“Who is he, Emily?” I leaned closer and hoped he couldn’t hear us. There were two glass walls between us and the computer lab always buzzed with conversations and printing papers. If he tuned in, he could hear us, but for once I hoped that I wasn’t a speck on this guy’s radar. Correction—make that this vampire’s radar.
“He’s in my social work class.”
“Intro?”
“Yeah. He’s a junior and he’s fulfilling a requirement.” She sounded like she’d practiced that. Something felt off with her. She liked to share her opinions on people, but she didn’t with this guy.
“You like him.” I couldn’t fault her. Vamps had seductive appeal down to perfection. Emily was a girl. Even she would fall under their power whether they intended it or not. The only way you could fight against their pull is if you knew what they were.
“I do not!” Emily cried out. She started to gather her books back up, but I laid a hand on them.
“It’s okay. He’s dreamy. I understand.” I glanced back over, but sighed in disgust.
He just sat there at the computer. His hands didn’t move on the keyboard. “Who is he?” I asked again, still watching the back of his head.
He sat rigidly.
“Luke Roane,” Emily sighed. She’d be mortified at how dreamy it sounded.
“Roane?” I arched my eyebrows.
What kind of name was that? I’d heard of a Roane back home, but the name was only spoken about as a legend. Most of the vamps didn’t believe he existed. I didn’t like this new twist. My college life wasn’t supposed to deal with supernatural things like this. I wanted an Adam in my life, not a vampire named Roane.
“He’s really intelligent.” Emily had opened her floodgates. Now her opinions flew freely. “He cares about the world and he’s got some super insights into humanity.”
I bet he did.
“Even Professor Sulls asks his opinions on matters. Luke’s like no other guy that I know. I mean, I respect him. I have really high standards and I only respect two other guys,” she said, casually.
“I know.” I said dryly, “Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr.”
“Can you believe it?” Emily sighed again. She was on the fast track for her first college lovecrush. It was my little name for those crushes when a girl thinks she’s in love. They were annoying… to everybody.
Lovecrushes aside—or maybe front and center—I hadn’t moved my eyes off Roane’s back, but then my eyes slid past his shoulders to his black computer screen. I found myself staring smack head-on with him. I gasped in mortification. He’d been staring right at me the whole time. This was not good, not at all. He knew that I knew. I knew that he knew I knew. I could’ve pretended that I didn’t know he was listening to us, but now all bets were off.
He’d seen.
I smiled smugly and whispered, “I know what you are.”
His face didn’t move. His eyes didn’t react, but I knew I’d made him angry.
CHAPTER TWO
I called my empath sponsor and planned to meet her for coffee. When I pushed through the glass doors of Coffee Java, I inhaled the freshly brewed aroma and felt like I’d just touched a piece of heaven.
Blue looked up and waved an arm from a back booth tucked into the corner with bookcases and empty tables surrounding it. I liked how private it was. Blue got her name for her graying hair that she dyed with blue highlights. She liked that it gave her an out-of-this-world quality although she was very much an earthly woman. Every one of the bracelets jangling on her wrist stood for a cause – pollution, cancer, save the forests, happiness from an orgasm.
I smiled widely as I weaved my way through the book cases. “Blue-cheese, how are you?”
She laughed with her raspy deep-throated voice. “That never gets old.” Nudging forward a coffee, she added, “Take it. You know it’s for you.”
I nabbed it and closed my eyes when the liquid touched my lips. It was so good, so yummy, and I knew I really was in heaven.
She closed the novel she’d been reading and pushed it to the side. She wasn’t one for idle talk. “Okay, girl. Out with it.”
“I have a problem.”
She arched a perfectly outlined eyebrow and rested her chin on her hand.