Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) (14 page)

Before she could respond, we heard footsteps enter the room, and a girl’s voice asked, “Hello, is anyone in here? The door was open so—oh, Vice-President.”

Simone had stepped out into the aisle between the shelves.

I chose to edge away from the corner, and hoped to remain hidden from the newcomer.

“I’m sorry,” Simone said. “I was looking for something.”

“Oh, is there something I can help you with, Vice-President?”

“Actually, can you tell me why you’re not in class?”

“I was sent to pick up these items.”

“Oh, I know where those are, but they’re not in this storage room. You’ll have to try the storage room on the third floor.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you. I’ll be off then.”

“Take care. Don’t run in the hallways.”

The sound of the girl’s footsteps faded as she left the room.

I peeked at Simone. “Countess?”

She stepped out of sight for a short while. When she reappeared she gave me a mischievous smile and winked. “She never suspected a thing. Doesn’t that make you feel naughty?”

I pointed vaguely in the direction of her chest. “Actually, she might have noticed your blouse popped a few buttons.”

Simone looked down. “Oh, they didn’t pop. I unbuttoned them when we first came into the room.”

“Huh?” I couldn’t help staring at her in disbelief.

She giggled again and stepped up to me. “Want to do them up?”

“Uh, no. I don’t think it would be safe for me to do so.”

“Caelum…button up my blouse.”

My brain missed a gear. She wasn’t serious was she? “Countess…?”

She raised her delicate eyebrows at me. “Caelum, you’ll be very late for class if you don’t.”

Then her eyes widened and she smiled coyly.

With her hands behind her back, she slowly rocked her hips from side to side. “Caelum, could it be you want to play a little more?”

I regarded her for a long moment, wondering if I should just put my foot down and resist her attempts at seduction.

Ah, what the Hell. It’s just her blouse, right?

I inhaled wearily. “Buttons. Just the buttons….”

Buttoning up her blouse was easier said than done. My fingers trembled so much it took almost five attempts per button. Plus, I could tell she was pushing up her chest, making it impossible to ignore the white, lacy bra she wore under her uniform. I noticed the light sprinkling of freckles on her cleavage, like chocolate powder on immense globes of smooth vanilla ice cream.

“Caelum? Caelum!”

“What?”

“Buttons.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Damn it, she was smiling merrily at my distraction.

I was relieved when I finally dealt with the last button.

I leaned against a shelf, breathing heavily in exhaustion.

As such, I was completely unprepared for what happened next.

She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. Not a peck, but a real kiss. Her lips felt warm, moist and very soft.

Then she stepped back.

“That’s a good boy. Now let’s get you back to class.”

I don’t remember the trip to my classroom. I just remember arriving at the door where I waited for the Countess to finish speaking to the teacher. Afterwards, I was allowed to attend the rest of the lecture. I felt the eyes of my classmates follow me as I walked to my table and seat.

Huh, why are the girls looking at me funny? And the guys are glaring at me. All I did was arrive late. Why is that such a problem? Were they enjoying the lecture that much?

I sat down at my smart desk, and instructed it out of standby mode.

Caprice gave me a weak nod, then did a double take.

My mind felt so fuzzy I didn’t think much of her reaction, but then I noticed my classmates were still giving me a variety of looks.

I accidently met Haruka’s gaze.

She was staring at me in shock, and turned away in a hurry.

Suddenly a paper napkin was shoved into my face.

“Here,” Caprice muttered in annoyance. “Use it.”

I took it and asked, “To do what?”

“Wipe the lipstick off your face.”

“Lipstick?” It took a couple of failed attempts for my brain to finally kick back into gear.

Caprice’s face was unreadable, but her eyes burned angrily. “Wipe it off now.”

I used the napkin on my cheeks and saw that it came away stained a lavender color.

I heard our teacher speak from the front of the classroom. “Mr. Desanto, are you settled in?”

I gave our teacher a polite nod. “Yes sir. Very sorry sir.”

He cleared his throat loudly, and resumed with the lecture.

I held back a sigh, and did my best to follow the lecture material.

Slipping on the visor and headset, I dialed up the concentration aid to maximum output. In a short while, my mind settled into ‘learning mode’ and I was able to absorb the material being taught completely devoid of distracting thoughts.

All hail the wonders of the modern classroom.

I’d given up long ago wondering if the learning aids were subjecting us to subliminal messages.

#

(Haruka)

I needed to talk with Caelum, and it had nothing to do with him joining the class while sporting lipstick on his cheek.

No, this matter was entirely something else.

If what Siobhan and Alistair had overhead was true, then he was headed straight for a beating.

Why oh why did he have to make an enemy of the Princess?

Rather, why did he have to make an enemy of the Princess’s followers?

And why the Hell did he have lipstick on his face?

Wait—wasn’t the Vice-President wearing lavender lipstick? Could it be hers?

No, it couldn’t be! But what if it was? Did she kiss him? Why would she kiss him?

Ah, I can’t think straight.

I dialed up the concentration setting on my visor and headset.

Those distracting thoughts were slowly but surely suppressed into the back of my mind by the lesson material.

But when each class ended, those worries came charging right back at me.

I was glad when school for the day came to a close.

Seated at my smart desk, I peeked over my right shoulder at Caelum. I saw Caprice rise from her table while Caelum remained seated.

I had two choices. Speak to him directly, or pass word along to the only girl in school who wasn’t bothered to be seen in his company.

Should I decide by flipping a coin? Wait, I had no coins. Physical currency was no longer used and hadn’t been used in centuries.

I frowned. Did they just ignore each other?

Ah, this wasn’t good. Not good at all!

I held my head in my hands.

No choice. I’d have to muster the courage to speak to him. The problem was finding the right moment to approach him. Should I send him a message via school information network? No, he’d probably ignore it. He’d been ignoring me for the whole week.

This had to be done face to face to ensure he’d at least listen to me.

I ran my fingers through my hair. “Ah, what the Hell should I do?”

I felt a tap on my shoulder and jumped up and out of my chair in fright.

Caelum was standing beside my table.

I screamed. “Ca—Caelum?”

He looked shocked by my reaction and retreated a step.

I swallowed quickly and said, “Sorry. You just surprised me. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

He nodded slowly, then straightened as though on guard. “Haruka…can we talk?”

Talk? Did he say talk? Yes, of course. This was good. No, this was perfect. I just needed to slip a warning into the conversation.

I noticed I was biting a nail.

Caelum noticed too. He gave me a really concerned look.

If I kept acting nervous I was going to drive him away.

I took a deep breath to calm my hammering heart. I noticed he had his carry-bag hung at hip.

“Going home?” I asked.

“Yeah…but I’d…I’d like to talk to you first.”

I looked around. The classroom was emptying pretty quickly of its students. Siobhan and Alistair were watching me from the front of the room. They had their carry-bags at their hips, but looked uncertain as to whether they should leave ahead of me, or wait for me.

I turned to Caelum. “Could you give me a moment?”

He nodded cautiously. “Sure….”

Jeezes, he was acting like I was a bomb with a hair trigger fuse.

I approached Siobhan and Alistair. “You guys go on ahead. I might be a while.”

Siobhan eyed me suspiciously. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks for asking.”

Alistair was staring at Caelum. “Just be careful, Haruka. You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“Alistair, he’s my childhood friend. I know exactly what he’s like.”

She shook her head. “Haruka, he’s a Familiar now. You knew the old him. This is the new Caelum Desanto.”

Siobhan added, “Just remember, Familiars are more vampire than we are. Be careful around him.”

I nodded a little less confidently than I thought I would. “I’ll—I’ll be fine.”

Siobhan and Alistair shared a look, then Siobhan faced me and said, “We’ll wait for you at the shoe lockers.”

“Ah…okay. But I might be a while.”

“We’ll wait,” Siobhan repeated firmly.

I exhaled slowly. “Thank you.”

Alistair said, “Ask him about the lipstick.”

I jerked back. “I can’t do that. No, no way. Now isn’t the time for that.”

With a quick wave to my friends, I walked back in a hurry to my smart desk where Caelum was waiting and looking faintly uncomfortable.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Uh, where to? The rooftop?”

“No, the rooftop courtyard is automatically locked after lunch break.” I finished packing my carry-bag with my belongs, then slipped the straps over my right shoulder. “I know a place.”

It was a secluded little garden area, one of four I’d found. During lunch break students would sit on the benches or the shaded grass and eat their lunches. But after class, I had noticed students tended to avoid this one garden. I had no idea why but it suited my purpose just fine.

Caelum was looking around curiously. “I had no idea something like this existed on school grounds.”

“There are four gardens like this one.”

His mouth made a few odd shapes as he gazed at the garden surrounding us.

I stopped walking, turned and looked at him.

“Caelum?”

He looked off into the distance for a long while. I was tempted to call out to him again, but chose to give him a little more time.

He swallowed noticeably. “Haruka, I’m sorry. I didn’t know about the lipstick.”

“Eh? Ah, it’s okay. I don’t have a problem with it. You’re free to kiss whoever you like.”

“No, I didn’t kiss anyone. She caught me by surprise—ah.”

He stopped quickly, then started to run his fingers through his hair in a panic. Just as quickly his hands came to a stop and he looked at me.

“Haruka, I’m sorry…sorry for running away.”

I felt my throat grow a little tight as I realized what he was talking about.

“Haruka, I’m sorry. I saw you and I didn’t know how to deal with you.”

“Deal with me?”

“I mean, I didn’t know what to do or say.”

The tightness in my throat grew. I forced my voice through it. “Caelum, how long have known each other?”

“Twelve years?”

“Why should now be any different from all the times we’ve shared in the past?”

“Because you’re an Aventis and I’m a Familiar.” He said it softly yet with no room for argument.

I took a deep breath. “Then why can’t we start over, as Aventis and Familiar? The Prides have no law preventing us from associating with one another.” I shook my head slowly. “There’s no law that says we can’t be friends.”

He was looking at me with a steady gaze. “You’re being naïve, Haruka.”

I inhaled sharply.

He shoved his hands into trouser pockets. “Familiars are bonded to the Prides. We’re servants to the Prides, but with more privileges than Regulars.”

“I know that.”

“You’re Pride is Avenir. My affiliated Pride is Lanfear.”

I swallowed a little. “Yes, I know that.”

“Avenir and Lanfear don’t mix.”

I sighed. “It’s not as bad as you make it sound. I’ve looked into the situation with both Prides. There’s no outright animosity between them. In fact they have an amicable relationship here in Pharos.” I indicated the Academy buildings beyond the garden. “Here at Galatea, there’s no trouble between the two Prides.”