Alex
“The dean isn’t coming,” says Dr. Michelle Ambrose, one of my colleagues, as she twists her rings around her fingers and glances at the door of the lecture hall where we’ve all gathered under my direction. “I sent him an email an hour ago. I’ve sent him twelve emails today alone,” she continues, sniffling. “Laney was one of mine. She’s in my lecture class. She’s–” She closes her eyes, her pale, gray-blonde hair falling over her face as she bows her head.
I look around the room at the eight seats filled by professors and the rows behind them filled further with the administrators from the biology department, our postdocs, student teachers, and assistants. Several graduate-level students came, but it’s the young students in the back, shrouded by shadows of confusion and grief, that tie my stomach in knots.
I’ve been pacing as the department filed in, stuck in my own head, torn between thoughts of Skye and our argument, her points, which, if I’m being honest, were correct, and this.
The safety of my colleagues and students against an unseen threat I know all too well.
I sink onto the edge of the stage, my back to the podium, and look everyone in the eyes, one by one. My voice carries through the silence, hushing any lingering murmurs. “I don’t have words to describe what happened, but I’m going to be honest. Laney Graves was murdered—here, on campus. So far, the warriors from Aurorium have swept the biology department and clinic for any evidence of who her attacker was, but they have come up short. They believe whoever did this is no longer on campus, but warriors will remain.” I look up into the back rows at the undergraduates, some of them so young and childlike it makes me want to scream, maybe find Kanten and give him the beating that’s been brewing for years now. “I’ve emailed everyone’s parents in the undergraduate program. The campus will shut down for at least the next week. Your parents are asking about your safety, and I’ve been advised to say you’re perfectly safe here, but I’m going to level with you. I don’t know that for sure. Heed the commands of your RAs. Stick together in groups. Stay in the dorms if possible, and if you’re traveling up to the surface, take two or three friends with you.”
My colleagues murmur, most of them glassy-eyed as they nod their agreement and turn to face their students, whispering assurances.
I catch Toby and Abby sitting in the middle rows, and Toby nods at me in solidarity.
I roll my lower lip between my teeth, continuing, “If anyone in this department has concerns, bring them to me,” I say firmly. “I will ensure everyone is kept in the loop. Students at all levels–keep your phones on and your emails refreshed, and be on the lookout for correspondence from us. All lectures, labs, and assignments this week are obviously canceled, but your professors and I will meet to discuss our plans going forward.”
“Was–was Laney aware?” a small, feminine voice pipes up from the crowd. I search the rows and find a dark-haired young woman with tear-stained cheeks. Friends on either side of her comfort her while she trembles. “Was she in pain, or was it quick?”
My chest convulses. I’ve seen the official report, which won’t be made public to the students. I know how she died, how her throat was ripped out, and she was drained. “I believe it was very quick. I don’t think she felt much.”
The young woman bursts into tears. The entire room murmurs, bodies shuffling as someone passes a box of tissues up the rows into the back.
I’m not sure what else to say, but people begin to rise and gather in small groups, and after a few minutes of talking and plotting plans of immediate action with fellow professors and lab directors, Toby reaches my side, closely followed by Abby.
He pulls me aside. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I answer honestly, shaking my head. “The dean was supposed to be here. This is the last straw. I can’t continue to allow him to ignore his own department. I should have done something to oust him early.” I tuck my hands into my pockets and watch the crowd begin to file out of the lecture hall. It’s a basic room, open to all departments, small and seldom used, but it’s one of the only public spaces open right now on campus, other than the cafeteria, which is swarmed by warriors as it stands. “I’m going to talk to him if I can find him.”
“He’s definitely hiding with his tail between his legs. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out that he left campus altogether to take one of his lengthy vacations,” Toby murmurs, but I catch Abby’s eyes. She’s staring at me so intently, like she’s seeing me for the first time, which is an odd feeling.
I nearly ask if there’s something I can help her with, but she leans in, grabbing my wrist. “Have you seen Skye today?”
“I have. We spoke in my office an hour ago.”
“She hasn’t returned my calls.”
I glance at Toby, who shrugs, but I’m more concerned about the fact that Abby, who loathes me, is now touching me, clutching my arm like I’m an anchor. “She’s very upset.”
“This entire situation is upsetting,” Toby says to calm his mate’s nerves.
But I cut in, “She’s upset with me. We argued.”
Toby and Abby look at me, puzzled, and Abby’s hand drops from my wrist. “What? What do you mean you argued?”
Toby glances at Abby before tilting his head toward the exit. “Let’s talk for a minute, yeah?”
Abby tries to follow, but he stops her, angling her away from the door with a quiet promise that he’ll fill her in later, and I know I’m in for a conversation about feelings, emotions, and relationships I’ve never had to have.
Abby scoffs, but the door to the lecture hall shuts in front of her. Toby and I weave down a snug hallway, stopping for a moment to talk to colleagues and answer questions about our dean making it clear he has no interest in the welfare of his department, and eventually reach the center of campus, where the skybridges stretch in a six-point star off the library.
A group of warriors catches us, but we show our badges and are allowed entrance to the hallway leading to The Pillars.
Toby doesn’t say a word until we reach the entrance, then he stops me, tugging me to the side before I have a chance to swipe my badge.
“What’s going on with you and Skye? Seriously, man.”
“Out of all the things we need to discuss, this is what you’ve settled on as the top priority?”
“Abby is up my ass about it,” he admits, leaning his shoulder against the wall while eyeing a group of professors from another department as they walk toward the entrance to the gated neighborhood and scan their badges. He waits until they’re safely out of earshot and asks, “Are you guys dating?”
“No.”
“Is that where you’re headed?”
“I don’t think that’s your business–”
“Goddess, Alex, I can’t do this with you anymore. You’re a freaking robot when it comes to your emotions, and yeah, that makes some sense given that you’re a scientist, but still. You can like her. You can want to be with her, to spend time with her, without having to be so far up your own ass that you miss your shot.”
I blink, and he grunts a laugh.
“You know what Abby said to Skye? The same fucking thing. You’re so similar–you and her. Everything has to have a mathematical solution tagged to the end of it for either of you to give it your time. I know you like her. I see it in your eyes. They light up whenever her name is mentioned.”
“She’s technically a princess, for one,” I cut in, crossing my arms over my chest.
“That doesn’t matter, dude. Come on. Just admit it. You like her. Ask her on a date–”
“We’re past that. It–it didn’t even come to that. This is more complicated than I can explain.”
“Then what the fuck is going on? Because you’re both being weird.”
I grab him by the arm, scan my badge, and yank him into the hallway right as the doors open. He shrugs out of my hold and follows as I stalk down the hallway, which angles to the left in a half-moon shape.
“Alex!”
“I need to talk to you privately. No one can overhear.”
“I don’t get what this has to do with what I’m trying to clear up for you.”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Clear things up.” I stop and whirl on him.
He raises his hands in surrender. “Look, I get that the past day has been hell. Trust me, we’re all in pieces over losing Laney. Okay? I’m just trying to support you here. You don’t date. I’ve never once seen you with another woman, another partner–anyone. No one.”
“It’s not about that.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Can I trust you to keep a secret?”
“What kind of question is that, Alex? I thought we were friends!” He gives me a slightly shocked but overwhelmingly incredulous look. “In fact, I think I might be the only person who actually knows you.”
“You don’t know me like you think you do.” My voice hangs low between us, rough around the edges.
Toby catches the glint of unease in my voice, his expression twisting into confusion and concern. “What do you mean?”
This is it, isn’t it? I start coming clean? Give myself a little bit more room to be what I am, freeing up space to allow Skye and all her questions and assumptions to fill that space instead? It’s too much pressure for her to be the only one who knows. Based on the conversation we had only a few hours ago, I know that she didn’t come to my office thinking I’d killed my own student, though.
She was afraid for me. She was worried about my secret getting out–and carrying that burden on her shoulders alone. There’s nothing I can say to her that’ll ever change her mind, that’s clear.
But if Toby knows, maybe that will soften the situation enough for me to get through to her. Plus, Toby is going to come in handy if, or more likely, when this other vampire shows his or her face.
“I’m not a shifter,” I tell him, and he rolls his eyes.
“I know. We’ve been friends for a decade.”
“I’m not a wizard, either.”
Toby narrows his eyes in confusion. “Wh–”
I lick my lips and glance around, thankful we’re alone. “Just come into my condo real quick. We need to talk.”
“Is everything okay, Alex?” His gaze cuts from mine to look over my shoulder. He straightens, pulling closer to the wall, and I turn my head as Skye walks down the hallway and stops at her front door. Her phone buzzes, and she lifts it to her ear while she fumbles with the door code.
“Dad, I know what you’re going to ask, but I’m fine, really. Warriors from–” She cuts herself off abruptly, her face going so white it looks like she’s about to faint.
I turn toward her, and her eyes meet mine across the distance between us. “Skye? Hey, what’s wrong?” I shout, my voice pinging from door to door as it travels down the hallway in her direction.
Her phone drops from her hand, and she sucks in a breath, her hand plastered to her chest like it’s hard to breathe.
“Shit, Skye?” Toby says sharply, but I’m already running, watching her suck in another breath, then another, growing paler and paler by the second, but then I notice the glow on her wrist.
I grab Toby by the shirt and yank him back just as her eyes light from within, and a gentle gust of pure energy erupts right in front of us, tinged with violet mist flaked with stardust.
“What the fuck?” Toby exclaims, stepping into the place where Skye just stood, but now it’s only empty, metallic-tasting air.
I crouch and pick up her phone.