Blood and Beasts (15 page)

“You did aight. I
’
m pretty good at resistin
’
hypnosis, but you still aren
’
t that good. We could work on it
some,” he grinned at her, and she did not find the look altogether settling.

“Any other skills you all feel like
testing?  It
’
s almost time for dinner, right?”
She asked, and they all gaped at her in shock.

“
You can
’
t possibly still be hungry,” Masoko said bluntly, and
she smiled at her, flashing some fangs.

“No, not really. I mean, I
’
m a little hungry, but I
’
m not stuffed to bursting right now.
There
’
s always room for more, but I
probably won
’
t eat, if that
’
s allowed,” she looked at Phin, who nodded, eyes wide
and a charcoal gray in color.

“No, you don
’
t need to eat dinner. You should be just fine with all
that blood in your system,” he stated, still a little astonished that she could
still possibly be hungry.

“Okay, so, are we done?” She asked,
and then Roberta stepped forward, shaking her head.

“Nope, we still have me,” she would
not meet Seph
’
s eyes, obviously a little
embarrassed that she had been so susceptible to her mind control earlier.

“Aren
’
t you super-fast?” She asked, not meaning to but
immediately gleaning the information from the weak girl
’
s mind.

“Yes,” the tall girl grinned
satisfactorily, straightening her black vest over her black and yellow striped
shirt.

“So, how do we test my speed?”
She asked, and Roberta just
sighed.

“Like this,” and she disappeared
for a moment.

Seph felt a rush of wind pass by
her, first to the left and then to the right. In ten seconds, Roberta had
returned with a gallon of O+ blood. She shrugged, passing it to Kenji, who
stored it in the refrigerator, restocking their classroom wares.

“Where did you get that?” Seph
asked, and Roberta smiled a little impishly at her.

“I got it from the Main Hall. Right
where Hazel always pulls out the bottles of blood for your meals,” Roberta
explained, and Seph felt her jaw drop. “If you
’
re fast enough, she won
’
t even notice you were there,” and Capri opened the
door for her. “We
’
re timing you. Go!” She shouted, and
with an adrenaline rush, Seph moved.

In 11.2 seconds, she had returned
with a gallon of AB-, her favorite. She smiled satisfactorily. Hazel had no
idea. She had moved that quickly. Roberta was regarding her highly, arched brow
raised carefully.

“You
’
re pretty fast, little one,” she commented, and Seph
frowned at the inappropriate nickname that everybody seemed to be giving her.
“We
’
ll train sometime,” and she resumed
her place in the circle, out of the middle, where Seph was front and center.

Slowly, she rotated on the spot,
looking at each of them in turn. Now what? She had been tested with each of
them. What abilities did she have? She was, or could, be good at telekinesis,
mind control, misting, and telepathy. She was moderately good at teleportation,
speed, and healing. Her transmogrification skills were not ordinary, but they
were something. She could not say if she was moderately good, very good, or bad
at them because she didn
’
t change shape like any other
vampire apparently. As for her levitation skills, they were fairly
non-existent. Her hypnosis was all right but not that great. So, those were the
extent of her abilities. This had been a profitable lesson.

“Well, that
’
s everyone,” Phin announced unnecessarily. “Tomorrow
begins the real class,” he stated, and she noticed the others roll their eyes.

Apparently, the real classes were
not as much as he was making them out to be.

“Ya, the real class,” Masoko
mocked, using air quotation marks to embellish this point.

Just then, the ending bell rang,
and everybody scattered, headed for the Main Hall more likely than not. Seph
grabbed her things and hurried out after them, not wanting to be alone with the
only vampire still left in the classroom, Trey. She was more than a little
irritated with him for his little blood sampling, which he seemed to catch onto
as she sent him a well-placed glare. She hoped he was not the type of person
who had to talk about-

“Seph!” She groaned inwardly as
Trey scurried over to walk beside her in the hallway that was drenched in
shadow.

“Ya, Trey?” She didn
’
t try to hide her annoyance, turning
rapidly to cut across the courtyard, causing him to quicken his step in order
to keep up with her.

“I
’
m sorry about earlier,” he said frankly, and she halted
suddenly.

He walked a bit past her and had to
circle around back.

“You took my blood without my
permission, Trey,” she remarked coldly, stepping forward to invade his personal
space.

“I
’
m sorry,” he repeated with a shrug. “Your blood was in
the air, and it smelled so sweet. It
’
s
usually first come, first serve with us, and nobody had moved yet. I was
hungry, and your blood was in the air. So I
’
m not that strong. If we had been in switched
positions, you would have sampled my blood. You would have probably bitten me,
if not for the
eight gallons
you drank earlier,” his tone was almost
accusatory towards her when addressing the amount of blood she had drank.

They had resumed walking and were
nearly at the Main Hall now. Seph spotted Linda, Rodney, and Abernathy out of
the corner of her eye, in the Gold Hall, waiting for her to join them. They
obviously did not want to interrupt her important and somewhat heated
discussion with Trey.

“You
’
re scared of me,” she acknowledged and watched as a
hardened expression fixed itself upon his face.

“Us vampires live with each other
for centuries, a few even a millennia. The only way we tolerate each other is
not to hurt each other
’
s pride,” his wide, dark eyes
narrowed on her. “I
’
m not afraid of you, Seph-” she cut
him off swiftly.

“You only say that, Trey. I see it
in your eyes, in your face. I hear your thoughts. You had the perfect little
family, and they
’
re still your perfect little family.
They still love you. They still want you home. They still accept you for who
and what you are. You are afraid of me because you have never been hardened by
anything in your life. We pull strength from our experiences, Trey, and you
’
re lacking in them,” she concluded,
a winged brow raised.

Why was she saying this? She was
being so mean. She was being purposefully hurtful, but she had to say it. Her
wall was wavering now as more and more thoughts pressed in on her, immersed
with the rest of the student body. She resented this. She needed to have more
control. She should have more control. Speaking of control…

Trey suddenly grabbed her and
shoved her up against a wall. Her ballet flats did not even graze the grass. He
pulled her back only to curl his fists in her shirt and shove her back against
the wall again, jarring the back of her head against it. She bared her fangs at
him, and he bared them right back. He was angry. He could not recall ever
feeling this angry before. Seph could see Rodney, Linda, and Abernathy
sprinting towards them as well as Phin and Sarabi.

Grabbing his arms, she shoved her
fists down on the crooks of his elbows, weakening his grip on her shirt enough
to finally break free, falling to the ground. Others were rushing to intervene,
but Seph
’
s pride had just been hurt. She felt
it bubbling deep within her chest. She kicked out at Trey
’
s legs, breaking both his knees and bringing him to the
ground.

He hissed with the pain as she
rolled to her feet. He did at the same time though. She had forgotten about his
extraordinary healing ability. He charged her, and she turned into mist right
before he could grab her. His momentum kept him going, and he crashed hard into
the solid wall. She materialized where he had been before the charge, a little
smirk on her face. He hissed at her, straightening and charging again.

Quite a crowd had formed now, but
Phin and Sarabi managed to shove their way to the front. Just as Trey rushed
Seph again, he was suddenly caught by someone and thrown to the ground. Sarabi
pinned herself on top of him as he thrashed angrily, screaming and cursing at
Seph with his fangs fully elongated.

Meanwhile, Phin had caught up with
Seph, and with one giant sweep of his arm, he sent her flying backwards as she
ran to attack Trey, even under Sarabi. She flew back, hit the ground, and
flipped over, landing resoundingly on her chest. She glared up at him, but he
was infuriated, literally trembling with his ferocity. She flipped to her feet
just as Phin arrived directly in front of her.

“We do not fight amongst ourselves
here, Persephone,” she moved forward towards Trey again, and he snatched her
forearm.

We must keep the peace between
each other, Persephone. It is hard enough for vampires to live amongst
themselves. We cannot have fights breaking out amongst us. It creates too much
tension, too much hostility in an already hostile race. You have to understand
this, or you cannot stay here. Occasionally, yes, a few fights will break out,
such as this, but it cannot be common occurrence between us all. Now, calm down
and breathe deeply. I will speak to Trey. He should not have attacked you. He
knows better. You should not have provoked him. We do not need that, Seph. I
know you feel that you need to defend your pride just as he felt exactly the
same way. We are prideful creatures
, Phin shook his head in despair for his
own race.
Swallow your pride. Go to dinner. You can eat if you want. If you
do not, you do not need to. Leave. I will deal with Trey because he is a good
deal farther gone than you, especially considering his hunger…,
then he
released her arm and drifted away to help Sarabi restrain the still livid
Trey. 

Seph straightened up. She rubbed
her forearm thoughtfully, massaging away the bruises that his tightening hands
had made. They were disappearing already. Trey did have amazing healing skills,
but she thought hers were pretty amazing too, compared to her human ones, or
lack thereof.

What time was it? She suddenly
glanced around, aware now that time had passed as she and Phin had spoken. The
majority of the crowd had dispersed. Rodney, Linda, and Abernathy were still
waiting for her though. She saw Ruby looking at her as well, with her posse of
six: Oglesby, Misty, Yolanda, Kendall, Damian, and Raul. They were all there,
watching and observing her. They were calculating her, noting her every
weakness and strength. What did they have in mind for her? Were they planning
to jump her later on or something?

“Seph?” Rodney
’
s tentative voice broke through her careening, slightly
paranoid, thoughts.

She blinked several times and
finally focused on him.

“Rodney,” she said, identifying
him.

“Let
’
s go to dinner, alright, Seph?” Linda was at her side
now, taking her by the elbow as Abernathy took her by the other elbow, leading
her to the dining hall.

When she stepped through the doors,
she shook them off of her. She could walk on her own. She was getting plenty of
stares as it was. She did not need to walk in like a cripple. Trey would not
get that satisfaction. All of her fellow vampires at least acknowledged her
presence to some degree. It was fascinating, very interpretative of these new
fellow beings of hers.

Masoko just gave her the onceover,
sitting with a group of her chipper friends. She did not approve, but she
understood that Seph had her reasons. Roberta would not even meet her eyes. She
was not too strong a vampire, although her appearance was at least domineering.
Kenji and Capri just glanced at her and then continued on with their
conversation about some video game with a group of guys at their table. They
didn
’
t care. They had been in plenty of
fights before. It happened. Alistair she could not find, with her eyes or her
senses.

She, Rodney, Abernathy, and Linda
sat down at their usual table, and immediately Stefan sidled up, sipping some
blood, as the others went to get their steaming plates of beef stroganoff once
they had dropped off their stuff. Clearly, he had something he wanted to say to
her. She remembered walking into Vamp Class, and he and Trey had been having
some kind of debated discussion. Was he going to tell her what they had been
talking about then? They were bonded by their dislike for Trey, at least at the
moment.

“You and Trey get in a fight?” She
just gave him a derisive look because everybody in the entire school knew that
they had. “Okay, so we all know that you two did. Why?” Well, he was not one
for pleasantries, was he?

“We got in a disagreement. Pride
came up. He attacked me first. Sure, I provoked it, but what do I care?” She
was acting haughty, trying to show a stronger face than she felt because
inside, she felt like she had provoked that fight, and she had provoked it for
the wrong reasons. Was there ever a good reason to provoke a fight?

“
Yes, pride does run in our blood,
” he winked at her, laughing lightly
at his little pun.

After a moment
’
s silence, Seph decided to speak again.

“Why were you two arguing before
class started?” She asked and watched as he winced a little, not wanting to
recall that particular memory.

Instead of saying anything, he moved
a little closer to her, difficult as that may be considering he was straddling
his chair. He allowed their forearms to brush. He knew about her advanced
telepathy. Almost the entire school knew by now but especially all the
vampires. This way, they could talk a bit more privately.

Trey and Linda dated,
he registered the shock in her
eyes.
It was about a year ago. Well, a little more than a year ago because
me and her have been together a year now. But, a little over a year ago, they
had been seein
’
each other, and
she came to visit him here. He was a first year, and I was a nobody second
year. I had seen him in Vamp Class. We had talked some. He was a nice enough
guy, a bit prideful, like all of us.

Linda visited him one day here, at
the school. One night I should say…, and I was hungry. I was starting to diet
my blood intake, and I was so thirsty. I ran into her, immediately recognized
that she was a witch, not that she knew it yet, and I hypnotized her. I was
about to drink from her but…
and
at this, he could not look into Seph
’
s
eyes any longer.

She was too beautiful, too peaceful,
too innocent-looking. She woke up much earlier than she should have because of
her magic. She shoved me away and ran off. But she
’
d come back to visit Trey… And we
would run into each other and…
Seph
could feel in his mind the sparks that had flown between the couple all the way
back then.

The entire time he had been relating
this story to her, as he reflected on it, she had seen it unfold before her
mind
’
s eye. It was very interesting and
very weird. She moved her forearm away from his, not wanting to know everything
in his mind like that, all his feelings and memories and thoughts and dreams
and nightmares.

“So you two were arguing about what
one year later after all of this?” She asked, and Stefan bit his bottom lip,
appearing a little embarrassed and a little smug.

“He saw her leave my room the other
night at like… three in the afternoon….” Seph quickly translated this to about
three in the morning if they were up during the day, and she gave him a very
disapproving look. “Ya… so he was talkin
’
to
me about that. Threatening me. The usual… Me and him try to tolerate each
other. As vampires, we
’
re supposed to all try and get
along, not fight, because any fight between us… Your fight with Trey wasn
’
t that bad. You know what I
’
m sayin
’
?” Sadly, she did, and she didn
’
t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

There was a clattering of trays,
catching Seph off guard as Rodney, Abernathy, and Linda set their plates down
on the table loudly. They had obviously realized that Stefan and Seph were
having a private conversation and were announcing their presence. The two
vampires looked up at them expectantly and a little guiltily, although they had
not been doing anything wrong necessarily.

“What were you two talking about?”
Linda asked, giving Stefan a sidelong glance.

Seph just smiled, peering over her
steaming food at her.

“Vampire stuff,” Stefan replied
coolly.

Linda clearly did not believe him
but slid into the seat beside him anyway. She kept sending them both furtive
glances the entire time, knowing full well that she was going to get the truth
out of Stefan after this whether he wanted to tell her or not. Rodney was busy
cracking a few jokes, Abernathy laughing hilariously at most of them and Seph
occasionally laughing along with them. Finally, the non-vampires brought up
exactly what was on their minds.