by Zara Zenia
“Go get help!” I shouted over my shoulder and immediately ducked to my knees to help the convulsing Boris.
His eyes closed and he began to roar, not with a human growl but with a bear one.
The apron split in half. The buttons of Boris’ shirt popped off, one by one. His shirt and pants tore. Tufts of black hair began to sprout from underneath his split open clothing.
His neck became beastly. His dark eyes turned to coal and his jaw line became grizzly, exposing dagger sharpened jagged teeth.
I stared at him in utter bafflement. I had never seen Boris exhibit this kind of behavior before. I had no idea what kind of spell he was under, if anything. I had no idea if there was a connection to his previous illness. I was dumbfounded by what I saw.
Boris’ eyes rolled back in his head one last time and then his eyelids clamped shut like a tomb sealing.
“Are the medics almost here?” Marina cried over her shoulder, yelling at the crowd of students witnessing the spectacle.
“Someone is going to get them,” a lanky male student said. His eyes were rounded in shock and his face was as white as a ghost.
I glanced at Marina. “They should be here soon.”
“Boris?” I asked, attempting to see if he would be responsive in any capacity.
His eyes remained shut tight. He was breathing, but he appeared to be unconscious. I reached out and touched his thick, furry arm.
“Don’t touch him!” Marina exclaimed. “He could be infected!”
I looked at her, unwilling to believe something like that. “Infected with what?”
She looked as bewildered as I felt. “I don’t know…” She cast Boris a sympathetic, yet wary glance and stood up.
“Out of the way.” The ward of medics came rushing through with a stretcher big enough to hold a bear and sturdy enough to equip for the massive weight.
The cluster of students began to part, leaving a path of room for the paramedics to get to Boris and give him the medical attention he desperately needed.
“He’s not moving,” I said. “I don’t think he’s conscious.”
“What happened to him?” a female nurse asked as she peered up at me expectantly
I exchanged a look with Marina. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. He was acting all nervous. He was pacing around and wringing his hands and stuff. He looked a little ashen and he was kind of sweaty right before he collapsed.”
I looked at Marina for validation. “That’s right,” she agreed with a nod to the nurse. “We didn’t see anything else happening before that though.”
The team of medics began lifting Boris with gloved hands and grunts of endurance. They strapped the delirious bear onto the stretcher and began wheeling him out, but not before hooking him up to IV’s and pushing an oxygen mask over his face.
After a few moments, the chaos had leveled out. It was dangerously quiet in the room. No one knew what to say or how to react to that turmoil. It seemed to have dissipated as quickly as it had arrived.
“Let’s get out of here,” Marina whispered. Her eyes darted around the dining hall has if she was shell shocked and paranoid.
“Good idea.” I breathed out a sigh to relieve some of the stress.
When I took Marina’s hand to maneuver her through the crowd that had formed, I noticed with regret that her hands were still shaking. When we walked through the now scattering herd of people, I began to notice that there were more than a handful of students who were hacking, coughing, sputtering and sniffling.
“Do you hear that?” I shot Marina a guarded glance.
“Yes.” She appeared to be even more skeptical now. “I want to hold my breath.”
“We are almost to the door,” I said. “Then we can relax.”
Marina nodded, but I could tell that she was still rattled in fear from what the spectacle that we had just witnessed. I would have to distract her and lift her spirits after that. We were in dire need to set the reset button with a breather outside.
6
Marina
A few days later, early in the evening, Daniel and I walked along a hiking trail away from the campus, but it was still near enough that we were within the perimeter of the school itself.
I glanced at Daniel, checking on him. The sun was still up, so I knew it had to be bothering him. I couldn’t believe he’d asked me to go hiking before the sunset, it was really sweet of him to want to do something like this with me, considering how much I knew it had to hurt. We walked hand in hand. Our fingers were interlocked affectionately. I relished in the comfort of the masculinity of his touch on my skin, even if his hands were cold. He couldn’t help it. He was a vampire. That was just part of his wiring, in the structure of his DNA.
I smiled and let out a contented sigh as I observed the blond strands of his hair glistening in the sun. They almost had red hints to it, as if highlighted directly from the exposed rays of early evening sunbeams themselves.
“I’m so happy that the snow is almost melted,” I commented.
Daniel looked at me and gave me a charming smile. The muscles in his biceps bulged and constricted as he attempted to push himself up on a rock and glanced out over the school. We weren’t in a mountainous region of upstate New York, but it had enough enjoyable rolling hills for us to frolic around and hike across.
“I don’t mind so much, the temperature doesn’t bother me like it does some.,” he said with a zesty grin that made my heart pound. He shot a wary glance up at the sky. “The sun on the other hand is a different story, but I’ll survive.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “We can go back if you want, I know it has to be stinging you terribly.”
“It’s not so bad. I’ve got sunblock on all the exposed bits, and it’s shady here.” He waved his hand dismissively, but I could tell that it was worse than he let on.
I was elated to be spending so many outings with each of my guys. Daniel in particular, because I worried about him with Carlotta being on the loose. Daniel was a vampire with a purpose driven life going full steam ahead for him. He was the most motivated guy I had ever met.
His ultimate goal was to be the first vampire to join the police force with the NYPD. He had generations of family members who had served, and he couldn’t wait to jump at the chance to put himself right into the action.
“At least we don’t have to trudge through snow on the paths. We can actually see the paths now,” he observed, pulling me up onto the rock with him.
“Ha,” I said and laughed along with him. “Good point. I thought if I had to see any more snow, I was going to die.”
Daniel looped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. He grazed his lips across my neck and then to my lips and kissed me. His eyes sparkled playfully as he grinned at me. “Don’t die.”
I smiled. “I won’t.” My thoughts turned to what was going on down at the campus, with a bunch more students showing signs of illness. I grew quiet and my smile faded.
“What’s the matter, babe?” Daniel asked, drawing my attention back to him.
“I was just thinking about spring” I shared my thoughts. “With spring comes sickness and it seems like a bunch of students and the staff have caught a bug or something. I’m not sure if it’s the flu though.” My frown deepened. “I was pretty freaked out when Boris went haywire in the cafeteria the other day.”
“Yeah.” Daniel nodded, a look of bewilderment on his face. “I didn’t see it happen, but I heard about it.”
“It was horrible,” I recounted. “Colin and I were there. Some of the students looked really upset afterwards.”
“I’ll bet,” Daniel said, nodding in agreement.
“Do you know anyone else that’s sick?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Not personally,” he said, shaking of his head. He squinted and looked out at the setting sun. He glanced up at the darkening sky of twilight. “I’ve seen people walking around wearing face masks, though.”
“It’s so bizarre…”
I trailed off. “I just don’t see what could be causing the illness. It seems like it’s spreading quickly too.”
“I have only met a few vampires who have ever experienced a magical illness,” Daniel said, seemingly lost in thought. “I don’t think that vampires are capable of catching sickness and diseases from humans. Remember last semester and how Carlotta manipulated a witch to help her murder supernaturals?” Daniel looked at me and made a bitter face.
“How could I forget? It still creeps me out that she’s still out there,” I said and felt a shudder run up and down my spine. “I’m always worrying about you, because of her. I know from what she said to Vlad that time at the party, that she has a particular hatred for vampires and with you being one, I worry about her coming back.”
Daniel, pulled me closer. “I’m fine, babe. She’s not gonna hurt me.” I lift up on my toes and kiss him. “Good.” I smile and then consider what he was saying before I got sidetracked. “So you think someone is manipulating a witch or wizard’s magic to cause this?” “Someone, or maybe just some pissed off witch or wizard, but that would suck.”
I nodded. “I think you’re right. It’s got to be a magical illness caused by a witch or wizard. Whenever my mom caught a cold or something, I never got it after her, and everything I’ve read says supernatural beings are basically immune to human viruses, so it stands to reason that it has to be a magical illness.”
Daniel looked down at me in his arms as if he was inspecting me.
“You aren’t sick now, are you?” he asked.
I shook my head vigorously. “Not that I know of. You?”
“Clean as a whistle,” he said with a fatigued chuckle.
“The sun is still going to be up for a little bit, do you want to go further into the pines?” I suggested, pointing at the edge of the tree line. “There’s an alternate path that forks and goes further into the woods. I’ll have to rely on you to get us back out though once the sun goes down fully. My eyesight isn’t as good as yours.”
I noticed Daniel’s tensed shoulders instantly relax at my proposal and I knew that he’d been exposed to the sun for longer than he should have been.
“That would be great, actually.” He jumped down from the rock and then lifted me off and set me down next to him easily.
I smiled, taking his hand. “I know it’s hard for you to be exposed for too long.”
“Well, I’m not gonna lie, babe, it was starting to sting, I think the sunblock was wearing off.” He chuckled. “Come on, let’s get under the canopy of trees.”
As we walked, I asked, “When you knew the vampires who had a magical illnesses, did they ever get better?” I held my breath, hoping he wouldn’t tell me that they died or something.
“They did recover,” he said with a nod. “Most of them claimed witchcraft was involved.”
“Were they ever able to prove it?” I asked with a frown. I had to wonder if this was Carlotta again, or if there was some other deranged witch or wizard out to destroy the supernatural community.
Daniel shook his head. “Unfortunately, no, but Hunters were suspected.”
We walked closer to the perimeter of the woods, but we maintained the course and diligently kept shuffling along on the trail.
I didn’t want to get lost deep into the forest, especially since I didn’t know this particular path well. Though it probably wouldn’t matter. With Daniel’s vampire eyesight, he’d have us back on the right path and out of the woods in no time. Besides, I knew that it probably just circled around. Either way, I probably wouldn’t venture into the woods without one of the guys or a friend to accompany me anyway.
“It just makes me think,” I said.
Daniel gave me a curious glance. “What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “What kind of witch or wizard would want to infect a bunch of supernatural students? It seems counter-intuitive”
“I’m not sure,” Daniel said. “But you make a good point. It’s uncharacteristic.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. Something about that concept just doesn’t sit well with me. Witches and wizards aren’t normally so willing to destroy their own.”
I frowned and looked down at the damp soil under our boots, trying to concentrate on a viable explanation but I kept coming up empty on reasons for a witch or wizard to be acting of their own volition.
“I suppose you’re right,” Daniel agreed. He was looking at the ground and scrutinizing his steps. “But when we don’t have anyone else to blame right now…”
“I don’t believe that a witch or wizard student would risk losing everything in order to infect their fellow students with a weird sickness.” I glanced at Daniel for support. “I mean, what benefit would they stand to gain in that circumstance?”
Daniel’s eyes knitted in concentration. “I really can’t think of anything.” He ended on an innocent chuckle.
I shook my head. “Me either.”
“It’s crazy,” Daniel said.
After a few more minutes of walking, I said, “I hope that we don’t get it, whatever it is.” My heart pounded and it was more from anxiety and stress over the situation than the exertion from the hike itself.
Daniel roped his arm around my waist and hugged me tight to his body. “I’ll keep you safe, babe.” He kissed the top of my head.
I lifted my chin and met his gaze with a grin. “Thank you. My hero.”
He scoffed playfully. “I’m hardly a hero.”
“You will be a hero when you’re the first vampire to make the cut for the NYPD.”
Daniel crossed his fingers. “Here’s to hoping you’re right.”
“Your dreams will come true,” I said and hoped that my confidence in him would reach him on a spiritual level. I wanted him to have that optimism to cling to in times of doubt.
“If I don’t get that illness,” Daniel laughed cynically.
My stomach did a flip of nervousness. “Going back to Carlotta—”
“Babe.” Daniel frowned and held up his hand. “She’s gone. You shouldn’t worry about her.”
“She’s not gone, Daniel,” I protested. “She’s still out there. What if it’s her?”
“But no one has seen her, so she’s not here right now,” he reasoned.
I knew that he was just trying to cheer me up, but I still didn’t feel any extra relief from his words. Carlotta was a snake in the grass, just waiting on her perfect time to strike at her innocent and vulnerable victims.
“I really hate thinking about her, about how she almost took you from us,” he shook his head, “Too many bad memories, I just don’t like to revisit them.” “Bad memories for us all,” I added, “but I’m not going to delude myself into thinking she’s gone forever. I can’t. She tried to kill me, and I’m afraid she’ll try to kill you. I’d rather be on my guard when it comes to her.”
“Yeah, I guess so. She did manipulate Jacob last year,” Daniel. “So I guess, it could be her.”
I looked at him and acknowledged his revelation with an enthusiastic nod. “Exactly. Don’t you think she’s capable of pulling a stunt like that again?”
“Do you really think she would be that stupid to dig into her same ole’ bag of tricks as last year?” Daniel asked.
I contemplated and felt disheartened because I just wanted someone to blame. Carlotta seemed like the easiest suspect to paint in the limelight.
“I suppose she is too smart for that.” Admitting her to be anything other than a criminal left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Of course, that doesn’t mean she’s innocent either,” Daniel said.
“We will just have to find some way to prove it,” I said.
“Prove that she is manipulating a witch or wizard into attacking their own?” I asked.
“Either a witch, or wizard or someone else with supernatural talents,” Daniel said.
A chill washed over me and sent a blanket of conflict crashing over me like an intensely cold wave. I didn’t want to even fatho
m the idea of an innocent student being master manipulated in such a foul way, but at the same time, I couldn’t rule it out either.
Carlotta had turned our school upside down last semester. We were still reeling from the effects of her string of disastrous terror, and it seemed awfully coincidental that things would be derailing around the campus this early on into the semester.
“Maybe we can find out how to stop the infection before it devastates the school,” I said and looked at Daniel, trying to absorb some of his tranquil energy into my own vibration sector.
There was a flash of eagerness in his eyes, but it quickly faded into resistance. “For now, I think we should stay away from those who are infected.”
I felt disappointed in his answer, even though deep in my heart, I knew that he was right. We had reason to suspect foul play, but until we were able to uncover any evidence to support the claim, there was nothing we could really do about it for now.
7
Vlad
I had been feeling bad about what had happened to Boris in the dining hall, and I was actually harboring a little guilt that I hadn’t gone to visit him in the infirmary yet. It had been a few days, but in my defense, I had been busy.
Rugby practices were kicking my ass, and I was just trying to get through my classes without blowing a stress gasket in my head.
I trudged down the hallway toward the medical clinic after classes one afternoon. I didn’t have rugby practice on this particular day, so I figured if I was going to go and visit Boris, now was the time to do it.
The poor old sap. He was probably relishing in the free time. I grinned as I imagined him lying in the hospital bed with his feet propped up, sipping on a lemonade or something and watching hours on end of television.
I would have to tease him about milking the illness and telling him to get his ass back to work. It would be all in good fun. Boris and I were tight. He got me.
I knew that he liked me, and I had to count myself lucky because he sometimes grumbled about the rather obnoxious students. Sometimes I knew he had begrudging behavior about how hard they worked him here at the school, almost as if he was drilled into the ground and pushed to the brink beyond his limit. I respected him. He had a tough job, and to be honest, the guy needed the rest and relaxation more than any of us combined.