“Right.”
“Hurry and get ready. Pops made breakfast.”
I nodded and closed the door after he was gone.
In the bathroom I searched my reflection for changes. Opened my mouth and checked my teeth for needle-sharp fangs. Flexed my muscles. They looked the same. “You’re still you,” I said, pulling off my shirt and turning on the hot water.
After my shower I dressed rapidly. Gabe had picked out a pink shirt with GO GREEN across the chest. I liked it. I liked the jeans too. They were fitted and sat low on my hips. What I had issues with were the cotton hot pink bra and undies. For one thing, they fit perfectly. Not that I had a lot going on up top. I was a good solid B cup. How would they know, though? Also, the undies were my style, except for the color. I usually wore white underneath everything. “Do I want to know?” I asked my reflection. No, I definitely did not want to know. Some things were better left unsaid.
After sliding on a pair of socks and a new pair of Converse, I brushed my hair and gathered my dirty clothes. From the back pocket of my jeans a piece of paper sailed to the floor. I bent and picked it up. “What’s this?” I unfolded the paper and read.
Dearest Snow,
You have been bitten by your hunter and are now a revenant.
Congratulations!
The strong survive, and only one will have the pleasure of becoming my new host.
Now is the time to play. Build up your strength. Enjoy all your new body has to offer. Find your true love. Get your fill of him physically, emotionally, spiritually, and then kill him. You must do so by your eighteenth birthday. I believe in you, Snow. You are passionate, and that is why I’ve marked you.
The sooner the better.
Yours,
The vampire queen
My hands shook. The letter had been written by her, in—I sniffed the red ink and knew instantly—blood. Dread surged through me. She could be anywhere, yet I knew nothing about her, not even what she looked like.
Quickly I went downstairs, the letter still clutched in my hand. The aroma of toasted bread greeted me, and I hurried into the kitchen. The guys were in varying degrees of feeding their faces, but when I walked in they all froze. I ran a hand through my still-wet hair.
“What’s wrong?” Gabe came over immediately. I held out the note.
“Please say you guys played a trick on me.” I tried to laugh, holding out the paper.
Gabe took it and read it. I watched the color drain from his face.
Professor Pops came over. From his shirt pocket he pulled his wire-framed glasses. Gabe handed him the letter. After reading, he set it on the counter, replaced his glasses in his pocket, and wiped a hand over his face.
“Do all the marked receive a note from her after they’ve been bitten?”
His face looked bleak. “In past centuries, I’ve heard that more than one of the marked have received something similar. I must speak with Kenmei and the others.”
The brothers circulated the paper. Had I not been panicked to the point of passing out, I might’ve laughed. “How many others are there? And are you all drone vampires who’ve left the queen’s… hive?” I asked, focusing on Professor Pops’ navy button down shirt.
“There are several, though none are as old as Kenmei and I. Not all of us are hunters. Some are workers. Some are supernatural creatures, born of the seven magics, that know of the queen. All of us have pledged to destroy the her.”
I tucked my hands in my back pockets and started pacing. “Can you, though? She’s been alive thousands of years. You’ve been fighting against her for, like, forever. What hope is there that you can accomplish this? I mean, really?” I felt bad for stating it so bluntly, but facts were facts. Might as well get them into the open.
“You’re right, of course. The task seems bleak, but we believe we’ve figured out a way.”
“How do you plan to stop her?” Gabe asked, moving farther from me. I guessed he was rethinking his crush on me. The whole “kill him” line in the note was pretty disturbing, and then there was my dream. Gabe hadn’t been with his brothers. Was he my true love? At the thought, my heart beat faster. The blood had tasted better than anything I could imagine. My knees quaked, weak.
“Yes, how do you plan to stop her?” I repeated, forcing back the thoughts I’d been entertaining of tasting Gabe’s blood.
Professor Pops regarded me. “You must receive true love’s first kiss.”
Gabe perked up. And my face got hot.
“So my true love’s heart will turn me into a vampire, and true love’s kiss will what?” I cleared my throat.
“His kiss will free you, and you will once again become completely human,” Professor Pops looked triumphant.
I wasn’t convinced.
“Awesome,” Daniel shouted. He was usually so quiet, we were all stunned and turned to gawk at him. “Well, it is.”
“Why don’t you eat something, Snow? The waffles are vegan.” Professor Pops seemed distracted, plucking his reading glasses from his pocket and rereading the letter.
I grabbed a waffle and took a bite. It tasted like paper. I knew what I wanted—blood. But that was out of the question. Angry, I shoved the rest of the waffle in my mouth and chewed.
The brothers watched me. I was too upset to be embarrassed and if they had a problem with that, they could suck it. “What? We’ve got to get to school.” I asked, after chewing and swallowing all of my food.
“Should she be going to school?” Heathcliff asked, his words hesitant.
“Yes, yes. Go to school. Keep an eye on her.” Professor Pops waved in my direction. “After school, go to track practice and then come here. I need to get your input on some birthday plans.” He glanced at me over his glasses, an incomprehensible look in his eyes and I was shocked. It was like he wasn’t even worried about the fact that I was changing—and craving blood.
“If you’re sure.” I rinsed my plate in the sink.
“I am. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to make a few calls.” He walked out of the kitchen without a backward glance.
“Birthday plans?” Dorian asked.
I shrugged again, beyond confused by the way Professor Pops was acting. “Professor Pops wants to throw me a birthday party here.” How could he still be considering my silly birthday? Did he expect me to go on with my life like nothing happened?
“Whoa, your letter has Pops worked into quite a tizzy,” Salvatore said, sliding up to me. He grinned, and I guessed he wasn’t afraid. In fact, he wanted to kiss me. It was weird that I could tell. It was pretty obvious though. His focus rested on my lips. He licked his, moistening them. “In fact, I think this will be fun.” He placed his hands on my arms a little uneasily.
“What are you doing, Salvatore?” I asked, snickering. This close, it was like I could taste his aftershave, the sweet syrup on his breath, and the fabric softener on his clothes. I didn’t want a kiss, but to sample his blood… I shuddered at where my mind headed. Ugh.
“Well, if true love’s kiss will turn you back into a human, I say it’s our duty, no, our responsibility as your friends, to kiss you.” Salvatore smiled, leaning in so the scent of his blood overwhelmed me.
Gabe shoved Salvatore. “Get away from her!” He breathed heavily.
Salvatore waved. “I’ll catch you later, Snow.”
I laughed. At least he joked with me. Gabe was just being over protective and growly.
Gabe headed toward the garage. “I’ll drive Snow.”
I regarded the guys. “Guess I’m getting a ride with Gabe.”
They chuckled and each patted or slugged my shoulders or ruffled my hair. Absently I noticed each of them had a distinguishing scent, and it wasn’t their cologne. It was their blood.
“See you at school,” Dorian said.
“Right, see ya.” I hurried after Gabe, doubting school was a good idea.
Chapter 14
On the way to my locker, Gabe stopped and took hold of my arm. “I’ve g
ot to get to class. See you at lunch.” He squeezed my hand and I squeezed back. A gnawing nervousness swelled as I watched him walk away. I was nervous about being without him.
My first class was chemistry and I was totally unprepared for the quiz on matter. I also had an assignment due in Algebra II and verbs that needed conjugating for Spanish. While I emptied my books into my locker, I made a mental promise to talk to my teachers about extra credit or a way to make up the work.
“Bonjour, Snow. Where have you been?” Cindy asked, using the French word for hello despite the ring of agitated irritation I detected in her words.
“Hey, Cin. Your French is coming along nicely,” I returned, wondering if she’d discern anything different about me. Closing my locker, I turned to face her annoyance, which I knew I deserved. She’d said she’d call me on Sunday when she got back from the Cape, but I hadn’t been home. When I’d picked up my backpack from home this morning, I noticed several messages flashing on our dinosaur of an answering machine. I gathered they were from her but I hadn’t listened to them.
“Sorry. I—” I paused. Did I tell her? Professor Pops hadn’t said I should keep what happened to me a secret. But seriously, if I did, she’d probably think I’d gone batty. “I spent the weekend over at Professor Pops’ with the guys.” I closed my locker and moved toward my first class.
“Lucky,” she pouted. “I went to a party with my parents. Totally lame.” I watched her roll her eyes. “But one kind of weird thing happened. I’ll have to tell you about it later.”
“Can’t wait.”
She looked gorgeous as ever. Dark jeans, a sky blue cashmere sweater, strappy black wedge heels that made her almost as tall as me and showed off her perfectly french pedicured toenails. Her hair had been pulled into a high ponytail and bobbed when she walked.
I smelled chemistry class way before we reached it, a combination of vinegar, sulfur, sugar, and sweat. The odor was strong and stung my nose. That, along with the hundreds of thunderous heartbeats and the scent of so much blood, might be the spark that caused me to sink my revenant teeth into someone. I just knew it. I clenched my free hand into a fist, only half listening to Cin talk about the drama from the party over the weekend and the random guy she’d hooked up with.
When we entered class, Cindy took a seat. We shared a table second row from the front and next to the wall full of windows. After dropping my backpack on the floor near my seat I propped a window open and dragged in a long cleansing breath.
“Snow, what are you doing?” she asked.
“Needed some fresh air is all,” I said, sitting on the stool next to her.
Unzipping my bag, I pulled out my notes, hoping I could do a quick review before Mr. Wallace passed out the quiz.
“It’s cold. You should—” Cindy stopped, and her knee pressed into my thigh. “New guy,” she hissed.
“Really? He wasn’t here on Fri—” I lifted my eyes just as he stopped in front of me.
“Hey, Snow. Is this seat taken?” He pointed to the chair in front of us, which was empty and had remained empty since Bobby Melville got sent to the principal’s office for burning his partner, Sammy Snells, with acid and ended up expelled.
I shook my head. “Hey, Charming. No. Go ahead.”
“Cool.” He sat and inclined his chin toward Cindy. “Hi, Cindy. Did you have fun at the Cape?”
I heard her swallow before answering and was surprised. It shocked me to think of Cindy as nervous. I thought she said she wasn’t interested.
“Oh, yeah. It was a blast,” she answered, twisting her ponytail around her fingers.
A light breeze blew in from the window. Thankful, I pulled in another large breath of air, and froze. My teeth, the ones Kenmei and Professor Pops said I wouldn’t need to worry about for a couple of weeks, extended into fangs and pricked the inside of my mouth. Electric butterflies danced in my stomach and my body yearned for blood—Chace’s blood. I felt my eyes grow wide in terror.
“Snow?” Chace rolled his seat over, touching my arm. “Is everything alright?” He appeared concerned, as did Cindy.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, eyeing me with a look that said, please don’t embarrass me.
“I’ve got to go.” I grabbed my backpack and dashed from the room. Knocking into Mr. Wallace in the hall and mumbling a quick, “Sorry,” I ran.
Thankfully, it was mostly empty. Only a few stray students rushed by, the same as me. I dashed into the nearest girls’ bathroom, locked myself in a stall, and dropped my bag. With a ragged sigh, I leaned my forehead against the door. Tears leaked onto my cheeks. I closed my eyes, letting them fall.
Chapter 15
“Snow.” My name seemed to be threaded on the air.
Opening my eyes, I witnessed what my body had already confirmed. I was no longer in the bathroom, but in a lush forest. The sun shone bright, and I knew I’d entered another realm and that I’d been brought here because of the vampire queen’s magic.
Would I meet her this time? There was so much I didn’t comprehend. I slowly turned in a circle, taking in my surroundings, and noticed I wasn’t wearing my jeans and tee shirt any longer, but a deep red cotton dress. The sleeves were short and lined in black ribbing, as was the round, scooped collar, and the dress’s hem went to my knees. My feet were bare.
It surprised me that I wasn’t afraid. I was bitten in this realm. The hunter took my blood and turned me into a revenant, so fear should’ve been what I felt. “Hello,” I murmured, carefully stepping over a boulder, moving in the direction of a babbling brook. As I walked, I sensed a presence: The hunter’s. That knowledge didn’t frighten me either. Instead, an excited anticipation filled my stomach with butterflies. I bit my lip. “Where are you?”
The scenery seemed to shimmer in the early morning light. Dew drops glistened on bright green leaves and spongy moss. The air flourished, fragrant with flowers in lavender, rose, butter yellow, and blue. They bloomed in abundance. Chipmunks, rabbits, and deer examined me. Their ears perked and their noses wiggled, sniffing for danger.
“It’s been too long since I’ve savored you.” Each of his words came out laced with longing and sent jolts of longing through my veins.
“Let me see you.” I remembered the way I’d felt when he drank from me and I trembled at the possibility of another round.
He stepped from behind a large tree. A thick brown hood shaded his face, so all I saw were his glowing red eyes. He wore a brown leather vest that enhanced his broad shoulders, rippling biceps, and trim waist. His pants were made of cloth and hung low on his hips, a leather belt keeping them secured. A large knife sat in a sheath and was attached to his belt. Dark brown boots covered his feet.
At the sight of him my body tensed: not in fear but desire. I wanted his arms around me. I wanted his lips on my neck, his mouth drinking… “What is your name, hunter?” I asked, my voice shaking with need.
“Here I am called Christopher,” he replied gruffly. He stepped away from the tree and into the sunlight. I still couldn’t see his face.
“If you’re a vampire, why doesn’t the sun burn you?” I asked, curious. My hunger for his blood seared so strong, it took every ounce of effort I possessed not to attack him.
“The queen’s magic is very powerful. I have no fear of the sun.” Another step.
I moved toward him, our steps like a dance, a deadly dance, one I didn’t want to win. If I reached out my hands, I would’ve touched him, but I didn’t. He smelled earthy, like clover and honey.
“Are you going to bite me again?” The words left my mouth and I instantly knew I wanted him to.
“I will if that is what you desire.” He sounded so calm, but his heart raced. Another step. Our bodies practically touched, but we kept our hands to our sides.
“If you’re a vampire, why does your heart beat?” I asked, startled.
“More of the queen’s magic,” he replied, his words like a soft gust against my face.
“Can I bite
you?” I’d blurted the question before my brain had time to filter it. That was my deepest desire though. The need pounded through my veins.
At my request, he raised his head, exposing the flesh at his neck. I licked my lips, squinting to see his face. Still, all I saw were his eyes, and they appeared surprised. “Yes,” he said, in a voice that quivered.
I slipped my hands into his hood, caressing his neck. His pulse quickened. In one movement, he lifted me and we were eye to eye. This whole business of biting and being bitten was new to me, but I was eager to learn and leaned in, desperate to taste him.
“Wait,” he said huskily.
But I didn’t want to. I opened my mouth, allowing my fangs to extend as he walked backward until his back pressed against a tree, then he slid down so he rested at its base. I readjusted my body sideways as I sat in his lap. His red eyes glowed with desire and he slanted his neck toward me. My hands were still on him and he was so warm, his skin soft, like the supple leather vest he wore. “Christopher.” I said his name so I wouldn’t say what I was really thinking, which was that I wanted to be drinking from him now.
His hands made their way into my hair, his body asking, the way mine had the other night. But he paused. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
His question brought me up short. “Is that bad?” In that moment, I didn’t care. If it was bad, then I wanted to be bad. His blood called to me like a siren’s song.
“No.” He sounded pained.
My fangs retracted some. “Why can’t I see your face? Do I know you?” He sounded familiar.
“If you drink from me, I can show myself; otherwise the queen’s magic won’t allow it.” I caught the tone, the pleading. Physically he desired me, but there was a hesitation, almost an insistence that I resist.
I wavered and my fangs retreated some more.
Instead of answering, he sucked in a breath before pulling me to him, his lips claiming mine with a hunger similar to what I was feeling. As one, our lips moved together. Like we were two halves of the same whole. It made sense. He was a vampire and I was… changing. Never once did I consider him my true love. I didn’t know him. What I craved was purely physical. But I had a moment’s pause. Even if I didn’t know it yet, could he be my true love? Could kissing him remove the curse or whatever that had settled on me when he marked me? Did I have a say or was my true love already embedded in my DNA?
Blood and Snow: Snow White Reimagined with Vampires and Magic (Seven Magics Academy Book 1) Page 6
