Tainted Blood (33 page)

Why would Felix speak of my strength, my pain, and of being proud of me? I plopped down onto the couch beside a lightly snoring Carter and thought hard. It was like he wanted me to know something that he couldn’t actually tell me. Then I realized that he’d probably just read my mind and picked up on how disappointed I’d been with myself. I was too tired to put more thought into it so I dropped it, for now, and called Kiera.

It was late and she answered with a groggy voice. I first told her not to panic, and at that, she immediately began asking frantic questions about Carter. I shushed her, telling her that I wouldn’t tell her anything if she didn’t shut up and listen. That quieted her down and I proceeded to tell her a milder version of what had happened, ending with Carter protecting me like a superhero. She wanted to speak to him but the pain killers had knocked him out cold and I gave up trying to wake him.

After I got off the phone with Kiera, I tried Oliver. He didn’t answer and I didn’t bother leaving him a message. I was too tired to care at that moment. I just didn’t have it in me. I rested my head on the arm of the couch and soon fell asleep next to my brave and loopy friend.

Chapter
18 -
The Strange Case of Felix and Ambe
r

I still hadn’t seen Oliver since he’d left me standing outside Professor Morgan’s biology class and hadn’t heard from him since shortly after that. I had no clue if he even knew that Carter and I had been attacked. It was Thursday and I had a full day ahead of me. I had morning classes, night class, Felix wanted me to meet him for lunch—probably to spew more riddles—and I’d agreed that Oliver and I would join up with Kiera, Carter, and Zoey that evening for the eighteen-and-over-night at Lunatic Stallion. Zoey wanted to introduce us to her new man.

Carter’s initial injection of pain killers had worn off by morning and he woke up moaning about the ache in his arm and the pain in his head. The pills Felix had given him didn’t have the same effect as the shot, and Carter was able to function on a somewhat normal level throughout the day.

Classes were fine. Boring, really, just lots of studying for upcoming midterms. Oliver never showed for any of our classes that day and only responded with “K” when I reminded him of our scheduled outing with friends.

Felix picked me up for lunch in the staff parking lot of the university and I have to say, it was a trek from my afternoon class. I climbed into the SUV and Felix pulled away once my seatbelt was fastened.

“So, what’s for lunch?” I asked and a smile picked at his lips. He reached behind my seat and produced a greasy, brown sack which he handed to me. I peeked inside and was delighted to see burgers, fries, chicken strips, and onion rings.

“Yum!” It had been days since I’d really eaten, and having skipped breakfast once again, I was starving. Two large Styrofoam cups sat in the drink holders of the console. “Milkshakes?” I asked hopefully.

“Of course,” he responded with a dazzling smile.

“Awesome!” I plucked a hot fry from the bag and popped it into my mouth, immediately regretting it. I waved at my mouth in the hopes of cooling my fry as I chewed the burning potato. Felix handed me a shake and I happily sucked it down, enjoying the cooling of my fry burns. “Why are we eating in the car?” I asked as Felix parked his vehicle in a secluded, shaded section of a parking lot near a playground.

He took the bag from me and began divvying out the food. “I’ve reassessed my concerns about Oliver.”

Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry.

He set his sunglasses on the dash and eyed me. “Delaney, you need to eat. It won’t do any of us any good if you wither away.”

I smirked at him and ate another fry. Thankfully they’d cooled a bit. “What made you reassess the Oliver thing?”

He waited until he’d finished his bite of cheeseburger before he answered and I appreciated that. Carter had a bad habit of talking around the food in his mouth and it wasn’t a quality I found endearing. “He’s been late for duty several times now. Tardiness is a trait not commonly found in Oliver.”

I nodded in agreement. Oliver was always very punctual. Normally. After another bite of his burger and a sip from his shake, he continued, “I had to track him down this morning when he didn’t show.”

My eyes shifted to his. “Where was he?” I had a feeling I didn’t want to know the answer, and I could see by the look on Felix’s face he didn’t want to give me the answer. “Where was he?” I asked a little firmer.

He exhaled loudly. “He was asleep in his car.” Okay, that wasn’t so bad. “Outside the Weslin house,” he finished and I thought what little I’d eaten of my lunch was going to come back up.

My mind reeled with questions, and my voice cracked as I asked Felix what Oliver had been doing outside Avery’s parents’ house.

“I do not know, Delaney. Oliver did not have a reason for being there and when I questioned him, he well—we got into an altercation.”

“What? Why?”

“Oliver questioned my intentions with you.”

“Excuse me?”

“It would seem that Oliver’s imagination has gotten the better of him. He accused me of having feelings of affection for you.” I just stared at Felix. “I would like to get the record straight as I did with Oliver this morning, I do not care about you in that way, Delaney.” His sky blue eyes on mine and completely serious. “I think of you as my child, you are the daughter I never had, the daughter I will likely never have. I feel the same way about Carter. I have taken him in as my own, he is my kin. As are you, but not by direct blood, like Carter.” I sucked the chocolate goodness through my straw as he proceeded, “Understand, Delaney?”

I nodded. I fully understood Felix’s portion and I told him that. I also told him that he felt like a father figure to me just as Carter felt like the brother I’d never had. What I didn’t understand was why Oliver would make such accusations against Felix.

“That is what I would like to discover,” Felix told me. “I need you to tell me all of your concerns with Oliver. Tell me what has troubled you and made you think that there is something wrong with him.”

And so I did. I told him about Oliver’s uneven pupils, all the sleeping, his off behavior, and anything else I could think of that just wasn’t normal Oliver behavior. I told him about Oliver yelling at me for not making the bed and for leaving clothes on the floor. “He was upset because he couldn’t find his sweatshirt.”

“Did he find it?”

“It was hanging in the closet, where it always is, and when he left he had it on inside out.”

“Ah, yes, I remember that day. One of the guards pointed it out to him. He was very testy in response and I had to have a talk with him…” he trailed off and stared at the empty playground for a moment.

I wanted to ask Felix if any of Oliver’s behavior was due to us not bonding like Oliver had said, but I didn’t feel comfortable asking Felix about sex. Not at all. But I didn’t have to because in the next moment he answered me.

His eyes met mine for a moment and then he began digging in the bag for loose fries. “Delaney, we need to work on your thought projection.”

“My what?”

His eyes met mine again and he actually looked a little uncomfortable. “Sometimes when you think of something, especially questions, you project them. I just heard what you were thinking because you wanted to ask me.” I felt my cheeks burn and I stared down at my milkshake. “To answer your question, yes, at first I did believe that was the cause and I still think that it contributes to what is going on, some, but it is not the main reason for Oliver’s behavior.”

With burning cheeks, I returned my attention to Felix. “Then what is the reason?”

“Would you believe witchcraft?” I raised an eyebrow in response. “It is the only thing that makes any sense at this point.” He trailed off thoughtfully again and then added, “I will talk to Ambrose this evening and see if she has a theory.” He turned his attention to me once more. “I am the guest speaker in your class tonight. I will bring Oliver along as another guest and have Ambrose assess him without his knowledge.”

And I would be assessing Felix and Amber. Seeing them in the same room for the first time, with all of this new knowledge, I was looking forward to that. Plus, it might help distract me from my Oliver worries.

Felix slipped his glasses back into place and said, “Well, I’d better get you back to school.” He put the car into gear and as he drove away he said, “By the way, I just heard that.”

Dammit!

“I heard that, too,” he said with a grin.

I put my head back and groaned.

He chuckled a deep, throaty chuckle.

Kiera came over after classes. She planned to finish packing while Carter and I were in our night class. She fussed over Carter, making him dinner and waiting on him hand and foot as he parked his butt on the couch. He loved it. But her constant “Poor baby,” was enough to sicken me.

“You know his arm’s not actually broken, right?” I told her playfully as she waited on him.

“Laney, you should be more considerate. He got hurt protecting you.” I rolled my eyes and Carter stuck his tongue out at me behind her back, and I had the urge to yell, “Mom! Carter’s being mean.” But I didn’t; I did chuckle to myself, though.

I was worried about Oliver but looking forward to Felix being our guest speaker, and especially looking forward to seeing how he and Professor Amber acted around each other. I think the excitement of that was keeping me from freaking out over Oliver.

We headed to class, leaving Kiera to her packing in our old apartment and reminded myself again that I really needed to pack.

Once we were seated, and after Professor Morgan sternly went over the proper ways to treat our guest speakers, he introduced Felix and Oliver. Felix sat atop Professor Morgan’s desk and I could tell that just irked Morgan.
Amber sat beside Mr. Morgan who was already sitting against the wall closest to the door, and Oliver took
a seat opposite them.

My desk was just about smack-dab in the center of student desks, and Oliver didn’t even seem to notice me. He’d taken a seat atop one of the empty desks that had been pushed to the side of the room. He sat there the entire lecture, only responding when Felix directed a specific question at him. Other than that, he sat on that desk swinging his long legs and focusing on his phone. I caught a glimpse of the frustration and concern Felix was feeling toward him.

I also caught Felix and Amber sharing little glances and wondered if they were communicating telepathically. Felix gave me a quick nod
immediately
after I’d had the thought. I realized I had projected my question to him, again. I huffed in irritation and sat back in my seat.

How was I supposed to control it if he didn’t tell me how? A moment later Felix’s voice boomed in my head, “Later.” I saw him hide a smirk as I glared at him. I decided I was going to stop thinking and just listen to Felix, and again I heard his voice in my head, “Good idea.” He wasn’t able to hide his smile that time and Carter seemed to catch on that we were having some sort of telepathic communication.

“What’s he finding so funny?” Carter leaned close and asked me. Professor Morgan shushed him and gave us a look like he was considering separating us, again. We focused our attention back on Felix and stayed silent.

I didn’t learn anything new from Felix’s lecture till toward the end. At first he told of the different types of vampires: the purebloods, half-bloods, and the mixed-bloods. He did, however, neglect to tell us that half-bloods were called dhampirs. His eyes settled on me for a moment when I thought about it, but he didn’t say anything to me.

He told us about vampire strengths and some of their weaknesses; like the types of things that affect the different types of vamps. I imagined that some of the more deadly secrets were kept to themselves for security purposes and he nodded in response to me again. I tried to clear my head and just listen, once more.

Felix went on to explain vampire bonding and reproduction, and the dangers involved in both, and not once did Oliver look up at me. He had to have known I was in the room; how could he not know?

“Your brain never stops, does it?” I heard Felix’s voice say in my head and it took everything in me not to flip him off.

Instead I responded by thinking, “No one asked you to listen.”

“You’re kind of loud, it’s hard not to.” I saw him hold back a smirk and that signature Felix dimple appeared.

Felix then went on to explain the Vampire Wars to the class but not with the emotion he’d had when he’d explained it to me.
The only information
new to me was the information Felix gave us on a group of vampires who search for newly turned mixed-bloods, weeding out rogues and such. The group was called Deathwatch.

“The Deathwatch found my friend and colleague Oliver here.” Felix gestured toward Oliver. Oliver reluctantly looked up from his phone, gave the class a nod, and then returned his attention back to the phone in his hand.

Carter and I exchanged a concerned look and then focused our attention back to the front of the class where we found Felix and Amber sharing the same look. Mr. Morgan was adjusting his bowtie.

Once Felix’s lecture was finished, Professor Morgan stood, as did Felix who towered over the average-sized, dark haired man, and the Professor thanked both Felix and Oliver. Then in a tone that could’ve been construed as mockery, he said, “As they say, history is written by the winners.”