Page 42 of Cruel Destinies

I shook my head. “You make it sound so simple. But it’s not. At this point she can’t even protect herself. We’re building her confidence. We’re strengthening her. But we aren’t prepared to attack Heritage Prep.”

“Caesar,” Julian said heavily, “Hadrian will not wait to assault your school. The longer you wait, the grander his plans will grow and the more likely your people will fall.”

Setting my jaw, I stirred my coffee. My mind felt like the swirling brown liquid, a vortex of unknowns spinning round and round.

“I should get back to the school,” I mumbled.

“And I should return home,” Julian replied. “But I have one more request for you.”

I returned my attention to the vampire.

“I have come in contact with a particular person who desires admittance into your school,” he said. “She’s attempting to help me bring Alice back to life.”

A sting of guilt stabbed at my gut. I’d promised Julian that if he rejoined Hadrian as a spy, I’d set the goal to bring Alice back. Was he giving up on me?

“You have a debt to me, Caesar,” he said firmly. “If Shea—the witch helping me—succeeds in bringing back Alice, you will grant her admittance into your school. Is that clear?”

If I wasn’t inside a cozy diner, I would’ve been certain I’d just been struck by lightning.

“Sh—shea?” I choked out.

“Yes. You owe me, Caesar,” Julian said darkly.

A witch named Shea was helping my vampire ally to reanimate his dead wife. It had to be a different witch. For all I knew, there were a dozen witches with the same name.

But only one that knew about the Dome and wanted to study there.

And hadn’t Shea mentioned something about a run in with a vampire a few weeks ago?

Holy shit!

“Caesar? Are you having a heart attack from all that garbage you’re eating?” Julian waved a hand in front of my face.

“I just might be,” I muttered, pressing my hand against my tight chest.

Julian looked past me, a scowl forming.

“Ready for round two?” Vicky said sweetly as she approached.

I blinked up at her, trying to recover from this latest shock. “You know, I think one slice was enough.” I slipped my credit card out of my pocket and handed it to her.

“It was a pretty big piece,” she said as she took my card, then turned on her toes and made her way to the register at the front of the restaurant.

“Seriously, do I need to rush you to a hospital?” Julian asked, eyeing me with concern. “You look about as pale as me.”

I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. Um, about your witch—”

He held up a hand. “I know. You and I had made a deal. But how could I not jump at a chance like this? So I’m changing our deal. And for my end of the bargain, I want you to allow her entrance to the school.”

I opened my mouth to say… What? What more could I possibly ask him? Though I trusted Julian, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t have any qualms about age differences, I really didn’t want to allude to my relationship with Shea. Especially when, at the end of the day, it didn’t matter. I was already working on a plan to get Shea in.

“I’ll see what I can do about getting your witch into my school,” I said finally.

He gave me a surprised frown, then nodded in satisfaction. “Thank you.” He glanced over my shoulder. “Now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll take my leave before Nosy Nancy returns.”

“Her name is Vicky,” I corrected as he got up, and he strode down the aisle and out the door without a reply.

What the hell was Shea thinking? Making deals with vampires? I mean, okay, I was doing the same thing, but I knew Julian very well. She didn’t. How foolish could she be to agree to use magic for a vampire? Especially after knowing that they were actively trying to kill her best friend, and the rest of us?

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