AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once I’m finished she gets to her feet, grabbing both of our cups and walking to the sink. Deep in thought, she washes them up and I follow her, ready to hear her input. Unicorn flies to her perch and I smile at her, then return my focus to Lex.
“As you are aware, I’m better with computers than you,” she says, her smirk returning as she winks at me. “So I say, you let me stay here for the night, and I sort out your computer. I’ll go back through all the recent things I’ve missed and take a look at that tracker you placed on the head Drákon team member. For now let’s put a pin in your new powers and come up with a game plan tomorrow, unless the urge to feed is too much?”
Swallowing, I shake my head even though it’s nagging at me. I can handle it. “I’ll be fine,” I say, voice more confident than I’m actually feeling. I rub at my eyes, limbs heavy and Lexi ushers me towards my room.
“You head to bed and get some sleep. I’ll be fine and I’ll wake you up if I find something.”
Yawning, I nod and leave her be to take a shower. When I crawl into bed I’m out as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nessa
Istartleawake,throwingmyself into a crouch as I scan my surroundings, breathing hard. Though dark, I can make out my dorm room clearly and I groan, flopping back to the mattress. Goddamn new vampire powers. I swear to the Goddess, if I’m suddenly nocturnal now, I’ma kill a bitch. Grumbling under my breath I recheck the room until I’m certain I’m alone.
My face screws up as I try to figure out what woke me up, when a moan comes from the living room and my brain catches up to the scent floating into my room.Lexi. I snort, and get up, keeping my footsteps near silent as I throw on some clothes and a pair of comfy boots. The shit forgot to put up a sound and scent barrier. Hell she’s lucky that she brought him in through the front door otherwise my barrier would have burned the shit out of him. I shake my head. Guess she couldn’t go a night without getting railed by one of her mates. I raise a fist to the sky in silent tribute. You frickin get it girl. Unlike me. Fingers and my vibrator really don’t make up for a good fuck. Not that I’d know what a good fuck is like. Scowling again at my lack of good bed partners, I push open my window. Instantly there is a rustling in the tree a few feet from me and I tense, head snapping up as I search for the cause of the movement, only for there to be nothing. Squinting my eyes and putting my newfound talent to good use, I see something move, then a large bat rat launches from a branch, screeching its disgruntlement as it goes.
Snorting to myself, I step up onto the window stoop, and easily jump onto the thick branch only a couple feet from my window.Hmm. “This is definitely a security risk even with my barrier,” I murmur as I walk along the thick branch. “Can’t believe I haven’t thought to create a magical blurring enchantment so people can’t watch me from here,” I say, shaking my head at my own stupidity. I add the charm, lost in thought as I climb down the tree, envying those supes with wings, only to freeze.No, nope, body that was not a signal to give me some sort of wings or other supernatural powers. Proceeding to give it a very stern mental lecture, I carry on my way.
A walk through the forest should clear my head and give Lexi and her partner ample time to finish up. Too bad Unicorn is already out hunting, we could have explored together. Or we could have gone back to Aurora’s enchanted part of the forest. When I reach the forest my shoulders sag. The overgrown path and looming trees are comforting. I scuff my shoe against the ground as I go, walking until I’m deep in the thick forestry that surrounds the school grounds, trying to get away from my thoughts.
I suck in a breath, the clean night air filling my lungs as I try to centre myself and fail miserably. “Goddess,” I mutter under my breath, exasperation swirling through me.
I came out here to give Lexi space, but also as a distraction, something to keep away my still swirling thoughts of everything that’s stressing me out.
My fingers drum against my clothed thigh and I sigh. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all. My eyes dart around the area again, the moonlight casting everything in an almost eerie glow. I suppose there is a murderer on the loose, so I probably shouldn’t have come here in the middle of the night, but I’ve never claimed to be a rational supernatural. As though hearing my thoughts, a twig snaps to my left and I whirl around, eyes narrowed, fingers twitching as I search for a possible threat. A mutant squirrel-like creature freezes where it’s crouched at the base of a thick tree trunk, its beady red eyes focused on me before it scurries off.
My body relaxes and I shake my head to myself,Goddess, now I’m jumping at poor defenceless creatures. I’m definitely losing it.My thundering heart slows a little as I resume my movements, heading further into the forest, despite the little voice in my head that tells me it’s not a good idea.
“It’s a bit late for an evening stroll, don’t you think?” a deep voice calls out casually, shattering the comfortable silence, and I flinch. How the hell did I miss that someone else was out here with me? I must be losing my touch. It’s too deep to be Ethan’s voice, and I can’t sense any magic that would hint at the person manipulating the tone, so that mostly rules out him. I also don’t sense any sort of malicious intent from them.
Adrenaline once again rushes through me and my eyes flit around, trying to figure out who the hell just spoke. “I don’t know. I believe the forest is quite charming at night,” I quip back, somewhat distracted when my eyes don’t immediately land on the culprit.Where the fuck is he? Or I’m assuming they’re a he, by the deep baritone of their voice.
“Charming. Huh, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard the Epikíndynos Forest referred to as charming, before. Especially at night. How…intriguing.”
As the lilting voice echoes through the trees, I finally find its source. It’s a man, lounging on a tree branch about ten feet above me. His form is bathed in moonlight, one leg swaying leisurely in the air while the other lies stretched out in front of him on the thick branch he’s using as a seat. He shifts something on his lap, but I can’t tell what it is from where I’m standing and those plush lips tip up in a small smile. His dark eyes seem to glow around the edges with an amber tint in the moonlight, the soft light catching on the blond tips of his wavy black hair.
“Really?” I quirk my head to the side, a brow raised. “I can’t possibly imagine why.” The poor forest gets a bad rap, but the creatures I’ve encountered so far haven’t bothered me, so I don’t have the faintest clue what all the hype is about.
“Well,” he drawls. “It could have something to do with the name literally translating to perilous.”
My lips tip up into a smile. “We supes do seem to love our Greek and hidden meanings, don’t we.”
Twin dimples wink at me when his lips spread in a lazy grin, and I can’t help but feel my expression echo his. “From what I’ve read, it seems that the older generations tended to be a tad dramatic.”
I squint at him and the reference to the ancients of the realm. They’re not spoken about very often, mostly because most supernaturals are superstitious when it comes to them. As if they say a bad word, the supes of old will just appear and smite them. I reckon it’s quite amusing. Like an ancient being that has much better things to do, would take the time and effort to do that over a random supernatural’s thoughts. That’s not to say that the ancients are people to mess around with, they’re extremely powerful and really fucking old supernaturals, so its definitely a little odd for a random student to know.Ifhe is a student, but for some reason I’m starting to doubt it though.
His features shutter slightly, eyes narrowing for a beat at something in my expression before his relaxed demeanour returns as though he couldn’t have a care in the world.
Tiring of standing still and feeling a cramp bloom in my neck from looking up, I resume my walk. I have no idea if this guy is supposed to be here or not, but so far he hasn’t made any bad moves against me, and my instincts aren’t going off to say he’s a threat, so I let my eyes leave him. There’s no point messing up my neck for no reason.
“Sick of me already?” he calls, and I glance back at him, my eyes falling to his toned arms as he stretches them above his head, before sliding something under his arm and getting to his feet in one smooth action. My tongue darts out to wet my bottom lip in a subconscious movement. One that his eyes track, and I force my gaze away from him, instead focusing on the landscape. I idly wonder whereabouts on the Academy grounds Unicorn is. I know she’s around here somewhere, having a fly and probably keeping an eye on me.
Refocusing on the forest in front of me, I answer, “Sick of standing still.” Not confirming or denying that he’s bothering me. You gotta keep a guy guessing.
My attention is drawn back to the stranger once again when in a surprisingly lithe movement, he leaps off the branch and lands in a one handed crouch a few feet away from me on a boulder. They’re prominent in the forest, in all different shapes and sizes, and short, deep, grey ones line the pathways, covered in age-old markings. Probably back from the time when these paths were cared for and well-kept. Now it seems like they’ve been forgotten.
He easily keeps balance as he steps down onto a boulder that lines the path and keeps pace with me, using them like a balance beam. “So, should I be worried? Usually, a girl walking alone in the woods would be at least a little nervous if a random guy started following them,” he asks in an inquisitive tone. My brows furrow and my eyes dart to his. He pauses all of the sudden and leans in closer, his expression serious for once. “Are you a serial killer?”
