Zero The Invisible Vampire

Chapter 8: Everybody Knows

"What did we do?" Vin asked, going through his every action in the past fortnight to see what he and his friends could possibly be faulted on.

"You know what you did." That single statement of Miss Macbeth's sent waves of paranoia and panic down our protagonists' spines.

"Is it because I accidentally burped in class last Thursday?" Newton asked.

"No." Macbeth murmured.

"I corrected you in History when you were talking about World War Two?" Trixie suggested.

"Not even close."

"Is it because I said you were a stupid old cow made of pure evil?" Zero questioned.

Macbeth frowned. "You never said that."

Zero smirked. "I just did."

"Grr! That just proves you deserve every bit of what you're about to get!" Macbeth forcefully grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her into her office, Vin, Trixie and Newton sprinting after them.

But it was too late. The door had been slammed shut and locked by the time Vin had reached it.

"Crap! She's locked us out!" He cried, as he tried to turn the knob, Trixie and Newton leaning breathlessly against the wall.

"Got to be… some other way in…" Trixie panted, gesturing in the direction to I.N.K Headquarters.

The trio dashed there, hoping fervently that they would indeed find another way of entry into Macbeth's seemingly impenetrable fortress of death, doom and despair. (A\N: Geez, I'm piling on the alliteration- I've already had paranoia and panic, now death doom and despair. Must be more creative.)

Sure enough, Trixie had navigated the complicated architectural diagrams to discover three more possible entries besides the door, which was obviously impossible.

"OK, we have three options. One, we discreetly enter through a window, which is definitely a little too difficult considering the situation. Two, we sneak in through her air vent, and lastly, we could go in via her infamous spider cave." Trixie listed the three possibilities as quickly as her voice could allow her.

"The window is too obvious, so we'll give it a miss, and I am NOT going in that spider cave. I say the air vent is our best bet. Macbeth won't see us coming." Newton suggested.

"I'm just going to agree, because to be honest I don't really care how we get in there. All that matters to me is we get in there before it's too late." Vin seemed eager to just get on with their impromptu mission of rescuing Zero.

*Meanwhile, with Zero and Miss Macbeth*

Macbeth practically threw Zero into the seat opposite her desk. The blinds covered the window, protecting against the sun's rays. This was fortunate for Zero, whose sunscreen was wearing off.

"So, Zero. I hear you and your little friends think you're a vampire." Macbeth said in both a cheerful and menacing tone.

"What-no, no, we're just fooling around." Zero quickly made an excuse. How did she know?

"So this was all just fooling around, was it?" Macbeth clicked her remote, and a plasma screen appeared, showing the scene between Newton and Vin earlier.

Zero was confused, thinking Macbeth had somehow fabricated some 'footage' to back up her theory, until she spotted the sinks in the background. This must have taken place after Newton followed Vin into the bathroom.

"Cameras in the boy's toilets? What kind of sick perve are you?" Zero cried, disgusted at Macbeth.

"They are only to keep an eye out for the Invisible Network of Kids. Definitely not for whatever you're thinking." Macbeth growled.

"Anyway, that's not the point. The point is I don't believe you. And I don't think you want everyone at Pinkerton to know you are a bloodsucking monster, so I suggest you tell me everything you even think you might know about the Invisible Network of Kids or I might just let it slip." Miss Macbeth grinned evilly.

"I don't know anything. Even if I did, I still wouldn't tell you." Zero declared, defending her secret identity to the end.

"Then you leave me no choice." Macbeth roughly rotated Zero's chair so it was facing the window before tossing up the blinds.

"Yowww! " Zero naturally flinched away from the light.

"It hurts, doesn't it? But tell me what I want to know and I'll make it go away."

"No…" Zero whispered hoarsely, the pain making her feel weaker and weaker.

"STOP!" Vin, Trixie and Newton practically flew out of the air vent behind her desk one by one.

"Grrr." Macbeth turned her attention to her intruders, two of whom instantly crash tackled her, forgetting Zero whose life was slowly ebbing away.

Vin darted past Macbeth, "Zero!"

"Vin?" Zero croaked, her eyes barely open.

"AHHH! GET OFF ME YOU BRATS!" Macbeth screeched in the background.

Vin turned and closed the blind, returning to Zero immediately after.

"Vin… I'm so tired. I hurt…" She rasped, reaching out to clasp Vin's hand.

"Shhh, it'll be OK." Vin tried to reassure Zero even though he wasn't sure himself.

"But I need blood… and the packs won't be enough…" Zero whimpered. Her eyelids edging closer and closer together.

"Forget the packs. Drink- drink from me." Vin desperately bared his neck, going close to her mouth so Zero would not have to overexert herself by sitting up.

The scent of Vin's blood under his skin was enough to make Zero lift her head and bite Vin quite roughly.

Vin let out a pained yell, but relaxed when he got used to the feeling of Zero's tongue and lips lapping and gulping down his blood.

Macbeth's window shattered, revealing Calix, who had felt a pang in his stomach when Zero was subjected to sunlight, an instinctive warning telling him his 'daughter ' was dying.

"Vot eez going on here?" He turned to Macbeth, who was trying to fight off Trixie and Newton, who were watching with slight horror as Zero sucked the life essence out of Vin.

Calix, seeing that if Zero drank much more of Vin he'd not have enough blood to function and that Zero's saliva would start releasing vampire venom, separated her from Vin's throat.

Vin collapsed onto the floor weakly.

"He vill be fine. Just let him sleep." Calix said aloud to no one in particular.

"As vith her." He turned to Zero, who was already snoozing in the chair.

Calix turned to Macbeth and her pint sized assailants, fighting the urge to chuckle.

"Zo, vot did you do to get the kiddies to attack you?" He asked Macbeth, amused.

"She tried to kill Zero!" Newton cried, as Macbeth finally managed to get free from him. Trixie gave up, letting Macbeth go.

"He's lying! Don't hurt me, please, Mr. Vampire, I can explain…" Macbeth faltered.

"Ve shall zee who eez lying." Calix advanced towards Macbeth.

Throughout Pinkerton, her screams could be heard:

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, ZERO!"

*Two Weeks Later*

"And now Zero is going to give her speech about the assignment."

Zero walked up to the middle of the room, gulping.

Trixie whispered into her pen, "Zero, are you sure about this?"

"Yeah. I have to come clean before Macbeth does." Zero replied, disguising her answer as clearing her throat.

"I am comparing myself from today to a bit over two weeks ago."

"And how exactly are you different from two weeks ago?" Mr. Soper raised an eyebrow.

Zero wordlessly unzipped her jacket and revealed the scar of Calix's bite.

"OK, so you have a scar… when did that happen? It looks like it was painful." Mr. Soper wasn't the only one in the class to be stunned.

"More like a mark for a whole new lifestyle. I have to be honest with you guys- This is a bite mark. A vampire bite mark." Zero gulped.

"Zero, you're kidding right?" Mr. Soper looked skeptically at her.

"She's not kidding. Look." Vin stood up and revealed his own bite.

The other kids gasped and stared wide eyed at Zero. Poor Mr. Soper looked like he might faint.

"Yeah right! Prove it. I dare you to like, turn into a bat." Van sneered at her rival, eyes full of contempt.

Zero smirked and in a flash, she sprouted wings.

That did it for Mr. Soper, who rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

Van was so surprised she forgot to tell Zero she had only grown wings, not turned into a bat as she had originally asked.

The other students viewed Zero's display as something like a magic act, and stood up and clapped.

It was Zero's turn to be shocked as she saw all the classmates who she had previously thought despised her applauding something she did.

Up in the tree overlooking the room, a dark figure with scarlet eyes stood smiling.

THE END