Page 38 of Baneful Magick

‘Beastie, in this we are in agreement. He is fucking trouble. Stay away from him.’

Except he came to a stop directly in front of me. As the hint of smoke and unknown sweetness surrounded me, I was hit with another wave of lust and need. I didn’t think I’d be able to stay away from him.

A professor of all people.Myprofessor.

And given the way he met my stare, I had an inkling that he felt the same way about me. A touch of fear slithered down my spine, and I knew he could sense it from the barely-there upturn of his lips. This was going to be so good before we burned ourselves to the ground.

Chapter 14

Bricriu

TUESDAY

Iwas a fucking idiot.

With a frustrated groan, I leaned back, slamming my head back against the wall. I wished that I could just backtrack the last twelve hours. Between talking to Isla in the library and class, there was no way she was going to want anything to do with me.

There was something about her that drew me to her. Pissing off Ambrose was just a fucking bonus.

Sitting beside her in herbology, all I could smell was a blend of vanilla, jasmine, and almonds. I wasn’t some fucking teen boy to get so distracted by a girl that I lost sight of what I was doing, but damn… She was temptation incarnate.

“I’d say a penny for your thoughts, but I think I can guess.” The soft voice made me jolt.

I didn’t bother to open my eyes. I didn’t need to look to know it was Julian. He glided closer and sat down beside me on the bench outside the library.

“You’re up early,” I whispered.

“It’s my day off,” he replied. “There are a few things I needed to take care of today.”

“Meaning you need to feed?” I opened my eyes then, rolling my head to the side to focus on the vampire beside me.

I had been Julian’s donor for the past year after a spontaneous encounter escalated beyond what either of us had expected. We weren’t lovers, per se, but I was a blood source, and we fucked occasionally—nothing consistent and no emotions involved.

Or at least that was what I had thought until yesterday.

Julian and Isla being so close together had made the apology I’d prepared become ashes on my lips. Their proximity, the warm desire I could smell from both of them… I had shut down.

I had thought I needed space, but it seemed that had just given me even more of an opportunity to let my thoughts run wild. Overthinking was a fucking bitch.

Part of me wanted to blame Ambrose for somehow orchestrating this since he knew about my and Julian’s situation. Logically, I knew that was highly unlikely since subtlety wasn’t Ambrose’s go-to reaction for things, but it wasn’t impossible.

“I do,” Julian finally responded after a full minute of silence, “but I can find someone else to feed from if there is an issue. Or I can wait until tonight. I’m old enough that it wouldn’t make such a huge difference.”

“No. I’m fine,” I told him, trying to shrug off the tension that was still lingering after talking to Isla in class.

The other man didn’t contradict me, but he didn’t agree either. Silence fell between us, and I looked away, unwilling to meet his stare since I couldn’t see it anyway. I had never hated my photophobia from my albinism more. It affected every aspect of my life, from my useless eyes, my body in both forms, and even my fucking magick.

My eyes couldn’t filter out light. On top of my low vision, that made it impossible to see beyond a general blur unless I wasright on top of something. One day, I would probably lose my vision completely. That was the day I knew my family would kill me outright.

I was the bane of their existence, and only my ruthlessness when it came to collecting my bones and the fear I inspired in others had kept me safe so far.

The acrid stench of weakness got on my nerves… but there were a few people that were a refreshing respite. Julian, Isla, and, annoyingly, Ambrose. Our frenemy interactions certainly kept things interesting, and there was never a sense of fear from the professor. He wanted to make me cower as much as I didn’t want that from him.

“Come back tonight,” Julian said as he stood up. “I can?—”

“What were you and Isla discussing yesterday?” The question rushed out before I could stop it. “You seemed… close.”

Julian stopped, but the blur of him didn’t turn to look in my direction.

---