Tainted Blood (45 page)

Most classrooms were dark and empty. Only a few still held professors and/or students. Up ahead I could see that the door to Professor McBaldy’s old room, the room Amber lived under, was ajar, a sliver of light spilling out into the hallway. I headed for it.

I felt a smile come to my face as I thought about the new adventure I was about to embark upon. Between my new fascination with paranormal studies and getting to help Oliver with planning the community, I felt myself fill with excitement and hope. Then thoughts of my future took a sudden halt.

As I reached the classroom door that led to Amber’s place and to our private “mythology” classroom, an uneasy feeling crept its way inside of me. With my hands pulled into the sleeves of Oliver’s jacket for warmth, which was hard since the hoodie was rather damp by this time, I reached for the handle and pulled the door open. The room was empty and quiet, and I laughed at myself for being paranoid. Of course I would expect something bad to happen now that I was feeling somewhat happy. Now that I could see a future ahead of me.

I stepped inside, and as I stood on the top step, I looked down at the opening that led to our classroom, the security camera room, Amber’s chambers, and who knows what else. It looked eerie and the uneasy feeling got stronger.

“Hello?” I called. “Professor Amber?” I waited about five minutes before I left.

I figured if Amber had been available and if she were anywhere in one of those adjoining rooms, she would have heard me and come out to greet me. She didn’t, so with a terrible feeling running through me, I headed back toward my car. That was until something caught my eye.

I caught a glimpse of Professor Morgan, his briefcase in hand, heading toward his biology room. It was too late for evening classes, and, well, I let my curiosity get the better of me. I stayed back, lurking in the shadows as I followed Mr. Morgan out of the arched hallways to the open pathway where his classroom sat.

I watched him from across the path, hiding under an eave and out of the rain. I watched him as he entered his classroom and flipped the on the lights, the windows lining the side of his room lighting up the pathway. And then I watched as he started with surprise. There were other men in the room, three of them, sitting on the tabletops near the front of his class, and I think it surprised me just as much as it did him. I pressed my back against the cold, damp wall, hoping no one would see me there. Professor Morgan didn’t seem concerned after his initial shock. In fact, he appeared to be making himself comfortable; placing his briefcase atop his desk, removing his long, tan trench coat and hanging it from a hook on the wall near the entrance of his classroom. Then he took his usual stance, leaning casually against the front of his desk.

I was out of earshot, so pooling all of my courage, I crept along the wall, keeping in the darkest places and made my way down and around the light of Mr. Morgan’s classroom. I hurried across the open pathway and crouched under one of the windows just beside the classroom door and I listened.

“What of the female vampire?” A husky, male voice asked.

It was Professor Morgan who replied, “She has retired for the evening. She will not be any trouble to us.”

I heard heavy footfalls approaching and I hurried around the corner, down the hall, and around the outside of the building. Pressing myself up against the wall, I waited, holding my breath, as I listened to hushed voices and wet footsteps make their way down the pathway and closer to Professor Morgan’s room.

I poked my head around the side of the building and craned my neck to try to see who the figures entering the biology lab were, but I couldn’t make them out; I was too far away. As the door slowly closed, I eased my way back down the hallway until I was at the corner of the building, just beside the partially open door of Professor Morgan’s classroom. The rain had let up a bit, and I could hear several voices coming from inside the class. I pressed my back against the wall and listened.

“Do you have the book?” one of the unknown men asked.

“I do,” Professor Morgan answered, and I immediately assumed they were talking about the book Mr. Morgan had stuffed under his arm the previous evening. I drew closer and peered into the room, peeking between the hinges of the door, and I found that there were six men in the room now, and amongst those men, I recognized two. Professor Morgan and Marcus, Felicia’s mate. I also discovered that the book they were referring to was not the one Professor Morgan had stuffed under his arm. Instead, he pulled one of the vampire textbooks from his briefcase and handed it over to one of the unfamiliar men. The man immediately began flipping through the pages.

“Do you have the list?” one of the other unknowns asked.

Mr. Morgan didn’t respond but reached into his briefcase sitting beside him and pulled out that mysterious book from the previous night. I had a pretty good profile shot of Mr. Morgan from where I spied. Still leaning casually against his desk, he opened the strange book and began to speak to the others.

“We have already gotten Oliver Knight out of the picture,” he began and the surprise of hearing Oliver’s name caused a sharp intake of breath. Professor Morgan was in on whatever was going on!

I listened closer.

One of the other men responded, “Yeah, but he’ll be back so don’t cross him off the list just yet.”

My heart was racing at top speed and I was afraid that one of them would hear it. I knew Marcus was a vampire, and I could only assume that the others could be too. They all murmured in agreement that Oliver shouldn’t be crossed off the list just yet, and then Mr. Morgan continued, “We must take Felix Alexander out of the picture. He is our biggest threat.” He chuckled to himself and added, “No pun intended, my friends.”

Menacing laughter filled the room, and I felt that terrible feeling turn into horrible desperation. I needed to hear the rest of the list then I needed to call Felix immediately.

As the diabolical laughter died, Professor Morgan continued with the list which included Professor Amber and a few other names that I thought I recognized. For example, Gwen and Vance, though I didn’t know their last names so I couldn’t be positive. But it didn’t matter. I’d heard enough and it was time to get the hell out of there and call Felix.

I backed away, down the hall, and eased into the shadows as I planned my escape route. I needed to get somewhere safe as soon as possible. I hurried down the hall behind Professor Morgan’s class until I could get back to the main hallway that led out to the parking lot.

I was rushing down the main arched hallway toward my car when footsteps rang at the far end where I was heading. I dashed behind a pillar and then around it and out into the drizzling rain. I held my breath and hoped no one could hear the frantic beating of my heart as the footsteps grew closer. I hugged the pillar as I listened for the footsteps to pass by the other side, and I eased my way around it as they did. My shoe scraped the damp concrete and it made an echoing squeak. I froze as the sound of footsteps stopped.

“Did you hear that?” a man’s voice asked.

“Hear what?” a different man responded.

Shit!
I was prepared to run. It was silent except for the sound of my pounding heart in my ears and the tapping of light rain.

“It was nothing,” the first man said, and I could’ve sworn I recognized both voices.

As soon as the sound of their footfalls faded, I bolted in the direction they’d come from, which happened to be the way to the parking lot.

I found a dark, hidden space that was close to the lot and out of the rain and the wind. Another streak of lightning lit up the night as I crouched in my hiding spot and told myself to pull it together. I was afraid to walk out into the open parking lot. There were very few cars out there, but I could just imagine more of Mr. Morgan’s friends would be showing just as I made a run for it, so I crouched there, in my hidden spot, and called Felix.

After several rings and no answer, not even voicemail, I ended the call and then tried Carter.

“Hey, Laney,” he answered.

“Hey, I need you to come to the school,” I whispered into my new cell phone.

“What did you say?”

Dammit!
I raised my voice a little. “I need you to come to the school.”

“But it’s raining,” he whined.

You’ve got to be kidding me! I was desperately trying to be quiet. “Just do it!” I whispered fiercely.

“Geez, cranky much?”

“Carter!” I snapped quietly. “There’s something going on. I just overheard Morgan and some others. I think they’re planning to kill Felix and Amber, along with a huge list of others. I can’t reach Felix and I’m scared.”

He went completely serious then; I could hear it in his voice. “Where are you?”

I told him where I was hunkered down, and he said he’d be there in five. I sat back against the wall, and for the first time I was glad Oliver wasn’t there. He too was in danger.

My teeth chattered while I waited. I could just make out the heavy, dark clouds blowing across the starless sky. The drizzle of rain continued as five minutes came and went. My nose began to run as I shivered on the concrete. I wiped it with my sleeve and caught a whiff of Oliver. I missed him and wanted to talk to him. I even tried his cell as ten minutes stretched into twenty, but of course there was no answer.

I texted Carter then rested my head back against the wall and watched as the violent wind twisted and bent tree branches to its will. Suddenly, I heard hurried footsteps coming closer. I crouched back against the wall hoping to be hidden as my heart raced once again. Finally Carter came into view, jogging toward me. And then Kiera and Zoey came into view behind him. It was the girls that I could totally hear. They were far from stealthy. Carter reached me first and crouched beside me.

“What the hell?” I said in a low whisper as I gestured toward Kiera and Zoey as they took a spot crouching on the other side of Carter.

“I needed a ride,” he whispered back. “And Kiera refused to let me go without her.” I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head slightly. He shrugged. “So what’s going on?” he asked. Kiera and Zoey huddled closer and I was actually surprised to see Zoey in a pair of jeans. I’d only seen the girl dressed down on a handful of occasions and I suspected that her wardrobe change was the reason they’d taken so long to arrive.

I told the three of them all that I had heard outside of Professor Morgan’s classroom while we huddled together in the cold on the side of a building next to a very smelly trashcan.

“So what’s the plan?” Carter asked.

I knew it was stupid, but I wanted to go spy on Mr. Morgan again and see if the voices that I thought I’d recognized were actually who I thought they were. Carter was game and on his feet in the next moment. He bounced in place, ready to go, as he told the girls to hang tight. “Oh, and don’t do anything stupid while we’re gone,” he told them with a hint of humor.

“How can we?” Zoey retorted. “You’re taking all of the stupid with you.” I saw her smirk at him.

“Ouch, Zoey.” He stopped bouncing and put his hand on his chest over his heart. “That hurt.”

“The truth does that,” she responded and I could tell that this could go on all night.

“You’re just jealous ‘cause I’m so awesome,” he said with a grin.

“Oh, yeah, that’s it,” she said mockingly.

“Hey, it’s hard being cooler than everyone else,” he protested.

Not only were they being too loud, they were wasting time. I rolled my eyes, though I’m sure it was lost in the darkness. I grabbed Carter’s arm and pulled him away as Kiera and Zoey crouched in the shadows of our hiding spot.

Carter had gotten faster, and I was struggling to keep up with him as we ran down the arched hallway toward the open walkway that led to Mr. Morgan’s class. He slowed as the archway ended and I was finally able to stay beside him.

We crept along the wall of the building across from Professor Morgan’s until we could see into the windows. And, sure enough, I’d been right. There, standing
amongst
the rest of Mr. Morgan’s original group were two more men. Paul, the vampire slayer that I’d met at Gladys’ a while back, and Ashton.

I was terrified, cold, and pissed off. I quietly told Carter who the guy in the dark trench coat was and in response he asked, “Do you think the slayers are recruiting?”

With everything in me, I hoped that they weren’t, but by the looks of it, I was pretty sure they were.

As badly as I wanted to get closer and listen to what they were saying, I knew it would be too big of a risk, so we hurried back to Kiera and Zoey who were right where we’d left them. We huddled down with them in the dark and told them what we’d seen.

“I can’t imagine Ashton coming up with any elaborate plans,” Zoey said.

“Yeah, he can’t be the brains of the operation. He’s got the IQ of a waffle.” Carter replied thoughtfully. The four of us huddled closer to Carter’s warm body as a freezing gust of wind pushed past us. “I also don’t think it was the dude that’s clearly in need of a bra or the one that looked like he had a spare tire hidden under his shirt. I’m pretty sure that dude was there for the donuts,” Carter finished.

“They had donuts?” Kiera asked.

I spit out a laugh. Carter chuckled. “No, babe. I was being facetious,” he said and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close to his side. As always, their displays of affection made me feel lonely and miss Oliver even more.