Look
. . . a voice in my mind said. It was the vampire queen deep down reminding me danger was near.
A man stood against the stone wall near the entrance to Lovers Bay Cemetery. He hid under the shadows of the trees. He wore a light leather jacket and kept his hands in his pockets.
‘Go,’ I whispered to Tony and Tracy. ‘Go to the guard.’
‘A vampire?’ Tracy whispered back.
The other way towards Main Street was more crowded, especially near the coffee shop.
There! A second vampire! This one was standing in the shadow cast by the post office. He watched us, his arms crossed, but he did not step out into the light of the street lamp.
The guard put up his hand and stopped us from walking on to the quad, ‘You’re on the list, all three of you, to see Headmistress Williams immediately. You know you’re not
allowed off campus for extended periods,
especially
without permission. We were about to call all of your parents.’
Who would they call for me?
Two more vampires stood even further down the street. Another was in a car parked near Lovers Bay Diner.
‘Come along, Ms Beaudonte,’ the guard said. On the street, the vampire in the leather jacket lifted his chin and scowled.
All of them, each vampire on that street, was watching our every movement. Looks like I was right about Justin. I had no doubt these vampires were here on his orders.
They had come to Lovers Bay on command.
They had come for me.
‘We didn’t even miss any classes,’ Tracy whined.
‘Irrelevant, Miss Sutton. Kate Pierson
and
Rhode Lewin have gone missing in the same week’ Ms Williams said while she paced in her office. ‘We were worried sick. Not
to mention what would happen if the media got wind of the newest disappearances.’
‘Is that what you’re worried about?’ I asked. ‘The bad publicity?’
She stopped pacing. ‘You keep your opinions to yourself, Miss Beaudonte. I expect you three in your rooms at curfew, with no visitation privileges for forty-eight hours. You cannot go off
campus and I expect you all to abide by the school rules for the rest of the semester. Contrary to what Miss Beaudonte thinks, I want you safe. I’ll see you all at the school meeting tomorrow
morning.’
We stepped out of the office.
‘You keep your opinions to yourself,’ Tony mocked. He sighed and shivered. ‘She’s good. It’s creepy.’
‘She’s a fool,’ I replied.
‘I’m going to find Claudia,’ Tracy said, and the firm line of her mouth told me that now that she was here on campus without Kate, she was stepping into the role of protector
to her remaining friends. My plan was working exactly as I hoped.
‘I’ll go with Tracy,’ Tony said. ‘It’s nearly eight o’clock,’ he called as he followed behind. It didn’t matter what Ms Williams said. I was done
belonging to the world of Wickham Boarding School. I had made peace with that when I had asked the Aeris to return me home to the medieval world; I was no longer a part of the modern world.
I stood with my legs shoulder-width apart and did a panoramic sweep of the beach to the science buildings and to the media centre. I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. Whoever these
vampires were, they were still watching me, and I had to exude confidence and power.
I didn’t care if I looked crazy to the students. I didn’t have vampire sight; I hadn’t possessed it in three years. My eyes swept over the infirmary to Seeker, to the main
gates, the library. I turned completely around until I faced straight ahead again. I said words they would not hear but I knew they would be able to read on my lips.
‘I. Am. Not. Going. Down. Without. A. Fight.’
At exactly 9 p.m. I stood at my dorm window and opened it up. Within seconds, two pairs of hands and legs crawled through.
‘We saw them,’ Cassius said. ‘We were able to detain one but didn’t get much information.’
‘I did get this though,’ Micah said, gesturing at his black eye.
‘Justin called them here. We know that much,’ Cassius said.
‘I figured as much,’ I replied.
‘You shouldn’t have come back,’ Micah said to me.
‘How did he summon so many? Send out a telegram?’ I asked.
‘It’s more email now,’ Micah replied, with a hint of a smile.
I couldn’t laugh.
‘We should go back to my house,’ Cassius said. ‘Tonight. You and I should go.’
‘We can’t leave Tony and Tracy alone. We need a plan to find out what these vampires want.’
‘I think we’re going to find out either way,’ Cassius said. Micah nodded, and by the time he turned back to face me, the bruise around his eye had already faded from black to a
pale gold. ‘We tried to negotiate, but our appearance is strange to them. A threat.’
‘When they found out who we were, they attacked,’ Micah said. ‘And they promised more would come.’
‘Which is why you must go,’ Cassius pressed.
‘Not until I know Tony and Tracy are safe.’
‘Where is Tracy now?’ Cassius asked.
‘Claudia’s room. She’ll be back. Just give me until morning.’
That night I sat in the window seat with my head resting on the wall behind me. I held a dagger. The proximity to a weapon made me feel better, even though Cassius and Micah
stood outside my window keeping watch. I had lost Fire’s sword in the fight at Justin’s, but still had the dagger. The campus was silent. Beyond the quad and surrounding the campus, the
night settled over the Wickham woods. Shadows moved around the perimeter, silhouettes waited, preying on my fate.
What had Justin promised these vampires haunting Lovers Bay? What scheme had he concocted? Was it some backup plan in case he was compromised?
I turned away from the window when I spotted a vampire on a tree branch outside, leaning his head on his arm. Watching me.
‘Is this what the other –’ Tracy paused – ‘life was like? Death and fear all the time?’
I had thought she was asleep. She’d come home and gone straight to bed. I pulled the shades down, shielding our room from vampires watching in the night. I turned to her and leaned my back
against the window again.
‘Isn’t that part of life?’ I asked. ‘Death?’
She lay on her side. ‘I’m not afraid to die,’ she said. ‘I’m afraid I won’t get to live my life. Grow old, get married, have a zillion cute half-Asian babies
with Tony.’
I liked the sound of that.
And I knew what she meant. The unlived life perhaps was worse than an eternity of being undead.
‘I want that,’ she said quietly, ‘I bet Kate did too.’
‘And Justin,’ I added.
‘Yeah . . .’ she said. ‘But the world is different after what I’ve seen. I’m different.’
‘Different how?’
‘I want to go to college. I want to sing in the Christmas pageant. I want to see my little brother graduate high school.’
I hadn’t even known Tracy had a younger sibling. I wanted to mention Genevieve but she continued. ‘I want to go to prom with Claudia and get our pictures taken in that stupid
booth,’ she said, her voice breaking at Claudia’s name. ‘But now I don’t know if that
can
happen. We might die, Lenah. All of us.’ The tone of her voice was
one of sadness and realization. She tried to tuck her hands away so I wouldn’t see, but they shook in the moonlight.
I moved to the side of her bed and took Tracy’s cold hands into mine and squeezed.
‘I’m going to protect you. I don’t know how but I’ll do whatever it takes, even if I die trying.’
Tracy hugged me to her small frame,
‘Get Rhode,’ she said with a sniffle. ‘Get him out. We can’t lose anyone else.’
I had almost forgotten that, in this world, Rhode and Tracy were classmates. Friends even.
‘What about Justin?’ I asked. ‘You don’t want me to save him any more?’
‘I’m not like you and Tony,’ she said with a wipe of her nose. ‘I don’t forgive.’ I didn’t want to tell her that I too had come to believe the same sad
position.
She got up from the bed and snatched the pictures down from the mirror. She waited, keeping her back to me, but I could see her face in the reflection. She pressed her lips together and a
grimace broke through as she fought not to cry.
‘Whoever that was – that
thing
that took over Justin’s body? – that is not the guy from freshman year. That is not him, Lenah.’ She sobbed once and turned
to me, wiping her tears away. ‘I went to Brownies with Kate.’ She shook her hair back, swallowing her tears and lifting her chin defiantly. ‘And I want every vampire dead. Every
single one.’ She stalked across the floor to the bathroom and shut the door.
I waited there by the side of her bed. I was sorry she wanted them all dead, though I could not blame her. Perhaps Tracy would never understand the complexities of vampires. She had only spent
time with the Demelucrea and they were special – hybrids in possession of their sanity. If she understood Justin’s pain, would she be more forgiving?
Justin wanted nothing more than to destroy my life. I understood that compulsion, the need to destroy. Hadn’t I been brilliant at pain? Still, she was right. He was not the boy I had loved
here at Wickham.
I walked to the bureau. The photos of Justin and Kate sat in a pile. I lifted one of Justin and his brothers. In the photo, his arms were around the shoulders of Curtis and Roy. Kate, Claudia
and Tracy sat below them, also with their arms around one another. I needed to keep this. Perhaps to remind myself how quickly our lives turn. I slid it into the back pocket of my jeans.
I leaned on the cushion, snapped the shade up and peered outside.
The night should have been my friend. The sky and stars once provided guidance for my problems. But I could not decipher the constellations. All I could see now was darkness and shadow.
‘It is my hope that you will continue to abide by these rules,’ Ms Williams said at assembly the next morning. Tony, Tracy and I sat in the very back of the
auditorium. We could see the whole student body this way. The administration went over a new buddy system. I had seen Wickham like this before. Buddy systems, signing in and out. It was all useless
if –
My body jolted.
With a smattering crash, an explosion of glass sent kaleidoscopes of sunlight all over the room. Screams erupted and the upper-school students leaped to their feet. Most students were at the
doors before they could see who was attacking.
Vampires of both sexes and all ages swarmed the auditorium. There must have been thirty of them. The one I’d seen on the street in the leather jacket raised one long arm and pointed
directly at me.
I slid my dagger from its sheath and jumped to the aisle.
Tony followed behind me.
‘No. Get them out of here. As many students as you can!’ I cried.
Tracy pulled a girl I didn’t recognize towards the door.
Another vampire ran towards me, but Tony back-handed his face and sent the vampire to the floor. I dropped to one knee and stabbed the vampire in the heart.
‘There’s another one!’ Tony cried.
‘Get the students and teachers
out
!’ I yelled. ‘Remember the painting in the gallery?’ I cried to Tony. ‘Get yourself to a safe place.’
He squeezed my arm in a gesture of good luck and ran for the main floor.
At least ten more vampires crawled in through the windows.
Cassius!
I cried in my head.
We’re here!
Just as his voice sang through my mind, he ran out from behind the auditorium stage. The vampire from the street was throwing students aside in order to get to me.
‘Lenah!’ Tracy called out. I couldn’t find her in the fray. I kept my eyes on the vampire running at me. Once he was within arm’s reach, I kicked, getting him in the
shins.
Students dodged us, running through the aisles and to the exit.
‘Give it to me,’ the vampire from the street cried.
‘Give what?’ I ducked a punch and swung the dagger. He jumped back and I missed. A backpack flew through the air.
‘Don’t play dumb. Give it to me and I’ll kill you before Justin can.’
The vampire clawed at me, but I twisted my hips, throwing a sidekick so he fell back over the seats.
‘Someone help Lenah! Call security!’ Ms Williams shrieked, but she was pushed out the double doors by a mass of students.
‘Look at their teeth!’ a girl in the second row cried, and a vampire pushed her to the ground. Her chin hit the floor with a smack as he continued up the rows to me.
Cassius crawled up the seats to me like an animal.
Two more vampires ran down my row, one from the left and one from the right. I was attacked from all directions. I held my dagger in both hands and drew a held my breath, preparing. I wished I
had my sword.
Cassius yanked at the other vampire crawling up the seats by tugging his ponytail and pulling him to the floor. There were dozens of vampires coming at me at once. They were a blur of arms, legs
and fangs.
A familiar yell ripped through the air. Tony’s voice.
He stood at the base of the auditorium with his hand outstretched as if he had thrown a disc. The door was behind him and daylight trickled in from outside. The sun glinted off of a circular
piece of silver that flew through the air.
Tony’s weapon. The ring.
The silver ring became a strange olive colour. It grew into an orb. All the vampires stopped, their eyes following its movement.
I searched fruitlessly for Tracy among the few remaining students in the auditorium. The orb pulsed its energy through the room.
Tony waited in the doorway. The ring that represented the element earth was an orb darkening in colour from pewter to charcoal to a dark brown. Cassius and Micah jumped away to join Tony by the
auditorium exit. The orb hardened and hovered over us, its colour as dark as the deepest earth. Rootsas pale as the faces of vampires reached in thick, curly twists towards the floor.
The floor vibrated and shook beneath me and I held on to a nearby seat.
The airborne land mass grew bigger and bigger. Little explosions of dust rained down in the auditorium. Some of the vampires scrambled over each other for the exits as cracks edged through the
dirt.