Wicked Heirs (Electi Academy #1)

4. ~Xavier~

4

~Xavier~

All eyes were on her.

And I was no exception.

Alena Rose was certainly a true beauty.

Beyond the startling effect that the stark pink hair created—a lot like Talon with his neon-orange shock of hair—there was a soft allure to her that she seemed to try to hold at bay from those around her, not wanting a response or an advance as a result. I could hear her pulse pounding even as she put on a bright smile. It was almost convincing. But I was very adept at dipping below the surface with people and reading the true meaning and intention of even the slightest tells and actions.

She was wearing an off-the-shoulder floral long sleeve dress with earthy tones that brought out that shock of pink all the more. There was also some bright pink on her finger in the form of a crystal ring in the shape of an orchid.

Although I’d let Orpheus believe he was the one who knew all, specifically in this case when it came to Alena, I was aware of more than I’d let on.

For instance, I knew her late father had gifted her that ring. My father had told me all about it, because Abigail had been upset that day as Francis Rose had stipulated that it be given to her on her sixteenth birthday, long after he’d died, and it had brought back a lot of fresh grief for Abigail, wherein my father had been there to comfort her. Because they were so close, I was aware of a lot of things when it came to Alena Rose.

It was why I’d excused myself from Orpheus and Talon’s intent to target her.

In fact, I was planning to run interference discreetly without their knowledge.

I didn’t want her hurt. She really didn’t deserve it, especially not to pay for the perceived sins of her mother. Normally, Orpheus wouldn’t allow it either, because as sadistic as he could be, he was never unjust. But this was wrapped up in a whole lot of personal issues, so he couldn’t see the way through this time. And as for Tal, it was beyond even that for him. He absolutely would not see reason when it came to this.

I shook my head to myself.

Not a great start to our senior year. Well, mine and Ore’s. Tal was a year behind us.

It was just freshman year for Alena. Although she was technically my age of twenty-one, she’d been out on her own and missed years of Academy training and education as a result.

Alena’s deep blue eyes were darting all around, taking everything in.

Curiosity sparked in them as she noticed one of the witches sitting with her two friends pouring milk into her cereal through levitating her small milk jug. At one of the middle tables, a vampire called her talons forth and used them to open three sugar packets.

Then, over at the table I was headed to, Tal was using a fraction of his phoenix fire to toast his bread.

Her eyes sparkled, marveling in it, in the atmosphere.

“If you’re overwhelmed, we can just grab something and eat outside,” Isabella was whispering to her, her unicorn-colored hair bouncing in a high ponytail with her every movement. Despite her loud personality, she was small and petite, wearing one of her go-to pastel sundresses, this time a green one, along with a pair of jeweled sandals. “It’s just important that you at least dip your toe in before classes start.”

“It’s okay, I’m good. We can eat here.”

“Great. What are you in the mood for? There’s a massive selection. Wait—let me guess—something chocolate, right? Every time I looked in on you, that’s all the food I saw around you.”

“Hilarious. I’ll never pass up an offer of chocolate, but it’s not all I eat.”

The two of them chuckled, then headed over to the counter to get some breakfast.

I reached my table then and took a seat opposite Orpheus and Tal, noting the former’s hand on Tal’s thigh, as the two of them ate away peacefully.

Too peacefully for them.

“What’s going on?” I asked, cutting into my pancakes drizzled with a load of syrup, the way I liked them. Albeit, not the way I remembered them tasting before I was turned.

Orpheus looked up, stilling on eating a piece of his omelet readied on his fork. “Going on?” he asked, innocently.

I snorted. Innocent? Orpheus Hart? Absolutely not.

“You know very well. Alena just walked in here and the two of you didn’t so much as bat an eye.”

“We’re hungry,” Tal said through a mouthful of waffles.

“Nah, hell hath no fury with you two. I call bullshit.”

“You wanted out on this one, you’re out, X,” Orpheus told me. “Enjoy the peace and quiet of it.” He fiddled with the band around his wrist that was always glowing purple and silver— an amalgamation of his and his father’s magic to represent the connection that it facilitated. It was an interdimensional communicator that his dad used to contact him, also known as an IC Watch developed by my father’s company, Sabre Tech . It contained some of his power and his dad’s melded together to facilitate a connection for the communicator to latch onto across the dimensional barrier from here in the human realm to the Dark Fae Realm.

“Yeah,” Tal added. “We’ve got it handled. Just sit back and relax.”

“Is that what Orpheus tells you when he’s feeding you his dick, baby bird?” I bit back, agitated at both the condescension coming off them, and the lack of information about what they were planning, meaning I couldn’t run interference.

Usually, the whole baby bird nickname was reserved for Orpheus. He’d taken to calling him that because Talon Creed was a year younger than the two of us. We took special care with him as a result, looking out for him and helping him out a little extra than we did with each other.

Of course, my needling comment didn’t hit how I intended with Tal, because he was another level with this sort of thing, and he flashed Orpheus a dirty smirk, then told me, “Actually, he tells me to open wide and take his big, fat cock to the back of my throat like a good boy.”

Urgh. His crassness got under my skin at the best of times. The two of them, especially Talon, didn’t have a romantic bone in their bodies, and it flew in the face of what I was all about.

There was so much potential for them to have loving and meaningful relationships, because they both had a lot to offer, and there were so many guys and girls here lining up to be that for them. But they liked to pretend they didn’t have a full array of feelings, because they couldn’t stand the idea of putting themselves in any sort of vulnerable position to entertain love and care from anyone—outside of our own little unit, of course.

“Let’s talk about the Kick Off Party ,” Orpheus said, cutting into my thoughts.

“Yeah,” Tal spoke, once again there to back him up. “You must be counting down the hours, X. You actually get to feed straight from the vein for once.” He gestured at my glass of blood. “Unlike that shit. What is it today? Bunny blood?”

“Squirrel.”

“Jeez,” Orpheus grumbled. “You should head back over there and sort that out.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “No. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” he pushed.

“I’m seriously fine for right now, Orpheus.” I looked at Tal. “You’re not gonna forget about what we agreed, right?”

“No, of course not. I’ll be there to pull you back from the feed. If you need it. I really don’t think you will, though.”

“Neither do I,” Orpheus told me. “Your self-control is very impressive now, especially from a newbie vampire.”

“Newbie?” Tal questioned. “It’s been three years.”

“A drop in the bucket for vampires .”

He lifted a shoulder. “Still, I really think you’re gonna be able to handle it well, X.”

The two of them had much more faith in me than I had in myself.

It hadn’t been like that before.

But ever since I’d been turned, things had shifted.

In so many ways.

I’d been confident—more like overconfident—in myself, in everything that I did. I hadn’t second-guessed myself. I hadn’t doubted myself. And as heir to the great and renowned sorcerer, Elliot Sabre, I’d lived up to that, having excellent control and superb command over my magic. I’d been well on my way to being the next Sabre to wield incredible power, power that would have rivaled my father’s.

But now… now all of that was gone.

My father had managed to find a way for me to continue to wield my magical power, despite my vampiric state, but it was nowhere near close to the power that it had been beforehand.

Orpheus finished his breakfast, then sat back in his chair, looking between the two of us. “I’ll be expending a great amount of power to craft the illusion needed for the Kick Off. I’ll have just enough to punish those two fuckers who are taking their sweet time returning from vacation because they’re shit-scared knowing what’s coming. But beyond that, I’ll be tapped out. So, X, it’s down to Tal to help you to not over-feed.”

“No worries. Like I said, I’ve got him.”

“I wasn’t done. Tal, you’re gonna have to be careful with your phoenix fire. We don’t want a dragon-scorched-earth situation going down.”

“I will, brother. I promise. And I know you’re driving the other thing home to me because you think I’m gonna get distracted by some hot piece and go off on a fuck-a-thon or something, but I won’t. Nothing trumps my brothers, not even getting my dick wet.”

I slapped my hand to my heart. “Wow, firebird, I’m honored.”

Orpheus grinned. “Very nice, Tal.”

He grinned back at us. “I thought so.”

Before anything more could be said, a couple of shadows fell over me and Tal who was right near the approach, Orpheus a seat down from him.

I looked to see none other than Alena right there with Isabella by her side.

The latter glared at Orpheus, who merely glared back at her steadily.

They’d been like that ever since he’d fucked her. Before that, Isabella had been swooning over him, following him around, and flirting it up with him for months on end. When he’d finally given her the time of day, it had gone straight to fucking, which was all he deigned to give anyone interested in him. He’d basically kicked her out of bed the following morning and things had gone sour since then. It had been odd for him, because he usually wanted a second go-around the next morning. Something must have happened that had upset him enough to not only forgo that, but to actually toss her out. He’d never spoken to it, though, and if Orpheus didn’t want to discuss something there was no hope.

Since then, he’d been indifferent toward her and she’d expressed a whole lot of hatred for him.

“Make it quick,” I heard her whisper to Alena. “Xavier might be okay, but the other two definitely aren’t. You don’t want to get mixed up with them, especially not the Dark Fae. He’s a real piece of work and terribly dangerous. A psychopath, basically.”

I saw Orpheus smirk.

For Talon’s part, he was shooting daggers at Alena, completely ignoring Isabella’s presence.

“Well, isn’t this a shit-tastic turn of events. What in the fires of hell do you want?” he demanded, not toning down the harshness even a little.

Alena stared at him for a moment and I saw a war taking place as she considered her response.

Given that she was new and I could also sense some nervousness and uncomfortableness from her, I expected her to go the diplomatic route.

But then she gave the glaring right back to him and snapped just as harshly, “Nothing from you , so don’t get your ridiculously tight pants in a knot, fire starter.”

Whoa.

Isabella gasped.

Talon looked absolutely stunned, so much so that he couldn’t respond with another biting remark.

I was turned the fuck on.

And curiosity had sparked in Orpheus’ eyes, those purple orbs swirling with a whole lot of dark interest.

None of it boded well.

Finally, Tal managed to get a hold on things, and he started to growl, “You little fucking—”

“Enough,” Orpheus rumbled, laying a firm hand on his arm, willing him to calm.

Fortunately, he wasn’t so ramped up, just in the beginning stages, so it worked without further effort needed, and he sank back in his chair with a grunt of frustration, rather than escalating to full-on rage.

“Animal,” Isabella bit at him.

He gnashed his teeth. “And don’t you forget it, Bella.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“My bad, is that only reserved for Ore, because you’ve had the pleasure of his big dick?”

“I said enough , Talon,” Orpheus rumbled with a dangerous edge this time.

Tal jerked his arm from him, then folded them across his chest and cursed under his breath. “Fine. Shit-tastic bullshit right here.”

Alena looked to Isabella to make sure she was okay.

She smiled and told her encouragingly, “Go ahead.”

Alena then turned her full attention to me.

“Xavier, I just came by to properly introduce myself. We know each other through our parents and I’ve heard a lot of stories about you, and vice-versa, but we’ve never actually come face-to-face. I just thought, maybe, given that connection, we could get to know each other while I’m here, maybe become friends—or try to.”

I started.

That was incredibly bold of her.

She was being admirably vulnerable and putting herself out there.

“That’s a really nice offer.”

I was very aware of Orpheus’ rapt attention on our interaction.

I had to be careful.

I couldn’t show how endearing I found her approach, how impressed I was with the way she’d handled Tal—very few people could manage to stare him down and even bite back as good as he delivered, and I certainly couldn’t indicate in any way that I was turned on by her, that she intrigued me in a way that she shouldn’t.

There was a big difference between me undermining Orpheus and Talon’s efforts to corrupt and destroy her and me actually taking a liking to her.

Reining them in was one thing, the rest was a whole other and would be considered a betrayal and I wouldn’t risk that with the two people closest to me in the world. The two people who—outside of my dad—had been there for me more than anyone else during this awful transition from sorcerer to vampire-sorcerer hybrid. Not an easy transition to make, given that the two didn’t exactly go hand-in-hand, and it was something I still hadn’t fully come to terms with.

And all of that was why, as she waited for more from me, clearly expecting me to take her offer of friendship, I had to decline.

To protect us all.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, though.” I gestured at Talon.

I winced as she looked absolutely crestfallen.

And then that morphed to something else.

Indignation, which she directed right at Tal.

“What’s your problem with me? Some hangup about Nephilim, is that it?”

“Something like that,” he hissed through his teeth, his hands fisting on the tabletop.

“What is it exactly?”

“Yeah, what’s your problem?” Isabella demanded. “I’m trying to help her get settled in and you’re really not making that easy with this unfounded animosity. I’m her Guide and I won’t fail at it, so how about you lock it up, phoenix boy?”

“Unfounded?” Tal seethed.

Oh no.

He swung his head toward Orpheus, silently asking for permission for something.

What was going on?

No sooner had Orpheus given a chin lift, than I found out.

He shot to his feet, called his phoenix claws forth in a blink, then sliced them across Alena’s left forearm.

All hell broke loose in an instant.

Hisses sounded, chairs grated across the floor as they were pushed back and half a dozen vampires bolted from their breakfast and sped over in several consecutive bursts.

They were surrounding Alena in a blink.

Her blood… the scent of her blood… I’d never encountered anything like it.

It was beyond sweet, beyond alluring… beyond anything.

I dug my fingers into the table, taking chunks out of it in the process as I struggled for control.

The demon rose of its own accord, my features contorting and my fangs dropping.

No. No. No.

“Mmm, that’s right, boys and girls, angel blood. Right there for the taking,” Tal said, goading them on.

“Hold it,” Orpheus’ voice sounded and I looked out to see him using his magic to communicate with me while he remained seated and cut off from me because of the crowds.

“Get back!” Isabella was yelling at the vampires as they scented Alena and moved in predatorily.

“Get her out of here, Isabella,” I groaned, my hands shaking with the struggle to get a handle on my bloodlust.

Don’t hurt her. Don’t hurt her.

Don’t hurt anyone.

You’re not the monster you were made to be.

“Breathe. Deeply,” Orpheus spoke again.

And then purple smoke erupted, engulfing the table, swirling around the vampires and me, even Tal and Isabella.

We all tracked its movements.

So much so that when it suddenly faded away seemingly out of nowhere, we were all shocked to discover that Alena was gone.

And so was the scent of her blood.

And.. Orpheus.

He was no longer in his seat.

I looked out at Talon and he was smiling victoriously.

It hit me then.

Brutally.

“It was a setup?”

“Something like that.”

Damnation!

As Isabella rushed off trying to located Alena, and the vampires disbursed, I shook my head at Tal.

“How could you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You just used me too.”

“No. That’s not what—”

“The blood affected me too.”

“It wasn’t directed at you.”

“I’m vampire, Tal! Whether I like it or accept it or not, I fucking am. You just tortured me with bloodlust.”

He looked horrified. “No, that’s not what—”

I took off in a burst of vampire speed without another word.

I needed fresh air desperately.

And distance.

I knew. I just knew now.

This year was going to be the thing nightmares were made of.