Blood and Beasts (7 page)

“The dorm rooms are directly across
from us now. Everything is connected, but you can tell that it
’
s the dormitories because everything
is white,” and sure enough, across the courtyard was an all-white section of
the circular building which had to be the dorm rooms now that Phin had
explained it. “Your dorm, in fact, is on the sixth floor, the top floor, and
your room number is eleven. You and Francesca share that room,” he passed over
a key to her, small and golden. “Keep that safe,” he advised, and she nodded,
tucking the key away in her pocket.

“Here
’
s your schedule,” he passed her a sheet of paper with
her classes, teachers
’
names, and room numbers
on it, as well as the general locations of them all. “It
’
s not too difficult. I can give you directions to where
your first class is, but I have class too,” he skimmed over her schedule a
moment. “Oh, you have the Guth Man first,” he flushed a slight pink…
somehow.
“Sorry, I mean, Sir Howie Guthrie.
He teaches HU or History of the Universe. His class is in the Gold Hall and
will be the third door on your left,” he stated, pulling that memory from his
first year at school.

“
Good memory,
” she commented as they finally
entered a large banquet hall where students were eating at long tables,
enjoying cafeteria food, if that were possible.

She scanned the tables. Not many
people were drinking giant goblets of blood. Everybody was eating pancakes or
eggs or toast and was sipping drinks like orange juice or water or milk. She
was going to stand out more than she already did. She saw a few people nudging
each other, pointing or just flat out staring. Uneasily, she followed Phin to
the line, which was not too long.

He sensed her uneasiness. Even if he
had not fed on her, he could easily have detected her wary movements and
suspicious glances at the other students, all signs of her discomfort. He
sighed inwardly, hoping she would not be able to sense that. He had omitted the
little factor that she would be a bit connected to him too after the whole
blood drawing event. Better she did not realize that… He eyed her as she
nervously stood there, staring at the other students belligerently. He opted to
help her out.

“Why don
’
t we just grab your food on the go, and I
’
ll show you to the Guth… Sir Guthrie
’
s room?
” He suggested, and he could feel
and sense the gratitude that swamped her.

“Sounds good to me,” she stated
before just staring at him, waiting for him to show her where the blood was.

He walked forward suavely and went
up to one of the three lunch ladies, sisters obviously, ugly sisters at that.
Phin caught her thoughts but hoped to the Night that none of the witch sisters
had. You do not offend those who make your food. Hazel, the middle sister, was
usually the most telepathic of the three, but she seemed simply jovial today.
New students always got a good lashing and a horrid serving of food their first
week of school when they thought bad thoughts about their lunch ladies. He
smiled at Hazel, approaching her first. Her frizzy, yellow hair stuck out every
which way as she smiled broadly at him, missing quite a few teeth. Her
pale-blue eyes were almost too blue, milky-looking. He hid his feelings well.

“
Hello, Hazel. You
’
re looking ravishing this morning,”
he grinned at her, and she smiled back, batting her stubby lashes at him.

“Don
’
t believe a word he says, Haze. He
’
s a vampire. Lookin
’
ravishin
’
probably ain
’
t the best thing fer ya, if ya know
what I mean,” muttered her older sister, the hideous Myrtle.

Myrtle was bitter, coldhearted, and
did not care in the least bit for pleasantries, children, or freshly made
cookies. She did her job strictly for the paycheck, hating everybody and
anybody in her mud-brown eyes
’
line of sight. Hazel
was the most hopeful of the three as Heather was a bit… slow. He glanced
sideways as the youngest sister dazedly slopped scrambled eggs on one poor boy
’
s plate after he had clearly asked
for pancakes. He turned his attention back to Hazel though, blinking his pale
eyes at her.

“Hazel, do you think you could
scrounge up a pint of blood for my little fledgling here?” He asked, nodding
his head towards the stalwart-looking Seph, although he felt the tendrils of
apprehension simply pulsating off of her.

“Yea, I think I can find you one.
You drinkin
’
a whole pint? You don
’
t look that hungry,” she gazed
curiously at his eyes.

“It
’
s for the little fledgling, remember?” He reminded her,
and she laughed to herself, a hair-raising, skin-crawling, scratchy-sounding
laugh that made Seph
’
s skin itch as it prickled all over
her.

“Oh yea,” she bent over and
scrambled through a fridge, pulling out a pint of blood.

Seph looked at it uneasily. It did
not look exactly… appetizing. Maybe she wasn
’
t really a vampire… Maybe she just bit Nate in the heat
of the moment and… She sighed. People did not drink other people
’
s blood in the heat of the moment.
She was a vampire, but that bottled stuff did not look good. The lunch lady,
Hazel, poured it into an amber-tinted mug for her, a beer mug, and passed it
over. She took it grudgingly, staring down into its thick contents that didn
’
t cause a single growl to rise from
her stomach. It looked cold. It was cold. Phin took it from her hands.

“Iced blood, Hazel? C
’
mon… You can microwave it for us,
can
’
t you?” He asked nicely, and the
girl laughed again.

“Oh, I must have forgot,” she said,
taking the mug from his hands and putting it in the microwave directly behind
her.

As she and Phin flirted for the
next minute and a half, Seph scanned the staring students around her in the
cafeteria. Not a single person had an amber-tinted beer mug in their hands for
breakfast. Far off, she saw a few people sipping from amber glasses. Two were
actually drinking from them. One guy had shoulder-length hair, shaggy and
dark-brown in color. His skin was olive-colored, and his eyes were hidden in
shadows. He was stunning in appearance. The other guy had equally shaggy hair,
maybe not quite as long, but it was choppy, in his face, and jet-black. He was
Asian, by the looks of it, but taller than average as he stood up to put away
his tray. He dressed kind of grungy in baggy black pants and a black T-shirt
with some rock band on it. Apparently, the other vampires liked to keep to
themselves. The guy with the brown hair turned to talk to a large woman sitting
with them, drinking nothing, although Seph was pretty sure that she was a
vampire too.

She was obviously a very tall woman
and built strongly. She was brown, but not nearly as dark as Phin. Her brown
hair was laced with golden highlights and done in braids, half of which were
pulled up on her head, forming a sort of crown. Her eyes were sultry-looking
and light-colored at the moment. Her large lips pulled back into a gleaming,
white smile as she laughed at something the brown-haired boy had said.
Suddenly, the girl… woman… vampire… glanced up and locked eyes with Seph. The
young girl shuddered and looked away, catching the woman
’
s light laughter at her even from the far distance
across the dining hall.

“I see you
’
ve noticed the others,” Phin said, passing her over the
now warm pint of blood. “The girl
’
s Sarabi,” he nodded at the three as
they walked back out to the hallway. “She
’
s
my age, in her sixth year. She
’
s grown very restless of late,” he
murmured, thinking aloud. “She wants to leave more than anything. She has a
wanderer
’
s spirit, that Sarabi. I was hoping
that she would settle. I wish us vampires could settle. I feel that I could
stay and teach here awhile,” he admitted to her, still thinking out loud as she
gradually sipped her pint of blood.

It was actually not as awful as she
had suspected. It was good. Not as good as fresh blood, but she guessed that
was because it was fresh, and there was the whole context of how she had taken
the blood. She sighed, sipping the blood happily, watching as other students
meandered by. She felt much better now.

“You are very content,” he stated,
and she glanced up at him.

“Yea, I guess so,” she murmured. “
I don’
t know why, but I just feel like…”
she glanced up at him a little nervously. “
I dunno
… like everything
’
s all right… Everything is happening
as it
’
s supposed to happen…” she said, a
little warily, afraid he was going to say that she sounded stupid or something.

He stopped walking a moment, and
she didn
’
t notice, walking right past him.
When she realized that he was no longer beside her, she hurriedly circled back
around. She looked up at him uncertainly. Had she said something that offended
him?

“Sorry?” She asked timidly,
although timidity was not usually in her repertoire.

“No…” he murmured, picking his feet
up. “
No, don’
t apologize. There
’
s nothing wrong with what you said.
It
’s just
… I wish I could feel that content
for no particular reason,” he joked with her as the spiraling marble beneath
their feet slowly faded to green as did the walls around them.

She gave him a suspicious, sideways
glance. She knew that was not the real reason he had suddenly stopped, or it
was not the only reason, at the very least. He did not think what she had said
was wrong or sick or anything, but there was something… else. Whatever it was,
he was not about to reveal it. Should she really be able to read this much from
Phin? Someone she had just met? Was it a vampire talent? Did it have something
to do with the blood thing between them? He would have mentioned that though,
surely. Still…

Before she knew it, she was tipping
the amber mug back, savoring the last few drops of warm blood, which were
absolutely delicious. They had paused outside a golden, gilded door. The
numbers 001 were posted on the door in large, black, cursive numbers. She
stared at the door as a student nudged between them to walk through, clearly
wondering why she was just standing there and why she was standing with Phin,
the lead vampire at the school.

“
Lead vampire?
” She asked, and he gave her a
curious, silver-eyed stare.

“You caught that too? As I
suspected…” She had no idea what that meant, and he didn
’
t embellish on the point, as cryptic as ever. “I
’
m considered the lead vampire at the
school because I teach the vampire class, Vamp Class, since I am the oldest and
strongest vampire here. Also, it
’
s because I
’
ve been considering staying here, once I graduate, as I
told you earlier. Anyway, here
’
s your first class, History of the
Universe,” he caught a look of misgiving cross her face.

“Sounds a little difficult,” she
murmured, and he smiled at her cheerily.

“It
’
s really not that hard. Honestly, the hardest thing in
the class is staying awake. Here, I
’
ll
take this,” he took her empty pint glass from her. “
Good luck,
” he added, and they parted ways.

Time to start her first day at
Monster Academy.

She stared at his receding back a
moment, dreading her entrance into that classroom, even though class would
start in approximately… two minutes, according to her watch. That was, if they
started right on time. She suspected that a supernatural school like this would
probably start right on time though.

“If you stare any harder, he might
turn around,” a not-too-nice voice nearly growled in her ear.

She jerked around to see a tall
girl in front of her. She had tan skin, back-length, thick, jet-black hair, and
wide, golden eyes. Obviously, she was not a vampire, and if she was thinking
correctly, werewolves had gold eyes? Francesca did, and her eyes had not been
gold before this whole new werewolf thing. She looked smartly up at the girl,
who was roughly 5
’
7, she wagered.

“You
’
re the new vampire,” she said, staring directly into
Seph
’
s eyes, which she suspected were a
pearl grey right now.

Seph nodded once, not letting her
eyes shift from this girl, a possible enemy, the predator part of her mind
ascertained.

“I
’
m Ruby. Ruby Singing Crow,” she said curtly, waiting
for Seph to respond.

“Hey, Singing Crow, you wanna move
outta the way? I
’
m kinda tryin
’
to get to class,” a stout Asian girl said from beside
the tall girl, Ruby.

Ruby slowly looked over and
glowered down at the other girl. The other girl
’
s shoulder-length, black hair framed her heart-shaped
face perfectly as she gave Ruby a curt grin, nearly a grimace.

“What do you want, Linda?” The
taller girl snarled, teeth literally gnashing.

“Wow… Well, lemme think about this…
I want you… to get outta my way, like I said before,” the much shorter Asian
girl, Linda, responded fiercely.

They stared at each other a moment,
perhaps prepping for a fight. However, they both quickly decided against that.
Linda shoved past the girl with no more ado, and Seph hurried after her before
the tall girl could confront her anymore. Seph could be as obstinate as the
next person, more so even, but right now, she just wanted to fit in and not get
into any fights with any other supernatural creatures, especially on her first
day.

She zeroed in on a seat in the back
and rushed over to it. Sliding into the seat resolutely, she took in the rest
of the class from her fantastic vantage point. Most of the seats were filled up
by now. Ruby was just sauntering in. She seemed to already know where she was
going to sit. That was when her eyes fell on Seph. What were the odds that she
had taken that mean girl
’
s self-proclaimed seat, out of all
the other seats in the entire classroom? Ruby stalked over to stand directly in
front of Seph, gold eyes glaring down at her. Seph cursed under her breath at
her horrible luck.

“What was that, little vampire?”
Ruby asked, arms folded aggressively over her chest.

Seph glared up at the girl. She was
not about to get in a fight on her first day, in her first class. She was not
about to be a pushover either. Guess she couldn
’
t have the best of both worlds. However, she kept her
silence and her desk determinedly, not saying a thing.

“You
’
re in my desk,” she said firmly, and Seph looked away,
staring forward. “Did you hear me, bloodsucker? I said you
’
re in my desk,” she repeated, and Seph continued to
ignore her, hoping against hope that the teacher would hurry up and arrive
before this turned ugly. “Move,” Ruby growled and shoved Seph hard.

Now, Seph was strong, especially
with her extra vampire strength that she had. However, Ruby was a werewolf, and
werewolves were strong also. Therefore, she couldn
’
t help but stumble out of her seat, not expecting Ruby
to actually touch her.

“That
’
s what I thought,” Ruby announced, flouncing around to
the now open seat.

Seph saw red at the edges of her
vision. Before Ruby could take that seat, Seph pushed her away this time. Ruby
lost her balance and hit the floor roughly, rolling over with astonishment.
Seph narrowed her eyes at her, standing above her.

“It
’
s my seat,” Seph murmured warningly, sitting herself
back down at the desk.

“Why you little-” Ruby started,
rising swiftly just as the teacher walked in.

Sir Guthrie walked in to his
classroom just in time to see a new vampire hissing warningly at a pissed off
werewolf student of his, Ruby something.... She seemed to rule the class with
an iron fist. Honestly, he did not care that this new girl was not abiding by
student unspoken politics, that she was a vampire, or anything else concerning
the lot of them. He cared about his class starting on time and if any fights
were about to break out in his class. He was not sure he could stop a strong
werewolf and a new vampire from harming each other. Did he even want to?

“Is there a problem, ladies?” He
asked, walking to the back of the classroom beside them.

“No, Sir Guthrie,” Ruby growled
through gritted teeth, eyes never faltering from Seph
’
s.

“No, Guth Ma… Sir Guthrie,” Seph
stumbled before looking up at him sheepishly.

Guth Man? The older students called
him that. So the new student already knew some of the big kids? She must think
she was so tough, picking on the class bully, talking with the older students…
Oh… She was a vampire. Of course she had talked to an older student. There were
no vampire teachers. He sighed. He just wanted to start class on time.

“Let
’
s start class then,” he announced, turning his back on
the girls and hobbling his way to the front.

“This isn
’
t over, bloodsucker,
” Ruby hissed, starting to move past
Seph when the vampire suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Resorting to name calling? Woof
woof,
she snarled in Ruby
’
s mind before releasing her.

The girl stumbled away, confused,
and found the last empty seat at the very front of the classroom, in the
middle, directly in front of the Guth Man, who spat like crazy apparently.
Things could not have turned out better. On the other hand, things could not
have turned out worse because she had already made one enemy at this school and
zero friends. She tried to focus on what the Guth Man was saying, but the way
his voice droned was like leaving the history channel on. She kept nodding off,
her forehead nearly smacking the desk one time. She looked to her left and
right, hoping that nobody had noticed.

The short-haired, Asian girl from
earlier was staring at her. She was staring at her intently. Why? Did she have
something on her face? The girl had dark eyes, but they were brown, not black
or grey, meaning that she was not a vampire or a werewolf. So that meant she
was a… witch? That would be the only other option. Why was she staring at her?
She obviously was not friends with Ruby, or maybe she was and they were just
having a bad day today, of all days, but she doubted that.

The girl… what was her name… Linda…
She was fairly pretty. She had full lips, a shallow nose, wider eyes, and
arched brows. She wore a black choker around her neck, but it was plain and
simple, unlike Seph
’
s with its silver chain and charm.
Her fingers grazed the crescent moon dangling from her neck. Nate… Was he okay?
She was suddenly swamped with feelings of emptiness, relief, and intense
longing. She nearly gasped, sitting up straighter in her desk as the emotions
washed over her.

No one was looking at her, save
that strange girl. Her heart was pounding, and by pounding, she meant it was
going about normal human speed. Had she just felt what Nate was feeling? Phin
had mentioned something about that… What had he said? He had told her a lot…
Maybe she would ask him during their vampire class. That was so strange,
feeling somebody else
’
s feelings as thought they were her
own.

Her fingers skimmed down her
schedule. Vamp class was not until last period. That was a long time from now.
Maybe she should just forget about it. It wasn
’
t a life-threatening matter or anything. It was just…
weird. Everything was weird now. She should just forget about it… and she did.
The rest of the class Seph zoned in and out as the Guth Man droned on and on
about Atlantis, the actual civilization, and the distinct culture it possessed
to this very day.

The bell rang, startling Seph back
to reality. She had been preoccupied reading the thoughts of the short,
red-haired boy that sat in front of her. He was nervous about having a vampire
at his back. She seemed really vicious, especially the way she had handled
Ruby. That look in her pale eyes was going to haunt him for a few days. She was
pretty though and wearing a short skirt. As his thoughts started to become more
and more perverse, as only the minds of teenage boys
’
could, she quickly moved out of his thoughts, not
wanting to hear anything more and get all angry again. She probably should not
be able to read others
’
thoughts so easily, but
who knew… maybe this was a vampire skill that Phin hadn
’
t mentioned, and all vampires could do it. Maybe this
was not something even stranger about her. That was a cheery thought, a bit
optimistic for her taste though. She was going to Monster Academy after
attacking her best friend. She had nothing to be particularly cheery about
nowadays.

“What class do you got next?” It
was the Asian girl from before, at her elbow and helping her to rise to her
feet as the classroom was mostly empty by now.

Ruby seemed to be meandering in the
room with three other werewolves though, two girls and a guy. Warily, Seph
walked out with Linda while they both kept their eyes on the quadruplet.
Outside in the open hallway, which was simply bustling with other students,
they breathed a little more freely. Linda walked confidently down the hall, arm
still on Seph
’
s elbow, towing her along like a
lost child at the mall.

“So what
’
s your next class again? What
’
s your name? I never caught it,” Linda asked, pushing
through the crowd boldly.

Linda obviously had a destination
in mind. Seph wondered what it was, briefly. Her walls were draining her,
dulling and slowing her thought process, so she slowly allowed them to falter
just a little. Linda immediately caught her eye.

“That
’
s not a good idea, hun. My specialty is mind reading,
and I could read you like a book right now unless you put that nice wall of
yours back up,” Linda said smartly, and instantly, Seph
’
s walls snapped back into place.

“My name
’
s Persephone Black. Seph,” she said finally just as
they stopped in front of a relatively tall guy.

“Hey, baby,” Linda moved forward
and planted a big kiss on the guy.

Seph just watched a little
awkwardly. The guy was cute enough. He was about six feet even with frizzy,
black hair slicked back into a ponytail. If it was down, it would be about
shoulder-length, she guessed. His thick brows overhung small, slanted eyes. He
finally broke away and caught Seph
’
s eyes. His eyes were grey! They
were a stormy grey, darkening by the second as his short girlfriend stood
beside him. Another vampire!

“Seph, this is my boyfriend,
Stefan. He
’
s in his third year, meaning he
’
s eighteen. And he
’
s a vampire, just like you,” she
said with a little smirk, giving him a little kiss on the cheek as they
interlocked fingers.

“Hi, I
’
m Persephone. Seph,
” she amended, and they shook hands
a little awkwardly.

“Anyway, I was just pullin
’
you over here to meet Stefan because
he
’
s another vampire, and also, I had a
question about you for him,” she turned to look up at her boyfriend firmly. “Is
it normal for vampires to have advanced telepathic skills? I mean, do you guys
excel in some things and not in others? I thought that telepathy was kind of a
more wizard… witch thing to do?” She asked, and he raised a brow to her before
looking back over at Seph with a peculiar expression in his eyes.

“You got advanced telepathic
skills?” He asked, and she nodded a little dazedly. “Really? That is
interesting…” He seemed to be deep in thought before Linda cleared her throat
impatiently. “Oh yea, sorry, babe. Um, we vamps got some telepathic skills, but
what we excel in changes for each of us. Phin is real good with the telepathic
stuff. Sarabi can fly real well while the rest of us mainly hover. Kenji can
turn into mist in a second, and he
’
s only in his second year. I
’
m really good at hypnosis,” he
stared into his girlfriend
’
s eyes for a moment before she
playfully smacked him.