Blood and Beasts (5 page)

Seph blearily blinked open her
eyes, finding herself in a dim room. Was that a dream? That couldn
’
t have been real. What was real?
After another moment, she sat up cautiously, cataloging her many aches and
pains. Her head reeled as she strained to remember what had happened. It had
been her birthday. She had gotten presents. A book and… jewelry. Her head had
hurt the whole time, kind of like right now. This was a different kind of pain
though, sharper and in more intense bursts, as opposed to the dull throbbing
from earlier. 

Nate had come into her room to give
her a gift, and then they had… She and Nate had kissed. That was a little
embarrassing. How was she supposed to face him now? They were best friends.
They could not date or anything, at least not to their foster parents
’
knowledge. They lived in the same
house. That had certain, obvious complications. Wait… what else had happened?
Something bad had happened to Nate. Something bad had happened to Nate because
of her. What… Everything flooded back to her in a rush.

She had bitten him. She had drunk
his blood. She was a vampire. She had met Francesca in the woods. Francesca was
a werewolf. Her parents had kicked her out. Bill had shot her. Pearl and Pearce
had seen her and looked disgusted. Francesca had been living in the woods for
two months or something... They had come for them. Who were they? They had each
fought them. She had defeated that man…
Alistair
…
She had been about to feed on him… And then… Someone had bitten her… The dark
man she had forgotten about! Where was he? Where was Alistair? Where was she?
Francesca?

“I hurt all over,” a familiar voice
moaned, and Seph glanced over in the dim light to see Francesca
’
s long-lashed, wide eyes slowly
flutter open.

They were sitting in twin, sterile,
white cots side by side, shielded by thick, velvet curtains the color of
molasses. It looked like they were in some type of infirmary, if the stark
white sheets and crisp setting meant anything to her. Francesca groaned again,
and Seph glanced back over, more concerned. She was taking a lot longer to
orient herself than she had. She recalled Francesca being lashed down by…
silver chains? How strange and oddly predictable. Were all those myths about
vampires and werewolves true? The supernaturals seemed to keep their secrets to
themselves. That made sense though.

Seph was feeling better already. In
fact, her headache had already faded. She checked her arms and legs, still
dressed in the same clothes as before. She was bruise and cut free. What about
her neck? Quickly, she let her hands skitter across her neck, feeling nothing
out of the ordinary. No fang indentations, no dried blood, it was clean. How
did that happen?

“Seph?” It was Francesca again,
persistent as ever.

“I
’
m here, Francesca,” Seph called back.

Gingerly checking to make sure that
her feet could take her weight, Seph stepped down onto the cold, marble floor,
a cream color, and padded over to Francesca
’
s side, barefoot.

 “What
’
s wrong?” She asked, stroking her best friend
’
s golden-brown forehead soothingly.

“It hurts,” she weakly gestured at
her body below the sheets.

“What hurts?” Seph asked, dreading
the answer.

“All of it,” Francesca groaned back
morosely.

“Alright,” Seph gulped quietly,
hoping that Francesca couldn
’
t sense how her heart picked up
nervously. “Let
’
s see what
’
s wrong,” she said and carefully pulled away the
sheets.

She stopped herself from gasping
but just barely. The majority of Francesca
’
s torso was swathed in gauze and bandages. Of course,
she did not realize that their skin was touching until Francesca actually did
gasp.

It looks really bad,
Seph
glanced over at Francesca to see the girl avert her eyes.

So, we can still talk like this
even when you
’
re not in your wolf form,
Seph said with a little grin, and
the girl looked back at her sharply.

Oh! I didn
’
t say that out loud! I wonder how we
do this. Whose power is it, do you think? Or is it both of our powers?
Francesca pondered when the
curtains were suddenly pulled back, revealing their little sanctuary to the
world.

“It
’
s a little bit of both. Persephone naturally has the
power of telepathy as a vampire, especially with skin contact. Francesca, on
the other hand, has the ability to project her thoughts to anyone, especially
in her wolf form. I am so pleased to meet you formally. I am Wizard Master
Cosmos, the principal, of sorts, of Zephyr Hall,” the salt-and-pepper haired
man from before announced regally, giving them each a slight bow.

Francesca was staring at the man as
though he had sprouted a second head as Seph kept her little crouch on the
ground, prepared for a fight. How did this man always know what they were
thinking? It was unnerving, to say the least.

“Why, I am a wizard, young
Persephone, and therefore, my abilities in telepathy and mind reading are far
more advanced than a vampire like yourself shall ever achieve,” he smiled a
little smugly at her.

“Oh, I wouldn
’
t say that, Sir Cosmos. We vampires, on occasion, have
advanced telepathic skills. Hello, Persephone,” she glowered up at the same
dark man that had bitten her the night before… or two nights before… How long
had she been in this infirmary? “About a day and a half. All the day yesterday,
all the night yesterday, and all the day today. It
’
s night again now. School will start soon. I
’
m Phineas, by the way, Phin, for
short,” the guy said with a twinkle in his silver eyes.

“You bit me,” she stated bluntly,
but his grin didn
’
t falter in the least.

“I know he did, and I was the one
hungry, not him,” that voice… Alistair swung into view, grinning coldly at her,
not an ounce of niceness in his smile or his silver eyes that matched Phin
’
s perfectly.

“Yes, well, our little vampire here
was about to make food out of you, Alistair. Be grateful that I stepped in-”
Their little disagreement nearly broke out into a full-out argument when Sir
Cosmos interjected.

“Enough, young men,” Sir Cosmos
stated commandingly. “You can debate about this later. As it is, I was none too
happy about you feeding off of a fellow student, Phineas. You should know
better, although I am not quite certain how we would have secured her
otherwise,” he prattled on, talking about her like she was not right there.
“Anyway, perhaps next time we shall be more careful?” He raised a bushy eyebrow
to the pair of vampires beside him, appearing taller than the two of them
despite the fact that they had more than a couple of inches on him.

“Yes, sir,” they both murmured
under their breaths to him, bowing their heads with respect.

“Um, can I ask a question?” Seph
called up impertinently.

The three of them glanced over at
her, seemingly astonished that she had actually spoken and with such a rude
tone apparently.

“Where am I? What am I? They
’
re students? Who are you? What
’
s going on?” She rambled on, slowly
rising to her feet with agitation.

She smoothed down her skirt
self-consciously as Phin and Alistair stared at her legs very obviously. She
glowered at the pair of them, but neither looked away. Jerks…

“I am so sorry, my dear Persephone.
You must be quite confused,” the older man started, but she interrupted him
impudently again.

“It
’
s Seph, by the way. You
’
re driving me crazy calling me Persephone so much. It
’
s Seph. Not as much of a mouthful,”
she explained, and he smiled genially.

“Alright… Seph,” he nearly stumbled
over her nickname. “You are at Zephyr Hall…” Again, he was interrupted by her.

“We
’
re at Monster Academy?!
” Seph exclaimed as Francesca tried
to sit up but instantly winced, lying back down.

Sir Cosmos attempted to not look
annoyed by the nickname, but he obviously was, his jaw set stubbornly.

“Yes, Monster Academy, although we
call it Zephyr Hall here,” he added in a clipped tone. “Anyway, you are here at
Zephyr Hall because obviously, you are a vampire, Persephone,” she noticed his
lapse back into calling her by her full name again. “We brought you here after
that little dispute in the woods. You two were not thinking too clearly. It was
your first night, Persephone. As for you, Francesca… werewolves generally have
trouble controlling themselves so soon after turning. The fact that you did not
hurt Persephone, that you two, in fact, recognized each other and helped each
other, is quite extraordinary actually,” he beamed at the pair of them as
though they had done something amazing, like find a cure for cancer.

“
We do our best, Sir Cosmos,
” Francesca said modestly, breaking
the awkward silence while swapping a suspicious look with the old man.

“Yes, well, we have already packed
your things and brought them here. They are situated in your dorm room.
Although you are generally paired with one of your own kind, vampires are so
rare and so volatile, we never pair them together, and you two already seem to
have a special bond, unless you want to be paired with another werewolf,
Francesca?” He raised his eyebrows to her, and she slowly shook her head,
wincing.

“Alright then, it
’
s settled. Classes start at 8 p.m.,
on the dot, and end at 3 a.m. Lunch is from midnight to 1 a.m. Dinner is served
at 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Breakfast is served from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. when classes
start. Most students go to bed around 10 a.m. and wake up around 7 p.m.,
depending on their morning rituals,” he started to move towards the exit after
the long spiel, and Seph
’
s eyes widened in shock.

“Wait! What are you talking about
with all of this a.m. and p.m.…
stuff?
” Seph asked, completely confused.

“Vampires are creatures of the
night. Werewolves are creatures of the night. We wizards and witches are
willing to adapt to their timeframe and switch our schedules to the nighttime.
It makes more sense for them to have classes in the dark. Sunlight won
’
t kill you, my dear, but I am quite
sure you have already noticed how it makes your eyes sting, irritates your
skin, among other things. It is not pleasant for your kind, and werewolves
prefer the night as well,” he started to leave again although at least a
billion questions were buzzing around in her head, but then he stopped and
turned to address Francesca.

“Oh yes, Francesca, you are clearly
excused from classes for the day. Werewolves are excused from classes every
three days of the month that the moon is fullest, but you need to go to the
warehouse, seeing as you cannot control yourself,” he stated, and then he
finally did leave.

They were left even more confused,
alone, with two vampires who were eyeing them in a very uncomfortable way. Seph
glared at them obstinately as Francesca looked away, clearly in pain. Phin
walked around their perimeter as Alistair remained where he was, casually
leaning against the gold, sponge-painted wall.

“I
’
m sure you have many questions, Seph,” Phin started,
and she just glowered at him.

Heaving a little sigh, he sat down
on the very edge of her bed, as far from her as he possibly could while still
sitting down.

“You know, I
’
m not that old, Seph,” he said, and she shot him a
questioning look. “I
’
m about twenty-one. I
’
m in my last year here at Monster
Academy actually,” he gave her a lopsided little grin, revealing very pointy
and very white teeth.

“You
’
re only twenty-one?” She asked, shock obvious on her
face.

He just acted so much older. He
seemed so much older. He was a student? Why did he seem to be Sir Cosmos
’
s go-to guy for vampires? Why did
she have to have so many questions? Life was hard enough as a sixteen-year-old.
She thought she was going to try to learn to drive this year. Now it seemed she
was going to try to learn not to bite people at random. Had she turned evil?

“Vampires are very nomadic
creatures, Seph. Although some do manage to maintain their humanity and settle
down, the majority of us wander, immortals, our lives flowing in eternal
streams. What you become is not defined by your background and your history,
but by what you do with what you have. Nothing is innately evil…” she looked up
at him with a question in her eyes, wondering how he knew that her mind kept
revolving back to that question in particular.