by Kasi Blake
Bay-Lee found it near impossible to concentrate on school with her mind stuck on Nick. Not even the smell of incense ruined her good mood. Each day her love for him grew stronger. Although they’d only been together a short time, she barely remembered what her life was like pre-Nick, and she knew for a fact she wouldn’t be able to return to an empty life without him at her side, no matter what the cost.
Maxx cleared his throat behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her seat. She shot Keisha a glare. Why hadn’t the girl warned her the teacher was standing back there? Keisha shrugged, mouthing a useless ‘sorry.’ “Ms. Van Helsing, can you tell us how vampires create more vampires?” he asked. “Do they have to bite you, or do you have to drink their blood?”
It was a trick question. She took a deep breath to keep the quiver from her voice before replying, “Vampires cannot be created from humans.”
“Correct.” Maxx seemed pleased. He descended the stairs to his podium while lecturing on the subject, his booming voice echoing in the large room. “Everything in the Realm, with the exception of ghosts, all come from the same source. Shifters.”
Gavin spoke from the row in front of her, one step below. He’d smiled at her upon arrival in the classroom, but she’d turned her face away. The fact he was up to something bad and had stolen her necklace made her want to punch him every time she saw him. He asked the teacher, “What about werewolves?”
Bay-Lee cringed.
“What did I just say?” Maxx blew out a breath, annoyed. “Tonight I want you all to read up on the history of shifters. I will only be able to give you a short glimpse into it, so I want you to have the facts when you return to class. In the meantime, I can tell you this much.”
He leaped onto the first table so everyone could clearly see him. “After Bertram Van Helsing discovered them—there were only about a few dozen at the time—he relocated them to the Realm like America relocated Indians to reservations, because he feared them and because he wanted their land.”
Gavin asked, “What land?”
“The world, Mr. Murdoch.” After a glare in the boy’s direction, Maxx went on with his story. “No one knows where shifters come from, but there are several theories. Perhaps they were ordinary men at one time who simply evolved into powerful beings, or maybe they are aliens from another planet.” This elicited a few chuckles from students. “My favorite theory has them coming from the lost city of Atlantis. Perhaps that is why some chose to become mermaids.”
A student near the back asked, “What do you mean they chose it?”
“Once shifters moved into the Realm they quickly discovered they could not shift easily anymore, so they had to pick their favorite way of being. A few went into the woods where they and their children became werewolves. Others built a city and became vampires. Still others took to the lake and turned into mermaids. I am not sure how the wide variety of other monsters came to be, but I am sure they all started the same way, with shifters.”
“But if all monsters are shifters,” Gavin said, “why don’t they change into something else when they cross over to here? They could hide from us.”
“Most shifters lost the ability to shift long ago.”
A murmur of surprise spread through the classroom. Bay-Lee and Keisha seemed to be the only ones not in total shock. Fortunately, Connor had told her about shifters and the history of the Realm years ago. She started to raise her hand before remembering the unusual rules. “But there are shifters who can still shift? Right?”
Maxx nodded at her. “There are indeed, Ms. Van Helsing, but they are quite rare.”
“Just the originals can shift, not their children,” Keisha said.
“Correct, Ms. Townsend. Gold star for you.”
Keisha beamed.
Bay-Lee strained every muscle in her face to keep from rolling her eyes. It was hard to be friends with the teacher’s pet. No matter how hard she worked, Keisha got better grades. The fact might have driven her crazy if she didn’t have more important things on her mind. Nothing was going to get under her skin, not as long as she was in love.
Focusing on work, she asked, “Why did some of the shifters want to be werewolves? I don’t understand.”
“I do.” Maxx grinned. “They wanted to be strong and fearsome and run free.”
“They wanted to be dogs?” The insult rolled off her tongue.
“They wanted to have a tight family unit.” Maxx hopped off the table. “You seem to have a problem with werewolves more than with vampires or border monsters or even wraiths. Why is that, Ms. Van Helsing? Where is the respect for these magnificent creatures?”
Magnificent? She labored to soften her reaction. For years she’d worked to avoid unwanted attention. It was difficult to change at this point. “Werewolves rip people to shreds.”
Returning to his original lecture as if she hadn’t spoken, Maxx said, “Movies about vampires are ridiculous. They have them running around, turning young girls into vampires so they can get a date.” Boys in the back chuckled. “How do we know that isn’t the case?”
When no one answered, he said, “It’s simple math, people. Let’s do the numbers. Okay? For the sake of argument we will say there was only one vampire in the world and he only turned one person into a vampire each month. That means he would have created twelve vampires in a year. We’ll also say this vampire only killed six people in a month. At that rate it would take a long time to go through the world’s population. But wait.
“The vampires he creates are also transforming others and they also kill. Then the vampires they create will be turning people and killing each month. Can you see how fast this would get out of control, like a deadly virus? They would be multiplying like bunnies. And that is how we know for certain vampires cannot create other vampires, because you and I are not vampires, are we?”
Bay-Lee tried to fill the paper in front of her with all the information. Her hand hurt. She dropped the pencil for a second and flexed her fingers. Covertly she glanced at her watch. She couldn’t wait to seek out Nick for a secret date. A smile touched her mouth. She’d been wrong about love ruining things. If she wanted, she could become a great hunter and have a boyfriend too. Nick wasn’t getting in the way. If anything, he was helping. When they were alone, he insisted on mentoring her, and she’d learned more from him than from anyone else at the school.
Maxx finished his lecture.
Keisha stayed after to talk to him while Bay-Lee hurried off to meet Nick.
