Page 47 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

He nodded, satisfied now we'd had our pissing contest. "Again."

* * *

By the timeI walked back down from the turret, I actually ached from being abused by elemental magick. I knew I would heal relatively quickly—faster if I drank some blood, but it still wasn't pleasant having my arse handed to me over and over while Cal barked at me to stay calm.

He’d declared we were done after an hour and a half and had simply disappeared, which was admittedly pretty cool.

I could only blame my inattentiveness on my temporary exhaustion, my mind elsewhere, as I walked down the second set of stairs, emerged on the top floor of the castle, and promptly tripped.

"What the fuck—" I looked down and felt fear clog my throat. How had this happened to me twice? A pair of legs stuck out from the corner next to the stairs, and the body hadn't stirred when I fell which told me at least one thing.

I stepped closer anyway, pressing two fingers to the guy's neck and backing away quickly when I felt no pulse. I turned away, unsure who to call or how to contact anyone up here on the top floor. I called to Hayes and felt his alarm when he felt my worry.

I'm coming.

I sagged with relief and turned back to the body before freezing up. A set of bloody footprints led away from the vampire on the floor and over to the window. Whoever had done this had jumped down into the grass outside, a small dent marking their landing. I moved away from the window when I heard Hayes coming up the stairs and then gasped as I turned, my hand instinctively flying up to cover my mouth. I wasn't generally a squeamish person, but I hadn't expected to see a half-eaten heart on the floor when I'd looked back at the body from this angle.

Hayes was there in a flash, running his hands over me as if to check for injuries before he followed the line of my eyes and swore.

Whoever had killed this living vampire had to have been angry or insane to have ripped out their heart and fed directly from it.

"Can he regenerate it?" I whispered and Hayes lifted one shoulder and dropped it again.

"Some can, some can't. I think it depends on the strength of the vampire. The transition can repair a lot of damage but if the head or heart isn't intact then it makes things a lot less likely."

"So he's probably true dead, then?"

"Likely," another voice cut in and I nearly jumped. Elowen. She'd moved so quietly I hadn't heard her approach.

She looked down at the victim dispassionately, heaving a sigh before waving us off. "One of the first years probably lost control of their hunger. I'll take care of this."

I tried to hide my surprise and glanced at Hayes to see him doing the same. "You think it's just coincidence that another body has been found just days after Emerson?"

Elowen shrugged one elegant shoulder, sweeping her dark hair away from her face with her fingers as she stared us down. "I don’t see what one has to do with the other.”

"Well two is a coincidence, three is a pattern," I pointed out and she laughed coldly.

"Or you go to a school filled with hungry vampires who are still learning to find their control. That," she said sharply as I opened my mouth to reply, "is quite enough MIss Romilly. I won't have you causing unnecessary panic. Now why don't you run along and dry yourself off?"

I'd barely noticed that I was still wet after training with Cal, but I had no choice but to nod and let Hayes walk with me down the stairs as Elowen stared at us.

When I figured we were far enough out of earshot, I turned to him. "This is your second year—is this really as common as she's making it out to be?"

He shook his head. "How to feed is one of the first training sessions you have here— sure, a few people died or were accidentally turned but not like this, not one after another."

That was what I’d thought. Which meant my instincts had been right about Elowen from the start. "She's hiding something," I murmured and could tell that the thought troubled Hayes just as much as it did me.

* * *

"You know,you really don't have to stay with me every night." I watched, amused, as Hayes fluffed the side of the bed that had now been dubbed as 'his'. He'd decided that he would be staying with me from now on until whoever or whatever was causing the deaths of all these vampires was put to rest.

He patted the bed next to him. "Shut up and get in bed. I'm not going anywhere."

I laughed but did as he said, turning out the light on my bedside. My smile faded as I thought about what hewasn'tsaying. "You think it's going to get worse, don't you?"

He hesitated, but I didn't really need him to say anything. I could feel his constant worry through the bond like it was my own.

"I think that whatever this is, isn't over."

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