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“Now that’s the fire I needed to see,” Hadrian praised, taking a few steps back. “The passion and anger that invigorates thesoul. If you can keep that up, you may earn back your place at Heritage Prep after all.”

I blinked, disoriented, as I slipped out of the past and back into the present.

“That’s it?” I asked, my surprise turning into skepticism. “I’m back in?”

Hadrian gave me a hard look. “That’s the first step. But since I’m not killing you, you requireotherpunishment for abandoning your brothers and sisters here. It will be a means of testing your loyalty to me and the vampire cause.”

Ah, there it is. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, that Hadrian would demand his pound of flesh. But after suffering so much emotional agony for so long, I wasn’t afraid of anything he could physically do to me.

“What sort of punishment do I have to endure?” I asked.

A wicked gleam twinkled in Hadrian’s eyes as he crossed his arms and leaned against his desk. “Meet me in the dungeons at dawn. Your punishment will be analyzed by Potentials as well as other vampires who seem to have…issues being a vampire. As for what you’ll be enduring? Well, I’ll keep that a surprise. You might want tofill your tankwith some human blood tonight. And you might want to get as much fresh air as possible.”

Hadrian was obviously hinting at whatever form of torture he had in mind, and the smirk on his face told me he enjoyed watching me figuratively scratch my head at the clues. Thirst was obviously involved. But needing fresh air? Either way, I wasn’t thrilled with the possibilities.

“If you decide to make a run for it,” Hadrian added, “I will send a team after you, and they will see that your head and heart are removed from your body. Do you understand?”

I bowed my head. “Yes.”

“Good.” Hadrian gestured toward the door. “It’s time for you to leave. See you in the morning.”

I nodded once more before graciously taking my exit. I had gone into that room half-expecting to never leave it alive.

I was beyond relieved to see the hall was empty. The last thing I wanted was to deal with Marguerite anymore tonight. And though I wasn’t the least bit thirsty after that tumultuous discussion, I decided to take Hadrian’s hints to heart and headed for the storage room. Then I’d take an armload of blood bags outside and savor as much fresh air as possible.

If there was one thing I knew about Hadrian, it was that he had a flare for torture. And if he wasn’t going to kill me, this punishment promised to be worse than death.

Chapter 26

Shea

I lay in bed, unable to sleep as I took stock of my life.

I missed Arya, wondering how she was doing, what she was doing, and if she’d made any more friends. We hadn’t really talked since the party. I assumed Arya was busy, probably with all sorts of exciting shifter stuff.

And I was busy, too, but if I was being honest, I was kind of grateful Arya hadn’t reached out. The green-eyed monster was a nasty beast, and as much as I loved Arya, being around her right now hurt. Besides, Arya had friends at the school. She’d be fine without me.

And then there was the vampire I’d snared, Julian, that nagged at my thoughts, too. It didn’t make sense for a vampire to have a grimoire unless it was his. Could he have been a male witch before he was turned? They were rare but not entirely unheard of.

Becoming a vampire would destroy his magic, leaving him unable to open parts of the book. Still, shouldn’t he know more than a couple of low-level spells if that was the case? And yet, I hadn’t even heard of that communication spell. Why bother with a cell phone when you have that?

Of course, there was always the possibility he’d killed a witch to get the grimoire. I shuddered at the thought.

Somehow, I didn’t think that was the case with Julian. I had a pretty good bullshit-o-meter, and it detected no lies in anything he’d said. He seemed sincere, and sad, and…beautiful.

I rolled my eyes at myself.Stop drooling over supernatural guys that are clearly off-limits!

The sound of the front door opening and closing caught my attention. I tapped the screen of my phone where it lay on my belly, making it light up. It was after one in the morning.

I strained to hear the voices, my body tense. But I relaxed when I recognized Gram’s warm tones.

Curiosity grabbed me in its tight hold. No way I was going to be able to sleep now. I crept to the door, prying it open just enough to see through, and grateful the hinges didn’t squeak.

Voices drifted down the hall, but not enough to make out the words. I recognized the other voice as belonging to my Aunt June, who lived next door. They laughed.

I eased the door open and tiptoed down the hallway, stopping as soon as their conversation became clear. I flattened myself against the wall, hoping I hadn’t tripped any of Gram’s spells. Although, maybe she hadn’t bothered setting any, with it being so late on a school night.

“Not again! That’s the third time this week.” Gram’s voice scolded.