by Sofia Daniel
My shoulders slumped, and I lowered my gaze, remembering the safety message airlines gave their passengers before take-off. That a person needed to put on their oxygen masks before helping others.
Right now, I was bound to the Stryx brothers, who hadn’t yet forced me to do anything terrible. If I spoke up and the wrong person overheard me, I could end up in that crate and jeopardize mine and everyone else’s chances of ever leaving this accursed castle.
“Anyone?” asked Miss Margolyes.
Nobody spoke.
The door opened, and Commander Shanks, the red-eyed vampire guard who had abducted me from the Velvet Lounge, strode into the room. He wore full body armor that made his six-foot-four frame look bulky.
“Everybody, stand up,” he snarled. “I’m taking over this class.”
As we stood, Miss Margolyes pulled herself to her feet and wrapped her arms around her middle. “What about—”
He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “You’re to stand in the back and learn.”
The teacher inclined her head and walked to the other end of the class. I shuddered at the transparent fabric that barely covered her loins. Captain Tanar was a monster.
“Right then, frumosi.” Commander Shanks stood by the desk with his hands on his hips. “From this moment on, consider yourselves the familiars of vampires.”
I glanced around the class and locked eyes with Zarah, who clapped a hand over her mouth. Tears glistened in her pale, green eyes, and she drew her brows together in a rictus of confusion.
“Stephens!” he barked.
My heart jumped into my throat, and I pulled my attention back to the commander. “Yes, sir?”
“What is a familiar?”
“A pet?”
He grinned, revealing his sharp fangs. “I have no doubt the Stryx brothers will use you in that fashion, much like Captain Tanar is using Margolyes over there!”
Bristling, I held my silence. The boys were bastards, but they weren’t as cruel as the captain.
Some of the girls in the room sent me hate-filled glances, as though I deserved to be bitten and humiliated for stealing the best-looking vampires in the academy. I exhaled a long sigh, wishing I could be an anonymous student beneath everyone’s notice.
“During the day, you will be the eyes, ears, and protector of your vampire lord.” Commander Shanks strode up and down the lane between the desks. “Those of you who do not develop the required powers to repel hunters will become blood whores.”
Kat raised her hand. “Sir? I met a lawyer from New York at the last ball, and he said I could study—”
In the blink of an eye, he rushed to the front of her desk and towered over Kat. “Do you want to end up a blood whore like Margolyes and Stephens?”
Pressing her hands on her chest, she cowered away. “No, but—”
“Then shut your frumosi mouth and pay attention to the rest of my lecture!”
I gulped hard and thought about what the onion woman had said about Radu and his hunters feeding on vampire blood. They had to be getting close if the academy was now focused on training us to become guard dogs.
Chapter 9
Classes continued in the same vein for the rest of the week. Instead of learning about culture and the arts, our teachers covered subjects like surveillance, barricading, and trapping techniques. We even had to jog around the ground floor to elevate our fitness levels in preparation for combat classes with the vampires.
With two rounds of jogging, daily martial arts classes, and combat conditioning classes, most frumosi were exhausted at mealtimes. Even Miss Margolyes and the other non-vampire teachers had to participate, much to their dismay.
I didn’t mind the extra work. Anything was better than the torment of being trained to become some vampire’s plaything. Even though that’s what I became at the end of each evening.
When I told the boys I was too tired to sleep in their beds, they put me in the dog crate, which was more comfortable than it looked.
For the first couple of weeks, I slept through the day, too tired to awaken to practice my magic, but by week three, I became used to the regime and forced myself awake around noon to focus on the next stage of my magical development: setting a piece of paper alight.
While I could create an illusion of flames, the real thing kept eluding me.
After one particularly hard day of practicing, I fell into a deep sleep, only to be awoken by someone banging on the crate. “Wake up.”
It was Nero, probably wanting me to wash his balls or something equally as menial. Ignoring him, I snuggled under the cashmere blanket, pretending to be still asleep.
“If you don’t come out and renew your bond, we’ll parade you around naked,” said Dante.
Yawning, I uncurled myself from the dog bed and sat up, making sure to tuck the cashmere blanket under my arms. “But I thought the bond lasted forever.”
Dante smirked through the bars. “We own you, whore. Which means we can give you a top-up any time we please.”
Annoyance fizzled through my gut. They were just making excuses to get blow jobs. Remembering the pain and indignity Miss Margolyes had suffered, I evened out my features.
No good would come from defying them if I didn’t yet have my magic. Until then, I had to bide my time and do what they said—within reason.
The door to Raphael’s room opened, and he padded out. “Are we going to renew our bonds?”
With a soft sigh, I pulled the blanket off my naked body and crawled out of the dog bed and through the crate door.
Raphael helped me to my feet, but I couldn’t make eye contact with any of them and tried to keep my gaze low. All three boys wore thin pajama bottoms, each tented with massive erections. I pulled my gaze away from their beautiful, sculpted torsos.
The anticipation in the air fizzled against my skin.My traitorous nipples tightened at the prospect of getting to fondle their dicks.
The muscles of my core twitched with need, and my nostrils flared with annoyance. Why on earth was I getting excited? After I’d sucked them off, they’d probably make me perform for them and say a bunch of stupid things until they allowed me to climax.
I pushed my irritation to one side and told myself that things could be worse. The boys were assholes, but at least they weren’t sadistic like Captain Tanar.
“What’s wrong?” Raphael cupped my cheek.
Blowing out a steadying breath, I rubbed my temples. Now was probably the time to tell them about the potential danger of the captain.
“When you guys left for the Yule break, Professor Proust called me into his office to sign the concubine contract. I refused, and Captain Tanar offered to make me his consort.”
Raphael tilted my chin, so I met his forest green eyes. With a concerned frown, he asked. “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head. “He was gentle when he pinned me to the wall.”
“Pinned you?” Nero narrowed his eyes. Sometimes, it was hard to tell what he was thinking, but he seemed to be the most strategic of the brothers.
Dante’s brows rose. “You chose to be our whore over becoming the consort of Dracula’s favorite warrior?”
“Did I have any choice?” I spat.
“No, you didn’t,” Dante snapped. “Get on the chaise and perform your duty.”
“Wait a minute.” Raphael stood between me and his brothers in what looked like a protective gesture. “If Tanar’s a threat, shouldn’t we at least talk about it?”
I sucked in an excited breath. Would Raphael finally stand up to his brothers?
Dante waved his hand. “Tanar’s busy with his new toy. He loves flaunting his power over Proust, and Margo’s gasping and wriggling only adds to his fun.”
Raphael turned around, his brows drawn together. He stroked my hair. “Did he explain why he wanted you?”
I stared into his eyes, trying to muster up something to say. If I told them Tanar was a threat, and the boys got killed trying to confront him, then I would
end up in the older vampire’s clutches.
I shook off those thoughts. The boys didn’t value me enough to put themselves at risk. I was just a plaything as revenge for defying them in my first term.
Before I could answer Raphael’s question, Nero spoke. “If you wanted a guard dog, which would you choose?”
“The most effective, I suppose.” Dante swept his cold, blue gaze over my naked form and pulled a face.
I gave his erection a hard stare. There was no point in acting like I didn’t measure up to his standards when he obviously liked what he saw.
Nero prodded me on the forehead. “It’s your strange magic. If you can burn vampires with a single slap or turn your blood toxic, he’s interested in what else you can do.”
Silence stretched out, interrupted by the crackle and pop of the fire. I dropped my gaze to the marble floor and bit down on my bottom lip. If I admitted to everyone that I’d used sunstone, they would drag the truth about the onion woman out of me as well as my plans to burn a hole through the wards.
“You think he wants to train our whore?” asked Dante.
“Will you stop—” I clenched my teeth. Protesting about being called a whore would only encourage Dante to call me one in every sentence.
The blond vampire grinned. “Problems, whore?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head.
“He can’t have her.” Raphael pulled me to his chest.
I rested limply in his arms, biting back my resentment at having become their possession.
“I doubt that even Tanar would want to upset the Kingdom of Stryx by tampering with what belongs to us.” Nero pulled me out of Raphael’s arms, settled me onto the leather chaise, and blocked my line of sight with the tent in his pajama pants. “Now, get to work.”
Resentment pounded in my heart, and desire pulsed between my thighs. I pulled down the waistband and wrapped my fingers around his thick, dark erection. Nero groaned, and a bead of precum dribbled out of his slit.
Dante and Raphael took up their places on either side of their brother, the first tapping his foot and tightening his lips with impatience, and the other giving me an encouraging smile.
After enclosing Nero’s dick in my mouth, I pulled out the other two boys’ erections and stroked their lengths.
As soon as I developed my powers, I would make these assholes pay.
Later that night, Captain Tanar stood in the front of the Hunters 101 class. We sat in the back seats, behind what was left of the Coven of Bitches, who both shot me hateful looks. I propped myself up on my elbows and rolled my shoulders, which ached from Combat Conditioning class.
“Many of you have grumbled about our new regime and wondered why we require more from the frumosi,” he said.
Up on the projector, the captain displayed an image of a woman lying on the ground. She wore a purple crinoline gown, indicating that she was either a vampire or a consort dressed to suit her partner’s tastes.
The next image was a closeup of the bite marks on her neck. Instead of the usual puncture marks vampires made, whoever had bitten her had possessed a mouthful of fangs.
“Prunella Corsairs was a three-hundred-year-old vampire in charge of the vampire census. Last month, hunters infiltrated her home and abducted her infant daughters.”
Gasps filled the room. I turned to look at Nero, who glowered at the screen. The vampires turned to each other to discuss the bite marks. I couldn’t blame them, as it looked like her neck had been encased in a steel trap.
“The next evening,” shouted the captain above the students’ chatter. “Quiet class! The next evening, the hunters returned for their payment and murdered Madam and Mr. Corsairs. We can only assume that their children have been used for experiments.”
“What did they want?” asked Nathaniel from the front row. “Money?”
“Census information, I’ll bet,” muttered Nero.
Everyone turned around and gaped at Nero. My throat thickened, and I lowered my gaze to the table. He made sense. Why else would hunters target the person in charge of such sensitive information on vampires?
“Hunters have our addresses, now?” asked a vampire girl in the front next to Nathaniel.
Captain Tanar folded his arms across his chest. “Not only do the hunters know the location of every vampire registered to vote, but they also have the addresses of every vampire establishment that pays taxes to the Parliament.”
Dante raised his hand. “If Madam Corsairs was so important, why wasn’t her home protected by secure wards?”
The captain’s lips tightened, and his nostrils flared. I leaned forward and examined the older vampire’s features. He had the look of someone trying to formulate an answer while not wanting to reveal what he really thought.
I wondered if he didn’t want everyone to know that the knockers powered magical wards and that knockers were actually frumosi enchanted by vampires to become automatons.
Eventually, he spoke. “Not all vampires can gather the required magical resources to power wards.”
Dante frowned. “But why was Madam Corsairs allowed to remove this information from the parliament?”
“She was not.” The captain paced up and down the front of the room, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Hunters have been abducting vampire offspring for decades, using them as leverage against prominent members of our society. Madam Corsairs was weak and should never have given in to their demands.”
Chatter broke out across the classroom. Somebody in the middle shrieked. I frowned and pinched the bridge of my nose. Was this the purpose of the academy? To keep important young vampires safe from hunters until they could defend themselves?
I glanced to my left at Nero, and then at Raphael and Dante on my right. Lord Stryx lived in an enclosed community, protected by magic and supernatural creatures. If there was a breed of hybrids feeding on vampires, why did he let three of his sons attend this academy?
“Silence.” The captain raised his gloved hands. “All vampires have been informed that they must vacate their homes. And Lord Dracula believes we no longer have time to produce an army of day-walkers to fight the hunters.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. How soon would the frumosi realize that this was the problem of the vampires? Last term, Kat had told me hunters had attacked her family, but she’d later admitted that she wasn’t sure they had been hunters at all.
The vampires continued fretting about their loved ones, and Captain Tanar slammed his fist on the desk, shocking everyone into silence. “All frumosi must learn the required skills to defend themselves and their vampire benefactors.”
“I thought vampires were supposed to protect us,” said Kat.
The captain shot her an irritated glare. “Vampires protect frumosi during the night, and you must reciprocate during the day. Consider it a symbiotic relationship.”
Someone else raised their hand, but Captain Tanar snarled, “Hunters killed Kush Preta and Micalla Mantis! Do you wish to add yourself to the list of victims?”
The class went silent, and a breath caught in the back of my throat. Was the captain only saying that to shut everyone up, or had he come to that conclusion based on an investigation?
Hope bubbled up inside my chest. If that was what the vampires believed, maybe there was no need for the boys to hold Micalla’s death over me. I glanced at Nero, who raised his brows in another unreadable expression.
Captain Tanar spent the rest of the class assuring everyone that the Sanguine Academy of Vampires wards were unbreakable and that as long as they stayed within the academy grounds, they would be safe from hunters.
He also explained that vampires who had intelligent familiars had managed to escape, and sometimes defeated the hunters during daytime battles.
I stared at the closeup of Madam Corsairs neck, wondering if frumosi could extend fangs like vampires or if they’d used a tool to create all those puncture marks. Even though I still wasn’t close to producing a flame, I needed to speak to the
Onion woman.
Later that night, we returned to the boys’ suite. As the fire crackled in the hearth behind my crate, the knockers folded the cashmere blanket over the dog bed. Dante rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands outstretched to confiscate my school uniform. Instead of undressing and scampering into my crate, I clung to Raphael’s muscular body.
He wrapped his arms around my middle. “Alicia, are you unwell?”
“I’m scared.” I stared up into his green eyes. “Please don’t make me sleep in the dog crate tonight.”
Behind us, Dante scoffed. “Nero and I are here to protect you all night long.”
Ignoring his brother, Raphael’s full lips curled into a sympathetic smile. “You can sleep with me. I’ll take care of you anytime you like.”
“Do you promise?” I whispered.
He pressed a gentle kiss on the tip of my nose. “Of course.”
I lowered my lashes and gave him a shy smile. “Thank you.”
“Goodnight, brothers.” Raphael scooped me up into his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder and peered at Dante and Nero through narrowed eyes.
The two brothers scowled at me but didn’t comment. Perhaps they now regretted furnishing me with such a comfortable dog bed, because it was a thousand times more preferable to sleeping with them. I only slept with Raphael whenever I needed to sneak out in the middle of the day.
Raphael opened the door to his room and lowered me onto his soft, feather mattress. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. Before I could tell him I was tired or too sad to have sex, he pulled off my clothes at vampire speed and stripped me to my underwear.
“You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.” He hooked a finger under my bra strap.
“Raph,” I whispered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can we just hug tonight?”
His eyes widened. “Of course.”
