by CoraLee June
The doors shut, and I wondered what that was about. “What do you mean by uncharacteristically attached?” I asked.
“I knew you didn’t read the pamphlet,” Diego said with a mumbled curse. “Since you drank my blood for the change, you are technically sired to me. Normally, you’d be sired to whoever changed you, but my blood pulled rank in this scenario.”
“What exactly does sired mean?” I asked with a gulp.
Diego set me down, and my legs felt like jelly. “It means, fledgling, that you will feel very compelled to please me in all ways. You’ll feel sick when we’re apart for too long. It’ll make your stomach twist to disobey me. You’re still new. My blood is still invading every newly turned cell in your body.”
I licked my lips, but my stomach coiled with tension. I didn’t like the idea of some supernatural compulsion controlling my feelings about someone. It felt like mind rape. “Well, then I should probably say this while my mind is still my own,” I growled. “I absolutely refuse to please you in all ways. Consent means I need to be of my own mind, and right now, I refuse to do anything with you.”
He smiled. “You don’t want me at all?” Diego asked while closing in on me. My back hit the elevator wall, and my breath hitched.
“Not at all,” I squeaked, even though my body was practically screaming at me that this was a lie.
His lips pressed against the shell of my ear, and I moaned when he dragged his sharp teeth along the skin of my neck. “I promise not to fuck you unless you beg,” Diego whispered before pulling away. “Besides, the sire bond will wear off in a few days. Once you start drinking other blood, you won’t have to worry about it. We had an evolutionary specialist research it. Apparently, it’s our species’ way of surviving. The first few days of a transition can be very difficult. The person who sired you is responsible for teaching you our ways.”
“Thank fuck it wears off,” I mumbled.
“Hmm, it can’t be all that bad. At least now you have a reason for wanting me. Whatever will you tell yourself once the sire bond has worn off?”
The doors to the elevator opened on the fifteenth floor, and I practically sprinted out of there so I wouldn’t have to answer him. Truthfully, I didn’t know how I would handle that. I got halfway down the hall before I realized I had no idea where I was going. I stopped and turned to look at Diego. He was still standing by the elevator bank with a smirk on his face, watching me.
“It’s this way, Miss Independent,” he said, nodding his head in the opposite direction.
“Where are we?”
“Come on, I’ll explain as we go.”
“Fine. I’ll follow you, but don’t you dare interpret this as me trying to please you,” I said, walking over to him.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of cute when you’re all worked up?”
I rolled my eyes and huffed at him. But I secretly kind of liked that he thought I was cute. Not that I would ever admit it. Diego began walking down the hallway, and I fell in step with him as we passed door after door. The hallway with endless doors reminded me of the dorms from my college days. The color scheme was as depressing as the dorms too. The worn carpeting was a deep gray with a black diamond pattern. The paint on the walls may have been white at some point, but now they were all faded to a dingy beige.
“Have you considered updating the decor to something a little less dismal?” I asked, wrinkling my nose.
“The permanent resident floors are much nicer. This is just where the fledglings stay for the first few weeks while they adjust,” he replied, chuckling at the look on my face.
“Oh, okay. Wait, what?” I stopped in my tracks.
“Think about it like a boot camp,” Diego said as he stopped walking and turned to face me. “You’ll be with other new vampires who are in various stages of transition. You’ll have coaches and mentors to help you unlock your new abilities. But most importantly, they will help you control your urges and teach you everything you need to know to be a functioning vampire in a world of humans. I was going to properly get you settled in earlier, but since you decided to run away, you get the less than glamorous tour.”
“One, you sound like a brochure. Two, I don’t have weeks. Lacey is expecting me back at work in a couple of days. I can’t exactly call in undead. Three, there is no way in hell I’m going to vampire school. I’m thirty. My college days are over.”
He was insane if he thought I was going to drop everything and move to Vampire Academy. How would I explain disappearing for weeks at a time to Lacey? I didn’t need to have my phone to know that Ryan and Yaz had tried to call and text an obscene number of times and were probably irritated with not hearing back from me.
“You’re being dramatic. And to be blunt, weeks is an optimistic estimate. You surprised me by not killing anyone today, but most vampires need a little longer. We have therapists on the floor to also help with your transition. This is a big change for your body and lifestyle. We want to support you any way we can.”
“This is worse than when my mother gave me the sex talk.”
Diego frowned. “The alternative is death and damnation.”
“You’ll kill me?” I asked incredulously.
“You act surprised. Have you not listened to a single word I’ve said? Do I need to simplify it for you? Me, king of the vampires. You, unsanctioned fledgling. If you don’t do as I say, you’ll die. A bag of dildos is not worth your life, is it?”
He was right. Maybe I was in denial?
Okay, I was in denial. But I hated this. I didn’t ask to become a vampire. I started to hyperventilate. I needed a break.
“I want my pussy,” I croaked.
“Excuse me?” Diego asked.
“I need pussy now,” I reiterated.
“I...was not expecting that response to a death threat. I suppose I could introduce you to some people if you’d like—” Diego looked both horrified and intrigued.
“No,” I interrupted. “I’m talking about my cat. Her name is Pussy. I really would like her here.”
“Oh! Well, that’s probably not a good idea,” Diego replied while scratching his head. “You might get hungry and drink her blood. Hah. Pussy blood. Did you name your cat Pussy for the puns?”
I started to cry. This was not very funny. I was leaving denial and heading straight toward manic station. Full speed ahead. Diego’s face softened as he watched me melt down, and he reached out, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Drew, it will be okay. I promise, once you make it through the transition, you can lead an almost normal life again. You have to make it through.”
“You don’t understand!” I puffed through tears. “I will lose everything. I love my job and my friends and my cat.” Diego stared at me blankly, and I briefly wondered how long Mr. Prince of Darkness had been out of the loop of the real world. Then it dawned on me. “My apartment!” I groaned. “If I don’t go to work and make money, I can’t pay the rent. And if I don’t pay the rent, I will get evicted.”
“We have plenty of space for you to live here,” Diego said, clearly confused by my emotional outburst.
“Do you even get what an eviction will do to my credit? I will never get a decent interest rate again!” I continued my tirade. “And who will take care of Pussy? She won’t survive weeks at a time by herself. You have to let me call Ryan.”
“I do not have to let you do anything,” Diego yelled. His face contorted into an angry snarl and turned a deep shade of purple. His fists clenched tightly at his sides, and his breaths came out in huffs. Despite the multiple threats he made to my life, this was the first time I was truly afraid of Diego.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, silent tears rolling down my cheeks. I hated being yelled at; it instantly brought me right back to being a scared teenager at one of my more unpleasant foster homes. My foster dad was a drunk who got off on terrorizing little kids. He used to make us apologize for making him mad, or something much worse would happen.
“Yes, sir, I’m sorry,” I submitted. As I looked at the floor to escape his gaze, I realized how drastically my life had changed in a matter of days.
“Now, if there is something you would like to ask me, I would be happy to hear you out,” he said and stared at me expectantly.
“May I call Ryan to take care of my cat?” I asked in a meek voice that I didn’t recognize as my own.
“No. But I will send someone to make sure she is cared for. Before you so rudely interrupted me, I was about to explain that we will also contact your friends and job with a reasonable excuse for your absence.”
“How?” I asked, my voice breaking with emotion.
“I’m a fucking vampire king. From here on out, assume that I am capable of everything.”
Cocky bastard. “Fine. I suppose I don’t have much of a choice.”
Diego closed his eyes and let out a sigh of content. “Ahh, your submission is music to my ears.”
Fuck. Him. I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest, deciding to keep my mouth shut.
Diego unlocked one of the rooms and held the door open for me. I took a deep breath before letting myself inside. The room looked like a dated college dorm with a few upgrades. There was a wine fridge on the far wall, filled to the brim with blood bags. The bunk beds were full-sized with luxury black linens on them—probably to hide the blood stains. There was a maroon rug on the tiled floor and a small bathroom with a bathtub.
“Your roommate was just approved and will be joining you soon,” Diego announced.
“Roommate?” I asked.
He let out another sigh, as if it annoyed him to answer me. “The grandmother that turned you has passed her mental aptitude tests. Although her change was unsanctioned, the council wants to see how she handles boot camp. We’ve been considering increasing the age of acceptable applicants, and they feel as though this is a good opportunity to see if she is capable of adapting to the lifestyle.”
I gaped at him. “You want me to live with a murderous granny?”
“I want you to do whatever I say without question.” He adjusted his collar, then continued. “I’m not too happy about it either, but I’m trying to keep the council happy right now. They were unanimous in this decision.”
I nodded. “And what about their decision to keep me?” I asked.
“That wasn’t so unanimous,” Diego replied ominously. “After a quick background check, they weren’t sure you had anything to contribute to the coven.”
I scoffed. Nothing to contribute? “For starters, I can contribute a sense of style. This drab building needs a massive makeover. It’s dark, moody and quite honestly a bit cliché. I’m surprised you aren’t having me sleep in a fucking coffin.”
Diego’s eyebrows raised, and he went over to a panel in the wall. After pressing a button, a hideaway coffin lowered to the floor. “The bed is for vampires who know how to control their senses. You’ll learn more about that during your time in initiation and, with time, will want to sleep in one of the beds. The coffins are for fledglings who want to sleep. I’m sure you’ve noticed that you can hear everything around you.”
At the mention of it, it was like my mind became instantly aware of how busy this city was. I could hear cars driving on the street below. A couple fucking in one of the upstairs apartments. Diego’s steady breathing. In and out. In and out. “Coffins are creepy. Couldn’t you invest in a sensory deprivation tank? Or soundproofing?”
“Coffins are cheaper,” Diego replied dryly.
“Fine. I need to rest. And eat. And somehow come up with a way to work from here. Can you bring me my laptop?”
“I’ll have Rocky fetch it.”
“Great. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to eat some of that nasty looking blood and try to cope with the fact that my new roommate is a murderous grandmother, and I’m undead.”
Drew
They left me alone for the first two days. I mainly drank blood on the hour and redecorated my makeshift dorm. I would need some help from my buddy, Amazon, if I wanted to survive Camp Dracula. Thank God for my Prime membership. Packages had been showing up outside of my dorm room in a steady stream. One maxed out credit card later, and my room—well, my half of the room anyway—looked damn decent.
They don’t sell sheets in size “coffin,” but I made it work with a full size set. One thousand thread count with a matching down comforter. The color, Pink Potpourri, popped against the black velvet in the coffin. The white fluffy throw pillows with silver accents really completed the look.
I also spruced up the room with a white decorative side table, silk orchids in white and pink, and a shattered mirror effect lamp. I was hanging some abstract artwork on the wall over the head of my coffin when Diego walked in, without knocking.
“What the fuck happened here?”
I looked around the room, proud of myself for what I had put together in such a short amount of time. “Isn’t it perfect?”
“Are you wearing actual bunny slippers?”
“Yep!” I said cheerfully. “They are crazy soft. Want me to order you a pair? I can see if they come in black.”
“You realize you’re only staying here for a few weeks, right?”
I put my hands on my hips and glared at Diego. He looked ridiculously handsome today. His jet black suit complimented his pale skin, and his black hair was slicked back. His lips were a pale shade of red, as if he’d eaten recently.
“It’s important for your living space to reflect what you want for your mental health. This moody room was not helping my transition period. I needed something cheerier. And since Rocky is pissed off at me for my little stunt, he’s refused to bring me the things I’ve asked for from my apartment. I had to get creative, but I think it works.”
I didn’t want to tell Diego that having my own space was important to me. I’d spent most of my teen years jumping from house to house, never really having a space of my own. It was why losing my apartment was so heartbreaking. I fought hard for that one bedroom mess.
“I’ll speak to Rocky,” Diego grumbled while staring at the artwork hanging over my coffin. “How are you adjusting? We have group therapy this afternoon, then coven dinner at eight. You are expected to attend. Everyone will be there, and they’re anxious to meet you.”
My stomach sank. “I’m cool with eating in my room,” I stammered. “Dinner with the entire vampire population doesn’t really sound like something I want to do.”
“You don’t really have a choice. We do this once a month. It builds camaraderie. It’s important for everyone to see who I’ve sired.”
A familiar tug in my core made me hate this relationship between us. More than anything, I wanted to please Diego. But it didn’t feel like my own wishes. It felt like a hollow addiction. I couldn’t wait for it to wear off. “When will my roommate show up?” I asked. “Will she be required to go?”
Diego frowned. “She will be here tonight. We had to wean her off bloodlust before it was safe to bring her here. I’m not particularly thrilled about it all. I think Granny Fang is punishment for changing you against the rules. The council is trying to make me look weak, and I don’t know why.”
“Vampire politics sound very complicated. Is this a democracy or…” I asked. My mind wandered to visions of a vampire election. I wouldn’t mind seeing Diego standing on a podium, debating someone about vamp rights. Did we have a national anthem? A flag?
“Royalty is chosen by bloodline. I come from a long line of powerful kings. Our council is determined by coven votes, but the same seven powerful families have held council seats for as long as I can remember. My father was king. His father. His father’s father.”
I chewed o
n the inside of my cheek. “When you say father, what exactly do you mean?” I asked. Was the person who turned you your father? I didn’t understand.
Diego smiled. “I mean the man who impregnated my mother. You either become a vampire by birth or by venom. In our community, the elites are created by birth. Lowest ranking vampires are changed. That’s why it’s a bit of a scandal that the vampire king changed a human. You skipped a few ranks by drinking my blood, and there are a lot of people not happy with that.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m breaking glass ceilings all over the place. By the way, thank you for whatever you said to my boss. She’s let me work from here, and I even came up with some otherworldly products. I’m going to pitch more than just alien dicks.”
Diego cocked his eyebrow and shook his head. “Your job is very strange, Drew.”
“Anyhow,” I continued, ignoring his comment, “can I please see a vampire dick? Are they bigger than the average dick? And what about shifters? Do those exist? What do their dicks look like? I’m thinking about starting an entire supernatural line of dildos. We’ll call it Out of This World. Fairy dicks. Succubus. It’ll make a fortune!!”
Diego blinked once. Then twice.
“Would you like to see my dick, Drew?” he asked, shocking the hell out of me.
I swallowed. Yes. I’d very much like to see it, but even though my vampire brain wanted to please the asshole, I refused to give him the satisfaction. “If you could just find me your biggest vampire, that will do the trick. I can have molds sent here, and we’ll make a replica.”
“I’m the biggest vampire here,” Diego growled.
“Your ego is cute when you feel challenged,” I replied with a wink.
A pleasant chime sounded, saving me from Diego’s wrath. I looked around the room to see where it was coming from, and my eyes settled on a built-in speaker near the ceiling. The chimes were followed by an ethereal feminine voice telling all Level Ones that it was time for group therapy.
