Void Domain, Book 09 полностью

To the side, Srey edged closer to Juliana. He slipped just behind her, peeking out over her shoulder. It took Eva a moment to figure out what he was doing.

Really, she should have realized based on how all the demons reacted around her.

He was cowering behind a human. And he was leaving his back open to a vampire. At least he was protecting Juliana’s back. Sort of.

Of course, Juliana wasn’t looking so confident either. Eva couldn’t see her face as she had completely encased herself within her suit of armor. However, Eva got a decent map of Juliana’s face using her sense of blood. Using the little blood that hadn’t drained from her face, that was.

Despite the two frightened people—two friends who Eva really shouldn’t be scaring—the vampire stood still, his irritating smile never wavering. Without a working heart, Eva couldn’t even tell if he was mildly nervous. He probably wasn’t. Serena had said that there was something wrong inside his brain. She hadn’t said his brain specifically, but his strain all had the same problem.

Overconfidence and delusions of superiority.

Now, Eva thought, how best to take advantage of that?

Eva flicked her eyes back to Juliana and Srey. Taking a few deep breaths, Eva tried to calm herself down.

Being called a snack just irritated her. She was fairly certain that it would irritate anyone. It was just demeaning. Which fit with what she knew of his strain, she supposed.

Serena asking for her blood had been annoying in persistence, but not so much in how she asked. Not to mention the fact that Serena was more or less Eva’s friend. She wasn’t some random vampire who showed up out of nowhere feeling entitled to a taste of her blood.

Wanting it, maybe. But not entitled.

Eva shook her head, clenching her fists. She was getting herself worked up again.

Focusing, she kept her voice as calm as possible.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t pluck your fangs from your mouth.”

That actually had his smile faltering. Though the blood inside him was dead and stale, she could still see it. Specifically, she could see his tongue run along the backside of his fangs.

Good. Let him be a little nervous.

“You come out here, harass my friends, and think I’m going to willingly give up my blood as a dessert? Really, I should just kill you and damn the consequences. In fact, I bet there wouldn’t be any consequences. I’d get some good will with the Elysium kids at least.”

“Ah yes,” he said, slowly regaining his confidence with a shift of his weight to his opposite hip, “I suppose I have you to thank for them following me around.”

“They actually figured out who the vampire was?” Eva said with genuine surprise. It hadn’t been long since she had told them. A day or so plus a few hours. Not to mention, those two really didn’t seem like they had much training. Of course, they didn’t need training to light up their eyes and scan the room upon entering the cafeteria. Depending on how quickly they could glean information, they could have just flickered their connection on and off to reveal the vampire.

Eva narrowed her eyes into a venomous glare as another thought occurred to her. “If you led them out here, I really will kill you.”

The vampire’s grin widened. “I knew you were bluffing,” he said, emanating airs of pure confidence. As if he actually knew that Eva wasn’t going to kill him. Before Eva could object, he continued. “But fear not. Those bumbling children are as obvious as the midday sun. Slipping away was a simple matter.”

Arrogant though he was, Eva didn’t believe he was lying. Mostly because she couldn’t sense either of the nascent nuns. While they could be too far away and spying with binoculars, Eva doubted it.

Because the vampire was right. They were not subtle.

Despite the slight relief she felt at his words, Eva found herself growing irritated again.

Eva again considered setting up blood wards around the ritual site. Unfortunately, she was right in the middle of the school. Though unlikely given the size of the Infinite Courtyard, it was entirely possible for students to happen across the place. Her ward’s outer pain should keep them away before they start exploding. It would have to be far enough away that the ritual circle wouldn’t be visible.

Which would just increase the size of the already large area by a great deal, making it all the more likely that it would be stumbled across.

And with the pain effect of her ward, describing it wouldn’t be difficult. It was too signature to her blood magic. Zoe and Wayne both knew about it. If a student happened across, felt the pain, and went to tell the staff, Eva’s involvement would quickly become common knowledge. Then people would wonder what she was hiding out here.

Especially Zoe and Wayne.