“Everything that happens on this campus is my business.” The Dean’s smile was greasy with false congeniality.
The Dean barely spared a glance for Carter. Instantly adopting the persona of a vassal, Carter tucked his hands behind his back and ducked his head, trying to look meek and intimidated. This wasn’t the first Farm he’d been on with Sebastian. The routine was always the same. Sebastian was the front man. He cut the deal with the Dean. Carter’s job was to blend with the Greens, find people who might be useful on the outside, and get them out without attracting attention.
But it was different this time. Lily and Mel were important, and if the Dean decided to make this an issue, Carter wouldn’t back down. He glanced at Mel and Lily. Lily still lay sprawled on the sofa. Mel sat beside her, watching her intently.
The Dean barely glanced at them, but he studied Sebastian as he said, “If this Green is particularly valuable, then perhaps I’m unwilling to part with her.”
Sebastian cut a deadly look at the Dean. “I trust you are not thinking of reneging on our bargain.”
“No, of course not,” the Dean reassured him. “However . . .”
“Our deal was I solve your bookkeeping problem and in exchange you pay me with four Greens of my choosing.” He leaned back against the desk and stretched his legs out in front of him. Casually, he picked up something off the desk and began toying with it. His Confederate-era “Arkansas toothpick”—a nine-inch-long, wickedly sharp blade, which was no less deadly for being a century and a half old. “I trust you are not backing out now.”
The Dean’s gaze hardened just a little. “Are you threatening me?”
“Not at all,” Sebastian said smoothly. He didn’t unsheathe the dagger, but slapped the leather scabbard against his palm. “I’m merely reminding you that your computer records do not reflect well on you right now. If Roberto were to pay you a visit—as he will eventually—he’d discover that the number of residents on record greatly exceeds the number of warm, red-blooded bodies. That is a very real problem for you. One that I have promised to fix for the right price.”
Carter could feel Mel tensing. He had hoped that she wouldn’t pick up on the subtle undercurrent in the room. She started rocking in her seat, tapping her ring finger against her thumb the way she had out by the fence.
He had to get her out of here, but as long as the Dean thought he was a vassal, he couldn’t suggest it himself and Sebastian couldn’t suggest it, either, without revealing how badly they needed Mel and Lily.
Unfortunately, the Dean turned toward the sofa to look at the girls. As he looked from Mel to Lily, greed lit his eyes. The question was, did he want them only as bargaining chips, or did he know why they were important?
Sebastian slammed his knife down on the desk, leather slapping against wood with a resounding smack. “I tire of your games. We have an agreement. You will not renege.”
The Dean leaned over and ran a hand down Mel’s hair, then moved to tip her chin up so he could look at her better. She flinched away from his touch, retreating into the corner of the sofa. With a calculating gaze, he turned his attention to Lily, rubbing a strand of her hair between his thumb and forefinger. “I would never dream of reneging on our bargain, but I must make an amendment to our original agreement. You can have any four Greens on campus. Except these two.”
It was all Carter could do not to launch himself at the Dean. Sebastian did it before Carter had a chance. In one wickedly fast movement, he sprang at the Dean, slamming his body into the other man’s. The force of the impact drove them both into the wall with a crack that splintered the paneling.
Carter half expected to see Sebastian step back and the Dean’s dead body crumple to the ground, his neck cleanly broken.
Instead, a strangled wheezing sound emerged from beneath Sebastian. Sebastian leaned back, keeping his forearm pressed to the Dean’s neck. The Dean’s face was starting to turn red. More wheezing gurgled up from his throat. Slowly, a smile split his face. He was laughing.
Sebastian must have realized it at the same moment Carter did, because he instantly increased the pressure of his arm. “These are the girls I have chosen. I suggest you not get in my way when I leave with them.”
“This is . . . a most interesting . . . development.”
“No,” Sebastian growled. “This isn’t interesting at all. The only thing interesting is why I haven’t killed you yet. Do not forget you are little more than kine to me. It is only by my grace that you live at all.”
Carter tensed, ready to get the girls out of the room in a hurry if he needed to. He was amazed that the Dean would antagonize a vampire at all. Sebastian—like, from what Carter knew, all vampires—was a mercurial, temperamental creature. When vampires lost their temper or got caught up in their bloodlust, there was no reasoning with them. Carter didn’t want Mel or Lily anywhere near Sebastian if that happened.
The Dean’s mouth twisted into something that might have been a grimace or a smile. “You don’t dare kill me. Not here. Then Roberto would know what you’ve been up to.”
“Do you honestly think I fear him?”
“I think you’re a sneaky bastard and you don’t want him to know what you’re doing here. If you’re here looking for an abductura—”
The Dean’s voice cracked as Sebastian increased the pressure on his throat.
Carter’s heart slammed against his rib cage. If the Dean truly suspected them, then Sebastian would have to kill him. But the Dean was right. Roberto couldn’t know they were here.
Carter moved on instinct, bolting across the room to pull Sebastian off the Dean—not that he’d likely succeed, but he had to do something. However, before he reached them, Sebastian stepped back, releasing the Dean, so the other man crumpled against the wall. Then Sebastian threw back his head and laughed.
“You think either of these girls is an abductura?” His laugh deepened to a full belly cackle, a sound as unnatural as a lion purring while pouncing on an antelope. “Look at them.”
The Dean must not have recovered fast enough for Sebastian. He grabbed the Dean’s arm and spun him to face the girls on the sofa.
“Look at them.” Derision coated Sebastian’s voice like honey. Contempt for humanity came naturally for the vampire. “Do either of these puny teenage girls look capable of controlling all of humanity?”
Sebastian still held the Dean’s arm and the Dean squirmed against the obvious pain. “I—”
“This one is autistic. She can barely communicate.” As if to prove his point, Sebastian released the Dean, prowled across the room, and grabbed Mel’s chin. He stared at her, his eyes coldly devouring her features.
Only once had Sebastian looked at Carter like that. Right after they’d all escaped the Tick attack on the school. When Sebastian was trying to judge whether or not Carter was serious about taking the remaining boys and starting a rebellion. That assessing gaze had lasted ten seconds, maybe less. But Carter still remembered what it felt like to be caught in the sights of humanity’s only natural predator. To know a monster was deciding if you were more useful alive or as food.
Carter couldn’t believe that Mel didn’t flinch away from Sebastian’s gaze. He had. Hell, it had been all he could do not to puke all over the floor.
But Mel stared at Sebastian in that unblinking, crowlike way she had. Sebastian must have been as disconcerted by her behavior as Carter was, because he jerked his hand away from her and straightened. For a single second, his expression looked stricken.
But when he turned back to the Dean, his mask of contempt was back in place. “What do you think? Honestly? She doesn’t even have the sense to fear a vampire. And yet you think she’s an abductura.”
The Dean’s face reddened. “The other one—”
“They’re identical twins.” Sebastian laughed. “You Deans have the most vivid imaginations.”
The Dean stepped away from the spot where he’d been squashed against the wall and tugged on the hem of his jacket to straighten it. “If she’s not an abductura, then let me keep her.”
“No,” Carter and Sebastian both snapped at once.
Sebastian glared at Carter. Shut the hell up, the look seemed to say.
“We’ve already invested two days in these girls.” Sebastian gestured at Carter as if he were annoyed. “This is what we do at Farms. While I do my job, my vassal blends in with the Greens. He seduces a girl and convinces her she’s in love. Then it is easy to talk her into coming with us.”
“Either you think I’m an idiot or else you’re the most sentimental vampire in the world.”
“Not at all,” Sebastian said smoothly. “You merely do not understand what it means to be a vampire. The Greens I harvest from Farms are all marinated in fear. Their blood is bitter. Unpleasant. However, the hormonal condition humans call love is quite delightful on the palate. Such a flavor pairing is worth seeking out and even keeping them alive to dine on only occasionally.”
“If she believed she was in love, then why did he have to tranq her?”
Both the Dean and Sebastian swiveled to look at Carter. “She freaked out when she saw the Collabs patrolling after dark,” he said. “She had second thoughts.”
The Dean frowned. “Won’t that change her . . . flavor profile?”
Carter gritted his teeth at the casual way the Dean talked about Lily’s blood. Like she was bottle of wine instead of a person. It took everything in him not to throw himself across the room and finish the beating Sebastian hadn’t delivered. Instead, he gave a bored shrug. “I’m not worried. Once she wakes up, I’ll be able to convince her I did it for her own good. She’ll believe me.”
The Dean seemed to be considering whether or not he believed them. Had he bought it? Impossible to tell. Every instinct in Carter screamed to take the girls and run. Or let Sebastian kill the Dean. Yes, it would tip their hand to Roberto, but at least they’d be off this damn Farm.