Ten

"What are you doing?" He smelt of blood and something sweet and sugary, like cake. Damn I loved cake. A whimper welled up in my chest, threatening to embarrass me. I swallowed.

"Since you disturbed my date," He laughed, his voice a low rumble and his words coated and thick with a Dracian accent. "I thought a delicacy like yourself must be offering to take her place."

In such close proximity, the vampire's body temperature had an iciness to it which should have turned me off, but instead, it was pleasant against the feverish heat burning beneath my skin. I blinked.

Oh, daggers no.

I put my palms on his chest and pushed. He stumbled back, an eyebrow raised in surprise. He hadn't expected that. Probably thought I was another swooning witch. Silly fangers, always expecting to get whatever their unbeating hearts desired.

"I'm not interested in whatever you're offering, so back off. I was just on my way to the opening ceremony when I got sidetracked by your disgusting display."

"You're a first-year."

"Give the fanger a prize." I walked around him.

He appeared in front of me again, except this time his blue eyes glowed silver.

"You're no witch. What manner of creature are you?"

I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. Words bubbled up in my throat.

"I'm a m-mo—" I was desperate to tell him my secrets. Every single one. I didn't just want to, I neededto tell him I was a human, a mere mortal. I felt his hand brush mine, coaxing my fingers to intertwine with his cool ones.

Suddenly, it wasn't the vampire I was looking at but my mother as her voice grated inside my head. All you have is yourself. Fight back. They will kill you for what you are. Be strong or die.

I yanked my hand from his, pushing his power from my mind.

"M-immortal. And what kind is none of your business. Now. Back. Off."

He blinked, his eyes reverting to blue.

"How did you resist my compulsion?" He looked genuinely baffled.

"Perhaps, you're just not that good." I smirked to disguise my trembling lips.

We stood in silence, challenging each other for several moments before the vampire lit up with realisation.

"You're Cinderella's daughter, the siren." Did everyone at the academy know who I was? Lying low was proving to be impossible.

"And you are?"

"Nikolai." He held out a hand. A peace offering? I ignored it.

"Are you going to get out of my way or am I going to have to force you to?"

"Don't tempt me." He winked, and my breath hitched.

I crossed my arms as if he didn't affect me. "Haven't you heard the rumours? I forced a shifter to submit already today. Maybe I'll have you run naked through the ceremony hall just to punish you for harassing me."

He grinned, fangs gleaming white against his tan skin.

"If you want to see me naked, Princess, all you have to do is ask." It was obvious the fanger wasn't scared of me. So much for letting the rumours convince everyone to fear me.

After a long moment, he gestured down the path. "The hall is in the ground floor of the castle."

"Thank you." I tried not to run.

"What a delicious surprise," I heard him murmur. When I turned around to ask him what he meant, he was gone. Freaking fast fangers. Not only did they have lightning reflexes and the ability to compel, Vampires could also trace to places they could see or had been before. But it weakened them greatly. There's no way a first- or second-year student could be that powerful already.

The witch's skin had been flushed and her lips swollen, as if he'd fed on them instead of her neck. I couldn't imagine willingly allowing a vampire to feed on me. Nikolai was both repulsive and yet captivating. If I dreamt of him tonight, Mother would surely enter my dreams and gift me a right hook to the jaw. How many times had she told me the role vampires played in the mass execution of sirens before I was born? And the witch just let him drink her, even desired it. I would never understand witches.

Daggers!I should have at least asked her for some thermal spells when I'd had the chance.

Above the main building, stone gargoyles perched like demented faeries, their grotesque faces contorted into expressions of agony. I shuddered under their hollow-eyed gazes and passed through the great double doors.

I'd almost revealed my secret to the fanger when he compelled me. The vampires at the academy posed a greater threat than I'd realised. I needed to avoid them. At least until my siren awakened. Then she could deal with them.

I followed the sound of voices echoing down the cavernous stone halls until I came to the wooden doors to the ceremony hall. I slipped inside. Rows of students sat on wooden benches facing a platform. Alda and Aldene stood on the platform with their pet doves perched on their shoulders. Such powerful witches, even my mother's siren couldn't control them, and it infuriated her.

Alda glared at me as I tried to sneak into the hall. I winced. The last thing I needed was for her to tell my mother I wasn't taking the academy seriously.

"You are our immortal descendants. You come here, to the Academy of Awakenings, to discover your destiny." Her voice echoed through the hall. I spotted Corrie's pink hair and the empty seat beside her. Of course, it was the second row from the front. All the first-year students were seated up front while the second- and third-year students filled the back rows.

"Each and every one of you has completed your basic schooling, and now you will learn what it means to be an immortal creature in our seven kingdoms." I strode down the aisle, trying to be casual and ignoring the stares.

"You are each unique, with different powers, but at our prestigious academy not only will you awaken your powers, you will also forge relationships—both friendships and alliances—which will last you throughout the millennia."

Speaking of relationships that would last me throughout the millennia—Ruby sat with the other students in the row between me and Corrie. Her blood-red hair was pulled to the side and her porcelain skin all but sparkled as she faced the front. Beside her sat a preppy nymph and then the largest werewolf I'd ever seen. He was even larger than the fanger, Nikolai. There was no way he was sitting in the right place; a werewolf that big couldn't be a first-year.

This was hardly the kind of situation I wanted to be in. I would have to climb past my nemesis to get to the empty seat. I briefly considered leaving the opening ceremony and risking the news getting back to Cinderella. I'd already missed the start of Alda's profoundspeech. But leaving felt far too much like running away.

My aunt raised an eyebrow at me standing awkwardly in the aisle. Corrie caught my eye and waved a hand, beckoning to the empty seat, as if I hadn't noticed it.

A vampire sat in the aisle seat, so much for avoiding the fangers.

"Excuse me." I said. He still had adolescent acne. I hoped for his sake he didn't freeze into his immortality until it cleared up. Imagine looking like a pimply teen for all of eternity. He shrank back from me. Good, you should be afraid, vampire.

Ignoring Ruby's piercing glare, I slid past. Except, her foot shot out and tripped me. I stumbled past the preppy nymph and collapsed to the floor ... right between the werewolf's legs.