The administrative area of the history building was quiet, and he hadn't expected to run into anyone, let alone Stacy Guen, the head of the history department, and Fred Meyers, the dean of the entire college. They were both seated in the small waiting area outside the cluster of professor offices. Alarm bells went off in his mind.
He tended to keep his extra senses locked down while around lots of people, like on campus, because that much information about the world around him usually did one of two things, made it harder to pass as fully human as his body compensated for the information by getting closer to his vampire side, or got really disorientating.
Carefully, he stretched out his senses, hoping the two of them were alone. He didn't detect anyone else, and it was pretty hard to hide from a vampire. Even with Nikolai's impressive invisibility spell, Doc still usually had a vague sense that someone else was present, though that could have been their pack bond interfering with Nikolai's spell.
He was almost on top of them when Stacy glanced his direction. Her heart skipped a beat and her pulse raced in surprise, though she managed to look only slightly startled. Fred didn't react as strongly. Doc reined in his powers a bit, not wanting to freak Stacy out if she were unusually sensitive. Some people were.
"Roy." She and Frank stood. The administration never used his nickname and sometimes it was weird to hear his given name, he had gotten so used to everyone calling him Doc.
"Hello, Stacy. Frank." He tried to keep his voice casual, as if he had no reason to be worried about their visit.
"Do you have a few minutes?" Frank asked, though it wasn't really a question coming from the dean.
"Of course." Doc gestured to his office, which he unlocked. He dropped his bag onto his desk and leaned against the wall. "What can I do for you?"
"Um," Stacy traded a glance with Frank, her breathing elevated. Frank's eyes were dilated, too. They were both nervous. That didn't bode well.
Frank sighed. "Roy, we've had a complaint from the community."
Doc arched an eyebrow. He could guess who, he just hoped it hadn't been anything close to the truth. Of course, if the Andersons had accused him of being a vampire, the sunbeam he currently stood in from the office window might cast some doubt on that. He suspected if the Andersons had gone that far, Stacy and Frank wouldn't be here confronting him alone. He hoped.
"A complaint?" He prompted when they didn't continue.
"They said you're not human. That you're a mage," Stacy answered words coming out in a rush.
He couldn't help the relieved breath that escaped his lips. Mage he could deal with. He'd been half afraid they would have used Sofia against him. That might have been awkward, but probably survivable. This was both easier and harder to deal with. At least the Andersons hadn't tried to out him as a vampire, they probably were still afraid of him.
"A mage?" He arched an eyebrow, putting as much disbelief in his voice as he could manage.
"Yes."
"Okay?" He shrugged. "Do you want me to deny it? Do you want me to protest? What are you looking for?"
"Well, of course you deny it," Frank said, though Doc hadn't actually denied anything. "But we'll have to suspend you while we conduct an investigation."
"An investigation?" Fortunately, Doc's current identity would hold up to a pretty extensive check if an investigation only checked paper trails. If they started talking to people who might know him, things would eventually crack open. He could be long gone by that point, but that was less than ideal.
"Yes. We can't have a mage teaching at our school."
Doc laughed. "I'm pretty sure there isn't anything in the handbook that says it's illegal."
Frank and Stacy traded a glance. Doc was right, he knew it. They didn't actually have much legal ground to stand on, if Doc was willing to put up with whatever process they invented. Perhaps they'd been counting on him cutting and running? Of course, if they decided he was a mage, Doc had no legal ground to stand on at all.
"You've both known me what, five years now?" He thought it had been five years. "Does anything about the last five years make you think I'm a magic user?"
They both shook their heads.
"How are you going to investigate? Attack me with magic and see if I defend myself?" He crossed his arms and tried not to glare too hard at them.
"Well, your background..."
Doc cut Frank off. "I passed a background check when I was hired. Nothing has changed. What makes you think you'd find anything new?"
They traded another uneasy glance. Clearly this wasn't going the way they had expected, or been led to expect.
"Let me explain something to you. I'm betting your information comes from some rather prominently rich members of our community, potentially even donors to the college?"
Frank and Stacy's uneasy glances were getting almost comical, but he could tell he'd struck the right nerve.
"I'm not going to name any names, but we all know who I'm talking about. They don't like me. They're trying to use you to get to me. I'm going to tell you why they don't like me, and you can take that information as you will. I have something they want." He stretched his arms out so his beaded cuffs were visible, hoping they would take the hint that the cuffs were what the Andersons were after. He had no doubt if they could get their hands on the magical artifact that did actually allow him to cast magic when he hadn't recently ingested mage blood, they would be ecstatic. "Family heirloom." He made it more obvious. "I've been unwilling to give in to their demands, so
