After failing as a vampire hunter, 17-year-old Cleo is sent to an academy full of vampires as a false peace treaty. Her true objective is supposed to be finding the hidden heir to the dark world while befriending the current one, but the current hei...
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To no one's surprise, Kaz was pissed that Claude had decided to sneak out with us without telling him. Pissed enough that he told Evander on us. And we were suspended. Again. This time, however, we weren't even allowed to hang out with each other.
I didn't blame Kaz for telling Evander and I wasn't upset that Evander punished us again. But I was upset because I'd thought it'd be worth it. I thought we'd find something that would help us so much that it wouldn't matter if we got in trouble or not. But that didn't happen. I'd only managed to make things worse for us.
If my sister hadn't wanted to kill Claude before, there was no doubt she wanted to now. I wasn't sure if I could convince her everything was a misunderstanding.
Was threatening my mother a misunderstanding though? The more I tried to reason and rationalize Claude's actions, the more confused I got. There was no reason he had to do that. Kieran had every right to want to defend our mother.
I groaned, falling face-first into my bed. Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn't anything go right? Was it me? Was I doomed to be as useless as my family said? Was this fate telling me not to go against it?
I still half-expected my father to come barging into my room and just off me.
The sudden jiggle of the door handle sent me diving under my covers. A creak announced someone entering and when I was still alive a moment later I figured it probably wasn't my father. "I don't feel like talking, Kaz," I mumbled as the mattress sunk down beside me.
"How many times will you mistake me for Kaz?"
I almost gasped. It was Claude. What the heck was he doing here? Maybe if I didn't move he would think I was asleep or dead.
"You already spoke," he said dryly. "Don't pretend to be asleep now."
Crap. I didn't think that one through. I poked my head out and saw Claude sitting on the edge of the bed, arms crossed, wearing a black turtleneck. "Why are you here?"
"You haven't left your room all day."
"How do you know that?"
"Elian told me."
"Elian?" I said, sitting up straight. "Is he out there? He's not stationed as a guard, is he? He has to still be healing—"
Claude stared out toward the balcony, lips twisting down. "He's better."
"There is no way. You're still hurting from your wounds from weeks ago. Elian was hurt just as bad, if not worse," I said, pushing the covers off me again. I had to go see Elian for myself.
"He's fine. He healed faster than me," Claude said shortly.
I paused, my bare feet hitting the carpet. "What? How?"
"Because he drank blood."
My stomach lurched and I subconsciously raised my hand to my neck to the spot where the Leecher bit me. I immediately put it back down, holding it at my side, swallowing. Elian drinking blood was not the same as the Leecher biting me. He needed it to survive. Kaz, Adora, Felix, San... they all drank blood, too. Never in front of me. But they did.
