The Purity of Blood: Volume I (7 page)

SARA

“So
tomorrow’s the big day!” Tabitha said with more than her usual
morning enthusiasm.
 
She practically
jumped to her feet at my approach.

“The hiking
trip, yes,” I replied after a pause.
 
It
took me a second to remember what she was talking about.
 
I’d been looking forward to this trip since
I’d arrived at NPU, but my studies had kept me so busy over the past few days
that I’d almost forgotten.

After signing in
and taking our seats, we talked about the trip and what to bring for our picnic
lunch on the trail.
 
The boys had left us
in charge of food while we left them in charge of navigation and
transportation.

While we debated
sandwich meats, in the back of my mind I was thinking about my encounter with
the Professor and the elusive Daniel.
 
Our private conference had been the last time I’d seen the Professor,
and his gracious behavior towards me still stood in stark unresolved contrast
to his usual behavior towards me in public.
 
Hard as I tried, I couldn’t reconcile his motivations even in the slightest.

When I heard the
side door open, I looked up to see Rodney enter alone.
 
While he took his usual place at the side
table, the class started to settle down expecting Professor Walker’s momentary
entry.
 
But he didn’t appear.
 
No one did for a few moments.
 
I opened my notebook to a fresh page and had leaned
down to pull my favorite pen out of my backpack when I heard Tabitha mumble
“Whoa!”

I looked up just
in time to see Daniel’s tall figure stride into the room and up to the
podium.
 
His steely blue eyes wearing a
serious, or maybe it was a stern expression.
 
If I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn he was in pain, like he had
a migraine or something.

“I’m Daniel
Simmons, Professor Walker’s teaching assistant.
 
Unfortunately the Professor has been called out of town and I’ll be
taking over his classes in the interim.”
 

There was a
slight murmuring from the students which abruptly halted when his steely gaze
scanned the room.

“I believe Professor Walker last left off at the beginning of
your study of Gothic Art in France.”

This was the same man I’d seen in
the hallway the day before last, the same cold eyes and sandy hair.
  
If I wasn’t so intimidated by him, I’d have
agreed with my friends and called him attractive.
 
But there was something of the hunter in him,
something that made me feel too much like prey to permit such wistful
feelings.
 
Especially for someone like
me.
 
It was the way he paced back and
forth at the front of the room, carefully eyeing the students before him.
 
It was as if he was instinctually picking out
the weakest in the herd.
 
Strangely
enough, I wasn’t even sure he was aware he was doing it.
 
I wrapped my arms around myself.
 
Just looking at his eyes caused an
involuntary shudder to go up and down my spine.
 

Was I one of the
girls who swooned at his looks, or was I one of the overwhelming minority that
thought he was kind of creepy?
 
I think I
was somewhere in between.
 
I don’t think
I’d classify him as creepy so much as insanely intense.
 
Maybe intense and full of some measure of
repressed aggression.
  
As I watched him
begin to pace the front of the room again I wondered what he was really like if
you got to know him.
 
When I found my
thoughts wondering what the possibilities of such and encounter might be, I
shook my head, mentally scolding myself for my foolishness.
 
Shaking it off, I went back to my note
taking, deciding it was probably best to try to just look at the slides, my
notebook and the pen in my hand for the rest of class.
   

As his lecture
wore on, he’d periodically pause, taking a deep breath then exhaling.
 
Don’t ask me why, but I thought it looked
like he was concentrating very hard on something, something other than Gothic
architecture in France.

About thirty
minutes later, I looked down at my empty page and realized that I had yet to
take a single note besides write the date and subject of the lecture at the top
of the page.
 
That was also when it
dawned on me that I had yet to be called on.
 

Would he call on me?
 

I experienced a
moment of terror and suddenly snapped back to reality only to hear “So, can
anyone tell me why gothic is called the
verticalism
of the interior space?”

All eyes nervously
flashed up to Daniel.
 
No one was used to
being called on in class, I alone held that honor.
 
Glancing around the hall, I could see the
frightened herd in their eyes.
 

Daniel slowly
scanned the room, searching for a victim.
 
Midway through his scan, his eyes suddenly fixed on mine.
 
Instantly, I was back in the hallway.
 
His glare lingered on me only moments but
long enough that others noticed.
 
Then
without warning he continued his sweep of the room only to say “You there, with
the red sweater.
 
Can you answer the question?”
his eyes feverishly locked on a petite blonde in the second to last row.

There was a
collective intake of breath as we all prayed she did.
 
Meekly she croaked out the correct answer and
we exhaled.
 
Sensing no blood in the
water, he moved on, continuing his lecture as if nothing had happened.
 

Two or three
other students were put on the spot before the end of class, but thankfully I
was not included in this group.
 
Then
before I realized it the lecture ended and we began to gather up our
books.
 

“Boy, that was
intense,” Tabitha mumbled.

I was glad I
wasn’t the only one who thought so.
 
I
picked up my bag and as I started towards the stairs, I stole a glance over my
shoulder down to the podium below.
 
Several female students were crowded around Daniel, waiting their turn
to ask questions.
 
Daniel, with a look of
annoyed disinterest, was answering the questions of the enamored girls with
thinly veiled impatience.
 
He was
attractive – they were attractive – yet he seemed wholly uninterested in them.
 
In that moment of my stolen glance over my
shoulder, I found myself wondering what he would find attractive in a woman
that he obviously didn’t find among the women at NPU.
 

As if sensing
how my eyes had sought him out, he looked up and our eyes met.
 
For a moment there he appeared as if he was
going to be sick, but quickly recovered himself a split second later.
 
It happened so fast, I’m not even sure his
bevy of admirers had even noticed.
 
Still
looking into my eyes, he answered another girls’ question.
 
When she touched his arm, he looked down at
her hand in disgust, revulsion really.
 
Maybe he
was
gay.

His stare on me
broken, I quickly looked away and escaped up the stairs.

“Did Daniel just
check you out?” Tabitha asked with an incredulous tone as she followed me up
the stairs.
 
I didn’t turn to see her
face, but could imagine how it must have contorted at the ridiculousness of
such a question.

“I seriously
doubt it,” I replied with a heavy dose of sarcasm in my voice.
 
I think she must have thought she’d hurt my
feelings and quickly started to back-pedal.

“Not that he
shouldn’t, you know.
 
You’re a very
pretty girl, beautiful really.
 
I’d kill
for your hair and you have such a fair complexion.”
 
She would have gone on if I hadn’t cut her
off.

“Thanks,” I said
as we made our way up the stairs getting lost in the sea of exiting
students.
 
“But don’t worry about
it.
 
I only meant that I ran into him the
other day and got the distinct impression he didn’t really like me very
much.”
 

The
understatement of the century – I’d gotten the impression he’d have rather seen
me dead than staring back into those deep blue eyes.
 
As evil an expression as I remembered, I did
remember they were a deep sky blue.
 
They’d sat under a furrowed brow that created a delicate arch above his
eye, taut as it was with that sinister expression.
 

As we reached the top of the stairs, I stole a last look over
my shoulder just in time to see him turn to leave.
 
I was probably just being paranoid, but I could
have sworn he’d been looking at me as I turned.
 
I really had to get a grip.
 
I
mean, who was I anyway?
 
I just wasn’t
that important to matter to someone like him.
  
Seriously, why would he care?

I kept telling myself this all
morning and eventually it started to sink in.
 
It was easy enough to convince myself of my insignificance in his
world.
 
Why should he be any different
than every other guy I’d ever met?
 
And
let’s be honest, I’d never actually even met Daniel.

As was my normal
routine at the end of day, I went back to my room and relaxed for a while as I
skimmed through my notes from that day’s classes.
 
As I did, I made a mental list of what needed
to be done after dinner to prep for tomorrow.
 
Two chapters to review for Psych, make sure I had enough clean laundry
for the weekend, make a shopping list for a trip into town.
      

When it was
about time for dinner, I pulled on my jacket and headed cross campus towards
the dining hall.
 
The sun had just dipped
below the horizon causing the sky to fill with hues of pinks, oranges and purples
that cast a golden glow on everything.
 
A
pair of mocking birds were happily singing together in a tree as I passed, and
from across the quad I could hear the laughter of a group of students.
 
It seemed the perfect ending to a most
imperfect day.
 

As I drifted
through the cafeteria line, I picked up some inoffensive looking chicken and a
salad for dinner.
 
As soon as I paid, I
looked up to see Ryan waving enthusiastically from our usual corner of the
dining hall.
 
Relieved for some reason, I
smiled and strode towards him with my tray.
 
When I got to the table, he stood and gestured to the seat across from
him, but I elected to sit beside him so I could look out into the room.
 
Funny how most people never seem to catch on
to that quirk of mine.
 
He looked pleased
that I had chosen my seat, and as I sat down I hoped I wasn’t giving him an
impression that carried more weight that it should.
 

He smiled and
asked how my day had been.
 
I answered
fine and purposefully omitted my mornings imagined encounter with Daniel.
 
Hard as I tried, I still couldn’t get his
eyes out of my head.
 
I smiled back and
tried to keep up pleasant conversation the way normal people seemed to do.
 
I half listened as he told me about trying
out for the soccer team and how he was hopeful he’d make the team this
year.
 
I patted his arm and assured him
that I was sure he would, then quickly removed my hand.
 
Sitting up straight, he smiled back at me,
seemingly grateful for my confidence.
 

Ryan was a nice
guy and very good looking, but I just didn’t feel any spark with him.
 
It wasn’t exactly a brotherly feeling I got
either, but just like an old comfortable friend who just happens to be sort of
hot.
 

Seriously, what is wrong with me!
 

Luckily I didn’t
have time to dwell on my inadequacies long as Mike and Tabitha arrived to join
us.
 
Over the course of the meal, we
started to pin down our exact plans for the next day’s hike.
  
Meet at seven in the parking lot then drive
up to the preserve together.
 
I was
happier than I’d been all day at the prospect of getting away from campus for a
few hours.
 
I had a feeling the change of
scenery would help shake loose the bluer than blue eyes I kept seeing in my
sleep.

“Isn’t that
Darcy’s gay boyfriend over there?” Ryan said with a nod of his head towards the
far corner of the room.
 
“I swear he’s
been watching us for a few minutes now.”

The three of us
turned in unison to see Daniel sitting alone at a table about half way across
the room.
 
He was taking a sip from a mug
as he read some papers on the table.
 
If
he’d been watching us, you couldn’t tell now.