Broken Elites (The Vampire Legacy Book 3)

by Rita Stradling

  “So, Sebastian did sense you at that demon club?” Mitch rubbed his forehead. “He really can sense you.”

  I pressed my fingers into my eyelids. “I can’t even think about that right now. It’s just too much. But, Mitch, Justin, and I are in deep shit, and you need to stay far away.”

  “No,” Mitch muttered. “I’m not staying out of this, and I’m not taking off and leaving you both to die. I’m a better fighter than both you and Justin combined… while I’m drunk.”

  My head was starting to pound, and it wasn’t because I was just wrestled to the ground and gagged. Nope, it was because Mitch was so freaking stubborn. “Yep. You’re a better fighter. That’s true, but it doesn’t change the fact that neither Justin nor I want you to risk your life in something that’s not your problem.”

  Mitch crossed his arms and gave me a level look. “Justin asks me to risk my life every chance he gets. You’re the one who wants to protect me, Dirtbag, and I never asked for it.”

  “Well, I never asked for you to be my big hulking shadow, but I can’t seem to get rid of you.” I probably sounded more than sullen, but this was a complication that I didn’t need in my life.

  “Clearly, you’re not going to. I don’t care if it’s demons or dhampirs or whatever else coming after you, I’m self-appointing myself as your bodyguard now.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Professor Sharp paced around the office, muttering words as she walked. A shiver ran up my back, like little jolts of static crackling over my spine. Mr. Walters stood against the wall, and even though my lawyer had just arrived in the Mystical Arts classroom, he already appeared to be asleep.

  As soon as my purple-haired teacher was finished soundproofing the room, she tapped Mr. Walters on the shoulder, and the tall man opened his eyes slowly.

  “I’m going to shoot straight with you on this one, January,” Professor Sharp said as she continued to bounce in place. “I don’t have a talent for sugar coating, and you don’t seem like someone who’d appreciate it. Morale is dropping fast at headquarters. More than anything, Mr. Yates is desperate to convince soldiers that he has a solution.”

  “Is that supposed to be some sort of excuse for what just happened?” Mitch put his elbows on his desk and glared at our teacher. We sat in the first row of the empty lecture hall, and it uncannily felt like we were back in class. The entire day was starting to feel surreal.

  “It’s not an excuse. It’s a warning. Public opinion is still very much that Sebastian Holter is orchestrating all of this, but we need him desperately. Every day, the Elite Council is giving in to new concessions to him. At the same time, soldiers are defecting rather than wanting to work with him, which is making us rely on Sebastian more. Trust me. I want to kill him—those eight people he killed in the last two years, they were soldiers I knew. They were my friends. One of the people he killed was my cousin. We finally had the proof we needed to put him down, and everyone worked together to track down his location, and then he made himself indispensable.”

  Her words had me rocking back in my desk. I’d been so caught up in my anger that I hadn’t really even thought about the families of all of the murdered soldiers. I kept thinking of the Hawthorn Group as complicit in Sebastian Holter’s crimes, but everyone who was killed was a member of the small, close-knit society. Probably a good portion of the Hawthorn Group was affected in some way by Sebastian’s crimes, and there was no way that they’d have been complicit in the murders of their loved ones. “Are they giving him any power in the Hawthorn Group?”

  “Not officially, no. Sebastian is in charge of a new task force that takes on specialized missions—including this new threat. He’s working directly under the CEO, the Elite Council, and the Operations Director,” Professor Sharp said. “But I hope you can see the dilemma here. Mr. Yates needs Sebastian, and he doesn’t need you. In the CEO’s eyes, you’re both guilty.”

  “What if I got proof that Sebastian was the one who orchestrated this?”

  “No. I don’t want you to go anywhere near him. What would really help us is if you gave us some useful information about this demon threat. Are you holding anything back, January? You’re in a safe place here with us.”

  Sweat gathered at the back of my neck, and I was suddenly terrified that they could see the guilt on my face plain as day. Keeping my voice as even as possible, I said, “Why do you think I know something?”

  Her gaze darted about assessing my features. “I got a feeling in my gut when you were talking about Friday night. It happened again when Parker was talking about going to the clubhouse. Are you holding something back?”

  Dread whispered in my heart. “I don’t know anything.”

  “There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re not working with the demons to hurt us, January, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

  “She said she wasn’t there,” Mitch snapped. “You want to know where she was, talk to my aunt. Though by the fact Gina wouldn’t lift a fucking finger to help January today, I’d guess you wouldn’t get much from her.” Mitch leaned further across the desk. “What you should be telling January about is what Sebastian is claiming. He said that he could sense her. What else did he say?”

  Professor Sharp stilled, and I could see the reluctance in her eyes to tell us. “Sebastian said being away from you was like being homesick. The closer you are, the better he feels.”

  I stared at her in a moment of sheer revulsion. Sebastian was drawn to me like I was his home.

  Mr. Walters stepped up to the table and sighed. “Miss Moore, that might be a good segway into the reason I stayed to talk to you. We need to discuss something. As you may or may not know, Vampire masters can compel their progeny to do things the progeny might not otherwise want to do. The Hawthorn Group outlaws compelling others with magic, unless it has been officially sanctioned by the council. Therefore, in response to Sebastian Holter’s agreement to keep a distance from you for the remainder of your natural life, the Hawthorn Group is going to ask you to never seek him out in an attempt to control him. It’s just extending the restraining order to be a two-way agreement.”

  “Of course I’ll never seek him out,” I clasped my hands together under the desk to stop their shaking. “Is there going to be magic involved that will force him to stay away?”

  “That’s still being debated, Miss Moore, Mr. Walters said. “The difficulty there is that you two will be required to work in the same building. For now, he will be required to keep a half-mile distance from your home, school, or friend’s houses. Here is a list of locations he’ll be required to keep away from unless the Hawthorn Group calls his team there to deal with a direct threat.” Mr. Walters crossed the room and placed a form on my desk. “Read this carefully. I’ve examined it, and it passes my approval, but I want you to be familiar with all of the terms you’re going to be held to.”

  As I looked down at the form, the ink bled together, smearing before my eyes. I might have the power to compel Sebastian Holter. It should be a good thing. It should mean that I was safe from him, but I knew that wasn’t true. That would never be true. Sebastian would always view me as a threat. He was never going to stop coming for me.

  Mr. Walters slid another form onto the desk before me. “And, here I have the final settlement. You’re going to need to fill out how you want the money delivered to you here. And this is a copy of the speech Sebastian is planning to give. As you’re a minor, the Hawthorn Group is required to provide a copy to you and your guardian, Rachel Sharp, as Sebastian plans to mention you by name.”

  I stared down at the speech, not understanding. “It says here that he’s going to serve the Hawthorn Group with dhampir powers? “

  Professor Sharp inhaled deeply and crossed over to the desk. “Sebastian is insisting on making a full confession of his crimes to the Hawthorn Group in an open forum in front of everyone in our community. The Elite Council approved it in hopes that it’ll ease some of the tension
at headquarters. Sebastian is insisting that he needs to reveal what you both are.”

  “He’s going to reveal what I am? He can't do that...” Even as I said the words, I knew that Sebastian could, of course, tell everyone what he did and what I am. If he wanted the truth out, nothing short of killing him would stop it. I rubbed my chest hard, but it did nothing to lessen the tension amassing there. “That's what he wants out of all of this, to be the famous dhampir who saved the sabbatianoí from an unspeakable threat. And, what is that going to make me? A freak? Are they going to say I infiltrated Blackburn Academy and Sebastian discovered the truth?”

  Professor Sharp shook her head. “We would never do that.”

  “More like too many of us already know the fucking truth for them to pull that shit.” Mitch rubbed the back of his neck. “Sebastian convinced you to let him go into detail about his crimes in front of a live audience. That’ll make him so happy. You know he’s a serial killer, right? He’s not the least bit sorry. I hope you have a good fucking therapist on retainer at headquarters after that shit.”

  “The Elite Council believe that he’ll stick to the script,” Professor Sharp said.

  Mitch actually laughed at that. “No, you don’t. He’s got you in his pocket, and you’re all pretending that he’s not calling the shots.”

  “Well, it’s happening, and I have no power in the matter,” Professor Sharp crossed her arms over her chest. “Listen, January. I strongly suggest you tell your friends what you are before Sebastian does.”

  The idea made me feel sick to my stomach. “Maybe that would have worked if I came in telling everyone what I was, but you guys told me that if I did that, you’d let the vampires kill my family.”

  “And that was really wrong, we completely understand that but we can’t change the past.”

  I gestured out of the door. “Do you really think the students here are just going to accept that I’m a dhampir?”

  “Maybe.” She chomped down on her gum all the harder. “You’ll have the staff’s support, and we will defend you if attacks do come.”

  “Like you protect the trainees from the Elites?” Mitch’s nostrils flared.

  “The system isn’t perfect. And, I’m only here six hours a week, so I’m not going to pretend that I can fix this for you.” She spat out yet another wad of gum into a wrapper. “It’s up to you who you tell, or if you tell anyone at all. Sebastian isn’t going to do the speech until Halloween. You can take these two weeks to think it over. I’m here to help you only, and I’m not going to try to control the course of your life.” She lifted her purple brows. “Seriously—I didn’t plan to adopt a seventeen-year-old at twenty-six.”

  “I’m too upset to think anything is funny right now.” I rubbed my hands down my face, steadying myself for what I was going to say. Looking up into my fidgety professor’s eyes, I told her, “I want to go to Sebastian’s confession.”

  Everyone in the room stared at me with grimaces plainly written on their faces.

  “Are you sure that’s the best idea?” Professor Sharp asked with her brows high on her head. “January, it’s possible Sebastian will sense your presence, and it’ll activate him. I think that staying within the terms of your restraining order is essential for your safety.”

  “I want to go for my safety. I’ll stay as far back as possible, but no part of me believes he’ll stick to a script. I need to be there. I need to hear what he says, and the only way I’ll feel safe is if I know like six escape routes from the building. All I know is that I need to see his confession.”

  All three of them were looking at me with so much compassion in their eyes, and I suddenly felt as if the lie had literally cost a piece of me. Somehow, it came out so naturally. I needed to see Sebastian Holter’s confession. It sounded like a reasonable request, when really what I truly needed to know was Sebastian’s exact location so I could send assassins to kill him.

  “I’ll go too,” Mitch said, and the very idea terrified the shit out of me. I didn’t want Mitch anywhere near Sebastian when the werewolves attacked.

  I glanced over at him and said in a measured voice, “You don’t have to.”

  “Yeah, I do, and not just to watch your back. I need to know what he says too.”

  Professor Sharp looked over at Mr. Walters.

  The tall man huffed out a heavy breath. “I’ll discuss it with the council. Under these circumstances, they might make an exception to our standing orders.”

  My gut clenched, and I turned my gaze to the classroom floor. If Mr. Walters gave me the information about Sebastian’s speech and I handed it over to the werewolves, I would be responsible for a death. I had just set foot on the path to murder. What if there was no coming back from doing something like that?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The forms took me another thirty minutes to fill out, and by the time Mitch and I left the classroom, my stomach was growling.

  As I opened the door, a girl stumbled inside. My ex-best friend Charlotte jumped to her feet with a look of shock on her face.

  “Goodness, January!” she laughed, dragging a hand across her forehead. “That’ll teach me to stand against doors.”

  For just a second, a warm bubbly feeling flooded my stomach, and I was about to smile when I remembered that Char was an informant, and she was likely leaning against this door to hear what we were saying inside.

  “Hey,” I said with a nod as I continued past.

  “Hey, January,” she said. “Are you okay? Your face looks bruised.”

  “Elite training.” I turned my face away.

  “Oh. Well it was nice to see you.” The misery in her voice almost convinced me to stop, but I really had nothing to say to her. Even if she wasn’t an informant, we weren’t technically friends anymore. We hadn’t talked since that fateful party when she told me that she couldn’t choose between Amber and me, and I told her that I’d make the decision for her.

  Before I made it to my locker, the final bell rang, and students flooded the hallways. Making my way through the crowd made me feel distinctly like a fish swimming the wrong direction in a school of salmon.

  Mitch was already loading his books into his locker when I arrived, and I rushed to open my locker and push in my stack of books.

  The moment I grabbed up my phone and checked the screen, my heart sank. There was a group text waiting for me with thirty-three people on the thread. The first message was from Mia.

  Mia: Spread the word, the first Hybrid research meeting is tomorrow at seven o’clock in the library. They can’t stop us from talking. Only tell people you trust. No more lies.

  When I searched through the names on the text, sure enough, Braiden Conway was there. Mia was clearly determined to get expelled and take all of our friends down with her.

  “Ugh.” I pressed my head into the cold metal of the locker. “I do not need this shit right now.”

  “What?” Mitch asked, and when I showed him the text, he shrugged and said, “Her funeral.”

  “Yeah, but she doesn’t know…” I lowered my voice, “That Braiden is an informant. Now I have to save her from herself.”

  A little more than twenty-four hours later, I found myself waiting squished in a Baldwin brother sandwich. Students packed into the central dome of the Academy library, and it was an enormous space. Around us, the large dome-shaped room almost looked as if it was entirely made of books, spiraling up to the ceiling. The air was heavy with the smell of old, worn tomes.

  “I’m surprised you came.” Lucas Baldwin said as he wrapped a beefy arm over my shoulder.

  “I shouldn’t have,” I said, meaning it. Mr. Yates had told Mia Acosta point-blank that holding the Hybrid meetings was going against the Hawthorn Group. Mia and all of the other members of the BBC were openly flouting his words, completely unaware that the moment Mia sent that text to Braiden, Mr. Yates likely knew about this meeting.

  “Yeah, you should have. We’ll be fine,” Zack said from my other s
ide. “What is Mr. Yates going to do, expel half the senior class?”

  I was sure that most of these students would get a big fat pass for being here, it was only the ringleaders who’d be booted, the members of the BBC and me.

  “I guess the secret got out about the meeting tonight. This has to be half the school,” I said as I looked over the crowd, seeing at least five informants from the list in the group. Damn it. I didn’t know how the hammer would fall, but it was coming.

  Zack smirked over at me. “Yeah, these guys aren't here for the hybrid meeting, Blondie. They're here to kiss Mia’s ass. Especially that crowd.” He nodded to a table to one side of the dome where every single Elite sat. Mitch and Amber were central in the crowd, looking like a king and queen.

  The moment I looked over, Mitch's umber gaze met mine, and he lifted a dark brow. “We should leave.”

  “Not yet,” I mouthed back at Mitch.

  “Holy shit!” Mia exclaimed as she walked into the library with the remainder of the Bad Boys Club at her side. “This is way more people than I expected. Okay, guys! Listen up! I’m not even thinking about the Blood Moon patrols until next month.”

  “Blood Moon patrols?” I asked over at Lucas.

  “First patrols most of us go on. It’s not until the last day before winter break, but half the school are already training for it.”

  I would be in Phoenix by then. Even though no part of me wanted to go on something called the Blood Moon Patrols, the realization that I would have already left Blackburn forever at that point made me feel unexpectedly sad.

  Chatter rose all around us as the crowd dispersed, heading toward the doors in a group.