“Oh my God! I saw you! You were talking to him in the library.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean what do I me…?” May looked at her new friend, utter disbelief gracing her features. “Alexi Volkov. The Alexi Volkov. I still can’t believe he’s your mentor. Juniors and seniors are talking about it. No one, and I mean no one, expected Volkov to ever want to mentor again. Don’t you know anything about him?”
“No, not really.”
The exasperation in May’s voice was transferred to her wide gestures. For the millionth time that day, Sophie found her unbearably cute.
“Unbelievable! Being so damn clueless has to be the worst sin.” May would have loved to grab Sophie’s shoulders and shake some sense into her. She threw her hands in the air instead, and tried to keep up with her. “He’s solved hundreds of the most difficult cases, which are the Count ones. Do you have any idea how dangerous the Count cases are?”
“No. Do you?” Teasing May had to be the best way of spending one’s spare time.
“Technically, me neither. But I’ve read about them. And he’s an expert. Total awesomeness and intelligence in one go. And like that wasn’t enough, you had to get the other sex-god of Lure as your mentor. Seriously? You’ve only been here for three days and you’re already the most popular new cambion in the whole school. Now, tell me you at least know something about Kain.”
They entered the cafeteria and Sophie spotted Lamia at a table and headed towards her, May hard on her heels.
“What did Kain do?”
“He has solved most of the Duke cases. Do you have any idea…”
“No, I don’t. Neither do you, May. Chill. Sit.”
They had reached Lamia’s table. The girl was watching them, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Getting used to your new life, darlings?”
“You have no idea,” Sophie said.
May was still fuming. “She has to be the most infuriating bitch around here.”
Sophie paid her no mind. “I met Alexi in the library. We scheduled the first session for tomorrow evening.”
“That’s awesome!” said Lamia.
“Yeah, but… He said we’d meet in The Red Chamber.”
“So? What’s the problem? All private sessions are held there.”
“Then, how are they private?” Sophie rolled her eyes.
“Honey, they’re private because you’ll be with your mentors and you’ll have all their attention. Here, private doesn’t mean locked up in a room with only the two of them.”
“Yep,” intervened May. “It means no one can join in.”
“What?” Sophie almost fell off her chair.
“Calm down,” said Lamia. She reached across the table to squeeze her roommate’s cold hand. “One step at a time.”
CHAPTER TWO
After their short conversation, Alexi excused himself and left Sophie in the library. No matter how much he liked spending time with her, he needed some space to ponder on what he had just read. The sooner he got this obsession out of his system, the better. Then he could concentrate on other things, like mentoring Sophie. When he reached the dorm, he was relieved to find it empty. The curtains were drawn and Kain’s bed was neatly made. He sat at his desk and silently contemplated the files before him.
He didn’t have to read the entire case to understand how it ended. Considering that was the forty-second file, it meant the case had been assigned to Kain at the beginning of his career. That was his luck. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had his both eyes right now. The thought made Alexi shudder. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at himself in the tall mirror. He was a strong, calculated and determined man, but every cambion feared one thing. “Because our greatest weakness is that our biological parents are mortals.” He tried to chase the dark thought away, reminding himself this was the reason for which he studied so much.
Turning back to the files, he decided to go on with the reading. The difference was that this time he was analyzing them with new-found passion and interest. After two hours of study, he had to admit that now it was simply impossible to ever get rid of his roommate’s image.
This beautiful blond, atrocious slayer, this Kain Svjetlo, born August 7, 1861, Zagreb, Croatia. After this case gone wrong, his attitude towards his job changed drastically. But why? He did become more careful and even began to show an increased knowledge about the Dukes’ psychology, but he only used his knowledge to slaughter them even more mercilessly. He was the predator and they were his prey, never the other way around.
“Never again,” thought Alexi. A Lure legend. Not even he was good enough to control his victims in such a way, to bend them to his will, and he was older and more experienced than Kain.