Roman.
Charlotte rounded on me as soon as I walked into my provided quarters in the East wing of the school dormitories.
"Where the bloody hell have you been?!" Her grey eyes flashed silver with anger, and I rolled my eyes as I walked away from the sitting room—if it could even be called that—towards the bedroom.
Charlotte followed behind me, seething.
"Class," I answered as I unbuttoned the ridiculous, crass-quality, middling, white uniform shirt I was forced to wear if I was to remain in the school.
"You know, those things where you sit at a ridiculously tiny desk, and listen to the asinine ramblings of a person who thinks they're superior to you in knowledge, when they're to all intents and purposes, illiterate?"
I undid my belt in one swift move, then pulled off the horrendous crimson pants I, again, had to wear for the cruel purpose of keeping up appearances.
"Except, well, the teacher only showed up for like two minutes,"
I looked up to find Charlotte's eyes raking shamelessly over my half-naked frame as I undressed—she clearly was no longer listening to a word I was saying—and I watched her anger steadily begin to dissipate, shoving itself back behind the walls of her grisly mind as her gaze stopped predictably below my navel.
A smirk found residence on my lips as I watched her grey eyes darken, and she leaned off the doorframe and slowly began walking over.
I sat on the bed, in nothing but black briefs, and waited for her to come to me as I knew she would.
"Char darling, did you need something from me?" I purred, eyes dancing with amusement as her murderous gaze met mine.
"Shut up." Her words always had the sharpness of a bite to them, and I loved how they dug into my skin so pleasantly.
She was standing in front of me now, our gazes both dancing with familiar anticipation as the heat in the room thickened.
I watched her begin to undress.
Her movements were so familiar, I couldn't help but reach forward at the same time she reached behind her back to unhook her bra.
My fingers grazed over hers as I reached for the fabric, and she cocked her head to the side, a dark smile on her lips.
In an instant, the bra fell to the ground and she was left in nothing but her very conveniently short, crimson uniform skirt, and white knee-high socks. Then she was suddenly straddling me, pushing me back into the bed and kissing me ferociously.
I smirked through the kiss, my fingers finding her exposed breasts as I fondled my favorite one.
"Char darling, you must tell me why you are here," I murmured against her bruising mouth, groaning as she sucked and bit until I tasted blood. "I'm sure you had a reason for waiting in my quarters. A reason that was different from...this."
I grinned as she growled and kissed me even harder.
"We'll address that later, Roman. Right now, I just want...you." She moaned against my mouth, without breaking the kiss. "So shut the bloody hell up and kiss me!"
Her hands roamed along the length of my neck, her sharp, talon-like fingers digging into my skin until she drew blood, then she removed her mouth from mine and sucked on the spots of blood quickly before they healed.
She returned to my mouth, her hips grinding deliciously against mine. I pushed her crimson skirt aside and let my fingers travel up her thighs and in-between her legs.
A mixture of a growl and a moan ripped itself from her lungs as my fingers slipped inside her panties and began rubbing softly against her core.
"Are you certain you would not rather talk about it now?" I whispered against her ear, still fondling my favorite breast and caressing the sensitive spot in between her legs.
"No. No, you spawn of the devil. What I want is for you to fuck me," she shuddered as I slid a finger inside her, then she grabbed my neck and stared into my eyes. "Now."
And so I did.
When we both finally came up gasping for air, the entire room was thrashed.
The desk by the window was shattered from when she'd slammed me against it and sunk her fangs into my neck.
A portion of the stone walls had chipped and fell off when I'd slammed her into it and entered her from behind.
We were laying naked in the midst of the pile of rubble we had reduced the bed to. Splintered wood everywhere, curtains shredded to pieces, headboard destroyed.
It was chaos.
This was how sex with Charlotte always was. We'd been fuck buddies for a century, and yet nothing had changed.
She was still as savage and vandalistic as the first day I met her, and it still brutishly matched my effervescent diabolism.
She dragged a sharp, claw-like finger down my torso, drawing blood and then leaning over to lick off the blood before the cut sealed itself again.
Her gaze met mine, and I saw something flash in her grey orbs. Something I hated seeing.
Emotion.
For a century, Charlotte had pined after me, seeking something I could not give. And it was not for a lack of trial either.
I had tried, to love her in the same brutal way she loved me, but I could never bring myself to.
We'd been with each other through everything. Literally. And I did care for her, in the ways friends cared for one another but we both knew it could never be more.
I was incapable of a thing as delicate as love.
We'd had conversations about it a gazillion times, and she'd been insistent and threatening at first. But at some point, she realized forever was a long, long time, and it wouldn't do to fight each other continuously for a thing I could not give her.
Having sex soon became inevitable though. I was all she had and she was all I had through the treacherous times we lived through together. We inevitably learned to lean unto each other for support.
Prolonged hugs led to small, comforting kisses, and kisses eventually led to drunken steamy nights, with clothes hurriedly pulled off, ending in delicious forbidden sex wherever we found ourselves.
But the knowledge and agreement that it would never become more than just sex was mutual on both sides.
The shadow in her eyes vanished as she realized I was staring at her, and she gave me a dark smile before leaning up to kiss me.
God! She was a good kisser.
I leaned up to deepen the kiss as she straddled me, and my hands had only just begun to find their way into her hair, when someone burst through the door.
"Good God! What is it with you two and always thrashing the bloody room whenever you have sex?!" I heard Jesse's voice complain as he sauntered into the room, and I snorted against Charlotte's lips as she slid a tongue in my mouth.
Our newly arrived company made no difference. She wasn't letting go, and I wasn't in a hurry to let her go either.
"Okay, break it up now, you two! You can go for second rounds later!" Aiko threw a piece of clothing that landed on my head, and Charlotte finally pulled her lips from mine with a reluctant groan.
"I will tear your heart out and feed it to your sister one of these days, Aiko." Charlotte threatened as she rolled off me after placing one last kiss on my mouth.
"Would be my pleasure to be murdered by you, your holiness." Aiko grinned and mimicked a bow as Charlotte reached for the shirt she had thrown. It was my uniform shirt.
She slipped it over her head and glared at Aiko as she stood up, running her hands through the knots in her hair.
I got up too and walked over to the wardrobe—surprisingly the only furniture in the room that hadn't been reduced to rubble.
I grabbed a pair of black pants and pulled it on, then turned to Jesse and Aiko.
"Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of your beautiful presences this fine evening?"
Jesse snorted derisively and shook his head, then his expression turned serious. "You know why we're here, Roman."
Aiko had also stopped teasing Charlotte, and she stood with her arms crossed across her chest with a frown on her face.
I shook my head sarcastically as I moved past them, out of the thrashed room, towards the infuriatingly small sitting room.
Honestly, the place was not even half the size of my guest bathroom in the smallest of my manors.
The students here are living in hell.
"As opposed to your belief that I'm some sort of vampire with extraordinary prowess, I actually do have the same abilities as the rest of you," I stopped as I took in the sight of Sophia and Suiko, sat on the long sofa in the sitting room.
Rishi had a book with him and was standing by the door. He snapped the book shut as our eyes met.
So the whole gang was here then.
"Although," I continued, heading for the small bar Principal Fernsby had installed upon my insistent request.
Insistent meaning, I continually threatened to begin murdering her students one after the other, in the most grotesque ways possible, if I would not have access to alcohol.
She obliged very quickly.
"I do have far greater vampirical prowess compared with the lot of you," I grabbed a cup and filled it with a few cubes of ice. "However, I unfortunately still do not possess the abilities to read fellow vampires minds without aided compulsion." I poured whiskey over the ice.
"So, do tell, dear friends. Why have you all gathered in my astonishingly discomfiting quarters this fine evening?"
I settled into a sofa, legs spread apart as I savored my whiskey, and I stared expectantly at my little gang of Vamps, suddenly noticing that Vasilis was not present.
Just at that moment, the door opened and he graced the room with his royal presence.
I rolled my eyes, not having to look to know it was him who was silently slipping into the room.
"Hey, V!" Aiko waved, her face breaking into a grin as she side-hugged him. "Did you get my text? You look awful. Are you okay?" She went on with a worried frown, and I couldn't resist the snort that left my lips.
"He looks awful because he's been refusing to feed properly. The little cunt is having a rebellious phase. Leave him. Let him rot from the inside. Sooner or later, he'll come to his senses." My words came out as a snarl, and Vasilis finally looked at me, his eyes darkened with rage.
Good. Be angry. Maybe then you'll finally snap.
"I'm not having a rebellious phase. I'm simply trying not to indulge too much in my most self-deprecating primal urges. It's called learning restraint, Roman. Pretty sure you've never heard of the word, seeing as you have not an inch of restraint in you," He said calmly.
I had expected him to lean into his rage and hopefully finally snap, so he could unlock his limitless potential as a creature of the night. But the bastard had chosen to direct his rage into passive aggression, channeling it towards insults instead.
I laughed humorlessly and took a sip of my whiskey.
"I am a predator, Vasilis. I can not be restrained. Nor do I have the will to do so to myself. This filthy little world is my playground, and mortals are my playthings."
I waved a hand dismissively, already bored and not wanting to indulge in a back and forth with him.
"Now tell me, why have you all gathered here?"
Jesse cleared his throat and moved forward with a look in his eyes that I'd never seen on him before.
"It's the Jade girl."
Rishi nodded and unfolded his arms. "She's the one the prophecy speaks of."