Beyond The Veil (A Paranormal Romance)

Chapter 21

Her hands were shaking violently as she knocked on the door.

"Come in," an annoyed voice sounded from the inside of the room.

Gathering all her braveness, Emily swung it open.

Two gray eyes blinked at her in surprise through thick rimmed glasses. "Yes?" the man behind the desk said warily. "What can I do for you, Miss..." He looked her up and down, obviously taken aback by her attire.

"Snow," she offered, closing the door as she stepped to the chair in front of the rather chaotic mahogany desk. "Emily Snow."

"Miss Snow," he nodded, going back to sorting the papers that were scattered about. "Have a seat."

"Thank you," she declined politely. "I won't take much of your time, I just have a quick question."

"Very well." The white haired man folded his hands, looking back up at her expectantly. "Ask away."

"Sir, I was just wondering if you knew where I could find Professor Cole. I need to talk to him about an assignment, and he is not in his office."

With a furiously pounding heart, she nervously awaited the dean's response.

Painfully slowly, he removed his glasses, dangling them between his thumb and index finger. He narrowed his eyes as they once more took in her absolutely inappropriate outfit.

"Miss Snow," he finally rumbled. "Do you see this?" With his hand that was holding the glasses he motioned towards the mess on his desk. "These are all papers that were due today. Papers for Professor Cole's classes, to be precise. Since he didn't bother to show up today, since he didn't even have the decency to notify me of his absence, I had to fill in for him. It is difficult enough to find substitutes, but next to impossible to arrange for one when professors just fail to appear." He huffed in irritation. "So, to answer your question, no, I do not know where he is. But if you find him, let him know that he is to report to me immediately."

With that, he resumed his work, angrily stacking the papers.

Emily's heart sank with an almost audible plop. "Oh," she muttered, staring at her shoes. "Sorry to have bothered you."

"Mmm," the dean growled, dismissing her with a careless wave of his large hand.

When she left his office, she was too distraught to pay any attention to where she was going. Aimlessly, her feet carried her through the deserted hallways of the college building. Here and there other students who were apparently late for class rushed hurriedly to their classrooms, books and notepads in their arms, hastily checking the time on their phones. Emily didn't notice. She kept walking, her gaze focused on the floor tiles, her thoughts with the man she by now so desperately longed to see.

"Careful," a quiet, yet amused voice reached her ears as she blindly bumped into someone.

"S-sorry," she stuttered, her mind having difficulty to leave the images of Raphael behind to return to the here and now. She lifted her head - and immediately stumbled backwards in utter horror.

"Why so scared, lovely Emily?"

No, this is not happening!

Her thoughts tumbled wildly in her head, leaving no room for anything else but fear.

I'm only hallucinating, he's not here.

Squinting, she willed the vision to disappear, but the man just laughed.

"It seems we literally run into each other quite often," he mused, offering her his hand. "I haven't introduced myself properly. I'm Professor Morris." When he realized that she wasn't going to accept his formal greeting, he dropped his arm. Grinning mischievously, he leaned closer until his mouth was near her ear. "But you can call me Daniel, if you so desire."