“As Professor Duquette put it so plainly, even though this academy chose you, not all of you will have what it takes to survive here. As a vampire, a lack of certain skills, means certain death. That goes for the werewolves here too.
“But study well and overcome the challenges that you will be faced with around every corner, and you could be directly responsible for a coming golden-age for our kind.” Fierce applause erupted throughout the hall and I forced myself to clap, turning to take a proper look at the other students on each side of me.
I recognized one of them as the same girl who’d been registering with Corentine le Boursier when Ulric and I had arrived at her counter. She had petite features and bottle-green eyes that held a glimmer of something other than the cockiness and lust for power so prevalent within her kind. Our kind? Ugh. Complimented by her sandy hair, her complexion wasn’t exactly sun-kissed but had a healthy tone to it, uncovered by the lashings of makeup worn by many of the others I’d seen so far. It wouldn’t have surprised me had she been fully mortal, or a witch, or just not a vamp. I shuddered inwardly as it occurred to me that her radiance might come from having recently ‘fed’. She smiled at me and for the first time since entering the place, I didn’t feel like I was being sized up one way or the other. I smiled back.
“I was pretty shit-scared that I’d been selected to come here. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you,” she said leaning in and whispering.
“It’s barely sunk in,” I said breathing out.
The hall began to disband and le Boursier took the stage, “New students are to regroup up in the foyer at the entrance so you can be sorted into your dorms and pick up your lesson plans. Those of you that came late or are new and haven’t already done so on the way in, don’t forget to provide a sample of your blood as you leave the hall. Hand your vials to any professor as you leave this hall.”
“I forgot about that,” I grimaced.
“Don’t worry, it’s not so bad. I’m Natalie,” said the girl extending her hand.
“Katrina,” I replied as we shook hands.
“Yes, I know. I think most of us know who you are,” she reminded me with an amused look.
“Let’s hope the uniform helps me blend in a little,” I mumbled, “so, how do I even do this?” I withdrew the needle-pen from my bag, feeling slightly sick. Other students had cleared past us and we were now alone in our row and in that part of the hall. I clumsily handled the instrument. “Is this real silver?”
“I think so,” Natalie replied with a sympathetic smile.
“In my coven, we had always learned that vampires and werewolves were repelled by silver.”
“I asked the same question when I was turned and came to live with my Novus family. My dad said the legend comes from ancient times when alchemists once valued silver even more than gold due to its antibacterial properties. Because most mortals thought of vampires and werewolves as degraded bodies, it was assumed to be a repellant. Needless to say, they wouldn’t issue us silver suckers if we were all allergic.”
“Wow,” I was impressed by her knowledge and grossed out by what these glorified needles were called.
“It’s no biggie, my dad who was a chemist in Europe a long time ago, in his mortal life.”
“Huh,” I said. I took off the lid, squeezed my middle finger and closed my eyes hard enough to see little pink stars as I stabbed the needle in. The stinging immediately made me open my eyes and I saw a thick ruby droplet of my blood, oozing out of my finger. “Sorry, can you hold this?” I asked Natalie as I fiddled to unscrew the tiny glass vial without losing what I’d painfully procured.
I gasped as I saw her eyes, still green but a thousand times more intense than they’d been a moment before, ringed blood-red. Her face was totally pale and all veins beneath her skin had risen straight to the surface, buoyed by the blood that coursed through them. Her mouth gaped open baring two large fangs on each side of her two front teeth.
Before I could react, in a blurred rush of movement, she was gone. I shakily transferred the blood into the vial, trying not to draw any attention from the sparse crowd that had trailed to the doors but obviously they’d turned back when Natalie whirled past them. I got my stuff together and went up to the front, unsteadily handing my vial to Devin, whom I could tell wasn’t fully clued in on what had just taken place but likely had a pretty good idea.
“If I were you, I’d try not to wave your blood under their noses like that,” said Ulric with a smirk, catching up to me as I proceeded out the hall and upstairs.
“I didn’t have much choice in the matter, did I? Le Boursier was clear that we couldn’t leave without giving a sample,” I snapped. The guy could at least show some sympathy about how shocked I was.
“Hey, I told you it was easier and more private to do it at the gate.” He was relentless.
“Don’t you have a class to get to or something?”
“You’re shaken, let me walk you upstairs.”
“Wouldn’t you be? She was so normal one minute and then the next…”
“Welcome to a crash course in being up close and personal with vampires. Look, you’ll get used to it,” Ulric softened his tone like he had done in the car.
“I just. I thought she was nice.”
“She’s a fledgling, she’s still getting her bearings like all the Novus students here. They’re not like Sanguines. They’re still learning to control their thirst. And it was probably really hard for her because of your witch-blood.” Nothing like being a victim and getting the blame for your plight.
“Then why don’t you go console her?” I rolled my eyes.
“Because, I actually do have a class to get to, as you mentioned. Uniform looks nice on you, by the way,” Ulric winked and walked away, leaving me annoyed as hell because it made him look kind of cute. The uniform was another story.
Chapter 6
The main foyer where everyone was congregated was much louder than it had been before. The two groups were still quite separate but everyone looked a little less rigid, relieved even, to have gotten settled. I still felt totally alone and intimated with not even the vaguest chance of being welcomed into the pre-formed cliques. In a corner by a set of windows was Natalie, equally alone, looking distressed.
“Are you okay?” I asked, approaching her with caution.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, seeming truly regretful. “This is one of the hardest parts, when you get triggered and don’t realize it until the transformation’s already taken place.
“It’s not your fault,” I said going and standing next to her.
“Do you find it tempting too?” she glanced at my hand, the one with my pricked finger, which had already healed. She looked away quickly.
“No, not at all,” I said.
“Hmm. Maybe it’ll develop differently in you. You’re not a Novus so it makes sense.”
“Can I ask you something?” I asked, not wanting to talk about my potential passion for human blood. Or any blood.
“Please,” replied Natalie, looking a little less disturbed.
“Do you have that reaction to…all blood?”
“Vampires aren’t attracted to the blood of other vampires. It’s greatly looked down on because it’s seen as a kind of incest. We don’t like the blood of werewolves either. It would be a last resort. Mortals, yes. But witch and faery blood…it’s intoxicating. Not that I’ve ever drunk from a witch or faery. And I never would.”
I felt relief knowing that unless Natalie was admitting to feeling incestuous around me, she didn’t consider me a vamp. And it felt good that whatever ‘activation’ Lorna and Babette had talked of, wasn’t strong enough to override the witch blood in me. “Do you think we’ll be in any of the same classes?” I asked, wanting to move on from the incident.
“I really hope so,” said Natalie, looking better. “I heard from what some of the others are saying, that we’ll get to know which dorm we’re being assigned to.”
&
nbsp; “It’s not that big a mystery,” Goth Girl cut into our conversation, giving me absolute daggers.
“Oh?” asked Natalie.
“There are only three groups at this school this year. The Sanguines, who like me, are true vampires. The Novus, who like you are inferior wannabes that had to be sucked almost completely dry to get a shot at immortality,” Goth Girl pointed a crimson, nail-varnished finger at Natalie, “and then, way down below there are the werewolves, who are the rejects of every society on the planet and get to be here because they make excellent fighter dogs.”
Natalie and I stood there, both of us unsure of what to say. I really could have done with Safi’s help in dealing with the girl who was obviously going to be Bloodline Academy’s alpha bully. It astounded me that no matter which group she belonged to, that Goth Girl’s confidence was where it was on the very first day at the academy. I cringed as I imagined what she’d be like to deal with a few months in.
“It’s not obvious where you’ll be placed because you’re clearly not in any of the groups,” she turned on me. “I heard you were adopted by your precious quartz sisters because they found you somewhere on a scrap heap and took pity on you. Of course, had your parentage been known, your mother and father would have been punished by the ultimate death because you’re a walking abomination. Your kind isn’t supposed to exist.”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” I said with all the evenness I could muster up. What I wanted was to slap her smug little face off.
“There you are, Lilith. What are you doing mingling with them?” said an obnoxious but stunning, golden-haired vampire, sneering at us and putting his arm around Goth Girl’s – Lilith’s – waist.
“I’m not mingling with them Riskel, I’m letting them know how things are around here,” Goth Girl replied to the vampire whose tresses went all the way down his back. His eyes were a subtle green and he looked like he could make it without trying, as a supernatural actor in Hollywood. Those were in big demand as both men and women with any element of the supernatural were more striking on screen than a mortal with or without the artificial enhancements of plastic surgery. The supernatural community also lived a mortal eternity so there were long-term opportunities there in terms of the drama and storylines to last many mortal generations. Lilith pouted sulkily at Riskel and allowed herself to be led away by him.
“This isn’t good,” frowned Natalie, “what if she’s in our classes?”
“Well at least we, or you, won’t have her on your dorm. They’re set by our groups, remember?”
“That’s true,” Natalie was relieved. “What does that mean for you, do you think? You might share your dorm with her.” She cringed in sympathy.
“If I do, I guess I’ll have to watch my back so she doesn’t punish me with an ultimate death,” I said, doing an impression of Goth Girl, knowing how literally true that could be with her already hating me as much as she did.
***
Binders were handed out with our timetables and after collecting them, I slumped into a chair in the giant food hall which was located just under the level with the lecture-hall we’d been in when we were listening to the Ice Queen – Professor Duquette – and Principal Nadasdy.
“These look a little intense,” groaned Natalie, lining both of our timetables up after checking out her own. We were both relieved when we realized that apart from a few differences here and there for the subjects that were different for Sanguine, Novus and werewolves, all first-year compulsory subject 101’s were the same for us.
“Oh shoot!” It was my turn to moan, “I’ve just realized that for the couple of classes that are split by our three groups, I’ll be with the Sanguines.”
“Hmm,” said Natalie.
“You know what that means – Goth Girl, I mean Lilith, I think was her name, will be in my class and so will Riskel, and I’ll be alone.”
“Hmm, don’t worry, it’ll be okay, there’ll be a teacher present so if she tries anything, I’m sure they’ll keep her straight. Duquette certainly did a good job of that.”
“Speaking of which, look who’s going to be teaching all of us ‘‘Supernatural Combat: Basic Defense and Attack’, I screwed up my eyes.
“I hear you – I don’t think I’ll be able to breathe out in her lessons,” agreed Natalie.
All the first years had been taken on a tour of the whole of Bloodline Academy by second years. Part of me had hoped our guide would be Ulric as in such short a time, I found his presence least threatening but it had been some girl, whose name I’d forgotten the minute she’d said it.
As it turned out – and this was something that had to be unknown in the rest of the supernatural world including the S.L.A. – the place was absolutely huge. The building that used to be the Ursuline Convent and was the known part of the academy, was only the tip of the iceberg. Most of the academy, the dorms, the classrooms and numerous halls, including a few large areas for physical training, were all deep underground. I’d counted at least ten such floors below ground-level and each had networks spreading outwards and underneath the city, like the roots of a thousand-year-old tree.
I was completely exhausted, having not slept in a day-and-a-half that felt like years. I yawned and slumped further, knowing that even thought it was past three o’clock in the morning, it was only lunchtime in the land of vamps and werewolves.
“Sleepy?” asked Natalie, eating a piece of her very rarely cooked steak and dipping a bread roll into the fluffy mashed potatoes that had taken on a pink tone because if the blood from the meat.
“I sleep during the night,” I replied breaking off pieces of my bread-roll and trying to eat something although my body appeared to have shut down towards food so late.
“Oh, sorry I forgot!”
“Besides, where does all this food even come from? I don’t see anyone serving. It’s just kept there,” I pointed at the banquette that was laid out in the middle of the spacious room. The long table had at least twenty different types of intricately put together, hearty dishes to choose from. And judging by the quantity of the food, it looked like they’d hired caterers.
“My parents told me the school has an extensive in-house staff apart from the professors and administrators. The Sanguine vamps are known to have indulgent tastes and apparently, some of the most skilled chefs in the world have worked at St. Erzsebet’s over the years.”
“But where are they all, the cooking staff?” I asked.
“Nadasdy has a strict policy that anyone who’s neither a student and nor a professor needs to do their jobs so well, that they blend into the background.”
“What, like they don’t exist?”
“As far as students are concerned, they don’t. Anything else would be…distracting.”
“How demeaning! Are they mortals or other supes?”
“I don’t know. I’m guessing mortal. The academy is strict on letting any other supernatural being in for obvious security purposes. They’re paid handsomely for as long as they work here. My mum said the money they make is obscene, like ten or twenty times what they’d get at the best hotels in the world. Have a gig like that and as a mortal you’d be set for life.”
“If you lived after the year was over.” Something just didn’t sound right with the whole set up. Natalie said nothing. “I never thought about whether vamps actually eat food,” I admitted after a while of sitting there, not sure what to say.
“We don’t have to. We can live on a diet of…blood,” said Natalie, still self-conscious after what had happened between us earlier, “but it’s not practical or preferred. We all do feedings from time to time. Have you heard of a blood bar?”
“No,” I said, trying to tone down the disgust factor. I pictured somewhere like a regular bar or club, only with blood.
“It’s somewhere we can go to get topped up if we need to. I suspect that’s why there are all those tunnels running though the lower parts of the academy, so we can come and go between classes and have
a life outside the school too. There are loads of them in New Orleans.”
“Oh? Is it something you have to go to – to get topped up?” I hoped with every part of me, that in time, I wouldn’t need to drink blood to nourish me. The thought of it worsened my fatigue ten-fold.
“You probably don’t have to but it’s recreational and helps recharge, like blowing off some steam.”
“Like normal bars?”
“Right, yes. But with blood,” Natalie said. Awesome, I thought, making a face that gave me away. “But more routinely, everyone just gets bags delivered to their residence. You keep them in the fridge just like the rest of your fresh, perishable food. There’s also blood in the fridge in the dorms and food hall.”
“Do you think they do deliveries here?”
“Definitely for the vampires. I don’t think werewolves need any. They just eat a lot of this,” she gestured at her plate with her knife in one hand. I put down my dinner roll, fully done with my food. “I’m curious,” Natalie said, “if you’re part Sanguine, you don’t seem to display any of our nature or traits.”
“I know,” I said, remembering how my vision at night seemed greatly heightened, I asked her if she had sharper senses since being turned.
“Absolutely, we need them. At least we did, before blood was delivered to us in bags,” she smiled.
“Well, according to the speeches we heard earlier, they’re still very much needed. They talked like there’s something brewing between vampires and the supernatural community,” I started.
“Hmm,” said Natalie. “I can’t wait to see who we’re rooming with.”
“I dread to think,” I replied.
“Why?”
“For the same reason as our lessons when we’re split up by group. There’s no way we’ll ever share the same room or even the same dorm. You’re Novus and I’m not.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize, you’re right,” said Natalie, disappointedly.
Magic Within: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 1) Page 6
