3. Cain
CAIN
We are reeling with everything that’s happened.
We claimed our Pet, and it was momentous and perfect. We were finally able to admit what we all wanted and needed, but once we had her, she was taken from us.
She was ripped away far too soon, before any of us had a chance to truly show her how much she meant to us.
We’ve gathered at the water tower, waiting for news from Dom, the dean’s son.
The place feels heavy now, without our Little Ghost, as Malachi called her.
She added a lightness to this dark tower and had already started to give it the odd feminine touch.
I had liked it, because it told me she was nesting, starting to make herself at home here.
Then, poof, she was gone. Ripped from us.
First, we tried to figure out what had happened by ourselves. We questioned Camile, but she only knew what Ophelia told her as she was rushing to her room.
There is no way we can do anything until we know what the fuck happened and where they will take our Pet. So, I had called in a favor. A huge one.
I now owe that fucker, Dom. I have a debt owed to him, to be repaid at a time of his choosing. I hate being beholden this way. In our world, it can literally be deadly, but we need to know why Ophelia left. Why did her parents come and take her away?
A part of me is scared they’ve somehow found out about what she’s been doing with us in the woods, but that’s ridiculous. How could they?
“Maybe there’s been a death in the family?” Mal suggests. “And she’ll be back soon. After the funeral.”
“She’s cleared out most of her room,” Rome snaps. “When we went to check, it’s practically empty apart from a few larger items. Don’t be a dick.”
Mal sighs and runs a hand across his stubbled jaw. He looks like crap—like he hasn’t slept for a week. We all do.
“Don’t be an asshole then either.” Malachi spits out the words and sounds as if he’s going to either punch Roman or cry.
I roll my eyes. The last thing we need is to be fighting amongst ourselves. The guys need to get a grip. Until we know what’s happened, and more importantly, where she’s been taken, we are in the dark, and you can’t make plans and act in the dark.
I pace, up and down, up and down. Malachi stands and pours himself a stiff drink. I don’t. I want my head to be clear for when Dom gets us the information we need.
He’s the Devil I like the least. I don’t trust him because he’s the dean’s son. I also don’t trust the fucking way he has about him, as if he’s better than everyone else. At least Kirill can have a laugh, and Tino isn’t all that bad. Dom, though, he’s another matter.
A knock at the water tower door makes me jump, even though I’ve been waiting for it. I rush to answer it and step back, surprised when it’s not Dom but Zane standing there.
He is without the other Vipers. No sign of the twins, thank fuck.
They are utter assholes, and I’d be tempted to rearrange their faces, the mood I’m in right now.
Then again, they have every right to hate us right back.
Since finding Ophelia, I’m regretting what Roman and Mal did to Vani when they found her knocked from her bike.
I understand how the Vipers must have felt.
Fucking full of anger and hate, I’d imagine.
We touched what was theirs, even if Roman was just trying to help, in that screwed up way of his.
Now, one of them is here, and I brace myself, wondering if he’s come to put more shit on our plates.
Zane lifts his hands and signs.
I’m shocked at what he says. It isn’t what I had been expecting at all. I nod and eventually find my words. “Thank you, man, that means a lot.”
He nods briskly, turns and leaves. I watch his departing back, grateful for once that I’ve always treated him with respect because he’s just given it right back.
“What the fuck was that about?” Malachi demands.
“Zane wanted us to know that if we need help, he and the Vipers are there for us. He said that if anyone took Vani, he’d tear the world apart, and he understands how we must feel.”
I give Mal and Rome hard stares, trying to impart the double meaning to my words. We can’t have a war between the three of us right now, but I hope they’re feeling shitty for taking Vani now.
“Yeah, I bet he will help,” Mal sneers.
I whirl on him in frustration. “So far, Mal, I have Dom helping us and have just had Zane offering help. What the fuck have you done?”
“Exactly,” Roman mutters.
“What about you?” Mal demands of Roman. “Where’s your magic now? Why don’t you get a crystal ball out and see if you can find her?”
Roman walks up to Mal, his body language confrontational. “That would be a waste of time, friend. What I will be doing is making sure she’s under the protection of the ancestors.”
“Oh, they’ll stop her father from taking her home, will they?” Mal demands.
“You know it doesn’t work like that. But they will give her strength and some peace in what she has to face.” Roman shakes his head and grabs Mal by the front of his shirt. “Sometimes, your jaded act wears thin.”
Shouldering my way between them, forcing Roman to let go and step back, I place myself in the middle.
“Stop. We’re not doing this. Ophelia must be our focus. We have the offer of help from Zane, and he’s from a huge and powerful family. We have Dom helping, too. Let’s see what he finds out. But we need a plan. We can’t just sit here and do nothing, hoping she’ll magically return to us.”
They peel away from me, and each other.
Roman sits down heavily on the couch. “Does everyone know about us and her?” He looks up at me and Mal.
I shrug. “I guess they do.”
“We did run after her car, shouting her name in front of the entire college,” Malachi points out.
Yeah, there is that.
“Camile knew, too,” I say. “And we have followed Ophelia to classes for the past few days. Don’t forget, you kissed her in the bar, and now I’ve asked the Devils for their help. I guess word spreads fast in this place.”
It takes another hour before Dom arrives. At this point, the other two Preachers and I are crawling the walls with tension and stress.
“Took you long enough,” Malachi says.
“I'm doing you a favor.” Dom shakes his head. “Try to be a little bit grateful, why don't you?”
I intervene quickly. We need this information from Dom, and I don't want Malachi to ruin this. I totally understand his frustration, and share it, but sometimes, as my mom likes to say, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
“We really appreciate it,” I say. I hate having to suck up to him, but I'll do anything to make sure that we get our Pet back safe and in one piece.
“I should think so,” he replies. “I hate having to lie to my father.”
I don’t say anything to that, but I know it's not true.
He lied to his father for ages when he was first seeing Mackenzie.
There's no way his father would have been okay with the setup they had. It was only when Mackenzie’s mom died so tragically that they spoke their truth.
And by that point, the dean was a much-changed man.
He was a shadow of his former self, really, and still is.
I don't think it will be too long before Dom takes over running the college.
When that day comes, the place might change.
“What did you find out?” I ask.
He drags his fingers through his thick, brown hair. “It seems your new girlfriend has been taken home by her parents because she got a letter from someone. A person from that place where she was being held as a kid.”
My heart fucking stalls in my chest. Someone wrote to her from that damn cult?
I'm not sure how much Dominic knows about Ophelia's past, and I don't want to tell him what happened to her. That's her story to tell, not mine. The news, however, that she was contacted by someone from the cult makes my blood run cold.
I debate telling him all I know, reluctant to, but wondering if he’ll have more information. However, he speaks before I can come to a decision.
“Do you know where she was … before she was here?” His green eyes regard me cooly.
I think he’s going to tell me what he knows so I don't say anything, I merely give a shrug and a non-committal grunt.
Dom is clearly keen to show off that he knows more about our girl than we do.
“According to my father, she was taken and held in a secretive, hidden away, religious commune. A deranged cult. Well, it seems a letter arrived at her home from a girl there. As you can imagine, it completely freaked her parents out as they thought the cult had possibly found them. They decided they wanted her back home under armed guard, twenty-four-seven.”
Malachi punches the wall in frustration, making me jump.
“That's bullshit,” he says. “She stays here.
We can keep her safe. There's a perimeter around the college, ever since all that crap went down with your stepmom, which I'm really sorry about,” he adds as an obvious afterthought.
“But ever since that, there's been heightened security here.
I don't think anyone could just waltz onto the college grounds and take someone right from under our noses.”
I turn and glance at Mal as I consider what he’s said. As much as I want her here, he’s wrong. “I don't think that's true. It’s happened before. Didn’t Lex get taken while he was on the grounds? The college covers a massive area; you can't police all those acres every second of the day.”
Mal narrows his eyes at me. “They have drones.”
“Cain is right,” Roman interjects, speaking for the first time in a while. “The college grounds are huge. Even with drone coverage, there's going to be dark spots.”
He turns to focus on Dom. “The security your father put in place is excellent. I’m not denying that, but I’m merely pointing out that somewhere with as much acreage as this college has is never going to be as safe as having somebody back home. Under lock and key.”