Page 21 of The Goddess is Awakened
“Are we flirting or fighting?” Zion yelled. “The witch and the lion need to get their hormones under control and show me some action. The rest of you, do something impressive. Only a few of you aren’t boring me to death.”
West wriggled his eyebrows at me.
“We’ve got the fighting down, but we should do more flirting. The full moon is coming up soon.”
“Won’t you get fired?”
“Nah, I researched. I don’t work for this school. I work for Oscar. Professors are the only people off-limits to students at the moon orgies, and I’mdefinitelynot smart enough to teach here.”
“Then you’d better come and find me under the full moon. And shift back and fight me again before Zion Skinner kicks us out of his class.”
“Awesome,” West said, shifting and pouncing.
I was ready for him this time, but if I had been distracted before, West being at the moon orgy with all eyes on me was definitely going to distract me even more.
church
My grandfather was a different type of vampire than I was, but he warned me about this. He said the parasitic supernaturals would eventually meet someone who was euphoric to feed on. That was usually your person, and shit could go overboard obsession wise if they didn’t return those feelings.
Iknewall that. I went as far back on her social media as possible and had her schedule down perfectly. I was pretty sure she had no idea who I was because I was too nervous to introduce myself. Even Ren and Oscar thought what I was doing was weird at first until they found out she tasted amazing and was supercharging my magic, but they both thought I should talk to her.
West did, too, and I was pretty sure West was just as obsessed with her as I was. I could never find the right moment. I wasn’t about to disturb a fucking god's history class, and the only other class I had with her was magical combat. Professor Skinner thought West was the only one who could handle her, and maybe he was right.
So, I was trying to follow her again for just a hit of that sweet secret. George was close with her twin, but they weren’t glued at the hip. Every night after dinner, she'd walk around campus alone if she wasn’t meeting with Azren. Did she want company?Iwanted to keep her company. I wanted to walk with her and talk about nothing.
But I was too chicken shit, so I just followed her in the shadows like a creep.
We were all in the Sigmis dorm with her, but we were several stories up from her. I always knew when she left, so I waited in the common room. She always smiled at me on the way out because I wasalways there. I’d give her a head start, then follow.
The other vampires at the Academy of the Profane hadn’t challenged me yet, but there was a lot of infighting among them for top dog. I suppose it was only a matter of time before they came pissing in my direction, but did theyreallyneed to do it when I was trying to stalk George Bell?
When all the dominance humping cleared, a legacy vampire named Belladonna Mortem came out on top. I knew her. Her mom was friends with my grandfather. They were an ancient vampire family that used to be royalty. Belladonna went to my high school and was entitled as fuck. It wasn’t a huge shock she was powerful when her magic emerged, nor that the other vampires here were ready to show deference to her.
After being nearly drowned in the bathtub by my own dad for vampire politics powerplays and then being forced to do things I didn’t like for his business, I had zero interest in being involved in whatever games Belladonna was playing here. She was probably trying to gather a powerful hive, and I so wasn’t interested.
“The vampires have crowned me queen of vampires of this school, Church. You haven’t paid your respects,” she purred.
“I didn’t pay them in high school when you had no magic and were just a mean girl with minions. I don’t play vampire politics. Don’t make me challenge you and embarrass you in front of your sycophants.”
Belladonna knew better. There weren’t many people from our high school here, and the ones who were weren’t vampires to know how I put her in her place our sophomore year in high school. She was bullying another vampire for absolutely no reason other than she was nasty, so I used my magic to knock her down a peg.
Oddly, Belladonna never got back at me for that. She started flirting with me and wanted me in her hive. Which absolutely wasn’t happening. She just let out this loud laugh like it was ridiculous I could ever beat her. Bitch, I already did.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Church. You’re a vampire. Every vampire needs a hive. It’s how we were created. You’ll play eventually. Everyone does,” Belladonna said, tossing her white hair over her shoulder and sauntering off with her minions.
Fuck. That wasted atonof time. Should I abort and not follow George tonight? I couldn’t. I was addicted to her.
I’d eventually figure out how to talk to her, but right now, stalking her was my dirty little secret.
george
Ihoped my twin knew how much I loved her. Matilda and Mags were a little more discerning with who they were trying to bring into their group, but they were still healthy, young lesbians, and I vacated our dorm after dinner so they could have some alone time like any normal couple.
I still hardly knew anyone on campus besides West. I hadn’t tried to make a big show of power because I thought it was stupid. Kaylee claimed that spot, probably by promising favors from her mom. She turned the other witches against me. They hadn’t made any obvious plays, but they were definitely snubbing me and making up rumors.
A few of the other supernaturals had approached Matilda and me, but I figured out pretty quickly they were trying to get friendly with me to crack the tough nut that was my older brother. If my brother felt like dating anyone, he’d let them know. I didn’t know why he never took anyone up on it when people had been throwing themselves at him since puberty, but that was his business.
After dinner, I’d walk around campus to let Mags and Matilda do their thing for a bit. They never made me feel excluded, and I didn’t on my walks, even if I was alone. It gave me time to think about Azren’s lessons. I always thought I was defective, but Azren seemed to find what I told them about my past training fascinating. They thought it was important and would mean something later.
