Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  Capri ran, scoring the winning touchdown. Everybody loved him! Everybody cheered for him! Then it was the next day. The sun hurt. His eyes hurt. His skin hurt. He was hungry, and they noticed his fangs. His best friends were no longer his best friends. His girlfriend wouldn’t even look at him. They had dropped him as though he were nothing… All because he was different.

  Phin fought to keep his head above water. The water was pulling him down. The weights were pulling him down. He would not die. His brothers would not win. They had always hated him, and now that he had changed into something weird they could try to kill him with a reasonable explanation. They were trying too. Then his sister, Nadine, was in the water, freeing him from the icy depths. She was his savior.

  Sarabi screamed at him as he came near her again with the belt. He wanted to teach her a lesson. His lessons always ended the same way. How had she gotten herself into this? She already had two kids from him! The belt snapped audibly, and she growled. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever again! This time she was going to teach him a lesson. His neck snapped in her powerful hands.

  Alistair hated to serve them. A subordinate was not the role he was meant for. He was his own leader. There had to be a way out of this. Could he leave Covington though? They had just taken over, but he hated the whole coven. Roberta darted by, fear curling around her tall frame like a primordial serpent. She seemed to want to escape too.

  Trey was waving good bye to his family. They were nice enough. They thought what he had become was weird, but he was still their son, still their brother, and they had accepted him for what he was. Why would they not? He was still Trey. He was still their Trey. He flashbacked to his bleeding wrists. He had been so depressed back then and for no apparent reason. The medicine had helped though, and he was better now. He loved his family, and they loved him. He smiled inside.

  Stefan gazed down at Linda. He loved her. He loved her more than anything or anyone in the world. He was at his home. His mother was walking around, stumbling over nothing. Dad was still in prison. Just a normal day at the Ross residence… Linda made him forget all of his troubles.

  So much blood…

  Sarabi caressed Simone’s cheek, her baby girl.

  Phin watched as Remus’s fist connected with the side of his face. Remus, the brother closest to him in age, had always despised him the most. He took sibling rivalry to a whole new level.

  Roberta was chasing her friends, her close friends. She was so hungry! She wanted blood!

  What powers does she have?

  I don’t wanna be in the same room as her.

  Masoko walked into Monster Academy, and relief washed over her. No more was she under her father’s strict and powerful thumb any longer.

  How much blood should she drink at each meal?

  Are Simone and Simon okay?

  Is she okay? She looks weird, angry almost…

  Trey was hugging his older sister, Yazmin, and his younger sister, Jade, heading off to Monster Academy.

  All that blood…

  I’m hungry now…

  Phin hugged his sister, Nadine.

  Stefan kissed Linda for the first time.

  Sarabi cried as she hugged Simon to her after his birth.

  Seph shook her head. This was too much! She clutched her head, shaking it over and over again. These were not her thoughts! These were not her memories! They needed to stop! They needed to stop right now! She didn’t want to know this much about these people… ever. Not unless they opted to tell her. She didn’t even like listening in on people’s thoughts this much. It was too much. They just needed to stop!

  “SHUT UP!” She yelled at them, and the silent group stared at her, bug-eyed.

  Eight gallons…

  What the hell is wrong with her?!

  I will not say a word.

  I cannot say a word.

  She’s freaking out…

  That girl is-

  “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” She rose to her feet, swaying a little.

  The others rose to stand with her.

  I should help steady her…

  I’m afraid to touch her…

  What if she attacks me…

  Could she drink more?

  “SHUT UP!” She screamed again, throwing her hands out.

  Everybody went flying. They slammed into the walls at bone-crunching speeds. Lucky for them, vampires were not that fragile. Slowly, begrudgingly, they stood up. However, her little toss had brought her some brief respite. Their swirling thoughts had stopped as they focused on their injuries. Pain flared in her. She empathized with them and not by choice. Sarabi and Phin stood up and shared a meaningful look.

  Her telepathy skills are beyond even his. He needs to help calm her down, Sarabi thought to herself.

  I need to calm her down. I dunno what she’s hearing, but it has to be nearly everything. She can control this though. If she can hear it, she can stop it, he thought, resolutely stepping towards her, hands up in the universal sign for peace. He was a little frightened, but he would never admit that.

  “Seph, you need to calm down,” he said in a soothing, steady voice. “Breathe in and breathe out,” I wonder if we even need to breathe… “The excess blood did this to you, but just think, if you can hear absolutely everything, than you should be able to block absolutely everything out as well. You have that power,” he told her, and she just laughed derisively at him, head in her hands.

  “I hear everything,” she said, and the room was silenced, except for their clamoring thoughts. “I know everything. I can feel what you feel. I see what you see. I look awful, by the way. I know your memories like they were my own. All your secrets,” she looked up and glared at him. “Nadine,” she whispered, and he shuddered as she struck a nerve. “I need to sit down,” she moaned, swaying again.

  Suddenly, there was a clatter as a chair was set right beside her. Roberta then picked her up and set her down in the seat. Everybody stared at the girl, and everybody noticed the vacant expression on her face. Alistair broke the silence. He marched right up to Seph and slapped her.

  “We do not administer mind control on each other, fledgling,” he snarled, derision seeping from his very pores.

  “Like you’ve never done it,” she snarled back, watching his memory as he controlled a fellow vampire to help him escape Covington… Ileana.

  “Please make her stop reading my thoughts and memories, Phin. They’re mine, and I’m a feeling a little possessive,” he practically growled at the much taller vampire leader of theirs.

  Phin sent him a glare.

  Alistair knows this is not the time to have a power struggle. Vampires and our stupid pride… As it is, I don’t want her reading all of my thoughts. I bet she can hear all this right now… Seph? He called in his mind, and she smiled.

  Ya? She asked him, daring him to be angry with her.

  I’m not angry. This is ridiculous though, your telepathy skills. It’s my fault. When I took your blood, we bonded, and through our bond, some of my telepathy powers have been passed on to you. You would have been a very adept telepath as it is, equal to me even, and now with my power within you, combined, you are very strong indeed, he admitted, and she grimaced.

  How do I stop hearing everything? Seeing everything? Feeling everything? There was a desperate tone to her voice.

  Concentrate, Seph. You have the power. Just build that wall that you have learned to construct so strongly this whole day against me and against everyone else. Just build that wall, fortify it, and block everything out. You can do this, Seph, he coaxed her patiently, and she decided to try this idea of his. It just might work, and she would do anything to make it stop.

  She imagined the brick wall again, but she changed it. She built a huge wall, a tower really, all around her mind, blocking it from everything. She filled the wall with power, glowing lavender, and it started to vibrate with this power. Every time a thought of someone’s tried to infiltrate her mind, it would just bounce off. The wall
s went up infinitesimally high but allowed access at the top for her to read the thoughts of others if she so wanted to, although she didn’t at this time. Their thoughts could not reach that height, but her mind could go anywhere.

  She smiled serenely as the flood of their thoughts, emotions, and memories finally ceased. She opened her eyes to look around the classroom of nine other students. They were looking at her like she had sprouted a third head. Well, to them, she kind of had… But there thoughts were gone from her mind.

  Blissful silence.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Let’s see what other skills you have,” Sarabi announced, breaking the awkward silence. “Obviously you will excel exceptionally in telepathy and mind control, as well as telekinesis, and you’re the only one of us that can really do that to any degree,” she continued. “Why don’t you try my skill? Levitation?” She offered, and Seph just looked at her questioningly.

  How exactly did one go about levitating?

  “Imagine that you’re weightless. That you can float. That you are a feather. Imagine reaching up and touching the ceiling right here,” she said, and suddenly Sarabi shot up into the air, touching the ceiling directly above Seph, flying.

  She settled back down to the ground beside Seph, who was staring at her like she had a third head. Weightless? She could try that. She imagined that she was a feather. She imagined reaching up and touching the ceiling. She closed her eyes. She squeezed them shut tight. She imagined not touching the ground. She opened her eyes.

  Well, she was not touching the ground… but just barely. Her toes, pointing downward, nearly grazed the floor, but she was technically hovering. Sarabi just shook her head. Seph had put forth a lot of effort for not much of anything.

  “With that much blood in your system, you would be zipping around this room if you had any affinity for flying. Too bad,” Sarabi said with a little shrug.

  Lightly, Seph felt her feet touch the ground again. Oh well… Flying was not everything, she supposed. It would have been really cool to be able to do that though.

  “Let’s try my talent,” Capri announced, stepping forward. “Teleportation,” he explained, and with a blink, he had disappeared.

  He appeared all the way across the room. She stared at him. How was she supposed to be able to do that? How did any of them do these things? Then again, she had just put up a mental wall because she had been reading their thoughts. Everything was so magical here.

  “Teleport to me,” he called to her. “Just imagine standing beside me and blink your eyes,” he coached, and she nodded slowly.

  Imagine being beside him. Shouldn’t be too hard… She thought about it hard, staring at him. She imagined occupying the space right beside him. Time to blink. She blinked.

  Her feet were standing on something wobbly. She opened her eyes to find herself halfway between Capri and where she had just been standing. She was on a desk, and the weight was tremulously off balance.

  She screamed as the desk flipped out from under her. She tumbled to the ground but was caught right before hitting the cold marble floor. She blinked several times, staring at her reflection in the marble, eyelashes batting the cold stone. Someone had grabbed the back of her shirt, stopping her from slamming her face on the solid ground. The person helped her back on her feet. She looked up to see Capri standing there, a wry smile on his face.

  “That was decent. You should do fairly well in teleportation, but you’ll never be as good at it as you will be in telepathy and telekinesis. You’ll never be as good at it as me,” he grinned smugly again, and they walked back to the group. “Let’s blink,” he suggested, and they both blinked, appearing side by side with the other students.

  They were looking at her with less frightened looks on their faces at least.

  “Nobody’s perfect,” Kenji remarked, stepping forward. “Let’s try misting,” and it was his turn to receive a blank stare from her. “Vampires can turn into mist,” he explained. “So, imagine every piece of your body, every molecule, slowly separating. Imagine them slowly becoming nothingness or something else, something light, like dew, like mist,” he advised, slowly disintegrating into mist himself.

  It actually did not seem that hard to her. Imagine that you are weightless, but not in the way Sarabi meant. Imagine separating into thousands, millions, of different particles. Imagine being nothing, or imagine being mist. Somehow, she could grasp this idea better than flying and was not surprised when she saw herself dematerialize before Roberta’s eyes, peering through the weak-minded vampire’s visage.

  She and Kenji materialized at the same time. He was smiling at her, which was a rare privilege indeed. He looked quite pleased.

  “Well good, someone else who can mist just as well as I can,” she watched as Masoko rolled her eyes, stepping forward and shoving Kenji aside with a note of playfulness and a dose of hostility.

  “How about some transmogrification?” She suggested, and with a bat-like squeak, a bat was suddenly in front of her instead of Masoko.

  Without any coaching, Seph decided to just try it before she thought too much about it. She thought about being a bat. She thought about her arms shrinking, wings sprouting from her shoulder blades to attach to her shortened clawed arms. Her lungs would shrink. She would shrink. She would become black and furry.

  She opened her eyes. They were all looking at her with that expression again, like she had budded another head. She was still the same size. She could see too, and bats were notorious for being blind. With another squeak, Masoko became a person again, a vampire. She was not looking at Seph as though she were an alien though. She was looking at her with amazement.

  “Wow,” Masoko breathed, stepping forward to touch something on Seph’s back that she couldn’t see, but she felt the girl’s hand there.

  “What?” She asked and looked through Masoko’s eyes.

  She gasped. She had wings! She had bat wings sprouting out of her back, but they were human-sized. What about the rest of her? She looked through Capri’s eyes now. Her face was the same. She had ears though… bat ears poking through her red hair. She had claws too! She reverted back to her own sight and stared at her hands, at her claws. This was so unreal…

  “The only question is… Can I change back?” She wondered aloud, and imagined being human again, being a vampire, minus all the extra appendages.

  She felt a slight pressure on her shoulders and the top of her head. She looked back through Masoko’s eyes to see that she was normal again. Using her own vision, she saw her claws had disappeared as well.

  “That was weird,” she commented, and several fellow students nodded.

  “So, I’d consider that possible potential for transmogrification. You’ll never be as good as me though. Just as you’ll never be as good as Capri in teleportation,” Masoko said bluntly, flouncing off.

  “Okay…” she murmured, starting to feel more and more overwhelmed again.

  “How about my ability?” Alistair proposed and slid forward dangerously.

  Immediately, she felt the urge to growl rising in the back of her throat for some strange reason. It was like her body knew that he was her enemy. He paused with interest, as though he could sense the hostility just rolling off of her.

  “Mind control, is it?” She asked, raising a winged brow to him, and he nodded, smirking a little.

  “Yes… Why don’t you practice on…” His eyes alighted on Masoko. “Practice on her. Try to get her to bow to you,” he suggested, and both girls glowered at him.

  “Why something so submissive like that? Why not something like making her touch her head?” She stated, and he scowled, eyes flashing a little.

  “Because it needs to be something that she would not normally do, little vampire. Do not argue with your instructor,” she opened her mouth to say something else, but he just waved a hand at Masoko, who nodded solemnly.

  She accepted her fate. This was something that Seph would never do. She would much rather go down fight
ing, on her feet, not her knees.

  “Alright…” Seph said unsurely, focusing on the small girl.

  Why don’t you bow to me? It’s not that hard. Just bend at the waist a little. There’s no reason not to. I’m a newbie here. You want to. You need to. Do it now.

  I don’t know… Masoko started to bend at the waist despite her misgivings.

  There ya go. Keep it up. You’re almost there. Bow to me.

  Masoko bowed before her, and she released her mind control from the girl immediately. Masoko, whose eyes had gone a very pale grey, nearly white, suddenly clouded back to dark-grey. She looked a little shaken. Seph turned to Alistair expectantly, and he was nodding at her.

  “It took a little more coaxing than it would for me, but you did a decent job, new one. Guess you shall be training with me at one point,” he winked at her before turning away.

  She just stared at him coldly, sighing inwardly at the prospect of training one-on-one with this cold-hearted vampire.

  “Let’s try my skill,” Trey said, and before she could react, he had neatly sliced her forearm with a suddenly very sharp fingernail.

  “Ow!” She shrieked, pulling her arm back and holding it tight to herself. “What was that for?” She asked, baring her fangs at him dangerously.

  “Let’s see your arm, Seph,” Phin stated firmly, his tone not open to debate.

  She glared at him vehemently but begrudgingly showed them her arm, if only because she knew there was a method to their madness. Her arm was still dripping blood, but it was slowly healing itself up before their very eyes. Trey raised his brows skeptically at her as it finally finished sealing itself completely after a few more minutes. He just shook his head.

  “Nope. That was moderate pacing. If I had been in your position, it would have healed nearly as quickly as it had been cut,” he said before grabbing her arm and licking the blood away.