Page 5 of Caelum
FOUR
NESTOR
I nudged Eren in the side. “What’s he doing?”
Eren shrugged. “I’m not sure. You know Stefan, though. He does everything for a reason.”
As I stared at Eve, I could well understand what Stefan’s reasoning might be. But Stefan wasn’t like that. He wasn’t a horn dog. Sure, he’d had his girlfriends, as had we all, but the way he looked at Eve?
It made me uneasy.
I wasn’t even sure why.
I had no rights to her, but the way she looked at him, I knew something was going on. Something I hadn’t seen yet.
A part of me wondered if he’d marked her, but I wasn’t sure that was possible without there being some kind of sexual contact. Maybe because Stefan was an Incubus today, and she was most definitely a Succubus, that changed the rules? I’d never heard of that before, but the thing about creatures was things changed. Constantly. Our species was always evolving, and it helped keep us safe, but it also made us more powerful.
Humans might outnumber us, but we were the wolves walking among their flock of sheep, and we could and would kill them if they threatened to stampede us. That was the only way they could get at us. Stampede. But their masses could hurt us, so they were worthy opponents in that alone.
Walking through the common rooms appeared to set her at ease, and I was glad for that. She radiated a tension that made me inexplicably uncomfortable. I didn’t know her, didn’t particularly want to know her either. I wasn’t good around girls. My souls always ended up acting out.
I might have wanted sex, but having my souls fuck around on me was the last thing I needed so close to graduation. With the way Stefan was looking at her, though, I had a feeling I was going to be hanging around Eve whether I liked it or not.
She particularly appreciated the library, and Stefan was smiling as he tugged her away from all the books. Considering she was from a cult, I had to wonder if she’d ever read before. I mean, did cult leaders allow their people access to books? Any books except their sacred texts?
The way Eve was gaping at the room, I had a feeling that she had read, just not so much.
It figured that fate would make Stefan interested in a bookworm when he loathed studying. My lips quirked at that. Sometimes, destiny had a way of amusing you.
When we approached the first set of dorm rooms, Lori was seated at her desk, waiting on us. Her eyes scanned over us before she locked onto the possessive hold Stefan had on Eve.
“You going to let her go?”
Stefan beamed at the Were. “Nope. She likes holding my hand, don’t you, Eve?”
The girl shot him a look and then gave Lori a hesitant smile. “It does feel nice. Even if his palm is sweaty.”
That had Stefan scowling and the rest of us snorting. At least she wasn’t a total drip. The last thing I needed or wanted was to have someone who’d hang off our every word and roll over like a puppy to have her belly stroked.
Stefan went to detach their fingers, but she didn’t let him. I saw hers turn slightly white as she squeezed his digits, and when she smiled at him, his cheeks were burnished with heat, and Lori cocked her brow at the interplay between the two of them.
“Eve,” the housemistress stated, “this is to be your new home. You’re allowed to bring boys back here, but there is a curfew. Boys aren’t allowed to spend the night?—”
Eve frowned. “Why would they want to?”
Lori rolled her lips inward for a second to hide her laugh. “Our souls have needs,” was all she said. “There’s no shame in that.”
Eve looked redder than a tomato, but she nodded, and I knew that even though she looked more innocent than a baby lamb, she’d experienced those needs just like the rest of us.
We were sexually active from our mid-teens. It was the way of it unless we were denied access to other people. I often wondered if Frazer and Reed were such bastards because they’d been locked up in a mental health facility before Damon had released them and brought them here. Being denied fucked with the souls and made them harder to control.
“Just remember, until you’re eighteen, there’s a curfew,” Lori warned.
“When’s your date of birth?” Stefan mumbled under his breath, making Lori snort and Eve turn even redder.
“I-I don’t know,” she admitted.
“How do you know how old you are?” I asked in surprise, drawing her attention to me.
“We know our years because when we reach them, our lives change. When I was sixteen, I no longer attended school but began helping out there, for example.”
That had me narrowing my eyes. “You went to school?”
“Yes.” She bit her bottom lip. “I imagine it was a lot different than your schools.” Her body twisted, arching back slightly. “I’ve never seen so many books. If you have to read all of those for your classes, then my schooling will definitely be lacking.”
“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” I rasped uncomfortably when I saw the misery in her beautiful amber eyes.
God, those eyes. They would haunt me forever. They were dark chestnut on the outer rim, but near the pupils, there were bright gold threads that danced around the small black circle.
They were enchanting, enough so that I felt like I could stare into them forever and never get bored.
Deep inside, I felt the gouille start to stir. He never stirred unless it was his day, but I knew I was destined to be what was called a Gargoyle now. Of all my souls, he was the dominant one. I didn’t need to wait until I was twenty-one to figure that out.
Sometimes that happened. Sometimes the soul was so beyond dominant that creatures knew what they were way ahead of schedule. In this case, if I hadn’t known for sure, his response to the girl told me loud and clear.
The creature wanted her.
I cleared my throat, relieved when the noise startled her and made her look away from me and back to Lori who was saying, “Well, you’ll pick up what you need to soon enough. We’re all equal when we come here, Eve, so there’s no need to worry.”
Eve smiled. “Thank you. I don’t have a specific date of birth, but June 21st is when I was due to turn eighteen.”
I shot Eren a frown who stared back, just as puzzled. “That’s your birthday then.”
She shook her head. “No. It was the day the women celebrated their next year.”
Stefan lifted a brow. “You had a communal birthday?”
She nodded. “Yes. The men celebrated their next year on December 21st.”
I snorted. “Solstices.”
Eve blinked. “I’m not sure what they are.”
Christ, what a weird-ass place she’d been.
I could tell Lori was on the same page, but she kept her tone bland while she instructed, “Eve, you’ll learn your way around soon enough. You’ll find everything you need in your room. If there’s something missing, you just let me know and I’ll get it for you.” She handed over the credit card we were all given on our first day at Caelum. “This is topped up once a month. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Your schedule starts the day after tomorrow to give you time to fit in and to figure out where things are. We run a tight ship here, and if you slack on your studies then you will be punished and the card will be rescinded. Do you understand?”
“Of course. But…” Eve shoved the card back at Lori. “I don’t need this. Thank you though.”
Lori shook her head. “It’s yours, Eve. Do what you want with the money. You may need things we don’t provide, and that’s how you will get them. The boys can explain how it works. You seem comfortable around them.” Her eyes twinkled. “Your computer and phone are in there as well. I think you may have to have a few lessons before you understand what they do.”
Eve bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Thank you, Lori.”
The housemistress waved a hand. “Only doing my job. Boys, show her to room three-six-four.”
Stefan nodded and tugged Eve down the corridor. Block A was closest to the teachers, and I knew that meant the faculty wanted to keep an eye on her. I didn’t have to wonder why. She was joining late, and that meant she was a wild card. A Joker. Who knew what she was capable of?
Few survived so long outside of the Academy. If we weren’t brought here before we were fifteen, most turned insane without outside help. The meds the humans gave us actually exacerbated our condition, infuriating the souls to the extent that more than one would become dominant, making the creature dangerous to the extreme.
Though Frazer and Reed had arrived here on the cusp of their fifteenth birthday, I wondered if that was why they were nuts. They’d been locked up and fed meds like they were veggies. It had to explain at least a few of their assholish tendencies, right?
Block A was loathed by most. No one wanted to be near the teachers, but it had the best view of the ocean, and Eve’s room was no different. She had a corner unit, which meant she had room for a bed and a sofa, with a picture window that I’d have given my left nut for.
My lips curved as I watched her take in her new home.
“This is all for me?” she whispered, wide-eyed, clinging onto Stefan’s hand as though her life depended on it. Sweaty palms or not. “Where’s my roommate?”
“No roommates. That’s why Caelum is so big. We don’t do well with sharing unless it’s with people we consider Pack. Packs can take years to develop,” I explained, watching her face and wondering what she was thinking.
“Pack?” Her head tilted to the side in confusion, even while she stared at the widescreen TV on the back wall of her new quarters.
“Yes. People we choose to be our family,” Eren told her, his gaze was as fixed on her as hers was on the TV. She wasn’t really listening though. I could tell she was more interested in her new home.
Eren reached for the remote and showed her how to turn on the TV, and then switch channels. She beamed a smile at him that made him flush.
It figured that he’d like Eve too. We were a Pack, after all. Alexandre was missing, but that was because he was in the med bay. After fighting with Reed, he’d been caught unaware earlier today. He’d probably wake up tomorrow and be as smitten as Eren looked to be where Eve was concerned. Maybe that would take his mind off getting back at Reed.
We wouldn’t officially declare our soul for years to come, but sometimes you just knew what someone was without them having to say a word. With Reed’s temper? He was a Hell Hound, and there was no mistaking it. Considering Frazer displayed all the signs of being a Sin Eater and Samuel, their third, a Vampire, it fit. Death would be their business when they graduated.
Our Pack, on the other hand, was more about the preservation of life. As a Gargoyle, or a gouille , I was a protector. As was Alexandre who I knew would be a Were. While Lorelei and Incubi weren’t renowned for their defensive abilities, they were enticers. They charmed and manipulated, drawing our enemies to us like magnets called to iron filings. Lorelei and Incubi could be destructive, but not to the extent of Frazer’s Pack. Though not the natural fighters that the Hell Hound, Sin Eaters, and Gargoyles were, they could and would call our enemies to us while dealing with the danger they’d drawn their way with their skills.
“It’s beautiful,” Eve whispered, breaking into my thoughts as she placed the remote on a stand and trudged over to the view, dragging Stefan with her.
Eren shot me a look. “Are their hands glued together or something?”
My lips curled. “She’s not letting go, is she?”
“That doesn’t surprise me. They all love Stefan, but the fact that he isn’t trying to get loose?”
I understood Eren’s concern. Stefan was a player. He wasn’t interested in innocent little bits, no, but the chicks who were like him—experienced and ready to let their souls consume them. He and Dre were one and the same on that score.
Even as I wondered what Stefan’s end game was, I noticed the mark on his back. It hadn’t been there before, and I was used to seeing my brother’s half-naked body because we were the ones who worked out together, and I was used to scanning him for weaknesses that I could take advantage of in a fight.
“Fuck,” Eren whispered, apparently noticing the mark as well. How goddamn long had it been there? It couldn’t have been long otherwise Lori would have picked up on it and shit would have really hit the fan.
“Stefan?” I called out, watching as he turned back to look at me.
“Yeah?”
“We have a problem.”