by L. M. Miller
“I wish I had known him. You always said he was real nice,” Pearl mentioned, and Seph shook her head firmly.
The memories brought her out of her blood reveries.
“Pearl, he left us. He left us, and don’t ever forget that. You’ll get silly notions in your head to try and find a man that never wanted to be with you, with any of us, in the first place,” Seph said emphatically.
Pearl stared at Seph before nodding and slowly extricating herself from her. Walking off towards the door, she opened it, allowing warm light to flood the dim room. Seph felt herself flinch from it, squinting.
“I can’t think like that, Seph. I can’t think like… you. I don’t ever wanna be that bitter,” and then she fluttered out of the room just as easily as she had fluttered in, leaving Seph with a slightly hungry feeling in her stomach.
She felt a little bit bad about what she had said to Pearl, but then again, she had to know and accept the reality of it. She needed to become embittered like her if she was going to survive. She had only been seven when they had been taken away from their mother. Seph had been twelve. She remembered every little detail about the abuse whereas the twins hardly remembered a thing and had never even known their father. She knew what it felt like to be prey, and she never wanted to feel like that again. Prey? Since when had she become so Darwinian?
She gripped her hair frantically. What was she going to do? Nate was unconscious, and she was going to have to face the masses at some point. They would notice Nate was missing! Well, wait… Last night, she and Nate had been out pretty late. They had snuck back in without their foster parents, Bill and Janette, realizing it. Sometimes he slept in. He could stay up here for a little while. Enough for her to get through the birthday song, come back up here, and hide him. Bill would cut Nate some slack for sleeping in. Nate was Bill’s favorite. Bill, who was always drinking and working in his garage (he owned his own mechanic’s shop), liked how Nate was a quiet but hard worker. So had Seph, until she had bitten him and probably scarred him for life!
She sighed. And Janette would cut her some slack for sleeping in late because she and Pearl were Janette’s favorites for one simple reason. They were both really pretty girls, and Janette was obsessed with looks. Every day, before going to work as a cashier at the local supermarket, she would put on loads of make-up, taking nearly an hour to do her ‘masterpiece’. Her hair was also always extravagant, lending a whole new meaning to the term ‘big hair’.
In fact, Seph and Pearl were the only two girls in their foster home of boys, seven others, in fact. There was Pearce, Pearl’s twin, Nate, Seph’s best friend, Manny, the five-year-old, pot-bellied, little boy, Bobby, the insanely energetic and angry little seven-year-old, Dean, a twelve-year-old who loved being in foster care because he never wanted to see his two jailbird parents ever again, Lawrence, the depressed, fourteen-year-old who could draw anything, and lastly, Terrence, the eight-year-old nerd who did not seem to quite fit in just yet.
What about Nate?! She calmed herself, ignoring the thick, heavy scent of blood in the air. She knew what she needed to do. She needed to go downstairs and be wished a happy birthday by absolutely everyone. She knew it was time. She would hurry it up, scurry back up here, and hide the body. Heaving another great sigh, she walked out the still open door and descended the stairs.
One hour later, and she wanted to die. Everybody was talking too loud, breathing too loud, moving too loud… And the light! It was fading, but it still felt like daggers were slowly being inserted into her eyes, twisting… twisting... A storm was picking up, but sadly, it had yet to cover the sun. She had withstood their grins and cheers long enough, right? Would they miss her if she just happened to disappear into her and Pearl’s dim little room on her special day? She needed to hide Nate, and she needed more blood. She was so hungry. Now that she had gotten her first taste of the blood of the damned, she wanted more and more. Everyone was looking tastier and tastier by the minute.
She had accepted Janette and Bill’s gift of a nice oaken hairbrush inlaid with mother-of-pearl. She had accepted Pearl and Pearce’s gift of a framed photograph of the three of them, smiling and laughing in some wildflowers behind their house. The rest of the boys had all pitched in to buy her a nice copy of Pride & Prejudice, one of her favorite books. She had a raggedy, used copy of it, but she had read it so many times (it was actually duct-taped together). And that was on top of the bracelet, which they noticed. She had quickly explained that Nate had given her his present and theirs before going back to bed, not feeling too well. They were all very thoughtful gifts. No one needed to give her anything else. Nobody would miss her… hopefully.
She did manage to slip away, finally. Creeping up to her bedroom, she basked in the darkness of it all. Only allowing herself a few moments, she immediately went to Nate. She checked his vitals. He was fine. He was fine… His blood had clotted amazingly well. His blood… Pulling him out from behind the bed, she started lapping at his neck again, and the clot disappeared. His blood flowed freely again like a fountain of youth.
“Seph?” Pearl barged into their room, grabbing what she had left on their vanity, and gawked at what she saw.
There was a moment of dead silence. Dead. Then Pearl was screaming. She was screaming and screaming and screaming, and Seph didn’t know what to do! Pearl dropped her other gift for Seph, a crystal ball, and the glass shattered everywhere. A piece sliced the young girl’s leg, and rubies beaded up on her coffee-colored skin. Seph’s eyes locked onto the bloody pearls. She hardly even noticed when Pearce appeared behind his twin sister, and his mouth twisted opened in shock at the sight before him too.
She tore her eyes away from Pearl’s cut, suddenly noticing Pearce. What was she going to do? What was she doing?! This was not good. It definitely was not good. Slowly, she glanced down at the fallen Nate. Blood was still slowly trickling out of his neck wound, and he was unconscious. His heart was beating but slowly, very, very slowly. Bending down, she licked the side of his neck, over the puncture marks she had left behind. The wound instantly sealed itself and stopped bleeding, coagulating that quickly. She licked the excess blood away before looking back up at her two siblings. She had been so distracted by the blood again. Her sister’s scream slowly petered out to nothing.
Twin looks of disgust were on the twins’ faces. They looked so horrified with her, so disgusted, but what she had done? It had felt right. It had felt natural, and it had felt good. Nate hadn’t been complaining. Now he was not doing much of anything. Would he live? Calming herself down a little as she realized that she was on the brink of hysteria, she listened to his heartbeat with her attuned ears again. It was slow but steady. It wasn’t erratic. That was a good sign. She was relatively certain that he would survive, but he needed to get to a hospital and fast.
Why would they not stop staring?! She was still their sister! She was something weird and unnatural at the moment, but she was still their sister! She finally could not take their stares anymore. Rising up at lightning speed, she sprang past them, pushing the two apart. They both fell brutally to the side, and she bolted down the stairs. She wanted out of there. She had to leave. She could not bear to dwell upon the disgusted looks on her siblings’ faces anymore.
She vaguely recalled shooting past Dean and Bobby on the stairs, mirroring images of shock and concern emblazoning their faces. She heard shouting, and Bill came out of the kitchen, furious at “all that racket”. He froze when he saw Seph and no doubt the blood bedecking her face. At first, he would believe it to be her own blood. Then he would notice how it particularly centered around her mouth, and he would soon come to the conclusion of what she really was and what she had done. Vampires, werewolves, and witches were uncommon but not unheard of nowadays. There was also an awful stigma associated with them. Was that what she was? One of those freaks? One of those freaks who were shipped off to Monster Academy and never heard from again? What was she becoming? Bill should be noticing right about…
&n
bsp; “Dear God,” he crossed himself, and she swore under her breath.
That was a bit melodramatic. She looked over to see Lawrence glance up from his perch on the couch, watching some nondescript TV channel. He was never that interested in much of anything. The poor boy was very depressed. However, when he saw her face and then looked away, he immediately did a double take. His eyes became riveted to her face, to her mouth. She ignored the look and the answering twist in her heart as she saw the horror in his eyes.
She had made it to the entryway of the kitchen. She could see Terrence in the kitchen, fork midway to his mouth. He was just gaping at her, as was everyone, it would seem. Immediately, when Manny saw her face as he was petting their huge Great Dane, Gargantor, he burst into tears, terrified. Was he terrified of her or of what may have happened to her? The question ripped her heart. Manny was adorable, and when he cried those tears, you just wanted to hold him to your chest and comfort him. Considering the circumstances, she knew that was a bad idea. She just looked at him solemnly. She looked at everybody solemnly.
Lastly, there was Janette. The water was still running in the sink as she held one now cleaned dish in the air, waiting to be dried. Maybe she was trying a new air-dry method. Seph felt truly hurt. She was still Seph. Sure, she was a bloody Seph, but Seph all the same.
Flashes of Nate’s staring face ran through her mind. It hurt her to think about him, to think about how she had hurt him. He had liked it though… until he was knocked unconscious. What had she really done to him? She had really drank his blood? She had kind of realized that reality the whole time, but she didn’t want to admit it. She had drank his blood. He might die. She might have killed him… Her best friend…
Suddenly, a dish flew over her shoulder, narrowly missing her head. She ducked instinctively and hissed in the direction of her foster mother. She hissed? Everything was glazing over with a red tint. She was angry. She was hungry. She was furious. She was ravenous. These people have no idea what they’re dealing with, a feral part of her mind thought viciously. She could kill every last member of her unconventional family and be ready for more. She glowered up at Janette and could only imagine what her narrow slits of eyes must look like to these normal people.
“Get out of my house, vampire!” Janette shrieked, hurling another dish at Seph.
She avoided it by simply catching it and holding it up in speculation. She had some fast reflexes, inhuman reflexes. She dropped it, allowing the thick shards to shatter on the floor. They rattled across the cheap hardwood. She glared up at her foster mother but decided against her baser nature. She did not attack her but turned her back to her instead. Another dish flew her way, and she caught that one as well. She couldn’t help but keep marveling at the speed and agility of her arms as well as the acuity of her hearing. She had literally heard the dish whistling through the air before her arm had snapped up to catch it.
Then a shot rang out, and everybody jumped. There were several screams. The dish fell from her hand as though it were falling in slow motion, and then it shattered just like the first one. Seph reacted after a pause and clutched her injured arm. She glowered up at Bill ferociously as he nervously cocked the gun again. He had shot her like an animal! Like she was a danger! Like she was a monster… Before another shot rang out, she was out the door, disappearing into the darkness of the night and leaving a trail of blood behind her.
CHAPTER TWO
She lost herself in the surrounding woods. She didn’t dare look back for fear of pursuit. He had shot her! Actually shot her! They had lived there at least a couple of years now, and she had thought they had a relatively good relationship! Not a relationship that warranted in shooting her! Her foster mother too! She had thrown dishes at her! Dishes! She could have really hurt her! If any of them had hit her… She had some pretty sharp reflexes. Too sharp. She would never have normally been able to catch a flying dish aimed at her head. Dodge it, yes, but catch it? That was a bit much…
She clenched her arm a little harder, hoping to deaden the pain by cutting off the blood flow. She was leaving a trail of blood behind her. Any decent tracker would be able to follow her, and Bill did love to hunt. Even an indecent tracker would be able to follow her at this rate. Maybe he wouldn’t follow her. If not for the fact that she had almost been like a daughter to him, maybe for the fact that she was scary right now. She felt scary. She felt like a monster… No time to reflect on that. She fervently hoped that Nate would survive, but somehow, she knew that if the ambulance was a good one and got him to the hospital in time, he would be all right. She could hear the ambulance arriving just two miles away. They were loading Nate up now. She hadn’t taken enough to kill him though. How did she know that?!
The wind threw her hair all about as a storm picked up. There was no rain yet, but as she looked up at the roiling clouds, she knew it was coming. Seph paused a moment, still clutching her arm although she was fairly certain it wasn’t bleeding anymore. She could no longer feel that hot warm trickle over her fingers. What was she supposed to do with a gunshot wound?! She never thought she would need that knowledge! Studying her arm, she watched in awe as the bullet hole began to sizzle. The bullet slowly wheedled itself out, plopping to the earth. It glinted in the light of the full moon. Then the wound sealed itself up, and her skin was as smooth as ever. What… Was she really becoming a… She could not complete that thought.
She should go back to the house. She wasn’t about to enter that house, but she needed to see what they were going to do, who they were going to call, if they were going to come after her. Within five minutes, she had covered the two miles back to the house and was now lurking in a tree not far from her previous home. She could see into the kitchen amazingly well. Bill and Janette were pacing back and forth, back and forth. Janette was hysterical and screaming so loud. Bill was silently gripping his gun with crazy eyes. None of the kids were in sight. Glancing upwards, she noticed lights on and shadows moving in the upstairs rooms, curtains drawn. They must have sent them all to bed. No doubt they were all severely traumatized with the sight of their foster brother being taken away, bleeding, all because of their crazy foster sister who had taken off running into the woods after snacking on him like he was a candy bar or something. They had to be even more confused than she was (she doubted that).
Janette had called her a vampire. A vampire? Vampires were real. Everybody knew that. Vampires and werewolves and witches and wizards, they all did exist. They actually had a school for them, nicknamed Monster Academy by the normals. Even the students attending the school called it that apparently, or so rumor had it. What was the real name of the school? Zephyr Hall? Yea, that was it…
Headlights flashed in the now complete darkness, and she ducked down further in the boughs of the tree. It was a sleek car, a Jaguar, jet-black. It pulled up smoothly in front of the house, and several individuals stepped out of it. The first man to step out was a little on the short side. He had long, salt-and-pepper hair and a jutting chin. With a defined widow’s peak and incredibly deep eyes that were a resilient green-gold in color, he looked very imperious. His brows drooped over his eyes like his moustache drooped over his mouth. His nose was long and craggy, possibly broken once or twice. He looked very dignified, somehow, and wore a silver trench coat over his all black attire. He made his way regally to the front door and knocked with a short rap.
Several other persons flanked him. Two men stuck together, side by side. One was huge (the word domineering came to mind) with midnight-black skin, but his hair was blond, and his almond eyes were silver. He was dressed strangely as well, wearing a turquoise blazer that somehow fit his large frame, as well as dark slacks and a white turtleneck. He looked just as strange and out of place as the first man.
As for his companion, he was not nearly as overbearing in appearance. He looked a little frightening in a black muscle tee that embellished a very strong body coupled with baggy, black pants, showing off a long, silver knife attached to his hip. His blac
k hair was closely shaven, and his hair matched his equally dark eyes, which looked intensely predatorial. His fair skin nearly glowed in the moonlight. His facial features were strong, Roman-like with his defined nose and cheekbones. He was all angles and no soft spots. His dark eyes were piercing, obsidian pools that could draw you in like a moth to the flame. That was when Seph noticed that he was staring at her. He was staring right at her.
She quivered a moment, shaking the tree branches infinitesimally. However, this slight movement seemed to catch the eye of his much larger companion. He turned and stared directly at her as well. How could they see her? She was hidden in the shadows nearly five hundred yards away from them, but she knew with absolute certainty that they were staring directly at her. Not in her general direction but at her.
She needed to move. They weren’t chasing her yet, but they would be soon. Why else would they be there? They could be vampire hunters, for all she knew, with their strange clothes and long knives. Slipping to the ground silently, she whisked away into the darkness of the trees. Who were those people? How could they see her? Then again, how could she see them? How did she get back to the house in about five minutes when she had been two miles away before that? She wasn’t that good of a runner. How had she run two miles without noticing? No huffing and puffing? Maybe she was a vampire… To be a vampire… that entailed drinking blood, like Nate’s blood. It had tasted so good. Right and wrong all at the same time. Poor Nate though. How could she have done that to him? He had liked it, but he probably was not going to like it when he woke up. He was going to have a huge headache and twin fang marks in his neck permanently. If he woke up the next day…
