New: Revenge

A WEEK PASSED, and it was a cold Wednesday night when Guide walked into my office on a day where it was just impossible to go to class. Cornelius and Gunner were in class, much to my jealousy and chagrin, along with everyone else in the school. Well, everyone but Cade. The gloriously kind pixie was actually helping me process papers while I caught up on homework.
I watched him from over my homework as he went methodically through every paper, not complaining, not caring that he wasn’t on the council. He was just helping and it warmed my heart. I wasn’t sure what kind of warmth it was, but it was there and it was nice.
Today he was in black—another surprise—his hair done to the side in a sort of windswept way that defied the laws of physics and in a striped, black and white shirt that was a size too big and covering the multiple chains he always wore around his waist even as it gave tantalizing glimpses of his collarbone and shoulders. He looked relaxed and yummy, but his expression was one of concentration as he continued with the giant stack of budget papers he had almost forcibly taken from me. Most of it was due to the mountainous amount of food that was ordered every month. Although it may magically appear on the giant buffet table at the back of the Mess, it had to get here first and it also had to be cooked—and the poor cooks were vastly under-paid, which was something I was trying to change.
Guide sat on the couch opposite Cade heavily, drawing my attention to him. Lately, he’d been tired and tonight it showed more than normal. At first I had thought he was just missing Roison, but lately I had started to figure that it had probably something to do with that side-trip he refused to tell me about. But something else was up. It was plainly written on his face. He just wasn’t going to say it on his own. For such an old vampire—and I had no doubt that he was beyond old—he acted like a child about the oddest things.
Seeing the seriousness of his stature, I set my pen aside and braced myself. “What is it?” I eyed the stack of papers in his hands with apprehension. Ever since his left eye had been re-opened, he had been nothing but trouble and smiles, good news and smiles, and bad news and—guess what?—more smiles. Now that he wasn’t so smiley, I was worried.
“It’s two things,” he told me in an ominous tone that had my hackles rising. “First thing’s first, though. Pull Cornelius, Jade, Gunner, Colleen, Taiyo, Elliot and Constantine from class. This involves them.”
My heart rattled in my chest uneasily and Cade sat straight in an array of jingles and purple dust as I reached for the phone, dialing the number for the P.A. system. After calling them, I hung the phone on its cradle and sat back, waiting in silence with Cade and wondering what could be wrong. A million things were going through my mind, all different and all horrible by the time everyone finally showed up. It took little under five minutes for them—including Soren, who had no doubt been already told to join the unscheduled meeting—to get here from their separate wings of the school and take a seat or lean against the wall, Cornelius being the last.
He closed the door behind him silently, his normally arrogant and confident demeanor gone. He’d been like this for a week now, ever since the bite. Instead of begging for forgiveness like a normal boyfriend or offering a formal apology as is vampire way, he offered no excuses, no apologies, and no words other than the occasional pleading way he said my name, trying to get me to stop ignoring him.
But that just wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. That bite had hurt like hell and, after Soren had bitten me to heal it, I had had to have a transfusion to recover fully. That wasn’t even mentioning he had put Soren in a very difficult position. It wasn’t as if I could ask Taiyo when he had no fangs, and I certainly wasn’t ready to let Constantine’s mouth anywhere near me again, so Soren had been the only immediate option. Now he couldn’t seem to look me in the eye and we had both seemed to silently agree to studiously ignore the fact that the bite—and the kiss—had ever happened. Although, admittedly, as the days went by, it was becoming increasingly harder to block out the memory every time I saw him.
I blinked out of my thoughts when Guide cleared his throat. “O-Oh,” I stammered, realizing that everyone was looking at me. “Right. Guide, you said you had something important to tell us?”
He leaned forward, his eyes serious, but not looking at anyone as Colleen, Jade and Elliot took seats on the couch and Constantine grabbed a chair.
“Guide?” I pressed, worried when he stayed quiet. The air was way too heavy for my liking, and I was starting to get seriously scared.
And it looked like I had every right to be.
When Guide looked up at me, the apology in his eyes made my heart drop to my feet. His eyes were bleak, apologetic and held a coldness I had never seen before. But it was the two words that came from his mouth told me all the reasons why and had my heart nearly freezing in my chest.
“Simone’s alive.”
The room erupted into chaos, even Cornelius was shouting, demanding answers to questions that everyone else was repeating. Elliot nearly fainted and Soren‘s face paled so much I thought he was going to keel over.
It took a moment to realize that I couldn’t breathe and I stood, rushing over to the closest window and slamming it open. My heart was pounding and I had just enough time to stick my head out before I retched, vomit falling onto the snow as I heaved in giant gulps of the crisp, cold air, trying to catch my breath.
I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. She was dead. I had watched her die! How could this be? How could she survive? I had watched the knife go into her back—had watched her crumble into nothing in front of me. She was gone. Guide must wrong. He had to be.
Someone was rubbing my back. Two people, actually, and I turned back to a quiet room to see Cade and Gunner supporting me, their expressions equally grim and worried. I wiped the hot tears from my eyes and sniffed, letting them help me get back to my chair as Constantine brought me a glass of water from the adjoining bathroom.
I guzzled it down and shot Guide a frightened and angry look, trying to quash the panic seeping through me. “What the hell are you talking about? I watched her die. I was there! There was nothing left!” I slammed my fist on the desk, making Cornelius and Colleen jump. “And you’re telling me she’s still alive! Impossible.” My voice trembled, tears threatening again. “It’s impossible.”
“After the hell she put us through,” Taiyo gritted, holding Elliot close. The pixie halve was having a hard time computing the information, too, but at least he hadn’t thrown up. “You’re telling me that bitch still didn’t die?”
“Yes,” Guide said gravely, nodding. He pinned Constantine with a glare. “This stays between the ten of us. No one else knows.”
“But—” Gunner started, and I knew he wanted Lexis, Hayden and Sheree in on this.
“No,” I cut him off firmly, rubbing my forehead. My headache seemed like it was becoming a permanent companion. “He’s right. No one else. Just Hayden. Everyone else would be a risk.” I thought for a minute, digging through the consequences of letting him in on our Intel. “No. Wait. Not even Hayden.”
Gunner growled, his eyes narrowing. “He’s just as much a part of this as everyone else.”
“Yes, but he was spelled,” I countered, noticing the set of his jaw. Well, two people could play that game. “Along with Sheree and Lexis and the rest of the school.” I looked at Guide. “Which is why I’m guessing they’re not here?”
He nodded. “Yes. It is.” He sighed and leaned back and I knew it had cost him to not be able to lean on them. “Right now, there’s nothing we can do but keep a look out for anything peculiar.”
Cade sank down to the couch in a clatter of wings, the gravity of the situation written all over his face. “But how?”
Guide shook his head, seeming lost. That fact was almost more frightening than Simone’s sudden resurrection. “That two-day trip I took after dropping off Basil? I went to find Tully and Mitch. The Headmaster gave me a message from them telling me what was going on.” He rubbed the scarred side of his face in weariness. “I was trying to figure out how to tell you, but I couldn’t.”
He sighed and seemed to gather himself and his words before he spoke again, all of us hanging on his every word. “Tully and Mitch said that they ran into her little over two and a half weeks ago,” he told us. “There was no mistaking it. She was badly scarred, but alive.”
Silence stretched over the room, heavy and cloying until Jade finally spoke. He was in deep red today, setting off the highlights in his hair as he took in everything. Colleen sat tightly gripping his hand, which I could understand. We were frightened and the last time Simone had reared her ugly head, Jade had almost been a casualty. But the pure-blood pixie hadn’t given in. He had shown that he was made of stronger stuff, and he had the scar to prove it. “So, what can we do?”
“Just watch and wait,” Guide shrugged helplessly. “That’s all we can do.”
I set my head on the table, enjoying the coolness of the wood and the breeze coming from the window. It was unbearably hot in here suddenly. I felt like my head was swelling to the size of a pumpkin and the helplessness that was all-encompassing was threatening to make me scream in frustration.
God, how did this happen? How could this happen? Simone had died. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. There had been nothing there. There had been no time for her to counter Mitch’s attack. She hadn’t even known it was coming. There was no way she could still be alive, and yet Tully and Mitch had confirmed it with their own eyes.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Does Gellen know?”
“I told her when I got back.”
“And you kept it from us,” Gunner accused and I could just imagine his lip curling. He really hated being left out.
“Right,” Cade sneered in the vampire’s defense. “Because he could really break the news to us with everything that happened in the last week.”
Gunner huffed and Cornelius lost the angry confidence he had gotten back after the shock. I couldn’t blame the wolf for grabbing for the anger. Simone had spelled his best friend and a teacher he respected greatly—not that he would ever admit that to Sheree. Simone had made them fight to kill and Hayden hadn’t had a choice in the matter at all. If things had turned out for the worse on either side, one of them would have had to live with the crushing guilt of knowing they had killed their best friend and that they had had no choice. I didn’t know if there was anything worse, and I guess I didn’t realize until right then just how lucky we all had been.
I picked up my head to put it in my hands, digging the heels into my eyes. “Doesn’t matter. The fact is we’re screwed. Again.” I looked up at them, my gaze falling on Soren and panic filled me anew.
Sweet blood, the last time Simone had come around, Soren had died. Yes, he had a second life, but this time he didn’t. I was positive that Simone wouldn’t forget that. Soren hadn’t been as lucky as everyone else and was more vulnerable for it now. And I knew, without hesitation, without regret, he would gladly—eagerly—give his life for me again. I couldn’t go through that again. We wouldn’t survive it. I wouldn’t survive it.
Holding back tears, I swallowed, still staring at Soren, letting him see my fear. “What are we going to do?”
Soren sucked in an audible breath and walked to me, coming around the desk and turning my chair so he could squat in front of me, taking my hands in his. He turned earnest eyes up to me. “Don’t cry, Phebes.” He gave me a wry, sad smile as he rubbed my knuckles. “I told you I hate it when you cry.”
That only made me feel worse. Those words haunted my nightmares, making the horror I had faced happen nearly every night. I couldn’t go through that again. I couldn’t watch him die for me, but I knew he would whether I wanted him to or not. I could lock this man up in a door-less, windowless tower and he would find a way to take the bullet for me. And that was one of the reasons the nightmares were so bad. No matter what I had done, no matter what I could do, I would never be able to change that Soren would have died that night for me. I couldn’t change that he had died.
I sneaked a glance at Colleen. She was the only one who knew about the nightmares. She was the only one who knew I woke up screaming on the nights when I didn’t exhaust myself with work. She knew the horrors I had seen—she had a few of them of her own. We had shared and talked and cried, but it didn’t make them any better. It didn’t change things. It didn’t make them go away. But Colleen was going to remain the only one who knew if I had anything to say about it, though I had a feeling she had told Jade some time ago.
“Phebes,” Soren said softly, dragging my attention back to him again. He looked concerned and, for the moment, I forgot there was anyone else in the room as I fell into the love that poured out of his mis-matched eyes.
His hands—his long, nimble hands—were warm in mine and I remembered them when they had felt like ice, limp and cold and without life. I remembered the hollow emptiness that had reflected the sky in his blank stare instead of what should have been his beautiful soul. I remembered the blood that had stained the snow—that still stained that same spot in the woods even now. I remembered feeling his life leave his body and take a piece of my heart with it.
I shivered.
“Where did you go?” he asked me softly, his words closing around me in comfort, in warmth. “You look so sad.”
I shook my head, blinking back tears. It was a nightmare, it was real, and I wasn’t ready to share it yet. I couldn’t. “Nothing. Nowhere. Don’t worry.” I sucked in a breath and squeezed his hands before scooting the chair back and standing to get closer to the fresh air.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach and wondered what else was lurking in the night beyond the tree-line. “What are we going to do?” The night was so calm. It seemed unaffected by the chaos that was taking hold of my life, but somewhere out there was Simone wreaking havoc on my future. “If she comes here, what are we going to do? I’m not Roison. I can’t protect a whole school.”
I couldn’t endanger the students’ lives by staying, either, but neither could I go. I had been charged with the safe-keeping of the grounds and all those on it. I couldn’t just walk away. I couldn’t ignore that responsibility even if it cost me my life. Because of that, I was trapped here like a sitting duck waiting for my execution.
And I had a feeling that was the exact reason Roison had left me in charge.
A hand landed on my shoulder and I turned to meet the fierce eyes of Guide. “We’ll do exactly what we did before.” He smiled, obviously trying to ease my worry, but I saw the grim determination in his eyes echoed in everyone’s expressions. “We’ll kill the psychopathic bitch.”
I sighed, looking back out the window as I leaned heavily on the sill. “Yeah. I know.” But even with his reassurances and the hoard of people at my back, I wasn’t confident. Simone had an army and we were vastly out-numbered if she could and would gather her forces to strike at us. Last time, it had taken three witches to get us out alive. We didn’t have them right now and I couldn’t see them dropping their duties to come to my rescue. Simone had wiped the floor with us last time and I shuddered to think at who else I might lose when she came for me this time.
More to get my mind off my morbid thoughts than because I was actually curious, I asked, “What was the second thing you needed to tell me?”
“I just need to talk to you, Gunner and Cornelius,” Guide told me. “Cade can stay because he’s working, but it’s not as important and won’t affect everyone else as the other. . predicament had.”
I nodded and waved a hand in dismissal, too tired to give any official goodbyes as the room cleared slowly and silently, leaving the five of us alone.
Annoyed and angry at life, I turned back and stalked to my desk, thumping into the giant chair and leaning back, my eyes on the ceiling.
What else could go wrong? We had just dealt with this same problem only a few months ago. Things hadn’t even calmed down yet and they were already blowing up. It made me wonder and dread what was going to happen this time. I had no idea, and I sure as hell wanted to get to the bottom of whoever was behind this and smack them. However, before all of that, I wanted to get rid of this fear, this guilt. I wanted my friends to be safe. I wanted a normal, happy life. One where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder.
I sighed. I suppose I shouldn’t really be asking for a “normal” life. My life had never been normal—well, not by regular standards, anyway. It had been normal to me, but I shouldn’t forget that, once upon a time, I almost didn’t have a life at all. Even so, was my living really worth endangering so many people? People I had learned to care about? I wasn’t so sure. All I knew was that I needed to protect them and, in order to do that, I needed to figure this out quickly.
All we had was a name: Harold Tripstenizer. There was nothing else and it wasn’t much to go on considering no one had heard of him. I had wracked my brain trying to remember what he looked like, but couldn’t. It seemed no one could. Not even Tully or Mitch. It was probably some kind of spell, but we couldn’t be sure, although someone who could affect only part of the memory was very powerful. But that begged the question; if he was so powerful and he took such care to erase his face from our memories, why didn’t he erase his name too? It was like a taunt—like he was laughing at us. It made me sick to my stomach worse than bad blood did.
Cornelius moved to the window, seeming to enjoy the cold even as Gunner shoved his hands in his pockets and shuffled to the other side of the room and into a chair. Guide came to stand in front of my desk and slapped the stack of papers he’d been holding in front of me, sliding them towards me.
“They’re transfer papers,” he told me.
My brows rose and I straightened in alarm. “You’re leaving?”
He laughed, his brown eyes twinkling and the tension seemed to ease out of the room. “No, no.” His fangs flashed as he grinned at me. “Don’t worry about that. I’m not leaving.” He pushed the packet closer. “No. These are transfer papers for a new student. It’s not uncommon to get dozen a year, but it is rather unusual to get any around Christmas.”
Curious, I flipped open the file on top of the stack of papers already littering my desk to see a profile of a sixteen-year-old boy by the name of Cavalier Crew. There was no picture and the file itself seemed to have been made in a rush. It only stated that he was one of the rare anomalies amongst vampires, having the Change as a result of a bite, although that certainly wasn’t the weirdest part.
I looked up at Guide with surprise, not believing I had read it right. “He’s an incubus? I didn’t even know they existed.”
Guide shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve met a few in my time, but most are extinct. He’s going to be classified as a Halve, Pheobe, but trust me when I say that he’s not missing anything vampire. He has markings around his tattoo, as well, but I haven’t figured out what they mean yet.” He frowned, tapping his chin with a finger as he no doubt pictured what I had yet to see. “They’re rather . . unique.”
I was about to ask what he meant when the door slammed open. I turned my head, ready to snap, but my mouth dropped open instead at the gorgeous male that came in. Forcefully, I shut it, but I couldn’t help my eyes as they traveled over him, knowing full well that my mouth was going to fall open again. He was tall and all leg, his body almost skinny enough to worry a person but far from being gangly. His waist was obviously tapered even under his t-shirt and his shoulders softly rounded, encased in all black from his boots to his sexy leather jacket. His skin, too, looked soft to the touch and was all milk and cream with a hint of rosiness that models would kill for. His face—his heart-stopping face—was as if God Himself was trying to put us all to shame. With a soft, curving chin, high cheeks and a perfect nose, he was even more gorgeous than Cornelius, Cade and Soren combined. His mouth was practically sinful, as well, looking like a pair of soft pink pillows that were a little on the round side and almost too big. To go along with them were a pair of luminous, almond-shaped, charcoal-colored eyes that so obviously screamed his Asian descent. They were so lovely that I thought I might drown in if I stared too long. Not that I would really mind that considering the rest of him.
The most shocking thing on this beauty was, however, his gloriously shiny, soft hair. It was the only color on his person and brought out the rosy-tint to his skin. The dark-red flames licked and curled, kissing his cheeks and eyes in soft waves that didn’t look like it could ever do anything to make him look. . well, less. It was absolutely mind-blowing and I wondered if the color was entirely natural considering the roots were deep and dark and he had a blonde and copper shimmer to the ends.
Nail my coffin shut, Taiyo was going to love him.
Or at least, that’s what I thought until he opened his mouth.
“I can’t stand it anymore,” he complained to Guide in a surprisingly soft voice. It shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was since he looked a great deal like the boy-next-door type—cute and huggable—but something in me whispered that his voice should be lower. “I’ve been in the hall for almost half an hour. You said it wouldn’t take long, but-” He stopped, glancing at me, his face screwing up in irritation. “Will you stop staring? And, for fuck’s sake, close your mouth.”
I snapped my mouth shut with a click of my teeth and blushed from the tips of my toes to the roots of my hair. Okay, so I still wasn’t used to the pretty-thing in this world, but he didn’t need to snap and he certainly didn’t need to be rude.
“Guide,” I started, pointing at the six-foot-something Adonis in my office. “Who is he and can I kick him out?”
The boy scowled, crossing his arms. “I could ask you the same question.” He looked at Guide, arrogance shooting off him in waves. He hooked a thumb in my direction, his stance cocky and domineering. “Who the hell’s the drooler behind the desk?”
Guide sighed—a sign of irritation he rarely showed strangers—and rubbed his eyes. If Guide looked ready to tear this kid a new existence, I wasn’t going to have any luck at all dealing with him. “She’s the principal.”
“Temporary,” I corrected quickly, my face heating when the boy turned questioning eyes on me.
“You’re kidding, right?” he said with obvious contempt. “There’s no way. She’s just a girl.”
I scowled, narrowing my eyes at him. “In the eyes of the law, I’m an adult, and I was put in charge by the current principal for a damned good reason or I wouldn’t be in this chair.” He may be gorgeous and he may utilize it to the greatest of his abilities, but that didn’t mean he had to be an asshole. I pegged him with a glare and pointed at one of the chairs in front of me. “Now, sit.”
His brows were raised with curiosity for the briefest moments and he barely glanced at the chair I had indicated before a slow, breath-taking smile curved his lips and he came over to my desk, ignoring Gunner’s growl and Cade’s wings humming in warning. He placed one hand on the top, leaning over to put his face close to mine. I didn’t move, knowing he would take it as a sign of backing down. I certainly couldn’t have that. I needed to put him in his place and do it quickly or he would think he could trample the flowers in my garden forever. I had enough to deal with already without some hotshot teenager playing games.
He inhaled long and deep and something inside me quivered both in anticipation and apprehension. “Now that I look at you,” he amended, “you’re pretty hot. Wanna have a go?” He sucked in his bottom lip and my breath hitched as he bit it suggestively with the tip of a fang, my eyes unable to stop themselves from following the movement. It was the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my life and I felt a warm rush between my thighs that told me that, while my mind might not be so willing, my body certainly took him at his word. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Gunner’s fierce growl snapped me out of whatever weird world I had face-planted into, resonating through my body and calling to my wolf, but it was Cade’s hand on the boy’s shoulder making him turn around that knocked me back to my senses.
It was like a fog had suddenly lifted when his gaze had left mine, and I could have sworn I saw his eyes glow an eerie white. Whatever had happened had not been natural and I had not liked it—well, most of it. Not in the least. It had almost felt like I was being hypnotized by Soren again, but, where I had been relatively aware that something was wrong when Soren did it, this I hadn’t even made a connection to until I had been snapped out of it. It was as if I had fallen into the boy’s eyes and it hadn’t mattered that I had three boyfriends that were all in the room or that I didn’t even know his name. All I had wanted was to continue to look at him, to have him continue to look at me. To say “yes” to whatever he asked. . . .
That meant trouble. I had enough trouble as it was without having some weird guy affect me in some unknown way that turned my brain to mush and my body to putty.
“I think it’s time you sat down,” Cade said icily. He was a shade shorter than the boy, but he was damn intimidating with that fierceness in his eyes and I was grateful for the protection as well as the fact that I was not on the receiving end of that glare.
The boy smirked, looking him up and down with derision. “Why? It’s not like she’s yours. Isn’t that right, angel cake?”
Angel cake? Angel cake? Had he really just called me that?
“Actually,” I said rather stiffly, annoyed with this guy’s lack of manners. I wrinked my nose at him to let him know just how I felt. “I am. He’s my boyfriend.” I pointed at Gunner. “And so is he.” I pointed at Cornelius next, though I tried not to notice his guilty flinch. “And so is he.”
The boy’s brows rose in slight surprise, but he nodded approvingly. “You really get around, don’t you?” He smiled wickedly, his eyes heating as he zeroed in on my face again. “How interesting. You must be something amazing.”
His emphasis on the word “amazing” made me blush, but I pushed aside the embarrassment and sat straight. It was time to get down to business.
Clearing my throat, I tried to sound professional. “I believe introductions are in order. My name is Pheobe Anders.” I gestured to Cade, who had finally wrangled Mr. Red-hot onto the couches. “This is Cade Flora. The wolf by the door is Gunner Rifts. That’s Cornelius Shadow by the widow, and you’ve already met Guide.” Funny. I still didn’t know Guide’s last name. Or even if he had a last name.
Disregarding his own introduction, the boy eyed Cornelius. “You’re the Horned Shadow? Really?” My jaw nearly hit the floor in amazement. Good God, didn’t this guy have any sense of self-preservation? Cornelius had never been called that to his face, and I was sure he was going to blow the nails out of his coffin any minute, if the redness in his eyes was anything to go by. Gunner merely chuckled.
Red-hot frowned, eyeing Cornelius up and down. “You don’t look like much.” Death wish much? “From the stories I’ve heard, you have quite the reputation for being a badass. Looked like they got the wrong facts. You look harmless to me. Shorter than I thought, too.”
I sucked in a breath, but, besides a tick in his jaw, Cornelius just continued to stare out the window, ignoring everything. Something was seriously wrong with him lately and I was going to have to figure out what. Later. Right now, I had to deal with Mr. Obnoxious.
“What’s your name?” Jerk, I added silently.
He smiled broadly, his attention turning fully to me. “Cavalier Crew, angle cake. Anything else you want to know? We could trade information.”
I swallowed, trying to hide my embarrassment behind a glare then something hit me.
“Wait a second,” I said, putting a hand up. “You’re Cavalier Crew?”
His smile widened and I was surprised when he didn’t bow. “The one and only.”
Crap on toast, he was just a kid! This gorgeous, walking sex-drive was a sixteen-year-old baby. And he had hit on me! Effectively! Oh, man, I was really going to have to watch myself around him. I resisted the urge to bang my head on my desktop and contented myself with just a long-suffering sigh.
“You’re the new transfer student,” Gunner growled with distaste.
“Lucky us,” Cade muttered sardonically.
I sighed, flipping through his file again now that I was able to put a face to the name. “Guide, have you assigned him a Guard yet? And what of his classes?”
“That’s the problem,” Guide told me, sinking into the couch. “We’re short on Guards, so I called Roison.” He frowned, but there was a softness to it that belied his annoyance. “That wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do.”
“You think?” Cade quipped.
Guide shot him a look that would boil blood and continued. “She said the best person to Guard him would be Soren, but she wanted you to give the okay first.”
I blinked. Me? Why would my opinion make any difference? “Uh. . Sure. That’s fine.” I glanced at Cavalier, who was watching me curiously, his eyes assessing me in a way that made me feel like a bug. “It’s not like he’ll do the same thing this time.”
Curious myself, I leaned forward, placing my arms on the desk as I remembered something Guide had told me about this interesting new student. “Your tattoo: Show it to me.”
Smiling with obvious pride, he pulled down the collar of his jacket, revealing the long, slim line of his neck. “Anything for you, angel cake.”
Wishing he would stop calling me that, I rose to get a closer look, careful not to get too close. Guide had been right; his tattoo was weird and definitely not in the vampire norm. Although it was still the same basic design of spikes and swirls in the shape of a sun, he had little red hearts outlining the black lines and his personal symbol was also red—completely different from any other vampire I had laid eyes on so far—and in the shape of a bleeding heart. It was probably due to his incubus status, but you never could tell. Even so, with so much red, the power he had stowed away that he was either hiding, or had yet to tap in to was a frightening wonderment.
“If you keep staring at me like that,” Cavalier nearly purred and I realized that I had gotten closer than I had planned, “I might not even want to restrain myself.”
Cade’s wings hummed in annoyance even as I straightened and he let his shirt go to cover the long, smooth expanse of his neck. It made me want to bite him and that was a thought I put very firmly out of my mind.
Sucking in a breath, I turned away, cursing myself. It was getting close to feeding time for me again if it meant I was willing to bite total strangers. The problem was, though, the transfusion Gellen had given me last week should last for a few more days before I felt anything. If this was because of the new student, then something would have to be done or he would wreak havoc on the whole school. If not . . . Well, there were many other explanations, I was sure. None of them seemed particularly viable, but still.
“Alright,” I said, messing with the papers on my desk, more to give my hands something to do other than give into the urge to reach out and touch the newbie than because I actually wanted to get back to them. Still so much work to do. I didn’t want to sit down; I didn’t want to be steeped in paperwork while Simone was rampaging somewhere. “Cavalier, Soren is your Guard. Until I make a schedule for you, you’re to sit in on all his classes. School starts at ten p.m., lunch is at 12:40 in the Mess, dinner is at six a.m., and lights out is at 12 p.m. Until you get used to things, don’t go wandering around and don’t go into the sun. Guide will show you to your room in the Halve dorm.”
He stood, obviously getting the hint that he was being dismissed when Guide rose and started heading for the door.
I ignored him as he walked by me, turning my chair to face the desk again from where I had knocked it askew. Just before I could sit down, Cavalier’s hand snaked out and grabbed my arm, turning me into him and slamming me against the wall of his chest. He caught me as I nearly bounced off him and held me close. His spicy scent filled my nostrils, clogging my senses and pulling a fog over my brain that turned my legs to stone. I could move, couldn’t breathe. Everything that made up my being was putty waiting to be molded by his hands as I stared into suddenly reddish-white eyes.
“When you get tired of playing with a wimp like Cornelius,” he purred in a low voice that vibrated in my chest. His lips brushed mine as he spoke, an almost-kiss that made my heart pound hard in my chest as his lips moved, “and your bug, come find me. I’ll be waiting, angel cake.”
He was thrown back against the door and I caught myself on the desk as my legs nearly gave out, heaving giant gulps of air and trying to get control of myself. What in hell had just happened? I had just completely lost myself to him. I had been waiting, willing and ready to do everything for this little wisp of a boy. I had lost all control—he had taken it from me and that was the most dangerous, frightening thing I had ever known. Holy daisies, if he had asked it, I might have jumped off a cliff.
Gunner was growling loudly, his body between mine and Cavalier’s as his warning echoed around the room, filling it with the threat of violence. I glared past him at the red-headed sex-God, not trusting myself to speak.
He ran his hand through his perfect hair and tugged his jacket straight, obvious oblivious to the danger in front of him. “You need to get a leash for your dog,” he frowned at Gunner and the growling increased in volume. He smiled at me next, winking. “Pets are best kept controlled, angel cake. Remember that.”
Leaving me with my jaw hanging open, Cavalier turned and sauntered out of my office, not even bothering to close the door.
“Rosebuds and thistle wood,” Cade breathed. He had stood sometime in the last few seconds and was now staring at the door Cavalier had walked out of. “That kid’s going to be more trouble than fairies at Disney Land.”
Hanging my head in defeat, I had a feeling Cade was right and, damn it, I was just about fed up with my life being thrown around as if I were some piece on a chess board. Sooner or later, I was going to break, and Heaven help the person who was on the receiving end when all Hell broke loose. I just didn’t trust myself not to cut loose. I didn’t know exactly what I was capable of yet, but someone was going to find out sooner or later and, as much as I would like for it to be the fallen angel that had walked out of my office, I was hoping that it was Simone.