Academy of Vampires (Fireblood Academy Book 1)

by Nexus Jones

  “I’m pretty much having trouble with…well everything.” I said in a moment of complete honesty

  “Memory not kicking back in?”

  “I mean, I think it actually’s starting to fade in a bit. But even before I lost my memory, I was allegedly bad at this stuff.” I said, chuckling grimly.

  I mean, it’s most likely true. I’ve never been good at science or any kind of equations. It might as well be a foreign language to me. I always envied people that could do math and science with such precision and ease.

  But that wasn’t me. And to be honest, I’ve never been much of a school person at all. Even before I started attending vampire school, I wasn’t any good at regular human school either.

  “No problem, I’m going to make you an expert at this by the time we’re done.” He said with conviction.

  I tried as hard as I could, but I just couldn’t see why I should hate Paul. I mean, I know that he definitely did something to me in my past that should cause me to not trust him at all. But here he is, being really nice to me and trying to help me pull my grade up in a class.

  I looked over at Isadora, and she shook her head in disapproval.

  Damn, she doesn’t like him at all. And she’s not giving him an inch to prove himself either.

  “What I want is to at least pass this class,” I said, “I don’t want to have to take it during the summer or repeating a year.”

  “Well then, let’s get studying.” He said, smiling and showing me his fangs for the first time.

  They were sharp and pointed, yet subtle. They weren’t as big as you’d expect a vampire to have like in the movies. But I’m sure he could rip my neck apart with them if he wanted to.

  I turn my book to chapter four. I could vaguely remember the earlier chapters, although not entirely well. But I was crunched for time, and I definitely didn’t want to have to retake this class again. So, I needed to figure out how to cram as much of this information in my head as quickly as possible.

  That’s what he’s here for.

  I look at the equations in the book, but they are a foreign language to me. I don’t even know where to begin.

  “These are….what are they?” I ask, putting my finger on an equation in the book and turning it to face Paul.

  “That’s an equation detailing the velocity of dragon energy.” He said

  “Dragon energy…right.” I said, trying to sound assured.

  “Want me to show you how to do it?” he said in his trademark sexy tone.

  “Yeah, please do.” I said, trying to keep my eyes off of him.

  He then pulled out his notebook and turned to a blank page where he began doodling some mathematical stuff that looked entirely unreal to me. He then tried to break it down as simple as he could.

  “The heat from the dragon’s spirit collides with the air at a maximum friction point. So you take the derivative of that and use it to find the amount of fairy-dust per gram of dragon heat. Then you use your conversion rates to figure out what speed it’s traveling at.” He said

  I had no idea what he said. I wanted to feel frustrated, but his face was the ultimate distraction. It’s hard to even concentrate when you’re being taught by a guy this hot.

  Wait, what am I doing?

  Focus Mira. Focus.

  I squinted at the problem intensely and tried my best to try to decipher it.

  He then did an example problem for me, of which I was completely and totally lost.

  I even asked Isadora for help. She wasn’t as good of a student as Paul, but perhaps she would be able to explain it better.

  But no. It did not work.

  I was still utterly lost.

  I felt like a complete and total moron.

  “Can I just drop this class?” I asked him, desperately

  “It’s a graduation requirement.” He responded to my dismay.

  I pushed my head into the book and wanted to scream, but of course you can’t do that in a library. A few tears of frustration escaped from my eyes, but I was strong enough to hold them in.

  I was totally in over my head.

  A light, feminine hand clasped on my shoulder.

  “You’ve worked hard enough for today.” Isadora said, “Come on let’s go back.”

  “But I have to learn this or else I’ll fail.”

  “I’m sure that won’t happen.” She said

  “You worked really hard. But we’ve just started. Let’s meet up again tomorrow.” Paul said

  Isadora looked at Paul with suspicion. She still wasn’t trusting him.

  I got up, and grabbed my belongings. But before departing, I wanted to thank Paul for giving me his time.

  “Thanks a lot. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.” I said

  I left with Isadora out of the library and headed back to my room.

  My head was still hurting from doing all of that complex thinking that made me want to jump off of a cliff. Like damn, are we doing rocket science here or something?

  I didn’t even feel like having any conversation at all with Isadora, so I just pushed my face into my pillow as soon as I reached the room.

  Both physically and mentally exhausted, I knew that I needed some sleep desperately. It would replenish my nerves and serve to give me a reprieve.

  And so my eyes closed.

  **************************

  Small red orbs gazed at me from the darkness, inviting me to come closer. I could feel myself being pulled in its direction, the magnetism causing me to take some steps forward.

  It was almost involuntary. Almost.

  I certainly was intrigued by whatever it was. But there was also a sense of fear lingering on my back.

  “Come closer.” It said

  Like a zombie, I took a few steps closer. My eyes widened and the hair on my arms stood up with every step I took.

  The closer I got, the more I could feel the danger start to build up. My heart accelerated. My fight-or-flight instincts warning me to get out of there.

  But I’m like a butterfly caught in a venus flytrap. It’s too late.

  “Closer.” The menacing red eyes said from the darkness.

  I take another step closer.

  I can feel the heat of whatever it is radiate on my body. It’s pair of red orbs grow shinier as I take a few more steps forward.

  My heart accelerates into overdrive. My body tells me to get the hell out of there. But my feet aren’t listening.

  I can hear it breathing. I hear it sniffing.

  “Thank you.” It said, bulleting towards me so fast I couldn’t make it out.

  And then….all I see is blackness.

  ************

  “Are you having nightmares?” Isadora said to me as she chewed cereal.

  “How’d you guess?” I said, grabbing a piece of bacon from my plate and putting it in my mouth to chew.

  Last night terrified me so much that I could barely even sleep, but I knew that it was important for me to get some food in my stomach, so I forced myself to eat something. The bacon here is pretty good. As a growing young vamp, I probably should eat it raw, but I still love it crispy. Nothing is worse than soggy bacon.

  To compensate, I drunk a cup filled nearly to the brim with blood to get my nutrients in for the day.

  “You were tossing and turning all last night. It sounded like you were crying for help, too.”

  I brushed my hair from the front of my face. I looked like a mess, and it’s clear that I had been tossing and turning all night. I woke up multiple times during the night and struggled to put myself back to sleep.

  That dream. I’ve had it before, and it keeps coming back. The beady red eyes. What do they mean? It always freaks me out. And, I always want to get out of there but my body keeps walking towards them in a trance.

  We all have nightmares from time to time. But that one just creeps me out much more than the rest for some reason. “Are you doing okay?” she asked, concerned

  “Yeah, I think I�
��m fine.” I said, taking a sip of blood

  “If you don’t pass a class, then it’s not the end of the world.”

  “No…it’s not that. That’s not what I’ve been having nightmares about.”

  “Oh, well then what is it?” she asked

  “I just keep having these nightmares about being in the darkness, and being attacked in an alley by some strange creature…I’m not sure if it’s human…or vampire…or what…”

  “So this has been recurrent?” she asked

  I nodded silently, taking another sip of the blood and trying to get my mind off of it.

  “But there’s nothing that we can do about it.”

  “Maybe you should see the school psychiatrist.”

  “Oh no…Definitely not.” I said, sternly.

  I hate psychiatrists. When I was a child, they had me strongly medicated because they believed that my aloofness was a sign of a mental illness. I’m quite confident that those medications messed me up internally and I’m still dealing with the lingering effects of it.

  Besides, they’re just nightmares. We all have them, and they don’t necessarily have to mean something bad.

  I have bigger issues to worry about, like finally being able to understand the coursework in my classes and not flunking out of the school.

  “So I heard your pathetic attempt at learning shadow physics was predictably disastrous.” I heard a cruel and shrill voice say.

  I didn’t even have to turn around. I knew exactly who it was.

  “What do you want Melinda?” I asked

  I was too tired for this shit.

  “Nothing major, just came to rub your face in it. I thought maybe things changed since the last time you left, but I was wrong. You’re still just as big of an idiot as before.” She said, snidely.

  “If you don’t leave me alone, I will rip your hair out of your head!” I said to her.

  I started getting stares from across the cafeteria. Everyone was starting to whisper, and I just knew right then that I was going to be the center of some new fresh gossip.

  But I didn’t care. The only thing I’m worried about right now is getting this asshole away from my table and being left alone.

  She gave me her trademark grin, and I wanted to just smack it off her face.

  “Well, just so you know, everyone knows that you’re an idiot and a moron. I mean, you couldn’t even do basic demonic vectors. I knew how to do that in middle school.” She said, laughing harshly.

  The anger started to build inside me. I mean, I was never the best student. I won’t lie about that.

  But I despised people treating me like I’m dumb, or that my lack of academic accomplishments justified treating me like I’m less than a person or undeserving of basic respect. There’s no justification for that. None.

  My memories begin to flash in front of my eyes like a movie.

  All the mean things she said about me. The time she stuffed me in a locker. The time she called me a “cunt” in front of the entire gym class. The time she conspired to have my photo photoshopped on a pig’s body for the yearbook.

  After a second, I break out of my gaze. The room around me blurs back into focus, and I feel like I’ve recaptured my bearings.

  This bitch. All the things she did to me that I wiped away from my memory, and now I’m slowly regaining.

  Seeing all this again just makes me angry. I want to pick up my plate and smash it against her forehead, making her gush blood.

  Oh wait, don’t do that. I don’t want to go to supernatural jail. It’s like regular human jail, but much worse. You don’t even want to know the stories that have come out of there.

  So I won’t hurt her….yet.

  I girt my teeth, and I have a look of rage across my face. Nostrils snarled, eyebrows furrowed, mouth scrunched up.

  Control your rage, girl. Control it.

  Melinda is rich and her family’s connected, so if I physically hurt her in any way, they’d have me expelled and thrown in prison faster than my head could spin.

  “Is there something that I can help you with, because I’m about to go.” I said, picking up my backpack from the table.

  She grinned and narrowed her eyes. She had this incredibly infuriating look of pure satisfaction. The pleasure she got from her sadism oozed through her pores. And it was so strong that I could sense it in her aura.

  There’s no beating around the bush. This girl is pure evil.

  “I want you to not just leave this dining hall. I want you to leave the Academy for good.”

  My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I shouldn’t be surprised at anything this harpy does, but I have to admit that this caught me for a loop.

  “Well wouldn’t you miss having someone to torment?”

  “I already have plenty of people to torment. But the best torment for you would be leaving this school.”

  I scoffed.

  “I already left once before, and I was totally fine away from vampire society. Content, even.” I said, “It was hardly torment.”

  “It will be after you’re hunted down by the vampire guard and forced to return. Your punishment will be brutal, and they won’t let you off as nicely as they did this time.” She said, narrowing her eyes again.

  She was plotting the worst possible way to make me suffer. I could read it all in her eyes. She had been thinking about this from the moment I returned back to campus.

  Wait, could it be? Did I leave the academy because of her?

  “You’re the reason I left the first time, aren’t you?” I asked

  Her smirk grew wider.

  “Ding, ding, ding. It looks like you have some brain cells left after all.” She said, “You left the academy because I had Paul, George, and Austin make your life a living hell.”

  I gritted my teeth in rage. It took every ounce of self restraint not to smack the living daylights out of her.

  “So you’re the reason I was bullied? But why?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and lifted an eyebrow.

  “Because I could. Because it was fun. And because I could get away with it.”

  I was stunned with what I was hearing. She was literally saying that she conspired to make another girls life a living nightmare, and that she did it for…fun?

  What kind of sociopath would do such a thing? Looking into her eyes, I see total darkness. Not an ounce of empathy or regret. She was getting a kick out of this, and it was all coming at my expense.

  I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that such a twisted girl would get enjoyment from tormenting people, but I certainly am surprised that she has the gall to say it out loud in a cafeteria full of other students just looking at her.

  But she doesn’t care. She’s above the law and she knows it.

  “I’m not leaving.”

  Her smirk grew wider. She was enjoying this game. Me agreeing to leave would be too easy. Perhaps she wanted me to resist. It made the game even more fun for her.

  “I was hoping you would say that.”

  Damn it. I was right.

  “I’m going to get the guys to bully you again to teach you a thing or two about respect. Peasants like you should respect the elite and wealthy like myself. You’re nothing but pathetic scum from a fourth-tier family.”

  Fuck this. This bitch needs to go down. Now.

  I reached towards the table to grab a glass that to throw in her face, but before I could actually do it, Isadora grabs my forearm to prevent me from finishing the deed.

  I look back at her shaking her head in disapproval. It was like she read my mind or something, knowing that I was going to make this bitch eat her words.

  “Oh, do you want to smash that glass over my head? I’m sure you do.”

  She said, reading my mind.

  “I’m not going to let myself lose control because of you.” I said, gritting my teeth.

  I let go of the glass and straightened my skirt, walking right past her.

  Kids were gossiping like wildfir
e. It was going on all around me. They were talking about what just went down in the cafeteria, putting their own spin on the events, of course. By the middle of the school day, it was as if the entire events were entirely different.

  Someone said that I put a hex on her. Someone else said that we got into an argument because I slept with her boyfriend.

  Some snot-nosed brat ran up to me to ask me if any of these ridiculous rumors had any merit.

  “Is it true that you gave George a blowjob in Gravedirt Hall?”

  “Oh fuck off!” I said, snapping at him and walking away.

  But that wasn’t even the worst of it. People started gossiping that Melinda’s family was going to make me public enemy number-one in the vampire society. And that they were going to make me infamous to the entire community.

  And we are a small community, so that would definitely hurt a lot.

  All of this is just too overwhelming for me. Everything. My schoolwork got worse today, and that’s saying a whole heck of a lot, because it was bad yesterday. I could barely focus, being the center of all these rumors.

  Thankfully, the day ended, and I could get out of that building. Perhaps I could get a quick nap in before starting my homework.

  I walked across the leafy lawn, the sun still shining in the air and students buzzing around. Girls standing around and discussing the latest rumors. Guys are acting like idiots, like they normally do. Some of them even stare and whisper as I walk past them.

  “Hey, you’re hot!” One yells

  I shoot him a mean look and roll my eyes as he turns back to his friends and they whisper while snickering.

  Assholes.

  I get back to Moonblood Hall, opening the door, and then climbing up the crystal staircase to my floor. Again, I get more stares from kids. And more whispers as I pass by.

  I want to snap at all of them. To put them all in their place. But at this point, I’m just exhausted, and I need to catch a nap.

  Before I turn my doorknob, I something catches my eye. There’s an envelope taped to my door. I pull it off and read the outside.

  For Mira

  “What the hell?” I ask

  Who would give me a letter and why?

  I quickly turn the knob and push myself into my room. After carefully shutting the door, I rip open the contents.