Chapter thirteen

Maxine

I dropped my bag on the chair by the desk and collapsed onto the bed, my limbs still sore from the day’s events.

I had been summoned to the dean’s office over a mistake in my class schedule, nothing really important, but I had walked to several offices and thankfully, Xander was by my side all through.

He was such a caring friend, the only problem being the fact that he was a vampire and he had that dark aura surrounding him.

He was kind, too kind and I always felt uneasy around him, like he was hiding something.

I hadn’t brought up the the topic of the girl I had seen him with earlier. I felt that it was none of my business.

If he wanted to be with a woman, it was none of my business.

I sighed, rubbing my temples. I needed to clear my head, but just as I was about to reach for the jar of warer on the table, there was a sharp knock at the door.

Before I could respond, the door swung open, and the last person I expected to see walked in. His face was set in an expression of anger and disappointment.

I’d known Henry for a long time and could read him like a book. Something was wrong.

I had only seen him this angry once before, it was a long time ago, something I never wanted to remember.

“Henry…” I started but he didn’t let me finish before he began to speak.

“What the hell, max! Why! Why would you do that?”

I furrowed my brows as I stood up. “Do what? What are you even talking about?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Don’t play dumb with me, Maxine. I know you’re hiding things."

“Shh!” I half whispered. “You never know who’s listening….”

“Oh yea! Your roommate! Your vampire roommate, Max, you don’t want him to hear.”

I felt my breath hitch in my throat and froze He knew. He must’ve found out somehow.

I forced a laugh. "You’ve officially lost it. What are you saying?” I decided that he was joking, he was trying to find out what I knew.

He crossed the room in two quick strides, standing over me with an intensity that made my stomach twist. "I know about your roommate, Max. I know he’s a vampire. And the guy that just brought you to the dorm, he’s one too."

My heart skipped a beat, but I kept my face neutral. He was talking about Xander.

I wonder how long he’s been watching me. "You’re imagining things. Xander’s just... well…Xander…he’s well…he’s a good guy.”

"Max!," he cut me off, his voice sharp. "You’ve forgotten why you’re here!” He shook his head. “Damnit! Max!”

I glared at him, fuming with anger. How dare he speak to me in that manner.

"Even if they are what you say they are, why do you care? What I do, who I talk to, or live with, is none of your business! I’m not a kid! I can handle myself!”

His laugh was dark and humorless. "It becomes my business when you’re playing with fire! Come on Max! Everyone in the coven depends on you! Living with a vampire, going out with one, Do you even realize how dangerous this is? Does he know what you are?”

"Trust me," I snapped, stepping closer to him. "I’m well aware of the dangers. I don’t need you to lecture me and I can take care of myself. I’m the leader of this coven…”

His gaze softened slightly, but his voice remained firm. "You’re not a leader yet, Max. You will be by the time you finish your mission and from all indications, you don’t seem to be going anywhere with it! You’re frolicking with vampires instead of focusing on your mission!”

I scoffed. “You don’t know a thing about me, Henry!”

He ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. "This is crazy! Max this is so fucking crazy! Everyone is going to freak out once they hear about this…”

“You will not tell anyone about this! Henry, you dare not!” I stepped closer to him.

"First of all," I said, my voice icy, "I don’t owe you an explanation. And second, I can handle myself."

"You can’t handle this," he shot back. "These people are dangerous! Very dangerous And you’re sitting here acting like you’ve got it all under control when you clearly don’t."

"I’ve survived just fine on my own," I shot back.

"Have you?" he asked, stepping closer. "Because from where I’m standing, you’re in way over your head. And whether you like it or not, I’m not going to sit back and watch you self-destruct."

His words hung in the air, heavy and charged. I wanted to yell at him, to tell him to leave and mind his own business, but part of me couldn’t ignore the truth in what he was saying.

"I’m not your responsibility, Henry," I said finally, my voice softer.

"Maybe not," he replied. "But that doesn’t mean I’m going to walk away. I love you, Max and I won’t just watch you sit here and destroy yourself, you know what happens if you fail in this…"

For a moment, neither of us said anything. The tension in the room was palpable, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

"You don’t trust me," I said after a long silence.

He gave a bitter laugh. "I think you’ve made it clear that you don’t trust me either."

I didn’t respond. Instead, I turned away, staring out the window. He was right. If I had trusted him, I’d have told him about all of these. "If you’re going to stick around, you’d better get used to disappointment. I’m not exactly the trusting type."

"Neither am I," he said quietly. "But maybe we don’t have to be."

I glanced at him over my shoulder, his expression unreadable. He looked almost... sad.

"Go home, Henry," I said, my voice weary.

"I’m not leaving you," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Just then, the room opened and my head snapped towards the door to see that it was my roommate.

I clenched my fist tightly as I muttered a string of curses. This was a very wrong time!

He walked past Henry without a word, moving straight to his room and I prayed inwardly that there would be no incident. I couldn’t bear to see them bawling at each other.

As soon as he was inside the room, I exhaled deeply, a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“For fuck’s sake, Max how can you live in the same space with this….” He flung his arms as though he was thinking of what to say.

He didn’t need to say it, every witch hated Vampires. Hate was an understatement, what we felt for them was far more. It was worse.

“Henry, I can handle myself, you need to trust me. Please!” I pleaded and he sighed, clearly not comfortable with that.

I leaned in closer to him, my voice barely above a whisper. “It’s not going to be easy finding the hybrid. There are lots of supernaturals in this school, the easiest way to find them is through the help of other supernaturals! I’m just using these vampires! They’ll lead me straight to the hybrid, you’ll see.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Max…”

I swallowed hard, convincing myself that I wasn’t lying to him. I really had a good reason for keeping the vampires close to me and for hiding the fact that I had found the hybrid from him.

I had to find out about Davis death first.

“I promise,” I said as I stared into his eyes and I saw his expression soften and I flashed him a smile.

“Gosh! You drive me crazy!” He leaned in closer to me. “I’ve missed you,” his voice was husky and u knew what was going to happen next and u stepped away.

“Not here, Henry. Come, I’ll walk you back to your car. How’s my mum?” I felt guilty about not taking her calls.

He shrugged. “She’s well, we’re all counting on you.”

We walked out of the dorm room, towards the place he had parked his car.

I watched as he got into his car, wavung until his car was finally out of sight.

As I turned to go back into the dorm, my eyes stopped a few feets away, at the old oak tree where a bird was perched on top.

No, not a bird, a crow.

I had an ominous feeling and shuddered.

It wasn’t the first time I was seeing it and I had a bad feeling about it.

I sighed as I continued walking back to my room, maybe I was just overreacting.

I was tired, so it wasn’t unusual. I cast a glance at the crow again before walking into the room.