Another set of waves rocked my body. The sense of drowning increased. As I closed my eyes, I felt as if I was in the ocean and something held me down. It kept me from getting to the surface. Then, in the break of the waves, I heard the same voice. It was weaker than before. "Roane. Tell him about my daughter."
"What? What daughter?" He had a daughter?
As sudden as it had come upon me, it was gone. I stood there, gasping, and blinked away tears as I felt the campus around me. The air was calm, too calm. There was no ocean. There was only the sidewalk, a few buildings, and green lawn all around me. Then I looked to the side and saw Irene watching me. The angel statue hadn't aged a day since I'd sat beside it. She gave me the same expression she had that day.
I flicked her off. She made me feel crazy and it wasn't any of her business.
When I got in my room, I had closed the door when a voice murmured behind me, "Would you like to tell me why my best friend has declared war against the very Family he has only declared his loyalty for the last five hundred years?"
My mouth fell open and I saw a vampire dressed in gym clothes. He had blonde hair that was cut short with tight curls. He had blue eyes that warned of depths and ominous promises and a lean build that professional athletes had. Something told me this guy wasn't a professional athlete.
"Who are you?" I shut my door with a bang. "Your element of surprise doesn't work with me. Nor do you scare me. If your best friend is Luke Roane, we both know he has no idea you're here because he wouldn't be okay with that. And the fact that I know that means that anything else you might try to scare out of me is useless."
He snapped his mouth shut and clenched his jaw. It was a very manly looking jaw, rigid, tight, but his blue eyes had taken on a lethal look.
Craig had instilled a loathing for all vampires in me. Some of them, like Roane, promised me they weren't all the same. This vampire was like Craig. He wanted to scare me. He wanted to make me quake in my pants. Hell no. I was not going back to that person.
I felt the room shake as my rage built.
He glanced around, but he still seemed nonplussed.
"Get out." My eyes snapped their own warning.
He watched me and studied me intently for a moment, and then something shif
ted in his eyes. "You're the reason why he's doing this. It's not because you're the Immortal, it's because he cares about you."
The room stopped shaking, but then I heard footsteps in the hallway. People were running. This guy didn't seem alarmed. He looked resigned.
"Who are you?" I clipped out and my eyes flashed. I knew he saw the Immortal's whites.
He scratched his forehead and shook his head. "You're not anything like her. I like that. That's okay with me." Then he held
out his hand. "I go by Gavin. I'm Lucas' best friend. How are you?"
I stared at his hand like it was an alien limb that he extended. I had no plans to touch it. Since he knew who I was and didn't seem to be bothered with it, I smiled. "Wanna have a drink?" We both knew I didn't mean a normal beverage.
He drew his hand back in a heartbeat. "Ah no. I enjoy living how I am. That was a good one. Good trick." He bent forward as if tipping his hat to me. "You're a sneaky one. That's good. You've gotta be sneaky in this life. You'll do just fine."
The room started to shake again. This guy was pissing me off. He treated me like I was some newbie. Then it stopped abruptly as I realized I was a newbie. Still, some respect was granted, especially if he knew who I was.
Then the door burst open and Brown panted, "I had a premonition. Sorry, I can't breathe." She bent over and took deep breaths. Once she had, she looked back up and smiled. "Why do you have a vampire in here?"
His eyes shifted again and he drew back. "You're a witch."
"Really?" I was dumbfounded. "You're scared of her?"
Brown hissed and then frowned at me. "Why shouldn't he be?"
Gavin withdrew to the window. "You won't hurt me whereas she could. Plus, I don't like witches."
"Only because you loved one once," Brown snorted and then clamped a hand over her mouth. "How did I know that? It must've been my powers."
All of this was annoying. I rolled my eyes and flicked a finger so the windows locked. I didn't want Gavin to escape so easily. Then I turned to her. "What was your premonition?"
"That you were drowning. But you look fine? Did you take a shower?"
"No."