Blood and Beasts (16 page)

“So… Seph…” Rodney started, and she
rolled her eyes at him, knowing what he was going to ask before he asked it.
“What happened with you and Trey?” She saw out of her peripheral, Linda lean in
a little closer, and she now knew more to her story.

“We got in an argument. It was over
pride and stuff. Apparently us vampires have a problem with that,” she looked
directly at Stefan, who just shrugged.

“Baby?” Linda squeezed his leg,
clearly prompting him for more information.

“We played the drinking game today
with Seph,” he explained, and everybody suddenly nodded, obviously
understanding.

“How
’
d you do?” Abernathy asked cheerfully, and Seph
grinned.

“Um… pretty good, I guess,” she
ventured when Stefan cut in.

“That girl did amazin
’
. She was great at telepathy,
telekinesis, mistin
’
, mind control, speed. She can do
teleportation, some healing, and she can transform into some bat-girl thing.
She couldn
’
t hypnotize or levitate, but hey, I
can
’
t even levitate,” he explained, and
they all looked at her with new eyes.

“Wow… Pretty impressive,” a cold
voice spoke up from directly behind her.

“Ruby, do you enjoy the back of my
head? You
’
re always standing behind me,” Seph
asked, slowly turning around in her seat to face the tall girl.

“Heard you drank alotta blood,” she
responded smoothly, Oglesby and Misty flanking her.

“
Your point?
” Seph asked just as coldly, not
sure if drinking a lot of blood was considered a good thing or a bad thing
right now.

“You
’
re not drinking any now,” Seph had no idea where she
was going with this.

“No, I
’
m pretty full,” she raised a winged brow to the tall
girl.

“Sixty-four pints can do that,” and
she flounced off with that parting comment.

Oglesby winked at her, and she tried
not to shudder. Misty just gave her a look, almost an appraising look. Both of
them turned and drifted after Ruby. What was that all about? She turned back to
her table to find Rodney, Abernathy, and Linda staring at her with horror as
Stefan just shook his head, holding it in his hands morosely.

“What?” She asked, and they just
continued to stare.

“Sixty-four pints?” Rodney managed
to whisper.

“
Of blood?
” Abernathy looked aghast.

“Ya…” Did they think she was going
to drain them or something?

“It
’
s fine,
” Linda said, shrugging, but she
still managed to look completely shaken as she leaned in closer to Stefan.

“What…” She didn
’
t know how to express what she was
trying to say because she was so confused by their sudden reactions of fear.

“She said that in front of us to
scare them, Seph. We don
’
t think it
’
s a big deal though. We
’re vampires,
” Stefan explained it to her. “I
mean, ya, sixty-four pints is a big deal to us. I can only drink about half of
that, and I
’
m full. But it just shows how much
power you got. You
’
re better at a lot more things than
me. I specialize in hypnosis, which is rare, but I can
’
t mist or levitate. I don
’
t have telekinesis. None of us do but you. No
telepathy, at all. I
’
m pretty fast and can teleport
aight. Mind control kind of comes hand in hand with hypnosis, ‘cept for you. I
heal okay, and I can transform. I can do about half of what you do, which makes
sense,” he said with a little shrug, and although she didn
’
t understand why he was telling her all of that, she
noticed that the others were listening, feeling reassured by his words.

“I
’
m not going to attack any of you,” she said bluntly,
and they looked over at her, startled. “I
’
m
not,” Abernathy
’
s look softened, but that was about
it.  “I can
’
t help what I am,” she stood up
sharply, moving to leave.

“Don
’
t go, Seph,” Linda rose as well, pulling Stefan to his
feet with her.

“
Ya, Seph, we
’
re sorry,” Abernathy stood up too.

“Come with us to the Room,” Rodney
doled out their peace offering.

She looked each of them in the eye
steadily.

“Alright,” she accepted, and they
were on their way.

As soon as they got to the hideout,
Abernathy immediately bolted for the couch. She flopped onto it, straightening
her black, pressed pants when they rumpled. Linda and Stefan frowned at her,
clearly wanting the couch. She just smirked with satisfaction, lacing her hands
behind her head.

“Hey Rodney, let
’
s play chess,” Linda suggested
suddenly, and Rodney bounded over to her eagerly.

“Chess?” Seph raised a brow again as
Stefan moved past her to plop himself down on a ratty-looking, mauve armchair.

“It
’
s a little different than normal chess,” Linda said
with a wink.

She went over to an old painting on
the wall, a large, worn painting of some jungle scene or other, in dull blacks,
whites, and grays. She pulled it off the wall, revealing a cavity behind it.
She removed a normal chessboard made out of onyx and ivory by the looks of it.
Except… Linda didn
’
t set it on a table to play, and
Rodney was standing beside Seph while Linda was all the way on the other side
of the room.

“Let
’
s play,” Linda said and threw the board down with all
her might in the center of the room, between the pair of them.

Instinctively, Seph ducked, covering
her head. She expected the pieces to go flying, bits of stone to scatter every
which way. Instead, when she peeled her eyes open, she saw an amazing sight
before her.

A chessboard was hovering in front
of them, life-sized. They were translucent, almost like holograms or mist
people. She slowly walked around the huge, opaque board in shock. These were
not normal chess pieces either, more so than just the simple fact that they
were her size and translucent.

Where there should be a rook, there
was a man-bull creature, a minotaur, and it was moving. It was angrily pawing
the ground, snorting steam from its nostrils, itching to charge forward. Where
there should be a knight, there was a knight on horseback, although he glowed
slightly. She sensed something magical about him, and the word paladin came to
mind. A white knight. A holy knight.

Where the bishop should be, there
was a black-cloaked figure, head hidden by a cowl. He was carrying a wooden
staff with a stone affixed to the top. He had to be a warlock. How she knew
that… she had probably gleaned it from someone
’
s mind in the room unknowingly.

There was a queen, a fairy queen.
She was beautiful, with butterfly wings gently fluttering on her back and a
wand in her hand, shooting occasional star-like sparks. The king… the king was
a mermaid! A merman… He held a trident in hand, had a long flowing beard, bare
chest, and a fish tail. He was floating in the air, not in water. Then again,
he was not real, so why would he need water?

The pawns were not pawns either.
They were goblins. They were short, squat, little goblins, ugly creatures
wielding clubs, snorting steam like the minotaurs. This was unreal. This was
insane. This was amazing.

She watched as Linda and Rodney
began their match. Linda was playing the ivory white pieces, although they were
misty ivory, while Rodney was playing the onyx pieces, the smoky onyx pieces.
Therefore, Linda moved first. She moved a pawn forward, and the squat goblin
hobbled up one space. She watched, completely intrigued.

She knew how to play chess. As odd
as it seemed, Bill had greatly enjoyed playing chess and had coached her and
Nate greatly in this activity. However, the actual game did not entertain her
so much as the pieces did.

She watched as Rodney
’
s warlock, or bishop, cut across the
field diagonally and entered a space occupied by one of Linda
’
s goblins. The warlock waved its
arms around dramatically, and the stone on top of its staff began to glow a
deep-red before the goblin suddenly burst into flames. Seph jumped back in
surprise as Linda cursed under her breath. Rodney grinned over at Seph,
noticing her reaction.

The goblin pawns beat the pieces
down with their little clubs viciously, hopping up for the taller pieces or
climbing them. Minotaur rooks would charge all the way down to the space they
wanted to occupy, tossing the piece out of the way if it was in their way.
Paladins shoved their spears through the chests of their enemies, and the fairy
queens waved their magic wands, petrifying the pieces before they would crumble
to dust.

The merkings she did not see attack
until the very end, right before Rodney checkmated Linda. Linda took his fairy
queen with her merking. Her merking shoved his trident into the fairy queen,
and she shrieked before spiraling to the ground, disappearing off the hovering,
translucent board into nothingness. As soon as Rodney boxed Linda
’
s merking in with his minotaur rook
and warlock bishop, he won the game as her merking gracefully tossed his
trident down.

“You dog!” Linda immediately shouted
as the chessboard wavered out of sight, materializing as the small onyx and
ivory board on the floor between them.

She marched adamantly towards
Rodney, who was quietly shaking with laughter at her ire, a triumphant smile
emblazoning his face.

“You think you won?! I want a
rematch! That game was bull! I was distracted and-” she was ranting and raving
like mad as Stefan came up to her, shushing the angry, little witch.

“C
’
mon, baby. He won the game fair and square,” Stefan was
saying, holding her back from attacking Rodney, who was still laughing.

“He did not win fair and square! I
want a rematch!” She shouted as Stefan pulled her back firmly, farther and
farther away from Rodney. “Wipe that smile of your face, you mutt!” She yelled,
and he just ignored her.

“You see, this is why we don
’
t play chess anymore, Linda,” he
called to her, and a whole other spiel of curse words spilled from her mouth.

Stefan sent him a withering look. He
was not helping. Seph walked over to him as Abernathy just watched all the
diverse people before her, scribbling something in her little black book.

“You and Linda play chess often?”
Seph asked, and he grinned, nodding.

“Oh ya,” he said before shaking his
head. “Well, not as much as before, now that I
’
m pretty good and beat her sometimes. She
’
s a sore loser,
” he stated unnecessarily, and they
both glanced over at Linda, who was still trying to get past Stefan and attack
Rodney.

“I can tell,” Seph raised a brow to
him. “Would you play me sometime?” She proposed, wondering if she could beat
him.

He and Linda were good, but she was
pretty good herself. Bill had trained her and Nate well. She missed chess. Then
again, she would not be playing the exact chess she was used to, with this
giant hovering board and mystical, mist creatures for pieces.

“You wanna play
me
?” He asked
with a little bit of mock arrogance.

“
You afraid?
” She taunted, smiling, and he just
shook his head.

“No, I
’
ll play with you sometime,” he winked at her. “But not
today. It
’
s late, and you need to set up your
dorm room,” she looked at her watch and saw that it was almost nine… in the
morning.

“Ya, we do need to go,” Abernathy
seemed anxious about something. “The sun
’
s
gonna be a little warm for you anyways, Seph,” she added, opening the door and
ushering Stefan and Linda out first.

 Linda sent a malevolent glare in
Rodney
’
s direction. He grinned lopsidedly
at her. Seph could see how that would be annoying.

“Okay,” Seph said and stepped out
into the clear, crisp morning air and the sun…

She immediately squinted and held a
hand up to the pale sun. It was so bright and so hot. Her skin felt really
warm, tingling all over. It almost felt like it was burning. It wasn
’
t burning though, she acknowledged,
trudging through the ravine and back towards the main courtyard. She checked
her skin, but it was not bright red or even pink. It was also not on fire. It
was beginning to ache with pain though.

“Here,” Rodney passed over his
orange and brown plaid shirt, wearing a white undershirt beneath it.

She looked at him and then away,
hoping she wasn
’
t obviously blushing.

“Ya, I know. I
’
m pretty sexy,” he said, patting his abs.

She glanced his direction and rolled
her eyes, grinning.

“Arrogant, maybe,” she responded,
covering her arms with the shirt and then ducking her head to the sun, allowing
her hair to protect her arms and back.

They eventually got to the welcoming
shade of a few trees and then to the door of the dormitories. She sighed with
relief and passed Rodney his shirt back. She blinked in the sudden darkness
before her eyes adjusted in a snap. The sun had hurt her eyes, and they had to
heal first. Her legs even felt funny. She had a feeling she was not going to be
tan ever again. She would just have to embrace her natural pallor.

“I didn
’
t like that,” she remarked solemnly, and they all
looked at her warily.

Stefan walked over, shaking his head
as though he had just remembered something and felt stupid for not recalling it
earlier.

“Sorry. I should
’
ve thought of that. We should keep
some of the sun protector spray in the Room from now on. Most vampires our age
can manage with the sun for a little bit, although the older and more powerful
you are, the harder the sun is for you to stand, especially the closer it gets
to noon. You
’
re a really powerful vampire. I didn
’
t realize,” he just shrugged because
there was nothing he could do about it now.

“Do you need the sun protecting
spray?” She asked him curiously, and he grinned nonchalantly.

“I
’
m not the strongest of my kind. I can admit that. Well,
I can admit that to you guys, but probably not anybody else,” he said with a little
shrug, and she felt something warm curl inside her, feeling more and more a
part of their little group. “
I
don’
t really need the
SPS, sun protector spray, and I probably won
’
t until my fourth year, I
’
m thinkin
’
. I can deal with it. Most average
vampires don
’
t need it ‘til then. Powerful ones
like yourself always end up needin
’
it their second year or
so. I heard Phin and Alistair did. I think Kenji started needin
’
it about the middle of his first
year. You
’
re a little early, but then, we
should have expected that,” he said with a fang-filled grin.

“You
’
re gonna tell Phin?” She asked as Linda kept trying to
tug him away, clearly wanting him all to herself.

“Ya, I gotta. He needs to know how
you progress, what affects you, that kinda stuff. We all report to him,” he
explained, allowing Linda to slowly pull him away.

“We
’
ll see ya in the morning, Seph,” Linda called before
the pair of them ran off giggling.

Abernathy began to walk in the
opposite direction.

“They
’
re going to Stefan
’
s room. Lucky for him, his roommate has amazing
wizarding powers. He just puts up a division between their two rooms, created
two doors that only they can see. It
’
s
perfect. He doesn
’
t hear anything or see anything. The
best roommate imaginable,” Abernathy said, beckoning for Seph to follow her.

“We
’
ll catch up with you tomorrow, Rodney,” Abernathy
called, and Rodney nodded, beginning to walk off to the right, after Linda and
Stefan.

“Later,” he called to them both as
Seph caught up with Abernathy.

Down the hallway, they walked all
the way to a flight of golden stairs. Seph stepped up and looked up the
stairwell. The stairs went really high. Abernathy sighed, starting on the first
step. Seph just gaped at her.

“Um… Abernathy?” Seph called, and
the girl stopped. “How far do we have to go?” She asked, and Abernathy looked
rather grim for her usual chipper self, although she looked a little tired too
considering the lateness of the hour.

“All the way to the top. They do it
backwards. First years are at the top, six years at the bottom. Something about
six year privileges,” she shook her head, black braid whipping about.

“The top?” Seph nearly squeaked, and
Abernathy nodded, starting up the stairs once more.

As much as I wanna work out…
Seph thought to herself, scanning
her options. She still had a lot of blood pumping through her veins. Could she
not try one of her new powers? She could turn into mist or teleport or maybe
try that bat thing she became. That sounded good. She wanted to try flying, try
her wings out. She glanced back up the stairwell. There could not possibly be
enough room for her wingspan though. Abernathy was already trudging up from the
second floor to the third.

“You better hurry up, Seph. I
’
m not waiting for you. I
’
m tired,” apparently Abernathy got a
little surly with lack of sleep.

“I
’
m just gonna try something,” she called back up.

Now, she could mist, but she would
still have to actually put forth a lot of effort to push herself upwards,
despite the fact that misting came easily to her. Teleportation though…
Teleporting seemed really cool, but she wasn
’
t perfect at it. She could try it, work on it some
more. Where would she want to teleport though? She could not make it all six
flights.

She studied the stairs about four
stories above her. She made sure to concentrate on the actual stairs and not
the air or the railing. That would hurt, especially the landing part. She
concentrated on the stairs really, really hard and blinked. She appeared right
where she wanted to, looking around from side to side. That was cool. Where was
Abernathy?

“I hate vampires,” the girl groaned,
trudging past Seph and continuing up the stairs.

“I
’
m sure there
’
s
a quicker way than these stairs, Abernathy,” Seph started, and the girl just
shook her long, brown-streaked braid.

“Something about teaching first
years discipline and keeping them in shape. Stupid sixth years,” the girl
cursed, continuing up the stairs, worn out.

Ya, I
’
m not about to keep this up
, Seph thought to herself.
How
about misting for the rest of the way…
She imagined pulling apart. She
imagined becoming weightless, becoming dew, becoming nothingness. She opened
her eyes to find everything extremely fuzzy. She looked down. Her legs were no
longer there. She was no longer there.

How was she to move though? She pushed
herself. She did not walk because she had no legs. She just pushed herself
forward. She moved. She glided. She drifted. She glided up the spiraling
stairs, but it was taking just as much time as walking, although it was not
exactly tiring. She reappeared on the fifth floor. Abernathy was already up on
the sixth, waiting for her despite what she said earlier. She hid a gasp as
Seph materialized a floor below her.

“Seph, hurry up. Stop trying to cut
corners,” she called down, and Seph ignored her.

That girl was just itching for a
fight. Did she realize that Seph was a strong vampire? Probably, but she was so
drained (no pun intended, of course) that she didn
’
t care anymore. Besides, Seph was her friend first, a
vampire second. Right? Seph blinked, and Abernathy nearly screamed as she
reappeared beside her, air pushing away from the space that she was now
occupying.

“I
’
m going to really start to hate that,” the girl
acknowledged before continuing on to the left, towards the girls
’
dorms.

She guided her to her room, number
11, and then left her there. She sighed. Abernathy was obviously really tired
and preoccupied about something. She didn
’
t
take the action to heart, shaking it off.

Opening her door, she gasped at the
décor. It was beautiful. The bed to her right had to be hers. It was a huge,
king-sized bed with an emerald comforter that looked to be made of shimmering
silk. There was a canopy with apple-green curtains, slightly sheer, silk as
well. She pulled apart the curtains to see the sheets underneath the comforter
were made of satin and golden in color. The wood of the bed was mahogany with a
gold sheen to it, polished to a shine. She had a nightstand and
chest-of-drawers, all made of the same gold-tinted wood.

She glanced at the floor, her shoes
slipping on the white, gleaming marble a little. Then she looked over to the
left side of the room. Her eyes took in the matching furniture except the
comforter was amethyst, the curtains lavender, and the sheets silver satin. The
wood of her furniture was made of birch with a silvery sheen to it, and
Francesca was sitting on the bed, watching Seph the whole time. Seph ignored
her, and the werewolf girl could easily guess why.

They seemed to have a pure white
vanity to share for their make-up and hair supplies. Seph walked over to see a
crisp, clean bathroom, complete with a little shower against the back wall, in
the far right corner. She walked back out to their room after exploring it. She
opened her drawers to find all her clothes filling them. Her make-up and hair
supplies were on the vanity, and her books were in the nightstand. She sent a
glare over at Francesca.

She could not believe her! Francesca
had lied to her! To her best friend! She had lied to her face! And what was
worse? She had done it when they were supposedly bonding over their weird
circumstances, over their awful situation, when they thought it was them
against some evil doers (who ended up being their future teachers). That was
beside the point though! She had lied!

Seph stomped off into the bathroom,
taking a shower to cool off. She leaned her head back in the shower flow,
letting the warm water beat down on her face. It felt wonderful. After her
shower, she washed her face, brushed her teeth, brushed out her hair, and only
then did she stomp off to her bed, reentering their shared room. She viciously
pulled her curtains around her, protecting her from Francesca
’
s constant, wide-eyed stare. She
could still see her slightly through the translucent curtains but not that
well.

Seph pushed the comforter down,
wanting to just curl up in bed and think. She could turn off the lamp on her
nightstand, which was green and gold, matching everything perfectly. Francesca
would need to turn off her lamp as well for there to be complete darkness in
the room, and that was the only way Seph was going to get any sleep. She hit
something as she slid under the covers. She picked it up and froze.

Pride & Prejudice
by Jane Austen. It was the nice
copy the boys had bought her, and it brought a wave of nostalgia with it. She
touched the necklace that she still wore around her neck, then the bracelet on
her wrist, remembering. Pearl and Pearce… Nate… They had all cared for her.
They had cared for her so much, loved her even… But did they really? She had
become this… thing, and they had shunned her. They seemed to despise her. She
recalled Pearl and Pearce
’
s faces, their absolute disgust.
Nate… he was lying on the ground, his neck dripping rubies. She knew he was
alive. She knew he was all right. She just knew this. It was the amount of
blood she had taken, but this feeling was really weird…

Suddenly, Francesca pulled apart the
curtains, and before Seph could open her mouth to say a thing, she sat down on
her bed and passed her over a gold-wrapped gift, obviously a book. She said
nothing, and neither did Seph as she snatched it from the girl
’
s outstretched hands, dark-tan
resilient against the gold wrapping paper. Seph sent her a glare, unwelcoming
as ever, wishing her away from her sight and her bed that very instant. She
tugged at the gold paper.

Unwrapping the gift, the book that
came out in her hands was smooth, unnaturally smooth. She rubbed the cover
thoughtfully, wondering what animal produced a hide like this, so soft and
silvery-white in color. She read the words on the cover, words written in red,
jewel red, glistening almost like blood…