Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  “Phin,” she knocked briskly on the door she knew was his, sensing his troubled feelings within. “Phin,” she knocked a little more earnestly, hoping nobody saw her there.

  It would look… odd.

  “Seph?” A questioning voice called, and then the door opened.

  She hurried in, and he slowly shut the door behind her. He looked at her, clearly bewildered. She was just as flustered.

  “I needed to talk with you,” she said urgently, and he nodded, still staring at her as though she were crazy.

  “Okay…” he said slowly, beginning to stroll around his room.

  Suddenly, she noticed her surroundings. They were very different from her dorm room. His room was large and spacious. He also had no roommate, it seemed. It was all very dark and wooden, plenty of bookshelves, a few steps, and a railing leading to his dark bed in the corner, cold floor beneath her feet. He idled by the bathroom, where there was a table beside the bathroom and bookshelves and a proper reading place. A few books were scattered there, and she was slightly tempted to see what he was reading. Why was that? Did she want to assess her opponent? Was she interested in him? Another food source? What was wrong with her?!

  “What’s wrong with me?” She asked him, standing by his bed in the corner absently.

  He casually strolled around his room. He glanced at the knickknacks randomly bedecking his ebony bookshelves. He held a glass orb momentarily.

  “Do you think that there’s something wrong with you, Persephone?” He asked seriously, never lifting his gaze to meet her eyes as he studied the glass sphere.

  “Yes,” she answered quickly, and then sighed, sitting down on the edge of his bed, forgetting all pretense. “I dunno… Maybe it’s normal for a vampire… I dunno…” she groaned, collapsing her befuddled head in her hands.

  “You don’t know?” He repeated, continuing his trek around his large room.

  “No… Maybe all vampires assess absolutely everything. Maybe they view everything as a threat, every being as a threat, and sum them up, deciding on what is dangerous and what isn’t about them. They find their weak spots. They want to search their minds to see what they are plotting, what they can do. Maybe they sometimes think that they’re animals, considering people they like only because they want a constant food source,” she babbled, talking to the floor, but his sensitive ears picked up each and every word.

  Silence passed, and she dared a glance up. Was he glaring at her like she was crazy? Did he consider her a monster? She was not a monster. Francesca had drilled that into her mind. She had to believe it. She grimaced. He wasn’t looking at her though. He was studying a different glass globe now, a smooth spherical ball of glass with black and gold lightning dancing in its depths, a magical trinket. Abernathy probably has one, she thought to herself.

  “That thought was not analytical. You were not considering using this globe as a weapon, were you? You were just musing that maybe your friend had one of these, a common trait between me and your friend. Not everything is analytical in your mind, is it, Seph? You think normal things plenty. You’ve just been thinking more and more like a vampire recently. One, you’re not used to it. Two, you’re growing in your powers, and with that, your internal instinct grows, that primitive self-” she cut him off.

  “That monster within?” She asked, holding his eyes steadily with her own.

  He shook his head.

  “Everybody can be a monster, Seph, but that is not a monster. That is just what you are, and you are not a monster. You analyze everything because you are vampire, and you were made to survive. Just as a human would pick up anything and everything, testing to see if they could eat it, when they are starving. They do that to survive. You do this to survive. You are in a place filled with vampires, werewolves, witches, and wizards. Your inner self should sense this as a danger. I know mine does. I have learned to tone it down over the years but never completely suppress it. You want to keep that killer instinct, Persephone, to keep yourself alive in your years away from here. Not everybody is as open and caring as those at Zephyr Hall. Don’t forget that,” he advised her warily, taking a few, cautionary steps towards her.

  “And the food source thing?” She finally asked after another moment’s unbearable silence.

  “Food source?” He asked, raising a nearly invisible brow to her.

  “Rodney…” she looked down, grimacing and feeling a little uncomfortable now.

  She was becoming increasingly aware that she was alone in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed.

  “We’re kind of together, and sometimes I drink his blood, and…” if she could turn red, she would be scarlet at this very moment. “I dunno if I wanna be with him because I get blood from him or because I like him,” she admitted, finally steeling herself to look up into his silvery eyes.

  They were completely impassive, carefully emotionless. He was revealing nothing to her. Was he hiding something or just trying to keep the situation less than extremely awkward?

  Without warning, Phin began to stride resolutely towards her. She was completely confused. What was going on? She opened her mouth to voice as much, and he kissed her. She slipped off the bed and hit the cold ground, breaking their embrace, and he knelt down beside her, moving hurriedly so that she didn’t have time to think or react. He cut the side of his neck and pulled her towards him. She wasn’t one to oppose a free meal and immediately began to drink from him. A few moments passed before her real mind processed everything, and she suddenly shoved away from him violently. Rodney…

  “What… What was that?! What are you doing?! What’s going on, Phin?!” She exclaimed excitedly, wiping his blood from her mouth and scrambling to her feet.

  She stumbled backwards and nearly knocked over one of his many bookshelves.

  “Well? What did you feel?” He asked, licking his fingertips and then pressing them to his neck wound, sealing the cut with his saliva. “Your reaction clearly proves your theory wrong, Seph. You do not view Rodney as just a food source or else you would have viewed me as such just now. You care for him. Every vampire stumbles across this problem. I remember Stefan with Linda…” He trailed off as Seph firmly folded her arms across her chest, arching a brow to him.

  “Did you go about ‘explaining’ it to him the way you just did with me?” She asked, and he grinned at her mischievously.

  “No, not quite,” he smiled at her, and she rolled her eyes.

  “That is not happening again, Phin,” she stated, and his grin broadened, white teeth shining in his dark face.

  “You say that-” There was a timely knock at the door, cutting him off acutely.

  “Phin?” They instantly recognized Rodney’s voice before he began to slide the door open, clearly feeling welcome in Phin’s room, which meant that he had been there before.

  Seph’s mind processed all these thoughts before she quickly misted away, gliding out the door as Phin hurried towards it. He ushered Rodney in. He wiped away all excess blood from his neck before the werewolf would notice. Outside the door, she materialized back into her solid form in time to hear Rodney speak briefly to Phin before the door was completely shut.

  “I need to speak to you about me and Seph…” the door shut harshly with a snap!

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Doesn’t mean I can’t listen in their minds, she thought happily to herself, immediately hooking herself in both the vampire and werewolf’s minds. Rodney was asking Phin about between-species relationships and how they worked out. Apparently, Phin had been in a pretty serious relationship with an older werewolf girl once, and most of Zephyr Hall knew this, even though Rodney was a freshman student. How had she missed on this important information when she was so linked to Phin’s mind? She thought this vehemently to herself before swiftly banishing that thought. She was being analytical and vampiric once again.

  Rodney was also asking about the whole blood thing. Great, they were both debating about it, and yet they had never actually talke
d to each other about it. She had been pretty secretive though recently… worried about all this… Maybe he felt like he couldn’t be that open with her right now. That was probably it. She listened acutely to their thoughts as Phin answered Rodney’s question. Phin was reassuring him, saying it was a perfectly normal thing and happened with most vampire relationships, including the ones between two vampires.

  Seph could also sense Phin’s tumultuous feelings. Normally, he would be blocking her right now, but he knew she wanted to know about Rodney dearly. They could sense each other very well, with their advanced mind skills and their blood sharing. She could especially sense his feelings and thoughts after just tasting his blood. He was… confused… about her? She shuddered, pulling away from their minds.

  She didn’t want to know this much about everybody. Minds belonged to people, not to her. If a person was not safe within their own mind, then where were they safe? She frowned as she made her way down the hall, feet skimming across the marble. It would seem that nobody was safe around her…

  Late that night, or more to the point, early that morning, she crept out of bed, not wanting to disturb Francesca. She had a note already written. Francesca had barraged her with questions for half the morning, trying to get everything out of her, but Seph had remained like a vault. Lucky for her, Francesca couldn’t read minds. She was at least safe in her own from others, just not vice versa.

  Easily enough, the young vampire skimmed through the hole in the school’s wall that Silo had made earlier, a break in the school’s defenses that alerted the teachers whenever a student left. Apparently, Silo was magical enough to create a hole without disturbing these defenses, and they could now all use it to leave in and out of the school grounds without trouble. They just all sorely hoped none of the caretakers would find it, although Abernathy had cast a wonderful illusion charm over it. She made it look like just another piece of wall, and Linda had planted a rose bush in front of it too, causing the bush to flower and bloom with the growing spell from their recent Basic class. She was very good at that spell in particular. Her parents would never complain again about her lack of a green thumb.

  Exiting the school’s perimeter, Seph allowed herself to melt into the darkness of the surrounding forest. She was looking for one creature in particular. She let out a high-keening sound, a sound only this particular animal could hear. Without warning, a raccoon jumped at her head. They toppled to the ground, rolling on it for a moment before springing apart, both breathing fiercely.

  “Creature, I need your assistance,” she said calmly before it could dart away.

  It paused, surveying her critically. An unspoken understanding seemed to pass between their eyes. Its black eyes were oily pools of knowledge, of thought, and of comprehension. Raccoons were ancient creatures, one with nature. She passed over her note, which the creature took with its small, black hand. It nodded to her once. She nodded as well and watched it disappear into the woods. It knew what to do to get her paper into the right hands.

  Finally, she made it back to her own bed, sun smarting her sensitive skin. She relaxed under the covers, listening cautiously to make sure that Francesca’s breaths were steady and constant, indicating that the young werewolf was still asleep. She lay there a moment, thinking. She had sent that raccoon off to Nate, with a note asking him to send back (via raccoon) a time when Janette and Bill would be away at night, and she could sneak in and see him, and the boys, and her brother, and her sister. She didn’t expect a response anytime soon, and even if she did receive a response, she didn’t expect to be able to see them anytime soon.

  However… when she awoke that evening and opened the door, just in case the raccoon had returned, there was a note awaiting her, written in Nate’s widely spaced handwriting. Grinning broadly, she grabbed it and hurried into the bedroom, jumping into her bed and pulling the sheer curtains tightly around her. Francesca was just getting up and trudging for the bathroom and a hot shower.

  Seph,

  Janette and Bill are going out to a movie tonight. You remember their late-night movies on Saturdays. They leave at seven, and they told me to put everybody to bed. They won’t be back until one, two at the latest. I know you don’t have classes Saturday. Come by. We all miss you! Yours,

  Nate

  She stared at the note a moment, hand trembling. Saturday… It was Saturday! He meant tonight! She nearly jumped for joy! She had never imagined that she would get to see them so soon! She checked her watch hurriedly to see that it was already eight ‘o’ clock. They had slept in! Gasping, she ran in a flurry, pulling on her clothes, running a brush through her hair, and applying a little make-up. She did all this in the ten minutes that Francesca was in the shower and then left a hurried note, explaining about where she was going and why. She also begged that Francesca not say anything. She darted out the door before the werewolf could emerge and stop her.

  She made her way to her old house without even thinking about it. She had memorized the path to the place by heart now. She had often circled her old home, missing the people within and the general environment surrounding it. Now, she easily crept to where Nate’s window was, and she hopped up the building easily, scaling the two stories and letting herself in through his window fluidly.

  She heard a gasp, and Nate sat up from lounging on the bed. They just stared at each other for a moment. It had been so long, over a month, since they had last seen each other. She still remembered him as she had last seen him, unconscious, on the ground, bleeding from her bite. Since then, he had healed, she noted.

  Immediately, Nate got up, strode to her, and pressed his lips to her own. This lasted a few moments before Seph suddenly realized what was going on and shoved him away. He gasped, shocked by her strength, as she just stood there, half-crouched and frozen-still.

  “Nate! What… What was that?!” She exclaimed for what felt like the umpteenth time that week.

  “Look, I’ve read books on vampires since what happened, Seph. I know that the blood-drinking can be addictive, on both sides, but it’s not necessarily,” he was taking slow steps towards her now as she was taking slow steps away from him. “I’m not addicted to it. You could say… I’m addicted to you? Before I even knew you were a vampire, I liked you. That hasn’t changed. I accept you for who and what you are no matter what,” his dark eyes were pleading with hers now, nearly desperate.

  “Are my pheromones raging or something? What is it with men this week?” She exclaimed exasperatedly, resting her head in her hands.

  “Humans and humanoid creatures don’t have pheromones, Seph,” Nate replied matter-of-factly, and she just glared up at him through her masses of fire engine-red strands.

  “Thanks ever so much,” she responded coolly before brushing past him and hurrying out the door just as he reached for her arm.

  She bolted down the stairs and into the living room, Nate right behind her. She paused as she entered the room, and everybody stared at her. Terrence was at the kitchen table, reading a book. Lawrence sat across from him, sulking and listening to music. Bobby and Manny were sitting on the ground beside the TV, Bobby watching some adventure cartoon while Manny played with their shared Hot wheels. Pearl and Pearce both rested on the couch, watching the cartoon with Bobby. Pearl had a new doll in her lap, and Pearce had a collection of rocks in his, a cleaning cloth there as well. Pearce and his rocks…

  “Seph…” Pearl murmured first, and she nodded, tears biting at her eyes.

  She could not shed them though. All she needed was for one bloody tear to course down her face to ruin this moment. They would remember all too well that she was vampire and not the same human Seph as before.

  “Seph!” Lawrence exclaimed, the loudest any of them had ever heard him speak before.

  He wrenched the headphones from his ears, sped across the room, and flung his arms around her. She heard him as he breathed in her scent longingly. She had forgotten how close she and Lawrence had been. Not many of the others accepted him wi
th his constant depression. She had always listened. She hadn’t realized how hard her sudden move must have been on him.

  “Hey, Lawrence. I’ve missed you so much,” she hugged him tightly, breathing in his scent as well.

  She felt someone quickly wipe their thumbs under her eyes. She opened them to see Nate there, red smears on his fingers. He nodded at her solemnly. He understood and did accept her for what she was, truly. She gave him a grateful nod in return.

  The others soon swarmed around her. Pearl and Pearce were a little reluctant, having seen her in her true vampiric state, but she hadn’t bitten Lawrence or Nate and that emboldened them. She kissed the tops of each of their heads. They all wanted to see her by themselves, but they had to take turns. Nate helped her corral the crowd. First, she and Pearl played with her new dolls. They went up to their old room and played with them in silence for a little while.

  “Is it different… being a vampire now, Seph?” The little girl asked once the silence had grown stagnant.

  “A little,” she admitted, wanting to be completely honest with her younger sister. “I do have to drink blood,” she stated and noticed the young girl shudder a little. “I can control it though, and we drink bottled blood, not from others,” Rodney’s face flashed through her mind, but she pushed that away. “I also have some really cool new powers,” she said, and Pearl’s eyes snapped up, eager.

  “Like what?” She asked, and Seph grinned.

  For the next half hour or so, they spent their time playing with the dolls mid-air as Seph caused them to levitate with her telekinesis. They were having such a good time that they didn’t notice when Pearce came in for his turn. He saw the floating dolls, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

  “Whoa!” He exclaimed, and Seph’s face split into an even bigger grin.

  The next hour with Pearce they spent with her showing him the different things she could do. She shifted into that weird half-bat, half-human form. Next, she floated, but she could only do that a little. She turned to mist too, and Pearce had fun running through her, back and forth, back and forth.