Page 5 of Messenger of Death (Ouroboros Academy #2)

T hey’d basically kidnapped us, dumped a bunch of shit on us, and then immediately sent us into the entrance trials.

It was a little more low-key now that we were officially students of Ouroboros Academy.

We would have had two days to get our books and figure out where our classes were before we had to go to them even if Kira hadn’t been murdered.

The beds here were so comfortable. I hadn’t slept this well in a very long time. It was just cozy. When I cracked my eyes open, Morgana was sitting right next to my bed watching me sleep and eating candy. Iman was sitting next to her on my nightstand.

“That’s creepy. Why are you watching me sleep?”

“Sage, I don’t want to alarm you, but Vlad the Impaler is naked in your bed.”

I felt someone groan and tighten their arm around my waist. I yelped and fell straight out of bed. Lucian woke up and bolted into a sitting position.

“Lucian, you’re naked!”

Lucian looked down and yanked the blanket over his crotch.

“Sage, I’m naked!”

He said it as if he was shocked. Morgana fell out laughing, and Iman started loudly purring.

“Where are your clothes?” I asked, looking for his trousers while I was still on the floor.

“Back in his dorm room, I imagine. He flew through the window in his bat form, shifted back, and crawled right into bed with you,” Morgana hooted.

I’d never seen a cat laugh before, but I could just tell Iman found this funny. Lucian looked absolutely mortified.

“I don’t remember doing that. How am I supposed to get back to my dorm room?”

“Turn into a bat and fly right home. Can you do that without giving us all a peek?”

“I don’t know how I did it in the first place! I keep ending up next to Sage in my sleep. Apparently, if we are several floors apart, I just turn into a bat so I can get to her!”

“That’s really romantic. Maybe you just need more hugs,” Morgana said.

Lucian gave her a withering glare. It was romantic though, especially if you knew how he felt about people touching him. It was sweet he was drawn to me like this, even when he was unconscious.

“I could go to your room and get your clothes,” I suggested.

“You can’t,” he moaned. “I have a single, so there’s no one to let you in. I never sleep with the door unlocked on account of people keep trying to kidnap me. I’m guessing I opened the window and flew out. My room is on the second floor.”

“Khalid would give you some clothes to walk home.”

I already knew that. Liam would think it was hilarious and let him walk home naked as revenge for getting in my bed naked, but Khalid would help.

Before I could even get up to leave, my familiars flew through the window carrying clothes in their claws. They dropped them in his lap and settled back on the windowsill.

“Thanks.”

“We weren’t thrilled you were bonded to the original vampire in this life, but this one is different. He has exceptional self - control and refuses to solve his problems with violence. The vampire and the Ancient One will find something to bond over, and your group won’t be shattered.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Can you all turn around so I can get dressed?” Lucian asked.

I immediately turned, but Morgana just sighed and eventually turned. Iman didn’t move. She looked me dead in the eye and shoved my phone off my nightstand like she was daring any of us to make her.

“Oh, fine, but we already saw your junk when you woke us up breaking in.”

How did I not wake up? I wasn’t waking up any time Lucian ended up cuddling me in my sleep. I could sort of understand in the tent, but he broke into our dorm and got in my bed this time.

“I’m decent now.”

“Good. Breakfast?” I asked.

“I usually have a fruit smoothie for breakfast, but they are probably going to put beans on toast and try to make me eat it,” Lucian sighed.

“You’re in luck,” Morgana said. “There’s a bar with fruit and a blender if you want to make a smoothie because that’s what the fairies tend to want. There’s also a coffee bar, so no one gets murdered because someone stayed up late to study.”

I moaned. I wasn’t allowed to drink coffee growing up. I could have it even without preparation if I didn’t get the sugar loaded kind, but my father insisted it was a grown-up drink. I fell in love with it when I was backpacking in Italy and now, I couldn’t live without it.

“So, dining hall 101. There are several options. Several of us can shapeshift, but people who shapeshift into predators like wolves, bears, and dragons only need a lot of food. You’ll basically be in a meat and carb coma after.

Elliot does it all the time and never gains a pound. Sometimes, I want to kill him for that.

“A lot of fairies have diabetes like you. It’s something that happened when they left Fairy. Most of them are on insulin, but eating foods from Fairy that are grown here help. You’ll probably want to ask for the Fairy meals.

“As for you, Mister Dark and Snuggly, vampires don’t need food, but some of them enjoy the taste.

It’s against the law to take blood from someone without their consent and not everyone has someone here willing to let them bite them.

Since you’re technically feeding off the magic in the blood, you can’t feed off other vampires, but plenty of them like biting each other during sex.

“Fresh from the vein is best, but technically you can drink donated blood from a bag. Most of the vampires hate it, but they don’t have much of a choice. They get pretty fancy with it and mix it with sauces, drinks, and smoothies, so that’s an option.”

“Blood and mangoes sounds vile,” Lucian said.

“I agree, but I’m also not a vampire. Plenty of them like it. Let’s collect your other friends. After breakfast, I’ll need to show you where to get your books and where everything else is. This place is a bit of a maze.”

“Thanks. I’m so glad we ended up roommates.”

Morgana just shrugged.

“I would have ended up here on the supernatural side if I didn’t have the birthmark. My brother graduated from here four years ago and my parents are graduates. I already knew my way around before I got here.”

“Khalid is going to want to pick your brain and I can’t say I don’t want to, either,” Lucian said.

Morgana just winked at him.

“I have no secrets with men who snuggle my roommate naked while I’m in the room.”

“I want to hate you, but I find myself unable to,” Lucian said.

“I have that effect on people. Let me show you your new world.”

I should have been terrified. My father drilled into me all of this was a one-way ticket to Hell. I was associated with death and war in my first life.

I wasn’t. I’d never felt more alive.