Awakening (Covenant College #1) (25 page)

Will was on edge again. He looked around nervously and stepped closer to me. “That’s ridiculous.” Will licked his lips. That was always his tell in poker.

“Really?
It’s ridiculous?”

“Yes,” Will
averted
his eyes from mine.

“You’re the worst liar ever.”

Will didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, he raised his eyes to mine. There was no malice there, only sadness.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m not going to do anything,” I answered simply.

“You’re not?” Will
seemed
surprised.

“Why would I?”

“I don’t know, I just thought . . . “

“You thought what? I would run around campus and tell everyone that you’re a werewolf? That wouldn’t hurt you. It would hurt me.”

Will still seemed uncomfortable. I knew why.

“You can tell your fraternity brothers that their secret is safe,” I said pointedly. “As long as they stop drugging women. . .
“ Will
started to interrupt and I put my hand up to stop him. “There’s no use denying it. I know it’s the truth. If you stop drugging women and you don’t go around using co-eds as chew toys, I’ll forget what I know.”

“I don’t think Brett will go along with that,” Will said truthfully.

“Then we’re going to have a problem.” There was no point in lying, Will knew me too well.

“What do you want me to do?” Will was practically pleading now. “I can’t protect you from all of them.”

“I don’t need you to protect me,” I was getting angry now. “I never needed you to protect me.
Just . . .  my God, Will, what happened to you?”

Will shot me a glare.
“Nothing happened to me. I’m still Will. I’m just stronger. I’m faster.”

“You’re clearly not any smarter.” The remark came out a lot
more bitter
than I meant it to.

“You don’t understand,” Will
said
. “I was always popular. Everyone thought I was cool up there. Up at home. “

“I remember. I was there.”

“When I came here, it was different,” Will
looked
suddenly broken to me. I wondered when that had happened – and how I hadn’t noticed. “I was just another student here. Nobody noticed me. Nobody cared.”

“So you thought becoming a monster would help?”

“I’m not a monster!”

“What do you call a guy that sits around and watches as his frat
brothers
drug women? What do you call a guy that doesn’t stand up for himself – or his girlfriend?”

Will looked embarrassed momentarily, but then he seemed to regain himself. “There’s a hierarchy that has to be followed.”

“There’s always going to be a hierarchy in a pack, Will,” I said. “You’re never going to get to the top because there’s always going to be someone ahead of you. You’re just one of the sheep for them to control.”

If I had been getting through to him, I wasn’t anymore. Will pulled away when I reached out to touch his arm. “You don’t understand any of this. I knew you wouldn’t. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“You’re right,” I said, swallowing hard and stepping back. “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t understand how the sweet boy I knew let this happen.”

“Maybe you will
some day
. . .
“ Will’s
voice was slightly wistful.

‘I’ll never understand this,” I said forcefully. “I’ll never understand you doing this.
You being so weak.
You being . . .
.someone
I don’t even recognize.”

Will must
have heard the finality in my voice. “I guess this is goodbye then.”

“It is goodbye.”

Will started to turn and walk away. He swung back. “I’ll make sure they know you’re not a threat.”

With those words, Will was gone in the crowd. “Goodbye Will.”

Paris was at my side quickly. “What happened?”

“What?”

“I saw you talking to Will. What happened?”

“Nothing,” I waved my hand. “We just came to an understanding. I told him as long as his fraternity stops drugging girls that I would keep his secret.”

“Do you think he believed you?”

“I don’t know.” It was hard to admit, but it was the truth.

We found
Brittany
hanging all over some guy on the dance floor. It took
awhile
, but we managed to disengage her. “I wasn’t going to do anything,” she said sheepishly.

After a full 45 minutes of searching, we still couldn’t find Tara, though. Finally, we all decided to go back to the dorms without her.

“Maybe she went back without us?”
Brittany
asked hopefully.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe she met someone,” Paris offered.

“Maybe”

“She would have told us, though,”
Brittany
said quietly.

The thing is, of all of my new roommates, Tara was the one that was still an enigma. Part of me agreed with
Brittany
that she wouldn’t have left without telling us. There was a niggling doubt in the back of my brain, though.

Paris must have read my mind.

“Maybe she is back at the room?”

I could tell she didn’t believe it either, though.

Thirty

When we got back to the dorms, Tara wasn’t there. After a quick inspection, I came to the realization that she hadn’t returned to the room. Absolutely nothing had changed. All her stuff was still in the closet. Her books were still on her desk. The ratty old stuffed rabbit she slept with was placed gently on her pillow.

Tara was not here, nor had she been here.

Brittany
was starting to panic. “Should we call the police?”

“And tell them what? We misplaced our roommate at the bar?”

“What if she was kidnapped?”

“From a bar full of people?
We would have seen that happen.”

Even as I said the words I wasn’t sure I was right. Paris made the final decision.

“If we still haven’t heard from her in the morning, we’ll call the police.”

Brittany
reluctantly agreed.

My dreams that night were not merely active, but tortured. I dreamt that Tara was taken from The Haunt forcibly – by a fraternity full of hairy beasts. Her scream as they dragged her out the door was enough to chill me to the bone.

I woke up to loud knocking on the dorm door. “What the hell?”

Brittany
was up like a shot, racing to the door. I sat up and looked down to where Tara’s bed was. It obviously hadn’t been slept in. I noticed Paris looking, too. This wasn’t good.

We both climbed out of bed and made it into the next room as
Brittany
threw the door open. We were all surprised to see two police officers standing on the other side.

“Is this the room for Tara Thompson?”

“Yes, did you find her?”
Brittany
looked relieved. I had a bad feeling, though.

“May we come in?”

Brittany
let the two officers in. I noticed they were city police and not campus police. That made things all the more ominous.

The officers came into the room. When they saw a few curious faces peering in from the hallway, they closed the door behind them. Well, that couldn’t be good.

Brittany
, Paris and I stood in a semi-circle waiting for the officers to continue.

“When was the last time you saw your roommate?”

“Last night,” I answered. “We all went to The Haunt together. When it was time to leave we couldn’t find her, though. We figured she came back here.”

“She wasn’t here, though?”

“No, she wasn’t here.”

“You didn’t think to call us when you couldn’t find her?”

“I wanted to,”
Brittany
said accusingly. “They wouldn’t let me though. They said I was overreacting.”

It was good to know she was good in a crisis.

The older officer – he looked to be in his mid-40s – turned to me. “You didn’t think it was strange that she just disappeared?”

“I’ve only known her for two weeks. I don’t know her bar habits.” I didn’t like his accusatory tone.

“Well, maybe you should have erred on the side of caution.” I definitely didn’t like his tone now.

“What exactly are you accusing me of?”

Paris stepped in smoothly. “Maybe you should just tell us what is going on.”

The younger officer seemed to sense Paris’ concern about the situation. “Your roommate was attacked last night.”

He said it so matter-of-factly. Like he was telling us our class schedule had suddenly changed.

“Was she raped? Was she drugged?”

Will had been at the bar the night before. Maybe some of his frat brothers had been there, too. Just because I hadn’t seen them, that didn’t mean that they weren’t there – hiding in the shadows.

“Why would you think she was drugged and raped?” It was Officer Obnoxious again.

Here was a sticky situation. I had just promised Will the night before that I would keep his secret. Still, something had obviously happened to Tara the night before. I decided to take things slowly. “I watch a lot of television.”

Neither officer looked like they believed me. I didn’t blame them.

“We’re still waiting for toxicology results,” the younger officer said.

“Is she in the hospital? Is she okay?”
Brittany
looked like she was ready to spring into action.

The officers looked at each other uncomfortably. I didn’t like their unease. I had an awful feeling what they were about to tell us.

“She’s not in the hospital.”

Paris and I exchanged dark looks.

“Is she at the station?”
Brittany
either didn’t grasp the situation – or she just didn’t want to. Denial is a powerful thing.

The younger officer seemed to realize that Paris and I already knew what they were going to say. He also knew
Brittany
did not. “Why don’t you sit down,” he prodded her gently.

“Why would I need to sit down?” Her voice was shrill now. “Why don’t they have to sit down?”

Paris turned to
Brittany
and put her hand on her shoulder. “
Brittany
. . . I don’t think they’re here to tell us Tara is at the station.”

“What do you mean?”
Brittany
’s lower lip was quivering.

“She means that Tara is dead,” I snapped.

That was it.
Brittany
started wailing and threw herself into the younger officer’s arms. He looked uncomfortable as he tried to comfort her. He turned his pleading dark eyes to Paris and then me. When he saw the resolute look on my face, though, he must have realized he was on his own when it came to comforting her.

I turned to Officer Obnoxious unsteadily. Even though I knew she was dead, I was hoping – even if it was just for a second – that he would tell me I was wrong. He didn’t.

“How did she die?” Paris’ voice seemed like it was coming from a million miles away.

“We found her in the alley behind The Haunt,” the officer said.

“She was just left in the alley?” That didn’t make sense. Why didn’t they take her back to the frat house?

“Yeah.
She was left in the alley like garbage. I’m guessing you didn’t look in the alley for your friend?”

Fuck this guy. “Why would I look in the alley?”

“Why would you just leave her?”

“She’s an adult. I thought she might have left with a guy or something.”

“Had she done that before?”

“No,” I admitted grudgingly.

“How did she die?” Paris asked the question again. She was clearly in some sort of shock.

I turned to Officer Obnoxious again expectantly. Now he looked uncomfortable.

“We’re not exactly sure.”

“How is that possible?”

“She didn’t have any marks on her that would explain her death,” he said finally.

I blew out a sigh. “No marks?”

“Just two little marks by her throat,” the younger officer volunteered from his spot where he was sitting on the couch rubbing
Brittany
’s back as she sobbed uncontrollably.

“By her throat?”
I shot a glance at Paris. She was staring off into space.

“Yeah, does that mean something to you?” Officer Obnoxious was trying to make eye contact with me. I didn’t back down. I didn’t want him to see weakness.