by Sofia Daniel
He and I strolled down the stone steps, feeling like a couple on a date. I supposed vampires were allowed out at any time, and the wards of the grounds kept them safe. Zarah scampered behind us, wrapping her arms around her middle.
I glanced over my shoulder at where Dante and Raphael stood under the shelter of the porch. “Aren’t you two coming?”
“We’ll join you in a bit,” said Raphael. “Nero’s a little more resistant to sunlight because of his dark skin.”
A winding path cut through the forest and led down to the bottom of the hill, but Nero walked into the woods.
“What about werewolves?” whispered Zarah.
“There’s no full moon,” Nero replied. “Keep your eyes on the path, and let’s enjoy our little walk.”
We kept to a trail that led down to the bottom of the hill, and I kept my eyes straight ahead. Every few minutes, Zarah flinched and gasped. I could only guess that she was looking at the creatures that dwelled in the woods.
“Alicia,” she whispered. “There’s—”
“Don’t look at them, and they won’t scare you,” I said.
The further we walked down the forest-covered hill, the denser the canopy became, plunging us further into darkness.
Zarah’s teeth chattered, and tiny sobs sounded from her side, but we continued ahead. This was what she had demanded—a means of escape—and it was her fault if she thought she would be leaving in a limousine.
After several minutes, Dante and Raphael joined us, taking up the rear. Zarah’s sobs ebbed into the occasional quiet gasp.
At the end of the forest stretched the iridescent dome that covered the academy and its grounds. It was so big and so powerful that I didn’t even need to activate my third eye to see it. Beyond the dome stretched out a vast meadow, and beyond that, a road.
Zarah clapped her hands over her face and moaned. “How are we going to cross all that water?”
“It’s an illusion,” I said. “Don’t you remember that Commander Shanks and the other guard brought us here via road?”
She dipped her head. “I suppose so.”
I knelt on the frosty ground, ignoring the cold seeping through my tights, and closed my eyes. The bubble shone brighter in my third eye and appeared thicker than the wards I’d practiced on with the onion woman.
One of the boys placed a hand on my shoulder, giving me the confidence I needed to focus. I put my hands on the bubble and pushed my magic out of my palms. A hole smaller than I had expected appeared in the ward, presumably because it was older, denser, and better maintained than the rudimentary bubbles the knockers set up for us in the kitchen storeroom.
I pushed all the magic I could into the bubble, widening the hole until it was about the size of a dinner plate. After expanding it a little more, I sat back on my heels and opened my eyes.
“What did you do?” Zarah peered through the ward. “It’s a field.”
“I told you the sea was an illusion.”
She lowered herself onto her hands and knees and crawled through the hole. On the other side, she gave me an expectant look.
“Good luck,” I said. “And stay away from vampires.”
Her face dropped. “Aren’t you coming with me?”
I turned around and gazed up at the boys, who stood together, their shoulders touching. Nero didn’t look me in the eye, Dante stared ahead into the bubble, and Raphael blinked as though holding back tears. A lump formed in my throat. They were letting me choose whether I wanted to leave or stay.
My gaze turned back to Zarah, who crouched at the other side of the ward. Her lips trembled, and her watery, green eyes filled with tears.
“I’m staying.”
Her mouth fell open. “But why, when you have the chance to leave?” She glanced at the boys, who kept their distance. “They’re not stopping you.”
“It’s like you said weeks ago,” I replied. “They don’t treat me like a blood whore.”
She let out a choked sob. “But…”
I let my eyes flutter closed and placed a thin patch over the hole I’d made in the barrier. Zarah remained at the other side as a dark figure in my third eye. With each layer I placed on the wards, she became dimmer until her silhouette faded to a mere shadow. When I finished fixing the wards, I stood and dusted myself off.
Raphael helped me to my feet, his forest-green eyes glistening. “You chose us instead of freedom.”
“Thank you,” said Nero.
“Why?” asked Dante.
The gratitude shining in the boys’ eyes filled my heart to bursting. Since our truce, I’d slept in each of their arms and gotten to see their vulnerable sides. They had told me what life had been like in the Kingdom of Stryx, living with Dante’s mother, who was one of their father’s many concubines.
While it was more luxurious than anything I’d experienced with Mom, Steve, and Daniel, the constant threat of being executed for displeasing Lord Stryx seemed unbearable.
“We have something special.” I looked from Dante to Nero to Raphael. “All of us. I believe in the legend of Dracula’s grandsons, and I want to see how far we can get if we combine powers.”
Raphael was the first to wrap his arms around me. I relaxed into his embrace, his warmth melting the last trace of resentment from how he’d let his brothers treat me.
Nero pressed into me from behind and hugged us both. “I can’t thank you enough,” he whispered into my ear. “It means so much that you chose us.”
When they both released me and stepped back, Dante stepped forward and cupped my face in his hands. “For the first time in over a year, I feel optimistic about my chances of survival. Thank you, Alicia, for giving us hope.”
He pressed a gentle kiss on my forehead, and I let my eyelids flutter shut.
As we walked back to the castle, I briefly wondered how Zarah would survive on the outside. But I shoved those thoughts aside. In all her talks of blackmail, she had never once mentioned us leaving together. And Zarah would just as likely stab me in the back in the real world as she had done here.
Nobody commented on Zarah’s absence at breakfast, in Basic Protection classes, Combat Conditioning, or in Hunters 101. Later that day at dinner, I dared a glance at Zarah’s usual table to find Kat and Annette huddled with their heads together. Neither frumosi girl spared me so much as a glower.
Up at the high table, Captain Tanar bounced Miss Margolyes on his lap, making her breasts jiggle in her leather bikini top. Her cheeks reddened, indicating that she was either taking iron tablets to replace all the blood she had lost, or he no longer drew so much from her veins.
“She’s looking a lot happier these days,” muttered Nero.
“They’ve reached an accord, I expect.” Dante slid his hand under the table and squeezed my hand. “Much like us.”
“Or Tanar has broken the consort bond and replaced it with his own.”
My gaze wandered to where Professor Proust sat at the far end of the table. The vampire slumped his shoulders, staring into his untouched goblet of sangria. My insides relaxed. Perhaps someone would think that Zarah had gotten herself killed from offering her neck to one vampire too many. I doubted that anyone would believe her capable of escaping.
As I turned my eyes back to my dinner of lamb tagine and brown rice, I caught the gaze of Juno and Lava, the two remaining members of the Coven of Bitches. Each girl glowered at me as though I’d recently caused them offense.
Ignoring them, I lowered my gaze to my food and ate.
Days passed. At first, no one mentioned Zarah’s absence apart from a few vampires who made jokes about her being tied up in a first-year’s room. As the days went on, more rumors flew around about Zarah, mostly related to how she would roam the hallways at dusk, offering herself to any vampire willing to pay for a sip of her blood.
Although it was good news for us, as no one would suspect us for being behind her disappearance, I couldn’t help feeling a knot of anxiety about Zarah’s absence. For someone
so quiet, she had become infamous among the younger vampires.
Early one morning, a week after we had helped her escape, the boys and I sat in their suite. Dante and Raphael played chess at a specially appointed table, while I straddled Nero’s lap, working on ways to deepen our bond.
I stared into his eyes, which my third eye now saw as completely black, without the barest trace of sclera. A network of veins lit up under his skin, and I pushed a little of my power into his heart chakra, brightening it from forest green to a bright, fluorescent lime.
“Careful,” Nero said between harsh breaths. “I’m getting hot.”
“Sorry.” I pulled back a little power, and the network of veins disappeared.
My shoulders slumped, and a frustrated breath huffed out from my lungs. “There has to be a way for us to merge powers.”
He pulled me into his chest and rubbed my back. “We’ll keep trying different methods until something sticks.”
Still sitting astride his lap, I rested my head on his shoulder and relaxed into his embrace. I’d considered blood as a way to connect us, but it was my last resort.
The thought of being bitten made my flesh crawl, seeing how Zarah had become addicted to vampire bites was enough to make me want to avoid the boys’ fangs for a lifetime.
The door opened, and I twisted around on Nero’s lap. A pair of knockers entered the room, one holding two bottles of red wine, and the other a tray of cut-crystal glasses.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“We’re having a celebration.” Dante stood and walked over to the chaise with Raphael on his heels.
The knocker placed the glasses on the table while his companion lowered one of the bottles next to the lasses, opened the other, and poured out red wine. I pulled myself off Nero’s lap and sat next to him on the leather chaise.
The rich scent of fruit and tannins filled my nostrils, making my mouth water. “You drink wine?”
“Of course, we do.” Nero grinned and wrapped an arm around my waist. “What do you think is in the sangria?”
I chewed my lip. “Pig’s blood and other stuff?”
Dante handed me the first glass. “The other stuff, as you so eloquently put it, is red wine, herbs, and spices. It’s Professor Proust’s experiment. He wanted the new generation of vampire nobles not to be so dependent on human blood.”
After filling each glass with wine, the knockers bowed and walked out of the reception room.
I turned back to Dante. “Is that why Professor Proust was made the headmaster?”
He nodded. “He’s published lots of papers on child development. Vampire children, that is. When we volunteered to join the academy, our father agreed because he wanted to see if vampires could vary their diet.”
I swirled my glass and stared into the wine’s burgundy depths. “And somewhere along the line, the school turned into a training ground for vampire consorts and then vampire familiars?”
“That was unfortunate,” said Raphael, “But I’m glad you’re learning how to defend yourself.”
I took a sip of the wine, letting its rich, astringent taste spread across my tongue. “No matter how strong and fit I become, all that physical conditioning is useless against an angry vampire. Look at what happened with Micalla. I would have died if you three hadn’t come to my rescue.”
“But look at you now with your level of magic,” said Nero.
I shrugged, not quite knowing where this ominous feeling had originated or when it had truly started. Zarah was out of my hands and no longer in the position to share her theories about Micalla’s disappearance, and the academy’s official line is that hunters took both Micalla and Kush. So, why wasn’t I happy with the outcome?
“Is there anything we can do to cheer you up?” Raphael’s hand ran down my thigh, sending tiny sparks of pleasure up to my core.
My cheeks heated. “Do you know what I miss?”
Nero grinned. “Bath-time with the boys?”
I chuckled at the memory of him forcing me to wash his balls. “The three of you standing in front of me with your dicks out. Sucking one of you off while I massaged the other two, then getting to swallow all your cum.”
Dante groaned. “Really?”
Snickering, Nero gave Raphael a nudge. “I told you she liked it.”
I glanced at Raphael, whose cheeks turned pink. Had he tried to speak to his brothers on my behalf at the beginning? The boys presented such a united front that it had looked like Raphael went along with their little games and didn’t give a shit what I’d felt.
Dante stood, his erection bulging through his pants. “Who are we to stand in the way of your desire for three cocks?”
Raphael and Nero stood at his sides, each sporting equally large erections. I licked my lips, and the pulse between my legs fluttered with excitement.
I ran my fingertips over their bulges. “Who shall I unwrap first?”
“Start in the order of age,” said Dante.
“Youngest first,” said Raphael.
“Don’t listen to them.” Nero rocked forward on his heels. “You and I both know you like sucking me the best.”
Someone moved in the periphery of my vision. It was a knocker, holding a letter.
I drew back from the boys and stretched out my hand. “What’s this?” After the knocker handed me the envelope, I tore it open and stared at the one line of text, which ordered me to visit the headmaster. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Dante pulled it from my loose fingers and scanned the letter. “Bloody hell.”
Nero snarled. “Why would Captain Tanar want to see you in his office?”
The dread I’d felt since setting Zarah free swelled painfully through my insides and hit the back of my throat. Clutching my stomach, I sat back on the chaise and groaned. Knowing the captain, he probably wanted an excuse to get me alone.
I shuddered at how he had so easily taken Miss Margolyes from Professor Proust. “If Captain Tanar can break a consort bond, what can he do to us? Our concubine bond isn’t even backed by blood!”
Chapter 16
After straightening ourselves up, we walked through the hallways toward the new headmaster’s office. Dante and I strode in front with Raphael and Nero taking up the rear. By now, most of the frumosi had already retreated to their tower, but a few older vampire students remained.
Through my haze of panic, I wondered what kind of activities were available for the vampires during the winter months when nights were longer and days darker and shorter.
“You don’t need to answer any questions,” said Dante. “As our official concubine, you’re our property, and we’re responsible for all your actions.”
I gave him a sharp nod and passed a trio of knockers transporting heavy, leather books in the direction of the library. “Will you get into trouble for anything I may or may not have done?”
“We’re not under the jurisdiction of Dracula. If things come to the worst, they’ll contact the ambassador to Stryx, who will negotiate on Father’s behalf.”
My throat dried. Hopefully, the captain wanted to see me on a completely different matter. Grimacing, I thought about how he had pinned me to the wall and offered me the position of his consort. Perhaps Zarah’s disappearance wasn’t such a bad subject, after all.
A pair of knockers stood outside the headmaster’s door. As soon as they approached, the one on the left bowed and pushed the door open.
Captain Tanar sat behind the massive wooden desk, resting both forearms on a leather writing pad. “Miss Stephens,” he purred. “Come in.”
The warmth in his voice sent a jolt of alarm through my gut, but I shuffled into his office on trembling legs.
“Take a seat.”
“She’ll stand,” Dante said in a haughty tone. He and Nero lowered themselves onto the chairs in front of the desk, their bodies providing a barrier between the new headmaster and me. “What’s this about?”
The captain’s face tightened. “Zarah P
eridot has been missing for eight days.” His amber eyes bore into mine. “I’d like to know if she confided in you about escaping?”
I lowered my gaze onto his hooked nose and murmured, “She was always talking about wanting to escape, but she couldn’t find a way out of the castle.”
He leaned forward, steepling his fingers. “According to the outdoor guardians, they found two frumosi girls at the wards, surrounded by three vampires. I can only surmise that it was you four and Miss Peridot.”
Panic stabbed through my heart. Which outdoor guardians were those? The werewolves or frumosi? And why hadn’t they stopped us?
“Headmaster,” Dante snapped. “Need I remind you that Miss Stephens is the property of the Kingdom of Stryx and is to be used by her owners as they see fit?”
“Indeed?” growled Captain Tanar.
“If you wish to make a complaint, I suggest you take up your grievance with our Lord Father.”
Captain Tanar bared his teeth. “Or I could expel you from the academy and void your bond with Miss Stephens.”
I held my breath. Was that even possible? Raphael placed his arm around my waist, offering me his support. Right now, it was the only thing keeping me upright with the Captain staring at me as though I was his latest meal.
Dante scoffed. “That would be a futile endeavor, considering our contract has been sealed in blood.”
“Do you have it?” asked the captain.
My throat dried to the consistency of parchment, and I swallowed hard, my gaze fixed on the new headmaster. He spread his arms wide and smirked. The blood-sucking bastard had likely either burned or thrown away my concubine contract.
Since my bond with the boys wasn’t backed by blood, and they hadn’t renewed their oaths, I was fair game to any vampire who wanted to take me from their clutches.
“What’s the point of this conversation?” asked Nero.
Captain Tanar leaned back in his seat. “I wish to offer Miss Stephens my protection.”
“How so?” asked Dante, his voice cold.