“Just thinking,” Aric replied absently.
The rest of the ride back to the school didn’t go much better. When we got to the dorms he didn’t even bother saying goodbye to me.
As I exited the truck I turned to him.
“I don’t know what your deal is, but I don’t appreciate being frozen out here.”
“I’m not freezing you out. I’m thinking.”
I met Aric’s eyes for a minute. As I did, I realized he was lying. I didn’t know what about – or even how I knew he was lying -- I just knew.
“Fine!”
I slammed the door shut and stormed into the building.
I didn’t turn around to see if Aric watched me enter the building. I was beyond caring at this point.
Thirty-Four
The next few weeks were uneventful.
The school packed up Tara’s belongings and took them away. I never found out where.
I’d stayed away from Aric and Rafael. I was done with men. What? I was.
I was also done with Professor Blake’s little monster school, too. At least for now. He had questioned me about my reticence. I admitted that I wasn’t ready to join the cause. In truth, I didn’t know if I believed in his cause. There are monsters and there are monsters. As irritated as I was with Rafael – and especially Aric – I didn’t believe they were monsters. The jury was still out on Professor Blake.
Life slowly reverted to normal. I got in a groove with my classes. Paris finally broke up with Mike and she and Mark were flirting incessantly. Brittany had even gotten her swagger back and was back to stalking Rick No. 1 in the dorm hallway – which wasn’t going over well with Matilda. She was spending more time with the girls down the hall – which I encouraged.
Homecoming weekend was upon us – and while I didn’t care about football, I was up for a fun party.
“I’m going to the Alpha Chi party,” Brittany announced.
I couldn’t believe it. “Don’t you remember what happened last time?”
“Yes, but we don’t know it was them.”
“We don’t know it wasn’t either. Why would you take that chance?”
“Even if one of them did it, that doesn’t mean all of them are behind it,” Brittany huffed.
I figured that was code for “these are the hottest guys on campus.”
“You’re on your own tonight,” I cautioned her. “I’m not going to rescue you.”
“I don’t need you to rescue me.”
Right.
Brittany decided to get ready with the girls down the hall. I don’t think she liked the dark looks I kept shooting at her. Good.
After she left, Paris seemed to be tip-toeing around me. She clearly had something to say to me and wasn’t sure how to approach it.
“What?” I finally exploded.
“You know we can’t let her go to that party alone.”
“I don’t know that.”
“Zoe, come on. It’s too dangerous. She’s an easy mark.”
“She makes herself an easy mark.”
“I know she does. Are you going to be able to forgive yourself if something happens to her?”
“I’ll throw a party.”
Paris gave me a disappointed look. “I don’t believe that.”
I blew out a sigh. Neither did I.
I grudgingly agreed to go to the party with Paris. “If she does one stupid thing I’m going to drag her out of there by her bottle blonde hair.”
“Look at it this way,” Paris soothed. “We can use the party as an excuse to snoop around and see what they’re doing.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
Paris looked at me with mild disbelief.
“What?”
“You’re a busybody.”
“I am not a busybody.”
“Yes you are.”
I was quiet for a minute. “If we sneak around we have to be careful about it. If they catch us, things could go south quick.”
Paris smirked.
“I am not a busybody,” I muttered.
We watched television in silence for awhile. Paris finally spoke. “What are you going to wear?”
“Jeans and a T-shirt.”
“Your good jeans and your good T-shirt?”
“I don’t know, why?”
“Well, Aric will probably be there. . . “
“So,” I bristled. I hadn’t spoken to Aric since he had turned into a block of ice and dropped me off in front of the dorms. Screw Aric.
“I’m just saying, he’ll probably be there.”
“Well, good for him,” I grumbled.
Paris gave me a knowing look. I wasn’t that fond of her right now, either.
The Homecoming game was at 6 p.m. Paris and I declined to go. I was even happier about that choice when I saw Brittany and her new friends walk down the hallway with their faces painted and clad in college sweatshirts. It looked like the school had thrown up their own colors and it had landed on certain people. Blech.
Paris and I got ready for the party. Brittany and her new friends were going right from the game to the party. I couldn’t wait to see what that face paint looked like after a few beers.
When we got to the party, I was surprised to see that the entire frat house had been decorated for Halloween – which was a full week away.
“Looks like they’re in the holiday spirit,” Paris mused.
Personally, I found the purple lights, gruesome pumpkins and spider webs creepy. Maybe it was just creepy because the fraternity brothers were spending their days drugging women? That’s all I could think about for a second, though, that the frat brothers were trying to catch these women in their web.
There was a large bonfire in the backyard, and that’s where Paris and I headed. We had brought our own beer. We weren’t taking any chances.
When we got to the backyard, we each popped open a bottle and surveyed the situation. It looked like a giant orgy to me. Couples were either freaking on the makeshift dance floor or pawing each other in the darkened corners.
My gaze landed on Brittany – and I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. She had changed her clothes between the game and the party. She was wearing a low-cut top and she was flirting like a madwoman. Unfortunately she was flirting with Will.
Paris followed my gaze and swallowed hard.
“I’m going to kill her,” I seethed.
“Don’t make a scene.”
“Why not? She deserves it.”
“Yes, she does. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”
I was genuinely torn. Paris had a point. It could be dangerous to draw attention to ourselves. Brittany was a flaming slut, though. My rage won out.
I stomped up to Brittany and gave her a pointed look. She looked surprised to see me. “What are you doing here?”
“Partying. What are you doing?”
“Just hanging out.” Brittany looked uncomfortable. She was going to be a lot more uncomfortable when I put my boot up her ass.
For his part, Will had the grace to look embarrassed. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said in a low voice.
I couldn’t help but notice the victorious look that shot across Brittany’s face.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be here long,” I said.
“If they see you . . . “ Will broke off.
“If who sees her?” Brittany looked confused.
“I’m not here for them,” I answered shortly. “I just wanted to make sure no one drugged Brittany’s drink and took advantage of her.”
Brittany looked surprised – and touched.
“Don’t get too excited,” I turned to her. “I’m over any protective feelings.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” She looked offended.
“You don’t go after your roommate’s ex-boyfriend,” I said bitterly.
“I wasn’t going after him,” Brittany lied. “We were just talking. I can’t help it if he’s interested me.”
“I’m not intere
sted in her,” Will said hastily.
Brittany looked offended. Good.
“How can you not be interested in me?” Brittany was bordering on shrill. “You can’t possibly still be interested in her!”
What was that supposed to mean?
“She’s a total bitch and she was a total bitch to you,” Brittany continued.
“That’s not exactly what happened,” Will said, looking at his feet.
Well, at least he wasn’t throwing me under the bus.
“We were both at fault,” he said.
“How was I at fault?”
“You know how you were at fault,” Will looked around nervously. “Keep your voice down.”
“You know what? You’re right.” Will looked surprised. “I’m done. I’m so done here. I’m going to find Paris and we’re going to leave. We won’t be back.”
I saw Brittany start bitching at Will as I left. “Do you think she’s prettier than me?”
Will looked like he would rather be just about anywhere than where he was right now.
Paris was still standing where I left her. Unfortunately, Aric was standing beside her. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Paris saw me approaching, though. “How did that go?”
“Just how you would expect.”
Aric turned to greet me. The smile that had been plastered on his face disappeared when he saw the anger radiating from me. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, now you care?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I haven’t heard from you in weeks!”
“You could have called me, too. Or does your phone only receive calls?”
“Why would I do that when you were the one lying and acting like an asshole.”
“I wasn’t acting like an asshole.”
“But you were lying, weren’t you?”
Aric averted his gaze from me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Huh, another lie.”
I grabbed Paris’ arm and started to drag her away. “We’re leaving.”
“What about Brittany?”
“She’s on her own.”
Paris looked like she was going to argue and then changed her mind and followed me. Aric just watched us go.
When we got to the front of the buildings, I swerved to the building on the left – the empty one.
“Where are we going?”
“Shh.”
I looked around to see if anyone was watching us. Thankfully, everyone was still in the backyard. “We’re looking around.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“They know we’re here, though,” she said.
“I’m done caring.”
I walked up the steps and opened the front door and stepped inside. Paris looked like she was going to balk at first, but then resignation washed over her pale features. She followed me inside. Neither one of us could have been prepared for what we were about to see – or rather the person we were about to see.
“Omigod, Tara,” Paris exclaimed.
Tara looked as surprised to see us as we were to see her.
“What are you doing here? We have to hide.”
Thirty-Five
Tara dragged Paris and me into the room roughly, glancing nervously outside before shutting the door behind us.
“What are you doing here?” She turned on us abruptly.
“Looking to see what they’re up to,” I admitted. I saw no sense in lying. There was no lie I could make up that would be plausible.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” she said, looking between us. “Especially you,” she said nodding at me.
“Because I know what they are?”
“Because you know what we all are.”
Paris looked surprised. “You’re a wolf, too?”
“I see you told her.”
“She’s trustworthy,” I said.
“I know she is. Where’s Brittany?”
“She’s outside – being not so trustworthy,” I responded.
If she was curious, Tara kept her questions to herself. “You need to get out of here.”
“No way! I want some answers.”
“I don’t have time to give you any,” Tara argued.
“Do you really think we’re going to just let our dead roommate walk away? Well, walk away again?”
Tara sighed. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, but there was no way around it.”
“Why don’t you start at the beginning,” Paris prodded.
Tara looked like she wanted to argue. One look at our determined faces, though, and she decided against it.
“I had no choice,” she said. “I had to fake my death.”
“Why?”
“I was in danger.”
“From who?”
“The vampires.”
“What vampires?” I feigned ignorance.
“Don’t,” Tara admonished me. “We don’t have time for this. I know you know. Everyone knows you know.”
“How does everyone know that?”
“We are just as aware of what Blake and his cronies are up to as he is of what is going on throughout this campus.”
I didn’t tell her that Blake really had no idea what was going on – especially at the Alpha Chi house. Or, at least he had no idea until I told him. I doubted that little admission would win any points with her.
“If everyone knows about each other, then why don’t they just confront each other?”
Tara shrugged. “That would be too easy, I guess.”
“Why did you fake your death?” Paris asked.
“I told you, I had to protect myself. It wasn’t planned. When I saw Rafael in the bar, though, I knew I was in trouble.”
“Rafael?”
“You know him?” Tara narrowed her eyes.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “He keeps showing up.”
“Where did you first meet him?”
“Mike’s party – that first night we went there.”
Tara looked surprised. “I was at that party and I didn’t see him.”
“He was on he balcony.”
“Did you know he was a vampire?”
“Not then,” I admitted.
“When did you find out?”
“After Blake took me to his monster academy.”
“And that was after the incident at the frat house?”
“Well, actually . . .” I broke off.
“Well, actually what?”
“I’ve been there a couple times,” I said. “The first time was before the incident at the frat house.”
“What did he want from you?”
“To join the cause,” I said simply.
“That makes sense,” Tara said. “They’ve always wanted you because of where you come from.”
“Everyone keeps saying that, and yet I had no idea any of that was supposedly going on,” I said. “I didn’t know about wolves.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, it’s true.”
Tara looked at me dubiously.
“It’s true. I had no idea. Even when Blake told me about it I still had trouble believing it.”
Tara shook her head. “I don’t know why you would be kept in the dark – and we don’t have time to figure that out.”
“What do you mean?”
“Zoe, I can’t protect you from the pack,” she said. “I’m not in charge. I have no pull. They’re already irritated with me about faking my death.”
“How did you do that, by the way?” Paris asked.
“It wasn’t easy.”
“You want to expand on that?”
“Not right now. It’s too long of a story.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Move,” she said simply. “Again.”
“Where are you going to move?”
“Some place where I can be safe.”
“Where is that?”
“I don’t know. I just want
to go to school and be a normal person. I don’t want to be in all this pack crap. I don’t want to be threatened by vampires. I just want to be a person.”
“Why are the vampires after you?”
“I don’t even know if they know anymore,” Tara admitted. “For as long as I’ve been alive I’ve just been told to hide from vampires because they want to wipe us all out.”
“But why?”
“I honestly don’t know,” she said. “It’s a grudge match, if you ask me. Both their kind and our kind want to be the reigning kings of the hill. It’s ridiculous.”
“Why don’t you, I don’t know, have designated wolf areas and designated vampire areas? I mean, that wouldn’t solve the Blake problem, but that would solve the other problem.”
“That’s the way I was for years,” Tara explained. “The thing is, without someone to fight, wolves get bored.”
“And vampires?”
“I don’t know them well enough to speak for them.”
We all froze when we heard a door open at the back of the house. Tara looked terrified. She pushed us towards the front door. “Go. I’ll find you when I can to say goodbye.”
The look on her face was enough to convince me, so Paris and I disappeared through the front door. We looked around furtively and crossed the street. No one had seen us. When we made it to the end of the block I pulled Paris into the bushes and forced her to crouch down alongside me.
“What are we doing?”
“Waiting.”
“Why?”
“I want to see what happens.”
We waited and waited and waited – for what seemed like hours. In reality, it was probably only 15 minutes. That’s when the door Paris and I had escaped through opened again.
This time it was Tara that stepped out. She looked around. Not seeing anyone, she anxiously started down the sidewalk. Paris looked like she was going to stand and go after Tara but I grabbed her and pulled her back down. I put my finger to my lips to warn her to be silent. She looked perplexed, but did as I told her to.
When Tara reached the corner she turned it quickly, heading away from us. I waited about two minutes and then stood up and started to cross the street after her.
“Where are we going?” Paris whispered.
“We’re following her.”
“Why?”
“Because her story doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know it doesn’t. She didn’t have time to explain.”
“No, she didn’t want to explain. She didn’t want us to find her.”
Awakening (Covenant College #1) Page 20
