by VJ Erickson
CHAPTER TEN
The freshman dining hall was located on the first floor of the Harris building and was as bleak and utilitarian as any of the facilities they had experienced so far outside of the Redmund Center.
"You'd think they'd want to offer a good first impression to the freshmen and give us the nice facilities," Taylor remarked while looking around the large windowless room.
"You'd think," Hannah replied through a mouthful of cereal. "Maybe they're trying to discourage the freshman fifteen by making the dining areas as inhospitable as possible."
"You might be on to something there," Taylor replied, pushing rubbery eggs around the plate without eating them. "That would certainly explain the food."
"Stick with cereal," said Hannah, shoveling in another mouthful. "Can't go wrong there."
"Wait, why are you eating anyway? You can't tell me the blood-eating thing is a myth. I have it on good authority otherwise."
Hannah leaned in closer to Taylor and lowered her voice.
"Keep it down, hon. Just because half the campus is undead doesn't mean that you're safe, remember? Just play ignorant. Trust me."
"Wait, what? Half?" Taylor said, even more loudly.
"I said, keep it down," hissed Hannah.
"What? In case anyone hears me talking loudly about fractions? Fine," said Taylor, lowering her voice and leaning in. "What do you mean, half?"
"Okay, half undead is an exaggeration. Let's just leave it at half non-human," Hannah said, continuing to whisper. "And we eat. We feed on blood to replenish ours, but we still need energy from somewhere. We don't photosynthesize."
"Right. Because that would be ridiculous. You cast magic memory spells and drink blood, and it's absorbing energy from the sun that is unrealistic."
"Would you just drop it? You have questions? I can answer them later."
"Fine. It's just..."
"Drop it," Hannah interrupted.
"I mean..."
"Drop it."
Hannah leaned back and resumed munching away on her cereal while Taylor went back to rearranging the food on her plate. The awkward silence was thankfully interrupted when Tom plopped down into the seat beside Hannah wearing what appeared to be his pajamas. He had on a faded grey t-shirt and loose-fitting plaid cotton pants, complimented by a serious case of bed-head.
"Hey guys!" he said. "How's it hanging?"
"Oh, it's great!" Hannah replied without a hint of her former annoyance.
Taylor marveled at how easily Hannah could put on a happy face. Taylor forced a smile. She didn't quite share Hannah's apparent ability to change her mood on a whim, but she found Tom's unassuming friendliness disarming, and her forced smile soon relaxed into a more natural one.
"Do anything interesting last night?" Tom asked before shoving a whole sausage link into his mouth.
"Oh, we just stayed in. We were up all night talking, getting to know each other," Hannah replied casually.
She seemed to have no trouble at all concealing the truth, Taylor noted. She supposed it would come naturally after however long of being an undercover vampire.
"Really?" Tom asked. "I thought I saw you and Joseph heading off somewhere. Guess that was someone else. Could've been Eric. I saw them together coming home last night. Eric seemed to be pretty zonked out."
"Yeah, must have been Eric. We're both pretty short, especially compared to Joseph," Hannah replied.
Taylor looked at Hannah's attire. Today she had chosen a sweater-vest with a pink and green southwestern pattern and matching neck scarf. Taylor had a hard time imagining that she could be mistaken for anyone, even at a distance, but Tom seemed to accept this explanation without a second thought. Could it be more vampire mind tricks? she wondered.
"You said zonked out?" Taylor asked and instantly felt a firm kick to her shin.
Hannah's expression was unchanged, though Taylor was sure she was responsible.
"I mean... I guess that's none of my business," said Taylor.
"Oh don't sweat it," Tom replied. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. Boys will be boys. I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble for going out drinking. I know, I know, I'm a terrible RA. But you can't tell guys not to do something. That's basically just daring them to do it. Besides, I figure there's no better teacher than a good hangover!"
"I'd say there's no better teacher than a good teacher, but I'm old-fashioned that way," said Hannah.
"I think there's room for both," said Taylor. "Though I can't say I've had a good teacher or a good hangover."
"Well, school's just getting started. We'll make sure we get you to experience both," said Tom.
"Minus the hangover," said Hannah.
"Yeah, minus the hangover," Taylor agreed.
"Speak of the devil. Hey Joseph!" Tom said, looking past Hannah and Taylor to Joseph who gave a half-hearted wave and then turned as if to leave.
"Come sit with us!" Tom said, gesturing towards the seat beside him.
Joseph hesitated a moment and then gave in.
"Not hungry this morning?" Tom asked, noticing that Joseph did not have any food.
"Not particularly." Joseph replied.
"So you've come here to...?"
"I was going to grab something for Eric. He's still... uh, I mean... He's not feeling well."
"Gotcha," Tom said with a wink and a smile.
Taylor caught herself grinning as well. There was something about a guy winking that made everything about him more attractive to her. Even bed-head pajama-wearing Tom. Suddenly, in fact, the whole "just woke up" look took on a whole new light. Sexy, not slovenly.
Taylor felt the color rushing to her cheeks and tried to focus intently on her food. She quickly glanced around the table to see if anyone had noticed her, but it appeared that she was safe.
Hannah seemed to be listening very carefully to the exchange between Tom and Joseph, both of whom paid no attention to the two girls.
"I think, um..." Joseph began hesitantly and then leaned forward and looked directly into Tom's eyes, "I think you should give Hannah and I a chance to talk privately."
Tom's smile faded, leaving a blank expression.
"Oh," he said. "I guess I should give you and Hannah a chance to talk privately."
He sounded robotic, a marked difference from his prior cheerful demeanor. He stood up, left his food on the table, and began to walk away wordlessly.
"Tom?" Hannah called after him.
"Yeah?" he replied, sleepily.
"Take your food with you, hon."
"Oh, okay!" he responded, sounding more himself. He grabbed his tray and waved cheerfully, again all smiles as he walked off to another table full of people, plopped down, and began chattering away.
"You don't have to enthrall people just because you can, mister," Hannah said to Joseph, pointing a finger accusingly at him. "You could just find a normal nice guy way to get some privacy. Like, you know, just waiting a minute? What is with you two? You think you're the big vampires on campus?"
"Well, can't really include my brother in that now, can you?" said Joseph.
"I can, because he most certainly does think he's the big... something on campus. We don't know for certain what has happened to him. He appears human, but that doesn't mean he is human. You'd think after spending some time as a vampire you'd come to realize that not everything is always as it appears. How old are you again?"
"Eighteen," said Joseph.
"No I don't mean how old you were when you were turned. I mean, how old are you really?"
"Still eighteen."
"Oh, right. You said your twin brother was turned months ago. Well that explains a lot."
"Hey! I'm seventeen," said Taylor. "We can't all be ancient like you."
"Well if you both want to live to see ancient, you're going to have to grow up fast," said Hannah.
"I've had to grow up fast enough, thank you very much. My parents are dead, remember?" Taylor said, and the table immediately fell quiet.
After a f
ew minutes of awkwardness, Joseph spoke up.
"Not to make this all about me, but remember my brother? The unconscious maybe-human upstairs in our room? What am I supposed to do with him?"
"Well, did you take care of his memories?" asked Hannah.
"No, he hasn't woken up yet. He's been asleep this whole time. I don't even know if he's going to wake up. I mean, he's breathing and all, but I don't know what the hell happened to him. Taylor?" he said, glaring at her.
"What? I don't know what's going on. I didn't even believe in vampires before yesterday," Taylor insisted.
"Ironic, coming from a vampire," said Joseph.
"Half-vampire."
"How can you be a half vampire?" he asked. "Isn't every vampire a half vampire? I mean, you're always something else before you are infected."
"Cursed," said Hannah.
"What?" he asked.
"Cursed. You said infected. It is not a disease."
"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. You use your hoodoo terms; I'll use science, thank you."
"Oh please do tell, Mr. Science. And where did you get your degree from? Vampire University? Can't be much of an institution if they confer degrees on teenagers."
"Or maybe I'm just a damned smart teenager."
"Okay you guys, can we stop fighting and go back to the 'something else' part?" interrupted Taylor.
"Something else?" asked Joseph.
"Yes, something else. You said you're always something else before you are infected. What do you mean? What else could you be besides a person?"
"Well, you could be lots of things. You could be a tree. A leprechaun even," said Joseph.
"Okay stop," said Hannah. "First of all, if it weren't for this glamour I'm maintaining right now where we're all silently chomping away at breakfast, anyone listening in would think we're either insane or dangerous depending on what they know. So let's consider our surroundings before we start blabbering away, shall we?"
"Secondly," she continued, "It's not 'lots of things'. There are a dozen things, by which I mean an actual dozen. Twelve. Four of which are extinct, including leprechauns, and trees are not on that list either, so let's not confuse her with misinformation."
"Whatever. Trees are totally on that list," muttered Joseph.
"They ARE NOT," said Hannah, raising her voice quite loudly, though no one around them seemed to notice. "You're just being RACIST."
"Hey," Joseph said as he held his hands out in a mock surrender. "I didn't say there was anything wrong with being a tree. I like trees."
Hannah took a deep breath and spoke slowly, "Okay... I'm going to ignore that statement. Taylor, there is more than just the human race. There are other... similar races. They all look human, more or less, and those that look less have learned to blend. Human vampires are the most common and the most powerful, but they rely on humans to procreate. None of the accursed can procreate."
"The infected ones are sterile, is what she means," interjected Joseph.
"Do you have to put everything in the most obnoxious way possible?" Hannah asked.
"I'm a teenager. Can't be helped, apparently."
"As I was saying, we human vampires are the most common and also the most powerful."
"That's not what I hear," Joseph interrupted again. "I heard that red caps are pretty nasty."
"Also pretty extinct, so the point is moot," Hannah replied impatiently.
"Wait, you are going to have to slow down," said Taylor. "I'm still adjusting to vampires. Now there's trees and ... I mean, er... well, whatever the non-offensive versions of trees are. And now red... caps? As in hats?"
"Yes, as in hats," replied Joseph. "Scary undead leprechauns in red headgear. Nasty stuff."
"They don't wear red hats. Red cap is just a name, and the red refers to the blood that is constantly dripping off their clothes from their homicidal sprees," clarified Hannah.
"That's right, murderous midgets! Be afraid. Be very afraid!" taunted Joseph.
"You wouldn't be afraid if you met a red cap, Joseph, you'd just be dead. And they were not midgets, they were shape-shifters. They were only small if they chose to be. Otherwise they were perfectly normal-sized. Which is all besides the point because there hasn't been a red cap or a leprechaun for at least a century now. They're both extinct, and can we please get back to the point?" insisted Hannah.
"Which is?" asked Taylor.
"Which is," continued Hannah, "that we don't have time for history lessons and this isn't really the place for it either, because we have a comatose maybe-human upstairs, and Joseph needs to go take care of it."
"Him," Joseph corrected. "Not 'it'. Him. And he is not my responsibility."
"You want me to go take care of it?" asked Hannah.
"HIM," Joseph said, standing up abruptly.
"Hey look, I didn't mean..." Hannah called after him as he stormed towards the door, but he didn't slow down or turn to look behind him.
"Ah well," Hannah said, her cheerful smile returning. "We can follow up on that later. You gonna eat any of that or just play with it?"
"What? Oh. Yeah, I guess I'm not that hungry. This is all sort of... a lot. Do you mind if we just chill out for a bit?" asked Taylor.
"If by chill out you mean go to our freshman orientation class, then I think that's a great idea!"
"Wait, I thought class started next Monday?"
"Monday is when the academic classes start. This is like homeroom. What would you do without me, Taylor? Come on, we've still got like an hour to get ready. Let's swing back to the dorm first. Okay, hon?"
"Okay," Taylor replied half-heartedly and gathered her tray of mostly uneaten food.
She supposed it would be nice to have something normal to take her mind off things. Usually a new class would make her nervous, but after her experiences over the last 24 hours, a regular classroom didn't seem quite so scary.
