by Sofia Daniel
Chapter 2
Radu clapped his huge hands together and bellowed, “Who is responsible for these knockers?”
Nobody answered.
“I asked a question,” he snapped.
I turned my gaze in the direction of the head table, convinced that Captain Tanar had transferred control of the knockers to himself, but what did I know?
The man had told us the previous term that he controlled all the knockers in the academy and that they’d ‘told’ him all kinds of incriminating things about me, but that might have been a bluff.
Professor Proust cringed at the end of the table, wringing his hands close to his chest. “Since I was ousted from the position of headmaster, the knockers’ loyalty was shifted to Captain Tanar.”
Radu turned to Justine and gave the bald hunter an irritated look. “He is in no condition to awaken knockers.”
She placed her hands on her hips and raised her brow. “How was I supposed to know Tanar led the academy?”
Radu turned in our direction. I stiffened, and Zarah shrank into my side with a squeak. His lips tightened, and his gaze landed on Miss Margolyes. The teacher stood over the captain with her hands on her hips with a gloating smile.
“You, in the bikini,” he said.
Her smug expression dropped. “Y-yes?”
“Heal him.”
“Me?” Miss Margolyes placed a hand on her chest.
“You wouldn’t have attacked him if you weren’t his blood whore,” Radu growled. “Do your duty!”
She parted her lips, presumably to correct him, to tell him that she wasn’t his concubine but the consort of Professor Proust, but she closed her mouth, seeming to think better it.
She waved her hand over the captain’s unmoving form. “Right here?”
“For fuck’s sake,” said Justine. “Flick your clit and rub your pussy in his face. Even a twit like you should be able to manage that.”
Miss Margolyes’ lips thinned. The older woman always disliked harsh language, but she didn’t correct Justine. As she padded toward the prone captain, I shuddered and turned my head away.
This reminded me too much of the time I had to heal Raphael in front of a bunch of leering vampires but without Nero and Dante forcing me to produce frumosi nectar.
“Everybody, take your seats and eat!” Radu headed toward the head table with Renée on his heels.
While the other hunters took their seats around the dining room, the vampires and frumosi students remained in place. Even Zarah and I stood close together, not quite knowing what to do.
I gazed at the exit, heart aching for Dante, Nero, and Raphael, but I didn’t dare excuse myself for fear of attracting even more of Radu’s attention.
Radu took his place at the center of the head table, and Renée lowered herself into Miss Margolyes’ usual seat. The huge man slammed his hand on the table, knocking down the crystal and golden goblets. “Sit!”
We all rushed to the nearest tables. A thin coating of ash covered everything, and I tightened my lips. Anyone who could incinerate a bunch of vampires for not putting on a torc of unknown power was either evil, crazy, or both.
I took my seat, keeping my mind on the bigger picture. Finding the boys and getting us the hell out of this academy. This wasn’t the first time I’d been covered in vampire dust, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
“Sanguinary servants,” said Professor Proust in a shaky voice, “Please serve breakfast.”
“For the frumosi,” Radu snarled.
The professor adjusted his command, making me wonder if Radu planned on starving the vampires.
All the knockers who had dropped their trays during the short battle walked to the kitchen through the barrier of sunlight.
None of them flinched as they passed, which was either due to the fact that they weren’t vampires or their minds existed too deep in their enchantments to feel pain.
“What do you think?” Zarah’s voice broke me out of my speculations.
Pride shone in her green eyes, which appeared brighter than usual. Even her lank, blonde hair shone with a semblance of health, and a flush stained her thin cheeks.
“What happened to you when you left?” I picked up my tarnished knife and fork and rubbed off the ash on the underside of the tablecloth.
Zarah’s features twisted into a scowl. “Why didn’t you come with me?”
“That wasn’t our deal,” I replied.
“I ran to the end of the field.” She turned around in her seat and beckoned at someone. “It was freezing, but a kind man in a jeep stopped and gave me a ride to the nearest town.”
My eyes widened, and I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. “What was it called? Do you know where in Britain we are?”
“I didn’t ask, but I met—”
“What’s going on?” Kat slid into the seat next to Zarah, and Annette sat next to me.
Both girls fixed wide-eyed, curious gazes on us both, their lips trembling with excitement.
Kat placed her hand on Zarah’s burgundy leather-covered arm. “Have you two been planning this all along?”
Zarah straightened, a smile forming on her lips. “Sorry we couldn’t involve you, but the fewer people who knew of our plans, the better. The first term and a half was a hard slog, but I stuck to my plan and saved us all.”
Annette clapped a hand over her mouth, making her long, black braids jiggle.
“Things will be different now, you’ll see.” Zarah leaned forward and gave the two frumosi girls reassuring smiles.
I dipped my head and remained silent. She was twisting events to make herself looked like some kind of undercover spy.
There was no point in contradicting her. My first term at the Sanguine Academy of Vampires had taught me that keeping one’s head down and blending in was the best way to survive. This term wasn’t just about my survival. The balance of power had shifted away from the vampires, and I now needed to protect the Stryx brothers.
“Wow.” Annette twisted one of her braids around her fingers. “You are so brave.”
Kat bit down on her lip, admiration shining in her hazel eyes. “Were you in communication with the hunters from the start? Is that why you acted so pathetic when you arrived?”
Zarah nodded. “I had to get the lay of the land from the powerful vampires.”
I glanced up at the head table, where every surviving member of the faculty glowered at Zarah with narrowed eyes. Lady Mantis, who sat next to Renée, bared her teeth. I snatched my gaze away and was about to warn her about telling such outlandish lies when Radu stood and clanged a fork on his glass.
“My darling descendants,” he said in a voice as soft as a caress from cold, dead fingers. “I have longed to seek you out and bring you into the fold.”
The doors leading from the kitchens opened, and the knockers appeared with plates of poached eggs on English muffins served with blood sausage. I looked out for signs of the onion woman, but she wasn’t among them. A tall, thin knocker headed in the direction of the head table.
Radu shooed him away. “None for us.”
A knocker set plates of food in front of Annette and me. When another was about to serve Zarah her breakfast, she waved her hand, “Not for me, thanks.”
“Did you have breakfast already?” I asked.
The corner of her lips curled into a little smile. “I’m a hunter now.”
Kat’s eyes widened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Eat, eat, my darlings,” said Radu. He beckoned over a knocker holding a massive jug of sangria and took it with both hands.
As the knockers served us glasses of grapefruit juice, I cut into my blood sausage and peeked at Radu. Would he drink the sangria, or would he drink directly from a vampire’s neck?
He held the jug aloft like he was a priest giving holy communion. “Any vampire who wishes to drink will pledge his or her servitude to me.”
Professor Proust was the first to stand. The thin vamp
ire straightened his academic robes and folded his arms across his chest. “There are protocols for situations such as this, and any servitude you obtain from our kind will be invalid as it is under duress.”
Radu smirked. “That’s good enough for me. Prostrate yourselves, or you won’t eat.”
With a sigh, the professor walked down the podium steps. My brows drew together. Had his experience the last term as the least important member of staff humbled him to this extent?
In an exasperated voice, the former headmaster said, “Lord Radu, I offer you my servitude and encourage any other vampire who wishes to eat to do the same.”
Radu smiled and poured out a generous serving of sangria. He leaned across the head table and handed it to Professor Proust, who accepted it with trembling hands. The vampire drank it in several gulps and placed it back on the table.
Moments later, a few older students lined up after him and made their muttered pledges in exchange for nourishment.
I frowned into my breakfast. The vampires hadn’t made us beg for food, even when Gates and I had openly rebelled against them. But then, every meal we had eaten since being forced to join the academy had either been blood builders or blood enhancers.
While Kat, Annette, and I ate our breakfast, Zarah preened, as though her transcendence from eating human food made her somehow better than the average frumosi.
I closed my eyes and turned my third eye in her direction, but all I saw were brighter-than-average chakras about the size of her small fists. In contrast, most hunters in the room shone like beacons, the light of their chakras taking up more space than their physical bodies.
“What’s wrong with you, my dear?” Radu leaned across the table, eyeing Lady Mantis like she was a rare steak.
“I will not submit to a frumosi.” She stuck her nose in the air.
Radu gave her a wink. “We will discuss the matter in my chambers.”
Her haughty features dropped, and she pulled herself to her feet. “Very well, I will—”
“Too late.” Renée yanked her down. “You’re His Lordship’s flavor of the month.”
“I doubt my interest in her will last that long,” muttered Radu.
The eggs and blood sausage stuck to the back of my throat. It was looking like Radu was no better than Captain Tanar.
After serving out sangria to the vampires who had volunteered their servitude, Radu sat. The entire dining room went silent. “It is my understanding that the vampires brought you frumosi here under the pretext of protecting you from hunters.”
A few people nodded. I glanced at Kat, whose mother and siblings were now in a Noble House after her family had supposedly been attacked by hunters one evening and then rescued by vampires. Her face paled to the color of diluted milk.
“That was a lie,” said Radu. “Why would I, the progenitor of all frumosi, wish to murder my own descendants?”
A second-year frumosi boy sitting on the other side of the room raised his hand. “Why did the vampires lie to us?”
“Because vampires do not wish to swell our ranks.” Radu stood, his shoulders shaking with rage. He raised his huge fists, looking like he wanted to fight an invisible opponent. “They have hidden you away to train you to become whores and guard dogs!”
“So, it was true,” said Kat.
Annette wrapped an arm around her friend and pulled her to her side. “Sorry, but at least they’re alive. I can’t say the same for most of us.”
Kat hung her head, tears falling onto her empty plate. “Only because they’re of use to the vampires.”
Angry mutterings broke out among the frumosi, while the vampires sat at their tables and dipped their heads. I sipped my grapefruit juice and frowned. This wasn’t new information. Professor Proust had designed a curriculum to teach us to become vampire consorts, and Captain Tanar had upgraded us to familiars.
Part of me wondered if the appearance of someone supposedly on our side had made the frumosi feel free to express their displeasure.
“Silence,” said Radu.
When the grumbles faded to mere whispers, he continued. “Life will be different for you this term. Firstly, you will start classes during the day.”
Everybody gasped.
He raised his hands. “You have a week to adjust your body clocks. During this time, we will change your diets, so you smell less attractive to vampires.”
Radu continued, saying that from this day forward, vampires would no longer survive on watered-down pig’s blood and appetite-suppressing herbs.
I wondered how he knew so much about the diets at the Sanguine Academy then remembered that hunters had kidnapped the children of a vampire called Prunella Corsairs and forced her to steal the census information from the vampire parliament.
If they could stoop that low, they could find out anything they needed about the vampires.
I forced myself to listen to Radu’s description of the new regime, mainly because my heart ached for the Stryx brothers, and because I needed to learn everything I could to keep them safe.
There was no way in hell I would let them wear those awful collars or to demean themselves before Radu, but I needed to avoid a situation where the hunters burned them to ash for their defiance.
Radu turned to where Miss Margolyes squatted on Captain Tanar’s face. “Have you healed him?”
“N-not yet,” she said.
Justine strode over from where she stood by the doors. “Have you even tried?”
Miss Margolyes bowed her head. “He’s a beast who deserves to die.”
The female hunter threaded her hands through Miss Margolyes’ hair and raised the teacher to her feet. “Are you so selfish to put your grudges before the needs of all those knockers?”
Miss Margolyes’ jaw dropped. “I beg your pard—”
“Who else can wake them?” Justine gave the smaller woman a rough shake, making her arms fly out and flap for balance. “Or have you become so accustomed to being a vampire’s pampered whore that you’ve forgotten they’re innocent frumosi enchanted to obey your every whim?”
All the frumosi around the tables gasped. I scowled down at my knocker dress. Didn’t they see me serving Lady Mantis? Juno had gloated about it. Or had they let that gloss over their consciousness as a form of survival?
“Get to work!” Justine pushed her down on the burned and unconscious vampire. “If Captain Tanar isn’t coherent in the next ten minutes, I’ll mess up your pretty face.”
I turned back to my food and gulped. So far, things weren’t looking good for us frumosi at all.
Chapter 3
Radu excused the frumosi students, announcing that classes would start tomorrow at four. He ordered his underlings to secure all vampires—except for Lady Mantis and Captain Tanar—in their cells. Zarah told us she had to stay with the other hunters, so we left her behind.
As we walked out of the dining room, Miss Margolyes stood, but Justine shoved her back down and ordered her to finish healing Captain Tanar.
As soon as the double doors clicked shut, Kat turned to me, her eyes filled with accusation. “Why didn’t you confide in us when you first arrived? Didn’t you trust us with your plan?”
“You believed that bullshit?” I glanced down the hallway. One of these doors had to lead to where the vampires had imprisoned Dante, Nero, and Raphael.
Kat grabbed my arm. “But you infiltrated the Stryx brothers—”
“No.” I pulled myself out of her grip and continued walking down the hallway. “I made a bunch of mistakes that led to them demanding that I become their concubine.”
“Like what?”
Irritation fizzled across my skin, and I clenched my teeth. Last term, Kat didn’t have a single polite word to say to me. And when I’d needed a friend in the first term, she and Annette had left our dorm to save their own hides. There was no time for hangers-on when I had such a critical mission.
“It’s been a harrowing few days for me.” The words slipped from my mouth.
“I’ve been imprisoned by werewolves, turned into a knocker, and beaten up by a human farmer. Throughout this, I’ve had Lady Mantis threaten my life. I need a bit of time on my own.”
“So, you’re not going to tell us what’s going on?”
“The point is that I don’t know,” I snapped.
“There’s no need to be such a cow,” said Annette. “Kat’s just worried.”
“Sorry.” I blew out a long breath. “But I have bigger things to worry about than updating a pair of girls who always think the worst of me.”
Her cheeks turned red, clashing with her bright, auburn curls. “You’re such a—”
“Good night, Kat.” I pushed open the door to a stairwell that led to the basement. “I’m going to take Radu’s advice and adjust my body clock for his daytime lessons. I suggest you do the same.”
As the door to the stairwell swung shut, Kat grumbled something about me being a selfish bitch, but my days of fretting over girls who would turn around and stab me in the back were over. The Stryx brothers needed me, and I couldn’t waste any time.
The stairwell was dark, and I held onto the cool, stone walls, trying to maintain my balance. Then I remembered that this was the one that led to the dungeon where Professor Proust had given Zarah and me the option to either join the academy or become knockers.
“Lights, please?” I said.
A knocker at the bottom of the stairwell turned on a flaming torch. I hurried toward him, my heart fluttering. “Excuse me,” I asked. “Is this where they’ve imprisoned some vampire students?”
When the knocker didn’t answer, my shoulders slumped. “Alright, could you open the door, please?”
With a curt bow, the knocker pulled the door open. The light from his torch filled an empty dungeon with chains strewn on the ground. I closed my eyes and opened my third eye to see if someone had ordered the knockers to disguise the boys’ presence with magic.
Nothing.
As I turned back to the knocker to thank him, blazing, white light from a soul-star chakra appeared in my peripheral vision. My heart jumped into my throat, and I snapped my eyes open.
