“Morning, Cassie,” she says, her lips touching my neck.
I sit up, yawning, and then stop cold as my muddled memories of last night take shape. I had sex with a vampire.Willingly.I expect to feel some kind of shame, guilt, anything at all to remind me that we’ve made a mistake, but it doesn’t come.
“Are you going to class?” she asks, stretching her arms as she yawns.
“In an hour,” I say, staring down at my phone, the screen far too bright. For the first time, I don’t have to search for the library.Instead, I must convince Elia to let me enter it. As soon as I move to get up, Aliz draws me back into her arms. “At least let me brush my teeth,” I say, as her mouth meets mine.
“You might try to run away,” she complains but lets me go. I brush my teeth in a hurry, drinking water, before heading back out into the room. Aliz grabs me before I reach the bed, pulling me down and climbing on top of me, her lips hungry. I wrestle with her pyjamas. Even if she won’t let me get her off, I still want to feel her bare skin pressed to mine.
Good thing that I’m not actually here for an education,I think, as she kisses her way down my chest. Every spot she touches is ablaze. “We should be careful,” she says, her fingers slipping between my legs. “I really wish you were a vampire,” she adds, finger prying inside me. I stare down at her.
“Why?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. I dig my nails into her back, drawing her closer.
“I’m used to being rough,” she says, as pleasure rushes through me, and I struggle to keep myself from moaning. “I didn’t even know I could be this gentle,” she adds, keeping her touch light.
“You can be rough,” I say, breathless, waiting for her to quicken her pace. Instead, Aliz draws her finger out, and I release a groan of frustration. She tuts, meeting my gaze.
“No,I can’t,” she says, voice sharp. “You’re human. You’re considerably weaker than me, Cassie.”
“Then at least be a little less gentle,” I say, before gritting my teeth. I can’t believe she called me weak. But Aliz doesn’t know what I am. Her lips part as she considers my request. Then her mouth meets mine, a careful kiss.
“I’ll think about it,” she whispers after a short pause. “And close your eyes.” She resumes her gentle touch between my legs, her fingers damp with my arousal, and I moan against her, moving my hips to get more friction.
The sound of banging on the door draws us out of our stupor. I open my eyes, and Aliz jumps up, stumbling away from the bed and almost tearing my curtains down in the process. She looks at me,eyes wide, as though she’s only now realising what we were doing. “Hide,” she whispers, and I run into the bathroom, locking the door behindme.
“Well,” a voice says at the door.Elia.“That was fast.”
“What was fast?” Aliz still sounds a little out of breath.
“You sleeping with Cassie. I thought you’d hold out a—” She stops the moment I walk out of the bathroom, still wearing my nightgown. Her lips part as she looks at me, and a flash of hunger appears in her eyes, tinted by a faint red glow. “Can I have a bite, too?” she asks.
“Fuck off,” Aliz says.
Elia stares at her then atme.
“I have to talk to Cassie,” she says.This is it.What can I possibly offer Elia? My blood?
“When did you two get so close?” Aliz asks, sounding more than a little irritated.
“When you weren’t watching,” Elia says, throwing an arm around my shoulders, drawing me close. “We’re girlfriends now.”
“Piss off,” I say, pushing her arm away.
“Next time you need to let me join the fun,” Elia says. “Ada and I used to share humans, back before the treaties. We didn’t kill or compel our girls, of course. In fact, I was an ethical vampire before it was cool.”
“Ireallydon’t need to hear about what your sex life was like with my sister,” Aliz says. She puts the light on and searches around the room for clothes. Elia’s expression changes slightly when Aliz isn’t looking at us, becoming cooler. Accusing me of something. Is she jealous? “And don’t tell anyone about us,” Aliz adds. “We got carried away, that’s all.”
Her words sting. “Yeah,” I say, trying to sound as if I believe her.
The windows inElia’s house are shuttered, a dozen false ones showing the landscape through cameras. The narrow streets of the campusvillage are speckled with dappled shadows, for once free of rain. Elia stands by one of those false windows, not saying a word.
“I’ve thought about it,” she says. “I don’t want Aliz to be roped into this. Having a vampire hunter as a Familiar would be a living nightmare.”
I sigh, relief flooding through me as I sit on her couch. “Thank you.”
“But I also won’t let a vampire hunter near a single secret of Ada’s library,” she adds. “Not a whisper. Not through me, not through Aliz, and certainly not through your own eyes.”
“But—”
