unvamped

by Elizabeth Stevens

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  C

  harles had thrown away his blood-stained clothes and now stood under the blasting water of the shower, watching the blood wash away down the drain. The noise of the water hitting the tiles crashed in his head and the scent of the blood filled his nose.

  He knew he had been stupid, thinking Red could turn him again. Stupid for even thinking Red should turn him again. He had just been so miserable. No, he realised suddenly, it was not that he was miserable; by all accounts, human life was not as awful as he had expected. He just missed his old life so much, a life not bound by human rules and friendships and parents...and romance, even if one-sided. Mary and Arthur were good to him, Lee tolerated him, Cam was friendly enough at school and appeared to accept little communication between them outside of school. No, all in all, human life was all right, it was just not the life he wanted.

  Or was it?

  He was less disappointed than he expected by the failed turning. He supposed that was why he called Pet when he did.

  “She saved me.”

  Somehow, saying it out loud made it seem all the more real. He had tried to kill her and she had repaid him by saving his life... Well, and cursing him, but that was in the past. He felt somewhat wretched, like he was an awful person. She had put aside her feelings against him – whatever they actually were – and helped him. They had become almost friends and she had saved him. Then, he had tried to kiss her – another man’s lady.

  “What is happening to me?”

  It was not that he minded a dalliance with a willing adulterer – or even any willing young lady – but sullying a good, innocent young woman who neither wanted it nor deserved it was a different matter entirely.

  He screamed in frustration...ending in a yelp as the bathroom door burst open and he was assaulted by the sweet and unmistakable fragrance of berries.

  Pet yelped in turn and shut the door as fast as she had opened it.

  “You’re okay then,” she called through the door.

  “Um... Yes... Quite fine. Thank you...”

  “Right, well... I... Um... I came to check on you, you weren’t answering your phone. The shower explains it. I, um, just got a bit worried when you screamed...”

  “Right. Yes. No. I am fine. Just... Um... Letting off steam, as it were.”

  “Good. Healthy. Great. Um... Look, Lee and I have decided to go to the Academy’s open day in a couple of weeks and... Well, you’re coming to.”

  “What? Look, wait there.”

  Charles checked he had washed all the blood off and got out of the shower. He walked back into his bedroom in a towel, with hair dripping annoyingly into his eyes.

  “I said... Oh... Hi...” Pet’s face was red and Charles imagined his was too. The thought of Pet seeing him like that was... Well, exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

  Even a mere year ago, I would not have blushed like a virgin on her wedding night in this situation, he thought to himself. I would have taken control and… He knew no good was going to come from such thoughts, especially when his teenage hormones threatened to make him blush harder.

  “Hi.” He smiled. “What is this about the Academy? You know I cannot go.”

  “Actually, not quite true...” She appeared to be waiting for a response.

  “All right... Go on, then.” He sat on his bed and she sat on the other side.

  “Well, I’ve done some asking around in the last few days and it seems the Academy will let you in, if your marks are good enough.” Charles suppressed a groan and Pet continued. “The Academy is having an open day in a couple of weeks and I’ve convinced Lee to come along – Ben's going to be there with bells on, he’s so excited to go to uni. And, I’ve decided that you’re coming too.”

  “I...”

  “It’s the least you can do for me after you tried to get yourself killed-”

  “Not quite.”

  “Same difference. And, I saved you.” He realised she might be right.

  “Okay, fine, I will come.” Pet’s face broke out in a huge smile. “But, I cannot promise I will apply.” Although, in Charles’ mind, the idea of going to a university with Pet and Lee, and Ben, was much more appealing than the idea of going to a boring human one.

  Pet sighed. “Fine, it’s a start.” Charles nodded. Pet looked down, blushed again and stood up rapidly. “I’d best let you get dressed… See you tomorrow?”

  “Yes, see you tomorrow.” Charles took her hand and kissed it, being grateful she did not smack in him the face again.

  “I’ll let myself out.” She smiled, backing out the door.

  “Bye.” He smiled back.

  Once she was gone, he was able to think more clearly. Pet’s enticing scent of berries faded and the pain he felt from the unexpected heightened senses lifted slightly. He sighed and lay back on his bed.

  ****

  “Charlie?” he heard a harsh whisper from behind his bedroom door. Mary was obviously home.

  “Yes, Mum?”

  “Are you feeling well enough for school today?”

  Charles’ eyes flew open and he realised it was morning. “Yes, yes. I’ll be down in a minute.”

  “That’s good, dear.” He heard Mary’s footsteps clearly as she pattered downstairs and then went moving about the house.

  He heard Arthur chatting to her and the flip of the newspaper as he turned the pages. He smelled coffee and toast and bacon, and his stomach rumbled and his mouth watered. He smiled to himself. His senses may be confused, but his body was obviously in no doubt about what he was.

  As he went about his day, the noises and smells brought on a terrible headache, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as best he could and continued on. He fell into bed at night to lose himself in the relative quiet of sleep, only to wake up the next morning to repeat the process.

  ****

  His senses were still heightened for the Academy’s open day and he hoped it would let him worm out of his promise to Pet.

  “You have to be kidding?” Pet asked him.

  She, Lee, and Ben – who had been appraised of the details of Charles’ history long ago – stood at his front door. Pet’s arms were crossed and her foot tapped impatiently. Lee looked like he’d prefer to stay home with Charles. Ben, meanwhile, bounced up and down on the balls of his feet with a giant grin plastered to his face.

  “Pet, my head is killing me.”

  “Red was the one killing you. I was the one saving you and you’re not getting out of going to open day.”

  “But, Pet-”

  “Don’t ‘Pet’ me, Charlie. Lee can’t get out of it so neither can you! We are going, and that’s final.”

  Ben gave a weird little, “yay”. The others looked at him and he laughed sheepishly. “Shall we go?”

  “Ugh... How are we getting there?” Charles asked, wincing at the sunlight as he followed Pet down the path.

  “Ellie’s whole house is a doorway!” Ben cried excitedly.

  “I’m sorry, a what?” Charles asked, still struggling to get his jacket on.

  Pet sighed. “A doorway, only it’s not really. You can set buildings – well, anything really – as, sort of, portals to other places. When Morg started at the Academy, we got our place turned into one of these portals. You can go from anywhere in our house to the...kind of like a car park, I guess, area of the Academy, and vice versa.”

  “Right, and how do we do that?” Charles asked, indicating himself and the two werewolves.

  “Easy, with me. When you enrol, you’ll get a way to do it by yourself so you don’t need a witch with you.

  “Can you go anywhere from your house?” Lee asked.

  “No, only the places it’s been set up for.” Pet opened the front door and ushered the boys inside. “Into the living room, we’ll go from there.”

  Charles realised that would be how Morg kept appearing and disappearing in the middle of rand
om rooms throughout the house. It sort of all made sense now. Kind of.

  The boys stood around uncertainly while Pet guided them into a sort of circle.

  “Okay, hold hands and close your eyes... It’s a bit ‘ick’ the first time with your eyes open...”

  Charles was not quite sure what that meant, but he took Lee’s and Ben’s hands as instructed and closed his eyes. He felt a strange weightlessness and an uncomfortable pressure on his whole body; he had to concentrate hard to stop his knees from buckling. Lee’s and Ben’s grips tightened and he realised he was tightening his grasp too.

  I suppose no one wants to be left behind, he thought.

  His feet hit the ground, jarring his over-extended knees. He heard the other boys “oof” as the air obviously went rushing out of them as well.

  He opened his eyes slowly, still not sure if he should let go of the others’ hands.

  “It’s okay; we’re here.”

  He turned around and saw Pet smiling widely. Lee and Ben were not looking quite so...chipper.

  “How was it?” Pet asked.

  “Fine, it was fine,” Charles wheezed, still feeling winded as he let go of Lee’s and Ben’s hands. His fingers complained after being clenched so tight.

  “Excellent. Let’s get to the orientation desk.” Ben looked around.

  “Have you been here before, Ben?”

  “Only by car, so I’m not quite sure where we are.”

  Pet laughed. “This way.”

  Charles was awestruck; he could not describe it in any other way. The buildings soared into the sky, great stone castles – like something out of a fairy tale – littering the campus. Between the buildings were miniature parklands, each one different and not all of them ‘natural’. There was one parkland where it looked like fairy floss grew on the trees, the ducks looked like they were made out of gummy bears, and they swam on a pond that looked like blue jelly. Another looked like it was all made of marble, but the trees and plants waved in the breeze and the animals frolicked as they should. Charles could even see ripples on the pond’s marble surface.

  All around him were students obviously comfortable not hiding who they were that he almost felt himself smile. There were witches, their hair blazing their natural colour – be it pink or red or green or blue, like Pet’s – and sparks playing at their fingertips. There were a few ghosts here and there, dressed in different period outfits and almost invisible in the bright sunlight. There was even a fairy or two, their feet skimming the ground as their wings fluttered behind them. After a time, Charles lost count of the many different creatures he saw. Obviously, some would not be out in the sunlight, but he could imagine they would add to the numbers once the sun went down.

  Charles and Lee followed dutifully behind the other two, listening while they exclaimed over all the sights and courses and people on offer. Pet and Ben dragged them to discipline after discipline, reading the pamphlets aloud to Charles and Lee, and picking out courses for all four of them to take together.

  “Obviously, Ellie, you’ll have to go and take some magic classes without us, but there are plenty we can take together,” Ben squeaked and Charles winced.

  He was not sure if it was the magical atmosphere or being around such enthusiasm, but his headache had worsened still, and he was hungry but nauseous at the same time.

  “Should we stop for something to eat? Charlie’s looking a little green,” Lee said and Pet and Ben turned around quickly.

  “Oh, Charlie... I’m sorry,” Pet said. “Yes, this way... I think... Ben?”

  Charles smiled in thanks to Lee and he shrugged back, a small smile on his face.

  “I suppose this place wouldn’t be so bad,” Lee said.

  “What do you mean?” Charles asked.

  “Well, I had kind of always wanted to go to a human uni first...”

  Charles nodded, understanding dawning. “I understand, but I can tell you from experience that human universities, while ripe with young woman to...adore,” he smiled and Lee chuckled, “are not as good as the supernatural ones.”

  “So, you’ve been here?”

  “Not this one, no. The one I went to was shut down long ago, when travel between witching places became so much easier.”

  “I thought they could always travel like that?”

  “Yes, but then they allowed the other supernaturals to do that, and they chose the, so called, better universities and the smaller ones had no choice but to shut down. Then, when cars and planes were invented, well even more shut down.”

  “There were heaps, then?”

  “Yes, they were more the size of your average school back in those days. Allowing for supernaturals to study and still be around their homes if needed. But, now...”

  “Now, they can travel further and still be back for dinner,” Lee finished.

  “Exactly”.

  They followed Pet and Ben around for the rest of the day. Charles found himself less opposed to the idea of university in general, and less opposed to the Academy in particular.

  “Is that...” Charles stopped and watched a vampire walk past him. He looked up, just to double check the sun was actually shining, and looked at Pet.

  “There’s a filter sort of thing over the Academy. No more crispy vampires during the day!” She smiled and kept walking.

  If only I still needed to worry about that, Charles thought. Actually, no. He was glad he did not have to worry about the sun anymore. His existence had been awkward as a vampire, confined indoors during the day. Now, he could move about whenever he pleased. He smiled.

  They made their way back to the car park type area, as Pet had called it. They all joined hands, Ben and Pet looking wistfully back at the majestic buildings, and then Pet whisked them back to her house.

  They fell in a jumble of arms and legs on the floor in Pet’s living room.

  “I see someone wasn’t quite paying attention.” Charles heard Ethel say.

  “I suppose I wasn’t really.” Pet looked sorry.

  “No harm done.” Charles smiled.

  “No more than you did to yourself, at least,” she said as she walked through the room.

  Charles winced but Ethel’s smile told him she was teasing him.

  “I guess we’d best get going. Tell our parents how exciting today was and get ready for the shift,” Lee said, quite obviously not excited about the day at all. Charles realised with a shock that it was the first night of the full moon.

  “Oh, yes!” Ben jumped up and rushed to the door. “Bye, Ellie. Bye, Mrs Cooper!”

  “I’d best take care of that.” Lee pointed to where they heard Ben opening the front door.

  “See you later.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.” Lee wandered out and they heard him chastising Ben as the two wolves walked down the path.

  “Pet, I wanted to...” Charles started and she looked at him expectantly. “I see you enjoyed yourself today.”

  She smiled. “I know, I know. I complain about magic all the time, but I’ve been wondering lately if magic, and being a witch, is really so bad after all. Maybe it would be great to go to the Academy, spend time with you and – if we can convince him to apply – Lee.”

  “I never said I would apply.”

  Pet’s smile became mischievous. “I know, but I think you will.”

  Charles laughed. “Do you really?”

  “Yes. How’s the head?”

  Charles stopped and realised it was easing off. “Getting better. Finally!”

  “Well, don’t go attempting to get turned again if you don’t want the overwhelming return of your vampire senses. Food seemed fine though?”

  “Yes, just the senses now, the body has worked itself out.”

  “That’s good.” Pet paused and looked at the time. “Look, Charlie, I have to go do something. I need to go see Mike actually.”

  Charles’ good mood dropped but he covered with
a smile. “Oh, no worries. I shall see you later.” He kissed her hand and could not help feeling a little annoyed at the tingling.

  “Sure, see you later.” Pet surprised him by kissing him on the cheek.

  Charles walked with her to the front gate, where they went their separate ways. He supposed going through the gate was more proper than jumping the fence.

  At his front door, he paused and watched Pet’s retreating back, feeling like he was losing something important.

  ****

  Lee woke the morning after the third full moon. He was groggy and had no recollection of the last few days. His mouth felt fuzzy and like he hadn’t slept throughout the whole full moon phase. He tried to move and felt his ankles and wrists tied down. He wriggled, trying to get free.

  “Lee? Honey?”

  He looked to his side and saw his mum. “What...” His voice was a croak. “Why am I tied up?”

  His mum’s face was ashen. She looked like she had been crying, her eyes were red and swollen, the tip of her nose and her cheeks were pink and she sniffled, and she twisted her hands around in her lap. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something but stopped. She put her hand over her mouth and let out a sob. Lee saw Dwight take her by the shoulders and lead her away. Chuck took his mum’s place by his side.

  “Chuck...?”

  “Little brother, I’m sorry...”

  “What happened?”

  “Your wolf... Your wolf took over the whole full moon phase. It was all we could do to restrain you...”

  “What did I do, Chuck?”

  “You killed a human, Lee.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  C

  harles stood in the hallway of the school the next day. He was talking to Ben, who was wondering where Lee was.

  “I’ve not heard from him in a few days,” Charles said, shaking his head.

  “He wasn’t at camp this month... Well, that I expected, but I haven’t heard from him or his family since before the full moon. I’ve tried calling, but no one’s answered or returned my calls. I’m starting to get worried.” Ben looked around as though he was expecting Lee to come striding down the corridor. Charles would not have minded if he did.