The Keep: The Watchers Read online

  No friends, I reminded myself. No pity. Just survival. I crumpled my napkin and tossed it on my tray. I wasn’t getting involved this time.

  Regina marshaled her expression and spun in her chair to face him. “Like I haven’t heard that before.”

  So not the way to deal with this particular problem, Curly. With a quiet sigh, I couldn’t help but pause and watch just a second longer.

  Gangly boy bodies closed in, looming over her, blunting the fury in her eyes. But she had spunk, this one, and she snarled, “Go crawl back under your rocks.”

  I should’ve left then and there, but it was like watching a train wreck—one that I’d been on before myself. My feet were poised to leave, but my butt was glued to the seat. Here it came, in five, four, three…

  “Aw, don’t be like that.” A Trainee named Colin plopped down at the table. He was blond and cute, looking like the high school star quarterback.

  I hated Colin.

  “We’re the welcoming committee,” he added, and something about his lizardy grin morphed him from high-school-quarterback into high-school-quarterback-who-buried-victims-in-the-backyard.

  Bingo. That was my cue. I scooted back my chair. Outta here.

  I picked up my tray, but Rob had appeared at my shoulder. “Acari Drew,” he said, using my official term of address. I might have ascended to Initiate, but I’d still be called Acari, at least until the time when—or rather, if—I survived to become Guidon. Acari—the word itself originally meant a subclass of bloodsucking arachnid, as though we girls were ticks, and Rob had enunciated it like he wanted to remind me of this fact.

  He slammed my tray back down again. “Going so soon?”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Actually,” I said, “I was thinking I’d skip this particular party.”

  Keeping his hand planted where it was, Rob eased into the chair next to me. “But we’re just getting started.”

  “And I was just finishing.” I tried to tug my tray back, but his hand was splayed across the black fiberglass, my fork tilting up under the pressure of his palm. I gave up and let go—there’d be no battle of strength with these guys. Ever. I’d always be the weaker one, and I hated it.

  He slid the tray away, grinning at me like he’d read my mind. “That’s right. You’re gonna stick around here with us for a little while instead.”

  I was in it now. I’d learned there were times to show fear, and this wasn’t one of them. “What’s your problem anyway?”

  “We’re just trying to talk to some pretty girls…and you.” He guffawed, like he’d just made the funniest joke ever.

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”

  He scooted closer, grinning suggestively. “Though maybe we can work something out, you and me. If you’re nice enough, I might forgive you for being such a bitch.”

  I scowled. “Thanks, but no, thanks, Romeo. Not in the mood.”

  “Hey,” Colin called from the other end of the table. “El Trainee Roberto. A little focus here. Eyes on the prize. Isn’t that right, ladies?” He gave a smooth grin to the dark-haired girl. But she was staring at her lunch like she was trying to bust out some telepathy and bend her cutlery with her eyeballs, so he turned his attentions to Pretty Girl instead. “You need to come to the castle,” he told her. Then his eyes lit. “In fact,” he added, “all you first-years have to.”

  The girl actually said, “Really?” She was studying him like she might find some good there if she peered hard enough, as if he might’ve been cute enough to look past his evil little soul.

  I rolled my eyes. Don’t pass go, Pretty Girl. Just go directly to the door to collect your Darwin award now.

  “Oh, totally,” Colin said, sensing her interest.

  Redheaded Dan added, “You new girls get assigned what are kind of…buddies, like.”

  “The vampires in charge didn’t tell us anything about that.” Regina was more skeptical than her friend, and I gave her better odds.

  “They sent us to tell you,” Yasuo said.

  Pretty Girl looked from one to the other. “You’re not joking?”

  Dan grinned and nodded. “You’ll be ambassadors, like.” He sure liked the word like. Maybe it was a London thing. He clarified, “You know, mates.” That, I knew, was a Britishism, but still, the boys guffawed at the double entendre.

  “Seriously?” I muttered to myself. I couldn’t decide which angered me more: the girls for being blinded by a couple of cute faces, or the boys for taking advantage.

  Colin scented Pretty Girl’s weakness and had her cornered like the doe-eyed creature she was. “We take you on a tour,” he told her with that creepy grin.

  “Get real,” I whispered.

  But Yas had heard. His eyes instantly zoomed to mine. “What did you say?” He wasn’t dumb. He knew me, and he’d know exactly what I thought about these clowns. It was what he used to think. So why was he hanging out with them?

  “I said you’re a real big deal,” I lied.

  Dan, the ginger moron, actually smiled. “Jealous?”

  “In your dreams, Danny Boy.”

  Colin angled away from me, giving his full focus to the girls. “Don’t you ladies listen to Drew. She’s an Initiate—she’s just trying to screw with you.”

  Dan was staring at me now, with a combination of macho bluster and flat-out stupidity. “Little D is messing with you. It’s what the older girls do.”

  The new Acari looked like they were actually buying his story, and I told them, “They’re the ones screwing with you. Not me.”

  “Not true,” Dan protested. “We’re supposed to explain things to you.” The way he said things sounded like fings.

  Colin added, “Show you around.”

  I shot a glance at Yasuo. He was silently watching the proceedings. The look on his face was unreadable, like a combination of amusement and scorn. Why was he even involved with these knuckleheads?

  “But we can’t go off the path,” Regina said warily.

  “Oh, you won’t. You won’t. We just need to…” Dan gave Colin a loaded look, uncertain how to finish what he’d started.

  Colin caught the ball and ran. “You have to come with us so we can explain the curriculums that you’re going to take while you’re here.”

  I groaned. The guy had the IQ of a tennis ball. “The curriculums?”

  “What?” Dan’s glare was meant to challenge me, but I just thought it made him appear slack-jawed.

  I sat forward, planting my elbows on the table, leaning forward, bracing for a fight. So much for leaving. Because, seriously, nothing made me madder than dumb and mean. “It’s staggering.”

  “What?” the guys asked in unison.

  “Your stupidity,” I said, louder now, enunciating slowly and clearly as though speaking to a couple of deaf and doddering old men. “It’s staggering.”

  I turned to the girls. “Don’t listen to these idiots.” The dark-haired Acari looked scared and confused, while Pretty Girl was acting like she wanted to trust the guys and not me. Whatever. “They’ve got nothing to show you.” I pinned a look on Rob and added, “Trust me.”

  He looked like he was considering gutting me then and there. He could try. I knew for a fact I could give him a run for his money, and even if I couldn’t, I could see in his eyes, he knew I had a vampire for backup.

  I stood. “Your little joke is done, gentlemen. Take the clown act somewhere else.”

  Dan attempted a last-ditch effort. “But we have to take them to the castle.”

  “Yeah, D.” Yasuo finally spoke. His eyes glittered at me from across the table. “Tell them how all good girls end up at the castle.”

  I felt his comment like a physical blow.

  I locked my knees. I wouldn’t show my pain. “All good girls get back to the dorm.” I aimed the next words at Regina. Maybe it was because she’d reminded me of me, or maybe it was just because I could tell from the hormonal glow radiating off Pretty Girl that she was a goner. “And if they�
�re smart, they’ll go now.”

  I walked away, refusing to look back over my shoulder. But still, I felt Yasuo watching.

  His comment had slashed like a knife, and I needed to stay alert. One of these days, there just might be a real blade and it would be aimed at my back.

  I couldn’t believe I had to go back only to find Audra—excuse me, Frost—in our room. I didn’t bother to say hi. I simply slung my bag on my desk and flopped on my bed.

  “You tracked in snow,” she said, not turning around. She was sitting at her desk, acting completely entranced by what appeared to be some ancient primary text.

  Did I look that smug when I studied? “How can you even tell?”

  “Take off your shoes,” she said impatiently.

  I grumbled, but still, I leaned over to free myself from the knee-high winter boots. They looked cool, especially when paired with my new Initiate’s uniform—most things would probably look cool paired with a navy blue catsuit—but all those laces were a supreme hassle, and it did feel good to slide the things off.

  Wriggling my toes, I decided to annoy my roomie. “Whatcha reading?”

  She gave a tormented sigh. “The Poetic Edda. You probably haven’t heard of it.”

  As hard as I tried to break the ice, Frost insisted on being a little snot with me. Emma had been her roommate—Emma who’d been nice to everyone, including Frost—and Frost begrudged me her death. Did anyone not hate me for that?

  Actually, there were two on this island who knew I’d done my best, who didn’t think I was the raging homicidal teen I appeared to be. Ronan, and of course, Carden.

  Where was Carden? I needed him, and it wasn’t just the urge to feed. I needed to lean in to him. To shroud myself in the feeling I got when we were together, the sense that I could finally relax and stop looking over my shoulder for just…one…second.

  “The Edda is the premier source for information on Norse myth and legend,” Frost went on. I hadn’t responded to her earlier ding, and apparently she was anxious to make sure I got how smart she was. “I’m currently working through the Niflung Cycle.”

  “Already read it.” I couldn’t resist my reply. Frost’s real problem wasn’t that Emma had been killed—it was that she wasn’t the only smarty-pants on this island.

  “You read it”—she deigned to turn in her chair to peer at me—“in translation. I’m working from the original Old Norse. I imagine that’s too advanced for you.”

  I imagined I wanted to smack her upside the head. Instead, I mused, “Dagursson helping you with that?” The creepy old Viking vamp had chosen her as his teacher’s pet, and I couldn’t resist any opportunity to goad her about it.

  “Master Dagursson says I’m the best student of Old Norse he’s ever had.”

  “Master Dag would say anything for a little female attention,” I snapped back. Fine, so maybe I didn’t want to admit that possibly it killed me how she was better at the Norse stuff.

  I swung my legs over and began to pull my damp boots back on. “I’m heading back out.” If Carden wasn’t going to come to me, I’d go in search of him.

  “But it’s almost curfew,” she said.

  I rolled my eyes. The girl really needed to learn to relax. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be back.”

  Her body stiffened, freezing into a weird position in her chair. “Don’t call me that.”

  It wasn’t an easy task relacing wet, knee-high boots, and as I did, I wondered what nerve I’d just hit. “Not big on the family thing, huh?”

  I thought of my own mother, as I so often did. She’d died when I was very young, leaving me with nothing but an abusive father and a tattered old photograph of her younger self. I’d fled the dad part of that equation but treasured my picture, currently hidden next to a rubbing I’d done of some old runic graffiti. The vampires had confiscated the photo once already, but somehow Ronan had stolen it back, giving it to me at the end of last term when I was at my lowest. I wouldn’t lose it again. I had the feeling that neither the photo nor I would survive if the vampires were to realize it was back in my possession, not to mention its existence was probably a danger to Ronan. Enough people had suffered for their kind gestures on my account.

  As for my graffiti rubbing, I didn’t know how vampires felt about personal belongings, and I didn’t want to test the notion, so I’d tucked that away, too, though I needed to do a better job of hiding my stash. I had plans to build a secret panel behind one of my dresser drawers. It was just a matter of getting Frost out of the room so I could construct it.

  “I have a new family now,” Frost said, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “Good luck with that.” I’d thought I could create a new family for myself, but my friends had all either died or, in the case of Yasuo, turned from me. So many people I cared for had disappeared from my life—one day there, the next…poof.

  I stood. I needed a friendly face. I needed Carden. The wet suede of my boots was cold and uncomfortable, and I stomped my heels into place. I had to get out of there.

  But then I flung open the door, and there he was. My glorious, beautiful vampire. White crystals glittered in his strawberry-blond hair, like he’d hiked through snow-covered trees to reach me. He wore a black wool peacoat that did epic things to showcase those strong shoulders, making him look extra manly, like he was ready for some action down by the docks.

  I practically sagged with relief. Something I hadn’t known was tensed, loosened. I shuddered in a sigh, realizing only then how shallow my breaths had been. How tense my chest and neck.

  I breathed his name. “Carden.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I stood frozen—how to react? I wanted to fling myself into his arms, but I felt Frost’s presence vibrating at my back. I couldn’t let her discover that Carden and I had bonded. I opened my mouth to say…something, when I heard my roommate’s chair scrape along the floor.

  “Master McCloud.” She’d hopped to her feet, and the words snapped from her, crisp and formal. “How might we serve you?”

  I snorted, then quickly covered my mouth to turn it into a cough. How might we serve you? Je-sus.

  I looked to Carden, wanting to share a bemused eye roll, but his attention was pinned on Frost. The irises of his eyes had widened, and when he spoke, his voice was a hollow rumble. “You will don your coat.”

  Uh…okay. I was just about to ease this weird tension with some humorous crack when Frost got a peculiar look on her face.

  “I’ll don my coat,” she repeated, and her tone of voice made it sound like this was a revelation, like she’d just had the brightest idea ever.

  “You will run three laps around the quad,” he instructed.

  She gave a firm nod. “I will run three laps around the quad.”

  I gasped, then snapped my mouth shut when I realized my jaw was hanging open. Frost had set about donning sneakers and coat, her movements stiff and systematic like she was on autopilot. I knew vampires had power, but this Jedi-mind-trick stuff was something I’d never seen before.

  “Acari Drew needs the use of this room,” Carden said. “Privately.”

  The word gave me a shiver.

  Frost’s face was a blank. “Privately.”

  “This is awesome,” I whispered. I’d automatically edged around to stand at his back, not wanting to get in the path of whatever mojo he was currently busting out. “I like Robot Roomie.” I knotted my hands in the stiff wool of his coat and gave a playful jostle. “Tell her I’m smarter than she is,” I added with a giggle. That’s what Carden did to me—he made me do things like giggle and feel playful, like I was just a teenaged girl, not this cold, trained killer I’d become. “Tell her…tell her she should make my bed every day. That she serves me.” I was really getting going. I could’ve gone all night.

  “You will return two minutes prior to curfew,” he said instead. He may not have told her any of my stuff, but I’d heard a smile in his voice, and that was better than anything. “If anyone inquire
s as to her whereabouts, you will inform them she is attending to work that is not of your concern.”

  My shoulders fell a little. I had work?

  “Say good-bye to your roommate,” Carden said.

  Frost turned to me, her movements stiff. “Good-bye, Acari Drew.”

  I watched, mesmerized, as she made her way to the door. “I could get used to this,” I muttered. But then, as the door clicked shut, I turned and gave him a deflated pout. “So, what’s this work?”

  “Hush, love.” He tilted my chin up to face him. A slow grin spread across his face. “I’m the work, aye?”

  “Oh.” I gave him a tentative smile. I still didn’t fully believe that there was a guy out there who’d seek me out simply for the purpose of spending time together. “Really?”

  His low, husky laugh reverberated through me. “Really. I thought you’d have deduced it by now.” He slipped his hand under my hair, sliding warm fingers along the back of my neck, cupping it gently. “I’m purely a man of sport and leisure.”

  I let my smile broaden. “That sounds”—he leaned down to nuzzle my neck, and my breath hitched—“good.”

  He nipped at my ear, his breath tickling along my tender skin. “I had to see you.”

  I shivered, contented. Safe. “I knew you’d come.”

  “Always.” He tugged me closer. Tighter. “I felt you. Losing heart.”

  “Sounds serious.” I tried to laugh it off, but it came off lame, so I began to confess. “I guess I’ve been kind of…” But I trailed off, not trusting my voice.

  “Kind of…?” he prompted.

  This contact, this closeness, it made me feel raw, split open. As though I might finally let go, only I wasn’t sure that I wanted to lose my armor—who knew what would happen if I ever did that, what feelings I might discover hiding beneath my shell?

  He pulled from me and cupped my face. He was a creature of infinite power—as a man, he’d been a warrior, and as a vampire, who knew? I was still just beginning to grasp the full extent of his strength and abilities. And yet here he was, his hands cradling me tenderly, his touch so gentle on my skin. “Tell me, love.”