Page 4 of Zodiac Monsters

I was awake and out of my hotel room before anyone else in Astrology Club was so much as stirring, already packed and waiting at the bus stop. I stared at the soft colors of the sun rising over the mountains with a distant expression. The moon had already vanished behind the mountains, and the daylight was a warm hug by comparison. Minutes ticked on as I contemplated every decision I’d ever made in my life. My obsession with going to college, the dreams I was chasing, the people I was getting mixed up with…

Was this the elusive bad crowd that I’d always heard about? The ones who I normally evaded by studying and being too uncool to be worth corrupting? Was this finally my time to enter my rebellious phase? Maybe I should get an ear piercing and a tattoo next.

I rubbed the Leo symbol on my neck absentmindedly. I rolled the Capricorn symbol on my lower lip into my mouth, then I dragged it slowly across my teeth. Two marks permanently etched on my skin.

Oh how the good girls have fallen.

The sun fully lifted over the mountains, and I dropped my gaze to my lap. The full moon’s influence was long past, any confidence I’d had last night was a distant dream, and my classmates were likely now getting up and enjoying breakfast. I should have been doing the same, but I was too frazzled to look at food at the moment.

Fortunately, I’d woken up in my own bed and not naked and bloody in the hot springs, which I guess was customary after getting fucked silly by one of the zodiac signs. So respectful, those monsters. I genuinely appreciated the way the great beasts of lore always had the mind to plug my phone in to its charger and leave my glasses in easy reach. My soul might even be warm and palpitating with love if not for the all-consuming, throbbing, fucking headache that was destroying my brain.

When Adrian had his way with me, I was fine the next day—I even questioned whether it had happened at all. I felt so wonderful and full of life.

When Marcus did the same, I ended up with what I assumed a hangover might feel like if I was ever exciting and loose enough to drink. Maybe that was the blood loss talking.

The blood loss.

Because I just got drained to an inch of my life by a vampire.

Which was fine. All fine. Nearly dying made me come so hard I saw Jesus shaking a disappointed finger at me. What did I have to complain about? Just another night at Graves Academy!

“Is this seat taken?”

I shrieked internally—wait, no, externally—as Marcus sat down beside me. He had clothes on, his shaggy hair was blond, his eyes were gold, and there were no water tentacles towering over him. One might even say he looked human, but oh how I knew there was not a single drop of human blood anywhere in this man. Well, unless you counted mine.

“So we’re asking permission before we impose on my life now?” I was snippier than I’d intended with that question, but it was deserved, so I wouldn’t be apologizing.

Marcus glanced up and to the side as though he was thinking about it, completely unashamed. Smiling even.

“Good point.” He said, immediately owning his offenses. He sat down and nudged up against me, bombarding my bubble with that low key scent of sage. “Let me rephrase. I could sit with you in your room, or I could sit with you here at the bus stop, but I’ll be sitting with you either way. I will be so kind as to let you choose though.” He winked and the parallel to the way he’d propositioned me last night wasn’t lost on me.

“What a gentleman.” I rolled my eyes, but refused to look at him at any point in that rotation.

“I do my best.” He chuckled before patting me on the shoulder. After a long pause he added, “I was going to tell you sooner than later, you know.”

“That you were a vampire, a monster, his brother, or that you lied to my face for a whole damn month? Please be specific.” I pursed my lips, yet Marcus just kept looking at me like I was the cutest puppy having an adorable meltdown, and it was annoying.

“All of it, eventually. I was probably going to start with the bit about being a vampire. I thought I’d already given myself away as a zodiac shifter with all the sappy astrology talk, so I’m a little surprised I have to explain that part at all.”

“Yes, when a guy asks me what my sign is, I do automatically assume he fucks women with water tentacles.” I raised a brow in his general direction, and he laughed.

“Exactly.” Marcus shrugged as casual as ever. “So that kind of went without saying.”

“And the whole brother thing?” I prodded next, not letting him off that easy.

“That’s uh...” He glanced away sheepishly. “He and I aren’t particularly close, so I don’t really like to talk about him. Being in his class complicates matters. But it was going to be difficult to ignore for much longer, so that was on the confession list, considering.”

“Considering.” I repeated flatly, before scraping that Capricorn symbol along my teeth again.

“And as for lying to you,” Marcus’ voice shook just slightly, and I wasn’t used to hearing him sounding uncertain. “I’d never lie to you without a good reason. At Graves Academy, there are strict rules about revealing ourselves to humans, and I didn’t want to scare you away. We weren’t really close enough to talk about any of this yet.”

“Well, we sure as fuck are now.” I loved how he was somehow blaming the “rules” for his deceit. Granted, I’d never flat out asked him, so I guess technically he withheld rather than lied. But that was splitting hairs.

“Agreed.” His empathetic smile was so genuine, my whole body relaxed. Somewhere in my brain, the phrase ‘you’re being too hard on him’ had the audacity to exist. Everything about him had me very quickly getting sucked into his rhythm again. I was going to do my best to be more stubborn than that, but it was tough when the subject of my ire was cute and fun and nice to me. “So that’s why I’m now telling you about it. Though, if I’m being honest, I don’t regret any part of last night. The big reveal wouldn’t have been any fun if there hadn’t been a surprise aspect.” Oh my god, stop saying all the right words. “I wanted our first time together to be exciting. Maybe even a little dangerous. Show you what life in my bed is all about.” I raised my brows, and he ruffled my hair. “Did you really want sex by candlelight in a hotel bed? Because you didn’t seem too interested last night when I offered to take you to your room.”

“W-well…” My cheeks were scalding despite the morning frost. How was I supposed to respond to that?

“You could have had me in my human form, and I might have been sane enough to end the night on a chaste kiss. Maybe, at most, offer ‘polite missionary for beginners.’ But no, the sweet, little, innocent Virgo wanted to get bent over the edge of a public pool by a monster who’d just ripped his fangs out of her throat.”