” I hardened my voice with steel.
“I don’t know,” she replied.
“You don’t know what?” I asked through clenched teeth.
Zarah turned to me, gaze sharpening. “Even if you didn’t kill Micalla, you’re still in a position to help me escape.”
“How?” I shot back. “There’s no way out. If I knew it, I’d be long gone.”
“The Stryx brothers could help me if you ask.”
It took every ounce of self-control to stop myself from spluttering. Did Zarah think I was a Cinderella character languishing under the care of three handsome princes? They were the big bad wolf times three.
I closed the distance between us and glared down into her annoying, little face. “And what makes you think they’ll listen to a word I say?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not really their blood whore, are you?”
My nostrils flared. This time, she had really lost her mind. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Zarah lowered her gaze and picked at her fingers. Her shoulders rose, and the collar her blazer hunched up to her ears.
In the smallest of voices, she murmured, “The Coven of Bitches made me their unofficial whore for a full term. I know what it’s like to be the victim of vampires.”
I held my tongue. The boys weren’t feeding on me because I hadn’t permitted them. So far, they hadn’t pushed the issue of tasting my blood.
“And look at Miss Margolyes. She has to dress the part, and Captain Tanar bites her in front of everyone.”
My mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.
Zarah continued. “Blood whores don’t get choices. They’re used and paraded and discarded. The brothers aren’t doing anything of the sort to you.”
Clenching my teeth, I thought about the blowjobs, the handjobs, the irritating kisses. How the blood-sucking assholes would rile me up with their dirty talk, their huge erections, and their beautiful bodies. Then they would delight in my sexual frustration and refuse to let me climax until I’d debased myself with a humiliating performance of their choice.
Then there was the name-calling and the groping and being stripped naked in their suite. Not to mention the dog crate. I wanted to hurl all of this in Zarah’s face, but she’d only use that against me at a later date.
Instead, I said, “Perhaps royal vampires prefer their blood whores well enough to function during the day.”
Zarah shook her head. “They love you. Or at least l
ike you very much. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those boys didn’t kill Micalla on your behalf.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” She tilted her head up, seeming to have worked out what really happened. “Micalla had some sort of hold over the boys. Even I could tell that they resented her. Then she bullied you and wanted you dead. Maybe the boys used you as an excuse to kill her.”
“That’s impossible.” My voice was flat and missing the customary outrage of a denial. How the hell had Zarah work out so much?
“It’s plausible, and I’m going to tell Lady Mantis.”
My hand wrapped around her thin arm, and I squeezed tight, making her wince. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are.” She cringed away from me.
Guilt flooded my insides. I’d been on the other end of physical intimidation, and it wasn’t something I wanted to inflict on someone else.
Snatching my hand away from her arm, I asked, “Then why are you doing this?”
Zarah’s face twisted into a bullish expression. “At least I’m giving you a chance to do right by me. If we weren’t friends, I would have gone behind your back. So far, I haven’t told a soul about my suspicions.”
I shook my head. “You’re wrong.”
She walked away. “Even if I am, do you want to risk what Lady Mantis will do if she suspects you of killing her daughter?”
I glared at her back, my fingers itching to wrestle her to the ground and smash her head against the marble until she was in no position to tell anyone about Micalla. Disgust crawled up the back of my throat. How on earth had I gone from wanting to protect Zarah to wanting to reduce her to a gibbering wreck?
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
She paused at the entrance to a stairwell. “It was one thing to become the consort or a concubine of a rich vampire, but I’m not becoming a watchdog and getting myself killed fighting hunters.”
My lips tightened with annoyance. Captain Tanar’s regime was harsh, but not bad enough to risk getting a friend killed to escape it. I had to get rid of Zarah. Fast.
I turned away and walked back to the boys’ suite, warmed my feet on the fire, and slipped back into bed with Raphael. It was hard to get back to sleep because my blood continued to boil, but I closed my eyes and kept still until Raphael rubbed his erection against my ass.