Page 88 of Caelum

It took thirty minutes in all to eradicate the army, but with no sign of any of the upper ranks, we had no idea if this was a bust or not.

Most of the grunts lay where they dropped, and I pulled back to my earlier position where I could monitor the rivers to see if another boat was heading in. I saw othergouillesdoing the same, staggering along the riverbank to monitor for any sign of Juliet McAllister’s nest that might be attempting to infiltrate the area now the cannon fodder had done its job.

As I watched and waited, the scent of burning hit my nose, overpowering the stench of the river as the Incubi, Succubi, and Sin Eaters got to work.

I didn’t envy them their positions.

A sound of exploding flesh ruptured my attention, and I grimaced, my head turning to the side to see which grunt had caused the mess and which poor bastard was covered in Ghoul goo. But as I moved, as my focus broke, I failed to hear the whisper-like movement behind me.

One second she wasn’t there, then she was. Her arms came around me like a caress, with one hand surging upward to cover my mouth to stop me from calling out for help. I struggled even though there was no point. I was held in her arms as firmly as a baby was by its mother as her teeth connected with my throat.

One second it was there, then it wasn’t.

I sank to the ground as blood bubbled from the wound and tipped onto my back regretting, with every ounce of my being, that I’d lied to Eve.

I wouldn’t be coming home.

TWENTY-SIX

EVE

Having never been loathed by someone, it came as a great surprise for Dre to consistently show his hatred.

I wasn’t entirely surewhyhe hated me, but hate me he did. It was in every look, every gesture, every ungracious touch.

In fact, I felt certain Samuel liked me more than Dre did, and it was an inconvenience considering I spent a lot of time with Stefan, Nestor, and Eren.

He was so obvious with his dislike that I’d taken to avoiding all the men, but whenever I did that, there was an ache in my chest that couldn’t be cured with any of the miraculous medicines that were on hand in Caelum.

I was half certain Ibuprofen was magical, but Eren had assured me it wasn’t, just chemical.

The ache only went away when I was with the guys, and since they were with Dre all the time, I had to ration how often I was with them.

It sucked.

I truly understood the vernacular now.

It completely, and utterly, sucked.

Because of Dre’s terrible attitude, I couldn’t be with the three men who had made the transition from the cult to the Academy so much easier.

And having watched them fly away on a trip that I hadn’t been included in just hurt all the more. I felt their absence so keenly it made me realize what Dre was making me miss out on.

Damn him.

It also made me realize that when they made it back, I was done avoiding them just to please him.

“Are you concentrating?”

I frowned at Damon, the Enforcer who was tutoring me. “I already know all of this,” I grumbled, unsure why this ‘emergency’ class was necessary. He’d hauled me away from the runway where I’d watched my friends take off in that flying death trap, insisting that I was late for a class that hadn’t even been scheduled.

I was never late.

Lateness was a sin in the compound, and because I didn’t want to be anywhere near Father Bryan’s belt, it was a sin I never committed.

“If you already know it then why are still drinking our emergency supplies of blood?”

“Because I don’t know how to ask someone to feed me.” As far as I could tell, there was no correct way to ask for someone’s blood, but it wasn’t covered in the books I’d been reading.

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