I tried to break free, but Adrian had a strong grip. Fortunately, I knew how to handle it.

“Who sent you?” he inquired when I didn’t answer his last question.

“The Blairs, I’m sure,” the blond guy assumed, still looking at me suspiciously.

“They don’t involve humans,” Adrian only replied, squeezing a little tighter.

Well, that was enough for me.

I set to kick, but to my surprise, Adrian dodged me. And when I tried to twist his arm and dislocate his elbow, he took my second arm and pushed me back against the pillar again.

I cursed softly.

The second time I tried to lift my leg, Adrian put his foot on mine.

Why wasn’t any of this working? It had always worked. Always. So much for the self-defense classes in Sacramento... I had had to pay a stupid $900 for those. Fuel money that I had worked hard to earn.

But no matter what I did, they wouldn’t let me go.

“Do you smell that?” the blond murmured. “That smell is stronger than the others.”

“What’s your fucking problem?” I finally hissed in a grumpy voice. My temper gradually faded.

“Sweetie sure has some balls,” the brown-haired man laughed. And there it was again, that cocky grin.

Adrian looked more and more displeased.

“I’m serious, girl. Who sent you?”

I pressed my lips together tightly.

These guys weren’t just weird. They were completely deranged. Probably, the three of them were on some dangerous luxury drug that completely clouded their brains.

Adrian eyed me insistently.

What did he want to hear from me? That I had deliberately overheard them? Hardly.

“Let go of me!” I shouted a little louder.

“Let go of her, Adrian. We can’t do anything here,” the blond finally said.

At least someone who didn’t want to commit a complete crime.

“Don’t let her go now, Adrian,” the brown-haired guy demanded.

If I got out of here, I’d go straight to the Blairville police.

“Well, I can help her a little...” the brown haired continued. And there was that grin again. What an asshole.

I tried to wiggle out of this again, but Adrian wouldn’t let go. He looked at his buddy.

“No, Miles. Not here. They can smell us.”

They can smell us?

Okay, whatever they had taken, it had to have been something very strong.

This Miles touched my wrist with his oddly cold hand, but the blond pulled it away. “You don’t want to do that, Miles.”

And then I saw Miles’s eyes. They were glowing. Red.

My heart stopped, and I started to wiggle, to which Adrian held me even tighter.

“Damn it, Miles!”

The blond pulled him back completely.

“You’re right, she does smell a lot stronger than the others...” Miles murmured slightly absently, then backed up even further and squinted his eyes.

Adrian looked back at me and fixated my gaze.

“You’re not going to...” the blond inquired, confused.

“She’s witnessed too much.”

He looked at me more closely and I suddenly felt warm.

My skin started to tingle. Why was I suddenly so hot?

“What are you going to do?” I asked, and the fear seemed to fight its way up again.

His eyes seemed to pierce me. Those deep dark eyes... Until they suddenly turned reddish. Like Miles’, except fine veins were added, stretching around his eyes to his cheeks and temples.

I flinched and stared at him. So, he did. His irises were still partially brown, but the individual fibers were slowly turning reddish.

I had to be hallucinating. Maybe I had gotten too much of the sun... Or I was already fantasizing in my adrenaline rush.

I had never seen anything so beautiful. Fascinating and scary at the same time, like a deep blood-red sea whose black bottom drew me to it.

Suddenly, a door at the end of the corridor burst open and a group of students poured out.

Adrian backed away from me and turned his back as if nothing had ever happened.

His buddies did the same, and eventually they disappeared together around the corner from where I had overheard them earlier.

I remained standing. Still motionless.

What in the world had just happened? What had happened to his eyes? And what had the three of them been talking about that I hadn’t been allowed to overhear? Something those rich snobs had screwed up? Were they perhaps up to something?