Retribution (Book 3 of The Dominion Series) (20 page)

"What do you want to know?" I say, uncertain what's expected.

"Tell us about your family, why you're here of all places," Professor Rhys says. "We consider ourselves a family here at Bishop McDermott, Eve. We like to know each student."

I take in a breath. "I live with my boyfriend, Julien. My mother died when I was eleven. My dad played with the Prague orchestra for a while but he's ill now and in an institution."

There's an awkward silence for a moment. I bet they weren't expecting to hear about my tragic life.

"Did you go to school in Prague?" a student asks.

"No, I was home-schooled. I studied piano and practiced all day."

The students ooh and ahh at that, looking at each other as if I'm something exotic.

"Why did you decide to move here, of all places?" Professor Rhys asks, examining me closely.

Julien and I have already thought up a good cover story. "My father spent some time here in the summer when he was a kid. I remembered him telling us about it and how if he moved back to America, he'd want to live here. He almost got a job in Boston and would have liked for us to move here, so this was the first place I thought of."

"Well, welcome to Davis Cove. We're glad to have you, Eve."

He seems really nice. He isn't a vampire – I can tell that right away. He might be an Adept, but there's no good way to tell that without touching him. There's still his wife to check out and of course, their daughter. From what the Sheriff said, they also have two sons, one who's studying at MIT and one at St. John's Seminary in Brighton. As new residents, each one is a possible suspect but I doubted either one is a vampire. More likely Adepts, if anything. Their kids are about my age. Maybe my crop of Adepts.

I make it through the morning without major incident and when Julien calls, I'm sitting alone in the cafeteria in the corner of an empty table, eating my sandwich.

"How's things? Any football players hit on you yet?"

I laugh. "Well, one did kiss my hand this morning."

"
Eve…"
He doesn't laugh.

"It was my fault," I add quickly. "He gave me his seat and I introduced myself, and tried to shake his hand without thinking. He kissed my hand instead."

"No strange vibe?'

"Nope."

"What about the students and teachers? Anything there?"

I glance around the room at the collection of students, none of whom seemed interested in me.

"Not so far. Nothing. The one student I was looking for didn't show up in class today."

"Hmm," he says. "Sounds suspicious. Or a pure coincidence."

"I have music class this afternoon and history. We'll see how that goes. What are you doing?"

"Just ordering those test results. Should be here in a few days to a week, depending on how busy the lab is."

"Ok. I guess I'll see you after school."

I hang up and finish my sandwich, reading web news on my iPhone until my first afternoon class.

When it comes time for music, I enter the classroom to find an older woman with grey bouffant hair at the front. She'd written her name on the board and it isn't Professor Rhys.
  It's a substitute teacher. I won't get to meet the elusive Professor Mrs. Rhys or her daughter today, but I suspect that there's nothing to be found in that family. Likely, they really are just new residents to America who found jobs at the school together due to a lucky coincidence of openings.

There are ten other new residents in the past few years we have to investigate, and so while they aren't a dead end for certain – I won't know until I've seen them all up close – I expect the Rhys family is just a family.

So my first full day at college isn't as bad as I feared. It's pretty tame. No one tried to strike up a friendship with me, and other than Nate kissing my hand, no one has even spoken to me.

I can do this.

"How'd it go today?"

Julien stands beside me, chopping up some vegetables for a stir-fry.

I shrug. "Nothing spectacular happened, with the exception of Nate kissing my hand."

"Nate, hmm?" he says, frowning a bit. "Sounds awfully familiar, considering you just met."

"What?" I say and push his arm playfully. "You're not jealous are you?"

He pops a piece of broccoli into his mouth and chews, grinning sheepishly.

"Me? Jealous of some mere
human?
He's got nothing on me
.
"

We sit down at the table and eat, Julien filling me in on what he's been up to while I was pretending to be a student.

"Our victim was friends with the Rhys girl," he says, raising his eyebrows.

That makes my skin crawl. I could see them both maybe being caught up in a vampire's circle, becoming blood slaves with him – and it was likely a 'him'. Few vampires chose Adepts of the same sex unless they're homosexual. The relationship is far too erotic. Most straights prefer the opposite sex.

"There's probably a vampire recruiting young female Adepts," Julien says. "You should get to know her and see if you can get into their little group – if there is one."

I push my food around on my plate at the thought. Of course, I suspect Soren's the one responsible for these killings, although there's a chance it's someone else.

"I think it's Soren who's responsible." I watch his response.

He leans over and takes my hand. "You are so
cute
." He kisses my knuckles as if to overwrite what Nate did earlier in the day. "Tell that Nate kid to keep his hands off you or your monstrously strong eight-hundred year old vampire boyfriend will come after him with everything I've got."

"Julien!" I say, laughing. I stab a piece of mushroom with my fork. "You have nothing to fear. No one," I say and lean forward, pushing my fork towards him, "could ever measure up to you.
No
one."

Through our connection, I get a momentary glimpse into his mind before he's able to shut me out.

Except Michel…

He looks away, not meeting my eyes, squeezing my hand.

I sigh.

"Whoever is responsible," I say, my voice a bit choked from his thoughts. "I look forward to finding the bastard and killing him – or them."

Julien shakes his head. "Eve, it's a job. It's an important job. You should do it because it's necessary – not because it gives you pleasure."

"You're one to talk."

He heaves a heavy sigh and leans back, releasing my hand. "You're too young to feel this way." He takes a sip of his beer and looks at me over the bottle. "You should be going on dates, deciding who you are as a person, falling in love."

"I
am
in love," I say. "I barely know who I am as a person but from my journal, I've known for years that I was going to be a vampire hunter. You have to remember what happened to me. I'll never be normal."

He won't meet my eyes. I don't know why he feels bad for me but how could he expect me to be 'normal' after all that's happened – whatever normal means.

It just isn't in the cards for me.

The next day, the Rhys girl finally shows up, and I know from the start that she isn't an Adept. She's wheelchair bound and on a respirator.  She's in biology class, her chair a few rows over and at the front of the room.

Sarah Rhys, twenty years old and sweet with wavy red hair and glasses. So much for this family being part of any vampire coven – they're probably just what they seem – a family moved here from England for the chance at a new life in America, both parents teaching at the same college. Another candidate struck off our list.

After class, I make the exit first and then stand just outside the doorway, watching Sarah as she maneuvers her wheelchair out of the class, using a straw to control the motorized chair. Two of her friends flank her, and she smiles at me as she goes by. One of the girls with her knocks into me, and I manage to drop my book and pens. From roll call, I know she's Brenda Lane, a short blonde with clear blue eyes. She apologizes profusely for her clumsiness. We bend down together to pick up my things. When she hands me my pen, she touches my hand. She gasps briefly and looks at me, her mouth gaping. I freeze, staring at her, looking more closely.

"What's the matter?" I say.

"Oh, I," she says and stammers. "I got a shock or something."

I
didn’t
get a shock, but I smile and try to brush it off.  Is she's an Adept? If she
is
, she might know what I am. I have to cover quickly.

"Sorry. I'm Eve Hayden."

"I’m Brenda, and this is Sarah and Miriam."

I smile and nod to them all.

"I've heard of you," Sarah says, her voice with that characteristic soft Northern British lilt. "You're the new student. You're in my father's drama class and my mother’s music class."

I nod and point down the hallway. "I have to go," I say, holding up my watch. "English."

She smiles and turns her chair to leave, her friends in tow. As I walk in the opposite direction down the hallway, I turn back and see her surrounded by her friends. Brenda glances back as well and our eyes meet. She's frowning.

Oh, oh…

I have a bad feeling about this.

Is Brenda an Adept? Is she involved in a vampire coven here in Davis Cove?

I can barely focus during English class, and I sit and think about what happened and what I'll say to Julien. I fear Brenda has touch telepathy.

English drags on as does Christian Ethics, and finally, I'm released for lunch. Instead of the cafeteria, I go outside with my sandwich and apple so I can call Julien and relay my suspicions.

"You should really avoid touching people," he says, his voice sounding frustrated. "You
know
that."

"I know, I
know
," I say, knocking myself in the forehead with a fist. "She was the one who touched me this time. She deliberately took my fingers in her hand. Most people avoid touching a stranger so I didn't expect it."

I feel a bit nauseated at the thought she might be an Adept working for Blackstone.

"Sarah and Brenda are both in my history class this afternoon," I say. "And Sarah's mom teaches my music class. What should I do? Should I just leave now? Should we abort?"

"If she only touched you for a second, she wouldn't get very much. Maybe just a brief sense of your emotions. Maybe not enough to even know that you're a hunter and Adept. Do you remember what you were thinking when you touched her?"

"I was thinking she wasn't a suspect."

He exhales loudly. "Damn. That's not good. Let me call Vasquez and get back to you. We might have to call it off."

I turn my phone off and manage to chew down a few more bites of my sandwich, but I have this sick feeling in my gut that I've blown my very first undercover operation.

About fifteen minutes later, he calls back. I'm sitting under a tree in the shade, my sunglasses on, my Biology text open to the chapter we were reading, eating an apple.

"What's the plan?"

"Vasquez says to sit it out – go to class this afternoon, see if anyone makes a move towards you. I'll swing by and pick you up after school so you don't have to walk home alone. Don't agree to go anywhere with anyone – not during class, not after. Do you understand?"

"Yes," I say, swallowing, a lump in my throat. "I'm so
sorry
, Julien."

"It's OK," he says, his tone lightening a bit but I know it's just him trying to be gentle. "I'll see you at 3:00."

I'm not afraid. I'm disappointed. It's just that I really
like
it here. I really wanted to do this job, live here for three months with Julien and learn what it's like to be his, 24/7 in such a nice place.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible."

George Chakiris

I finish my apple and make my way back inside the college to my locker, where I pick up my notebook for my classes in the afternoon. Nothing seems amiss in history. There are no strange glances from Sarah or Brenda nor does Mrs. Rhys look at me pointedly in music class. No one approaches me or appears to avoid me.

Just before the end of the day, as I go to my locker to pick up my backpack, Nate shows up at my side and leans against a locker.

"Hey, Eve."

"Hey," I say back. He’s smiling that brilliant smile again. "The Junior Pub Crawl is on Friday night. A bunch of us are going as a group and you're welcome to come with us."

I’m so surprised that he’s inviting me, I’m at a loss for words. My cheeks burn, but I smile and try to push my way through the awkwardness.