15

Sal

My eyes bounced between Kier and the vampire that I had slept with a month before the academy. He stood next to Kier, jet-black hair down and almost touching his hips. He was dressed similarly to Kier, and I hated how my body reacted to both of them standing over me.

Before anyone could speak, I reached into my boot and pulled out a dagger. I whipped it across the room, right at the vampire. He stepped to the side, and it landed right into the wood door.

"Ashbourne!" Kier snapped, but I was already pulling out another knife.

This vampire fucked me and then just saw my ass while I was trying to fuck Kier. He didn't deserve to see my black thong, and neither did Kier right now.

"Stop." Kier grabbed my wrist.

I glared at him. "You're defending this vampire?"

He growled at me, glancing at the guy. "Did you soundproof the room?"

The vampire nodded, eyes locked onto me with an amused smile on his lips.

"I'm killing him," I raged, reaching for another knife.

Kier took it right from my hands. "How many do you fucking have, Ashbourne?"

"Arma," I snapped, feeling the handle of my death scythe.

"Stop for one second. How do you know he's a vampire?"

I looked at the huge Father before me. "Why aren't you surprised?"

"If you stop trying to kill him, I can explain."

"You knew?!" I snapped, pulling on my scythe.

"Let us explain!" he snapped, pushing the pole away.

I stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

"Wait, how did you know?"

My eyes glanced to the vampire who was so fucking amused. I want to kill him. "Explain before I kill him."

"I told you, mere weapons can't kill me, little hunter," the vampire said.

"Fucker!" I growled, about to pick up my weapon. "I can fucking try, now can't I?"

"Cut it out!" Kier whipped my weapon away from my hands, letting it disappear in the air. "Theron is going to help us."

"Help us?" I stared wide-eyed. "He's the enemy!"

Kier shook his head. "He's not, Ashbourne. There are bigger and worse people out there."

My shoulders sagged.

"Much like you, we have a secret too."

"We?" I cocked a brow.

"Sit," Kier ordered.

A noise escaped me as I sat my ass on the red couch, letting the two men tower over me. This felt erotic, like the start of a good porno. Not even the shitty ones, like "Oh how will I ever repay you?" More like two men dominating me in a sex club.

But I was pissed at both and one was the enemy.

"Being an Oracle, I quickly realized that not all people should be trusted. Like… Father Frazier."

I stiffened, sitting straighter.

"You got the same vibes?" Theron the vampire asked.

"I'm not talking to you," I muttered, eyes locked on Kier.

"Surprised you would rather talk to me," Kier laughed. "What did Theo do?"

"Talk before I leave your ass here."

"We think the explosion of vampires were the higher ups doing."

My eyes shifted between them. "Why do you think that?"

"Just small clues," Kier said. "Putting me on missions that will kill me, secret meetings, a lot of thought was put behind our accusations. Our main goal is to get rid of the celestial, but someone is trying to make soldiers."

"Soldiers…"

"We think the people exploding are experiments."

I let out a chuckle. "You guys are insane."

Theron shifted a bit before Kier sighed. "Whatever, but to pass these tests you need the help of fathers, and you have two here. Father Fraizer isn't going to make the tests easy—"

"You're a father?" I asked Theron. "No one noticed what you are?"

Theron shook his head.

"How did you find out?" Kier asked.

A smirk played on Theron's lips.

I shook my head. "He attacked me in Ashbourne."

Kier cocked a brow looking at his friend.

"I ran out of pouches. I needed blood, and she let me take it and her."

My head shook. "No! I was drunk, and you took advantage of me."

Theron gasped, hands dropping. "You were not! Your blood barely tasted like alcohol. I was drinking more than you were. If anything you took advantage of me."

"Oh my god!" My jaw dropped. "You came onto me!"

"When did you guys have sex?" Kier asked, and I could hear the hurt in his tone.

"A month or so before the academy, before I knew any of you," I said quickly.

He nodded, glancing between us. "Everyone had you before me, huh?"

My eyes rolled. "The vampire doesn't have shit! It was a one-time mistake."

"I'm confused on why a vampire would turn you on. You're Spectre, and you hunt vampires."

My eyes closed, almost remembering the heat that Theron gave me. "I know."

"She likes being bit, apparently," Theron said. "It's the first time someone got so wet from me biting them."

I scoffed. "I barely got wet. It was rough and dry, and I was intoxicated."

"Even I don't believe that," Kier stood. "You will need to train with him, but at the headquarters, none of this can be said there."

"What about you?"

Kier sighed, standing. "I leave for a mission outside the walls."

"What?" I stood, looking up at him. "When?"

"In the morning."

"When did you know? Why didn't you tell me? Why would they—"

"You certainly ask a lot of questions," Theron muttered.

I glared at him, wanting to stab him hard with each of my knives.

"I leave tomorrow, and I need a Father to train you?"

"Won't it look suspicious? It already does with me living with you."

"Living with you?" Theron asked. "That was left out."

"It's just a student asking for help, nothing more," Kier said, glaring at Theron. "No touching outside of punching her, no flirting, and no fucking while I'm gone."

"So, when will you get back?" I asked, brows pulling. "Is this where the lies and truths come out?"

Kier sighed. "The Bishops and I knew Spectre would join the academy. Someone leaked it when the paperwork came in, meaning someone knew who you were and wanted you to be found out about."

"There's a rat… and a spy?" I whispered, looking down. That meant someone knew about me beforehand, someone who had been watching me from the start. But I was resourceful; I never took their money rewards; I never showed my full face and wore disguises.

Kier nodded. "I have a small circle of people I trust, and I trust Theo."

My lips closed. I didn't know why Kier trusted Theron, and I didn't even know why I trusted Kier. Kier was cruel and rough, he was rude, but I was sad he was leaving, and I was worried about him.

But he trusted me enough to reveal that Theron, a higher up, was a vampire. That was huge.

"You did this to make me trust you? Give me the power to turn in Theron if you fucked me over?" I whispered.

Kier nodded. "Somewhat. I needed you to know that I was on your side. I want the vampires gone; we both do. I want Ashbourne to get better. I want the human race to win, but others don't."

"What do you want?" I asked, looking at Theron.

"My empire. I have spent over thousands of years controlling my empire, my vampires. Now they run rabid. I'd like my empire back and to be on top controlling."

"And you would just tell them to kill us instantly?"

He shook his head. "The Revelations came as a curse; it brought us from the dark. I want to go back to the dark. I never meant for this to happen."

I wasn't sure whether to believe him just yet, but I trusted Kier.

After our conversation, Theron left and then we left shortly after. Half of the car ride home was silent.

"When do you come back?" I asked, eyes on the road ahead. I had been trying to think of what to say and if he wanted me to say anything.

"I'll be at your test," he said.

He would be gone for a few days, but even that made my chest ache. I didn't think I would ever miss Kier, but today I was.

"Are you…" I started, trying to stop myself. He didn't care about me, right? But he gave me a home for me and Cozen. "going to be alright?"

I could see his head moving to glance at me.

"Or are you going to come back hurt again?"

Kier let out a sigh. "I'll be fine, you worry about your test. I want you to pass."

I scoffed. "I want you to live." The words came out so fast, I couldn't stop it.

"Wow, Ashbourne."

A noise escaped. We can never just have a good moment.

"I didn't think you would have feelings for me."

"I don't," I deadpanned.

"Then I could die and you won't notice the difference."

My mouth clamped shut as I stared at him. Did he really think that I would be okay without him? There was still so much to learn from him and still so many pranks and jokes I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to watch me pass this test.

Everyone was working hard to teach me, and if he died, it kind of felt like it was for nothing. He and I had a mission.

His dark eyes glanced at me. "I'll be okay."

"Yeah, I'm sure," I muttered as the SUV pulled up to the home. As soon as the car was parked in the garage, I got out and went inside. Some of my men were in the living room, but I just waved and went upstairs.

"What did you do to her?" I heard Osiris say as I closed my bedroom door. My eyes stung with tears, but I couldn't figure out exactly why. Everything felt like it was more at stake and a lot could go wrong with him gone. Or would I just miss him?

I never noticed before that I'd miss him, but I knew I felt it. Cozen just left, and he left on bad terms. Now Kier was leaving, and it wasn't on good terms either.

I slid the dress from my body, kicking off the boots. All my knives clattered to the ground, though I would at least get to use them on Kier, not Theron.

Running bath water, I poured bubbles and dropped a watermelon bath bomb into it. I glanced at myself in the mirrors, taking in my long chestnut curls. My bare body was covered with tattoos, even the skin on my fake arm. Various tattoos ran over my body. Reaching up, I pressed a few buttons on my right arm, and it changed to the black mechanical one.

That was a design feature that Cozen thought of. I wanted to blend in.

I sink into the water, sighing at the glorious heat. I didn't miss running out of hot water.

But I always made do.

My men helped me out a lot. Beck, Abel, and Briar.

But I knew Osiris and Kier wanted me.

And I them, though I wasn't really able to spend too much time with Osiris just yet.

My mind wandered to Cozen and how much he grew in years. Just seeing his body and how toned he was, made my core clench.

Who else made me feel like this?

Though I didn't trust the vampire, my core still clenched. I thought about his cock inside of me, teeth grazing my skin.

I shook my head, sitting up.

A vampire? Me? I hate vampires more than anything in the world. They took everything from me, my family, my friends. My safety. No way was I going to let a monster in my bed, again.

And Father Nero… Fucker had invaded my thoughts, the way he stood in front of me as vampires came our way to protect me. I was sure that he would have done that to anyone, but it still made me wet thinking about it.

My head thudded when it hit the back of the tub.

Look at me, lusting over 8 men.