by Mia Archer
“You handled that masterfully back there,” Kendra said.
I wheeled on her. Looked her up and down. I’d heard all the stories about slayers. How they hunted down vampires.
There were also stories that they hunted witches. I wasn’t sure what to believe on that score. There were rumors that went both ways, and even the books in my mom’s shop didn’t seem to have any idea which was true.
Which meant Kendra was yet another woman on campus whose interest in me might’ve been nothing more than a ruse to get close enough to kill me.
I suppose that would explain why two cute girls had been showing so much interest in yours truly. It defied explanation otherwise.
“You didn’t handle anything well back there,” I said. “Threatening a vampire? What were you thinking?”
She held she hand out and a stake appeared. I was well aware that she could use that stake on me just as easily as she could on a vampire.
I’d die just as quickly as a vampire with a stake to the heart.
Okay, so maybe not quite as quickly as a vampire with a stake to the heart. All the books agreed that when they were staked they tended to undergo all the decomposition that’d been held back by their undead transformation.
Rapidly.
It wasn’t supposed to be a pretty sight. Better to blast them with magic and turn them to dust. The books all agreed it was a lot easier to clean up a vampire with a vacuum than with a mop and bucket.
“What are you going to do with that Kendra?” I asked, wary.
She looked down at the stake and then to me. She took a step towards me and I held a hand up. I didn’t take a step back though.
Because I was high on something. A feeling. Unlike anything I’d ever felt before.
I’d stood up to Ivy. Sure I hadn’t been in her home territory back at the sorority house this time which made it easier, but still.
I stood up to a powerful vampire. Managed to keep her from attacking through talking. It was a strange feeling, but I liked it.
It was almost like I had the confidence of the magic backing me up. Even though it still hadn’t come to me. Back there when I was being confronted by a potentially deadly vampire would’ve been a nice time for it to hit me though.
Damn it.
Kendra looked at me and then down to the stake in her hand. She blushed and it quickly disappeared behind her. When she brought her hand around again it was gone, but I knew it had to be hidden on her somewhere.
She could pull it out and use it at any moment.
It was a shame, really. Witches and slayers might’ve found common ground if we could trust each other for more than five minutes.
“Lisa,” she said, then paused to collect herself. “Surely you don’t believe those crazy stories? My people would never…”
“Tell that to the people in the Inquisition,” I spat. “Or Salem.”
She shook her head and laughed. Laughed! It was enough to make me want to hit her just as hard as I’d punched Ivy.
That had hurt. It had been like punching a brick wall. The move had the desired effect and she got off of me, though I’m not sure I wanted her off of me the more I thought about it, but my knees and palm were going to be sore for days.
“Surely you don’t think we were behind that?” she said.
“There’ve been stories,” I said. “I think it might be best if we parted here.”
We were in front of an elevator and it finally dinged. Opened onto several students staring into their phones. There was a window on the other side of the elevator that looked down on the big open area that ran through the center of the library.
Hopping into the elevator put the argument with Kendra on hold. I stared out into the library. Down to the main floor where people were coming and going. Busy with their studies or maybe meeting someone they were hoping to study more intimately later tonight after their regular study session was over.
People were going about their normal lives with no idea there were vampires walking campus.
Though after the surprise with Kendra I had to assume there were at least a few authorities who knew the big secret. The one the university didn’t exactly advertise on any of their flyers or PR stuff they sent out to potential students.
Come to Farnsworth University. Home of the biggest vampire party scene in the Midwest. Enter if you dare, because you might not make it out!
With PR like that they might as well change the name of the place to Fang U. Save a little money on ink.
I wasn’t really paying attention to anything going on down below, but then I saw someone I thought I recognized. I peered at a girl staring up at the elevator, but she was too distant to really tell who it was.
All I knew was she felt familiar, and I didn’t like it.
“What is it?” Kendra asked, coming up next to me.
I fixed her with a flat stare which was enough to get her to pull away. It felt nice having her sidling up so close to me, but I didn’t want her to think I wanted her there.
Besides, even with her getting up close and personal all I could think about was Ivy and how furious I was with her even as I couldn’t get her touch out of my head. It’d seemed so obvious that she was admitting guilt, but now I wasn’t so sure.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
“I saw that look. You saw something down there,” she whispered.
Her voice was low enough that the others sharing the elevator and staring at their phones wouldn’t hear her unless they were paying attention. The headphones, both wireless and wired, indicated none of them were listening in.
“It’s really nothing,” I said.
“Hey, are the two of you getting off the elevator or what?”
I wheeled around and saw a crowd of irritated students watching us. One of them was holding the door open. I blushed. We were holding the whole thing up.
Oops.
We quickly stepped off and I rounded the elevator bank and looked towards the spot where I’d seen that mysterious someone. I was sure it wasn’t Ivy.
Which could only mean one thing. Diana. She was the only other person I could think of who’d be staring at me so intently. Who’d even bother to track me down, for that matter.
I shivered.
“Show me where they were,” Kendra said.
I hesitated, but I was glad to have someone else with me who knew about the vampires. Sure she was a part of an organization that may or may not have been responsible for killing a lot of my people once upon a time, but she also killed vampires which meant I felt a hell of a lot safer with her than without.
For the moment.
I nodded and we silently walked over to where I’d seen the girl who I prayed wasn’t Diana. Oh magic. Why couldn’t you come to me in my moment of need?
What if it never came? What if I wasn’t worthy because I fell for a vampire?
We reached the spot and Kendra closed her eyes and seemed lost to the world.
“What are you…”
She held a hand up. I crossed my arms and I would’ve glared at her. The only problem was her eyes were closed so glaring wouldn’t have done a damn thing.
Her neutral expression turned to a frown. As though she was smelling something she didn’t care for. I wondered if that was some slayer thing, or if someone had crop dusted us and it hadn’t gotten to me yet.
She opened her eyes. Locked them with mine.
“There was a vampire standing here very recently,” she said.
“How do you know it was recently? It could’ve been Ivy or…”
“The scent wouldn’t have been this strong if it was Ivy. It breaks down fast,” she said.
“The scent?”
I tried to imagine a world where your superpower was being able to smell vampires. I decided that wasn’t a world I wanted to know any more about than I had to.
“The point is there was a vampire here,” she said. “This is very important. What was it doing when you saw it?”
“Um, staring up at the elevator like it was a can of spam and she couldn’t wait to tear it open and bite me?”
The frown deepened. “This isn’t good. You need to be somewhere safe. Now.”
It occurred to me that maybe she was doing all of this as some sort of vampire killer variant of the whole “Netflix and chill” phenomenon that had become a big thing with the kids my age.
So I’d heard, at least.
“So do you say that to all the girls?” I asked, smiling despite myself.
“I’m serious,” she said. “If there was a vampire here that wasn’t Ivy, and if she was staring at you that intently it means she was hunting. Are there any vampires you can think of other than Ivy who’d have reason to hunt you?”
My thoughts immediately went to Diana. She was the only other vampire on campus who’d have a reason to chase me. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms even though it’s not like it was all that cold in the library.
“I’m taking that as a yes,” she said. “Will you at least let me take you back to your dorm? You’d be safer at our place, we have a few slayers there, but…”
I looked up at her. Really looked at her. She seemed so sincere. Like she really did want to help. Like she really was worried.
That wasn’t the face of a person who spent her time hunting witches. Besides, I’d seen the way she glared at Ivy when she saw her on top of me.
None of that was what decided me though. No, the thing that decided me was looking up and around. The center of the library was a massive open space that ran all the way up to the top level. Each level had an open balcony on all sides that looked down on the main floor.
And up on the third level where I’d been having trouble concentrating while I waited for Kendra to show up? I saw someone staring down at me.
Ivy. No doubt who that was.
So I reached out and took Kendra’s arm. I suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to do something that would drive Ivy crazy. I couldn’t get back at her in the way I wanted, I didn’t have the power to do that, but I could stick in the stake and twist it in a different way.
I wondered if she could hear our conversation all the way up there on her perch.
“You know I think going to your house might be just the ticket,” I said. “Are they having a party there tonight? Could I maybe invite my roommate?”
22
Ivy
“What have you done?” I snarled.
I looked down at the scene before me. A pretty athletic girl who looked like she spent plenty of time in the gym was laid out on a table in the subbasement.
This was not doing wonders for my already bad mood. To come home from the library where I’d already run into a slayer and had Lisa deny me only to see this? Fury boiled inside me.
The sort of fury that put me in very real danger of violating Mother’s orders.
“Your worship,” Diana said.
She approached me hunched over with a sniveling look on her rat face that I despised. I despised everything about this pledge class. The three of them were the worst thing that had ever happened to this house.
I especially despised that look on Diana’s face because I had a good idea she was doing it to mock me. Though she stopped just short of being too obvious. It was…
Irritating.
Irritating? That didn’t begin to describe what they’d done. I was lucky to be alive after what Diana did in those woods. Mother’s words echoed in my mind.
Fix this.
The only problem was for the first time since I’d been in this house, the first time in decades, I didn’t know how to fix this.
Short of killing them, and that would be frowned on even if they were the bitches who’d started this whole mess.
“Cut the bullshit Diana,” I growled.
“Yes, of course Ivy,” she said, dialing the sniveling up to eleven.
I crossed my arms and eyed each of the pledges. Each turned away. I smiled. They might be incompetent, but at least they still knew their place.
“Now would any of you care to explain what this is?”
I kept my voice soft. Quiet. Full of menace. It was amazing how far a soft voice could go versus screaming and shouting. I’d learned that long before any of these pledges were born.
“It was Diana’s idea!” Elle shouted.
Diana turned to Elle and her fangs came out as her eyes flashed with a deep crimson glow. In an instant she moved.
Elle flinched away, but she needn’t worry. Diana was fast, but I was faster. I gripped her arm easily and held her in place, and yet she still tried to break free to attack her fellow pledge.
I couldn’t have that. Insubordination from a pledge? My own eyes heated with an angry glow and my fangs came out.
I might not be allowed to kill her, but she knew I could hurt her. Badly.
I shoved Diana and she flew across the room. Slammed against a wall. Any other wall on campus would’ve buckled under the impact, but we kept things nice and reinforced down here in the subbasement.
“Am I mistaken, or did you almost harm your friend who was about to tell me what you’ve done wrong, Diana?” I asked, again in that quiet voice.
Diana looked up at me with that crimson glow still in her eyes, but she was wise enough to stay quiet. she might be incompetent, she might be an idiot, but she was smart enough to know when she was in deep.
I’m sure the memory of my claws raking at her insides was still fresh enough that she didn’t want a repeat.
I turned and looked at the source of my irritation. The poor girl. Some kid out partying on her first few weeks at college. They’d probably picked her off the streets. Her eyes darted back and forth, wide with terror, but she wasn’t moving.
“What did you do to her?” I asked.
“I broke her C3 so she wouldn’t be able to move. She kept putting up a fight,” Jessica said.
“In plain English?” I replied. “You’re just a pre-med, so stop with that bullshit.”
“I snapped her neck and paralyzed her so she couldn’t escape,” Jessica replied.
“She was fighting a lot!” Elle said.
I buried my face in my hands and resisted the urge to rip Jessica’s heart out right where she stood. Any other time I might’ve thought what she’d done was clever, but right now it made me want to hurt one of them.
“Why do you even have her down here? This is unsanctioned,” I said.
“I thought you would approve!” Diana said.
You could hear a pin drop for all the noise they made as I stared at each of them in turn.
“I thought you might…”
“You didn’t think at all! This is still the first few weeks of class! Do you know what that means?”
I looked at each of them in turn. I figured it was time to give up on the pretense of being quiet and threatening. I was pissed off enough that it was time to do some screaming. It was the least these idiots deserved for their incompetence.
“I know what it means,” Diana said, a hint of defiance coming to her voice.
My eyes narrowed and she looked down, but that didn’t stop her from going right ahead with the idiotic logic that led her to this plan.
“There’s lots of freshmen coming in for the first time who have no idea what they’re doing. That means it’s easy pickings!”
“Easy pickings,” I said, my tone flat. “Easy pickings like the witch you killed? This is almost as bad! Taking someone out during the first few weeks means worried parents calling their precious baby and getting no response. That leads to manhunts. Candlelight vigils and interviews with this girl’s friends back home talking about what a good girl she was with her whole life ahead of her. Captain of the cheer squad, prom queen, all that stuff. Do you have any idea how much heat you just brought down on us? First you risk a war with the witches and now…”
Diana looked away. It was obvious she hadn’t thought her genius plan through at all. It was equally obvious she had far too much pri
de to admit she’d fucked up royally, which was about what I expected from her.
“You vamps are going to take care of this,” I said.
“Hey, don’t call us vamps,” Elle said. “You wouldn’t call your country a cunt, so…”
She trailed off as she noticed the murderous look on my face. Usually if we had a problem with one of our members we hung them out to dry for the local slayers to take care of. Throwing them scraps kept them from making a nuisance of themselves.
Slayers. My hands clenched and unclenched into clawed fists. Thinking of them only reminded me of Kendra and the humiliation at the library. It’d taken quick talking to convince that librarian to let me go, and then I come home to this?
No, a little vampire-on-vampire violence was just the ticket for my mood. The only thing saving them was Mother’s warning.
“I don’t want to hear about any more stupid plans like this, understood? You bring heat down on yourselves and you bring heat down on everyone.”
“So what if…”
“Shut up! The world doesn’t work like the movies. Humans are our prey, but humans have also hunted almost every one of their major predators to extinction with nothing but spears and fire, and now they have guns and atomic bombs. Got it?”
“Got it,” the pledges muttered in unison.
“What do we do about the girl?” Elle asked.
I looked to the girl. I almost felt pity for her. That was new, and I wasn’t sure I liked that feeling.
Some of my kind tried to pretend the humans were cattle. That we shouldn’t feel guilty about taking what we needed. That it was the natural order of things for us to hunt them. It was survival of the fittest, and humanity wasn’t quite at the top of the food chain like most thought.
I disagreed, to a point. The humans were food. The humans were one step below us on the food chain and we were their unnatural predator, but they weren’t quite cattle.
Cattle weren’t particularly intelligent. They weren’t sapient like the humans we hunted. They didn’t form bonds and social structures and civilization like humans. The only reason cows existed was because the humans bred them for the purpose of feeding, and we hadn’t done that in centuries.