stomach and muttered something in Spanish I couldn’t understand. My Spanish was decent, but she was speaking too softly.
• 77 •
reBekah WeatherspOOn
“Okay, okay. The university says we have to have a housemother, but we don’t exactly need one. Flor used to feed Omi’s maker and we love her to bits. And it’s funny to watch the other housemothers try to be PC around her. But seriously, don’t get on her nerves. She’s good people.”
“Buenos días,” Florencia muttered to us before she shuffled away. Danni hopped off the counter and grabbed a black bag. I remembered it from the day before. She and Paige walked down the line and started handing us our cell phones as Cleo rattled off the last of her instructions.
“Eat your breakfast, make whatever calls you need to make.
Ginger, text your brother and tell him you’re not dead.” Amy did giggle then. “We’re hitting the spa in an hour.”
No one said anything; they just lined up at the buffet and started scrolling through their phones. I wasn’t going to be the only one to tell Cleo I already had plans.
“Crap,” I muttered. I had to call my lab partner Greg and cancel.
I had two texts—one from Mom telling me she was glad I’d decided to join a sorority, and one from Todd saying he hoped I got lucky. Considering the rules Cleo had just laid out, I’d have to tell him no. He’d start asking questions and then I’d have to make some stuff up and then he’d ask more questions.
I checked my voice mail. There was only one and it was from Greg. He sounded like crap.
“Hey, Ginger. It’s Greg. I had some shit come up today. Let me know if you can meet up tomorrow. Later.”
I shot him a text letting him know I was busy too and we could reschedule for tomorrow.
I loaded my plate and headed into the dining room. The table had been set just for the thirteen of us. I took a seat next to Amy and Benny sat on my other side. Then we all took a few minutes to reintroduce ourselves. As we went around the table, it was clear most of us had nothing much in common. We repeated our names, threw out information about our majors and where we were from, but there was still a nervous vibe among the group. We were all the
• 78 •
Better Off red
new kid and Cleo had left us without a teacher. We were silent for a few moments before Samantha, our spy from the school paper, decided she’d held her tongue long enough.
“Anyone want to tell me what the fuck we just signed up for?”
Her tone was light enough that we burst out laughing. Part of it was nerves and part of it was from the fact that, just like Samantha, we all couldn’t believe how the past twenty-four hours had turned out.
We’d accepted invitations to join a sorority. None of us had dreamed we’d be greeted by a coven of female vampires. We were bound to them for the next four years, and I think, to the race as a whole, for the rest of lives. Not the Friday night any of us planned for.
When the laughter died out, I was surprised at who spoke up first. “They don’t want to hunt us.” Benny took a bite of bacon. She chewed a few bites before she continued. “It varies from country to country. Culture to culture. Here, it’s easiest to get to us this way. A sorority is an easy cover.”
“So what happens now?” Ruth asked. She was bound to the sister-queen, Faeth.
“Same thing they told us last night,” Mel, a Puerto Rican girl who belonged to Tokyo, said, looking to Benny. “We’re in a sorority now. Everything’s normal but the feedings, right?”
“Right. We feed them and we get our degrees,” Benny said before she bit into a muffin the size of a softball.
Anna-Jade’s tiny voice squeaked from the end of the table,
“They meant what they said last night…they won’t hurt us?”
“No. They won’t. These vampires have taken an oath stronger then the pledge we made. If they take advantage of us in any way, they are terminated immediately. There are homicidal
• 77 •
reBekah WeatherspOOn
“Okay, okay. The university says we have to have a housemother, but we don’t exactly need one. Flor used to feed Omi’s maker and we love her to bits. And it’s funny to watch the other housemothers try to be PC around her. But seriously, don’t get on her nerves. She’s good people.”
“Buenos días,” Florencia muttered to us before she shuffled away. Danni hopped off the counter and grabbed a black bag. I remembered it from the day before. She and Paige walked down the line and started handing us our cell phones as Cleo rattled off the last of her instructions.
“Eat your breakfast, make whatever calls you need to make.
Ginger, text your brother and tell him you’re not dead.” Amy did giggle then. “We’re hitting the spa in an hour.”
No one said anything; they just lined up at the buffet and started scrolling through their phones. I wasn’t going to be the only one to tell Cleo I already had plans.
“Crap,” I muttered. I had to call my lab partner Greg and cancel.
I had two texts—one from Mom telling me she was glad I’d decided to join a sorority, and one from Todd saying he hoped I got lucky. Considering the rules Cleo had just laid out, I’d have to tell him no. He’d start asking questions and then I’d have to make some stuff up and then he’d ask more questions.
I checked my voice mail. There was only one and it was from Greg. He sounded like crap.
“Hey, Ginger. It’s Greg. I had some shit come up today. Let me know if you can meet up tomorrow. Later.”
I shot him a text letting him know I was busy too and we could reschedule for tomorrow.
I loaded my plate and headed into the dining room. The table had been set just for the thirteen of us. I took a seat next to Amy and Benny sat on my other side. Then we all took a few minutes to reintroduce ourselves. As we went around the table, it was clear most of us had nothing much in common. We repeated our names, threw out information about our majors and where we were from, but there was still a nervous vibe among the group. We were all the
• 78 •
Better Off red
new kid and Cleo had left us without a teacher. We were silent for a few moments before Samantha, our spy from the school paper, decided she’d held her tongue long enough.
“Anyone want to tell me what the fuck we just signed up for?”
Her tone was light enough that we burst out laughing. Part of it was nerves and part of it was from the fact that, just like Samantha, we all couldn’t believe how the past twenty-four hours had turned out.
We’d accepted invitations to join a sorority. None of us had dreamed we’d be greeted by a coven of female vampires. We were bound to them for the next four years, and I think, to the race as a whole, for the rest of lives. Not the Friday night any of us planned for.
When the laughter died out, I was surprised at who spoke up first. “They don’t want to hunt us.” Benny took a bite of bacon. She chewed a few bites before she continued. “It varies from country to country. Culture to culture. Here, it’s easiest to get to us this way. A sorority is an easy cover.”
“So what happens now?” Ruth asked. She was bound to the sister-queen, Faeth.
“Same thing they told us last night,” Mel, a Puerto Rican girl who belonged to Tokyo, said, looking to Benny. “We’re in a sorority now. Everything’s normal but the feedings, right?”
“Right. We feed them and we get our degrees,” Benny said before she bit into a muffin the size of a softball.
Anna-Jade’s tiny voice squeaked from the end of the table,
“They meant what they said last night…they won’t hurt us?”
“No. They won’t. These vampires have taken an oath stronger then the pledge we made. If they take advantage of us in any way, they are terminated immediately. There are homicidal
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