by Sofia Daniel
I shook my head and suppressed the urge to snarl. We had all been placed in the same, shitty situation. I still didn’t understand how after everything, Kat still resented me. I narrowed my eyes at Zarah, who stared back at me with a tentative smile. She’d made matters worse by talking shit about me to the other frumosi.
“Shall we talk in my room?” she asked.
“The brothers have let me use their suite,” I replied.
We walked in silence out of the dining room, through the hallways, past the other vampires heading to their private chambers or common rooms. Unlike the frumosi, many of the vampires lived in the main part of the building. The boys occupied a suite of rooms in a secluded wing of the castle.
As soon as we stepped in, Zarah clapped her hands over her mouth and gasped.
My brows rose at her reaction. “Didn’t Micalla have a room like this?”
“The girls all slept in bedrooms, not suites.” She stared at the leather sofas, the plush rugs, and the roaring fireplace. We didn’t have any such luxuries in Frumosi Tower, and I hoped she didn’t resent me for becoming the concubine of the Stryx brothers. “You’re so lucky.”
The door to the bathroom opened, and the brothers stepped out, each clad in short towels that revealed their muscular thighs and sculpted torsos. I narrowed my eyes, wondering what on earth they thought they were doing, but I kept quiet.
Red blotches formed on Zarah’s cheeks, and the hands over her face trembled.
“Alicia tells us you’re going to feed Lady Mantis a pack of lies.”
“I-I wasn’t.” She stepped back.
“So, you’re not blackmailing her to help you escape?”
She turned to me eyes wide, her mouth slack with betrayal. She held her hands to her chest and curled her shoulders in the cringing posture she had used when we’d first arrived at the academy.
Irritation flared through my insides, and I bared my teeth in a scowl. “Don’t look at me like I’ve stabbed you in the back. You told me to ask the Stryx brothers for help. Here they are.”
Zarah shook her head. “But I’ve never been with a man!”
Raphael turned his head to hide a smile.
Nero snorted. “Would you like to?”
“What will you give us in return for our help?” asked Dante.
Her thin, pale lips parted in a breathy gasp. Then she pulled off her tie, undid the first few buttons of her shirt, and exposed her neck. “Bite me, Masters. Drink me. Suck me anywhere you want.”
Rolling my eyes, I folded my arms across my chest. “Is this what you did for the Coven of Bitches?”
Dante stalked toward us across the room, the muscles of his chest and arms and legs rippling with each step. A breath caught in the back of my throat. No matter how many times I had seen the boys naked, they still awed me with their masculine beauty.
His aquamarine pupils narrowed into slits. “What makes you think any vampire will value the blood of someone so tainted with another’s bliss?”
In the blink of an eye, Nero appeared at Dante’s side, making Zarah jump. “I smell at least five vampires on you. Three of them male.”
I bit down on my bottom lip. Was this the addiction to vampire bliss, or had Zarah been too cowardly to refuse any vampire who had demanded her blood? Raphael walked across the room and placed a comforting arm around my shoulder. Ignoring him, I stared from Dante to Nero to Zarah.
Zarah turned to me, her eyes glistening with tears. The pleading expression in her eyes felt like she was begging me to defend her honor.
“Don’t look at me,” I said. “They’re the ones who are asking you questions.”
“I.” Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you going to forget this nonsense about telling Lady Mantis?”
“O-of course.”
“You’re lying.” Raphael stepped out from my side and joined his brothers. “I can smell it.”
Zarah shook her head. “If you don’t want me to tell—”
“No,” Raphael snapped. “You’ll just say anything to get out of trouble.”
“Th-that’s not true.”
He scowled. “Stop lying!”
I reared back. Raphael was the easy-going vampire, the complete opposite of his hot-headed and cold-blooded brothers.
Zarah collapsed onto the floor in a flood of tears. “Please don’t hurt me, please don’t! I’ll do anything you want!”
Raphael turned to his brothers. “She’s too dangerous to keep alive. I say we kill her.”
My mouth dropped open. “Wait a minute—”
“I’ve seen this type before in the royal court,” said Raphael. “They say anything to be liked. Half the time, they believe in their own lies, and you never know what they’re thinking until they stab you in the back. A woman like that got my mother executed.”
“And mine,” growled Nero.
Zarah lowered her head to the ground and shook with loud sobs. “I didn’t mean it! Alicia offered to help me escape, and I said yes. If you let me go, I won’t tell anyone.”
“See what I mean?” asked Raphael.
I rubbed my temples. This was a giant mess. Zarah had regressed into a simpering amoeba in front of three naked and outrageously handsome vampires, and now she was implying they had done something wrong. In the normal world, this might be construed as sexual harassment, but I’d seen Gates raped by a vampire in front of a guard, who just looked on and smiled.
“Get up,” I whispered to Zarah.
“What’s wrong, rodent?” said Dante.
“It’s easy to blackmail someone who’s been nothing but good to you,” added Nero. “Hard to stand up to the ones you’re asking to risk their necks to save your worthless hide.”
Raphael knelt at her side. “How did you think Alicia would convince us to help you?”
My brows drew together. The boys would probably arrange for her to have an accident and not bother to let her leave the castle.
Zarah crawled toward Dante and pressed kisses on his feet. “Sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Let’s just put her out of her misery,” said Raphael. “At the rate she’s letting herself get bitten, she’s going to get herself killed anyway.”
The boys snarled. Zarah wailed. And my head pounded with the cacophony of sounds.
“Enough,” I snapped.
Raphael raised his head and frowned. “But Alicia—”
“No more!”
They probably had a game plan. Something along the lines of scaring Zarah into silence or dangling their hot bodies as a carrot to make her obey them, but Raphael was right. It wouldn’t work.
Something was deeply wrong with Zarah if she was allowing even more vampires to bite her after everything I had done to free her from the Coven.
“It’s nearly impossible to escape the castle, you know that?”
She sat up and wiped tears and snot away with the back of her hand. “I thought vampires could walk out anytime they liked.”
“The academy is in the middle of nowhere,” said Raphael. “Everyone who leaves does so on a vehicle.”
Zarah sniffled. “There’s a truck at dawn that comes every morning—”
“That’s why you keep getting bitten, isn’t it?” said Raphael.
She nodded.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Anyone caught wandering the hallways is fair game.” Dante rolled his eyes as though not quite believing that Zarah could put herself in such danger.
I wrapped my arms around my middle and cringed. Even on my first few outings, I had waited until the sun was high in the sky before venturing out of the cupboard in Frumosi tower where I’d hidden. “You sneak out while it’s still dark?”
When Zarah dipped her head as if ashamed to say yes, I turned from Nero to Dante and frowned. Even though Raphael had been right about Zarah getting herself killed by her actions, I still wouldn’t let the boys harm her.
“Zarah,” I sna
pped.
She stared up at me. “Yes?”
“Can you keep your mouth shut for another week?”
She sniffled, and tears spilled from her watery eyes. “I-I’ll try.”
Shoulders slumping, I exhaled a frustrated breath. It pissed me off to know that if the boys retreated to the bathroom, she would revert to the assertive, blackmailing bitch who had cornered me in the hallway.
I turned to Dante and Nero. “Is there anything you can do to keep her quiet for a while?”
Nero shrugged. “Raph’s pretty good at mesmerizing. He can erase or alter—”
“I’d have to know the exact moment that led her to accusations,” Raphael said in a louder than average voice.
My eyes narrowed. Why didn’t he want Nero to talk about his vampiric skills? Or was Raphael just nervous about altering Zarah’s mind?
I frowned down at her as he knelt beside the trembling girl. “What do you mean?”
Raphael grimaced. “Since she’s approached you a few times on the subject and might have dropped hints to others, I won’t be able to purge all related memories. More accusations will pop up like mushrooms.”
“Please don’t take my mind away!” Zarah clutched at her temples.
Nero stepped away, his face twisting with disgust. “Can you plague her with vampire bats?”
“Too obvious,” said Dante. “Anyone will see the panic and help her break out of the delusion.”
“Make her think one of us is following her at all times?” I said.
“That will work.” Raphael sat on the marble floor and held her head between his two hands. He lifted her to eye level and murmured some words too soft for me to hear.
Frowning at the pair of them together, I narrowed my eyes, trying to work out why it looked so familiar. Then I snorted and shook my head. It was the Vulcan mind-meld. How could I think of Star Trek at a time like this?
While Zarah and Raphael remained locked in each other’s gazes, I turned to Nero and whispered, “Why are you all half-naked?”
He swept his arms down his muscular torso. “What girl in the Sanguine Academy of Vampires could keep a level head around all this?”
For the next few weeks, I spent every afternoon in an empty storeroom with the onion woman. Some days, she would bring a quartet of knockers to erect a dome around a large bucket and have me burn a hole through their ward large enough for me to step through. After those exercises, I had to repair their magic in my mind’s eye by patching it up with imaginary layers.
Other times, we would focus on becoming invisible. This required me to open up each chakra—crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root—weaving frumosi magic around myself to create a ward that fitted my body like a sheath.
In classes, Zarah jumped and twitched more than usual, sometimes giving me pleading looks as though begging me to call off the illusionary boys she believed were watching her every move.
My heart ached for the suffering I had caused her, but the days of trying to save someone who would so easily stab me in the back were long gone. I wanted her out of the academy before Lady Mantis returned.
One afternoon down in a kitchen storeroom, the onion woman and I sat on upturned buckets while I practiced my invisibility spells.
She glanced up from her weaving and grunted. “Well done. I can’t see you unless I activate my third eye.”
I rocked back on my makeshift metal stool and blew out a relieved breath. “Does this mean I’ve finished invisibility?”
“Not likely.” She knotted a white necklace that she’d been braiding our entire session. “The minute you step away, your invisibility will remain where you left it.”
“What?”
She raised a shoulder. “It’s one thing to erect a shield, burn a hole in it, and repair it, but you need to learn how to maintain your invisibility while on the move.”
My head pounded with the effort of having concentrated for so long. “I don’t think I’ll need it for—”
“You asked me for help, didn’t you?” she snapped.
“You’re right.” I rubbed the ache out of my temples. “I can’t pick and choose what I learn.”
She gave me an approving nod and twisted three garlic-skin necklaces into braids. “If you need more time to develop your powers, you can always let your vampires kill Zarah.”
My mouth fell open. “Why would you say that?”
“It’s just a thought.” The onion woman beckoned me forward and wrapped her garlic-scented creation around my neck. “If Zarah escapes, how long before she’ll come running back for another vampire bite?”
“She wasn’t like that in the Yule holiday.”
The woman snorted. “Wasn’t she?”
I frowned. “Did you see something?”
“Everyone speaks and acts freely in front of a knocker. Especially girls who are vamp-struck.”
Ugh. I pulled myself off the stool and tried not to imagine her in a clinch with Captain Tanar or some other vampire faculty member. As I walked around the bare room, I tried focusing on the invisibility spell. But each time I erected a barrier and took a step forward, the iridescent light would pop like a soap bubble.
“It’s a tricky situation,” I said with a sigh. “Zarah will either get used to the imaginary boys watching her back and tell someone our secrets or if we let her out, she might stumble into a vampire and tell him or her everything.”
“Tricky, yes,” snapped the onion woman. “I wouldn’t know what to do in your situation, either.”
The sarcasm in her tone was a slap upside the head. She obviously thought I was an idiot for letting Zarah live.
I stretched and yawned. “We’re going out to the wards to try before the breakfast gong.”
“What will you do if Zarah sees your magic and decides to tell all the frumosi about what you can do?” asked the onion woman.
Anxiety twisted my stomach into knots. “I’d better succeed in opening those wards, or my life will become infinitely more complicated.”
She shook her head. “If it all turns to shit, don’t mention that I helped you.”
I chewed my bottom lip. It was one thing to kill someone who had tried to kill me, but so far, Zarah hadn’t directly threatened my life. Would it be so wrong to show a little human compassion?
Chapter 15
Just before sunset, the boys and I made our way to Frumosi Tower, where we found Zarah slumbering in the storage cupboard I used to occupy the days I was sneaking out. Zarah lay on the ground with a pile of linens wedged under her head as a pillow, much like how I had slept in this cupboard last term.
I didn’t dare turn my gaze to where I’d left the sunstone on the windowsill or to the baggie of ashes I’d hidden behind a dresser. Not while Zarah was still around to take advantage.
The last vestiges of sunlight streamed on her pale, blonde hair, which appeared dull and listless, as did her skin. Blood glistened from a new bite on her neck. Whoever had caught her wandering about at dawn hadn’t bothered to heal her wound. Or perhaps she had let Juno bite her.
“That looks fresh,” said Raphael.
“It smells very young,” added Dante.
“The girl has no backbone,” muttered Nero.
I blew out a long breath. “Hopefully, we’ll get her out of here before breakfast, and she’ll never have to think about getting another vampire bite.”
“Zarah.” I knelt beside her, placed a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a hard shake. “Wake up.”
She jerked awake, raised her head to frown at me, then as soon as she made eye contact with Dante who stood over my shoulder, she flinched. “Are we leaving now?”
“We’re going to try.” I pulled myself to my feet and stepped back.
“Alright.” She crawled to the dresser where I’d hidden the ashes, and I held my breath, waiting to see what she would do next. Zarah opened its wooden door, reached deep into its interior, and pulled out a thick wedge of banknotes.
> “Where did you get that?”
“I’ve been saving up for my escape,” she slipped the money into the pocket of her blazer and stood.
My brows drew together. For the past few weeks, I had thought of Zarah as vamp struck. But all this time, she had been selling her blood to fund her escape. I shook off my surprise and ushered the boys at my back to step into the hallway.
When Zarah finally emerged with bulging pockets, we hurried out toward the stairs.
“How are we going to leave the castle?” she whispered.
“There’s an exit through the dungeons.” Raphael opened the stairwell door and let us run through. “It’s heavily guarded, but the knockers always let us out whenever we ask.”
“We can’t use it,” I replied. “What if the knockers take notes on who they let out?”
“Do you have any other suggestions?” asked Nero from behind.
I led them to the double doors, where Gates had escaped. Based on my training exercises with the onion woman, I had learned that the panel was semi-illusional. It only worked for those who either could see that it was transparent or those who couldn’t see it at all. A knocker could transport an unconscious person through the door, but if that person could see that it was solid, the ward would keep them from walking through.
After instructing everyone to close their eyes, we all held hands with me at the front. I opened up my third eye and stared through the transparent panel into the courtyard. It was large enough to fit a dozen limousines and beyond it lay dense forest. Orange streaks of sunlight spilled from between the trees and lit up the frost-covered gravel.
Squeezing Zarah’s hand, I led her through to the other side of the door onto a covered porch. A cold wind swirled around my skin, making me cringe. She stepped through to the other side and shivered at the sudden drop in temperature. Afterward came Raphael, then Nero, then Dante.
The boys opened their eyes and stared down at the courtyard, their eyes wide with wonder.
“How did you manage this?” Raphael’s voice was a breathy gasp.
“I’ll explain later.” I peered over my shoulder for signs of wolves. “What’s next?”
Nero placed an arm over my shoulder, encasing me in his warmth. He peered up at the darkening sky. “Now, we take a walk.”
