I cursed internally. I’d been too distracted by the hunt today. “Sorry,” I said. “I’ll double up tomorrow so it’s fair.”
My mother eyed me over her shoulder. “Your sister cleared the sink for you.”
“Did she?” I ought to thank her for that. I pulled my bag from my shoulder and placed it down, next to the dining table. Our apartment was quaint and homely. Family portraits and vintage paintings lay about. There was an electric keyboard propped next to the TV. Hannah liked to play during her spare time—what little she had of it, anyway.
“You should learn more from your sister.” Hannah had always been their perfect daughter. “She got home early, too. What are you doing out so late?”
I was never enough. “I’m twenty. I do twenty-year-old things.”
“Just remember—”
“Don’t get myself pregnant.”
“Yep.”
I rolled my eyes. How was I supposed to do that? I didn’t even have a boyfriend. My mom didn’t trust me enough to refrain from being stupid. They had more faith in Hannah, probably because she wasn’t as reckless and unhinged as I was. I tried to be as good as my sister. I wanted Mom and Dad to praise me for who I was, to not frown disappointedly at my report cards, or ask me why I couldn’t be better. I strived to please them, but that was an impossibility.
Sometimes I wondered if I should just give up. I should look for love elsewhere.
But from where?
Maybe I didn’t deserve it. I’d let Gran die that day, after all. Would things have been different if I returned home on time?
Mom paused at a news channel. On our large LCD screen, a blond newscaster went on about a murder:
Officials have found a dead body on the west side of Brooklyn. The victim was a middle-aged man who was missing an eye and displayed significant amounts of blood loss. There are still no suspects, and the markings on the corpse hint at an animal attack. The police are doing their best to resolve this issue.
“They’re so clueless,” I muttered. They knew nothing of what actually lurked in the shadows. Guilt swirled in my belly. Was this death caused by the vampire who got away?
“Hm?” Mom glanced at me. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening. Was looking at the news. Murders and whatnot. They don’t really change. Why can’t humans learn to stop being violent?”
I bit my tongue. If only she knew. “I didn’t say anything. Where’s Hannah?”
Mom pointed the remote the left. “She’s in her room, as usual. Make sure to thank her for the dishes.” She turned her attention back to the TV.
“I will.” I slid my shoes into the shoe rack, grabbed my bag off the floor, and headed down the hallway.
I had to check on my sister. It was what I always did after I came home. I made sure to kiss her goodbye before she left for school each morning, too. If she suddenly disappeared on me, I had to ensure I wouldn’t have any regrets, that she knew I treasured and appreciated her.
I loved my sister more than anything.
She was all I truly had after Gran passed on. She made sure all my birthdays were special, giving me a hand-made card each time. She didn’t cook as well as Gran, but she did make the effort to buy cakes and soft toys. I did the same for her. Often, during weekends, we’d curl up under a blanket, sitting side by side with a bowl of popcorn, laughing over a chick flick we’d spent hours deciding on. Her smile was so white and wide and innocent that it could brighten every room. I understood why my parents loved her more. I didn’t smile as much as she did.
“Hannah?” I called as I rounded toward her bedroom. My feet were slightly sore from all the walking today. Tracking down vampires was tough work.
I didn’t get a response.
I pursed my lips. She usually said hello as soon as she heard me. Maybe she was busy. Or maybe she’d gotten tired and fallen asleep too soon. Hannah was more hardworking than most fifteen-year-olds. Being raised in the Snow household put high expectations on us, especially since my dad worked as a principal in one of the local high schools. It made him more uptight about everything. It was his job to watch over kids like a hawk.
I knocked on Hannah’s door. “I’m going to be pissed if you fell asleep,” I said. “We said we’d watch Mean Girls today. I’ve been wanting to see tha—”
My eyes widened. It took a long moment before my brain made sense of what my eyes fell upon. My pulse quickened, the sound of my beating heart throbbing in my ears.
“Hannah…” I said weakly.
The same red eyes I’d seen in the alleyway peered back at me. Vicious and cold and vengeful. The vampire held my sister with his bony fingers, hugging her to his chest as if she were a doll that belonged to him.
The vampire I’d let get away had found Hannah.
She was knocked out, her head drooping, her hand draped lifelessly at her side. The vampire had punctured her neck with its fangs, and even as it looked at me, he fed on her.
Feasting.
On my own sister.
The only person left whom was truly dear to me.
“Get away from her!” I shouted. Frantically, I dropped my bag to the ground and unzipped it. Why’d I leave my weapons so deep inside? I fumbled with my backpack, failing miserably at taking my dagger out fast enough. I felt tears prickle the corners of my eyes. This wasn’t fair. I couldn’t lose two people to these monsters.
I was too slow.
The vampire pulled its teeth from Hannah’s neck, leaving a trail of blood dripping toward her collarbone. He let her go, a delirious smile on his face, flashing his fangs.
By the time I had a stake in my hand, the vampire had escaped. It leapt out of the open window and into the darkness of the night. It was gone before I even had a chance to attack it. Hannah, no longer supported by the vampire, fell to the ground. Her head smacked against the floor. The wound on her neck was gaping open. Her blood gushed everywhere.
“Hannah?”
I dropped to my knees to inspect her more closely.
I palmed my sister’s face and lifted her up, pulling her into an embrace. I got her blood all over my clothes, but I didn’t care. I wanted to hold my sister. To be certain that she would be safe and sound and alive. But she wasn’t. She was dying, and it was all because of me. I pulled my shirt off and pressed it against the bite marks, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Stop making so much noise!” Mom shouted from downstairs.
Time seemed to slow down as I searched Hannah’s face for signs of life. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was in peace.
Too much in peace.
“Not you too,” I said, pressing my shirt on her neck harder. “Don’t you dare die on me, Hannah.” Her blood smelled like iron. The bitter, intoxicating scent of death.
This couldn’t be happening.
“I should call the cops,” I muttered to myself as I pulled my phone out of the pocket. “An ambulance, maybe. Call the cops.” My hands shook as I keyed in 911. “Call the damn cops.”
What were the cops going to do? They knew nothing about vampires and were as good as useless. I was panicking. Quivering. My world felt like it was collapsing around me, and I was too damn distraught to do anything.
“They can’t save her.”
I jolted at the male’s voice, then lifted my head to look at who spoke.
“Wh-who are you?” I asked, reaching for the gun I’d taken out and aiming it at the intruder. His eyes were a deep brown, although there were hints of red of them. Dreadlocks poured from the top of his scalp and framed his shoulders. His skin was a dark tan. He almost looked beautiful, but there was a scar on the right side of his face, slashing down his cheek in a menacing pattern.
“Miles,” the intruder said. “Are you Verity?” The man was made out of pure muscle. He was so tall and large that I thought he might crush me. He wore a uniform. It was a blazer, black with gold buttons, and a crest I didn’t recognize was embroidered on the right side of his chest.
I inched back. How d
id he know my name? “Can… can you save my sister?” I asked.
“Lower your stake,” he said. “Then we can talk.”
I eyed him warily. Deciding to take a leap of faith, I set my weapon aside. I didn’t feel right about this. Nothing about this situation was right.
But this man seemed to have information, and Hannah’s safety was my main concern. Miles sauntered toward me and bent down. He took his time, which both aggravated and scared me. Predators were usually patient when stalking their prey. Miles gripped my wrist and pried my blood-soaked hand away from Hannah’s neck. I resisted the urge to push him away.
What if he hurt her?
“You see that?” Miles asked, wiping away the blood to reveal black markings that radiated from Hannah’s bite mark. “It’s a sign that the lowblood has injected his venom into your sister.”
“Lowblood?”
“That’s what we call the vampires who are vermin. Lesser creatures. They are created from normals and are a waste of resources.” Miles sighed. “I’ve sent one of my men to get rid of the one that broke into your home. He won’t be hurting anyone else. I’m sorry about your sister.”
“Save her,” I said. I couldn’t lose Hannah.
Miles’s face sagged. “I cannot.”
I reached for my stake again, but Miles tugged my hand aside before I could. An ache throbbed around my wrist and I fought to pull my arm free.
His eyes darkened, and I saw more red in them. I froze. Red eyes. Like the creature who had just attacked Hannah. It struck me then that he was one of them. Hate surged in my belly. I couldn’t trust him.
I shouldn’t let him near Hannah.
Vampires were all terrible creatures and had to be exterminated.
I should have been warier. The foolish, desperate me had let one of them get close to my dying sister. He might rip her apart. I needed my weapon. I needed to drive a stake through this man’s heart and see that he burned in the sun.
But he seemed different to the vampires I’d been hunting. Less animalistic. More human.
Why?
“I’m sorry about your sister,” Miles said again. I tried to see past his beauty. It was a mask meant to deceive. I needed to look at him for what he truly was. “There’s only one thing that can save her, and you won’t ever receive it.”
“What is it?” Should I even believe this monster’s answers?
“The heart of a fullblood. That’s the only surefire way to cure a lowblood’s venom.” He snorted, as if laughing at his own joke. “But you can’t ever have one.”
“A fullblood’s heart… Where do I find it?”
“It’s not yours to take.” I thought I saw a mocking smile on Miles’s face. I frowned and tried to pull my hand away again.
No use.
“She’s a lost cause,” Miles said. “The venom will work over her slowly. She’ll be in a coma. And a month later, if she doesn’t die of blood loss first, she will stop breathing.” He paused. Coolly, he raked his eyes over me. “You’re my objective, Verity.”
“Me?”
Miles nodded. “I’m here for you.”
“What do you want with me?”
“I have to send you to the Sanctum.”
“For?”
“That’s where you’ll be turned into one of us.”
“Turned… into…” I blinked. “No. That can’t happen.”
“I have to follow my directives.”
Miles moved so quickly that I couldn’t react. He covered my head with a bag and picked me up, then threw me over his shoulder. I struggled. “Where are you taking me?” I asked as I kicked and wriggled uselessly. Mile’s arms wouldn’t budge. I thought I sensed a dropping sensation as he jumped from somewhere. My window, maybe? I heard the slamming of a car door, and someone turned the engine on.
“Miles?”
“I’m taking you to the Sanctum, Verity,” he said, pulling the bag from my face. Someone else was driving, and Miles sat by me in the back seat. “You can’t fight this.”
“Let me make sure that Hannah’s fine,” I said. “At least let me send her an ambulance.”
Miles sighed and passed my phone to me. “I’ll take it back from you when you’re done.”
“Y-yeah.” I couldn’t fight Miles. He was too strong. So, I took what little he offered and called the cops.
This couldn’t be real.
I didn’t want to be turned into one of them.
Four
Cassius
I’d spent too long looking at her photo again. I clasped it as I stood in front of the window of my study, the bluish rays of the moon shining in. The stars were more numerous today, each one of them a soul that stared judgment down on me. I’d killed many growing up. The bloodlust had gotten to me when I was younger, but I’d tried not to prey on humans so much since then.
I raked my hand down the cracked glass of the photo frame.
I needed to stop staring at Janella’s photo so much. I had a bad habit of doing that. The past should be left behind. As an immortal, and after living hundreds of years, I ought to have had plenty of practice forgetting. But the memory of her still haunted me. Janella whirred through my thoughts like an insect I couldn’t get rid of.
Was it normal to both love and hate someone this much?
I clutched the photo frame as I perched over the balcony of my study. I looked across the expanse of the Sanctum, taking in the architecture. The vampire council had built this place four hundred years ago, a sorry attempt at trying to save our dying race by erecting a facility for the sole purpose of creating more vampires. Despite its morbid look, it was a splendor to behold. My father had encouraged many of his investors to put much of their resources into the Sanctum’s creation. Gothic arches, buildings with masterful trimmings and decorations. The Sanctum was huge. Still, with its dark colors, the place always seemed to be weeping, as if there was a perpetual raincloud over it that wouldn’t let up.
Sharp, jagged lines ran down the glass of Janella’s photo frame. I’d thrown the object once, breaking it. Tragic blue eyes stared back at me. Her hair was a midnight black that curled in waves around her oval face. In the picture, a gentle smile graced her full lips. She looked innocent. Janella was anything but.
I’d never expected her to betray me. She’d pitted Edrik and I against each other through the careless way she’d seduced us. We hadn’t a clue what was happening.
The last I remember of her, she was kissing my brother.
We’d both loved her far too much.
A breeze whooshed past me, sweeping my hair away from my cheek. I dragged my hand through my locks and pulled them over my shoulder.
Never trust.
That was what Janella—what both of them—had taught me.
The nightmares came back again last night. They always started beautifully, with her small, delicate frame in my arms and her tickling breath against my neck. Then everything would go wrong, and the horrible images of her disappearing would taunt me. Her blue eyes would turn to red, her smiling expression into one of deceit. At the end of my nightmare, Janella would leave me, running into flames and into my brother’s arms.
The fire would swallow Janella and Edrik, abandoning me with my immortality and loneliness.
Despite the nightmares, the pain, the heartache, I continued loving them both.
Even after what they’d done to me, I still wanted to see them again. The three of us had been too close. Inseparable. But they’d fallen to the hunters and left me behind.
When was it my turn to die? I just needed a reason to give up hope.
One more rejection, maybe.
I gripped the frame so hard that I cut myself on a stray piece of glass. My blood—sought after and proven to be immensely powerful—dripped from the wound and across Janella’s face. It traced the crack that moved down her cheek. It almost looked like a red tear ran down her face.
“Are you disappointed in me?” I asked the unmoving picture. “Do you hate
me because I wasn’t able to save you that day?”
I needed to forget her. A surge of anger shot through my chest, and for a split second, all I saw was rage. I hardly ever felt emotion. I did my best to numb it. Only Janella, even as a memory, could make me lose control like that.
I lifted the picture over my head and prepared to throw it. I grunted and swung my arm, but at the very end of my swing, I still held on to her.
I couldn’t.
She made me so weak.
All I sought now was power. I needed it to build my cage of loneliness. It kept my heart safe.
A knock on the door disturbed me from my raging thoughts.
I blinked hard, regaining control of myself. I couldn’t show this part of me to anyone else. I was supposed to be the calm and controlled Cassius Lucian, most powerful fullblood and future ruler of the vampires.
Did I want that future?
I wanted peace. Sleep. An end. Immortality was too tiring for my weary mind.
“You can enter,” I said, walking back into my study. The room was dimly lit by candelabra. I liked the darkness. It was where I felt at home.
The entrance clicked open, and Miles, my most loyal subject, entered. I placed the photo onto my desk, next to the piles of documents I had to go through later.
“Sir,” Miles said. He bowed, lowering himself to a ninety-degree angle. He was always a stickler for propriety.
“I’m not supposed to be on duty now,” I said. “Why are you disturbing me?” I sat and poured myself a drink. A strong shot of vodka. I stayed away from blood. I’d stopped drinking it a long time ago, since I only thirsted for it and didn’t really need it. I had alcohol mostly as a form of recreation.
“I’ve fetched all the students on the list,” Miles said. “They’re waiting in their dorms for your address.”
I swallowed the drink and lifted a brow. “That fast?” I asked. “Efficient.”
Miles bowed again. “I live to serve you, sir.”
Good that he remembered that. “Is that all?”
“There is one particular student who stands out. I think you should give her special attention.”
Fullblood Academy: A Vampire Academy Mild Bully Romance (Vampires of the Sanctum Book 1) Page 3
