Looking to the trees, I searched for Talen, but it was well past curfew. I hoped that he listened to me and returned home before he missed curfew.
“Marianela.”
My eyes fluttered open at the sound of my name being called. It didn’t sound like Talen or Silvijn, but my ears were ringing, so it could be either of them.
Seeing a dark figure in front of me, I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me. I tried to push the man away, but my feeble attempt did nothing more than increase my weariness. I didn’t have the strength to defend myself if he wanted to hurt me.
“The sun is about to rise. You need to get back to your house.” The man shook my shoulder, but I couldn’t lift my head off the ground.
“I’m too tired.” I mumbled something that even I didn’t understand.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He pushed his hands under my back and legs to grab onto me and hoisted me into the air.
I managed to grab his shoulder so I could hold onto him. “Who are you?”
He chuckled. “I figured you wouldn’t remember me. It’s okay. I’m forgettable. My name is Haines.”
Feeling his warmth seep into my cold body, I snuggled into his shoulder. I thought back, trying to recall if I knew anyone by the name of Haines, but my brain was filled with cobwebs clouding my memories. He seemed to know me, which was odd since I hadn’t met too many people here. Smelling his blood, I knew he wasn’t a vampire, so I wasn’t sure how he could know me.
His sturdy legs moved us along at a steady pace. He didn’t seem to be struggling with my dead weight in his arms. “You’re strong.” I sounded like a child who was impressed by a simple show of strength.
He laughed. “Swinging a hammer all day will do that.”
A piece of a memory flashed across my closed eyes. Haines. I recalled a tall man standing in front of an anvil, hammering a strip of metal. “You’re the son of the chief weapons maker for the coven.”
“You remember.” He sounded surprised by my recollection.
“Your father was a talented blacksmith and a powerful witch. He impressed my father by making indestructible weapons imbued with magic. How could I forget? He made my enchanted swords and helped create my daylight cape. He had crafted the chainmail that lined the cloak and enchanted it to protect me from the sunlight. Oh, how I missed my favorite weapons.” I reached out with my other hand to cling to the edge of his blazer so I felt more secure in his grasp.
“Yes. I helped him with both projects.” I could hear the pride in his voice at being his father’s apprentice. “Too bad we don’t have your cape now. We’re cutting it close to sunrise.”
I felt him push his legs harder to make it to Vamp House in time.
“Thank you for helping me, Haines.” I was grateful that he remembered me and was willing to help me.
“I owe you, Marianela. I would help you under any circumstances. Don’t you remember that day?” His breathing increased as he started to run.
Glancing up, I could see the sky brightening and turning pink over the tops of the trees. He was right. We were dangerously close to sunrise.
Unsure whether or not we were going to make it, I looked up at him and focused on his question to distract myself from looking at the sky. Even if I didn’t make it out of the sunlight, I wanted to thank him for his kindness.
With the sky brightening, I could see the side of his face through the blurriness in my eyes. The scar across his forehead and cheek brought back the day he spoke of with amazing clarity.
“Your father came at you with a blade. I was passing through the forge, hoping to speak with him regarding a gift for my father. I heard you screaming and I ran to see what was happening. I thought you had burned yourself, instead I found your father attempting to carve you up.” I recalled how Claudis had a red-hot blade in his gloved hand. He was standing over Haines, who was bent back across an anvil. Haines was screaming for his father to stop, but his father was enraged and merciless. The blade had already cut Haines’ forehead, cheek, shoulder and upper chest. His father had raised the blade again to drive it through Haines’ heart.
Without thinking, I grabbed Claudis by the arm and threw him across the forge, knocking the knife out of his hand. He tried to get up to retrieve the blade and finish the job, but I kicked the blade away and stood between him and Haines. I could see the rage in his eyes, yet I wouldn’t move.
“Yes. My father had been angry all day. He’d received news about my brother’s death that morning and kept taking his anger out on me, which was a normal occurrence. Nothing I did could please him. I wasn’t the son he wanted working by his side, but Thaddeus wanted to be a soldier, not a blacksmith. I didn’t want to be either, yet my father forced me to work with him and hated me for it. Do you remember what you said to my father that day?” My body bounced up and down as he started sprinting, sending a fresh wave of agony through me.
Trying not to vomit, I focused on his question. What had I said? “Umm, I remember saying something about loving the son he had instead of loving the son he wanted you to be. I said that I wouldn’t allow him to harm you again.”
Panting, he smiled and nodded. “I remember it being a little more epic than that in my delirium, but yes, you stood up for me. No one had ever stopped my father from harming me until that day. I was afraid he would lash out at you but he didn’t. Thankfully, he feared your father too much, so he stood down.”
I looked over his shoulder and saw the first glimmer of light peeking over the tops of the trees. I ducked my head down against his chest. “Hurry.” I held my breath as he tightened his grip on me and pushed himself harder. He must have been exhausted, but he never slowed an inch.
A full beam of light broke through the air just as Haines reached Vamp House and ducked out of the light into the shade of the building. He ran the last few feet to the door and pulled it open with one hand.
Standing in the doorway was Nikkos.
“Cutting it close, aren’t you?” His smug face faltered when he saw how bad I looked. He raised his eyebrow to Haines, questioning whether he had hurt me or saved me.
“Haines found me on the ground. I was jumped by another student and was unable to get home.” I held his blazer in case Nikkos didn’t believe me and tried to pull me away from Haines.
Haines nodded. “She was hurt pretty bad and I knew she wouldn’t make it alone.”
Nikkos finally rolled his eyes and nodded. “Fine. Get her upstairs to bed. As long as she doesn’t have any wood shards in her, she’ll be healed enough by the time classes start. We can discuss who jumped you later. Might I ask why you are up, witch?”
Haines shrugged, still holding me with his iron grip. “I like to wake up early to see the sunrise, sir.”
Nikkos threw his hands up and waved him along, uninterested in any sentimentalities. “Whatever. Lock the door when you leave, witch.” He turned and headed down the hallway to his office.
“You can put me down, Haines. I can make it from here.” It was a huge lie, but Haines had done enough. It didn’t matter if it took me all day to climb into bed, I couldn’t ask him to carry me any further.
He smiled down at me. “He said I could take you to bed, so I plan to do so.” He winked and looked around, trying to figure out which way to go.
Too tired to argue, I motioned towards the staircase. “You’ve done enough for me already, but I admit that I can’t walk yet. Thank you, Haines.”
He stared at my face for a moment before heading towards the stairs. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t visit you after the attack. My father took me away to train me to be his successor. By the time I came back, Claudis was dead and you were gone. I never heard what happened to you.” I looked up at his pale face and wiped away a bead of sweat trickling down his scar.
“My father got worse after the death of my brother. One night he got so drunk that he came at me again. I had no choice but to kill him. Since then, I’ve been in one refor
m school after another. They want me to repent for what I did, but I can’t bring myself to do it.” He didn’t sound sad about his lack of remorse for killing his abusive father. Having seen his father’s brutality for myself, I didn’t blame him.
Reaching my dorm room, he stopped in the doorway. I put my hand on his cheek and smiled at him. “I understand why you still hate your father and I don’t blame you for that, but you need to make peace with your actions or they will forever consume you. You killed him in self-defense. I believe that all the way to my bones. You need to let go and forgive yourself for wanting to survive.”
He looked at me with such raw emotions ranging from sorrow to fear. His lower lip trembled. “I don’t know if I can.”
“I believe in you, Haines.” Rubbing his cheek, he closed his eyes and silently nodded.
“If it weren’t for you, I would have never stood up for myself. You gave me the courage to fight back. You made me want to be a survivor. When I killed my father, I worried that you would judge me. You were the only person whose opinion of me mattered. When I didn’t see you again, I feared what you would think of me if we met again. If you believe I can forgive my father and myself for what happened, then I know I can do it. Eventually.” He leaned his forehead against mine and let out a sob.
“It will be okay, Haines.” I kissed his cheek and threw my arm around him to hug him.
We stood there for a moment before he realized he was standing in front of the women’s dorm. He quietly walked into the room and laid me down on my bunk. Kissing my forehead, he pulled the covers over me. “Rest. I’ll find you tonight, sweet Marianela.”
Chapter 11
“I heard you missed curfew last night.” Silvijn’s judgmental statement was the last thing I needed after a night like last night.
Seeing him casually leaning against the wall next to my classroom with his arms crossed made me eager to punch him in his perfect lips. Really, I was more mad at myself for letting Ceyla kick the shit out me during my existential crisis. I needed to replace a lot more blood before I could completely recover.
“I almost died this morning, not that you care.” I waved my hand at him and limped into class.
He pushed himself off the wall and grabbed my arm, forcing me to face him. When I cringed from his hand on the bruises under my sleeves, his nostrils flared and his eyes grew darker. I could see his fangs elongating in his mouth. “What happened?”
I almost believed his concern for a second until I remembered him sucking on Valene’s fangs.
Pulling away, I turned my back on him. “What part of I almost died did you not understand?”
I sat down, but Silvijn shoved the student to my left out of the seat so he could continue to ask me stupid questions. He leaned into the row and scowled at me. “Tell me how you almost died, Marianela, or I will pull you from this classroom and we can be punished together.”
The thought of being tortured right now turned my stomach.
“Ceyla caught me off guard. Declan actually stopped her from killing me because I wouldn’t fight back. My leg was broken so I couldn’t make it home and the sun was about to rise. Haines found me and brought me home.” I refused to look at his murderous face. I didn’t want to fool myself into believing he would return to my side. He had made it clear that we were done and he didn’t want to be in my life anymore.
The snarl that escaped his mouth made the woman in front of him jump out of her seat, scared that she was about to be bitten. I ignored his outburst and focused on the blackboard.
“Haines? Do you mean the blacksmith’s son?” His anger subsided for a moment as he tried to process my story.
“The one and only. He killed his father, so he’s been in reform schools ever since. If not for him, I wouldn’t be here.” I didn’t want to come across as dramatic to gain his sympathy, but it was true.
“I will murder Declan and make Ceyla watch.” His hands gripped the metal desk so hard I heard it groan from the pressure it was enduring.
I snapped my head around to glare at him. “You will do no such thing. You made it clear that you don’t care about me anymore. Besides, I don’t need anyone fighting my battles. I’m a big girl and I can handle an assassin and his crazed master.”
I knew better than to believe I could defeat Declan without my enchanted swords or a bright sun in the sky, but I didn’t want Silvijn getting involved in my problems. If he wanted to be free, so be it.
Hissing, he stared at me for a long moment before he jumped out of the chair and strode to the front of the room. I wasn’t sure if this was his version of, “Gee Marianela, I’m sorry for bothering you, I’ll let you handle things” or if it meant he would hunt down Ceyla and present me her head. My general would certainly do the latter, so would my former lover, but this new emotionally detached Silvijn was harder to figure out.
I thought about following him to make sure he didn’t kill anyone but decided against it. He was free to make his own decisions. If it got him killed, it was his own fault.
Mr. Klegan walked in and started class, effectively ending my debate. I didn’t need another round with Nikkos yet.
Ignoring the boring subject matter, I thought about Silvijn’s anger. Why was he so mad? Was it a matter of pride to know that someone attacked his former leader and ex-girlfriend or did he still care about me? He had made it clear that my safety was no longer his concern. I needed to find him at lunchtime and make him promise to leave Ceyla alone before Declan decided to intervene.
I closed my eyes and thought about Haines and the way he had protected me last night. We had spoken often when I visited the forge, but he had been so timid and quiet at the time. Last night he had said more words than I’d ever heard him speak before. I wasn’t sure why he decided to tell me how he felt after years of nodding and averting his eyes while I rambled on. He had always been a good listener so I would visit him just to rant about my silly life. Of course, that was before, when I was still innocent. Part of me was happy he was gone by the time I returned from the country with my father. I doubt that he would have recognized the woman I had become.
Shaking my head, I cleared away the thoughts of Haines and Silvijn. I had bigger problems to deal with. Even though I had been on death’s door, I had missed curfew, which meant I had to deal with Nikkos. I needed to be ready for whatever he threw at me, which meant I needed to be ice cold going into his torture box. I couldn’t let him see me cry.
By the time I reached my third class, my scandalous early morning arrival was all the other vampires could talk about. Some of the women in my dorm had spotted Haines carrying me to bed and spread rumors that I had screwed a witch in the middle of the room.
Others speculated that I was getting preferential treatment because of who I was and curfew didn’t apply to me. But my favorite rumor involved a threesome between me, Nikkos and Haines. I was ready to rip out the throat of the next person who gave me a side-eye.
Sitting down in history, Miss Giselle glanced up at me. “Marianela, you need to report to Asha, the counselor. Her office is near the blood room.” She was so numb to anything that happened around her after years of teaching delinquents that she waved me away and immediately looked down at her history text to rattle off the dates of the great battles fought against the Mielcareks. As I made my way to the front of the room, I paused to listen to the list.
When she finished without mentioning a few key battles, including the one I waged against the coven, I turned on my heel to face her.
“You didn’t mention the Battle of the Drowned Woman. Why is that?” I wanted to hear her lie right to my face.
Her dead eyes looked up at me. “There was no such battle.” She looked back down and continued her lesson without skipping a beat.
“Actually, there was. It was named for the woman the coven tried to forget, the woman locked away at the bottom of the ocean. She gained the support of loyal vampire covens and Mielcarek supporters and marched for months, killing everyon
e who opposed her.” My eyes slowly panned across the room, gauging the reaction of the disaffected vamps.
Giselle’s eyebrows raised as she looked back to me. “If it’s not in this book, it didn’t happen. I don’t know where you got that information from, but you’re wrong.”
I smiled pleasantly and walked over to her desk. Grabbing her pen, I scribbled it at the bottom of the page. A mix of fear and confusion perked up her dull features as she blinked at my abruptness.
“You can’t do that!” She ripped the pen from my hand and tried to scratch it out.
I leaned down until I was eye level with her. “Yes, I can. I’m the one who led the campaign. Trust me; it happened. Just ask General Mitis. Oh, wait. You can’t because I killed him, the same general who fought in these three battles prior.” I pointed to the last three battles on her list.
One of the assholes in the back of the class laughed. “Yeah, you’re the one who drowned.”
The class broke out into laughter until I stared them down, causing the laughter to die in their throats.
“If the coven can turn against me, their rightful heir, what do you think they will do to all of you? They tried to erase me, but I fought back. What will all of you do when the coven tries to snuff you out? You won’t be laughing then. Mark my words. If you think redemption is within your reach here, you’re wrong. My father used to call this place the last resort. It’s used to hold vampires the coven doesn’t have any use for. You’re all disposable. It’s just a matter of time until they get tired of feeding you. They’ve let entire classes starve to the point of madness and removed their heads, claiming that the students couldn’t be reformed. Isn’t that right, Miss Giselle?”
Her sour expression was clear for everyone in the room to see. “You need to see the counselor.”
I smiled at the class. “She can’t even muster a good enough lie to cover their indiscretions.” I shook my head and tsked at her. “I’m done being ignored, erased and used as someone else’s pawn. Today, I will be seen and heard. What about all of you? When will you be seen and heard?”
Bloodlust: House of Vampires Page 10
