Blood and Beasts

by L. M. Miller

  I know you are. Seph… Persephone… I know you’re listening. You have any idea how annoying it is to have a friend who can read your thoughts? It’s really annoying, not to mention intrusive! How am I supposed to keep a secret from you? I mean, it’s cool and all to be able to share everything with a friend, but c’mon! A girl wants a little privacy! Abernathy was thinking all these rapid thoughts in her head, fully assuming that Seph was listening, which she was, but she wasn’t about to admit that. Finally, the vampire turned around and gripped the witch’s wrist so that they could talk back and forth.

  I’m sorry. What was that? I was busy thinking about other things. Did you want to tell me something, Abernathy? Abernathy just scowled fiercely at her friend, a funny look on her face, fully aware that Seph had been listening in the entire time.

  We both know that’s not true, Seph, she replied snappily, and Seph smartly dropped her wrist.

  She turned her back on her friend and refused to say another word. She shut the girl out of her mind as she tried to say more to Seph through her mind. Seph shut herself away from everybody’s minds and drifted among her own thoughts, like a feather on the wind. So they were really punishing Rodney… Well, he did deserve it. She wondered what they were saying or doing to him. She didn’t allow herself to dwell on that for too long. They would see him when he was ready… when the adults had deemed him ready to reenter the magical community.

  Lunchtime came, and Rodney still was not amongst them. Seph resiliently thought nothing of it. He would return when he was to return. Francesca was eager to play that game though. She was so eager and clearly wanted human interaction again. Seph supposed that happened after spending three days amongst purely selfish wolves. She winced at that particularly sharp-bladed thought of hers. They were not wolves; they were werewolves, which meant they were people too. They were just extremely savage people at the time.

  “C’mon! To the Room!” Francesca exclaimed eagerly, leading the way.

  When they entered the Room, they all halted and stared at the interior. Their eyes roved around the room, taking in everything. Finally, someone spoke.

  “That dragon…” Linda hissed as their eyes swept over the mess he had made.

  Dewdrop suddenly fluttered over worriedly.

  “I attempted to stop him! I am usually very good at calming creatures, especially dragons, but it has been days since you have visited! He has been very upset!” She delicately reprimanded them, and they all winced at her high-pitched voice.

  “Abernathy…” Linda started, but Seph silenced her with a glare.

  She simply dared the girl to voice the thought in her head. She thought that Abernathy should clean up the mess because she had created the dragon. Seph was not in agreement with her.

  “He is all of our responsibility, Linda,” Seph replied before Abernathy could process what had just passed between the pair.

  “Whatever,” Linda grumbled, stepping into the shredded Room reluctantly.

  Seph pushed forward, stepping over the upturned sofa to tower above Silo. He visibly cowered. She rested her fists on her hips sternly as the others dispersed themselves amongst the room, straightening everything and sweeping up shredded papers. She raised her winged brows to the little creature.

  “Just what were you thinking, Silo?” She berated him, and he hung his head properly. “What kind of temper tantrum is this? If we are gone for a little while, you simply must accept this. We will return! We always do! Now look at the mess that we have to clean up!” The dragon looked from side to side, and a large, pearly-white tear welled up in one of his jet-black eyes. “Oh, crying, are you? Don’t think that will get you any pity from me. Now, go in the corner, and think about what you’ve done,” she pointed a trembling finger at the corner, and he reluctantly trudged over to it.

  He stood in the corner and faced the wall, sniffling little jets of flames every now and then. She turned back towards the devastated Room to find absolutely everybody staring at her. Even Stefan looked shocked, arriving late. Was it not normal for vampires to talk with creatures? Dragons?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “What?” She asked, and immediately they all turned back to their work.

  Everybody was intensely concentrating on what they were doing. She turned the stern look she had just been reprimanding Silo with on them. They were avoiding her gaze purposefully.

  “You can talk to animals, Seph?” Stefan finally spoke after a few moments of awkward silence.

  “I thought all vampires could. We just understand each other on a mind… telepathic level. He understands my tone and my physical movements and my feelings. I didn’t know no one else could do that,” she said, instantly starting to sweep out some of the remains of a gnawed-on crate.

  “Well, Phin can, but he’s the only other being I’ve known to be able ta do that. Alistair can control the minds of animals. Can you do that too?” He wondered, and she mulled that thought over, absently sweeping wood shavings out the front door.

  “I’ve never tried. I don’t think I’d want to. Who wants to control something like that? I know I can control others to some degree. I’ve had some lessons with Alistair after they tested me. I don’t really like him,” she admitted, and she suddenly realized that she was sweeping wood dust onto someone’s shoes.

  She looked up and up and up, and her breath caught in her throat. She was staring up into Rodney’s face. He looked slightly the worse for wear, but he was there! Without another word, she dropped her broom with a clatter and flung her arms around him.

  “I’m so happy you’re back!” She exclaimed, hugging him tightly and batting away bloody tears simultaneously.

  “Thanks, Seph…” he commented gruffly, awkwardly patting her on the back and clearly communicating something with his eyes to the others behind her.

  Gently, she dropped herself back down onto the ground and blinked away anything that might be bothering her eyes. She wiped a hand casually over them, catching another pink tear. How attractive…

  “Welcome back, Rodney,” Francesca said warmly, and Seph turned around just in time to see her lift up the sofa all by herself and set it back against the wall.

  “What’s up, man?” Stefan nodded at him mannishly as he tossed Linda the scattered books over his shoulder, and she put them back on a gnawed-on bookshelf.

  “Good to see ya, Rodney,” Linda called with a little twiddle of her fingers.

  “You look better than I thought you would,” Abernathy admitted, stepping out from the bathroom that she had just cleaned.

  Silence passed as Seph just stared up at Rodney, so happy to see him. He stared out at the Room, but he was not really looking at it. He was thinking about something. She really hoped he was not thinking about what Francesca had mentioned earlier. She refused to pry though. She was so tired of just being able to pick something out of anyone’s mind. She preferred them to tell her or not. She preferred them to have a choice.

  “Seph, can I, um, talk to you?” He asked uncomfortably, beckoning out the door.

  Seph sighed inwardly, shooting a glare in Francesca’s direction, who just smirked. They were both thinking the same thing. They knew what Rodney wanted to talk to her about. She could refuse and make the situation even more awkward, or she could just endure it all. She nodded at him once, striding past him out the door before Francesca or anyone else could dare say a word.

  “Let’s go this way,” Rodney ushered them towards the maze, and she casually strolled beside him.

  Silence rolled around them.

  “So, what’s been going on the past three days that I missed?” He asked, and she could tell by the way he structured his sentence that he had clearly thought this sentence out thoroughly before actually saying it.

  “Oh, the usual. Test in Gobbledegook, easy enough. Same ole, same ole,” Seph commented, the conversation falling.

  After a while of twisting turns, they arrived at a dead end. Seph sighed, turning back, but Rodney halted
her with a hand on her shoulder. With that physical contact, she was instantly open to his mind, whether she wanted to be or not. He was going to ask her now. He knew this maze front to back and had led her here purposefully. She did not want to-

  “Seph…” he breathed, and inwardly she groaned, which he sensed. “I want to see what happened to you,” he stated, golden eyes completely serious for once.

  She wasn’t about to make it easy for him. She folded her arms firmly across her chest, glaring up at him. His face remained impassive, a constant hint of pain behind it that she had noticed earlier. She said nothing about it though.

  “Rodney, you really don’t need to. I blame you for nothing. You were just acting as a normal werewolf. I do think you need to learn more self-control, but everyone’s fine. We’re fine, and we should just forget about it,” she finished her spiel and saw immediately that it had completely unfazed him.

  She might as well have been talking to a wall.

  “I want to see your injuries, Persephone,” he said more firmly, boring into her with those golden eyes of his. “That’s one?” He ushered at her left forearm, and she grimaced at the bite marks, pale-white in the moonlight.

  Sighing, she held out her arm for him to minutely inspect just like Francesca had.

  “I don’t remember who did this… Ruby was the brown-black werewolf, and Oglesby was that red one that you were controlling for a while. I could see everything happenin’ right in front of me, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I just watched as I became this monster. As the monster controlled me…” he hung his head low as his fingertips grazed the scars just like Francesca’s had earlier.

  “Might as well get this part over with,” she groaned, turning around and lifting up her black tank top.

  “I did this,” he murmured as his hands traced the deep scars on her back, standing out against her old scars.

  “And they’ll go away in a week, Rodney! Stop thinking about it! You saw me become a monster not a week ago! I understand!” She exclaimed, but she could tell that absolutely nothing would change his opinion of himself at that very moment.

  He hated himself just then.

  “Anything else?” He asked, keeping his voice decidedly level.

  “I guess. Ruby was the one that mauled my right leg up,” she said, gesturing it. “I get the feeling she doesn’t like me in any form,” she commented as he knelt down to examine those injuries, which were more healed than before; at least she had stopped limping. “That’s really all. I hit the back of my head a few times, but if that scarred, you can’t tell because of my hair,” she admitted, starting to pull her shirt down when there was the awkward clearing of a throat.

  Both their heads spun around, and if Seph could turn a brighter red, she would have. Rodney flushed despite his darker skin. They both knew that the picture they painted did not look well. The caretaker was there, a very grey-looking old man properly called Mr. Grey. He was looking at them dully.

  “This really isn’t what it looks like, sir,” Seph gasped out, wrenching her shirt down and pulling her leg from Rodney’s clenching grasp, shoving her skirt down while she was at it.

  “Oh, I know,” he answered, and that gave them reason to pause. “Yer lucky though. If anyone else had caught ye, wit’out my mind abilities, dey would not be able to sense the intense distress from dis young lad or da exasperation from yoo, lil missie,” he stated, and they gaped at him.

  “Can you read minds? Are you a vampire?” Seph sent her sensitive hearing out to him but heard a normal heartbeat, not a werewolf or a vampire.

  “Nay, I be a wizard, lass, a very old one, at that. We have been known to read minds. I meself can sense feelin’s. Yer lucky though, remember that,” he turned his back to them, starting to trudge off before suddenly turning back. “Ye know, the lass be right, lad. It isn’t yer fault. Jus’ learn be’r self-control,” they stared at him again, mouths agape. “I din’t say I couldn’t read minds at all,” he winked at them before turning away to patrol the grounds some more.

  Both their eyes slid toward each other at the exact same moment.

  “That was…” she started.

  “Awkward…” he finished.

  They both stared at each other a moment longer. Seph was feeling… she shouldn’t be feeling the way she was feeling towards him at that very moment. She was very, very happy at that moment that Rodney couldn’t read minds or sense feelings… or could he? No, because then he would realize what she was feeling and blush or something. She shook her head several times, breaking herself of that trance.

  “We should get back,” she announced, and Rodney nodded absently, the etching of pain easing up a little on his face.

  On their way back, their arms kept grazing each other, but neither of them seemed to care or say anything about it. When they arrived back at the Room, it was almost completely cleaned. Apparently, the group had finally given up and retreated to Dewdrop’s. Entering the Room, they paused a moment, surveying the damage. Silo was still in the corner, patiently awaiting her return before he moved. She nodded at him, and the dragon slowly began to amble around again, not looking in her direction at all. He was properly chastened. They rejoined the others, and for the rest of their lunchtime, they all simply lounged about in Dewdrop’s place. A few of them strolled the top deck while others read the numerous books or sprawled out on one of the many plush sofas. They all simply enjoyed each other’s company.

  The next day in Basic, they had a very interesting class. Rodney was in the class that day. Tristan was actually awake. Seph and Abernathy were no longer at odds. However, when Madam Winslow set down a pencil in front of each of them, a normal number 2 pencil, sharpened and not mechanical, they all just stared up at the smart-looking teacher blankly. What exactly was she planning behind those glasses of hers? The teacher finally bustled her way to the front of the class, interested faces turned her direction. They all had a feeling that they were going to get to try something really cool today, hopefully.

  “Yes, today we are doing something really cool,” she voiced the thoughts of a few students who were not shielding their minds or didn’t know that they had that option.

  Simpletons.

  “We are going to be turning inanimate objects into animate ones,” the teacher continued as Rodney, Tristan, and Seph instantly looked in Abernathy’s direction, who was the expert in this field with her lovely creation of Silo. “All you must do is wave your hand over the pencil like so, and simply will it, as hard as you ever have willed anything before, to start to move. I don’t care what you make it do, so long as it is up and moving around,” she said before ushering for her class to start.

  They all gave her very disconcerted looks. However, Abernathy was excited and hopped to it. Immediately, she waved her hand over her pencil and stared at it with a concentration rarely seen in those small eyes of hers. Instantaneously, the pencil popped up. They all gasped, including some spectators surrounding them. The pencil hopped up, sprouting lead stick arms and legs, and proceeded to tap-dance across her desk. It pretended to pull a top hat off its head and bowed to them elegantly as if he were not made of wood, but something much more flexible. They all clapped, including Madam Winslow, who had walked over to watch as well.

  “Very good, Miss Tran, and on your first try,” the teacher said approvingly, giving Abernathy one of her rare, perfect smiles.

  Suddenly, her glasses flashed as she swept the classroom. Everybody was staring at Abernathy’s tap-dancing pencil display. She clucked her tongue, and their backs went ramrod straight.

  “And the rest of you? I want to see more tap-dancing pencils just like this, or inching ones, or walking ones. Will it to become something that you see in it already. Many students choose a worm. Miss Tran here seemed to choose a stick figure. Anything will work, and the pencil will become some variation of that-” Suddenly, there was a pop! from behind the teacher as well as a hiss and a giggle.

  Seph had flipped out of her desk
and was crouched, fangs out. Abernathy was erupting in giggles, trying to contain herself, as her pencil proceeded to stare for her. Rodney’s face was purely shocked, eyes bug-eyed. They were all staring at Tristan’s desk, where a huge worm of some type covered it, spilling over the edges. It was not quite a worm though. It was a little different, altered, with jewel-bright eyes and an oozing body. Madam Winslow took a careful step forward, examining the creature from tip to end as Tristan tried valiantly to keep the creature from rolling onto his lap. She looked about the classroom, where, once again, nobody was doing anything but stare. Her eyes fell on Seph, who was still baring her fangs at the creature, claws out and ready.

  “Your instincts are right to instantly fear this creature, Miss Black. It is a smaller version of what was once called a verm. Verms were considered the essence of evil in the magical past, feeding off of goodness like parasites. This is a small verm, but it is sucking away the happiness in this room already. Brooding on dark things, Mr. Solitto?” She asked, waving a hand at the verm to turn it back into a pencil, immediately lightening the mood in the tense classroom as he shrugged. “You and your friends are so vague,” her eyes snapped over to Abernathy, Rodney, and Seph, who was slowly backing down into her seat again. “Are you two going to try?” She was addressing Seph and Rodney now.

  They both just shrugged, and she heaved a great sigh of exasperation at her students who shirked their educational duty. They both grinned devilishly at each other before turning to their desktops, as everyone else was doing in the classroom. They produced less than exciting results as compared to the first two students.

  Seph waved her hand over her pencil, concentrating on a worm, not a verm. Sure enough, the pencil popped into life, starting to inch along her desktop like any normal worm would. She looked up, grinning, and caught Madam Winslow’s eye, who nodded at her with approval. She glanced over at Rodney, still grinning, to see him frowning at his own pencil, constantly waving his hand over it to no avail. She peeked into his mind to sense that he was actually trying, concentrating with all his might to turn it into a worm, anything, anything at all that was mobile. He didn’t care! She nearly became frustrated herself sensing his intense frustration. He shot a look up at Madam Winslow.