by Rocky Grede
“It will be fine,” Elis says, reading my body language and placing a hand on my shoulder, his and Maxwell’s presence putting me at ease.
I take a deep breath, wipe my sweaty hands against my trousers, and open the door. As I walk in, the first thing that greets me is the chit chatter of dozens of voices. A few heads spin in my direction, but after a quick look and seemingly not thinking much of me, they turn back to their friends, their mouths moving quickly as they continue from where they left off.
I glance around the room and pause in mid-step when I see Alex sitting in the front row, staring at me with his beady green eyes. He shifts in his chair.
“About the other day,” he says, averting his eyes to a textbook open in front of him. “I’m sorry. I just lost control.” He looks up and offers me an apologetic smile.
“No worries,” I reply, like it was nothing, as if it was no big deal he almost ripped into my throat.
The rest of the students are sitting around in small groups talking excitedly amongst themselves. I notice my old seat is taken by a bulky Vampire who is stuffing crisps into his mouth while he listens to his friends ramble on, drool runs down his chin and onto his uniform. He coughs, and a driveled crisp fly’s out of his mouth and lands several feet away from him. He doesn’t blink an eye, but several disgusted looks are sent his way.
All other seats are taken, and with no other option, I reluctantly slip into the empty seat next to Alex who seems to cheer up, misinterpreting my choice as a perceived attempt of me bestowing forgiveness upon him.
“You heard the news?” he says, the events of two days ago all but forgotten.
Elis and Maxwell, who are standing by the door, tilt their heads in our direction.
I glance around the class, and at the excited chit chatter of voices, swarming all around us like flies, filling the room all at once. “No,” I say, turning back to Alex, “What’s the latest?” I rummage in my backpack for my textbook.
Alex licks his lips as though he can’t wait to tell me. “Two big stories. First the new guy’s body guards have been upped,” he says. I raise an eyebrow at him, urging him to continue. This is definitely big news.
Alex bobs his head, “That’s right,” he confirms. “The guy has been assigned four extra Artico Guards.” He pauses and grimaces, probably at the memory when Wavin - one of the Artico Guards - had slammed his head into the wall, cracking his skull.
“So what’s the other piece of news?” I ask quickly, sparing him the agony in reliving that moment. I try to gauge the reason why the new guy would be assigned more protection.
I’m still not entirely sure if the new Vampire is the threat Lexus was hinting at. Or if the new Vampires arrival is just coincidental, but then, why would Lexus warn me to stay away from him? Is it because the Vampire might kill me because he isn’t used to my presence?
“This one is more of a rumor,” Alex says, pulling me away from my thoughts. He stops and glances uneasily at Elis and Maxwell who are looking out the window, something of sudden interest having captured their attention. Alex turns his gaze back to me, and in a low whisper he says, “Rumor has it that Lexus has left the city.”
I had been in the middle of taking a drink from my water bottle. I gag, cough and sputter. “Who told you that?” I wipe my face with the back of my hand, but instantly regret it when Alex’s eye’s drift to the plaster on my finger. I pretend not to notice and shove both my hands under the table.
He seems to recover and blinks. “So it’s true?” he says. His eyes widen as he looks for confirmation.
Yesterday, Gregory had made me promise to keep Lexus’s departure a secret because it would supposedly raise questions and cause panic. Well, it seemed half the school already knew. I look up to see Elis and Maxwell talking between themselves. They must have overheard what Alex just said, and I guess they aren’t too happy at the supposed leak.
“Nah,” I lie, turning back to Alex and shaking my head as if the whole idea of Lexus leaving is just ridiculous. “I saw him this morning before school,” I add, to cement the lie.
His face drops as if I’ve just delivered bad news, but he quickly brightens up. “Yeah I thought it was bull,” he says, as if he knew all along.
I change the subject back to more firm waters, “Any new theories about the new guy?” Even though Elis, Maxwell, and Gregory won’t tell me anything and insist in keeping me ignorant, I am still going to try to find out as much as possible about this new Vampire. The day before, I couldn’t have cared much as to who he was. But now, with Lexus’s words echoing and buzzing around in my mind like bees, my curiosity has rocketed. I’m eager to find out who this guy is, where he came from, and why I should stay away from him (aside from the obvious fact that he has a craving for my blood), and if he was the threat Lexus had mentioned.
Alex shakes his head. “Just the same ones as yesterday, none of our parents know either”- he turns his attention back to his textbook, but then suddenly snaps his head up, regarding me in a new light - “you could ask Lexus.”
“Have,” I reply, the lie easily slipping from my lips, “but he didn’t tell me anything.”
Alex shrugs. “Too bad.”
I shrug too acting as though it was a big disappointment to me too.
***
The rest of the day goes in a blur. The new guy had indeed been assigned four extra Artico Guards in addition to his two Destroyers, and they moved around him like sentries protecting a lost cargo of treasure, at times hiding him from view in their tight circle.
At break, Nathan, Fruz and Albert caught up to me and asked if I had asked Lexus about the new Vampire. I fed them the same lie I had sprouted to Alex, and they seemed to believe it. In turn, they informed me that none of their parents seemed to know and people are now speculating the new Vampire is from the outside, at which point Nathan nodded, proud that his fugitive theory had found ground.
At lunch, Maxwell must have caught me glancing at the new guy more than I should have, because he hovered to our table, bent down to my height and whispered, “Don’t even think about approaching him.”
Nathan, Fruz and Albert pretended not to hear, but as soon as Maxwell glided away - his muscular frame causing students to cower as he stalked past them - they all looked up at me expectantly. Pulling a reason out of thin air, I told them the guy might flip on me since he was probably not used to humans. They considered this for a moment, before agreeing and launching into their own stories about when they had first met me and all they could think about was having a sip of my blood. Not something I wanted to hear. Nathan was all serious, while Albert laid the sarcasm on pretty thick; making gestures on how he would have held my neck while he drank the blood.
Double science was more charged up than usual. Nathan ended up getting himself electrocuted when he used wet hands to set up his circuit. To my disappointment, the new guy wasn’t in the class. The others filled me in on how students tried to approach him, but he ignored them all, and in most cases his Guards scared them away, and in one incident, one of the Artico Guards grabbed a student who got too close, causing the layman to break down in whimpers as he sobbed to be spared.
Then finally, the school day ended.
***
I flick through my homework diary while I walk up to the car with Elis and Maxwell. “A stop at the library first,” I say, pausing at the car door and glancing up at Elis. “Need to get some books.”
Elis nods, a slow dip of his head. “But don’t linger too long.”
I frown. “Why not?”
Elis ignores me and gets in the driver’s side. I sigh and duck my head as I shuffle into the back seat. Maxwell enters last, sliding next to me and slamming the door shut behind him.
I play close attention to the Vampires on the roads as we drive to the library, imagining one of them jumping at us, and dragging me out through the window before digging fangs into my neck. I shake my head, throwing off my wild imagination, and instead, I scan the list of bo
oks I might need for my assignments.
The library is several miles from the school. A large Victorian building with three floors, every floor endowed with rows and rows of bookshelves stocked with modern day books (written by Vampires) to the old texts (written by the humans before us) and to the ancient texts.
Elis parks the car at the back of the library and kills off the engine. He swings his door open and gets out. Maxwell exits, moving his bulky frame through the door, cursing under his breath as his head hits the top. I grab my bag and follow in his wake.
Maxwell sniffs the air. “Smells like old wood,” he says. I try to pick up the scent with a few sniffs of my own but get nothing.
The inside of the library is dimly lit with low powered bulbs that hang from the high ceiling like lamps. We take a left, past a wide spiral staircase, and enter through a set of double doors leading to the ground area where all the modern day books are stacked.
The librarian, an old woman who is sitting behind the reception desk and sorting through books, looks up, and smiles as we walk past. She doesn’t bother hiding her fangs, and flashes them in full view. “Good evening,” she says with a soft and velvety voice. “Only the second group to come today,” she adds as if waiting for us to say something along the lines of “Don’t worry, it’ll brighten up.” Instead, I give her a tight smile and walk past her, glad to be out of sight of her intimidating evil smirk.
I flick through my diary again and glance up at the rows of bookshelves. “Be right back,” I say to Elis and Maxwell and I begin walking in the direction of row 3, a large book shelf stretching all the way to the ceiling and reaching the other end of the wall, like a tall maze.
I look over my shoulder to find that Elis and Maxwell haven’t followed me, and instead, Maxwell seems to be talking animatedly, his large jaw moving up and down, while Elis listens patiently.
I glance back at the list in my hand and walk into row three. I start scanning the books on the shelves, looking for the geography text books I need. After several minutes, convinced someone has already taken them out, I move onto the next row, and that is when I see him.
He’s bent down, his head tilted to the right, his fingers tracing the spine of a book. Behind him stand his two Artico Destroyers and four Artico Guards. Their eyes shift to me, but they make no move.
As I take a few more steps the Vampire looks up, his sun glasses reflect my image back at me. We stare at each other for a few long moments. Then, he turns his gaze back to the book shelf.
I quickly evaluate my situation. There are two Artico Destroyers behind him and four Artico Guards and Elis and Maxwell are just down the aisle. This Vampire doesn’t stand a chance if he flips on me. So I take a risk.
I pretend to view the books on the shelves, while at the same time I edge near him. He ignores me, until I’m about a meter away from him at which point he looks up and his brown hair falls in waves across his face. I let out a sigh, feigning to show my annoyance at not finding a specific book.
“Books get taken pretty quick,” I say, giving him a glance. I keep my voice low less Elis and Maxwell over hear.
The new guy looks at the rows of books. He doesn’t say anything at first, and I think he is just going to ignore me, just like he ignored everyone at school, but instead, he says, “You must be Jake.” His voice is small and soft like he doesn’t use it much.
“Uh…yeah…and you are?” His Artico Guards look between us as if considering if they should intervene.
The new guy brushes his hair from his face and gets to his feet. “You can call me Zack.”
Before I can reply a strong hand grabs my arm. I look up, startled to see Elis. “Time to go,” he says in a low voice.
I try to pull free, but his iron grip doesn’t budge, so instead, I resort to words, “Get off me!”
“No.”
I look back at the others as if expecting them to stick up for me, but they just stand motionless as though they couldn’t care less. The new guy casually gets back on his knees and resumes perusing the books on the bottom shelf, tilting his head to the left as he reads the titles on the spines.
“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth, and I allow Elis to steer me away. But at least I know the guy’s name. Some progress.
The dim lights over-head suddenly black out, sending us into darkness, and Elis’s grip on my arm tightens, his fingers pressing into my skin. I turn to him and open my mouth to say that it is probably a short fuse, but he clamps his hand over it in a lightning fast movement, pushing the words on my lips back down my throat.
I look at him in frustration. He places a finger to his lips and shakes his head, just as the lights overhead glimmer back on. I relax, but Elis’s doesn’t withdraw his hand from my mouth or loosen his grip on my arm.
I’m about to protest, but Elis snaps his head to the right, staring at something down the aisle that has caught his attention. I follow his gaze to see something round rolling in our direction like a bowling ball kicked with low force. I frown, trying to figure out what the hell it is. It seems to have white hairy strands attached to it and it leaves a red trail behind it.
My mouth falls open in shock as I realize what it is. I watch in horror as it continues to roll, eyes still open, blood oozing from the wound where the head seemed to be cleanly sliced, white hair still up in a bun. I feel bile building up in my throat as I stare at the librarians head. The wrinkled head comes to a standstill, resting motionless on the floor, the lifeless eyes stare blankly forward. And then, a growl pierces the silence.
Chapter Nine
It is not the snarl of a Vampire, nor is it the hungry growl of a wolf. It is a sound I have never heard before, a sound out of this world. It sends a trickle of cold sweat slithering down my neck and a shiver to resonate through my body like the plucking of draw strings on a guitar, drawn and brittle in tone. My mouth suddenly feels dry as if all the liquid has been drained and sucked out, leaving behind nothing but crisp skin.
Elis yanks me backwards into the aisle. My yelp gets caught in my throat as I stumble on my feet, but Elis keeps me upright with his strong grip on my arm. I glance around, at the others, to see the new guy visibly shaking, his bottom lip trembling.
“Move it!” Elis hisses at the other Articos. They grab the new guy by his arms and start to sprint down the aisle, before taking a right and disappearing from view. I jump as I hear several blood curdling guttural snarls and growls, and the sound echoes off the library walls. Elis pulls me in the same direction the others took off, and we both break into a run.
My heart hammers in my chest, thudding like the beating of drums. A rush of adrenaline erupts through my body as I run with Elis at my side, his hand still around my arm in a vice like grip as if he is worried he might lose me if he lets go. Up ahead, I see the others disappear down a hallway. I turn in that direction, but Elis pulls me back and directs me into a different corridor.
The sharpness of the turn makes me trip over my feet, and I totter on the spot. Elis drags me for a few moments before stopping and releasing his hold on my arm. I back up against a wall and slide down to the floor. My breaths are ragged as I try to get my breathing under control. Then the thought strikes me.
I look up at Elis, “Maxwell,” I gasp. He didn’t come with us.
“My duty is to protect you, not Maxwell,” Elis says, and he drags me back to my feet. “We need to get out of here.”
He starts in a run and pushes me along until I start sprinting on my own, my lungs burning with every stride as they pump oxygen. We turn into another hall way, one side of the wall is paneled with glass, stretching to the ceiling, and giving us full view of the outside. Elis comes to a halt and turns to me. I double over, spent and exhausted.
“What the hell was that thing?” I say, standing back up straight, but my legs wobble underneath me like jelly. “And why did we split up from the others?”
“Questions later,” he says, then pauses, and glances sharply at the glass panel. At first,
I’m not sure what has his attention, but then my eyes widen as I see a black shape hurtling towards us through the night sky, its arms stretched out, and legs tucked in. I don’t get a chance to scream as it blasts through the glass, shattering it, and sending shards shooting in every direction. I duck, and fall to ground as glass explodes around me, showering all over the place like hail stones.
I roll across the floor, avoiding most of the sharp fragments, and glance up just as the black shape lands several meters in front of us, blocking the entrance on the other side of the hallway.
It is crouched on the floor on all fours. Its skin, coated in a black fur, is laced with strands of shimmering white. Its large head is bowed, a narrow snout protruding towards the ground.
And then, it looks up, lifting its thick head in our direction.
My breath catches in my throat as fear twirls through my body, whirl winding all the way to my heart, and triggering my pulse into acceleration as the creature before me locks its gaze on mine.