Witch Hunter Olivia (14 page)

Tara was right. We definitely couldn’t miss which house was Theta Chi’s. Between the mass amounts of people gathered out front, several guys doing a keg stand in the driveway, the loud music visibly shaking the structure’s foundation, and the Greek letters over the door, we had a pretty good idea of where the frat party was.

“Keep the car running. I’ll be in and out,” I mention to Heath as I go to open my car door. The door locks before I have a chance to pull on the handle. My eyes immediately shoot over to him.

“Not this time, Liv. I’m coming with you,” he says before putting the car into reverse in order to parallel park across the street from the house.

“Uh—”

“Don’t make me use another one of the favors you owe me.”

“Fine, but try to keep a low profile in there. We’re on a strict ‘get in and get out’ mission,” I explain, popping the lock up on the door after he comes to a complete stop.

“Yes, ma’am,” he teases.

We make quick work of the trek to the front door and duck inside the house with very few problems. That’s when the ease wears off, since everywhere I look, it’s wall-to-wall people. It’s going to be like finding a needle in a haystack in here.

“This brings back memories,” I hear Heath shout over my shoulder.

“Went to a lot of frat parties in college, did ya?”

“Actually, I hosted them,” he begins to say and then pauses when I look over. “Here, to be exact.”

“What? No way. You were a frat guy?” I ask, my mouth drooping a little from the shock.

“Yep, vice president of Theta Chi,” he chuckles.

“No offense, but what happened to you?” I ask playfully.

He scoffs. “Hey, I’ve got many Heath layers, thank you very much. I’m more than just muscles and tattoos, you know.”

A smirk fills my face. “Well, as much as I’d love to continue this conversation, we need to find Angelica, like, ten minutes ago.”

“Split up?” he asks.

“Yeah, we can cover more ground that way. You want first floor or second?”

“I’ll take the ground level.” He grins.

“I guess that means I’ve got the floor of fornication. Please pray for me that I don’t see things my eyes can’t unsee.”

As I go to leave, I feel a little pat on my ass and spin around to see Heath foolishly smiling. “I’ll be up there soon,” he quips. I give him a quick love tap before pointing toward the crowd of people to our right while mouthing “go.” He throws up his hands in a submissive pose and mouths back “I’m going, I’m going.”

I take to the stairs and begin to ascend to the second floor. Reaching the top, I look up and down the hallway and count eight doors—all closed—and one end of the hall spills out into a game room of sorts. From where I’m standing, I can see the pool table and a large glass light fixture suspended above it. A few guys pass by the opening, pool cues in hand, and I decide it’s worth a shot to ask them if they’ve seen Angelica. A door swings open to my right and someone runs right into me as they exit the room. My abdomen receives a sudden sharp twinge.

“Whoa, sweet thing. Sorry for invading your personal space,” the guy says before I have a chance to look at him. When our eyes meet, his face falls and I can tell he’s not that thrilled to see me, and the feeling’s mutual. He lets out a low groan. “Damn, not you again. I swear I haven’t been using my powers for evil.”

“Ah yes, the warlock from the Alpha Nu Gamma party.” I notice the Greek letters on his shirt and realize he’s a part of this fraternity.

“You’re not going to kick my ass for bumping into you or anything, right?”

I laugh. “No.”

“Good, because getting your ass kicked by a girl would probably make me the laughing stock of this fraternity.” His response makes me want to change my answer.

“Yeah, probably. We could find out if you’d like,” I offer, showing him I’m a little annoyed by his response.

“Nope, I’m good.” His nervous laugh brings a slight smile to my face.

“Actually, you might be of some use to me.”

“Hey, if it gets me away from you as soon as possible, I’m game,” he comments.

“Do you go over the words in that brain of yours before they come out of your mouth, or do you say the first thing that comes to mind?” I ask. “Just curious.” When he tries to reply, I cut him off. “Uh-uh. That was a rhetorical question. I already know the answer.”

He rolls his eyes and leans back to rest against the closest wall. “So, how can I help you?” he asks, his words slathered in sarcasm.

“Have you seen Angelica Delacour here tonight?”

“The Alpha Nu Gamma president?”

“No, the flipping President of the United States. Of course the president of Alpha Nu Gamma.”

“Yeah, I saw her. About fifteen minutes ago. She and a few of her sisters were dancing on the bar in the basement.”

“Thanks. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you were actually helpful.” I begin turning around to head back toward the stairs.

“Hey, if you’d like to repay me for helping you, my bedroom’s right down the hall here,” I hear Mr. Widow’s Peak say behind me with a soft laugh.

I spin on my heel with a sarcastic smile smeared across my face, which is concealing a pissed-off rage bubbling inside me. “It just occurred to me I don’t even know your name,” I say sweetly.

“Why? So you can scream it out later?” My skin crawls from anger and disgust. I nod while batting my eyelashes. “It’s Derrick.”

I move in closer until we’re almost nose to nose. “Now, Derrick,” I say, and then pause before proceeding to drive my knee into his groin. He clutches his man bits as a guttural groan rips through his gritted teeth. He looks as if he’s changing a couple different shades of red in the face. I take his chin gently in my fingers as he glares at me through his pain. “Is that really any way to talk to a lady?” The moment the last word leaves my lips I rear back and send a punch right across his cheek, feeling his jaw hit against my knuckles just before he crumples to the ground. I hear a few of the guys at the end of the hall let out a resounding “daaaamn.” I laugh to myself before turning around and heading back downstairs.

When I reach the first floor, my eyes search for Heath. The noise is almost deafening in here, so calling out for him is pretty much out of the question. As I continue to scan the sea of people for any sign of either Angelica or Heath, my eyes slam into a pair of familiar ones—my brother’s. He’s making his way through the crowd in the living room, headed toward the kitchen. His glare never leaves mine as a sinister grin remains curled on his mouth the entire time. His eyes shimmer purple just before I lose sight of him as a few frat guys carry a new pledge, wearing only adult diapers, in front of me.

I spin around and almost run into Heath, who was coming up behind me. He braces my shoulders with his hands to stop us from crashing into each other. “My brother’s here,” I shout. “Please tell me you found her.”

Heath shakes his head. “Wait, your brother’s here?”

“Yeah, a guy upstairs mentioned he last saw Angelica in the basement. How do we get down there?” I ask with a sense of urgency.

“Over here,” he replies, taking my hand and leading the way.

We maneuver through the many drunkards gathered by the stairs and stop in front of a closed door. Heath grabs the handle and wrenches it open. We’re both surprised to see Malcolm standing on the other side of it, staring us down with a menacing look. Before either of us has time to react, Malcolm clocks Heath in the face, sending him stumbling off to the side. He grabs me by the throat and lifts me off the floor before slamming me back against the wall, causing several pictures to crash to the ground, shattering the glass frames. Gasps sound from the people around us as I feel my air supply depleting. His grip clenches my windpipe and I swing my legs about, trying to break free. I dig my nails into his hand, but he doesn’t let go, he just lets out a slight laugh. A guy tries to intervene on my behalf and receives a hard punch to the face for his efforts, sending him gliding across the floor on his back.

Suddenly, Malcolm’s grip around my throat releases and I tumble to the floor, able to breathe again. I look over and see Heath on top of my brother after tackling him. He gets in a few good shots, but then Malcolm gains the upper hand by rolling Heath onto his back before delivering a few quick punches himself.

Regaining my composure, I jump to my feet and launch myself onto Malcolm’s back. I can feel his strength like a wave of energy pulsing around him. He rises up without even the slightest struggle with me still holding on.

Heath scrambles to his feet and sends a couple of solid jabs to my brother’s stomach, and I feel Malcolm react to each one. He blocks the follow-up punch and lunges forward, delivering a heavy blow to Heath’s chest, sending him staggering backward. I clench my arms tighter around Malcolm’s neck, and my hand brushes up against something dangling in front of his chest underneath his shirt. Malcolm grabs hold of my arm, loosening my grip on him. My free hand takes hold of the thin chain around my brother’s neck. As he flips me over his shoulder to the floor, I tug on the chain, but it slips from my grasp. The wind is knocked from my lungs, followed by a groan of pain when I slam into the ground.

I glance up as Heath’s about to swing at my brother, but then Malcolm waves his hand to the side and Heath is swept off his feet and sent crashing into the wall before joining me on the floor. Malcolm looks down at me as I’m pushing myself up off the ground, and that damn grin appears on his lips.

He snaps his fingers together and a visible wave of energy sweeps through the area. Everyone who was mesmerized by our fight returns to partying like nothing ever happened. Malcolm slowly retreats toward the front door, but never takes his eyes from mine. I notice the thing around his neck glows a faint violet color just before he stuffs it back inside his shirt. With a slight twiddle of his fingers in my direction, he slips out the front door and into the night.

Heath groans while pulling himself into a standing position, using the wall for support. “Well, that was new,” he mutters, dusting himself off.

“Yeah,” I moan as Heath helps me to my feet. I feel the knot on the back of my head from hitting the wooden floor and release a painful sigh. “Shit--Angelica.”

We hurry down into the basement as fast as our damaged bodies will carry us. When we reach the bottom of the stairs, I immediately search the area for any sign of her, but come away with nothing. I recognize a few of the girls from Angelica’s sorority over by the bar and approach them.

“Have any of you seen Angelica?” I ask them, and they all turn to me with inebriated stares.

“Nope,” is the only response I get.

“Didn’t you guys bring her here?” I ask in annoyance.

“Yeah … but she went off with some guy,” one of the three blondes replies before tossing back a shot.

“And he looked like?” I inquire, trying to get anything out of them.

Two of the other girls start snickering for some unknown reason and one of them points at me. “He looked like you, but with shorter hair,” she snorts, and I can tell she’s had a few too many drinks.

“Thank you so much, and I just want to say that this interaction with you guys has singlehandedly made me not ever want to rush a sorority,” I quip and then walk away. I can hear their drunken jeers from behind me, but I’m on a mission and couldn’t care less.

“They were talking about your brother, weren’t they?” Heath asks on our way up the stairs to the first floor.

“Yep. He has Angelica, and now I’m royally screwed … literally,” I growl under my breath, feeling pissed off.

“What are we going to do now?” Heath asks while following me outside.

I’m finally able to think straight since there isn’t music assaulting my ears anymore. “I have no idea. I feel so fucking helpless right now with all this. We got our asses handed to us by whatever is controlling my brother, and I’m at a complete loss.”

“Maybe we could go ask Jack if she has anything that can help us. I mean, anything is worth a shot at this point, right?” he says.

“I guess it could be worth a shot.”

“Okay, we’ll head over there first thing in the morning.”

“No, we have to go tonight. We can’t risk losing that much time. Angelica’s gone. We have to find her soon or who knows what will happen to her.”