Not Even Human

Chapter Seven

Gabriel leaned against his car after getting out of the car. Nico jumped out of the car with a huff, “She’s the one in front of all the cheerleaders. I’m gonna go to the nurse’s office, still remember where it is?”

Gabe nodded as he walked off towards Monica. She was doing a routine like nothing had happened, smiling and chanting like Kim was okay. It angered him.

As soon as he got closer, he shouted out to her, “Monica!”

She kept going through the routine, ignoring him. He frowned, deciding to try a different route. He walked even closer, some of the cheerleaders faltering when they saw him. Gabriel had quite the reputation when he went to school, and he was still supposed to go this year, but refused to. He wasn’t a student though; he had been a teacher’s aid whom everyone loved. Until… he didn’t wanna think about it. He was supposedly intimidating or crude, but that was only a rumor because he never got close to anyone.

Monica turned when she noticed all the cheerleaders were staring behind her, then scowled with a hand on her hip, “Gabriel Romaro. What are you doing here?”

Gabriel c****d his head to the side, signaling towards the school building, “We need to talk.” She scoffed before turning away, ignoring him. He gripped her forearm and she gasped, “I said we need to talk.”

The cheerleaders started to murmur, and Monica snatched her arm out of his grip, “Fine.”

She followed him inside, and he turned to face her when they were in the hallway. She crossed her arms, “Okay. I’m here. What do you want, bloodsucker?"

His hand gently grasped her cheek, and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He smiled sweetly before smashing the side of her head into the locker with the appropriate strength for a werewolf. Gabriel merely smirked as Monica passed out onto the floor.

With a small grunt, he grabbed her by the ankle and started to drag her through the hallways. He didn’t want her to dirty his outfit, after all. He could hear no one around so it was fine.

He opened the nurse’s door to see Nico sitting by one of the beds with a syringe handy. He had a creepy smile, and Gabriel sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”

Gabriel laid her on the table, and Nico gasped, “How hard did you hit her?! She’s bleeding-“

“And Kim’s dying.” Nico glared and Gabriel rolled his eyes, “Can you extract her blood already?”

“We shouldn’t hurt people-“

“And how else did you want me to get her here?”

Nico sighed as tied the medical tape tightly around her forearm, “I know I’m only half royal vamp or whatever, but I cannot be the only one in the family who has these morals.”

“You pretty much are-“

“Not my mom.” Nico raised an eyebrow as he disinfected the area for the vein, and Gabriel rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, and that’s it. Nobody else really cares a lot about things like this. She hurt one of us; she deserved it. End of story.”

“Ah, Gabe. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a crush on Miss Kim.” Nico slowly penetrated the skin with the syringe, drawing blood from Monica with a thin tube into an empty blood bag.

“Did the teacher’s office really have a syringe and empty blood bags hanging around?”

Nico smirked, “No, but my locker did. I just thought this place would be the best… well, place.”

Gabe shook his head, “I don’t know what’s worse: the fact you have all this, or you know how to do all this.”

“Hey! Not everyone can die multiple times around here.” It was true. Half-vampires and mortality were a little more concerning… He couldn't just hunt when needed, he mostly drank blood bags. “So I make due perfectly fine, thanks for asking.”

“Yeah, okay.” Gabe turned away, checking his phone and widened his eyes when seeing Victoria’s message. “Is there any way to speed this up?”

Nico gave him a glare, and Gabe sighed before showing him the text. Nico sighed, “Well, there’s not exactly any way to speed this up. It’ll only take…” Nico hummed in thought, “...five more minutes.”

Gabe texted back: Five minutes.

-

Victoria heard silence through the door, and she listened attentively. Deep and slow breathing… was she asleep?

She opened the door anxiously, calming down as soon as she saw Kim sitting on the floor and against the wall. She seemed to be sweating profusely.

Victoria gently approached her, afraid of scaring her like earlier. She was delusional with the sickness, for sure. Kim stirred a little, squinting at her with an expression of uncomfortability.

“Victoria… You’re here?”

Victoria nodded with a swallow, “Yeah.” The older vampire crouched nearby her, pressing her palm softly to her forehead. “How do you feel?”

Kim breathed a sigh in humor, “Like shit.” The younger vampire coughed before speaking, her voice raspy, “Is Gabriel here?”

“He’s on his way with the antidote.” Victoria smiled reassuringly, caressing her cheek before picking her up with both arms. “You’re gonna be okay.”

Kim nodded as Victoria laid her down on the bed, softly covering her with a blanket. Kim looked around with a small gasp, “I think I’m gonna-“

Victoria sped to the nearest trash can, and readily put it in front of Kim as she hunched over the side of the bed and started vomiting blood. Victoria shushed her while rubbing her back to comfort her. She’s seen this before all too well, hundreds of years ago when the war between species had been taking place. Thousands of her kind… slaughtered because the werewolves wanted more territory. Luckily, the vampires held their own… and eventually the witches interfered, clarifying a treaty between the two or else. Every time one of her kind died, it broke her heart. Luckily, Gabriel was born after the fact, though he’s seen it in others not part of their clan who were trespassing the wolves territory. Nico has never even seen combat…

Kim groaned as she finished, laying back down with a shuddering breath, “God, I’m disgusting.”

“You’re sick.” Victoria smiled in amusement, “But you’ll be healed soon, don’t worry.”

Kim swallowed roughly, “I wish I never kissed Monica. This is hell.”

Victoria smirked, “Did you at least enjoy it?”

Kim scowled and closed her eyes, “Before she tried to kill me, yeah.”

“What if it was a mistake?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know just as well as I do that some instincts are hard to control. She probably doesn’t even know she does that on instinct.”

Kim sighed, “What if she hurts me again?”

“Well, maybe next time you’ll know to be on guard in case she freaks out with her werewolf genes.”

“Do werewolves hate vampires?” Kim’s voice was quiet, almost shy.

“Not all of them. I mean, my brother Gabe dated a werewolf a couple years ago.”

“Huh.” Kim stayed silent, thinking to herself.

Victoria laughed a little before softly fixing her hair, “Get some rest. You’re gonna need it.”

-

Gabriel sighed as he leaned against the wall, “Nico. It’s been more than five minutes-“

“And done. Ten minutes. Who knew?”

“Okay, whatever. Let’s get out of here.”

“What about Monica?”

“Just leave her there-“

“We can’t just leave her here! The cheerleaders are waiting for her-“

“You know what. I’m done with this.” Gabriel sped over and grabbed the blood bag and syringe roughly as Nico tried to protest by grabbing his arm.

“Hey! You’re gonna hurt her-“

“Does it look like I give a damn, Nico?” Gabe’s harsh tone made Nico recoil with bitterness, almost shocked he would use that voice with him. “You haven’t seen what those bites do to people, what they’re doing to Kim. So shut up and get out of my way.”

Nico clenched his jaw, dismissing his anger as Gabe walked out of the room. If he really wanted to, he could probably give him a strong migraine or something… He was more witch than royal vampire, but still not all magical or powerful. It was kind of a bummer, especially when he was reminded of the way Gabe and Victoria were only his half-siblings, and way stronger than him.

Nico looked down at Monica’s unconscious body, pondering. Hesitantly, he held out his hands and focused his energy. After about twenty seconds, he sighed in having spent some energy. It wasn’t much, but it would help her heal faster than for usual werewolves. Nico sat down, patiently waiting for her to wake up so when she did, she’d be fed a perfect lie to cover up for his brother’s recklessness and prevent strife between their species.

-

Gabriel stomped up the stairs five minutes later, rushing into the apartment. Victoria got up at once.

“Her heartbeat is slowing down- Where’s Nico?”

Gabe rolled his eyes as he walked past her, and Victoria instantly understood. Gabriel, even though logical, could be very hot-headed and morally gray. Nico was too empathetic, which clashed with his head. Victoria was more of a strategic person, with somewhat stray morality, and no empathy to those she didn’t care about; her and Gabe were very alike. Nico kept them in check at times though.

He gently sat by Kim as she slept, her breathing sounding more like wheezing at this point. He gently sat her up, waking her by calling her name; “Kim. Kim. It’s time to get better now.”

I woke up with a deep breath, feeling immensely tired. Gabriel looked down at me, and I felt confused but relieved at the same time.

“You’re here.”

He smiled, but it didn’t seem to reach his eyes, “I have something for you.”

“A funeral present?”

He seemed to roll his eyes before pulling out a blood bag, and I immediately perked up, feeling unbelievably thirsty. I took it gingerly, greedily tearing the tube off for direct and faster access. The blood tasted heavenly, eliciting a groan of satisfaction from my throat.

Victoria chuckled, “Thirsty for werewolf, are we?”

My eyes shot open, glaring at her as I continued drinking. She smirked, and Gabe rolled his eyes again. I finished it in no time, and I felt very satisfied yet sleepy. My eyes closed against my will as I rested my head against him.

Gabe looked at Victoria as Kim went back to sleep, “I’ll stay here.”

Victoria nodded before smirking to herself as she walked out the door. Her brother was obviously smitten.

-

My eyes shot open to see the pink tint of the sky dancing on my ceiling. It was almost after sunset… was it six already?

I went to sit up when I noticed Gabriel beside me, his sleeping form snoring ever so softly. I felt a breeze, and looked down with wide eyes to realize I was shirtless.

I furrowed my brows, trying to remember what happened. Monica and I made out, then she bit me. I came home in pain, called Gabriel, and then… I woke up to see Victoria here with me. We talked a little. Apparently, Gabriel dated a werewolf. Obviously, it didn’t end well… Then he fed me blood.

And now I’m okay. How weird. I remember feeling so tired and powerless and gross… now I’m completely fine. Gabriel stirred, and I got up readily. I needed to change, I had been sweating so much when I was sick.

“You feel better?” I looked back at him with a smile, somewhat a little self-conscious.

“Yeah. Whatever you gave me really did the trick.”

Gabe sat up as he rubbed his eyes under the sunglasses, “It was Monica’s blood.”

I tensed up at the mention of her name, “She’s a werewolf, right?”

“You didn't notice her earring?”

“How could I have? I've never seen them before.”

“Anyways, like I said earlier, she was well within her rights since you're not officially in the clan yet.”

“Would it be bad to continue seeing her?” I bit my lip, “I mean, what if she told her pack or-“

“It isn't..." Gabe hesitated, before finally coming up with a good word. "...reccomended. The wolves and vampires deal with their own with every matter, it's rare for them to mingle. Unless the other species is a direct threat.” Gabe shook his head.

I looked over with a hint of a smile, “I’m not part of your clan yet so that doesn’t apply to me.”

Gabe hummed in thought, “Hmm, guess it doesn’t.” I smirked. Gabe sped over to me, and my smirk fell. “But you need to be careful. You could’ve…”

“But I didn’t.” I raised an eyebrow, “I’ll be okay now that I know what I’m dealing with. I’ll be on guard.”

Gabe nodded, and I walked around him to my closet. I noticed his stare and rolled my eyes as I turned back to him, “Can you turn around?”

“I actually like the view, but thanks for the offer.”

I scoffed with a smile, amused at his remark as I got out a pair of leggings, a baggy sweater, and undergarments. “Don’t you have somewhere important to be anyways?”

“This is it.”

I looked at him, almost confused and fascinated. “What?”

“You’re my new recruit. Not to mention, you’re royal… out of all the things on my to-do list you’re the most important one.” His lips slightly smirked, and I wished I could see his eyes for authenticity. But something about the way his voice sounded… truthful.

“I don’t know which way to take that, but either way, I like it.” I looked back at him, "By the way, what's a born vampire? How does that work?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how did they come into existence? If royals were the firsts, and the royals' kids are royals too, how do the born come into this?"

"The born are half human and half royal vampyr. Only the royals can have children, and when they reproduce with humans, they give birth to half-royal vampyrs. Stronger than a turned one, weaker than a full royal."

"Huh." I mused. "So how does the royal lineage thing work? We never die, does that mean there's never a change in leaders?"

"Everyone handles their lineage differently. My dad looks at it like a community he leads, with me next in line if anything happens to him. The other royal lineages look at it like a kingdom, the new leaders need to be full blooded royals and such..."

"Could Nico ever be leader?" I asked.

"No. The other lineages would never respect him. He'd be more of a last resort."

"What about my lineage? Could I run my own?"

"We got to find your ancestry first. Maybe you even have your own legion or something." He took out his phone, typing away. I smiled at the thought of finding other family of mine.

I went to my bathroom door, pausing and looking back at him, “So I take it you’re not leaving?”

“Nope. So we can do what you want for a bit, but at ten we’re heading out.”

“Where to?”

He sped forward, leaning in suddenly up to where our noses touched. I took a step back, skeptical of his close proximity. “It’s a surprise.”