by L. M. Miller
Lastly, Vamp Class… She was working with Kenji all this week on misting. It was fascinating actually. She loved learning new things, especially things that only she and a few others could do. However, Kenji could be a very frustrating individual at times. He was very quiet and demanding, almost like a silent military instructor, although that kind of sounded like an oxymoron. He frustrated her to no end though, to be perfectly honest, and he was probably not making the best approach to her personally. She managed though and learned how to mist whenever she wanted to and how to glide better, although she had figured that out on her own while trying to cut corners climbing all those stairs every time bedtime rolled around.
So, life passed well at Monster Academy, but about a week after Seph had arrived on the school grounds, something very strange happened. It had to do with Abernathy and her little secret. She had been keeping her little secret from just about everyone…
“We need help!” Linda burst into Francesca and Seph’s room loudly.
Seph nearly screamed, toppling backwards off her bed. She thumped loudly on the floor, her book flying. Francesca did scream. She grabbed a towel and barged out of the bathroom, furious as the shower kept running behind her.
“Que paso?! What the hell is going on?!” Linda was in a flurry, pulling Francesca’s clothes up off the ground and shoving them at her.
“Please! We need help now! You too, Seph! C’mon!” She dragged Seph from the ground and out the door.
“Wait! I’m not dressed! Linda!” Seph shouted, trying to pull her black tank top up to cover herself more.
“Wait for me!” Francesca called, sprinting after them as she zipped up an orange jacket over her bra.
“Linda!” Seph called, using her hand not clasped desperately in Linda’s own to hurriedly try to pull down her small, black shorts, not that she really could.
“Don’t worry, girl. These things aren’t coverin’ much either,” Francesca said, jogging up right beside her and tugging on her own Looney Tunes pajama shorts.
Linda stopped them at room number 5, and they looked around, puzzled. Rodney was there in some yellow and blue plaid boxers and an inside-out T-shirt. He looked a little surly, like he had been woken up. Seph checked her watch to see that it was nearly high noon. It felt like midnight to them, but since they all woke up so early for school and growing magical creatures needed their rest, they all usually went to bed around ten in the morning. Linda better have a good reason for waking them all up.
“Linda…” Rodney growled in a rumble, arms folded over his chest as he dozed against the wall.
“Linda, what are we doing here?” Seph was more awake than Rodney and not as pissed as Francesca, who had been mid-shower, so she was able to form the most coherent question.
Seph glanced over at Francesca and tried not to laugh. She was busy rubbing in some shaving cream on her left leg. Her buoyant, shoulder-length, black curls were already starting to dry around her head and frizz without being properly brushed. Seph was happy she had decided to let Francesca shower first today. As it was, her eyes ached. She was really tired.
“Okay, before we go in there, I need to prep you all. Abernathy has a little thing for animals… magical animals,” Linda started, and that grasped their full attention as they all gaped at her.
“Magical animals? Magical creatures?” Francesca clarified, and Linda nodded.
“How does she go about getting these magical creatures?” Seph proposed carefully, and Linda bit her full, bottom lip a little nervously.
“Well… sometimes she buys them off the black market… sometimes she finds them… sometimes she makes them…” she muttered under her breath, trying to rattle the list off quickly and quietly so that they wouldn’t hear everything.
“Makes them?!” Francesca squeaked, and Rodney straightened up now, swaying a little before Seph steadied him.
“What’s exactly in there?” Seph asked as she watched tendrils of gray smoke seep out from beneath the door.
“She made a miniature dragon, and it’s going a little crazy. It’s lighting everything on fire, and she can’t stop it! I dunno what to do. Everything’s burnt! And-” Linda was hysterical, clutching her hair desperately and pulling at it.
“Linda. Linda! Calm down,” Seph instructed her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her a little. “We can handle this. You just stay out here and act completely normal if anybody walks by. We don’t want anybody knowing about this because I’m sure Abernathy would get in trouble for it, right?” Linda nodded silently, tears brimming at the rims of her eyes before spilling over.
“Francesca, Rodney,” she turned to her two soldiers, who both stood in front of her, ready for action. “I think I’m going to have to handle the dragon. I can use my telekinesis to somehow contain the fire and it. I don’t know what else to do unless one of you has any basic spells up your sleeves,” they both looked at each other and shook their heads simultaneously. “Then I’ll just have to somehow contain the dragon. You two need to go in there, put the fires out, and get Abernathy. Francesca, you get Abernathy. Rodney, beat out the fires with blankets or whatever. Water will make the smoke billow, and we don’t need to fill the hall with smoke. After I somehow get the dragon, we need to bring it to the hideout and keep it there. We’re not gonna kill it, but we need to fireproof that little room as much as we can. Linda,” she turned to the trembling, Asian girl. “Do you know any fireproofing spells? Any fire retardant spells?” She asked, and the girl thought about that before slowly nodding.
“They’re not that good,” she admitted sheepishly, her voice squeaking a little with all her pent-up emotions.
“It’s fine. Just go to the hideout and do whatever you can. Where’s Stefan?” She asked, suddenly noticing his absence.
Linda shrugged.
“I dunno. We got in a fight, and I haven’t seen him all night… day… whatever,” she stated morosely before heading for the stairs. “Be careful,” she called before lightly padding down the steps.
“Right,” Seph said firmly, turning towards the door with Francesca and Rodney at her back. “Time to face a miniature dragon,” she announced and felt them nod in agreement with her little telepathic ability.
Reaching for the handle, she grabbed it quickly and pushed it open, not allowing the metal to sit long enough on her skin to burn. Immediately, she was swamped in heat. She saw the source of the heat quickly enough. A little red and black dragon was busily parading around the room, merry flames bursting from its mouth as Abernathy tried to counter each burst with a splash of water erupting from her… hands? It had to be some type of spell. As soon as the door opened, and the little dragon saw its new company, it turned towards them. It opened its mouth to breathe more flames.
“No, Silo!” Abernathy shrieked just as a stream of fire spiraled towards her friends.
Seph threw up her hands, and the flames hit some type of invisible curve in front of the dragon, slipping off it to twist back onto it, and the dragon seemed to enjoy the sensation of flames on its back. He kept up his steady river of fire directed at Seph, slowly coming towards her and intensifying the flames. She stepped towards it as well.
Meanwhile, Rodney and Francesca slipped past her and immediately began putting out the fires, beating them with blankets and towels. Francesca moved to take Abernathy out of the room, but the girl just shook her off. She was going to help fix her problem no matter what, no matter how injured she may become.
Seph continued moving towards the little dragon, Silo, as Abernathy had called it. Finally, they were standing directly in front of each other. She checked behind her, noting that the door was closed. It looked fire resistant enough. With one little burst of energy, she propelled herself over the dragon, and his fire shot out at the door. Her curve of telekinesis disappeared, disappointing the little creature. He turned to face her again, and she clamped her hand firmly over its snout, shutting its mouth powerfully with her strong hands.
It growle
d deep within its throat, but the vampire was stronger than the miniature dragon. It lashed at her with its spiked tail, and she bit back a cry as it drew blood. She pulled the dragon tight to her chest to keep it from pulling away from her, but it proceeded to slice her up. She bit back several cries as its tail prodded her, drawing blood with its barbs. Its claws tore at her as well, snagging in her skin and tearing at the flesh of her neck and chest. Tears stinging the corners of her eyes, she turned to the others just as they finished putting out the last of the flames.
“We need to bring him to the Room, alright?” She said through gritted teeth, barely containing the pain in her voice.
They all nodded silently as her blood flowed. No one dared argue with her, watching as her eyes darkened before their very eyes with each passing moment. They exited the room, and Linda was waiting for them expectantly. She took one look at Seph and nearly burst into tears, nearly. She immediately enveloped Abernathy in a huge hug. There was a little gasp as Silo’s tail snagged in Seph’s back before dragging forward, feeling for all the world like a flog.
“Let’s hurry,” she murmured, bloody tears coursing down her face.
Silently, they all hurried down the hallway to the girls’ stairwell. At the top, Seph looked down it exhaustibly. She shook her head, sniffing a little.
“You all run down the stairs and get to the Room as fast as you can. Don’t be seen. I can’t take the sunlight, especially now. He’s hurting me a lot. I’m going to teleport down the stairs and then to the Room,” she started, and Linda jumped in.
“There’s an anti-teleportative spell on the Room. You can’t get in by just teleporting, but you should be able to get in with the code. Remember, tap a stone of each color in the order black, gold, red, and then the code is 1618033988,” Seph managed to raise a skeptical brow to her, and Linda grinned. “The golden ratio. Best code to use because only smart people know it,” she winked, trying to be chipper for Seph as her blood stained her black shirt maroon.
“I’m gone,” Seph said and blinked.
She appeared all the way at the base of the stairs. Apparently, extreme pain and agony enhanced her powers. Next, she imagined the front of the hideout, even though she knew it was going to be drenched in sunlight. Wincing, she blinked again. The sun prickled her skin unpleasantly. Lucky for her, the little dragon’s constant poking of her was a great distraction. She hurried to the stones, tapped black, gold, red, and watched as the blue door materialized in front of her.
Hurrying to the keypad, she put in the golden ratio and rushed through the door. She threw the dragon away from her. Immediately, it let out a roar of flame directed towards her, but she had thought of a way to contain it moments beforehand. Concentrating, she released her telekinesis into a bubble around the dragon. She mixed some witch magic that she did know with her own magic, something that she generally involuntarily did during Basic anyways.
Seph collapsed near the door, bleeding deeply from several painful wounds as Silo marched around the hideout, wrapped in a telekinetic ball of energy that kept his flames contained. The others suddenly burst through the door. Abernathy ran to Silo, holding him tightly, permitted inside the bubble by the spell but not breaking it. She could get burned now if the little dragon generated fire within the bubble, filling it with warm flames, which it seemed to enjoy, but it would not hurt Abernathy, his owner and maker. They all just stared at the panting Seph a moment as she took heaving breaths. Her blood was pungent in the air as it oozed slowly from her many wounds.
Abernathy, carefully, grabbed a towel from the floor and moved towards Seph. She intended to pat her dry, clean the blood from her or staunch the wounds, something to that effect. Seph hissed at the girl and tossed her to the side with one powerful hand. Her eyes were huge and black, her fangs fully protruded. Silo stood in front of Abernathy, hissing at Seph, protective of its maker. She glowered at them all. Everything was red. All she could see was red. She could barely make the words that she needed to say come out of her mouth clearly.
“I neeth… I neeth to lick up my own blooth. It’sss like eating my own throw up to me, but I neeth blooth. I can’th lose thisss much,” she said, lisping over her elongated fangs and beginning to lick her red-painted arms with a grimace.
Rodney, out of the corner of her eye, beckoned Linda and Francesca to him. She could hear their hearts… They were filling the room. She had no idea what they were saying. They could be shouting, for all she knew. All she heard were their pounding hearts, beating like drums. All she saw were their jumping veins, leaping rhythmically in their throats. Then suddenly, they were gone, leaving the room and stepping just outside it. Abernathy was left alone with Seph, and she stared at her with wide-eyed fear, Silo clutched desperately to her chest.
“I’m noth going to attack you, Abernathy,” Seph groaned, shaking her head and only causing new waves of pain. “Just don’th bleeth,” she warned her, and Abernathy fully believed her on that point.
Suddenly, the door opened, and she smelled it. Her head swiveled around as the three entered the Room again, Rodney holding a goblet of some kind. He carefully walked over to her, not slopping any over the rim. She grabbed it weakly from him, staring into the depths of their mixed bloods. They were each holding a cloth over their left wrists, trying to stop the blood flow.
She took a deep breath, inhaling the aromas. She drank deeply, rolling through the different flavors of AB negative and B positive, heavy on the B positive. Francesca and Rodney were cousins. It made sense that their blood was the same. Francesca’s father was Rodney’s mother’s brother, something like that, or vice versa… Who knew? All she knew was that their blood was absolutely delicious. She finished the goblet, licking her lips happily. They all watched her warily. Her eyes were no longer pitch-black, but they were still relatively dark, a stormy-gray, charcoal almost.
She rose swiftly to her feet. Advancing towards them slowly, Linda backed up. She took Francesca’s wrist first. Pushing away the cloth, she stared at the still bleeding wound, although it was starting to close up. Werewolves did not heal as quickly as vampires, but they did heal at amazing rates. She decided to be kind to her friends and help the healing process along a little.
Bending down, she licked the wound, tasting Francesca’s blood just for a second, tempted to bite but withstanding the impulse. Francesca gasped as soon as she moved away, lips bloody. She was gaping at her wrist, new skin formed over the wound, smooth and pink.
“How does that work?” She breathed, and Seph just shrugged.
She moved to Rodney next, locking eyes with him. He was tense, ready to fight if need be. His instincts recognized her as a predator worthy of his immediate attention should she decide to attack him. Her eyes never wavered and neither did his as she bent down, licking his wound as well, tasting his delicious B positive blood a moment. It had a hint of wildness to it, the werewolf taste. It healed as well, just like Francesca’s.
Next was Linda. She held out her wrist willingly but could not look at her, at the wound, at anybody. Seph put her lips to it and then moved away, turning her head so she could lick the blood off her mouth. She faced them finally.
“Well, that was interesting,” she breathed, and all their faces broke out into broad grins.
“Master at understatement, our Seph,” Linda commented, still a little shaken.
“You’re so bloody,” Francesca remarked, snatching a towel from the ground and moving towards her.
She wiped at all the blood on Seph’s person, noting with astonishment that most of her wounds were already healed. She did see how deep they had to have been to have not fully healed yet though. Seph was a vampire. The Hispanic werewolf turned to glare at Silo, who glared right back, along with Abernathy.
“He couldn’t help it,” she said, defending her creation, and Francesca just rolled her eyes.
Abernathy and her insatiable love for dangerous creatures…
“We’ll keep him here. He can’t burn up the place
anymore with Seph’s little bubble thing, but just to be sure, Linda and Abernathy, you should cast some spells,” Francesca commented, and Linda hopped right to it.
Abernathy was still hugging the dragon, protectively so. She was staring at Seph. There was little trust in those eyes, usually crinkled in a smile, but not now. She was defending her baby, baby, terrorizing creation.
“I’m not gonna eat him, Abernathy. We need to fireproof this place and get back before somebody notices we’re missing though,” she stated, but Abernathy still did not move.
“Why would they notice we were missing? No one checks in on us as we sleep,” she replied, although her expression suggested she doubted that.
“I know, but we need sleep, and if we fall asleep here, how are we supposed to get all the way back to our rooms and change for class without anybody noticing once everybody is awake, walking around?” Seph pointed out, and reluctantly, Abernathy agreed with her.
“I know what you need,” Rodney said, and she shot him a curious glance as the girls busily threw spells around the room. “Traquego,” he whispered, and there was a whooshing sound all around them.
He moved forward, opening the door to admit in a long, shrouded cloak. Seph had immediately taken cover by the couch, away from the streaming rays of sunlight, when he opened the door. He passed it over to her, grinning wryly.
“I don’t know if you got the strength to teleport back to your room, and you shouldn’t waste the energy in your hungry state. You need to travel this way,” he gestured at the cloak as she threw it around her shoulders.
“I didn’t know you could do spells,” Seph commented, giving him a curious look, as though she were just starting to really see him.
“Well, I’m actually pretty good at spells, learning them at first. I practiced that one for a long time. I got it down perfectly now, and it helps a lot. That’s how us non-witches gotta deal with spells. Only learn the ones you really need and learn them well. All other ones will be hard to learn and pointless anyway, at least for you guys,” he said, shrugging just as Francesca cleared her throat.