Page 39 of Cloak of the Vampire
“Why did you quit?” I asked him, drinking in every piece of info they gave me.
CJ gave me a grin that turned him from simply handsome to scorching hot. “It reminded me too much of my job as a human.” When I simply stared at him, he snickered. “Salesman, newbie. It’s like being a fucking salesperson, telling bullshit to young and innocent people who don’t know what they’re actually signing up for.”
“Of course that’s not the only way to do it,” Jada told me, and her eyes blazed with anger that wasn’t directed at me. “The Lords found a loophole in that law that allows them to take a sneakier path: they go and find potential Gifted vampires themselves and have their agent insert them onto the waiting list about a day before they actually give them the Imprint.”
Now I was confused. “I don’t think I’m following.”
“You’re so bad at explaining, Jada,” Bowen drawled as he drew closer, wiping his hands. “The Lords are supposed to choose randomly who to give the Imprint to from the waiting list,” he said, sending Jada a grin when she glowered at him. “They’re onlysupposed to, though.”
“Let’s just say it hardly ever happens that way,” CJ commented, and Bowen snorted in agreement.
“Now, about the Auction,” Jada said loudly, needing to hear her own voice. “It’s meant to whittle out the number of Commons. Unfortunately for the Lords, us Commons are part of this Society whether they like it or not.”
“We’re lucky, though,” CJ said, suddenly serious. “Our Lord is one of the few who actually cares for his Commons. Heseesus, unlike other Lords who regard us as a waste of space.”
Jada let a china plate drop to the floor and shatter. She glared down at it before raising her bitter gaze to meet mine. “CJ is right,” she hissed. “We’re worthless to the Lords, and while he doesn’t say it, I’m sure our Lord feels the same way.”
Bowen sighed. “Don’t be ungrateful, Jada.”
She put her hands on her waist and glared at him, eyes glowing. “I’m very grateful,” she told him through gritted teeth. “But you have to admit I’m right.”
Shaking his head, Bowen retorted, “If our Lord didn’t care about us Commons, why would he put us in key positions?”
“Are you talking about Maika from VR?” CJ asked.
“To name one, yes.” Bowen nodded vehemently. “There’s also Sanu, who’s in charge of the Archives, and Neisha, one of the four commanders in the Troop—”
Jada’s snort cut him off. “Come the fuck on, Bowen. All these people you mentioned are obviously under the Lord’s scrutiny because they have a chance of becoming Gifteds.”
My eyes widened, suddenly remembering that Abe said this could happen.
As he swept up the broken china, CJ said, “Jada’s right, Bowen.”
Bowen grimaced; disapproval was written on his face. “You both don’t know what I know,” he said quietly.
I was about to interrupt their heated discussion and ask Bowen what he knew when Jada turned to me and said, “Remember what I said:allthe Lords absolutely despise Commons.” Her gaze turned sharp. “And if one of them tells you otherwise, make sure to stay as far away from them as possible.”
Two weeks had passed since that gym lesson with Ragnor, and I hadn’t seen the asshole Lord. Which was great. Fantastic, even. Because it gave me time to process everything I’d learned about him and helped strengthen my resolve.
During one of my kitchen shifts, working the soup station on the buffet, I was with a vampire called Hassan, who was serving fried chicken next to me, when a couple of female vampires came over, chatting among themselves.
“She’s got it bad,” the dark-haired woman said, snickering. “I heard her the other day threatening one of the noobs because she was staring at him too long. As if our Lord would be interested in anoob!”
I poured them tomato soup and handed it over. They didn’t even acknowledge me as they moved to Hassan’s station. “There was also that incident in the Troop a few weeks ago, remember?” the dark-haired one said.
“She’s unhinged, I tell you.” The blonde giggled.
The two moved on, and I turned to Hassan, who stared broodily ahead. “Do you know who they’re talking about?” I asked him tentatively. He wasn’t the warmest person, and unlike Jada and her friends, who were surprisingly tolerant of my noob status, Hassan was one of those who kept their distance.
But to my surprise, he scowled and said, “They’re talking about the Lieutenant.” He practically slapped a piece of fried chicken onto a waiting vampire’s plate. “Word of advice, noob: never disrespect either of the Lieutenants.”
Learning of Margarita’s crush on Ragnor wasn’t surprising. What did surprise me was that I had found out that she wasn’t the only one and that he hadn’t been with a woman in the past few decades.
Of course that was merely a rumor I heard in the kitchen when I mentioned his relationship status to Jada. “Many think that our Lord had his heart broken some time ago,” she told me, eyes twinkling with her delight for gossip. “This is why, presumably, no one, not even Margarita, dares make a move on him.”
She wasn’t the only one who said that too. It seemed the topic of Ragnor’s supposed abstinence interested some of my classmates as well. During one break between classes, I heard Cynthia talking about the same rumor with Jakob, who’d managed to get back to himself somewhat after Gus’s demise.
Unfortunately, I didn’t learn anything beyond that when it came to Ragnor’s past lovers. I did learn some other things about the Lord of the Rayne League, though.
