DOFAB#3

Chapter Nine

~ KINLEY ~

Four roses sprout from a drawn heart mixed with anatomically correct features, the outside of my hand aglow with the rune crest of Nadora. A mildly painful procedure that grants me temporary immortality for the duration of my four-year stay. It's a useless mark on me. But for the rest of the mortals here, this spelled crest is their ticket to youth and the possibility of it never having to end.

It's a monumental life moment. I'd liked to have seen Maya, Ruby, Beck, and Cora's reactions to receiving it. However, I can't see anything past the raised bumps an icy current is crafting.

"Does it hurt?" Tristan asks. His mouth hoovers as he continues to expel his devil breath over the stamped rune crest, encouraging the mark to seep into my flesh more swiftly.

It was like being stung by a hundred bees all at once who've left their illuminated venom behind. The glowing hue fades as the seconds' tick by.  The mark doesn't hurt near as much as looking at him, but I suppose Tristan can't tell the difference. He can't tell that right now all I see is Neziri's blood running down his mouth and splashing onto the floor covered in the boneyard of his wars.

The raised bumps on the hand he's holding spread like wildfire up my arm as a textured ice cube slides across my bare knuckles in a single swipe of Tristan's tongue. He's no longer inspecting the rune crest that's about dissolved. He's staring straight at me, the pointed tip of his tongue curled as he retracts it.

The Beast of the Damned just licked me.

"Congratulations." A pop sounds and paper confetti sprays the room, mainly Maya who's front and center. "From this day forward, you are officially a student of Nadora," our coven savant Marianna says, "The rune crest not only freezes time temporarily, it is also a sigil of safety. With it, it discloses you are off-limits to all other supernaturals."

All but the one I most want to be off-limits to.

Tristan's tongue is about to make a second swipe over the crest of Nadora when I yank away from his relaxed grip, heart stammering as my pulse quickens.

"It's fine." I manage to get the words out, the hundreds of questions I have lost in his unwavering stare.

"A whole sentence. What an improvement," Tristan mocks, the blue hellfire he's the god of raging in his eyes.

Evil shouldn't be allowed to be wrapped in flesh like his.

"With the pairings introduced, the crest of Nadora received, and the rundown of classes and the rules, it's time for the reason you came to be solidified," the savant continues.

I glance at the first-year syllabus in front of me: Biting 101, World Enrichment-history & geography (mortal, celestial, and devil), Physical Fitness, Vampire Culture, Compulsion & It's Dangers, and Predator & Prey-Understanding our differences. Fortunately, the rules I missed are listed on the syllabus as well:

1.)  Stay Healthy.

2.)  Maintain your meal plan pledge.

3.)  No penetration other than fangs.

4.)  Speak up.

5.)  Respect differences.

6.)  Practice the buddy system.

7.)  Under no circumstances are students of Nadora permitted to visit Scourge.

Beside the asterisk below rule number seven, it advises students to familiarize themselves with Nadora's codes of conduct in the student handbook. I vaguely remember seeing the student handbook in the kitchen of my apartment next to a generous welcome basket I still have yet to open. I should probably learn it by heart in hopes Tristan will break the rules and I can request his termination as my partner.