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  “They meant what they said last night…they won’t hurt us?”

  “No. They won’t. These vampires have taken an oath stronger

  then the pledge we made. If they take advantage of us in any way,

  they are terminated immediately. There are homicidal demons out

  there, but they won’t bother us. The sister-queens’ scents are all over

  us now. Plus, our necklaces. They know better than to cross Camila.”

  “How’d you get so smart?” Samantha asked. I wasn’t so

  amused with the tone she was taking with Benny.

  “Your dad’s one of them, right?” Laura asked.

  “My step-father. He oversees the vampires north of the equator,

  between Greenland and Alaska. The seat of power is in Asia though,”

  Benny said.

  • 79 •

  reBekah WeatherspOOn

  “What happened to your real dad?” Anna-Jade asked. I’d been

  thinking the same thing.

  “He was my step-father’s main contact in the White House.

  He’d planned to blackmail a group of vampires in China. After he

  was disposed of, my step-father took my mother and me in.”

  “You don’t sound too sad about that,” Samantha said.

  “I’m not. He wasn’t a good man.” Benny left it at that.

  “What happens after graduation?” Amy finally spoke up.

  “You go on with your life, feeding another vampire wherever

  you decide to live. I don’t know if you noticed, but they picked a

  diverse group for a reason. None of us would hang out normally. No

  more than two of us share a major. When we graduate, we’ll go off

  to different places and work with vampires in different fields. Each

  of the sister-queens only needs to feed from three of us, but they

  take on six at a time to bring more feeders into their world. This is

  all just to prepare us to share our lives with them. To show us how

  to live with the secret.”

  It got quiet again, all of us letting what Benny had just said

  sink in.

  “It’s easier this way. They will feed no matter what. It’s better

  if they trust us and we trust them. No one gets hurt that way and we

  both can exist,” Benny added as a final note.

  It had been hard to believe Camila, but I knew Benny was

  telling the truth.

  “So why’d you sit out last night?” Samantha looked pointedly

  at Benny. “Not into the lady loving like the rest of us?”

  “Hey. Back off,” I snapped. Benny was giving us a lot of useful

  information. What did it matter if she wasn’t into the group sex

  scene? Samantha had no reason to be a bitch.

  Benny replied calmly, ignoring my attempt to defend her.

  “Because as kind as they are to us, I don’t believe in having sex with

  people I barely know.” She kept her voice low and even, but she

  didn’t back down. “It has nothing to do with my sexual preference.

  I can serve Camila and the other sister-queens without fucking them

  or any of you. We all can. They love us for our sacrifice, and if we

  get to know them better, they will like us as friends.”

  • 80 •

  Better Off red

  She looked directly at Samantha. “Natasha has had close to one

  hundred and eighty lovers since this house was built. Her husband

  is the King of Omega Beta Alpha. His name is Rodrick, if you were

  wondering. The feeding is a necessity. The orgasm is a bonus. The

  sex is for you to brag about. We all feel affection for our sister-

  queens, but it’s part of the blood bond we all agreed to last night.

  Nothing more. Thinking it can be something more is a waste of

  everyone’s time.”

  That shut all of us up. Benny was completely right. The

  agreement we’d struck made sense. We work with the vampires;

  they don’t kill us for sport. But the sex was a whole other issue. I’d

  enjoyed my night with Camila, but I didn’t know her at all. I didn’t

  know how many lovers she’d had. I didn’t know if she was married.

  Natasha was just as involved in the sexual escapades as the rest of

  us, and we didn’t know a thing about her personal life.

  I’d been seduced thoroughly, but like Benny, I wanted

  something more than to be Camila’s one hundred and eighty-first

  plaything, and when the time came, I’d never intended on sharing

  my first girlfriend with thirty-six other people. I’d thought I wanted

  to experiment, get some clarity, but that wasn’t true. I wanted

  something special with one special girl. And I wouldn’t get that

  from Camila or anyone else in Alpha Beta Omega. No matter how

  much I wanted her.

  Benny broke the silence once more. “Sex complicates things

  for humans. Not for them. Why do you think we’re free to date?

  They don’t want us to get attached to them that way. I’d hate to fall

  in love with one of the sister-queens seeing as how they’ve already

  prepared to let us go in four years. I’ll stick to the sidelines, thanks.”

  And with that kick in the gut, Cleo entered the room.

  “Benny. Come here a sec,” she called from the doorway. Benny

  stood and walked out of the dining room on Cleo’s heels. The rest of

  us finished our breakfast in silence.

  • 81 •

  • 82 •

  Better Off red

  Chapter five

  Between Benny’s information bomb and where and how I’d

  woken up this morning, I had to rethink my approach to

  my role in the sorority and my relationship with Camila. I knew

  my vampire blood had been the main reason Camila had pulled me

  aside, but the other girls had no clue why I’d been the only one to get

  the queen to myself. I wasn’t going to bring it up. Amy had already

  razzed me for spending the night alone with Camila. Would the rest

  of the girls think I was trying to weasel my way into her favor, her

  bed, and her heart?

  Aside from Samantha, I liked my sisters in Greekness. We

  were obviously in this together, for good. I knew a thing or two

  about cattiness and jealousy. Cozying up with Camila seemed like

  the perfect way to set myself up as an ass-kissing target for both. As

  I finished my meal, I decided that last night was the last time I would

  put myself in that sort of situation with Camila. From now on, I

  would focus on getting to know the other girls better, on making

  new friends. And on putting up with Samantha.

  Thirty minutes or so later, we were loaded into a black limo

  bus, probably the same bus that had brought us to the house. It had

  been a relief to see the top floors of the ABO house again. It was

  fantastic to be outside in the mid-September sun, breathing some

  fresh Baltimore air.

  I took my seat next to Amy, and we chatted about how much

  longer we’d be forced to wear all white. I looked up when the bus

  grew strangely quiet.

  • 83 •

  reBekah WeatherspOOn

  Benny walked down the aisle and took her seat next to me.

  When she’d left the dining room, her hair looked liked the aftermath

  of a bomb going off in a very long brunette rat’s nest. Now her

  coffee brown locks were amazingly straight. The acne that had
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  riddled her face was magically gone. I imagined it was the same

  below the neck. We all stared at her for a minute. She ignored us and

  started playing a game on her cell phone.

  Cleo and Danni hopped on the bus and the driver pulled away

  from the house. Amy and I picked up our conversation, moving

  on to what Amy was going to tell her mom now that she officially

  wasn’t going to be a Xi O. I listened for a few moments, but then I

  had to take a crack at Benny.

  I glanced across the aisle. Laura and Anna-Jade were in their

  own world. Mel was staring out the window, and Ruth and Ebony

  were talking animatedly about the one professor they shared, a

  college algebra teacher who wore his pants up around his nipples.

  Samantha was staring right at Benny, but I had a feeling Sam’s

  hostile attitude wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

  “You’re looking a little different,” I said. I felt Amy inch a bit

  closer to me, straining to hear Benny’s response.

  “Their blood has healing properties. Camila offered to let me

  take from her, so I said okay.”

  “Your step-dad wouldn’t feed you before?” Amy asked.

  “Would you ask your step-dad if you could take from his

  wrist?”

  “Good point,” Amy and I both muttered. We were quiet for a

  moment before I patted Benny on the knee. “Well. You look good.”

  “Thanks, Ginger.”

  ❖

  As we got closer to the spa, Cleo and Danni made us all

  memorize the address and the phone number of the Alpha Beta

  Omega house for emergencies. Then they explained how the rest

  of our weekend would go. Our mandatory morning of pampering

  would be followed by a few hours we’d have to ourselves. We could

  • 84 •

  Better Off red

  head back to the ABO house, go to our dorms, whatever. We had

  to be back by seven to get ready for a formal mixer with the boys

  from Omega Beta Alpha. I’d expected some of the other girls to

  be excited about meeting them, but they took the news with casual

  amusement.

  For the rest of the sororities and fraternities on campus,

  initiation lasted eight to twelve weeks. Our initiation ended

  sometime around dawn that morning, a blood bond making all the

  other Greek traditions seem a little lame. We still had activities and

  chapter meetings to attend. Sunday would be ours, but our Friday

  nights and Saturdays belonged to Alpha Beta Omega. We had to

  make it look like we were going through the process just like the

  other Greek organizations.

  When we arrived at the spa, we were put back in our line and

  shuffled off two by two to see the estheticians. Even if they weren’t

  all that invested in us emotionally, the sister-queens preferred our

  lady parts bare. We all snickered at the shrieks of pain coming from

  inside the room and offered our condolences for the pubes that had

  fought the good fight.

  A chubby woman with light brown hair and too much eye

  makeup helped me onto the table then showed me my options for

  designs. I seriously wanted to kick myself. When she asked me

  which I liked the best, Camila immediately popped into my mind.

  I wondered, just for a second, which was a second way too long,

  what she would like to see the next time we were together. But there

  wasn’t going to be a next time. That was the perfect reason for me to

  push any thought of what Camila might like out of my head.

  I liked the idea of maintaining a little proof I was a natural

  redhead, so I decided against the full Brazilian. I went back and forth

  between the straight landing strip and a plain triangle. They actually

  offered a heart-shaped design that could be dyed pink on request.

  I held up my necklace. “Can you do a landing strip shaped like

  this?”“Like a teardrop?” she asked. I nodded. “Of course.”

  She stirred the hot wax, and I did a pretty good job of not

  making any weird animal-like noises when she poured it all over my

  • 85 •

  reBekah WeatherspOOn

  crotch—and along my ass. It hurt like hell, every single tear-jerking

  yank, but it suddenly felt surprisingly light and breezy between my

  legs. The woman gave me a mirror so I could examine her handiwork

  upright. The leftover patch of hair looked so ridiculous I knew I’d

  have to shave it off at some point. My pussy looked kinda nice. It

  was a little swollen and blushed a bright red, but it was nice to see

  what I was working with from that angle. It didn’t look half bad.

  Blinding pain aside, I knew I’d be waxing from then on.

  After a facial, a massage, and watching Danni and Amy make

  out in the sauna for a good fifteen minutes, Amy and I decided to

  head back to the dorm for a little while. She managed to keep it

  together on her way up to our room. She’d been waiting all day

  for me to spill about my night with Camila. We were finally alone

  and I didn’t have the excuse of security cameras or eavesdropping

  sorority girls to keep her questions at bay.

  When we hit our hallway, Amy’s nosy questions took a

  backseat. Our door was covered in red, black, and white decorations.

  Our names were cut out in big red block letters around an even

  bigger ABO cut out in black construction paper. The letters were

  surrounded by white stars and hearts, glitter, confetti, and streamers

  all over the slab of faux wood. It looked like a piñata threw up.

  Amy laughed at my bug-eyed look. “This part is actually

  normal. They decorate our room.”

  “Oh. How long do we have to keep this up?”

  “All semester,” she said as she unlocked the door. We stepped

  inside and then we both stopped in our tracksuits.

  Our beds were piled high with gift boxes and shopping bags.

  “What the? Okay. I knew about the decorations, but I don’t

  know what all this stuff is,” Amy said.

  We glanced at each other for a moment before we tore into

  the packages. Inside each bag and box, we found item after item

  of Alpha Beta Omega swag. Under the tissue paper, I dug out four

  different ABO T-shirts, in different arrangements of the sorority’s

  colors. There was a vintage letterman’s sweater in black with an

  enormous red “A” stitched to the rib with white thread. Custom ABO

  sweats from Victoria’s Secret. Custom underwear and camisoles

  • 86 •

  Better Off red

  from Victoria’s Secret. Three different hooded sweatshirts, a fleece

  jacket, socks, a scarf, knit and baseball caps, key chains, a watch,

  headbands and hair clips, plastic bracelets, and flip-flops, all in red,

  black, and white. The only thing missing was a pair of Alpha Beta

  Omega low-rise jeans.

  There was a giant plush panther on my pillows wearing an ABO

  collar. Between its paws was a paddle that Amy assured me was

  just for decoration. The sizable piece of carved wood was decorated

  with my name, the year, and of course, the letters ABO. Apparently,

  we were supposed to hang it somewhere.

  I couldn’t decide what my favorite pie
ce of apparel was. It was

  a toss-up between the letterman’s sweater and a T-shirt that read,

  “Once you go red, white, and black, you never go back.” I had

  the sneaky suspicion Cleo had something to do with that one. We

  allowed ourselves a good half hour of girlie frenzy and then tried to

  make some order out of our room.

  “Are you going to sleep at the house tonight?” Amy asked.

  “I guess.” I hadn’t planned on meeting up with Greg until after

  lunch on Sunday. I could spend the night acting the fool with the

  girls.“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of room in Camila’s bed.” Amy

  poked her tongue out at me between her teeth.

  “Probably. I won’t be sleeping there.”

  “Why not?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Um, because Camila’s gorgeous and she wants you. Why else

  would she have picked you out?” I didn’t think now was a good time

  to tell Amy about my curious blood. I wanted to know more before

  I talked to anyone about it.

  “She sensed I wasn’t into the idea of joining a sorority even if

  it’s all some elaborate ruse, so we just talked about that.”

  “And then after you talked, you and Camila…”

  “We watched you get it on with Danni and Paige and Barb.” I

  turned around and grinned at her.

  “Wait. You were there?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  • 87 •

  reBekah WeatherspOOn

  “I didn’t see you.”

  “Well, you were a little busy getting it on with Danni and Paige

  and Barb.”

  “Yeah.” Amy got quiet, nibbling on the inside of her lip. “I like

  Danni a lot.” That explained the making out in the sauna.

  “Did you tell her that?”

  “No. I mean, I found out she’s not dating Paige. They just hook

  up a lot, so at least she’s single. Officially, but…”

  “What?”

  “Ginger, I’ve only known her for five days and I’m over guys.”

  “Whoa. It’s that serious?” I know it sounded like I was giving

  Amy a hard time, but I wasn’t. She was pretty damn boy crazy. For

  her to consider sleeping with a girl—I mean outside of the vampire-

  induced group sex—was a big deal. Wanting to be in a relationship

  with another girl was huge.

  “I just—I know what Benny said was mostly about the sister-

  queens, about them not wanting to get serious with us, but I’m afraid

  to say something to Danni. What if she looks at us new girls the