A/N: Another chapter. This took awhile to write. Nice and long, but I would love some reviews for my work. Suggestions would be awesome. Give me something to write for please!
Chapter 4
Days later, books were spread out all over the main table in the wine cellar. Things had started to return to normal, if not, even better than before. Ally was neck high in books, playing her part of being the punished soul. The others had 'gotten off scott-free' to their knowledge, still having no knowledge of being watched during the last field trip. Her club outfit had been hidden away in a spare drawer. Her glasses and school uniform came back during the night class. The vampires continued to watch in jealousy as Ally was able to join the day school, but to a lesser degree than before. Ally was finally on a sleep schedule she could manage. Everything was finally finding a happy medium.
"Hey Big Eyes! How does it feel being the 'dog' of school ?" Marty slipped into the seat closest to Ally. He moved a few of the books blocking his view of Ally. She had sweat beading all over her forehead, and had put her head down on her desk. "What's wrong, Big Eyes? Cat got your tongue?"
Ally groaned. "I really don't have time for this, Marty. I'm doing research for Dr. Murdoch and after this two weeks of constant work, I don't have an extra energy to talk." She pulled her long, crimped hair into a ponytail high on her head. After wiping the sweat off her forehead, she slowly picked her head up to continue. "If I don't get this research done, I won't have my punishment lifted."
Marty's head went a little sideways, watching her as she read. "Are you really going to be that passive? You didn't even try to lie or fight your punishment." Ally shrugged in response as Marty continued to speak. "What happened to the feisty, controlling girl I met at the club?"
"She got rolled up and put in a drawer, never to be seen again. Sorry, you're out of luck." Ally turned back to her books, ignoring him once more. Marty's smirk fell as he realized what she was doing. He sighed and reached under the table, aiming for Ally's thigh. "Touch my leg and you lose that hand. Am I clear enough?" Ally didn't even bother to look up from her work as she seemed to snarl at him. Marty took no hesitation in pulling his hand back and getting up from the table to leave the room. He obviously wasn't happy, but perhaps, maybe it was for the best.
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"As a result, I will have to take time to go track them. I'll need you to keep track of both student groups, dole out assignments and keep everyone separated. It shouldn't be too difficult a task. Our Day Students will take the weekend to visit parents. The Night Class will have the entire school to themselves." Dr. Murdoch look up from his notepad as he sat at his desk. A small smile played upon his face. He seemed excited to be leaving campus, but anxious at leaving his students behind. With the rumor of a rogue vampire not too far from school running about, this seemed like the perfect time to get away. However, it meant leaving six teenage vampires alone in a wine cellar. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go tracking in my stead, Ally?"
Ally shrugged and pushed some of the hair of her face. "I don't think tracking a rogue vampire is in my expertise. I know that I am supposed to help promote peace, understanding and cooperation, so I think it might be best if I wasn't hunting. I haven't for years…I probably shouldn't start again." Ally pressed her forefinger to her chin in a thoughtful gesture. "Though this will prove to be an interesting task. I never considered thinking about the human and vampire culture, and how humans view vampire culture. All the resources will be great. I can't wait to see what our groups come up with."
Dr. Murdoch smiled as he got up out of his chair. He picked up a black satchel from his desk and started shoving them in haphazardly. "Make me proud, Ally. I know you can do it." Ally got up from the large sitting chair. She headed for the passageway to the wine cellar. In the corner of her eye, she could see Dr. Murdoch's glance follow her as he pulled on a black trench coat and leather gloves. Ally shrugged it off, heading down the stairs.
Dr. Murdoch continued to get ready to leave, hardly seeming to notice the flicker of the lights and the dark cloaked figure appearing out of nowhere. It was obviously a minion of the Elders, yet again, checking in on the program. "I didn't hear you come in. What seems to be the issue this time?"
"While leaving the half-bred in charge, you will be expected to bring back the outsider." The dark figure rasped. "The outsider has some rather…peculiar qualities. They will be brought back here, and put into the lock up cell. The students should not interact with them. Consequences will be dire if the students interact with the outsider. It isn't safe, and could be a repeat of the previous semester. Until we are sure where the outsider stands, we cannot let them see one another. Am I understood Dr. Murdoch?"
Dr. Murdoch sighed and nodded. "I understand." The dark, cloaked figure seemed to disappear instantaneously. Gritting his teeth, Dr. Murdoch pulled out a chain from his shirt. The chain hung around his neck, and on the chain was a silver key. He stuck the key into his lowest filing drawer under his desk. He turned the key around, making the lock click to each particular tumbler. The drawer lock slowly popped out of the hole it was normally housed in. Dr. Murdoch placed the lock, still attached to the key, on his desk. He pulled the drawer out of the filing cabinet and placed it on his desk beside the lock and key. He pulled what looked like a doctor's medical bag out of the filing cabinet. Dr. Murdoch opened the bag, peering inside. Time and time again, Dr. Murdoch pulled bottles of Holy Water, stakes and a various sharp metal blades from the drawer into his medical bag. He filled the bag until he could barely close the latch on top. Snapping the bag closed, he threw it down next to his satchel sitting beside his desk. The task at hand annoyed him a little, but at the same time, he knew he had to be prepared. After finishing his packing, Dr. Murdoch placed his bags by the door before heading down into the wine cellar passageway.
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Ally gathered the others are they woke. Most of them groaning, some of them threatening bodily harm, the vampire class managed to get themselves up and over to the meeting table. Ally sat herself at the front end of the table, with the boys on one side and the girls on the other.
"Why are you waking us up so early?" Essie asked in a huffy manner as she took her seat. "I'm going to end up grey with bags under my eyes and wrinkles on my face."
Ally moved her shoulders around while she sat, trying to loosen her the strain in her back. She had had a lot more strain in her shoulders lately."I'm sure you'll be fine, Essie. I wasn't the one who woke you up though. Dr. Murdoch called us out early. He has some news for us."
They all exchanged looks, not having an exact idea why Dr. Murdoch would leave them alone so quickly after the last time they got caught. Hearing the clicking of the passageway and the sound of footsteps, all ears and eyes looked up to see Dr. Murdoch come in. "Good evening everyone. Thanks for joining me so early."
"So, why are we up early this time? They aren't trying to move up our feeding time up again, are they?" Drew piped up, his hands folded up in front of him. "Remember what a problem that was for us?"
"That isn't the case, Drew, but thank you for your concern." Dr. Murdoch tightened his tie somewhat awkwardly and cleared his throat before speaking again. "I have been called by the Elders to take care of a trespassing issue. I know it is a holiday weekend for students, but I would prefer, along with the Elders, that all of you stay here and do research along with Ally."
Groans roared all through the room. Dr. Murdoch didn't seemed fazed by it. If anything, he expected it. "It won't be as bad as you all think. I have an interesting activity planned." Dr. Murdoch paused to put a stack of papers in the middle of the table. "From this list of sources, you need to talk about the perception humans have of vampires. Some of them are more modern than others. From these sources, I want you to make a theory of if you believe humans and vampires could one day coexist together. You need to support your theory, using these examples. You'll be working in pairs and will have the whole weekend to work on this. The minimum is a ten page limit. This is for a grade. I know you all can handle it." More groans erupted around. Dr. Murdoch still didn't seem fazed by the groans. "Furthermore, the students who do the most impressive work will receive a night field trip to show off their practice of blending with society."
The vampire students, looking rather depressed at not getting a holiday, but hopeful of getting another one, all grabbed a lists of resources. Marty started to snicker as he read the list. The others looked up at him. His laughter only got louder. "What? This list of modern resources is a joke and the team list is even funnier."
"If you can't try to even make an effort on this project, then maybe you should just take the zero." Merrill narrowed her eyes, her voice sharp as she spoke. "Just because you're in a bad mood about whatever it is you're throwing a tantrum for, doesn't mean you need to put down the efforts we all will have to make. Some of us want to try."
Marty, for the third time that semester was speechless. Essie took advantage of the moment of silence from Marty to speak up. "Besides, you're doing your portion of the work, Marty. We're paired together. Looking like a fool in front of all of us won't get any sympathy. You're doing this too, like it or not."
Ally said nothing and continued to look at the pages to see the pair list as the others discussed what the project. In widely spaced margins, along the bottom of the page read:
ESSIE and MARTY
MERRILL and KARL
ALLY and DREW
Ally sighed. She didn't make the pairs for this, and her original was completely different. This was going to be different. Drew never seemed to like her and was rather brooding for her tastes. She glanced up at Drew. He was listening in on the conversation at hand. His legs were crossed and he seemed to be tapping his fingers against each other as he listened. As if reading her mind, Drew looked up at her. His glance was only held for a second, but Ally was sure for that split second she saw a very, very small smile flash her way.
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"Okay, so I gathered some of the novels from the library and a few DVDs from the list as well. So, we should be almost set. Did you all get the textbooks from the vault?" Ally placed a box of large, black plastic crate onto the floor. It was overflowing with materials of all sorts. Drew shrugged from his seat on the couch in the sitting room. His feet were on top of an old cardboard box. Ally raised an eyebrow, looking up at him."Well, did you or didn't you?"
"I did. I got almost every single one on the list. I would have had 'Humans and Vampires: A History,' but Marty got to it first. I'll have to look for it later." Drew sat forward and started pulling out book after book. Ally kicked her plastic crate. It went flying over to sofa, stopping only when it hit the sofa with a thud. Ally followed it, flopping down next to Drew. Drew paused his search, seeming to mimic her questioning look, right down to the eyebrow.
"What, Drew?" Ally laid back on the sofa, putting her feet on top of the plastic carton with all her books. "If you can do it, so can I. I'm a half vampire, not an invalid." Ally took a deep breath and reached down to grab a DVD from her box. "So what did you want to start with? Maybe a movie based off an Anne Rice novel? True Blood? Vampire Diaries?"
"I read the Vampire Diaries books. I wasn't too happy with it." Drew mumbled as he thumbed through a large brown hardcover book. He didn't look up. "What side are we taking? Are we for or against the coexistence of vampires and humans?"
"Well, what is your preference, Drew? You obviously can guess mine based on my participation with the Elder's council and this experiment." Ally pulled a stack of DVDs into her lap and read the back of each one individual case. "Let's put on a movie while we're talking. The Little Vampire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Interview with the Vampire or Queen of the Damned?"
Drew simply shrugged again nonchalantly, still looking at his book. Ally got up slowly, groaning a little as she got up from the sofa. She opened the DVD player, started it and sat back down to watch. "I picked a good one. I promise." Still, Drew didn't seem to react. He ignored her completely.
Ally watched the screen as the movie started. Drew didn't move from his spot or even look up as the movie started. She sighed. So much for this partnership for this project. Ally turned her attention back to the movie and watched as little, blonde Tony wandered around in the dark to find his vampire friend, Rudolph.
Ally watched with some discontent and let her mind wander. Further and further back, she felt herself slipping into daydreams. She could hear voices from the past in her head, coming closer and clearer each second.
"Mom? Mom? Wake up! Wake up! Dear god, wake up!" A younger, fourteen year old Ally stood over a pale, dead looking body. The body's hair was spread around her head like a halo. Blood was pouring out from somewhere, staining Ally's clothes and the stone ground which it laid upon . Small tears held onto Ally's face like glittering dew drops. "Mom, you have to wake up! Come on!"
Ally shook her mother over and over, trying to wake her. But to no avail. Her mother was gone. Ally covered her eyes with her hands, crying, crying, crying. She didn't notice something approaching her, something with a cloak over its head and scaly, old looking hands. "Come, Alessandra. She's gone. You were too late to help her. Sitting here, crying over it will do nothing. Make the right choice. Join us and your father. Save the rest of vampire kind from the Fury. Help us survive."
Ally wiped her eyes and looked into the dark, black hole like pupils of the creature grabbing her shoulder. She nodded rather tearfully as she got up, leaving the body of her mother behind. The creature led her away, walking her towards a parked black car with dark tinted windows. There sat a familiar face of a man who had shown such sympathy and kindness over the years, a man who had known her mother for so long, a man who would take her in that day and make her life so much better than it currently was – Dr. Murdoch.
Ally blinked, coming back to reality. The movie was almost over. The vampires on the screen were gathering on a cliff, hoping to be turned human again as the gem started glowing in Rudolph's father's hand. Ally blinked again, feeling a tear falling onto her cheek. She paused a moment before turning her head towards Drew's direction.
He looked at Ally, his sharp glance also held some shock. Drew's gaze was up from his book. He said nothing, but simply stared. He paused a moment before looking away, back towards his book. Ally had seen the look of shock on his face, and could only infer that he seemed shocked at her tears. What she didn't know is that he had seen the memory in her head.
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"God damn it, Essie! Why does this have to be so difficult? Just pick one already!" Marty's pale face was reddened with anger. How that happened, even he had no idea. But either way, he was still rather steamed at how his partner could manage to take so long to pick a book, read and put it back down. Both of them sat at the meeting room table, books scattered around them rather randomly. There didn't seem to be an actual organization to all the resources in that particular room.
Essie huffed in response. "Give it a rest, Marty. If you want to do a good job, we need to pick the right sources. I don't know if you want to go back out in the world and mix, but I do. I want to go clubbing again, or to that little bar." Marty rolled his eyes and went to go back to his book. He would have continued his reading if his gaze did not fall on Ally and Drew working on their project. Ally was patiently watching a movie on the television while sitting on the floor. Drew seemed to be taking up the entire couch, spread out across the cushions and couch in its entirety.
Marty frowned. He knew things had not been great between the two of them, but he really wished they could have a second chance to at least try to get to know one another. Truth be told, Marty liked her. She was a puzzle. A very challenging puzzle. Marty had always liked a challenge. He had liked that she could reject him some days but only days later was dancing on him in such a sexy way, she had worked him up to making him vamp up, fangs and all. It was, well, a little unpredictable. She was not the same old two types of girls he had seen in his life, living or living dead. Ally was smart, sarcastic, clever, and overall, just sexily crazy. Yes, she was a half-vamp…but really, who was perfect?
"MARTY! WAKE UP! I AM TALKING TO YOU." Marty fell out of his chair as Essie's shrill voice hit his ears. He winced as his shoulder hit the cement floor. Essie snickered. "Marty, snap out of it. Stop daydreaming and read already! I want to get out of here!"
"I am, Essie." Marty groaned and slowly pulled himself back into his chair. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to put it back into place. "Only took you three hours to get into that state of mind." Marty pulled his book back to his view. He sat staring at the page for awhile before glancing up to look over at Ally and Drew's area. Both of them were now staring at Marty, probably wondering if Essie's outburst was really warranted or if she had done it just to entertain herself. Drew's gaze dropped almost immediately after checking out the situation. Ally continued to watch, her big blue-green eyes staring at him in some concern. Marty couldn't stop himself. He rolled his eyes and made it seem as if he looked back at his text. Only a second later, he watched Ally blink in a rather confused manner and then go back to her movie.
"No one could resist me, not even you, Louis." Lestat said on the large screen old tube set. Marty watched the screen for a moment. "I tried." Louis responded rather poignantly. Marty frowned at irony of the situation and the scene of Lestat smiling and responding. "And the more you tried, the more I wanted you."
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"MARTY! WAKE UP! I AM TALKING TO YOU." Karl and Merrill both jumped at Essie screaming from the other room. She was so loud that they heard her upstairs in Dr. Murdoch's (who had already departed) office. Karl and Merrill looked at one another for a brief second before attempting to continue working.
"I wonder what that was about. Think he is not getting focused again?" Karl smirked a little as he turned the page in his book 'Vampires for Dummies.' "Or do you think she just got bored?"
"You would know better than I would. You dated her for so long. You both had the declaration and probably would have lasted if it didn't almost kill you both." Merrill shrugged, still looking at her book, not once ceasing her reading. "Speaking of which, you seem to be doing better…especially with the thoughts that keep flowing through your mind about Ally. Does she even know you have a thing for the, how you call it, 'woman that saved your ass'?"
Karl frowned a little, rubbing at his temples in frustration. "Really? You are going to hold that over my head already?" Karl sighed and closed his book. "Merrill, I know you're upset about Drew…and about Marty. But this isn't going to work for me. You and I are not in a relationship. We are classmates, and we have never been anything else. Your jealousy is not going to faze me…and besides, what is going on in my mind sexually or otherwise is my business. Didn't you used to lecture us on not reading minds for pleasure?"
"I can't tune out what is being screamed from someone else's mind. You practically shout out 'I love you!' every time you look at her. Haven't you ever had a crush or a fantasy before without making it personal? It is driving me insane!" Merrill closed her book with a huff, slamming it onto the table. Karl was frowning. Either way, he was going to lose this argument.
"You know what, Merrill? I don't want to hear this. I am more concerned with getting this damn project done. You bothering me about my lack of love life is not helping this project get done." Karl shoved his book back into the box they collected their resources in. "And the fact of the matter is, I frankly don't give a damn. If I like someone and I feel attracted to someone, I'm allowed to. You had no qualms with Essie and I last year, and it should be the same case whether or not you like Ally. It is my life, let me ruin it if I want to. P.S., I am going to work on my half of the project alone." And with that, Karl got up and left the office, to work out in the library.
Merrill sighed. She was a little annoyed that everyone had taken to Ally so well. Ally was not exactly her favorite person, and even though the girl was a half-bred, she could match Merrill intellectually. She had a lot of vampire and human knowledge. She seemed to have good instincts about people, even without the abilities to read minds drove Merrill a bit crazy. And well, finally, that even dressed in such a mousy way ninety-nine percent of the time, she was still attractive to all three of her male classmates, and even her best friend, was starting to like Ally. Merrill was a little beside herself at how any of this could happen. She felt like she had even less of a place than last year. She knew her classmates cared about her, but somehow, she felt less appreciated. She wanted this year to be a little more like last year. She wanted to feel wanted and appreciated again. Going back to that feeling of low self-efficacy would feel horrid. Something had to be done about it.
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Later on that weekend, the vampire class met in the conference/meal area to start talking about what they found out in their research and how it affected their projects. They had worked all of Friday and the beginning part of Saturday. The students were more than eager to finish up the crazy amount of work and start goofing off a little.
"Drew and I discovered we both agree that humans and vampires should be allowed to mix. We also both agree that when that will occur, we are not able to predict. Using True Blood, Buffy the Vampires and Vampires Diaries as human resources, we are not sure that vampires could coexist in the modern world. Humans and other warm blooded animals are still a source of food for vampires. Unless there are some drastic changes, coexistence will be difficult and a challenge but, still possible." Ally smiled at classmates. Most of them listened rather intently.
Drew spoke up next, somewhat eager to finish up their presentation. "As also displayed in our resources, 'Humans and Vampires – A History,' humans and vampires have coexisted previously with some failure. However, after some research, we realized that most the incidents that started separation of the species for a period of time were based on hunting or feeding on the other, and vampires were not the only perpetrators in these incidents. To conclude, with the right techniques and positive reinforcement, we might one day be able to succeed where our ancestors could not." Drew put his pages from the report on the table.
"That was a long report. Are you sure you covered every moment of history with vampires and humans?" Essie asked with a slightly toothy smirk. "I mean we wouldn't want you to forget a second of history after all." Ally smiled a little in response. Acceptance? Success!
"So now what are we going to do for the rest of the weekend without Dr. Murdoch? There has to be something we can do and get away with." Marty sat with his feet up on the table, his hands crossed. The tone of his voice hinted a plan to play while the doctor was away. "Surely, surely, there must be something."
"Let's just watch a movie or something. There is plenty we can do here." Karl piped up, looking rather bored with the conversation at hand. "Let's just do stupid things here."
"I'm with Karl. Let's just stay here. I'm exhausted from this project." Ally twirled some strands of stray hair in her finger. In the back of her mind, her mind kept shouting at her about rogue vampire less than 35 kilometers away, probably battling Dr. Murdoch for his life. "Besides, it is almost 3 am. Except for fast food places, nothing is actually open. Why bother to go out?"
Karl looked rather pleased with himself at Ally's acceptance of his suggestion. Marty frowned, rolling his eyes slightly. "You are no fun, you know that?" Marty's tone bit back, taking the others by surprise. He seemed to be pouting and whining, like a small spoiled child not getting his way.
"Give it a rest, Marty. We have movies here. We have a large concentration of blood. What else could we need?" Essie flipped her hair slightly. "I agree with Ally and Karl. Let's just all stay in. Watch a movie on that movie program Dr. Murdoch put in…Netflix, right?"
Begrudgingly, the group got up from the middle table, abandoning their books and papers. Ally smiled in some relief. She stemmed off from the group as they moved into the TV area; Ally walked towards Murdoch's large safe. She moved to find the blood vault, sorting through packs of the newest rations and pushing them to the back.
After grabbing six packs of blood, Ally slowly closed the door and relocked it. She sighed gently, knowing that they would probably all be up for awhile. Her thoughts raced and her worry for Dr. Murdoch flourished. Would he be all right? Would he be hurt? Would he catch the rogue vamp running around on the grounds? Would he kill it? Or would he let it live? Ally winced and sighed again as her thoughts raced. As worried as she was, she knew couldn't show it to the others. She couldn't let on the true danger of where Dr. Murdoch went.
Trudging back slowly, Ally held the blood bags close to her chest. She glanced into the TV room with slight confusion. Essie and Karl were cuddled up on the couch watching what looked to be 'Fight Club'. Marty sat by himself in a green arm chair looking like a small child staying up to watch the violence of adult cartoons for the first time, large eyes included. Ally looked back over her shoulder to see Drew and Merrill reading by themselves at the circular table in the center area.
Ally dropped the blood bags on the side table before trudging across the room to the chaise sofa beside Marty's chair. He didn't look up at her. Essie and Karl helped themselves to a bag each before returning to the movie. No one acknowledged her. Ally wasn't sure whether to be worried or relieved.
Soon enough, Ally felt her eyes starting to droop. Her head slowly started to fall to the side. Her body felt like one of a rag doll's. The cushion on the chaise sofa felt very soft and velvety. The last thing she remembered hearing was a character from Fight Club saying "without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing," while another screeched in pain from his acid burn.