Page 8

8

LUKE

Her blood fills my mouth, intoxicating and rich with power. The beast inside me roars its approval, demanding more, always more. I’ve lost control in a way I haven’t for centuries. The discipline I’ve maintained through countless trials has shattered like glass beneath the weight of my severed bond.

I’m draining her. I know I’m draining her dry, and yet I can’t stop.

Her heartbeat slows, her body goes limp in my grasp, but still, she doesn’t fight me. That passive acceptance pierces through my bloodlust like a silver blade.

But it’s still not enough to get me to pull back.

I slow the pull on her vein, suckling now, revelling in the vicious bite, her blood coursing through me. She shudders and her body goes cold as I ram my cock into her and come with an explosion that floods her body but creates a magickal backlash that blasts out from our joined bodies, through the academy buildings and over the grounds. The forest trembles in the wake of it and her head lolls to the side. Her heart stops and with ragged breathing, I retract my fangs, nowhere near sated. The hollow space where my sire bond used to be is screaming in agony for more. More blood, more destruction, more… connection. With a furious growl, I withdraw my cock from her comatose body and let my pants fall around my ankles. I step out of them and carry her to the messed up bed, laying her down on what is left of the black silk sheets. Her raven hair fans out, her pale skin almost ghostly. Ripping my wrist open, I place it at her mouth and squeeze it with my other hand to fill her mouth with as much blood as I can.

For one, terrifying moment, nothing happens, but then she swallows, coughing and spluttering as my blood hits the back of her throat. Her eyes fly open, the blue of her iris completely gone, replaced by a gold that gleams in the dim light of my room. She latches onto my wrist with a strength that surprises me, her fangs sinking deep as she drinks greedily.

The sensation is exquisite. Pain and pleasure intertwined as she takes from me what I took from her.

When she finally releases my wrist, her eyes return to their perfect deep blue, her lips stained crimson. She sits up slowly.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“No,” I state coldly.

“Then take more,” she says. “Take it, drain me, revive me until you feel it’s enough.”

“No.” The horror of her offer sinks in and I want to so badly, my fangs ache. But I can’t do that to her.

“Do it!” she hisses, letting her claws loose and slashing at her neck. She hits her artery and the blood sprays out, hitting me in the face, coating my lips. My tongue flicks out and I taste it, before going completely feral again. I dive on her, pinning her to the bed as my fangs sink into her neck. She grunts but doesn’t fight me, doesn’t scream. She wraps her legs around me, pulling me closer. I’m not sure what I did to deserve this woman, this fierce twenty-one-year-old vampire who has more courage and conviction than others fifty times her age. Whatever it was, I know it will come back to punch me in the heart and rip it out of my chest.

Somehow, my cock finds its way inside her again. I drain her for a second time, but she moans through it, her body writhing beneath mine. When I’m done, I tear into my wrist and let her feed. This cycle of death and rebirth is ancient vampire magick—dangerous, forbidden, and incredibly intimate. With each exchange, our blood mingles more thoroughly, creating a connection deeper than physical bonds.

Something that shouldn’t exist.

Rasping, I draw back, ripping her fangs out of my wrist and scooting off the bed as far away from her as I can get.

“What?” she mumbles, clutching at her head.

“This has to stop,” I croak.

“Why?”

“I’m hurting you more than you know.”

“I’m fine. Your blood is healing me.”

“Gaida,” I say desperately, turning from her to lean my forehead against the cold stone wall. “You don’t know what we’re doing.”

“Does it matter? It’s what you want.”

“This isn’t what you want. You don’t want me. Not in this way. Don’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

Scrunching my eyes tightly closed, I turn to her and thump my chest. “This,” I whisper.

“What?” she whispers back. “What is happening to you?”

“To us,” I mutter, opening my eyes.

She sighs, giving me a confused look. Her eyes are dazed, and I know we are making a mistake, but part of me doesn’t seem to care.

“If we carry on in this cycle, Gaida, you will become my sire.”

“What?” Her eyes suddenly become crystal clear, and she leaps off the bed, looking around at the destruction caused by the magickal blast. “What?”

“My blood will become your blood, and your blood will become my blood. You will replace Lucius as my sire.”

“Why not the other way around? Why wouldn’t you become my sire?”

“You are a pureblood for a start, and secondly you are the Blood Queen,” I point out unnecessarily harshly.

“I didn’t ask to be the Blood Queen,” she snaps, shoving her dress down. “I don’t want to be anyone’s sire, especially not yours!”

Her words cut deeper than they should. I know she doesn’t mean them maliciously, but they still pierce through my defences.

“Believe me, I don’t want this either,” I growl, stalking across the room to retrieve my pants. “Do you think I enjoy surrendering to a child?”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” she screams at me, crossing over to lash out. She rakes her claws across my face, making me bleed.

I grab her wrist with a low growl of warning for her to try that again and see what happens.

Her eyes flash dangerously. “Don’t ever call me that again.”

With a hiss, I let her go and stalk to the bathroom. I slam the door closed behind me and lean against it while I flick the shower on with a blast of magick that nearly bursts the pipes.

I step into the scalding water, letting it wash away her blood, my blood, our blood. The hollow ache in my chest feels like it’s expanding, threatening to devour me entirely.

Part of me wants to apologise, to explain. The other part knows this distance is necessary. Vital, even.

The door to the bathroom flies open suddenly, banging against the wall with enough force to crack the stone. Gaida stands there, eyes blazing, completely naked.

“You don’t get to dismiss me,” she says, her voice dangerously calm despite the fury exploding out from her. “You don’t get to touch me like that, fuck me like that, feed from me like that, and then shut me out.”

“Gaida—”

“No!” She steps into the shower, the water instantly soaking her hair, plastering it to her skin. “You’re not the only one affected by all this, Luke. The entire vampire world is falling apart, and somehow, it’s all my fault. I didn’t ask for this, or that sword. I didn’t ask to be the Blood Queen, but here I am. And I need you. I need you to see me as a woman who needs you, not your student, not a child .” She says the word bitterly and I hate that I hurt with it.

I cup her face. “I can’t be what you need. Not like this. Not when I’m barely holding myself together.”

“Then we need to get your sire bond back with Lucius.”

The strength it took her to say those words is evident from her stony expression. She hates it, but she means it.

Maybe she’s right.

Maybe she’s not.

There is too much at stake to make the wrong decision. I’m not sure I’m in a position to even make it right now. I pull her closer and we stand under the torrent of water, neither of us speaking, or even moving.