“That was cheating,” Don gasped.
“And two huge guys fighting one little girl isn’t?”
Blake regarded me with his light eyes for a second. I couldn’t read his mind, but I think he was impressed.
Blake dismissed both Rex and Don. The two boys glared at me as I left. I had a feeling their egos were bruised – just like Don’s nuts. After they left, Blake walked toward the refrigerator in the back of the room and pulled out a bottle of water. He handed it to me – still not saying anything.
“So, did I pass?”
“Yes.”
“Great. Now what?”
“Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“I hung around with more boys than girls growing up.”
“And?”
“And boys like to wrestle. Even after I started getting boobs they wanted to wrestle – but I think it was so they could feel me up.”
Blake ignored my inappropriate sexual humor. “Your reflexes are off the charts. As was your written test.”
“That was an IQ test.”
“It wasn’t really an IQ test. It was just to test your mental acuity.”
“So my mental acuity is fine?” Whatever that means.
“Your mental acuity is fine – at least as far as that test.”
“Cool. I’m a genius.”
“You’re special. You’re not a genius.”
“Special? Like Rain Man special or ride the short bus special?”
Blake sighed. I forgot he hated my pop culture references. Okay, maybe I didn’t forget.
“No one has ever tested as high as you.”
“Great, another item for my resume. I’ll list it right after Photoshop and right before National Honor Society.”
“You didn’t put any effort into either, though,” he mused.
“I’m gifted, what can I say?”
“I think it has more to do with genetics.”
“What does that mean?”
“What do your parents do?”
“My mom is in real estate and my dad is a contractor.”
“They have no special abilities?”
“Unless you count embarrassing me, then no.”
Professor Blake didn’t look like he believed me.
“I’m not lying. They’re just regular people.”
“You’re not a regular person.”
“That’s what I tell everyone. They just don’t believe me.”
Professor Blake just shook his head as he left the room. I guess the conversation was over.
Twenty-Seven
After leaving Professor Blake’s wacky monster mashing academy, I decided I needed some clarification. I would have to call my parents.
There was just too much chatter about home and pedigrees and werewolves instead of dog men. It was just too much.
Thankfully, when I got back to my dorm room, none of my roommates were there. I needed complete privacy for what I was about to do. If anyone overheard – especially Brittany – campus mental services would be banging on the door faster than Don fell to the ground massaging his nuts.
I pulled out my cellphone and punched in my home number. My mother picked up on the third ring.
“Oh, hi, honey. Glad to you finally decided to call home.”
“It’s been a busy week, Mom.”
“Too busy for you to call the woman who gave birth to you?”
“It was a busy week,” I repeated.
“Twenty-four hours of agony, and let me tell you, little missy, your head was so big it almost killed me when it passed.”
When my mom gets started, it’s just best to let her go. She can guilt trip with the best of them. After about five minutes of this, she finally fell silent.
“How are things at home?”
This set her off again. “Your aunts are crazy.”
What else was new?
“Your cousins are in trouble.”
What else was new?
“We’re having a family Halloween in a couple weeks.”
“Together?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you were all fighting?”
“We’ll have made up by then.”
What else was new?
I kept up the inane chitchat with my mother while I decided how best to approach the subject. How do you ask your mom about werewolves and vampires?
The conversation went on a full half an hour and I still couldn’t find an opening – or the courage – to ask the questions I needed to know. Finally, I realized it just wasn’t going to happen, so I finally said goodbye and disconnected – but not before promising I would consider coming home for the Halloween holiday. What? I said I would consider it. I didn’t say I would actually do it.
The next day I went to all three of my classes and – thankfully – nothing out of the ordinary happened. I didn’t bother stopping to talk to Professor Blake as I left. It was Friday. I was looking forward to a weekend without monsters.
When I got back to the dorms, I watched General Hospital with Paris. Sadly, I was becoming as addicted as she was. If Sam and John didn’t get their happily ever after, I was going to be furious.
“They were on another show together,” Paris explained.
“Who?”
“Kelly Monaco and Michael Easton.”
“Who?”
“The actors who play John and Sam.”
“Oh. What show?”
“It was called Port Charles and John was an evil vampire and Sam was his evil love interest.”
“They had a soap about vampires?”
“Yeah. It was great.”
I bet.
We waited for Tara and Brittany before we went down to dinner. After the blowup a couple of nights before, things had settled down. They were still tense –but not uncomfortably tense.
During dinner, Brittany chatted away happily. She was doing great in her classes – and there was some guy in biology that apparently wanted to check out her biology. I could only hope that would happen.
“So, what are we doing tonight?”
I turned to Brittany in surprise. “You want to go out with us?”
“Yeah,” she said enthusiastically. “As long as we’re not going to one of Will’s fraternity parties.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore.”
“Why?”
“Will and I broke up,” I admitted.
“On, no,” Brittany seemed genuinely sad for me. “Do you want to have a girls’ night in? We can watch Pretty Woman or something. We can paint our toe nails and put on mud masks and just hang out until you feel better.”
That sounded like hell.
“Mike is having a party,” Paris offered.
I looked at her in surprise. “You want to go?”
Paris nodded. “I think it would be a good idea. He’s been bugging me to go, and with you guys there, I won’t have to stay.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to stay?” Tara asked.
“I don’t know,” Paris shrugged. “He’s just irritating me.”
Tara let it go and we spent the rest of dinner listening to Brittany excitedly plan for the party. “What do you think I should wear?”
“Something slutty,” I offered.
Brittany slid a glare my way. “I’m going to let that go. I’ve decided you think you’re being funny and you’re not.”
I decided to let that go. I was in the mood to go out and I didn’t feel like starting World War III beforehand.
After dinner, we took turns showering. We let Brittany go first because we figured she would take the longest to get ready and the rest of us followed.
The weather was still decidedly warm, so I went with my simple jeans and hoodie ensemble. I put on my favorite Star Wars hoodie and paired it with my Joker DC Comics high-tops.
Paris’ outfit looked a lot like mine. In fact, she asked if she could borrow my Wonder Woman low-tops.
When we walked out into the main
room, I had to stifle a giggle when I saw Brittany. She had hot rollers in her hair and she was painting her nails. I didn’t even know they still made hot rollers.
She frowned when she saw how Paris and I were dressed. “You’re not getting dressed up?”
“Why would we?”
“To look nice. You’re single now. You’re not going to attract a man looking like that.”
“I put out – that will always attract a man,” I shot back.
Brittany pursed her lips and turned back to her fingernails.
It was another hour before we were ready to go. Brittany had decided on khaki pants and a button-down sweater. She looked like a kindergarten teacher. I figured that might turn some guys on, though, so I let it go.
We all walked together to Mike’s. Tara and Brittany were a few feet ahead of Paris and me. She seemed nervous.
“Are you going to break up with him tonight?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“What’s holding you back?”
“I don’t want a big scene.”
“Just wait until the end of the night.”
“What? Hey, by the way, I want to breakup. Don’t call me again. Goodbye.”
“Sounds good to me.” That was pretty much what I had done with Will, after all.
“What if he is so drunk he forgets?”
“Yeah, that could be a problem,” I admitted.
“I think I’ll just play it by ear.”
When we got to the party, Mike practically mauled Paris when he saw her. I smirked as I moved past her. She shot me a dirty look.
Brittany and Tara already had their drinks and had found a group of guys to talk to in the corner. I filled my red cup with cheap keg beer. It wasn’t great, but this was college, I figured I’d better get used to it. Apparently, you drink better in high school than college.
Paris found me about fifteen minutes later. She wasn’t happy. “Thanks for abandoning me.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to join you in a threesome, so what else was I supposed to do?”
Paris slammed her cup of beer and glared at me. I figured if she did that two more times she would forget she was angry with me.
As she made her way back to the keg, I decided to hide out on the balcony until she was sufficiently soused. I’m not afraid of confrontation; I just didn’t want it to kill the buzz I planned on having in an hour.
When I stepped outside I was struck by how cold it had suddenly gotten. Fall was definitely on the way. So much for Indian summer. I was a little bummed. I also wasn’t alone. I noticed a dark figure on the far side regarding me. It was Rafael – and this was exactly the place I had met him two weeks ago. Briefly, I couldn’t help but reflect that this had probably been the longest and most eventful two weeks of my entire life.
“What are you doing here? Looking for dinner?”
Rafael raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Why? Are you on the menu?”
I flushed. Luckily it was dark. What was it with guys and the suggestive eating comments lately?
“Where did you take off to the other night?”
“What do you mean?”
“You looked like you were on a mission.”
“Just checking some things out.”
“Like what?”
“Why are you so curious?”
“It’s part of my nature.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
I decided to let that statement go. I was pretty sure he meant it as an insult. “So, did you find out who I killed?”
Rafael seemed surprised. “What makes you think I care?”
I furrowed my brow. “Don’t you all hang out together?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Do you hang out with all loud blondes?”
Well, that was rude – and probably spot on. “I didn’t mean anything. I was just … .” There really was no graceful way out this so I changed tactics. “So you don’t know who it was?”
“I have my suspicions.”
I waited for him to continue. He didn’t. “And who do you suspect?” I prodded.
Rafael looked uncomfortable. He clearly wasn’t ready to share any information with me.
Luckily, the sound of the doors sliding open interrupted the uncomfortable atmosphere that had descended on the small balcony. Paris stepped out unsteadily. I saw her look from me to Rafael for a few seconds. Yep, things were even more uncomfortable now.
Rafael took advantage of the momentary distraction of Paris’ arrival to excuse himself. He didn’t say goodbye.
Once he was gone, Paris raised her eyes suggestively at me. “So, are you going to start sleeping with the vampire now?”
Twenty-Eight
Because of the party, I didn’t have a chance to question Paris about her vampire statement for the rest of the night. The next morning, we all had breakfast together. It was a constant conversation stream of Brittany going on and on about all the guys she claimed had hit on her the night before and me wanting to reach across the table and throttle her. I was about to explode.
After breakfast, I asked Paris if she wanted to go for a walk. I could only hope that Brittany and Tara wouldn’t ask to be included. I needed some answers, and I needed them now.
Thankfully, Brittany and Tara said they were going back upstairs to study. When Paris and I left the building, I could barely contain myself.
“How did you know that Rafael was a vampire?”
Paris smiled. “It was pretty obvious.”
“How? He’s tan.”
“That’s just a myth.”
“What is?”
“That vampires are all pale,” she said. “They don’t sparkle either.”
“I figured that out myself.”
“Vampires have a dark aura,” Paris supplied. “They’re dark red. Almost purple really.”
“You see auras?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
Paris paused for a second and then turned to me seriously. “I have something to tell you. I just don’t know how you’re going to take it.”
I was taken aback. Paris had a secret. Then again, who didn’t have a secret these days?
“I’m a witch,” she said simply.
So not what I was expecting. “A witch?”
“Well, a Wiccan to be more exact.”
I was confused. “What’s the difference?”
“Wiccans are nature-based witches,” Paris explained.
“Are there other types of witches?”
Paris laughed. “There are a lot of different types of witches, just like there are a lot of different types of people.”
This was the second time in less than twenty-four hours when someone had accused me of being bigoted. Maybe I should rethink my outlook?
“What type of witch are you? Do you do spells?”
Paris considered the question carefully. “Define spells.”
“You know, spells.”
“Like in Harry Potter?” Paris’ eyes were sparkling.
I never realized how irritating that was. Now I understand why Professor Blake looked like he wanted to throw me through a wall whenever I did it.
“I know it’s not like Harry Potter, I scoffed. “Is it like Charmed, though?”
“No, I don’t have magical powers.”
“Then what do you do?”
“It’s a long story.”
Paris explained her family history and, she was right, it was a long story.
“My whole family is what would loosely be considered Pagans,” she started.
“You mean like animal sacrifices?”
“I suppose, back in the day, they did stuff like that. We don’t though. Wiccans believe in karma. At least my family does. The primary Wiccan rule is to harm no one.”
That is totally like Charmed. I didn’t say it out loud, though. I was trying to refrain from making people think I watched too much television.
“So do you do spells
?” She still hadn’t answered the initial question.
“We do some spells,” Paris said cautiously.
“What kind of spells?”
“Nothing major. Some protection spells. Some karma enhancements.” I noticed Paris was avoiding all eye contact.
“What else?”
Paris sighed. “My family wasn’t always so … pure.”
Now what did that mean? I let her continue.
“There were times when we didn’t follow the Wiccan rules.”
“What happened?”
Paris looked conflicted. “Not everyone in my family is good. Some of my relatives – not my parents or my brothers or sisters or anything – but some of my relatives are into the darker stuff.”
I wanted more details, but I didn’t want to push her too far. I decided that if I wanted Paris to open up completely to me, I was going to have to do the same with her. So I told her. I told her everything. I told her about Professor Blake and his monster academy. I told her about Will and Aric and the frat house full of werewolves. I told her about the vampire outside of the dorm rooms. I told her about Rafael and his cryptic warnings. When I was done, she looked stunned.
“Holy shit!”
That had been my initial reaction, too, so I let her process it for a few minutes.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
“I didn’t know what to say. I thought you would think I was crazy.”
“Are you going to join the academy?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “It feels like I’m being pushed that way, but I’m not sure it’s something I want to do. They seem to be of the mind that all supernaturals are bad and I just don’t think they all are.”
“You mean Aric and Rafael?”
“I’m pretty sure Aric is a good guy,” I admitted.
“You’re not as sure about Rafael, though?”
“He’s more mysterious,” I admitted.
“He’s probably had to be.”
I nodded. That made sense.
“Have you told Blake about Aric and Rafael?”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“So, your first instinct was to protect them?” Paris mused.
“I guess. The truth is, I’m still not sure what they’re doing at their little academy. They’re clearly gearing up for some big fight – but I don’t know what they’re fighting against.”
Awakening (Covenant College Book 1) Page 16