by Mia Archer
It was time she was reminded there were terrible things in this world, and the top of that list of terrible things in her world was yours truly.
"Does that hurt Diana?" I whispered.
She didn't respond in so many words, but her pained cries were more than enough. Thumping party music a couple of blocks over stopped as people listened in the night, wondering what was out there screaming.
It wouldn't be too long before campus cops showed up. Not that it mattered. This would be fast. Besides, I knew exactly which skids to grease at the campus police department.
The boots on the ground knew who I was and to steer clear of me.
"I'm glad to hear that it hurts Diana," I whispered. "I want you to remember that I can hurt you even if I can’t kill you. I'm going to go on hurting you. In many ways hurting is a lot worse than killing someone, wouldn't you agree?"
The cry of agony that escaped her lips as one of my clawed fingers dug into what I was pretty sure was her liver was all the confirmation I needed. I pulled my hand out and shook it off. Frowned.
I wasn't a stranger to gore. It was part of the vampire experience, after all. Killing was never as clean as the two red dots on a woman's neck they showed in the older movies.
Still, I felt dirty having Diana’s insides on my outside.
Diana collapsed the moment I pulled my hand out. As though I’d been providing all the support for her with my hand in her guts.
Perhaps I was. I was pretty sure I'd just clawed a good chunk of her liver. Not that it mattered. She’d heal up fast enough.
It was one of the benefits and one of the curses of being undead. As long as I didn’t hit the heart she’d get better. Which meant she could live through all sorts of pain and torture that would kill a mortal.
Immortality was a double-edged sword at times.
Diana doubled over on the ground, a little bit of blood seeping out of her nostrils. Though not much. Our kind never bled out. At least not like humans did.
Not unless we'd just had a little snack, at least.
I leaned over her and took advantage of the opportunity to wipe my hand off on her clothes. I didn't care if I messed up her clothes, but I wasn't going to ruin mine.
“Are we going to remember this conversation Diana?" I asked.
She whimpered.
"Good. I'm glad we understand one another. Now get up and walk it off before the campus cops show up and you give me another reason to be annoyed with you."
From the way she scrambled up despite what must've been excruciating pain it was clear she didn't want to give me any more reason to be annoyed with her. She limped along behind me as I turned back towards the house.
I was still annoyed, but I felt a little better. Rearranging her insides had been therapeutic, to quote all the wishy washy feel good types who’d invaded campus back in the ‘60s and then again in the ‘90s.
Perhaps Mother’s order wasn’t the end of my little corner of the world after all. Hurting Diana could be far more amusing than outright killing her.
I amused myself with those thoughts, but that girl was never far from my mind. It sent a fresh rage coursing through me every time I thought about her with that slayer, but there wasn't anything I could do about it tonight.
Tomorrow was another day, though, as they said in one of my favorite talkies from when I’d been a young woman.
17
Lisa
The farther we got from off-campus housing the better I felt. When we crossed the main road to campus proper I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
I also felt like the eyes that had been on my back ever since I left that sorority house were gone. I wasn't sure if those eyes belonged to Ivy or to someone more dangerous.
More dangerous? What was I thinking? Ivy had been plenty dangerous to Selene.
I didn't care what I thought when I was back there at the sorority house. She must've done something to me. Put me under some sort of spell.
She was a vampire. A monster. She’d killed Selene. I was thinking crazy.
Crazy and yet I couldn't stop thinking about her. The way her eyes looked as they stared into my own. That easy smile that didn't have any hint of fangs.
No, the more time I spent with Ivy the less she seemed like the monster that had been haunting my dreams ever since the Coven Mother first introduced me to Selene’s memories.
Damn it. I was doing it again. Why did my traitorous brain want to give her a free pass for killing my best friend?
It had to be a spell she put me under. It was the only explanation.
"You've been awfully quiet.”
I jumped. I suppose any voice was going to have me jumping. I forced myself to look at Kendra. Forced myself to smile. Even if this wasn’t a night when I felt like smiling.
Was that how it’d started with Selene? She thought she was falling for Ivy and then the vampire scum killed her in the woods? Was I going down the same path as my late best friend?
"Sorry," I said. "I have a lot on my mind tonight."
“I’d say," Kendra said. "I don't think I've ever seen a freshman girl out partying who looks as thoughtful as you do right now."
I tried to smile. Surprisingly I was able to curl up my lips just a little. Not much.
It was weird, but there was something about walking next to Kendra that made me feel safe. As though I didn't have to worry about vampires when I was with her.
Maybe it was that she was so unconcerned. She grinned as though she didn't have a care in the world. It reminded me of a world that didn't have to worry about vampires. Or at the very least a world where people thought vampires were legends and not a very real thing that could kill them at any moment.
That legendary status was precisely what allowed them to continue to operate like they did. Skulking in the shadows. Hunting people. Poor bastards whose final thoughts all had to be variations on the same theme of “but vampires aren’t real!”
I had to remind myself that’s what I was hunting. I was putting a stop to that on this campus.
I’d felt what it was like to have the life drain out of your body. To feel the darkness closing in. The panic of knowing this would be the last breath I ever drew.
I knew it because I’d felt it through Selene’s memories.
Dark thoughts for a walk through campus. I forced myself to take a breath and let it out. Reminded myself that I was safe enough here with Kendra. A cute girl who seemed interested in me.
Not that I had any experience with that sort of thing. It was also entirely possible she was just being nice.
"So do you see a lot of freshman girls on their first night out partying?" I asked.
Kendra shrugged. "A little here and a little there. After all, you can only see freshman girls out partying for the first time for one week out of the year, and this is my third year here."
"Oh yeah? What's your major?"
I could kick myself. What's your major? I was standing here talking to a cute girl and I led with such a clichéd line?
“Law Enforcement,” she said. “Y’know you seem a lot better now that we’re on campus. Are you sure something didn't happen to you back there?"
I nearly stumbled and fell. Kendra's arms shot out and she steadied me. I felt a rush where she touched me. I was almost happy for that reaction. It was nice to know I could still react to a girl touching me. A girl who wasn't a vampire, that is.
"Are you okay?"
I wasn't okay. I was so confused. I didn't know what to think. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. It’s like the thought of my best friend was butting up against whatever Ivy had done to me tonight and my head swam like I’d drank something pretty heavy.
I mean I had drank something pretty heavy. I took a drink a vampire handed to me. Idiot! Was that all this was? A reaction to a supernaturally spiked drink?
I could hope.
"I'm fine. Really."
She smiled that easy grin. The one that made me sh
iver to my core.
"I don't believe you, but I’ll take you at your word for now. Of course if we keep meeting like this you'll have to tell me eventually."
I blushed and smiled. My mouth worked, trying to come up with an excuse, but nothing came out. It’s like my brain was crossing wires as it tried to get words to come out of my mouth.
Damn it. What was it about tonight and me getting all tongue-tied around cute girls? I’d gone my entire life without having a single girl act all that interested in me because they were terrified of rumors about the coven, and now I had two hot girls flirting with me in one night?
Oh, and on top of all that one of the girls flirting with me was also an undead monster who may or may not have killed my best friend which meant I sort of had to swear vengeance on her and make sure she never did that to anyone else.
Fuck.
"It's okay," Kendra said. "You can keep your secrets for now. I'm only half joking."
She held her hand out. "Come on. Let's get you back to your dorm. Away from the scary whatever-it-is that has you jumping at shadows."
Maybe I had been jumping at shadows. I certainly jumped at her words. This girl was dangerously perceptive. It was almost enough to make me think she knew something.
No. Kendra didn't know anything. Couldn’t know anything. And if I started spouting off to her about vampires she’d think I was crazy. I’d have one cute girl running from me as fast as she could.
I took the hand Kendra offered. A shiver ran through me as our hands made contact.
It was so different from Ivy’s touch. I guess I hadn’t realized what was lacking there until I touched a mortal girl’s hand. It was warm, for one.
Not that Ivy's touch was cold. It's just that it wasn't exactly warm like a human’s. Something I hadn't noticed at the time. Weird.
Also something to remember. Someone touches me and they’re not quite at ninety-eight point six and not quite at room temperature? Chances were I was dealing with a vamp.
"So which dorm is yours?" Kendra asked, pulling me out of my thoughts about vampire body temperature.
I nodded to a tall building off in the distance. One of the tallest. It was a freshman dorm so it had to be big. Also pretty Spartan. I understood they'd only added air conditioning to the place a few years ago.
“A bit of a walk, but that’s no problem,” Kendra said. "A walk through campus with good company is always worth it."
I blushed but allowed her to pull me along.
As we walked along I noticed something odd. The neighborhood behind me was completely deserted except for me and Kendra. Now that we were on campus there was a steady stream of people making their way from the dorms out to the house parties.
Not as many as earlier, but they were still trickling out from the dorms.
Weird. Was there actually something keeping people away from where I was? Some supernatural trick the vampires used?
"You're doing it again," Kendra said.
I smiled. The smile came much easier this time. It was getting easier every time I looked at her.
Not that it was difficult to smile at a girl as hot as she was. That was another effect of having whatever Ivy had done to me wearing off.
“Doing what?” I asked, even though I knew what the answer was before the words passed my lips.
"You’ve got that far off look in your eyes. Like you’re thinking about something."
"Mostly all these people," I said. "I can't believe there are so many people going out to get wasted on a Friday night."
Kendra frowned. "Yeah. I worry about them."
I looked at the crowds streaming by. The girls were dressed up like they were going out to a club or something. Of course most of them looked too young to be able to get into any of the clubs around here, which explained why they were going out to house parties to get their booze fix.
Guys who weren't dressed nearly as nice followed the groups of girls. Most of them looked like underclassmen. Too young to go to the bars and too young to throw house parties of their own where they provided the alcohol.
Most of them had latched onto groups of girls. Some of them were even trying to convince girls to go back to the dorms, though none of them seemed to be having much luck.
I shook my head. It was all crazy.
None of them knew they were going out into dangerous territory. Into a tract housing jungle where there was an entire sorority house filled with vampires. To a place where the streets could empty at a moment’s notice and they’d find themselves all alone with no help as the fangs sank in and drained them.
"I worry about them too,” I said, my thoughts pushing me to a moment of honesty.
"Really? Why would you worry?" Kendra asked.
She stared at me intently. All hint of a smile was gone. She searched my eyes as though she was looking for something.
I shivered. Could she possibly suspect? Did she know where I’d been tonight? What that meant?
How had she known to be out where she was, for that matter? Had she really just found me out there by chance and rescued me, or was there more to it than mere coincidence?
I didn't know what to believe anymore. I felt like I couldn't even trust my own mind after whatever Ivy had done to me tonight.
One thing was for sure. I needed to think fast, and unfortunately thinking fast wasn't exactly my strong suit right now. Not with that residual fogginess still clouding my brain. Not with thoughts of Ivy still making me feel giddy like a stupid girl with a crush.
Thankfully I didn’t have to think of anything. I looked up and blinked as I realized we were in front of my dorm. I didn’t know how we’d gotten here so fast, but I was glad for an excuse to get away from Kendra.
Even if she was looking at me expectantly.
“So is this it, or…”
I wasn’t stupid. I’d seen enough shows about life at college to know what she was fishing for, and I wasn’t ready for that. I was too confused. Everything that’d happened tonight was too much for me to even think about that.
“I think it’d be better if I got back to my room on my own,” I said. “But thanks for the walk.”
She didn’t seem too disappointed. I wasn’t sure if I should be thankful or upset that she didn’t press her luck. Either way, I needed to get the hell out of here before I did something else stupid that involved the non-vampire cute girl who’d come into my life.
“I’ll see you around Kendra,” I said.
“I certainly hope so,” she replied.
I turned and walked up the steps into the dorm. When I got to the doors and waved my ID in front of the scanner to let me in I turned. She was still there with a goofy grin that was so cute.
I turned back and made sure the door clicked shut behind me. Tonight wasn’t a night for letting people sneak in behind me. Not when that someone might be a vampire.
At least I’d be safely in my room soon enough. They couldn’t touch me there.
Unless Amber brought Diana home for the night. What if she used the same strange compulsion on her that Ivy used on me tonight?
Great. I walked over to the elevator and tried to remember everything I could about inviting vampires into your home. Did they only need one person’s invitation, or did it take everyone who lived there?
Damn it. It looked like I was going to be sleeping rough in a student lounge on some other floor tonight. Just great.
Better than waking up and finding myself a snack though. Or not waking up at all.
18
Ivy
Night on campus had always been my favorite. Even before I’d become a vampire.
I suppose it was a good thing it was still my favorite time considering I couldn’t spend any time in the daylight unless I wanted to cover myself head to toe in sunscreen or look ridiculous carrying an oversized umbrella.
No, I loved the way campus felt at night. I loved crossing that invisible Rubicon between the off campus housing where everyone partied every night o
f the week and you couldn’t hear yourself think to the more quiet surroundings of campus proper.
Here I felt like I was at an institute of learning. Here I felt like I was a part of something even if I hadn’t been enrolled in the university for decades.
Here I felt a shiver run through me because I knew she was out there somewhere.
I peered at the crowds making their way out to the house parties and Greek parties. I’d been doing this for several nights this week and I hadn’t seen her yet.
Not that I expected her to come out to another party. Not with everything that happened that night. She couldn’t get away from me fast enough, and that bruised my ego as much as it pained me to think she didn’t want anything to do with me.
I smiled. She might think she was clever trying to escape, but she hadn’t been half as clever as she thought she was. All it took was Diana letting me know that her roommate was there that night and I had some information to track her down.
A name, at least. Lisa. A roommate to follow home. That led me to the dorm she stayed in, and from there it’d been easy enough to find her room number and floor.
I could remember a time when Lisa was a new and exotic name. It had come in and out of fashion several times over the decades, and it always came to the university on an eighteen year delay from those fads.
It was beautiful to me though. I didn’t care if it was out of fashion. All that mattered was it was hers. It echoed in my mind like a beating drum.
I needed her, and I couldn’t find her, damn it.
I made my way slowly through campus. Tried to look like someone out enjoying an evening stroll. It’s not like that was far from the truth.
There were lots of people out enjoying the weather. Couples who weren’t into parties. People who were obviously off to spend the night studying at the library, or perhaps at someone’s house where they would pretend to study until nature took its course.
I sighed. I could remember this life. Remember a time when my life wasn’t a nonstop party at the sorority house.
“Are you sure it’s safe for us to be seen like this? I mean if they find out I’m your TA then…”
