Ravenous (20 page)

"What can I do for you?" Holly asked, imagination supplying some graphic suggestions. "How did you find me, anyway?"

"It's the first day of classes. I knew you'd be here. With slight encouragement, the administration office was most willing to assist with your schedule and room assignments." Alessandro took another drag on his cigarette, exhaling dragonlike through his nose. She watched the white smoke, transfixed. "I wouldn't bother you, but I need your help."

"With what?"

"Let's go someplace to talk."

Holly nodded, her mind still tangled in the fringe. "I have a class starting, and I'm nearly late. Is this something that can wait an hour?"

"An hour," he said, clearly tamping down impatience. "Yes, I suppose."

"I don't want to miss my very first class. It's important."

Alessandro seemed to come to a decision and shrugged. "Then I'll come with you. We can talk afterward. The instructor is a friend."

"A friend?" Alessandro never mentioned friends.

"Yes, he set up my laptop."

Holly smiled. "You, Alessandro, have a computer?"

He tilted his head to one side, half-coquettish, half-reproachful. "You think that is so ridiculous? That I am perhaps too old or too blond to keep up?" He rolled the cigarette between his fingers, studying its glowing tip.

Holly shrugged, her mind slowly refocusing from his outfit to the class ahead. "I just didn't think you'd be interested in techie stuff."

He mimicked her shrug. "Who does not want to surf the Web?" He raised one eyebrow, daring her to respond. When she was silent he grinned, showing just the tips of his pointed teeth.

"What on earth would you surf for?" she asked, her imagination supplying several yucky suggestions.

"One has to keep up with the times." He crushed the cigarette and held the door open for her, fringe swinging as he moved. "There are so many interesting chat rooms, and so many daylight hours to kill."

"What, you can get high-speed Internet direct to your coffin?" Holly looked around her for room numbers. She turned right.

Alessandro made a rude noise. They had gone about three steps when he asked, "How was your dinner last night?"

"The food was good," she said lightly, thinking about the phone call that had taken him away. When he would get around to telling her what had happened?

"If all you remember is the food, next time I should plan the evening." Alessandro thrust his fingertips into his pants pockets. The pants were so tight, that was all that would fit.

"I doubt you could cook like Mac."

"Mac, is it?"

"We had a very nice conversation. Very relaxed. You're just being a pain."

"I have six centuries of experience wooing women." He gave another slow, fang-tipped smile. "I have a surprising depth of knowledge when it comes to interpersonal relations. When I have a woman in my arms, I do not aim for 'nice conversation.'"

Holly rolled her eyes and walked into the classroom, heading to the back of the room, where the last two empty desks sat with their humming computers.

Yes, it was a night class, and she should have known it would be a mixed population. All those folks who couldn't come in the daytime were there. A few students dressed in ultra-Goth looked like they had goblin or perhaps Unseelie heritage. A young-looking vamp read a Howlywood fan mag, filled with gossip on supernatural screen idols. One nerdish ghoul hungrily gnawed his pen and eyed the other students as though they might be his next chew toy.

Holly dropped her backpack with a thud. A spiral-bound course manual marked,
Computer Concepts: From E-mail to E-business Platforms
, lay neatly on the desk. She wiggled the mouse to kill the screen saver and brought up the start screen.

At the front of the room a man was standing next to the digital projector. He looked about the same age as the students, but was apparently the instructor. For a moment Holly felt ancient. He smiled diffidently at the class and nodded to Alessandro. With wavy brown hair and a narrow, sensitive face, he was cute in a youngish way. When he filled out in a few years he would have hunk potential. She felt ancient for another moment.

"Hello, and thank you so much for coming," he said, all charm. "My name is Perry Baker."

A loud crunching came from the right side of the room. All heads turned curiously, and the crunching stopped as suddenly as it began. Holly stretched, trying to see over the heads between her and the source of the noise.

Perry pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Umn, please don't eat the mouse."

Baldly curious, she stood up to get a better look at the show. The ghoul sat perfectly still, a belligerent expression on his face. The cable that normally ran to the mouse ran into his mouth, dangling like a tail. His cheek bulged, evidence of guilt.

This should be interesting.

The ghoul chewed once and a plasticky crunch resounded, like a very loud potato chip. Holly never thought a peripheral could sound so tasty.

A nervous giggle rippled through the room.

Tugging authoritatively on his oversized black T-shirt, Perry Baker marched up to the ghoul's desk. He held out one long-fingered hand. "Spit it out."

The ghoul glowered as only ghouls could, with mean little eyes and a wrinkly nose.

Beside Holly, Alessandro stood up as well, his eyebrows drawn together. She guessed he was deciding whether or not to intervene. Ghouls could be nasty customers when riled, and vampires were one of the few species able to beat them in a brawl.

But Perry was as yet unfazed. "Spit," he repeated slowly and firmly. "It. Out!"

The ghoul growled, a disgusting sound like something rotten just come to the boil. That made Perry take a step back, but it was more a regrouping than a retreat. He drew himself up as much as his youthful dignity would allow and pulled off his glasses.

Without warning his lip curled up, his lower jaw dropping almost to his chest. Fangs sprouted from his gums in a painful-looking wash of blood and saliva. His mouth grew huge, pushing forward to accommodate more and yet more of those sharp white teeth. A long, lolling red tongue surged wetly past his jaws, questing toward the ghoul.

The growl that emerged from Perry rumbled like low thunder, rattling the pen on her desk and rising to a crescendo that vibrated Holly's breastbone. Hair stood up along her neck, her instinct to flee at war with the instinct to be small and invisible. After a long moment the growl finally stopped, but it echoed in the air, cowing the room into silence.

Holly blinked. Perry looked completely normal. He pushed his glasses back on and extended his hand once more. Without moving the ghoul spit out the mouse. It fell to the desk in a clatter of gummy, crushed plastic, the workings spewing like entrails to the floor. Perry looked at the mouse, his brow wrinkled in consternation.

"Consider yourself expelled," he said, and walked back to the head of the class.

Holly sat. Alessandro sat. There was nothing like a werewolf for maintaining classroom discipline.

Like a good teacher, Perry made the rounds of the workstations, making sure he had happy little students. When he leaned forward to see Holly's screen, she caught the musky scent that clung to weres, a smell that reminded her of oiled leather. It wasn't bad, just not human.

"Good," he said, straightening. "You're at the head of the class." He looked at her curiously, his eyes a dark blue behind his glasses. "I just wanted to ask, are you the Holly Carver that, uh, knows Ben Elliot?"

"Yes," she said, trying to read his tone. Was the fact that he knew her good or bad?

Alessandro looked up from pondering an online auction of lingerie, obviously eavesdropping.

Perry pulled off his glasses, polishing the lenses with the hem of his oversized shirt. "I heard about… Well, he's an idiot. If you need anything, you let me know. Anytime. I'm almost always here or in my office."

After class Alessandro and Holly walked across the parking lot back to the main campus. It had started to drizzle, a thin, persistent wetness more mist than rain.

"Why would a ghoul take a computer class?" Alessandro said unexpectedly.

"Is this like a chicken joke?"

"No, I'm serious."

Holly shrugged. "I guess ghouls have aspirations, too."

"Equal rights for all," Alessandro mused. "Interesting how that plays out."

They walked along, moisture gleaming on the sidewalks. As the trees at the edge of the parking lot swayed in the wind, shadows brushed the glistening pavement. Holly turned up the collar of her coat. Alessandro seemed not to notice the cold.

"What was that comment about Perry being there for me?" Holly asked. "That was awkward. Has our young professor got a grudge against Ben?"

Holly looked up at Alessandro. Beneath the streetlights he looked almost human, the pallor of his skin tempered by the shifting shadows. Her fingers longed to trace the angles of his face.
I shouldn't be alone with him, and yet every time I turn, he is there
.

"Perry is much like your Ben," he said. "A cherished son, brilliant, young, and always able to have whatever advantages money could buy. Perry's pack owns a large gravel company west of town."

"Are you saying they're too much alike?"

"They would be very alike, except Perry isn't human, and Ben is one of those spearheading a petition to keep nonhumans out of the faculty. Support for his movement is gaining ground, and if the nonhuman teachers go, it won't be long before the open admissions policy will disappear. It's all part of the prohuman backlash."

"You've got to be joking!"

"Believe it. Already Perry has to post a notice on his door warning students they are entering the office of a monster. Ben probably doesn't even know Perry is a competent sorcerer, and will only make matters worse if he finds out."

Holly swore.
This is ridiculous
. The werebeasts' ability to shape-shift was hereditary, not contagious. They kept to themselves and, unlike humans, worked hard on maintaining civilized behavior. Ben had never mentioned any prohuman activities to her.
Was he a bigot all along, and I didn't see it
?

Maybe love really was blind, or else Ben was a better actor than she thought. "So how did Perry know about me and Ben?"

"I don't know. Ben must have said something. Staff room gossip. They're in the same department."

Holly felt sick. "Great. Did Perry tell you Ben and I broke up?"

Alessandro tilted his head, studying her for a long moment. His expression was hard to read. "Your grandmother told me. And I try to know everything about you."

Holly swallowed, feeling her heart skitter. "You know that's possessive and creepy, right? Like showing up at Mac's? Showing up here? Why do you keep doing this?"

"There is a demon on the loose, and it knows you."

"Right. Yeah. I noticed. That mouse was hard to miss."

He thrust his hands into his pockets. "It's not that I don't have confidence in your ability to protect yourself…"

"And yet everywhere I go, you're always showing up. It's called stalking."

He gave a single, short laugh. "You don't want to see me? You want me to go away?"

Oh, great
. "It's not that. It's… It makes me feel helpless. I don't need that."

He stopped walking and turned to face her. "Are you sure you're not sending me away because I frighten you?"

How I feel about you frightens me
. Holly ducked her head. "Alessandro, we're standing in a movie cliché. Female student on campus at night, alone with the predator. I wouldn't be here if I didn't trust you with my life. I'm not stupid, and I'm not unprepared. If you or anything else jumps me, I will fry your ass with every scrap of magic I can summon. Got it?"

He gave a lopsided smile. "And you are worried about feeling helpless? What is there left for me to do? Sometimes… sometimes I don't know how to approach you. Where I fit."

His lost expression made her want to bang her head on a wall.
Alpha males
. "I'm so not good at this."

She felt the pull of his magnetism and the corresponding push to be free of his seductive influence. If it were only the vampire part of him, it would have been easy, but the man was every bit as compelling. "I'm not trying to get rid of you, but you're my friend, not my private thug. I can't have you doing everything for me. I don't
want
a bodyguard twenty-four-seven."

At that he nodded, his expression closing down. Despite her best efforts he'd taken her words as a rebuff. Irritated, Holly looked away.
He just doesn't get it
.

He pressed his lips together, a quick gesture of decision. "Well, then let's even the account. As I said before, I need you to do something for me. Tonight."

"Okay." She almost sighed in relief. At least it was a change of subject.

"Let's go somewhere warm, where we can talk and you can stop shivering."

Barnaby's Café and Tearoom wasn't technically on campus, but it was close enough. Dripping with faux Victorian atmosphere, the cafeteria-style eatery had etched-glass windows and an elaborate rolled-tin ceiling.

It also had the best bakery in town. Holly bought a brownie—not because she was hungry, but because it pleaded with her through the glass case. She sat facing the tall windows, enjoying the thrum of energy that pulsed through a city when nightfell and the neon came to life.

Not interested in food, Alessandro had dropped her off so that she could go through the line while he parked. Now he glided toward her, his tall, black-clad figure alien amidst the human patrons. Pulling up one of the flimsy metal chairs, he sat, knees bumping the underside of the tiny table. With an irritated mutter he shifted back, unzipping his fringed jacket to reveal a mesh T-shirt beneath the leather. He tugged the jacket collar into place, crossed one lace-up boot over the other, and shook his pale hair free until the longest of the curls brushed the arm of the chair.

It was quite a performance. Holly wanted to applaud. Alessandro, the perfect picture of rock royalty, had
arrived
.