“You smell delicious,” I told him, opening my eyes to catch his gaze.
He sniffed once before his green eyes turned a shade darker, flicking them toward my lips and back.
Did he want to kiss me?
He shook his head, let me go, and took a step back. “That was good. Always try to redirect your attention when you lose control.”
“I’m sorry about your counter,” I mumbled, noticing Kai was no longer in the kitchen. “I didn’t mean to break it.”
Thaddeus raked a hand through his flowing hair. “I know. It’s fine. We’ve all done it.”
I scoffed. “You’ve all broken counters?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “You know what I mean.”
“Listen.” I placed my hands on his shoulders. “I understand why I can’t see them, but at least let me call.”
His gaze darted to the side. “What’re you going to say? That you’re doing fine? Your car was found totaled, and your blood was all over the place. How’re you going to explain that?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t do this to them. They probably think I’m dead.”
“They do think you’re dead, and human Lilithdiddie,” he pointed out.
Guilt tore at my chest for all the worry I must’ve been putting them through. If there wasn’t a body found, my body, they wouldn’t think I was dead. They wouldn’t have given up hope. “Please?”
His stare bore back into mine for a minute before he released a breath and nodded. “All right, but you have to do things my way. You can contact your family after you train and go in front of the Order of the Void. Once they deem you part of our clan, I’ll take you to them myself.”
My mouth curved into a smile. “I can compromise, but you better keep your word, and I want to bring my cat back with me when we do.”
“I always keep my word, but I loathe cats.”
I pouted my lip out, and he rolled his eyes.
“Fine,” he groaned. “The cat can come, but don’t expect me to like it.”
He wanted me to train, learn all the vampy things, go in front of the Order of the Void, charm their pants off, and become a badass vampire before I could see my family?
Yeah fucking right.
FOUR
Thaddeus was a tyrant.
He devised a fuckingschedulefor me to followevery single day. He told me to think of it like university—no thanks—and that there will be ‘terms’ when I switch ‘instructors’. Not only that, but he said there wasn’t a set time on how long I’d be learning from them. It all depended on when I ‘mastered’ what they taught me. Like what kind of fucking college was that? The instructors where I went before didn’t give a shit whether I mastered my skills before moving on.
Fucking degrading.
I had to wake up atfourevery morning to drink precisely half of a blood bag. Then, I had to go for a run around the manor fifteen times—I skipped that today because the manor was fucking huge—after the run, I could finish my blood bag and shower. Kai would meet me in the library to teach me how to control my ‘vampiric urges’ for the rest of the day. After his teachings, I would get to eat dinner with all of them around five PM. After the day, I was supposed to keep practicing on my own whatever I was taught until I mastered the topic of study.
Who knew being a vampire would be soboring?
A lead ball formed in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to learn everything they had to offer, but I wanted to see my family too. I couldn’t just leave them behind so easily.
“Focus, Lilith,” Kai reprimanded me as he rubbed his forehead.
We were in the library of the manor, tucked away in the corner. I sat crossed-legged on the wooden desk with empty blood bags littered around us as Kai sat in one of the swivel chairs in front of me. Stocked bookshelves lined the walls, and the dusty smell of old books hung heavy in the air. Kai had me practicing how to control my hunger, and I was failing miserably.
“I’m trying!” A loud growl tore from my chest as I attempted to hold my anger in.
