Cold Blood

by Heather Hildenbrand

  “I tackled him,” I said, cringing. Despite Cambria telling me not to, I couldn’t help but feel bad after everything she’d told me. “And then we rolled down the hill, fighting.”

  Cambria grinned. “Yeah, I know. I heard. I just wanted to hear it from you.”

  “Oh, crap. Already?”

  “It’s already everywhere. Sorry. According to the story, you and Alex were caught making out at the edge of the woods by Griffin Hall.”

  My eyes widened. “What? Crap. That is not what happened!”

  “Obviously. But it sounds way better than you attacking your trainer in a rage and rolling down a hill.”

  “I did more damage than that,” I said, knowing I sounded pathetically defensive. “He was just as messed up as me at the bottom. Worse, actually. I bit him.”

  “You… bit him?” Cambria’s eyes were wide with surprise and then her expression changed and she burst out laughing.

  “It’s not funny. He was bleeding,” I said, still feeling guilty.

  Cambria was shaking and gripping the sink for support. A girl at the other end of the stalls peeked out and scurried towards the door, sending us odd looks. Cambria finally got a hold of herself by sucking in deep breaths that sounded like hyperventilating.

  “So, look,” she began. “You probably shouldn’t tell people about the whole biting thing if you want them to believe it was a raging fight instead of a quickie in the grass.” She muffled a giggle again. “Especially with the whole ‘dog’ persona you’ve got going on.”

  I shot Cambria a look. “Whatever,” I muttered.

  Cambria snorted another laugh, and I ignored her and finished combing my hair. I twisted it up behind me to get it out of the way and a grumbling noise echoed out around me.

  “What was that?” Cambria asked.

  “My stomach. I’m starved. Can we eat now?”

  “Sure thing.”

  We left the bathroom, and I slowed when we got close to my door. I really didn’t want to go back in there.

  “Can I put my stuff in your room ‘til we get back?” I asked.

  “No prob.”

  She stopped in front of a door only a few up from mine. It was black with glow in the dark stars stuck on it and a brassy sign with ‘Number Eleven’ engraved on the front. The inside smelled like musky incense and expensive perfume. One bed was covered in clothes and magazines and the other was made up neatly like it hadn’t been used recently.

  “I bet your roommate doesn’t suck,” I said, dropping my bag onto the messy bed. I didn’t have to ask to know that one was Cambria’s.

  “No, she’s never here. I like that about her.”

  We headed for the stairs that would take us back up to ground level. On our way out, we passed by the office door I’d seen earlier, and I slowed.

  “Whose room is this?” I asked, trying to see inside around the Do Not Disturb sign that still covered the window.

  “Un-uh. Come on.” Cambria grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards the stairs. “That’s Ms. Fincham’s room. She’s what you would call a dorm mother.” Cambria snorted. “Except crazier.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Cambria Hebert?” a shrill voice called out from behind us. “Is that you? Is that my new student you’ve got with you?”

  Cambria cringed and stopped. “Come on. Get it over with,” she whispered.

  We turned, and I saw a willowy woman with frizzy brown hair standing near the office doorway. She had on a flower print robe over dingy sweatpants and bunny slippers on her feet.

  “Hey, Ms. Fincham,” Cambria said.

  “Hey, yourself. Is this my new girl?” Ms. Fincham squinted at me even though I was standing right in front of her. She smelled like bread dough and hand sanitizer.

  “Her name’s Tara Godfrey, Ms. Fincham.”

  “Huh. Nice to meet you. Be sure you follow my rules,” she said, frowning at me.

  “What are the rules?” I asked.

  Ms. Fincham thrust a piece of paper at me. “These are the rules. Sign them and drop them into the slot in my doorway after dinner.”

  Somewhere inside the office, a timer dinged. Ms. Fincham whirled and disappeared inside, slamming the door behind her.

  “That was interesting,” I said.

  “Actually, that was pretty calm,” said Cambria. “Baking does that, even though you couldn’t pay me to eat whatever it is she’s making. Come on.”

  We went through the line and sat at a small table in the corner, tucked out of the way of the group by the window. Victoria wasn’t there, but the brunette I’d seen this morning was; the one who had more mascara than eyelashes. And she was clearly holding court in Victoria’s absence. Her smile was wide enough – and fake enough – to swallow whole some of the jocks she was trying to charm, and it curved into something edgy and mean when she spotted us. I held her gaze for as long as she stared back at me and even a few seconds after, just to prove a point. I wasn’t sure what that point was, but it made me feel slightly more confident.

  “Who’s the brunette at Victoria’s table?” I asked Cambria.

  Cambria glanced behind her and then twisted her lip into a snarl. “Demi Johanssen. Second in command, wants to be first. She follows Victoria around like a slave, waiting for the moment Victoria is gone long enough so she can steal the spotlight for a little while.”

  A shadow fell over our table, and we looked up. Logan stood there, minus the baseball cap for the first time all day. His hair was wet from the shower and he had on fresh clothes.

  “Hey,” he said, smiling and sliding onto a chair next to Cambria. His tray was loaded down, and he dug in like he hadn’t eaten in a week.

  “Hey,” Cambria mumbled around a mouthful of cheesy fries.

  “Do you have a trainer, too?” I asked.

  “What?” He blinked at me, his face blank for a second, and then he seemed to realize what I’d meant. “Oh. No. I got caught up on a project I’m working on and then I spilled some solution on myself and had to shower.”

  Cambria stopped, a french fry halfway to her mouth. “Eww. It wasn’t formaldehyde again was it?”

  “No. Saline, but I was working with blood, and I didn’t want to take the chance.”

  “Why blood?” I asked, before Cambria could voice her disgust again. She went back to her fries.

  He shrugged. “It’s extra credit. I’m studying the differences between Hunter DNA and human DNA. White blood cell count, immune system, that sort of thing.”

  Cambria rolled her eyes. “Logan, don’t lie to sound cooler. It’s not extra credit. You do this crap for fun.”

  Logan’s cheeks reddened a little and he shot Cambria a look. “There’s nothing wrong with being smart, Cam.”

  “I think it’s pretty interesting. What have you found?” I asked.

  “It’s still in the beginning stages,” he said. “Not a lot of collected data. But from what we can tell, Hunter blood has all the same DNA make up as humans plus some extras.

  “Like what?”

  “Think of our DNA like a human’s on steroids. Stronger immune system, even to long-term diseases like cancer. And we don’t get colds or the flu as often. There’s a lot of speculation as to exactly how or why that is. Hunters haven’t had the access or funding we’ve needed in the past to really get these kinds of answers. So this sort of project is really exciting.”

  Cambria snorted, but I smiled. “Sounds like it.” It made me wonder what my DNA would look like, with traces of human, Hunter, and Werewolf blood all mixed together. I was kind of afraid to ask.

  Victoria breezed through the doors as we finished up and dumped our trays. She had a mini entourage behind her, which included Levi, and I tensed. I hadn’t really figured out how I was going to handle the roommate thing. Part of me wanted to march down to Griffin Hall and demand to be moved. The other part of me felt like a coward for even considering it.

  “I think I’m going to get some air,” I said, staying clea
r until they’d passed. Victoria didn’t even turn to glare at me. Maybe we’d moved on to ignoring. One could hope.

  “You want some company?” Cambria asked, scrutinizing me.

  I shook my head. “No thanks. It’s been a long day. I want a few minutes to unwind.”

  Some of the intensity and worry left her face. “No worries. I need to charm Logan here into finishing some homework for me, anyway.”

  Logan glared at her. “You try to compel me–”

  “See you later,” she called, cutting him off and yanking him down the hall.

  I smiled. “See you later.”

  I went down the stairs and out the back set of doors; the ones that opened up almost straight into the woods. The sun had set enough to cast deep shadows on everything, leaving all the colors washed in a gray undertone. I leaned against the stone building, reached in my bag, and pulled out my phone.

  I held my breath while the screen loaded, waiting to see if there would be any messages. After today, I wasn’t sure if I could handle any more out of Miles. The screen lit up with a missed call, but it was my home number. Probably safe to assume my mom had realized I’d swiped the phone. No message. I decided not to call back yet. See how long she’d let it go.

  I scrolled through my address book and found Wes’ number. I punched it and waited while it rang. Around me, the sound of cicadas grew loud and steady with nightfall. The warmth of the sun had faded into a chill that grew heavier as it grew darker, made worse by the cold damp stone at my back. I wished I’d brought a jacket out.

  “Hello?”

  My breath caught at the sudden emotion that came from simply hearing the sound of his voice. “Hey,” I managed. Hot tears filled my eyes, and I blinked them back, hugging my arms around myself and wishing they were his.

  “Tara? Is everything okay?” Wes’ tone changed immediately–to one of alert. He was already assuming danger.

  I sniffled. “Yeah, it’s fine,” I lied, putting a huge amount of false cheer into my answer.

  “Is it that bad?”

  “Yes.” I sighed. “No. Maybe. First days are always the worst, right?”

  “Tell me what happened.”

  There it was again. That soft, deep tone he had that made my eyes burn because I couldn’t see the face that went with it. So, I told him. All about Victoria, and the threats, and Alex, who may or may not already hate me but definitely didn’t like me simply because my DNA made us enemies. I even told him about the humiliating tumble down the hill and getting caught by half the student body at the bottom.

  Wes laughed out loud at that, but cut off abruptly when he remembered my mood. “I’m sorry, not funny.” I could hear him smiling. “Do you want me to talk to him?”

  “No, I can handle it.” I was already feeling a tiny bit better for being able to tell him about it all, and I was feeling more like a drama queen every second, especially when I remembered everything he had to deal with. “How are things there? How’s Jack?”

  “Jack’s good. He’s getting around a little more. Still on Fee’s nerves, though. She’s threatened to put evil ingredients into his dinner.”

  I had to laugh at that. Something told me it could be scary being on Fee’s bad side. Static filled the line, and we waited for it to pass. I repositioned myself, hoping to find a clear spot. “What about you?” I asked when it cleared.

  “I’m good,” he said. His voice had gotten quieter, though, and strained. “I miss you already.”

  I kicked at some rocks at my feet, sending them rolling into the trees where they disappeared in the darkness. “I still think this is a dumb idea. I should be home.”

  “No!” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Tara, I want you to be careful. Don’t go anywhere alone, okay? And stay on school grounds.”

  “Why? Did something happen?” Something about his tone was too edgy for vague worrying, but it had smoothed out by the time he spoke again, and I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it. Or maybe my own stress was making me paranoid.

  “I want to know your safe. It’s not easy being so far away from you.”

  Static broke into the connection again. I waited, debating whether or not to say anything about the message from Miles. I knew I should, but I also knew that if I did, I’d never hear the end of it about being safe and never alone and blah blah blah. So when the static cleared, I stayed silent.

  “Edie says there’s a visitation day next month. I’m going to try and drive up.”

  “You talked to Grandma?”

  “Yeah she’s talking about coming to the next Cause meeting.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, your mom’s not happy, but what can she do, right? I hope she does. Maybe it’ll distract Jack long enough to give me a break. All he does is quiz me on names and pack locations. He’s talking about sending me out to meet another group of them, but I don’t think it’ll happen for a while.”

  “Why not? If you’re going to take over The Cause you need to know these people. They need to know you.”

  “They do know me. That’s the problem.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sighed and went quiet. “It’s not going over well with the other packs, Tara.”

  It took me a minute to realize what he meant, but the tone of his voice was clear. It was the same self-deprecating way he talked whenever his mixed blood came up.

  “That’s stupid,” I said. “Your parents helped found The Cause. They should be glad you have both of their blood in you.”

  “It’s not that simple, Tara. You know that.”

  I kicked another rock, harder than the others, and sent it flying. “It’s still stupid.”

  The static chimed in after that, louder than before, and with no sign of diminishing. A minute passed. I looked at the readout on my phone. It said Call Lost. I tried dialing again, but now there was a blinking message that said No Signal. I sighed and pocketed the phone.

  Somewhere in the trees a branch snapped, and I jerked my head towards the sound. Darkness shrouded the wooded area in front of me and I couldn’t make out anything. Then, further in, I saw movement. I shrank back into the heavy shadows of the building and held my breath. A moment later, a figure appeared on the path. I waited as it emerged from the thick trees, and I saw who it was.

  He saw me at the same time and stopped.

  “What are you doing out here?” Alex asked. He wasn’t accusing, but he didn’t sound very friendly, either.

  I stepped away from the building, pretending I wasn’t cowering against the wall. “Um, making a call.” I bit my lip as soon as I said it, hoping I wasn’t breaking some rule and he wouldn’t run off and rat me out.

  He nodded, like he really couldn’t care one way or another.

  His shirt was soaked with sweat, and he was wiping his neck and head with a towel. A white bandage was taped to his shoulder and poked out from underneath his collar. He walked over to a large tree and pulled something out of the hollow created between two roots protruding from the moss. A water bottle. He lifted it to his lips and drank without stopping. I tried to ignore the way he looked so approachable when he wasn’t staring at me with those accusing eyes – or that I could see what Cambria meant about the hotness, when he wasn’t so focused on hating me. He finished drinking and turned, catching me staring. I looked away quickly and then felt like an idiot for it.

  “Who were you talking to?” he asked, wiping his face with the towel again.

  “Oh, it was my um, Wes.” For some reason, I hadn’t wanted to say ‘my boyfriend’ which made me angry at myself, so I’d finished it with his name instead.

  “Your Wes?” Even without enough light to see his expression, I could visualize the raised eyebrow – and the smirk.

  It grated on me. “Whatever. I’m going in now.”

  Alex didn’t answer, and I slid through the door and hurried down the hall, putting distance between us. How did that boy have the power to make me so mad with only two words?
r />   Chapter Nine

  I opened my eyes and groaned. Even before I moved, I could feel the stiff pain of my muscles. My little roll down the hill had cost me. The only thing that gave me the motivation to get up was the hope that Alex felt the same way. I stumbled to the shower, grateful that Victoria was already gone from the room. I hadn’t felt this sore since the morning after my fight with Liliana; the day I’d learned what I was. It seemed like a lifetime ago, now. So much had happened since then; so many things had changed.

  I ran the shower as hot as it would go and stood under it with my eyes squeezed shut. The burning it caused was a small price to pay while I waited for my muscles to unclench. It happened slowly, and I leaned against the wall, enjoying the inch by inch release I could feel inside me. The water, combined with my body’s natural ability to heal fast, went a long way towards giving me the energy not to crawl back into bed. And geez, that sounded like a good idea.

  “Hey, Tara, is that you in there?” Cambria sounded wide awake and way too cheerful from the other side of the curtain.

  “Yeah, it’s me,” I called. I poked my head out of the stall as Cambria slid inside the changing room and sat on the bench. Her cheeks were flushed.

  “How was waking up with Sleeping Beauty this morning?” she asked.

  “Great, actually,” I answered. “She was already gone when I got up.”

  “Huh. Maybe she relocated.”

  “You think she’ll change rooms?” I asked.

  Cambria snorted. “Only if they start allowing co-ed rooms. She probably snuck over to Levi’s.”

  “Oh. Yeah, he’s um…”

  “Full of himself? An asshat? All of the above? I agree. Perfect for Victoria.”

  “I was going to say gross.”

  “That too. Like I said, perfect for each other.”

  I shut the water off and towel dried before pulling the curtain aside. Cambria stepped out while I changed, and I joined her at the mirror when I was done. “Why is Victoria such a–”