Page 16 of Blood Oath
But accepting this would make Crypt think I approve of him following me when I distinctly remember saying I didn't want to cross paths with him or the others again.
"Pass."
"Hmm. He should be punished more for daring to bare his fangs at you. Maybe I'll slip it under his pillow later like a backward, fucked-up tooth fairy. Possibly give him some night terrors for a few weeks. Would you like that?"
Very much. His offer is appealing, but he can’t know that.
When I stare, waiting for him to get the hint and walk away, Crypt lifts the fang to his tongue and licks the venom from its tip, maintaining eye contact with me the entire time. Either it's a weird siphon flex I don't get, or he's trying to get a reaction out of me.
Even though my neck feels warm, I keep my face neutral. "I'm late for lunch. Have a nice trip leaving Everbound.”
I walk away, but he strolls next to me, tucking Luka's fang into his pocket and studying our surroundings as if he's cataloging all the little ways the school has changed since he left five years ago.
"I'm staying.”
"Then good luck finding another keeper here."
"Pass," he says, parroting me with a sly grin.
At that, I pause and regard him. I thought I spelled it out well, but maybe he didn't understand me earlier.
"I rejected the match, Crypt DeLune. We're not in a quintet together. We never will be."
"Darling, have you ever seen a raindrop fall upwards?"
I give him another unimpressed look. “If you're implying that we're as inevitable as the direction rain falls, prepare to be disappointed.”
“Nothing about you disappoints me. You’re brilliantly unexpected.”
Can he hurry up and vanish back to wherever he came from earlier? "Is it true all siphons are unable to cross the threshold of an inhabited dwelling without explicit permission? It's not just vampires?" I check.
"Unless we're in Limbo, yes.”
Right. I forgot that very strong incubi can freely pass between this level of existence and the unseen dream plane that overlaps this reality. That must have been where he popped out of earlier.
I can't have the Nightmare Prince wandering into my room when he's invisible—or worse, appearing in my dreams at night. Which means I need to track down a dreamcatcher to repel him. Maybe the university store has that.
Turning on my heel, I walk in the opposite direction. Crypt keeps up with me easily, giving me a languidly curious look.
"Changed your mind about lunch?"
I ignore him.
He smirks and I glimpse his sharp canines—not as sharp as vampire fangs, but sharper than a human’s. It’s a visual reminder that he's also descended from monsters.
“I’ll fetch you food if you want. Tell me what you like. Anything at all, I'll bring it for you."
"No. Go eat lunch alone."
“As I’m sure you know, my kind doesn't get any true sustenance from mortal food. I feed on dreams. I wonder what yours taste like."
Probably like shit.
We pass another group of students in the hall and I tense when one of them calls out, "Maven! Congratulations on your quintet!"
"Yeah, you are outrageously lucky," another student grumbles, their tone implying that me being paired with my well-known matches is the outrageous thing.
They leave the hall without saying more to me, but that doesn’t mean they won’t talk about me later. What a pain in the ass. Usually, I can go anywhere without anyone sparing me a glance, but I’m sure plenty of students will add my name to the gossip mill, considering who my matches are. I wonder how long it will take for them to lose interest in me after my matches appeal for another keeper. Hopefully, I’ll be long gone by then.
