2 Whispering by Amanda M. Lee Page B

Sam Blake makes me uber-suspicious. I decided to start slowly.
    “I want to know what you’re keeping secret from me.”
    Okay, maybe not that slowly.
    Professor Blake sighed wearily. “I’m not keeping anything from you. Remember, I’m the one that shared our secrets with you. You’re the one that is hiding things from me.”
    That was true, but I wasn’t going to admit it. “What do you think I’m keeping from you?”
    “I know that something happened at the Delta Chi fraternity party last semester. I also know that you were part of it.” Professor Blake was holding his cards pretty close to his vest. I recognized the effort, because I was doing the same thing.
    “How do you know I was part of it?”
    “We have operatives throughout this campus. It’s very hard to keep something secret from us.”
    Operatives? And we’re back to being in an episode of Alias . “Obviously it’s not that hard,” I said sarcastically. “Otherwise, why would you be asking me questions about it?”
    “We’ve just heard rumors,” Professor Blake admitted. “I would like to hear the truth from you.”
    I pondered how much I should tell him and then decided to go with the truth – or as much of the truth as I dared tell him without risking Aric and Rafael’s identities. “Well, it was a great bonfire,” I started bitterly. “Only they were hoping to burn human sacrifices.”
    Professor Blake looked surprised. Obviously his spies weren’t as adept as he thought. “Did anyone die?”
    “No one of consequence,” I replied, thinking back to my former roommate Tara.
    Professor Blake waited for me to continue.
    “You remember my roommate Tara?”
    “The one that died behind the bar?”
    “Yeah, except she didn’t die.”
    “What do you mean?”
    I told Professor Blake what I had found out about Tara. I explained about her being a witch and recounted my trip to her hometown – leaving out the parts that included Aric. I told him about how she had glamoured another body to make it appear like it was her and how she thought that sacrificing humans would help her live forever and how she had manipulated a few members of the Delta Chi fraternity to help her. I left out the parts about her blood feud with Rafael and his family.
    When I was done, Professor Blake looked as if I had knocked the wind out of him. “Are you making this up?”
    “No,” I shook my head.
    “Why didn’t you tell me then?”
    Well, that was a loaded question. When in doubt, it’s best to go with the truth. “I don’t trust you.”
    Professor Blake swallowed hard and regarded me seriously. “I’m sorry you don’t trust me, but you still should have told me.”
    “Why?”
    “I’m an authority figure. I could have investigated this. I could have found out the answers you’re looking for. We could have worked together to make this a better campus.”
    “Oh, please,” I scoffed. “You couldn’t find your own ass with both your hands. You had no idea what happened at that party until I told you.”
    “That’s neither here nor there,” Professor Blake started to argue. “You were attacked by monsters. I hunt monsters.”
    “Not very well,” I shot back.
    “Well, when people like yourself keep things from us, you handicap us.”
    I didn’t think that was his only handicap. Still, I had come to his office for a reason and I wasn’t going to leave until I at least asked the questions that had been gnawing at me for months. “Do you want to know the real reason I don’t trust you? I mean beyond the fact that you seem to be trying to exterminate entire races of beings? It’s because I know you’re lying to me. I know you know something – or think you know something – about me. The fact that you won’t tell me what you know drives me crazy.”
    “What could we possibly know about you?” Professor Blake avoided my diatribe, for the most part.
    He was trying to trap me, I realized. He wanted to know if I would admit to