Cold Blood (8 page)

Alex winced a little at the word Werewolf, as I expected he would. Then he planted his feet and his eyes hardened. “Fine,” he said. “You’re right. You’re a dirty blood. But you fight like a human.”

With a hiss, I launched myself at him. When I landed on him, we went down, and I had the satisfaction of hearing the breath whoosh out of him as his back thudded against the dirt. Before I could do anything more, his fist came up and landed hard against my rib cage. I felt my body curl in on itself, but I resisted the urge to roll off. Instead, I let myself go limp, becoming dead weight against him, pinning him down. He was wriggling and writhing under me, and I knew that any second, he’d land a second rib punch and be out from under me. I knew I had to keep him there, because if I ended up on the bottom, I was dead meat.

So, I resorted to fighting dirty – again.

I found a bare patch of skin where his neck and shoulder met, and I bit down. There was a yell and then a grunt in my ear, and then his hands came up to pull me off. When they did, I cocked my fists back, and brought both of them into the side of his stomach as hard as I could. They landed right where I wanted them to; in that small unprotected space of flesh between his ribs and his hips. I felt his body jerk under me and I pulled my teeth away from the flesh I’d torn underneath his collarbone.

I caught a glimpse of blood trickling out of the wound and then his hands were pinning mine out of the way and a knee came up, driving into my ribs where the first hit had landed. The already bruising skin was too sensitive and I jerked sideways.

I could feel myself falling off and Alex’s hands pushing me, but I knew if I lost the advantage, it was over. I grabbed his shirt and curled my fingers against the fabric and then jerked hard to the side. For a second, I felt only my body falling away from his, but just before my back hit the dirt, I felt his body give and pull towards me, landing with a thump on top of mine. I wrapped my legs around his, pinning his feet, and then tried doing the same with his hands, but he was already wriggling against it. The movement of our bodies, trying to writhe free of the other must have been too much because, then, we were rolling.

I thought we’d only roll a few times and then stop again, but after the first couple of disorienting turns, I realized we were picking up speed. We must’ve been closer to the edge of the hill than I thought because it felt steep underneath my overturning limbs. The ground was turning over and over beneath me at a dizzying rate, with no sign of slowing.

My legs were still wrapped around Alex’s, pinning him against me. If I let go, I’d be able to roll free of him, and stop myself, but that felt too much like losing. I couldn’t lose.

Instead, I clamped tighter to his legs and, ignoring the bumps and jerks caused by our bodies tumbling over each other, brought my fist out and then into his ribs. He grunted; it sounded like it was more out of frustration than pain. He stopped trying to break free and started fighting back. After that, it was all knees and fists and teeth. I think I even felt my hair being pulled once or twice.

We finally rolled to a stop, and it took me a minute to notice, I was so busy protecting my face from Alex’s fists. What eventually got my attention was the clapping–and the whistles.

Chapter Eight

I groaned. “No way.”

Victoria shrieked and threw Levi off of her. He rolled to the side, a cocky half-grin on his face as he took in the situation. He obviously didn’t mind getting caught. Knowing that grossed me out even more.

“
Get out!” Victoria yelled and looked wildly around the room. I think she might have been looking for something to throw.

Despite my urge to gag and run away, I planted my feet and crossed my arms. “No,” I said. “This is apparently my room, too. I’m not leaving, so wrap it up.”

“
What? That’s your crap in the corner?” Victoria gestured to my bags. “What the…?” She rubbed her temples. “This is not happening.”

Someone came up behind me in the open doorway and stopped short of running me over. “Oh, wow.”

I turned at the sound of Cambria’s voice and caught her grinning at the scene in front of us.

“
Shut up, Cambria,” Victoria snapped.

Cambria grinned wider.

I turned back to Victoria and waited. She looked down at Levi, who was still lying where she’d thrown him, on the edge of the bed propped up on his elbow. He smiled up at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him and pointed.

“
Get out,” she said.

Levi sat up, still smiling. “Aw, come on Vic. It’s a party now.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“
Get. Out.” She continued to glare at him, and in that moment, I didn’t doubt Victoria could easily take him out in a fight.

Levi finally slid off the bed and planted a loud kiss on her cheek. Victoria didn’t move or react; just waited for him to leave.

“
I’ll call you later,” he said.

Maybe he was used to her ignoring him because he didn’t seem bothered at all by her lack of reaction. He turned and walked towards the door, which Cambria and I still blocked. I felt Cambria move over, to allow him to pass, but looking at the challenge in Victoria’s expression, I couldn’t allow myself to move aside. So I kept my feet planted and made him move around me to get by.

His body brushed against mine, a lot more than was needed for him to fit through the gap, and he stopped next to me, leaning down to speak into my ear. “We’ll all party next time.”

His breath tickled my ear, but I didn’t look away from Victoria. Finally, I felt him leave. Cambria came around to stand beside me, and I felt her eyes on me.

“
Well, I can see you two have a lot to discuss. So, I’ll leave you to it,” Cambria said, heading for the door.

“
No. Wait,” I said. “I need a shower. Can you show me where it is?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I’ll get my stuff.” I broke eye contact with Victoria and moved past her. I grabbed the bag that I knew held a couple of changes of clothes and my shower stuff and threw it on what was now my bed and zipped it open. I rummaged around until I found what I needed. No one spoke while I did all of that. I could still feel Victoria’s eyes boring into my back.

I gathered everything I needed and tucked the pile of clothes under my arm, trying not to let it rub on the dirt that still covered my clothes. I ignored Victoria and looked at Cambria.

“
Ready,” I said.

“
Let’s go.”

I followed her out and closed the door behind me with a harsh thud.

“
Oh, wow,” Cambria said when we were alone in the hall.

“
I know.”

She shook her head, tossing her hair in and out of her eyes. “I don’t know where to start. The fact that your roommate is Satan’s spawn, or that you look like you got mauled by a tree-hugging hippie.”

“
Not a hippie. Alex.”

Cambria shot me a look, eyebrows raised. “Did you two train in a mud bath? Because that actually sounds kind of hot.”

I sighed. She’d hear about it soon enough. “No. Actually, I sort of attacked him.”

She snorted a laugh as we passed through the door at the end of the hall. “Explain.”

We were in what resembled a large gym locker now. Bathroom stalls lined one wall, with a line of sinks to match. A dividing wall separated that from the changing areas where I could see curtained stalls with benches, and the metal glint of shower heads tucked further inside the stalls.

I walked that way. The air felt moist and warm, and I followed the sound of running water to the showers. I chose one at the end, farthest away from the already running shower near the front.

I still hadn’t answered Cambria’s question, but she wasn’t deterred. She followed me into the changing stall and sat down on the bench. “Go ahead.” She gestured to the attached shower stall I was already standing in. “Talk and shower.”

I shook my head and gave into her demands. While I showered, I filled her in on my wreck of a training session.

“
He told me to attack him, so I did,” I said.

“
Holy hotness, you touched his body, didn’t you?”

I laughed as I rubbed shampoo through my grimy hair. I was already glad for Cambria’s friendship. It helped lighten the mood after the most stressful day I could remember. The feeling of finally being clean helped, too.

“
Yes, I guess I touched his body. If kicking him in the groin counts.”

Cambria gasped. “You didn’t.”

“
It was the only way to win. He had me pinned.”

“
Oh, wow. That was low, Tara.” Cambria laughed. “So how did you get dirty? Did he literally drag you through the mud after that?”

“
No. He said he understood why I did it, to win the fight. But then… he said some things, about Werewolves.” I could feel my muscles tensing at the memory of the conversation.

“
Like what?” Cambria asked. She no longer sounded amused.

I repeated the conversation that had led up to me tackling him.

“
That sucks,” Cambria said when I was done. “I mean, it’s basically what we’re all taught, though.”

“
That doesn’t make it right.”

Cambria didn’t respond, and I finished my shower in silence. When I pulled the curtain open and stepped back into the changing area, Cambria was gone. I pulled on fresh jeans and an old tee shirt with a picture of roller-skating penguins and stepped out. Cambria was at the sink waiting for me.

“
Are you pissed at me, now?” I asked.

Cambria shook her head. “Of course not, but you have to understand something, Tara. While most Hunters are taught to hate Werewolves from birth, Alex has his own reasons for doing things. He’s had it rough, and it’s because of Werewolves. He’s probably a little harder than the rest of us because of it.”

“
What happened?”

“
The way I hear it, his dad was an elite member of a strike group that worked directly for the Committee. He made a lot of enemies. One day, a Werewolf pack tracked him back to his house. They waited until Alex’s dad left and went in and killed Alex’s mother. They made Alex watch and held him hostage, and when his dad was coming home, they bit Alex. Just enough to make it hurt like hell until his dad found him and got him to a healer. By the time his dad was able to go out and look for the pack, they were gone. Alex didn’t know who they were, and they were never identified. After that, his dad quit the strike team and started drinking really bad.”

“
Geez. That sucks,” I said. “How old was Alex?”

“
Like, twelve, I think? I don’t know. Most of it is passed around like gossip since he won’t talk about it to anyone.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I picked up a comb and ran it through my wet hair, staring at my reflection without really seeing it.

“
I’m not saying you should feel sorry for him,” said Cambria. “But I thought you should know he’s not a complete asshole. Well, not without reason, anyway.” She grinned, and just like that, I felt the mood lighten. “So, you never finished telling me. What happened after he talked all that crap to you?”

“
I tackled him,” I said, cringing. Despite Cambria telling me not to, I couldn’t help but feel bad after everything she’d told me. “And then we rolled down the hill, fighting.”

Cambria grinned. “Yeah, I know. I heard. I just wanted to hear it from you.”

“
Oh, crap. Already?”

“
It’s already everywhere. Sorry. According to the story, you and Alex were caught making out at the edge of the woods by Griffin Hall.”

My eyes widened. “What? Crap. That is not what happened!”

“
Obviously. But it sounds way better than you attacking your trainer in a rage and rolling down a hill.”

“
I did more damage than that,” I said, knowing I sounded pathetically defensive. “He was just as messed up as me at the bottom. Worse, actually. I bit him.”

“
You… bit him?” Cambria’s eyes were wide with surprise and then her expression changed and she burst out laughing.

“
It’s not funny. He was bleeding,” I said, still feeling guilty.

Cambria was shaking and gripping the sink for support. A girl at the other end of the stalls peeked out and scurried towards the door, sending us odd looks. Cambria finally got a hold of herself by sucking in deep breaths that sounded like hyperventilating.

“
So, look,” she began. “You probably shouldn’t tell people about the whole biting thing if you want them to believe it was a raging fight instead of a quickie in the grass.” She muffled a giggle again. “Especially with the whole ‘dog’ persona you’ve got going on.”

I shot Cambria a look. “Whatever,” I muttered.

Cambria snorted another laugh, and I ignored her and finished combing my hair. I twisted it up behind me to get it out of the way and a grumbling noise echoed out around me.

“
What was that?” Cambria asked.

“
My stomach. I’m starved. Can we eat now?”

“
Sure thing.”

We left the bathroom, and I slowed when we got close to my door. I really didn’t want to go back in there.

“
Can I put my stuff in your room ‘til we get back?” I asked.

“
No prob.”

She stopped in front of a door only a few up from mine. It was black with glow in the dark stars stuck on it and a brassy sign with ‘Number Eleven’ engraved on the front. The inside smelled like musky incense and expensive perfume. One bed was covered in clothes and magazines and the other was made up neatly like it hadn’t been used recently.

“
I bet your roommate doesn’t suck,” I said, dropping my bag onto the messy bed. I didn’t have to ask to know that one was Cambria’s.

“
No, she’s never here. I like that about her.”

We headed for the stairs that would take us back up to ground level. On our way out, we passed by the office door I’d seen earlier, and I slowed.

“
Whose room is this?” I asked, trying to see inside around the Do Not Disturb sign that still covered the window.

“
Un-uh. Come on.” Cambria grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards the stairs. “That’s Ms. Fincham’s room. She’s what you would call a dorm mother.” Cambria snorted. “Except crazier.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Cambria Hebert?” a shrill voice called out from behind us. “Is that you? Is that my new student you’ve got with you?”

Cambria cringed and stopped. “Come on. Get it over with,” she whispered.

We turned, and I saw a willowy woman with frizzy brown hair standing near the office doorway. She had on a flower print robe over dingy sweatpants and bunny slippers on her feet.

“
Hey, Ms. Fincham,” Cambria said.

“
Hey, yourself. Is this my new girl?” Ms. Fincham squinted at me even though I was standing right in front of her. She smelled like bread dough and hand sanitizer.

“
Her name’s Tara Godfrey, Ms. Fincham.”

“
Huh. Nice to meet you. Be sure you follow my rules,” she said, frowning at me.

“
What are the rules?” I asked.

Ms. Fincham thrust a piece of paper at me. “These are the rules. Sign them and drop them into the slot in my doorway after dinner.”

Somewhere inside the office, a timer dinged. Ms. Fincham whirled and disappeared inside, slamming the door behind her.

“
That was interesting,” I said.

“
Actually, that was pretty calm,” said Cambria. “Baking does that, even though you couldn’t pay me to eat whatever it is she’s making. Come on.”

We went through the line and sat at a small table in the corner, tucked out of the way of the group by the window. Victoria wasn’t there, but the brunette I’d seen this morning was; the one who had more mascara than eyelashes. And she was clearly holding court in Victoria’s absence. Her smile was wide enough – and fake enough – to swallow whole some of the jocks she was trying to charm, and it curved into something edgy and mean when she spotted us. I held her gaze for as long as she stared back at me and even a few seconds after, just to prove a point. I wasn’t sure what that point was, but it made me feel slightly more confident.

“
Who’s the brunette at Victoria’s table?” I asked Cambria.

Cambria glanced behind her and then twisted her lip into a snarl. “Demi Johanssen. Second in command, wants to be first. She follows Victoria around like a slave, waiting for the moment Victoria is gone long enough so she can steal the spotlight for a little while.”