Zodiac Academy: The Awakening As Told By The Boys

I shot back to Asteroid Place after my last class on Friday afternoon, a weight seeming to press down on me like the stars were reaching out from the sky and shoving me towards the ground. I’d been consulting with my tarot cards at every chance I got today, but their answers weren’t clear. I needed a fortune told that wasn’t in damn riddles all the time.

As I walked through the gate, someone shoulder barged me from behind and Astrum stalked past me, his red robes whipping out behind him as he went. For an old asshole, he sure had a lot of backbone.

“You wanna watch where you’re walking,” I called after him as my fangs extended in preparation for a fight, my fingers tingling with magic.

He glanced back at me, looking sort of nervous and distracted.

“Your aura’s dark today, Lance,” he said, his tone taking on a low, mystical quality that he often used in his classes.

“Sorry I’m not exuding sunshine and rainbows like my usual self,” I said dryly, hounding after him as he upped his pace, continually glancing back at me like he thought I was about to pounce. And maybe I was.

He reached the pool and stepped around a sun lounger, strategically putting it between us as he turned back to face me. As if that would keep me away though.

“When I taught you at this academy, you had so much potential,” he said, shaking his head like he was disappointed in me and I frowned, caught off guard by that comment.

“So what? Were you a Pitball fan or something? Because if you’re pissed I gave up my chance to join the League then maybe-”

“That’s not what this is about,” he tsked. “You know nothing about anything.”

“Enlighten me then,” I growled.

He glanced around like a jittery little house cat and smoothed down his long grey moustache. “I’ve seen things,” he whispered, his throat bobbing and sweat starting to bead on his brow. “Something is coming.”

I momentarily became distracted from my anger as I took in those words, because I’d been feeling that way for a while now and every reading I did confirmed it. Plus, I may have hated the old guy but he’d worked as a consultant to the Vega Queen years ago and I knew his Sight was powerful. Maybe he’d been able to grasp more than I could from the stars about what was coming.

“What’ve you seen?” I demanded, taking a step closer.

He shook his head, eyes darting left and right again like he expected an enemy to appear from thin air, but there was no one here.

“The dice is already rolling,” he hissed. “And I fear it’s too late.”

“Too late for what?” I pressed, searching for answers in his eyes.

“Yoo-hoooo!” Washer’s voice cut through the air and Astrum turned tail and scarpered away like a rat down a drain.

I gritted my jaw in irritation, my head snapping around to where Washer was approaching the pool with a bright pink flamingo ring around his waist, and as I looked at the transparent pink plastic, I saw his cock squashed up between it and the ring. No, by the stars no.

I physically jerked away from the sight as he waved enthusiastically at me. “Join me for a dip in the pool, Lancey boy. We can have a good chat you and me. A real cosy catchup before we head out on the town for the night. We can enjoy getting wet together and if you let your guard down, you can let your worries be Washered away. How does that sound?”

Like my own personal hell.

He chuckled, his Siren gifts swirling around me, trying to feed on my frustration, but he couldn’t have it.

“Can’t. I’m going out,” I said and his eyebrows shot towards his hairline.

“Oooh with Franny, is it? You two always did make a saucy couple. She was always such a gushing student.”

I almost snapped at him for that last comment before I remembered his weird sliding scale of ranking students. Ergh.

“We’re not a couple,” I muttered, though why I was bothering to explain myself to him, I didn’t know.

“Will you bring her home tonight? You, me and Fran could have a midnight tipple. Just the three of us getting wet and wild in the hot tub, what do you say?”

I say I’d rather cut my own hand off and feed it to an unwilling crow.

“I’m staying at hers tonight,” I lied and his eyebrows somehow went higher. Though why that was a lie, I wasn’t sure. I just knew I’d be sleeping alone in my own bed tonight.

He shook his hips left to right and his skin rubbed against the rubber ring, making a creaking sound. “Oh I see. You two little lovebirds want some rompy pompy, do you? A teeny weeny bit of the old hanky panky.” He started thrusting his hips as he laughed, making the flamingo’s head bob and I swear it looked distressed.

I grimaced, about to snap at him when a Harpy landed right between us, their black wings folding behind them and slapping Washer in the face.

“Noxy.” I beamed in surprise, finding my friend Gabriel grinning at me with a takeaway bag in his hand. His dark hair was ruffled by the flight he’d taken and his muscular bare chest was exposed, the myriad of inked symbols on his body on display.

“Hey Orio,” he said, continuing to flap his wings so Washer got a face full of feathers and started spluttering as he tried to back away. “I brought dinner.”

“Thank you,” I said seriously and he smirked in a way that told me he’d seen this already and had planned his Washer intervention.

I strode past him, leading him to my chalet and a splash told me Washer had jumped in the pool. I never went swimming in there. It wasn’t sanitary with how much time that over-tanned creep spent in the water with his floaties. I swear I should just pop them all to save them from the molestation. They’d probably thank me for it. That was no life for a happy little blow-up creature.

I unlocked the door with my magic and led the way inside, a breath of relief leaving me as Gabriel came in and I shut the door behind him. I let the professor mask fully slip from my body. It was my favourite moment of the day, just letting go of the fakeness I had to put on beyond these walls.

I rubbed my eyes wearily then turned to my friend and he moved swiftly forward and wrapped his tattooed arms around me.

“You look dead on your feet,” he said as he let his wings shift away.

“I’m dead off them too,” I said, conjuring something of a laugh but it didn’t sound right. “What are you doing here?”

He released me and dropped down onto the couch, placing the bag of food on the coffee table.

I joined him, shedding my blazer and putting my feet up on the table as I loosened my tie from my throat. I swear that thing felt like a noose put there by Lionel Acrux most of the time.

“Just checking in,” he said, frowning at me as I leaned forward to grab my bourbon off the table. “I had a vision about your drinking habit.”

My fingers grazed the bottle and I huffed internally, sitting back in my seat and leaving the bourbon there. “I wouldn’t call it a habit, more of a necessity.” I smirked, but he didn’t smile.

“How are the Vegas?” he asked, changing topics faster than the wind.

I shrugged. “Powerful.

“Tell me about them,” he urged, looking genuinely curious. “One has blue hair, right?”

“Yeah, so?” I said sharply, the words coming out defensive and I cursed myself internally.

I didn’t want Gabriel noticing anything about my behaviour when it came to Darcy. He could use his Sight to try and see more. Too much. Not that there was anything to see. I hadn’t done shit. And I wasn’t going to. So how could he see anything anyway? There definitely wasn’t a future where I acted on these crazy feelings, so I was a hundred percent safe from his visions. Even though I trusted him with my life, no one could know this. It was just a blip. Something to do with her Order for sure. She was just a Siren. Just a harmless little Siren.

Gabriel scratched at a tattoo of three intertwined wings on his collarbone. “Just tell me about them,” he laughed and I relaxed a bit, telling him everything I’d learned so far about the two lost princesses as we ate the tacos he’d brought – barring the part where Blue tasted like the best dream of my life and had made me so hard I couldn’t think of any other girl lately.

His grey eyes glazed for a second as he fell into a vision and when he refocused, he glanced at the back of the couch like he’d seen something there and surprise crossed his features. “Blue means you…holy shit,” he muttered under his breath.

“What?” I demanded, my heart thrashing irrationally.

“Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “Look, I came to talk to you about something in particular,” he said seriously, darkness crossing his eyes. “I’ve been getting some strange visions lately. It’s like there’s walls stopping me from seeing something. Like a dark cloud barring my way. I try to push through it but it’s impossible. I’m not sure what it is, but I…I think it’s bad, Orio. And it fucking scares me because if I can’t see the danger, then I can’t protect my family from it. I can’t protect you from it.”

“Shit,” I breathed, pressure mounting in my head again. “I dunno what to say, man. Maybe you could consult with some other Seers, find out if they’re struggling too?”

He nodded vaguely, still staring at me with concern in his eyes. “Have you been acting on what I said to you the other day? You need to follow the light, Lance. It’s important. More important than I can really say.”

“I don’t know what that means,” I said imploringly. “What light, Noxy? There is no light. This world is so fucking grey sometimes I just…” My gaze drifted to the bourbon again, thoughts twisting in my head over Darius, his father, that fucking beating he’d taken the other day. I only had to close my eyes to feel the lashings of that belt on my back. On his back. It made me sick. Fucking literally. The moment he’d passed out in his bed the other night I’d thrown up in his golden-seated toilet as I fought the urge to heal him. I hadn’t slept, knowing he was suffering and not being able to do a thing about it. It was an agony I couldn’t even describe, and the worst thing was I knew Lionel could do it again at any time. And there was nothing I could do to protect Darius from him. Just like I hadn’t been able to protect my sister from him.

Clara was gone because of that fucking monster and every day that passed without her reminded me how helpless I was to his power. If I’d only acted sooner, spoken to her about Lionel and realised how deeply he had her under his control, maybe I could have gotten her away from him…

Gabriel reached out and rested his hand to my shoulder. “The past is gone. There are no more paths for you there.”

“I know,” I bit out, my mind descending into a dark, all-consuming pit.

“So take a new path,” he urged. “You can be happy, I know you can.”

“You’ve seen it?” I asked, begged really, because I couldn’t see any path in my future that led to happiness. Though maybe destroying Lionel would bring me that. Maybe that was what Gabriel could see. And that gave me hope, because if he could see Lionel falling then it meant it was really possible.

He nodded, a promise in his eyes. But I didn’t have his gifts, I couldn’t perceive what he’d seen. So I was just a gambler, blindly placing bets and I didn’t know where to put my money.

“The answer is in the path of least resistance,” he said and I sighed.

“Well, it must be at the bottom of my bottle of bourbon then,” I said sardonically, swiping it up from the table at last and giving in to my craving for numbness. I twisted the cap off, taking a swig out of it and felt Gabriel’s eyes on me. He wasn’t judgemental, that wasn’t his style. But sometimes I thought about the guy I’d been when I first met him and wished I could still be that for him. This alcoholic asshole I was now was probably far more than he’d bargained for as a friend. But we weren’t normal friends, we were Nebula Allies, which meant I was star-chosen for him and him for me. No escaping that, sadly for him.

We chatted about Gabriel’s family and I basked in the happiness of his life, trying to steal some of it for my own as I forgot about my problems.

After a while, my Atlas buzzed and I found a message from Francesca telling me she was about to leave and I cursed, shoving to my feet. I was still wearing my professor bullshit and had totally forgotten about meeting her.

I scrubbed a hand over my face as Gabriel pushed to his feet too, already seeing what I was about to say.

“I’ll see you later. Have an interesting evening,” he said with a knowing grin and I frowned at that before he headed to the door, letting himself out and flying off towards the horizon.

Damn cryptic oracle man.

I shot to the shower, pulling off my clothes as I went and quickly washing before tearing back to my room and throwing on a nice shirt and some smart pants. I dried my hair, styling it fast, glancing in the mirror and figuring that’d do before pocketing my stardust, my sun steel sword concealed as a switch knife, my Atlas and my wallet. Then I shot out of the house, locking up in record time and throwing stardust over me as I went. Being a Vampire really had its perks when you were as useless at time keeping as me.

I was cast among the stars, my soul seeming to scatter before being drawn back together as I was transported onto a street in Tucana outside a bar called Andromeda Place. Francesca was already there, wearing a fitted dress with her hair styled to perfection. She looked good, but somehow as I took in her curves which usually seemed appetising to me, I didn’t really feel much of anything. I blamed it on the shitty day I’d had and hitched on an expression that was less end-of-the-world and her face split into a smile as she spotted me.

She jogged over on her high heels, wrapping her arms around me, her lavender perfume surrounding me. I gave her a one armed squeeze and she clung on a little tighter, leaning back and pressing her mouth to mine. I blinked in surprise. It wasn’t like we hadn’t kissed before, but we usually only did it at my place, or hers. This was very…public. Not that I cared what anyone thought, but we’d never acted like this outside of the bedroom before and it left me vaguely stunned.

She leaned back, threading her fingers between mine and scoring her thumb across my lips to wipe away the lipstick she’d left there.

“Why do you look like I just punched you in the dick, Lance?” she snorted and I made a vague attempt to rearrange my features.

“I just didn’t realise we were kissing in public now,” I said with a frown.

“Is that a problem?” she asked.

Was it? No. Not technically. Except I’d made it clear I didn’t want any kind of serious relationship with Francesca. But she’d said that too. So maybe I was just overthinking this. The thing was, it wasn’t her kissing me that was really the problem, it was that the second her mouth had touched mine, I’d thought of someone else. And I’d felt the weirdest fucking sense of betraying her.

I cleared my throat – and my thoughts for that matter – tightening my hold on Francesca’s hand and leading her into the bar. I felt the security spells washing over me, checking my identity and the cool sensation of a silencing bubble barrier filling the place. Most bars didn’t allow silencing bubbles because they ruined the atmosphere, but there was enough chatter here that it didn’t much matter, especially as I couldn’t see any Vampires that could potentially tune in on our conversation.

We headed over to the end of the bar, sitting side by side and Francesca’s knees pressed to mine as she turned to face me.

“How’s your week been?” she asked.

“Dreadful,” I deadpanned. “Yours?”

She laughed, swatting my arm and I frowned. She wasn’t usually like this. Normally we chatted about Pitball scores and Nymph attacks, not small talk bullshit.

We ordered drinks and my attempt to steer the conversation to Pitball somehow kept ending up back at weird topics.

“You never really speak much about your mom,” she said, reaching over to squeeze my arm as I drained my second whiskey.

“That’s because she’s a royal cunt,” I said flatly and she laughed again, her hand sliding higher and squeezing my bicep.

“You must love her though. She’s your mom,” she pressed, a frown pulling at her brow.

I shrugged, tapping the bar so the bartender immediately replaced my drink. “Love’s a word I reserve for few and far between these days.”

“Like for me?” she asked playfully, tossing her hair.

I snorted. “Yeah,” I said and her eyelashes fluttered. “You, Darius, Gabriel. My Nebula Allies.” I shrugged. “That’s about it.”

Her lips turned down at the corners as she sipped her wine and nodded, seeming sad about something though fuck knew what.

“Did you see the last Skylarks game?” I asked as my gaze hooked on a TV screen beside the bar playing the highlights. I’d missed watching it live thanks to fucking Lionel, but had managed to catch up during my lunch hour today. “I swear Altair is made for scoring Pits. She’s like a rocket on the field, especially when the Lion starts knocking everyone over.” I grinned. Man, I loved Pitball. If there was one thing that could still get my heart racing these days, it was that. That and a blue-haired Vega apparently. No, I’m not thinking about her tonight. In fact, no more Darcy thoughts for the rest of the weekend. And by Monday, I’ll have a clear head and a no-bullshit attitude towards our relationship.

Francesca’s hand dropped onto my thigh and I turned back to her in surprise.

“I don’t wanna talk about Pitball tonight,” she said huskily, wetting her lips.

“Oh,” I said disappointedly, trying to look back at the screen, but she caught my chin and yanked my head around. “Are you okay? You’re acting weird.”

“I’m fine,” she said, laughing girlishly again and leaning back in her seat.

She sipped her wine and her hand slid off my thigh, making me feel strangely relieved. It wasn’t like she hadn’t touched me intimately before. It was just odd. Here. In a bar. And my cock definitely had no interest in it.

My Atlas buzzed and I took it from my pocket, finding a photo sent from Gabriel of a snake with a top hat on and a tiny rose between its teeth. I started laughing, showing it to Francesca but she didn’t even crack a grin. That shit was funny, man, what was her deal?

“Lance, can we talk about something?” she asked seriously and I nodded, placing my Atlas down on the bar and leaning in closer.

“Is it about the Nymphs?” I asked, hoping she had some information for me on that nest.

“No,” she said in frustration. “It’s about us.”

I frowned, waiting for an explanation, but as she went on a flash of blue in my periphery made my eyes whip over her shoulder to the door as it opened. Darcy Vega walked into the bar with her sister and a couple of freshmen including the smart Cygnus girl and the hat guy who tasted of feet. My breath stalled in my lungs. Blue looked fucking radiant in tight fitting jeans and a black cami that dipped low enough to show off her cleavage in a lacy bra that had my cock’s full attention. Oh fuck no. Why is she here? Of all the fucking places in Tucana, she chose to come here?

The stars really couldn’t give me a break. And I was still staring. Even right now, when I knew I needed to look away, I was still. Fucking. Staring.

“-and I feel like there is something special between us, don’t you?” Francesca was saying and I grunted some sort of affirmation, not really taking in what she’d said as I stared at the girl who seemed to carry the sun with her wherever she went. It felt so much warmer in here now, so much brighter. I was gonna turn to ash in that light, like Vampires from the mortal stories.

“You do?” Francesca asked excitedly.

“Uhuh,” I said vaguely, my eyes still locked on Darcy.

“Isn’t that Professor Orion?” Sofia Cygnus asked as I trained my ears on them too and my gaze immediately snapped back to Francesca a heartbeat before Darcy looked this way. Shit, she could have caught me staring like a fucking creep.

My heart was pounding furiously and my breaths were coming unevenly. What the fuck was happening to me?

Francesca smiled at me with a glint in her gaze while I kept my ears firmly on the Vegas. For research purposes, obviously.

“Could be,” Darcy said lightly like she didn’t really care and my neck prickled irritably.

I couldn’t pick up her heartbeat with so much chatter in the restaurant part of the bar, so I couldn’t be sure if she was having any reaction to my presence at all. Not that it mattered.

“This way,” the waitress said to them and they were seated at a table that was right across from us. Perfect.

When Darcy sat exactly in my line of sight, my stomach rippled with heat and I fought a satisfied grin as she immediately hid behind a menu. She definitely knew I was here and she was definitely affected.

When she ordered a whiskey and coke, I swear my dick did some sort of salute. Whiskey girl? Dammit, why are you doing this to me stars?

“So do you think we should?” Francesca asked and I realised she’d continued talking while I’d been staring at the forbidden fruit in the room.

“Hm?” I asked, forcing my eyes back onto her.

“You know…” she said, biting her lip. “Should we try?”

“Er, yeah,” I said, figuring it was fifty-fifty odds on whatever I was agreeing to being the right choice.

“Are you sure?” she asked excitedly as I tried to get the bartender’s attention again.

“Uhuh,” I said, flicking my fingers and sending the best bottle of whiskey in the bar down to take the place of the one the bartender had been about to use to make Darcy’s drink while he fetched a glass.

He poured the one I’d chosen without even noticing the switch, making Darcy’s drink ten times better than it would have been with the piss water he’d been going for – and ten times more expensive than he realised. Though the coke would likely ruin it anyway.

I watched as she was brought her drink, waiting for her reaction as she took a sip and switching the bottles back so no one noticed. But as she did so, her eyes locked on mine, catching me clean off guard and making my heart slam into my ribcage. Blue promptly started choking on her drink, coughing like mad and I got out of my seat, worrying I’d just killed a fucking Vega before she managed to rein it in and Tory shot her an amused smile.

“What are you doing?” Francesca asked in confusion. Good fucking question.

I dropped my ass back onto my seat and focused on my friend in front of me, done with acting like a crazy person and absolutely done with looking at that girl.

The bar was pretty busy now and no one was paying us attention so I decided to force the topic of conversation at last. “Did you get any new information on the nest?”

Francesca frowned. “Yes…I’m almost certain it’s Nymphs.”

Relief washed through me. “That’s good. Can you keep tabs on them for now? Darius needs to lay low for a while since he was almost caught.”

“Well if we’re lucky, Captain Hoskins will deal with them for us. I sent the information to him to see if he’ll send a taskforce after them. But if not, we’ll have to take them on together, all three of us,” she said. “But you just need to relax tonight. Have some fun and we can talk about this in the morning,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “We always have so much fun together.”

“I’m not sure many people think I’m fun,” I said with a breath of amusement.

“Well I do,” she said, grinning. “I know you, Lance. I know you better than anyone.”

Not true, but I didn’t wanna be rude so I just took a swig of my drink. Francesca was a good friend and I trusted her, but there was a lot she didn’t know about. Like my dark magic habit.

“Remember when we went on that field trip to Sunshine Bay in our senior year?” she asked.

“It rained the whole time,” I said, nodding. “That’s about all I remember of it. The endless rain.”

“That’s the only thing you remember?” she balked.

“Um…oh there was that Turtle Shifter you thought was just a normal turtle and he crawled into the girls’ tent and saw you all getting changed,” I laughed and she slapped my thigh.

“What about when we kissed?” she said, her cheeks reddening slightly.

“We kissed?” I frowned in confusion, not remembering that at all.

“Yes. Under those giant leaves which you said looked like Dragon dicks.”

“Oh yeah,” I chuckled as I remembered them. “They really did look like Dragon dicks.”

“And then we kissed,” she pressed and my features twisted as I tried to recall that part.

“Are you sure it was with me? Didn’t you have a thing with Jessie Starhole that semester?”

“It wasn’t Jessie fucking Starhole, it was you!” she snapped and I stared at her in shock at her outburst. “Don’t you remember the Faeflies? And the way the sea was lapping at our feet? And that pod of glimmerlight jellyfish that were out in the water so it was all lit up in a thousand colours? And our lips tasted like the rain…”

“Um…” I scratched my jaw.

“Let me find the memory.” She reached out to touch my temple but I caught hold of her wrist, not wanting her to feast on my memories tonight.

It was how Cyclopses recharged their power, and usually I gave her access to my old school memories, especially the ones where I won Pitball games, liking reliving those while she recharged her magic. But my head was fucked this week and I couldn’t be sure I’d be able to keep out thoughts of Darcy Vega and let slip my nightmare of a secret to her.

“I remember now,” I lied, placing her hand back in her lap. Still had zero memory though, which was weird considering I didn’t drink back then.

She smiled at last and I guessed I’d dodged the bullet. “That was a fun trip.”

I nodded vaguely, my gaze slipping back over her shoulder to Blue who was chatting with her friends. She was laughing, enjoying herself and seeming to exude purest energy from her flesh.

I’m thirsty. So fucking thirsty I should just go over there now and bite her.

There were a lot of people looking at the Vegas from around the bar, though they didn’t seem to notice the attention they were garnering. I even caught a few people snapping subtle photos of them and some protective part of me wanted to shoot around the room, smash all of those assholes’ Atlases and lay them at Darcy’s feet. Because that made total sense.

Francesca leaned sideways to get back in my line of sight and I cleared my throat. “What are you looking at?” She glanced over her shoulder then her head snapped back around, her eyebrows shooting up. “Holy shit, is that the Vegas?”

“Yeah,” I said, my throat tightening like a python was coiled around it. “Strange how inoffensive they seem, isn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t be fooled by that,” she said. “I’ve arrested people who seem so small and innocent, you’d never suspect they could murder a whole family or cause destruction everywhere they went.”

I nodded, knowing she was right and needing to keep my guard up because of it. “I’ll never underestimate them.”

“Good,” she said. “We really can’t afford to have some girls on the throne who don’t know anything about Fae. The kingdom is already in enough trouble as it is,” she murmured and I firmly agreed with that. “Oh no,” she groaned suddenly, her gaze on the entrance and I followed it to where Washer was leading a line of professors into the bar – including my biggest fan, Ling Astrum.

“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered as they swept through the bar and Washer instantly spotted us.

“Franny!” he cried, hurrying over to hug her and she was practically pulled off her stool as he pressed her against his flowery shirt. “Oh how I’ve missed seeing your pert little…face around campus.” He grinned, looking over her shoulder at me and winking.

I bristled, tugging her out of his arms. “Have a good evening, Brian,” I said curtly and he gave me another wink.

“Don’t mind me, I won’t interrupt your little tête-à-tête,” he said, though it sounded more like he said titty-tit. “I’m sure you’re going to have a hard, firm talk tonight,” he said as he wet his lips, his eyes dipping down my body for a second and I felt his Siren powers trying to push some lust into me, but I locked down my mental shields before he could get any hold over me. The guy was such a creep. I’d put him through a wall if it wasn’t for the priority of keeping my damn job.

He headed off and Astrum shot me a scowl, making my jaw tighten before I lost sight of them as they moved to sit in a booth with the other professors.

My ears involuntarily picked up the conversation at the Vegas’ table again and I kept my expression neutral as I listened.

“Washer is a total perve,” Sofia whispered then giggled as if she shouldn’t have said it.

“Is that why we have to wear bathing suits that barely cover our asses in his class?” Darcy asked, her nose wrinkling and making me want to cast an orb of water around Washer’s head and watch while he drowned.

“I’d bet on it, chica,” Diego Polaris laughed, nudging her in the ribs. Did she ask you to touch her, fuck face?

The bourbon was starting to make me irrational, but I quite liked this place in my head where the part of me trying to fight this wild possessiveness was now knocked out unconscious.

The Vegas and their friends seemed to be on a mission to get drunk as they ordered more and more drinks to the table and I had to fix my attention on Francesca for a while to stop her from noticing where my attention really wanted to be. She reached out, gripping my fingers and drawing my hand onto her knee as she leaned in closer to whisper to me.

“You look thirsty, Lance. Haven’t you fed lately?” she asked, dropping her hand and leaving mine in place on her bare flesh. It would have been awkward to remove it straight away, but it felt odd putting my hands on her outside of a bed. And I really wasn’t feeling a hook up tonight, though I didn’t know why. She looked amazing, I just felt so…distracted.

Gah, fuck Blue and her fucking mind tricks. Why shouldn’t I hook up with Francesca?

“Oh about that,” I said as I realised I hadn’t told her something. “I kinda claimed a new Source.”

“You did?” she balked, anger colouring her features. “Who?”

“It’s no big deal.”

“But I’m your Source,” she growled. “How’s it not a big deal?”

“It’s not personal, Francesca, I just claimed someone more powerful,” I said with a shrug and her lips parted indignantly.

“But Vampires can have multiple Sources, you can just keep me too,” she said, but somehow, I didn’t find that idea very appealing.

“I know…it’s just their power is so strong I don’t think I’ll ever really crave yours again. Not that there’s anything wrong with yours. It’s great. Just not…theirs.” Damn, that was not tactful and her face said she was not pleased.

“Who is it?” she demanded in a hiss. “Darius wouldn’t let you claim him officially even if he does let you feed occasionally.”

“It’s not Darius,” I said, heat rising in my veins as I thought of who it was. Of how fucking good she tasted. How much I wanted to get out of my seat, go over there and drink from her right now in front of everyone to show them who she belonged to.

“Then who?” she bit out.

“Darcy Vega,” I said lightly, trying to play it off with a shrug, but Francesca looked ready to decapitate me. I mean, yeah, she liked me biting her when we fucked but that wasn’t a reason for me to keep her as a Source. And she knew she wasn’t the only one I fed from either. That wasn’t how it worked. I could have anyone I could catch, my Source just couldn’t be bitten by another. So what was with the jealous look?

“Come on,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “This is a joke. You’re joking.” Her lips quirked up as she prodded me in the chest, waiting for me to admit it was, but it wasn’t so…

I shrugged again.

“I thought you liked biting me,” she said, her voice full of some plea I didn’t understand.

“I did,” I said. Shit, past tense.

“Did?” she snagged onto that little slip. Fuck. “So my blood’s not good enough for you anymore?”

“I didn’t say that,” I sighed. “I’m a Vampire, I have to claim the best Source available, it’s my nature. And the Vegas are the most powerful Fae in our kingdom, how was I supposed to pass up on the opportunity to claim one?” Especially that one.

She pouted, looking away from me and I took the opportunity to slide my hand off of her knee.

“If you enjoy being bitten, you could always find another Vampire to claim you as a Source?”  I suggested.

“I don’t want another Vampire, Lance. I thought you…” she trailed off, downing her drink.

“I had to have her,” I admitted, the words rolling from my tongue like a cardinal sin. “You don’t understand what it’s like to crave another Fae’s power. It’s how I’m made. And she’s fucking made to tempt me. I mean, her power is made to tempt me,” I backtracked quickly and she sighed.

“Fine, but you owe me,” she muttered, turning her attention to the bartender to order us more drinks.

“Shots!” Diego announced, rising from his seat and drawing my eyes to him.

“Yes!” Sofia hooted, looking drunk already as she swayed in her seat.

Darcy and Tory laughed as Diego strode away to the bar, looking pretty half cut themselves. They looked so happy, it made me envy them. Their bond. Their joy. The fact that they didn’t feel this constant weight driving down on their shoulders because they’d lost the other half of them. I’d give anything for one more night laughing with my sister.

“Oh no,” Tory said suddenly, sinking low in her seat.

“What is it?” Darcy whispered and I followed her line of sight to the window.

Geraldine Grus was crossing the street with a paper bag in her grip and a peppy expression.

“Hide,” Tory begged her friends, grabbing up a menu and burying her face in it.

I watched, intrigued as Darcy pulled her hair over her shoulders as if trying to hide the tell-tale blue in the ends.

“Just ignore her,” Tory hissed and as Sofia raised a hand to wave, Tory took a swat at her with her menu.

“We can’t,” Darcy said with a pained expression.

You’re too sweet for this world, Blue. Someone’s going to eat you up. And it will most likely be me.

Unsurprisingly, their piss poor efforts didn’t deter Geraldine who spotted them instantly and came prancing into the restaurant and rushed over to them. “Well bless my cream crackers! I thought you were staying at The Orb?”

“We changed our minds,” Darcy said innocently and I ran my tongue over my canines. If you don’t like Grus, force her to leave.

I was morbidly fascinated by her politeness. All freshmen turned into monsters eventually. This one though…her monster was hidden deep so I was really fucking curious to see her embrace it.

“Oh.” Geraldine’s confusion melted into a bright smile. “Well why didn’t you call me?” She dropped into Diego’s chair, placing a paper bag on the table. “You’re going to love these, I just got them made.”

She tipped the bag up and a pile of sparkly silver badges fell onto the table with the letters A.S.S inscribed on them, my keen eyesight picking out the word immediately. What in the love of f-

“Lance.” Francesca snapped her fingers in front of my face and I blinked, clearing my throat as I paid her attention again. Shit, my mind was not in gear tonight. “Are you even listening?”

“No,” I admitted. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

She started talking again but so did Blue and my ears chose for me as I concentrated on my Source.

“Um Geraldine,” Darcy said gently as I kept my gaze firmly locked on Francesca’s lips, not hearing a word leaving them.

“Yes?” Geraldine asked brightly.

“It’s just…that acronym, it kinda spells ass.”

A laugh tumbled from my chest and Francesca gaped at me.

“How’s that funny? My colleague died, Lance,” she said in horror.

“Right yeah, it was just how he died that was amusing,” I tried to cover my ass.

“Being blasted to pieces in front of his family by a maniac?”

Great. He had to die horrifically, didn’t he? Couldn’t have died drowning in a whirlpool of Griffin shit. Selfish bastard.

“Er-” I drained my whiskey. “Another drink?”

“Sure,” she said, eyeing me in confusion like she couldn’t work out what was up with me tonight. That made two of us.

I noticed Diego by the bar, gathering up four bright green shots and spending a lot of time jiggling them between his hands as he arranged them in his grip. He was literally an air Elemental and could have used his magic to assist him easily, so this display was painful to watch. He eventually headed over to the table and I took a moment to order Francesca and I more drinks. My head was getting fuzzy now and I knew I should really sober up a bit, but I was enjoying the feeling of all my worries vanishing from my mind. Especially as the guilt was temporarily gone, switched right off and waiting to haunt me tomorrow. But right now, I was free. And I was using that as an excuse to watch Darcy Vega as much as I could get away with. It was like feeding a secret drug habit that no one could ever find out about.

Geraldine darted off out of the restaurant and I gave Francesca my undivided attention in a bid to make up for being completely absent with her all evening. It was far more difficult than I cared to admit, but I didn’t let my eyes or ears stray to Blue again.

After a while, Francesca got a message and checked her Atlas, her brow dipping as she read the words. “Fuck,” she hissed. “Captain Hoskins has denied my request to send a taskforce to investigate the suspected Nymph nest.”

“What?” I growled in frustration. “Does that asshole not understand how serious this is?”

“He thinks I’m mistaken.” Her lip curled in anger as she looked up at me. “The Nymphs are getting out of hand. There’s more reports every day.”

“I know,” I muttered, tension knotting my muscles.

“It’s all moving so fast. We should do something about it tonight.”

She squeezed my arm.

“No. It’s too soon. We have to wait,” I said, thinking on this. Darius needed to lay low for a while, it was too soon to go on another hunt. Dammit, was her captain a fucking idiot? The threat they could pose was unimaginable.

“It will get out of control, Lance. It has to be tonight. I can’t wait any longer,” she pushed.

“That’s not what we planned,” I hissed. “If we try to kill them now we’ll draw attention to ourselves.”

Francesca’s eyes suddenly slid over my shoulder and reflected in the glassy surface of them was a girl with blue-tipped hair right behind me.

I swung around with the speed of my Order, grabbing Darcy’s arm before she could escape and yanking her closer as fear blossomed in her eyes.

“What did you hear?” I growled and she gasped, trying to prise my fingers off of her but there was no chance of that. The contact between us was like a flash of lightning crackling directly beneath my flesh and I inhaled sharply. Holy fuck.

“Lance,” Francesca warned, but a Vega was the last person on earth I could risk nosing into my business on this. She couldn’t know the illegal shit I was up to; it could jeopardise everything Darius and I had worked for.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Darcy insisted and I released her as Francesca’s’ fingers dug into my leg.

I watched as Blue darted away, her heartbeat so loud it thumped like it lived on the inside of my skull even after she walked into the women’s restroom.

“I’ll deal with this,” I told Francesca, getting to my feet and feeling the thrum of alcohol still burning in my chest.

“Just don’t do anything stupid. Remember who she is,” Francesca said, concern lacing her voice and I nodded as I walked to the restroom door and shoved it open.

Darcy was clinging to one of the basins and fear trickled into her face as she spotted me. I pushed the door shut, locking it tightly and feeling the pull of her yank on a vital piece of me. She started backing up and as she opened her mouth to yell for help, I stole the air from her throat, keeping her silent. Keeping her trapped. This is what happens when you go looking for trouble, Blue. It finds you.

Her heartbeat thundered in my ears as her spine hit the far wall and she raised her hands with a determined flare in her eyes. I allowed some air back into her throat, just enough to breathe a whisper.

“Stay back,” she hissed.

“What did you hear?” I demanded, fury scoring through my veins. “Tell me everything.”

My Coercion ran over her and the truth immediately fell from her lips. “That you’re planning to kill someone. And I know it’s us. You want us out. You don’t want me and my sister ruling Solaria, but you can’t really think you’d get away with killing us in a restaurant do you?”

Well fuck me. That was quite the accusation.

Hatred poured from her eyes and I ground my teeth as I stared at this girl who thought I was out for her blood. And alright, I was. But only to drink it. I wasn’t a fucking murderer. Though I guessed her thinking I was didn’t do any harm. In fact, I quite liked her looking at me like I was capable of her complete and utter destruction. It made feel like one hell of a powerful asshole.

She raised her palms higher, her teeth bared and so much passion in her eyes that it made me think forbidden thoughts. I wondered what she’d looked like panting my name. My real name. No more sirs or Professors, just me and her fighting for dominance and seeing who could break the other first in my bed. The alcohol in my system made it hard to feel bad about that image in my head.

Fuck, if her hate makes me this savage, one drop of her love would corrupt me to my core.

I waved a hand and forced her arms to clamp to her sides, stopping her from casting any magic against me.

“That’s it?” I asked, my tone softening.

“Yes,” she spat. “Isn’t that enough?”

I blew out a laugh, staring at her and desperately wanting to crawl inside her mind. I was half tempted to tell her the truth, but I was content with her despising me. It made our relationship far simpler. And if the Heirs didn’t find a way to make them bow out of our world soon, then this girl was someone I’d have to teach for the next four years. But that seemed like a long time to harbour this craving for.

Damn, why did I have to feel this way about a girl I couldn’t have? Maybe in another life I might have leaned into these impossible urges. But not this one.

“Go home, Blue.” I unlocked the door, forcing myself to move, leaving her there and dropping the magic binding her in place as I left.

The air was thinner beyond that room and I felt myself draw in a breath that wasn’t laced with her scent, her aura, and I instantly missed her. No, it. The blood. Not her. By the stars…

I returned to Francesca, muttering to her that the problem was dealt with.

Darcy appeared from the restroom, her jaw set and her chin raised as she walked past me without offering a glance my way. She re-joined her friends and I looked down at the new whiskey poured for me, snatching it up and knocking it back in one go, hoping the burn that surged down deep into my chest would drive away the ache living in me over that fucking girl.

“Let’s go,” I growled, tossing a wad of auras down on the bar to pay our bill and Francesca eyed me curiously as I led the way from the restaurant.

I didn’t look at Darcy again. I was going to three wise monkeys the fuck out of this problem. Because I was officially going to see no Blue. Hear no Blue. Speak no star damned Blue.