Void(49)

Hyde reached forward and shoved the bowl away, before sliding his own plate in front of me. It was overflowing with bacon and pancakes, smelling so godsdamned good that my mouth watered. I looked up at him before grabbing a piece of bacon and taking a bite. I had to suppress a groan at the salty warmth that flooded my mouth.

“Should I be worried that this is poisoned?” I asked with a smirk. I knew all about the paragons’ determination to get me out of the school. I didn’t think they were above food poisoning.

Hyde laughed while spinning a fork on the table. “The last thing we should be doing is making you even hungrier. I don’t want to see what happens when you’re hangry.”

I laughed under my breath before taking another bite. I hadn’t realized how truly hungry I was until that moment. I looked around the room, feeling everyone’s eyes on my back. Their stares were cruel, but the whispers that fluttered over to us were even crueler.

“Of course the necromancer goes to sit with her,” one shifter girl said to her group of giggling friends. “He knows death when he sees it.”

“He’s probably going to see if he can resurrect her wardrobe. She looks like something my cat dragged in.” Snickers followed.

“It’s either her or zombies. He probably prefers the corpses.” More tittering, more whispers.

A vampire clique walked by, led by none other than Blaire. “Poor Render has to babysit her,” she said scathingly, and I carefully watched her out of the corner of my eye. “He told me last night that she keeps hitting on him. It’s pathetic. Did you see how she embarrassed herself at the ball? Pathetic. She practically slit her wrists and jumped him.” Her group of friends laughed, and I envisioned letting my Void out and really giving them something to laugh about.

Hyde continued to spin his fork, and it was the focal point of my stare as my ears burned. “I’m assuming it would be pointless to tell you not to worry about the opinions of others?” he asked.

I learned a long time ago that I’d be hated wherever I went. Humans didn’t understand their fear of me. My mother loathed me for taking away everything she cared about. And supers feared that I would drain them. I accepted that hatred. It was just a natural part of who I was. But just because I accepted that, it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. Maybe it was all my time in the human world that made me weak, but I absorbed their insults under my skin like poison. What I should be doing was using them to build up a brick wall around my soul. Never trust. Never open myself up. Alone was the only way to go.

“Why are you sitting with me?” I asked, flicking my eyes up at Hyde’s white, messy hair and silver eyes. I could watch him all day. The way he moved and spoke was different than anyone else I’d ever met. It didn’t hurt that he was painfully handsome. Even the necro mark, with its connected tattoos along his neck, was a huge turn on against his tanned skin. I wanted to lick it. I frowned at myself and dropped my eyes at that thought. What the hell was my problem? I didn’t just go around wanting to lick people. That wasn’t normal.

“I’m on duty, of course,” Hyde replied. His blunt response made me chew on the bacon even harder. I wanted to slap myself for hoping that he would say something consoling like he just wanted to come sit with me. Silly me. “Besides, you’re entertaining. No matter what we throw at you, you don’t budge. I could use a little bit of that steely resolve.”

My ears perked slightly at that. Entertaining was better than...every other attention I’d gotten so far. “Can we get out of here?” I asked before swiping a few more pieces of bacon and standing up. I was still hungry but didn’t want to sit in the cafeteria and listen to everyone talk about me.

“I thought you’d never ask,” Hyde replied before standing up too. My eyes took in the way his school uniform hugged his frame. He was pretty fit for a self-proclaimed zombie king. “We have about thirty minutes until class. Wanna go for a walk? I have an idea of something you might like to do. Something fun.”

My risk demon blood sat up at attention. Something fun? I could use something fun.

“But it’ll be breaking a few school rules,” Hyde went on as I followed him out of the cafeteria. “If word gets out, I’ll blame it all on you,” he added, causing my demon risk side to practically yip in excitement. Rule breaking? Count me in.

“Deal,” I replied as he started leading me through the winding school. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn’t really care.

To my surprise, he brought me over to a classroom, walking right in like he owned the place. Unlike most of the other rooms, there were no windows inside, and it was kept noticeably cooler. I clasped my hands around my arms, trying to keep the chill away. “Geez, it’s freaking cold in here.” Good thing I’d worn one of my thicker bras, or my nipples would’ve been on full display behind my uniform dress shirt. I pulled the blazer tighter around me.

I eyed the wall of oversized, built-in, metal cabinets as Hyde walked over to them. When he snapped open the clasp and pulled it open, my mouth dropped open in shock. “Wait...Tell me that’s not…”

I didn’t even have to finish my sentence because, yep, that was definitely a drawerful of one very dead corpse. My eyes widened in horror as realization dawned. Every metal cabinet was probably filled with more corpses in this makeshift morgue.