by KC Kingmaker
The girl watched with her arms outstretched, controlling the shadow, as Sunny pushed himself over me, his body too close, the heat emanating off him in waves. He gave me a cruel grin and seemed lost in some sort of throe. There was no humanity behind his red eyes.
“Do it, babe!” Genevieve urged in a thick voice.
I felt Sunny’s arousal brush over the top of my thigh and I whimpered. His piney fir tree scent washed into my nose and I squirmed under him.
Besides the prominent bulge between his legs, he hadn’t actually touched me yet. He hovered over me, our mouths mere inches apart, watching as I squirmed and struggled to break free. He relished the fear on my face—the tears at the corners of my eyes. He inhaled and swallowed my scent with a groan.
Then he bent down and sank his teeth into my neck.
I screamed. “N-No!”
A suction formed as his fangs dug into my pale flesh. A sensation like a whirlpool sucked out my energy, vacuuming my essence. Feverish warmth flooded through me as Sunny took what he wanted and feasted on my blood without remorse or cause.
I groaned and tried to fight it, but it was useless. The shadows kept me at bay. I quickly grew weaker, and yet, I also felt something else.
It was hard to believe. The longer he fed on me, the warmer and tinglier I felt . . . and that tingly feeling coursed down to my stomach and pelvis. My center grew wet and I crushed my thighs together, trying to stave off the growing arousal inside me.
I panted and blinked rapidly, seeing a blur of Genevieve over Sunny’s shoulder, a wicked smile on her face.
Then Sunny pulled back and his fangs left my skin. He ran the pad of his thumb over the small wound and stood. His veins looked engorged. His muscles somehow looked bigger, more stacked. “Ahh, that’s the stuff,” he said, licking his crimson lips.
Even the sight of him licking his lips was erotic to me. I didn’t trust myself to say anything. I felt violated and used and . . . Why did it feel good?
“Leave her be for now,” Sunny said. He flicked a hand at me and headed for the door.
Genevieve pouted. “Aw, why do you get to have all the fun?”
Darkness hemmed the edges of my vision. I felt weak after Sunny drained me. My arousal slowly dissipated, but I couldn’t deny the dampness between the apex of my thighs.
I felt disgusting. My body had betrayed me.
“Because I’m the alpha, Vivi. And because I say so. Get it?” Sunny’s voice was dark and dominant.
Genevieve bowed her head. “Yes daddy. I get it. I’m sorry to question—”
“Goodnight, Vivi.”
When Sunny was halfway out the door, he paused. My heart stuttered in my chest, worried he was preparing to come back for more, or to do something even worse.
“Actually, I think I’ll take you with me,” he said.
Genevieve’s face lit up. “Really? Okay, let me just grab my—”
“Just get the fuck over here.”
Together, the duo left the room, leaving me sitting there alone, exhausted and shell-shocked. “Fucking bastard.” My lips felt numb, anger fuming just below the surface.
I wouldn’t let what Sunny had done define me or ruin me at Shadowblade Academy. Everyone wanted to see me fail? I’d show them. I fucked up when I taunted those assholes. I can’t do that until I know I can defend myself.
I felt somewhat lucky it hadn’t been worse.
And I was finally alone. Alone to rest.
As I started to drift off, my mind ran wild. I couldn’t help but wonder if Sunny had taken Genevieve with him just for that reason: to let me rest. Maybe he doesn’t trust her to let me sleep in peace? Or maybe he doesn’t even realize he inadvertently helped me. Whichever way you sliced it, he had removed the threat.
Who am I kidding? I rolled onto my side and curled into a fetal position. Sunny Conway is just as much of a threat as that callous bitch in heat.
Chapter 10
Coralia
I AWOKE WITH A JOLT, feeling a weight on my side, and immediately glanced over my shoulder.
There was no devious presence behind me, waiting to hold me hostage or violate me with shadows. Only Bruce Kittenson, perched on my shoulder like a vigilant watchman, facing the door. I wondered if he’d been like that all night.
I rolled out of my fetal position with a groan. Bruce hopped off me before padding onto my belly. I hugged him. “Good boy, Bruce. You really know how to protect a lady, don’t you? I’m surprised you aren’t getting it on with every kitty in a ten-mile radius.” I kissed the top of his furry head and he purred, rubbing up against my chin. “Don’t worry, I won’t let that mean bitch near you.”
At that thought, my body froze. I sat up, inching to the wall against my cot, scanning the room.
No sign of Genevieve, I thought with a heavy sigh. Thank God. I rolled my shoulders and tried to ease out the aches.
I wondered where she was. Maybe she stayed with Sunny? Good riddance to them both. Before I could reminisce anymore about the trials of the prior evening, I heard a commotion outside, coming in through the single window in the room.
I got up and peeked out. It was a beautiful morning in . . . wherever we were. A crisp, sunny day with clear skies. Students moseyed on the campus below my third-story lookout, walking out of the women’s dorm and the men’s dorm across the way.
With the morning came a new perspective of Shadowblade Academy. Gone was the eerie silence and murky lamplight of the night before. The campus no longer looked like a gothic horror movie, but rather a standard university where young adults went to broaden their lives.
The center park I’d walked by the night before was a gorgeous green meadow with willow trees and benches and ponds. Students walked in groups, talking and chatting. Most of them had backpacks on. The snaking stone walkways through the middle of campus were filled with happy-looking people. Not the dreary crustpunks or emo shoegazers I’d expected.
“Well, it makes sense I guess,” I said to Bruce. “It is the first day of school and every—” I cut myself off, eyes widening. Bruce’s eyes grew bigger too as he watched my transformation.
“Shit! It’s the first day of school!”
I lunged past Bruce and dug into the bag of goodies that had been left at the foot of my bed, tossing articles of clothing around like a madman. “Why did you let me sleep so long, Brucey?!”
Finally finding the school uniform, I didn’t bother to look at it because I was in such a rush. Anything will do for now!
I jetted out of the room and found the community showers down the hall. After a quick scrub, I wrapped a towel around me, thudded down the hallway back to my room, and dragged on my school-provided clothes. I managed to get ready in fifteen minutes flat—I had never been much of a dawdler—and took a look at myself once I was adorned in the Academy garb.
Luckily, they had gotten my size right. For the most part. I wasn’t the skinniest tree in the forest, but I made up for it by having a trunk that most women envied, and curves that were like Brucey’s catnip to men like Brad and Mr. Worst-Pickup-Line-Ever.
Basically, I was cursed with a fat ass and heavy bust. I say cursed only because I didn’t seek the attention that usually came with said attributes. My assets were also why Bruce Kittenson treated me like a pillow, always nuzzling up on my squishiness.
The Academy uniform accentuated those physical aspects. A black-and-red checkered skirt went down to my knees, flaring up around my butt, leaving the lower two-thirds of my pasty legs bare. A form-hugging top left little to the imagination when it curved around my breasts. Directly over my left boob was a slightly stretched symbol of the Academy: a white mime mask with a black dagger stabbed through one of the eyeholes.
Ominous.
I twirled and checked out my profile in the standup mirror on Genevieve’s side of the room. Clicking my tongue, I mumbled, “Shit, Bruce, my whole ass is almost hanging out of this freaking dress. These kids are gonna get a show.”
There wasn
’t much I could do about it. “At least the checkered print on the skirt matches my hair.” I ran a hand through my crimson-streaked hair and fluffed it over my shoulders a bit. I’d always been fond of dark colors, so I wasn’t too displeased with the overall affect I was rocking.
Stretching my arms out wide, I faced Bruce. “How do I look, buddy?”
He purred.
I smiled. “Thanks. I think so too.”
With that, I spun to the door and let myself out.
Halfway through the door, a final meow caught my ears and my heart sank. I turned and saw Bruce had scurried up to my feet, and he was looking up at me with those forlorn, brilliant yellow eyes. It was adorable and pitiful at the same time.
“Aw, shit. You’re right. After what Genevieve tried to pull last night? I can’t leave you here alone. Come on, bubba, cruise with me. Just stay quiet, okay?”
I didn’t know the campus’ cat policy. I figured I was about to find out. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if Genevieve came back to the room before me and did something horrible to my little old cat-man.
For now, wherever I go, Bruce goes. That’s final.
We hurried down the hall and the stairs leading to the first floor. I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached the bottom. Maybe a little cardio and fitness regimen to fit my ass in this skirt better isn’t such a bad idea, I thought as I barreled toward the front door of the empty lobby.
The door opened before I got there and I tried to pump the brakes—
Too late. My momentum carried me into the figure that walked through the door, who happened to be a smaller young woman with bright orange hair.
I steamrolled her, and as we collided she squeaked and tumbled to the ground. A stack of books in her arms went flying in the process. By contrast, I oofed like an illiterate cavewoman and stayed upright.
My hands flew to my head. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry!”
She crawled on her hands and knees to collect her book, murmuring, “It’s okay, it’s oh—”
I helped her, gathering her books as she stood on shaky, skinny legs. Her eyes were big and blue and blinky as she stared at me in wonder. Freckles dashed her cheeks and she had the cutest button-nose I’d ever seen. She looked no more than sixteen.
“Um, are you okay?” I ran a hand through my hair in embarrassment after handing her the books.
She blinked again, the wonderment and firm attention on my face almost making me blush. Then she shook her head and said, “Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” in a small voice, brushing herself off. “I’m just a wimp. I guess I was just star-struck because I never expected someone in this school to, y’know, help me.”
I gave her a shy smile. “God, I know, right? I know how you feel.”
At the sight of my little smile, she beamed, stretching those freckles clear across her face. Somehow it made her look even younger. “I’m Charli!”
She struggled to keep all eighty-seven textbooks hugged against her chest and stretched a small hand out to me.
“Coralia,” I said, shaking her hand. “Pleased to meet you, Charli.”
“Ooh, I love that name.”
“Likewise,” I agreed. She was still shaking my hand vigorously, so I glanced down to give her the hint.
“Oh, sorry,” she squeaked, then giggled as she separated my hand from hers. “Sometimes I don’t know when to stop-puh-puh-puh . . .” She trailed off and stuttered in an exaggerated way, then her eyes turned into giant anime eyes, her mouth opening into an O big enough to stuff a whole burrito down. “Oh. My. Frick! Is that a kitty cat?! Is that your kitty cat?!”
She squealed like a hyena and dropped all her books for the second time, then bum-rushed me with her arms out.
I tried to step out of the way but she was as quick as a fox. She avoided crashing into me at the last second and went to her knees. I looked down and found her cooing at Bruce, who was shriveled up against my leg, seemingly horrified.
I let out a deep laugh and watched Bruce struggle as the girl picked up my curmudgeonly old cat and hugged him, squeaking the whole time.
“Please, help yourself. Brucey could use some more positive social interaction after what he’s seen.”
“Aren’t you the cuuuutest?!” she wailed, standing and twirling with him tightly in her grasp. “I love, love, love you!”
I couldn’t stop chuckling, seeing the petrified look on Bruce’s face. He totally didn’t know how to react, but he knew a friendly face when he saw one. Genevieve warranted raised hackles, while Charli warranted confusion and begrudging acceptance.
He meowed and she squealed even louder, until the clerk at the front desk of the lobby turned to us with a scowl.
“Sorry, sorry,” Charli said, then set Bruce on the ground. “You said his name is Bruce?”
“Bruce Kittenson. Named after the singer for Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickenson.”
“Iron Maiden?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. I was about to explain who the heavy metal band was, but she shot me devil horns and a wicked grin. “Heck yeah. Rock on.”
Her innocence and purity were contagious and lovable. I just wanted to squeeze the mysterious girl. “Hell yeah,” I replied with a more confident smile.
Charli started picking up her books for the second time. I helped again.
“Hey, you wanna be best friends?” she asked.
I blinked.
She flapped her one free hand while pressing the books close to her body, head bowed. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean like best friends, I just meant like—”
“I’d love to,” I blurted.
She froze, mouth agape, and looked up. “Really?”
“Fuck yes. You’re the nicest person I’ve met at this place. By a long shot.”
“Great!”
We stared at each other, her eyes wandering to the ground, and Bruce, every few seconds.
I nudged my chin toward her books and frowned. “I’m guessing I missed orientation?”
Her face scrunched. “Oh shoot! Orientation! No, no, you’re good. I just like to get my textbooks early before the mad rush. Overachiever and all that. I was gonna put them back in my room—I forgot a backpack—but it’s too late now. Come on, let’s roll!”
She left her books with the front desk person, then darted out of the lobby.
I hurried after the sprightly girl, pushing the door open before asking, “Where are we rolling to, Charli?”
“Grimmer Hall!” she exclaimed like an excited toddler.
I jogged behind her to keep up. “Come on, Brucey! We’re off to Grimmer Hall! Whatever the fuck that is!”
It hadn’t been a very auspicious start to my tenure at Shadowblade Academy, what with getting roughed up in an alley, poisoned in my sleep, kidnapped, thrown in a prison cell, harangued by shadow tentacles, bullied by a hater bitch, and bitten in the neck by a ferocious vampire man.
But things were starting to look up. My perspective had shifted with one simple encounter. I grinned as I waded into the sunny morning.
I’d made my first friend.
THINGS HIT A MORE SOLEMN note when we reached Grimmer Hall. The massive auditorium, if it could be called that, was more of a gothic cathedral that looked like the setting for an Edgar Allan Poe story. Raven sculptures lined the top gable, staring down at us with frightening expressions. Points twisted to the heavens, and stained-glass windows reflected sunlight.
It was an odd structure considering the plain buildings around it, making it stick out like a sore thumb. Grimmer Hall’s ancient edifice looked like it had stood for centuries, along with the medieval prison-castle where I’d been, while the rest of Shadowblade Academy appeared to be built around them more recently.
“Legend has it an Unseelie fae king built this place eons ago to lock himself away in solitude,” Charli whispered out the side of her mouth as we approached the massive building. “He wasn’t much of a people person.”
I craned my neck and shielded my eyes to take in the enormit
y of the hall. “You don’t say. And the Unseelie fae . . . they’re the, uh, evil ones, right?” I’d heard about them from Myria—the dark contrast to the Seelie fae in the mythical Fae Realm. New Orleans hipsters were big on trying to reveal the Unseelie Court.
“That’s the general consensus.” Charli’s smile grew on her freckled face. “To us, it’s just the auditorium. This is where big meetings are held, like orientation.”
I hummed. “So it’s Shadowblade Academy’s religious fixture. Its monolith.”
Charli shrugged. “I guess. Never thought of it like that.”
As I watched students funnel in through the huge, open double doors, I wondered if the Academy was more of a cult than a school for higher learning. I wasn’t sure what made me think that, other than the willingness with which everyone became involved in the school’s rules and politics. I still didn’t know what half the vernacular meant that had been spouted at me.
We entered with a crowd, getting bumped as we moved through the sea of bodies. Bruce hopped onto my shoulder so he wouldn’t get trampled. I received more than a few sneers and glares from students as we passed. I wondered if it was because they knew I didn’t fit in, or because Bruce was on my shoulder. Does my reputation precede me here? Has Sunny and Genevieve already tainted my name among the student body?
Charli snatched my hand and dragged me across the polished hallway. Together we pushed into a side door and came into the auditorium from a side entrance away from the main walkway. “Don’t worry,” she whispered, “they’ll warm up to you.”
I wasn’t so sure about that, though I appreciated her optimism. I gave her a lopsided smile and gazed around at the high ceiling of the auditorium, which had a majestically painted scene that could have been ripped directly from the Sistine Chapel. Winged demons and angels fought in a battle in the clouds, every inch of the roof meticulously detailed.
The seating arrangement was stadium style, like the Roman Coliseum, with a stage at the bottom of the giant room. Students took their seats, searched for friends, and talked in hushed voices.
