one of those friends was a lovely girl named Alicia. She was beautiful, sweet, funny and super smart. And she never missed class. I mean, never. She could be hacking up a lung and sneezing up a storm, Kleenex in every pocket and trailing her like bread crumbs, and she’d show up for class.”
When she paused briefly to take a sip of her drink, G.G. nodded to let her know he understood. Swallowing the sweet drink, Ildaria set down the glass and continued. “But then one Monday, she didn’t show up for our Business Analytics course.” Her mouth tightened at the memory. “I meant to call her that night to check on her, but . . .” Ildaria shrugged unhappily. “Between full-time classes and my full-time job waitressing, I forgot.”
“Life gets busy,” he said in an understanding rumble.
“Si, it does,” she agreed on a sigh. “But when she didn’t show up for the Thursday Mergers and Acquisitions class we had together, I headed straight for her dorm the minute class was done.” She ran one finger over the condensation on her glass again. “Apparently her roommate came back to the room after class on Monday to find Alicia’s things gone, and was told she’d dropped her courses and moved home.”
When she paused again, G.G. made a sound in his throat that was part growl and part hum. As if he suspected what was coming wasn’t good and he was already angry at whoever was at fault for this unexpected occurrence.
“Alicia’s family lived in a small town an hour outside the city,” Ildaria continued quietly. “I waited until the next day because it was so late, and then I drove out to see her. Her mother answered the door, asked me to wait a moment and then went to find Alicia. She came back a few minutes later and said very apologetically, that Alicia didn’t want to see anyone.” Ildaria swallowed at the memory. “I could tell she was upset. That she wanted to tell me something to soften the blow of her daughter’s rejection, but didn’t feel it was her right.”
“So you put the mind whammy on her,” G.G. guessed.
Ildaria turned to him blinking. “Mind whammy?”
“You know, when you immortals read and control us mere mortals to get what you want,” he explained, his voice a tad dry.
Ildaria grimaced at the description. Immortals could read the minds of mortals, as well as control them, although she did that as little as possible. For instance, she hadn’t tried to read G.G.’s mind yet and wouldn’t without a reason, and she was glad she hadn’t, since the man obviously had some resentment about the practice. Probably, she thought, because he’d been the victim of it a time or two what with owning not one, but two nightclubs that serviced immortals. And since she hated it when older immortals read her, she could understand, so she let his attitude go for now, and nodded unrepentantly.
“I read her mother’s mind to find out what was going on.” She didn’t leave time for him to comment on that and continued. “The Thursday before, after the last class we’d had together, Alicia had been attacked on her way back to her dorm. She was raped and beaten . . . badly. She’d fought back and earned a broken arm, cracked ribs, so much vaginal tearing they’d had to sew her up, and there was a question as to whether she’d see out of one eye again.”
“Christ,” G.G. breathed, sagging slightly next to her and setting his half-eaten second burger back on the plate. “Did they catch the bastard?”
Ildaria shook her head. “Not yet, and they probably won’t. There were no witnesses, and Alicia’s memory is messed up so she couldn’t give much of a description . . . If she even got a good look at the guy before he half blinded her with his beating.”
“Right,” G.G. said unhappily. “So she won’t feel safe on campus with him still out there.”
“No,” Ildaria agreed grimly, and then added, “Although I suspect she’ll never feel safe again whether they find the guy or not.”
“So she dropped out of her classes and retreated to her childhood home,” G.G. murmured, sounding sad.
“No. Alicia had only gotten out of the hospital the morning I went to the house. It was her mother and father who had packed up her bags, moved her things out of her dorm room, and signed her out of her classes,” Ildaria corrected him, and then added,