by Jayme Morse
Anna gave her a long, hard stare. “Just make sure that you pay attention in these classes, Lexi. This stuff is really important.”
“I know.”
When they got to the Conflagration classroom, Gabe and Austin were waiting for them. Lexi took a seat at a lab table next to Gabe, and Anna sat down next to Austin.
Professor Males cleared her throat from her desk at the front of the classroom. “Listen up, everyone. We have three new students today.” She glanced down at a piece of paper. “Gabriel Marshall.” Gabe raised his hand and gave the class a small smile. “Austin Graham.” Austin raised his hand, too. “And Alexandria Hunter,” Professor Males read from the list, placing an obvious emphasis on Lexi’s last name.
As Lexi raised her hand, she also got the feeling that Professor Males was, once again, looking at her like she was nothing more than a specimen that she wanted to use for research purposes.
“Okay, so since we have some new students, I thought that today we would do a little bit of an overview of what we’ve already covered this semester,” Professor Males said, pulling on her glasses and standing up. “Fire can seem like an easy solution when you’re trying to kill a vampire. All you have to do is light a match, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Fire can be an effective way to kill a vampire, but there are a few problems with it. Fire isn’t just dangerous to vampires. It’s dangerous to humans, too. When you throw a flame at a vampire, you’ll always want to make sure that you throw it in the direction that the wind is blowing in or you risk it coming back to burn you, too.
“Another one of the problems with fire is that it doesn’t affect a vampire’s healing process. A vampire has a very strong immune system, so to speak. Vampires heal very quickly after injuries, which is why it’s so difficult to kill them. Unfortunately, vampires are unaffected by fire in terms of healing. If they are not in fire for a long enough time, it is easy for their skin to heal – and stay alive. This is why you’ll always want to make sure that a vampire is unable to escape the flames before you light the match.”
“How would you do that?” Austin asked. “I mean, what method would you recommend?”
Lexi looked over at him and noticed that he seemed jittery. She wondered if he was afraid of what would happen to him in the event that someone trapped him in an enclosed space and lit it on fire. Maybe he was looking for the best escape route – or tips on what to expect if a vampire hunter ever tracked him down.
“In my experience, the best way is to catch a vampire when they are least expecting it, in an enclosed location,” Professor Males replied. “Nighttime can be ideal. Vampires don’t actually sleep, but similarly to humans, many of them relax late at night.”
The professor walked to the back of the class, closer to Lexi. It made her feel uncomfortable. “It is merely a myth that vampires will turn to dust within ten seconds of being exposed to fire,” Professor Males began. “A lot of factors will play a role in how long it takes a vampire to turn to ashes. The age of the vampire, how strong he or she is, and the last time blood was consumed all can affect the amount of time. For some vampires, it will only take a few minutes; for other vampires – usually the ones who are very strong – it will take up to an hour. This is why it’s important to make sure that the vampire is unable to escape the flames if you are planning to use fire.”
Professor Males walked back to the front of the class before turning around. She met Lexi’s eyes, followed by Gabe and Austin’s eyes. “There’s one last thing that you’ll always want to keep in mind. Killing a vampire with fire isn’t for the kindhearted. It is one of the least merciful ways that you could possibly kill a vampire. Killing a vampire with fire is just as terrible as killing a human with fire, except that it is a slower death.”
*
By the time Lexi got to Stakeology, she was beginning to feel anxious. Professor Males’ advice on killing a vampire with fire had her second-guessing whether or not she should even be at Huntington. What was she getting herself into? She wasn’t a killer. Setting a vampire on fire, or killing one in any other way, wasn’t what she wanted to do. Just the idea of lighting anyone on fire made her feel sick to her stomach.
Professor Fleur’s class was a lot different from Professor Males’ class, though. He was a lot more laid back and less serious. There was also the fact that the classroom was held in the school’s gymnasium.
“We’re all going to practice staking today, as usual,” Professor Fleur told the class, with a hint of a French accent, scooping his long hair back into a ponytail. He motioned towards the five mannequins that he had lined up in front of the class. “We are going to tone it down a notch today and go back to day one so that our newcomers can learn a bit. How about you all show me what you got.”
Lexi watched as all of the kids in her class lined up in a single row in front of each station. A couple of them grabbed stakes from the bins that had been placed at the front of each row and poked them through the mannequins’ imaginary hearts. She couldn’t blame anyone for feeling bored about this assignment, but the thought of staking the mannequin in front of everyone intimidated her, so Lexi hovered at the end of the line in front of Gabe.
She watched as Austin grabbed a stake from the bin and ran over to the mannequin, spearing it through the area where its heart would be. “Ahh, but you are doing it wrong,” Professor Fleur said.
“How? I hit it right through the heart,” Austin replied.
“Yes, but you see, one must never seem so obvious when staking a vampire,” Professor Fleur replied. “Unless you are attacking from behind them, you do not want to be so noticeable. You do not want your opponent to be expecting your attack.”
Austin shrugged. “I’ll keep that in mind next time, I guess.”
“And in real life, I should hope,” Professor Fleur replied. He glanced over at Lexi and handed her a stake. “Your turn, mon amour.”
Lexi tried not to blush. She wasn’t fluent in French, but she had taken a class or two – which was enough to know that ‘mon amour’ meant ‘my love’. She took the stake from him and walked over to the mannequin. She wrapped her arms around it as though she were about to give it a hug before stabbing it directly through the heart.
“Fantastique!” Professor Fleur cheered her on. “Bravo! You are a natural.”
Lexi felt the surprised expression cross her face. “Really? Me?” She had been a talented swimmer before she had quit the team, but besides that, she had never really been a natural at anything. Lexi certainly hadn’t been expecting to be a natural at vampire staking, of all things.
“Oui,” Professor Fleur replied. “It is because you are a Hunter.”
“What do you mean?” Lexi asked. Was he talking about what she had overheard people in the past . . . that she was powerful? How could that possibly be, though? Her blood might give strength to vampires, but she didn’t feel any stronger than any of the other humans who she knew.
“You mean to say that no one has told you?” Professor Fleur asked, this time, his own face full of blatant surprise.
Lexi shook her head. “No one has ever talked to me about vampire staking or how I might be talented at it.”
Noticing that just about everyone in the class was staring at them, Professor Fleur motioned for her to follow him. Lexi looked back at Gabe pleadingly, and he hesitantly followed close behind them. The professor took them both into an enclosed room, similar to a coach’s quarters and closed the door behind him. “Do you know even why you have the last name Hunter?”
“No,” Lexi replied hesitantly. “I didn’t know very much about my family history until now.”
“It is because there were many powerful vampire hunters in your blood line,” Professor Fleur replied. “So many, in fact, that the surname ‘Hunter’ was designated to your ancestors.”
Lexi stared back at him. “Wait, so let me get this straight. Not only do I have the most powerful blood that a vampire could drink, but I also have powerful vampire hunters in my family tr
ee, too?”
“Oui.” The professor nodded. “Some experts in the vampire hunting community believe that your strong ties to powerful vampire hunters could be why your blood is also very strong for vampires.”
Lexi glanced down at her hands, still finding it hard to believe that she came from any sort of powerful bloodline. “So . . . am I a biological vampire hunter then, too?”
Professor Fleur shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I do not know zee answer,” he replied. “There’s not a set age when people find out that they are vampire hunters. It usually happens before they are eighteen years of age. It can be later. My best advice is to pay attention to your body’s signals. You could be a vampire hunter.”
“How does one know if they’re a vampire hunter?” Gabe asked. “This has always intrigued me.”
Professor Fleur turned to Lexi. “The only way to know if you are a vampire hunter is if you have an overwhelming sense to hunt and kill vampires.”
The professor glanced at each of them. “If you begin to feel as though you can sense when vampires are near or find yourself drawn to them, you are a vampire hunter.”
A thought crossed Lexi’s mind. Could she be so drawn to Gabe, and even Craig, just because they are vampires?
*
That night at dinner, Lexi told Anna and Austin what she had learned about vampire hunting and her bloodline.
“Dude,” Austin said. “Why can’t I be Ben’s son? My mom chose the wrong husband. Do you know how cool I would be if I were a Hunter?”
Anna elbowed him playfully. “I think you’re cool, even if you are just a Graham cracker.”
Lexi laughed at Anna’s nickname for her cousin. She hadn’t heard her use it before, but she thought it was really cute.
“No, but seriously . . . I could get so many girls if I had super powerful blood like you, Lexi. I’d use it to my advantage.”
Lexi rolled her eyes. “You’re such a typical ex-football player, I swear.” She noticed that Anna had gone quiet and was now playing with the green beans on her red cafeteria tray. “Anyway, it’s good to know that I’m actually not bad at vampire staking. It would suck if I couldn’t even get the stake through its heart or something.”
Anna snorted. “Sort of like this girl last year. She kept going for the wrong side. Who doesn’t know that most of your heart is closer to the left side?”
Austin shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know . . . I suck at geometry.”
From across the cafeteria, Lexi noticed that Veronica was staring at them. Her face was mostly blank, but when her eyes met Lexi’s, Lexi could tell that they were filled with jealousy and what appeared to be hatred. Keeping her eyes on Veronica and smiling, Lexi reached over and grabbed Gabe’s hand.
Gabe didn’t look at Lexi, squeeze her hand, or respond in any way like he normally did when she held his hand. When Lexi glanced over at him to see what was causing his lack of response, she realized that his eyes were fixed on Veronica.
*
After dinner, Lexi bolted out of the cafeteria and went straight to her dorm room. She didn’t want anyone to see the tears that had built up behind her eyes.
It made her angry that Veronica was throwing herself at Gabe. It was bad enough that another girl (or woman?) was interested in her Gabe, but what was worse was the way he was responding to Veronica’s attention. Lexi was also beginning to feel like he had been keeping secrets from her. She knew that she was being a hypocrite, though. She had been keeping secrets from him, too. Her mind flashed to Craig.
Just then, the door to her dorm room was pulled open and Anna stepped inside, a concerned look on her face. “Hey. You okay?”
Lexi shrugged. “I have a question. What do you know about Professor Lindstrom?”
Anna sat down on her bed and smoothed out the mattress. “Not much. He’s our newest professor. He seems to keep to himself a lot more than the other teachers do.” She glanced up at Lexi. “What is it that makes you ask?”
“Well, it’s just that . . . I know him. He was my gym teacher at Briar Creek High School.”
“Okay?” Anna paused, waiting for Lexi to say something more. When she didn’t, Anna asked, “What are you getting at?”
“Well, I don’t know much about Huntington and all, but . . . isn’t it kind of strange that Craig works alongside our enemies? Won’t he turn me over to them?”
“Well, he probably doesn’t work there anymore,” Anna pointed out. “He’s here most of the day.”
“Is he here at nine thirty?” Lexi asked, thinking back to when she had class with him.
“I’m not really sure,” Anna replied. “I wouldn’t worry about it, though. He doesn’t seem suspicious to me at all. He wouldn’t be here unless he really wanted to be.”
Lexi flopped on her bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore the weird feeling that she had about Craig.
****
Chapter 11
That same night, Lexi was hanging out with Gabe and Austin in their dorm room doing homework when there was a loud knock at the door. Fully expecting it to be Anna, who had gone to the vending machine to get them all snacks and drinks to fuel them for studying, Lexi swung the door open and nearly gasped when she saw the mess of blonde hair in front of her.
“Hey, Lexi,” Dan said, beaming a wide grin at her. She glanced over at Gabe and noticed that his body had stiffened. It made Lexi happy to know that she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stand being around Dan.
“Do you have any updates for us?” Austin asked, strolling over to the door.
Dan hesitated, as though he were trying to recall all of the events that had taken place since any of them had last heard from him or the other people in Briar Creek. “Mary-Kate’s pissed at you,” he told Austin.
Austin groaned. “I expected that. Didn’t you give her my messages about why I stood her up at that day?”
“Yeah, I told her,” Dan replied, shrugging. “She’s still pissed at you.”
“Well, I’ll deal with that sometime later. I need to know the important stuff right now. Are they planning anything?”
Dan shook his head. “Not yet. They’re trying to come up with a plan as we speak. They do know that Lexi is with Gabe. They have no idea that you’re alive yet, though.” Lexi couldn’t help but think that it was crazy that Austin was alive and hardly anyone knew. Maybe she should give Dan more credit. This was a big secret to keep bottled up inside, and he had been keeping it to himself for months longer than she probably could have. Remembering the night he had attacked her, she shook the thought away. Dan could not be trusted.
“Figures,” Austin replied. “We should have kept Gabe in Briar Creek for a little while longer so it wasn’t so obvious. They haven’t come up with any ideas yet?”
“A few,” Dan replied. “The first is pretty complicated, so I don’t know how they’re going to pull it off. They’re trying to find the vampire who created Gabe.”
“How would they do that?” Austin asked. “They don’t even know who it is. That would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“They’re offering a fifty thousand dollar reward to the vampire who created Gabe,” Dan said. “There have been a few vampires who have come forward, pretending that they were the ones who created him. What they don’t know is that in order to receive the reward money, they need to tell Greg where he is first and he needs to be located. So, no, it’s not going to be that easy.”
Lexi gulped and glanced over at Gabe, who had his head in his hands. The whole situation wouldn’t scare her so much if Veronica wasn’t only a town away from Briar Creek, a place where they could easily find her. “She’s selfish,” Gabe said. “I know she’d turn me in and take the reward money.”
“Well, you need to stop thinking about it,” Lexi snapped. “We don’t want her finding out about it by tapping into your thoughts or something. And, honestly, I don’t know if she would turn you into them. She’s too busy obsessing over you. She w
ouldn’t want to hurt the chances of you getting back with her.”
Gabe looked up at her, a pleading look in his eyes. Lexi looked away. She knew that she was being mean, but she couldn’t help herself. Just thinking about Veronica made her angry.
“That’s not their only plan, though,” Dan said, interrupting the argument that Lexi wanted to pursue with Gabe. “Their other plan is a lot more feasible. They’re planning to take Gabe’s mom hostage until he comes forward.”
Gabe stood up. “That’s it. I’m going to make an appearance in Briar Creek . . . and prove to them that I’m not with Lexi.”
Lexi grabbed his wrist. “No, you can’t do that. Who knows what they’ll do to you.”
“I don’t care,” Gabe replied. “I don’t want them hurting my mom.”
“I don’t want them hurting you,” Lexi replied. “There has to be a way around this. Can’t we find some place for your mom to hide? Does she have any friends or family in other states that they don’t know about and can’t locate?”
Gabe shook his head. “No, she has no family. All of her friends who she could trust have already died years ago. All she has is me.”
“Well, I have a solution then,” Austin spoke up. “We just need to get in touch with Ben. I know it’s been months since we’ve talked to him, but we’ll just keep trying until he responds to us. He has to have somewhere secret she can hide out. Maybe even his bed and breakfast.”
Gabe nodded. “That would work. We have to hurry up and get in touch with him as soon as possible, though.” He turned to Dan. “Your job is going to be to convince everyone to go with the first plan or think of other plans.”
Dan frowned. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” Lexi asked. She was beginning to feel like she was right. Dan really wasn’t on their side if he couldn’t do this simple task for them. What if they really needed him to do something important?