"Dex!", I shrieked, waking up the sleeping boy at once. Stephanie, who was sleeping at the other end of the room woke up too.
"Wha…", Dex mumbled sleepily. "Dex, look" I pulled him up a positioned him so that he could see himself in the wardrobe mirror. I gentle pressed my finger tips to his neck, along the red marks that looked like bites or fangs piercing skin.
"Ow. Stop it", he mumbled, his eyes closed in pain. A surge of love and protectiveness went through me.
"What's all the racket about?", Stephanie impatiently looked at Declan's neck. It spooked her when she did, too.
"Do you guys have any memory of what happened last night?", I asked shakily. And my suspicion was confirmed when both of them shook their heads. "I remember us getting into the Mercedes with Loraine, Ken and Jesse. I remember reaching the club and us parting ways", Dex's brow was furrowed in concentration. But he looked terrified. He kept glancing at his neck in the mirror.
"Yes, I remember I was dancing wildly and then I went somewhere. I can't remember where though…", Stephanie was squinting with the difficulty to remember. I too, had only faint memories of the night. Then an idea hit me; why not ask our friends, Ken, Loraine and Jesse. They went with us to the club so obviously they would have come back with us. They had to remember.
So we soon got dressed, Stephanie was in the shower when we heard an ear splintering scream. I recognized the voice. Stephanie.
So I rushed to the bathroom door, "Stephanie, are you alright?", I glanced back at Dex, whose eyes were wide with worry.
"Uh, yeah, uh can you guys come in?", Stephanie's voice was trembling, I knew she was crying. We bolted into the bathroom and saw her standing in front of the mirror. She was already dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. She was holding up her hair and looking at the mirror. "Steph?", Dex called but she didn't answer. She seemed hypnotized, in a trance.
I gently held her and looked at her neck.
Sure enough, there were bite marks on it. Her eyes were filling with tears as Dex and I silently led her into the room.
"Hey guys, what up?", Jesse, Ken and Loraine bounced into the room. Our room didn't seem even a bit crowded; it was really huge with enormous windows and doors. Even the bathroom was gigantic. And it was all a pale blue colour. The room was light, warm and spacious so even with three more people, it wasn't full.
I silently pointed to Stephanie's neck and then to Declan's. They looked at exchanged glanced. Wait, what? They KNEW about this?
"Um, how strange!", Loraine said weakly. Ken nodded. Jesse seemed too horrified to speak. But one thing was common, they were all lying. I know how to spot a liar, Dorothy made me very good at it. But why would our best friends lie to us? I just glared at Jesse until she broke. I knew she was the only one who couldn't hold a secret for long, especially in a confrontation. So I made life very hard for her. "Jesse? What do you know about this? You don't want to lie to me, do you?", I kept a steady, gaze on her red face, her eyes went to the floor.
"Uh, okay I can't do this!", she burst out. I grinned in satisfaction.
"But I swear none of US fed from them!", she blurted out. "Huh? What are you even talking about?", Dex faced her. Now all eyes were on Jesse, making her very uncomfortable. But when I glanced at Loraine and Ken, they were actually nervous; like Jesse would give away their secret. Did they know about this?
"Okay fine. Look, you guys picked the wrong Academy to study in. you don't want to be here any longer, okay? Please pack up and go", Loraine sighed.
"Then why are you here?", Stephanie challenged her, tempers rising. I grabbed Stephanie's arm and pulled her back.
"Because we're all vampires!", Jesse finally exploded.
Stephanie, Dex and I froze. I became aware that our hearts were thudding quite audibly to them. We were going to face mortality.
"We won't hurt you", Ken promised, seeing the alarm on my face. "But you can't be here, you could get hurt. The newborns have not much control", he explained. "So please, go now".
Oh, it wasn't that easy. Now that they told me so much, I began to recollect….Dex…his neck….blood. And then, the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. But I couldn't place what all this was.
So I asked them. "Look, you have to understand, Clove was starving. And Dex looked great. So she just took a bite. Sorry, Dex", Loraine said, smiling.
"And what about me?", Stephanie asked. She was inwardly freaking out. I suppressed a smile; Steph was always trying to be braver than us.
"Um, I think it was Chad. He's really cute, you know", Loraine winked. Oh, give me a break! She was a gossip forever.
"And Damien was compelled, right?", a funny tone entered her voice. When I nodded she whispered, "That was Sterling. It's not his real name. he doesn't tell anyone his real name", she said it in a strange way that made my skin crawl with discomfort. "Why is that?", I tried to keep my voice indifferent. I didn't want anyone to know how handsome, no, handsome would be too small an adjective for his beauty; how magically, spectacularly, bone melting, mind numbingly gorgeous he was!
"Because…..he's a prince, Damien", Loraine whispered. "His life is under threat or something. So he can't disclose his real name or of which kingdom he's the prince of. That's why he studies in this Academy" Everyone must have noticed how spell bound I was by this explanation. Because Dex cleared his throat and asked what we had to do about all this. All eyes turned on me.
Sometimes, it sucks being the smartest one around. I sighed and said, "I'd like to meet up with these people and then, the principal. We have to stay here, we have no family and this is the best Academy ever. Are we endangered here?", I turned my question to Ken. He nodded gravely. I scowled. But Loraine asked, "Have you asked your aunt how you could get admitted here in the first place? I mean, our Principal doesn't just let anyone come here. your family must have vampire ties", that got me thinking; was that even possible?
"Yeah, it's possible. I mean, we never knew our parents and their parents. Our aunt couldn't possibly get up the nerve to tell us that we were related to vampires", Stephanie mused out loud. She had a point.
There was a knock on the door; "The principal will meet up with you now", a voice said. I glanced to see the girl who'd bitten Dex last night. She was looking at him right then, like he was food. "Oh no you don't!", I lunged at her in rage.
I should have known better than to provoke a vampire.
Because in a battle, human vs vampire, the human always lost.