“No, you stupid bitch!” I shout at her and wrap my hands around her throat, squeezing as tightly as I can. My body buckles after she lifts a hand and slaps me hard around the face. My hands fall away from her neck as tears fill the corner of my eyes, and her hand presses my cheek against the tile. In the distance, I hear Vesnia’s screams, her pleas for anyone to help her, and I want to help.
But I can’t. The vampire’s sickly breath blows against my neck as more tears fall, and I close my eyes, blocking out the world. If I’m going to die, it’s going to be while I’m in my own imagination and in my world back home. With my family.
Suddenly her hand is ripped away from me along with her body, and I look up as Henry offers me a hand. In his other hand lies a sword covered in blood, and splatters of blood cover his white pyjama shirt. Dirt and more blood are brushed against his cheeks, and his black hair is all over the place like he just woke up.
And he is my saviour.
My hand slides into his, and he lifts me up, pulling me against his chest.
“Are you okay?” he asks me, searching my eyes for some answer he can’t ask me for.
“Vesnia!” I shout as I snap out of the haze and find her on the floor, two dead vampires at her side. I search for the vampire who hurt me as I run over, but we are alone. Vesnia has two bite marks on the side of her neck, cuts all down the middle of her pyjamas, and bruises all up her cheeks.
She looks terrible, but the rise and fall of her chest gives me hope.
“We need to get her to a doctor!” I shout.
“You mean an angel healer, darlin’,” he corrects me and slides his arms underneath Vesnia and picks her up gently. “Hold my sword. I think the fight is nearly over, but it’s not safe for me to walk there. I need to fly her to the healer right now.”
“I will fight and protect Kaitlyn here,” Thallon says, and we both turn to see him walk in the room with two swords in his hands. “Go!”
“You best protect her like she is your fucking queen, Thallon. I will be back,” Henry growls and takes off, flying through the door. Thallon runs to me, dropping his swords onto the floor, and then he kisses me.
His hands cover my cheeks as his lips move across mine, softly, gently and perfectly all at the same time.
My first real kiss is in a room full of dead vampires, with a bloody sword in my hand, and yet it’s everything perfect with the world because it’s with Thallon.
“I thought you...and shit, when I saw you covered in blood and hurt... I’m sorry if I crossed a line,” he mutters, shaking his head.
“No line crossed,” I say softly against his lips, even as my cheek stings.
“Good, because I want to cross this line again and again,” he whispers to me, and my cheeks light up. I smile so widely until I flinch from the pain, and he gently lowers his hand to have a look. Suddenly the alarm stops, and we both breathe out a sigh of relief.
“Let’s go carefully to the healers’ rooms,” he suggests, letting me go, and picks up his swords. “Just in case of any more surprises.”
“I don’t know, I like your surprises, Thallon,” I reply, and he chuckles as we go to find Vesnia, and I pray she is going to be alright.
Chapter 19
Holding Vesnia’s hand, I rest my head on her bed as I wait for her to wake up. The healers spent thirty minutes with her, using their powers to heal her the best they could. Anything else, they said, would just need rest, and her own room is best for that. After changing into leggings and a pale blue oversized shirt, I checked in with Riley, who had stayed in his room the whole time and is fine. Henry and Thallon made me hold an ice pack to my cheek for a bit, but it doesn’t hurt anymore. I stare at Vesnia a little longer and look around the silent bedroom.
“Ren, are you here?” I ask into the silence.
“Who is Ren?” Vesnia asks with a little groan, and I shoot my gaze back to her as she sits up on the bed and stretches her arms out.
“My neck feels like it’s been used as a dog chew toy,” she mumbles, touching her neck where it is bandaged up. “Remind me never to play with vampires again.”
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop them. How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Sore and in real need of some snacks. Oh, and some chocolate milk,” she says, resting back on her pillows.
“And as your non-bitten temporary slave, I’m on it. The healer demanded bed rest for you, so you will be happy to know you’ll miss class tomorrow,” I tell her, and she laughs before flinching.
“Really?” her eyes light up, and I can’t help but chuckle. I slide my boots on and wave goodbye as I leave her room. The academy is silent after the attack, and I didn’t expect it to be anything different after I saw the actual state of it as Thallon walked me to the healers. I saw dozens, if not a hundred bodies in every room of the academy, and the teachers were making quick work of dragging them away. It’s not a sight I ever thought I’d be okay with seeing, but since becoming an angel, I’ve become numb to death, or at least since I saw those dead angels on the mountains. I go through the greenhouse and into the corridor for the dining hall when I hear shouting.
“It’s madness to keep him here! We should just kill him!” Master Gabriel shouts in pure anger, and I’ve never heard him like that before. I pause outside the door I’ve just passed, hearing more talking inside, but I can’t understand them from here.
Curiosity killed the cat. But luckily, I’m not a cat. Or at least that’s my excuse as I push the door slowly open and sneak inside the corridor I find. The corridor turns off into two staircases, and the walls are lined with white pillars with deep shadows in between them. I carefully walk down the tiles, hearing the voices getting louder with every step, and there is a manly sounding groan. A pain-filled groan. I freeze, knowing I should go back, but I don’t as I rush to the steps and slowly walk up to them. My footsteps are lost in the sounds of the pain-filled noises and Professor Badhur’s demanding voice.
“Tell us how you made a group and got into the academy?” Professor Badhur asks as I get to the top of the staircase, and a hand wraps around my mouth at the same time another hand roughly pulls me between two pillars. Henry’s eyes stare into mine as he lowers his hand, our bodies pressed so closely together.
I want to tell him thank you and ask why he is sneaking around too. But I stay quiet and turn to look at the room I’ve just walked into, trying to ignore how good Henry’s body feels pressed against mine.
In the centre of the room is a man on the floor, his ankles and wrists wrapped tightly in silver chains, which are attached to the stone ground under him. The man tied up is a vampire with blood coating what is left of his clothes and his teeth bared as he hisses. Professor Badhur lifts a silver cast whip and lashes it swiftly down on the vampire’s stomach.
“Tell us what we want to know, and you will be able to leave,” he shouts.
“Never,” the vampire hisses. Professor Louton comes into the light, leaning down and tilting her head to the side before looking to Professor Gabriel.
“We have been here for hours, as I told you when you just arrived, and nothing has changed. The vampire will not speak,” she states.