Rogue Academy: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Academy Romance (Rogue Vampire Academy Book 1)

by Savannah Rose

  I don’t give him a response, nothing more than a nod before I’m turning out the door. At times like these, I’m happy I was born a vampire, where my heart is unmoving, because I have no doubt it would have been beating like drums had it been moving. I’m sure he’s listening to me leave. I’m sure he’ll be listening to me leave for the next few floors going down. I don’t know how old he is, how honed his hearing is, but I don’t want to risk it, so I keep my mouth shut and my movements to a minimum.

  The guards stare at me as I make my way past them.

  The moment I exit the building, I spot Reece standing on the other side of the street. He’s looking around worriedly, not yet having spotted me, and I come to a pause. I stare at him. At the worry on his face. At the agitation in his movements as if there’s very little preventing him from going back in there in search of me. And when his eyes land on me, I revel in the pure relief that pours over his body. I make my way over to him before he tries to come to me and he grabs my shoulders. “What happened in there?”

  “Did you get the stuff?”

  “Mariella —”

  “Did you?”

  His frown deepens. “I got everything. The plan worked.”

  I nod, grasping his hand. “Good. Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What happened back there?”

  I go straight to my bar. Not for blood but for the pitiful variety of liquor I keep stocked there. I pull out a cheap bottle of wine, pull the cork out and start chugging it.

  “I saw him,” I say, wiping my mouth.

  Reece frowns. He throws his backpack on the desk and perches himself on the edge of it, folding his arms. “Saw who?” At my silence, he gets it. “Boering?”

  “The one and the only,” I spit angrily. “You know, I kind of get it. The popularity. The reason he’s got all these people wrapped around his fucking finger.”

  “Mariella, start from the top.” His voice is patient. “What did he say to you?”

  “He called me up to his office. All the way to the magnificent 190th floor. Did he think he could impress me with that? Intimidate me?” I bark a harsh laugh. “Who fucking knows?”

  “What did he say, Mariella?’

  “He told me what they were planning to do. How they were planning to have a meeting to vote on having the Academy under their control.”

  “Why would he want that. He damn well knows who you are.”

  “And that’s exactly it. But the look on his face before I left, Reece... He knows something’s up. I don’t know how he knows, but he knows. It was a warning. A threat. He’s trying to get me to back down without having to say the words.”

  “We can’t do that,” Reece comments.

  I scoff, annoyed at the mere thought of that man. “And the fact that he didn’t arrest me on spot...”

  “Jameson Buillard,” Reece says, as though an idea just hit him.

  “What about him…” I trail off, realization dawning on me. I act without thinking. The rage comes fast, sneaking up on me and before I know it, I’m throwing the half empty bottle of wine into the door. “That son of a bitch! He’s the one who told Jameson to fake his death and have the Tigerhearts coming after us!”

  “He was probably hoping you’d go to war with them. But what then?”

  “He’d be able to take you out without getting his name dirty.”

  “He expected us to retaliate. I almost fell for it.” The look on Reece’s face is more than just grim. “We have to find your protectors. Find your parents. And we have to do it before Boering finds them.”

  Reece comes to a full stand, making his way to me. It’s not until he takes my hand do I realize that I’m shaking. “We’ll take him down.”

  The uneasy feeling dims at his reassurance, but it doesn’t completely go away. “I have the location. Xander’s in the prison to the West, Uther Max Detention Center, and I managed to secure both his cell location and the prison’s blueprint.”

  I follow Reece over to the desk where he dumps everything out of his backpack. “You did one hell of a job, Reece,” I say, mustering up enough strength to force a smile.

  “Yeah, well, you made one hell of a distraction. Nice job.”

  “It’s been a stressful night. What do you say we turn in and pick this up again tomorrow?”

  I let him ease me towards the door, wrapping my arm around his waist. “Your bed or mine?”

  I sense the grin before I see it. “Your bed is better.”

  “Perks of being the leader around here. I hope you know there’ll be no sleeping tonight?”

  “Oh?” We stop at the door and face each other, enclosed in the other’s embrace. “What else could we possibly be doing?”

  “I have some ideas.”

  “Yeah?”

  I tighten my grip on him, pulling him closer to me. Our kiss is so familiar, yet so new. But no matter how many times Reece’s lips touch mine, he always manages to get me going, to have my toes curling and my unbeating heart trembling.

  When I pull away, I’m hit with the possibility that he’s going to be a part of this. He, a human, is going to into a maximum security prison for vampires. He’s vulnerable in ways I don’t want to think about. There’s a very good chance he won’t survive it.

  “Shall we?”

  I plaster a smile on my face, trying to banish the thoughts. But even as we make our way out of the office, pulling away from each other and letting our professional masks fall back into place, I can’t stop thinking about it. And if I didn’t know fear before, I definitely do now.

  Chapter Twenty

  Katie’s back is to the wall, her hands pinned over her head, my knees trapping her legs. She lets out a grunt and struggles against me before giving up.

  “One wrong move,” I remind her, “and you’re out.” As big and boisterous as my ego might be, we can’t lead with the assumption than I’m the toughest person she’ll have the honor of defending herself against. At least once out of every five times, she has to beat me.

  “I know,” she says, and I can see the disappointment swirl with motivation in her eyes. We step to the center of the room where the school logo is emblazoned on the flooring in all its blue and yellow glory.

  “On the count of three,” I say.

  “I…two…” and then I attack. She sees it coming and blocks my hand with one arm, then reaches lower with the other to land a solid punch right to my gut. It leaves me winded for no more than a second and I attack again, throwing her to the ground with one swift move. Just like rehearsed, she doesn’t allow me to pin her in place. Her moves are calculated now and it only takes a little bit of struggling before she’s out of my grasp, not waiting to gauge my reaction before sailing a fist forward and coupling it with a round house kick.

  I raise a hand and she backs off. “Impressive,” I say and a small fire lights in her eyes, her lips thinning into a smile. “Another half an hour and then I need to go check up on the students in the lab.”

  She nods at that, already gearing up for the next fight. That one I take home. The next is hers. When we’re all done and I’m even more convinced than I was before that she’ll be able to defend herself, I extend a hand. She takes it and shakes firmly.

  “I know you’re not much of a science nerd, but I think taking a trip down to the Chem lab with me wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

  She doesn’t disagree and without showering up, the both of us make our way to the Chem labs. Even more students linger in the halls than usual. They all know what’s going on – maybe not the full effect of it, but enough to know they need to keep their guards up. The way they look at Katie as she walks beside me is something I admire more than they could ever imagine. It proves to me that we really have been doing a job here, building a community, a family.

  Inside the Chemistry lab, things are pretty much the same. Surprisingly, there are more students here than I think have ever entered this space on the campus. Their eyes fixed on Augustus,
protective glasses perched on their noses, they watch the genius mix one deadly cocktail after the other. There’s are a few mice in the cage to his left and one trapped in a glass box at the center of his working space. With a small syringe, he collects some of his mixture, calling another student to grip the mouse while he administers it. His movements are careful, so much so that I instantly know what he’s doing is going to work. As soon as the tip of the needle presses against the mouse, it’s out, lifeless in his helper’s hands.

  “Holy shit,” I exclaim.

  “Mariella.” His gaze meets mine and he smiles wide, his crooked teeth on full display.

  “I knew you were good but…”

  “This is nothing,” he says. “Mice are a lot smaller than our species. It’ll take a lot more to get through a vampire’s muscle, to take him down, and to do so effectively.”

  “But it’ll work.”

  “Indisputable,” Augustus answers. He’s sure of himself, but not cocky. Somehow, that makes a difference to me.

  “Aim for the neck,” he says. “But be careful not to inject yourself.”

  Katie laughs a little, the humor only lasting for a second, evidently realizing that if we’re out-muscled, the guards could very well use our own weapons against us.

  Augustus looks at his work, eyes roving over everything he’s done. Not everything has been filled into syringes. In fact, we’d probably need a frickin wheelbarrow if we were to take all of it.

  “I’ll pack everything up. I have some help, so we should be done within the hour. Bailey here was kind enough to make a few belts. It’ll make carrying the poison a lot easier.” He tips his head to Bailey – a vampire with bright blue hair to match her bright blue eyes. She presses her lips together, suppressing a smile, shy and a little embarrassed that she’s been called out like that.

  “Thank you, Bailey,” I say and unlike her, I allow my smile to stretch my lips thin.

  Katie and I turn to leave with the intention of at least resting our feet and our minds for a few hours before we need to get right back to training. I’m halfway through the door when Augustus calls after me.

  “With all due respect, Mariella. I don’t wish to be responsible for your deaths.”

  Augustus is young. No more than 19. It’s impressive just how authoritative he is at that age. Most students cower at least a little when it comes to me. Augustus, scrawny as he is, weak as he looks, says whatever the hell comes to his mind, wrapping it in a tone so gentle it’s hard to take offense.

  “We’ll be careful,” I promise him and then Katie and I are out the door.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Reece has everything figured out when I get to him, including summoning the students we’d reach out to for help. When everyone is gathered in the room, clothed in their Academy colors, I almost turn on my heel and sprint in the other direction. Reece’s hand on my shoulder is the only thing that stopped me.

  Don’t be vague.

  Don’t be vague.

  This is about trust.

  They need to trust that you’re not walking them to their deaths and you need to trust in their abilities and their loyalty.

  Reece’s words pound in my head, as loud as thunder.

  At first, I choose my words carefully, watching their faces as the words slip from my lips. The dedication in their eyes makes me feel at ease. And soon enough, I realize that the words fall with all the passion I’d expected to hold back.

  I tell them everything, every little detail about what I learned from Reece. About my parents, about my childhood, about the wicked man that sits in his tower reveling in the evil he’s wrought. If I’m going to ask them to put their lives in danger for me, I have to trust them – not just with the information I’d already shared, but with all the information.

  “I’m still with you,” one of the students says.

  Joe is the next to join in. Followed by Katie and soon, the entire room is chanting. “I’m with you.”

  I wouldn’t be lying if I said there were tears in my eyes. Real tears. Tears that I couldn’t hold back even if I tried.

  I wipe at my eyes with the back of my hands and press on. “We only have a few days. Double up on training. I’ll be free and will book a classroom for a few hours every day. Reece will make himself available as well.”

  They nod in unison and then, when we’ve gone through every last detail, they turn to leave. I watch them go, tense as hell watching them walk away. Did I just send them to prepare for their deaths?

  “Tell me this is not a terrible idea,” I say, turning to Reece.

  Reece snakes his hand around the small of my back. He rubs his thumb against the skin under my shirt. “You’re making the right decision. Plus, you saw them. You saved them when no one else thought they were worth saving.”

  “I don’t want them to feel like they owe me.”

  “This is about trust, Mariella. They trust you and they have every reason to.”

  “I know.” I let out a burdened sigh. “I know, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling any less shitty about it. They’re going to put their lives on the line for my own agenda.”

  “This isn’t just for you, Mariella. If Boering gets his way, this Academy will be up in flames before you can push the fire alarm.”

  He’s not wrong. I let the thought settle in, accepting the rage that chills my bones.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “You’re leaving, aren’t you? Where are you going?”

  My first instinct is to lie, but Hellen will see right through me and I know it. “How did you find that out?”

  “Would you believe me if I said I had a dream?”

  “A dream?”

  Hellen nods and I don’t know why, but I believe her. Plus, she’s right on the nose with this one. “I won’t be gone forever.”

  “How dangerous is it?”

  I can’t say the words, but I don’t need to. Slowly, she reaches upwards and puts her hand on my cheek. “Is this something that you absolutely need to do?”

  “If I want to find my parents, I do.”

  She leans over and kisses me on the other cheek. “And Reece?” she murmurs against my skin.

  I frown, searching her eyes when she withdraws. “Reece told me everything. About why my parents were exiled. About the night he found me. About…just…everything.”

  Hellen’s fingers tighten on my skin and for the first time in all the time I’ve known her, I see fear flash in her eyes. “And this is why you’re leaving?”

  “My parents, they’re still alive, Hellen. And the person responsible for their exile...he’s…he might try to hurt them…he might try to hurt the Academy.”

  “Whatever it is you’re getting into, Mariella, make sure you get out of it alive.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I tell her, but she doesn’t look convinced and, honestly, neither am I. “Plus, I won’t be alone.”

  I jerk my head in Nelson’s direction. He’s fast asleep. “Will you tell him?”

  “I’ll tell him when the time is right. He won’t handle the information well. Feed before you leave.” It’s more of a demand than a suggestion. I don’t refuse the offer.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Uther Max Detention Center is three hours away from the Academy. We take one of our cars, then walk the rest of the way there, poison strapped to the belts around our waists.

  We make the entire ride in silence, yet the trip could not have been louder. My thoughts pound through my head a million miles per minute, screaming at me all the things that could go wrong. The deepest fear, however, is not for myself, but for them. You don’t save a life, work your ass off at fixing someone just to toss them in the lion’s den. And even though they’ve assured me that they’re ready, that they’re prepared, that they’ll get out of this alive, I still can’t shake the fear.

  When we can see the prison, we draw to a halt. The building itself is an absolute beast, but even then, it’s no match for the security on the outsi
de. Vampires, born with death in their blood, stand tall, their growls as mean as the reaper himself. Cameras watch from every angle, emphasizing just how difficult of a feat this will be.

  “Here.” Reece hands me a tiny black device. “It’s a camera. Pin it to your clothes.” Reaching into his pocket, he plucks out the tiniest smart phone known to man. “One push and I’ll be right on the other end.” Now, it’s his backpack that he goes for, extending a handful of ant sized cameras. “Scatter these around the building. It’ll help those of us on the outside to get a hint of what’s going on inside.” The decision was to have Reece and the others stand watch. He wasn’t keen on the idea, of course. And despite the fact that his skills rival those of any vampire I know, being human is still way too big of a disadvantage.

  “Where did you get all this?” I ask.

  “Stole most of it when I was at the Vampire Council.”

  My brow shoots up at that. “You were in and out in no time.”

  “And ten pounds heavier when I left.” He smiles, though I know that he’s just as nervous as I am. “You’ve got this, Mariella” he whispers to me.

  “We’ve got this,” I say, tilting my head to the other vampires.

  Reece smiles slightly. I can tell he wants to do more, but he steps back. I almost let that be it, still fighting hard to keep up appearances. But my heart doesn’t allow it. Not worrying about what the hell the students will think, I react, stepping closer to Reece and pressing my lips against his.

  A few gasp in the background, but even then, I don’t allow their surprise to deter me. If I die, I’ll die with the taste of Reece on my lips and at least that’ll work to make death a bit more pleasant. His hand snakes around to the small of my back and he pulls me closer to him, so much passion in the way he touches me, the way he kisses me.

  “This isn’t goodbye,” he whispers against my lips.