Page 3 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 3

So Much To Say

The next day...

M airead stared at him. She wasn’t the only one. Amara and Eiji were also staring, but they were being more discreet about it. Covert glances that they quickly dropped anytime Grayson’s head might shift in their direction. Mairead was just being more obvious about it.

To their credit, he had come out of his bedroom with Ryder.

Again . And Dani had shown up almost immediately and fussed over him, while Ryder had made him breakfast. Plus, there were the other Ashyr Vampires that were surrounding the dorm.

Some were watching the dorm unseen, but others were perched like birds of prey on nearby rooftops, wanting him with them, wanting him safe.

But making a nuisance of themselves. He would have to talk to them about that.

There’s so much I need to talk about. But I can't do it now.

“So,” Mairead began, “are you actually going to join the rest of the students today or are you just going to skip the student part and go straight to the Vampire one?”

Grayson took another forkful of creamy scrambled eggs and a mouthful of toast with homemade strawberry preserves that tasted like a sunlit field, chewed, and swallowed before he answered her, “I’m going to be with you guys. For a lot of it.”

Because one of you might be the target of a death plot.

“Right.” Mairead’s eyes were narrowed with suspicion.

They slid past him where he sat at the peninsula in their shared kitchen to where Dani perched on the sofa arm and then over to where Ryder was pouring him more orange juice.

“Are you sure you’ll have time with your busy social schedule with all of the Vampire leaders ? ”

She didn’t know that Ryder was Weryn reborn. Yet . But the way she hoovered up news, he was sure it would be out of the bag soon enough.

“Mairead,” Amara muttered under her breath, but she had been looking at the two Vampires as well, and clearly wondering what was going on.

“I think what Mairead means is that we would all like such personal attention from such honored members of the Vampire community,” Eiji said with a gentle smile.

Mairead rolled her eyes. “Of course, we would! I would! C’mon, even you would, Amara!”

Amara sipped her tea and said nothing.

“Guys, don’t get all excited. I knew Ryder and Dani and the others… before ,” Grayson said.

Before, of course, meant millennia ago when he was Ashyr, Ryder was Weryn and Dani was his Dani. Not to mention Balthazar, Caemorn, Seeyr, Daemon… and the list went on. But his statement was still accurate.

He took a mouthful of the orange juice that Ryder had gotten him.

It was pulpy and sweet. He nearly chugged the whole glass.

He was going to have a busy day today with his powers, he was sure so he needed energy.

He smiled at Ryder in thanks for the juice.

Ryder’s lips curled into a playful grin in return.

The Weryn Vampire rested his back against the refrigerator and crossed his massive arms over his chest. Grayson thought of those arms around him and he felt a welling of want.

They’d been there that morning after Ryder had shifted back from his wolf form.

The bear one was just too big for the bed, the fox one too small, the buck one too pointy , the birds would get crushed, and so on and so forth.

Besides, he had a soft side for the wolf whose tail wagged whenever Grayson looked at him.

“You knew them before ? You hung around with Vampires before ?” Mairead qualified.

She goggled at him. She wasn’t alone. Amara lifted her eyes from her tea cup while Eiji continued to clean the same spot of countertop for the fiftieth time. Grayson wondered how to answer that question, but it was the truth if he simply said, “Yes” and so he did.

“Oh!” Amara blinked, surprising him and herself by speaking. “So you were--ah, they were thinking of turning you before the school thing happened? Then they had to just bring you in as a student?”

“Ashyr and Weryn Bloodlines both going after you? And you met them outside the school?” Mairead’s eyebrows crawled up into her hairline. “That’s a little… weird.”

“Why do you say that?” Grayson asked as he finished off his toast.

“Well, those Bloodlines are not at all alike now, are they?” Mairead answered with her forehead furrowed as if this was obvious on its face. “No one would have them aligned in any way.”

Grayson hated to admit it, but she was right.

His and Weryn’s Bloodline had never been truly aligned until he and Weryn had come together.

The General and the Soldier. Their gifts were very different.

But he wouldn’t want Ryder to be any way other than what he was. He was glad they were so different.

“I mean like how did you meet? Did you know they were Vampires before the school thing? Who are you going to choose to turn you?” Mairead rattled off questions.

Dani spoke up and said with a touch of frost, “Mairead, we don’t ask or answer those questions.”

“Why not?” Mairead put her hands on her hips.

“Because it’s personal ,” Ryder growled. “And none of your business.”

That seemed to shut the conversation down as Ryder glared at everyone. Dani and Ryder’s eyes then met. They flashed brilliant silver in almost a challenge. Grayson gritted his teeth.

Their statements to Mairead were and weren’t true.

It wasn’t that people didn’t talk about who was going to turn them.

But he was a special case. Though Dani wasn’t aware he knew he was Ashyr, she already wanted to be the one to turn him, but feared he would wish Ryder to when he did discover it.

Neither had said anything out loud. Not yet.

But he hadn’t said anything either. Oh, he had ideas about who he wanted to turn him.

But he understood all the dangers of it too.

The complications. There were so many complications, but he had always been able to turn those to his and Daemon’s advantage.

He’d do so now. But the last thing he needed was for Dani and Ryder to be on opposite sides of things.

Yet another talk I need to have.

“So Weryn is accepting fledglings then?” Mairead obviously wasn’t cowed enough.

Could anything cow her?

Ryder looked at her with cool, unblinking silver eyes. “We’ll see.”

“So you speak for the Weryn then?” Mairead continued. Grayson had to bite back an inappropriate grin. Mairead was truly without fear. Whether it was courage or stupidity he didn’t know. “Because there was that other Vampire who was giving Grayson a hard time the other night. He’s a Weryn too.”

No one said anything for long moments. She was talking about Lawson.

“If you ask me, he seemed like a jerk,” Mairead huffed.

“No one asked you, Mairead,” Amara muttered.

“Oh, please! You didn’t see it because you were off doing an interview . It was bad. He was bad,” Mairead insisted.

She was right.

“And I didn’t have a chance to thank you both for looking out for me,” Grayson said. “You’re right, Mairead. Lawson was bad.” His gaze met Ryder's, who was filled with pain. “But it’s been handled. He’s been handled. He can’t hurt anyone now.”

“Well, that’s good. I mean I know you’re Vampires and all, but he seemed…” Mairead shook her head. “Not the right type.”

As aggravating as Mairead could be, one thing that Grayson knew about her--or was learning about her--was that she was often right . She could read who people were. She couldn’t read--or perhaps simply didn’t want to--social cues, but she ferreted out the truth of people.

Maybe she can be useful against the Sect of Dawn. I don’t sense any of those constructs in her, but I might actually have to be holding her with my gift to be sure, Grayson thought.

“I speak for the Weryn,” Ryder answered finally, his voice a low, gruff, growl.

“Well, then maybe you’d sit for an interview,” Mairead said, looking absurdly happy about it.

“An interview?” Grayson drew his eyebrows together.

She bobbed her head. “Didn’t you know? I was an investigative reporter before. I guess I still am.” She shrugged. “I’m trying to gather information on each of the Bloodlines and share it with the other students.”

“Really?” Grayson snorted. “I would have thought you’d keep that information to yourself. To get a leg up on everyone. You did say this was a competition.”

Mairead grinned. “It is. But that’s the good thing about facts. They can invite or repel.”

“So you will tell other students repellant facts about the Bloodlines that you wish to be a part of to eliminate your competition?” Dani asked.

“Facts are facts.” Mairead shrugged, but she was smiling. “Do you really want someone in your Bloodline that simply accepts what others tell them and doesn't investigate themselves? I think not.”

Dani blinked as if Mairead perplexed her to no end. Or maybe she was just exhausted by Mairead’s patter.

“I’m curious to hear all that you’ve learned, Mairead,” Grayson told her.

Her eyebrows shot up. “Really? Why ? You want more options than you already have?”

Grayson laughed. “I’m just curious about your views and to hear your facts.”

He wanted to see if there was anyone or anything that struck her. Maybe she’d sense something off about a Vampire or a student, like with Lawson, and she’d pass that on.

“We are to leave our past lives behind us, Mairead,” Amara warned. “Playing reporter again would seem against the spirit of that rule as much as anything.”

“But you’re not going to, are you, Amara?” Mairead looked like a cat that had got the canary.

“I have no idea what you mean.” Amara looked both affronted and a little uneasy.

“Well, your past life was about finding cures for various genetic diseases. Being a Vampire would give you a whole lot more time at the top of your game to study, but also Vampire blood might be the source of those cures, couldn’t it?” Mairead asked, her voice sounding innocent.