Nexus [COMPLETE]

9. Domare

Author's Note: Lightly edited: 2/20/19

June 2013

It was a typical Thursday.

The new Trainees were getting the Nexus, which meant I had a whole day free. Naturally, I slept in, was starving when I woke up, and nearly took a bite out of one the nurses in the feeding room. Again, typical. I avoided my grandmother like the plague though, but it wasn't long before I ran into someone else that I'd have rather avoided: Alexander Devonshire.

"Good morning, Greyson."

"Devonshire," I greeted in monotone. "What do you want?"

"The Trainees got the Nexus today. The lists are already up. You going to go see?" he asked with a friendly smile. I didn't understand how he could remain so cheerful in the face of our circumstances.

Nodding, I brushed past him without another word and headed to legal. Fortunately, the halls were calm. As I neared the posting boards, I wondered if my matching percentage would ever break twelve percent--my record so far for a Nexus-bond. Grandmother would probably rejoice if it did, and I would despair. I had my heart set on avoiding this "arranged partnership" at all costs.

By the time I got to see the lists, the expected crowd had already dispersed, a fact that I appreciated. Electronic signs were suspended over one section of the hallway. There were the so-called "boards".

I appraised them quickly.

It appeared that all seventeen of the new trainees had been matched. Their names stood out in bright green lettering. I glared a bit at Winston DeBrock's name, before letting my eyes continue on down the list, stopping again momentarily on Michael's. On the board to the left, in striking red letters, were the names of the vampires who had been matched. It took me two anxious minutes to see that my name was, thankfully, nowhere to be seen. With a triumphant smile, I left the boards and wandered back to my room.

I was stopped, of course, by Lynn, my least favorite orderly from the medical department.

"They want you in the labs," she said, before hurrying away.

I groaned and spun around. This had Grandmother written all over it. Damn woman always got her way.

I soon wound up in Lieutenant Hobbs' office. He didn't look pleased to see me, but Grandmother did. She was propped neatly on the corner of the Hobbs' desk, amusement curling her thin lips upward. She wore her hair in a loose braid today with her bangs framing her face. Her eyes were locked on me and glittering with delight and mischief. This was Happy Hazel. She was in a great mood, which meant that my doom was inevitable. I plopped gracelessly onto a swivel-chair and pouted at her, waiting for her to declare my sentence.

"What?" I growled when a heavy silence filled the room.

"Have you seen the lists?" Hobbs asked nervously. The idiot always seemed terrified of me. He was a horrendous judge of character, in my opinion. Grandmother was far more terrifying than I could ever aspire to be, and he adored her.

"Yes."

Grandmother grinned, shamelessly flashing her fangs. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"You're matched, darling! Aren't you excited?"

I stiffened, the blood draining from my face as I gripped the chair arms for dear life. "Excuse me? I am not! I checked the lists. I wasn't on them."

Dismissively, she waved a hand. "Oh, they must not have updated them yet."

Panic crept its way into my veins. I was matched? I didn't want to be matched!