Christopher bit my bottom lip, bringing me out of my thoughts. Turning, I took his face in my hands and kissed him hungrily—even hopefully. If he was my true love, this would all be over. Even as I thought that, I knew it wasn’t so. Still, that didn’t dampen my desire for him and when he pressed open my mouth and dove in with his tongue, I shuddered at the new sensation, tugging him closer.
It was my first real kiss, and if I could’ve popped a foot, I would have. As it was, I sighed, running my hands along his shoulders and down to his chest.
He groaned softly, our lips separating as he trailed kisses along my jaw to my ear.
As our hands roamed each other’s bodies, it occurred to me that I was making out with a guy I didn’t even know. Oh my gosh, what was going on with me? What about Gabe? I pushed back, searching his face, and lifted a hand to slap him. I wasn’t mad at him though. He didn’t deserve my anger. I was mostly mad at myself. “How dare you?” I asked, not really meaning it, and I jumped up, walking away, my hands clutching at my shirt. What was I doing? I dragged in a quick breath, desperate to control my jagged breathing. “I need to get out of here.”
He stood and came toward me, this time with confident determination. I saw the predator in him. Felt it too. A tangible force. “Not yet.” Taking my face in his hands, he tilted my head so he had access to my neck. Like before, I watched his fangs grow. My heart beat so fast I thought it’d come out of my chest.
When his teeth met my neck, I responded eagerly, unable to help myself. It shouldn’t feel so good, but it did. My hands ran from his fingertips up his arms, past his shoulders and into his hood. I wanted to see his face. I wanted to see him. With effort, I focused on tugging it off. A laugh rumbled deep in his chest, and then I heard his voice in my mind as he vanished from my view: Seek out your true love. You, beautiful Snow, are the key to defeating the queen.
Chapter 16
I knew I was back in the girls’ bathroom even before I opened my eyes. Someone was in the bathroom with me. There was a knock on the stall door.
“Snow, are you alright?”
It was Dorian.
I picked up my backpack, thankful he’d found me. Opening the door, I considered him. He stood with his feet apart, his arms at his sides as though waiting for battle. Concern filled his features. “I’m fine,” I answered, trying to reassure him. “What are you doing in here? You’re so not a girl.” That was true. Dorian had become quite good looking over the years. No longer a gangly teenager, but a tall man covered in lean muscle.
I pushed past him and walked to a sink, casually peering at my neck in the mirror. Newly healed scars glared back.
“I watched you come in here. After ten minutes I thought I’d better make sure you weren’t drinking the blood of some poor, unsuspecting female.” His eyes gleamed with amusement.
“Do you see anything on my neck?” I asked, slanting my neck toward him.
He shook his head. “Did… something happen again?”
“Yes. I went into the other realm. He, the hunter, was there.” I washed my hands and patted a wet paper towel over my face. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea for me to be here.”
At my words his eyes grew wide in mock terror and he circled his neck with his hands. “Thirsty? Do you vant to suck my blood?” He spoke with the lively silliness of an old-fashioned vampire from a black and white movie, but the worry in his body was evident. Palpable.
I sighed, turning and leaning my butt against the sink. “I am worried I might bite someone. Your blood pulls at my bloodlust, but not too bad,” I said so he wouldn’t be afraid.
His face fell. Dorian actually seemed sad that I didn’t want his blood. Which was a lie anyway. Of course I wanted his blood. It smelled intoxicating. “Oh,” he stepped closer, his features changing from teasing to seriousness. “If you ever do need some—blood, I mean—you’re welcome to mine.”
I gasped. “Do you even know what you’re offering?” Anger flashed. How dare he tempt me? His naiveté made me want to bite him, inflict a little pain, a little reality check. But then I wondered, would he enjoy it the way I had. There was one way to find out. Professor Pops hadn’t told me not to bite humans, and Dorian offered. I decided to give my new fangs a whirl. “Come here, then,” I said.
He gulped, and his pulse picked up speed.
“Nervous?” I asked, a smidge glad.
“A little,” he admitted, but I saw he would hold true to his word. I placed my hands on his appealing neck and pulled him down, much the same way I’d handled Christopher not too many minutes ago. Tentative at first, I touched my lips to his neck. He let out a groan. Whether it was from fear or pleasure I didn’t know, and in the next moment I didn’t care. My fangs grew, pricking his neck. And the door flung open. Dorian tucked me into his chest. “Just a minute,” he said, his voice heavy.
I quivered in fury at being interrupted, but I didn’t want anyone to see my fangs, so I took a deep breath, inhaling the delicious guy smell that was the handsome Dorian. My fangs retracted. Peeking up, I searched Dorian’s eyes. A tight smile sat on his lips. I smiled back before gazing around him at who’d so rudely interrupted.
“What the hell is going on, Snow?” Complete shock filled Cindy’s face, and I laughed.
“Hey, Cin,” I said with choked amusement. It wasn’t that I found the situation funny so much as I had all of this anxiety stored up and it was finally coming out and I couldn’t help myself.
Dorian recovered and swung around. “I was making sure she was okay. Our Snow needed a hug, that’s all.” He regarded me. “You’re good, right?”
“Yes, thank you, Dorian.” I closed my lips, trying to hold in the laughter, but that didn’t help. My conscience gnawed with guilt. I’d kissed Christopher and nearly drank Dorian’s blood. But I liked Gabe. I was changing in more ways than one and it was happening so fast.
Dorian escaped the bathroom without a backward glance.
Cindy huffed and stomped her foot. “What’s gotten into you?” She walked to the mirror and checked her reflection.
I faced her, my image taller. “Oh, Cin. It’s a long, crazy story.”
She gave me the eye, the one that questioned my motives, the one that got right to the center of me. “I want to hear all about it. First, Mr. Wallace wanted me to tell you you’re supposed to go to the office for a tardy slip. He said you’re not allowed in class without it. I’ve got to get back.” She ran her hands through her ponytail. “Chace seemed concerned. He even took off after you did. For a minute there I thought you were in his arms.” She let out a sigh. “See you in a few. Au revoir,” she added as the door closed behind her.
I straightened my shirt and picked up my backpack. Cindy’s strong perfume lingered, and it dawned on me. Cindy’s blood hadn’t inspired even a little bit of hunger. “Huh.”
In the office I called Professor Pops and explained briefly what’d happened—the way my fangs grew and how I’d gone to the other realm where the hunter, Christopher, bit me again. I left out Dorian offering himself. The confession would be pointless, and I didn’t want what he’d done getting back to Gabe or the other brothers.
Professor Pops spoke with the school’s secretary, excusing me from the rest of my classes for the day.
He picked me up in front of the school, his distinguished face lined with worry. In the cup holder between the seats sat a carafe.
“Bloodlust tea?” I guessed as I buckled my seatbelt.
“Drink up. I made a double dose in the hopes that will help.” He eyed me warily.
I took a sip and grimaced. It was strong, but I finished it all. When I placed the empty container back in the holder, Professor Pops nodded his approval.
“I know all about your hunter, Christopher. He is very good at what he does. I’m sorry I must say this, but at this point, propriety be damned.” He gave me a quick look, probably to determine my level of shame.
“What is it?”
“He’s skilled in the a
rt of seduction. I also know he has an unlimited lust for power. He wants to be the vampire queen’s second.”
Hearing his words, I became angry. Well, more like hurt. I guess I wanted to believe Christopher reacted to me the way he did not because it was his job, but because he felt something for me. I groaned. I would not be that girl!
We rode in silence all the way to his mansion. Professor Pops pulled into the driveway, parked and we got out. After I followed him into the house and sat at a barstool in the kitchen, he gave me a sad smile. “Your revenant abilities are developing far faster than most, and I think I know why.” As he spoke, he peeled a banana and tossed it into a blender. Then he pulled some almond milk from the refrigerator and some ice from the freezer, adding them to the blender as well. Finally, he added some sugar and a dash of vanilla. He turned it on, the noise drowning out everything running through my head. Several seconds later, he turned the blender off and poured the smoothie into a tall glass.
“Here you go,” he said, handing it to me.
“Thank you.” I sipped, wishing for something else. He handed me a napkin. After I wiped my mouth, I asked the simplest question. “Why?”
He took a deep breath. “First, answer this question. Did you crave Cindy’s blood? Or another female’s blood at any time this morning?”
I thought a moment. “No, I didn’t.”
Professor Pops blew out a breath. “Your best friends are seven boys, young men who are desirable and who find you desirable.”
At those words I blushed. “Nu-uh,” I said.
He patted my hand. “You may try to hide it, Snow, but you are very, very beautiful. Truly one of the fairest in the land,” he added, his features softening.
My face felt like it was on fire. “What does that, or the fact that my best friends are guys, have to do with anything?”
He waited until I got it. “Not every teenage girl is in a situation like yours—seven young men vying for her attention.”
“We’re just friends though. And they’re not ‘vying.’” That was ridiculous. I took another drink, thankful I had something to do.
“You may not have noticed it yet, but I believe every one of them would gladly be your boyfriend if you allowed him. I’ve seen the way you and Gabe act around each other. There’s something going on with you two.”
I stared into the drink. “I wanted something between us but, ever since I was bitten, and with the note this morning, he’s been different.” I took another gulp, worried about whether I should mention what Christopher said, but I couldn’t bring myself to blurt it out.
Professor Pops sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. It seemed he’d aged a hundred years in the past few days. “I think it’s time I tell you about the Seven Magics Academy.”
I fiddled with the glass, unable to meet his gaze. I’d never heard of such a place and I didn’t know whether I wanted to.
“I’ve been training the boys since I adopted them,” he went on. “Gabe, though he’s younger than most of them, was actually my first student.”
I nodded, remembering the day I rode my new bike along Professor Pops’ circular driveway and fell off. Before I could start to cry, Gabe ran out, all legs and arms and thick curly hair, and helped me up. “You’ll be okay,” he’d said, brushing off my knees. “Shake it off.”
“The academy is a place for them to learn about the supernatural, train, and gain strength. They’ve been learning—though they didn’t know it at first—how to help, hunt and kill supernatural creatures of all kinds in case any of them came after my boys or more specifically, you.”
I lifted my glass to take a drink and stiffened. “Why would anything else be after me?”
Professor Pops came around and stuck out his hand. “Come with me. I need to show you something.”
I set down the glass and rose, hesitantly placing my hand in his. “What?” I asked, my nervousness easy to hear.
“You’ll see. Consider this your Seven Magics Academy induction ceremony.”
I snorted. “Can’t wait.”
He led me down the stairs to another door, which he unlocked.
Apprehension fluttered along my belly. “So, I’m going to take classes on staking vampires?”
“Afraid not, Snow.” As he tucked the key to the basement door back inside his shirt, I realized in all the years I’d known Professor Pops and the guys, I’d been over to their house a lot, but never once had I thought about going into the basement. Never once had I been below the main floor. Had that been because of a spell? Was it magic?
Once he had the door open, he glanced at me. “Come,” he said, going in.
I hesitated. It was dark and smelled muggy, like dirt and wet cement.
“You’ll be fine.” He flipped on a light.
I went in cautiously and immediately wished I hadn’t. My legs turned to jelly, and my first instinct was to bolt back up the stairs.
Chapter 17
“Snow, it’s okay. Think about the Harvard Museum of Natural History. They have skeletons and animals stuffed to make them look real and alive. The same applies here. Think of this as a museum for the supernatural.” He’d rushed over and seized my arm, helping me stand. What I really wanted was to take a Brillo pad to my brain. As much as I wanted to run away, I wanted to move in for a closer look even more. Sort of like when you see a car accident on the road. You feel revolted and drawn to it at the same time.
The room reminded me of a gallery, with so much to see I wasn’t sure where to begin. Scanning the room, I went from one fairytale beast to another. “Why? What? How did you get these down here?”
He chuckled. “It was easy. I’m a professor of religion at Harvard. I’m always studying strange phenomena. Or miracles, if you’d prefer. To the rest of the world, these creatures are miracles.”
“Makes sense,” I said, moving toward a creature that looked like a tiny angel, its feathery white wings pinned open to a corkboard. Its skin sparkled like glitter, and it wore a white tunic and white sandals that laced up its very human-looking legs. Its hair was long and blonde with streaks of red.
“A downy fairy,” Professor Pops said, coming over and bending so that his face was even with mine. “She died more than five hundred years ago. I haven’t seen another like her.”
I searched his face, having noted the sadness in his voice. “If you haven’t seen another like her, how do you know she’s a downy fairy?”
“Very perceptive you are, young one.”
I snickered at the Yoda impersonation.
“She died in the service of our cause. I was there when it happened.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Professor Pops.” And I was. She was beautiful and I felt her loss deep within though I didn’t understand why.
“It’s alright. I’ve had many years to mourn her loss. She was a good friend, a valiant warrior, and she died for what she believed in. It was honorable.”
“How did she die?” I asked, intrigued.
“That is a story for another time,” he said, straightening. Underneath the platform where the corkboard rested was a drawer. Professor Pops touched a knob and the latch released. Inside was a leather-bound book. He reached in and pulled it out. In the center of the room stood a thick, plastic-looking pedestal. Professor Pops walked over and set the book on it, then he waved me over. When I stood in front of the book, the first page turned on its own. “First lesson of the Seven Magics Academy. You must never touch any of the pages in the books in here. Touching them will increase their speed of deterioration.”
“Then how?” I began, putting my hands at my sides.
“Chapter one,” Professor Pops said. The book instantly flicked to the page that said Chapter One. “Page one hundred thirty-six,” he said again. Immediately, the pages flipped until they reached said page.
“Wow,” I uttered.
“Exactly. Inside this book is everything you’ll ever want to know about fairies, including the downy fairy.” He motioned around the
room. “Under or beside each creature is a book that will teach you what you need to know about them, including how to help them, hunt them, and kill them.”
I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my body. I didn’t want to kill anything. “But some creatures are good, right?” I asked, nervous.
“Every creature can be good or evil. Just like with humans, they have their freedom to choose.”
“Got it.” But it was creepy. At least a dozen make-believe creatures were enclosed in glass, on pedestals, or standing around the room. There was something called a locanis that looked like a werewolf, a little sprite, a large troll, a black unicorn, and an enormous dragon. All of them were intriguing, and I wanted to study each one. Most compelling was a very human looking guy with glowing red eyes. “A hunter,” I said, enthralled.
“That’s right,” Professor Pops agreed, placing the leather book back in the drawer under the downy fairy. “Follow me,” he said, moving to another door and unlocking it. He went inside. It was small compared to the room we’d come from and filled with weapons. Professor Pops walked over to a pointy wooden stake. “You mentioned staking a vampire.” He picked the stick up and handed it to me. It was heavier than I imagined it should be.
“Yes. Just jab it in the heart, right?” I held it so the pointy end faced him and raised it above my head.
Professor Pops chortled. “These work if you have the element of surprise, or if you’re skilled at hand to hand combat. But, tell me, could you stake Christopher?” His face was serious.
Blood and Snow: Snow White Reimagined with Vampires and Magic (Seven Magics Academy Book 1) Page 7
