Belgrave University was supposed to be Rebecca's fresh start. It was supposed to be her chance to escape her controlling parents, her lying ex-boyfriend, her extremely eventful past. The promised fresh start turned quickly into a nightmare as she le...
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I had no idea when I had managed to fall asleep, nor that I would even fall asleep while being in some random house. After Randall and his companions finished their explanations of their society and the backstory of it Cassie and I had settled on the couch with the intention of waiting for Jack – and getting the hell out of there as soon as he came back, if he was even was planning of doing so. Cassie was the first to close her eyes, her head resting on my shoulder. At least one of the members of the Knights was present with us in the room, never daring to leave us alone. Randall had tried his best to strike up a conversation with us, but neither I nor Cassie said one word to neither him nor the others, simply staring daggers at them.
It occurred to me that I had fallen asleep when I opened my eyes to Jack's loud yelling. Night had turned into a morning as I gently shook Cassie in order to wake her up. After a minute she finally opened her eyes, looking around in surprise when yesterday's events came back to her. We bolted up from the couch, seeing Jack standing around, practically naked with only a robe covering him. He seemed confused even more than we did, but relaxed when his eyes landed on us.
The three figures blocked us in our way to Jack, and without any remorse I bumped into Randall in order to make him move out of our way. He seemed genuinely regretful about keeping a secret from us; I had to remind to myself that I would not forgive the boy so easily. I had already forgotten my wrath towards Jack and was now solemnly angry with Randall.
"Get your shit and let's go, Jack." I ordered him, throwing him his clothes that were practically ripped apart. I could care less about the state of his clothes; leaving was the solemn thought in my mind as I remembered that I had a class in two hours I needed to get to. Besides, I had no desire to spend any necessary minute in the house of werewolves.
"She sure swears a lot, doesn't she?" Hamish commented, more to Randall and Lilith to anyone else. "My kind of gal." The girl commented back as I could simply send a glare to both of them, ready to drag Jack out of the house myself if necessary, Cassie right next to me.
I was about to do so when Jack suddenly threw up parts of a deer as far as I could determine. It took me every ounce in my body not to threw up myself; it was obvious looking over to my roommate she tried her best not to do so herself.
"Yeah, you ate a deer last night." Randall casually said, not bothering to comment on our dumb-folded faces. We could simply stare at Jack as he tried his best to stay calm, even when the trio started telling him a werewolf named Silverback – who, apparently, chose him as his champion, whatever the hell it meant. As it turned out, it didn't take a full moon to make them turn; and a silver bullet would hurt them a lot which was a piece of extremely useful information.
Jack suddenly stormed past us, not bothering to even put his clothes on. Cassie and I instantly followed him, trying our best to keep up with him; the boy was running off like crazy, and as much as we tried he was too fast for us. Because of that I and my roommate ended up in the middle of the woods with no idea how to get back to the university.
"Do you have the same impression that we should unfriend Jack, like, right now?"
***
The next couple of days had passed as quickly as a shooting star. I was fully focused on my studies, steering clear of both Jack and Randall. The latter hadn't given up on apologizing, forcing to admit his defeat every time he did so since I quickly shut him down. Jack, however, was too busy hanging out with his new friends that he didn't have any time for me or Cassie. Not that I minded it though; getting caught in the supernatural was definitely what I had in mind when I thought of a fresh start.
The words in front of me were blurred together as I tried my best to understand at least something of what I was reading. I cursed myself for letting my mother talk me into taking a French class for advanced students. Just because I had learnt it for two years in high school didn't mean I was advanced in it. I barely understood anything I read, no matter how hard I stared at the pages. With a groan I decided to sip on my drink instead. Why study when I could get drunk instead, and focus on language of love in four hours or so?
My peace was – unfortunately for me – cut short when Cassie came running over to me. She sat down against me, stealing a French fry from my plate before popping it into my mouth.
"Hello to you too." I said, rolling my eyes and taking yet another sip from the drink.
"Jack's doing some fucking voodoo magic shit."
Cassie whispered, leaning closer to me before resting back on her chair. I followed her eyes and saw him sitting behind a table with some of his society buddies. I had been so focused on my own stuff that I hadn't even noticed him; my eyes travelled around the bar and not too far from him I saw Randall along with Hamish and Lilith, their eyes focused on both Jack as well as us. When Randall noticed us he sent us a wave which I returned with a fake smile before focusing back on Cassie and her claim of voodoo magic.
"What did he do then?" I asked just for the sake to keep the conversation going; I still had to admit I was curious as to what Jack was up to.
"He drew some symbol onto a paper and paid the waitress with that. She just accepted it as if it was a one hundred dollar bill." Cassie explained, cautiously looking around the room so that no one would hear her. My eyes looked over to the boy in an instant; he was laughing with his new friends as if he didn't have a care in the world, as if he didn't turn into a werewolf and eat a deer a couple of nights ago.
"Doesn't sound like voodoo to me." I explained to the girl sitting opposite me. Cassie didn't even have a chance to reply when Randall along with Hamish and Lilith appeared at our table.
"Move." The dark-haired werewolf basically commanded, forcing me to scoot over to the other side of the couch. Randall and Hamish forced Cassie to do the same, and now I was literally stuck and unable to exit.
"Are you stalking us or something?" I questioned, throwing a glare to Randall who looked over apologetically. Hamish and Lilith didn't share his concern though; I didn't have to know them to know apologizing was the last thing on their mind.
"Is Jack doing magic?" Lilith questioned, the question not meant for anyone specific. I shared a glance with Cassie; neither of us knew whether we should tell them about Jack being in The Order. Yet the fact that Lilith even asked that meant that Randall hadn't told them – it was obvious there was a reason behind that.
"Do we look like his babysitters? How the hell should we know what he does?" I answered annoyingly. Looking over to Lilith she stared at me as if she wanted to rip my head off right there; I sent her a smile before my attention averted back to my drink I hadn't still managed to finish due to the many interruptions by others.
"Yeah, I should have told you this earlier, but Jack's in The Order of the Hermetic Rose." Randall explained hesitantly. "Which is good, because that means we have an inside man." He continued before anyone had an opportunity to reply.
"We're gonna kill him." Lilith blurted out as if it wasn't a big deal and a daily occurrence for her; which, to be honest, wouldn't surprise me not one bit. Cassie's eyes widened in surprise at her claim – the girl looked like she wanted to bolt out of the room in any second.
"You're not killing my friend." I said more forcefully that I meant. "Doesn't look like he is your friend." Hamish instantly commented, making me roll my eyes at him.
"He might be a shitty friend, but he's still my friend." I added to which Cassie nodded. Everyone turned quiet after that; not one of us when what to say to each other. I was about to literally force my way out of the booth before Randall stopped me by practically yelling: "The two of you can help us! You'll be like the honorary members of the Knights of Saint Christopher!"
