“You almost bit a vampire,” I repeat. “How…”
“Thrilling,” Nia finishes with a smirk. “I’m so very proud of you!” She clasps her hands to her chest in a mocking show of delight. “And what happened next?”
“The vampire ran off,” Elliot mumbles in a rush.
I burst out laughing. “I’m sure he did. Or was the vampire a she?”
Elliot’s cheeks flush.
“Ah, a female,” I say unnecessarily.
“You went after a female vampire?” Decker snorts.
“What’s that matter?” Elliot snaps.
“You left out that detail before, but of course you did.”
“Why didn’t you mention all of this earlier?” Roald demands. “You were in Silver Ironwoods as your wolf alone?”
“Maybe,” Elliot mumbles, his tone now sullen. I bet he wishes he never mentioned it in the first place.
“What exactly happened?” Roald asks through gritted teeth. He actually almost sounds like an alpha.
Elliot gulps. “Forget about it,” he grumbles. “Let’s just go and—”
"No. We want the whole story. You fought a vampire. We're about to go see hundreds of them. Let's hear about your experience." Roald holds out his hands and glances at the others.
Decker is nodding, Nia smirking. Me? I have my arms crossed. The more we delay, the better, but it’s clear that the fight didn’t end well for Elliot or something else embarrassing happened, or else he would’ve told us all long ago, when it all went down. He and Decker fight like brothers, always trying to one-up each other, so that explains why he mentioned at least a few details to Decker.
“Go on then,” Nia says, suddenly sounding bored. “or else we’ll leave you behind.”
“You wouldn’t!” Elliot says hotly.
“We will.” Roald glowers at the blond werewolf.
“Fine! She…” Elliot glares at me before clearing his throat. “She bared her fangs at me, and I lunged, just missing her leg. She, ah, she kicked me.”
“Where?” Nia asks.
“You don’t need to know where,” Elliot gripes.
“We do. If there’s a fight at the ball, we need to know what they might do.” She taps her foot, hands on her hips. “We’re waiting.”
Elliot huffs out a breath but says nothing.
“The face,” I say.
The others turn to me.
“Think about it. He was rushing right at her to bite her leg, right? She probably jumped straight back and then kicked him head-on.”
“That so?” Roald asks.
Elliot bares his teeth. “Yes, she kicked me square on the snout. I flew backward and slammed into a tree. When I got back on my feet again, she was gone. She was terrified of me, and that’s why she ran! She knew she couldn’t handle a real fight—”
“I’m sure that’s the case,” Nia says, rolling her eyes. “Can we go now?”
And we go. Decker teases Elliot. Roald still gripes that Elliot didn’t tell him earlier. Nia is silent, and so am I.
Silver Ironwoods is right next to Moonstone Academy. Are any of the others wondering why a vampire came to be so close to our territory? Not that I honestly care, but I don’t feel like others do. The werewolves will not want a vampire hanging around so close to campus.
There aren’t any guards patrolling the edge of Blood Haven Academy, so I’m not sure when we cross over, aside from the way Roald acts like he’s top dog and the grins on Decker’s and Elliot’s faces.
“Stick together,” Roald dictates. “We’re a pack, after all.”
I snort.
Roald curls his upper lip at me. I smirk in return. He doesn’t speak for me, and I don’t have to do what he says.
The others, though, including Nia, stick together, but I take my time, looking around. Honestly, this isn't smart at all. They're asking for a fight…
I suppose I am too considering I'm here, but the vampires that I can see in the near distance all have blood-red eyes. We're going to stick out by sight and by smell, and it's not going to be good.
I’m not sure why, but I notice two vampires standing close together, away from everyone else. The other werewolves aren’t with me anymore, and I turn to give the couple some privacy.
“And my father…”
“Is he a vampire?”
“My mother is. He’s a demon.” She exhales slowly.
My back stiffens. A demon? She must be one of those living vampires then. Traditional vampires are made from bites, and as far as I know, that kind greatly outnumbers the living kind.
Curious now, I eye the two with more interest. The blood moon casts a red halo over them, making them glow. Her hair is brown and wavy, but he has a shaggy mop of brown hair that reminds me of a student in one of my classes.
But that would mean…
Julian? Julian Moonblaze is here.
His normally light green eyes are red.
Clearly, he's here for a reason far different from the rough crowd.
“You aren’t your father,” Julian is saying smoothly. “You aren’t your mother. You are you. That’s it. You are defined by your actions, by your thoughts, by your beliefs. You don’t have to hate what you are, though. Not all vampires are evil. Even some demons have to be good.”
“You don’t know many demons, do you?” she asks dryly.
He chuckles. “I don’t have to. Not every person in any type of being or creature is wholly evil.”
“That’s easy enough to say, but—”
I don’t want to hear this. My stomach can’t handle talk of demons and the like. With a scowl, I stalk away from them. It’s time to convince the others to return to Moonstone. There are far too many werewolves here, but even so, the vampires outnumber us greatly. If a fight breaks out, it will be a blood bath.
I’m fairly certain that is exactly what Nia and Roald want.
Chapter 7
Robb
It doesn't take me long to find the others. All I have to do is listen to the sound of snarling above the music playing as well as smell fur instead of the slight stench of necrosis that permeates from the traditional vampires. After all, they are dead, reanimated flesh, but they aren't quite decaying like zombies are. They smell like death because they are dead, but their flesh isn't putrefying. The living vampires shouldn't smell like that, but I haven't been close enough to one to know if my theory is right, and I don't want to know for certain. I suppose I can ask Julian. He'll know the answer.
But I won't. I haven't spoken to Julian yet, and I see no reason to now. He can do as he pleases, but there had been no doubting it. He had been flirting with the vampire. Combined with the red eyes… Is he trying to trick her for some nefarious purpose? Why did he come here? He doesn’t truly want to pursue a relationship with her, does he? If he does, how long does he think he can continue to masquerade as a vampire? She will learn the truth, and she will likely bite him as a result. She has demon blood in her, and demons are evil. They’re terrible, wicked creatures from the belly of Hell, and I don’t know how Julian can try to claim otherwise.
The rough crowd is gathering around two vampires, but the thing is, there are five vampires on the outer edges surrounding them. Do they even realize there are seven vampires? Because they’re shifting into their wolves, staring down the two male vampires inside their circle, and not one of them is looking around.
With a grunt and a flash of reddish fangs from the glint of the blood moon, the fighting starts. At least the werewolves have the presence of mind not to howl, but the fighting, it’s vicious. The werewolves are nipping, snapping their jaws, kicking, holding their own.
Until the other vampires descend.
A bitter feeling washes over me. This, all of this, all of the werewolves here, including Julian and any others who came along with him, was a mistake. No werewolves should be here.
Nia is the smallest werewolf, but she’s also the fastest. She strikes a paw across a vampire’s face, cutting him
, and then she’s dancing away and lashing out at another one. If she could laugh, I think she just might.
Roald, unsurprisingly, is trying to act like he’s the alpha, taking on four of them himself. His hubris will be his downfall.
A streak of wind rushes by me. Another vampire is here, and she’s heading straight toward Decker. He’s so focused on the vampire he’s attacking that he’ll be blindsided. He’ll be bitten, drained.
He’ll be killed.
But Elliot whacks a vampire right into the vampire about to go after Decker, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Until I realize Nia is about to kill a vampire.
This has gone on far enough, and I race over, still a human, and I’m just in time to grab the vampire’s cloak and choke him out of the way.
Nia glowers at me, standing tall before snarling and crouching backward as if she’s ready to pounce at me, but I’m done.
This entire thing is done.
From my pocket, I remove a pouch of haze avitores. Before Nia can jump me, I’m already climbing the nearest tree. I climb all the way to the top and then dump out the haze avitores. A shimmering fog descends, white and full of luster, but the moment it touches fur or skin, the fog turns black. Memory fades away, and the vampires rush off.
Even the werewolves run away, and I have no choice but to turn into my wolf to stay alongside the others. Once we return to Moonstone, I’m the first to become human.
Roald shakes his head. “What just happened?” He glances down at his torn clothes. Any wounds he received have all healed already.
His bafflement is identical to Decker’s and Elliot’s, and the trio promptly starts to argue with one another. They wander off ahead, but Nia lingers behind.
“You…” She narrows her eyes. “Why do you keep haze avitores on you?”
It didn’t work on her. It wouldn’t work on me, but that’s because I’ve used it on myself until I grew tolerant of the herbs’ properties. Why would she do the same?
“I heard a whisper that you all might want to go over, and I don’t think a war is a good idea.”
“You don’t think we can take on the bloodsuckers?” She bares her teeth. “And what about what you did?”
I scoff a bitter laugh. “What, with the vampire? The one pretending to attack you? He side-eyed Elliot. He was toying with you, and Elliot’s back was turned. The vampire would’ve killed him. You might not realize this, Nia, but you aren’t the only werewolf.”
Her nostrils flare. “You think you’re so big and tough, but I didn’t see you fight. The others might not realize what happened, but I remember.” She stalks toward me and jabs her finger into my chest. “And I won’t forget.”
She marches away, but her threats don’t scare me. I know far more terrifying creatures than the likes of her.
Still, she might prove a complication I don’t need.
Chapter 8
Bellanore
Ellamaria knocks on my open door and strolls right over to where I’m sitting on my bed. “Did you hear the news?”
“What news?”
“I suppose you wouldn’t have. You ran off that night. Where were you?”
“Which night?” I ask, even though I have a feeling I know which night she’s referring to. Today is Monday. The night of the blood moon had been Friday.”
“Friday, of course!” She flops onto my bed, sitting on the edge. “I heard that some werewolves sneaked over to the Red Moon Ball.”
“Blood Haven Academy?” I ask. “Why would they do that?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think there was a fight or anything, but if werewolves can make it onto their campus without being detected, you know they’ll go back, and next time, there will be a fight.”
I just shake my head. “You’re sure there wasn’t a fight?” I ask dubiously. “Why would werewolves want to go over there?”
“Why else, right? That’s the only thing I can think of.” Ellamaria shrugs. “I’m trying to learn who went over, but everyone is being rather tight-lipped about the whole thing.”
“I suppose they might not want to get into trouble,” I say dryly.
“I guess,” she says, doubt coloring the two words. “You would think the ones most prone toward violence wouldn’t be able to shut up about a fight, so maybe there really hadn’t been any violence. It’s just baffling, you know?”
I nod a few times, my mind racing.
“Are you going to race?” she asks.
“Not today.”
Ellamaria just shakes her head. “You know you have to run a certain number of miles each year, right?”
“I’ll get them in.”
“The races are more fun than just running for the sake of running.” She huffs a sigh. “Fine. I’ll race. Meet up with me for dinner after?”
I nod, and she nearly skips away. She likes to puzzle things out. It’s not that she’s a fan of gossip, and even I have to admit that all of this is very, very interesting.
But my mind turns to my father and, in turn, to my cousin. I don't know her very well, but Romelia Covenshade is my cousin. She’s a vampire with a vampire mother named Caterina and a demon father named Magmar. We are related through our demonic side, obviously.
I don’t have her number, and I’m not about to call her parents to alert them to what might be a bad situation. Instead, I opt to call Blood Haven. My heart pounds as the phone rings.
“Hello, this is Blood Haven Academy. Emil speaking,” a clear, male voice says. “How may I assist you this fine evening?”
“Hi, yes. I’m calling to speak with a student who attends there.”
“Name?”
“Romelia Covenshade. If you could direct my call to her—”
“I’m afraid I can’t.”
My heart skips a beat, and I hold the phone even tighter in my grasp. My nerves already had me gripping it tighter than strictly necessary. “Why not? Is she hurt? Is she—”
“She’s fine.” He chuckles. “Vampires are made of stern stock, after all.”
I force a giggle. “Of course.”
“There was an… incident.”
“An incident?” My mouth is dry, and my throat burns.
“Yes. It seems that a few of the students got into an altercation.”
“When?” The word comes out a squeak.
“During classes today.”
I breathe a deep sigh of relief, and then I realize she might still be hurt. “Is she all right?”
“Yes, but it seems she was involved in the altercation, so she is, ah, rather indisposed right now because of her punishment.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you for letting me know.”
“Would you like for me to pass on a message?” he asks.
“No, no, that’s all right. I just… I’m glad she’s all right.” I hesitate. “I hope the altercation wasn’t too serious.”
“It’s… I shouldn’t say,” he mumbles.
“Oh, no. I wouldn’t want you to get into any trouble.”
“It’s just some graffiti that popped up on campus,” he says. “The students are convinced that some werewolves sneaked onto the campus during the ball, and as a result, the vampires are furious.”
“The graffiti…”
“They’re terrible pictures of grotesque art of vampires fighting werewolves.”
“But there wasn’t a fight,” I say slowly.
"No. Oh, no. And I don't know if I can believe that a werewolf, let alone more than one, actually came to be here. No, that's ridiculous."
“Yes, of course it is,” I say numbly. “Thank you so much, sir. I appreciate your knowledge.”
“Don’t mention it.” He pauses and then adds, his words taking on a pleading quality, “Please don’t mention it.”
I try to laugh, but it gets caught in my throat and turns into a cough. Without another word, I hang up. For a moment, I stare at my phone, and then I call up my dad.
He answers on the sixth ring. I don’t know why
, but he never picks up on any other ring. Is it because he wants to make people wait? To show that he’s busy? Beats me.
“Daughter,” Dad says cheerfully. “What is it you need?”
“I don’t need anything.”
“No?”
“Just an answer to a question.”
“Ah, so you do need something,” he points out.
“Yeah, yeah,” I mumble.
“You may ask one question,” he asks with a lofty air that he uses with me to tease but others to intimidate.
Another reason why he can’t be my favorite parent. He does use others, maybe even abuses them. He treats me well because I’m his daughter, but if circumstances ever change, if I weren’t his daughter…
Then, I would have to look out.
“Did you know that werewolves were going to sneak to Blood Haven? Supposedly, a fight didn’t break out, but I’m wondering if you purposely asked Draz about your business on that night to ensure I wouldn’t be caught up in all of it.”
“Does that matter?” Dad counters. “After all, as you said, a fight didn’t break out.”
“As far as I know, a fight didn’t break out.”
“You think your intel is faulty?”
“I don’t know, but I find it rather peculiar for werewolves to want to go over there for a benevolent reason.”
“Ah, that’s my daughter. So distrusting. I love it.”
I purse my lips. He didn’t answer my question. “Dad?” I grumble.
“Why are you asking me this?” Dad questions. “Would you have gone?”
If I found out about werewolves wanting to sniff around a vampires’ ball, would I have gone with them? Maybe, but it would’ve only been to ensure that no one got hurt.
Hmm. I can almost picture Romelia, my cousin, doing something similar. Maybe that’s how she got in trouble. Wonder what the punishment is that she’s suffering. Probably something fitting for a vampire.
If Ellamaria asked me to go with her, I’m not sure I would want to, come to think of it. Yes, I would’ve had a chance to see Romelia, but we’re cousins. We aren’t really friends. We don’t know each other all that well.
Moonstone Academy: Year One: A Mayhem of Magic World Story Page 5
