Page 46 of Endless Anger (Monsters Within #1)

ASHER

There’s a reason I had Quincy intervene when the dean met with Lucy earlier in the semester. My virtual interview, hosted over the summer with the middle-aged fuck had been more than enough contact for me.

As I watch him purposely loom over Lucy’s defiant form, I’m reminded of just how slimy and irritating he is.

The used utility knife in my pants pocket is heavy against my thigh as I make my way back over to the pair, my fingers itching to drive the blade between his veneers.

If we weren’t in public, I’d do it, no questions asked, just for the way he looks at her. Like she’s subhuman filth he can’t stand the sight of.

“Don’t you find it a little odd that you are consistently at the literal scene of these crimes, Ms. Wolfe?

” Dean Bauer asks, hands on his hips. “One death we might be able to explain away by coincidence, but now the school is being vandalized with what we can only assume, until the lab reports back, is blood? I can’t think of a single reason you’d be so close every time, except if you had something to do with it. ”

Lucy tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, cocking her head to the side. “If you’re going to accuse me of stuff, I wish you’d just come out and do it. This game is getting a little old, don’t you think?”

“I hardly find illegal activity on campus to be a game, little girl.”

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I stroll casually up to them, turning once I’ve gotten to her side.

She stiffens visibly but doesn’t try to run away, and I have a flash of two hours ago when my fingers were stuffed inside her sweet, wet pussy and have to actively suppress the shot of arousal that zips down my spine.

The dean’s eyes narrow at me, but his shoulders square and he straightens slightly. “Mr. Anderson. It’s nice to see you again. How’s Erebus Hall treating you? I trust you’re settling in well, RA duties and all.”

“It’s been fine, although I must say there are a number of uneasy residents roaming about as of late. Any updates on the incident in Lucy’s dorm room?”

He stares at me silently for a beat, then chuckles.

“Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to share those details with the public.

Although if you’d like to come by my office sometime, perhaps we could discuss that and your enrollment in the Curator program.

I’d be happy to invite your sister along as well, since we used to have our own little meetings back when she was a student. ”

There isn’t time to question that comment, because I feel Lucy’s eyes swing to me, accusation lacing her irises before she even says anything.

“Your what ?” she demands.

“It’s not exactly what it sounds like,” I say, scratching the back of my head, even more inclined to just stab this motherfucker, although I don’t think Lucy would forgive me for such extreme measures.

Then again, with murder throbbing in her gaze, maybe she wouldn’t mind right now.

Dean Bauer claps me on the shoulder, squeezing tight. “I’m just happy to see yet another founding family member join the ranks of Avernia’s best and brightest. We certainly don’t have the issue of recurrent crime among those students. ”

I smother a laugh of disbelief. It’s hard to tell whether he’s being serious, though something tells me he knows far more than he lets on. There’s no way he’s unaware that it was likely Curators who killed Celeste—that has to be why they’re suppressing the story.

The way he keeps trying to pin things on Lucy, though, makes me uneasy. It’s part of the reason I want to get closer to Curators like Beckett Dupont, who seems to live and breathe gossip, if not also violent crime.

Hence the obviously orchestrated attack earlier, in which some student slashed me with a knife as I made my way back from the forest.

All I’d wanted was to check on the box I left out there. It’d been right in the spot I hid it, proving the one Lucy gave me was a poorly constructed replica. And I’m trying to understand how and why it showed up at all.

It feels like we’re being watched, and I don’t like that.

My assailant got a few slices in before I was able to regain my footing and smash their hand with my boot. But they ran before I could yank their ski mask off and reveal their identity.

Though all I really needed was to see the flowery theta symbol on his jacket to know who’d sent him.

I’m not sure what Beckett’s angle is, especially since he’s trying to recruit me, but it makes me think violence is much more engrained into the livelihood of this school than any of us realize.

How else would they be able to get away with so many missing students and unexplained deaths?

The people who pay to go here want to trust the administration. If the powers that be are good enough at covering their tracks, there would never be any reason to question anything.

So they promote their superstitions, distort history, and pick out vulnerable students to blame for their shortcomings. That way, if something seems off, it’s not their fault, but the fault of the entities they’ve painted as enemies.

Even an entire bloodline.

Though I’m still not fully convinced of a supernatural tie-in, I can’t deny the email I received months ago freaked me out.

I opted out of attending school here in the first place to keep Lucy safe, but the anonymous sender indicated that as tensions mounted among the higher-ups, even those distantly linked to the Andersons could be in trouble.

Especially if they stood out too much.

If dissension was going to become a capital offense, Lucy would not survive.

That’s why I came. I could not have lived with myself if something happened to her.

Lucy’s boots scuff against the pavement, and she clears her throat. Her smooth, delicious throat that I’d love to sink my teeth into again, which is why I need the dean?—

“Mr. Bauer,” she says, interrupting my thoughts. “If you’re done with me, I’d like to be on my way now.”

“That’s Dean Bauer,” he snaps, lifting his arm to check the bulky Rolex on it. “Though I suppose it is rather late. I’d hate for you to be able to blame your poor attendance in class tomorrow on me.”

She doesn’t respond, even as he rakes his gaze over her form, noting her disheveled state. Luckily, none of the blood from me seems to have gotten on her despite our little rendezvous, so she doesn’t really look suspicious.

I, on the other hand, have a bandaged wound peeking out of a hole in my shirt, but neither the dean nor the police who showed up seem to notice.

“Try to make it through one week without causing trouble,” the dean tells her. “There are people in positions much higher than mine who don’t exactly take well to constant disruption. Especially from someone who has already proved to be an issue.”

Lucy snorts, spinning on her heels so she’s facing the dorms. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Mr. Bauer.”

As she stomps off, I take a step toward her, but the dean holds an arm out, halting me. “So, Asher. Now that you’ve had time to settle in here, what is your real opinion of my school? Your sister picked a good one, eh? ”

I keep my gaze on Lucy’s retreating form. “If you say so.”

“Frankly, it was a bit of a shock when she applied for the teaching position at all. Most of the faculty thought we’d seen the last of her when she graduated.”

Turning my head, I refocus on him. “Did she say something that would make you believe that?”

As far as I know, the one time Quincy came home in complete shambles was her only public admission that things were amiss here. Otherwise, she kept on like her college career had been a good experience and never said anything else about it.

Since I wound up not going and she’d gotten out alive, I didn’t think it mattered all that much.

Except…

I didn’t tell Lucy anything. Just dropped her in with the sharks and hoped they’d smell blood somewhere else.

Meanwhile, the blood stains my hands. Invisible as it is—the feeling of it never ceases.

Dean Bauer exhales, staring up at the Obeliskos.

“Quincy was an excellent student, but much like Ms. Wolfe, she had issues…fitting in, I suppose. A college campus operates with dozens of fast-moving parts, and it thrives best when those parts understand each other and work in unison. Your sister wasn’t interested in embracing the Anderson name or the responsibilities that come with it, and that’s why she started that glorified beautification program, which has been a pain in my ass for nearly a decade.

The higher-ups didn’t appreciate that. Given how they feel about your family… Well, they’re an easily alarmed bunch.”

“Seems to be a pretty common denominator in Fury Hill.”

“Not to mention the belief in a cursed lineage.” He brings his chin down, looking at me. “Do you believe in the curse, boy?”

His attitude keeps shifting, flipping back and forth between cordial administrator and weird little rat.

I don’t trust the fucker one bit, so I’m definitely not going to be honest with him .

“I’m afraid I find a curse to be too simplistic for my tastes,” I say, rolling back on my heels. “It’s too easy for the original families to write off every bad experience at Avernia as a result of some sinister magic.”

Hands still in my pockets, I walk forward until the toes of our shoes are touching. He’s a few inches shorter than me and perspiring profusely. I wonder if it’s not just Quincy that he has issues with, but Anderson blood entirely—does he believe in the curse?

That won’t do. I don’t want him to think it’s some centuries-old beef bringing destruction to his cushy little campus.

When this place burns down, I want him to know it was me.

“Don’t you think that sometimes, bad things that happen are simply the consequences of one’s actions? The culmination of corruption coming to a head?” I cock an eyebrow, tracking the bead of sweat that slides down the bridge of his nose. “Misdeeds coming to light?”

“Perhaps, though institutionally, we still frown on vigilante-style justice. If that’s the sort of thrill you chase, I fear you’ll be joining the ranks of our shunned.

” The dean clears his throat, reaching up to adjust his tie.

“If you’re aware of any misdeeds, Mr. Anderson, I implore you to report them to the school board for immediate investigation.

There are several active criminal cases open, you know.

Each of them has, interestingly, occurred since your arrival. ”

“Coincidences, I’m sure.”

He presses his lips into a thin line and shuffles back a step. “Of course. I wasn’t suggesting otherwise.”

Giving the library one last lingering glance, he starts off toward the administration buildings across from the quad, pausing just once. He tosses me a look over his shoulder, something unreadable passing through his gaze.

“However…” A pause, and he faces forward again. “I would keep an eye on your friend, Mr. Anderson. If she’s not involved in what’s going on, it’s very clear someone wants us to think she is.”