“Hey, my beautiful, wonderful friend,” Susie said as she slipped into the seat beside Zack. She leaned out past Zack's massive chest and beamed at me. “Do you know what you're going to be for Halloween?”
“Careful, January,” Richard said with a smirk as he wheeled his chair to the other side of Susie, “It's a trap.”
Susie giggled and shook her head. “It's not a trap, I promise. I'm just curious.”
I bit my thumbnail. When I was really little, my mother would create these elaborate costumes with papier mache and whatever she could scrounge up, but as I approached school age, the costumes stopped happening. Instead of dressing up, my mother and I would watch classic horror movies and ignore the scattering of trick-or-treaters. It seemed a little silly to dress up—what was I going to be, a vampire?
“I'm probably not going to dress up,” I said.
“Oh.” Susie bit her lip. “Are you not into costumes?”
“No, I just don’t really have anything…” I shrugged, “Maybe I’ll make some antennas with a pipe cleaner or something. I don’t know.”
Her eyes widened, and she whispered, “Please let me dress you up.”
“It’s definitely a trap,” Zack stage whispered into my ear. “She's done it to all of us. Last year, the entire BBC dressed up as the cast of Alice in Wonderland.”
“Guess who Zack and I were,” Lucas said through a chuckle.
I looked between them. “Tweedledee and Tweedledum?”
His mouth made a straight line, and he nodded solemnly.
“It was cute,” Susie objected.
Across the table from us, Mia cleared her throat and laid down a big stack of books. “Okay everyone, I think we can all fit at one table now, so let's bring it in.”
As the few remaining Elites and legacy students took seats at our table, Susie leaned past Zack and said in a rushed whisper, “And I've picked a different theme for this year. It only needs two people.”
Her words made me feel a little nervous, but in the silly, bubbly way that was a welcome change from the nauseating, feeling of impending doom I’ve had since I sat down. Honestly, if Susie still wanted to have a coordinated costume with me after this meeting, it would be a miracle I’d cherish forever.
“I’d love it, Susie,” I said, and I was rewarded with a beaming smile.
Mitch took a seat directly across from me, and Amber and Mark took seats on either side of Mitch. My heart jumped a little when Char sat at Amber's other side. She lifted a hand.
Yet another informant. They had congregated here.
“Hey, January. How are you?” she asked with a quivering smile.
I was saved from answering when Mia pounded her fist on the wood, grabbing all of our attention. “Hey. I just got news, and it's bad. As many of you know, Sebastian Holter, the guy who kidnapped half of us in this room, is alive. He dropped by Blackburn Academy the night of the Hunters Ball, and they’ve been holding him in the HG. That's not the bad news. Most of us already fucking knew that.” She rolled her head back on her neck, closed her eyes, and said, “The Hawthorn Group plans to let him go.”
There was a ripple of conversation through the small crowd of people, everyone muttering to one another.
My gaze met Mitch’s across the length of the table, and I could feel the weight of his stare. It was interesting how no one seemed to look over at him. He was Sebastian’s brother, and they closely resembled one another, but I got the feeling that people forgot that they were related.
“Fuck Sebastian,” I mouthed the words across the table at him. “And the Hawthorn Group, too.”
His eyes concentrated on me, hard. “What are you planning, January?”
I shook my head and looked back to Mia, quickly, but I could feel Mitch’s glare on me as I did it.
“They’re giving him clemency for his murder spree—he’s barely going to be punished.” Mia’s umber eyes snapped open, and she looked between us. “Meaning, it's only a matter of time before it’s open season on hybrids again...” Mia peered down the length of the table and trailed off as her gaze landed on Amber who was raising her hand.
Shoving back her muscular shoulders, Mia started to say, “We'll do questions at the end—”
“What's the point of this?” Amber interrupted.
“Please fucking see yourself out, Amber, if you’re not here to help.” Mia sighed and pushed back a long lock of dark hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail. “Anyway—”
“It's a valid question.” Amber crossed her arms over her chest. “I mean—if you're hybrids, you're probably a mix of two things, right? Human and something else. We're all guessing that something else is one of the crossbreeding Supernaturals, so that leaves fae, shifters, angels, demons, trolls...” she gestured at Zack and Lucas to either side of me, “And demigods. As none of you have supernatural powers, it doesn't really even matter that you have these creatures in your family tree.”
“Most of those creatures are immortal or close to it,” Lucas muttered. “It could mean that we're hunting our ancestors.”
Amber shrugged. “Just because you're related to them, doesn't mean that they're not evil and in need of killing. Digging up buried family secrets is not going to make any of us feel better.”
“Unless the Hawthorn Group is keeping something bigger and darker from us about what we are and what's going on.” Mia slipped into a chair, and even though she was sitting with perfect posture, she exuded exhaustion. “It seems like a pretty huge coincidence that almost every scholarship student in our year is a hybrid. They clearly didn't seek them out because of their athletic ability like they all claimed when they recruited students. Are they tracking hybrids? Are they making them? We need to get to the bottom of their lies.”
“That's all good for you.” Amber gestured at Mia. “You're not going to get into trouble for this. Your daddy is the head of soldier operations, but all of your little friends here could get expelled or worse, and I ask again, what difference does it make? Say you figure out that your great grandfather was a troll...” she gestured across the table again. “What does that change?”
Lucas whispered in my ear, “You think she might be hinting at something?”
I didn't have time to respond because Amber was still talking, “And then you join the HG, and they send you after a man-eating troll. Are you going to kill him or her or whatever suspecting that it might be your long-lost cousin? You'll have to...unless all of you are planning on taking a noncombat job. They're keeping it a secret for a reason, and that reason is to keep us effective soldiers so we don't end up getting ourselves killed. But, you probably won't have to worry about getting killed as the HG will sideline you permanently if they know you're sticking your nose where they don't want you to stick it.”
There was a murmur all down the table. A few people started gathering their things, and two girls slipped away.
“They're keeping us in the dark about what we are,” Mia said, her gaze passing over the group.
“And, they have a good reason for it,” Amber said as she stood. The moment she climbed from her chair. “As a class five officer, it is my duty to make sure every single person who orchestrated this hot mess is either demoted or expelled. This Hybrids club...”
“You’re mistaken, Amber. This isn’t the Hybrids club. We’re here for a completely different reason, a reason sanctioned by the Hawthorn Group,” I said, as my heart crawled up into my neck, beating there and making my voice sound raw. All eyes fell on me, making me no less nervous. Mia opened her mouth to object, so I raised my voice as much as possible, “That might have been the original intent of the meeting, but Mia and I talked yesterday, and we agreed that we need to fall in line with what the Hawthorn Group wants us to do.”
“Really?” Amber rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Then why was Mia bringing up Sebastian Holter and his crimes?”
“She agreed to introduce what I have to announce…”
Mitch stood, and his chai
r fell back onto the ground, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Shut up, January.”
“I can’t shut up…” I shook my head and stood slowly.
Mitch’s hands slapped down on the table, and he leaned in like he planned to lunge over and tackle me to the ground to stop the flood of words about to burst free from my mouth. “Can we talk for a minute outside?”
Standing at a table of my friends, I took a moment to look from face to face, knowing this was the last time any of them would look at me this way—like I was one of them—like I was their friend.
I took a deep, steadying breath, and on my exhale, I said, “I’m a dhampir.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I am a dhampir.
I had kept those words inside me for so long now that it both terrified me to say them aloud while at the same time, it felt like a relief. It was like I had this giant, invisible boil on my chest, and I’d finally worked up the courage to lance it.
Thirty sets of eyes widened at me in shock. It was so quiet in the library that I could hear the clock ticking on the wall behind the librarian’s station. Professor Titus, the Blackburn Academy archivist, was conspicuously absent from his chair.
I cleared my throat. “I guess I’ll just start at the beginning. So, I met Justin Roberts a year ago because the Hawthorn Group sent him to kill me. They claim that they thought I was a vampire and that the order was an accident. I actually thought I was a vampire… I mean, I didn’t know anything about this world. My life hadn’t changed much. I could go outside during the day and go to school. I ate food and… was normal, but I had fangs sometimes and was starting to crave blood.”
A shudder passed through the crowd, and I suddenly wished that I kept that detail to myself. I continued my story, explaining to the group about participating in the entrance trials. My breath kept running out as I talked, and the room was spinning around me from the adrenaline pumping through my veins, but I had to keep going. “I didn’t realize until after I got into the school that you guys hunted Supernaturals. After officials from Blackburn Academy determined that I’d never hurt anyone, they offered me a place here.”
“You say that you’re a dhampir?” Mia asked as she leaned into the table. “Meaning, your father is a vampire. Is he still a vampire?”
“Yeah. He is, but I didn’t know him growing up.”
“This is complete and total bullshit, January,” Amber said as she stood. “If this is true, then why do all of your friends look like they’ve been smacked upside their heads?”
“Not all of her friends,” Zack said as he nodded across the table at Mitch, whose glare was still fixed on me. “You told Mitch all of this.”
“Yeah, but… that’s complicated. My story isn’t close to over,” I said.
“Charlotte, weren’t you two basically like sisters during this entire year while January was secretly a dhampir?” Amber turned to the girl who really was once my best friend in the entire world. “Did you know she was a dhampir all this time, Char?”
Char’s green eyes darted back and forth between Amber and me. “I didn’t know. I thought we were friends, but…”
“If you’re a dhampir, January, prove it,” Amber said.
“No, thank you, Amber. I don’t do tricks on command. I’m not your dog.”
“Debatable.” She gestured out to the group. “So, we’re just supposed to take your word for it after you’ve just confessed to lying to everyone here the entire time we knew you.” Amber breathed out a harsh laugh. “Unbelievable. Can anyone here confirm that you’re a dhampir—something that’s not even supposed to exist anymore?”
“Mitch can.” I looked at Mitch, but he didn’t say a word to defend me. He just continued to glare at me.
“I guess he can’t, and you won’t prove it…” Amber shrugged. “Then I’m convinced that this was just a ridiculous story for attention.”
“It’s not,” I said as I glanced between the people in the group, some of whom I knew, but most of whom I didn’t.
Amber sighed and stood. “I don’t know about all of you, but I’ve heard enough bullshit for one evening. What I said before stands—this is an illegal Hybrid meeting—and anyone who stays here will be reported.”
The sound of chairs scooting back grew loud around the table as everyone fled the space in a rush. The only Elite aside from Amber and Mitch to stay was Mark, who looked lost. He was biting his lip and giving me what could have been a smile, though it looked like a grimace.
A few of the BBC members stood and headed for the door, including Patrick, who I wasn’t whatsoever disappointed to see the back of. Amber watched the group go, staying put with Char beside her until almost everyone filtered through the library doors. Only Susie, Richard, Mia, the Baldwin twins, Mitch, Mark, and I remained at the table when the crowd cleared out.
“What did you think was going to happen, January?” Amber shook her head.
“You knew what I was?” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re a liar.”
“Just fuck off, Amber. You've done your damage,” Mitch growled.
Thankfully, she turned and paced for the door, but before she pushed the wooden double-doors open, she glanced back over her shoulder. “Dinner is at six sharp Friday. Don’t be late.”
Then Amber disappeared through the doors.
Char waited for a second more, bouncing her weight between her feet. “January, I… can we talk sometime?”
“No. Not about this,” I said.
Char nodded. “Okay.” She waved a hand at the others. “Sorry about Amber. She just doesn't want you all to get in trouble.”
“Really, Charlotte?” Mia asked, tilting her head to regard her. “Because I'm pretty sure Amber would love to get every one of us in trouble.”
“You’d be surprised,” Char whispered before rushing away.
It was a strange thing to say, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Char was eluding to the unfathomable reason why Amber was on the watch list, but I was pulled from my thoughts as Zack leaned away from me. His brow furrowed. “I’d like to hear the rest of this story. I think we need to before we decide.”
Decide?
The word stuck in my mind, and for a few long seconds, I couldn’t think of anything else. What were they going to decide?
“You listen up right now, BBC whatever the fuck you call yourselves.” Mitch glared around at the group. “When my brother Sebastian found out that the Hawthorn Group caught a dhampir, he decided he was going to steal her powers and kill her. Sebastian worked with certain vampires to threaten January’s family. They also sent a scion onto campus to kidnap her. And when I say that Sebastian threatened January’s mom, I mean that when January resisted, Sebastian showed her surveillance videos of vampires trying to break into her mom’s rehab center. I know all this shit because my brother blackmailed me into going along with his plans, too.”
“Mitch, stop.” I smacked the table, but he just kept going.
“Sebastian had me deliver January to him once a day where he beat the crap out of her mentally and sometimes physically too. It was all part of the plan to fucking kidnap her and steal her powers. Which he did—”
“Wait a minute,” Mia said as she stood. “Are you saying Sebastian Holter is a dhampir now?”
“Yeah, he is. Sebastian is an Elite that made himself a dhampir. He wasn’t born one like January. We don’t even know what that means, except that he’s never going to stop trying to kill her.”
Richard shook his head. “Made dhampirs aren’t supposed to be medically possible.”
“Well, it worked—it’s none of our fucking business how he stole January’s powers…” Mitch pointed around the group, “And if I hear that a single one of you are asking how Sebastian did what he did, I will personally kick your ass. But what I do know was that January was supposed to die in Sebastian’s plans. And all of us were supposed to die with her as subjects of Sebastian’s hybrid experiments because we got in his way
. Knowing my brother, the reason January was forced to keep quiet to all of you, on pain of her mother being killed, was so Sebastian could cover up her murder. So while all of you were blissfully running around, competing in your Hunter Trials shit, she was getting threatened and abused, and I was a part of that, alright? I was a part of that shit, and that’s how I fucking know about it all. So, Zack fucking Baldwin, if you need to make any decisions about January right now, it better be how you’re going to support your fucking friend when the Hawthorn Group folds to my brother once more.”
Mitch finished talking, and the library remained completely silent.
A warm hand touched mine, and I glanced down to find Lucas’ fingers wrapping around my palm. I squeezed his fingers back, so grateful for his silent support.
“If I could say something.” Across the table, Mark Yates raised a hand and grinned around at the group. “January, the Hawthorn Group considers you an asset. I know my father does. I didn’t know why until now, but I’ve heard more than one member of the Elite Council mention you. They’re not going to let anything happen to you even if Sebastian comes back. We Elites will protect you too—you’re one of us now.”
He was so full of shit, but I had to just smile and nod. “Thanks, Mark.”
Susie leaned forward, and her lip quivered a little as she looked over at me. “I know that I, for one, could do with another movie night this weekend, January—if you’ll have us.”
“Sure. Sunday… I’m free if you want to come over.” I nodded, but the tense feeling in my gut didn’t lessen. Everything had changed in the last hour. I just had to wait for the fallout to see how much things had changed. “Sorry for making this meeting all about myself. I know most of you came for a Hybrids meeting.”
“We came for information,” Mia said, but she was concentrating on her hands.
“You guys probably want to talk.” I grabbed my blazer and scooted back my chair so I could maneuver out from between the Baldwin brothers. The wood made a loud scraping sound that jarred my nerves, and I was so ready to escape.
Broken Elites (The Vampire Legacy Book 3) Page 21