Page 19 of Cloak of the Vampire

He must have heard me coming and turned around to face me. Despite my standing a few feet in front of him, his face remained expressionless, and his eyes were unreadable. Before I could think twice, I said, “You know who I am, don’t you?”

His eyes trailed down my body before shooting back up to meet my gaze. They were no longer a calm green blue; they were glowing neon. “So?” he asked, his voice low.

My heart thudded in my chest as anxiety made my veins freeze over. I opened my mouth and closed it like a fish, not knowing what to say now that I had his undivided attention.

What could I say, really?Hey, long time no see! Can you please keep your mouth shut about me? Thanks!

His eyes grew cold when I didn’t speak. “What do you want, Aileen?”

His saying my name was like a sucker punch to my gut. “How are you here?” I blurted out, my heart booming in my chest. “What happened to you?”

It didn’t seem to be what he expected me to say, and his face twisted with anger. “I could ask you the same fucking thing.”

My head was a mess, and I tried to collect my thoughts, to figure out something to say. Before I could, Logan strode toward me. He stopped an inch away, glowered down at me, and spoke before I made sense of this recent development.

“Let me be clear,” he said quietly but menacingly. “Here, we don’t know each other. We are completefuckingstrangers who don’t share a past.” Logan’s voice was angry and emotional. It was like he had waited a long time to unleash his hatred on me, and now that he had the chance to do so, he wasn’t holding back.

“I ... Logan, I ...” I didn’t know what I was going to say. I wanted to say everything and nothing at the same time.

“Yes, Aileen”—he cut me off and smiled coldly when my eyes widened—“I’ll keep your fucking secrets, as long as you staythe fuckaway from me.”

He stepped back, giving me a disgusted look. “That’s the least you can do after everything you did. Am I clear?”

I stared at him with something akin to shock. Because this Logan was more than a vampire. He was an entirely different person from the boy I used to know.

His eyes flickered when I didn’t respond. “I said,” he snarled, “am. I. Fucking. Clear?”

My heart dropped, grief overcoming every other emotion I felt at that moment. “Crystal,” I somehow managed to reply. And when he turned his back to me and walked away, I felt like I had lost Logan all over again.

And the worst thing was, I deserved it.

CHAPTER 7

The next day, Zoey, Tansy, and I were about to head over to breakfast when Tansy pointed at a neatly folded paper that had been pushed under our suite door and said, “Let’s read this first.”

Re: Temporary Work Assignments

Dear Suite 2304,

While you attend the Comprehensive Newcomer Three-Month Course, you will be expected to work like all vampires in this League. You’ll be assigned a permanent job once you finish the course, but in the meantime, your assignments, which begin immediately after breakfast, are as follows:

Zoey Rittman: Library Assistant. Meet Sanu at the Archives.

Tansy Contos: Vampire Resources Assistant. Meet Maika in her office on the third floor.

Aileen Henderson: Kitchen Associate. Meet Lon in the cafeteria.