Kairos - Blood (MxM) | Book 2 | ✅

17.Mortal

The student hugged her colorful binder so tightly — it was a wonder that the cardboard hadn't cracked yet.

"Will you answer the question or just stare at me all doe-eyed like that?" I smirked amused and ruffled the pages of the essay before setting them back in front of the student.

"I'll redo the assignment," she decided.

"Only if you have time to waste. I've already graded you on this."

Her eyes widened, "No. I can't fail your class."

"If you do the actual work you won't."

"But I did the work. I went through all of those books and analyzed the main characters-"

"This isn't an analysis. This is you stating your opinion. Which is fine for one, maybe two paragraphs. But a College student going on about how a character is 'bitchy' while another is 'way too serious' does not an analysis make."

She tried to prove how there were other paragraphs in her essay thoroughly exposing the meaning and nature of each character. I pulled up a few websites on my laptop and asked her why she hadn't cited her sources.

Of course, she hadn't. She had no idea what she had copy-pasted into the essay. Who confuses hedonism with stoicism?

Flustered and annoyed, the student finally fled my lecture hall.

I shuffled papers about my desk and set them in piles with no defined purpose or order. My glasses were smudged and everything seemed out of focus for a moment.

Last night had been excruciating. I needed sleep but my mind had been set on keeping me awake.

Knock. Knock.

The sound gripped my attention and I looked at the door.

A young woman stood there, dressed up in a suit, with tasteful make-up to match and a grin I felt I should have recognized.

"Still making students cry, Prof.Finley?" she asked cocking her head.

Lana Drake - the vampire girl from my birthday.

"Oh, did I do that often when you were in my class, Miss Drake?" I scoffed.

Her chuckles filled the empty lecture hall and then braided with the resounding clicks of her high heels on the floor as she approached me.

"Often. Even to me," the young woman revealed.

"Really?"

Come on, my students weren't so frail. Or was I too harsh? But I knew the answer to that already.

"Are you here to exact revenge then?" I spoke with a smile.

She placed a hand on the chair beside mine. "May I?"

I nodded.

Miss Drake took a seat and removed a slim folder from her bag as she spoke, "I'm here to impress you."

"And if you fail am I to expect tears?" My brows raised and I watched for her reaction.

The smile she beamed at me was pleasant and fearless. Good. I lacked the patience to deal with hurt feelings at this time, or at any other time apparently.

"You need a TA. Am I right?"

She was not wrong. The last Teacher's Assistant had quit on me due to personal reasons. I managed without and didn't bother to get another for the current semester.

Her slim folder made its way on my desk where I perused its contents. Overqualified.

"I don't mind odd hours and there's nothing you could throw at me that I can't handle."