Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  She arrived in the Main Hall as quickly as possible, even cutting across the courtyard. The Blue Hall was nearly exactly across from the Main Hall, where she had started out on her school day adventure just that morning… evening? So many things had happened since then… She had made friends. She had made enemies. She had gotten homework. She had gotten hungry. Really, really hungry…

  Despite cutting across the courtyard, there was still a line for the terrible sisters three. Seph waited impatiently as the nine students in front of her took their time. What was the lunch today anyway? She stood on tiptoe to glance around them. It looked good, lasagna or something. The meat sauce looked strangely like blood. Wow… that was all she could think about. Blood, blood, blood. Well, it was all that was on her mind right now, that and the particular satiability other students were starting to pose to her. Four more to go, she thought wearily, raking a hand through her bright red tresses.

  “So, how’d your first half of the night go?” Phin asked, sidling up to her.

  When she turned to look at him, he took a step back.

  “I haven’t seen eyes that dark since…” He stared at her eyes a little closer as they moved forward in the line. “Wow, they’re even a little maroon around the edges. Our eyes turn red after black, if you get hungry enough. You must have pretty strong self-control to have not eaten anybody yet,” he laughed lightly, but she didn’t laugh with him.

  She was hungry, and that particular idea, eating somebody, was sounding better and better by the minute.

  “Sir Sanzio said… that maybe I should be drinking a quart… instead of a pint… each meal for the first few weeks,” she forced the words out around her long teeth as they moved another place forward in line, two to go.

  “Ya,” Phin mused, watching her warily. “Sir Sanzio’s a smart man… wizard. Yes, I’m thinking we should start you off on a quart right now. You’ll have to drink from a more ostentatious-looking bottle, but I don’t think there’s a student here that doesn’t know that you’re the new vampire,” he said, glancing around and clearly picking apart the brains of the flowing student body around them.

  “I don’t care,” she responded viciously, fangs slightly elongated.

  His eyes widened a little as they finally reached the front, starting to understand just how far gone she really was.

  “Hello Hazel, gorgeous,” he winked at the hideous witch behind the counter as she beamed at him, practically tripping over herself as she hurried forward to him.

  Hazel’s heartbeat tripled, and her vein flew in her neck. She was so hungry! She wanted food. She wanted blood. She wanted it now! Phin suddenly jumped and turned to look at her, randomly halting his flirtation with the witch. Her walls were not up. What did she care? She was hungry. He nodded, his eyes serious.

  “Hazel, we’re going to be starting our young vampire here on a slightly larger amount of blood than usual. Start giving her a quart bottle for every meal from now on,” he said matter-of-factly, and the witch’s runny blue eyes widened.

  Hazel kept her silence, which was a smart move on her part. She bent down to remove a large bottle from the small fridge that was kept under the hot food. Without a word, she put it in the microwave. Seph would have taken it cold. She was that hungry. Patience was a virtue, she thought idly, tapping her foot. Stupid virtue, she thought vehemently, counting down the seconds.

  She already knew what she was not going to do when the blood was heated. She was not going to grab that bottle and down it like it was the essence of life. She was going to take it and constantly drink from it but not obviously. She would not make a fool of herself, and she was not going to look like a gluttonous pig. Even through her hunger, she vowed this.

  “Here ya go,” Hazel said with a gulp, passing the bottle to Phin when Seph intercepted it, moving lightning fast and causing Hazel to gasp, instantly recoiling.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, holding the bottle to her mouth and starting to drink it at a moderate speed, not waiting to find a seat.

  “It’s all right,” Hazel replied, recovering quickly.

  She gave her a small shrug, sympathy showing in her eyes? That would have rubbed Seph the wrong way if she had any room for more thoughts besides blood, blood, blood. It tasted so good, easing her twisted stomach.

  “Hey, Seph! Come sit with us!” She heard the familiar voice of Abernathy calling to her as her senses slowly branched out from just taste.

  “I’ll see you last class of the day, Seph,” Phin said cheerily, heading for a round table with his smooth gait, a gruff-looking werewolf awaiting him.

  One disturbing thought ran through her mind at that moment. What kind of monster drank a quart of blood per meal in a day? The Persephone Black kind, apparently…

  CHAPTER TEN

  Seph looked over the bottle at Abernathy, Linda, and Rodney. They were all waiting for her. She walked over, still drinking her blood, and sat down at a table with them. Linda pulled out an apple from her large purse and immediately began munching on it. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Seph paused from her blood to set it down a moment, breathing deeply and satisfied. Rodney and Abernathy were staring at her as Linda chomped away beside the little vampire. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

  “Chuggin’ that blood, Seph?” Rodney asked with a little smirk. “Nothin’ like some O positive at midnight, I guess,” Rodney added, trying to mask his slight discomfort with humor.

  “It’s A negative actually,” she responded cheerily, enjoying the fact that she was starting to think more human again.

  She was having full, coherent thoughts now. Not just blood, or heart, or red. Always a good thing. Her vision was normal now too.

  “How nice,” Rodney commented. “I’m B positive,” he stated matter-of-factly, and she grinned at him, probably flashing some red-tinted fangs too.

  “Ooh, something different. Maybe I’ll have to try you someday, Rodney,” immediately he scooted back a little bit, and they all laughed, even Linda, who began to choke on some apple.

  “You shouldn’t have said that, Rodney. Now when she gets hungry, guess who she’s gonna look for?” Abernathy said laughingly, her eyes crinkling.

  Seph took another swig, more than halfway finished with her blood. She noticed the lack of food in front of Rodney and Abernathy. Why were they not eating? And all Linda had was an apple. They had to be hungry by now. Even if she didn’t drink blood, lunchtime was lunchtime.

  “Where’s your food?” She asked, and they all stared at her like she was clueless or something.

  “You think that first years get food that quickly around here?” Abernathy asked, laughter bubbling in her voice.

  “Ya, lucky for you, even sixth years are a little afraid of vampires, especially the new ones,” Rodney stated, snapping his teeth at her for emphasis.

  “Oh…” She murmured, thinking about that. “So, what would they have done if I was just a first year witch or something, in the front of the line?” She asked, looking pointedly over at Abernathy, her example.

  “Probably not much,” she admitted with a little shrug. “They’d push you outta line and make you go to the back. That’s all,” Seph just stared at her. “Don’t make enemies of the older kids, or they’ll cast a spell on you, or do something else. Even some of the werewolves have some decent spells down,” she said, looking sideways at Rodney.

  He grinned and shrugged almost sheepishly.

  “What can I say? I gotta knack for spells. I can’t help that magic just comes to me,” he said, oh so humble.

  “You four enjoying your food?” Seph knew that voice all too well.

  She turned around slowly and looked up, way, way up, at Ruby and her posse. Oglesby was beside her, sneering, with his own tray of food. Two other girls were with them, but they were not the two werewolf girls with Ruby in their HU class. One had brilliant burgundy hair as well as burgundy eyes and olive skin. She was very exotic-looking with pronounced, arched brows that gave her an almost feline appearance. What was
she? Seph couldn’t help but try to pry into her mind, but she was quickly shut out. A look passed between the red-haired girl and Ruby, who laughed derisively at Seph.

  “Ya, Misty’s a smart little telepath too,” she gave Seph a meaningful look.

  However, Seph just turned her attention to the other girl, not bothering to engage in pointless banter with the aggravating werewolf. The other girl was tall, just like Ruby and just like Misty. Whereas Ruby had an athletic build and Misty a more curved frame similar to Seph’s own, but taller, this other girl was built willowy, slender with long, graceful limbs. She would probably make a fantastic dancer. This girl had mocha skin and short cut, textured hair that feathered around her face, striped with sapphire highlights. She had sapphire eyes as well, but upon closer observation, Seph noticed that they were contacts. She was amazingly pretty and strong-looking too.

  “Kendall’s a witch also. She’s good at…” the two girls locked eyes for a moment, and they shared cruel, little grins. “All kinds of things,” she added, and Seph gave her a cool gaze, unfazed.

  “Do you have a point, Ruby?” Seph asked coldly, hearing the slight intake of breath from Abernathy at her tone.

  “No,” Ruby said, thinking that over. “I’m just lettin’ you know. You aren’t the toughest thing around here, little vampire, and I am not afraid of you,” she concluded before sauntering away with her posse.

  Seph watched them calculatingly as they sat down at a table not too far away from their own. It was a round table, unlike their four-seater square one, and it was relatively nice. Seph had already noticed that upper classmen tended to have their selection of the tables first, and they tended to head for the round ones. She also noticed that this helped a lot with the superiority complex that their different species probably dealt with more than she could imagine. No one was at the head of a round table. It all made sense, in a twisted sort of way.

  Ruby had sat down with Misty, Kendall, and Oglesby. Four other people were already at the table, two other guys and a girl. The girl was obviously a werewolf with her slanted, golden eyes that nearly matched her golden skin perfectly. She looked to be Egyptian or possibly a Southern Asian with her back-length, perfectly straight, black hair. She was beautiful also. All the women sitting at that table were beautiful, tall, strong, and they all looked older. Ruby looked old too, although she knew her to be in her own grade. Those other girls…

  Carefully, she pried into the mind of the werewolf girl, extracting the facts she wanted as quickly as possible. Misty O’Gorman and herself, Yolanda Chang, were both second years, seventeen years old, although Misty was about to turn eighteen. Kendall Carter was eighteen already and a third year. Oglesby was a first year, which Seph already knew, as well as Ruby, who seemed to lead their little pack despite being one of the youngest. She did have a dominating and commanding presence to her.

  The other two guys at the table, a wizard and a werewolf, were both second years also. The wizard, Damian Powers, with his perfect black curls and resilient, turquoise eyes, had to be Madam Powers’s brother, son, nephew, or relative in some other way, as they held that same cruel glint in their eyes. The other guy, a werewolf by the name of Raul Fernandez, looked different. He had curly black hair that spilled into his eyes, which were wide and golden with no eyelashes, or hardly any to speak of, and dark-tan skin. His eyes were eerie.

  All the guys were attractive and built, but they were all pretty short. In fact, all the girls were taller than them, except for Raul. He was a little taller than Kendall, who was the tallest of the girls, but just barely. Besides that, Oglesby was kind of short and a little scrawny-looking, and Damian was about average height for a guy, maybe a little short, but Misty, Yolanda, and Kendall towered over him.

  She wondered if Ruby purposefully chose her friends for their physical characteristics and obvious mental powers. It was actually a little creepy. She had obviously selected them for their physical beauty, mental prowess, physical strength… and advanced skills. Misty was already drawing their attention to the fact that Seph had been prying into their minds. She looked away. Ruby had a good pack of subordinates there. Was she waiting to build an army or something? They all carried commanding personages, able to dole out orders but also submissive enough to abide by them. It was just… weird.

  “Hello? Seph? Persephone?” Abernathy was pulling her back to reality as everybody at their table stared at her, including their newest companion, Stefan, who had pulled up a chair at the head of the table beside Linda. “Stefan was talking to you,” she added, nodding her head toward the vampire guy, whose light eyes were sparkling.

  Seph noticed Rodney and Abernathy get up to wait in line for their food as Stefan passed Linda a tray of food he had obviously gotten for her. Linda happily ate her lasagna as Stefan continued to stare penetratingly at Seph. Was he going to say anything? She stared right back at him before the silence got to her in just under a minute.

  “Do you want something? I didn’t hear what you said before,” she asked, and his lips slowly pulled into a Cheshire grin that simply made her skin crawl.

  “That’s alotta blood for sucha lil girl like you,” he said, grin spreading, if that were even possible.

  “I’m not that small,” she rebuked him, sipping her bottle as he sipped his own steaming mug.

  “Well, you ain’t that small everywhere,” he commented, his eyes flickering over her body.

  She glared at him, and his eyes twinkled. He knew he was annoying her and reveled in it. Is that was every supernatural creature did? Ascertained everyone’s weak points, pet peeves, and pressed them?

  “Baby, what are you doing?” Linda suddenly interrupted and shoved him with some force.

  “I’m jus’ messin with her, babe,” he said, kissing her soundly before flashing his fangs at Seph. “Jus’ welcomin’ in the new vamp,” he added, grin spreading as he winked at her.

  “How much blood did you drink when you started here?” She asked him, recalling that he was a third year, which made him two years older than her.

  “Did Phin tell ya that thing about older vampires not drinkin’ as much blood or whatever?” He asked, laughter in his pale-grey eyes.

  “Ya…” she started, heart sinking as she started to believe it had all been some big joke on her.

  “Phin would do that,” Stefan said, glancing over at the table where Phin and the grungy-looking werewolf were still engrossed in some deep conversation. “Counseling Julian again. That werewolf has got some problems…” Stefan shook his head as Seph gave him a blank look.

  “The blood thing?” She prompted him just as Abernathy and Rodney sat down with two trays full of steaming food, Rodney’s overflowing. “Hungry, Rodney?” She asked him, and he gave her his little grin again.

  “Us werewolves gotta eat,” he said, patting his stomach before diving into his food.

  “Blood thing?” Stefan asked, and she grinned, turning back to him. “Aight, the way the blood thing works isn’t really how Phin explained it,” he started when she cut in.

  “So he lied to me,” she stated flatly, toneless voice leaving no room for argument.

  “No, that’s kinda how Phin sees it, but it ain’t true. The way it really works is… we dunno. It’s different for every vampire. Him and Sarabi try and see who can make it the longest without blood and who can drink the least amount of blood and stuff. I can’t even remember who’s winnin’ right now,” he said with a shrug.

  “Wait, so… how much blood you drink and how much you start with…” she shook her head with confusion.

  “It goes up and down, waxes and wanes-” Stefan started when Rodney interrupted him, mouth full of pasta.

  “Like the moon,” he grinned a meat saucy grin, and the girls just shook their heads at him as Stefan smirked, a bond between the only two guys at the table.

  “Ya, I guess like the moon,” he admitted, idly playing with a piece of Linda’s dark hair.

  “So… the fact that I’m drink
ing this much blood now?” She asked, and he knew what she was asking.

  “Probably means that yer gonna be drinkin’ a whole lotta blood the rest of yer life, and yer gonna live a long life,” Stefan explained, rising as several other students did too.

  “How long do vampires live?” She asked, downing the last bit of her blood.

  She managed to somehow miss and dribble a little blood down her chin, unbeknownst to her.

  “That’s attractive,” Rodney said sarcastically, standing up to throw his tray away.

  He had already emptied it of his piles of food. He had eaten three whole lasagnas! That was an achievement. She also was not sure what he was referring to.

  “What do you mean?” She asked, and Linda helpfully wiped the blood off her face. “Oh,” she said with a little laugh, looking at the red smear on Linda’s hand.

  “What kind of blood you drinkin’?” Stefan asked, proceeding to lick Linda’s hand before smacking his lips together. “Mmm, A negative,” he murmured, and Rodney, as well as Abernathy, stared at Seph suddenly.

  “You knew it was A negative,” Rodney said slowly, and she nodded.

  “That’s why I said it,” she said, not sure why they were all giving her very strange looks just now.

  “Fo real? Most vamps can’t tell the difference ‘tween blood types til at least their third year. I jus’ started tellin’ the differences,” Stefan admitted, staring at her thoughtfully as she gave him a small shrug.

  “Well, I’m pretty sure we all know that I’m a little more different than the average vampire,” she stated, and they all laughed a little at that understatement as Stefan nodded his head, still staring at her. “So… what next?” She asked, searching the banquet hall for a clock.

  “We got thirty minutes,” Linda announced before exchanging a sly glance with Rodney and Abernathy, Stefan leaning back in his seat. “Why don’t we show her the clubhouse?” She proposed, and they all grinned at her impishly.

  Ten minutes later, they had already hopped down a ravine in the courtyard and had traversed through it to a maze of hedges tucked between the Main Hall and the dorm rooms. The two buildings were not connected, meaning that the school did not form a complete circle, she realized. Climbing out of the ravine, a little dirty, she gaped at the labyrinth of hedges in front of her. How were they supposed to get through that? Was this some type of initiation or something? She turned back to them.