by Rebecca Hall
“No one ever told me that vampires wear so much magic jewellery,” Mitch muttered, holding it up. It was a hair bigger than when Rana had given it to him but there was no other indication of its vampiric tendencies or the needle.
“The Academy’s curriculum was sadly lacking in a number of areas,” Nikola replied. Mitch nodded. He hadn’t always been the best student but he was sure that he would have remembered if they’d mentioned the Netherworld. Given the apparent availability of Hellhounds and human blood Mitch suspected that it was roughly equivalent to not telling them where to find the local drug dealer.
“Time for a tour,” Rana said, leading them back to the entry hall. “Surface doors are blue,” she pointed to the dark blue door they’d come in through and Nikola moved towards it.
“You’re not expecting anyone are you?” he asked.
“No one who can’t use one of the other doors,” Rana replied. “Public areas are green,” she pointed out a whole series of doors. Most of the doors appeared to be green though with the red lighting it was hard to be sure. “White is private property,” she indicated the door to her office, “and red is the bloodbank and bar.” She led the way to two doors off to their left. “Anything else is best regarded as off limits.”
Mitch looked at the rainbow coloured doors and nodded. It wasn’t as if he felt any urge to explore anyway, he didn’t even want to think about what the bar with its blood red door might entail.
“Use the medallion to access the main entrance and the blood bank,” Rana said, “you won’t need it for the public areas.” Mitch nodded and pressed the medallion to the handle, it turned easily under his hand, opening into a sterile white room with the same red lighting.
A sturdy counter lay in the middle of the room, separating them from a large door that led into an industrial sized fridge. A young man lounged in the desk chair, his feet up on the bench and a magazine in his hands. He gulped when he saw Rana and scrambled to right himself, almost overturning his chair.
“Rana,” he said, shoving the magazine out of sight. “What can I do for you?”
“This young man has come for his weekly allowance of blood,” she said. She motioned towards a scanner sitting on the counter and after a second’s hesitation Mitch pressed the medallion to it. There was a flash of green light and frantic typing as the man tapped away at the keyboard before nodding to himself and hurrying into the fridge full of blood.
He returned a couple of minutes later and set an insulated shopping bag on the counter. It was neatly zipped shut but Mitch imagined that he could hear the blood sloshing around inside it. At least he’d be inconspicuous as he carried his blood home.
“The usual storage instructions and rules are inside,” he said, “refrigerate it as soon as you get home and don’t dawdle in this heat. And remember that a year’s supply is a fixed amount. If you guzzle it all in a month then you’ll have to pay for more.” He flopped back into his seat, not quite daring to pick up his magazine again with Rana in the room.
“I think that’s everything,” Rana said, leading him back into the entry hall. It was saturated in magic, the space around Nikola seeming to twist and distort and he manipulated the magic adorning the door.
Rana muttered something under her breath, her face pale, and they waited by the door to the bloodbank until space snapped back into alignment and the magic vanished.
“It’s done,” Nikola said, not even turning to look at them. He opened the door and bright sunlight streamed into the entry hall along with a gust of warm fresh air. Mitch crept over to him and looked out into the alley. All things considered it was a pretty big alleyway to house a secret door into the Netherworld.
“Satisfied?” Nikola asked.
Rana examined the door closely and Nikola rolled his eyes behind her back. Finally she gave a short nod.
“Have a good day gentlemen, do let me know if I can ever do anything else for you.”
“Of course,” Nikola smiled, the expression somehow fake. “Come on Mitch, let’s put your lunch away before it goes off.” Mitch followed him back outside, wincing as the sunlight struck his eyes and fumbling with his sunglasses.
“That felt surprisingly legitimate,” Mitch said once the Nethergate was safely out of earshot. There was still the occasional person about but most of their fellow students had vanished into the lecture theatres.
“It is,” Nikola replied. “It’s one of those things that the magicians prefer to turn a blind eye to, particularly as they can’t stop it anymore than they can the dance.” Mitch shuddered.
“What was she?” he asked.
“Damphir,” Nikola replied, “a lot of the magic born mixed races end up in the Netherworld. Magicians tend to shun us.”
“Sorry.”
Nikola shrugged, “Most of the Netherworlds are run by the damphirs, they’re more intelligent than ghouls and don’t have the same baggage as vampires.” He sneezed and blew his nose.
“Fantastic,” Mitch muttered, “as well as killing me when they have children of their own, my children are going to be underworld bosses.”
“They’ll probably be anaemic as well,” Nikola said. He sneezed again. “Or haemophiliacs. And Lisette and Spencer both have perfectly respectable jobs.”
Working for a vampire, Mitch finished in his head. He trailed behind, eyeing a cup of coffee that had just been carried outside by another student.
“Mitchell.”
“I like coffee,” Mitch whined. They had juice, tea and hot chocolate in the house but if there was any coffee it was of the invisible kind.
“Your lunch will get warm,” Nikola said as Mitch inched towards the coffee shop. He could hear the coffee beans calling his name as they were ground up.
“There isn’t even a line,” Mitch said, “and I’m a cryomancer, I can keep it cool.”
“Refrigerating blood is not a hit and miss procedure Mitch,” Nikola sniffed, “you can’t afford to experiment with it.”
Mitch gave him his best puppy eyes but Nikola’s nose was running and his eyes were red and puffy and it was Mitch who gave in first.
“Let’s go home,” Mitch said, “I can get up ten minutes earlier in the morning if it’ll mean getting coffee before class.” Nikola smiled at him before stifling another sneeze.
Eighteen
“Is this what life is like for ordinary people?” Mitch asked. He was sitting under a tree with Amelie and Nikola eating lunch. There were other students dotted around outside the Student Union Foodcourt. A group of them had even set up a tightrope between two trees and there was a small market in the courtyard.
After the first few days of frantically trying to work out where all of their lectures were held and how long it took to get there they’d settled into an easy routine. Nikola went running in the morning and came back in time to drag Mitch out of bed for their eight am maths lecture, somehow contriving to make lunch for them all when they didn’t have time to return home. Mitch even got his morning coffee if he didn’t drag his feet too much.
He attended his lectures with Nikola and Amelie, studied at the dining room table and tried to ignore the fact that Nikola somehow managed to participate in two extra curricular clubs, do all the cooking and most of the house work and still get better marks than him. He’d even made the bread for their sandwiches, Mitch half expected to come home one day and find him churning butter.
Mitch even had a little shed in the backyard where he could practice making ice sculptures with his magic and experiment with other forms of cryomancy. It would have been perfect if Amelie didn’t insist that he needed to practice his ornithology as well.
“No,” Amelie replied, “ordinary people don’t get to date Faerie princesses and I believe that they have to worry about bills and monsters hiding under the bed.”
“I suppose Mitch could try hiding under your bed,” Nikola said, “but you’re scarier than he is.”
“Hey,” Mitch protested, unsure if he’d just been insulted or
not but unable to fully articulate himself around a mouthful of filled roll. He was going to be the only student in the history of forever to lose weight in his first year. The closest he ever got to junk food was Nikola’s baking and he couldn’t remember the last time he even saw something fried.
Amelie had no such doubts and she jabbed at Nikola’s side, tickling him until he sat up laughing and his laugh turned into a cough.
“You didn’t have to stay and eat with us,” Mitch said, patting Nikola on the back until his coughing subsided. Unlike Mitch and Amelie, Nikola’s classes were finished for the day and his hayfever had given way to the beginnings of a cold.
“Sure I did,” Nikola said once he’d caught his breath and cleared his throat. “It’s your birthday.”
“Oh, right,” Mitch replied. He’d been trying to avoid thinking about his eighteenth birthday. It wasn’t as if he was expecting much and he could hardly throw himself a big party given his complete lack of friends and Nikola’s inability to tolerate alcohol. He wasn’t even expecting the traditional card from his parents (usually a week late). If it weren’t for Nikola he probably would have become a hermit as well as a vampire. He’d already been drifting away from most of his friends and that had put the final nail in the coffin.
At least this year he wasn’t attending a monster memorial service. He probably wouldn’t see any angels either, he didn’t recall ever telling Hayley when his birthday was. Maybe his eighteenth wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“You’re supposed to smile and be happy Mitchell,” Amelie said. “Birthdays are happy occasions.”
Mitch and Nikola exchanged glances, neither of their last birthdays had been overly happy, though Mitch had managed to score a few presents off Nikola’s birthday.
“If you don’t cheer up I won’t give you your present,” Amelie threatened with a wide smile of her own.
“Alright, alright I’m happy,” Mitch said, throwing his lunch wrapper at her and refraining from pointing out the illogic of that statement lest it cost him a present.
“Don’t worry,” Nikola said, “none of my presents are conditional.” He started coughing again and Amelie passed him his drink bottle.
“I can’t believe you’re sick already,” Amelie said. Mitch couldn’t believe that he’d made it this long, it had been almost a month since classes had started and Nikola had been remarkably healthy. If he hadn’t known better he might have thought that Gawain did something to boost Nikola’s immune system even though such magic was bad for him in the long term.
“Well we have to go to class soon,” in half an hour, “so you can go home and rest,” Mitch said. He fingered the ring of faerie steel Nikola had given him and hoped that none of his presents would involve jewellery, he had more than enough already. Fortunately Nikola and Amelie had a pretty good handle on gift giving; he’d actually liked all of his Christmas presents for once.
“I’m enjoying the sun,” Nikola said, flopping back down on the grass.
“You’ll enjoy your bed more,” Mitch retorted. “It’s not as lumpy.”
“How do you know how lumpy his bed is?” Amelie asked. Mitch pretended not to hear her. Nikola pretended not to hear either of them.
“What about the couch then?” Mitch suggested, “it’ll be in full sunlight for most of the afternoon and it doesn’t suffer from sudden cold breezes.”
“Only because it’s your birthday,” Nikola sighed. He held out one hand and Amelie pulled him upright. He yawned and climbed to his feet. “I’ll see you later.” He waved.
“You’re much better at managing him than I am,” Amelie said, sliding over and resting her chin on his shoulder.
“You make it sound like a chore,” Mitch said.
“I did grow up with him,” Amelie said, one hand snaking around his back. “But now that he’s gone we have half an hour all to ourselves.” She turned slightly and kissed his neck.
“Everyone can see us,” Mitch replied.
“And I’m sure that those of them that are actually paying us the least bit of attention are very jealous,” Amelie replied, “but it’s your birthday and I intend to see to it that you enjoy it.” She kissed him again and this time Mitch turned to kiss her back.
#
Mitch started to drool as soon as he stepped inside. Nikola had been baking again. He sighed inwardly; he should have expected Nikola to make him a cake instead of resting.
“Welcome home,” Nikola said from the kitchen. “Dinner is almost ready.”
“It’s a little early isn’t it?” Amelie asked, following Mitch inside and dumping her bag on the couch. Mitch followed suit, pretending not to see Nikola’s glare.
“One of Mitch’s presents is time dependent,” Nikola said with a slight shrug.
“You were supposed to be resting,” Mitch said. Nikola was putting the finishing touches on the cake which probably meant that he’d cooked it earlier and done the dishes and cooked dinner while waiting for it to cool.
He’d set the table as well and laid out a small pile of presents. There was even a banner saying Happy Birthday hanging from the ceiling, and a half dozen balloons. Nikola had probably found time to check his homework and do a couple of other things that didn’t involve resting as well.
“Is relaxing acceptable?” Nikola asked. “I like baking,” he smiled, “and I did have a nap while the cake was baking.”
“Don’t argue with him Mitch,” Amelie said, “it’s not as if he’ll listen.”
Mitch sighed. Nikola did look happy and he was pulling something that looked suspiciously like pizza and chips out of the oven. Mitch felt his mouth start to water. It hadn’t occurred to him that Nikola might make home-made pizza. It even looked as if he’d made his own base. Nikola might be obsessively organised but even he couldn’t match the perfect roundness of shop-bought pizza bases.
“Sit,” Amelie said, one of the chairs sliding out for him.
“It had better not move while I’m sitting on it,” Mitch warned, eyeing it dubiously.
“It won’t,” Amelie promised, sitting next to him. Mitch barely spared her a glance, his eyes were glued to the pizza that Nikola was bringing over, the first he’d seen since leaving Sieg’s. The ancient vampire had an inordinate fondness for video games and junk food.
“Here,” Amelie said, grabbing his plate and replacing it with one of his presents. Mitch sighed, surely the presents could wait until after dinner.
“Open it,” Amelie prompted, “you’ll want this one with dinner.”
“No singing?” Mitch asked.
“Only if you really want me too,” Nikola cleared his throat, “I don’t really have the voice for it.”
“It’s fine,” Mitch said hastily. He smiled at Nikola and opened the present. It was wrapped in normal wrapping paper for once and inside there was a box of L&P. Mitch ripped a can free and swore when he opened it and it fizzed everywhere. Nikola laughed and moved the rest of the box to the other end of the table while Amelie passed Mitch a paper towel.
“You did that on purpose,” he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.
“Who me?” she beamed at him.
“Yes you.”
“Happy birthday,” Nikola said, handing him a plate piled high with pizza and chips and a glass for what was left of his L&P.
“I bet you made my favourite cake as well,” Mitch said, pouring his L&P into the glass and stuffing chips into his mouth with his free hand.
“It wouldn’t be much of a birthday cake otherwise would it?” Amelie asked.
“Thank you,” Mitch said. He couldn’t remember the last time that he’d had a home-cooked meal for his birthday. In fact, he was reasonably sure that it had never happened; most of his birthdays had been spent at the Academy.
“Don’t thank me until after you’ve tried everything,” Nikola said as if his cooking was ever anything short of delicious.
“Thank you,” Mitch repeated once he’d tried a slice of pizza. He wished he was s
till human, vampires didn’t have the taste buds to fully appreciate pizza though they did heal quickly when they burnt the tops of their mouths on melted cheese.
“Come on,” Nikola said when they were finished eating. Amelie was magically clearing the table and loading the dishes into the chronically underused dishwasher. Nikola usually just cleaned everything when he washed the pots and pans.
“Come where?” Mitch asked. He was completely stuffed and he was certain that Nikola had eaten more than him, which was far too much to be running around on.
“To get your present of course,” Nikola said impatiently. “I can’t bring this one to you.”
Curious, Mitch followed Nikola down the hall and into his room. Nikola’s room looked much like his did but the bookshelves were overflowing, there was a fluffy green blanket on the bed and a comfortable armchair in the corner where he liked to curl up and read before bed. There weren’t any clothes on the floor either. Even the shoes were neatly lined up on a shoe rack by the door.
“Sit,” Nikola ordered, pointing to the armchair.
“Wasn’t it in the other corner?” Mitch asked. And facing the room; now it was facing the mirror on the wall.
“It moved,” Nikola said. “Furniture does that sometimes.”
“What? So my birthday present is getting to stare at my reflection while sitting in your chair?”
“Ha ha,” Nikola replied. “Make yourself comfortable, we’re a couple of minutes early.”
“Early for what?”
“You’ll see,” Nikola said, straightening his bed covers. That was a little reassuring at least, the bed would have been perfectly made if Nikola hadn’t had at least some rest in the afternoon. An old book written in equally Old English sat on the bedside table. Nikola’s library was any collector’s dream.
“What are you reading?” Mitch asked. Presumably he’d get a straight answer to that question.
Nikola smirked, “A book.” Mitch very nearly threw a cushion at him but Nikola was back in front of the mirror, tracing something in the bottom corner of the silver frame with a stylus. The flawless reflection rippled and rimmed everything with rainbow colours.
