4 Waxing & Waning (4 page)

“So, let me get this straight, you’ve been back on campus for five days and you’ve already discovered a body?”

I’d told the story to Kelsey and Paris from beginning to end – twice – and they were still dumbfounded.

“It’s my lot in life,” I said. “I’m doomed to be the girl who finds bodies. Maybe I should put it on a business card.”

“Well, Mark technically found it,” Paris said. “How did you two run into each other again?”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? That’s what you’re worried about? I already told you he’s accepted the breakup and he wants to be friends. Why are you dwelling on that instead of the dead girl with the bite marks on her neck?”

“Because, it’s been my experience that men don’t just get over being dumped and want to be friends,” Paris replied. “That’s something a girl would do.”

“No, a girl would key his car and tell his next girlfriend he gave her herpes,” Kelsey corrected. “Then she would try to be friends after she felt like she got her revenge.”

I blew out a sigh. Yeah, that sounded just about right. “Can we focus on the dead body?”

“Do you think it was a vampire?” Kelsey asked.

“I have no idea,” I said. “Do other things bite?”

“Why are you looking at me?” Paris whined.

“Because you know more about this stuff than I do,” I replied. “Everyone knows more about this stuff than I do.”

“I don’t,” Kelsey said, not looking a bit perturbed about being out of the loop.

I leaned against the back of the couch, pinching the bridge of my nose as I stared up at the ceiling. “This is just … the last thing I needed.”

“Why not ask Rafael?” Paris prodded.

“Maybe because I would like to figure something out on my own for a change,” I said.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Kelsey hedged.

“Okay,” I conceded. “Maybe it’s because, the more I go to him, the more I feel like I owe him.”

“And you don’t want to owe him?” Paris asked.

“Or is it that you’re worried he’s going to want payback in sex?” Kelsey queried.

I barked out a hoarse laugh. “I don’t want to owe him,” I said. “And, yeah, that whole sex thing has occurred to me.”

“So, it’s okay to sleep with a werewolf, but it’s not okay to sleep with a vampire?” Paris asked.

I shrugged, considering how to answer. “I … .”

“You just don’t want to have sex with Rafael,” Kelsey finished for me. “That’s okay. You know that, right?”

“I’m up on inappropriate forms of touching,” I scoffed. “My mom had the talk with me when I was a kid. It’s not that. I’m just … conflicted.”

“Because of Aric,” Paris supplied.

“Because of everything,” I corrected. “I just stumbled over another dead body, and a vampire may or may not have been responsible. I don’t think it’s strange to question jumping into bed with a vampire given that set of facts.”

“That’s very pragmatic of you,” Paris said. “It’s also a load of crap.”

“A huge load,” Kelsey agreed.

“It’s not a load of crap,” I argued. “I have a right to feel how I feel.”

“Except you’re not really admitting how you feel,” Paris said. “Until you do that, this whole thing is going to be a huge cluster of crap.”

“Well, thank you, Dr. Phil.”

Kelsey and Paris exchanged a look.

“What did the cops say?”

“Well, that’s the other thing,” I said. “The cops aren’t exactly big fans of mine. I keep stumbling over bodies. I’ve had two roommates just up and disappear. They’re looking at me right now – and they’re looking at me really closely.”

“They don’t have any evidence, though,” Kelsey said.

“No,” I agreed. “What if someone from the sorority house talks? We weren’t the only ones who saw what happened to Laura. I mean, take Matilda for instance; we haven’t talked to her. What if she goes to the cops?”

“Then she would have to explain how her sorority of idiots thought they could suck magic from people and make themselves more powerful,” Kelsey countered. “And, if she does that, she’s also going to have to explain how Laura shot a huge ball of light at you, which you reflected back at her, and somehow she was burned alive because of the big ball of light. How do you think that’s going to go over?”

“She has a point,” Paris said. “They’d lock her up in a nuthouse.”

That didn’t sound like a bad idea. “Has anyone seen Matilda?”

Kelsey shook her head. “She lives down by me, but I didn’t see her at any of the regular haunts this summer. I asked around to see if anyone else had seen her, but she was off the grid.”

“Do we even know if she came back?” Paris asked. “If I were her, I would’ve transferred to a different school.”

That was a good point. “Is there any way we can find out?”

“We could go to the sorority house,” Kelsey said. “That’s where she moved after the … incident.”

Seeing the place where Laura had died was not on the top of my to-do list. “I’ll pass.”

“I could go,” Kelsey said. “It might be better if it was just me.”

“If you want,” I said. “Don’t feel you have to, though.”

“I’ll go tomorrow.”

I rubbed my eyes tiredly, turning after a second to find Paris watching me with sympathetic eyes.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Now? Now I’m going to go to bed,” I said. “I can’t make any big decisions until I get some sleep.”

FOUR HOURS
later, I woke with a start. I bolted to a sitting position in my bed, listening. I couldn’t figure out what had woken me. The house was quiet for a change. No one was yelling, and there were no slamming doors to remind me that living with women you don’t know is always a mistake.

After a few minutes, I settled back down onto the mattress, confident sleep would reclaim me shortly. An hour of tossing and turning later, I gave up the fight and climbed out of bed.

I dressed quietly, pulling on simple blue jeans and a black T-shirt and hoodie. When I exited the house, I did it through the back door. Even though he’d been keeping an occasional watch on the house, Rafael appeared to be absent tonight. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. On the one hand, I could have used someone to talk to. On the other, I wasn’t sure if Rafael was my best option.

I had no idea where I was heading when I started down the sidewalk. I just needed some air. When I realized I was near the UC, the flashing police lights illuminating the night sky caused me to pull up short. I had no idea why I was back here.

The police had cordoned off the area where the body was found and, thankfully, it looked like she’d been carted away. I watched them from afar, not understanding what they were doing. Sure, in the back of my mind, I understood they were collecting evidence. I couldn’t help but wonder what they were thinking as they completed the task.

Did the police know what Covenant College was? Were they aware of the supernatural elements? Something told me that it was a secret – one only a handful of high-ranking officers were aware of. So, what did the others think? Didn’t the high body count on the campus worry them? Why hadn’t all the dead bodies triggered a state investigation?

Since Aric’s father was a state senator, and an important figure in the wolf hierarchy, it would seem that at least some of the state’s highest officials were in on the big, bad secret. Did they tell the state what to investigate and what to ignore?

And what about the newspapers? How come some intrepid reporter hadn’t put the massive body-count numbers on display in the pages of a local or state newspaper so everyone could see them?

“This whole place is just messed up,” I grumbled, running my hand through my hair. Great. Now I was talking to myself. That’s never a good sign.

Since returning to the scene of a crime is frowned upon in law-enforcement circles, I opted to stay out of sight. I purposely stepped into the bushes, keeping my frame hidden as I watched them work.

I was there for more than an hour. It was almost 3 a.m. before the tech teams packed up and left, leaving only the crime-scene tape and bad memories to plague the dark. For some reason, I wanted to go down there and look around, but I waited. I’m not sure what I was waiting for, but I didn’t have to wait long.

About twenty minutes after the scene cleared, a new figure stepped onto the sidewalk. I couldn’t make out features, but the figure was tall and broad. I kept my distance as I watched, but my heart was hammering.

The figure kept to the shadows as it slipped underneath the tape and glanced around, finally crouching down next to the crop of shrubs where the girl’s body had been discarded.

I leaned out, trying to get a better look, but making out distinguishing features was impossible. I slipped back into the bush line when the figure straightened back up. Now he was facing me, still shrouded in dark and mystery. I could only hope the bushes made me invisible.

The figure moved farther down the sidewalk, finally walking close enough to a streetlight for me to get a better gander of just who I was dealing with. My heart skipped a beat when I recognized the features.

It was Aric.

I sucked in a breath, my heart rolling painfully.
Why was he here?

Aric stepped over the crime-scene tape, lifting his head to the wind – as if he was smelling the air. His body tensed, and his head snapped in my direction, like he was looking right at me. Could he smell me? Was that part of his whole wolf thing?

Aric remained still for a few moments, his eyes never leaving the bushes I was crouching behind. Finally, he dragged his gaze from my hiding spot and disappeared into the night.

I waited another half hour before I felt safe enough to leave. I hurried back toward Franklin Street, too scared to cast even a single glance over my shoulder to see if someone was following me.

I was in Sam Blake’s office by mid-afternoon the next day. I still wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing, but it seemed obvious that the wrong thing to do was nothing. For his part, Professor Blake didn’t look surprised to see me.

“Ms. Lake.”

“Professor Blake.”

I shut the door behind me to ensure our privacy. Blake kept his attention on whatever he was working on until I was settled in one of the open wingback chairs across from his ornate mahogany desk.

“So, how can I help you?”

Professor Blake has a way about him. He likes to talk down to you. He’s young for a professor, early thirties, and his blond hair and bright eyes had instigated many a college-girl crush. I was oblivious to that part of him. He did nothing for me in that manner.

“Did you hear about the body found on campus last night?”

“I did.”

“Do you have anything you want to say about it?”

“What would you like me to say?” Blake asked. Seriously, the man is infuriating.

“Did you know that one of your Academy students, Mark, discovered it?”

“I was made aware of that fact this morning,” Blake said. “I was also made aware that you were with him at the time.”

“Do you think that’s just a coincidence?” I pressed.

“I have trouble believing someone arranged the situation just so you could be there when the body was discovered,” he said.

“It would be narcissistic to think that, right?”

“Maybe a little.”

“I still think I was the one who was meant to find the body,” I said. “It’s too coincidental for it to be something else.”

“And yet, you wouldn’t have discovered the body unless Mark was with you,” Blake said. “It doesn’t seem like a very good plan.”

“Nothing that happens here seems like a good plan,” I said. “Not one stinking thing. This whole place is a freak show.”

Blake leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him as he regarded me. “You seem a little keyed up. Don’t get me wrong, you always seem a little keyed up, but you’re especially … obnoxious this afternoon.”

I loved it when he called me obnoxious. It was like a cute pet name he trotted out every time he spent five minutes with me. “I’ve been back on this campus for six days now, and I’m already knee deep in crap. Again.”

“Why don’t we let the new crap slide for a bit, and let’s talk about the old crap instead,” Blake said.

“What old crap?”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened at the sorority house before you left last spring,” Blake said. “Why don’t we start there?”

I stiffened at his imperious tone. “What do you want to know?”

“There are a lot of rumors regarding that period of time,” Blake said. “My understanding is that you were there.”

“I was.”

“And several of your roommates and friends were there, too,” Blake prodded.

“If you know all of that, you must know what happened,” I said.

“You would think that, wouldn’t you?” Blake said. “The details, though – the details are still hazy.”

I rolled my tongue over in my mouth, considering how much to tell him. “The sorority is full of witches who were trying to sap magic from other people.”

“I’m aware of that,” Blake said. “If you remember, you and I talked about just that last semester.”

“I remember.”

“Then why are you hiding information?”

“I’m not hiding information,” I hedged. “I just don’t want to talk about it.”

Blake blew out a frustrated sigh. “Well, this is an information-sharing relationship now. I need you to tell me about it.”

I made my decision quickly, deciding to go with a variation on the truth. I was testing him. I just didn’t want him to know that I was testing him. “My roommate, Laura joined with the other witches to try and sap not only magic, but life forces as well, from as many people as they could.

“There were only a handful of actual witches in the sorority,” I continued. “They were using the other pledges to bolster their power base. Their ultimate goal, though, was me.”

“And how did that work out?” Blake asked, his face unreadable.

“It didn’t.”

“So, your magic is intact?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure I have any magic,” I said. “Whatever ritual they had planned backfired on them.”

“Was that before or after the werewolves showed up?”

I knew it!
He knew more than he was letting on. “After.”

“Did the wolves have anything to do with the ritual backfiring?”

“Maybe,” I said. “Jessica was taken out by the wolves, and that’s when the spell seemed to go all … wonky.”

“Wonky?”

“I don’t know a lot about spells,” I admitted. “I have no idea what went wrong.”

Blake inhaled heavily. “What happened to your roommate?”

“It was a madhouse afterwards,” I said. “She disappeared.”

“She never came back to the room?”

“No.”

“What about her parents?” Blake pressed.

“As far as I know, she just has a mother,” I replied. “I believe her mother collected her things after Kelsey and I moved out of the room. I’m not a hundred percent sure, though. I didn’t want to deal with it.”

“What do you think happened to her?”

Was he testing me?
It didn’t matter. I was sticking with the lie. “I think, when things didn’t turn out her way, she decided to run. I don’t think she wanted to be associated with Jessica’s death – although I’m not entirely sure what happened with all of that. I never heard any follow up.”

“All I can say for certain is that someone swooped in and covered up the death,” Blake said. “It was very hush-hush. I have no idea who was responsible for the cleanup but, by the time we got a chance to check out the house, it was already cleared.”

I had an idea who covered it up. His last name was Winters, and he was a state senator. Since Aric was the one who actually killed Jessica – this was before we realized Laura was really the threat – his father probably had a whole team of cleaners waiting for his call after the fact. Senator Winters had swooped in to handle a situation for us once before. There was no way I was going to tell Professor Blake that.

“That’s weird,” I said. “Everything was a mess when I left.”

“And why did you leave?”

“Because my roommate tried to kill me,” I replied smoothly. “Wouldn’t you leave under the same circumstances?”

Blake pursed his lips. “I guess. The question is, do you think Laura will return? Can we be sure that Laura isn’t behind the death of the girl on campus last night?”

This was another test. “I guess it’s possible,” I said. “I have no idea why she would try to make it look like she was bitten, though. Or how.”

“She was bitten?” Either Blake was a fantastic actor, or he didn’t know what I was talking about. This was just more evidence that, while the Academy thought they knew all and saw all, they were mostly working in the dark.

“That’s what it looked like to me,” I said, pretending to be helpful. “She had two puncture marks on her neck. Mark saw them. Why didn’t he tell you?”

“Perhaps he was in shock,” Blake said. “Finding a dead body is cause for alarm for some people. It’s happened to you more than once. It’s probably not as … jarring for you.”

Okay, now he was just being an ass. “It’s still fairly jarring,” I said.

“Of course.”

I was starting to get impatient. “What are you going to do about the new death?”

“We’re going to investigate,” Blake said. “There’s not a lot else we can do.”

I could think of a few things. “And how are you going to investigate?”

“Well, that’s entirely up to you,” Blake said.

“Me?”

“Are you finally ready to join us?”

I shifted in my chair. I had come to his office for this very reason. It was time to make a decision and, even though I thought I already had, I was still unsure when the time came to utter the words. “I’ll join,” I said. “I do have a few stipulations.”

Blake was used to being in charge. My request threw him for a loop. “You have stipulations?”

“You’re the one recruiting me, remember?”

“And what would these stipulations be?”

“I’m not taking orders,” I said. “I’ll go through training, and I will … go out on some of your little missions if I think they’re worthwhile. I am not an informant. I am not a spy. I want this place to be safer, but I’m not willing to be some little … mole … to get you what you want.”

“And do you think what I want is so bad?” Blake asked.

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.”

“And what if I don’t agree to your stipulations?”

“Then I’m leaving,” I said. “I won’t look back.”

A nerve ticked in Blake’s jaw. “So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you’re saying that you want to retain control of your destiny,” Blake said. “You want to join, but you want your own set of rules?”

I smiled, and this time it wasn’t forced. “That’s absolutely what I want.”

“And why would I agree to this?”

“Because you think you know something about me,” I said. “You think I’m something special, and you’re just dying to find out if you’re right. Part of me is genuinely curious about that, too. I’m not curious enough to cede my control. I’ll never be that curious. So, if that’s what you’re waiting for, I’ll be long gone from this college before you ever have the chance to find out.”

I had him. Blake knew it. He just wasn’t quite ready to admit it. “You’re willing to work for us, but not share information?”

“No, I’ll share information,” I said. Not all of the information he wanted, but I would certainly share what I thought was pertinent. “I will not act as some little rodent squealer, though. I will not be the rat in the maze feeding you information about all of the supernaturals on this campus.”

“You mean that you want to protect some of your more
special
friends,” Blake countered.

“If that’s the way you see it? Fine.”

“And it doesn’t bother you that you’re protecting monsters?” Blake tried one more tactic.

I got to my feet. “Maybe I’m not sure just who the monsters are,” I said. “I’m here to find out. If that doesn’t work for you, then I’ll be on my way.”

My hand was halfway to the doorknob before he spoke again. “Fine. I agree to your terms.”

I let the smile wash over my face entirely before tamping it down and swiveling so I could look him in the face over my shoulder. “I’ll meet you at the Academy tomorrow afternoon to start my training.”