Page 11

The bell rang, signally the end of our last class before it signaled again to mark the start of the next a while ago. The library remained empty aside from us since classes were in session and it was still early in the year so there was no one studying for finals or working on research papers, but I was in no rush to end whatever this was.

And I didn't know what it was that was happening here with Viggo.

The library wasn't any place that I spent much time in, and it made me curious as to why Viggo took me here of all places. Did he know that it'd be empty? Did he know that I didn't like the musty smell of old books because of Slevin's colorful remarks about what his hands smell like after handling any old book?

Sadly, I was about to fall asleep listening to Viggo's heartbeat so I couldn't find the strength or longing to articulate those questions.

"You have not changed much at all for one so young," Viggo whispered.

"Huh?" I grumbled; I was comfortable and almost asleep. "I was almost asleep, Jerk."

"Sorry, I was speaking aloud of things I should not. You seem very wise and attuned to the world around you for someone so young."

I opened my eyes to look at him. "My mother works in the courts so growing up I heard a lot of stories of the cases she had to deal with. But the real-world education I received was through secondhand accounts from watching a lot of talk shows and soap operas when I broke my leg. Ooh, she was so pissed when she found out Zannie sweet-talked the nursing staff into giving us the remote control to the television."

The small smile on his face fell and he sat up taller. "Broke your leg? When was this?" he demanded.

"When I was thirteen-almost-fourteen?" I offered, unsure of the exact day at the moment. "I broke it in six places and pretty much cracked-fractured-broke everything in my pelvic girdle, and was on bed rest for four months afterward." I yawned before chuckling. "My brother was so mad that he hadn't thought to do that himself because I got to binge so much forbidden from our home human television during my hospital stay and in-care physical therapy."

"That is not funny in the least!" he snapped at me. "How did you do that?

"It's kind of funny," I retorted. "And how did I do it? I fell out of a tree."

"It must have been a very tall tree," he countered.

"It was a huge redwood that took me a while to get to the top of, but the fall was much quicker than the climb," I said with a smile, but it quickly fell and I looked away from him.

Viggo leaned forward to close the space between us more. "Why do you look away from me now?" he pressed. "You are the most agile creature I have ever seen, and yet you fell from a tree? Was it on purpose?"

I refused to answer that.

"What happened after the fall?" he pressed since my silence apparently was answer enough for some reason.

I closed my eyes then crossed my arms and pouted. "This is getting very Freudian and I hate that you seemingly know me."

"It is to be expected," Viggo retorted. "The knowing you, not the Freudian thing. You can talk to me," he reminded me. "Like you, I am an outsider here. I am not like them or the others, I am like no other it would seem, and I have no interest in doing anything that would hurt you."

As much as I wanted to tell him to go do something to himself that would get me detention, I actually wanted to take him up on the offer.

The only people in Vancouver I had to talk to were Harper, Slevin, and Jolyn. Because of the time difference, I didn't get to talk to my brother as much as I would like or need to. Father was busy with work and Mother and I have never gotten along. Grandma was off on one of her many exciting adventures so I couldn't reach her by phone to talk to her either.

Truth was, I've been feeling lonely lately.

"I haven't been sleeping very well because I've been having nightmares again," I said, going with the truth since Viggo had nothing vested in me or my mental well-being, and it was something I needed to talk to someone about otherwise I'd lose it. "That's why I have undesirable dark circles that even healing and makeup can't help with," I said, opening my eyes to look at him.

Viggo looked at me intently. "Will you tell me of these dreams?" he asked, his tone soft.

"They're nothing I can't handle, but sometimes I wake up screaming from them before Slevin and Harper come rushing in to check on me... I share a suite in the upperclassmen men's dorm with my boys," I explained.

In my first year, a mistake in the housing department assigned me to one of the men's dorms; I suspected they got me and Zane's paperwork crossed. Many people questioned why a female first-year was put in the upperclassmen male-exclusive dorm, but they never found answers. Father offered to make some calls to get my dorm assignment switched so I'd be in the female-exclusive dorm, but I was happy that I wasn't in the girls' dorm.

I don't like girls!

My roommates are two of my best friends and we have one of the six multi-room suites in our building, which are usually reserved for visiting royalty; four small bedrooms with a living room and small kitchenette, an eating bar, and a bathroom with four sinks and a water closet.

Many students had applied to take our empty fourth room, but the Administration feels it'd be better to leave it open.

That, and Slevin threatened to embrace Devilry if anyone touched his unofficial walk-in closet.

The Administration knows that I'm not in a sexual relationship with either of my roommates and that they're like brothers to me, so they aren't worried that we'd have wild orgies or anything scandalous like that. We're pretty boring in comparison to the rest of the dorm.

The craziest and wildest thing we've done was hosted a Dungeons and Dragons game night twice a month in the dorm clubhouse on the main floor that turned pretty intense when real magic and melee got involved a year into the campaign.

After an incident that shall not be discussed, D Harper snores loudly and Slevin is a damn blanket hog-"

"Sharing a bed with them helps with the nightmares?" he asked.

Scandalous if someone heard that question.

I shook my head, looking away from him.

"Have you talked to someone about this other than your roommates?" Viggo pressed.

Again, I shook my head.

"Will you talk to me about them?" he asked in a soft voice.

The corners of my mouth twitched, trying to keep from smiling, and I looked up and met his beautiful green eyes. "It would make for a really awkward dinner conversation," I warned.

Viggo nodded his agreement. "Take a nap and I will keep watch to make sure you are safe," he said, sliding out of his chair and then kneeling on the floor in front of me so he could take my shoes off, then he set them on the floor next to the chair. "And if anyone presses it, I will wield the crown you harbor so much animosity towards so neither of us gets in trouble for missing class," he said, pulling his cape around me more.

I pulled my legs up under me and made myself comfortable in the oversized leather chair, pulling his cape together under my chin.

"I would tell you what you can do to yourself, but I am comfortable and your cape is nice and larger than a blanket," I said before yawning.

Why am I so tired?

"This better not be some weird-passive-thrall thing," I warned through another yawn.

"Not at all," Viggo promised, sitting back in his chair before pulling a book from his bag. "You are exhausted and need a nap, and I have had enough of gawking stares and loudly whispered rumors, that surpass your own rumor mill, from the student body and Professors. They act as if they have never seen a Vampyre before," he grumbled under his breath, which made me chuckle.

I smiled, watching him make himself comfortable in the chair across from me with a book in hand. "In all fairness, you are huge for a Vampire, and have green eyes and black hair, and are attention-worthy... You stole my attention," I admitted, my attention lingering on his neck and the necklace that had come free from under his high collar when he unfastened it so he was more comfortable. "That is an interesting pendant. You are religious?"

Viggo looked to where I was and then tucked the unique pendant back under his collar. "Family heirloom," he explained.

"What is it?" I asked.

He sighed, somehow well aware that I would keep asking until he told me. "It is a blessed Mezuzah from Israel with the Shema painstakingly etched into the metal by a dozen Tzaddiqim. The inside contains the blessed soil of the Holy Land and the blood of those Tzaddiqim that infused it with a piece of their soul and thaumaturgy. It is an enchanted means of protection against those things that are very rarely seen before they attack. Father made me take it when I went off to school to be safe. It would protect me from evil unseen since evil has seemingly targeted all those he has ever loved. Father still practices his native religion, of course, but it was never forced in his home, you know that," he said.

No, I didn't know that.

Obviously, it was a subject he didn't want to talk about, so I dropped it.

"Don't make me regret this."

"Regret what?" he whispered.

"Trusting you," I said before yawning, and gave up on trying to stay awake, and quickly succumbed to the warmth of the cape I was wrapped up in, and the soft thumping of Viggo's heart.