Chapter Six

Vote of confidence and tough words aside, it took every ounce of courage I possessed to reach my hand up and touch the door to the feeding den…and for a moment I didn't think I'd be able to push it open. And then I remembered the cruel look on Astor's face yesterday. I'd meant everything I'd said to Cole. I wasn't letting her win this one. I gritted my teeth, and shoved the door open.

Silence spread like ripples on a lake as each student noticed my presence and stopped what they were doing to turn and stare at me, freezing me to the spot. These people had not been my allies last year, and now I was walking into the heart of their territory in Darkveil.

As sharply as the silence had taken hold, clusters of whispers broke out amongst the gathered vamps, each becoming louder than the last as they grew in confidence.

"I heard she…"

"…disgrace they even let her…"

"…should have been kicked out..."

"…belongs in prison…or dead."

I notched my chin, and a slow smile spread across my lips. This was the worse they had? Hell, I'd spent half the night thinking far worse things about myself. I stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind me.

Lazarus, a vamp with dirty blond hair and a cocky swagger stepped forward with a nasty smirk.

"And to think I almost sullied myself with your disgusting blood last year." He sauntered towards me, and then prowled in an effortless circle around me. "I always knew you were unworthy of a place here, I just didn't realize how unworthy. This year, when I spill your blood, I'll be sure to let it fall in the dirt where it belongs, with the rest of you."

He caught a strand of my hair and lifted it to his face, inhaling deeply before his nose wrinkled in disgust and he let it fall, rubbing his fingertips together as if to cleanse them of my stench. The other students laughed, and I felt myself turning red. Everywhere I turned there were more vamps pointing and smirking, and there was no escape for me, not inside this room. I shouldn't have come here. Screw Astor and her stupid games. I needed to get out of here, away from all of them. I pivoted on my heel, causing the laughter and jeers to double in volume, and slammed my hand against the door, shoving it open. I made it half a step through before I collided with someone, and hands clamped around my shoulders, pinning me in place. I writhed, and the figure hissed in annoyance.

"Knock it off," he snapped, and the voice penetrated my fog of humiliation. I blinked up at the familiar face.

"Thaden?"

"We need to talk. Now." He glanced around over my head and then moved me forcibly into the room with a grunt. The laughter had stopped, but I could still pick out the glee underscoring the whispers. No doubt I'd just given them enough to fuel the gossip mill for the next few weeks, but one glance at Thaden's face told me that was the least of my problems.

He snatched up my wrist and dragged me over to the far corner of the room, ignoring my protests.

"Ow! Thaden, you're hurting me."

"Oh, I'm going to hurt you all right, Callista."

I froze, a chill sweeping over me as he used my name. He never used my name, not when he teased me, not when he flirted with me, not even when he threatened me. And I couldn't imagine it meant anything good now.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't like you gave me the chance," I snapped, yanking my hand free from his grasp. He scowled at me.

"Don't give me that bullshit. You had plenty of chance if you'd wanted to. Did you get off on it, watching me get addicted to your blood?"

"Watching you get... Wait, do you think I knew about this last year?"

"Didn't you?"

"No I fucking well didn't," I spat, glaring at him. "And I didn't let you get addicted to anything. You took my blood against my will, remember?"

"I didn't hear you complaining at the time."

"Then you need to get your head out of your own ass because it's blocking your hearing. I told you plenty that I didn't want you feeding on me. I begged you to stop."

"You didn't mean it."

I drew my arm back to slap his cheek, but he caught my wrist in his hand before I could make contact. His eyes snapped to it, staring for a moment, then to my face.

"Careful, sweetness," he said coldly. "Some people might consider that an act of aggression."

"Well, some people can bite me. Oh, wait, they already did."

"Don't remind me."

"Oh, so I take it you no longer want to feed on me? Excellent. Problem solved."

I jerked my hand free from his grip, and let it fall to my side. He took a quick step forward, backing me up against the wall behind me.

"No, sweetness, not problem solved. Giant fucking problem that just got a whole lot bigger. Because whatever your reason for keeping it from me, I am addicted to your blood now. And as far as I know, no vampire has ever kicked that addiction."

I swallowed. "Ever?"

"Ever. So like it or not, your blood is still mine."

"Right now I'd have to go with not," I ground out.

"Tough. Actions have consequences."

"Yeah, like the day you first decided to pin me against a wall and take what wasn't yours." I glanced around us meaningfully. "I'm so glad you've managed to move on from that, by the way."

"Fuck!" He slammed his palm against the wall, inches from my face, and I flinched, but there was no amusement in his expression. Just pain.

"Attention, everyone, now," a voice called. "If I have to ask a second time, you're all barred from my feeding den for a week. Where's my newest…student? Ah, there she is. Thaden, stop hogging her, I'm sure the rest of the class want a good look at the abomination Domina Astor has seen fit to thrust into our midst."

With one last glare at me, Thaden curled his lip in derision and then pulled his arm back from the wall, turned sharply, and stalked away. My eyes flicked anxiously from him to the newcomer—the instructor.

His face was all sharp angles and pale skin, cheekbones like knives. He had the kind of bone structure models would kill for, if it wasn't for the scowl that looked like a permanent feature. Even in a crisp modern instructor's uniform he looked like some kind of old world warlord. Just being in the same room as him sent a chill down my spine—and that wasn't me being dramatic. Everything about him screamed danger, and there was a cruel menace in his dark eyes as they swept the room

"You. Dhampir." He snapped his fingers. "Come here."

Reluctantly, and with every eye in the room—save Thaden's—following my every move, I shuffled across to the instructor.

"I'm Instructor Demir," he said. "Let's be clear about something. I don't want you here, and I resent being forced to waste my time on you."

"That's new," I muttered under my breath, and his expression tightened from disdain to anger, then his lips twisted into a mocking smile.

"Good. Keep giving me excuses to punish you, and see what happens."

Yeah, that seemed like a really bad idea to me. I did not want to find out what punishments a pissed off vampire instructor could come up with.

"Sorry, al—sir," I said, quickly dropping my eyes to his feet and hoping no-one had noticed I almost called him alpha.

"You're not running with wolves now, girl," he said, eyeing me coldly. "Turn the fuck around so everyone can see you."

Stomach sinking, I turned slowly to face the watching class.

"This, class, is what an illegal halfbreed looks like," Demir said over my shoulder, and I was pretty sure I didn't imagine the cruelly amused undertone in his voice as he invited everyone to stare at me. "You all know why such abominations are outlawed, yes?"

The students nodded, some of them raking speculative looks over me, others staring with undisguised hatred. Thaden stood at the back, ignoring me completely.

"You have tongues," Demir snapped. "Use them. Why is this…creature illegal?"

"It's unnatural," one female vamp—Juliana, I think—said, sneering as she looked me up and down. "A vampire allowing a human to carry our offspring."

"Like mating with cattle," another—female again, I noticed—added. A few of the vamps nodded their agreement.

"What else?" Demir said.

A couple of the students glanced Thaden's way, but he ignored them, his arms folded across his chest in a way that made his biceps bulge, which I was most definitely not noticing, because he was an asshole.

"Their blood is tainted," a darkhaired vamp—male—said.

"Yes, good," Demir said, while I stood there trying to ignore them discussing all the ways I was less than them.

"They don't have our strength," someone said.

"Or our speed."

"Or our senses," another added, canting his head a little as he took me in, his upper lip curling back.

"Yes," Demir agreed, circling me with piercing eyes. "A pretty poor specimen, I think we can all agree. Pointless. Useless."

I swallowed hard and tried to blink away the heat behind my eyes. Like I cared what any of them thought of me. I hated them. I hated every last vampire in this whole place, and they could all burn for all I cared. I'd light the damn match if I had the chance.

"What else?"

My mouth almost popped open. There was more? Of course there was more. Arrogant fangs.

"They don't have our immortality."

"True," Demir agreed. "If we wait long enough, our little problem will take care of itself."

"How long do they live?" a sneering guy with amused eyes asked.

"Excellent question, Sebastian," Demir said. "There are few documented cases of these creatures dying natural deaths—one doesn't keep records of vermin, after all—but estimates assume just a couple of hundred years."

A couple of hundred years? My eyes widened, and then slid shut. A couple of hundred years of being treated like vermin. I was worse than a human, as far as they were concerned. At least a human had a purpose, served a function. I was…what had Demir said? Pointless.

"Oh, it would seem we're boring the dhampir. Can't have that."

A few chuckles sounded and I forced my eyes back open just as Demir spoke in my ear, making me jump.

"Don't worry, Ms. Ellis, I'm sure you'll find this lesson very…enlightening." He lifted his chin and raised his voice to address one of the other students.

"Sebastian, go and fetch some humans for anyone who needs one. I want to ensure everyone is well fed before we move on to the next part of the lesson. After all, we wouldn't want to have any mishaps with our little dhampir."

Somehow, I didn't think anyone would be all that cut up if there happened to be any mishaps involving me, but the student hurried off to the plain wooden door set into one wall of the otherwise opulent room. I'd been through that door exactly one time—it led to the human quarters, and the vamps guarded their humans jealously. It was only a deal I'd struck with Thade's twin sister, Thessalia, that had allowed me in there, and there'd been enough resentment amongst the vampire faction about that.

Sebastian tapped once on the door and it opened immediately, the pale figure in the doorway nodding quickly in response to whatever he said. A moment later, a dozen humans hurried through, as though they'd been standing around waiting for the summons—which they probably had. That was essentially their life here, waiting at the beck and call of the vampires who fed on them. I'd negotiated for better living conditions for them, but it didn't change the reality of their situation. They'd each struck a deal, and they were here until they worked off their debt. Some of them actually seemed to enjoy being here—and more power to them, I guess—but the rest…well, I didn't get the sense whoever recruited them had been all that transparent about the cost when they'd preyed on their desperation.

The humans stepped into the den with their heads bowed and their eyes carefully averted, and I doubted whether any of the vampires noticed—or cared about—the resentful stiffness in the posture of one guy. Sam. I'd spoken with him last year, and done what I could to lessen his sentence here. But I doubt that deal still stood, with the revelation about my heritage. I quashed my own resentment before it could show on my face. Demir was still lurking nearby, no doubt watching my every movement and reaction. I wasn't about to give him any more sticks to beat me with. I was pretty sure he had plenty, and I was feeling black and blue already.

As if sensing my attention from across the room, Sam lifted his head a fraction and glanced my way. Our eyes met and his widened before he wrenched them away and quickly ducked his chin again. A female vamp—Lucia—snapped her fingers at him and his shoulders grew even tighter before he seemed to visibly make an effort to force the tension from them, and crossed to her. She muttered something in his ear that made one of his shoulders twitch, then he dropped onto his knees and lifted a hand, presenting his wrist to her.

She took hold of his arm without any gentleness and lifted it to her mouth. Her lips peeled back and my eyes jerked away from the macabre scene. Despite how many times I'd been fed on unwillingly myself—or maybe because of it— I couldn't watch her draining his blood, couldn't watch his resentful submission to her as she took what was rightfully his.

"Problem with something you see?" Demir asked in a callously amused voice beside me.

"No, sir," I said, keeping my voice neutral through sheer determination alone. "I was just wondering if there was any point to this little display of yours."

"Don't flatter yourself," he said, his mouth pinched in disdain. "The students have their needs, and this little ‘display', as you call it, is for the sole purpose of ensuring there are no lapses in control that might lead to one of them fouling themselves with your putrid blood."

Right. Of course. My putrid blood. I couldn't win.

"What do you want from me?" I demanded, a note of despair working its way into my voice.

He sneered. "What I want is for the council to remove the stain that is your life from the face of the earth, preferably someplace far from here, so I never had to lay eyes on your abhorrent face again."

"Why? I haven't done anything to you, and I haven't done anything to them."

"Your very existence flies in the face of everything I stand for. You should not exist, and that the council has seen fit to send you here, and the Domina insist you attend lessons with me as though you were a real vampire, is offensive to me. Your very presence is an insult."

"Well," I retorted, trying to keep the tremor from my voice, "being here isn't exactly a barrel of laughs for me, either. In fact, this is about the last place on earth I want to be, and if I could be anywhere else, I would. But apparently I'm stuck here, and we're both going to have to get used to that fact."

"You will watch your mouth, dhampir, and pay me the respect I'm due."

"Or what?" Getting into a verbal war with a several hundred year old vampire who pretty much held the power of life and death over me wasn't exactly my smartest move, but right now I was beyond caring. And it seemed to me like there wasn't much else he could do to make my life worse than it already was—because it seemed like he'd been trying pretty damn hard for the last half hour.

"Don't think I don't know that you are the one who's been causing disruption in the living conditions of my humans," he said, his voice dangerously low as his eyes pinned me in place.

"Your humans?" I spat incredulously.

"Yes, my humans. And don't think I haven't also noticed the special interest you seem to have taken in one of those humans in particular." He flicked a casual glance in Sam's direction, and my blood ran cold. "I might not be able to do much to you, Ms. Ellis, but rest assured I can do whatever the hell I like to him."

Fuck.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, ducking my chin a fraction so that I was no longer meeting his eye. "I was out of line, and I apologize."

I felt his glare on me for a long moment before he grunted his apparent satisfaction.

"Good. It would seem that your...fellow students...have finished feeding. So if you have quite finished monopolizing my attention, we shall move on with the lesson."