Void(47)

“You are such an asshole!” I yelled. He just laughed and walked back to his spot by the wall.

“Ignore him.” Banner came forward, placing his hands on my shoulders and peering deeply into my eyes. Over Banner’s shoulder, Render watched us like he’d swallowed a bad bag of blood.

“I appreciate you wanting to protect me, Devicka,” Banner said in a lower voice, this time quirking his mouth into a flirty smile that made butterflies fly around in my chest. “But I promise I can handle it.” He lifted his hand up to stroke my cheek before leaning even closer. Even with his touch on me, his neutral powers were waning. His lips hovered over my forehead, and I had to stop myself from lifting up on my tiptoes to close the distance between us. I craved contact so much that I didn’t care that we had an audience or that he was my teacher.

“Okay,” I whispered, and the moment those words left my lips, Banner nodded and dropped his hands. He moved away, twisting his mouth into a hard line, accentuating his strong jaw and determination. He moved over to the open textbook at the teacher’s desk and started frantically shifting through pages, ignoring me completely. The sudden change in his demeanor was slightly jarring, but I understood. One second, Banner was sweet and encouraging, the next he was all business. But he was right. I had a job to do, and people’s lives were at stake.

“Tell me how it felt when you switched powers at the council meeting,” he said, his eyes still locked on the pages.

“Umm…” I closed my eyes and tried to remember the sensation. The hunger. The fight or flight war plaguing my body. “It felt like a different extension of me that I didn’t know was there before. Like I flipped a different light switch,” I answered. “They both touched me, and my smoke turned blue, like the Void did it all on its own.”

Banner took a pen from his pocket and started scribbling down notes. “Do you think it was your hunger or fear that pushed you into switching their powers?” he asked.

It hadn’t really been fear. More like the Void just had a mind of its own that I wasn’t in charge of. But I didn’t want to admit that, not in front of Render. “Something like that,” I replied lamely.

Banner continued scribbling away before looking at his watch and sighing. “Dammit. I thought we had more time,” he said, slamming the book shut. “I have to visit with Judge Braxton. We’ll meet again tomorrow.”

Without waiting for me to reply, he started walking toward the door. “Wait!” I yelled, making his hand pause over the door knob. He stood with his back facing me for a moment before letting out a hard sigh.

“My amulet,” I said while walking forward and holding out my hand. Though what I really wanted to do was ask him to stay—to find out what was bothering him. We’d connected the first time I met him, but now he was acting strangely. Maybe he hadn’t liked the way it felt when I fed from him.

“Of course, my mistake.” He fished around in his pocket before tossing it over to me. I caught it and immediately put it on, securing the chain at my neck.

“See you tomorrow,” I said, suddenly feeling young and immature.

“You too,” he replied with a quick smile before disappearing out the classroom door.

Frowning at the closed door, I took a moment to steady myself, overanalyzing every interaction I’d had. Had he heard that Render had kissed me in the ballroom? Was that why he was acting so hot and cold? Maybe our flirty banter had pissed Banner off.

I heard a snort. “You look pathetic right now,” Render said from the opposite side of the room. Now that my Void smoke was contained by the amulet, he crossed the distance between us. “Pining over your teacher? No wonder he couldn’t wait to get out of here.”

Render’s dark chuckle made me fume. He ran his hand through his dark hair again, that nervous tic of his contradicting the cruel way he was speaking to me.

“What do you care?” I asked, turning around and crossing my arms over my chest.

“I don’t.”

“No? Then why bring it up?”

He shrugged carelessly. “Because I just wanted to remind you of your place. Even a neutralizer doesn’t want you.”

That was the heart of it, wasn’t it? Me not feeling worthy of connections or affection. I’d been alone for so long that I should be used to it by now, but still, I allowed myself to hope. Maybe Banner was just having a bad day. After all, the headmaster hated him being here, and the council was probably breathing down his neck to teach me. He was under a lot of pressure.

“Noted,” I replied coolly before walking over to my messenger bag that had my Void book inside. I hefted it over my shoulder before turning back to Render. “Are we done here?”

“We’re going to do something before I drop you off,” Render replied before flashing toward me and picking me up.

“Oh, hell no,” I said, trying to scramble out of his hold. It didn’t work.

He didn’t cradle me like he’d done at the vampire capital. He held me chest-to-chest, crushing me to his body while holding me several inches above the ground. I had to fight the impulse to wrap my legs around his waist.

“I don’t want to flash again!” I yelled, but it was too late. He was already turning, flashing me through the halls of Thibault, leading me to the vampire wing. Rolling waves of nausea hit me as the wind whipped my hair around in a frenzy, and I had to tuck my head into the crook of his neck to keep from getting whiplash.