Page 15 of Cloak of the Vampire
Yeah, right. “I can’t wait to meet everyone,” I lied.
A door opened, and into the room walked a girl who was probably nineteen. She was the youngest I’d seen so far; all the vampires I’d seen up until now seemed to be my age and up. She had round cheeks and large blue eyes that gave her an innocent, doe-like, naive look. Her hair was strawberry blonde and so smooth and long that it reached her knees in a neat braid, like a horse’s tail. Her skin was pale with a rosy tint, and she was short and thin, almost waifish.
Her huge eyes went to Zoey first before they turned to me. “Tansy,” she said in a soprano voice that was surprisingly somber.
“Aileen,” I greeted back, unsure.
She cocked her head. “Your pronunciation is off,” she said somewhat dreamily.
I figured she was thinking of the popularEileen. “It’s a Scottish name,” I explained, “so it’s pronounced a little differently.”
“Huh,” she said. “Are you also new?”
I was about to reply, but Zoey must’ve missed her own voice because she answered in my place. “She was given the Imprint only a couple of days ago. She’s also joining us for the course tomorrow.”
“Oh,” Tansy muttered. “I’m new too.”
“We were given the Imprint around the same time,” Zoey informed me. “Tansy was on the waiting list for merelyone yearbefore she was accepted, the bitch. But I hold no grudges, though.” She winked at the other girl, and while her voice was light, I could tell she was actually jealous.
Tansy stared at Zoey for a few awkward moments before she said, “The list is long,” nodded at me, and went back into her room.
Zoey threw me a meaningful look. “She’s a bit of an airhead,” she murmured softly. “I don’t recommend reading too much into what she says.”
I wasn’t as curious about the girl as Zoey was. I had enough bullshit to deal with and little energy to spend on unimportant mysteries, not when the greatest mystery weighed heavily on my mind, making my heart rate kick up to dangerous levels.
Had Cassidy been on the waiting list all along?
After morning dinner, I decided to look for Margarita. I didn’t see her in the cafeteria, and since she talked so proudly about how she worked for Vampire Resources, I decided to look for her there.
The large VR—Vampire Resources—office looked like any regular office, if it was built in medieval times; dark marble floors and dimly lit lanterns accompanied me as I strode through the place toward the front desk. There was no one there, however, and the office itself seemed deserted. Perhaps work hours were already over?
Grimacing, I walked to the first door I found and opened it. The small office within was empty. I headed to the next door and did the same, but again, it was vacated.
When I reached for the handle of the third door in the office, I heard voices coming from within. I froze when I heard a man’s low voice saying,“Are you questioning me, Margarita?”
A chill went down my spine. That voice.
“Of course not, my Lord!”Margarita replied with what sounded like desperation.“All of us will abide by anything you decide, even if protocol dictates otherwise ...”
I froze.
“I could give two shits about protocol,”Ragnor Rayne said in a voice on the verge of an actual growl.“And if you prioritize protocol over your Lord’s word, then you’re not the woman I thought you were.”
“Nothing’s changed, my Lord! I am still that woman!”Margarita protested vehemently, and there was a slight accent to her voice, which became thicker as her panic rose.“I don’t give a damn about that stupid noob, or anyone else! I only care about you!”
“I don’t need you to care about me,”he said, voice almost cruel.“I only need your obedience.”
Margarita sucked in a breath so loudly I could hear it through the door. She was hurt, I could tell. I would be, too, if I had been rejected that strongly by the man I liked.
“Why didn’t you kill her?”she suddenly asked in a voice so soft I almost didn’t hear it. There was an undertone to this question, a subtext I couldn’t decipher, and its lack of an answer put me on edge.
I stopped breathing, waiting for Ragnor to respond. Seemingly hours later, he finally did.“That’s for me to know.”
Anger filled my veins, and I would’ve thrown the door open to confront the asshole had I not heard footsteps from inside growing closer, andthe Lord’s voice saying,“We’re done here.”
I stepped back just in time for Ragnor to open the door. He was wearing that long trench coat that seemed to be his signature attire, with faded dark jeans tucked into black combat boots. His shoulder-length hair curtained his hard face, and his midnight blue eyes found mine and narrowed.
He closed the door behind him and turned to face me fully. “Got anything to say?” he asked in a low murmur, folding his arms.
