by K. M. Raya
He scoffed, raising his eyes to the ceiling. “Do you have an off switch somewhere?”
“You pulled me in here, dude. What do you want? I’ve got better places to be.” Folding her arms over her chest, she watched him with narrowed eyes.
He sneered. “What, like sneaking around in graveyards when you should be on campus?” His tone was all wrong. “What were you doing out there, Blue?”
“How do you even know about that?”
“Doesn’t matter. What were you doing in the graveyard with vampires?” His tone was accusatory now and he watched her warily, as if she was the one with the secrets and not his sneaky, mysterious ass.
Bringing her fingers up in front of her face, she pretended to examine her nails. “Well, when my vampy buddies didn’t answer any of my texts, I was hoping to run into them in the forest so we could concoct some evil plans. You know, the usual Saturday night—”
“Cut the shit, you know what I meant.” He stepped in closer, forcing her to lower her arm and cross it back over her chest. She was putting up a barrier between them.
“What is it you’re looking for, Dresden?” she asked. His eyes darkened, and for a split second, they descended to her lips as she spoke his name. But the moment was broken before she could think too much on it. “Everyone here seems to think I’m some sort of vampire double agent or some shit. What are you trying to prove by dragging me in here; you think I’m hiding something, is that it?”
“I just think it’s a little too coincidental that the day you come back to Slayer territory, one of our students gets turned and dusted, and then not two weeks later, you of all people are attacked on academy grounds…” His face was close enough for her to feel his warmth graze her cheeks. “There hasn’t been a sighting at Arcane in ten years, Blue, and you expect me to believe it’s a coincidence?”
She didn’t like what he was insinuating at all. From the moment her family fell apart, she was a traitor in the eyes of the Conclave and every Slayer she’d ever known. A traitor by association. She didn’t understand where the logic was. Why was she being held accountable for her parent’s actions as if she had any say in the matter at nine years old? Why did they get to pretend she was an outsider? Why did they get to leave her vulnerable instead of rallying around what remained of a family that was torn to shreds? She was a victim here, and people like Dresden were narrow minded fools if they thought they could bully her out of a second shot.
“Where the fuck do you get off accusing me of anything when you don’t know the first thing about me?” She was seething. Their faces were inches apart. “You think I’m working with monsters? You think I’m plotting with vampires to overthrow my own people? Why the fuck would I have spent the last ten years of my life hunting them if that were the case?”
“Wouldn’t put it passed a Graves,” he growled, but she didn’t detect quite as much anger in his voice that time, just disgust and disdain. It was almost worse.
Jamming her pointer finger into his chest, Blue’s rage was taking over. She was sick of the ignorance. “Listen to me, little man.” His eyes narrowed on her. There was nothing little about the tall blonde man, but she kept going regardless. “Your opinion means nothing to me. You mean nothing to me. Stop glaring at me from the shadows, stop intruding on my me time, and for the love of hell, stop putting your hands on me. I don’t want anything from you except for you to stay the fuck out of my way, got it?”
He stared at her in silence until the moment stretched into awkward territory. There was something a little bit too intense about the way he watched her. It was like he was searching for something, but she didn’t care enough to guess. As beautiful and irritatingly alluring as he was to look at, he was also an asshole. He was just like the rest of them and she needed to remain unjaded.
Without giving him the chance to respond, she turned on her heel and slammed out of the classroom without looking back.
*
Finally back in her dorm, she was just about to strip out of her clothes and settle in when the light flipped on. She reached for her stakes at her hips. Jewel sat on the edge of her bed, looking like she’d been waiting there a while.
“How the heck did you get in my room?” She stalked in and grabbed Jewel’s arm, yanking her up from the bed. Her old friend was still as slender as ever, so it wasn’t hard.
The girl staggered to her feet and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “You’re not the only one with skills, Blue.”
Snorting, Blue turned to her old friend, placing her back to the wall by the window. “Tell me you weren’t sitting here in the dark this whole time…” She smiled bitterly. “You always were the dramatic one, the whole turning on the light thing was odd, but go ahead and own it, I guess.”
Jewel’s cheeks turned the faintest of pink. She ignored Blue’s question and stepped in closer, jaw tight and eyes narrowed. “Was it you?”
Blue raised an eyebrow. “Was what me?” She played dumb and Jewel growled under her breath.
“Don’t be stupid, bitch. Was it you who did that to Savannah? Did you let those other vamps on campus?”
Blue’s heart clenched. She knew Jewel hated her now, but to blatantly accuse her of something so monstrous was crossing a line. It was worse than Dresden accusing her. She didn’t know him and didn’t expect anything from a stranger… but JJ had been like family. They knew each other’s secrets, their deepest desires… But looking into Jewel’s accusing green eyes now, it was like they never knew each other at all. “I’m not even going to answer that. I can’t believe you would ask me… Jewel, you know me.”
“Ten years is a lifetime; you're a stranger now.”
“You don’t mean that, JJ.”
Jewel jerked back suddenly. “You don’t get to call me that anymore. We aren't friends. I don’t want anything to do with you and your filth. I just needed to know if it was you...” For a few long moments they just stared at each other until resolve filled her eyes. “Luckily for you though, I could always tell when you were lying, and it seems that hasn’t changed in ten years… unlike so many other things.”
Blue snorted and rolled her eyes through the hurt. “Oh, thank you—thank you for bestowing me with your fucking confidence!” she snapped. “You know what, you are the one who changed, not me. I didn’t do a thing to you and you dropped me like I was nothing. We needed each other and you walked away!”
Jewel shifted her eyes from side to side even though they were still hidden away in her bedroom and nobody could see them. “Shhh! Someone's going to hear you!”
Blue just laughed bitterly. “You know what, this is a waste of time. Clearly, you’ve made up your mind about me. Clearly, you believe I’m a monster capable of killing my own kind.” When Jewel didn’t argue, Blue started pushing her towards the door. “Go fuck yourself, Jewel.”
Shoving her out into the hall, Blue slammed the door, not giving her the chance to turn around and accuse her of more horrors. She felt like her heart was breaking all over again. She thought it was over—thought the pain of losing someone would have numbed by now but she was wrong. A part of her, however small, had hoped Jewel would come back to her. It was silly, thinking back on it now. Too much had happened, too much bad blood.
Chapter Nine
It was fourth period the next day, and that meant Weapons Mastery. She sighed as she approached the doorway to the classroom.
When she first received her class schedule, she’d been excited for that class in particular because she thought it would give her a chance to try out her new stakes. So far though, they’d been sitting still every class, listening to Mr. Zion talk to himself about the history of weapons. It was boring to say the least. It wasn’t that she wasn't interested in the topic. There was actually some pretty cool and useful information in her textbooks, but she yearned for more action after spending the last decade immersed in it.
Entering the room, she was surprised to see that the desks that had previously been arranged into
rows, were absent, leaving a wide room with a worn wood floor and high ceilings. Without the classroom setting, the space looked much larger. A rolling wall was dragged out into the center of the room, holding weapons of all kinds. There were swords from every known continent, daggers shaped like snakes, blades with no handles and even a few silver whips. She practically salivated looking at the whips.
Though she always preferred her stakes, which were quick and efficient, silver whips were badass and her hands itched to yank one off the wall. You could kill a vampire easily by staking it through the heart with pure silver, but little did the humans know that you could also decapitate them if done with the correct tool. Vampire skin was virtually impenetrable and regular weapons had no effect on them, no matter how hard one might try. She was one of the smart ones with her silver infused fingernail polish to help her out of tight situations. Silver whips on the other hand, cut through their necks like smooth butter. The one drawback though, was that the whips could also hurt a Slayer if used carelessly.
Zion entered the room, grinning from ear to ear at the eager looks on her classmate’s faces. Apparently, everyone was on the same page and tired of the lectures. It was in a Slayer’s nature to crave action. Zion was a tall man, with noodly looking arms that made her question whether or not the Weapons Master could actually hold up one of those swords. She almost chuckled at the image.
“I know you’ve all been waiting very patiently, so I’m happy to tell you that your wait is over…” he announced with a sweep of his arm, gesturing towards the weapons wall. Excited murmurs filled the room and people nudged each other, already trying to decide which weapon was the most superior. “Please approach the wall and study each object, get a feel for them one by one until you have selected the one that feels the most natural to you. Choose wisely, because whichever weapon you choose, you will have a custom-made version sent to your dorms within the week.”
Excitement rippled through the group of about twenty students and also through Blue. She was practically dancing on the balls of her feet. She held back for the moment, watching as the over eager Slayers crowded the weapons wall, poking and prodding each one like they were children, all the while her gaze never left the whips. They came as a set—each one had a black leather handle and a four-foot-long silver chain whip as slim as a pencil lead. They were beautiful and Blue had no interest in any of the rest.
“You have a bit of drool on your chin there,” drawled a low voice from her right side. She didn’t have to turn to know who it was. Dresden hovered next to her, causing her shoulders to tense up. She hated that she knew his voice down to her core. They’d had two and a half interactions and still she could feel a pull towards him that was unexplainable. She hated to think it had anything to do with his looks… or the fact that she itched to prove him wrong.
“You're not in this class,” she murmured without turning. She was still staring at the whips.
“I am now. My schedule changed last minute, strange right?” She whipped her head to the side, eyeing him suspiciously. She thought he’d be smirking, but his wide mouth was downturned, and he looked incredibly bored already. In fact, he didn't even seem like he really wanted to be talking to her. His voice was strained, like he was forcing himself to interact.
“Ah, Dresden my boy! I’m so happy your mother decided to place you in my class. Come, choose your weapon.” Mr. Zion ushered Dresden forward.
His arm brushed hers as he passed by and it sent an unwanted tingle through her body. ‘What is it with these guys?’ she wondered in irritation. Out of Dresden, Cole and Jasper, she couldn’t figure out who unnerved her the most. She rewound Zion’s last statement in her head… ‘His mother? Who’s his mother, and why would she have any say regarding his class schedule?’
Dresden chose a silver dagger—clean and simple and it seemed to fit his straight to the point personality. He went right for it without hesitation. By now, the rest of the class was holding their weapons of choice while Zion made his rounds, instructing each Slayer on its proper use, though many of them were already familiar with basic weaponry. None of them were rookies, each one knowing their way around practically any weapon available, even firearms when the situation called for them. Specializing, however, was different.
By now the wall was free and clear and Blue was relieved but not surprised to see that the silver whips were still there. As cool as they were, people still feared them. One had to be sure of their own abilities to wield them with precision and not hurt themselves. She could understand why they scared pretty much every newbie. But not Blue. She snagged them from the wall, gripping their leather handles and getting a feel for their individual weights. They felt right in her hands—familiar. She’d used whips before; her father had taught her how at the age of seven. They were smaller, enough to fit her tiny frame, but the mechanics had been the same.
“You sure you can handle those things, Blue Jay?” Dresden sneered and she startled at his use of her nickname.
“What the hell did you just call me?”
“That's what they call you, right?” he asked, widening his eyes and feigning innocence.
Stepping into his space, her chest brushed his threateningly. “Have you been spying on me?” The only people who ever called her Blue Jay were her sister, who came up with the damned name, her parents when they were alive and Greg.
He smirked and she hated that it made him more handsome. She hated that he was appealing an any way because she wanted to hate the cocky bastard. “I think it's fitting, don’t you? You’re small like a little bird, and you never shut up.”
“If you ever call me that again I’ll shove that dagger so far down your throat it’ll come out your asshole, got it? You don’t know me like that.”
He shrugged, “I think I kind of like it. It's endearing, and you need all the redeeming qualities you can get at this point.” He walked past her without another word but bumped into her shoulder again as he went. She wanted to whip him. She didn’t know who the hell this guy thought he was, but she could already tell that he was going to be a problem. For some reason he seemed to have singled her out from day one and he wasn't about to quit now.
They formed a circle around Zion who held a short sword. It looked funny in his small arms and again Blue had to restrain a giggle. Surprisingly though, once he began to practice swing, he looked to be handling himself pretty well. They watched him perform a series of moves before they broke into groupings of two and three to spar. Not a single person jumped at the chance to pair up with a Graves. Except Dresden. The annoying guy just stood there, waiting for her to give in and join him on the other side of the room. His long pale hair was tied behind his head now, ready for a fight. She stood there, looking around the room vacantly until Zion caught her eyes and gestured at Dresden with his short sword. She had no choice but to spar with him.
They faced one another, him with his dagger and her with her whips. She smiled, aware that her weapons were superior, and so was she. This privileged shithead had probably been too busy counting his parent’s money and chasing girls while she was out all night slaying vamps with Harlow.
He came at her first, giving no indication as to which way he was going to move. She dodged his blade easily. Clearly he was well trained, but she was glad for it, she needed someone on her level if she wanted to get some real practice in. Coiling her whips, she flung them through the air, snapping them forward at precisely the right moment, the air cracking around them like thunder. The class stilled in that moment, watching the spectacle with awe.
Dresden lunged out of the way but her whip caught the back of his calf. He cried out in pain as the silver sliced through his tough skin. Still though, he never faltered. He came back towards her with ferocity before she could wind her whips back. As she dove out of the way, intending to duck low, he suddenly changed course, swinging his dagger at her abdomen. She jumped backwards, the blade just barely nicking her skin drawing a tiny drop of blood.
Sh
e smiled. ‘Finally, some really practice…’ Despite his pretty looks, Dresden was, in fact, a really talented fighter. His moves were fluid and graceful, but she could also feel the strength behind each strike. Together they danced around the room, the eyes of her classmates fading into the background. They were the only two Slayers for miles as far as they were concerned. She could tell that he was enjoying himself too.
Pulling back her whip, she flung it out and wrapped it around the skin of his wrist. His dark eyes widened for a moment before he used it to his advantage despite his bleeding arm. Vampires would have been rendered useless by this point. Unlike Slayers, vamps didn’t heal quickly, actually... they didn’t heal at all. They just sort of... rotted, like a zombie.
Suddenly, he had her on the ground, pushing his dagger against the soft skin of her throat. She held her breath. His eyes moved from her face and down to where his dagger pressed there, but he faltered as his gaze landed on the silvery scar that wrapped around her neck just under her chin.
She knew what Dresden was seeing. She usually hid the scar well. It was one of the many reasons why she kept her hair so long. Just behind her ear, stretching under the jawbone was a very clear indentation created by teeth. Unmistakably, vamp teeth. She watched as his body quivered above her. In fear? In anger? She couldn’t tell. His hand slipped forward and his blade sliced into her skin making her gasp in pain. His body was suddenly thrown off of her.
In seconds, Dresden was pinned to the floor by none other than Cole, the wolf man. They were a tangle of limbs and snarls, but Blue just stood there in confusion. When had he come in? Probably while she had been distracted during the fight. Still, she couldn't understand why he was attacking a student.
Dresden had gained some control back as he flipped Cole onto his back and repeatedly slammed his closed fist into his face. The rest of the class hooted and hollered encouraging words at both of them, only interested in the spectacle. Soon, Zion was parting the onlookers and preparing to step in.
