He smiled weakly, “Good enough, and understood. You will continue to partner with Serena for the next two months. You will not be partnered with Christina, nor will you be taking her on dates. Understood?”
Two months? Was he husband shopping for his younger daughter then? Well, I supposed that was at least better than choosing at random. Still screwed up beyond belief though.
I sighed, “Yes, but it might be easier if you just transferred me to another city.”
He nodded, “It might spare my daughter pain, and you. I would if I could, but if your existence was generally known there could be… problems, to say the least. Only Chicago and our superiors know of your existence, and they want to keep it that way as long as possible, that means you serve here.”
Right, I’m not only a secret weapon or tool, but a dirty one they want to keep hidden. Maybe because there are others that know about the first four, the failures that turned traitor, or maybe those that were betrayed and fought back is a better way to describe them. I wondered why I was dumped in a small town again, had there been backlash from some people on it, because the first four were utter failures?
If that was the case, wouldn’t they have just killed me?
“I understand, are we done here? It’s Tuesday morning, right? I’d like to go back to the dorm and start catching up on my missed classes, unless I have to drop out of college now?”
He waved a hand at that, “Yes, it’s Tuesday morning. No, you can still go to college, that hasn’t changed. I’ll see you on the track tomorrow morning.”
Oh, that was going to be fun, I hadn’t been able to work out properly in a week, which was going to hurt. For a Blood to work out, we needed far more weight resistance than a normal human, which left out things like pushups, sit-ups, or jumping jacks, they were just too easy.
I nodded coldly, got up, and left with my dignity in tatters. I had no choice, I needed the truth before I could make a good decision, but did they have to make it so damned hard in the meantime? I didn’t run into anyone as I left, and come to think of it I didn’t even feel Christina, which meant her father had gotten her to leave the building before we’d even started to talk, and she was sent at least a half mile away. I seriously doubted she was patrolling in the morning, and she lived here.
I got back to the dorm, and hit the books hard. George must still be at wherever he went Monday night, because there was no one here. One week wouldn’t be hard to catch up on despite my complaining about it so much, not if I pushed myself hard, and it got my mind off of… other things.
Chapter Two
George asked, “Where the hell have you been?”
I shrugged, “Held captive by a cult of crazy people. How are you?”
I smirked, they kind of were a cult of sorts, weren’t they? Other race with a blood oath or not, and I wasn’t just being bitter about the whole don’t date my daughter thing, there were bigger stakes than that involved. Though, that part did suck more than I wanted to admit. Far more.
In truth, heartrending came to mind, but I was trying not to dwell.
George sighed, “Fine, don’t tell me, I’m just getting a shower and then hitting a dorm party, you up for it?”
I was about to say no, like I usually did, but paused. My brains were dribbling out of my ears, I’d been staring at the laptop screen for almost ten hours now, and had done four assignments thanks to my professors keeping them posted online. I was also caught up to last Wednesday, which meant just three days behind on the material.
I was also about to go nuts with everything in my head, and although I wasn’t ever a huge partier, sometimes a person just needed to relax.
I really needed to relax right now, before I snapped.
“That sounds like a good idea,” I said as I pulled my laptop lid shut.
He blinked, a little surprised. His invite had been automatic, thoughtless. He’d stopped inviting me to places after I’d said no a bunch of times in a row, I imagine he’d only asked since I showed up after being missing for a week. Being a captive of a necromancer for two days, and then for a week with witches could drive a person a little crazy.
George nodded, “Twenty minutes.”
I got up and grabbed some fresh clothes and what I needed for the shower.
The dorm common room was packed, and the music was a little loud but not outrageously so, no one wanted the campus police to drop by. To my surprise, George didn’t need my wingman services tonight, he had an actual date set up and walked off to find her as soon as we got in. I glanced down the hallway, and there were a ton of people down there too, drinking, swaying to the music, and walking in and out of the first-floor dorm rooms.
I imagined there were free rooms upstairs for random hookups, but as usual I’d be avoiding the one night stand scene. It wouldn’t help me get those cerulean eyes out of my head, and I’d just feel guilty and stupid the next day. It wasn’t me. A drink however was.
I shrugged, alone again. I walked over to the bar that was set up, and grabbed a vodka and lemonade, and started to sip it while I people watched. By the time the glass was half empty, I felt a warm sensation in my stomach, and was starting to regret coming. I wasn’t like the other Blood, I hadn’t been raised on their propaganda and rigid military lifestyle, but I’d never really fit in with humans either. Now after all that had passed the last month, they seemed even further away than ever.
I didn’t think I was better than them, I was envious of them, and felt trapped. Outside of the fact I wasn’t even close to being over Christina, I was still in the denial stage, and wouldn’t be past it for a long time, so why would I ever drag one of them into my crazy life? Come to think of it, how did the Blood even do that, when they mated with a human? Did they hide it all, or read them in? I had a feeling, it was the former.
It was a mistake to come here. In the crowd of dancing and partying humans, I just felt even more cut off and alone than I had back in the dorm room. At least I’d had some illusions left then.
I finished downing my drink, and figured one more would get me a nice buzz for a while, but then I felt like a mooch. Was I just going to down two drinks and go home? Damn, enough feeling sorry for myself.
After all, I still had my health.
I smirked and turned back for that second drink when something caught my eye. Two men had a blonde between them, and were heading for the stairs. She looked familiar, and it took me a minute to remember her. She was Amy, from the bar last month, the night my life had taken a turn into the odd and strange. The really cute blonde who was very shy, and had been out with her friend red. I couldn’t remember red’s name though, the red-haired woman George had tried to get with.
Anyway, she looked like she could hardly stand, or even keep her eyes open, and the guys were holding her up between them, and heading for the stairs probably meant heading for an empty dorm room. I remembered her as sweet, shy, and reserved, there was no way she’d share herself with two guys if she was in her right mind, and I could see the guys’ intentions to do just that with a glance. Judgement did come in handy on occasion.
I frowned, put down the empty red plastic cup, and intercepted their path to the stairway. I had to move a little too fast to do it, but no one was paying enough attention to notice my inhuman speed. I was sure a lot of naive woman got drugged at parties like this, and raped, but that didn’t mean I was going to let it happen if I saw it. Especially since I knew the person, not that fifteen minutes of an awkward one-sided conversation counted.
I wondered how the other humans, especially the ladies, could miss something so obvious and evil happening right in their midst. Humans really could be self-absorbed and clueless at times, and never so much as in a large crowd.
They stopped, and one of them cursed, when they noticed me suddenly standing in their way.
“Rohypnol?” I asked in a cold voice.
“No jackass, she just drank too much and we’re putting her in an empty room to sleep it off.”
/> Lie.
I looked at her, and her head was lolling, I wondered if they gave her too much, she didn’t look good at all. Of course, that was normal for the drug, wasn’t it? I could have just kicked their asses, but I decided to try a subtler approach. I pulled out my phone, and snapped a picture of the three of them.
“Hand her over, and you guys can walk. You really don’t want to go the hard way.”
One snorted, “Hard way?”
I nodded, “I’ll call campus security, she’ll get blood tested, and you’ll have a nice stay in prison, where bubba will get two new girlfriends. Or, I’ll just beat your sorry asses.”
The other growled, “Hold her,” let go and tried to take a swing at me.
My hand shot out and nailed his solar plexus. Not hard enough to cause real damage, but a second later he was on his ass and gasping for breath. The other one had wide eyes, I doubted he even saw my hand move.
I raised an eyebrow pointedly, and the guy handed Amy over. I checked her pulse, and it seemed a little too weak to me. I sighed, originally I’d had the idea to just take her back with me, and let her sleep it off in my dorm where I could keep an eye on her, but now I was thinking getting her to medical care was a better idea.
I lifted her up and left the party, no one stopped me. Horrible first time at a party since this all started a month ago, but looking down at Amy’s face, I could hardly regret going…
Chapter Three
I’d expected the next morning to be painful on multiple levels. Both from missing running for a week, and seeing Christina. I wondered if she’d ignore me, or if we’d share looks of regret and pain. I had no illusions that she would rebel, like some bad play, and run away with me.
Sadly, I’d probably do it if she would.
When I got there, I changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, pulled on my running shoes, and headed out to the track.
I nodded to Matt, and he grunted back. No change there.
Serena smiled at me, and gave me a commiserating look, but her eyes were full of pity and worry about what I might do. She looked great as usual, same blue eyes and midnight black hair her sister had, and a face just as attractive. She was also in her usual workout attire, leotard, and yoga pants.
I ignored the latter and smiled back, “Hey Serena.”
“Tom, I’m glad you’re back.”
She said it more like a question.
I replied, “I got your back.”
She smiled a little wider, a true smile this time.
I reluctantly looked over at Christina, and of the two options I’d expected her to treat me like, she picked neither. She looked beautiful of course, perfect really, but I was biased that way. A little more mature than her sister, being my age, and she’d a slightly different facial structure, but she’d be stunning in anything. Of course, her beauty had far more of an effect on me, since I felt far more than friendship for her. She had on a pair of tight stretchy shorts, and a clingy t-shirt.
She smiled at me, and said in a friendly voice, “Tom, welcome back.”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, which were cold and empty, and in that moment, I hated the fact that I’d been right about that. It wasn’t hard to read between the lines, Christina had given up hope on her dreams, and the promise she’d made to herself when her mother passed. That she’d find love and passion with a man before she’d mate him. It was also disconcerting, her eyes were usually warm, not icy cold.
But by her words, and the faked smile, she was trying to back things up. Not ignore me, or share pining looks that we couldn’t be together, instead she was making the effort to be friends. To pretend that kiss on the night she rescued me, and our declarations afterward, had never happened. My judgement ability had been rubbish on her in the past, and I hated that it was working so well right now.
Still, the least I could do was try as well, right? It was doomed to failure, at least in the short term, but I wasn’t going to ignore her, or make a fool out of myself either.
“Thanks Christina. It’s good to be back.”
I turned and nodded to Timothy, our sadistic trainer who I liked despite myself. He was a gruff older man, but it wasn’t hard to tell he cared. He was relentless at pushing all of us, to keep us alive.
Carl I totally ignored, the dick.
Timothy cleared his throat, breaking up the awkward silence that followed, and said gruffly, “Let’s get started, we don’t have all day.”
Then we were running around the track. It wasn’t as hard as I’d feared it would be, but I had lost some of the edge I’d been gaining from my daily workouts. I managed to keep up with the group and not fall behind, but my chest felt like it was going to explode, and I was breathing like a bellows when the twenty-mile run was finished. The rest of them looked like they’d just finished warm ups. Slightly increased respiration, and a light sheen of sweat, but otherwise fine.
Crazy bastards.
I smirked at myself, I’d get there eventually, which meant I was crazy too.
I could see Serena wanted to talk to me, but later. That was fine with me, I had a feeling the discussion would need privacy.
I took a shower, and then headed out for class. I’d made it about halfway to campus when I felt Christina finally leave the building. I wondered if she’d already abandoned the doomed, act like we were just friends plan. It seemed likely, since she’d waited until I was almost out of range of our bond before she moved from her room.
I had my answer, when she came into the class and sat in her old seat instead of by me. She was next to Josephine, or Jo as she preferred, the witch in our class, and heir of the Chicago coven, Katherine Anders’ daughter. It looked like she’d chosen avoidance, and to ignore me after all. To be honest, that was a little bit of a relief, I didn’t think I could handle putting up an act like that, not when we could constantly judge each other’s polite lies. It was better this way, or so I told myself.
I turned my head away from her when the professor walked in. I’d never felt the way I felt for Christina with another woman before. But clearly, I needed to forget it and move on, and stop feeling sorry for myself. I was starting to hate my own company, and was disgusted with myself. People broke up all the time, and we hadn’t even really started dating anyway. It was just one… three kisses. All the rest of it was simply my own mind that had built things up.
I’d lost love before, broken up, it hurt but it wasn’t the end of the damned world. Human nature would kick in, and eventually it would stop hurting, that was just life.
Of course, that would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to see her every day. I also knew, if she got with Matt anytime soon, it would kill me…
I found myself once again in Carl’s office, and resisting the urge to punch him in the face. I smiled and pushed that down, they really didn’t make it easy, why did the good guys have to be a bunch of assholes? I was dressed in a long sleeve shirt, jeans, and the boots with the concealed knife sheath. I was all set for a patrol and freshly showered after an afternoon workout that had helped me work through some anger.
I wasn’t alone this time, Serena sat next to me, and her sister and Matt were sitting on her other side. Serena had given me a smile, wink, and a pat on the knee when I’d sat down.
I couldn’t help but smile back, she was a flirty wiseass, and I knew beyond a doubt she was my friend.
As for Matt and Christina, I was ignoring the fact that we were ignoring each other. Denial seemed like the best course right now. The simmering rage in my chest was best left undisturbed for the moment.
Carl cleared his throat, and looked between Serena and I, “We don’t have any intel about necromancers in the city, but we never did find that half demon that took down Tom either. I don’t expect anything to come up, he was a professional doing a job, but it’s more than possible he might consider you unfinished business, so you need to stay alert. I want you two to patrol the campus, don’t let your guard down.”
He pause
d for a moment, and looked at Christina and Matt, “You two need to jump on the Metra and go see the pack. Pack master Anson lost one of his wolves last night, there were also two dead humans, they aren’t sure what did it except it wasn’t an internal pack matter. He claimed none of his have gone rogue recently. The bodies were torn apart, but not in a way that’s consistent with a wolf or great cat kill, and the scent trails were covered up with magic. It’s possible it was done by a dark witch with a summoned demon, or a half demon child, but keep an open mind and don’t assume that’s true. If you find any proof a witch is behind it, call the coven.”
Serena frowned, “That sounds dangerous, and without an indication there’s a problem in the city shouldn’t the two of us go along as backup?”
Dangerous, and way out of the reach of our bond connection.
Carl shook his head at his youngest daughter, “You haven’t met the pack yet, and Tom’s only met the alphas and has a lot left to learn. There’s a measure of finesse needed when dealing with and helping an alpha without appearing like your challenging their authority. Plus, Tom still hasn’t been trained on side arms, it isn’t prudent to deal with the shifters before being an expert at filling a body with silver,” he looked at me, “Timothy said he was going to train you last weekend, but that didn’t happen for obvious reasons, so make sure you’re here early on Saturday, first thing.”
Shit, I’d forgotten about that, the firearm two-day boot camp style training. So much for using this weekend to finish catching up on my classes.
I nodded, “I’ll be there.”
He said, “Good, get moving, and watch each other’s backs.”
It was clear that last was aimed at me, but it didn’t ruffle my feathers in the least. Compared to the rest, his distrust despite his judgement showing that my statements about protecting his daughters were true, was the least of my problems.
Revealed: Necromancer's Blight: Book 2 Page 2
