Chapter 4 Roommate From Hell

POV: Carly

Eyes closed and mind focused, Carly chanted the newest spell from her grimoire.

Her most prized possession.

The book had been passed down through generations of McPherson witches, gifted to Carly by her mother on her first day at Black River Academy. It wasn't just a family heirloom. It was a living record of every McPherson witch who came before her and in her senior seminar class it was practically a required textbook.

Being a McPherson witch had its ups and downs. The biggest perk was the respect. The resources. The way doors opened just from the name alone. Carly's mom had been the supreme of her coven during her own time at the academy. So had her grandmother. And her grandmother before that. It was tradition. Carly was an only child which meant the torch was hers and hers alone until she had a child of her own.

Everything about her life had been mapped out before she ever had a say in it. No exceptions. No complaints tolerated.

She pushed that thought down and kept chanting.

The candle flames climbed higher with her voice. She was working on a severing spell, testing it on a ball of rope coiled in the center of the floor. The objective was simple enough. Undo the rope without touching it. In practice it was proving to be significantly harder than the grimoire made it sound.

Her phone buzzed against the desk and the rope dropped. Every candle went dark at once.

"Dammit."

She grabbed the phone. Tommy. Asking if she was coming to a party tonight.

Carly chewed her lip and reread the message twice.

It wasn't that she didn't want to see him. She always wanted to see him. But a party was the last thing her brain could handle right now. The anxiety about everything on her plate was already sitting heavy on her chest and being surrounded by a room full of loud people was not going to help.

She was halfway through typing a response when the bedroom door swung open.

Carly looked up expecting Whitney.

It was not Whitney.

A tall brunette backed into the room hauling multiple suitcases, leather jacket, black skinny jeans, heeled boots and cherry red lips that had absolutely nothing to do with the yoga pants and camisole Carly was currently sitting on the floor in.

Both girls stared at each other.

The brunette spoke first. "Degrassi Hall, room 314?"

Carly blinked. "Yes but I think you have the wrong-"

"Then I'm in the right room." She pushed past Carly toward the empty bed like she owned it.

Carly slowly stood up from the floor.

Not only was this girl a complete surprise but she already had the worst attitude Carly had encountered since the start of term and she had met a lot of people in the past week.

She took a breath. Steady. Calm. Do not set her on fire.

"Excuse me." Carly turned around. "I didn't get any notification about a new roommate."

"Well believe it sweetie." The brunette raised both hands dramatically. "Here I am. My name is Katy by the way."

"Carly." She crossed her arms. "Our other roommate Whitney will be back soon."

Katy dropped her hands. "Oh goodie. So instead of the single room I requested I get not one but two roommates. How lucky am I."

"I'm not exactly thrilled about being ambushed either so please, hold your enthusiasm."

Katy rolled her eyes and started unzipping a bag.

Carly straightened up. "And just so you're aware, I'm the leader of our coven. So even though you've made quite the first impression it's still my responsibility to show you how things work around here. First things first-"

Katy burst out laughing.

Full, hysterical, completely unashamed laughter that bounced off every wall in the room.

Carly's arms tightened across her chest. "What exactly is funny?"

Katy pressed her lips together trying to compose herself. "Sorry, sorry. It's just. The fact that you'd insult me enough to assume I'm a witch is pretty damn funny. As if I'd ever be caught dead being one of those snobbish prudes." She paused. "No offense."

Carly's eye twitched. "How am I not supposed to take offense to that?"

"It's called having a sense of humor."

"It's called being blatantly disrespectful." Carly snapped and watched the amusement flicker off Katy's face for half a second.

Then recognition replaced it.

"Wait." Katy tilted her head. "Carly. You're Carly McPherson." She said it like she was confirming something she already suspected. "Not a stalker I promise. You can't exactly live in Black River Falls without knowing the basics. I heard there was a McPherson witch at the academy." She gestured between them. "Lucky me, I guess."

Carly ignored the fake praise. "All right. So you know about me. Saves the introductions. If you're not a witch then what are you?"

Katy's mouth curved into a slow smirk. She walked over to the end of her bed and crouched down in front of the largest suitcase.

"More of the undead type." She said it low and suggestive. "If you know what I mean."

Carly's ears perked. Her whole body went still.

Then Katy unzipped the bag and pulled out a small cooler, popping the lid open to reveal rows of water bottles filled with dark red liquid, stacked neatly on top of each other.

The smell hit Carly before her brain fully processed what she was looking at.

She stumbled back against the wooden door with a sharp scream ripping out of her throat.

Blood. Bottled. Organized. Sitting on her floor like it was a perfectly normal thing to unpack.

A vampire. Her new roommate was an actual vampire.

Carly didn't know whether to scream again or throw up. Possibly both. Her face had drained of every ounce of color as her eyes stayed locked on the dark red liquid sloshing in each bottle. She had never seen that much blood in one place in her entire life and now she was apparently expected to sleep three feet away from a cooler full of it.

She looked up.

Katy was leaning against the bed frame twirling a strand of hair between her fingers watching her with pure entertainment.

"Hope you're not squeamish, roomie."

Carly's eyes dropped one more time to the grimoire sitting open on the floor between them.

Katy's gaze followed hers and landed on the book. The amusement on her face shifted. Just slightly. Her eyes moved over the worn cover and the handwritten pages with something that looked less like mockery and more like actual curiosity. Like she recognized what she was looking at and it surprised her.

It lasted maybe two seconds before her smirk was back.

But Carly caught it.

She filed it away without knowing why and then her feet made the decision for her, carrying her straight out the door and down the hall at a full walk before she even registered she was barefoot.

She was probably being dramatic.

She did not care even a little bit.

Degrassi Hall was primarily a witch dormitory. In four years of attending Black River Academy every room had always been assigned within the same faction. This was an obvious misunderstanding and it needed to be fixed immediately.

She slammed her palm on the reception bell outside the Headmistress' office four times in a row.

The receptionist appeared with tired eyes and told her to take a seat and wait.

Carly hated waiting. She sat down in the first chair by the office door, crossed one leg over the other, arms folded over her chest, foot bouncing against the floor.

And then she realized she was not alone.

Niko Monroeson was sitting one chair away from her.

He had apparently been there the entire time, watching her spiral in real time, sketchbook resting in his lap and that signature smirk already in place.

The embarrassing heat rushed up her neck and into her face before she could stop it.

Of course. Of course it was him.

She stared straight ahead at the wall and said nothing.

Author's Note:

A vampire roommate with a cooler full of blood bottles and Niko Monroeson front row to her whole meltdown. Carly McPherson is NOT having a good day. Drop a like and tell me in the comments, what do you think of Katy? Is she trouble or is there more to her than meets the eye? Add us to your library so you don't miss what happens next!