BTS: Blood Diamond

Chapter 8: Mind Games

V scanned the rest of my answers as he said, "Henry the Eighth was delusional, yes, but he never found proof of us."

His use of "us" could've knocked me from my chair. He said it like he'd lurked through the English streets at the time, exchanged letters for the Crown, and danced through palace halls right under the king's nose. As if he seduced those women Henry obsessed over. Ate his honeyed meats and drank his wine.

He was pretty enough to do so. Nicer than the alabaster busts that filled those lush gardens if his sculpted jawline and profile endured time as it seemed.

"What are you thinking?" V asked.

I looked down at my paper again before he could catch the blood rushing to my cheeks. "Nothing."

Newspaper fluttered and my teacher's reading glasses rose above the print. He regarded me cool and calm, oblivious of the fact that V stared back too. "Sault, there's no talking during a test. Do I need to fail you?"

"Of course not." My eyes dropped to my sheet, holding onto number eight until the paper rustled again. When attention fell from me, I sent a withering look to V. This wasn't the Quad, or the museum, or any place where he could visit openly--and that was when I hoped for him to come at all, which I never had.

Rather than laughing at me, V leaned on my desk with his face clouded in thought. "If you want to respond to me, think it and I'll hear it. Direct it to me."

But did I want to respond? If I gave him silence he'd probably go away.

Besides, what did he know?

Everything, Mel. You don't know his age.

"I've had time to learn everything, but that doesn't mean I did," he said. At my widened eyes, he spoke slowly. "I'm sorry, I assumed the question you asked. I will never read your thoughts without consent."

He heard me, and all I had to do was think louder than normal. If I could make it visual, I'd imagine packaging my words in an envelope and sending them to him. Using a bit of extra effort to turn my mental head a certain way and speak. It made sense to the dhampir inside, but the human in me felt her lunch turn in her stomach.

How many thoughts of mine have you read?

"None." He held my gaze, the honesty in his tone seeming to put hands on my shoulders. All I could do was trust him. If he lied, I doubted he'd share what he heard. He licked his lips, looking at my test again. "Charles the First of Spain ordered the arrest of immortals. They were the richest in the world at the time, but that was because a band of vampires were his secret weapon. When they rebelled against him, Charles feared for his life and demanded they be found."

"Were they ever found?" I clapped a hand over my mouth, closing my eyes as newspaper wrinkled in fury at the front.

"Sault," my professor warned.

"I'm sorry. I'm trying to outline my short answer. It won't happen again."

V slid in between my professor and my seat. "I don't want you to get in trouble. I'll go."

My knuckles whitened around my pencil as I shook my head. I couldn't look up from the page, but maybe that was a good thing as my heart skipped a beat.

Don't. I think you're right.

V was too still. Too shocked by me.

About Henry the Eighth, I mean. I'll pick Charles.

I thought he'd hear all the swearing I'd done in my head or feel how hot things had become underneath my cloak. If he was in my head, was he exempt to that? His next words cooled me down.