Initiation (39 page)

“That’ll be great. He’s a cute little boy. What happened to Delam?”

“The student council is dealing with him.” And I hoped they fed him to the shifters.

The bell rang, and we walked inside to find our pre-assigned seats. This time there was no glass divider in the auditorium. In fact, none of the vamp Initiates were present.

As we sat down, Martha scurried over and planted herself in the seat next to mine. “Phew! Just made it.”

“How’s Ryker?” I asked. He sat a few rows ahead of us, with Jagger next to him. It was a bit odd that they weren’t sitting with Ryker’s group.

“Oh, good. Doing his quiet, broody thing again.” She giggled. “Kinda sexy.”

“Why isn’t he sitting with his group?”

“Oh, didn’t you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“Ryker’s on probation. He skipped way too many classes and got into heaps of trouble. Jagger offered to mentor him. So he’s been hanging out with Jagger instead of his group.”

So Jagger had offered to babysit his wayward brother. No wonder I hadn’t seen him. He must have been accompanying Ryker to all his classes and tests. I wondered if he got to sit in and observe the tests as I did with Faustine. Had he told Ryker that they were brothers yet? I had to know. I texted Jagger and asked him to meet me after the assembly.

When he got the text, he looked over his shoulder at me and nodded. Perfect.

“Attention, everyone!” Frau Schmelder had walked onto the stage and was standing behind the podium. “Settle down.” She paused, scanning the room. “As you know, it’s our first merge day. That means we’ve had a successful year so far. Your tests are progressing satisfactorily, and your group leaders are happy with your class attendance.

“A group of Initiates have been excluded from the main program so far–the vampires, for obvious reasons. Those reasons are still relevant for most of them, but a handful have progressed and, I feel, are ready for the main program. We will proceed with caution, of course, but allow me to introduce you to the vampire Initiates who will be merged into the program today.”

Mrs. Stone ushered the vamps–two females and one male–onto the stage. They surveyed the audience shyly.

“Ren has been assigned to Silvia’s group. Where are you, Silvia?” Frau Schmelder asked, looking over the auditorium.

A girl who must have been Silvia stood and waved.

“Thank you, Silvia. Come to my office after the meeting to pick up Ren.” Then she turned to the two girls. “The twins, Audrey and Viola, will be mentored rather than join a group at this time. Quinn, you have been assigned.”

Quinn stood and waved. So, that was the
stuff
that had kept him busy. I wondered if he’d offered to mentor those two just to keep Faustine safe. Or if he had another agenda.

Frau Schmelder continued. “Some of the groups, those that have been making especially good progress, will be merged at this time. Mrs. Stone has a list; see her after the meeting. The group leaders of the merged groups will share responsibility. The next merge meeting will be in two months or so. I’ll make an announcement. Dismissed.”

“Awesome!” Martha clapped her hands. “I hope we get merged with a nice group with some guys. Hot ones. No offence, Dax. Come on. Let’s go find out.”

“No need,” Dax responded. “We’re not being merged. Not right now, anyway.”

“Why not?” Martha pouted. “We go to all our classes and tests. We’re an awesome group.”

“Yes, why not, Dax?” Chun whined.

“Ours is not to reason why, ours is but–”

“Pffftt!” Martha spat. “This sucks.”

“It’s my fault,” Faustine said, her voice breaking.

“What? No way,” Martha said. “You’ve got to be one of the nicest demons I’ve ever met.”

“It’s probably because I haven’t been doing great in my tests,” she replied, her voice low.

“Really? You haven’t? I thought you said you were doing great,” Martha said, sounding surprised.

“I said that
they
were great, not that I was
doing
great.”

Martha’s expression softened, and she grabbed Faustine’s hand. “Not to worry. You’re so young. It might take you a bit longer than it takes us; that’s all. Anyhow, who needs new blood? We’re a great group.”

“Hey, babe.” Quinn tapped my shoulder.

“Ah! Quinn, you have some ’splaining to do,” I teased.

“Yep, I know! Well, Jagger sent out the vamp mentor appeal last week. You probably didn’t get one since you’re already mentoring. Anyhow, I almost deleted it without even reading it, but for whatever reason, I clicked on it. The more I thought about it, the stronger I felt that it would be a good thing to get involved in. For all of us. Just think, I get to keep an eye on them. So anyhow, that’s what I have been busy with lately. Getting to know them and also learning about vampires and their initiation program. It’s been fascinating.”

“What are they like? Audrey and Viola, right?”

“Yep. Really nice. Like The Smelt said, they’re twins. They were turned about two years ago and have been living in London with their maker’s partner–or ex-partner, to be precise. They were sixteen when they were turned, and they’re still full of hatred for their maker, who is apparently someone important in London. Before they were turned, they were just regular south London high school kids. They lived in Brixton with their mom–a single parent–and their little brother. They wanted to be models when they grew up, and travel the world. You’ll like them. So will Faustine. They love shopping and all that girly stuff.”

“Awesome,” Faustine said. “Bring them over to have dinner with us.”

“Hmm. Remember, they are vamps, Faustine. They’re going to want to snack on
you
,” I warned.

“You think? But I thought the whole point was that they’re safe now. Right?”

Quinn smiled. “That’s the idea, but you’re never going to be a hundred percent safe near vamps, no matter what. Your human blood is too strong a temptation for them to ignore. For them, it will be a struggle to be near you, but it’s not one that they can’t overcome. At the same time, you have to be prepared to defend yourself, should they lose control and attack. Anyway, it’ll be perfectly safe for you to meet them with Cordelia and me around. So, yes, I’ll bring them to dinner.”

“Cool!” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. “I guess you have to go?”

“Yep, see you at dinner.”

“Dax, will you be okay with Faustine for a while?”

He nodded.

Great. It was Jagger time.

I
knocked on Jagger’s door, my stomach twisting in anticipation, as usual. I was a bit disappointed when Ryker opened it, having hoped for alone time with Jagger. Hot as Ryker was, he was not the one who was making my heart flutter. It was the guy behind him.

“Hey, Ryker! I wasn’t expecting you,” I said, looking pointedly at Jagger.

“Didn’t you hear? Jagger’s my jailer. Wherever he goes, I go. Totally sucks. No offense, bro.”

“None taken. Come on in, Cordelia.”

I caught the
bro
. So, Ryker knew. I couldn’t wait for Jagger to spill the details.

“So, why did you get yourself into this mess?” I teased Ryker. “Sheesh, going to a bunch of classes and a few tests isn’t that hard, even for a faery.” I realized that I had slipped up, but it would have been safe to assume that after he’d called Jagger his brother.

“Hey! What do you mean
even for a faery
? That's quite an assumption, and an off-limits one, at that!” Ryker’s eyes gleamed in amusement.

“Maybe. But seriously,
why
?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Isn’t it against school policy to question me, or something like that?”

“Good grief, throw school rules in my face, why don’t you. You’re just like your brother.”

Jagger chuckled. “Stop bickering, you two. I know you’re bursting with questions, Cordelia.”

“I am! What’s with the mentoring thing? Today’s been full of surprises–first the test, then Quinn and the vamps, and now you mentoring Ryker.”

“Well, it was either that or have my brother transferred to another school. Anyhow, I shall answer all your questions in a minute. But first, let’s walk Ryker to his test.”

“He’s having one right now?” That was strange. The tests always took place in the mornings, with classes scheduled in the afternoons.

“Yes, he insisted. He won’t take them in the morning. He’s really weird about his schedule. Anyhow, I have permission to let you watch. That’s if you want to.”

Awesome! “Is that okay with you, Ryker?”

“Yep. It’ll probably be boring. But it’s fine with me.”

It would totally not be boring. I had become addicted to the whole test procedure. It was intriguing; maybe I’d become a scientist one day.

I followed Jagger to the main test labs, and into one of the regular suites. A technician greeted us, then proceeded to get Ryker ready. Jagger and I positioned ourselves behind the monitors.

“Thanks for including me, Jagger!”

“No problem. I thought you might be interested.”

“So, when did you tell him?”

“That we’re brothers? The day after the bonfire.”

“How did he take it?” I was bursting with curiosity.

“He seemed to know already. I told him about the mentor situation first, so he was too riled about that to care about anything else.”

“Knew? What do you mean?”

“His mom had apparently told him that some of his siblings might be at the school. And he had an inkling I might have been one of them when he met me, but he wasn’t sure.”

“Did he tell you anything about his mother? About his background?”

“Not a lot. He said she’s a nurse.”

“Did he tell you where he’s from?”

“Yes, from Boston, but he moved with his mom and brother to Manhattan about a year ago.”

“You have another brother?”

“His brother is adopted. I quizzed him about that, just a bit.” Jagger suddenly looked a little shifty.