“I know. I’m brilliant.” No argument there.
“I still think I’m going to withdraw from his class.”
“Well, it’s awfully late into the semester to switch. Just stay home today and I’ll bring you the lecture notes later.”
“Thanks, babe.”
“Of course,” she drawled. “Besides, Professor Good Lookin’ is hot enough to overlook his flaws.”
Laughing, I hung up with her minutes later and flopped back against my bed. My phone buzzed as I glanced down, and it began to ring with another random number. Exactly nineteen times. The texts followed soon after.
Unknown Caller: You can’t ignore me forever, gorgeous.
Nineteen of the same. No different than the previous two days.
Trembling, I immediately called Hep back and described what happened.
“This is bad, babe,” she finally replied after a moment of silence.
“Yeah, I’m beginning to agree with you.”
“What number was the first set of calls and texts?”
“Twenty-one,” I gulped.
“And today it's nineteen.”
“Yes.”
“And they never replied back to your message?”
“No,” I whispered, worried. My teeth nibbled on my lip as I awaited her next words.
“This is beyond creepy. Don’t you see the pattern?”
I nodded, finally realizing I was in big trouble. “It’s a countdown,” I acknowledged.
Hep gasped. “What happens when it reaches zero?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to follow her, master?”
I swept a hand over my face in total and complete exhaustion. No, I wasn’t tired. That didn’t really happen often. I was just done emotionally. “No, Archer, that won’t be necessary. Send one of the hounds tonight.”
He nodded. “As you wish. Would you like for us to finish up here?”
My gaze swept over the mangled remains of the Lycan who attacked Piper and I couldn’t resist a sneer. “Clean however you wish. I only ask that this room no longer shows evidence of this parasite.”
“It will be done as you desire,” Archer murmured, his eyes glowing brighter with a greenish-yellow hue.
I left the ghouls to the rest of their meal and strolled down the long, empty hall of my ancestors, pausing occasionally to peruse the numerous portraits of the Black family line. My lineage was among the purest and most noble, my bloodline as ancient as the scrolls that graced my personal library and were hidden under lock and key. The sanguine were a race of immortal men who held the position of our rank quite seriously. Yes, we drank blood. Yes, we were born of the darkness and roamed the night. Yes, we craved the hot metallic fluid that sustained our vitality.
These truths were given. A part of our divine aristocracy.
But also, our ultimate fate.
Vampires were cursed since the beginning, a time referred to as the First Creation. The sanguine were born out of necessity. We were given life to fight against the only creature that could do us real harm . . . the Lycan.
As a result, the Alliance was founded. A tenuous agreement that was sanctioned by the true king of the NightBorne, Andre Palladino. He was a direct ancestor of the First. Andre, along with cingue dei were the ruling authority over all vampires. Since the Alliance was formed, Sentinels were trained to fight against the threat of the Lycan Brotherhood.
We’d been waging bloody war ever since. When other vampires wanted to join our ranks, we created the Crimson Covenant. A pact that was strictly followed by the Palladino coven and the Vorigan clan. The Black lineage was descended from the Vorigan line which meant there was a connection between us all because of Andre Palladino. Andre’s bloodline was responsible for siring us all.
No creature understood their place in the world better than our kind.
I came from a long line of Sentinels, one of the few pureblood vampire families that boasted the ability to mate and breed with our chosen females. Our lineage was coveted among those who craved power and so the disgruntled ranks grew among the vampire elite. I should have taken a mate by now, but none had ever called to my dark soul or ensnared my black heart. Temptation hadn’t existed and so I remained vigilant, waiting on the one who would someday be my equal as well as my true mate.
I was determined to choose for my own when the time was right. Hence the long years of bachelorhood. My independence would only be surrendered to a female of worth.
My sire had given me space when I asked for it, allowing my departure as I took the job at the college. I’d always been fascinated by the promise and potential shown by certain humans. It was rare when I found one worthy of the transformation, but I offered it whenever the opportunity arose. As a result, I had over three hundred vampire brethren that called me master and scattered around the world, gathering their own possible candidates.
Only the pureblood of our kind could turn humans. Our blood was strong enough to overcome the trauma of the change and provide the vitality needed to complete the process. When one of my children found a worthy applicant, they contacted me for a final decision. I would change those who were strong enough of mind and physical qualities, adding only the best to my inner circle. My brood was loyal and their allegiance undeniable. They looked after the kyne until they were ready to join society.
This was how the vampire Alliance thrived.
My position at the university allowed a chance to pick through the youth of society and the freshest minds, finding those humans who were gifted and talented and stood out from the crowd.
Piper was one such individual. She held my interest from the first moment we met. Yes, my original contract had been sanctioned to eliminate her but that was before I discovered her potential. I didn’t want to lose this female as a member for the Alliance. The hard part was convincing my sire that I’d found a human female worthy of inclusion who had been marked as a threat.
Why was Piper a threat? I still hadn’t figured out a definitive answer.
My position wasn’t easy. I balanced three equally difficult and political jobs. One, an assassin of sorts that was hired to kill. Two, a Sentinel that recruited humans into our coveted and precious coven but also protected our identity and secrets. The third, I was a sire and as such, a father in many ways. Each of these titles were critically important to my survival and that of the Black line.
That was why Piper Vanek complicated everything.
Having no other recourse, I decided to erase her memory of last night. She was too important, too special to allow any harm to befall her or the lasting impression of the supernatural world to cause damage to her psyche. I needed her to accept the world we lived in and the monsters that roamed within it, taking her place when it was time. No trauma. No forced inclusion or damage.
I arrived at her dorm close to noon and knocked after I climbed the staircase like a normal person, using my enhanced abilities to find her exact location within. I’d covered my skin to avoid any reaction from the sun and I was already wishing I’d waited for dusk. Itchy and irritated, I knocked impatiently. Piper’s pulse beat rapidly as I felt her close proximity and she opened the door. The heavy thrum of her heart caused the blood to pump faster through her veins and my fangs distended, aching for a chance to taste her sweet nectar again.