Fullblood Academy: A Vampire Academy Mild Bully Romance (Vampires of the Sanctum Book 1)

by Phoenix Chaos

  Fourteen

  Cassius

  Vampirism was said to be a curse.

  The constant hunger. Need. Desire. The never-ending thirst for blood.

  Still, despite all those inconveniences, there were some who saw it as a blessing. The thirst came with the ability to kill swiftly. Heightened hearing. Greater speed. Humans were afraid of mortality, but vampires were “gifted” the ability to live forever. Some liked that. I absolutely detested it.

  Just like I hated the girl whom I carried in my arms. I soared through the air, traveling back to the Sanctum. Night was ending and dawn crept closer. Already, a soft orange hue peeked above the skyline. I couldn’t burn in the sun, but daytime always made me more tired than usual.

  Verity looked away from me, refusing to meet my gaze. Her stubbornness was both infuriating and endearing. Perhaps I’d grown a bias toward her. Ever since I’d laid eyes on her, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Verity.

  She reminded me so much of Janella, but the more time I spent with her, the more I realized that they were two wholly different people.

  And yet I’d called her Janella when I punished her with my fingers. The way she bucked and writhed under my touch played through my mind. She was so intoxicating, and I could still smell her juices.

  Janella had never possessed Verity’s compassion, selflessness, or determination. My love for Janella had been fostered by manipulation and deceit. I sensed none of that from Ver.

  Ver might want my heart, but it was because of her sister. She’d risked her life, stepping into the lair of a fullblood, one of the most dangerous places to be, to save someone else.

  Maybe I’d missed seeing that kind of love. The unconditional, sacrificial kind.

  I wondered if Janella would have done the same for me.

  Probably not.

  Edrik, my dead brother, would have, however, and seeing that trait in Ver made me miss him sorely.

  “Why bring me to the glow worms?” Verity muttered. I didn’t know if she was speaking to me. “You’re throwing me off, and I need to know what to think.”

  “They are pretty,” I replied. Janella had loved them. We’d spent many nights with the glow worms above us, sharing both blood and our bodies. I had wondered whether Ver might appreciate them, too. Bringing her to that cave was my pathetic attempt to rekindle old memories. Memories I should have discarded long ago.

  Ver didn’t believe my reasoning. “Just because they are pretty?”

  “Not everything has to be a puzzle.” Not everything. But whatever was happening between us definitely was one.

  I questioned my own intentions. What did I want with Verity? Her blood, her body, her soul?

  Her brief time with me had thrown me off balance. My attraction to her was weakening me. Already, I found myself caring too much. I worried about her not getting enough sleep, food, rest. I wanted to see her healthy and happy.

  It might’ve been my relationship with Janella that sparked such fondness.

  I eyed Ver’s neck as I set her down in front of the dorms. My arms felt colder after I let her go. I frowned at the foreign, empty sensation.

  Another girl, one I cared little about, was standing in front of the schoolyard. She had blond locks that she wore down. She watched us curiously.

  “I will see you again, Ver,” I said, half doubting my promise. Part of me was screaming to avoid her at all costs, but I kept getting drawn toward the girl, my vulturous intentions refusing to relent.

  “I hope not,” she replied. She was lying. Maybe she felt the same confusion I did.

  I fanned my wings out and took off, escaping her as quickly as I could. I might be the predator, but she was gaining control of me, even though she didn’t know it.

  I needed to stop that.

  I needed to break her before she broke me.

  Fifteen

  Verity

  Rumors about me had been spreading.

  They started the night Cassius dropped me off in front of the dorm. A week had passed since then, giving plenty of time for falsehoods to spread like wildfire. Vixie Natash, currently the most popular girl in the school, had seen Cassius dropping me off that night, and with that, she’d crafted untrue tales to put a target on my back. I wasn’t sure why she’d chosen me as a victim. Maybe she simply needed a common enemy so the students had a reason to get behind her.

  Today, the classroom was missing a teacher. Madam Varkov, the second overseer and also the instructor for blood basics, had left us alone to finish our assignments. We were to hand them in after the class ended.

  I was busy going through the properties of blood when Vixie stopped in front of me. She placed two hands on her hips and lifted a brow. She liked bothering me for little reason. I’d grown tired of it. “When will Lord Cassius be looking for you again?” she asked. Everybody in the Sanctum referred to Cassius as a lord, but I simply couldn’t accept him with that title. “Or has he used and dumped you like the useless toy you are?”

  I resisted an eye roll and placed a period at the end of the last sentence I wrote. “Vixie, you’ve asked me that, like, ten times. Do you have a dictionary, or must I lend you one? I’ll even help you through with it.”

  Vixie’s expression soured. Displeased by my taunt, she leaned forward and slammed her hands on the sides of my desk. She thought to intimidate me, but she didn’t know that I’d faced down creatures far worse than her. The scariest thing about her was her apparent lack of aptitude. She hadn’t fared well in gym class. It made me worry that she was a hazard to herself. What if she accidentally stabbed herself with her pair of scissors?

  “Don’t cross me,” she said, baring her teeth. I’d seen so many vampires that she looked like a chihuahua in comparison. “I can turn the whole school against you. I can make your life a living hell.”

  “I didn’t cross you,” I said. “In fact, if you remember correctly, I brought you to the infirmary when you clumsily tripped. I’m still waiting for my thank you, but it seems like manners aren’t something your parents taught you.”

  “Don’t change the topic.” Vixie clenched her jaw. “You slept with Cassius to rig the system. We all know that.”

  I looked around the classroom. Students were lounging about. Many dirty gazes had darted my way. Due to Vixie’s lies, I’d turned into somewhat of a social pariah. Not that I cared. I wasn’t here to make friends, anyway. I didn’t want to be here at all.

  “I never slept with him,” I replied. “I never did anything with him.” The second part was a lie, but Vixie wasn’t someone who deserved truth. She was the brattiest asshole I’d ever met. I wondered where she’d gotten her personality from. “Why do you do this?”

  She blinked. “Do what?”

  “Pick on people. Taunt them. What about yourself do you hate so much?” Growing up, I’d learned that the mean ones were the most insecure. They couldn’t love themselves, and so they pushed others away, seeing the world as ugly as they were on the inside.

  “I do not hate myself.”

  “Really? I don’t believe you.” I removed my attention from her, deciding she didn’t deserve it, and returned to my assignment. I was three questions away from finishing. I topped most of my classes grade-wise. I’d been throwing myself into my studies, using them to distract myself from Cassius.

  I dreamt of him every night.

  He tormented me, even though we were apart.

  Vixie, losing the verbal battle, decided to use brute force instead. She raised her hand to slap me, but I saw her attack coming. I caught her wrist before her palm reached my cheek.

  Thwack.

  Something else hit me on the back of my head.

  I looked at my feet where the object had fallen. A ball of paper.

  Vixie stared across the room, meeting the eyes of a boy I didn’t know the name of. The two of them shared wicked grins. A shitty mastermind and her dumb apprentice. I shook my head, miffed by their childishness, then reached for the paper ball.
I picked it up and unfolded it.

  SLUT.

  The insult was scrawled in all caps and red, the handwriting dreadful, lines crooked and some letters hard to read, even though they were so big.

  “You shouldn’t be sleeping with the principal,” Vixie said haughtily.

  I sucked in a deep breath. I’d had enough of this nonsense. I balled up the paper again and, with perfect aim, tossed it into the trash can. Vixie turned her nose up at me, acting as if her ploy was something to be proud about.

  I narrowed an eye at Vixie. “And you should be finishing your assignments. There isn’t much time—”

  The bell chimed, making my point before I finished my statement.

  As if on cue, a female student stood and careened toward the window. She thrust her head over the windowsill and threw up. The students turned their attention from me to her before breaking out into worried muttering.

  A bout of sickness had been spreading through the Sanctum. Even the seniors suffered from it. It was mostly girls who’d gotten the virus, but one or two guys showed symptoms, too. Rumors said that it was a test carried out by the vampires to examine our resistance to diseases. That didn’t make any sense to me. We’d learned in another class that vampires weren’t susceptible to diseases, and so they shouldn’t care about our resistance, since the selected would be turned anyway.

  “Back off,” Grey said, taking my attention away from the puking girl. He strode up to Vixie and cracked his knuckles. “Why are you messing with my woman?”

  I balked.

  Vixie sneered at Grey’s remark. “You’re whoring yourself out to two men?” she asked, shooting an incredulous glare my way. “You really don’t know when to stop. Isn’t Cassius enough?”

  “I’m not with Cassius,” I said. “How many times must you make me repeat myself? Do you need to get your ears checked?”

  “You can deny this all you want, slut,” Vixie said, shoving a finger at my face. I pushed her hand aside. It was too close for comfort. Someone needed to teach her a lesson about being rude. “But we’re onto you. One day we’re going to have evidence, and then—”

  “Then what?” I cocked my head. Grey didn’t need to fight my battles for me. “You’ll finally be able to sleep at night? Is your life so pointless that that’s the most important thing on your mind right now? My love life? Shouldn’t you get one of your own?”

  Vixie huffed. She tried to slap me again, but this time, Grey was there to block her. As soon as he stepped in front of her, she backed down, obviously realizing that she couldn’t beat him physically.

  Grey’s protecting me garnered me looks of disdain from the girls who sat around us. He was supposedly one of the hottest guys in the school, though I’d never found him that attractive. When I gave him a closer look, I saw why my female classmates thought that way. His features were model-esque, if somewhat gruff, and his tattoos gave him an edgy look that many of the guys around here lacked. Many girls pined for him, and yet he’d decided to give me most of his time. He really was wasting his energy on me. I sensed that he liked me somewhat. But I didn’t have time for anyone, not with vampires to kill and a sister to save.

  I told myself that I cared little for romance and men, but I’d been checking over my shoulder constantly the last week, hoping Cassius might show up and take me back to his chambers.

  I spotted Miles walking through the corridor. I abandoned my seat at once. I hadn’t seen Miles in a week, too. As Cassius’s loyal subject, he should know something about what was going on.

  Hastily, I rushed up and blocked his way, stumbling before him. I’d moved without thinking. His dark eyes settled on me. I froze. Why was I acting like this? It only proved that I pined for Cassius, and I was trying so hard to avoid admitting that I wanted him. “Um, uh.” I darted my gaze to my right, then back to Miles.

  Miles lifted a brow. “Can I help you?”

  “Hm, yes. How is Cassius doing?”

  Miles was clearly puzzled by my question. “He’s managing the Sanctum, as is his job.”

  “Of course.” A small glimmer of hope died within me. Some part of me had wished that he hadn’t visited me for a better reason. I pushed away my affection for Cassius and focused on what was truly important. I’d been sitting around, behaving like a student, when I was supposed to find a way to save my sister. Each day that passed increased the guilt I felt. There had been little progress made in my attempts to save Hannah, highlighting how I was never enough. “I wanted to ask him about that little girl he’s trying to save. I’m not sure if you’ve heard of her.”

  “Annelise,” Miles replied.

  “Yeah.”

  “If you’re hoping that that the lord can find an antidote on time to save your sister, then I suggest you kill that hope. It’s not going to happen. Your sister is going to die.”

  “But—”

  “You won’t be getting my master’s heart. And if you do, against all the odds in the universe, happen to steal it, I will make sure I cut yours out myself.” Miles’s stare turned into a threatening glare. Fangs peeked out from his upper lip. “Lord Cassius rules us. He’s far more important than that insignificant little sister of yours.”

  I wavered, but steeled myself. I bit my tongue hard enough that I felt pain. It helped me ground my senses and kept me wanting to fight. “I will save my sister.”

  “Saying that isn’t going to change anything. You should focus on being a good student in the Sanctum, then maybe you will qualify to be turned into one of us.”

  I lusted for Cassius, but that didn’t mean I’d stopped hating him. I felt more strongly for him than any other vampire. Most of those emotions were negative. How dare he sneak into my thoughts like that, distracting me from who I truly was? My calling was to kill his kind, not love them.

  “I’m not going to be one of you.”

  “Your grades suggest otherwise,” Miles said. “You’re working hard to join our ranks.”

  “I’d sooner die.”

  Miles placed a hand on my shoulder. “Good luck in your endeavors, Ms. Snow. I have high hopes for you, and so does my master.” He bowed his head and left, leaving me standing in the corridor alone. Madam Varkov, our teacher, arrived shortly after.

  She waved me back into the class. “Verity,” she said. “Why are you outside the classroom? Come. You have to submit your assignment.”

  I followed her into the classroom and went back to my desk. Grey was the first to hand in his assignment after Madam Varkov called for the worksheets to be turned in. I watched as students furiously scribbled on their paper. Most of them had been slacking after the Madam left, and were now trying to make up for lost time.

  I have high hopes for you.

  Miles’s statement rang like a chorus in my mind, bouncing around the insides of my head.

  The Sanctum had trapped me, and not just physically. I’d been going along with the flow too much, allowing myself to get comfortable. Where was the old me? I used to roam the streets, hunting down monsters. I shouldn’t be here doing assignments like some sort of school kid.

  I picked up my worksheet and ripped it in two.

  Madam Varkov turned to me. “Verity?”

  “The answers were all wrong,” I said. “You can fail me for this assignment.”

  I snapped my eyes to Grey, who had also been looking in my direction.

  After class, I was going to have to ask him for a favor.

  “This better work,” I muttered, punching numbers into the old, weathered phone Grey had passed me.

  I walked through a courtyard. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and cicadas were singing nearby, accompanying the sea of stars that spread out above me. The sharp edges of the Sanctum’s towers looked far scarier when it was dark. Their pointy tips formed threatening silhouettes. It was like every inch of this school was designed to make its inhabitants uncomfortable.

  I should give Grey more credit. He had my back this time. After blood basics ended, I’d approached Gr
ey and asked if he had any methods for us to contact the outside world. Two hours later, after my next class ended, he’d shown up in front of my classroom with this phone. It was an old one, a phone that still had a keypad and not a touch screen. I forgot how small they used to be.

  “The reception in the Sanctum is pretty shitty,” Grey had said when he gave the phone to me. “But I tried calling my family and it worked. It didn’t take long before the call started cracking, though. Give it a shot. Let me know how it goes.”

  I’d thanked him, and now here I was, pacing about beneath an imposing arch, trying to get a hold of my family.

  Hannah better be fine.

  I placed the phone to my ear after hitting the call button. I tried again when the line went dead. At my third try, I was already feeling frustrated, but someone picked up on the fourth ring.

  “Hello?” I recognized my mother’s voice. It sounded fuzzy over the cell, and from the coarseness of her voice, I thought she might have a sore throat.

  “Mom,” I said.

  “Verity?”

  I pursed my lips. She didn’t seem happy to hear from me. “Yeah.”

  “Where the hell have you been?”

  “How’s Hannah? Did they manage to get her to the hospital?”

  “Answer my question. We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  “Have you?” I didn’t think my parents would care. They were always going on about Hannah and how perfect she was. I thought they’d stopped caring about me long ago. I couldn’t match up to their expectations anyway. “You were worried?”

  Mom sighed. “Of course we are. You’re our daughter. We raised you. And with your sister like that…” I imagined my mom pinching the bridge of her nose. She had a habit of doing that when she got testy. “Let’s just say that things haven’t been great.”

  “I’m fine, Mom,” I said. “You don’t have to be concerned about me.”

  “Where are you?” she asked. “Stop making me repeat myself.” I could almost feel Mom’s temper from my side of the line. “Your dad and I don’t need any more trouble. If you could just come home—”