Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  “So, you’ve pretty much raised yourself?” She asserted, and he nodded, red-gold hair flopping in his eyes briefly.

  “My uncles have tried to be role models for me in the past three years, but they seem to understand that I’m used to surviving on my own. But they do wanna be my ‘fathers’, I guess, and I dunno… I want that. I want a dad, if that’s so wrong,” she understood completely.

  “I know exactly what you mean. I’ve always just wanted a dad, a mom. I tried with my foster parents. Bill kinda was like a dad, but he drank too much and never really had time for us. Janette… she wants to be my friend more than my parent,” Seph just shook her head sadly.

  “I guess it’s too late now, right?” He said, and she nodded.

  “All we can hope for is that we’ll be better parents then either of ours,” she stated, and they both gazed off at the lightening, lavender sky, dove-gray puffs of clouds starting to illuminate.

  “Well, just staying with them, and we’ll already be better than our parents. Doesn’t take much effort,” they both laughed lightly before she checked her watch.

  “Oh… it’s been like thirty minutes. Oh well, Francesca knows we’re just talking. Now, time to show you the Room,” he looked a little confused as she pulled him to his feet. “What is with this hair?” She asked as it fell in his eyes again.

  “It makes me different,” he said jokingly, and she laughed again.

  “Ya, that’s what makes you different, wizard,” she responded, leading him towards the ravine.

  His face had to look just like hers had that first night she had seen the entrance to the room, very comical and overwhelmed by the presence of the maze. She laughed, moving past him to key in the code and open the door. Immediately, she saw the plight of her friends and went to help the others round up Silo as he walked around the room. Silo had apparently uncovered a rat’s nest and was trying to gobble down as many rat babies as he could when they arrived, never mind the floor.

  “Silo!” She called sternly, radiating power as the other harassed-looking girls stepped away from the little dragon.

  He looked guiltily up at her. Whereas Abernathy was the mother, she was the enforcer. He was scared of her, and maybe someday he would learn to respect her. However, until that time, she would govern him with an iron fist.

  “Silo, we don’t eat messy food on the carpet, now do we?” She asked as they had been teaching him these rules for the past week or so.

  He needed to learn, and she was not going to be very lenient about it. Hanging his head low, he slunk off. He gave up on his game of attempting to infiltrate the ranks of humans protecting the rat babies, which were so scrumptious to him.

  “Now, we should take these outside,” Seph gestured at the babies and some of their remains as Abernathy hurried over to console the downtrodden dragon, a pearly tear in one glittering, coal-black eye.

  Picking up the nest with its squirming kids and some body parts, she hurried out the door. She threw the pieces into the maze and set the rat nest down near the door. She heard approaching footsteps, and someone cleared their throat. Francesca and Linda peered through the open door cautiously to see who it was, but Seph knew his mind, his presence. She slowly looked up into Rodney’s golden eyes.

  “Hi, Rodney,” she said a little nervously, slowly rising and dusting off her hands.

  “Hey, Seph,” he said, just as awkwardly, and they didn’t move for a moment as they just stared at each other.

  Suddenly, he strode forward and gave her a big hug. After a second, she hugged him back, breathing in his werewolf scent, feral but very Rodney. They slowly pulled apart, and she was smiling so hard that it hurt.

  “No hard feelings,” he said, brushing a little bloody tear off her face. “We all have our days,” he commented, and she nodded, hugging him once more.

  They entered the Room, and Tristan’s eyes grew even larger as he recognized Rodney. He just stared at him a moment, stared at Rodney and Seph side by side. Everybody had seen them hug and reconcile outside the open, front door. He had not recognized him then, but he recognized him now.

  “You… you saved me,” he said, glancing guiltily over at Seph.

  “I guess you could say that,” Rodney laughed good-naturedly, squeezing Seph’s shoulder before making his way over to Tristan. “Rodney Steele,” he held out a golden-tan hand.

  “Tristan Solitto,” he shook his hand, almost equally dark with his olive skin.

  “You a witch- wizard?” He asked, and Tristan nodded. “What element do you got?” He asked, and Seph tuned in curiously.

  “He’s really good with electricity,” Linda piped up, glancing up from her general cleaning of the Room.

  “He’s also really good at just about everything else. He’s real quick to learn spells. And he’s gotta special affinity for metal and earth, too,” Abernathy called up as she petted Silo, who looked exuberant again.

  Tristan grinned a little sheepishly.

  “Good, we need a good wizard in this group,” Abernathy and Linda rolled their eyes at Rodney’s comment, but they were all happy that he was all right.

  Seph was being particularly quiet. She had noticed the newly healed scars on his face as well as the way he winced when he turned because of her bite on his side. She had seen the ugly-looking bite on his neck when he turned his head too, even though he was trying his best to hide it with his collar flipped up. She felt horrid and guilty all over again. How could she have let herself get that far? He noticed her staring and walked over, resting his hand on her exposed shoulder.

  Stop beating yourself up about it, Seph. It happens to everyone, he explained, and she just shook her head.

  Have you ever lost control like that before? She waited for his answer, which was not forthcoming. I didn’t think so. No one has. Not like that, she continued, eyes huge and downcast, similar to Silo’s chastened ones not too long ago.

  Look, I told you, no hard feelings. Now, you’re going to hurt my feelings if you keep making a big deal about this. Smile, and let’s have fun, he said, and she did manage to smile wretchedly at him. Well, that’ll scare small children, she laughed aloud. C’mon, and they made their way over to Linda and Tristan, who were engrossed in their own wizardly conversation.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The next week went by quickly enough. Eventually, Seph did stop beating herself up about the whole Rodney and Tristan thing. However, she was being plagued by dreams now. They were dreams of fangs and fur and blood and moons and suns. They were not pleasant dreams. They were more like nightmares.

  She found herself beginning to exclude herself more and more from the others. They seemed to take notice but left her alone. Were they afraid of her? She missed home. She missed a place where people were not wary around her, were not afraid of her. It was easy enough to get people to fear you, but to get people to respect you? That took effort. She never wanted their fear in the first place.

  Everything began to remind her of home, of Nate, of Dean and Manny and Terrence, Bobby, Lawrence, Pearl and Pearce. She even missed Janette and Bill. She had an ache deep in her chest all the time, missing them.

  In HU, they were covering the Aztecs and their magical wars, and that reminded her of Manny, the little Hispanic boy with his pudgy tummy. In Basics, they learned a happiness charm, which reminded her of Lawrence, who always needed to be cheered up. In Lit, they read some Greek mythology, the story of Persephone, in which she got a lot of stares. This reminded her of her mother and why she had named her Persephone, which in turn reminded her of the twins, Pearl and Pearce.

  During Gobbledegook, she was reminded of little Manny again, of how they had to teach him English from his native Spanish, but he had learned easily enough. She had actually picked up on a lot of Spanish from him then. She missed him terribly. She had been like a mother to him, always taking care of him and making sure none of the older boys picked on him too much. They would always call him Doughboy, and she was quick to stop the nam
e calling as soon as Manny came running to her with big, fat tears rolling from his eyes. Janette could care less about the little boy half the time.

  At lunch, the meal served to all food eaters was hamburgers, a specialty of Bill’s. Hieroglyphs? Lawrence looked a lot like Sir Rey, now that she thought about it. Drama? Dean, quiet Dean, loved to spout random Shakespearean quotes at anyone who would listen, which was her more often than not. Vamp Class? It reminded her of Nate and what she had done to him. Everything was getting to her. Everything was reminding her of her family and her old home.

  She decided that very night to do something about all this moping. Tomorrow she would skip school and visit her family again. Well, maybe she would not visit them, per say, so much as just look at them. It would be exactly one week since she had attacked Tristan and hurt Rodney. Fitting, since that was the event that caused this breaking point. She felt like she didn’t fit in anymore, and she needed to be normal again. But she wasn’t normal, and never would be. She hated what she was. She hated being such a… such a monster.

  She left early the following day, waking before even Francesca, who always took forever to get dressed each morning. She hoped that her best friend would just assume that she had left early that morning, that she was really hungry or something. It was raining, which suited her mood perfectly. Dressed in her usual dark attire, she left, running through the woods as quickly as possible in her black flats. Her red hair streamed behind her as she just ran and ran and ran, rain soaking her through. She would worry about catching a cold, if she was human.

  She reached the house and prowled around it once, making sure that no one else was around and that no traps awaited her or anything else, for that matter. She lurked outside, staring at her family as they ate their dinner, spaghetti. They had always joked whenever Janette made spaghetti. None of them liked it. She was not the best cook in the world, no Julia Child. Seph always made them much better food. She cared about them. She loved them…

  “Phin, may I speak with you a moment?” Sir Cosmos was at the door of Phin’s classroom, and when Sir Cosmos wanted to talk with you, you dropped what you were doing immediately.

  “Excuse me, Madam Laurel,” he said, hurrying out of Completion Spells to speak with the principal of the academy.

  “Phin, Persephone is missing,” the tall vampire gave his superior a very puzzled look. “Persephone did not attend her first two period classes, History of the Universe or Basic Incantations. We have checked the usual places, the courtyard, her dorm room, the Main Hall, the infirmary. We do not know where she is,” he said, and Phin searched his mind for his connection to her.

  He tried to pinpoint where the girl was in his mind, using her connected mind like a GPS locator. He couldn’t focus though. His own emotions were overflowing with worry and ferocity. She was in trouble again?! It had been one week since the last incident! Did she need to break the rules once a week or something? He also sensed that she was shielding. She was too good at that for her young age. She was too good at a lot of things. They had better teach her and teach her well lest she become one of the evil vampires that roamed the earth, draining humans left and right. That was a lot of humans for her.

  “Phin! Sir Cosmos! I know where she is!” Francesca Murrieta suddenly sped into sight, panting for breath.

  She must have come a long way for a werewolf to be out of breath.

  “Where?” Sir Cosmos demanded, but she shook her head, black waves catching the moonlight.

  “Let me get her,” her golden eyes switched to look at Phin.

  “Now, Miss-” Sir Cosmos began, but Phin stepped in.

  “No, Cosmos, sir. I think this is something she needs to do,” Sir Cosmos locked eyes with Phin and nodded huffily after a moment. “Bring her back?” He asked, and she nodded swiftly, disappearing into the night…

  Seph sensed her presence almost immediately. She turned sharply as Francesca came up behind her, rain drenching her. They stood silently, side by side, watching the foster home bustle with its late night activities. Nate was up, watching TV with Terrence. Pearl and Pearce were already asleep, as was little Manny, Dean, and Bobby. Lawrence was up, drawing, the usual. Bill and Janette had already gone to sleep as well, leaving the three awake children to fend for themselves. They just stared and stared and stared at them.

  “Hey, Seph,” Francesca said lightly, and she just turned to glare at her, bloody tears coursing openly down her face. “Upset?” It was a rhetorical question, but Seph bared her fangs all the same, not in the mood.

  “What do you think?” She responded bitterly, and Francesca just grinned a little.

  “You’re upset. What is it?” She asked gently, fully expecting the following onslaught.

  “I’m a monster, Francesca! That’s what it is! I tried to eat one of my best friends not that long ago, in case you don’t remember!” She snarled at her, hissing with rage.

  Francesca nodded with understanding and compassion.

  “We’re all monsters sometimes, Seph,” she started, and the other girl opened her mouth to respond, but she didn’t give her a chance. “No, mira. Even the most innocent of creatures has a dangerous, monstrous side to them. I’m a werewolf, Seph. I’ve had to harness that monster a lot faster than most. When the full moon rises, which is next week, by the way, it takes all of my concentration and strength to keep that monster within. I’ve let her out a few times, and it’s scary. Sometimes she escapes,” Francesca said, pausing, but Seph had nothing to say.

  “We all can be monsters, Seph. You’re just having a harder time with it because of your… vastness of powers, I guess? You should take that as a compliment. Your powers are so great that you have this much trouble harnessing them. Imagine how strong you’ll be once you control them,” she was appealing to her vanity now, her obsession with power and strength and control.

  “Ya… but how long til I can control them?” She asked, and Francesca thought about that for a moment.

  “I dunno, girl. Just remember, you are what you are. You are vampire, and you should be proud of that. Attacking Nate…” Seph shuddered, and Francesca set a hand on her shoulder in comfort. “Attacking Nate was a natural thing. I can only guess what you two were doing, and you were just coming into your abilities. It’s understandable, Seph. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t even know what you were then. You had no idea what was going on. I’m sure it scared you a lot, but monsters aren’t afraid of themselves. You’re not a monster, Seph,” she finished, and they just stood there, in the pouring rain, staring at each other.

  “You could talk to them, now, if you wanted to. Maybe explain to them what happened? It’s just Nate, Lawrence, and Terrence. Janette and Bill are sleeping. I know you want to talk to Nate,” she said, but Seph shook her head resolutely.

  “I’m not strong enough yet, Francesca. Even if he’s forgiven me, I haven’t forgiven myself. Maybe another time,” she shook her head again, long hair flinging raindrops everywhere.

  “Do you wanna go back home?” By home, she meant Monster Academy, which Seph thought of as her home now actually.

  “Ya… let’s go home,” she said, trudging back the way she had come, and Francesca swung a comradely arm over her shoulder, squeezing the girl tightly.

  “Parents’ day for the vampires is coming up. Usually, nobody comes because you guys detach faster from your parents than anyone else. Wizards usually stay pretty tight with their families, and werewolves only if their families are wolves also,” Francesca explained with a shrug as they traveled through the thickening mud.

  “Parents’ day… Can siblings come?” Seph wondered aloud, and Francesca smiled, nodding her head at her.

  “Ya, if the parent brings them. Hopefully, Bill or Janette will at least bring Pearl and Pearce,” the unspoken statement, if they want to come, hung in the air. “I’ll be gone then though. It’s during one of the three days when the moon is fullest. I can control myself, but I still place myself in the WW, Werewolf Warehouse, whe
re all uncontrollable werewolves are placed, us newer ones. I don’t yet trust that monster within me, and I help contain the stronger ones. Sir Sanzio usually keeps us pretty reigned in,” she grinned wryly, both thinking about a few weeks ago when she had escaped and met Seph in her changed form outside of Monster Academy.

  They arrived back at the school around midnight, during the middle of classes. They had been gone for four hours or so. Phin was awaiting their arrival, seated in the courtyard in the lotus position, meditating. Sir Cosmos had long since gone to teach his classes, leaving the matter of the two girls in Phin’s capable hands. He knew that the aspiring teacher would take care of the situation in the best way possible.

  “You’re back,” he stated, taking in their sopping appearances and tear-reddened eyes astutely.

  “Ya,” Seph managed to murmur in a very frail voice.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow in Vamp Class,” he announced, rising to his feet and walking past them towards the dorms.

  He rested a hand on her shoulder briefly before continuing on his long, languid walk to his dorm. He looked tired. He looked haggard. She wondered just what the sharing of their blood had done to them. She was very in tune to his emotions now. She sensed his fear for her safety, his growing care for her. She shook those thoughts away as Francesca pulled her after him, heading for their own dorm room.

  Reaching it after climbing the endless stairs, they both collapsed on Seph’s bed. A bit muddy, a bit wet, they continued to cry. They cried for recognizing their inner monsters, reflected more on the outside than most. They cried for the loss of their innocence, their naïveté. They cried for each other. They just huddled there, holding each other, and cried.

  There was a small, unsure knock at the door, and with a wave of her hand, Seph admitted Linda and Abernathy into their room. It was about fifteen minutes after twelve. Without a word, they trailed over to the soaked bed, crawling in and huddling with the pair, adding their own tears to the mix. They all huddled there, cold and shivering, basking in each other’s misery. Knock, knock. Seph let in the next batch of people with another wave of her hand.