Dark Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  “So you stole my memories?”

  I couldn’t blame Brittany for being upset. In retrospect, we mentally assaulted her and took her choices. I would be ticked off, too. I still didn’t like her. “We gave you a happier life,” I clarified. “We honestly thought we were doing the right thing at the time.”

  “And now?” Brittany challenged. “Why come back and undo it now?”

  “Because you’re engaged to a murderer and we thought you should know what you’re up against before you marry him,” I replied. “I thought Paris had terrible taste in men, but yours is worse – which is completely ludicrous and dumbfounding, quite frankly.”

  “I am going to kill you,” Brittany hissed, lunging at me.

  Aric caught her before she could wrap her outstretched fingers around my neck. “This isn’t helping. We have a lot to talk about. We need to find a quiet place to discuss things.”

  I pointed at the ice cream parlor. “Chocolate helps everything.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Aric hedged.

  “Oh, no,” Brittany spat. “It’s a great idea. Let’s get ice cream. That will make everything perfect.”

  “THIS is really good,” I said twenty minutes later, dipping my spoon into the hot fudge sundae and smiling broadly. “I told you this was a good idea.”

  “You’re wise and cute,” Aric said. “Now shut up and eat your ice cream.”

  “This is so unbelievable,” Brittany said, gripping her malt with one hand while she tapped her fingers on the picnic table with the other. “I’ve been living a lie for five years. I had no idea.”

  All her fight seemed to have fled and she appeared defeated. Now I really did feel guilty. Who needs that? “Was it at least a good lie?”

  “Shut up, Zoe,” Aric said, flicking my ear. “You’re not helping.”

  “What do you remember?” Paris asked, her voice gentle. She’s much better at this sort of thing than I am. That should come as a surprise to absolutely no one.

  “I remember everything,” Brittany said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I remember the rally. I remember Zoe warning me to run. I remember you approaching me two days later and then … it was like someone dropped a sheet over me and everything shifted.”

  “I’m sorry I did that,” Paris said. “I really am. It’s just … we didn’t know what you would do and we were worried you were going to fall apart.”

  That was technically true. We were more worried about ourselves than Brittany at the time, though. She had a big mouth and liked drama. We were worried she would share our secrets with the world. I didn’t think now was the time to volunteer that information.

  “Will is dead,” Brittany said. “It’s like I’m feeling his death all over again, yet he’s been gone for five years.”

  “And you’re engaged to an even bigger douche,” I interjected. “How did that happen?”

  “Zoe, I am going to gag you with that ice cream,” Aric said, shooting me a dark look.

  “It’s a legitimate question,” I protested.

  “You didn’t need to add in the colorful embellishment.”

  “It’s not my fault Brittany keeps picking douches,” I argued. “I know I picked the perfect man and not everyone can get that lucky, but come on.”

  “Okay, you’re being cute again, so I’ll let it slide,” Aric said, winking.

  That “perfect man” stuff always causes him to give in. When I turned back to Brittany I found her staring at us with a disgusted look on her face. “What?”

  “I can’t believe you’re getting married … to her,” Brittany said, fixing Aric with an incredulous look. “Are you a glutton for punishment?”

  “I love her,” Aric replied, unruffled. “Despite how she treats you sometimes, she’s a good person. You two need to get over your crap so we can figure this out.”

  “What do we have to figure out?” Brittany asked. “And she is not a good person. I can’t believe she’s actually winning. I mean … she gets you and I end up with Mark? How does that even happen?”

  “I think it’s karma,” I said.

  “Zoe!” Aric squeezed the back of my neck. “I think you should be quiet for the next five minutes.”

  “I prefer years,” Brittany shot back.

  “You’re not helping either, Brittany,” Aric said, slapping his hand over my mouth before I could say something truly awful.

  “A lot of things have happened since we graduated,” Paris said. “I’m sure things aren’t what you expected either.”

  “Do you think?” Brittany’s cheeks reddened. “I’m working in the registrar’s office making half of what I was two years ago. My life is over.”

  “Yeah, um, how did you and Mark hook up?” Paris asked.

  “We ran into each other one day at the market close to my parents’ house,” Brittany explained. “He seemed surprised to see me. Now I know why. He was more of a … curiosity … to me. I remembered him from high school and some vague recollections from college, but I didn’t remember the horrible things.

  “We ended up going out for dinner to catch up,” she continued. “He kept questioning me about graduation and what happened. He asked me about Zoe, but I didn’t remember her.”

  “I’m sure you were happier back then,” I said.

  “Not really, Zoe,” Brittany shot back. “I’m not happy about having my mind messed with. I would’ve rather remembered the horrible things than be forced to forget against my will.”

  I swallowed hard as her words hit me. “I understand that,” I said. “I don’t blame you for hating me. We shouldn’t have done it. At the time … we had a lot to deal with.”

  “We thought we were doing the best thing for you,” Paris interjected.

  “No, we didn’t,” I said. “I’m not going to lie to her. That’s not why we’re here. We’re adults now. It’s time for the truth, and the truth is we cast the spell because we were afraid you would go flapping your lips about us to anyone who would listen. We were frightened about what would happen given all the disappearances after the rally that day.”

  “Well, at least you’re honest,” Brittany said. “I can’t say I blame you for being worried. I’m not sure what I would’ve done, but I was angry with you. You killed Will.”

  “Technically I let Rafael kill him,” I clarified. “That was after Will … and Mark, for that matter … locked Rafael up for months in an effort to starve him. Then they shoved Paris and me into a tiny room with him because they wanted him to eat us.

  “Will was betrayed by Professor Blake,” I continued. “They locked him in the room with us to get rid of him. They didn’t want to deal with his demands. I had a choice, and I chose to sacrifice Will to save Paris and myself. I’m pretty sure I made the right decision.”

  “If you think I don’t remember how Will was, you’re wrong,” Brittany said. “Perhaps I didn’t want to see his true nature. Maybe I just wanted to beat you. It’s hard for me to admit that, but things are kind of jumbled where he’s concerned.

  “I thought we were going to have a life together,” she continued. “Looking back, I’m pretty sure that life would’ve been a nightmare. You probably did me a favor.”

  That was the nicest thing she’d ever said to me.

  “I still think you’re a jerk,” Brittany added.

  And we were back to the natural order of the universe. “I am a jerk,” I agreed. “I’m not sorry for what I did to Will.”

  “No one is sorry for what you did to Will,” Aric said. “Go back to Mark. You said you had dinner with him and he kept asking you questions about Zoe. Did he say anything about where he’d been that night?”

  Brittany tilted her head to the side, racking her brain. “No. He seemed … bitter. I thought that was because he was back living with his parents after graduation. Why? Where was he?”

  “Most of Blake’s followers were killed after the rally,” Aric replied. “Zoe made the decision to spare Mark. He was locked
up for a year and then released. We didn’t think he was a threat. We were wrong.”

  “After that first dinner, I didn’t see him for about two weeks,” Brittany said. “Then we ran into each other again and started having regular lunches. He got a job at a community college and seemed to be doing well for himself.”

  “When did you start dating?”

  Brittany lowered her eyes. “I don’t know how it happened, but he kissed me after one of our lunches,” she said. “Before I even realized what was going on we were dating. Then my parents died and he was there every step of the way to help me. It was a natural progression.”

  Aric cleared his throat and darted a worried look in my direction. “Did it ever occur to you that Mark might’ve had a hand in your parents’ accident?”

  Brittany stilled, surprised. “I … no. Why would he?”

  “When we found out you and Mark were engaged, we were surprised,” Aric said.

  “To say the least,” I added.

  “We ran a background check and found you got quite the inheritance after the accident,” Aric said. “Is it possible that he went after you because of that money? Did he know you were due to get it?”

  “I guess I might have mentioned it at some point, although I honestly don’t remember doing it,” Brittany said. “Now that all of my memories are back, I have this … ball of disgust … in the pit of my stomach. I can’t believe I’m engaged to Mark. He used to skateboard, for crying out loud.”

  I fought the urge to laugh. “Does Mark have access to your money?”

  “I don’t have a lot of money,” Brittany clarified. “I made decent money when I was downstate, but I don’t make great money here. I don’t have the life insurance payouts from my parents yet, although Mark has been on me to pressure the company to cut the checks. That seems a little strange in hindsight.”

  “Did Mark convince you to take the job here so you could change his records and secure a job for him on campus?” Aric asked.

  Brittany nodded. “He told me it was his dream to teach at Covenant College. He told me some story about a bad professor holding him back and keeping him from graduating,” she said. “I was an idiot and believed him. I don’t know how I could be so stupid.”

  “You can blame the spell and me for that if you want,” I offered.

  “Don’t worry. That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

  “Did you know Mark was trying to get the Academy up and running again?” Aric asked.

  Brittany shook her head. “I heard him talking to one of his students one day,” she said. “He was going on and on about the wolves of Alpha Chi not moving fast enough. I didn’t know what that meant … but I guess I do now.”

  Aric shifted on the bench and leaned forward. “Did you know he detonated a bomb at our engagement party?”

  Brittany’s mouth dropped open as her face slackened. “No. I … no!”

  “Scott died in the blast,” I said, keeping my voice low. “We have video of Mark setting the bomb. That’s how we knew to chase him down. We decided to watch him for a bit to see what he was up to. That’s when we found … well … you.”

  “You guys took turns coming into the registrar’s office because you wanted to see whether I remembered anything,” Brittany mused. “Why did I recognize Paris?”

  “The spell was geared to leave you with happy memories and gloss over any discrepancies,” Paris said. “I guess I survived because you had happy memories about us living together.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Brittany asked. “Are you going to kill Mark?”

  “Yes,” Aric replied, not missing a beat. “He doesn’t get another chance. We gave him one and he squandered it. He killed people. We can’t trust him, and locking him away is a waste of resources.”

  “We need to know exactly what he’s planning first, though,” I said. “Does he keep documents at the house?”

  “He keeps all of that stuff in his office,” Brittany said. “I can get you in, though. I have a key he doesn’t know about.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  “I thought he was cheating on me and had one made when he wasn’t looking,” Brittany admitted, biting her lip. “I went through his office, and there was a lot of stuff I didn’t understand in the files. I bet that’s the stuff you’re looking for.”

  “I bet you’re right,” Aric said. “When can we get into his office and be assured he won’t catch us there?”

  “Today,” Brittany answered. “He has a charity golf outing with all of the bigwigs at the school. He’ll be gone until at least eight.”

  “Are you willing to get us in?” I asked.

  “I’m not going to pretend that we’re ever going to be best friends, Zoe, but in this case Mark has it coming,” Brittany replied. “He used me. He might’ve killed my parents. I’m on your side on this one.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re still a bitch,” Brittany said, although she shot me a small smile. “I also can’t believe you managed to snag everyone’s dream guy and get a happily ever after.”

  “We’re all still dumbfounded by that,” I said, causing Aric to smirk. “I’m sure things will get better for you once we handle Mark.”

  “They’re already better,” Brittany said. “Now we need to make sure Mark pays for what he’s done. I can’t believe I had sex with him. It wasn’t even any good.”

  “I hear that,” Paris said, causing everyone to laugh.

  We had a plan. Now it was time to work it.

  25

  Twenty-Five

  “Where did you get this?” Aric grabbed my wrist and forced my hand up as I tried to pop the gummy boob – I mean eyeball – into my mouth. “I hid the rest of these last night so you wouldn’t get into them.”

  I pressed my lips together and pasted my best “you love me and can’t yell at me” look on my face. “They just magically appeared on the dresser this morning.”

  “You mean you went through my stuff until you found them,” Aric corrected, grabbing the small container of candy from me. “You’ll get sick again.”

  “I can’t help it,” I protested. “I’m nervous. When I’m nervous I eat. If you see any pizza around here I would gladly trade these things for it. Greasy cheese and ham sounds really lovely right now.”

  We followed Brittany down the narrow hallway that led to Mark’s office, keeping the argument up while matching her pace.

  “Why are you nervous?” Aric asked. “We’re going to an office to look through files. You’ve been through a lot worse than that … and recently.”

  “I have no idea why I’m nervous,” I said. “I … .” I narrowed my eyes as I glanced around, finally recognizing where we were. “Oh, no way.”

  “What?” Aric asked, instantly on alert as he shifted. “Do you sense something?”

  “She senses things now?” Brittany asked. “I shouldn’t be surprised. She somehow manages to steal all of the attention in whatever room she enters. I shouldn’t be surprised that she has more powers now.”

  “You don’t know the half of it,” I said. “I can rip books apart with a single thought and sear werewolves in their tracks without lifting a finger.”

  “Don’t volunteer that,” Aric ordered. “You shouldn’t brag about burning werewolves to a crisp.”

  “I wasn’t bragging,” I clarified. “I was stating a fact.”

  “You two are exactly the same,” Brittany said. “It’s depressing. My life is going down the drain and you two have everything you’ve ever wanted.”

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” I ordered. “It’s getting old.”

  “I’ve had my memory back for only two hours,” Brittany snapped. “I think I deserve a little time to whine.”

  “Well, make it snappy,” I said. “I can only take so much.”

  Brittany stopped outside of a closed door and rooted through her purse. I shook my head as I studied the familiar setting. “I knew it. This is just … r
idiculous.”

  “Knew what?” Aric challenged. “What did you know? If you expect me to bow down and call you a genius you have to tell me what you knew before the rest of us. Otherwise it doesn’t count.”

  “Does he really bow down to you?” Brittany asked, wrinkling her nose. “That’s a joke, right?”

  “He only bows down when I’m naked,” I replied, enjoying a little thrill when Brittany scowled.

  “I really hate you sometimes,” Brittany said.

  “I really don’t blame you,” I said.

  “Zoe, what do you know that the rest of us should know?” Aric pressed. “It’s time to share with the class.”

  “This office used to belong to Sam Blake,” I said, resigned. “It shouldn’t surprise me that Mark has it now. I’m sure it was by design.”

  “Are you sure?” Aric asked, scanning the hallway. “All of these professor corridors look the same. You could merely think it’s the same office.”

  “I was here quite a few times,” I reminded Aric. “It’s the same office. I’ll bet Blake had books hidden in here – probably some of the very books I shredded at the Academy – and Mark was purposely located here to carry on Blake’s twisted legacy.”

  “That was quite the mouthful,” Aric said, putting his hand on my waist and shoving me inside Mark’s office after Brittany unlocked it. Aric scanned the hallway to make sure no one followed, and then shut the office door. “Are you sure this is the same office?”

  I ran my hand over the wingback chair across from Mark’s desk – the same back chair I had sat in so many times I lost count – and nodded. “It’s weird. I told you about that dream I had the night before we moved on Quinn’s compound, right?”

  Aric nodded, his eyes conflicted.

  “Will sat in one of these chairs in that dream, and I remember wondering what happened to the chairs. It was one of those weird thoughts that were so out of place you can’t help but remember it. I guess now we know.”

  “Zoe, if this is too much for you, you should go downstairs and wait for us,” Aric said. “I’ll understand.”

  I snapped out of my reverie. “It’s not too much for me,” I said. “I was just … it threw me for a second. I’m fine.”