“Not with this,” he says, “but it would help if you would not fight me on amending your friends’ memories.”
“I swear they can be trusted,” she says. “There’s no reason for the vampires to suspect either of them knows anything.”
“Tiffany and Zach are very close, and if he finds out, Trevor could, too. Remember that he is Legion. It is bad enough battling vampires, but I cannot fend off two foes.”
“I’ll tell Tiffany that if she tells Zach, she’ll be putting his life in danger. If she doesn’t listen, then you can compel them to forget. Okay?”
After a beat, he says, “Okay.”
They sit in silence for a moment. He waits for Lorena to leave, only she does not. “William?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you stay a little longer?”
He gets to his feet, frustrated that she is not listening. “Lore, I just told you—”
“Fabiana will alert you if there’s danger!” she says as he pulls her up. “You can keep patrolling, but with a smaller perimeter than last night, and if someone is coming, you can intercept them.”
“That would be a major gamble.”
Yet even as he says it, he can hear from the change in his own tone that he is considering it.
“What if Nate never gave up your location?” she prods. “Maybe he wanted to finish the job himself. Do you really want to go if you don’t have to?”
“Just a moment ago, you were arguing the opposite point—”
“Well, someone told me I’m a resourceful arguer.”
He feels himself fighting off a smirk. “Good night, Lore.” Then he adds, “I will see you tomorrow.”
A glorious grin breaks over her face. “Good night, Will.”
IT ISa long night for William.
He carries both vampires out to the surrounding forest and buries them twenty feet underground, where their scent is mostly masked. Then he cleans the blood off the LUB’s floor, but he is unable to restore the broken furniture or torn books. Given that there is no way of explaining this to Zach or Trevor, he decides to block the entrance altogether.
William dislodges the wardrobe, exposing the tunnel behind it. Then he punches at the wall until his knuckles crack with blood, and the stone crumbles, blocking the entryway.
Zach and Trevor will wonder what happened, but Lorena and her roommates will know.
After a shower, he changes into a clean pair of jeans and a sweater. Given that it is Saturday, students do not have to be in uniform. The sun has just risen when he positions himself outside Lorena’s window, out of view. He trusts her, but he cannot be sure about her roommates.
He does not expect Lorena to be objective in her assessment of her friends, given that she has such a great and forgiving heart. That is one of the reasons he has fallen—
He cuts off the thought, unable to follow it to its inevitable conclusion.
“I swear.”
It is Lorena’s voice he hears first. “I saw them last night. Will is burying their bodies, so they won’t be found.”
“Do any other vampires know where we are?” asks Salma. She sounds levelheaded and unshaken by last night.
“No,” answers Lorena. “And even if by some slim chance they do, William is going to go patrol often. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep the school safe. If he senses someone is coming, he’ll intercept them, and if we’re in danger again, he’ll leave with them to protect us.”
Silence meets her words.
“Please, say something.” It is Lorena speaking again. “I’m so,sosorry, Tiff. I never meant for either of you to get drawn into this.”
