Blessed (2 page)

The pressure in her head increased, and she trembled on the edge of passing out. In Victoria's Secret, a black magic alarm blared from the front door, and the ice pick of agony that was stabbing at her rapidly diminished. She retreated further from the old man, the use of her body rapidly returning to her. The alarm was probably just some stupid kids trying to shoplift with a curse they’d found on the Internet, but it helped break whatever weird hold the old guy had on her.

The blinding pain faded to a memory, and Eliana took another step back, then another as the old man glared at her before bumping into an irritated woman in a business suit.

With a frown the woman glared at Eliana. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry.”

She turned to look back at the man and found she’d somehow made it at least a dozen steps away from him without even being aware of it. His face slipped back into the friendly smile so quickly she didn't know if she had imagined the fierce look.

“Have a nice day.”

The automatic response that had been drilled into her head since she was old enough to talk slipped out. She turned and walked as quickly as she could away from him, the icy feeling in her veins slipping away the further she got. A quick glance over her shoulder showed her the man still standing in the center of the sidewalk, talking into a cell phone, looking once again like someone’s beloved grandfather rather than the menacing figure of moments before. She rubbed the back of her neck, wondering what the heck was wrong with her.

Guilt rounded her shoulders as she walked away. He’d offered her some aspirin, and she’d acted as if he’d tried to sell her crack—just an old man going for a walk, not a killer muskrat from outer space. Hopefully she hadn’t hurt his feelings too much.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, she tried to clear the weirdness of the morning out of her mind. There were bigger things to worry about, like maintaining a grade point average that would keep her scholarships flowing.

The sound of traffic faded as she entered the main campus of the university. Mature oak trees surrounded a large green space bordered by the brick student union and glass religious studies hall. She waved to a girl who lived on the same floor of her dorm as she crossed a small bridge leading to the modern glass-paneled building.

Shouldering the heavy doors of the religious studies hall open against the wind, she shoved her giant backpack inside. It was her junior year, but this was the first time she had been inside the building. Despite her attempts to be open minded and accepting of everyone, she couldn’t help a sliver of unease as she entered the building. Being lectured all her life about how evil organized religion was, then walking into a building devoted to that worship to learn about it made her almost want to look over her shoulder to see if any of the village elders were watching. The punishment for practicing a religion in her community could be everything from a public shaming to being expelled. But she wasn’t bound by their willful ignorance any longer and she squared her shoulders as she entered the foyer.

The impressive entranceway made her slow down and stare. In the center of the foyer sat a massive green marble fountain devoted to the Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati. Students lounged around the wide base of the fountain talking and listening to their iPods before their next class started. The religious studies hall was one of the largest—and newest buildings on campus, and they were still finishing the underground spell-testing labs located four stories below ground. A wealthy Indian software developer had given most of the money for erecting this building as thanks to her patron goddess of knowledge.

As she turned to look around the massive foyer she noticed a vast mural of unfamiliar gods and goddesses dominated one wall in shimmering glass tiles. It was beautifully rendered and she almost felt as if they were watching her as she slowly walked past it. Noting that she had a few minutes to blow before class started, she pulled a copy of her schedule out of her backpack and chose a seat on the edge of the fountain.

10:20 Introduction to Modern Mythology PRF A. Klemenson PRF J. Ventan
.

“Professor Klem-en-son, K L E M E N S O N,” Eliana said softly.

“I heard talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” an amused voice said from over her shoulder.

She turned and saw her friend, Tracy, smiling at her while she flipped her auburn ponytail over her shoulder. Eliana grinned and stood up, giving the other girl a quick hug before sitting again. “I'm just making sure I get the professors' names right.”

“Oh yeah. I remember the little incident in Professor Braf's class last year.” Tracy set her backpack on the edge of the fountain. “I don't think I've ever seen anyone as embarrassed as you were, other than Professor Braf.”

With a groan, Eliana covered her face with the schedule then peeked over the top at her friend. “I swear I thought his name was Professor Barf.”

Tracy giggled then watched a cute blond guy walk past before turning back and giving Eliana the once-over. “You're looking good, girl. Where did you get that amazing tan? Did you go somewhere this summer?” Tracy fanned herself with a southern belle sigh. “Someplace with guys that have abs so cut you can wash your panties on them?”

She swatted at Tracy with her schedule. “Not even close. I spent the summer working for my parent’s landscaping company. My mom is half Greek and half African-American, so I get tan pretty quick. Unfortunately, the only abs I saw were on my sixty-year-old neighbor, and he has a set of man-boobs that put my chest to shame.”

The sound of Tracy's laughter mixed with the tinkling sound of cascading water from the fountain. Looking at her watch, Tracy said, “I’ve gotta head off to class, I'm taking Advanced Runes and Charms with Professor Bherz. What do you have?”

“Introduction to Modern Mythology.”

Tracy frowned at Eliana. “That's a freshman class. Why aren't you taking the advanced magic classes?”

“Yeah, well, my parents are atheists, so I'm totally behind on the whole gods thing.”

She avoided looking at Tracy and studied the smiling face of a dark-skinned goddess in the mural before glancing back at her friend. Embarrassment heated Eliana’s cheeks as Tracy stared at her in shock. Great, here came the uncomfortable questions that everyone asked when they realized she’d been raised by atheists, and even worse, the way she went from being just another person to a freak.

“Seriously? How did your parents manage to miss the religious revolution? How do you guys function without magic?”

She fiddled with her schedule and wondered how many times she was going to have to have this conversation this semester. “Oh, we manage. I guess it's similar to the Amish living without electricity; if you never had it, you don't miss it.”

She didn't want to mention that she’d grown up in a dry town, a place where gods and magic were taboo. She already felt like a massive freak because her parents were atheists, but when people learned she’d lived without magic for the first eighteen years of her life they often assumed that she hated magic as well. Unfortunately she’d lost more than one friend that way, and though she could understand why she hated being judged for her parent’s decision to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. While the rest of America had embraced ancient gods and goddesses during the Religious Revolution of the 1980s, her parents had gone in the total opposite direction and refused to believe in any religion at all. While her parents belonged to a pacifist atheist community, there were some small groups of atheists that committed hate crimes against magic users, burning witches at the stake and other horrible shit like that.

Tracy shifted from one foot to another as the uncomfortable silence stretched between them, then she gave Eliana an overly bright smile. “So, you know Professor Klemenson is super hot, right? He just got his doctorate last year, and he's the youngest High Priest of Odin in the country. My roommate has a major crush on him. Young, handsome, famous, and employed. What more could a girl want?”

Thankful for the change in subject, she shared a grin with Tracy. “It's been a long time since I've found anyone super hot, let alone a professor.”

“Ain't that the truth? No offense, but you seem to date some of the biggest losers.”

With a groan Eliana slipped her schedule into her backpack. “I know, I know. They appear so normal. Then I find out they run an Internet sex website devoted to balloon porn or some crazy shit.”

The foyer was starting to clear out, and a crowd stood waiting for the elevators. She didn't need to be sexually frustrated and late for class.

“Gotta go, Tracy. Good luck with your class.”

“Try not to drool all over yourself when you see Professor Klemenson. See if you can sneak some pictures of him on your cell phone for me. I’d rather look at him than crabby old Professor Bherz, that woman’s a bitch and a half.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

She gave Tracy a wave and stood in line for the elevator, making sure she wasn’t standing in direct sunlight. The last thing she wanted to do was blind someone with her backpack. Butterflies started to dance around in her stomach again as she got ready for her first religious class, ever. She just needed to make sure she didn’t mention anything about her parents or her upbringing in case the teachers were prejudice against atheists. Thankfully, with having a witch as a roommate she knew enough about magic that she should be able to fake being normal enough to not draw any attention to herself.

The
bing
of the elevator arriving broke her out of examining her reflection, and she shuffled in with the rest of the students. Because of her height, the world around her became a sea of chests and backs as bodies continued to pile into the elevator. The backpack of the guy in front of her had an Eye of Horus patch on it to ward off evil. He was probably a protection magic major. Next to her a girl texting on her phone had an elaborate pentacle tattooed on her wrist marking her as a witch. It seemed like everyone in this elevator had something to do with magic except for her and she felt very out of her element.

The doors to the elevator opened, and everyone filed out into the hall. Dry erasers and cleaning supplies scented the building with the aromas she had come to associate with school, mixing in with faint hints of fragrant herbs and incense. The marble floors were polished and shiny, and the walls held wooden panels with the images of what she assumed were more gods and goddesses. Undergraduate students wandered back and forth, trying to get their bearings and make it to class on time.

Butterflies flopped around in her stomach when she walked into her classroom saw the size of the lecture hall. It was as extensive as the auditorium of her small private high school, and she felt lost while she looked for a place to sit. She moved over to the side as people continued to enter the room and tried to get a grip of her nerves.

Students wandered into the raised seating and spread out in random patterns. She noticed her friend, Rachel, whom she’d met in her European history class the previous year, and waved a hand at her. Relief filled her at the sight of a familiar face. She made her way over to where Rachel sat and slid into the empty seat next to her.

“Hey, Ellie, I'm so glad you're here!” Rachel bubbled. “How is your schedule so far? This is only my second class. My first one is Spanish at 8 a.m. What in the hell was I thinking signing up for an 8 a.m. class?”

“You were thinking the 1 p.m. Spanish class would cut into your soap opera time, and the 5 p.m. class would cut into your potential dinner-date time.”

Rachel snickered. “Speaking of dating potential, have you seen the new professor? He's super hot. Like oh ‘my god take me now you sexy beast’ hot”

“So I heard,” Eliana replied in a dry voice.

The door at the front of the room opened, and two men entered, as different as night and day. One was an older gentleman with a ring of silver hair wearing a wrinkled green suit and a mustard yellow tie. Then man that came in behind him was so handsome he made Eliana’s mouth dry and her panties wet. Her friends hadn’t been lying, he was amazing. Tall, with deliciously broad shoulders beneath his black suit jacket, he moved with an easy grace and confidence seemed to fill the air around him. Thick reddish-brown hair curled over his forehead, and his teeth were toothpaste-commercial white. His black pants clung to a perfect butt that made her hands itch to touch him as he walked past, talking with the older professor, then giving a husky laugh that made her heart go pitter patter.

There was a noticeable sigh among the female students and a disgruntled rumbling mutter from the males.

As the two men put their briefcases on the table, they smiled and continued talking in hushed voices. The younger professor paused and tilted his head as if he’d heard something, then turned to look at the students. He scanned the class while the older professor continued to unpacked his laptop and set up the projector, unaware his partner was no longer paying attention to him. While he looked over the crowd she couldn’t help, but devour the perfect angle of his square jaw, the shadow beneath his high cheekbones, and how perfectly shaped his lips were. Lips made for kissing, for licking, for sucking on as she plunged her fingers into his thick red brown hair to hold him closer so she could devour him.

Her breath caught in her throat as Rachel leaned over and whispered, “Oh my god, is he for real? No way he's the professor. He must be a model who got lost on his way to a photo shoot. Maybe I can get after-school special tutoring with him. Oh, teach me professor, teach me!”

“Shut up, he's going to hear you,” she hissed, trying to hide her laugh even as her hormones were running rampant through her body. Turning to get a better look at him, she found Professor Klemenson staring at her and her pussy contracted with a hard clench of need. A burst of heat radiated through her body, making her nipples hard enough to ache. Green eyes, the green of pine trees, locked with hers and held her captive for what seemed like an eternity. She had a brief impression of firm lips and arched brows, but it was the eyes that captured her. Amazing…she’d never seen anyone as hot as he was in real life.