The Institute

Chapter Six - Acceptance and rejection

The rest of my sleep was restless, my body angry at me for not giving in to the carnal pleasures that I am sure Lazarus could give it. I finally gave up on sleep and started to pace my room. There was a knock at the door, making me jump about a foot in the air as it broke through the silence in the room. I opened the door to find another parcel of clothes and a timetable for my classes, the elf that left them obviously scarpering away after delivering them making me sigh deeply. 

I picked up the items and went back to sit on my bed, throwing the parcel of clothes to one side before picking up my timetable. It was cram packed full of classes, which isn't really surprising. As a half breed, I would have to take both the witch and nosferatu classes as well as what seemed like cross creature classes to promote tolerance as Petal had called it. 

I decided to get ready, conjuring a bacon sandwich in my room to avoid, well, everyone for just a little while longer. I walked over to my desk and picked up my pentagram notebook, concentrating hard to make two identical blank copies before placing the three of them in my canvas bag, along with some stationery and my timetable. Not able to procrastinate any longer, I finally donned my uniform before teleporting down to the entrance. 

There were a few disgruntled faces, but mostly people just got about their business, ignoring my intrusion. Petal came out of her usual hiding place, making me wonder what was inside there. "What have you got first today?" she asked with a nurturing tone. I showed her my timetable and she let out a little chuckle. "Master Mirovi must not want you to have much time to make trouble." the thought had crossed my mind that that was the other reason for the back-to-back classes but I had pushed that to the back of my mind, not wanting to think about the man. "Come on, I will take you to your first class, potion making, so you know where it is by foot." 

I nodded my appreciation to her as we left and walked across the courtyard. The sky was a few shades lighter than last night, but not by much, still showing how early it was. We walked past the main entrance and round to a side door that led to a series of corridors. This place was like a maze and I could easily find myself becoming lost. Other witches were going about their business, getting to their own classes, but I did feel the stare at me as I walked past making a small sigh of frustration escape me. Finally, we stopped outside an old wooden door. "I will be by to help you to find your second class once this has finished." she told me, giving me a small smile before she disappeared. 

I took a deep breath and walked into the empty classroom. The walls were lined with jars containing all sorts of dried ingredients and on each desk, there was a Bunsen burner and a variety of different sized flasks. I walked over to one of the desks at the far side and pulled out my completed book, putting it to one side before pulling out a fresh copy and a pen. I walked around the room reading the labels on the jars as my pen scribbled down the list of ingredients. I found the names of some of them fascinating, wondering if the name on the jar was literally what the contents were. Things like dried elf ears and pickles ogre testicles. The door opened, making me quickly return to my desk, hopping on the high backless stool, as I heard the sound of the others laughing amongst themselves as they entered. 

Their laughter stopped as they realised my presence and they began to whisper amongst themselves. My pen came to a stop as it wrote down the last of the ingredients and rested on the page ready for my next instruction. I saw the girl from yesterday start to make her way over to me, when a female voice called out "Morning class." the girl gave me a scathing look but thought better of challenging me again and went to a desk at the front. The others took up their positions, all sitting in pairs, leaving me alone. 

"Now, today we are going to be learning how to make the sustenance potion. This can be used as a substitute for food if you are unable to conjure any." I made my pen scribbled down her words as she spoke, noting how some used the same technique while others wrote by hand. "This is a basic potion but can be a life saver in a situation where you find your magic limited or blocked." 

I raised my hand, making the woman look at me curiously before she nodded at me to ask my question. "Can it be used as a substitute for other nutrition factors or just food?" 

"What, like blood?" the b***h at the front pretended to whisper but her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. The room broke out in a small giggle making the teacher at the front glare at the girl who made the comment. 

"That is enough Zavira." she chastised. "It is a good question. Although the potion can be used in place of food and even water, there is no substitute for blood, especially for nosferatu. Some vampires have been known to drink animal blood instead of human, but it does not sustain them as well." I nodded in understanding, feeling a little bit sad at the hope that had sprung within me that I would not have to drink blood all my life. However, my fear had just been confirmed, I had no choice. 

The teacher listed the ingredients and demonstrated the steps that we needed to follow in order to make the potion. I watched her carefully, noting how she held her instruments and sliced the herbs that she used as well as the resulting changes to the liquid inside the heater flask. 

When it was our turn to replicate what she had done, the required ingredients appeared on our desks. I pushed my resting pen to one side to read what had been written with my mind. I picked up the knife and began to follow the instructions, looking at the small diagrams of how she had held the instruments and how thinly she had sliced things. "Is this yours?" a voice asked beside me. 

I was pulled from my concentration to see the teacher stood, pointing at my filled spell book. "Yes ma'am." I answered respectfully. 

"May I have a look?" I was pleased that she had asked and not just picked it up and started to flick through the pages. However, I still hesitated a second, slightly afraid of her seeing my work and about opening up to her but eventually I nodded to say it was fine. She carefully picked up the book and skimmed through the pages, her fingers hovering over the diagrams and writings beside them. "These are very detailed, and some of them are complex. Is this what you figured out on your own?" 

I looked around, trying to see if anyone else was listening in but everyone seemed too focused on their own potions. "Yes ma'am." I whispered. 

"This is very impressive. You have a real eye for detail that will help you in potion making." she placed my book back on the desk and moved away to return with an old textbook. "I want you to try some of the potions in here, once you are done or in your spare time. It is a bit more advanced than what you will study in this class but I hope you find it educational." 

"Thank you." I breathed out, meaning it sincerely. Never had anyone, especially a teacher, given me such praise or encouragement. I took the book from her and slipped it into my bag, patting it with a smile before I turned back to my sustenance potion. I added the last ingredients before the liquid took on its correct form, colour and texture. I poured it out into a small vile and took a tiny taste. It didn't have much flavour, but I immediately felt full and my thirst for water quenched. If only it would curb my thirst for other things as well. 

I slipped my vile into my bag, proud of what I had created and then pulled out the textbook the teacher had given me. My pen started to make notes again on what I read, deciding to start at the beginning with a rejuvenation potion. It was meant to make you feel more awake and alert. I conjured the ingredients needed from their place on the shelf and followed the instructions down to the letter. Ending up with a black bubbling liquid which showed something had gone wrong. 

I looked over the page again when I heard the teacher say. "That is all for today." Everyone else started to pack away and exit as I stared at the page in confusion. "The instructions are not very good and you will have to try and play with the quantities to make the potions work." the teacher laughed at my confusion. "You are free to use whatever you need and I trust you have set up a station in your room to practice." 

"Yes ma'am." I nodded as I started to pack away and return the ingredients to their proper places on the shelves. 

"Oh, please my name is Flick. You are Liona's daughter, aren't you?" I froze for a second not sure how to respond before just nodding. "You look so much like her, we used to be friends when we both came here as students. Same long brown hair and bright green eyes." suddenly Flick seemed to come back to herself as she shook her head. "Anyway, you better be getting ready, my next class will be here soon." 

I double checked I had everything and my station was cleared before I took the hint and walked out into the crowded corridor. As promised, Petal was there looking impatient. "You will be late for your next lesson at this rate." she huffed as she marched off down the corridor, making me run slightly in a bid to keep up with her. I was surprised at how fast the old witch could move, weaving in and out of people making it hard to see where she had gone at times. 

I didn't even know what my next class was or where I was going as Petal burst out of the building we were in and ran to the next building over. These corridors were filled with nosferatu and vampires making me clutch on to the strap of my bag like a life preserver as we made our way down the corridor. As soon as we reached our destination, Petal pretty much pushed me into the room making me stumble slightly. 

I looked up to see almost everyone was already there waiting for the class to start and there was one free seat, right next to Lazarus. I quickly scanned the room again, seeing that it was indeed the only free seat. I sighed and headed over keeping my eyes trained away from him as I sat beside him. "Hello princess." he leaned towards me and whispered in his husky tone. "Sleep well?" he placed his hand on my exposed knee under the table as he asked, making my skin goose bump under his touch. 

"Don't touch me!" I hissed as I pulled away from his touch making him chuckle. 

"You weren't saying that last night. Have you fed yet today princess?" Lazarus asked, his face so close to me now that his lips grazed my earlobe as he asked me that question making me have to suppress a moan. 

Thankfully, at that moment the teacher walked in. My thankfulness was short lived as Mirovi walked to the front of the classroom and his eyes landed on me straight away, a sneer on his lips. I decided to ignore his coldness towards me and grabbed my other empty book, wanting to keep my witch and nosferatu notes separate from each other. "Today we will be learning about how and when to feed as well as how to avoid falling into blood lust." Mirovi announced as his eyes stayed fixed on me. I used my magic to make my pen move as I looked away, not wanting to get into a childish staring match with this guy or become enraged by his pointed look. "There will be no magic in my classroom!" he yelled. 

All eyes turned to me as my pen came to an abrupt stop and hovered in place. I took it in my hand, sinking back as far as I could wishing I could disappear at that point with the looks of disgust on the face of my peers. Mirovi started to speak again and I felt Lazarus's hand on my knee again, it was not the same s****l touch as before, but a reassurance as he just rested his hand there, letting me know I was not alone. 

Mirovi went over the down sides to drinking animal blood, how it did not nurture us the way higher level beings did. Something to do with how their life force did not have the same power as others of higher cognisance. "We can of course drink the blood of humans, and other higher-level beings such as witches, werewolves and angels. However, you should refrain from feeding off other vampires or nosferatu." 

I stiffened at Mirovi's words, feeling Lazarus slide his hand off my knee for the first time since he placed it there, making me remember that it was even there to begin with. I looked up from my page feeling all the blood drain from my face. "Why?" someone else in the class asked. 

"This is called blood sharing and it is a very intimate act between two vampires or nosferatu. It can create a bond between the feeder and the one being fed on as they have their blood in their system. The one that has been fed on can usually sense the emotions and whereabouts of the one that they let feed on them. This can be a bad thing if that vampire or nosferatu then gets injured or killed." 

"How long does it last?" I found myself asking, so shocked that Lazarus would connect himself to me in such a way without telling me and from his reaction to the topic, I wondered if he knew about this before he did what he did. 

"Forever. Which is why under no circumstances should you ever let another vampire feed off you." Mirovi answered, his eyes glaring at me, almost knowingly. 

I swallowed and stared back at my page, trying to concentrate and write down all that I was being told as my mind was lost in torment. Mirovi was talking about the importance of making a daily routine of feeding but all I could think about was how the man sat next to me, someone I didn't even know, could now feel my emotions and know where I was, forever. Why would he do that? Did he know? Who am I kidding, of course he knew! Lazarus didn't seem the type to blindly bumble his way through life. 

I was thankful when the class was over, stuffing my things back into my bag with haste before I all but ran out of the room. "Violet!" Lazarus called after me. He caught up to me and pulled me into a secluded archway. 

"Why?" I simply asked, not giving him a chance to play stupid. 

Lazarus sighed and stepped back from me. "I-I don't know. I saw you needed to feed and the look of fear in your face that you wouldn't be able to stop. I knew I could stop you if I needed to and so I let you feed from me." 

"So, you can feel what I feel? Know where I am?" I hissed, almost rhetorically asking. Lazarus wince at the force of my words and probably at the anger I was feeling as he nodded. "Then you know that you have completely crossed the line. You are so far passed the line that the line is now a spot in the distance. I want you to stay the f**k away from me, you may have tricked me once, but you will not trick me again." I went to walk away when I turned back and stared up into his fallen face. "And I would rather die than ever, and I mean ever, feed from you again." With that I stormed out of the alcove.