Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  “So… Seph…” Rodney started, and she rolled her eyes at him, knowing what he was going to ask before he asked it. “What happened with you and Trey?” She saw out of her peripheral, Linda lean in a little closer, and she now knew more to her story.

  “We got in an argument. It was over pride and stuff. Apparently us vampires have a problem with that,” she looked directly at Stefan, who just shrugged.

  “Baby?” Linda squeezed his leg, clearly prompting him for more information.

  “We played the drinking game today with Seph,” he explained, and everybody suddenly nodded, obviously understanding.

  “How’d you do?” Abernathy asked cheerfully, and Seph grinned.

  “Um… pretty good, I guess,” she ventured when Stefan cut in.

  “That girl did amazin’. She was great at telepathy, telekinesis, mistin’, mind control, speed. She can do teleportation, some healing, and she can transform into some bat-girl thing. She couldn’t hypnotize or levitate, but hey, I can’t even levitate,” he explained, and they all looked at her with new eyes.

  “Wow… Pretty impressive,” a cold voice spoke up from directly behind her.

  “Ruby, do you enjoy the back of my head? You’re always standing behind me,” Seph asked, slowly turning around in her seat to face the tall girl.

  “Heard you drank alotta blood,” she responded smoothly, Oglesby and Misty flanking her.

  “Your point?” Seph asked just as coldly, not sure if drinking a lot of blood was considered a good thing or a bad thing right now.

  “You’re not drinking any now,” Seph had no idea where she was going with this.

  “No, I’m pretty full,” she raised a winged brow to the tall girl.

  “Sixty-four pints can do that,” and she flounced off with that parting comment.

  Oglesby winked at her, and she tried not to shudder. Misty just gave her a look, almost an appraising look. Both of them turned and drifted after Ruby. What was that all about? She turned back to her table to find Rodney, Abernathy, and Linda staring at her with horror as Stefan just shook his head, holding it in his hands morosely.

  “What?” She asked, and they just continued to stare.

  “Sixty-four pints?” Rodney managed to whisper.

  “Of blood?” Abernathy looked aghast.

  “Ya…” Did they think she was going to drain them or something?

  “It’s fine,” Linda said, shrugging, but she still managed to look completely shaken as she leaned in closer to Stefan.

  “What…” She didn’t know how to express what she was trying to say because she was so confused by their sudden reactions of fear.

  “She said that in front of us to scare them, Seph. We don’t think it’s a big deal though. We’re vampires,” Stefan explained it to her. “I mean, ya, sixty-four pints is a big deal to us. I can only drink about half of that, and I’m full. But it just shows how much power you got. You’re better at a lot more things than me. I specialize in hypnosis, which is rare, but I can’t mist or levitate. I don’t have telekinesis. None of us do but you. No telepathy, at all. I’m pretty fast and can teleport aight. Mind control kind of comes hand in hand with hypnosis, ‘cept for you. I heal okay, and I can transform. I can do about half of what you do, which makes sense,” he said with a little shrug, and although she didn’t understand why he was telling her all of that, she noticed that the others were listening, feeling reassured by his words.

  “I’m not going to attack any of you,” she said bluntly, and they looked over at her, startled. “I’m not,” Abernathy’s look softened, but that was about it. “I can’t help what I am,” she stood up sharply, moving to leave.

  “Don’t go, Seph,” Linda rose as well, pulling Stefan to his feet with her.

  “Ya, Seph, we’re sorry,” Abernathy stood up too.

  “Come with us to the Room,” Rodney doled out their peace offering.

  She looked each of them in the eye steadily.

  “Alright,” she accepted, and they were on their way.

  As soon as they got to the hideout, Abernathy immediately bolted for the couch. She flopped onto it, straightening her black, pressed pants when they rumpled. Linda and Stefan frowned at her, clearly wanting the couch. She just smirked with satisfaction, lacing her hands behind her head.

  “Hey Rodney, let’s play chess,” Linda suggested suddenly, and Rodney bounded over to her eagerly.

  “Chess?” Seph raised a brow again as Stefan moved past her to plop himself down on a ratty-looking, mauve armchair.

  “It’s a little different than normal chess,” Linda said with a wink.

  She went over to an old painting on the wall, a large, worn painting of some jungle scene or other, in dull blacks, whites, and grays. She pulled it off the wall, revealing a cavity behind it. She removed a normal chessboard made out of onyx and ivory by the looks of it. Except… Linda didn’t set it on a table to play, and Rodney was standing beside Seph while Linda was all the way on the other side of the room.

  “Let’s play,” Linda said and threw the board down with all her might in the center of the room, between the pair of them.

  Instinctively, Seph ducked, covering her head. She expected the pieces to go flying, bits of stone to scatter every which way. Instead, when she peeled her eyes open, she saw an amazing sight before her.

  A chessboard was hovering in front of them, life-sized. They were translucent, almost like holograms or mist people. She slowly walked around the huge, opaque board in shock. These were not normal chess pieces either, more so than just the simple fact that they were her size and translucent.

  Where there should be a rook, there was a man-bull creature, a minotaur, and it was moving. It was angrily pawing the ground, snorting steam from its nostrils, itching to charge forward. Where there should be a knight, there was a knight on horseback, although he glowed slightly. She sensed something magical about him, and the word paladin came to mind. A white knight. A holy knight.

  Where the bishop should be, there was a black-cloaked figure, head hidden by a cowl. He was carrying a wooden staff with a stone affixed to the top. He had to be a warlock. How she knew that… she had probably gleaned it from someone’s mind in the room unknowingly.

  There was a queen, a fairy queen. She was beautiful, with butterfly wings gently fluttering on her back and a wand in her hand, shooting occasional star-like sparks. The king… the king was a mermaid! A merman… He held a trident in hand, had a long flowing beard, bare chest, and a fish tail. He was floating in the air, not in water. Then again, he was not real, so why would he need water?

  The pawns were not pawns either. They were goblins. They were short, squat, little goblins, ugly creatures wielding clubs, snorting steam like the minotaurs. This was unreal. This was insane. This was amazing.

  She watched as Linda and Rodney began their match. Linda was playing the ivory white pieces, although they were misty ivory, while Rodney was playing the onyx pieces, the smoky onyx pieces. Therefore, Linda moved first. She moved a pawn forward, and the squat goblin hobbled up one space. She watched, completely intrigued.

  She knew how to play chess. As odd as it seemed, Bill had greatly enjoyed playing chess and had coached her and Nate greatly in this activity. However, the actual game did not entertain her so much as the pieces did.

  She watched as Rodney’s warlock, or bishop, cut across the field diagonally and entered a space occupied by one of Linda’s goblins. The warlock waved its arms around dramatically, and the stone on top of its staff began to glow a deep-red before the goblin suddenly burst into flames. Seph jumped back in surprise as Linda cursed under her breath. Rodney grinned over at Seph, noticing her reaction.

  The goblin pawns beat the pieces down with their little clubs viciously, hopping up for the taller pieces or climbing them. Minotaur rooks would charge all the way down to the space they wanted to occupy, tossing the piece out of the way if it was in their way. Paladins shoved their spears through the chests of their en
emies, and the fairy queens waved their magic wands, petrifying the pieces before they would crumble to dust.

  The merkings she did not see attack until the very end, right before Rodney checkmated Linda. Linda took his fairy queen with her merking. Her merking shoved his trident into the fairy queen, and she shrieked before spiraling to the ground, disappearing off the hovering, translucent board into nothingness. As soon as Rodney boxed Linda’s merking in with his minotaur rook and warlock bishop, he won the game as her merking gracefully tossed his trident down.

  “You dog!” Linda immediately shouted as the chessboard wavered out of sight, materializing as the small onyx and ivory board on the floor between them.

  She marched adamantly towards Rodney, who was quietly shaking with laughter at her ire, a triumphant smile emblazoning his face.

  “You think you won?! I want a rematch! That game was bull! I was distracted and-” she was ranting and raving like mad as Stefan came up to her, shushing the angry, little witch.

  “C’mon, baby. He won the game fair and square,” Stefan was saying, holding her back from attacking Rodney, who was still laughing.

  “He did not win fair and square! I want a rematch!” She shouted as Stefan pulled her back firmly, farther and farther away from Rodney. “Wipe that smile of your face, you mutt!” She yelled, and he just ignored her.

  “You see, this is why we don’t play chess anymore, Linda,” he called to her, and a whole other spiel of curse words spilled from her mouth.

  Stefan sent him a withering look. He was not helping. Seph walked over to him as Abernathy just watched all the diverse people before her, scribbling something in her little black book.

  “You and Linda play chess often?” Seph asked, and he grinned, nodding.

  “Oh ya,” he said before shaking his head. “Well, not as much as before, now that I’m pretty good and beat her sometimes. She’s a sore loser,” he stated unnecessarily, and they both glanced over at Linda, who was still trying to get past Stefan and attack Rodney.

  “I can tell,” Seph raised a brow to him. “Would you play me sometime?” She proposed, wondering if she could beat him.

  He and Linda were good, but she was pretty good herself. Bill had trained her and Nate well. She missed chess. Then again, she would not be playing the exact chess she was used to, with this giant hovering board and mystical, mist creatures for pieces.

  “You wanna play me?” He asked with a little bit of mock arrogance.

  “You afraid?” She taunted, smiling, and he just shook his head.

  “No, I’ll play with you sometime,” he winked at her. “But not today. It’s late, and you need to set up your dorm room,” she looked at her watch and saw that it was almost nine… in the morning.

  “Ya, we do need to go,” Abernathy seemed anxious about something. “The sun’s gonna be a little warm for you anyways, Seph,” she added, opening the door and ushering Stefan and Linda out first.

  Linda sent a malevolent glare in Rodney’s direction. He grinned lopsidedly at her. Seph could see how that would be annoying.

  “Okay,” Seph said and stepped out into the clear, crisp morning air and the sun…

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  She immediately squinted and held a hand up to the pale sun. It was so bright and so hot. Her skin felt really warm, tingling all over. It almost felt like it was burning. It wasn’t burning though, she acknowledged, trudging through the ravine and back towards the main courtyard. She checked her skin, but it was not bright red or even pink. It was also not on fire. It was beginning to ache with pain though.

  “Here,” Rodney passed over his orange and brown plaid shirt, wearing a white undershirt beneath it.

  She looked at him and then away, hoping she wasn’t obviously blushing.

  “Ya, I know. I’m pretty sexy,” he said, patting his abs.

  She glanced his direction and rolled her eyes, grinning.

  “Arrogant, maybe,” she responded, covering her arms with the shirt and then ducking her head to the sun, allowing her hair to protect her arms and back.

  They eventually got to the welcoming shade of a few trees and then to the door of the dormitories. She sighed with relief and passed Rodney his shirt back. She blinked in the sudden darkness before her eyes adjusted in a snap. The sun had hurt her eyes, and they had to heal first. Her legs even felt funny. She had a feeling she was not going to be tan ever again. She would just have to embrace her natural pallor.

  “I didn’t like that,” she remarked solemnly, and they all looked at her warily.

  Stefan walked over, shaking his head as though he had just remembered something and felt stupid for not recalling it earlier.

  “Sorry. I should’ve thought of that. We should keep some of the sun protector spray in the Room from now on. Most vampires our age can manage with the sun for a little bit, although the older and more powerful you are, the harder the sun is for you to stand, especially the closer it gets to noon. You’re a really powerful vampire. I didn’t realize,” he just shrugged because there was nothing he could do about it now.

  “Do you need the sun protecting spray?” She asked him curiously, and he grinned nonchalantly.

  “I’m not the strongest of my kind. I can admit that. Well, I can admit that to you guys, but probably not anybody else,” he said with a little shrug, and she felt something warm curl inside her, feeling more and more a part of their little group. “I don’t really need the SPS, sun protector spray, and I probably won’t until my fourth year, I’m thinkin’. I can deal with it. Most average vampires don’t need it ‘til then. Powerful ones like yourself always end up needin’ it their second year or so. I heard Phin and Alistair did. I think Kenji started needin’ it about the middle of his first year. You’re a little early, but then, we should have expected that,” he said with a fang-filled grin.

  “You’re gonna tell Phin?” She asked as Linda kept trying to tug him away, clearly wanting him all to herself.

  “Ya, I gotta. He needs to know how you progress, what affects you, that kinda stuff. We all report to him,” he explained, allowing Linda to slowly pull him away.

  “We’ll see ya in the morning, Seph,” Linda called before the pair of them ran off giggling.

  Abernathy began to walk in the opposite direction.

  “They’re going to Stefan’s room. Lucky for him, his roommate has amazing wizarding powers. He just puts up a division between their two rooms, created two doors that only they can see. It’s perfect. He doesn’t hear anything or see anything. The best roommate imaginable,” Abernathy said, beckoning for Seph to follow her.

  “We’ll catch up with you tomorrow, Rodney,” Abernathy called, and Rodney nodded, beginning to walk off to the right, after Linda and Stefan.

  “Later,” he called to them both as Seph caught up with Abernathy.

  Down the hallway, they walked all the way to a flight of golden stairs. Seph stepped up and looked up the stairwell. The stairs went really high. Abernathy sighed, starting on the first step. Seph just gaped at her.

  “Um… Abernathy?” Seph called, and the girl stopped. “How far do we have to go?” She asked, and Abernathy looked rather grim for her usual chipper self, although she looked a little tired too considering the lateness of the hour.

  “All the way to the top. They do it backwards. First years are at the top, six years at the bottom. Something about six year privileges,” she shook her head, black braid whipping about.

  “The top?” Seph nearly squeaked, and Abernathy nodded, starting up the stairs once more.

  As much as I wanna work out… Seph thought to herself, scanning her options. She still had a lot of blood pumping through her veins. Could she not try one of her new powers? She could turn into mist or teleport or maybe try that bat thing she became. That sounded good. She wanted to try flying, try her wings out. She glanced back up the stairwell. There could not possibly be enough room for her wingspan though. Abernathy was already trudging up from the second floor t
o the third.

  “You better hurry up, Seph. I’m not waiting for you. I’m tired,” apparently Abernathy got a little surly with lack of sleep.

  “I’m just gonna try something,” she called back up.

  Now, she could mist, but she would still have to actually put forth a lot of effort to push herself upwards, despite the fact that misting came easily to her. Teleportation though… Teleporting seemed really cool, but she wasn’t perfect at it. She could try it, work on it some more. Where would she want to teleport though? She could not make it all six flights.

  She studied the stairs about four stories above her. She made sure to concentrate on the actual stairs and not the air or the railing. That would hurt, especially the landing part. She concentrated on the stairs really, really hard and blinked. She appeared right where she wanted to, looking around from side to side. That was cool. Where was Abernathy?

  “I hate vampires,” the girl groaned, trudging past Seph and continuing up the stairs.

  “I’m sure there’s a quicker way than these stairs, Abernathy,” Seph started, and the girl just shook her long, brown-streaked braid.

  “Something about teaching first years discipline and keeping them in shape. Stupid sixth years,” the girl cursed, continuing up the stairs, worn out.

  Ya, I’m not about to keep this up, Seph thought to herself. How about misting for the rest of the way… She imagined pulling apart. She imagined becoming weightless, becoming dew, becoming nothingness. She opened her eyes to find everything extremely fuzzy. She looked down. Her legs were no longer there. She was no longer there.

  How was she to move though? She pushed herself. She did not walk because she had no legs. She just pushed herself forward. She moved. She glided. She drifted. She glided up the spiraling stairs, but it was taking just as much time as walking, although it was not exactly tiring. She reappeared on the fifth floor. Abernathy was already up on the sixth, waiting for her despite what she said earlier. She hid a gasp as Seph materialized a floor below her.