Demon Accords 8: College Arcane (3 page)

“Delwood,” he said, tying to be cool about it
but just looking smug.

“Right. So Delwood is an imposing guy. What
you might not know is that he is also a werewolf. That makes him
strong and tough with a second form about the size of a black bear.
You might be thinking he is the most dangerous student among you.
But you would be very, very wrong. There are at least a couple
students here who are vastly more dangerous… and you probably won’t
be able to point them out for a least a few weeks, if even then.
There are also those among you who have yet to fully develop their
abilities. So no bullying, no use of magic against each other
unless supervised, and no violence.”

Delwood the werewolf looked seriously
displeased. In fact, he started looking around the room like he was
going to find whomever Chris was talking about and take back the
title of most dangerous right then and there.

“Sorry, Delwood. I didn’t mean to pick on
you. But my warning is valid. Let’s say one of the twins over
there,” Chris said, waving at the blonde Viking witches, “—got
ahold of a strand of your hair. She could cast a spell on it and
pretty much make you her bitch. Not that she would, I’m just making
a point. As time goes on, you will all learn more about your
classmates. I guarantee you will be surprised.”

I glanced at the twins and the one I had
begun to think of as a bit stuck up was blushing furiously and
looking embarrassed and her sister first went wide-eyed, then
glanced at her sibliling with an
I told you so
look.

“So I might suggest you work
with
each
other and not
against
one another. Look at it this way. As
Gina said, the supernatural cat is out of the bag. Which is my
fault, by the way. The world knows you exist. And people, no matter
what race or species they are, tend to be intolerant at the best of
times. You’ll do better together rather than separately. The
connections you make here might just change your life… or save
it.

“That’s it. So now we can eat. Right Gina?”
he asked. She nodded and flashed a quick smile, but her eyes
studied him even as she was standing up. Before she could speak,
Chris turned back to us.

“One last thing. Your welcome packet has a
contact number in it for the Demidova Corp. If you need me,
really
need
me, call that number, give your name, and
ask for me. You
will
be patched through to myself, Tanya, or
one of our team. But that’s for serious problems and emergencies
because Gina and her staff more than have things under
control.”

“I think we can manage,” Gina said dryly but
still smiling. “All right, if you will all file in an orderly
fashion out this side door and down the hall to the first left.
Dinner tonight is a buffet style and I think there is something for
everyone.”

The other teachers stood and moved to the
bottom of the steps, covering all the sections and herding the
students toward the doors that Gina and Chris had already walked
through.

Mack and Jetta stood up, shared a glance,
then both looked our way. “So, he was sitting behind us for how
long?” Mack asked. There was no question who he was speaking
about.

“Not sure, maybe the whole time. He has lots
of… skills,” I said.

“You know him, don’t you?” Jetta asked.

“Yes, and it appears so do you,” Caeco
replied.

“True. He intervened and saved our lives just
before he got shot. But that’s a long story,” Mack said, following
his sister toward the stairway. “How about you?”

I looked at Caeco and read agreement in her
eyes. “You know that whole thing with the missile silo in New
Hampshire?” I asked. They both nodded. “We were there. With his
goddaughter. But it’s a bit of a story too,” I said.

“Wow, understatement much? Maybe later we can
trade stories,” Jetta offered. I nodded, then looked toward the end
of the row where our stairway was. The vampire girl was still
sitting and making no bones about staring at us curiously. I gave
her a nod, but she just tilted her head slightly, then looked down
at her phone and started texting or something. Odd or snobby or
maybe just normal by vampire standards. I was mildly curious, but
my brief interactions with the vampires of Tanya’s group had taught
me serious respect for the species’ abilities. Keeping our distance
would be a really, really good idea.

She was still sitting there when we filed out
the door and into the hall. Sitting and texting. Wasn’t she coming
to dinner? Oh wait, if she did, then
who
would be her
dinner?

Chapter 3

The dining room shared the
brick-wall-and-open-overhead-décor style of the classroom, but the
concrete floor was colored to look like granite. That made it seem
a bit dressier, as did the various pieces of art hung on the walls.
The air smelled of delicious foods and my stomach rumbled in
anticipation.

Eight round tables were spaced about the
room, draped with white tablecloths and each set for eight places.
Three long buffet tables were set with stainless steel chafing
dishes lined up, each with a card identifying its contents. At the
end of two of the tables were carving stations; one chef cutting
roast beef, the other slicing a turkey and a ham. Chris was already
at the roast beef station, two overloaded plates in his hands,
chatting with the chef. There were a few other smaller tables with
other things on the sides of the dining room.

We were among the last to arrive but there
was obviously lots of food. One buffet table was nothing but salad
and cooked vegetables. Jetta headed to the line of girls already
there, while Mack, Caeco, and I gravitated to the table with the
turkey and ham.

Gina had been right. There was something for
everyone. There was even a taco table set up with all the fixings
and another table of nothing but desserts. I loaded a plate with
mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn before accepting a big slice each
of turkey and ham. Caeco had already secured a table and I headed
her way.

A few moments later, Mack showed up, followed
by his sister, who had a really serious salad mounded onto her
plate. We still had four places open but nobody else sat down. That
is until Chris came over, leading the two girls who’d been sitting
behind the witches.

“Declan, Caeco, meet Ariel and her roommate,
Ashley. And this is Jetta and her brother, Mack,” he said,
smiling.

My radar was up. First the look and the nod
in the classroom and now a direct introduction. He had an
agenda.

“Ariel is precognitive and Ashley has a very
special form of telepathy. Mack and Jetta are extremely capable
hunters. And Declan and Caeco are the reason my goddaughter is
still alive. The six of you should get to know one another,”

he said, giving me a clap on the back. “And
Declan, can I see you after dinner? There’s a certain something I’d
like you to take a look at for me,” he said.

“Ah, sure Chris. Where will I find you?” I
asked, already having a pretty good idea what he wanted me to look
at.

“Gina’s apartment is at the other end of this
floor. Just knock on the door marked Director.”

He smiled and nodded at everyone, then
proceeded back to the teachers’ table, veering past the taco
station and grabbing a pair of tacos.

Almost everyone in the room had seen that
little exchange, most of them staring at us curiously. At the witch
table, one of the Viking girls looked like she smelled something
foul while her sister seemed puzzled. Ryanne was staring as well,
but when my eyes found hers, she just smiled and winked, then went
back to eating. Beside her, the fourth witch looked our way for a
moment, mildly curious maybe, before going back to her own
food.

At our table, we all looked awkwardly at each
other. Ashley, who was really quite pretty, pointed her fork at
Caeco and me.

“You two saved his goddaughter? For real?”
she asked, incredulous.

“We were in the missile silo with her. The
people who held her were using her as bait to bring Chris in. It
worked a little
too well
for them,” I said.

“Why were you there?” Jetta asked.

“We were going to be experiments,” I
said.

“But what are you? You’re not weres,” she
said with certainty.

“How do you know?” Caeco asked.

“Cause I know weres. You aren’t them,” she
said.

“Well, I’m a witch—or warlock, if you
prefer,” I said, letting Caeco choose her own answer.

“And I was already one of their experiments,”
she answered. Her tone was even, but knowing her, I could sense the
bitterness that the others couldn’t.

“Caeco’s unique. You’ll see as time goes
one,” I said after glancing at her.

“Warlocks are pretty rare, right?” Ariel
asked, her voice very soft. I got the impression she wasn’t the
outgoing type.

“Yeah, you could say that,” I answered.

“Ya know, we might want to have this
conversation away from so many ears, especially the canine ones,”
Mack said, glancing at the table of weres. The brother and sister
were pair had joined the other six weres, and the sister was
watching our table. Watching and sniffing. Weird.

The topic switched to where we were all from.
Ashley was from upstate New York originally, although she said
she’d been away for a bit, not really saying where
away
was.

Mack and Jetta were from Tennessee, and Ariel
was from Oregon. Caeco said she was from New Mexico, which resulted
in an instant question from Ashley about stores in Albuquerque.

“I never got to that city very much,” my
deadly friend deflected, then headed back into the buffet for
seconds.

“Damn, she’s got an appetite,” Jetta
noted.

“Yeah, her metabolism is pretty jacked,” I
said, then headed to the dessert table myself.

The next safe topic was college majors. Mine
was an easy choice for me… computer science. Caeco was unsure but
thought she might settle for biology. Ashley wanted to study
folklore and history. When Mack asked her about the employment odds
for that major, she just said that employment wasn’t ever going to
be an issue. Jetta and Ariel were both still in high school, so
they didn’t need to worry about majors for another year, even
though their classes would be at the University. Mack wanted to
study business. Apparently, his family had owned its own horse
ranch before their parents died. He said he always liked helping
his dad and maybe he’d own his own business some day.

“So you guys are hunters?” Ashley asked.

Jetta and Mack exchanged a glance before
Jetta spoke. “Why don’t we head back to our rooms? We could hang
out in one and get to know each other. This seems kind of too
public,” she said.

“We could use our room,” Ashley suggested,
Ariel nodding agreement.

“Okay, let’s go,” Mack said.

“I’ll catch up. I gotta see what Chris
needs,” I said.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’ll be interested to
hear about that ourselves,” Ashley said, grabbing her plate,
utensils, and glass and heading to the dish dropoff. The others
followed her, but as Caeco started to grab her own dishes, I
touched her hand.

“”You’re coming with me, right?” I asked.

“Chris didn’t invite me,” she said.

“Ah, but it was implied,” I said.

“I don’t think so,” she said, shaking her
head.

“But, see, I do and I’ve still got more
experience with this whole social scene stuff than you.”

“But I’m a much faster learner and a better
observer,” she said with a smirk.

I opened my mouth for a witty retort, but I
had nothing. After a second, I just nodded.

“Yeah, true, but you’re gonna have to trust
me. We’re kinda of a package deal, and he knows it. After all, he
and Tanya are, too.”

She shrugged and nodded, so I grabbed my
dishware and we headed to the dropoff.

We had covered about half the distance when
Caeco suddenly reached over and gave me a casual shove on the
shoulder. Friendly like, but with more power than a joking shove
would have. I should have stumbled sideways or even fallen, but I
sorta sidestepped, almost like I had anticipated it. Which I kind
of had, although she hadn’t said anything or made any other
gestures.

Anyway, she shoved, I stepped, and a big body
blundered through the sudden space between us. Delwood. He would
have run right into me and, seeing how he had about eighty pounds
on me, the results would have been, at best, embarrassing and, at
the worst, painful.

Instead, he sorta stumbled a half-step before
his werewolf coordination kicked in and he smoothed out.

“You all right there?” Caeco asked,
pretending to be concerned.

“Yeah,” he said, a flicker of surprise
sliding away. “Didn’t see you there,” he went on, now smirking,
still moving forward with his own dishes in hand. A big blob of red
jello with whipped cream was untouched and uppermost on his plate.
I glanced down at my own tannish t-shirt and realized I would have
been wearing that blob about the middle of my back.