Chapter 7: Alluring Darkness: Chapter 7

Soft murmuring fills the massive building. While pretending to listen to the conversation at my table, I scan the space around me. Tall bookshelves line the walls and form several aisles across the floor too. Between them, in the open spaces, are tables where people sit and work alone or in pairs and groups.

To be honest, I didn’t expect there to even be a library at Blackwater University. I thought this career path was mostly just a physical one. But apparently, being a hitman is more than just stabbing people with the pointy end of a blade. As it turns out, you also need to know things like science and math and psychology so that you can plan advances, trajectories, escape routes, how people will react to different situations, and other stuff like that.

I sweep my gaze over the various tables again. No sign of Eli. I’ve seen his little brother Jace from time to time, since he takes some of the same classes as me. But ever since I put a blade to his neck in that car, I haven’t had any more run-ins with the infamous Eli Hunter.

Worry gnaws at my bones. I need to keep his wrath focused on me so that he will forget about Connor. Maybe I need to do something else to draw his attention?

“Raina, are you even listening?”

Giving my head a quick shake, I snap out of my musings and quickly return my attention to the people at the table. There are three of them. They’re all first-years, just like me. Though I suspect that every one of them is a year younger than me since they all most likely started at twenty when they were supposed to.

Magda, the girl who spoke, is a thin girl with hair so blond it’s almost white, and there is a no-nonsense air about her. Next to her is Gabriel, looking like a true all-American boy-next-door with his blond hair, blue eyes, and easy smile. The last one is Paulo, a dark-haired guy with sharp eyes, who I haven’t been able to get a proper read on.

“No, sorry, I spaced out a bit,” I reply, flashing Magda an apologetic smile. Before she can bring the conversation back on track, I steer it towards a topic I really need to know more about. “I heard that there’s a guy called Connor Smith in the senior class, and that he’s apparently one of the top students, but I haven’t seen him around.”

The three of them exchange a glance.

“He’s probably still in the hospital wing,” Paulo says carefully.

I raise my eyebrows as if this is news to me. “Why?”

“Eli Hunter and his brothers gave him the beating of a lifetime.”

“Connor is that unlikeable, huh?”

“No, I wouldn’t say that.”

“So he just knows how to make enemies then?”

Gabriel chuckles. “Are you kidding? Half of the senior class are jealous of him for being so fucking good at everything.”

My mind churns as I turn that over in my head. So, a lot of people are jealous of Connor? But the question is, who is jealous enough to sabotage his rifle in order to bring down Eli’s wrath on him?

“Apparently, he’s Harvey Smith’s son,” Paulo says, lowering his voice conspiratorially.

Gabriel raises his eyebrows. “The Harvey Smith?”

“Yes.”

“Hey,” Magda interrupts, leveling her pale gaze on me. “Isn’t your last name Smith too? Don’t tell me you’re also—”

“Harvey Smith’s spawn?” I fill in, and then snort as if that’s ridiculous. “Oh, I wish. But no, I’m just one of the millions of normal Smiths in this country.”

It’s better if no one knows who I really am. Because if it becomes known that Connor is my brother, then Eli might realize that I’m purposely drawing his attention away from Con and towards me instead.

“That reminds me,” a new voice says.

I turn to my left to find a girl with an incredible resting bitch face lean over from the table next to us. I don’t know her name, but I’m pretty sure she’s in our year too.

“You’re that new girl who transferred in like five days ago right?” Resting Bitch Face continues.

“Yeah?” I reply.

“What are you even doing here? I’ve been watching you in all of our classes this week, and you’re fucking terrible.”

A flash of irritation shoots through me. I know that she’s right, of course. I am fucking terrible. At everything. Well, except for chemistry. But that class hasn’t started yet. So all I do now is to walk into training hall after training hall and fail at everything we’re supposed to do. And it’s already grating on my nerves, so I sure as hell don’t need this girl to rub it in my face.

“And I don’t mean just because you started three weeks after us,” she continues. “Your basic skills are so far below average that you’ll never catch up to the rest of us. So why even bother coming here at all?”

Adopting a lazy expression, I give her a nonchalant shrug. “Because I was bored.”

“Bored?”

“Yes.”

When I offer no further explanation, she shakes her head at me. “You’re fucking crazy.”

I narrowly prevent myself from grabbing the nearest book and hurling it straight into her stupid face. Instead, I let a psychotic grin curl my lips. “I know.”

She jerks back and blinks at me.

Before she can recover, I turn to my table companions. “Excuse me, I have somewhere else to be.”

“Uhm, yeah, sure,” Gabriel manages to press out.

The others just watch me as I push my chair away from the table and then stride towards the doors. Leaving the library behind, I instead set course for the chemistry lab.

Deep down, I know that I should have stayed. I need to find out who tampered with Connor’s rifle, and that means that I need to continue stealthily interrogating people. But I can’t do that when all I can think about is what color that girl’s face would be if I just happened to slip some poison into her drink one day.

I need to clear my head, and the best place for that has always been a chemistry lab. So I will mix some poison for Resting Bitch Face in order to calm down, and then I can decide whether I’m going to actually use it on her or not.

My head is still spinning with annoyance and questions and plans as I round the next corner.

And slam straight into someone’s chest.

A hiss sounds as he sucks in a breath of pain between his teeth.

The collision sent me stumbling a step back, and when I finally right myself and look up, I’m met with Connor’s still bruised face.

His gray eyes go wide as they lock on me. “Raina?”

I didn’t expect him to be up and about quite this fast, so for a few seconds, I just stare at him while I’m trying to figure out how to play this. Since I still haven’t figured it out, all I manage to say is, “Hey, Con.”

Confusion washes over his features. Then he flicks a quick glance up and down the corridor, as if he’s worried that someone might see me. Grabbing me by the shoulder, he pulls me into an empty office and then closes the door. I’m thankful for the extra seconds to formulate a plan.

There is no way that I can tell Connor what I’m really doing here. He might think I’m crazy and odd, but I know that he’s very protective of me. So if he finds out that I’m here to be a shield for him against Eli’s wrath, he will do everything in his power to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’m pretty sure he would even go so far as to tell Eli what I’m doing. And we can’t have that.

So I decide to play to his insecurities. He is carrying our family’s entire burden on his shoulders, and I know that he is secretly worried that he won’t be able to do it. That he will fail and let us down. Let Dad down. And if I hit him there, he will miss even the most obvious clues in his anger and hurt. I know that it’s cruel. But it’s the only way I can protect him.

“What are you doing here?” Connor asks, eyes wide with confusion, once we’re out of sight.

While blocking out the guilt twisting inside me, I frown at him and shake my head as if the answer to that should have been obvious. “Studying.”

“Studying? What do you mean, studying?”

“At Blackwater University. I’ve enrolled as a student.”

He jerks back, completely baffled. “What? Why?”

“Because someone needed to step up and try to save our family from ruin.”

He looks like I’ve just slapped him across the face. Pain stabs through my heart at the hurt that flashes in his eyes.

“You think I’m not good enough?”

Since I don’t trust myself to speak, I just shrug.

Anger joins the terrible hurt in his eyes. “So, what? You think you can just… take my place? That you can just magically fix everything? I’ve spent years working for this, Raina!”

“Yeah, well, since you’ve clearly made enough enemies to land you in the hospital wing instead of focusing on your classes, I think we need a backup.”

“You?”

“Me.”

“You’re delusional. You’re not even trained for this, Raina. You won’t be helping our reputation. All you will be doing is further tarnishing it, because you don’t know a single thing about this world!”

“Then don’t tell them that I’m your sister. Tell them that you have no fucking clue who I am. But I’m not leaving.”

“Fine,” he snaps. “That’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Good. Because I can’t have him accidentally blowing my cover with Eli.

For a few seconds, the two of us just stare each other down. My heart is breaking at the sight of that anger and pain in Connor’s eyes when he looks at me. But I swallow down the lump in my throat while trying to convince myself that this is for the best.

“You know, I always thought you were different,” Connor begins, that awful hurt lacing his voice. “That you actually… understood.” Anger creeps into his tone again as he flicks a dismissive glance up and down my body. “But I guess not. Good luck, Raina.”

Before I can compose myself enough to respond, he yanks the door open and stalks out. It vibrates in its frame as he slams it shut behind him.

Tears threaten to spill from my eyes. I blink them back with great effort and instead draw in a deep breath to steady myself.

It’s better that he’s angry.

At least then, he will stay out of harm’s way.