Vampire U (10 page)

My left foot took a shaking step forward, toward Alex and away from my room.  I shook my head in protest, fighting back against the pressure in my mind.  I could feel Alex there, not Mander's subtle guiding pressure, but a dominating force that sought to wrest control of my body from me.

He grimaced, white teeth clenched in concentration, and I saw beads of sweat on his head.  "Don't try to fight, Danielle," he said.  "If you make a scene, this'll go hard on you."

The pressure eased while he spoke, then grew stronger again as he renewed his focus on our mental wrestling match.  Despite whatever protection Mander claimed my virginity gave me, I could tell Alex was just a bit stronger.  I took a second step toward him, then another.  Fatigue chewed on the edges of my willpower, and I felt my sense of self begin to crumble. 

He cast a quick glance over my shoulder, and it occurred to me that Alex was nervous, perhaps even in a hurry.  Beta House operated in secrecy.  Feeding on women in the privacy of their mansion was one thing, but trying to abduct one from the Romanus University dormitories reeked of desperation.

Perhaps I didn't need to beat him, only to delay him.  Alex thought time was on my side, and maybe it was.  "Why me?" I asked aloud, to myself as much as him.

Alex laughed.  "Mander didn't tell you?  Figures.  Virgin blood is powerful stuff, girl.  To taste your blood and take your virginity, that's even better.  And there's no way in hell I'll let a coward like Mander take that from me."

As he spoke, I felt his grasp on my mind slip, and my footsteps slowed.  When Alex saw the sudden hope on my face, he growled.  "You'll come with me, one way or another."  He grabbed my arm.

"HEY!" Lara Bauer's voice boomed in the hallway.  I turned my head and saw the resident assistant striding toward us like an angry rhino.  "What are you doing in here?"  She jabbed a finger at Alex with one hand and lifted her walkie-talkie with the other.  "We've got a male on the third floor!"

Alex released my arm, and his eyes flared red, glaring fiery daggers at Lara as he squared off in the middle of the hall. 

"Go to your room, bitch, and stay there until morning," Alex rumbled at Lara.  "You will forget you ever saw me here."

Lara's eyes went blank with a shocked numbness.  I knew exactly how she felt, but as Alex commanded her, I felt his presence in my head suddenly vanish as he turned his full attention to Lara.  Awareness flooded back into my limbs, sweet freedom, a control of my body I would never again take for granted.  I rushed past him, praying that he would leave Lara alone.

A roar of rage followed me into the fire escape, and I leapt down the stairs three and four at a time until I caught up with the crowd of girls descending.  Only then did I slow and risk a glance up.  Alex glared down at me from the third floor landing.  Crimson fire pulsed deep in his eyes, but he gnashed his fangs in frustration.  No matter how much he wanted me, he wouldn't attack me around so many witnesses.

I reached the ground floor with the rest of the crowd and pushed out into the cool night air.  A fire truck was trundling up to the curb in no real hurry.  The fire department knew a prank alarm when they saw one.

Sarah Carter, one of the girls on my floor, stood on the sidewalk, her face lit by the glow of her smartphone.  I silently cursed myself for leaving mine in my room.

"Sarah, can I borrow that?" I asked.

She looked up.  "Huh?  Yeah, just a sec, let me update my status."  I waited, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, trying not to let my impatience eat me alive as she tapped away at the tiny keyboard.

"Thanks," I said when she handed the device over.  I'd memorized Jacob Crabtree's cell phone number during my first week at the 
Scryer,
 and now I dialed.  "Come on," I muttered as the phone rang and rang.

When I finally heard a click, a heavy weight lifted in my chest.  "Yeah?" Jacob mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

"Jacob, it's Danielle.  I need your help."

A pause.  "Danielle?  What the fuck?  It's three in the morning!"

Sarah was eyeing me curiously, so I turned away and lowered my voice.  "This has to do with Beta House.  Can you come get me?  I wouldn't ask, but it's important."

Several seconds passed as he considered.  "You were supposed to bring chicken," he said.  "I skipped lunch."

"Let's get an early breakfast," I said.  "Anything you want.  My treat.  Just 
hurry.
"

"Fine," he said.  "I'll never get back to sleep now anyway."

"Thanks, Jacob."  I told him where to meet me, then hung up and gave the phone back to Sarah.  She drifted off to talk to her friends, and I looked around.  About a hundred girls milled around in the parking lot beside the dorm.  Most wore pajamas or robes.  Others still wore dresses, and some were still visibly drunk, having just come home from late-night parties.  The way they huddled in clusters beneath the arc sodium streetlights reminded me of frightened cattle, as though on some instinctive level, they were aware of the predators lurking in the darkness beyond.

I moved into the middle of one of the larger groups, ignoring the strange looks from the other girls as I pushed into their midst.  Somewhere out there, I knew Alex waited for me to wander away from the herd.

The squeal of a megaphone turned all heads toward the building, where a fireman in a yellow coat stood at the top of the steps.  "There's no fire, ladies," his voice boomed.  "You may return to your rooms, but remember, pulling a fire alarm isn't just an annoying prank.  It's a crime, and if you're caught, you can go to jail."

A murmur swept through the crowd, full of angry speculation about who had pulled the alarm.  Like a tide, the tired, drunk, and irritated residents headed back toward the dorm's entrance, pulling me along.

A couple of university security guards stood to either side of the door, scanning the students with hard eyes as they passed inside.  When I reached them, the younger one, a skinny guy with beady eyes, put a hand on my arm.  "Excuse me.  Danielle Archer?"

I blinked at him in surprise.  "Yeah.  Why?"

His partner, a stout guy in his forties with a luxurious moustache that belonged in adult movies, cleared his throat.  "Let's talk over there."  He nodded toward the sidewalk, where their security patrol car waited at the curb.  Without waiting for my response, they ushered me away from the doors and the safety of the crowds.  I looked around nervously.  Would Alex be bold enough to attack me now?  If he were half as strong as Mander, these two rent-a-cops wouldn't stand a chance.

Every second that passed out here put me at risk.  I needed to get back to the safety of my room.  When I had my phone again, I could call Jacob's cell and warn him off.  This was the second time I'd stood him up today, and he'd be pissed, but he'd forget about it when I told him what I'd learned.  
And then he'll refer you to a mental institution.

"What is it?" I asked impatiently as the stopped at the sidewalk.  "I want to go back to bed."

Pornstache said in a low voice, "Your RA reported an incident upstairs.  We understand that a young man assaulted you?"

"I..."

His partner cut me off.  "Romanus University takes these kinds of things very seriously, ma'am.  We'd like you to come to the security office and give a statement."  He stepped to the curb and opened the patrol car's rear door.

"Okay," I said, but alarm bells started ringing in my head.  It wasn't just the skinny one's smooth used-car-salesman voice.  Alex had commanded Lara to go to her room and forget about him.  I knew how powerful Alex's influence over a mind could be, and Lara's eyes had held nothing but meek obedience.  Mander had a private investigator to help him during daylight hours.  Wouldn't Alex have men who could help him?  I glanced at the two security guards and imagined I could feel the jaws of an unseen trap starting to close around me.

I stopped walking, and they turned to look at me.  "Uhm, can you just let me go up to my room first?  I...  I slept in my clothes and I need to change."  It was a lame, transparent excuse, but their reaction confirmed my suspicions.

Pornstache stepped to one side, putting himself between the building and me as he herded me toward the car.  "Don't make a scene, Miss Archer.  We just want to help you."

I opened my mouth to scream, but at that moment, a pair of headlights swept the parking lot.  A tiny sedan pulled up alongside the patrol car, a rusty old Toyota that made my Civic look like a Maserati.  Jacob Crabtree poked his head through the open window, and his sharp eyes flickered back and forth between the security guards and me.

"Hey, Dani," he called.  "Everything okay?"

"Miss Archer is coming to the security office to give a statement," the skinny one said.  "Go on home, sir."

Jacob smiled innocently.  "I have a campus parking permit, officer!  I'm entitled to be here."

"Actually, I think I'll give that statement tomorrow if it's all the same to you," I said quickly.  I slipped away from Pornstache and sidestepped his partner.  "I promised my friend here breakfast, and I'd feel really bad if..."

Pornstache came after me.  "You're coming with us, young lady."

Jacob whipped out his cell phone.  "Is she under arrest?  Can you do that?  You guys aren't even real cops.  By the way, I'm recording this."

That froze the two security men in their tracks.  They looked at one another uncertainly.  As I hurried around to the other side of the Toyota and opened the passenger door, I saw the skinny security guard put a cautionary hand on Pornstache's shoulder.  "Not now," he said softly, but his beady eyes glared daggers at me.

I fell into the seat and slammed the door.  The air rushed out of my lungs as I shuddered with relief.  "Drive," I said.  "Hurry!"

Jacob jammed the Toyota into gear, and its engine rattled and squealed as he whipped around the patrol car and fed gas.  We drove in silence for a few minutes, staying just below the speed limit.  My heart, on the other hand, raced along at breakneck speed as I tried to control my breathing.

"Are you going to tell me what that was all about?" Jacob asked.  "They looked pissed." 

"Give me a minute," I said, trying to collect my thoughts.  I felt my body and mind threatening to shut down in response to the fatigue and the stress of all that had happened.

Jacob kept glancing at me uncertainly as he drove off campus.  "What happens if we get pulled over?  Are you in trouble?"

"No," I said.  "Yes.  It's complicated."  The two security guards were the least of my problems.  Their employer was another matter, and it made me wonder what kind of resources Beta House had at its disposal.  "Think happy thoughts, Jacob," I said, but I needed to follow my own advice.

"I'll be happy when I get some breakfast and you tell me what's really going on," he said.  "And why you keep glancing in the mirror."

I stiffened.  I'd been watching for some sign of pursuit, but I hadn't seen anything so far.  But would I?  Could Alex turn into a bat?  Might he be gliding through the air above us even now, waiting for some dark, quiet stretch of road?  Had I doomed Jacob by bringing him into this?

I was tired of covering up the truth.  I needed someone to know.  I wanted someone to tell me that this was all a crazy dream, and then recommend a good psychiatrist who could dose me with some sweet anti-psychotic meds.

"Beta House is full of vampires," I said in a flat, matter-of-fact voice, bracing myself for laughter and disbelief.

The Toyota swerved as Jacob turned to stare at me with a strange expression.

"Watch the road," I told him.

After he was back in his lane, Jacob licked his lips and glanced over at me.  "You're serious, aren't you?" he said.  "Do you really...  I mean, what makes you think that?"

The last two days had been filled with so much weird shit that I hardly knew where to start.  And I couldn't prove a thing.  "They've got Morgan," I told him.

Jacob frowned.  "Who?"

"The vampires at Beta House."

He shook his head.  "No, I mean - who's Morgan?"

I grimaced.  Jacob lived in his own little world, hardly bothering with the people around him.  "My roommate, I said.  She's the one who went to the Equinox Ball with me.  While we were there, one of the Betas bit her."

"What, he just... ran up to her on the dance floor and sunk his teeth into her neck?  I'm not exactly in touch with the Greek scene on campus, but word of something like that is going to get out."

"No, it wasn't like that.  They were in a bedroom... you know."

His eyebrows shot up.  "And you were watching?"

"Not on purpose," I said.  "I wasn't supposed to see."

"Maybe they were just being kinky.  That's a pretty thin reason to denounce a whole fraternity as blood-sucking freaks."

With a sigh, I realized that Jacob already thought I was half-crazy.  I decided to give him both barrels.  "Look, I've had a long day.  I'm giving you the story of the century, and you're nitpicking?  How's this.  Today I saw three frat boys explode when sunlight touched their skin.  Oh, and did I mention they can control people's minds?  I've had so many vampires in my head today I hardly know who I am anymore."  My voice grew rough as I spoke, and by the end, I was biting back tears.  I stared out into the city night, hoping Alex wouldn't find us.

For a long time, Jacob just stared out at the road, clenching the steering wheel with white knuckles.  He looked angry, and my stomach sank.  I knew he was regretting giving me a chance to work on the paper.  Now he thought I was a complete psycho.

I'd never felt so alone.  "Say something, Jacob," I prompted.  "Please?"

"Look, I'm sorry," Jacob said.  "This is just nuts.  But I believe you."

Now it was my turn to look surprised.  I wiped away a tear.  "You do?"

"Occam's Razor," Jacob said.

"What's that?"

"Once you've eliminated all the impossible explanations, the only thing that's left is the right answer, no matter how unlikely.  I've been trying to figure out what the Betas are up to for years.  I'm out of explanations, so what the hell?  Why not vampires?"  He chuckled softly, shaking his head in wonder.