“Given that Gavino is still unconscious, it appears your ‘zap’ was the equivalent of a lightning bolt.” Killian’s British accent was so faint it was nearly indiscernible from American English, but I could hear bits of it in his dry tone. “Can you stand?”

My fingers were finally listening to me enough that I could boost myself up on my palms. I sat there for a moment or two, wincing when I saw Gavino spread eagle a few feet away. “How badly did I hurt him?”

“He will recover,” Killian impassively shrugged. “Whatever inner damage you did, he is likely healing right now.”

I shuffled so I was on my knees, then pushed myself into standing. I wobbled a bit and almost fell, but Killian grabbed me by the elbow and twitched me so I smacked into his chest instead of collapsing on the ground again.

And then Killian Drake—Elder of the Drake Family and Eminence of the Midwest, indisputably one of the most powerful vampires in America—sniffed my hair.

He’d been doing that a lot more since I had unsealed my powers and killed Solene after realizing she’d been behind the murders of blood donors, servants to Families, and some vampires. I wasn’t sure if all the new magic in my blood made me smell worse, or what.

Wizards, you see, have one natural defense against vampires. There is something about the magic in our blood that smells awful. We’re talking roadkill rotting on a sizzling hot day awful. The smell protects us wizards, because no vampire can fight their gag reflex and drink from us, or they probably would have drunk us to extinction centuries ago.

There’s a way to get around it—but it requires the vampire and the wizard to unconditionally and absolutely trust each other. Apparently this pleases the magic in the wizard’s blood? I don’t know. It kinda sounds like the longings of a Twilight fan, but I know it’s real—just rare—because there have been historic cases of it.

All of this is just to point out how weird it was that Killian had been sniffing me. (Because why on earth would he want to go around taking whiffs of roadkill?)

I tried to tug my elbow from Killian’s grasp, but he didn’t let go. “Thank you, but could you release me now?”

“Why? Does my closeness make you uncomfortable?” Killian purred as he further invaded my space, going so far as to rest his forearm on top of my shoulder.

Killian was handsome—like, outrageously so. In general, most vampires are good looking—it’s another tool for them to use in luring their prey in. But Killian was exceptional among his kind and took care to have a modernized look with his artfully mussed dark hair and all of his stupidly expensive designer suits.

But I could admire the beauty of a wolf and still be keenly aware of its teeth. It was the same for Killian.

So even though he smiled down at me and crowded my space with enough pheromones to twitterpate a rock, I stared at his crisp white dress shirt—which was rolled up to his elbows—and frowned.

“You aren’t wearing a suitcoat?”

Killian’s chuckle started in his chest. “Want me to pull off a few buttons to give you a show?”

“No thanks.” I patted his chest the way I might pat a horse. “But I would like to request a uniform change—for me.”

Killian nudged me slightly backwards so he could inspect my clothes. “You need a new set of workout clothes?”

“I’d like something that will keep me from bruising and scraping so easily,” I said. “Regular cloth isn’t going to cut it.”

“You do flail about,” Killian acknowledged. “Fine. I’ll have someone look into it. Though I don’t know what sort of durable clothes they’ll find in the children’s section.”

He smirked when I squawked my anger.

If I wore the right shoes, I was about five feet. My mom—when she was alive—had called me petite; in reality I was irritatingly short. I found it annoying because it was way harder to headbutt someone when they were over a foot taller than you, and before I unsealed my magic that was one of my best defenses.

There was a choking noise behind me.

I twisted just enough to see Gavino coming out of it, his limbs twitching.

“Gavino?” I tried to take a step closer to him, but Killian still hadn’t released me. “Are you okay?”

The big vampire groaned as he sat up. “That was…ugh.” He groaned again and leaned back on his elbows, scrunching his eyes shut. “That was magic?”

“She thumped you good.” Celestina patted the bigger vampire’s shoulder. “Don’t get up too quickly.”

Gavino nodded, breathed a few times, then slowly stood. When he caught sight of Killian he bowed, more of the liquid grace of vampires returning to his movements. “Your Eminence.”

I nervously bit the inside of my cheek as Gavino stood straight again. “I’m sorry,” I said.

Gavino blinked. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

“I didn’t know how much magic to use—I guess that’s something I should practice.”

He shook his head. “It was my loss. Thank you for the fight, Miss.” He bowed to me—just his head, not with his whole body as he had to Killian—but it still shocked me. “It is an honor to be under you.”

“But—what? What?” I glanced up at Killian for direction.

“You’ve beaten Gavino—admittedly while almost killing yourself in the process, but a win is a win,” Killian said.

“So?”

“So you are now ranked above him.”

I sucked my neck into my shoulders. “You’re joking.”

Killian lifted an eyebrow. “Rank is never a joke in Drake Hall.”

I uneasily peered back at Gavino, who gave me a slight smile.

“It’s true, Miss.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’ve always called me Hazel—or the wizard.”

“When you were ranked below me. Now I must give you the honor due to your station.” Gavino said.

“But I’m a wizard! And you were going easy on me!” I complained.

“Not at all,” Gavino insisted. “You won outright.”

I pressed my lips together and started to plan my rebuttal, but Killian stopped me before I could go any farther.

“I think you have done enough training for the day.” Killian cast an indolent glance over my head.

Celestina bowed deeply, but a wide smile stretched across her lips. “Very good, Your Eminence.”

“For real?” I said. “But it’s a Tuesday. Gavino makes my arms into noodles with weightlifting on Tuesdays.”

“It’s fine.” Killian slid his arm off my shoulder and pressed his hand between my shoulder blades, effectively scooping me away.

Celestina wiggled her fingers in farewell at me.

I dodged Killian’s touch so I could reclaim my katana and scabbard, but I rejoined him in the dim hallway outside the gym.

“What did this battle teach you?” Killian prompted as he sauntered down the hallway.

“Not to clobber a vampire when he can fall on top of me.”

The corner of Killian’s lips quirked in amusement, but I only vaguely noticed as I mulled over the fight.

My observation was obviously right, but it was more than that. I needed a way to keep vampires from moving into close combat range. They were their most deadly up close.

But magic shifted into flames—a wizarding classic and perhaps the most used skill among my kind—hadn’t done much.

Electricity was obviously a bigger contender, but if only I could use a shield of some sort…

I tucked the thought away for some later musings—it wouldn’t be good for my health to get distracted around Killian. “Where are we going?” I followed Killian up a large staircase that took us out of the basement—where most of the training rooms were located.

“My office.”

We reached the top step, and I had to trot to keep up with Killian as he moved through Drake Hall. “I want a cookie.”

Killian looked down at me and raised both his eyebrows.

“The kitchen staff made peanut butter cookies this week. They’re amazing.”

Killian rolled his eyes. “Do you want some chocolate milk to go with your cookies?”

“Just because you don’t imbibe in regular food doesn’t mean it’s not worth launching a campaign for it,” I said. “I’ll get you a blood pack and meet you at your office?”

“If you think I’m going to let you run loose in the hall like a rabid, starving racoon, you are gravely mistaken,” Killian dryly said.

“What?” I huffed, but Killian walked too fast for me to stop and call him out. “You’ve let me ‘run loose’, to quote you, for weeks, and this is the first time I’m hearing you complain about it.”

“This is also the first time you dropped a vampire on your head,” Killian said.

Now I did stop—I was too shocked to keep up with him. “Are…are you concerned for me?”

Killian stopped as well and slipped his hands into the pockets of his black pants so he looked like a posing model. “The health of my wizard and attack dog in training has always deeply concerned me. I have worn myself out in my worry for you.” He wasn’t at all convincing. Even though he had sorrowfully tilted his eyebrows, his voice held the obvious musical tone of mockery.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry I ever thought you were capable of sympathy,” I grumbled.

“Perhaps it occurred to me I ought to keep better tabs on you after you almost killed yourself by toppling a vampire on top of you,” Killian said.

“You aren’t going to let me forget that, huh?”

“As long as it amuses me, no.”

I twisted slightly to the side so I could hide my expression from Killian and sneered at him.

My good spirits returned, however, after Killian made a turn where the sections of the hallway met, and he moved in the direction of the kitchens.