by Jayme Morse
“Would you blame a bear for eating a chipmunk?” Slade asked me.
“No, but the bear has to eat,” I insisted.
His blue eyes met mine. “So do you.”
“It’s different, Slade. I don’t have to kill someone to eat,” I insisted.
“You’re right. You don’t. But this will benefit you in so many ways.” His eyes met mine. “It will awaken powers you never knew were even possible. You will be stronger and more able to defend yourself through magic. You should consider it, Riley. It will open up a world of possibilities for you.”
“I’ll think about it,” I murmured. “I’m going back to my dorm room, I’ll see you later.”
*
Slade convinced me to go back to the Meet and Greet so I could actually meet some of the Nightshades. Everyone seemed nice. They also seemed so… normal. It almost felt like a regular fraternity, the type you would find at a college. If I didn’t know they were vampires, I never would have guessed it.
I stayed there until it was almost time for curfew. As I headed back to my dorm room, a strange sense of fatigue washed over me. I wasn’t sure why, but I was suddenly very tired.
I figured that it must have been because the Meet and Greet was emotionally draining. It was the only thing that could have explained why my legs felt too tired to even carry me to my dorm room.
When I got back to my room, I went to grab my ring off my dresser, but I didn’t see it there. It must have fallen or something, but I was way too tired to look for it right now. I just needed to sleep. I would try to find it in the morning.
I climbed into my coffin, closing the lid behind me. For the first time since I’d arrived at Nightshade Vampire Academy, I didn’t even care that I was about to sleep in a coffin. I really just wanted to sleep.
The bedtime announcements started up and my coffin lid clicked into place, locking me in for the night.
I didn’t even care anymore.
The woman, the siren, started to sing the bedtime song that Tristan had told me about. Except the bedtime song wasn’t exactly a song.
The woman, the siren, was singing an arrangement of five notes. She dropped her pitch on the last note before restarting all over again.
She sounded more like a cardinal or a dove than a person.
I fell asleep listening to her soothing, relaxing voice.
Chapter 25
Riley
When our coffins opened the next morning, I climbed out and stretched my legs. I was still really exhausted, but it no longer felt like I’d been hit by a train. But even this level of fatigue wasn’t normal for me.
What had happened last night?
“We know why you’re so tired,” Noah’s voice filled my mind.
“Why?” It wasn’t as if I had spent hours dancing at the Nightshades’ ball because I hadn’t. I hadn’t danced at all, which I was sort of sad about now. I’d had this beautiful ball gown, but the night hadn’t really gone so great. Not as great as I would have liked it to go, anyway.
“Faeries aren’t supposed to drink vampire blood,” Julius explained. “Not only doesn’t it satiate them, but it can actually have the reverse effect. It can pull their energy from them. Seems like drinking Slade’s blood last night took its toll on you.”
“Great. Why did you let me drink from you, Slade?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
“I’m sorry, but I actually forgot about this rule. It’s not every day that you even meet a faerie turned vampire. You might be one of the only ones in existence.”
That seemed about my luck: to be one of the only fae-vampire hybrids in the world.
“So, what do I do to get my energy back?” I asked them.
“Your body will heal itself on its own. Just give it time. Take it easy for now,” Noah said.
“Okay.” Thankfully, it was the weekend. The last thing I would have wanted to do was go to Vampire Fitness class right now. The idea of running sounded completely horrible.
As I glanced down at my hand, I remembered that my magic ring was gone.
Crap.
I got down on my hands and knees and began to search the floor for the ring. It wasn’t there. I looked in every inch, every corner of the room.
It was nowhere.
“You guys, my ring is missing,” I told Drew and Jordan, who had just climbed out of their coffins. “I don’t see it anywhere.”
“Dylan’s ring?” Jordan asked.
Even though the ring was what had gotten us into this entire miss, Jordan was still oddly protective over her brother’s ring. I was pretty sure that she was upset, still, that he had given it to me and not her.
I couldn’t have been more relieved that he had. I would have been incredibly jealous if Jordan had been the one to belong to my coven, instead of me.
“Yeah. Can you help me look for it?” I asked her.
She shot me a look that told me she was annoyed at me for losing the ring before she and Drew began to search the room.
I headed into the bathroom, searching the shower, the sink, the tiled floor. I searched every surface, every inch of the room for the ring. But it didn’t turn up.
When I went back into the room, Drew glanced over at me. “We don’t see this ring anywhere, Riley. Are you sure you lost it here and not somewhere else?”
“I know I took it off and put it on my dresser when I was showering,” I replied. There wasn’t even a doubt in my mind; I could remember it so clearly. “It’s gone.”
“You lost my brother’s ring.” Jordan folded her arms over her chest and glared at me.
Except, she was wrong. I hadn’t lost it. Of that, I was certain.
I was pretty sure that I knew what had happened to the ring.
Someone had stolen it.
*
“Who would steal your ring?” Noah asked with raised eyebrows.
“Easy. Someone who wants a magical ring,” I replied as we ate dinner together in the cafeteria that night.
He stuffed a few French fries into his mouth and then too a drink of his smoothie, which contained O+ blood. “It just doesn’t make any sense. Someone would have had to know that you weren’t wearing your ring. Then they would have had to break into your dorm room to take it. That seems like a lot of effort just to get a magic ring, doesn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Crazier things have happened.”
“Maybe Jordan is the one who took it,” Tristan suggested. “She seems pretty pissed off that you have her brother’s ring.”
“Jordan is a lot of things, but she’s definitely not a thief.” I paused, considering the possibility that she had taken it. “I think she was too pissed off that it was missing for her to be the one who took it.”
“Unless she's a really good actress,” Julius suggested.
I shook my head. “There’s no way. I’ve known Jordan for, like, my entire life. I know her like the back of my hand.”
“And yet you didn’t know she was a werewolf,” Slade said quietly, his blue eyes meeting mine.
He had a really valid point.
“She didn’t know that I’m a fairie, either,” I whispered, not wanting anyone to overhear the truth about me.
“So, maybe the two of you aren’t as close as you think.” He shrugged.
“Maybe. I still don’t think she’s the one who took it.” I sighed. “I’m pretty sure I know who did take it, though.”
“Who?” Noah asked with wide eyes.
“The Nightshades.” I took a bite of my hamburger. “Think about it. They have a way into my dorm room, somehow. They snuck in there to put the invitation and dress on my coffin. They also knew that I would be at the Meet and Greet last night. Would it be that far-fetched that they had sent someone into my dorm room to steal the ring?”
“It’s always a possibility,” Tristan said with a shrug. “I don’t really know what they would want with your ring, though, when they have their own rings.”
“Yeah. True.” I hadn’t really thought of tha
t.
I watched as Tristan dipped a French fry in his mayo.
I thought of Grandma Maureen then. She had always eaten her French fries with mayonnaise.
I had been worried about her. I hadn’t heard anything from her since she’d told me that she was on her way. But I hadn’t heard from her since, and she had never shown at Nightshade Vampire Academy. I had texted her a number of times, and all of my text messages had gone unanswered. That was strange for her. My grandma always got back to me right away.
I just couldn’t help but be afraid that something bad had happened.
Pulling out my phone, I sent her yet another text. I waited for a few moments to see if she would respond.
She didn’t, of course. Like the other text messages, I knew this one would go unanswered, too.
“Sometimes, text messages from the human realm and our world don’t always make it back and forth properly,” Noah told me from across the table, a look of concern in his dark blue eyes as they met mine. “Technology has a hard time handling different time handling different worlds.”
“Oh.” I hoped that explained it, but I still wasn't convinced. As much as I wanted to be hopeful about it, I just wasn’t.
“You’ll hear from Grandma Maureen eventually. I’m certain,” Noah said reassuringly.
I hoped he was right.
Chapter 26
Riley
The next day, there was a knock on my dorm room door, not long after our coffins had swung open, releasing us for the day.
When I opened the door, I was surprised to find Noah standing on the other side. His dark golden blonde hair was a perfectly ruffled mess, and he was wearing a button-down shirt and a tight pair of jeans.
He looked hot as fuck.
“Why thank you.”
“What are you doing here so early?” I asked through a yawn. “It’s Sunday. That means we don’t have to actually go to classes or anything.”
“I’m here because I’m taking you on a date.” His blue eyes locked on mine. “Ready to see the dragons today?”
“You want to go on a date with me? Right now?”
My blonde hair was a wild mess. It was in a messy bun—and not the cute messy kind of bun that some girls rocked; no, I looked like some birds could have taken up residency in my hair. I was also still in the leggings and tank top I’d gone to sleep in.
“Yeah, right now,” he replied with a nod. “It’s the best time of day to see them.” Noah paused for a moment and then caught my eyes. “And I, for the record, believe you look beautiful with that sexy bed head you have going on. The only way it would be better is if I caused it.” He gave me a flirty gaze.
I blushed. “I need to take a shower if we’re going on a date.”
“Alright. I’ll wait out here.”
“You can come inside,” I said, opening the door wider for him.
Both Jordan and Drew were still asleep in their open coffins. They both liked to sleep in on the weekends, whereas I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of mine once it had opened.
“Okay.” Noah stepped into the room as I grabbed some clothes—a pair of jeans and a floral top that the guys had given me—and headed into the bathroom.
Closing the door behind me, Noah thought to me, “In case you’re wondering, I’m totally picturing what you look like when you’re naked and showering.”
“Dude, what are you even doing awake at this hour?” Tristan groaned.
I grinned in the mirror as I pulled my clothes off. Even though I hated that our thoughts all got shared with the entire coven, it still made me feel a little giddy that Noah wanted to see me naked.
“Is the feeling mutual?” Noah asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I responded in a flirty tone.
But the answer was yes. So much yes.
*
An hour later, we hiked down a path along the river that led to a cliff. I wasn’t worried about being so close to the woods anymore. I’d made friends with the dark fae, somehow. And even though the ogres were nothing but muscle, they were also easy to outsmart. The basilisk was kind of scary, but it wasn’t like a giant snake could just sneak up on you without you knowing it.
The only one left that was unpredictable were the poison arrows, and I could fly right over those, if I ever needed to but my plan was mostly to duck down and dodge the arrows if we somehow ended up in their zone. I was a vampire now. I was sure that I was faster than a little arrow.
We were standing on the cliff overlooking the river where the dragons were swimming in the water together. There were three of them, and they were all so beautiful. Each one was a different color.
The smallest was red with black wings. It kept leaping through the water, grabbing mouthfuls of it to spit out like it was a fountain. Its red scales shimmered black when the light hit them a certain way. Its red eyes matched its scales.
The medium-sized one was a dark shade of purple in color. It had fiery orange eyes and longer wings than the other two dragons.
The largest one was probably my favorite. The color of its scales reminded me of a mermaid’s fin; it looked green and blue in certain places, depending on where the light hit. It had large golden eyes that I could see even from a distance.
We hid in the trees, not wanting them to spot us and fly away. Or, even worse, fly towards us.
As beautiful as they were, they were still dangerous.
I just didn’t know how dangerous.
“What would happen if they did see us?” I asked Noah through mind-speak, unable to contain my curiosity.
“Eventually, we would probably be goners. Dragons are kind of like cats. They like to play with their prey before they kill it. And they would kill us. Dragons are very protective of their lairs.”
Being there, watching them the way we were, was a huge risk. Considering fire was one of the ways to kill vampires and these were fire-breathing dragons, there was a good chance that even a good encounter with a dragon could accidentally end our lives.
And as much as that scared me, it was also just as thrilling. I knew it was a risk, that we were really living on the edge right now.
But I was so glad that I was doing it with Noah.
If I was going to die with anyone, I would have wanted it to be with him. Or any of the guys in my coven, really. But mostly him. Or Slade.
“I guess I’ll never forget who my biggest competition is.” Noah’s eyes met mine.
“There’s no reason to be competing over me.”
“That’s what you think. I’m not sure if you realize how bad we all want you. How bad I want you.”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
I forgot about the dragons then, and in that moment, it was just me and Noah out there on that cliff. There was no one else in the world as I stared up into his dark blue eyes.
“I want you, too,” I whispered.
“I’m all yours, Riley. You know that.”
He was right. I actually did know that. I knew that he was completely devoted to me… loyal to me. Even though he may have killed me once, I knew he would never let anything bad happen to me again.
“I would devote my life to protecting you, to making sure that you’ll always be okay.”
“I know.”
And that was what made this so hard. Because as much as I wanted to tell him the same things—that I was all his—it wasn’t true.
The truth was that I had fallen hard and deep for Noah. But he wasn’t the only one who I felt that way about. I had fallen for all of them.
As much as I wanted to tell him that I was all his, the truth was that I was all theirs.
Noah’s eyes hadn’t moved away from mine, but his expression was unreadable to me. I couldn’t seem to gauge what he was thinking or how he was feeling about all of this.
At that moment, I heard the sound of something grunting.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I found myself staring into a pair of gold e
yes.
The dragon was right behind us.
.
Chapter 27
Riley
Noah reacted before I did.
I hadn’t known what to do.
All I could do was stare into those golden eyes and hope that the dragon didn’t want to play with me, the way Noah said they liked to do before they killed something.
As smoke started to billow out of the dragon’s nostrils, Noah scooped me up into his strong arms.
Carrying me, he darted across the cliff.
The dragon chased after us, letting out louder noises. It sounded like it was growling at us.
I didn’t speak dragon language, nor had I ever been around a dragon before in my life. But if I had to guess, it seemed safe to say that the dragon was really freaking pissed that Noah was carrying its snack away from it.
Even if it didn’t want to eat me, we had definitely angered it by crossing into its territory. That much was for sure.
“This was not how this was supposed to go,” Noah commented.
“You mean, you didn’t picture our date ending with us getting chased down—and possibly killed—by a dragon?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Good to know. Me neither,” I joked.
Of all the things to happen on our date, I hadn’t expected this.
As Noah entered the woods, the dragon began to fly through the air, its wings carrying it high above the trees. It made me feel safer. It felt like the dragon couldn’t get to us from where it was. The trees were acting as a barrier between us.
It let out a roar as it blew fire into the trees, about ten feet ahead of us, proving that nowhere was safe.
“Oh, shit,” I thought.
As the dragon started to blow more fire around us, boxing us in, Noah changed his path, trying to throw it off.
The dragon just continued to hurl fire down at us. It was ready to burn the forest to the ground to get to us. Flames consumed the trees, eating away at them.
