Blood and Beasts (8 page)

“You stop that, Stefan. I wanna
think of you on my own. I don
’
t need you hypnotizing me,” she said
and then glanced sharply up at one of the many regal-looking clocks adorning
the halls. “We only have a minute,” she stated just as the warning bell rang.
“Sorry for botherin
’
you, babe,” she kissed
him again, and as they took their sweet time, Seph studied her schedule, trying
not to stare at them.

She had Basic Incantations next
with a Madam Rosamund Winslow. It was in the Green Hall, room 007. That wasn
’
t too far. Maybe she could slip away
without the couple noticing… She really did not want to be late to a class her
first day. She edged a little away, and Stefan instantly noticed, breaking
apart from Linda. He glanced at the clock.

“You two need to get. I got HU
Three right here, but Linda, you
’
re gonna have to run to get to
Basics in time,” he said, gesturing to their left.

“I have Basics too,” Seph said
happily, and Linda grabbed her schedule excitedly.

“Sweet! We got two classes in a row
together! Alright, babe, see ya later!” She grabbed Seph
’
s hand before dashing off, towing the girl along all
over again.

They made it to class just in time,
but still managed to nab two seats in the back row. Linda, apparently, had a
friend in the class and had sent a telepathic message to her werewolf buddy who
was now sitting in the back with them. He glanced over at Seph, and she
appreciated his lack of fear, fear that was rift across all the other students
’
faces.

“I
’
m Rodney Steele,
” he said, introducing himself.

She couldn
’
t help but feel attracted to him. He had smooth,
light-brown skin that accented his wiry, dark-brown hair, cut short. He had
thick brows above hooded, molten gold eyes. His face was strong with high
cheekbones, and a nice mouth. He looked to be about six feet, maybe a little
taller, and… and he had a tattoo. It was on his left inner forearm, an elaborate
wolf. It was Fenrir, the Norse demi-god, a wolf creature. That was
interesting... The necklace around his neck, gold with a dog fang hanging from
it, probably had some kind of significance too. Rodney noticed that she was
staring at it and fingered the fang absently.

“It was my brother,” he murmured
quietly, trying to prevent the teacher from hearing his rumbling voice, but
Madam Winslow shot them a glare all the same.

Seph nodded and didn
’
t ask more on the subject. She
touched Linda
’
s arm lightly as the pretty, little
witch in front of them proceeded to explain a complicated spell that they were
about to start in class. Linda glanced over at her.

What happened to his brother?
She asked pertinently, and Linda
’
s eyes widened a little more as she
realized the depth of Seph
’
s power, and also how she already
knew how to use it.

I think he should tell you that
himself, don
’
t you, Seph?
She responded tactfully, and Seph
couldn
’
t disagree with her.

“Want to share with the rest of the
class, girls?” Both girls looked up abruptly as the teacher glowered at them
over her square glasses, setting a green-tinted vase on each of their desks.

“Share what, Madam Winslow?” Linda
asked sweetly, and the teacher gave her another surly look, green eyes
flashing.

“Hmm… Would our new student like to
try the new spell in front of the entire class?” Seph
’
s eyes widened as she suddenly found herself lightly
pulled to her feet by the teacher and brought to the front of the classroom.

This was obviously an embarrassment
technique. She looked around the class of about twenty students and swallowed
quietly. What had the teacher been talking about again? Not Rodney
’
s brother; that was for sure. She
targeted a nerdy-looking girl who sat in the front row. Her name was Ursula
Major, and she was a very talented witch. They were supposed to wave their hand
over the vase, kind of a backhand over it, and wish it to disappear. It was
just an illusion spell. Not too hard, right?

Gulping again, she tried what the
girl had been thinking. She waved her hand over the vase, willing it to
disappear. Nothing happened… She closed her eyes, waved her hand, and willed it
with all her might… Nothing. She caught the teacher
’
s gemstone eyes cautiously.

First, Francesca Murrieta skips
out on my first period class again, and now I get this impudent, little
vampire. I hate vampires…
Had she said/thought Francesca Murrieta?
Francesca had gone to this school?! Francesca had said she had been living in
the woods for the past two months! Hadn
’
t
she? But then she had been told Francesca would be her roommate, but… Francesca
had lied this whole time?! She had been going to Monster Academy for the last
two months?!

“Francesca
’
s been going to school here?” She asked Linda from the
front of the class, voice pitching a little with her shock and anger.

“Francesca? Ya, I was gonna ask
you, Seph. You gotta be her best friend she
’
s always talking about, right? The one in the foster…”
she was silenced by Seph
’
s vehement glare, daggers
practically shooting from her eyes.

“Francesca
’
s really been going to school here?” No one said
anything as she practically trembled with her ire. “She lied to me…” she
pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to contain her swirling emotions and
thoughts.

“Vampire, are you going to cast the
spell or not?” There went that teacher again, arms crossed over her chest
firmly.

Madam Winslow was just irritated
that class was not going the way she had expected, and that Linda and this new
vampire were having a conversation right in the middle of the classroom. It was
disrespectful. It was unruly. These students were just becoming rowdier and
rowdier, more so every single year! She was already tired of her job, and she
was only two hundred years old. She had only worked here for half a century.
Maybe she was not cut out to be a teacher…

“Fine, I
’
ll do the stupid spell,” Seph muttered vehemently under
her breath, furious and frustrated.

She waved her hand over the vase
viciously, eyes squeezed tight, and suddenly there were a few screams and a
shattering of glass. She opened her eyes slowly to see Rodney covering his head
with his hands, glass all over him and the floor around him. He had been
directly in front of her, across the classroom. Somehow, she must have hit the
glass, the vase, but she didn
’
t remember ever touching it.

“Okay, no more spells for her,”
Rodney said, head still covered, and everybody laughed a little, relieving the
tension in the room.

“
Vampires
…” Madam Winslow sighed, walking
over to Seph.

She was having a bad day already,
and it was only second period. Apparently, she was normally a pretty nice
teacher, sweet and happy. At least, that was what Seph gleaned from the other
students
’
minds. Today was just not going well
for her.

“Inform your teacher, Phineas, that
you have some telekinetic powers during your first species class today, Miss
Black. Now, go help Mr. Steele,” she waved her hand at Rodney, who was dusting
himself off slowly so as not to cut himself. “Everyone else, move away from the
glass and begin working on the illusion charm on your vases,” Madam Winslow
commanded, and everybody pushed aside their desks, doing as she said.

At first, Linda started to move
forward to help them clean up the mess, but one glare from Madam Winslow sent
her off in a different direction, working on the illusion charm by herself,
although she chatted with some frizzy-haired werewolf at the same time. Linda
was never silent. Meanwhile, Seph hurried over to Rodney
’
s side, helping to dust him off. There were little
shards of green-tinted glass everywhere. She was dusting off the leg of his
loose, denim pants when a piece suddenly sliced her finger. She snatched her
hand away as crimson beaded up at the tip, stinging.

“Ow,” she murmured, putting her
finger in her mouth.

Amazingly enough, her own blood did
not taste that good. It didn
’
t taste bad or anything, but she
much preferred bottled blood to this and fresh blood to that. She took her hand
out of her mouth and stared in awe at her unblemished skin.

“Vampires can take a lot of hits
without getting hurt, and they always heal real fast,” Rodney explained,
kneeling on the ground to collect the larger pieces.

“I realize that,” she said slowly,
still staring at her healed finger.

She glanced over at him as he busied
himself with the glass.

“Sorry,” she said blatantly, choking
on her pride with the apology.

He looked up and grinned, flashing
white teeth that were a little sharper than usual, though not nearly as sharp
as a vampire
’
s fangs.

“Don
’
t be sorry, vamp. Everybody has their off days here or
finds out a new skill and nearly kills someone. We
’
re all used to it by now,” his toothy grin was not
exactly comforting.

“This sounds like such a great
school,” she added a little sarcastically, and he glanced over at her
playfully.

“Oh, it is. Where else can I miss
three days of school just to play outside?” It took her a moment, but she
finally got it.

“So werewolves are the ones with the
golden eyes,” she said, and he nodded.

“Ya, and vampires have either grey
or black eyes, or a color in between the two. Yours are a sort of pretty grey
right now. They aren
’
t too dark, and they aren
’
t too light,” he gave her another
lopsided grin, which was becoming more and more irresistible as she became used
to his playful nature.

“And wizards? Witches?” She asked as
they were finishing cleaning up.

“Any color eyes pretty much, but
never grey, black, or gold,” he said as they picked up the shards of glass to
throw them away.

“Interesting,” she murmured as they
rose to their feet and deposited the glass across the room in the trashcan.

Madam Winslow was waiting for them
patiently. Suddenly, a thought pushed itself to the forefront of Seph
’
s mind, and before she could stop
it, it burst out. She should really learn to work on that, always saying what
was on her mind without a filter or anything.

“If you
’
re a witch, couldn
’
t you have just willed all the glass in the trashcan or
something?” She asked pointedly, and Madam Winslow studied her peculiarly
behind her gold-rimmed glasses, shielding her antique-green eyes.

“Would you have learned the lesson
of cleaning up your own mess that way?” She responded to Seph
’
s question with another question, an
annoying habit, Seph found.

“I learned how to clean up my own
mess when I was five. It would have just saved a lot of time and given Rodney
and I time to practice your illusion charm. Now, class is nearly over,” she
pointed out, and Madam Winslow straightened up from her light perch on the
corner of her desk, flipping closed the book she had been reading while warily
eyeing her spell-casting students.

Seph caught a glimpse of the title:
Pride & Prejudice. She smiled briefly to herself. What a small world…
although, she supposed, many people simply adored that classic of all classics.
Still, it was a nice commonality between them.

“You like Pride & Prejudice?”
Quite obviously, Madam Winslow had picked up on the look and the little smile,
or maybe she could read minds too.

Were her walls up? She checked and
realized that they were. She hardly needed to even think about them now.
Apparently her vampire skills were helping her maintain that wall better than
she had ever imagined. Rodney moved a little uneasily next to her, wondering
what he was supposed to do as she and the teacher spoke.

“It
’
s my favorite book,” Seph stated matter-of-factly.

A small smile peeked on Madam
Winslow
’
s small but pronounced lips.

“It
’
s one of mine too,” the teacher admitted, eyes flitting
up to the clock mounted on the wall behind the class. “It
’
s nearly time to change classes. Although you did not
learn the illusion charm today, Persephone, and I doubt you will as vampires
tend to not learn spells too easily-” Seph had to interrupt.

“
We don’
t learn spells easily? Why?” She
interjected, questions piling up in her mind again.

“Generally, with vampires, when they
try our spells, it tends to just make them advance in their own vampire skills,
such as your telekinesis. I remember when Kenji first tried the illusion charm
in my class. He turned to mist. I thought he had cast the charm on himself to
get out of class, at first, until I noticed the light fog in the room that had
not been there before,” she smiled to herself, remembering some of the antics
and dilemmas her students had put themselves and herself through over all these
years.

“So, what am I doing in this class
then? We
’
re supposed to take these Spell classes
all six years, and I
’
m already bad at Basic
Incantations?” She asked, noticing in her peripheral Rodney glancing from side
to side, trying to find an escape route without being too awkward about it,
which only made it worse.

“You always learn something in these
classes, and you always pass as long as you try. Today, you learned about your
telekinesis and how to clean up your own mess. Tomorrow, who knows what you
will learn,” the bell rang, and everybody began pushing their desks back into
place, setting their vases on Madam Winslow
’s desk.
“Practice the charm outside of
class, and we
’
ll learn something new tomorrow,”
her voice rang out as the students filed out of the classroom.