The sun had yet to set. The looming grounds of the school were quiet, anticipating the busy Saturday morning. Birds chirped, beetles buzzed, a breeze lightly stirred the trees. The calm was so tangible, you could scoop some of it up into a plastic bag and take it home. It would only take one person to break that peace.
And that one person just happened to be me.
I raced across campus, throwing around an occasional swear. Not only was I running on a heavily bruised leg, but I was running late for the bus that would take us to our first baseball game. To my luck, I found they haven't left yet; to my disdain, I found Coach Gabriel and the rest of the team waiting for me.
"Took you long enough." He remarked. It took me quite a while to catch my breath before I could sheepishly mumble "sorry." The long trek in the sun wasn't helping much, and it had been nearly seven weeks since I had last fed. So to say I was a little off my game was a major understatement.
I limped dizzily onto the bus. Gabriel stopped me before I took my first step.
"Let me see that leg." He ordered.
I smirked "hmm, in front of everyone?" I asked playfully. The only indication that I had amused him was a slight raise in his left eyebrow and a childlike glint in his eyes; other than that, he wasn't kidding around.
I rolled my sock down. The bruise wasn't looking any better than yesterday, still a deep purple-ish blue.
He muttered a vague swear under his breath. "You can't play today."
I gasped, "WHAT?" After five weeks of grueling practice, he was going to deny me the right to play? I didn't think so.
You can't do this, please." I pleaded.
His face stayed serious. "I can do it. I am your coach. You can't play on that injured leg, I thought it would have healed partly overnight. If anything, it is worse."
"It's exactly the same as it was yesterday!" I cried in defiance.
"But you aren't. Your skin is considerably paler, you have dark circles under your eyes, and you are out of breath." He pointed out. "So?" I asked, arms crossed. "I'm Moroi, it happens when I'm in sunlight."
"That's a lie." Max stated bluntly as she got off the bus. "If you would stop being so stubborn and go to a -"
"Max!" I interrupted her midsentence. I knew she was going to say something about my lack of feedings; I just didn't expect those circumstances when she did. I stared at her in disbelief; she stared back, her face full of worry and concern for a friend. I shouldn't have been so mad at her -I mean, she was only looking out for me- but I was.
"Let Máxima finish her sentence, unless you want to do it for her. Go to a..." Gabriel prompted, cocking his head slightly to one side.
I sighed and mumbled: "A feeder. I haven't fed in a while."
"How long is 'a while', Magda?" he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
I looked down. "Umm... Six weeks, give or take." I told him. Tense silence filled the air. Gabriel looked conflicted as to what he was going to do with me. "You know I can't have you leave school grounds without you feeding right?"
I looked up. "You can't leave me behind! It's the first game!"
"Of course I can. And so help me, if you do this again, I will." he grumbled.
"But you can't just leave- wait, you're saying I can go?" I asked, wide eyed. "Really?"
He almost smiled, "Yes, really, But you owe me fifty laps around the field as soon as we get back." I cringed, "Ugh, fine, I'll go as soon as we get back." I started to get on the bus when Gabriel pulled me back.
"Oh no, I am taking you to the feeders ahora." He stated. I cringed, knowing I had no way of getting out. So I groaned rather uncharacteristically and limped with him toward the commons.
Lucky for me, no students were at the feeding station. As soon as I entered, the attendant smiled warmly. "Good morning."
I forced a greeting back at her, trying to push through my acrid mood.
"May I have your name please?" She asked sweetly.
"Magda Alexandra Szelsky." I grumbled sourly. Gabriel shot me a warning look. "Be nice" he mouthed.
The receptionist furrowed her brow as she looked into her clipboard. She alternated her gaze between it and me, then marked something on the clip board and lead me toward a stall at the end. Gabriel followed me. "Just to make sure you don't work your way out of this one." He reasoned.
"Whatever, Coquí." I said. He smirked.
I sat down in the stall. An old woman, about 65 years old, sat on the other side. Numerous bite scars dotted her neck. I tried to avoid looking at them. She looked up at me with an anxious gaze.
"Oh hello again. You haven't come in a while. You did a good job of protecting us. Thank you." She mused dreamily. The tone of voice she used was as if she were talking to an old friend. I, on the other hand, had never seen this woman in my life. I looked at Gabriel, he shrugged his shoulders, then pointed to his watch. "Hurry up, the more time you waste, the more laps you run."
I leaned closer to the woman's neck and bit into her flesh. Her blood tasted tangy and metallic, with just a smidgen of sweet. At first, I wanted to pull away as soon as I sank my fangs in. However, there is no stopping instinct once it takes control.
Suddenly I was pulled back into a memory I would have rather left forgotten. Flashes of spattered blood and of appendages being ripped from Gabe's torso crossed my sight. His gurgled screams pierced the air. Watching his life taken from him so brutally and to simultaneously watch the events unfold from both perspectives came to be too much to handle. I snapped out of it and pulled myself away from the old lady, regretting almost instantly having taken blood from her. The old lady didn't seem to mind, though; she drifted into the high caused by the endorphins in my spit. I tried not to think about just how nasty it was that she enjoyed being munched on or how the guilt that filled the pit of my stomach and seemed to get heavier and heavier with each passing second. Instead, I turned my attention over to Gabriel.
"Can we go now?" I asked shakily.
"Yes."
I stood up and looked at the old woman. "Umm... Thank you?" I said, but she was way off in her own little world to notice.
Gabriel and I left toward the bus area. As usual, he had his guardian mask firmly rooted. That guy could be a real mystery sometimes. At certain moments he was real sweet, other times he was a strict pain in the ass. I swore he could get more bipolar than the weather in Florida.
We hardly spoke during the walk back, and the bus ride wasn't that eventful... Aside from the god-awful head ache that started as soon as we left the school grounds.
Lucky for me, I had a whole seat to myself. I curled up into a ball and wished the pain away, not that it would work anyways. Haunting phantoms surrounded me, staring at me with accusing eyes. What they wanted this time I wasn't too sure, but god, did they ever complicate my life.
I wrapped my arms around myself, digging my nails into my shoulders so hard that I actually drew blood. I bit back a yelp; as long as no one noticed I'd be fine. Besides, the ghosts probably wanted some kind of blood sacrifice from me so they would leave me alone... Or maybe that was just me watching way too many movies. Either way, that obviously wasn't working out too well since the pressure inside my head only got worse. I felt as though my skull was about to shatter; actually I hoped it did shatter so that maybe the pain would cease.
I thought back to the last time my head hurt that bad. Mrs. Parris found me in a similar position and gave me advice on how to push this head ache away. Just like stacking Legos, I told myself. It was a long and grueling process, but I finally managed to block the ghosts out once more. Exhausted but satisfied with my latest achievement, I chose to take a little nap.
Then, Mrs. Parris showed up in my dream.
I wasn't dreaming anything specific per se. I just thought of my old backyard and like some crazy magic, I was there, along with Mrs. Parris. Weird...
"Wow, I should relax more, all this school work has got me dreaming about the teachers." I commented. Mrs. Parris laughed joyously, causing the ground underneath us to sprout flowers.
What a trip! I thought, letting out a giggle that could only be categorized as girly beyond belief.
"You know, it's not every day I meet someone like you." She mused.
"Umm... I'm not too sure what my reply to that comment should be..." I said. Oh god, if this was one of those weird ass epiphany dreams where the teacher was about to tell the student that she had to save her people or some other crap like that I was going to flip the hell out.
"Well for one, you're covered in shadows. I have seen that once last year, on one of the senior novices, who you strangely resemble... Anyways, I tried to talk to her about her strange aura but-"
"Whoa whoa whoa; wait just a minute there, did you say aura? Like the freaky light thing that's supposed to surround your body?" I asked, clearly confused. I knew my history teacher was a little on the kooky side, but at the moment I thought she was insane. That would make two of us, I thought.
"Yes and no, it's like a range of colors. But you, you're surrounded by a darkness similar to the one surrounding you six weeks ago. Are you okay?" She asked, true concern in her hazel eyes.
"Yup! Never better!" I fudged smoothly.
Her eyes narrowed, a glimmer of hurt momentarily flashed on her face. "O...kay." She searched me up and down, looking for the truth, her scrutinized gaze fixed on my exposed- and still bruised- shin.
"Well well, what is this?" She tsked.
"It is what happens when you get a little too friendly with the pitching machine after practice." I shrugged as I sat down on the grass, relishing the cool, moist, REALNESS of it while avoiding her scrutiny. Mrs. Parris knelt beside me, her eyes firmly locked on the bruise. Determination and longing flashed through them as some force that I can only describe as raw power radiated from every pore in her body. She placed the tips of her fingers on the injury, with that came a strong surge of what felt like both fire and ice. A sweet, tingly sensation followed, and then vanished along with the bruise.
I stood-well, sat- there for about four seconds. I didn't know where to yell, laugh, scream, or cry. Rarely was I ever speechless, but never was I more incapable of uttering a peep until that moment. It wasn't until Mrs. Parris took her hands off me that I took a breath.
When I looked at her, I almost swore she was another person. On the outside she appeared normal, but something was off. That raw power I felt from her only moments ago was tainted with something, something dark and ominous. Mrs. Parris evidently carried the brunt of whatever caused that dark energy. I could see it through her glazed eyes; something was wrong, very wrong. I didn't want her to go on like that.
"Mrs. P?"
"I am fine, child." Her words were like empty shells, they lacked any true substance.
"No, you aren't," I placed a hand on her shoulder. Man, if I could only do whatever she just did to me to her.
And with that thought, I placed my palm on her forehead, letting out exactly what I felt when she healed me. I've never wielded a magic as strong as that one, but what I manipulated those few seconds was beyond reason, and it just felt so damn amazing that I didn't want to stop. In that short moment I felt everything that made the world a good and harmonious place: honesty, generosity, kindness, laughter, loyalty and just a pinch of magic. But somewhere in that moment of simple happiness, a sliver of darkness seemed to penetrate the walls of my light. Although it looked small, it held a threat. That small ribbon of darkness would grow, and it would grow to consume me, leaving my mind in its dark midst. The realization startled me from using that power, and I was brought back into the -figuratively speaking- real world.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?" Mrs. P asked. Enraged, she grabbed me square the shoulders and shook me, hard.
"I-I- I don't know, I saw you do it and then you looked at me all crazy psycho like and I tried to help you." I stuttered. I honestly thought I was helping her, but I don't think she took it as help, but if her previous "gratitude" wasn't enough, her next actions would be. Still holding my shoulders, she looked me square in the eye, and blinked.
Then I woke up.
"Hey nena, you are finally awake. Looks like you slept through most of the ride. Too bad, you missed out on some of the really funny things the guys have been doing." Gabriel remarked in his somewhat heavy Spanish accent.
"Oh" was all I said, too bemused by what was going on in my head to pay attention to him.
What had just happened? One minute I was surrounded my ghosts, the next I was sleeping. But that was it; that was all I remembered.
I tried shaking that nagging tug at the back of my mind. Something had happened, but what?
"Hello? Calling lieutenant Smurf, can you hear to me?" Gabriel, or Coquí as was his new nickname, snapped his fingers in my face.
"The hell? I'm not a dog coach, please don't snap your fingers in my face. And its either 'hear me', or 'listen to me.'" I snapped.
"Well I wouldn't have snapped in your face if you listened. And don't mock my accent if you don't want another twenty laps."
"No sir!" I saluted military style. I didn't want to mock his accent, I could do that to anyone; what I really liked to mock was his less-than-perfect usage of grammar. It may sound a bit cruel, but everyone had to have some fault. His just happened to be easy to make fun of.
"I see... How's the leg?" He asked. No longer feeling it throbbing or hurting at all I replied honestly, "It's great. I don't feel it hurting anymore. Gabriel didn't believe me, which was to be expected. "Uh huh, show me." Once again I rolled down my sock. Now I would have expected the bruise to fade just a bit. But I most certainly didn't expect it to be gone completely.
"Desapareció." He breathed.
"No duh."
"But how?" He asked. Truthfully I didn't know how to answer that. Although I couldn't shake the feeling that I did know, something was just preventing me from remembering. I shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe the baseball gods wanted me to play today."
He shook off the thought, although I'd wish he'd press me on so he could help me figure it out. I leaned back against my seat and moaned.
"Hey um Magders?" A soft voice asked me from behind. A voice I'd rather not talk to at the moment. "Magda, look I know you're mad-"
"Really? I never guessed. Thank you for telling me exactly how I feel because I truly had no idea. You might want to think about changing careers from guarding to psychiatry." I grumbled.
"Look I'm trying to tell you something but if you would please stop yelling-"
"This isn't yelling. Yelling is what you did inside this bus trying to get our coaches goddamn attention and get me in deeper shit. When I wake up tomorrow and can't get out of my bed because I am sore everywhere I'll make sure to say 'gee that Max, what a helpful girl. I will make sure to thank her as soon as I get up, oh wait! I can't get up now can I?'"
She huffed " you know, for such a tiny person, you can be real..." She struggled to find the right words
"Bitchy?" I offered.
"Hard headed. I'd rather have you running a million laps in the moonlight than pass out and quite possibly not ever wake up again. What were you thinking going six weeks without a feeding? What do you have a death wish or something?" I stayed quiet, opting to stare at the verdant Montana landscape instead. The late sun's rays were peeking through the trees, and I loved basking it its soft orange glow. The sun would always be my own private indulgence, and I wouldn't share it with anyone. I mulled over Max's question... Did I have a death wish? Would I honestly stoop so far as to take away my own life? With the way my mind was spinning out of control I began to doubt my own self-discipline, what little of it I had anyways. Maybe that's why I was more snippy than usual. I sighed finally, "Not at the moment Max, no."
"Then why wait?" Her voice was growing softer.
Gabe's last moments flitted through my vision again as I felt my walls growing weak again. His ghost materialized beside me, stroking my hair as he rested his icy cold transparent head against my shoulder. "Long story."
"Will you ever tell me it?" She inquired. I shrugged. "Maybe, you know, if I'm ever ready to spill out my sob story."
She shook her head and smiled mischievously, "How does so much sarcasm fit into such a little per-" I threw my cap at her, "OW!"
"I get it! I'm short. You know, I'm normal sized in the human world. Damn all of you guys and your abnormal half-vamp height." I feigned being insulted. Although I was still ticked off because of the whole snitch- situation, it didn't impede me from messing around with her.
"We're here!" Ray announced, waving his arms like the maniac he was. Gabe vanished in an instant without his farewell. Jeez, bye to you too, bro. He was met by a collective applause -kind of corny if you ask me- from the team, followed by an ambush crowding the door, all eager to test the new field.
"Whoa look at the school grounds!" Ray chimed. I glanced out the window. Big Sky Preparatory was a fairly humble sized building, it looked like it could fit a student body of about 300 kids. Compared to our school, it was rather little; our freshman population itself was about 200 students, not to mention the remaining grades. "It's so small!" Frank noted.
"You morons it is a high school, they only have the four grade levels in the building. Besides, unlike us, these kids get to go home after school, there aren't any dorms." Kevin rolled his eyes. "The lucky bastards." He added under his breath.
The teammates nodded slightly in agreement. I could sense the envy in the bus. Those kids most likely had a family to turn into. They had open futures ahead of them. Some would make it, others wouldn't. But they had the luxury of the choice. Apart from myself, no one else on that bus had the privilege of choosing their path, and sadly some would pay it with their lives. So many Dhampirs were being forced into becoming guardians. And if the court did not repeal the age law -and soon-, the sophomores would be sworn guardians along with the juniors and seniors no questions asked. That would be me next year, but I chose that career despite the wishes of Moroi kind. I believe that the Moroi grow weak by choice, and I was not one to sit around and be Strigoi chow. I would train and guard those who really needed protection from the evil undead. Maybe I was foolish, reckless and acting like some storybook Mary Sue, but this generation needed those who weren't afraid of taking those leaps. And -cocky as it may sound- I took great pride in being the one percent.
The team squeezed their way out of the bus, only to come in contact with the other team.
Both sides moved closer to one another, sizing the other one up. The guys at big sky were big, a little too big to be normal humans. One extra look and I noticed how most of them wore a silver tattoo on their left forearms. Those who didn't were scrawny and probably played the all-important position of bench warmer or water boy.
"Vamps huh? What the hell kind of name is that?" Said one of the larger teammates. "Seems to me that they've run out of ideas."
"Are you honestly trying to size us up based on our names?" I scoffed, insulted at their lame attempt at putting the team down. "That's just sad." Max echoed my thoughts exactly.
"Ooh, watch out, they brought cheerleaders." Another jeered. My fingers twitched at my side, ready to punch the kid in the face.
"They're with us." Frank intercepted.
"Aww, don't you know sharing is caring?" Said the first one to comment, placing his hand on Max's shoulder. "I am so not interested." Max growled in utter disgust.
"Come on sweetie belle, let me show you a great time. You, me, behind the bleachers…"
"She said no, quit it." I spat. "Or else what, shrimp? Will you bite me?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. Not him too…
"You have no idea." I smiled maliciously, earning some snickers from my team.
"Feisty. I like you better already. I'm into girls with a spark, as an added bonus you've got a nice sizable pair of-"
"You better finish that sentence with 'eyes' unless you want a nice sizable pair of fists breaking your nose." Kevin interjected, surprising me with his protective behavior, especially after what I did yesterday.
"Whoa, damn I'm sorry. I didn't know dibs were called, sheesh." He sneered.
"Okay, seriously, what the hell? No one calls dibs on me. Secondly, my BOYFRIEND is back at school, and third, he doesn't have to fight for me, because I can beat you up all on my own." I threatened, feeling a dark heat churn in the back of my mind.
"Care to put your money where your mouth is b-" before he could finish that word, Max intervened "Why don't we settle this with what we came for?"
I cooled down, a little. "Sure, why not?" He motioned over to his team, and then nodded toward us. "Visitors bat first.
"Yeah yeah, we know the rules." said Frank. We walked off, but not before I saw one of the untattooed boys nudge another player. "Did you see that? The girl had fangs!" Oops, my bad.
I rolled my eyes as I joined the team huddle. "So boys and gal, what is our plan?" Gabriel emerged from behind "Start off lightly, amp it up on the defense, and jump into offense mode at the fourth inning. That goes strictly for you Magda, I don't want you hitting anything more than a double these first few innings. If you guys can time your swings right, I want you hitting towards the left field. As for defense, no catching bear-handed."
"Frank." Leo commented between faked coughs. Gabriel rolled his eyes and continued. "Remember the tactics I've taught you. Always go for the unexpected play at the unexpected time."
"You stole that from a movie." I countered. Gabriel did the nifty one-eyebrow thing. "Yes I did, and it is a great line from a great movie. One last thing: have fun you guys."
"Vamps on three?" Leo offered. We all joined our hands in the center of the huddle. "1,2,3 VAMPS!" We yelled in unison as we threw our hands up.
Like our coach predicted, we didn't have to go all out during the first few innings. What we did have to watch out for was the pitcher, who always aimed to hit us. I couldn't tell if he was purposefully going for us or if they just put him in that position because he threw hard; it was most likely the first but I was willing to pay a few dollars that the untattooed kid who called me out on my fangs would make a way better pitcher were he given the chance.
The pitcher had already walked seven of us before it came my time at bat. I awaited the signal from coach. He wanted me to take one. I listened to him and when he threw, I purposefully didn't swing. Ironically, he pitched right in my strike zone, lower that most balls but just high enough for the blue to shout: "SSSTRIIIIIKE ONE!"
I threw a glance at Gabriel on the box, and he motioned for me to swing away. I did exactly that, earning a single and a run for my team.
The next eight innings weren't as easy, our opponents were strong, very strong. We decided amongst ourselves that they must've been talking steroids or some other substance because there was no way a high school student could be that big... Unless they weren't human. They couldn't be Dhampirs though, sure they were fast but they lacked a certain agility and reaction time that the vampire gene gave out.
"Maybe it has to do with the tattoos, like they're all part of this freaky cult and their rituals give them super speed and strength." Ray mentioned. I sighed. "Dude I have got to stop letting you sneak into my room to watch movies on pay-per-view."
"He's onto something though, haven't you noticed how all the big guys have the tacky silver tattoos and how the smaller guys are clear skinned?"
"You're right Max, coach? What do you think?"
"I think it's your turn at bat." He answered tersely. I shook my head. Ugh! He was hiding his feelings again.
It was the top of the ninth and we were tied 5-5. I had two outs, one man on second base and no strikes. If I could hit a triple then I would ensure we had a chance to win. The pressure was just enough to give me the era edge needed to hit the ball well into left field. Without thinking, I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. I made it to third base, but when the first baseman over threw the ball, I made yet another run for it. The ball and I moved at much the same speed, so when the catcher tried to block my slide, I leaped over him and landed with both feet on the base.
"Safe!" The umpire screeched out. I was met by the cheers of my team mates, who lined up at the dugout to high five me. Gabriel waited by the entrance. "¿Qué fue eso?" He asked with a light expression.
"La jugada inesperada en el momento inesperado." I answered. He let out a breezy laugh. "See? You have to admit that the line is a good one." I smiled, "It's a passable line. It's not epic, just passable."
"Uh huh, well get your glove it's time to defend those two runs."
We did a pretty good job at defending those two runs. Max struck the first two batters out without breaking a sweat. Then it came time for the last batter, who happened to be the guy who came onto Max and me. Max threw him a signature fast ball, which he hit far enough along left field to give him enough time to make a run for second. But as he neared my assigned based I was already waiting for him with the ball. He saw this and made a dash for first, but I threw the ball at Kevin, who waited for me. Seeing this, he made a full charged sprint toward me. Kevin tossed the ball. I caught it and pointed at the runner, he was most definitely out. He saw this too and instead of charging for the slide, he charged at me. I was tackled to the ground, hitting my head in the process, though I never let go of that ball. I tagged him out, only to be confirmed by the ump; "YOU ARE OUTTA HERE!" He screamed. The opposing teammate kicked the clay in frustration, making some of it fall in my eyes. Leo came from third base to help me up.
"Great job there." His voiced sounded a bit muffled, but I understood him.
"Uh huh." I said as I got up. My vision swam, blurry images merged together and I didn't know which way was left or which way was right. I did somehow manage to line up with the team to high five the other team. But as we loaded up the bus I had to ask coach for assistance in going up the steps.
He asked me something that sounded vaguely like if I was okay. I shook my head, along with the deja vu of six weeks prior, came a fading knowledge of the world. As the fuzzy images blended together, the last thing I remember was Gabriel catching me just before I passed out.
I awoke to someone flashing a light in my eyes.
"Amanda, can you hear me?" A soft female voice asked.
"It's Magda." I whined. My name isn't even close to Amanda, why say it?
She turned off her mini flash light. My eyes focused around the room. It smelled like disinfectant and mint. The room looked like some odd crossover of a hospital and a dorm. And the doctor was the same lady who attended frank when he broke his hand.
"Well, I'm either in a rehab center or in the schools infirmary. And since I don't do drugs my guess is the school infirmary. Damn, did I hurt my head that hard?"
"Well since you remember all that my diagnosis is a moderate concussion. You've been unconscious for twelve hours now. You gave your coach quite the scare."
"Yeah I can imagine..." I chuckled. Whoa, twelve hours. That has got to be a record. "So doc, when can I leave?"
"I'm keeping you here the night just to make sure you are fine."
"Okay then." I was pretty sure I'd escape in the next half hour anyways.
"But in the meantime, I want to talk to you about something important. Wait here." She walked out of the room, only to walk in with four different people: Gabriel, the attendant at the feeder station, Chief Alberta, and Head Mistress Kirova.
"Miss Szelsky, we need to have a little chat." The head mistress stated.
Oh, crud.
Hi everyone. Yes I know it's been a long time since the last update (almost three months!). Hopefully this chapter makes up for the lost time. It is 12 pages long on word, or 5,298 words to be exact. I hope you enjoy!
*Translations:
Ahora= right now
Desapareció= it disappeared
Qué fue eso= what was that
La jugada inesperada en el momento inesperado=the unexpected play at the unexpected time.
*Baseball Word of the day:
Blue/ ump: the umpire
*note: any bronies or pegasisters or trolls out there recognize the references? The fanfic is now 20% cooler.