Chapter Two
I followed the sea of kids out through the corridor, without the faintest idea of where I was going. However, I had no interest in asking Jasper for guidance. No matter what kind of guise he was pulling, I would only let my role in it go so far. He wasn't at all how I expected, although I should have guessed at a more human apparel, since he lived so closely amongst them. As I walked around the school, carelessly searching for my Biology classroom, I wondered how far this humane nature could last. About as long as his thirst did, I suspected. Finally, I wandered into the right classroom, and went through the same routine as I had in History, and once again, I was sat next to a vampire. It was only to be expected, really. No human would be too pleased to be sat beside their only natural predator. This Cullen, Edward, had the same white skin and golden eyes as his brother, but he was shorter, and less lean, and rather than honey-blonde curls, a rather impressive bronze-coloured hairdo swept across his statuesque face. He had a similar reaction to Jasper when I walked into the room, his body tensing as his prey was practically laid out on a silver platter before him.
But unlike Jasper, we made little conversation, and I couldn't help but find him boring at best. He seemed entirely disinterested in anything to do with the lesson, only casting me a glance every minute or too. But just in case, I stopped my mind from wandering too far. He could be a mind-reader for all I knew. Genuine interest and bordedom provoked me into testing this. I began to replay a song in my head, over and over again. This worked quite well usually, and to my slight happiness, and slight annoyance, Edward began to hum the tune under his breath. Great. I had to work my way around a mind reader too, I thought to myself after the lesson, when I was a safe distance from the vampire. Time passed slowly, and by the end of the next lesson, in which there were no vampires, I was almost missing the Texan's company. Almost. At lunch, I wasn't invited to sit anywhere, and I was pretty sure that Jasper's table of vampires was a no-go zone from how everyone avoided it. Instead, I headed out of the school building, and went to sit on the slope I'd taken my place at this morning. I checked my mobile phone, to find three new text messages. Of course, they were all from Nicholas. I didn't even bother reading them, tossing my phone into my bag, and leaning back on the damp grass. The sky was in that annoying state where it was a grey, bloodless colour; with no Sun visible, but it was too bright to stare at, so I tipped my hat down over my eyes, and took a little time to relax, with just a hand resting on Iris, who was tucked into my schoolbag. I loved that knife, and why shouldn't I? It was technically part of me. You see, my kind have a strange way of showing emotion. A change of colour, often only slight, occurs in our irises, and I'd made my dagger to match this colour change – hence the name. Now, I knew that it would be a deep purple colour, as I was quite tired, that would match my eye colour perfectly. I couldn't see much of a practical use for this metamorphosis, but I liked it. It was a good show of my skill with magic and elixirs, and the blade did have an iridescent, yet terrifying beauty to it. I stroked the blade tenderly, its almost liquid texture soothing me.
This is actually going quite well, I thought to myself proudly.
But realistically, the challenge had barely started. I needed to find a way in with the family now – as gaining the entire coven's trust would make it easier to take them all down. Jasper seemed like the best bet so far. Sighing, I checked my watch, and got up. My final lesson was Gym, which included a class of boys and a class of girls. In the class of girls, I faintly recalled a Cullen called Amber...or was that Alex? I shook my head as I walked back into the school car park; I'd find out her name soon enough.
I had to borrow school kit from the P.E Department, before walking into the Gym in maroon shorts and a grey shirt. Lovely. I spotted the Cullen from across the Gym, a tiny, dark-haired girl, who was bouncing about on the balls of her feet. Of course, in a Gymnastics lesson, she was going to shine. To my surprise, a competitive feeling began to gnaw at my stomach. Her excitement was quite annoying, I guess. And it would be nice to show a vampire up...
Oh, what the Hell.
I started off lightly, doing stretches on the mats, but as the vampire leapt straight into flips and somersaults that were barely human, I couldn't keep control anymore. Securing my hair into a bobble, I joined the queue for the floor. Most of the girls only did forwards rolls and handstands and cartwheels, with only a few girls – probably cheerleaders – going for more adventurous moves. When it came to my turn, I decided to start off small. I went into a few front walkovers and forwards handsprings*, nothing too showy, before joining the back of the queue, which was shortening by the moment as most of the girls went to watch from the benches. The vampire was not one of them. She moved into more elaborate routines, dancing across the mat, and generally being an attention-whore. Watch this, leech, I thought viciously before giving a little performance of my own. When I'd finished, the envy on her face was delicious. As the coach began to clear people out early to get into the changing rooms, she swapped her fuming expression for a sickly sweet smile, "Wow, you're really good at gymnastics."
"Thanks," I said simply, not returning the compliment. She didn't give up though,
"You're new here aren't you? Morgana," She said my name slowly, enunciating every single letter, like a child.
"Yeah,"
Suddenly, a figure jogged up beside her. "Good afternoon, Alice." Jasper drawled.
Alice! That was it.
He looked at me, "That was mighty impressive work, Morgana."
The look on Alice's face was beautiful. The two were obviously mates, which didn't bother me at all. I quickly looked away from her, instead taking in Jasper. From his school sportswear, I assumed that he was in the boys group outside. He must have seen us through the windows.
"Thank you, Jasper."
Suddenly, a heavy hand clapped on my shoulder. The coach, a woman who had the features of a bulldog, was beaming at me.
"You should think about doing that professionally," The coach said, "Or enrolling in the cheerleading squad,"
"Yeah, you should!" Alice quipped, her voice raising by a painful octave.
"Thanks, I'll think about it," I said enthusiastically. I was never going to join a cheerleading squad. Ever. I genuinely think that I'd rather let Alice tear my throat out.
"We'd better go," Alice said, clutching onto Jasper's arm, "Bye, Morgana."
I nodded at her. Jasper was still looking at me, but he started to follow Alice as she dragged him towards the changing rooms, "Until tomorrow, Miss Lovecraft."
"Bye Jasper,"
As soon as they'd left me alone in the Gym, the realization of what had just happened hit me.
What was I doing! I'd just gone against a vampire in Gym! Not only had I nearly revealed myself, I was making this personal. What the Hell was wrong with me! I rubbed my forehead, stressed. This wasn't like me at all. Why did this have to happen now? When I'd managed to track down legendary vampires that could result in my promotion to a job I actually wanted to do. No, the way this was heading, I was going to end up with my throat torn open and some Yellow-Eyed freak draining my blood. Anger flashed through me. I wanted to see them dead. Now. Kicking the bench on the way towards the changing rooms, I made sure that I left a good-sized splintered hole. Blame it on Alice, I thought, my temper getting the best of me. I was sure that by now, Iris would be crimson. By the time I trailed into the locker room, the door was shutting on the last of the other girls. I was tempted to head back into Gym and find some punch bag I could work my aggression out on, but I decided that even in the unlikely case that the equipment could handle it, it was getting dark out, and there were vampires about.
I threw the school clothes into the sweatbox, and hooking my bag onto my shoulder, I stepped out into the night. The sky was painted dark blue, and the forest was silhouetted in black before it. I'd set up a suitable campsite there last night – I didn't have the time, or reliability to stay in a hotel – and I couldn't wait to settle by the fire and think clearly again. I tracked my way back to the site, hidden deep in the forest, and dumped my bag on the forest floor. I climbed the tree I'd hidden my backpack in, relieved to find it still there amongst the dense branches. All of my camping equipment, food, water, clothes, were all stuffed in here. Pulling the splint from the front pocket, I lit the kindling beneath the firewood, and soon the ready-made stack of wood was burning strongly. I sat beside the fire, pulling my knees up to my chin for warmth. This secret mission was less exciting than I thought it would be, but it also wasn't going as well as I'd hoped it had been before.
Father would be disappointed.
I shuddered at the thought of my father, who I'd barely ever seen. He was high up in the Cult, but obviously not high enough to help me out a bit, and was a hard man at best; especially since my mother died. She'd been a Bait like me, but like most girls she'd been murdered by a vampire during a hunt. It was over a century ago now, somewhere near Mexico. A sweep of grief made my chest ache, and I growled to myself. The last thing I needed today was to get all emotional.
I tossed my hat on top of my bag, and ran a hand through the thick hair on top of my head. I wasn't hungry – my kind had survived so long through famine and drought for a reason – but I could do with a wash. Gymnastics had made me work up a sweat, and besides, I needed to cool off metaphorically too. I hadn't just picked this place for its seclusion, and as I trekked a few hundred metres or so to the west, I came to the lake. It was a small lake, but it seemed like a good enough place to wash. I walked north along the riverbank until I found a log, where I could hide my clothes, before stripping them off and stepping into the cool water. The hard, porcelain layer of skin kept me warm with a strange numbness to the cold water as I swam leisurely out to a deeper spot. I kicked water lightly, before dipping my head beneath the surface and pulling back out, my eyes chilled and my head a little clearer. I dove beneath the water, swimming to the very bottom. A mossy, slimy substance covered the rocks, and I scraped away a handful of the stuff. I curled my toes around a strong plant rooted into the bed, keeping myself submerged as I smeared the green plant onto my head, massaging it through the length of my hair. For Baits, keeping up a perfect appearance was as important as weapons training was to a Hunter, which explained why we spent most of our training time learning which plants could make your skin glow, or what flowers to crush when making perfume. It was less superficial than I first thought though, as you also learnt which plants could be used to make poison, and I'd mastered a particularly nasty potion that left the inside of a human's throat blistered and burning if they so much as inhaled it. Learning how to make explosives and simple weapons or traps was also covered. My arrows, hidden with my bow in another tree back at the campsite, had tips fitted with a concotion that exploded on high impact, which made them extremely effective against vampires that were too dangerous to get close to.
It was peaceful under the water, and I was tempted to stay submerged for a while longer, but it was getting late, and I had a big day tomorrow. Making sure that the plant was fully rubbed in, I kicked off from the rocky bed, and headed back to the surface, my mind already filling with new ideas of how to take down the Cullens.
...
*There are probably a lot of you reading this now who actually know about Gymnastics, and I apologize for my lack of knowledge in this area. Hopefully it made sense!
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