Big Bad Academy

“Why don’t we start with one?” I say drily. The guy actually gives me this weird, evil grin, and then he gestures to the other wolves.

“Their blood has made me stronger,” he says.

He’s drank from the wolves? Gross. Frank looks ashamed. Angela and Leah just look angry. I get it. Stealing someone’s blood to drink it is a total violation. They must feel sad and worn out and even a little dirty. They don’t have anything to be ashamed about, though.

What this monster did to them isn’t their fault.

None of it is.

If anything, it’s my fault for failing them.

“You leave my wolves alone.”

“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” the man says. “Now that I have you, we can move on to the next portion of the book.”

“The book?”

“He’s acting out one of his favorite books,” Leah says helpfully. “It’s by an author called Heather Smith. She wrote this book where a hero captures four evil wolves who have been causing a ruckus in town and in their pack. He thinks we’re the wolves.”

“We’re not.”

“Oh, but you are,” the man says. “There’s just a problem right now.” He looks over at Erin, and I know what he’s thinking. Apparently, he didn’t want to take her. If he’s trying to play out a fantasy of a book he likes, then having her around is pointless to him. If anything, it’s going to cause him more trouble because he doesn’t want her here.

“Just let her go,” I grit out.

Please, don’t do anything stupid.

Silently, I wish or hope or dream that he won’t do anything wild or crazy in this moment. You know, like kill Erin. I close my eyes and shake my head. When I open my eyes, the vampire is watching me curiously.

“What do you care what happens to her? She’s not your mate.” Then his eyes narrow. “Are you lovers?”

“What?” Erin shrieks. “Gross! No! He’s like my brother.”

“There is nothing going on between us,” I say.

“Heather is your mate,” he says.

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“How did you decide all of this?” I ask him, not wanting to give away the fact that he’s totally correct.

“Ah, curious as to how my plan came to be?” He gestures to the room.

A little, but I also don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how curious I really am. What is it about Heather that this man is so drawn to? Why did he latch onto her stories?

“Not going to answer?” The vampire raises an eyebrow. “It’s no bother,” he shrugs. “I’ll tell you anyway. Might as well let Erin hear why she’s going to die.”

Erin, brave as she is, doesn’t even cry. I can smell her sadness and fear, though. We all can.

“When I became a turned vampire, I learned everything there was to know about my new world. I was taught about immortality and how the world of the dead was different than the world of the living. I learned that if I was going to maintain my strength, I’d need to drink blood; however, I quickly learned that acquiring and consuming blood was wildly time consuming.”

He raises a finger as he talks and uses it to gesture about. His hands are weirdly long, and I wonder how no one pegged him as a vampire before. I’m guessing the wolf tattoo threw people off. If someone was going to guess he was a creature, they’d definitely go for shifter over vampire.

“One of the best ways to learn about the creatures I could potentially drink from was to read, so I did. I spent a century reading every book I could get my hands on, and then I came across Heather’s. Her story was different than the others.”

He pauses, but I won’t give him the satisfaction of asking him about it.

“How was it different?” The vampire rubs his hands together. “Well, I’d already known about fated mates, but her story was so specific, I realized very quickly what I was looking at. She was mated to a wolf and she had no idea. I tried to reach out to her, to tell her, but she pushed me away.”