Page 4 of Alluring Darkness
He swallows. “I don’t know. We all found it like that when we got here.”
“Sounds very convenient,” Jace calls from where he’s still bracing his hands on the hood of the car. With a devilish grin on his face, he shoves down a couple of times, rocking the car. “Don’t you think?”
“Want me to drag him out of there and break his knees?” Rico asks casually, as if inquiring whether I want a cup of coffee.
The guy jerks back and tries to scoot over to the other seat before he remembers that Kaden is currently occupying it. Kaden flashes him one of his signature psychopath smiles.
Raw desperation bleeds into the guy’s voice as he begs, “Please. Please, I swear I didn’t do this.” A light flares up behind his eyes, and he presses out his next words so quickly that he almost trips over them. “You can check the security cameras! Then you’ll see that it wasn’t me.”
Hope shines in his eyes now. I want to grind it underneath my heel until there is nothing left but fear, but the man has a point. If he had been stupid enough to actually do it, he wouldn’t have told us to check the footage. And I really do want to know who is suicidal enough to do something as foolish as to key my car.
“Kaden,” I begin.
Our captive stiffens.
I hold his gaze in silence for a few seconds before finishing with, “Check his driver’s license.”
Without question, Kaden reaches over the console and slides his hand into the guy’s jacket pocket. He flinches but doesn’t resist. Kaden fishes out a brown leather wallet and then flips it open and pulls out the driver’s license. After memorizing the details on it, he gives me a nod and then tosses both the wallet and the card into the guy’s lap.
“You’d better hope you’re telling the truth,” I announce. “Or we’ll be paying you a little visit later.”
“I am,” he blurts out while scrambling to pick up his wallet and driver’s license before they can fall to the floor. “I swear I am.”
Without bothering to reply, I jerk my chin and start back towards the academy’s administrative building with Rico next to me. Jace drums his hands on the hood of the car a few times while Kaden climbs out and throws the door shut behind him. Then they fall in on my other side.
The moment we’re gone, the guy floors it and speeds out of the parking lot.
“Aw, I wish you would’ve let me beat him up,” Jace complains as we make our way towards where the people in charge of security have their offices.
“If he is the one who keyed my car, I’ll let you do more than that,” I promise him.
He throws his fist into the air in an excited gesture. “Yes!”
While we walk, I can feel Rico watching me from the corner of his eye. He always does that. Watches me. Trying to figure out if whatever thing that just happened is what finally sends me off the deep end. And I get it. I understand why he worries. But frankly, after what I went through when I was younger, it’s ridiculous to think that someone keying my car is what will at last make my mind snap completely. Though to be fair, I know that what I went through is the reason why he worries. But still. I just wish he would stop feeling so guilty about it. None of it was his fault, after all.
The door to the security office vibrates as I pound my fist on the metal.
A moment later, it’s opened by a man wearing a bulletproof vest over a tight black shirt. He gives the four of us a quick once-over before inclining his head in respect.
“What can I do for you?” he asks.
“We need to see the security footage from the parking lot,” I reply.
He nods and then opens the door wider before motioning for us to step inside. We follow him to the screens that take up half of the wall. They show most parts of the academy. I flick my gaze over all the screens, reconfirming what our father told us about the blind spots before we even set foot on this campus.
“From when?” the guard asks as he pulls up a program on one of the computers.
“This afternoon,” I reply.
It takes a couple of minutes for him to speed through the video until we find what we’re looking for.
“Stop,” I say once I see a lone figure crouch next to my car. “Go back.”
He rewinds it and then plays it again. This time at normal speed.
A young woman who looks to be around our age walks out the doors and into the parking lot. She has straight black hair that falls down almost all the way to her waist, and bangs that cover her forehead. The camera is too far away to reveal much of her facial features, but the way she walks tells me more than her face probably could.
She doesn’t sneak up to my car. She strolls. Fuckingstrollsup to it while casually twirling a set of keys in her hand. No fear. No hesitation. I stare in utter disbelief as she crouches down by my car and starts carving into it.