Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  “Look at all these beautiful ladies,” Rodney joked aloud, coming in with the timid Tristan trailing behind him.

  Tristan glanced nervously left and right, sensing that they were not supposed to be there.

  “C’mon,” Seph ushered them over, and the door shut behind them.

  Tristan jumped at the sound but then took a deep breath and calmed down. They both hopped into the bed with the rest of them. Linda and Abernathy were at the bottom with Francesca resting over them, hugging the pair of girls. Seph leaned over her, her side pressed against her back. Rodney came over beside Seph, wrapping her in a big hug, moping too. Tristan awkwardly sat on the bed, not knowing what to do. He didn’t know what was going on. They were having a cry fest, he finally noted.

  “C’mon, Tris,” Abernathy sniffed, gesturing him over to their little pile and pulling him in too.

  Soon, he found himself crying as well. He thought about his family. He thought of his mom and the cancer. He thought of his dad, leaving that Christmas and never coming back. He recalled the cops coming to tell him the news. He thought of his great-uncles, Uncle Barry and Uncle Larry. He missed them terribly. They were so cool. The best brothers he had yet to meet. They were very rustic but very cool. They loved him unconditionally. They loved him like his father had never truly loved him. His father had been selfish. His father had only been thinking of himself when he had shot himself that Christmas, and his mom… His mom had hardly even known him. He cried along with them.

  Rodney held Seph and thought about how warm she was, all things considered. She was a vampire, and her body temperature should be a bit below average. He contemplated his family briefly. He did miss them, but his life had not been so bad. He had both his parents. He had not tried to kill any of them. He had three little sisters that he adored, Rose, Ronda, and Rowan. He did miss them all terribly. His brother… Roland… He could not think about that yet…

  Abernathy missed her father. He had accepted her. He had urged her off to school, encouraged her. He had raised her with witchcraft. She knew it well and was going to make him proud. Her mother… Her mother’s battle with leukemia had been one of the worst times in her life. She tried not to think about that though. She tried to be optimistic. But, for right now, she was going to be selfish and cry for herself…

  Linda thought of her parents, her loving parents who had sent her off to witch school without a thought. They didn’t really care about her. They were just happy their crazy, wild child daughter was finally gone. Now, they could get a dog. Now, they could take care of the plants themselves and not watch them die under their daughter’s lack of a green thumb. Now, they could watch her perfect, older brother advance and advance in alchemy while she just struggled at Monster Academy. Sometimes, she thought she hated them or hated Thomas for getting all the attention…

  Francesca was left with her thoughts of wanting to help Seph and feelings of missing her own family. She missed her seven little siblings. She missed her mom and dad, but they were waiting for her. They were completely encouraging, and they missed her. They visited every parents’ day, once a month, and always brought her food from home. She missed her mama’s tamales. They knew she was a voracious eater, and they were all werewolves too. Her parents were, at least, and soon, all her little siblings would be attending Monster Academy with her. She loved them…

  Seph dwelled on her past. She thought of her mother. She thought of her father or lack thereof. She thought of her step-father, the dad she never had, leaving when the twins weren’t even born yet, abandoning them just like her real dad. She thought of the foster home, of Janette and Bill and all the others. She recalled the looks on Pearl’s and Pearce’s faces. She thought of Nate again. She thought of kissing him and then of drinking his blood. Could she forgive herself? She missed all of them. She wanted to prove to them she was no monster, or at least, that she could control this monstrous side of her…

  “Ahem,” the clearing of a throat awoke them all at around four in the morning from their emotionally drained haze.

  They all blinked blearily and then sat up straighter, pulling apart. It was Sir Cosmos, the principal! He was standing in the doorway, staring at them all. They all suddenly wondered just what they looked like. Did they look like they had just been doing something… less than reputable? Probably not, considering they were all clothed. They probably looked a little weird though.

  Tristan was holding Linda and Abernathy, hugging them both. Francesca’s head rested on his shoulder. Seph was holding Francesca, and Rodney was holding her. They were all lying down. It probably did not look wonderful.

  “You were all missed in classes today,” he remarked as they struggled to sit up. “Skipping school, opposite sexes sleeping in the same bed,” he looked at Rodney and Tristan pointedly. “But it’s understandable,” they all grinned slowly, as though afraid that he were going to break their tenuous trust in his benevolence at any moment. “Vampire changing is harder than most, especially considering this one’s powers,” he gestured at Seph, and she flushed a little as her friends turned to look at her, all eyes on her.

  They were her friends, but did everyone have to emphasize her great powers? She was still a normal vampire, though not really. Why could she not just be average?

  “She has wonderful friends to comfort her like this in her time of need,” each of them either hugged her or nudged her gently. “You all have make-up work tomorrow. The teachers have been spoken to. You are all excused from today, and you all are very lucky I understand so well,” with that closing remark, he turned on his heel and left them to themselves, the door closing with a snap!

  They all slowly extricated themselves fully from each other and the bed. They stretched this way and that, working out the kinks in their necks. They were all covered in mud now. The bed was a total mess. Seph just gaped at it.

  “A cleaning hobgoblin will fix that,” Francesca stated matter-of-factly, and Seph turned to stare at her.

  Cleaning hobgoblins?! That explained everything because she and Francesca were not the cleanest of roommates. She looked at everyone else.

  “Hey, let’s meet up at the Room in say… thirty minutes? We should probably all go shower,” Linda gestured at herself, half-covered in mud with her clothes ruined until the next good washing.

  “Sounds good,” Seph agreed, and they all left, meandering out the door slowly.

  It probably looked like they just had a rave with people pouring out of their bedroom. She ran a hand through her hair, catching it in globs of mud and twisted tangles. Seph turned back to Francesca, who tilted her head toward the shower.

  “You first?” She asked, and Seph shook her head. “Sounds good to me,” the werewolf girl bounded off to the shower, flipping on the hot water immediately.

  Seph smiled to herself. Francesca never offered for her to shower first. She stared at her messy bed. They had all been there for her. They had all stayed there with her. They had risked getting in trouble for skipping school, staying in the same bed, and who knew what other indiscretions, for her… They had risked all that for her.

  Rodney had felt really warm, holding her… Why was she thinking of Rodney in particular? They were all in that bed. Francesca had run through the rain to find her, and yet… she could not stop thinking about Rodney… What did that mean?

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Life went on as usual, at least for a few days. Life couldn’t be considered that usual at Monster Academy. Something was always happening. As it was, something in particular happened a few days later that was especially bad, something involving a certain red and black miniature dragon named Silo.

  “I just don’t understand Cosmos sometimes. What kind of spell was that? Something to do with the wind and the rain… I dunno…” Linda was spouting off about Wizarding Class to an understanding Abernathy and Tristan as they all met up in front of the Room.

  “You guys don’t know the meaning of difficult. What did we just cover, Rodney? Phasing
into a wolf? Not a werewolf, but a wolf, on command, and then controlling it. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to be a dog, an actual dog, and then controlling that?” Francesca exclaimed as Abernathy keyed in the code.

  They all turned to Seph, waiting to hear what happened in Vamp Class that day. She just shrugged, giving them all a wry grin. Her toe scuffed in the dirt absently.

  “I’m still practicing teleporting, and I’m getting pretty good at it,” she admitted, and they all groaned at her.

  It made just perfect sense that they would all be struggling in their species class while she was flourishing in hers.

  “And you get to be taught by the gorgeous Capri Stone! I am so jealous. I hate being a witch sometimes. We get to be taught by Cosmos, and let’s face it. He’s like a white version of my dad,” Abernathy said matter-of-factly.

  “He’s a good teacher though,” Tristan stated, and the two girls whirled on him.

  “You would think that,” Linda snapped, scowling at him.

  “Ya, Mr. Solitto here has a natural knack for magic,” Abernathy said, imitating Sir Cosmos’s grandiose manner of speaking while attempting to send him a mean glare, which she couldn’t really manage.

  “Uh, you guys?” Francesca said, stepping into the Room and looking around it despairingly.

  “Ya?” They all looked in her direction, and then they saw the room as well as what was lacking in it.

  “Where’s Silo?” Abernathy squeaked, and they all tumbled into the room, searching high and low for the little dragon.

  “Aw, naw,” Rodney moaned, and Francesca hurried over to see what her cousin had discovered.

  “Oh, no,” she groaned, and soon all the others hurried over, cursing under their breath as well once they saw it.

  “He burnt through the wall,” Linda said, staring at the gaping, charred hole in front of them.

  “He burnt all the way through this wall and through the Outer Wall,” Tristan said unnecessarily, a little scared by the sheer power of this dragon that Abernathy had created.

  “He’s out in the real world,” Francesca whispered, horrified by the implications of the situation.

  “The human world,” Seph added, and her best friend looked at her a moment before turning back to the hole.

  “It’s after four. We have a few hours to look for him,” Rodney stated, checking his gold watch quickly. “Are you good, Seph?” He asked, looking to her concernedly as her blood dilemma was always on their minds.

  “For now,” she assented, and they headed back out the Room.

  Outside the Room, Rodney and Francesca led the way through the large hedge maze, bushes raising at least ten feet over their heads, nearly blocking out the pale moonlight. There was a deathly silence about them. If someone found Silo… If someone hurt him… If he hurt them…

  “Moon’s nearly full,” Rodney commented quietly, and Francesca nodded, not even needing to glance up at it.

  “Seph?” Abernathy came up beside her a little timidly as she walked by herself behind the werewolf cousins. “How’d Silo escape that bubble thing you put around him?” She asked, and Seph thought about that, although she had been thinking that same thing ever since they had discovered his disappearance.

  “I’ve been a bit out of it recently,” she confessed after a few more minutes. “I suspect that my spells slacken when I’m tired or just not concentrating, and my spell that held him was never that good in the first place. My telekinesis is strong, but the spell that molded it into a bubble was a wizarding spell. We probably should have gotten one of you two to cast that spell around my powers. Once we get Silo back, we can get Tristan to do it, seeing as you two just rave about his powers,” she commented, and Tristan smiled smugly behind them, eavesdropping on their entire conversation.

  “You are good, Tristan,” Linda said beside him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

  He thought he had been walking alone. Linda was very quiet when she wanted to be. She could probably eavesdrop on conversations really well too.

  “I mean it though. You don’t seem to know too much about our kind, but I do. Abernathy and I aren’t bad witches. In fact, we’re pretty good, relatively intermediate,” she stated matter-of-factly, and Abernathy threw a grin over her shoulder at her best friend. “But you? You’re on a whole other playing field. You’re like the Persephone of the wizards,” she said, a bit overly dramatic, but not by much.

  “I think I resent that,” Seph called back, vampiric ears picking up every single word.

  “Oh, it’s a compliment,” Linda waved a hand up at her. “But seriously, Seph is the most powerful vampire that’s come through here, and you… You might be the most powerful wizard,” up ahead, only seen by Francesca, Rodney gave a small shudder that was not very pleasant as his skin prickled down his back.

  “We’re here,” Rodney called back as soon as they reached the Outer Wall.

  They all stopped at the wall and stared up at its immense height of around twenty feet.

  “How exactly are we supposed to get up there?” Abernathy mused when Seph suddenly blinked, appearing at the top of the Wall.

  “Easy as cake,” she called to them, jumping down to the other side.

  They heard her land lightly behind it. Francesca and Rodney shared a look before shrugging nearly identically. Tristan gasped, taking a step back, as both suddenly morphed into their werewolf forms, Francesca golden-furred, Rodney black-pelted. Running back, they both sprinted forward and jumped, easily pouncing onto the top of the wall and then hopping over it, shifting into their human forms midair. They twisted and landed on the ground beside Seph.

  “I wonder how they’re going to get over,” Seph wondered aloud to her two friends, all avidly watching the top of the wall and waiting to see what their friends would do.

  “Well, that’s just great. Another reason why I resent being a witch sometimes,” Abernathy commented drily when a wind suddenly picked up around her and Linda.

  “Abernathy?!” Linda yelped.

  “Linda?!” Abernathy squeaked.

  Without warning, they were both whooshed into the air, swirling around and around in a miniature cyclone. The two girls held each other, shrieking, as they went over the Outer Wall and landed on the other side, still shrieking, beside the other three. Seph, Rodney, and Francesca just stared at the pair of girls shrieking until Francesca finally went up to them and smacked them upside their heads.

  “Be quiet! How much louder could you get?” She chastised harshly just as Tristan came flying over the wall, levitated by a small tornado similar to the one that had lifted the two girls over the wall.

  He landed beside them all, smiling satisfactorily. They all gaped at him. His smile faded an inch or so, but he kept it there determinedly.

  “I’ve been practicing,” he commented, flattening down his awry, red-gold spikes.

  “So you have,” Seph said, smiling at him.

  Behind their backs, Rodney scowled again. He did not like the way they were looking at each other just now. It was too friendly, in his opinion. Francesca caught his look however, eyes sliding back and forth between her cousin, Seph, and Tristan. Finally, she cleared her throat, gaining everyone’s attentions.

  “Let’s get movin’. We gotta find Silo,” she announced, clapping her hands together readily. “We gotta get back by ten, or else… I dunno…” she said, leading the somewhat tense group into the surrounding forest.

  They meandered through the woods in silence, following a somewhat trodden path. Many a vampire, witch, wizard, or werewolf had snuck out before them, exploring the outside world either late night or early morning. They finally came upon an area where the trail split off into three directions, left, center, and right. They halted there.

  “Okay, Abernathy and Linda, you take the left trail. Seph and I will go straight, and Rodney, you take Tristan and go right,” Francesca stated, taking charge quickly.

  They all nodded and branched off their separate ways.
The woods could be creepy at night, but truth be told, those things that went bump in the night? That was usually one of their own kind. So, each pairing set off in their own direction, scouring the woods for a small, fire-breathing dragon. You would think that he would have left a fiery trail for them to follow, but alas, everything looked shadowed in the dim light.

  Abernathy and Linda traipsed down their path. Abernathy fretted more and more the further they walked without discovering any sign of the little beast. Linda was getting more and more annoyed by it too. She glared at her best friend again and again as she kept muttering about the dragon like a mother hen, clucking away.

  “Abernathy, for the eleventh time, we will find your stupid drag-ON!” Linda shrieked as she slipped down a steep embankment and slid into a creek.

  Seconds later, there was another yelp, and Abernathy landed right on top of her. Linda groaned, rolling the small girl off of her. They both stood up, drenched, and covered in mud. They caught each other’s eyes and started giggling.

  “Wow…” Linda said, starting to laugh.

  “What are the odds…” Abernathy said, and her laughter was a sharp crack! in the still night air.

  They clutched each other, laughing together in their newly discovered creek.

  “What say ye, Furst Mate Abernathy,” Linda said in a robust tone. “I say we travel this here creek,” Abernathy erupted with another gale of laughter as they sloshed down the small stream.

  Meanwhile, Francesca and Seph were relatively good trackers. A vampire and a werewolf together, following something? Even a miniature dragon didn’t have a snowman’s chance in Hawaii. Silo had meandered down their path at some point. They sniffed at the air tentatively and followed the scent of burning leaves. Searching for any telltale signs of travel, such as large lizard footprints, they marched side by side, noting any broken twigs or branches also. He had come down their way for sure. That much was obvious by the barely discernable scorch marks on various tree trunks and rocks, all at lower angles.