Bloodspell (The Cruentus Curse, #1)(45)

After finishing the journal, her indecision had only worsened knowing Brigid's story and learning about the ancient enmity between witches and vampires. It didn't erase anything she felt about Christian. If anything, her feelings had become twice as sharp, and twice as difficult to ignore. Despite what she'd read, the truth was she didn't want to listen to the rules. She glanced at Leto lounging on the sofa.

"Leto, can I ask you a question? Why are relationships between vampires and witches forbidden?" Leto's eyes shrank to slits, his ears flattening against his head. A hot hiss rippled down his spine.

Why? Did something happen?

"No, no. I was just curious," she said hastily. "I read something in the journal about it, and I wanted to ask you." She cleared her mind as best as she could and pasted an innocent look on her face.

Relations between our worlds are tenuous at best, bound by a strained centuries-old truce. His tone was cold, dispassionate. We interact with them when we need to, but anything more is expressly prohibited. There are rules, ancient laws in place that prohibit... mingling, like anti-miscegenation laws.

"That sounds incredibly archaic. Why can't they change? This is the twenty-first century, after all." Leto's stare was hot. Discerning.

Because it is the law. It has always been the way since the Great War. We are probably the only two societies powerful and evenly matched enough to annihilate the other. The werewolves would be a threat if they could unite their packs but they are territorial by nature. The rest, like most of the fey, just care about their own worlds. They don't integrate with humans like we do or the vampires do.

"So the laws don't apply to mingling with humans?"

Humans aren't a threat.

"And the penalty for breaking these laws?" Leto's eyes were slits.

Death. Exile. Worse. Exile for a witch means being stripped of all magical powers and forbidden to wield magic for all time. For witches or wizards, it is a fate far worse than death. Losing your magic is like losing your soul.

"And the vampires?"

The same offense is punishable by death. Burning, or so I've heard.

"Oh."

What they were doing was not only wrong, it was risky. Victoria buried her head in her French textbook, feeling the twin lasers of Leto's eyes boring into her, as the familiar flush invaded her body. She kept her mind blank, refusing to think of anything, least of all Christian, despite her racing heart. Leto was far too perceptive for his own good.

The phone rang, interrupting her concentration and the heavy, awkward silence that had suddenly invaded the apartment. She lunged for the phone with a relief that she hoped didn't seem desperate.

"Hello?"

"Tori?"

"Oh, hey Gabriel."

"How's your paper coming?" he asked.

"Not bad, I got stuck so I was just taking a break." One of three hundred breaks, she admonished herself silently.

"A bunch of us are heading down to the Dog tonight. We all need a break with finals right around the corner. You up for it?"

Victoria sighed inwardly. This was the fifth time Gabriel had asked her out this week, and she was running out of excuses. She glanced at Leto who was still staring at her disconcertingly. Gabriel suddenly seemed like the lesser of two evils.

"You know what Gabe, that sounds like fun," she said. "I'll see you there."

Gabriel over Leto was an easy choice. She would deal with Gabriel if she had to. His attempts to date her had become more persistent in the last few weeks, no doubt because of the bar kiss. She knew that it was her own fault for misleading him and giving him the wrong impression that night at the bar when she'd been trying to make Christian jealous.

Victoria felt a spasm of guilt for the sneaky reconnaissance she'd done when she had flashed Gabriel's mind. What she had seen was what she'd expected, with maybe with a few extra details like his intense dislike for his sister Angie, which had been obvious. Still, the blunt evidence of Gabriel's feelings for her had made her blush.

He really, really liked her. Victoria hadn't delved too much deeper. There was a difference between protecting herself by investigating someone's motives and invading their personal privacy. Despite her limitless new powers, she was trying hard to maintain some standards.

By the time Victoria finished her paper and walked to the Dog, it was packed. She secretly hoped she would run into Christian, but she knew it wasn't likely. A few days out of every month, they'd decided it was better—safer—for her to stay away from him. Despite her obvious ability to protect herself, the smell of blood, hers in particular, didn't help matters given what Christian was. It was a small but necessary sacrifice each month.

She took a deep breath and headed in to the mob. As she pressed through the noisy jostle of bodies, she was glad that she didn't have to work. She had done three straight nights of six-hour shifts! Hearing her name, she walked over to the large crowd of people on one whole side of the bar near where the Harland college band, "Riot," was playing.

"Hey guys!" she shouted over the music. Charla waved. She was talking animatedly to two football players, and they were all laughing. Angie didn't seem to be around, but she didn't go out much anyway and certainly not when Gabriel was part of the group. She saw him surrounded by his friends and he walked over to say hello.