Page 31 of A Dusk Of Stars

A smile tugs at my lips. “Wow, so tough,” I purr as I take a step closer to him, obviously taking him by surprise. I don’t let himlook away. “You’re such a tough guy, aren’t you? Why don’t you show me what you got and when we’re done, I’ll go dig out the House of Zylphyra contact sheet and call your mother for a little afternoon catch-up?”

This earns a moment of silence with a couple of muffled snickers thrown in. But what really gives me pleasure is seeing I’m getting to the guy, I can see it in his eyes that there’s something in mine that’s scaring him.

“What?” I demand with feigned surprise, taking yet another step closer to him, so close, he needs to back off to stop our bodies from touching. “Come on, I’m waiting, tough guy.”

For a second, he just looks at me, his face twisting in anger he’s not letting himself show. Then he lets out a scoff, taking control over his features again.

“Holy fucking Word,” he finally says, as if he wasn’t scared a second ago. He glances around, already looking for approval. “I mean, I knew Scions were a bit loose in the head, butthis…”

Laughter booms through the courtyard.

“Yeah, sheesh,” one of the two bruisers chimes in. “Defending a cuckoo girl and a guy who should have his fangs ripped out.”

They all throw me weird looks, but then they start leaving and the crowd starts dispersing with them.

Fangs ripped out? It’s an extremely rude thing to say to a vampire, generally only reserved for powerless ones, I think as my eyes get drawn to the disheveled vampire. He’s crouching next to Raven, who’s sitting on the grass, now back in her human form. Gently, she’s trying to push his hand away as he insists on checking her for injuries.

Frowning, I walk up to them and get into a crouch myself. “Are you alright?” I ask Raven.

She doesn’t reply, she just looks up at me and then shyly looks away.

Finally, the vampire finishes the little check-up, breathes a sigh of relief and slumps to the ground, throwing her a look so filled with adoration, it makes me smile.

“She’s fine,” he says. He turns to me, his eyebrows pulling down. “But you…” He squints at me. “Bloody hell, are you naive or what? As far as I’ve gathered, you don’t have any powers. Nym is an asshole, sure, but he’s apowerfulbloody asshole.”

My eyebrows shoot up. For a moment, I just look at him — the pale face with a strong nose, the skinny body all in black, the headphones around his neck. But it’s the fact that he seems refreshingly lacking in inhibitions that makes me let out a laugh and sit down.

I feel Raven’s eyes fix on me, but I get this feeling I should let her observe before putting her in the spotlight with any of my attention.

“There are far worse things in life than getting your butt kicked,” I tell her friend. “It’s just something I happen to know and he doesn’t. You can see it in his eyes.”

“Hm,” the vampire hums, his eyes narrowing at me. “Either way, I’m in your debt.” He glances at Raven, who’s still staring at me. “We both are. This is Raven and I’m Alaric.”

“Anna, nice to meet you.”

He nods and moves to get up, but I stop him. “Why were they picking on you?” I ask with hesitation in my voice.

To my surprise, he lets out a laugh. “I guess it’s mostly because we’re special class students.”

“Really?” I ask, my eyebrows shooting up. “So am I.”

I watch the two of them exchange a look. “You’re in luck,” Alaric says with a mischievous smile. “Special classes are the best. You show up for a single class every two weeks and the other professors leave you alone, so it’s the perfect way to slack off.”

I laugh. “Probably depends on the professor, how lucky you can consider yourself. What areyourslike?” I ask, daring to glance at Raven as well.

She just looks away, while Alaric scratches his head, letting out an awkward laugh. “I don’t mind answering any of your questions, Anna. Just a fair warning. You don’t want to hang out withus,” he says. “It may be construed as mixing with the wrong crowd.”

“Well,” I mutter, “I have a feeling I alreadyamthe wrong crowd, so…”

While Raven only gives me a blink with those big, black eyes, Alaric bursts out laughing. He pats me on the back, saying, “Then why don’t you join us?”

We get up and the two of them take me to their usual spot, the alcove I saw Raven perched above. I settle in and keep chatting with Alaric, when my phone pings.

It’s Professor Naehorn telling me that in two weeks, as soon as I settle into my new life, I’ll be able to go back to working at the Library, part time.

I glance around the Junkyard, my smile growing wider.

I’ll have to look into that symbol, keep an eye on Lorcan and try not to get murdered by the other students. It might take me a minute to figure out how to manage my expectations when it comes to special classes and my sunny so-called professor.

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