15 Targeted (4 page)

I’ll do it,
she decided and felt immediately better. She didn’t believe she was a danger to her kids or anyone else but she didn’t like to take a chance, even a small one. Today after school was over, she would go straight to the principal’s office, explain that she had a family emergency, and ask Ms. Edwards to find a substitute for her class for the rest of the week. The principal wouldn’t like it but the school wasn’t hurting financially—they could get a sub. Also, Emily had never taken a single sick day in the entire time she’d worked there. They should be willing to work with her now.

Feeling lighter now that her decision was made, Emily went about the rest of her day. The hours seemed to fly by and when the bell rang at 2:15, she was almost feeling herself again. She decided it was still best to ask for some time off, however—the heat waves did seem to come and go and there was no reason to suppose they were suddenly gone for good.

She saw the last of her kids off on their respective busses and then went back to her classroom to get her things, intending to stop by the office on her way out. Just as she was hooking her purse over her arm, however, the intercom over her desk crackled to life.

“Ms. Brooks ? Ms. Brooks , are you there?” It was the bored, nasal voice of Linda, one of the school secretaries.

Emily felt a prickle of unease.

“Yes, I’m here. What is it?” she asked.

“You’re needed in the office. Right away please.”

Emily resisted the urge to ask
why
she was wanted. Had Mrs. Peltz been to visit the principal’s office already with wild tales of Emily’s strange behavior? Well if so, Emily would just say it was because she was distracted by her family emergency. She didn’t like to lie but she could hardly say she was shaking and sweating because she kept having strange delusions that something weird and “other” was taking over her body.

“I’m on my way,” she said loudly. “Please tell Ms. Edwards I’ll be there soon.”

“Not Ms. Edwards—you’re wanted by the new VP—Mr. Grayson,” Linda informed her. Then the intercom went dead before Emily could ask any more questions and she was left standing there with a strange, sinking feeling in her stomach.

Chapter Three

“I’m here to see the new vice principal?” Emily didn’t like the way her voice came out sounding so high and uncertain but she couldn’t seem to help it. She didn’t like being called to the principal’s office as though she was a misbehaving kid.

“He’s in his office.” Linda didn’t bother looking up from her screen—she was absorbed in a game of Soda Saga.

“Okay. Thanks.” Lifting her head high, Emily walked down the long hallway leading back to the admin offices. The door to Mrs. Adams’ old office was ajar and there was a shiny new plaque on it which read
Grayson
. Again she felt that cold chill go down her back, skating along her spine like an icy finger but she tried to shake it off.

Don’t be ridiculous,
she told herself uneasily.
There’s no way it’s him.

A peek inside the room showed that Mrs. Adams’ old battered desk and swivel chair had been replaced with a shiny mahogany writing table and a high-backed deluxe executive’s chair which was currently turned away from the door so Emily couldn’t see who was sitting in it.

She knocked hesitantly at the door.

“Hello? It’s Emily Brooks. You wanted to see me?” As she spoke, she stepped inside the room and moved towards the shiny new table.

“Yes, I did.” The chair swiveled around and Emily stopped moving, frozen in shock.

“Well, Emily, it’s been a long time. A very long time indeed.”

Richard Grayson rose from behind his writing table and took a step towards her, holding out one large, meaty hand. He was still as handsome as he had been in college, back when they’d taken
Early Literacy and Reader Development
together. He was tall—so tall he seemed to loom over her—and had thick dark blonde hair and blue eyes. All American good looks that hid a much darker side, as she well knew.

Emily took a quick step back.

“Not long enough.” Her voice came out in a shaky whisper. “What…what are you doing here?”

“I thought that would be obvious.” He spread his hands. “I work here now. In fact, I’m your boss. Isn’t life funny?”

Emily wasn’t finding it a bit funny.
No, no, no—this can’t be happening…he can’t be here…no, no, NO.

“Why did you call me here?” she demanded. “What do you want?”

“Well, first of all I wanted to make sure it was you.” He gave her a pleasant smile which didn’t fool Emily a bit. She would sooner trust a shark than Richard Grayson. Fool me once and all that.

“It’s me, all right.” She took another step back. “Now what the hell do you want?”

He shook his head and made a
tsking
noise.

“Is that any way to speak to your new boss?”

“You’re not my boss—Ms. Edwards is.”

“No, our esteemed principal has put
me
in charge of the teachers at GWE—or should I say CFAE—so she can pursue other avenues of raising the school’s profile. You know, I think she might take a run at the mayor’s office?” He grinned charmingly. “Now wouldn’t
that
be something? It would certainly put the Center for Academic Excellence on the map! Anyway, I’m here to free her up as much as possible which means I
am
your boss and you will speak to me with respect.”

His hands on me…holding me down…the horrible searing pain, the feeling of wrongness as he…No!

Emily shook her head, trying to clear the past away. She wanted to turn and run…wanted to shrink into a tiny ball and hope he would just leave her alone. But then something happened—the
other
inside her came forward giving her courage, lifting her chin and straightening her shoulders.

“Sorry, I don’t respect rapists,” she heard herself say.

The charming smile dropped abruptly off his handsome face.

“All right now, Emily—that’s a very ugly word.”

“And a very true one.” The
other
was still speaking for her—she didn’t know how but at this point she didn’t care. He took a step towards her but she held up a hand. “That’s far enough—don’t come near me.”

“Now, Emily—be reasonable.” He frowned like a stern father confronting a wayward daughter. “Can’t we just let the past be the past?”

“Not after what you did to me.” Emily glared at him. She felt the heat starting behind her eyes again but this time she welcomed it.

“All right now, we both know I didn’t do anything you weren’t
asking
for,” he snarled, his fatherly demeanor slipping. “There were twenty other people in the bar that night who saw
you
coming on to
me.
You practically dragged me back to my dorm where you ripped off my clothes and pulled me on top of you.”

“I…I…” Emily faltered and she felt the
other
recede, taking the power and certainty she’d felt just a moment before with it. True. What he was saying was all true.

“Come on now, you know it’s true,” Grayson said, echoing her guilty thoughts. He crossed his arms over his chest, wrinkling the material of his expensive black suit. “I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t want sex behaving the way you behaved that night. I just did what you asked me to do.”

“Not completely.” Emily’s voice broke and she had to clear her throat before she went on. “You…you didn’t stop,” she whispered. “Even when I begged you to—you wouldn’t stop.”

“Well you could hardly expect me to—”

But she turned and fumbled blindly for the door, her eyes blurred with tears. God, she had to get out of here—had to get away from this horrible shadow of her past that had somehow come forward to engulf her in darkness.

Had to leave before she went crazy…if she wasn’t already.

* * * * *

Tragar watched as the little female stumbled out of the school and scrambled to get into her vehicle. There were tears in her eyes but he hardened his heart against the sight of her weeping. His fantasies earlier of holding and comforting her had decided him—he was getting too attached to her. This was the day. It was time to stop watching and start acting. He couldn’t observe Emily Brooks forever to find out what was so special about her—the fact was he had agreed to take the job and he had to get it done.

But not at her place of work—not at a place where the younglings might find her. No, he would follow her to her domicile and put her to rest quietly and humanely. It wasn’t his usual way, that was certain, but he didn’t like the way this little female was getting under his skin. The more he watched her, the more interested he became in her and not just as a target.

Better to break his own protocol and finish the job from a distance than to risk getting emotionally involved. That was the cardinal sin of the
Verrak
–one which could not be excused or forgiven. And somehow, even though he had never spoken to her or touched her, he found he was perilously close to committing that sin. She affected him, though he didn’t know how or why.

“Never going to find out, either,” he growled to himself as he started his own vehicle—a small shuttle which converted easily to look like any of the Earth cars he saw whizzing past him on their concrete roads. He had light refraction tech on the shuttle too, allowing it to become invisible at will but he felt no need to use it now. If anyone saw him they would simply assume he was another Beast Kindred going to the Human/Kindred Relations building.

Tragar watched as Emily pulled out of the parking lot, the wheels of her tiny vehicle shrieking in protest as she swerved wildly to get out onto the street. He was about to follow when a human male ran out to the same lot and got into another, much larger and more expensive looking vehicle. Tragar frowned as he watched the male with dark blonde hair take exactly the same path that Emily had. Was he following her? If so, why?

Was he the one that had put those tears in her eyes?

Unbidden, Tragar felt an angry, possessive growl rise in his throat. He tried to swallow it back down and found he couldn’t. This was ridiculous—the female was nothing but a target. This male might even be going to do his job for him which he ought to welcome. Instead, for some reason he felt rage that the male would dare to hurt her or make her cry. Rage and a deep sense of protectiveness.

Don’t be a fool,
he lectured himself uneasily.
She’s a target. You’re not here to protect her—you’re here to kill her!
But the feelings wouldn’t leave and he couldn’t stop the sense of urgency he felt as he put his vehicle in drive and pulled out, chasing Emily and the blonde human male who was following her.

* * * * *

Emily tried to stop crying but somehow she couldn’t turn off the waterworks. In fact, she could barely see to drive but that didn’t stop her from putting the pedal to the metal as her sister Anna would have said. The only thought in her mind was getting away—getting as far as possible from the dark piece of her past which had somehow shown up on her doorstep like an ugly, evil jack-in-the-box popping up where it was least expected or wanted.

How long had she been pushing the details of that awful night down into her subconscious, burying it like rotten garbage that would begin to stink if she left it lying out in the open?

You should have reported it—should have called the campus police and let them know what had happened to you—let them know what he did.

The voice in her head sounded suspiciously like Anna’s. Her older sister was the only one she’d admitted the rape to—the only one she felt she could trust not to judge her. Then Grayson’s voice came back to her as well.