"The library?"
She bristled. "I can't ever get comfy there. I'm always afraid of being told to hush. Want to come back to my apartment?"
He looked totally stunned by her offer. "Really?"
"Sure. I mean, I don't usually bite or anything."
He laughed. "Yeah, me either." He took two steps off with her, then turned to the men trailing them. "We are just going to her place, okay? Why don't you guys go get a doughnut or something?"
They didn't acknowledge him in the least.
Kat laughed.
Cassandra led the way to the students' parking lot and then gave Chris directions to her apartment. "See you there?"
He nodded and made his way toward a red Hummer.
Cassandra dashed to her gray Mercedes, where Kat was waiting in the driver's seat. They headed home, while Cassandra hoped Chris didn't wait too long or, worse, change his mind.
Not until she had a chance to search his backpack, anyway.
It took her two hours of boring Beowulf study and a pot of coffee before Chris left her alone with his backpack while he went to the bathroom. Kat had long since retired to her bedroom, claiming the dead language and Chris's enthusiasm for it was giving her a migraine.
As soon as Chris vanished, Cassandra went searching.
Luckily, it didn't take long to find what she was looking for...
She found the day planner in his backpack where she had seen it earlier. The binder of it was hand-tooled leather with a strange emblem on the front: a double bow and arrow that was tilted up with the arrow pointing to the right.
Just like the one she had seen on Wulf's shoulder in her dream...
She ran her hand over the brown leather, then opened it to find that everything was written in Runic. The language was similar to Old English, but she couldn't read it.
Old Norse, perhaps?
"What are you doing?"
She jumped at Chris's sharp question. It took a few seconds for her to think of anything to say that wouldn't make him even more suspicious. "You're one of those gamers, aren't you?"
His blue gaze narrowed on her and turned sharp. "What are you talking about?"
"I... um, I went to this site called Dark-Hunter and found all these teasers about a book series and game. Since I had seen your book earlier, I was wondering if you were one of the members who plays there."
She could tell he was searching his mind and her face to see what, if anything, he should say.
"Yeah, my friend Nick runs the site," he said after a long pause. "We have a lot of interesting people who play there."
"I saw that. Do you have one of those names like Hellion or Rogue that you play under?"
He came forward and took the day planner from her. "No, I just use 'Chris.' "
"Ah. So what goes on in the private areas?"
"Nothing," he said a little too fast. "Just a bunch of us BSing each other."
"Then why is it private?"
"It just is." He grabbed the book from her hand and shoved it back into his backpack. "Look, I have to go now. Good luck on the test."
Cassandra wanted to stop him and ask more questions, but it was painfully obvious he had no intention of letting her know anything else about them or him.
"Thanks, Chris. I appreciate the help."
He nodded and made a hasty exit.
Alone in her kitchen, Cassandra sat in the chair, chewing her thumbnail as she debated how to proceed. She thought about tailing Chris to his house, but that wouldn't do much good. No doubt his bodyguards would catch her, even with Kat's cockamamie driving.
Getting up, she went to the laptop in her room and booted it up.
Okay, the Dark-Hunter site was designed as if the Dark-Hunters were characters in a book. Most people would accept that, but what if she reviewed it again from the angle that nothing on the site was false?
She'd spent her life in hiding and one thing she had learned... the best place to hide was out in the open. People had a tendency to not see what was right before them.
And even if they saw it, they came up with ways to explain it away. They would say it was a figment of then-imagination or youthful pranks.
No doubt the Dark-Hunters thought the same thing. After all, in this modern world where everyone knew about vampires and demons and thought them a Hollywood myth, they wouldn't even necessarily have to hide. Most people would write them off as eccentrics.
She watched the intro to the site, then switched to the profile pages of the individual Hunters who were listed.
There was one there for a character named Wulf Tryggvason whose Squire was named Chris Eriksson. Supposedly, Wulf was a Viking warrior who had been cursed...
Cassandra copied Wulf's name and then searched the Nillstrom-an Old Norse legend-and-history search engine.
"Bingo," she whispered as several entries popped up.
Born of a Christian mother from Gaul and a Norse father, Wulf Tryggvason had been a renowned adventurer and raider of the mid-eighth century whose death was unrecorded. In fact, it only said that he had vanished one day after he had won a battle against a Mercian warlord who had been trying to kill him. Popular belief had it that one of the warlord's sons had vengefully slain him that night.
Cassandra heard her bedroom door open. Looking up, she saw Kat standing in the doorway.
"You busy?" Kat asked.
"I was just doing some more research."
"Ah." Kat moved forward to read over her shoulder. " 'Wulf Tryggvason. Pirate, risk-taker, and warrior, he fought his way across Europe, hiring himself out to both Christian and pagan alike. It was once written that his only loyalty was to his sword and to his brother Erik who traveled with him...' Interesting. You think this might be the guy you saw at the Inferno?"
"Maybe. You ever heard of him?"
"Not at all. You want me to ask Jimmy? He's all into Viking history."
Cassandra considered it for a second. Kat's friend was in the Society of Creative Anachronism and lived to study Viking culture.
But it wasn't Wulf's past that interested her at the moment. It was his present, and what she wanted most was a modern-day address for him.
"It's okay."
"You sure?'
"Yeah."
Kat nodded. "Fine then, I'll just head back to my room and finish my book. You want me to bring you something to munch on or drink?"
Cassandra smiled at the offer. "A soda would be great."
Kat vanished only to return a few minutes later with a Sprite. Cassandra thanked her, then went back to work while Kat left her alone.
Cassandra sipped her drink leisurely as she surfed. About an hour later, she was so tired, she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer.
Yawning, she checked the time. It was barely five-thirty. Even so, her eyelids were so heavy that she couldn't stay awake no matter how hard she tried.
She shut down her computer, then headed for bed to take a short nap.
She fell asleep the instant her head touched the pillow. Normally, Cassandra didn't dream much whenever she took an afternoon nap.
Today was completely different.
Today her dreams started almost as soon as she closed her eyes.
How strange...
But the oddest part of all was that her fantasy realm bore no resemblance to anything she'd ever dreamt before. Instead of her normal dreams of glamour or horror, this one was peaceful. Gentle. And it filled her with warm security.