Blood and Beasts (6 page)

“Are you so sure?” She asked,
biting her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

“We do what we must to survive,
Persephone,” he responded, staring at her intently.

“But if you have to kill to
survive, doesn
’
t that make you evil?” She asked him
in return.

“
We don’
t have to kill to survive,” he
answered swiftly.

“But we drink blood and have
fangs,” she sputtered, staring intently at the plain, white, cotton sheet.

“Humans drink the milk of other
animals, and what do our teeth have to do with this? Bears have fangs. Wolves,
cats,” he listed off, and she nodded.

“Milk is different from blood,” she
pointed out.

“Semantics,” he muttered
off-handedly, and in such a carefree way, she had to grin. “You are not evil,
Persephone. In the future, you can choose to become evil or good. That choice
is up to you, not your genetics,” he explained, and she nodded again. “Anyways,
finding a full-time vampire teacher has been nearly impossible for Sir Cosmos.
He has simply resulted to allowing us to teach ourselves, and he assigns the
oldest vampire in the group to the task of calling the class to order, teaching
a few lessons here and there, and coaching fledglings, such as yourself,” he
continued.

“So, what do you learn in … vampire
class?” She grinned a little at the name.

It just sounded so ridiculous to
her. What classes are you taking? Oh, this and that, vampire class. Was this
really happening? She never thought that she was ever going to be a vampire,
attending Monster Academy and everything…

“You learn many things, such as how
to shield your thoughts, for one. I can hear absolutely everything that you
’
re thinking,” he said with a little
grin of his own, and then Alistair decided to interject himself into their
conversation, without being asked, of course.

“You know why that is though,
Phin,” he started when Phin silenced him with a glare.

“I think you should leave,
Alistair,” he commanded, giving his back to Seph.

Phin was dressed very properly in a
button-up, plum-colored shirt with a pair of black slacks. He seemed to like to
dress nicely. Alistair, on the other hand, did not dress nearly as nice. Her
eyes flickered over him as he and Phin seemed to have some type of silent
conversation. He was wearing another muscle tee, this one navy, and he had on
some loose, black leather slacks with them.

They looked so strange, obviously
swapping some information but without talking. Then again, she and Francesca
must have looked just as strange when they had been talking in their minds the
other night except they had to be touching at least. She wondered if she could
intercept their thoughts. Phin seemed to be able to hear her thoughts pretty
well. Could she hear theirs? It should be easy, considering they were not just
thinking their thoughts but actually sending them to each other, projecting
them.

She concentrated very hard on the
pair of them, trying to hear what they were hearing. There was no harm in
trying, although they would probably know that she was. Either way, she was
going to try it. She focused on the pair, and within seconds, she could hear
their conversation.

… angry about her defeating you that
night. You need to get over that, Alistair! She won! She
’
s simply a very strong vampire, and
that was her night of change. That
’
s
when we
’
re always the strongest. It was a
full moon. Everything was going for her!
Phin was exclaiming to a simmering Alistair, although
he presented a very cool front to her and Francesca.

Stop patronizing me, Phin! The night
of change?! The full moon?! That
’
s
all myth! Fairy lore!
Alistair
was screaming at him in his mind.

She wanted to take a step back. He
was so angry. He was so angry at her. She couldn
’
t help that she had defeated him. He had been trying to
attack her. She was not going to simply lie down and die for him.

Fine, Alistair! The truth is, she is
stronger than you now and ever will be as soon as she completely understands
and can control her powers,
Phin stated snappily, and she was shocked again.

Phin sent her a little glance,
clearly knowing that she was listening in on their conversation. However, he
didn
’
t block her out, and she wondered
why. Alistair was too angry, too controlled by his emotions, to notice her
presence in their telepathic conversation.

You son of a… And exactly when are
you gonna tell her that since you drank her blood you can now sense her-
Phin quickly cut off that
conversation, and she could sense his edginess.

I
’
ll tell her, Alistair. You need to
leave now though! She
’
s not blind! Nor is the wolf!
Alistair’
s cover was faltering as he began to
tremble with his rage.

  After that silent conversation, he
simply whirled out of the room in a flurry of dark emotions and projected
anger. Phin slowly turned to face her, amusement in his eyes. She raised a
winged brow to him in question and challenge.

“Something you need to tell me,
Phin?” She asked, slowly settling herself on the bed as far from him as
possible.

“Actually, yes,” he admitted,
edging a little closer to her, and she reacted by edging a little farther back.
“One, you should not be listening in on mind conversations. I could have easily
blocked you since I am advanced in telepathy, as you seem to be. Alistair… is
not so much. Two, there is something you need to know about the taking of blood
from other creatures,” he stated, and she waited patiently. “Depending on how
much you take, how strong the creature is, and how strong you yourself are, all
determines how much you shall be able to read from them in the future,” he
concluded, and she just stared at him, waiting for more information that was
not forthcoming.

“How much did you take from me and
just what can you read from me?” She asked pointedly, and he sighed heavily.

“I took enough from you. That
’
s all you need to know,” he stated,
and she opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand for silence. “With the
blood… fervor, you tend to lose control of yourself. I should have knocked you
out earlier and released you, but… We all make mistakes,” he connected his pale
silver eyes with hers.

His eyes were almost white. They
were so light in color. It was incredibly eerie, and it did not look natural
with his dark features. She really should have brushed up on her vampire
information earlier. She never thought she would be one though. She never
wanted to be one.

 “I can normally read others
’
minds fairly well, so that
’
s not too different from now.
However, I
’
m pretty sure that you
’
ll have extra difficulty shielding
your thoughts from me, when you can,” she opened her mouth to protest. “But you
will be able to… Seph. Clearly, you already have an affinity for telepathy.
However, I shall always be able to sense your feelings, your emotions, and you
will always have to remember to keep your shield up around me, always,” he
explained, and she looked simply livid. “I
’
m sensing you
’
re
angry,” he admitted, and she nearly snarled at him.

“Really?! That
’
s a bit of an understatement! What about Nate?” She
demanded, and he looked confused before easily gleaning the information from
her mind, which she did not appreciate at all.

She imagined building a sturdy
brick wall between her mind and the pulsing purple beacon that was Phin
’
s mind in her head. He noticed this
but said nothing. He was still in her mind despite her brick wall.

“Nathaniel? Nate? Your friend?” He
asked, and she nodded. “You drank a lot of his blood. We did check on him, and
he is alive. Sir Cosmos should have told you that, but he forgets many things.
He is very old. He only appears to be around fifty-five, but he is, in fact,
centuries old. Yes, vampires, werewolves, and wizards are all immortal,” it was
unnerving that he kept answering questions that she didn
’
t say out loud, so she built her wall even stronger,
reinforcing it with steel. “That
’
s better,” Phin stated,
acknowledging her mind ramparts. “Anyways, Nate… He is alive. You took a lot of
blood from him. More than likely, you
’
ll
be able to sense his feelings vividly from here, if you tried. Within a mile or
so radius, I
’
m guessing you
’
ll be able to read his thoughts clearly without even
trying. You could probably hear his thoughts right now, but you
’
d have to try,” he explained, and
she resisted the urge to drop her jaw in shock and awe. 

She had that kind of power over
Nate now? All because she had bitten him? The ability to read somebody
’
s every thought and emotion… Their personal
memories… This was something dark and unnatural, and this was her.

“What? How do I get rid of it?! I
don
’
t want this! How am I supposed to
control this? How am I supposed to eat?” She winced as she realized that she
asked how she was supposed to eat and was clearly referencing to blood.

“Eat? Thinkin
’
about blood again, Seph? Told ya,” Francesca murmured,
rolling over to loll back to sleep.

Seph sent her a vicious glare
before looking down, embarrassed. She couldn
’
t help it. She wanted blood. She thirsted for blood.
She just couldn
’
t control herself. She wished she
could. She never wanted something like that to happen again. Nate… 

“It won
’
t happen again as long as you realize the signs,” Phin
stated, and she glowered at him, not liking the intrusion into her thoughts yet
again.

“What signs?” She sneered, and he
smirked, sensing her agitation easily.

“Your eyes, for one,” he stated,
reaching over and removing a small, hand mirror from the nightstand drawer
between the two girls.

He was closer to her now. She could
clearly see the back of his head, his neck, and for some reason, her stomach
began flipping with anxiety at the very thought of all that rich, warm blood
coursing beneath that skin. Her heart began to beat a little faster, although
it had recently been slow, or slower than normal. A vampire thing?

“Your heart won
’
t beat as fast as a human
’
s anymore, Seph. Your heart will
beat rapidly when you need to feed. It
’
s
one of the signs. By beating rapidly, I mean that it will beat at nearly the
normal pace of a human being
’
s. Right now, I would wager that
your pulse is in the 40s. That
’
s fairly normal for a vampire. It
has to do with our anatomy. We have so much extra blood in us that we don
’
t need to pump the heart as much
because it just floods our system, but we need it to flood our system. If you
’
re really interested in how the
vampire body works, I
’
ll propose the lesson in class
someday. I
’
m sensing that you don
’
t really care, so long as you know
you
’
re not dead?” He said, raising a
barely visible brow to her.

She frowned at him. She hated how
he kept pushing himself into her thoughts. She needed to remember to put those
stupid shields up or else nothing would last long as a secret around here. It
was probably best if she had shields up all the time and not just for Phin.
Clearly, people had unknown and intense talents in this place. Witches and
wizards could probably read her like a book. She vowed in her mind, as she
threw up her walls, slowly constructing the brick wall in her brain and
reinforcing it with steel, that every morning, while brushing her teeth, she
would build her walls strong and sturdy and keep them up the whole day, not
letting them down until she went to sleep. It would be tiresome at first, but
soon it would become like second nature to her, like brushing her teeth.

“What
’
s with the mirror?” She asked after an awkward silence
in which he tried to infiltrate her thoughts, and she managed to thwart him. “I
really don
’
t like when you do that,” she
commented, and he smirked.

“Can you tell me what color your
eyes are, Seph?” He asked, holding the mirror in his hands and hiding its
reflection from her.

“Um…” she had to think about that.
“They change. Sometimes they
’
re grey, sometimes they
’
re darker,” she concluded, and he
smirked again.

That little grin of his was so
irritating, and that thought just caused it to broaden, her shields momentarily
forgotten.

“
Like mine?
” He asked, and she stared into his
eyes before shaking her head.

“No, never that light,” she said,
and he kept grinning. “Why do you keep smiling?” She demanded, frustrated.

“
Look,
” he held the mirror up to her.

She stared at her reflection and
was quite shocked at it. She looked good, vivaciously healthy. Her red hair
cascaded around her shoulders, a luminescent halo. Her fair skin seemed to
glow, and her cheeks seemed to be naturally rosy. Her lips were rose-colored,
her eyebrows prominent, and her eyes… Shaded by long lashes, her deep-set eyes
were very light. They were nearly as light as his, though not quite. They were
a pale-grey in color, dazzling, like smoky diamonds. She glanced up to meet
Phin
’
s eyes, so similar to her own.

“
I don’
t remember them being this color,” she murmured
quietly.

“I suspect you don
’
t. I would guess that the last time
you looked in the mirror, your eyes were quite dark,” she stared at him
blankly. “As time goes on, our need to feed increases, and this is made obvious
by the darkening of our eyes. When our eyes are exceptionally light, as both of
ours are now, that means that we
’
ve fed a lot recently. I could
probably go three days without blood before my eyes became particularly dark,
and I would be sorely tempted by any cut. You, on the other hand, are a
fledgling and will probably be very hungry soon enough. You
’
ll have to drink about a pint of
blood at every meal for the first few months, but slowly that will fade to just
a glass per meal, and eventually, like the rest of us, you
’
ll only need a bottle once per day. Strong, grown
vampires can survive without blood for a few days. The exceptionally older
vampires can go for a week without blood. At least, that
’
s what our last speaker told us. They generally just
don
’
t want to though. Anyway, at every
meal, you can eat whatever you like as well as your pint of blood that you
’
ll have to finish before we can let
you leave. We can
’
t have any famished vampires running
around the school,” he said with a small smile, trying to get her to smile
back.

“So…” she started slowly, and he
watched her sympathetically.

She was trying to put her thoughts
together while still constantly thinking about keeping those mental walls up,
all of which he noticed and acutely took in.

“So by drinking the blood… I
’
ll never attack someone like Nate again?”
She asked, voice lilting with hope.

“I can
’
t guarantee that, Seph. Certain… factors always apply,”
he looked away now, like he was embarrassed?

“Factors such as?” She had to know,
if not for her sake but for the sake of others.

“Attraction…” he proposed
carefully, and she gave him a skeptical look. “As well as blood loss of your
own, and your mood,” he elaborated, still not meeting her eyes.

“Attraction?” She asked, and he
nodded.

“Oh… I guess that
’
s why I attacked…” she stopped what
she was saying as Phin glanced up at her sharply. “So… blood loss… that
’
s why my eyes aren
’
t as light as yours? Because you
took some of my blood from me even though I had just fed on…
human blood?
” She said, trying to not think
about Nate.

He gave her a single nod.

“That would be about right,” he
assented slowly, and she thought about that.

“Won
’
t it scare the other kids? Students?” She asked
pointedly.

She was unsure how many other
vampires there were. Maybe there were a lot of them, and she would fit right
in. Then again, maybe she, Phin, and Alistair were the only ones… That was a
shoddy group to be a part of. Phin seemed all right, but Alistair… She did not
like him, and he didn
’
t like her, so that worked out.

“There aren
’
t that many vampires. Vampires have a tendency to…
fight amongst themselves if they stay together for too long, and they also tend
to be wanderers. With you here, that will make ten of us,” he said, his smile a
gleaming beacon of white light.

“Ten? Ten out of the entire
school?!” She repeated, astonished.

She was shocked, nearly horrified.
She was definitely going to stand out now. He nodded again, a little
regretfully this time.

“How many students are there in the
whole school?” She asked, dreading the answer.

“Not too many,” he answered
carefully, and she glared at him, waiting for the answer. “We make up about
five percent of the student population. There are roughly five hundred students
at this school, a little less than one hundred students per grade since we have
six grades or levels here. Vampires are just rare, especially to recover one
before they
’
ve made their first kill, been
killed, or escaped into the wild to thrive on their own,” she blinked at him,
lost again.

“Live on their own? We could live
on our own now?” She asked, and he nodded warily.

“We could, but we would be rabid…
animals. It is better to learn sophistication now, to learn how to harness our
powers-” she cut him off.

“So, all vampires that don
’
t attend this school are rabid?” She
asked, and she could sense that she was frustrating him, much to her
satisfaction, which he sensed.

“No… But those that do attend this
school find life afterwards to be much easier to tame. When another speaker
comes wandering through here, little vampire, you can ask him or her any
questions you like. Ask them if they attended this school or one like it. Ask
them how difficult or easy it has been for them to control themselves, or if
they have not controlled themselves, for that matter,” he said, rising to his
feet with agitation.

She rose to her feet also. He
noticed this perceptively. She was keeping everything in balance. She would
either be at equal height to him, or as equal as her 5
’
3 self could be, or she would be higher than him. Truth
be told, if he sat down, he would be at about head height for her. He was over
a foot taller than her, but she didn
’
t
allow this little fact to intimidate her.

“School starts in about thirty
minutes, Seph. You could go to your room and get situated, but to be honest,
you don
’
t really have enough time. You need
to go to the Main Hall and have your pint of blood, just in case. Your eyes are
already dark gray. Don
’
t skip any meals here either, Seph.
It
’
s much more dangerous than gaining a
few pounds, which you won
’
t anyways,” he stated, starting to
head towards the dark walnut door.

“Um, Phin?” She called, and she
knew he senses her nervousness and apprehension as easily if she had
broadcasted it on a radio. “I would never skip a meal. I enjoy my food. I
’
m not a stick,” she watched as his eyes
skipped over her form.

She was not overweight, but she
clearly did not skip on meals.

“Also, I don
’
t know where the Main Hall is. I don
’
t know where my dorm room is. I don
’
t know where my first class is, what
my classes are, what I
’
m supposed to or can wear,” she
listed off her worries, and he held up a hand to quiet her.

Sighing wearily, he glanced at his
watch.

“Try to keep up,” he said before
striding out.

That turned out to be a lot more
difficult than it seemed. Phin was over a foot taller than her and had a much
longer leg span. She had to take two to three steps just to equal one of his.
Therefore, she had to walk twice as fast. He was talking to her as they walked,
running, in her case, through the huge hall. She took in everything as best she
could while still keeping up with him and listening as well.

The school was huge and
archaic-looking. The floors were all marble, white and black marble, sometimes
blood-red, sometimes a brilliant gold. She was sure that had meaning, but she
didn
’
t have time to look just yet. She
thought it was beautiful. The school was designed in a slight Moorish fashion
with huge archways and large windows. Open doorways were everywhere. She
glanced to their right to see that they were walking around a large circular
courtyard, springy grass bright green, resilient even. The courtyard seemed to
be the center of all activity as students either milled through it, munched on
their breakfast there, or ran across it, hurrying somewhere or other.