The Oath (2 page)

I secretly loved the holiday too, minus the snow, of course. I liked the California Christmas with warmth and sunshine and lounging in front of the air conditioner. This year I’d freeze my butt off, though.

Jenny loved Christmas too, or at least she had. She went to Mass every Christmas Eve and would always call me as soon as she got back to wish me a Merry Christmas. Her enthusiasm for the Christmas holiday never failed to amaze me. It wasn’t the gifts or the fake reindeer decorations; Jenny had truly believed in her God and in angels and miracles. That was another reason I hadn’t bought the whole suicide thing. Her faith taught that if you killed yourself, you went to Hell. I wonder if it counted if she’d been forced to do it, or if there were no gray areas with suicide in her religion. I guess it didn’t really matter.

She’d never see another Christmas.

Tomorrow payback started.

Chapter Two

~ Xavier ~

Westover Academy was one of the things Falls Church was famous for. The school was an Elite school. Not just anyone could get in. They only accepted the best of the best from all across the country. Thankfully, while I’d been all decked out in my Goth chic, I’d also worked hard at school. I had a 4.0 average and won the national science fair competition the last five years running. That alone managed to get me in. The Fates, at least, were working with me and not against me.

The school had been more than happy to take me. I’d worked a bit of magic of my own and made sure my school picture got swapped out in the file my old school forwarded to Westover. They’d take one look at the black and run the other way, no matter how much prestige I brought them. It was just that kind of school.

Everywhere I looked, people were all neat and proper. Perfect people in their perfect clothes and their perfect hair. I shuddered on the inside at the sameness of it all, even as I smiled at the people looking my way in their proper little school uniforms. Like them, I wore an ugly brown pleated skirt and green blazer. So very, very wrong.

I got several wolf whistles while I waited for my schedule in the office. I ignored them.  I knew I was pretty, more than pretty. Most witches, male or female, were beautiful. I always thought it had something to do with the fact we deal with nature’s truest forms all the time, which was pure beauty in and of itself. It rubbed off on us. We reflected the purity of the Elements. That was my theory anyway.

At least my whole blonde bombshell exterior was working with the brain dead boys. Now, the real question was could I get the attention of those nasty little wannabe witches?

My first chance came after my third period class. I finally managed to find my locker. I tried the combination three times, yanking hard on the lock. The guy beside me gave me a sympathetic look. His curly brown hair almost overwhelmed his brown eyes. I couldn’t make up my mind if he screamed geek or cool. It was that hard to tell. He had a certain confidence about him that said cool, but his demeanor also cried out chess club nerd.

“I had that locker last year,” he told me. “If you can get it unlocked, it’s best to leave it that way.”

“But then anyone can get into my stuff!” Dismay colored my words, but I wasn’t that concerned. I noticed the group of girls just down the hall watching us with interest. I’d done my research. These were the girls I wanted to notice me.

“Yeah, but it’s better than being late to every class, and trust me, there are certain classes you don’t want to be late for.”

I yanked on the lock one last time. “To hell with this.” I stepped back, concentrated on the lock, and said, “Open.”

The locker door sprang open. The people around us stopped chatting and stared. I put my things inside, keeping only a notebook and a pen. I shut the door and turned the lock to make sure it clicked.

“How did you do that?” The boy frowned.

“Magic.”

“Magic?”

“I’m a witch.” I smiled at him and started down the hall to my next class. He caught up to me about halfway there.

“Seriously, how did you do that?”

I spied the girls who had been watching us out of the corner of my eye. They too were hurrying to catch up. “I already told you, I’m a witch.”

“A witch?” He laughed. “What, did you cast a spell on it or something?”

“Or something.” I winked at him.

“You realize how insane you sound?”

I shrugged and went into the chemistry lab. The teacher directed me to the only empty table in the room. Mr. Nosy stared at me from two tables over. The girl next to him said something which he ignored. She glared at me. Girlfriend. She looked too pissed off to be anything else. Like I’d ever be interested in Mr. Nosy.

The air shifted, warmed. I heard gasps from the female students and looked up. My mouth dropped open slightly. The guy from the airport! No way. Yet there he was, speaking to the teacher, and then he turned in my direction when Mr. Simon waved him toward the only empty seat in the room. The one beside me. All the girls were staring, me included. How could you not?

He was beautiful. That was the only way to describe him. How had I escaped that fact at the airport? He reminded me of the statues we’d seen in Venice last year. He glowed with gorgeousness. Ebony eyes made his alabaster skin shine, and the white blonde hair that surfed the top of his school blazer set off the ensemble of his face perfectly. Full, kissable lips begged for attention. He looked almost angelic.

His eyes swept the room and then focused on me. Something happened. To me.

You read all those books about the heroine who feels the earth move or time stop when she meets her Prince Charming, and you think to yourself, yeah right, never gonna happen. I’d always scoffed at the very idea. Not anymore.

Those obsidian eyes pierced me, and I couldn’t breathe. The earth shifted under me.  Everyone and everything else disappeared, and for just a moment, time really did stop. My heartbeat shifted into warp speed one – yes, I was secretly a closet Treky – and I became trapped in those eyes. I could drown in them and die a happy camper. Their warmth changed, his gaze probing, and became accusing. He saw through the mask, to the girl under the makeup and the clothes. He saw
me
. I felt his reproach all the way into the heart of my soul. He couldn’t know. There was
no way
he could know what I was up to, but I had the strangest feeling he did.

He looked away, and I was able to draw air into my oxygen deprived lungs. I’d never in all my seventeen years had this kind of reaction to anyone, especially a guy. Don’t get me wrong, I’d had plenty of crushes and more than a few boyfriends, but no one ever made me forget to breathe before. I always laughed at the girls who went all goofy over a guy, and now here I sat doing just that. It had to be the blonde hair. It was like a disease infecting my brain or something. It was the only sane explanation I had for going all gaga over a boy. A gorgeous boy, mind you, but still just a boy.

The chair scraped as he sat down, and I felt his presence settle beside me. I peeked up at him from underneath my lashes. The heartbeat hit warp speed two. Heat radiated off of him. The corner of his mouth tilted like he wanted to smile, but was trying not to. His head bent in my direction, and I felt him shift closer. Warp speed three hit full throttle. If I didn’t calm down, I might just hyperventilate, and I have never, ever fainted in my life, but I felt like I might any second now.

“I’m Xavier McGregor.” His voice sounded all smooth and rich like warm, dark chocolate. Warp speed four kicked in with a vengeance. I could hear my heartbeat pound in my ears. So not good. I was not one of those girls who went stupid because a gorgeous guy deigned to speak with her.  I was a witch, dammit. I would answer him and then proceed to ignore him the rest of the class.

“Melinda.” I opened my chemistry book to the chapter Mr. Simon was lecturing on and focused all my concentration on taking notes. Or at least I tried to. Xavier was a hard person to ignore.

“Melinda...?”

My last name he did not need to know, so I didn’t bother responding.

His arm brushed against mine as he moved to mimic me. Warp speed four flew out the window straight into five. Max speed achieved. What was wrong with me? I glanced up and saw he was grinning mischievously at me, and I wanted to kick him. He knew I was struggling here, and he was laughing at me.

Kicking him would be bad. In fact, acting all doe-eyed and goofy was just what I
should
do, seeing as how I was supposed to be blending in with the natives, but I wasn’t sure I could do it. The urge for violence was strong, and I fought not to give into it.
Remember the mission
, I warned myself.

So instead, I tucked my head down and worked hard to ignore the heartbeat in my ears, the guy laughing softly beside me, and I forced myself to take notes with a shaky hand. Whether the shaking was from anger or nerves, I honestly didn’t know. I’d be glad to get away from this boy, though, who not only looked at me like he knew what I was up to, but who laughed at the reaction he caused in me.

“Can I borrow a pen?”

“I don’t have any extra,” I replied tartly.

“Hmm…”

There were several girls looking at me like I was crazy, and I knew my initial thoughts had been right. This was not how my persona of Barbie should act. I should be fawning all over the guy, judging from the expressions on the faces of every other girl in the room. Going from Goth chick to Barbie was turning out to be harder than I imagined.

“So Melinda No Last Name,” the guy continued as if I hadn’t just brushed him off. “Do you have a piece of paper? Bethany was kind enough to loan me a pen.”

I glanced over at the girl smiling smugly and whispering to her herd of wannabes. I had the strongest need to reach out and throw the borrowed pen back at her, but then I
had
refused to loan Xavier one of mine. My lips pursed and I tore out a sheet of paper and slid it across the table to him. Bethany frowned at me, and I smiled sweetly at her, the smile saying in volumes to back off. I had always been good at those kinds of smiles. They tended to terrify people.  Bethany proved to be just as vulnerable to that smile. She turned away and refused to look at us.

Xavier laughed. “Well now, I didn’t know you cared so much.”

I snorted, and he chuckled.

Thankfully he didn’t try chit chat again for the rest of the class, which was good because the lecture turned into something I really did need to take notes on. Mr. Simon pushed us with material I hadn’t seen before. He ended the class by giving us homework that I couldn’t wait to start on. It was more complex than even I was used to. We would test our theories in lab the next day. He was fast becoming my all-time favorite teacher.

“Hi.”

One of the senior girls on my list of people to impress came to stand at my table the minute class was over. She was tall, blonde, and way too perky. Her brown eyes sparkled with something. I would almost say laughter, but that would have been too kind. Her eyes held an edge to them, something that wouldn’t quite laugh. I’d seen eyes like that once before. That person had been infected with a darkness so black it had taken several witches to overcome it. My dad had been one of the Hunters who’d tracked the guy down.

Dad was a rogue witch hunter, or simply a Hunter, hired by the Senior Coven of the North American Council. It didn’t pay much, but that’s why he was a computer programmer. He could do his work from home or on the road. His job allowed him to be mobile and flexible, the necessary requirements for an underpaid witch Hunter. I always got goose bumps when thinking of what I was doing in relation to Dad’s job. Would I fall under that category of rogue witch for what I was gonna do? I didn’t know, and I wouldn’t let myself think about it. Jenny needed vengeance, and she’d never get it in the hands of the human authorities. So it was up to me.

“I’m Mandy Davis,” the blonde said and smiled down at me. “You’re a junior, aren’t you?”

I nodded. They were wondering why a junior was in a senior level advanced placement chemistry class. I had counted on that being in my favor, though it could just as easily go against me. Smart kids weren’t as well received, but the fact she was in the class herself gave me more confidence in the former opinion.

“Yes, I just transferred from LA.”

“Really?” she said. “No wonder your tan looks so great.”

“Thanks.”

“So, how’d you get in a senior level class?” a boy asked as he ambled up and threw his arm over Mandy’s shoulders. He was blonde, blue eyed, and played football or some such sport by the look of the varsity jacket he wore. His eyes roved over me, and I felt gross at the unveiled lust in them. As if that would ever happen.

“I was in AP Chem back in LA,” I explained, standing up and forcing them to move backward.

“Ms. James,” Mr. Simon called from the front of the room. “If you could stop by and see me before you leave, I’d appreciate it. I need to make sure we have everything you’ll need to complete your experiment for the National Science Fair.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Simon,” I said with a nod. “If you guys will excuse me, I’ll go ahead and do that so I have a few minutes for a half a yogurt. I’m starved.”

I left them staring at me, openmouthed, all except for Xavier. He was laughing. He knew what I was up to, damn him. No matter. If he got in my way, I’d deal with it. No one was going to stop me.

Chapter Three

~ Unexpected Houseguests ~