Yeah, blood touched my lips, but I backed off the moment she screamed. Some would’ve killed to shut her up. I didn't and that saved me. But again, my family’s legacy colours peoples’ opinions over what happened. Unfair, because I'm not the only teenage vamp who's been in that situation.
Blowing air into my cheeks, I seek what I need to blank out these thoughts. I know where Jay goes if he’s caught dealing and slung out the club. There's an alleyway between the building and the back streets, one that leads to a car park. Few humans use the route, as if they automatically sense something inhuman lurks in the shadows.
The guy who owns the club lives out of the city, but the manager lives above the club in a small flat with a door leading out this way so he can avoid walking through the people. I hang by this door and wait for the dealer to finish with the two girls he's with. I'm not interested in talking to the pair and turn my back as they wander back to where music belts through the open door.
Jay shoves handful of bank notes in a pocket and I dart over to the dealer before he can move.
"Fuck!" he exclaims and shrinks back. "I wish you bloody vamps wouldn't sneak up."
If Jay dressed better, he wouldn’t stand out as much when he touted for business in the club. His black hooded jacket probably hides his usual black T-shirt with holes, and his faded jeans are filthy.
"I'm not sneaking. I wanted to catch you before you leave."
He cocks a brow. "Are you buying?"
"Why else would I be chatting to a dealer?" I look behind him, half- expecting Maeve to appear and tell me to stop. "Can we be quick, dude?"
Moistening his lips, Jay delves into his inside jacket pocket and pulls out small, square pieces of paper. I frown. "What's that?"
"New delivery method."
"I'm not fucking stupid. Sell me some Lix."
"That is Lix. On paper. You’ll still get a hit from this. How many do you want?"
I narrow my eyes in suspicion. "It's definitely Lix?"
"Man, you haven't bought recently, have you? Supply is short since some bastards stole half our gear." He huffs. "Look, I've a long-term business here. I'm not fucking that up by dealing dodgy shit and getting myself killed. You want the Lix or not?"
I push hair from my eyes and pull out cash. "Three."
"Big night, huh?"
"Spares. Some for later."
Deal done, I dip my head and duck around the corner. The music thuds from inside the club and I rest against the wall as the dealer scuttles back towards the club, no doubt looking for his next customer. Lix. I stare down at the paper for several seconds and debate what to do.
There’s no debate here. From this, I can get the hit to match my euphoria from tasting blood. I’ll lose the temptation around Maeve better than stupid gum chewing. I snort softly. As if I’d get close to her with Jamie protecting her from the big, bad bloodsucker.
The paper dissolves in my mouth, and I grimace at the sour taste as I rest my head against the brick wall and close my eyes. The effect doesn’t take long—never does—and a warmth spreads from my heart through to every extremity as the drug fills my veins.
I won’t lose touch with reality—drunk humans would act out more than me taking Lix, although our inhibitions drop the same way. I call it my ‘no longer give a shit’ drug, because that’s how I feel after taking Lix. I told Maeve I don’t give a shit usually, but that’s not strictly true.
The door to the back of the club bangs and I open an eye. Rainbow colours edge my vision and I’m filled with a new warmth.
Warmth that’s chilled from my body when I see who left the building.
Ione. The last time I saw my sister, she spat at me that I’d regret abandoning my family, which is fucking hypocritical since she walked away with my mother. My mother dropped her married name and Ione abandoned it too.
Ione scornfully told me I wouldn’t live to see immortality if I didn’t join them, implying she’d make sure I didn't.
I’m not keen on meeting her tonight. Or ever again.
I shrink back into the shadows that won’t hold me for long and peer through the dark. There’s little light in the alleyway, no streetlights close by, but I know it’s her as soon as the light from the doorway captures her features. She looks like me, something else I hate, with identically coloured hair, the same face shape and eyes.
But Ione is nothing like me.
If I weren’t high, I’d panic and run, but I’m transfixed. Who’s she with?
I don’t recognise anybody, but as Ione is high up in Dominion ranks, these guys are too—or they’re her bodyguards. I’m surprised she’s at the club; Ione is too well-known to get far.
My bigger concern isn’t why the Dominion are here, but how they got into the club. I need to find the others and leave.
As Ione reaches the bottom of the steps, she pauses and tips her chin, cocking her head at the same time.
"Why are you skulking, little brother?" Her voice is like the velvet my mother would dress her in, soft and smooth; sweetly friendly. She’s anything but.
"I’m not," I reply and don’t move.
"So, it is you, Andrei," she exclaims with more delight to her tone than I’d like.
Ione moves towards me, and I sidestep before she can block my escape route. Her long coat is cinched at the waist and fastened, a dark blue scarf wrapped elegantly around her neck. She laughs and it reminds me of happier times, when I amused my big sister with my childish games. Ione, the vampire who’s fifty years older than she looks, and her blood-born brother she grew to resent.
"Why are you here?" she asks.
"Night out. You?"
"Meeting some friends."
I pay attention to the two tall guys with her, hoping to hell that I don’t recognise them from somewhere else.
I don’t. One is clearly a vamp—he has the typical face shape and the light catches his unmarked skin. He’s good-looking, naturally, but old-fashioned in his suit and cravat. This guy stands out one hell of a lot amongst the modern around him.
The second I sense is a witch, again not one I recognise. His magic energy surrounds him and calls out to me as strongly as his blood. Powerful. Spirit witch. If Ione didn’t detect me tonight, he definitely would’ve. He’s young—not much older than me—and he watches me like a cat stalking prey.
I catch her subtly probing my mind and I focus on the sensation of the Lix flowing through my veins, slamming a door closed against Ione’s intrusion.
She laughs softly. "How’s the witch?"
"Which one?"
Her mouth thins. "The one everybody thinks is powerful enough to take down the Dominion. The witch you’ll kill."
My mouth fills with bile. "I’m not killing anybody."
Ione sneers. "Please, Andrei. Your self-control is pathetic. Of course, you’ll kill her one day."
"Fuck off," I mutter.
She steps forward and her skin has the luminescence only found on vampires that take blood from humans.
"Such an eloquent response. Don’t they teach manners at the Nightworld academies?" The vampire beside her sniggers. "I don’t need to see inside your mind to know you're worried. Don’t fret, little one, we’re not here to kill your witch."
I should be relieved this isn’t the reason my sister visited tonight, but why won't Ione touch her? "Yeah, you couldn’t."
"Umm. Wouldn’t. I’m perfectly capable of slaughtering the girl. No, she’s a useful distraction for the Confederacy idiots. They pay too much attention to her because they don’t have any other ideas how to stop us."
"While you plan to do what?" I ask.
She shifts so her face moves closer to mine. Ione wears the same perfume she always did, her cheeks rosy from a recent feed, no doubt. Dominion have willing donors they call blood banks, but how many survive? I hate to think.
"The Confederacy can continue their ridiculous attempt to police the supernatural world, but unrest is growing. Their stupid Nightworld academies can’t bra
inwash the kids into believing we can all integrate. The unnatural state of affairs will end. Five hundred years is too long."
"And you think your Dominion are strong enough?" I sneer. "If you are, why waste time?"
Her thin lips spread into a smile. "Watch. This. Space."
The rainbows at the edge of my vision grow as the Lix moves through my system, soothing and preventing the fear my sister would like to elicit from me.
"Are you high, Andrei?" She takes my face between her fingers and tips my chin.
I recoil, slapping her hand away. "As a fucking kite."
Ione chuckles and touches my cheek again with long, cold fingers. "Andrei Tepes. Always the rebel. Forever an outcast."
I grit my teeth as her taunting words push through the high embracing me.
Because they’re true.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
MAEVE
Ugh. Why did Jamie leave me with the group? I planned this night out with all my friends and ended up with two. Now they’ve both wandered off. Seriously?
I smile at the four as they discuss the academy games, aware it’s only a matter of time before one of them questions me about what happened at the mental magic challenge.
The amount of time I spend with my small group of friends prevents me integrating into the academy more, but I try to stay friendly. Which means I need to stay with them until Jamie reappears.
Jamie, who stopped counting how many drinks he had and unsteadily wandered away to the bar five minutes ago.
"Why isn't Ash with you?" asks Jade.
Didn’t we already have this conversation? "He’s busy with Vincent this weekend."
"Yeah, I heard Vincent took a few Gilgamesh kids for some extra training for the final game." Dane huffs. "Not exactly impartial, is he?" He pauses. "Sorry, I know he’s your boyfriend’s brother."
"Ash isn’t my boyfriend." Why do those words hurt me to say? I began the term hoping we’d move in that direction, but instead he’s withdrawn from me. I’ve held onto the idea planted by Tobias that he’s influenced too greatly by Vincent.
Please let that be true, and when we expose Vincent, we don't lose Ash completely.
Jade and Ashleigh side-glance each other. Gossip for them. I smile even though I don't want to.
"Did you split because of Andrei?" asks Jade.
"Or Jamie?" offers Ashleigh.
I grip my glass tighter. Where the hell is either of the guys? "No."
The girls exchange another glance before Jade says, "She wants one of each--vamp, shifter, witch."
Thank god it’s dark in here so they can't see my cheeks, which I swear turned pink.
"Are you sure you’re not a lamia hybrid?" asks Jade and nudges me.
I join in their laughter, but I’m eyeing up an opportunity to walk away. "Are you saying I’m like Katherine?"
"Hell, no," says Dane. "By the way, what happened between you at the mental magic game? Did she attack you?"
Well, I walked into that question.
All three focus on me, waiting for the answer every student at the academy wants. Maeve’s explanation. The drama. The gossip.
I gulp down my drink. "Jamie’s taking a long time. I should find him."
Before they can respond, I dive through the group beside us and head towards the bar. People wait, crammed together in the hope they’ll catch the bartender’s eye first, and I scrutinise the group.
No Jamie.
Anxiety spikes. What if something happened? I need to find Andrei. Barging my way through others loitering in the hallways, I burst outside.
The cold air sends an immediate shiver through me to join the shaky nervousness we could’ve misjudged our safety. Andrei seemed convinced we’d be okay, and I’m positive Tobias wouldn't let us come here if he thought there’d be a danger.
But my paranoia that this new world of mine is a constant threat follows me everywhere.
I adjust my eyes to the dim and spot a group several feet away, close to a nearby alleyway. More drug dealing? Surely Jamie wouldn't. I squint through the dark. Not Jamie, but I recognise Andrei’s figure. I always will in the dark.
He’s with three people—two men and a woman. He’s pulled straight, not moving, arms tightly crossed against his chest. I wish I could see his face. The men flank the woman, occasionally glancing around the alleyway.
My stomach lurches as the woman touches Andrei’s face. Am I concerned or jealous? The intense conversation continues and something unsettles me. Why hold a secret meeting out here? Andrei never told us he’d planned to meet anybody. Accidentally bumping into friends would happen inside, surely.
Who are they?
I shake my head. This is distracting me from my hunt for Jamie, who’s not around, and I turn to head back inside. Footsteps click across the pavers behind and I turn my head.
A man steps in front of me and grumbles at me to move away, blocking my view. But I glimpse the woman’s face. I’ve seen her recently, but not at the academy. I struggle with my memories in an attempt to locate her.
Then the image hits me.
This is Ione Tepes. The vampire in Sofia’s book.
I flee back into the building, terrified she’ll see me. Jamie. I have to find him. Now.
As I stumble back into the main bar area, I desperately look around again, in case he’s returned to the group.
Joining the fear in the pit of my stomach is an overwhelming sadness.
Andrei has links to the Dominion.
Chapter Forty
JAMIE
I stumble through the back door, wishing I hadn’t drunk as much. Desperate for Maeve to stop nagging at me. Dragging a hand through my hair, I pause and let the night air slap some sobriety into me.
Nope. Not happening.
My feet are on the ground, but my head is elsewhere, spinning in the night sky above. I look up and hold my hands outstretched as if soaking in the night. I’m away from the academy. I’m safe. Nobody can touch me.
The Blackwood pendant is chained firmly around my neck. I blame her for not allowing me close, deflecting attention from the truth. I can’t hide forever, and she’ll discover my secret soon. I’m planning how to explain to her and Amelia, but can’t find the words.
They don't understand how much this pendant means to me. I no longer wake up thinking today is the day I might die. Nobody can touch me, whether the dumb Gilgamesh bullies or some arsehole who wants to blast a hole through my chest.
But they won't understand.
I clutch the pendant in my hand and the metal warms. Sometimes I catch glimpses of the item’s past, just snapshots that seep through. A girl once possessed this; the same one I saw when I touched the Blackwood grimoire. What happened to her?
I stagger slightly as nausea takes hold. Maybe I drank too much, too quickly, but I’m craving oblivion. Not drug induced, like Andrei, but alcohol.
I hiccup. There’s no difference, apart from Andrei probably won't puke.
The dealer Andrei followed comes into blurry view, and he pauses as he reaches the doorway.
"You okay, dude?"
"Fine," I mumble. "Be fine soon."
He chuckles. "Alcohol’s a killer. Next time come to me. Your mate did."
I rub my clammy forehead. Should’ve known that’s where Andrei snuck off to. Where is he now?
"Yeah." I turn away, and miss my pockets as I attempt to shove my hands in them. Shit.
The roughly paved area outside the door is rough when my backside hits it. And fucking cold. I swallow down the feeling I’m about to throw up and peer into the darkness.
Four figures stand nearby and I attempt to focus. If I can see them properly, that will help. But they blur in and out of sight.
Andrei? His hair looks similar and I smirk to myself. If I were buying and taking illegal drugs, I’d cover my face with his jacket hood. He has Andrei’s posture and there’s a tall woman in his face. I can’t tell if he’s happy about this or not—too dark.
I stay on the ground, hands on the cool pavers as I focus on not throwing up.
Oh hell.
I look back up at the group. Who’s Andrei with?
A thought burrows into my drunken mind. Did he persuade us to come here because he needed a cover for a meeting with somebody?
I don’t care what the others say, I’ve my suspicions about this guy. I hiccup again. Although Vincent doesn’t like Andrei, which blows apart my theory both are linked with the Dominion. One must be—but who?
The woman turns and a sudden spike of adrenaline cuts through my hazy thoughts.
Ione Tepes. Or she was before she changed her name to her mother’s.
Holy shit. I yank my hood over my head to hide my face. Andrei and his sister? What a big fucking coincidence they visit on the same night.
I can’t let them see me. Struggling to my feet, I keep one eye on the group and the other on the doorway I need to get through before their intense conversation finishes. Neither take their eyes from each other. The two guys with them watch others leaving around me, but pay no attention to the staggering drunk guy.
I can’t think about this right now because my synapses won’t fire. Andrei. Tobias’s closeness to him. To us. Maeve. Fuck.
I focus on moving and shove my way through the door straight into a guy. He’s carrying two glasses and the drinks slosh out and over his shirt.
"Watch where you’re going, arsehole," he snarls, gripping the glasses.
"You watch where you’re going, dickhead." I retort.
"What the fuck?" His ugly features sour further as he stares down at me.
"I said, watch where you’re going." Screw shifters and their attitude.
"Piss off, witch."
"Fuck you." The words I wouldn’t normally use spill from my lips. People like him have talked down to me for years, but no more. I’ll say and do what I think—he can’t hurt me.
Something touches a spot beneath my chin, a gentle stroke that tips it upwards like a lover would to kiss me. Confused, I swipe at my face.
The shifter screeches, lurches backwards, and attempts to steady himself. One hand slides against the wall, damp with condensation from heat and sweaty bodies, and he holds the other against his face.
Nightworld Academy Box Set 1 Page 64
