Page 121 of Blood

A tide of emotion threatens to batter down my composure. I inhale sharply and quickly tangle my fingers with Mason’s, giving his hand a squeeze. He flashes me a soft smile, his emerald eyes glimmering, and shifts closer to me, until I can feel his body heat permeating through the pink dress I wear. He always seems to know when I’m struggling, when reality seems too good to be true and the claws of depression sink their jagged teeth into me.

“I may have sneaked her another candy bar,” Cal interjects with a sheepish grin. He rubs a hand through his tangled pink waves. “...or two.”

“And I may have also given her two candy bars,” Barret confesses. “But she told me that candy bars help her brain.”

“They do help my brain,” I retort, scoffing. “It makes me most smartest.”

“My god.” Vin pinches the bridge of his nose.

“The most smartest who ever smarted,” I continue.

“You are most definitely the most smartest who ever smarted,” Hux tells me reverently, leaning over Mason to grab my free hand and bring my knuckles to his lips. I quickly work to strangle each of the butterflies that pop up in my chest. The last thing I need is to get a female boner in front of the entire school...and all of our families.

On stage, the White Stag drones on and on about all the accomplishments of Prodigium Academy’s graduating class. And while his speech is actually pretty interesting, his monotone voice has the majority of the monsters in attendance fighting sleep. Cynthia has quite literally removed her ears and is now resting her head on her mate’s shoulder.

“...the world tried to strangle us, but we did not stop fighting,” he drones. “We’ll never stop fighting. We believe in justice and equality for all.”

“What an amazing speech.” Dimitri stalks across the stage, a fierce scowl distorting his features, though he quickly tries to mask it when the White Stag turns his intelligent eyes on him.

“I wasn’t done,” he says, utterly deadpan.

Dimitri smiles curtly and manages to grab the microphone off the stand.

I have to bite down on my growing smile as I take in my aloof mate. God, how did I get so lucky as to have him as my own? He’s sex and beauty personified, his elegant appearance juxtaposed by the perpetual scowl twisting his lips. I’ve only ever seen that ice in his eyes thaw around one person—me. And as those glimmering blue orbs lock on my own, a delicate shiver cascades through my body like ice water dripping down my spine. A sharp crack wheedles through my chest, and I nibble on my lip hard enough to draw blood.

I’m almost sad that I’m graduating Prodigium Academy early. There’s nothing more invigorating than having sex with the headmaster on his desk while keenly aware that any passing students can hear you screaming his name. I get jealous glares from a lot of the girls here, but I just smile like a smug-ass bitch.

Because the most eligible and sexy men at Prodigium? Yeah, they’re mine, bitches.

The longer I stare into Dimitri’s entrancing eyes, the more the lust within me swells, like a snowball gathering momentum down a hill. I have to quite literally shift in my seat to alleviate the ache between my thighs.

Mason chuckles from beside me, and a second later, Cal’s raspy laughter joins in. It isn’t long until all my mates are holding in laughter, aware of what Dimitri’s presence is doing to me. I admit it. I have a weakness—men in power dressed in fastidiously ironed suits.

Ugh.

“Let’s give a round of applause for our graduating class,” Dimitri continues in his glacial voice. But while the White Stag puts people to sleep by speaking, Dimitri has the opposite effect. Almost everyone in attendance straightens imperceptibly, desperate to capture his attention.

Clapping and hoots filter through the theater where our graduation is being held. The loudest comes from the seats a few rows behind me, where Dracula, Lucifer, and Hera sit.

Lucifer holds up a sign with my face plastered in the center of it. “That’s my girl!” he hollers.

“My girl,” Dracula immediately snarls possessively.

Hera simply wipes at her eyes with a handkerchief, smiling excitedly.

I was honestly surprised by the reaction of the other monsters when they discovered the truth of my parentage. I thought I would be a moth under a magnifying glass that’s tilted just so to catch my wings on fire. However, most of the creatures I’ve come into contact with have been pretty cool about it, to be honest. Perhaps it’s because they know I’m fated to rule. Or maybe it’s because I have three scary-ass parents and nine psychotic mates. Either way, there’s only been a dozen or so death threats and only one of those monsters was stupid enough to actually attempt it.

Dimitri and Hux still take turns playing with that particular beast in Dimitri’s torture chamber.

As Dimitri begins to call out names and hand the students diplomas, I think of the drastic direction my life has taken.

Only a year or so ago, I was an oblivious vampire attending Prodigium Academy in the hopes of becoming a monster my father could be proud of. He was a hard, cruel man who saw me as a tool to utilize.

But now, I’m surrounded by men who love me and family who want me to succeed. Even Dracula has crawled out of his shell. I know he always loved me, even when he was cold to me, but it was only recently that he decided to show me it as well. I think I have Hera and Lucifer to thank for that, especially the latter. My two fathers seem to have a competition over who can out-dad the other. Just the other day, Dracula invited me and my mates over to his house for a barbecue. He wore an apron that said “Kiss the Vampire Chef” and spent the entire time telling the stupidest dad jokes. When Lucifer arrived, everything changed. And not for the better. Suddenly, the two men were arguing over who can cook burgers better on the grill. Lucifer quite literally ran to the store just to get an apron that said “Who’s Your Daddy?” Don’t even get me started on the dad jokes. I still have nightmares over “Hi, Hungry. I’m Dad.”

While that part of my life is flourishing, I can’t help but think of all the people who are no longer a part of it.

Cheryl Ness, for one. I know it’s strange to think of her in that respect, but she did sacrifice her life for me. She was a crazy bitch who lusted after my mates, but she didn’t deserve to die. The only crime she committed was loving a man who would never love her back.

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