Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  Suddenly, she was at his throat, and the blood was flowing freely. It felt amazing, the gentle, seductive pull on his neck. Did blood-drinking always feel this good? Well, Linda had never complained…

  His blood was amazing! It was rich and savory, like the finest, smoothest chocolate known to man… but better than chocolate. It was the best taste in the world, and this drinking of blood was making her want even more. She had no idea what he was thinking. She couldn’t concentrate, but she wanted to…

  “Where’s the keypad? It’s raining so hard out here. I can’t see a thing.”

  The two of them froze, holding each other, as the voices outside carried to them.

  “Francesca, it’s right there.”

  “I can see that, Linda. Don’t mess with me when it’s pouring rain, and my hair is messed up. I feel like a wet dog.”

  “Well, you sound like a wet bitch…”

  “What did you just say?!”

  “You heard me, Francesca! You’ve been a bitch all day! Just because you’re PMSing or having a bad day, does not mean the rest of us are!”

  “You did not just say that to me, you chinfladita. Voy a-”

  “Oh, you can’t cuss at me in English? You gotta say it in Spanish?! What if Abernathy and I did that every time one of you all pissed us off? Started talking Vietnamese?!”

  As the two girls continued to squabble outside, in the rain, the couple hurriedly darted around the corner just as the door opened. The girls continued their arguing inside. Rodney and Seph hid in the corner quietly.

  “Tu eres una chismosita y-”

  Linda let out a flurry of words in Vietnamese that neither Rodney nor Seph caught a word of as he swiftly rearranged his rumpled shirt. Seph caught sight of the blood still trickling freely from his neck. She had forgotten to seal it.

  “Rod,” she whispered, and she stood on her tiptoes.

  She jerked down his collar and sealed his wound on his neck. She licked her lips, lowering herself to her feet again. She smiled up at him.

  “You were still bleeding,” she commented, and he smiled back.

  He pulled her closer to him and kissed her broadly. Of course, they started kissing all over again and would have probably started the whole drinking blood thing again if not for Francesca and Linda’s screaming voices. They both snapped apart.

  “I’m having a bad day! You could give me a break, Linda!”

  “Well, I wasn’t having a bad day! And when you’re a bitch, I’m gonna tell ya!”

  They kept going, but Rodney pulled away from Seph, setting her down more steadily on her feet.

  “We should get out of here,” she nodded, grabbing his hand and tugging him to the bathroom.

  There was a small window that Rodney looked at skeptically.

  “The only way,” she commented, looking him up and down unsurely before opening the old window slowly.

  He nodded, and before she knew what was going on, he had lifted her up easily and pushed her out of the window. She was in the rain now, sitting in mud in the rose maze. She was staring at him with no faith. He grinned at her.

  “I gotta few tricks up my sleeve,” and he began to lift his much too broad self through the open window.

  She watched as before her eyes he started to shift into his werewolf form. His bones and muscles became loose as they changed shape, and in those few brief moments in time, he slipped out the window before quickly morphing back into his full human form. She was staring at him, amazed and a little grossed out.

  “That was a little gross,” she said bluntly, and he grinned at her in the rain, leaning forward and kissing her.

  “You like it. At least I don’t turn into a bat,” he brushed away some of the black eyeliner and mascara now smearing down her face. “You look like a bat,” he joked, and she shoved at him playfully, shutting the window quietly behind them so that their voices wouldn’t carry inside.

  “Shut up. For at least I ain’t a dog,” she commented, standing up and walking a few paces away, shoes squelching in the mud.

  She let out a shriek as he suddenly rushed her, and they both slammed into the mud. They wrestled for a moment, both of equal strength and enjoying the challenge. They finally stopped, breathing hard, and it was then that Seph noticed that Rodney was leaning over her. The worst moment for that old gardener to amble by…

  Rodney suddenly kissed her, and she reacted as was dictated. She was a bit distracted though. It was muddy. Rain was everywhere. She was thinking more clearly now too, without the whole blood thing. Earlier, she had wanted a bit more, but now… What was Rodney thinking? She didn’t dare pry. Finally, she pulled away from him, rising to her feet unsteadily as he looked up, clearly disappointed.

  “I’m thinking a little bit more clearly now, Rod, and we should probably take it down a notch,” she knew she was flushing just a little, but luckily, it was dark outside.

  His night vision probably didn’t help her cause though.

  “The whole blood thing complicates things,” she stated, dignified despite the fact that she was covered in mud from head to toe.

  He stood up beside her, looking more than a little disappointed. She laughed a little at his forlorn face, but that didn’t seem to alleviate him at all. She grabbed his hands and pulled him down to kiss him again. Slowly, she pulled back, beaming up at him.

  “What was that for?” He asked, breathless.

  “Just showing you that things are different now,” she was a little out of breath herself.

  His hand drifted down to push her hair off her shoulder.

  “Just what else can we do?” She pushed him away laughingly.

  “We can get outta the rain,” she said, smiling.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The next day, at breakfast, the others were not oblivious to Rodney and Seph’s change in actions towards each other. The pair had always been very close but now… Obviously, there was something else there as Seph playfully shoved Rod, and he caringly tucked a stray piece of hair out of her face as she sipped her blood.

  “You two know the Halloween dance is coming up, right?” Linda asked, smiling at them coyly as she held hands with Stefan, who was becoming a regular member of their little group.

  “Ya,” Seph said, casually flitting her eyes over the rim of her mug to meet Linda’s wide, slanted ones.

  “You usually bring a date,” she suggested, eyes wheedling.

  “Oh,” Seph said indifferently, giving nothing away.

  Her eyes never turned to Rodney, but Linda could see that they were vaguely touching. That meant that they were talking to each other.

  “I hate how you can do that,” the girl remarked, and Seph’s eyes snapped up to hers again.

  “What?” She asked coolly, and Linda grimaced.

  “Talk in your minds. It makes eavesdropping really difficult,” she spoke honestly, and Seph snorted with laughter, nearly spilling her blood.

  “That’s why we’re friends, Linda. Your honesty is just nifty,” Francesca admitted warmly, wrapping an arm over her friend’s shoulder.

  Linda leaned against her happily. They seemed to be friends again. When had they reconciled?

  “Oh… You two are better now?” Seph commented before wincing.

  If she and Rodney were to claim that they were never in the Room at that time, then she should never have mentioned something that she wasn’t supposed to have heard. She looked away quickly as both Francesca and Linda eyed her suspiciously. She stared into the depths of her mug.

  “How did you know?” Francesca asked, eyes swiveling between her best friend and her cousin, who looked a little guilty.

  “Sometimes, I can’t help it,” Seph said, thinking quickly and pointing at her head absently.

  Good save, Rodney commented, and she let him sense her disapproval of his thought as he grinned.

  “Right…” Francesca said, not completely stupid to their internal chatter.

  The bell rang, and they all looked u
p.

  “Time for class,” Tristan announced, rising quickly and leaving.

  His mind had been absent a lot of late. They all looked at each other and shrugged.

  “Who knows what he’s thinking… oh wait…” Francesca looked over at Seph pointedly, and she shrugged again.

  “I try to keep out of your minds,” she commented, and the girl rolled her eyes, not believing the vampire for an instant.

  Everything went blissfully perfect for the next week or so. They all fell into certain rhythms. Tristan would constantly be caught whispering furtively with Dewdrop or drawing up maps or reading strange books. He was acting very odd recently.

  Rodney and Seph would go off on their ‘walks’. The others weren’t stupid and realized the couple’s relationship had changed. However, neither of them said anything about it, liking to keep the mystery hanging in the air. They also seemed to enjoy keeping to themselves a lot also.

  Linda and Abernathy started to become thick as thieves again. They did this a lot. They would drift apart, and Linda would flaunt all her attention on Stefan. Then they would drift back together. It was one of their together times, which was actually not exactly good. They tended to get into a lot of trouble together. Right now, they were smoking up a storm in the bathroom. They were only doing it because as witches they could get cigarettes, even if they didn’t particularly like them.

  Stefan was not in the Room often, now that Linda was paying more attention to Abernathy than to him. He was probably off with Kenji somewhere or Capri. They were all pretty good friends. He and Kenji were actually uncommonly close for two male vampires, considering how territorial most male vampires were.

  Francesca was left to her lonesome, but she never stayed alone for too long. She was a notorious flirt and beautiful at that. She flaunted what she had and was caught more than a few times by that same caretaker, Mr. Grey, or one of the other three caretakers. They were quadruplets named Mr. Grey, Mr. Yellow, because of the yellow tinge to his skin from smoking, Mr. Brown, for his leathery, tan skin after gardening out in the sun so often, and Mr. Blue, for his sightless blue eyes, blind from who knew what.

  One day during Vamp Class, all hell broke loose, shattering the pleasant perfection of the last week. Seph was paired with Alistair, learning mind domination, and they had never gotten along well before they had been paired up. While the others practiced a few things here and there, she and Alistair faced each other like two duelists.

  Without warning, Seph felt her body suddenly feel the intense urge to snap to the ground. She bowled over, prostrating herself on the ground before Alistair. She heard him snicker.

  “I enjoy being bowed to. Now get up and try doing the same to me,” he instructed cruelly, releasing his hold on her body.

  She hopped to her feet without so much as a push from her hands. She was furious! She glowered at him, a few strands of hair askew, obscuring the front of her darkening eyes a bit. Vampires became hungrier when they were angrier, and she was hopping mad. She glared at him and willed him to prostrate himself on the ground before her. He deserved it. He had embarrassed her and made her do that. His upper torso bent ever so slightly, a sort of bow to her, but he soon shook himself, shaking that off.

  No, that’s not right. Bow to me. He ordered in a dominating voice, and she fell to the ground once more. He laughed himself silly, and suddenly, she felt an unearthly snarl rip through her throat. She jumped to her feet again and launched herself at him.

  Before anybody could react, she was on top of him, slashing at him with her nails and raking them across his face. He suddenly gained a burst of strength and shoved her away from him. She merely skidded a few feet before jumping back on him again, pummeling him over and over again with her small, hard fists. Arms snaked around her, prying her away from the bleeding vampire as he failed to fend off her vicious attacks.

  She snarled, spitting literally. She wrenched a hand free and threw it at him, sending the vampire flying up into the ceiling before smacking back down to the ground. He let out a groan, rising to his feet with the help of Roberta as Seph realized on a subconscious level that Sarabi and Phin were holding her back. She knew them. She knew their strengths and weaknesses. She was thinking like a monster. Alistair was the monster though. He made her feel menial, subordinate, something no vampire ever wanted to feel or tolerated.

  Without warning, she elbowed Sarabi viciously in the gut before kicking her leg back to snap Phin’s out from under him. Both toppled to the floor as she flew towards Alistair again. Her red-tinged eyes glanced to the side, and she saw that the boys, Trey, Kenji, and Capri, were just watching everything amusingly. Apparently, they had a few qualms with Alistair as well and didn’t want to help him out. Masoko looked terrified. She could only imagine what picture she painted for her.

  The girl latched onto Alistair and steeled herself to set her mouth on his neck. She pierced his skin viciously with her fangs, knowing full well that she was now vulnerable, and the others could easily pry her off and restrain her. She still got two good pulls in of his blood, exceptionally painful drags to Alistair, before they wrenched her off of him once again.

  “Seph!” Phin was shouting in her ears and in her mind.

  He shoved her up against the wall, slamming her head hard enough to make everything spin. It brought her back to reality. She suddenly took in the revolving room, noticing that all the vampires were staring at her. She sighed and took several deep breaths. She needed to calm herself down. Her eyes flitted over to Alistair. Roberta was helping him up again, putting her body between him and Seph. Was she hoping to thwart any more attacks by placing herself between them? Doubtful… If she really wanted to attack him again, she could, but he was pretty much defeated. She grinned inside herself.

  That was very foolish, Seph. You do not anger other vampires like that. You do not disrespect them like that! Phin was shouting in her mind again, and she winced. He was right, but then again, Alistair had disrespected her.

  “Alistair, you know very well that I am going to speak rather harshly to Seph, but you too had no right to instigate anything like that. You know you were deliberately starting a fight with basic, primal, vampire instincts,” he said firmly, and Alistair looked as though he was embarrassed, if he could be anymore.

  “What about her?” He grumbled, realizing his little plan had been noticed after all.

  “I’m getting to that,” Phin turned to Seph, both knowing that he had to give her dressing down aloud as well. “You need to learn to control you temper, Persephone, and your thirst. How many times have you attacked a fellow student now? Three? Trey, that wizard, and Alistair? I’m not even including any times that you have ever attacked me or Sarabi,” he nodded at the scowling Sarabi beside her, who was still holding her stomach.

  “Sorry about that, Sarabi. I just knew it would hurt and processed it…” she gave her a sheepish look, and Sarabi scowled even more harshly.

  “Serves us right for still not having trained such a strong and smart vampire like her,” Sarabi remarked bitterly, hobbling out of the classroom.

  She was most likely heading for the infirmary.

  “We’re working on that,” Phin muttered just as the ending bell rang.

  Everybody began to collect their things, bustling out. Alistair was one of the last to go, sending Seph a glare that could have frozen lava. She sent it right back. He had no right to make her bow to him. She hoped he hurt a lot. It seemed she had made yet another enemy at Zephyr Hall, a powerful, mind-controlling vampire at that.

  “Um… Phin?” She said quietly, still hanging in the air, feet dangling.

  “Ya, Seph?” He wasn’t even thinking about her.

  He was brooding about how powerful she was and how dangerous.

  “Wanna set me down? If my throat could bruise, it would,” she commented, and he suddenly realized that he was still pinning her to the wall by the throat.

  He promptly dropped her.

  “Sorry about th
at,” he muttered, hand playing with his ear before he promptly left.

  He was thinking… confused thoughts and trying very hard to block her out. She really wanted to follow him now. What was he trying to hide from her? She took a step toward the door, and then she stopped herself. What was wrong with her? She was thinking more and more like a predator every day! It was unnerving, to say the least. She liked the other Seph, the normal, fun-loving one. She didn’t like this new one, this one that analyzed everything, absorbed it within seconds, and then proceeded to use it for her own benefit. She was becoming… a monster? No. But animalistic, that was certain. How discouraging…

  These thoughts dampened her spirits, and she was harassed with them the rest of the night, even during dinner, when she got more blood to fill her belly. Rodney noticed. Francesca noticed. Everybody noticed, but they let her be with her thoughts. She didn’t see Phin in the Main Hall. She still wanted to know what he was thinking. That was that animal part of her again, hoping to know every thought of all possible threats, in case she needed to use it to help herself out, in the end.

  She was also bothered about something else. It was another animalistic thing and had to do with her and Rodney. Whenever they did anything, she always ended up drinking his blood. It was good, but was that the reason she was with him? He was a constant source of blood, good-tasting blood at that. B and werewolf, a very good mix. However, maybe she was just with him for the source. Did she think of him as a source? An animal would. An animal would keep a constant food source open, just in case. Why was she thinking like this? She never thought like this before! She never had fangs before either, she noted grudgingly.

  She had to speak to Phin. As soon as possible, she made up some excuse and left the table swiftly. Rodney gave her a questioning look, and Francesca sent her a quizzical look as well. She just shook them off. She needed to speak to Phin. She couldn’t be left with her own thoughts for much longer. They were all swirling around her head, round and round as though they were on some awful merry-go-round from hell.