Chapter 4 #2
“Ah, yes, your precious knowledge of history,” I said bitterly.
“It’s served you so well. Take a good look in the mirror.
What you did allowed the greatest threat to blightborn lives to fly free.
It’s your fault Molindra is out there. You’re a traitor to the very people you claim to want to protect.
” I’d never spoken to anyone so cruelly before, but the words just rolled off my tongue.
“You failed. No, you didn’t just fail. You made things worse.
” The knowledge of our true situation suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.
“If it weren’t for Florence, you’d be dead right now for what you tried to do to Nyxaris, Rodriguez.
Do you even realize that? Dead.” I was coming undone.
My body shook. I took a deep breath and tried to get myself back under control.
Rodriguez was silent. For a moment, I wondered if things were going to get ugly. Would he hit me? Would I hit him back? He was my teacher, yes, but he’d completely fucked things up.
The silence stretched on. For a moment I let myself wonder if he might actually be about to offer an apology, be the decent human being I’d always thought he was. But abruptly, he turned back to the classroom door.
“You’re excused from today’s class. But the next time you decide to throw a tantrum in one of my lectures, Miss Pendragon, think again. There will be consequences.”
The door slammed behind him before I could even respond. I stood alone in the hallway for a long moment. The scent of stale alcohol lingered even after the door had closed.
Finally, I started walking. I’d head towards the library, I decided. Make another attempt. The halls were nearly empty. I passed a few students who were clearly skipping class. Unlike me, though, they were all highbloods.
I rounded the next corner and froze. “Dani!” Her name slipped from my lips.
The blightborn girl was surrounded by three young men I didn’t recognize.
Tall, broad-shouldered, good-looking. All highbloods.
All arrogant, entitled pricks, in other words.
To my surprise, Dani leaned against one of them—a muscular, hulking boy with long blond hair that fell around his shoulders. His arms were wrapped around her waist.
My mouth fell open in shock. He was drinking from her, right there in the open. Dani’s head sort of lolled to one side. Her eyes were glazed.
“Dani,” I said a little louder. “What the hell are you doing?”
She blinked, eyes hazy with bliss.
I thought I might vomit right then and there.
I’d left her alone for less than two hours—nearly forgotten about her.
Now she was enthralled. Someone had it in for this girl.
I knew the lives en-thralled blightborn led weren’t all terrible.
In fact, in some ways they were downright cushy, their room and board generally provided for as long as they served a specific highblood or highblood family.
But overall, they were cattle. They were at the beck and call of whoever had enthralled them.
And they balanced a strange position in Sangrathan society.
They were supposed to be serving a vital role.
They were treated better than sellbloods, and yet they were also subtly stigmatized.
Most crucially, they weren’t truly free to leave their … jobs.
“Get the fuck off her,” I said loudly.
The highblood feeding from Dani ignored me, but one of his friends stepped forward. This one had mellow golden skin, brown eyes, and a square jaw. He was dressed in House Mortis colors, his jacket a dark crimson with white accents.
“Why?” His voice was falsely polite. “Is she your sister? I don’t think I’ve had the honor.” His eyes raked up and down my body in a lewd way I hated. “Miss … ?”
One of his friends punched Square Jaw in the arm. “You’re such a dumbass, Silvio. Can’t you tell who she is just by looking at her?”
“Dani,” I said, ignoring Silvio Square Jaw and his delightful friend. “Get away from him. Come on. I’ll take you back to your dorm.”
The highblood feeding from her lifted his head. Blood dripped down his chin. “She’s fine. See for yourself. Aren’t you, sweetheart?”
“Of course, Brocklin,” Dani murmured. She looked over at me dreamily. “Never better.” She reached out a hand languidly. “Come join us. It feels so nice. Mm.” Her eyes closed.
I’d never been less interested in a prospect.
“Excellent idea,” said Silvio, still staring at me with far too much interest. “Who did you say she was again, Cade?”
The boy he’d called Cade laughed and elbowed him in the ribs. “The fucking rider, you idiot. Just look at her hair.”
Silvio’s handsome face flushed slightly. “Oh. Right.” He stretched his hand towards me, like I was a dog he was entitled to touch. “Come here, pretty girl.”
I moved before his hand reached me. Fast. So fast his eyes widened.
He whistled. “Shit. She’s quick for a blightborn bitch.”
My whole body hummed. Ready to move again. Ready to fight. I looked past him to Dani. Could I get to her? Would she cooperate with me? My heart sank as she let out a throaty moan and the highblood holding her latched on again.
“She’s Blake’s, you know,” Cade observed. “Better watch out. You know how he gets.”
Undeterred, Silvio looked at me with even more interest. “Marcus’s little brother? I’d forgotten about that.”
Cade nodded and grinned. “But I don’t see Blake anywhere around. I think you should try again, Silvio. She obviously wants to play. If you catch her, maybe she’ll give you a little taste.”
Silvio stepped towards me, his brown eyes glowing at the thought of a challenge. “Come here, baby. I’m not going to hurt—”
He didn’t finish. Because suddenly someone else was in front of me, blocking me completely from their view. I froze. For a split second, I thought it was Blake.
Broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow, lean waist. Lithe, muscular legs clad in perfectly fitted, silver-gray trousers. His dark eyes narrowed as he looked at the other highbloods.
Kage.
“Well, well,” drawled Cade. “Hear you made House Leader.”
Kage’s lips pulled back in a snarl. “Old news. What the hell are you doing in my school?”
Silvio laughed. “Your school? Seems like it’s still just as much ours as yours.”
Still? Who were these assholes? I’d never seen them at Bloodwing before. They were older than even the oldest students, maybe twenty-five or twenty-six.
Then, the one feeding from Dani lifted his head again. “Relax, Avari. We’re just doing what we were told. Regan called us in. Meet your new Bloodguard.” Cade wore silver and gray like Kage, House Avari colors. Nice to know Regan was being so undiscriminating in her selections for her goon squad.
Silvio laughed. “That’s right. Keeping the halls clean. Cracking skulls and sucking blood. This pretty little thing—” he gestured at Dani “—was out wandering the halls when she should have been in class. Naughty, naughty.”
“Keeping the halls clean?” I spat. “Is that what you call harassing students?”
Silvio winked at me. “We don’t have to stay in the halls. Come back to our rooms with us. I promise, you’ll have fun.”
“Fun like Dani’s having?” I shook my head. “No, thanks. Let her go, and I’ll take her back to her room.”
I moved forward, but Cade jumped in front of me, his face suddenly less than pleasant. “Does this girl not know the rules, Avari? Do we need to put her in her place right here and now?”
“You’ll keep your fucking hands off her if you know what’s good for you, you prick.
” Kage’s voice was so calm you’d never have known how pissed he was.
But I was close enough to him that when he folded his arms over his chest, I could see his muscles trembling as if in eager anticipation of a fight.
“Come on, baby,” Brocklin, the highblood feeding from Dani, said. He started to pull her away by the hand. “You’re mine now, right?”
Dani nodded eagerly without even looking at Kage and me.
Brocklin glanced over at me. “There. That good enough for you?”
I shook my head slowly. “Not even fucking close.”
He laughed. “Well, too bad. This is how it works. Sounds like you need some more schooling.” He looked at Dani. “Let’s finish this somewhere more private.” He looked over at the other high-bloods. “You two coming?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Cade said darkly, glaring at Kage and me.
“Hope she tastes better than she looks. I’d have preferred … something with a little more red,” Silvio said, looking at me wistfully. “You sure you don’t want to come along, curls?”
“Fuck off,” I said flatly.
“We’ll see you around,” Cade said to me, his eyes cold. “Sounds like Blake hasn’t done a very good job instructing you in proper respect for the Pure of Blood. But the Bloodguard will correct that soon, don’t you worry.”
I refused to show him just how disturbed I was by that statement.
Kage, on the other hand, let out a low growl that said he wasn’t going to play around like this much longer.
I wondered if we could take them, Kage and I together.Would he turn into his wolf form?
Then, we might actually stand a chance. But the boys were already moving back down the hallway, Dani eagerly skipping behind.
“Are you really just going to let them take her away?” I demanded of Kage, my voice low.
He looked at me, his face suddenly tired. “You saw how it was. She’s enthralled.”
“So un-fucking-enthrall her,” I suggested.
He shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that.” He gave me a curious look. “Sometimes I forget how little you really know about our world.”
I leaned towards him. “I know a little. I know vampires aren’t all what they seem. Isn’t that right, Wolf Boy?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Wolf Boy?”
I glared. “I’ll come up with something better, but the description is fairly accurate.”
He shrugged. “You all right? Did they touch you?”
“I can take care of myself. I had things under control.”
He stared down at me. “Sure you did.”