“I thought Rule #2 was consent. I don’t give you consent to read my thoughts, Amadeus.”
“Noted,” he smirked, “But it’s not like I’m trying to. When you don’t block them, it’s all just hanging out there.
“Yeah, sure, some excuse,” I muttered back, but secretly, I didn’t mind all that much. Amadeus was fun, and he was just as brilliant as his brother had said. He was fast becoming another of my best friends here.
“Can I ask you something, Amadeus?”
“Sure,” he nodded. “You can ask me anything. Whether or not I answer, is another question.”
“Right… so, how old are you anyway?”
He scoffed, feigned insult, and replied, “I’m 25, thank you very much.”
“No, no, I mean in vampire years.”
“Don’t you know it’s considered impolite to ask a vampire his age?” he responded, pretending offense.
“Nope, pretty sure that’s not a thing.”
“It absolutely is a thing.”
“No, not a thing.”
“What would you know about it anyway? You’ve been a vampire for like fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, ouch! You sure are a grouchy old man,” I teased.
“I beg your pardon! I am not old.”
“Yeah, how not old are you then?”
“I’m 118.” He huffed.
“Whoa! Dude, you’re ancient!”
“I most certainly am not…” he stomped his foot as he said the words and I couldn’t keep a straight face. Messing with Amadeus was quickly becoming one of my favorite pastimes.
I began laughing hysterically at him. It was so much fun to mess with him. Sometimes he was far too serious. It must be that genius mind of his working overtime.
“Oh, you think you’re a funny girl, huh?” he laughed back.
“I know I’m funny.”
We spent the next couple of hours working on some tests he was doing trying to recreate the drug I may have been given that night. He was also working on some big secret project for the Academy that he wasn’t allowed to talk about, but he did allow me to help with.
It was mostly filing notes and papers, cleaning up about his lab, and replacing beakers and tools after they had been sanitized. But it was nice just to hang out, and to feel like I was doing something productive.
I was just on my way out anyway when I got a text from Astrid to come back to the room. “Hey, meet me and Prop in the room.”
“Well, I gotta head back,” I said to Amadeus.
“Sure thing, go see what the gal pals want. Thanks for helping out here today,” he said with a smile.
Chapter 22
After helping with research in Amadeus’ lab, I went back to my room where Astrid was hanging with Propanga and also waiting for me to get back. She had said she had something she wanted to show me. I was pretty sure it wasn’t her tits this time, but hey, a little dreaming never hurt anybody, right?
Actually, she wanted to show me a new breakthrough in shapeshifting.
“Okay, close your eyes and I’ll tell you when to open,” she said to me with an excited voice. Her eyes were completely lit up and I knew whatever she was about to show me, it must be big.
Doing as I was told, I closed my eyes and about five seconds later, she shouted, “Open!”
When I did, I saw the most beautiful butterfly right in front of me. It had markings like a monarch, but the colors were pink and purple with shades of blue instead.
“Astrid?”
“Yesssss,” the butterfly spoke. “What do you think?”
“Wow! You’re beautiful.” I stepped forward to get a little closer and she fluttered around me, showing off. “This is amazing, Astrid. Well done.”
“Thanks,” she said before taking a quick flight around the room and then shifting back to human form in a cloud of pink-colored mist.
Astrid seemed born for this. She did it with no trouble at all. It came as easy for breathing as her, and it made me wonder if it was her carefree attitude and hippy-like spirit that made this all a bit easier to manage. Not that I was dismissing her hard work, but it all just flowed for her.
Maybe that was just Astrid for you.
Astrid was special, in more ways than just her ability to shapeshift like a pro. She was kind and loving without being overbearing. She was sexy and seductive but not slutty or forceful about it. (Not that I am judging slutty behavior, I mean, hello? Look at me!) It was more that I wasn’t used to someone like her.
She was smart, but humble about it, and she had such a sweet, tender way to her. I think I was falling for her, even if I didn’t want to admit that to myself yet.
I had never wanted anyone so bad in all my life. Typically, I was a lover of opportunity. If they were there, adult, and consenting, I was down to bone.
But I had never pined for someone like this before. I had never longed for someone in this way before, and quite honestly, it was all taking me a little off guard. In fact, I couldn’t remember a time I’d been with someone already and then wanted them again so badly. I wanted more from her… I couldn’t say exactly what, but more than a booty call, that’s for sure.
Still, I was fully convinced that as soon as we did it and I got it out of my system, these feelings would go away. That’s always how it had worked in the human world, anyway. Why should it be any different now?
Yes, I was a vampire, but I was still me.
For now, I needed to put whatever I was feeling for Astrid aside. I didn’t want to behave weirdly around her, and we had more pressing matters than my love life to attend to right now anyway.
Although I had not told Propanga about what happened that night with the vampire hunters, it weighed heavily on my mind often. What if she had gotten hurt because of my mistake? Or Astrid? Or anyone else for that matter! I couldn’t be so careless ever again. My partying days needed to end – at least, the reckless partying and breaking the rules.
It seemed I was finally learning that some rules were made for a reason. Is this what it meant to be maturing?
Knowing that there were vampire hunters out there and that they had targeted me made me very uncomfortable, at least now. I still felt like I was in a vulnerable state. I hadn’t learned all there was to learn about my vampy powers yet. So, this was just one more reason to stay where I belonged and quit messing around with the locals.
“Hey Prop,” I asked from across the room.
“Yeah?”
“What do you know about vampire hunters?”
“They’re assholes.”
I laughed. “Well yeah, but what else?”
“What else is there to know? They will us for money, sport, and just for fun. They’re evil bastards.”
“Sounds like it,” I agreed. “I suppose I am just wondering a few things like… well, how does one just become a vampire hunter? I mean, they would have to know we exist in the first place.”
“You know Carmilla, I don’t know. But if I ever get invited to a vampire hunter human resources meeting, I’ll ask them about their hiring and intake process.”
Man, that girl could really lay on the snark when she wanted to.
“I get your point. I guess what I mean is that if no one is supposed to know vampires exist, how do these people learn about us and how to hunt us in the first place?”
“If vampires aren’t supposed to turn humans, how are you even here asking me that question?” She countered.
“Fair point.” So, somebody had broken the rules? There seemed to be a lot of that going on lately.
This gave me something to ponder for the rest of the evening as I studied for a potions quiz tomorrow. Damien was also going to be dropping by again. He’d been traveling, trying to get to the bottom of what those two vampire hunters had been up to, but he made regular visits back to update Amadeus on his findings and to start teaching me self defense lessons.
“You’re going to need it,” he had said with a completely straight face.
&
nbsp; “Yeah, how else am I going to fight off all my adoring fans,” I joked, but deep down, I knew this was a vital skill for me to learn right now.
Ever since I first came here, I had been afraid of dying from the Turn, then of getting staked by Hera for breaking the rules, and later of being found out by the humans and getting executed. Never had it come to me that I would need to fear vampire hunters, but here we are.
For being that were immortal, we sure had a lot of people wanting us dead…
Chapter 23
Damien had been teaching me fight skills to defend myself. With my newfound natural vampire traits of speed, strength, and agility, I could move like never before, but that didn’t mean I actually knew how to land a punch or dodge a hit.
The more I learned, the more confident I felt about going back into the real world. And while this was a good thing, it also made me reconsider signing up for a second term here.
Maybe I would come here for a second year, after all. When I first decided to come here, I felt forced. There didn’t seem to be a lot of choice involved or me. It was “do it or die” from Hera and the rest of the staff, and I had a lot of life left to live. I didn’t want to die at 21.
And sure, when I first got here, I was rebelling against all the rules, but that was kind of my M.O. Now that I was nearing graduation, I realized how helpful this place truly was. And on top of that, I realized how much it could help me in the future to finish out my education beyond the mandatory year.
I had never cared about school before because it’s boring and it only lasts for a short period of your life. But I was going to be a vampire forever. This meant there were benefits to staying in school longer, learning all that these mature vamps could teach me, and also putting myself in a place where I could qualify for a higher position within the community.
I was still learning what those positions were, but what I knew so far intrigued me. We lived in the human world, so we chose to follow human rules – at least, on the surface.
But there was an entire other dimension to it all, like a secret underground world. We our own political system, laws and guidelines, an eco-system that supported our magic and our health, networks and frameworks of jobs and positions that helped govern our lives as vampires.
Here’s a little example that I found fascinating: Since we never age, we have to move around to avoid being found out by humans. If I stay living right here in Mystic for the next 30 years and I still look 21 years old, it’s going to raise some suspicions, right?
Well, it’s also not enough to just move. Because then what are you going to do, go away and live like a hermit under a rock someplace? No, you need IDs and a new social security number and all that other important stuff that an American citizen needs to thrive in this life.
So, the vampire world has people whose only job is to help other vampires start over new. Once you’ve lived out your reasonable time in one place, you get to pick a new location and a totally new life. You can change as much or as little as you want about yourself. But they will help you get all the legal stuff sorted for when you start over.
This was like secret spy, Witness Protection kind of shit and I loved it! It was fascinating. Maybe that is a field I’d want to work in.
And of course, we had our legal system. There were vampire laws and the people who upheld them. There were judges and law enforcement officers and bounty hunters and more. All the typical things you see in the human world, but for our realm. Yet, we walked the same earth at the same time as the humans, simultaneously living in their world, too.
One foot on one side, one foot on the other. Like I said, fascinating…
“If you want to truly defend yourself from all threats, you have to understand your weaknesses,” Damien explained in our most recent defense session.
I just nodded, allowing him to continue. “So, of course, forget that shit about sunlight or garlic. It doesn’t hurt us. Nearly do crosses and Holy water, unless you’ve got a personal thing against religion or something. But there are a few things that can weaken us and that can put you in a vulnerable state.”
“Like silver?” I asked. This was something they had taught us in classes, and also that I learned from history. When they rounded up all the vampires during the Great Purge, they bound them with silver handcuffs and put them in cages with silver bars to weaken them.
“Yes, like silver. It doesn’t kill us. Not even a silver bullet or a silver stake will kill a vampire. However, it does weaken us. The stronger the vampire, the more silver you would need. And it has to be pure silver, not that metal alloy stuff.”
“Pure silver is harder to come by these days, isn’t it?”
“Yes, thankfully for us. The downside is that all the people who feared vampires during the Great Purge have hoarded up all the pure silver and most of them passed in down throughout generations and they are still holding onto it now.”
“Meaning the people most likely to use it against us are the same people sitting on hoards of it right now,” I finished.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Oh, that’s lovely.”
“Also, decapitation. Yeah, that’s not a definite killer but it sure as hell ain’t fun.”
Grimacing just thinking about it, I asked the question I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer to. “We can survive decapitation?”
“Yes but it’s not pretty.”
“Ugh, I’m going to avoid that one.”
“We all try to,” he nodded. “So, the best technique vampire hunters have to use against us is to weaken us first. They’re no match against us at full strength. So, the best way to protect yourself is to learn all the ways you can be weakened and do everything in your power to avoid it.”
“Makes sense,” I nodded.
“It will help if you master your telekinesis abilities, too. If your body is weakened, you can use your mind to call other vampires for backup. We can get to you in a flash with travel forms.”
“And the next most important thing you will ever learn is your hand-to-hand combat skills, so let’s keep going on that.”
We sparred for the next hour or so and then I went back to the room to shower and change. I was having dinner with Propanga and Astrid. It was a Girls Night In kind of night and we had a movie planned for afterwards, too.
This was just the kind of relaxation therapy I needed after all this hardcore training with Damien. That man really knew how to break me out in a sweat, and we’d never even had sex before.
After our Friday night Girls Night, I spent most of the weekend studying and resting. I’d been going at full speed 100 MPH lately. A weekend on the down low actually seemed perfect.
We were only about six months out from graduation now, and it was hard to believe I’d been here that long. Even more surprising, was all the friends I’d made along the way and how happy I was here. This was like my new little family, and I cherished them all and the time we spent together.
I knew that not even graduation was separate us, and that I had made friends for life here. Seeing that we were all immortal, that meant a very, very long time.
Chapter 24
Two days later, I got an urgent message from Damien. He wasn’t due back to the Academy for three more days, so I assumed he had discovered something that wasn’t safe to say over the phone. He was calm, but a bit more animated than his usual even-keeled self.
He asked to meet me down in the courtyard; the one between the front doors and the main gates, with the big water fountain. I wasted no time getting there because I knew something was up.
He greeted me with a cordial hug and then spoke in a very low voice, looking around as if to see if anyone else could hear us.
“You need to be prepared,” he said looking even more serious than usual.
“Prepared for what, exactly?”
“They’re going to attack the school.”
“Who is? Vampire hunters?”
“Yup,” he confirmed. “Led by
Julian and Oliver. They’re working with some hunter outfit based in NYC and they came out here as scouts.”
“A bunch of human vampire hunters are going to attack a school filled with vampires? Some of the most talented and capable vamps alive today?” I laughed. “Are they stupid?”
“Carmilla, they’re not human.”
“Wait, what?”
“They’re werewolves. Shifters.”
That definitely stopped me in my tracks.
‘Why didn’t you tell me this before? OMG! I was gonna sleep with those monsters.”
Damien shushed me, again looking around like he feared someone would hear before adding, “I assure you, Carmilla, you never would have made it to the sex. They had every intention of destroying you long before that, had I not showed up when I did.”
“Okay fine, you’re my hero. But tell me, Hero, what are we going to do about this?”
“Well, that dear, is a very good question…” His voice trailed off and he looked up to the sky as he often did when he was trying to decide on something. “I’m not sure yet, but I aim to find out.”
Werewolves as vampire hunters. Well, that was a lot to take in, wasn’t it?
I knew that Propanga didn’t know about this. In fact, I was pretty sure none of the Academy knew about it; perhaps Hera, but even that was iffy. So, did the Academy have this information, too? And were they keeping it from us intentionally? Why wouldn’t they tell us there were werewolves out there trying to kill us?
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” he continued.
“Damn straight I do!”
“But we have some very important matters to attend to first.”
“We do?” I asked, looking confused.
“We do!” He laughed. “Follow me.”
He led me inside the building and downstairs, back to his brother’s lab.
“You’re being super secretive and we’re just going to see Amadeus?”
“Keep your panties on, he has something for us,” Damien scolded.
Once inside Amadeus’ lab, he closed and locked the doors behind us. Amadeus wasted no time explaining why we were there.
Bloodlust: Mystic River Vampire Academy (Year Two) Page 9