A University of Betrayal (The Blairville Legacies #2)

Chapter 28

Miles

Swept

Jay Varton

With both hands in my pockets, I walked across campus, letting the cool November air blow through my chin-length loose hair. And fuck , did it feel good to be alone. Even if it seemed like I enjoyed being the center of attention, there was nothing more exhausting in this endlessly boring life.

I shouldn’t complain. My existence was limited to a paltry twenty years. Nicolaj would have laughed now, even though I doubted the man knew what humor was. When he laughed, either one of his long-term business partners had passed away in an unfortunate accident or one of his sons had made him proud. And the latter happened so rarely that whenever it did, you could buy a new car.

My head was buzzing, differently than usual. I had just been in the campus bar with that professor... or had it been hours ago? We had talked, but from then on my memories were fuzzy and three hours ago I had woken up on a damn park bench .

There was also this weird feeling in my neck.

I touched the spot, but there was nothing there.

I’d probably had a drink too much and just needed to sleep.

Distant footsteps on one of the gravel paths snapped me out of my thoughts, and I paused to scan my surroundings. My hand was on one of the knives in my coat pocket, just in case.

Of course, there were students here. It was a fucking campus. However, at three in the morning, on a Saturday morning to be exact, said students were limited to two blonde girls who had been making out on a bench near the campus bar and had asked me if I wanted to join them.

The girls were pretty, but they were both AB, and it wouldn’t have ended well for anyone involved. I also didn’t go far with women. It was too dangerous.

Adrian and David assumed I was fucking my way across campus, but none of them knew that it had gotten worse again, and I hadn’t touched a single girl here in weeks. Whenever I invited a girl into my car, all I did was take her to where she lived, put her into her bed and lock the door to keep her far away from me.

The gravel crunched again, closer this time. And then I spotted a girl with long dark hair making her way across campus towards the West Wing – alone , I should mention.

Everything in me demanded to keep walking, but a dark part of me wanted to follow her immediately.

I had drunk blood. I drank every day. Twice as often as my blood brothers. And yet, the mere thought of fresh blood made me go crazy.

The girl was too far away for me to smell her blood type or guess her age. It was half-moon, so I didn’t recognize much of her face.

Fuck it.

Driven by my desire for fresh blood, I rushed toward the west wing and followed her discreetly through the corridors.

I would be quick. Nothing would happen to her. She would survive this.

Adrenaline and fear of myself crept like a traitor through my body.

What I was doing was risky. And I was on the verge of declaring myself crazy if I seriously believed I could do something so risky on Vanderwood campus when the girl stopped abruptly in the hallway.

I did the same. And I knew how to proceed. I had to close the gap between us, take her head in my hands, and ram my fangs into her jugular.

All these thoughts vanished instantly as the girl wheeled around, her eyes glowing yellow lights that made me suck in my breath sharply.

Nailed to a Wall

Tony Morales

“You...” I said with suspicion, and it took me three seconds for my battle guns to automatically activate.

Emely Copeland narrowed her eyes and stepped toward me.

I immediately remembered the small vial in my coat pocket.

I held her gaze, feeling my irises turn red.

How had I not been able to smell her?

And then, without hesitation, I pulled the knife out of my pocket and threw it at her.

She stumbled back with a startled gasp, toward the wooden post supporting the crumbling stonework, and the knife missed her sharply, just as I had intended.

I sped toward her, and she crashed into the post.

I had shocked her. Good

Quickly, I pulled the knife out of the wood next to her shoulder, but it was only then that I noticed the blood running down the blade.

Emely looked down at her shoulder, her eyes widening as she discovered the slit in her blouse, the fabric of which was turning slightly red.

“You wanted to...” she stuttered, and I tore my obsessive gaze from her blood, which ran dark red down my lily-engraved kunai knife.

“If I had wanted to kill you, I would have done it,” I murmured darkly and stepped back, because the longer I looked at the spot on her shoulder, the hungrier I became. “And if you hadn’t moved, nothing would have happened.

She stared at me, stunned, as if she had to figure out if I was talking bullshit.

I stared at the blade in front of me again, and I couldn’t stop myself from bringing it to my lips and tasting the blood. Her blood...

I brushed it against my lips and watched her shocked expression, while licking. The sweet taste and the unfamiliar aroma were irresistible, and I enjoyed how her taste changed on my tongue, licked my lips and closed my eyes for a moment with pleasure.

I was probably deeply disturbing Emely. But even worse, I was disturbing myself. This was the blood of my family enemy, and I was enjoying it without restraint.

What was wrong with me?

I quickly put the knife away.

“The blood of my enemies tastes best,” I said, and let the right corner of my mouth move upwards.

“What are you doing here?” she suddenly snapped at me with hostility, reminding me that she had also pulled out her guns. Far too many. As if she needed it. As if she actually assumed that I would kill her, sooner or later.

But she didn’t scare me, even though I knew that one bite from her was enough to take my life.

“I’m enjoying the fresh night air,” I said, clasping my hands behind me.

It wasn’t a lie. I had come here to clear my head, which November nights in Blairville were excellent for.

In the corner of my eye, I saw her clench her hands into fists, coming toward me as if she hadn’t had enough of my knife.

The mere thought of tasting her again almost made me lose my composure.

“I know you and the other bloodsuckers don’t live here, but in your ridiculous fairytale castle!” I almost grinned, but I suppressed it. “And I know that if you’re alone, that can only mean one thing. You are hunting. In our territory!”

She sounded angry. I would have loved to see her face in daylight, because whenever this girl went ballistic, she mutated into a tomato.

“Unlike others on this campus, we can control our nature,” I replied unenthusiastically.

A stupid lie. But I looked at her with a steely expression. Adrian would have been proud of me.

“Control,” she pressed out and stopped a meter in front of me. “Something you’re trying to gain, but it’s not in your blood.” She shook her head. “You are bloodthirsty murderers.” My jaw tightened. “And I don’t even want to know how many lives you’ve already taken.”

There were so many words I would have liked to throw at her now. But then she would have realized that she had hit a sore spot. And the last thing I wanted was for the Copeland offspring to know my weak points.

Instead, I went with an honest answer to her first question.

“I was in the library.”

I enjoyed the night. It was the best time for me to study. And I took advantage of the fact that the Vanderwood library was open twenty-four hours.

Emely’s serious expression slipped. Now it was mockery and disbelief that flashed through her eyes. Her dark hair was blown through her face by the wind, making her look rougher, yet feminine.

“Are you trying to be funny? Then I have to disappoint you. Because you’re not.”

Emely was the epitome of a pain in the ass. If there were no problems, she found them. I was her enemy. What else could I be when – already in the baby crib – our families were beating horror stories about each other into us.

Right now, her hostile behavior was getting on my nerves. Or was it still her comment about my control?

“Now tell me...”

I stepped forward, and she automatically backed away, but I was quicker. Within a second, Emely bumped into the stone wall and immediately the smell of her blood thundered toward me, fogging my senses.

“Careful, puppy,” I murmured urgently and pressed my forearm against her chest. I immediately felt the warmth of her Senseque body through my coat sleeve. “I could ask you the same thing.” I looked at her penetratingly. “What are you doing here, all alone, on campus at night?”

We engaged in a squinting battle. And it was my mistake to breathe in to control my overflowing emotions, because immediately there was another pleasant sweet smell in my nose.

It wasn’t just her blood, which – it should be noted – smelled pretty damn weak on Senseque, but a note of jasmine and cinnamon.

“It’s none of your goddamn business!” she snapped at me, reminding me not to breathe.

Something in her expression was different than usual. She looked as if something was occupying her stubborn little head. But she was right. It was none of my business. Let that girl rack her brains.

“Then we’re even,” I murmured, ready to let her go, but she hadn’t finished yet.

“We’ll never be even,” she squeezed out with a deadly look. “Now let me go if you don’t want me to scratch that cocky smile off your face.”

Damn . She really wanted to find out.

I reached into my coat pocket, and my smile returned.

“Try it...” I whispered, opening the vial of yellow tincture with my free hand.

“What?”

Emely’s eyes widened, and with satisfaction, I dripped the contents of the vial onto her wrist before taking three steps backward.

Kings Gambit

Brand X Music

The moonlight shone through the open windows facing the adjacent courtyard and gave a good view of her arms, where thick black veins stood out in a delightful pattern.

“No...” Emely panicked and looked at her arms, then at the neckline of her blouse, from which a few black veins were also climbing up to her neck. “No...” She looked at me, her face full of shock. “What have you done?”

“Let me put it this way.” I ran my fingers through my hair, smiling triumphantly. “ Now we’re even.”

Emely’s eyes widened even more in horror. I had managed to throw her completely off track.

“Why did you do that?”

The very next moment, she arched her back, and I resisted the urge to take another step back.

“Control, Copeland,” I said sharply. “Remember?” My smirk made the anger return to her face. “Now I want to see how much of it you have.”

“You’ll pay for that!” she snapped at me, arching her cracking back one more time before sinking to her knees. “With your death!”

“Empty threats.” I laughed. Inside, my tension grew, because I hadn’t intended to do this to her today . “Come on,” I continued. “I know you can do better than that, little wolf.”

She sank forward, and a deep crack sounded in her neck.

“Get out of here...” she gasped, “Damn it, Miles, get the fuck out of here!”

This time it didn’t sound like a threat, but a warning.

“I’ve always wanted to watch you transform up close.”

Adrian would stake me if he found out I’d raided Bastien’s private lab just to make a Copeland wolf’s day.

“Miles!”

Her exclamation turned into a menacing growl as her clothes ripped, and this time I did take three more steps back, into the courtyard.

That was the moment I should have disappeared, but it turned into the one where a majestic, man-sized dark brown wolf jumped through the stone window straight at me.

I shot further back, around the ivy-covered stone fountain, to put distance between me and her.

Damn . She was bigger than I expected.

Like possessed, I stared at the huge wolf. Thick brown, almost black fur, paws as big as the surface of a face and large yellow glowing eyes... not to mention the teeth she bared at me as she paced around the fountain, growling.

I would be lying if I said her appearance left me indifferent. I wasn’t scared, but damn, respect didn’t even describe it in the slightest.

She growled, and we walked another round around the fountain.

I didn’t know if it was smart to run now. I would be faster than her. But here on campus, she had a crucial advantage. She knew which corridors were dead ends, I didn’t.

Unexpectedly, she jumped over the fountain and I dodged back across the courtyard towards the wall.

Now there was no longer any obstacle separating us.

“Easy, little wolf,” I said, raising my hands.

Fuck . I was screwed.

What had I been thinking? That I would throw a stick, and she would bring it back to me?

Emely growled and came toward me. Closer and closer, ready to make me pay.

I took a deep breath.

The last thing I would do was show her my respect or weakness by running away.

I should have run. Because with one leap, I was jerked to the ground and a huge, snarling wolf towered over me.

Her sharp teeth were as long as my thumbs. The moonlight made them gleam dangerously.

Everywhere – Epic Trailer Version

Hidden Citizens, Adam Christopher

My heart hammered wildly against my ribcage, and I was at the mercy of the menacing gaze of a female Senseque.

One bite was enough, and she would be rid of me. Except that would also be her downfall, the downfall of her whole family.

I managed to distract myself somehow. Or rather, her eyes did . Fascinated, I looked at the detailed fibers of her irises. Golden and just as intense as Ruisangor's irises.

My heartbeat stabilized a little, even though I became more aware again that I was just skidding along the edge of my life.

I kept silent and let her gaze wash over me, trying not to show any weakness, but also not to move a bit. I did something much more fatal. I looked directly into her eyes and held her gaze.

She seemed to calm down, but then her pupils widened. She looked startled. And suddenly she backed away, growled again, but this time irritated, as if she didn’t know what had just happened, and then she ran across the courtyard, through the next corridor and disappeared, leaving me behind in the stormy night.

I lay paralyzed on the cold stone floor for another ten minutes, looking up at the clear starry sky above the courtyard.

Emely had spared me. I had expected nothing less. She kept to the contract, no matter how much I challenged her. She was different from her brother. And she had full control over her wolf form. But there was something else. Her confused look.

I stood up and left the courtyard.

Where Emely had transformed, the torn clothes had disappeared. She must have taken them with her.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I paused, looked around to see if Emely had returned, tried to smell the scent of Senseque or her blood, but there was nothing. Just the cold night air and a dark corridor. But the feeling on the back of my neck that someone was watching me didn’t go away. It only subsided as I drove through the forest in my car toward the town center.