by D. R. Perry
“We had a brush with a Grim about fifteen minutes ago,” Tony answered. “You want proof, head over to what’s left of the Nocturnal Lounge.”
“There won’t be proof.” Lynn twirled a pencil against a blank page in her notebook. “This happened at sunset, right?”
“Before, actually.” Henry gazed into my eyes, but I got the feeling he wasn’t just seeing me. He was Remembering. “About five minutes between when it broke through and sunset.”
“Even worse, then.” Lynn’s pencil scratched more purposefully against the paper. “There won’t be any evidence it was a Grim. All the Umbral residue will vanish into the ether in a couple minutes. Heck, they might even try to blame you guys for all the mess if you’re there before the authorities.”
“Even worse, the Campus Police probably won’t do much.” Olivia leaned her chin on her hand. “They don’t care much for nocturnal anything, just like the regular police.”
“Yeah, cops sure like to overlook things like that. But I have a string I could pull.” Tony leaned back in his chair. “A Grim is serious business. I’ll need some kind of proof I can show my contact, though.”
“I’m proof. I did my psychic ‘wooj’ back at the lounge.” One corner of Henry’s mouth tilted up, but the smile didn’t touch his eyes. “Is your friend the type of person who’d listen to a vampire?”
“He wouldn’t even let you try to prove anything without someone trustworthy vouching for you, a description I don’t fit, by the way.” Tony didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “He’s a werewolf.”
Hisses, boos, and even an outraged choke came from everyone around the table. Only Henry and I kept quiet. No respectable werewolf would believe a vampire about anything nowadays. They’d been the most at odds during the Big Reveal exactly because they’d been the most friendly before. Alliances going back centuries had crumbled when old friends sold each other out to save their own skins. I wasn’t sure how bad things had gotten, but the only groups with more enmity were the two Faerie courts.
“Would he listen to Blaine?” Henry raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, definitely.” Tony smiled, then let out a chuckle. “If you can convince a paranoid dragon shifter to head over here when he doesn’t have to.”
“Blaine owes me a favor, remember?” Henry folded his hands together, leaning back in his chair.
“He’s over in Newport for Winter Break, but said he’d give dragonish help on the phone.” Lynn pulled out her phone. “If Henry’s calling in his favor, he’ll have to show his scaly face.”
I saw Lynn get up and walk away with her phone, watching her face brighten as her friend picked up on the other end. Olivia stared almost blankly, probably because of the Adderal forcing her into a diurnal pattern. I couldn’t tell where Tony’s attention went, but cat shifters couldn’t resist eavesdropping. Henry turned his head toward the exit, then glanced back at me.
“If you want to wait until this is settled before I bind your amulet, Maddie, I understand.” He put his hand in his pocket, then opened it to reveal what looked like a brass pocket watch on a chain. I didn’t care one bit about that.
“How did you remember me?” No one did without a reminder once they’d looked away. I’d need to join a shifter pack, make friends with Faeries, or have a baby for someone to know who I was. He’d forgotten me earlier. But what if that had been an act? Vampires couldn’t turn shifters or Tithed Faeries. I couldn’t hide my shiver. At least Henry was the only one paying enough attention to notice.
“It’s what I do, this Psychic memory thing.” He glanced at the amulet in his hand. “I made a psychic impression, just like I did with the Grim. I’ll never forget you now.”
“Did anyone ever tell you making Psychic impressions of girls who were born after you got turned is a bit creepy?” I winked. What was wrong with me? I’d gone from freaking out to making jokes in less than twenty seconds.
“People tell me vampires are creepy a hundred different ways every day.” He leaned his elbow on the table. “If I let it bother me, I’d stay home even more than I already do.”
“I wasn’t saying it to bother you.” I felt like a total twit with no idea why I should care that much about what a guy I’d just met thought of me. "Sorry."
“You were joking.” He shrugged, grinning mildly. “Most aren’t. They don’t care if they bother a vampire.” Henry shrugged. “Anyway, I figured it’d be better to remember a client with Umbral Affinity. If you need another amulet, you won’t have to explain yourself over and over.”
“Makes sense.” I shook my head to clear it of the banter. “Wait, you made a Psychic impression of the Grim? Is that the proof you were talking about?”
“Yup.” He tapped his nose with one finger. “I can put it in a penny or something, let everyone have a look at it. They’ll get a front-row seat to the Grims’ performance of Tear Down The Lounge without any of the risk.”
“If you can make amulets with impressions in them, then why worry about convincing a werewolf? Shouldn’t the police just believe something like that?”
“That’s a logical way to think about it. Problem is, distrust isn’t so rational. Let me show you something.” Henry pulled a phone and a touchscreen glove from his pocket. “The technically dead need these.” He put the glove on his right hand, covering his thumb and first two fingers. Then he tapped and swiped the phone.
“I totally already know vampires can’t just use a smartphone without those.” I smiled. “You’re not my first.”
“No wonder you don’t mind sitting at the Goth kid’s table.” He chuckled a little.
“I sit at any kind of table I want. No consequences, no regrets. I learn better when I see something up close and personal.”
“Speaking of that, here.” Henry handed his phone over. “I completely disagree with the website I’m showing you, but I think you’ll understand my point and reasoning.”
I blinked in near-disbelief at the page full of misinformation. The header had a motif of Nazi symbols, and the sidebar’s lettering stood out against an old, grainy photo of people in pointy white hoods. This was a website for a white human supremacist group. One “article” on this page refuted the Holocaust. Further down the page was a baldly revisionist five-paragraph “essay” legitimizing slavery. The last one told how vampires were just the gay people who’d died of AIDS in the 1980s and 90s, back from the dead to spread the disease. I checked the fine-print information at the bottom, hoping to see the tag-line of a satire blog. I didn’t. The site’s followers actually viewed the world this way.
“I can’t. There are no words for this.” I pushed the phone away like it was poisonous.
“I do.” Henry took his phone and closed out of the browser. “Insulting. Sickening. Depressing. Terrifying.”
“This problem of yours with the Grim will be tough to solve.” Lynn’s voice came from over my shoulder. “Blaine will help, but as you just showed…um, your friend here, most people will think a Grim hunting a vampire is the vampire’s own fault.”
“True story.” Henry shrugged, then took off the glove and pocketed the phone. “Sad, but true.”
“Jeez, sorry.” Lynn walked around me and hunkered down to look at my face. “I definitely know you, but forgot your name again.” She blushed a little.
“Maddie.” Recognition made her eyes twinkle.
“Yes. My roommate.” Lynn sighed, looking like she’d just scratched an itch on the inside of her skull. “Blaine and I will help Henry with this Grim problem. Bobby will, too, once he gets here. I can handle all the research we need, along with my terminology class. You other ladies don’t have to worry about it.”
“I’ll help.” I watched Henry start, and thought it was because he’d forgotten me. Then I remembered he couldn’t. It was my turn to blush. “I wouldn’t even be able to take this course if it wasn’t for you, Henry.”
“I’m in.” Tony put his fists on his hips. “That Grim tore up the whole Nocturnal Lounge. I fracking
love that place. Whoever summoned it deserves a piece of my mind and anything else we can bring against him.”
“I’ll help, too.” Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m in the same class as Lynn, so we can study together and research Grims and Summoners.”
“Great.” Lynn stood up and stretched. “Let’s hit the library. Blaine will meet us there. Grab books, notebooks, computers or whatever from wherever you stash them. I need a few things from our room. Maddie, are you cool with the Psychic wooj now?”
“Yes, but not here.” I got up and shouldered my backpack. “This place feels like a fishbowl.” I glanced at the wall of windows that made up the front of the dining hall. “Let’s go to the fifth-floor lounge.”
“Lead on.” Henry put his hands in his jacket pockets. We headed out of the dining hall and over to the dorm.
Chapter Three
Henry
I sat in the fifth floor common room, waiting for Maddie to come back from the restroom. I wasn’t sure what got into me back at the dining hall, over-sharing with her like that. It had been years since I had a friend to talk to. Had I spilled my guts because no one would remember anything Maddie might say about me? No. I’d told her because her interest seemed genuine.
I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I’d always kept things like that disgusting website secret. There was something about Maddie. Of course, it could simply be the fact that I thought she was gorgeous. I hadn’t been around a woman I’d found attractive since the Twentieth Century. She would have fit right in with the old crowd from before my turning.
I stopped reminiscing and got the amulet out again. I held it as though I could warm it even though that was impossible. Room-temperature was my default setting until I drank blood from a living creature. No one did that anymore unless it was a serious emergency. I’d kept my head down, played by the rules. Being a good little psychic vampire hadn’t gotten me anywhere special. It also hadn’t gotten me killed.
“Okay. I’m ready for all the wooj you can throw now.” Maddie sat on the low coffee table between us. She held her hands out, palms up.
“Under the circumstances, do you think it’s a good idea?” I stuck my hand in my pocket, fingertips brushing cold metal.
“It’s the only idea. I can’t do this lab without your amulet, Henry.” She shrugged. “I guess you could let me fail if you’re mean or something.”
“But I had the amulet on me when I got attacked.” I gripped the amulet, still hesitant to take it out of my pocket. “Had just finished it, in fact. Aren’t you worried about the Grim?”
“Not really. They can’t do anything to Magi with Umbral Affinity, you know.” She smiled. “We always see them coming, and they have a hard time tracking us. Our magic smells too much like theirs.”
“I didn't know that. Never learned much about anything besides my own abilities. I knew an Umbral Magus once, but back then everyone kept their powers secret.”
“That’s okay. I’m kind of odd because I like talking about magic. They won't be able to teach me anything about Umbral magic in particular. My parents say I could teach them a thing or five.”
“Doesn’t it bother you, that you’re here to learn and it’s not really relevant?” Maybe she felt the same way I did about being at school.
“I’m majoring in Magic Theory, and that’s always relevant. I need to know how magic works because my parents are both Psychics. My aunt was the Magus.” Maddie clenched her jaw so hard I heard her teeth grind. “She died when I was little. I’m mostly self-taught, so maybe that’s why I want to be a teacher. Why in all the Realms am I telling you this? Oh, jeez, did I say that out loud?” Maggie’s dusky complexion would have hidden the color in her cheeks, but no one can secretly blush around a vampire.
“Maybe for the same reason I showed you that website.”
“Which is?” She leaned forward like I was about to put on some kind of performance.
“I have no idea.” I held the amulet in my pocket, wondering whether a class was worth Maddie risking a Grim attack. "But that's okay."
“Coincidence?” She stared at my hidden hand, waiting for the not so big reveal.
“Not my area of expertise. That’s a Magus thing unless I'm mistaken.” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, and one I need this amulet of yours in order to study. I’ll be happy to share what I learn, especially since Blaine still hasn’t taken this class.” She rolled her eyes. “Did you hear about his wacky conspiracy theory? He thinks some kooky Magi are messing with the school? It’s truly tinfoil-hat worthy.”
“Blaine’s an overachiever.” I pulled the amulet from my pocket, opening my hand. I wanted to help her. If the amulet put her in danger, I’d just have to help her more. “Also, not nearly as easy to talk to as some other people I’ve met.”
“True story. Speaking of Trogdor the Burninator's imminent arrival, let’s bind this amulet already.” Her smile was easy and relaxed. “Lynn doesn’t like being late to the library, whether she’s meeting temperamental dragon shifters there or not.”
“This binding will be a little different from most others I make. This is supposed to last three weeks of inter-session. You must turn it on and off yourself, so it’s not running while you sleep or do anything you’d want Umbral Affinity for.”
“Okay.” The amulet could have been solid gold or a moon rock from the way Maddie looked at it.
“When you want to use the amulet, put it on, then say ‘ex umbra in solem.’ And when you want to shut the effects off, say ‘ex solem in umbra.’ If those phrases aren’t okay for some reason, we can agree on something else. Just speak up now about it.”
“No, that’s fine. They don’t use Latin in this class. Should be good.”
“Great. So, when you’re ready, just put your hands on the amulet. When I say the Latin mumbo-jumbo, repeat after me. I’ll have to touch you the whole time. Is that all right?”
“You know, I was there when you did Bobby’s binding.” The little curve of her lips would have seemed shy if she hadn’t been looking me right in the eyes.
“Oh?” I tried not to look as stunned as I felt. How she could be this calm around a “bloodthirsty vampire” was beyond my comprehension.
“Yeah. I know the drill. It’s fine, I won't freak out about touching a vampire or anything.” Her smile brightened until it put the moon to shame. “You’re just a guy with a sun allergy on a liquid diet.” She dropped me a wink, then took the amulet.
I had no idea what to say to any of that. If only being a vampire was that simple. She knew it wasn’t. She’d seen the website and said I wasn’t the first she’d met. Maddie had seen more than most anyone would imagine, too. Being effectively invisible meant she could watch or listen to just about anything without being noticed.
Any Magus with Umbral Affinity could walk unseen, hidden better than someone under Faerie Glamour. Some old legends said the sun couldn’t penetrate a properly enhanced Umbral shield. I wrapped my hands around hers, feeling a slow, nervous fear that usually only plagued me in big crowds. I pushed it down since I had to focus. I looked straight ahead, meeting Maddie’s deep-brown gaze. No, that wouldn’t work. I cleared my throat, closing my eyes instead.
“This amulet will make Maddie May, Umbral magus, memorable while it’s active. Those who encounter her for the next three weeks will remember her and previous interactions while it’s working, even if they look away. Her name will be connected with her identity on coursework, and grades assigned will go on her record permanently. This amulet will cease to function when the Inter-session final grades are submitted, or after three weeks and one day, whichever is longer. Ex umbra in solem, ex solem in umbra.” I opened my eyes and let go of her hands. Maddie repeated the Latin with a much spiffier pronunciation than I’d ever managed.
“What did you do, go to some fancy prep school or something?” I clasped my hands together, not liking how they felt empty all of a sudden.
“Nope. Home-schooled.
” She peered at the amulet, then shrugged and undid the clasp on its chain. “Mom’s a polyglot. I get all my languages from her, even the dead ones.”
“How many do you know?” I was fascinated that someone this young had learned so much more than me.
“Only four.” She slipped the amulet over her neck.
“Only? Most people just know one.” I looked away as she tucked the bronze circle into her shirt.
“I have a lot of time to myself, whether I want it or not.” She shrugged with one shoulder, the opposite corner of her mouth tilting up in a half-grin.
“Do you?” I was surprised. If I could walk around without people knowing I was a vampire, I’d be out all the time. It was dangerous to go alone as I was.
“Usually, it’s fine that people forget.” Maddie pulled her satchel’s strap over her head to cross her body. “Sometimes, it’s a giant pain. I learn tons, though, and that makes up for it.”
“Bet that takes a lot of patience.” I tried not to look too disappointed that we’d part company soon. I wanted to stay and talk longer. Instead, I held the door as we headed down the hall and toward the stairs.
“It’s the very first thing I learned. That and recaps. I have to repeat myself every time I talk to someone.” She chuckled. “Social interaction feels like the first minute of a Supernatural season finale.”
“I hope you don’t have Kansas singing Carry On Wayward Son stuck in your head every time.” I smiled, , watching her curls bounce as she went down the steps ahead of me. “Do they ever get déjà vu?”
“Lynn sometimes does. We live together, plus she’s super smart. Notices things.” She pulled the door at the bottom of the stairwell open and held it for me. “It makes her more likely to realize something’s wrong or missing.”
“I know. She solved Bobby’s hibernation problem when no one else could figure it out.” I couldn’t help smiling but turned my head in time to hide my fangs. “Outsmarted Blaine, even.”
