by L. M. Miller
He felt the earth quake beneath his feet, responding to his stress. Metal sang in his ears as well, people’s various buckles and other metallic objects flying towards him. This always happened when he was angry or scared. Metal and earth acted so strangely… Well, if he had to, he could take this thing now. She was weakened, or so she appeared. If she attacked again... She was already healing…
Seph opened her eyes. Everything was still in a red haze. She glanced over to see Phin striding towards her. Everything hurt, but her wounds were already healing. She couldn’t move yet, but when she did… There were a lot of people here, and they all held a lot of blood... Suddenly, there was a pop!, and she glanced up to see Capri grinning down at her. He picked her up and blinked again.
She felt a wave of dizziness pass over her as they appeared in the vamp classroom. Red swamped her vision completely. She snapped at the vampire holding her. Capri? He just smiled, holding back her snapping jaws. Suddenly, someone slapped her across the face, and she swiveled around to glare at Alistair, who leveled his cool eyes with hers.
She wrenched herself free from Capri’s grasp and stared around at them all, fangs bared as she practically foamed at the mouth. Phin, Alistair, and Capri circled her precariously. She snapped at any of them whenever they came too close. They needed to secure her down.
Alistair managed to shove her down and pin her. They were each holding a bottle of blood, trying to shove them down her throat. However, she would not drink the blood as it sloshed all over them. It was not fresh, and she was too far gone by this point. Finally, as she slashed Capri across the arm viciously, Phin stepped forward as the older vampire hissed in anger.
“And so it comes to this,” he murmured as Seph jumped to her feet, encircled by them once again.
Moving quickly, he was behind her, his arms around her neck in a chokehold. She growled ferociously at him, clawing at him viciously. He bit his wrist with an audible chomp!, and he pressed his fresh blood against her mouth. It took a moment for her starved self to focus on the fresh blood at hand. Immediately, she calmed down, latching onto him painfully. She drank a fair amount of blood before finally coming to her senses, eyes a pale-black. She shoved Phin away from her, startled.
It was only fair, he muttered in an agitated voice to her before he stalked out of the room, nursing his wrist and his anger.
His eyes had been jet-black. He needed to feed. Meanwhile, she was left in the room with Capri and Alistair. Alistair watched calculatingly as Capri passed a bottle of blood to her, and she downed it quickly, wanting to become normal again as quickly as possible. She stared at them both with wide eyes, wondering what the repercussions for her actions could possibly be, considering their extremity. It was midway through Drama now, she realized suddenly, glancing at her watch to confirm this fact. That was when Phin marched back into the room, fury swirling around him like a cape.
“Out,” he snarled at both Capri and Alistair, his eyes leveled on Seph.
She remained immobile as Capri and Alistair scampered from the room. It was a rarity for Phin to even be a little angry. He looked absolutely furious. Seph’s eyes widened as Phin stalked right up to her. She backed up into the wall, still holding a bottle of blood, and he grabbed her throat, shoving her against the wall viciously. The bottle of blood toppled to the floor as they stared into each other’s eyes, both pearl grays.
“You cannot skip meals, Persephone! We are vampire! We have to feed!” He shouted at her, and she visibly shook under his grasp, terrified. “You are a danger to society when you skip meals, when you are hungry. You threaten your life and all the lives around you. Beings will kill to protect their own lives. They will kill to sustain their normality. They will kill all vampires if one massacres them, as you easily can, Seph!” Her eyes dotted with pink tears as he frightened her. “You could have killed that new wizard today, Persephone! Killed him! You cannot keep doing this!” He slammed his fist on the wall directly beside her head, and she flinched.
Hovering over her menacingly, he turned and began to walk away. She could sense his feelings now that she had tasted his blood. He was torn with his emotions regarding her. With the blood bond, he knew too much of her personal feelings and thoughts. He also knew he needed to keep a strictly professional relationship with her because he was her mentor and several years her senior. He was terrified of her, at least at the moment.
How did she feel about him? It was weird with this blood bonding thing, knowing his thoughts and feelings so honestly. She was attracted to him. He had lived life. He knew it was not all sugar and sweetness. He was down to earth. He was also her mentor and a ‘senior’ at their school. It wouldn’t work out. She was terrified of him, at least at the moment.
“How’s Rodney?” She ventured as his dark hand reached for the doorknob.
He turned slowly on his heel to face her, completely masking his confused emotions, although he knew that she could sense them. Why did he bother? Perhaps to try to keep their situation as normal as possible. Normal at Zephyr Hall? Monster Academy? That was an oxymoron.
“He’s healed. He has a few scars that will heal, and a few that will not. The bite marks on his leg and side will not heal without scarring. They will remain marks on his person forever. Just as the bite on your leg will not heal completely, ever,” he emphasized, glancing down at her mostly healed werewolf bite.
She nodded, running a hand through her tangled masses of red hair.
“I can live with that,” she responded solemnly, and he nodded.
“You should go to class,” he stated, and she nodded again, moving past him and heading down the hallway to catch the last part of Drama.
She had nearly killed someone else. If that wizard hadn’t been so powerful… And Rodney… She had really hurt him. Just like Nate… She was a danger to society. Maybe she should be put down. She had to be evil. What good being did this?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The class that she really dreaded was Vamp Class. She loved Vamp Class… usually. She was still learning teleportation from Capri, but she had tried to bite Capri today. Alistair had slapped her across the face, and Phin… She and Phin… That could never possibly happen, but… There was something there, if not just because of the fact that they had both taken the other’s blood. Vamp Class came sooner than she expected, even with the added event of Abernathy’s monologue performance, which she performed perfectly.
“You did amazing,” she congratulated her friend, who looked a little flustered from her performance.
“Thanks,” she pretended to wipe some sweat off her brow. “Did I really?” Seph nodded enthusiastically, hugging the short girl briefly.
The ending bell rang, and Seph looked up at it with dread.
“Time for Species class,” Abernathy said cheerily, giving Seph a sidelong glance and clearly noting her unease. “It’ll be okay, Seph. Plenty of people have something weird happen to them when they first get here,” but the disconcerting look on her face obviously indicated that nothing as awful as what had happened earlier had happened to many residents at Monster Academy, if any.
“Ya… right…” Seph replied sarcastically, walking towards the Black Hall as Abernathy started to branch off in the other direction.
“Have fun,” she waved over her shoulder at Seph, who just sighed and headed for class.
It was awkward. As soon as she walked in, all nine other vampires in the classroom turned to look at her and then go about doing whatever they were doing, pretending that they had not been talking about her before she had walked in. She made her way over to Capri, who gave her a small grin. She was still technically training with him this week. Good thing she had tried to eat him not a few hours ago. She felt the familiar presence of Phin as he entered, but she did not turn to look at him. She could not meet his eyes just yet.
Either way, Vamp Class never really had a set beginning to it. Everybody just hung out, practiced a few things, and occasionally Phin would call them to order to
discuss something. Sometimes, they would have a speaker, one of the many traveling vampires in the area, but not recently. Therefore, Seph was quite fine just practicing teleportation with Capri the whole class time, which they did.
If she thought Vamp Class was awkward, dinner was on an entirely different level. That was because the wizard she had nearly killed had made some new friends since then and was sitting with them at dinner that early morning. His new friends? Abernathy and Linda, to be exact. They had apparently met during Wizard Class or whatever they called it. As soon as she sat down, with her blood, he looked nearly equivalent to a deer caught in headlights. They stared at each other in a moment of hanged silence.
“What’s up?” She finally asked after an eternity, Abernathy and Linda’s eyes switching back and forth between the pair of them.
“Nothing much,” he answered without even thinking about it, staring at her as he fed himself a bite of spaghetti, nearly missing his mouth.
“That’s cool,” she responded, sipping her blood again nonchalantly.
“Well, this looks awkward,” Francesca slid into her seat beside the new kid, boxing him in actually.
He nearly jumped a foot, startled by her. She gave a little chuckle, and Seph resisted the urge to laugh as well, hiding her face in her glass. He looked absolutely terrified. She had made a great first impression, of course.
“Ya…” Abernathy agreed, and they all looked at her. “Anyways, this is Tristan. We met him in Wiz Class,” she introduced him, and then turned to the boy with the crazily spiked hair, waiting for him to say something else.
“Um… my name’s Tristan Solitto. I’m sixteen, and I guess I’m a wizard,” they nodded at him.
“Do you have any family?” Seph asked, purposefully questioning him to gauge how scared he actually was of her.
She could have always gleaned his familial information from his mind, but she was enjoying this much more. She truly was becoming a predator, sensing fear and weakness, just to jump at it as soon as she possibly could. That was disconcerting.
“Ya… Well… Kinda… I live with my great-uncles, Uncle Barry and Larry,” he said nervously, not elaborating much.
“What happened to your parents?” She asked, finishing her blood and catching the flash of images that went through his mind accidentally.
“They died,” he answered simply, not mentioning the fact that his mother had died of cancer, and his father had committed suicide not three Christmases ago, Merry Christmas to him.
“He has an affinity for metal and earth,” Abernathy announced excitedly, and they all stared at her. “We found out in Wizarding Class today. It’s like they’re drawn to him. It’s really cool,” she said, grinning broadly as the new student just shrugged a little.
“Tristan…” Seph said, rising. “Take a walk with me?” She asked, and now he looked truly horrified. “I’m not gonna kill you or eat you or bite you or whatever. I just ate,” she held up the empty quart bottle for him to see. “I don’t eat when I’m not full. It’s bad for my figure,” his electric-blue eyes flickered over her form, which was lacking fangs and claws at the moment, a reassuring fact.
He found himself rising almost against his will, glancing from left to right at the others to make sure that this was all right. Was he truly safe? She looked normal enough.
“Seph?” Francesca asked, and Seph touched her hand inconspicuously.
I need to talk to him alone. I scared him, Francesca, and considering this is his first day here and everything? I dunno. I feel like I need to apologize. Explain myself. Meet me at the Room in… fifteen? I wanna visit Rodney too. He in the infirmary? She asked of her friend, and the girl nodded.
Ya. You busted him up pretty bad, Seph, but we werewolves aren’t made of glass. We heal almost as fast as you bloodsuckers. She grinned at Seph’s annoyed look at the derisive term for her kind. Abernathy needs some help with Silo. We’ll try and handle it ourselves, but we’ll probably end up needin’ ya, girl. Seph nodded and turned back to Tristan, who was staring at them curiously.
“Let’s go,” she said, ushering Tristan to follow her as Francesca explained the plan to a slightly confused Abernathy and Linda.
“Oooh, Seph, gettin’ a second meal?” Ruby called to her as she passed her table, and her posse snickered with her.
“You wanna be the third and fourth?” She hissed at her, getting more and more aggravated with the girl.
Ruby glowered at her.
“Shut up, bloodsucker-” and then they were out the door, and Seph wasn’t listening to the rest of it.
“That was childish of me. Don’t mind her. We don’t get along,” Seph explained unnecessarily, walking across the courtyard with the lanky boy beside her, a good six inches taller than her.
“I can tell,” he responded before recoiling as she sat herself down under the oak tree that he had been hiding in not a few hours before… hiding in it from her.
“Sit,” she patted the dirt beside her, and he carefully did, scooting a little away from her.
She sighed, looking at him… sadly?
“I’m sorry about what happened, Tristan. I mean, honestly, I think we could be pretty good friends. We have a lot in common, but I made a horrible first impression,” he said nothing, but his fear-filled eyes weren’t helping. “No one understands vampire hunger unless they’re a vampire, and since I’m a very powerful vampire, my hunger is extreme, on top of the fact that I’m new. I came here a few weeks ago,” she explained, and he nodded, wondering why she was doing this or why she was bothering. “I’m bothering because it matters to me to not be considered a monster. Half the time, I think I am, especially after…” she looked down, thinking of Nate. “After I first found out what I was. It was horrible, and I don’t even think I can face my brother and sister again after it. They… They looked so afraid,” he gazed at this girl with a little more interest, her defenses slowly receding before him.
“You have a brother and a sister?” He wanted to ask her what had happened, but he was afraid of what he might hear.
What if what she said made her even more terrifying to him? She was trying so hard. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Then he recalled the image of her before, fangs out, eyes red, hair crazy. Maybe not…
“I bit my foster brother. I just couldn’t help it. I didn’t kill him. He still cares about me. I know it. We just know what our bittens’… feelings are after we bite them. Some of us can even read their thoughts if we drink enough,” she explained to him, rambling. “He was just fine. He liked it. But my brother and sister saw, and I had to look horrible… insane… I mean… Well, you saw me starving, which is a sight I’m sure…” she said, and he recalled the red-eyed monster still fresh in his memory.
“How old are your siblings?” He asked politely.
“Eleven,” she smiled, which brightened her pale face. “Pearl and Pearce. They’re twins. We’re actually half-siblings, I guess. We have the same mom,” she shuddered involuntarily. “We have different dads, even though their dad is the only dad I remember. My dad… well… my mom didn’t really know him, if that helps explain anything,” she said, and he just stared. “Anyways, she met the twins’ dad, Benny, and she stayed with him awhile. He treated me like his own daughter, loved me like his own daughter, but right before my mom had the twins… He just left… Didn’t want the responsibility of his own kids, I guess,” she shrugged morosely.
“But you have a foster brother now with your mom and twin brother and sister?” He pressed on, curious.
“No,” she shook her head. “No, after Benny left, my mom couldn’t really handle it… Anyways, CPS got involved… four years ago? We were eventually all put in this foster home for boys. Pearl refused to be separated from Pearce, and then they couldn’t be separated from me…” she smiled again, a bit stronger of a grin.
“Wow… You all must be really close,” he said, and she nodded.
“We were… We have six foster brothers. The
re’s Manny, Dean, Bobby, Lawrence, Terrence, and Nathaniel…” She shuddered again before looking up at him, light-grey eyes iridescent in the pale moonlight. “I know you don’t have any siblings and aren’t in foster care, but my parents are dead too, basically, you know? They aren’t there, and my foster parents aren’t exactly great substitutes or the real deal either,” she explained, and he nodded.
“You can read people’s thoughts, can’t you?” Obviously, he was smart too.
“Ya… I try not to, but sometimes I find myself answering people’s questions that they never asked. I really try not to though,” she emphasized, and he smiled, revealing perfectly straight teeth.
“No, it’s fine. I never meant to send you flying across the courtyard,” she laughed, nudging him a little, and although he stiffened initially, he quickly checked the reflex.
“Ya… That kinda hurt,” she admitted, her eyes flickering over to the pillar that she had crashed into, and she noticed that a few stones were chipped from it.
She had a pretty hard head.
“I guess you know what happened to my parents then?” He asked, and she nodded slowly.
“Kinda…” she waited for him to actually say it.
“My mom had brain cancer or a tumor in her brain or something. She died when I was really young, three maybe? I just mainly remember her in the hospital, stuck through with tubes,” she nodded, encouraging him to continue. “My dad… my dad got really depressed after that. No one really took care of me. I was on my own. Then, three years ago, when I was thirteen, he just left. It was Christmas… I had no idea where he went… No Christmas presents that year, or any year really. The cops came a little later to tell me that my dad had shot himself in his car somewhere by the lake,” he said, looking down. “I didn’t know where I was gonna go. They were talking about me becoming a ward of the state,” Seph nodded understandingly. “Then, my Uncle Barry came in and Uncle Larry. They were like… like… archangels, saving me from these strange people,” he said, and Seph nodded.