Graduating (Covenant College Book 5) (23 page)

“My dad is going to meet us there,” Aric said, glancing around the back of the van, his gaze finally falling on Rafael. “Do you want us to take you back to your place first?”

“I want to see them die,” Rafael growled.

“You can’t join the fight,” Aric said. “It won’t be dark for another three hours.”

“I can be close enough to hear as soon as it’s over,” Rafael said. “That will have to be enough.”

Aric gripped my hand in his tightly. “We have to decide now who is going to die and who isn’t.”

“They all die,” Rafael spat out.

“I agree that Reagan and Blake need to die,” Aric said, his tone neutral. “What about the other members of the Academy? Some of them could be innocent. They might not know better.”

“I don’t care about them,” Rafael said. “They’re sheep. Once the leadership is gone, they’ll find something else to latch on to.”

“They’re not all sheep,” I said quietly. “Some of them – Nick and Paul, for example – they know exactly what they’re doing, and who they’re hurting in the process.”

“We can take them into custody,” Aric said, inclining his head to his commandos. “We can question them and make individual assessments.”

I nodded mutely, the realization of what I was agreeing to washing over me.

“I don’t want to put you on the spot, but what do you want to do about Mark?”

I moved to pull my hand away, but Aric’s grip was too strong. “I’m not sure I can make that decision.”

“You have to be the one,” Aric said. “If it were left up to me, I’d kill him. I think we all know how Rafael feels. This one is your decision, though.”

“You want me to decide whether to kill him or not,” I said, shifting my head back and forth.

“You made the decision when it came to Will,” Aric said.

“And it was surprisingly easy,” I replied, my voice low. “Of course, that might have had something to do with the feral vampire in the room.”

“I wouldn’t have attacked you,” Rafael said. “I only let them think they broke me.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I let Rafael keep his pride. “Take Mark into custody,” I said finally. “Let him rot there. Guilt will hurt him more than death.”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded. Aric lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it quickly. “Okay.” He glanced at the seven other men in the van. “Everyone understand? Blake and Reagan are going down? If we point out a few others to you, they’re fair game. Take the rest of them into custody. My dad is going to have at least eight more men with him as reinforcements. No one gets away.”

“Yes, sir.”

I fought the mad urge to laugh. The situation was surreal. “How are we going to take down Blake and Reagan? We can’t exactly kill them in the middle of a rally.”

“I’ve already got that taken care of,” Aric said.

“How?”

“With a little help from our friends.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me?”

“I think it will be more fun for you to be surprised. Trust me.”

JAMES WINTERS
was waiting for us at the back of the University Center. His usual suit and tie were gone, replaced by simple khakis and a black sweater. He hugged his son briefly, and then pulled me in for a longer one.

“I was worried about the two of you,” he said. “I knew Aric was all right after the sentinels called in. I still wasn’t a hundred percent sure about you, missy.”

“I’m fine.”

“You look a little pale.”

“It’s been a long twenty-four hours,” I said.

James glanced into the back of the van. “And the vampire? Is he a danger? I understand they were starving him.”

“He’s fed,” I replied blandly.

James looked to his son for confirmation. “The new leadership of Alpha Chi is no longer a problem.”

James arched an eyebrow. “Ah. Let me guess, they turned on him.”

“And then Rafael ate him,” I said.

I couldn’t be sure, but I swear James looked like he wanted to laugh.

“The guy was an ass,” Aric said. “He got what was coming to him.”

“Yeah, even at the end he was complaining because Reagan reneged on their deal,” I said. “I tried to tell him I would have been the kind of wife who tried to kill him in his sleep, but he was deranged.”

Aric frowned. “I’m not sure what that means.”

“Oh, did I forget to tell you that? Yeah, Reagan promised me to Will for his first wife.”

Aric gripped the door of the van angrily, snarling as his hands clenched. “If he wasn’t already dead, I’d rip his head off.”

“Calm down, son,” James said, patting him on the shoulder. “Zoe is obviously fine – and not engaged.”

“I still want to kill him,” Aric said. “I hope he died hard.”

Rafael shrugged. “I think he was more upset when he begged Zoe for help and she told him to have a good afterlife.”

Aric cupped the back of my head and dropped a quick kiss on my forehead. “Well, at least we know he got what was coming to him.”

Something was bothering me, and I couldn’t quite pin it down. Suddenly, my memory clicked into place. “Reagan said they took Rafael because he was poking around where he shouldn’t be,” I said. “What did you find out?”

Rafael’s dark eyes brightened. “Oh, I had almost forgotten about that, what with all the starving and killing.”

I waited.

“I was doing a search on Blake when I came up with something interesting,” Rafael said.

“What?”

“I don’t think he is who he says he is,” he said. “As far as I can tell, Sam Blake isn’t a real person. He’s someone that was created.”

James nodded knowingly. “I told you. Did you figure out who he is?”

“No,” Rafael said. “I just know that Sam Blake isn’t a real person.”

“Which means Caitlyn Blake wasn’t either.”

“I think they were really brother and sister,” Aric said. “I just don’t think that Blake was their last name.”

“There has to be a clue there,” James said. “Blake’s real name has power somewhere.”

“We don’t have time to figure that out,” Aric said. “I’m done playing with these assholes. We’re never going to get a better time. Reagan thinks he’s won. Even if Mark and Blake fled here, they haven’t had time to regroup. We can’t give them that time.”

“I agree,” James said. “If we get a chance to question Blake before killing him? Great. If not? Just kill him and be done with it.”

Aric linked his fingers with mine before casting one last look at Rafael. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“Good luck.”

EVERYONE
split up once we got to the lawn in front of the University Center. James took half of the commandos with him, while the other half moved to the other side of the crowd. Aric and I were taking the problem head on – and yet I still had no idea how any of this was going to happen with almost a thousand students standing between us and Reagan.

For his part, the governor was playing to the crowd on the stage. A quick scan of his entourage told me that Nick, Paul, and Brittany were all on the stage with him. I felt a small twinge for Brittany. She had no idea her meal ticket had literally been someone else’s meal this afternoon. I pushed the thought out of my mind, though. I wouldn’t feel guilty for the choices Will had made.

A hint of movement caught my attention to the right, my eyes landing on a furtive Blake and Mark as they tried to force their way to the front of the crowd.

“They’re here.”

Aric followed my gaze. “It’s too late now,” he said. “Even if Reagan realizes he failed, he has nowhere to go.”

“How are we going to get rid of this crowd?”

Aric smiled. “Look to the sky.”

“What?”

Aric pointed to the far side of the clearing, where Angela and Paris had suddenly appeared. Their hands were clasped, and from where I stood I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I had an idea that it was a spell.

“What are they doing?”

The cloudless sky opened up, a torrential downpour deluging the crowd as a frightening clap of thunder echoed throughout the campus. The deafening roar rendered the crowd momentarily silent, and as the sky turned purple and lit up with lightning, realization dawned on me.

“Oh, that’s what they’re doing.”

Aric drew me closer to him, making sure we weren’t separated as the squealing academic populace fled. It only took a few minutes for the crowd to disappear, and when the horde had thinned, only those with a dog in the fight were left standing. During the melee, I’d seen Aric and James’ commandos make swift work of any security guards that tried to get in their way. Their bodies were discarded amongst the overturned chairs.

Reagan’s eyes were full of rage when they settled on me. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I told you that you didn’t have what it takes to kill me,” I said, bolstered by Aric’s presence at my side. “Maybe you weren’t the one who was one step ahead of everything.”

Aric snickered. “Is that what he told you?”

Mark and Blake had joined Reagan on the stage, and Blake was explaining the events of the afternoon with a series of big hand gestures. Reagan’s rage was palpable. “So, you’re saying you failed? The only one who died in our trap was the one who set it up?”

“Who died?” Brittany asked.

“Brittany, you should go,” I suggested. “There’s nothing left here for you.”

“Who died?” She repeated, her tone fearful.

Since Reagan and Blake weren’t answering her, I did. “Will is gone.”

Brittany’s lower lip trembled. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” I said. “He was part of this from the beginning. They turned on him in the end, tossed him in a trap with us, and he didn’t make it out.”

“But you did?” Brittany challenged. “How did you manage to make it out?”

“Because I sacrificed Will to save myself,” I replied honestly.

“You sacrificed Will to save yourself? You sacrificed my boyfriend to save yourself?”

“Oh, shut up, girl,” Reagan chided her. “Your voice is like nails on a chalkboard.”

Brittany balked. “Excuse me?”

“Brittany, go.” I knew I couldn’t protect her. I knew I would never like or trust her. I also knew none of this was her fault. “This is going to get ugly.”

Brittany must have read something in the expression on my face, because she slowly made her way down the stage stairs. She cast one more look at me, and then disappeared in the direction of the University Center.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that you survived, Aric.” Despite his plan falling at his feet, Reagan didn’t look like a beaten man. I didn’t like it. “I’m going to enjoy killing you with my own two hands.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” James asked, moving onto the stage behind Reagan.

Even from here, I could see the surprise on Reagan’s face. There was something else there, too: Fear. “Well, Senator, this is a surprise.”

“It shouldn’t be,” James said, his voice cold enough to send a chill up my spine. “You should have known that going after my son was going to be the last thing you ever did.”

“What? Are you going to kill me? Here? In front of all of these witnesses?”

The wolf contingency, guns drawn, closed in on the stage from both sides now. Reagan had to know he was beaten, and yet he kept talking.

“What are you going to do? Kill us all?”

“Not all of you, no,” James said. “Your fate is sealed. As is that of Professor Blake there. The rest will merely be taken into custody and questioned.”

Nick and Paul shifted, exchanging uncomfortable looks.

“If they put up a fight, though,” James said, glancing at the two Academy students pointedly. “I have no problem killing them either. You see, Zoe has put in a request for clemency for those Academy members she believes are innocent. I don’t think you two are on that list.” He glanced at me for confirmation.

“Those two are total asshats,” I said. “I don’t care what happens to them.”

James smirked. “You do have a way with words.”

“She’s a vulgar little trollop,” Reagan spat. “You should have heard the things she said to me this afternoon.”

“Was this before or after you tried to lock her in a room with a feral vampire?” James asked.

“Before, of course,” Reagan said. “I’m on a bit of a schedule today.”

“Not anymore.”

“I’m sure my security detail will have something to say about that,” Reagan countered, zeroing in on his last hope.

“Do you see your security detail?” James asked.

Reagan looked around doubtfully. “I’m sure they’ve just been detained.”

“Some of them, yes,” James said. “The rest were never really your security detail. You see, they were on my payroll.”

Reagan made a face. “I guess I should have expected that.”

“It seems you’ve underestimated us from the beginning.”