Chapter 5 #2
She whips her head up and focuses glaring pink eyes at me. Her cheeks are slightly puffed, full of food, and she slowly chews only once before swallowing. Undeniable proof Callahan and Asier were both correct about her being a brat. Not that I didn’t believe them, but now it’s directed at me.
“Wouldn’t want you to choke, after all.”
I still don’t fully process what I’m saying. She really must bathe in that perfume to smell this strongly.
She snorts as she licks her lips and stabs a piece of carrot.
I track the movement of her tongue before it slips back into her mouth and she widens her lips to stuff the carrot into her mouth.
She chews it a few times before swallowing.
Slow and deliberate, though there’s a sudden shift in her energy.
Despite it being weak, I can sense the subtle roil through it.
Stabbing a piece of broccoli now, she says, “Thanks for your concern, but you don’t have to worry. As I already told the Dean, I’ll be more careful to minimize any accidents that could happen.”
Despite the force that she stabs her vegetables her tone is almost meek. Completely at odds with her defiance and glaring eyes. Though after a moment her shoulders hitch in and she bends her head down to take her bite but keeps her head there.
I glance over at Ruleten’s girlfriend and she also has a submissive form with her eyes glued to her lap. I wonder what must have changed from the infirmary to here to make both of these girls have defiance etched onto their skin bow.
Jullia – that’s her name, Jullia Waterstone – had been spewing profanities at me with abandon for what I had done. Yet now she looks like she’d rather hide in a hole.
Good.
Ruleten better keep her in her place because the next time I won’t be so lenient.
“House President,” Ruleten cautiously murmurs, gaining my focus. “Was there something you needed?”
Peering over at her, I realize she’s stopped eating. So much fire and blaze and it’s all doused now.
“Yes,” I clip. “You. I have house things I need to speak with you about. Now.”
I turn and leave, giving Asher Ruleten no choice but to follow. Despite her not having enough power to do so, I do feel her eyes on my back. The little poison drop following me with her gaze.
It takes me ten minutes to get back to the Stone House manor. While there are dormitories for the students of Syngenia, there are also societies who have their own manors. There’s Stone House, which I am president of, Blood House, Breath House, Bone House, and Wood House.
Blood and Wood are female run, with Stone, Breath, and Bone male run.
My house being one of the strongest both in physical power, but also ability wise and of course, mental wise.
Each house plays off of the five different races of witches.
They nearly don’t exist anymore, but they used to over a thousand years ago.
The War of Gods five thousand years ago was the beginning of their near extinction. One of the six beings of moral, they had been even more influential and powerful than the other five combined. It was even spoken about after the war to group them with the celestials. But that was a long time ago.
Walking into one of the smaller foyers, I wait for Ruleten.
He’s a decent enough male with powerful earth elemental magic and a type of healing magic you wouldn’t assume a vampyr would have.
He’s never caused problems within the house and has actually helped more than once in the three years he’s been here.
His cautious footsteps echo down the hall and I finally take a seat in one of the plush reading chairs before the fireplace. It’s still too warm to have one lit, but sometimes the house does what it wants. Enchanted by powerful magic from when Syngenia was first created as a school.
“House President,” he greets as he enters.
Then he waits just inside the doorway for me. I wave him in immediately and he goes to take a seat across from me.
“If this is about Jullia I want to – “
I hold up my hand and he shuts his mouth. “I’m sure you’ll communicate efficiently what actions would be best for her regarding certain company in the future. This is not about her. It’s about her roommate.”
A tinge of anger spirals for a second before he hides it. I doubt anyone likes being told to put their woman on a leash, especially when Asher is so down bad for the mage, but I will not tolerate her actions a second time.
“You want to speak about Mavyn?” he asks, covering up that anger.
I nod. “I want you to tell me everything you know about her.”
His muscles tense but nothing else.
“I don’t know all that much.”
“Tell me what you do know, then.”
His slight hesitation makes me curious about what he’s going to say. What secrets she’s divulged to him.
“Well. . . I met her Friday when everyone was moving in. I wasn’t supposed to be back until Sunday but Jullia told me her roommate for the year was going to be a newly turned vampire. First looking at her she looked horrible. Like someone who was half-starved and hadn’t slept for weeks.”
He clears his throat and adjusts his position in the chair.
“I told her I needed her to make a blood oath if she didn’t want me dragging her into the sun.
She didn’t seem to care and agreed immediately.
Just from that alone it didn’t seem like she would have hurt Jullia even if she was provoked.
She just looked exhausted. But we did the oath, I cemented it with the rune, and then she basically slept all weekend. ”
“What did it taste like?” He gives me a puzzled look so I spell it out for him. “Her blood. When you tasted it, what was it like?”
His face slightly pales and I’m sure he’s remembering when the girl compared what happened to blood sharing. As a vampyr, he knows exactly what that means and the significance of it.
“It wasn’t as disgusting as I imagined a vampire’s blood to taste. It was stale, but not rotting. And I only had a drop of it. That I swear, Thorne.”
I fucking knew it. The cunning little liar could never taste like the one thing better than anything else but is also the thing that will kill you.
Waving at him, I urge him to continue. Relaxing a bit more, he does.
“She really did sleep practically all weekend. Sometime during Saturday Jullia said she finally woke up to drink a bunch of water, but after that she fell back asleep for another twelve hours. She would wake up every so often for something. Sunday morning she woke up again to try some of the bagged blood, but she barely took a sip before she was done. Then she drank more water and passed out again. Jullia said she didn’t wake up until late Sunday afternoon and even then she didn’t say anything much.
“I walked them both this morning from their room to the cafeteria where everything had happened. Everything else I know is what she had stated in the infirmary. Oh, and when I was placing the rune on her to cement the blood oath I rolled her sleeves up and there had been scars covering her forearm. Most of them looked like burn scars, but there were a couple that could have been from knives and there was a scared bite mark too. A fanged bite mark. Aside from that it sounded like she’s spent her whole life in New York City and in her later childhood years and up until she was turned she stayed with a succubus.
And Jullia said she sometimes has nightmares. ”
I seem to keep a good enough handle on my composure because Asher doesn’t seem to register the fact that my blood is boiling. It shouldn’t be, and yet the fact that she has someone else’s fangs scarred into her flesh makes me want to rip the head off of whoever that mark belongs to.
Once again, the irrational feeling of wanting me, and only me or my brothers, to have a claim over her surfaces. I have to blame that damn perfume she wears. There’s no other reason I should be feeling this possessive over a dirty tainted brat.
Standing, I nod to Ruleten. “Make sure she shows up to one of Stone House’s parties this week.”
I don’t wait for him to acknowledge or agree, I simply leave. I need to go take a very long, very cold shower or go hit something. I should have training later, but I can’t wait for that. Darian should be in the arena by now, I’ll have him spare with me.
She’s worked her way into my senses and imbedded claws into my mind. I’ll need to drink her blood to also help right my mind. Proof that she does not taste as good as she smells. Then I’ll have to make sure she never wears that damn perfume again.
I’ll be back within my right of mind by the end of the week. For now I’ll view this as a show of control and will power. Soon enough the little poison drop will mean nothing.