006. Dreamblocker

~Bethany~

On our way back to our dorm, we are almost at the stairs when Zuri turns her phone screen to me, showing me a picture of one of the princes, Jayan Salazar.

I can’t deny the obvious, the boy is a pretty sight to behold.

Lazy carefree style, beautiful messy hair that I’m suspecting should be a signature of his, soft pink lips, and a minute jaw ridge. What a handsome boy.

“What should I do with that?” I ask Zuri.

“He's cute, isn’t he?” she asks, smiling and bouncing her shoulders rhythmically. “Beth, your mates are the top boys of Crestbane. Why don't you want to be with them? I get it, about the absence of your mark and all, but maybe you can see the Dean as they suggested, and you all can find a solution to that.”

I shake my head. “You're trying to set me up with these boys, Zuri Ravenstone.” She raises a brow at me at the mention of her full name. “Is there a reason you're doing this?”

Taking a deep breath, she looks around to be certain we're alone before pouting dramatically at me.

gods! The only person I know who does that thing with her mouth is Dani, and though she taught me how to do it, I still find it embarrassing.

“Betttth,” Zuri coos. “Crestbane is a cold place to be. These Nobles can be ruthless. Once they find out you’re a Prose, the weak Nobles would want to eliminate you to rank up some points. Aside from every other thing that goes on in this place, lots of Nobles are killed here. During the yearly ‘sweep’, weaker Nobles are killed, and survivors get to rank up the chart with the number of their kills.”

“Sounds interesting.” I muse, but Zuri shakes her head.

“No, it’s a blood bath. I've lived through three Crestbane ‘sweeps’ and I can tell you, it's such an ugly experience.” She pauses and looks at me before speaking again. “Since I can't protect you because of my cowardly Bear,” her face falls, and I feel a surprising pang of hurt on her behalf.

“I thought it would be wise if you gave the princes a chance. It doesn’t have to be real. You could pretend to like and want them. Let them show the entire school that you belong to them. That will automatically make you untouchable.”

gods, Zuri is merely looking out for me.

If only she knew that I'm capable of perfectly taking care of myself and her as well, if I decide to.

“So, who protects you?”

“His name is Hellion,” she replies. “We grew up together, our families run in the same circle.”

I'm about to say something, but a voice interrupts me.

“Zuri Ravenstone!”

We both look over at three girls approaching.

Before they get close enough, Zuri grumbles under her breath and whispers to me, “Watch out, those girls are not nice. They are highly ranked and very competitive. It’s better to stay on their good side.”

The girls stop in front of us and I recognize one of them, the girl I saved from the Vamp at the stairs.

The Blond amongst them looks over at me, “You're new, haven’t seen this one before.”

I don’t miss that she's addressing Zuri and not me, as if I’m a vague presence she doesn’t think worthy of either her presence or her attention.

The girl from the stairs looks at me uneasily, but doesn't utter a word.

“Yeah, this is Bethany, we’re roomies,” Zuri replies.

“What is she?” a second girl wearing a multi-colored beret asks.

She's demanding the answer from me. A small part of me is tempted to flip her the bird to show how little I care about her high rank status, but Zuri is right. I don’t need any attention.

For the next three weeks, I'll be nothing but a shy and very quiet wallflower.

“I’m a Proselyte caster,” I say quietly

“You mean a baby caster.” The blond says, and both of them laugh at me before turning to face Zuri like I don’t exist.

I get their silent message; they really care about their power games a lot.

“Well, gist time.” The Beret girl starts. “Salazar just announced in front of everybody at the Alpha Hall that he's found his mate.”

Zuri glances at me.

“But…” the Beret girl continues. “He didn’t say who. Which is good for his supposed mate, because if he had as much as mentioned a name, I bet you she'll be dead this night, before he gets the chance to mark her. That way, the gods will assign him to someone else who is more deserving.”

“What makes you think this mate of his isn’t deserving?” I query, unable to help it.

The Blond and the Beret turn to stare at me like I've grown wings, while the girl from the stairs fidgets uncomfortably. She's doing great by keeping what happened between us to herself.

“Did she just speak to Tamara?” The Blond asks Zuri as if I’d just insulted her and her Beret friend. She’s still refusing to acknowledge me as a person.  

A boy joins us at the stairs, hugging the Beret girl from behind, and I figured he must either be her boyfriend or her fated mate.

“Her name is Bethany, Mikah,” Zuri replies to the blond.

“I don’t give a damn who or what name she chose to answer. That’s none of my business. But you should give her basic orientation. It's enough that your inner Bear is a coward, and I have to hold my girls back from attacking you during each Crestbane ‘sweep’. But if this thing…” She points at me with her wrinkled index finger.

“If this thing doesn’t rein herself in and desist from speaking when big girls speak, I'll end her miserable life even before this year’s ‘sweep’!”

Now I need to actually put Miss Loud Mouth in her place.

I manage to cut Zuri’s next movement off with an arm when she’s about to lash out at Blond hair for disrespecting me.

I know she is not trying to defend herself because earlier, she comfortably called her Bear a coward.

“I'll give you thirty seconds to turn around and walk away with your body parts in one piece, or I'll rip them apart, piece by piece,” I tell Blond and Beret.

They both laugh at me, alongside Beret's boyfriend, while the girl from the stairs tries to pull them away, but they don’t seem to see a reason to retreat from me.

Someone calls Zuri from behind, and Beret snorts. “Little boyfriend, always to the rescue.” She says, as a boy, I assume as the Hellion Zuri told me about, walks up to us.

“Alright, that's it, let's go.” The boy says without asking what the issue was.

“You'd better take her to your dorm tonight. We don’t want the Bearless Bear shifter not waking up from sleep.” Beret’s lover or whatever the hell he is, says.

“Helly, I'm not leaving without Beth; she's my roommate,” Zuri tells Hellion.

Hellion turns to me and stretches out an arm. “Let's go, Beth.”

I snort and swat his arm away. “Take Zuu to safety, I'll be fine.”

Everyone but the girl from the stairs gasps as if I’ve gone mad.

“I'll murder you right here and now if you don’t walk away.” Berets fuck-mate threatens.

“I'd love to see you try.” I challenge him.

“No, Beth, please, let's go.” Zuri drags me by the arm. “We’ll stay with Hellion tonight. Just ignore them…”

“Take her home,” I tell Hellion, and he grabs Zuri, pulling her over his shoulder while she screams at me to come with them.

If not for her initial insistence, Hellion didn't seem very much interested in saving me.

All his focus is on Zuri, and that is fine by me. Watching over Zuri should be super tough; it won't be nice to add me to the equation.

Berret's boyfriend turns to her. “It's best you girls head to your dorm. We don’t need eye witnesses, do we?”

Blond hair lets out a mocking laughter as she drags the rest of the girls away.

“Edon, she's a new Noble. She doesn’t understand yet. Just show her mercy this once.” The girl from the stairs tries pleading, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Once they’re out of sight, and the hall is now eerily deserted, Edon looks at me with a sardonic smile, his fangs extending.

Fucking Vampire!

How many of these fools do I have to unalive today?

Just as the Vamp steps forward, the air around us wavers. Someone blurs into existence between the Vamp and me just as I hear a loud snap, accompanied by the Vamp’s lifeless body on the floor, a large gaping hole in his chest, and his heart lying on the floor beside him.

“Hello mate,” the Vamp’s killer smiles at me, offering me something white that is coated in red sticky liquid.

It’s the Vampire's fang. He didn’t just kill him; he pulled out his fang. The most humiliating way to kill a Vampire.

“Olyon Wrath,” the Vamp killer smiles. “I bet you're trying to recall the name. Here, a souvenir for you.”

I study the fang on Olyon's hand, oddly thrilled to have someone stand up for me yet again.

But accepting the fang would make him think I approve of him following me when I distinctly remember saying I don’t want to ever cross paths with any of the princes.

“You can hang it around your neck as a trophy. I'll pass.”

“Hmm, that means I didn’t do enough. I can dish out a couple of punishments to the members of his cohorts, give them nonstop nightmares, and if you approve, I'll drive them mad. Would that please you?”

Of course, that will please me very much. But he can't know that.

When I stare, waiting for him to get the hint and step aside so that I can pass, he simply flashes a cocky grin, maintaining his stand.

I step around him and head toward the stairs. “Don’t stalk me, Olyon Wrath. I don’t like your face well enough to have it appear everywhere I go.”

“You're my mate.” He replies, casually strolling next to me.

“I recall rejecting you.”

“I don’t recall accepting your rejection.”

At that, I pause and regard him. I thought I spelled it out, but maybe I didn’t.

“I rejected being mates to either of you, Olyon Wrath. We are never going to be mated to each other.”

“Sweetheart, have you ever watched a mountain bow to the wind?”

I give him an unimpressed look. “If you are implying that my rejection is like the touch of wind to a mountain, then prepare to be disappointed.”

“Nothing about you will ever disappoint me. You are perfect.”

gods, can he just hurry up and vanish back to where he appeared from?

When it's obvious he's not going to give up following me, I pause at the stairs and turn to him.

“What exactly do you want?”

“For now, I want to make sure you're safely in your room while I go get you dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“I'll get it still, and you keep it for later.”

“Eat it yourself.” I bite out, getting frustrated.

“Love,” he calls me, and I cringe at the awful name. “My type doesn’t get any satisfaction from mortal food. I feed from dreams. And I can't help but wonder what yours would taste like.”

Yeah, well, he's an incubus, what do I expect? I will have to spell a dream blocker if I want to block him from having access to my dreams tonight.

So my direction instantly changes to the store. I need to get supplies that can help me create a potent dream blocker.

Not comfortable having the incubus on my ass, I turn around and decide to take a stroll around Crestbane before heading to the store.

Fortunately, he finally got the memo and left me.

Forty-five minutes later, I arrive at my dorm and pause outside the door with a frown.

The four princes are all leaning on the rail just opposite my door.

And not just that.

There is a dream blocker hanging on my door frame, A fancy necklace with a white fang I believe belongs to the dead Vampire, hanging beside the dream blocker, a pack of food, and two boxes of things I have no idea what.

Oh my gods, these princes have no idea how to handle rejection.

If they don’t respond to blunt verbal rejection, how am I supposed to get them to opt for a rejection ritual?

Grumbling to myself as they watch me in silence, I push my door open, ignoring their gifts, and slam the door very loudly.

A few minutes after settling in, I decide to pull my cloth open and check for my mark. I didn't feel a thing from my mark throughout, so I'm certain it's not glowing.

But since the princes are outside, I don’t see the harm in checking.

As I turn my back towards the mirror, I realize I was wrong; the mark located on my back is glowing quite visibly but painlessly.

My gods!