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E veryone seemed worried about me attacking this girl because of all the blood, but it wasn’t just the filth or that someone had brutally attacked her. She didn’t smell like food. I realized all the scents I’d been picking up on was blood and magic.

The wolves and vampires smelled similar because they had the same magic running through their veins. Sage, Liam, and Khalid all smelled different because they were one of a kind.

This girl? She didn’t smell like anything. I didn’t scent magic, but blood had a smell, too. My sense of smell was enhanced, so I could even pick up the wolf fur. We weren’t unbearable, but none of us had bathed since yesterday and if your deodorant wasn’t in your bag or nearby, they just didn’t grab it when they kidnapped us.

Things were getting slightly pungent, and I didn’t pick that up on her, either. The only reason I would have even been able to sense her presence was that I could hear heartbeats now. It was puzzling, and it made me a little wary, but she’d also had the shit beaten out of her and I didn’t know how most of this magic worked.

I also didn’t know gods from every region. She was blonde and looked like a cherub. She spoke with an English accent, but that didn’t really mean much.

“Okay, so vampire 101. Vampire blood does heal, but there’s a catch. It creates a bond. If you just give her your blood once to heal her now, she’ll get a bit of a crush that will eventually wear off in a few days. You don’t want to give anyone your blood that often unless they are giving you theirs and you want a bond with them. This is all for regular vampires, of course. You’re the reincarnation of Vlad, so I’d honestly only give your blood to other reincarnations.”

Was I getting some kind of karma backlash because Vlad was kind of a dick? I didn’t do crushes. It was highly annoying when someone had one on me. It was the fawning and ass kissing that bothered me. Most of them had a crush on my title and not me, which was an even bigger annoyance.

I had magical healing blood and I could do amazing things with that. I wanted to do things with that. I didn’t have to be a serial killer that stuck people on pikes for jollies. I could help people. That was what I wanted to do.

Except dear old Vlad couldn’t just ask a witch to make him immortal. He had to torture her, so there was a catch. It couldn’t be easy. It was like that witch knew he was going to get reincarnated centuries later and it was specifically going to fuck me over. I didn’t even put anyone on pikes or torture any witches and found the idea repulsive.

Still, I wasn’t a selfish asshole, and I’d never take someone’s choice from them.

“Listen, I don’t do crushes. In fact, I generally hate them, but I also loathe violent bullies. I’m willing to deal with it if you are. You aren’t going to be able to complete the trials like this and you shouldn’t have to drop out because of your team. I’m Lucian and I’m willing to give you my blood.”

“I’m Lola. No offense, but you aren’t my type, so I think if your blood gives me a crush, I’ll get over it pretty quickly.”

Liam burst out laughing like Lola was insulting me, but that was honestly a relief. I liked not being someone’s type. I didn’t want to be someone’s type so hard, they didn’t fake it because I was a prince.

I didn’t even think I had a type because everyone was generally a moron, but then I met Sage and I was pretty sure she was my type. She was gorgeous, didn’t really care that I was a prince, and she was not only not an idiot, I found her interesting.

Which was actually just as confusing to me as being the reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler.

“I guess I just bite my wrist and let you drink?” I asked.

“That’s generally how it’s done if you aren’t in a relationship,” Rona said.

Before I could even bite myself, even more people had crashed into the clearing and they looked ready to fight us. I wasn’t a violent person, but if this was the same people who had bloodied a tiny girl like that, I was starting to feel a bit peckish again.

Lola didn’t smell like food, but they definitely did.