Page 65 of Slayer

Stella Sinclair (Legacy) was printed at the top.

8:00 a.m.–8:45 a.m.: Morning Conditioning (Professor Quinn) Physical training and endurance.

9:00 a.m.–9:50 a.m.: Combat Techniques (Professor Kade) Hand-to-hand combat, weapons mastery, and defensive maneuvers.

10:00 a.m.–10:50 a.m.: Vampire History and Lore (Professor Lenora Wraith) Vampire origins and politics.

11:00 a.m.–11:50 a.m.: Rune Identification and Mastery (Professor Elias Hawthorne) Understanding protective runes, sigils, and ancient wards.

12:00 p.m.–12:45 p.m.: Lunch in the Bloodhall

1:00 p.m.–1:50 p.m.: Advanced Weaponry and Tactics (Professor Quinn) Crossbows, stakes, specialized weaponry, strategic combat scenarios, and how to kill.

2:00 p.m.–2:50 p.m.: Vampire Biology and Anatomy (Dr. Alaric Foster) Understanding vampire physiology, vulnerabilities, and supernatural biology.

3:00 p.m.–3:50 p.m.: Specialized Hunter Training/Mentorship (Celia Walters) Individualized training sessions, private mentorship.

5:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.: Dinner in the Bloodhall

6:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m.: Independent Study/Library Research, Evernight Library (Madame Genevieve Beaumont) Research, study groups, homework, exploration of hunter texts, the codex, and vampire mythos.

7:30 p.m. onward: Free time.

The nice woman at the registrar office told me that Celia had put the special mentorship in my schedule at three p.m. and also the independent study in the library to help me catch up, since I was new to this lifestyle. It looked exhausting, like I was going to eat, breathe, and live vampire hunting for the next three years.

I sighed, already feeling tired.

I peered at my dorm assignment next and frowned.

Girls Dormitory Room 4: Legacy, private room.

Private room? I didn’t want a private room if no one else had one.

Harper and Luna came bounding over to me, their feet echoing down the hall. “What room are you? We are roomies!” Luna said, indicating Harper. She wore a black corset today laced over a black long-sleeved shirt with a black miniskirt and black tights. Her nails, lipstick, and even eye shadow were, you guessed it, black. The contrast against her pale skin made everything pop. I loved her vibe.

“I guess I got a private room? Room four?”

“Yay, we’re suitemates! Room three,” Harper said with a grin.

Suitemates. I guessed that was good. The word sounded warmer than “dorm neighbor.”

“You’re a Sinclair. A private room is standard,” Luna told me, sneaking a peek at my schedule. “I’m surprised they didn’t put you in one of the on-campus cottages with a daily maid.”

On-campus cottage? All alone? I pictured a quiet little house far from everyone and instantly knew I would have hated that.

“Suitemates sounds nice,” I told them as I struggled to lug my two duffel bags across campus, the straps biting into my palms. I had everything I owned in two hands right now. My duffel from Rae’s apartment and now the one from school.

The campus was huge with multiple buildings including Evernight Library, Bloodhall eatery, girls’ and boys’ dormitories, multiple indoor training rooms, and a central hall where all the classes and registrar were. Not to mention a giant ballroom for events and a smaller ballroom where we’d had the freshman mixer and been attacked. The stone paths wound between trimmed lawns and iron lanterns.

I trailed beside Luna and Harper, cutting across the lawn as my fingers turned purple under the weight of the two bags, the thick straps digging into my skin.

There were parents and kids everywhere, lugging big boxes and wheely carts filled with stuff, voices overlapping, doors slamming, laughter echoing across the quad.

“Where is the rest of your stuff?” I asked the girls, who only had their school-issued duffel bags.

“Our parents are dropping it off in our room,” Harper said.

Right. I forgot sometimes that the entire world wasn’t on their own like me. I’d been rolling solo for so long I got used to not having anyone show up for me.