Page 11 of Dragon Unleashed

Naeve starts to pack up her knitting, rolling the balls with short, angry movements.

“I didn’t take you for a coward, Lorelei Bal.”

My frustration boils over, and I shoot up, ready to have it out with her, but she’s already at the door, her back to me, dismissing me.

“I’m going for lunch with Zephyr. Try to keep your stuff on your side of the room this year,” she says.

The door clicks quietly shut behind her and I’m left staring at it.

She didn’t ask if I wanted to join them.

I don’t. They both betrayed me, but…

She didn’t even try to apologize. She’s far more Farrell’s friend than she ever was mine.

The increasingly familiar hollow feeling in my gut starts up again, and my gums are pounding with a pulse of their own. I need to talk to someone about this. And after that little showdown, it sure as hell won’t be Naeve.

Naeve’s quiet snoring fills the room and I push myself up to scowl at her sleeping form. I swear that girl was making her heart beat louder on purpose last night. I tossed and turnedall the hours, half-mad with this sickening desire. This need. A gnawing hunger that is slowly eating me up. I had it under control all summer. But now…hell…now I can hear the heartbeats of the students next door. And the ones beyond that.

Grunting my frustration, I stomp into the bathroom, shutting the door and leaning my back against it. I slide down until my butt hits the tile floor. If I concentrate on other sensations I can quash the craving. The blessed coolness of the tiles against my palms, the calming lavender scent of Naeve’s soap, the freshly laundered towels, the dripping of the tap. Slowly the ache in my gums recedes. Thank the goddesses. No fangs for me today, yet.

Stripping, I crank the shower up to skin-blisteringly hot and step under the water, rolling my shoulders at the burn. Please let this year be easier than last year. It can’t be that difficult, surely. It just needs not to feature my long-lost brother. Lack of familial betrayal would be good too, and if I could avoid almost-murdering my last living family member it’d be just peachy. Simple really. It’s not like Seth is at Fates anymore. My winning our fight got him expelled. And he wasn’ttechnicallyfamily.

Although this year is already scoring points on the shitshow meter, just for different reasons. And we haven’t even had our first class yet.

The water washes some of my annoyance away, and by the time I step out and wrap myself in a fluffy white academy towel I can almost think straight. A coffee would help. That’s it, this morning’s goal: grab coffee, find Chano, and get a handle on my year two curriculum. After that, I’ll work out how to deal with my hunger.

I’ve got this.

It doesn’t take long to get ready. It’s not like I’m a hair-and-makeup kind of girl anyway, and there’s no way in hell I’m waking Naeve by making too much noise. Creeping around in my own dorm room sucks though.

Once I get outside my grumbling unease finally settles. The campus is huge. All open space and greenery, with beautiful stone turrets spiraling up into the clouds from the ancient academy buildings. Even after being at Fates a whole year, it’s still like living in a fairy-tale castle, one from the human storybooks. And most of the students must be asleep. It’s blessedly quiet.

The giant glass monstrosity perched between the student buildings is incongruous, but it calls to me more than any beautiful tower. It’s not homely, all modern glass and angles, but the cafeteria still provides a lot of comfort. Coffee first. Everything else can wait.

The new menu propped outside catches my eye. Lots of vegetarian options, awesome. This is an a-ma-zing amount of choice. I toy with the spot on my wrist where my medical alert bracelet used to sit. Even now I know I’m notactuallyallergic to meat, I still don’t eat it.

I almost choke on a snort. Can I even call myself vegetarian? I’m a bloodsucking parasite. I’m a monster. Half vampire. And very soon I’m going tohaveto feed.

Pushing open the heavy doors, the magical waft of dark-roasted beans hangs in the air, soothing my worries. This place is the best. Foodanddecent coffee.

Two short strides inside and I realize my mistake. The cafeteria is packed. The beating of hundreds of hearts ricochets around the room, a cacophony of pulses making the place vibrate. My hearing heightens, my vision sharpens, and I can taste the damn air.

My gums ache and the emptiness inside me yawns. A student squeezes past, nudging my shoulder, and I snap my head toward her.Stupid bitch.With a snarl, I’m in her face, hands at her throat, shoving her back until she’s plastered to the glass wall. She squeaks, batting ineffectively at me. I flick my tongue out,wetting my lip. I can taste her fear. My gaze drops to the pounding vein in her neck. It would be so easy—

Someone crashes into me, and pain jars up my arm. I tighten my grip.What am I doing?I focus on the ache in my shoulder, on the pain.Get it together, Lorelei.Slowly, my vision widens. I loosen my fingers from around the girl’s neck, my hand trembling, and let her drop to the floor. She stumbles away, peeking at me over her shoulder every few steps, eyes wide.

“Oops. Didn’t see you there, hobo,” a nasal voice whines in my ear.

Camille.

She struts farther into the cafeteria, flicking her gorgeous red hair over her shoulder, running her gaze slowly up and down me, one perfect eyebrow arched in disgust.

I nearly…

I can’t bring myself to think about what I was about to do.

Camille saved me from hurting that girl.

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