Something dings and Jullia shuffles as sleep is about to take me.
“Oh,” she softly gasps, then she clears her throat. “Hey, Mavyn? Are you actually sleeping?”
Yes.
“Not yet,” I mumble.
There’s silence for a moment.
“I thought vampires didn’t sleep. At least, that’s what Asher says, I’ve never met a vampire before. Is this the reason you don’t have a bloodlust? You sleep instead, like Nezuko fromDemon Slayer?”
I don’t even have the energy to crack an eye open. I grumble instead.
“Well, okay.” Her voice is brighter, the fear before I could read from her gone – or at least mostly gone. “There’s a first year party tonight though, a swinger type of thing in the ballroom. I know afterwards all the societies throw their own parties, did you want to go with me?”
No.
“Would your boyfriend mind?”
The Mage Board hates vampires above all other races, even more so than they hate the vampyr. And the vampyr hate the vampires just as much. Which makes a mage and vampyr dating interesting, but more importantly I highly doubt Jullia’s vampyr boyfriend would want his mage girlfriend near a vampire.
“Only if you swear a blood oath with me,” a deep voice resonates.
“Asher,” Jullia gasps. You can tell just from her voice she has a big smile on her face. “I thought you weren’t coming in till Sunday! Oh, Mavyn, this is my boyfriend Asher. He’s a third year same as my older sister.”
Letting myself internally scream for a second, I retch my eyes back open and push myself to sit cross-legged on my bed. Ms. Elaycia would scold me for having shoes on the bed but the bed is shit anyway.
The vampyr who appeared is tall. Taller than most humans I’ve seen on Earth and many other races of being who have come through the brothel. He has olive toned skin, green eyes that are solely focused on me with a hard edge, and black hair short on the side but long and fluffed on top.
He’s handsome, but in a sharp, I can kill you before you blink, touch my girlfriend and you’re dead kind of way. He does his own inspection of me before staring for a long time directly in my eyes.
“What’s a blood oath?” I ask, finally breaking the silence.
He arches a brow and tightens his arm around Jullia. She stays silent, a look of almost guilt passing over her face.
“It’s a promise tied with blood and magic. If you break it your body will instantly kill itself.”
I’ve heard of blood oaths before, but I was never taught how to do one. I’d get knocked upside the head if I ever asked, though from reading and watching t.v I’m sure the process isn’t much different then what I’m assuming.
“Okay. I assume it’s a promise that I won’t physically hurt Jullia? How do we do this?”
He arches his brow a notch higher before finally letting go of Jullia and taking a few more steps into the room towards me. “I give you a drop of my blood, you give me a drop of yours, I’ll draw a rune on you activating the oath and you specify the promise. Relatively easy, though both parties need to be truly willing for it to cement.”
The tiniest bit of fear plucks in my chest. “I thought blood sharing was a. . . personal affair. Can’t I just make the oath to Jullia?”
His eyes darken to almost black and a rumble in his chest makes me realize asking that may have been a mistake.
Jullia wraps a slender hand around his bicep and she takes her other to rub circles in his back.
“Asher, please calm down. She didn’t mean anything by it, it’s okay.”
With her presence he takes a deep breath and briefly closes his eyes. That still doesn’t release my own tension and it racks up even more when he shakes his head.
“You make the oath with me or I’ll drag you out of this building and into the sun.”
Jullia’s face drops but she doesn’t say anything. Just fucking great.
Internally screaming again, I shift and get off the bed to stand. “Fine,” I grunt. Holding it out, I wait for him to do whatever he’s going to do.
