In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Fifteen

Donna



I considered multiple options at the moment. I could make a run for it, vanish from sight using my heightened motion abilities. I could approach him, feign confusion and twist his neck while he made a poor attempt to explain himself. I could abduct him and take him to the beast realm where he would remain under the watchful eye of my father and Sorokin. I could tell him the truth and hope that the universe granted humans a feeble mind, a mind incapable of believing in the supernatural.

I settled on the last option; it was the least compromising one.

“I am a vampire you see, we happen to have heightened senses…”

I was struggling to maintain my calmness, shifting my weight from one leg to another, darting my eyes across the parking lot. Earlier I had been so convinced that he knew, that he would be the cause of my mission’s downfall but I had been wrong. I had been consumed by my paranoia, my fear of failure, and I had almost abandoned a long-standing tradition altogether. Scanton High had schooled multiple vampire leaders before me. While there must have been a compromise here or there in history, it was evident that this was not public knowledge. The very angry human boy knew nothing and I could use this to my advantage. Besides, had Diana not resided in this institution for who knows how long? She was able to hide in plain sight, live like them, be with them.

She also thinks she is one of them, Donna.

And she also knows Sorokin. Something was clearly afoot with her; while there was a treaty between vampires and humans; the hate and trepidation still ran in our veins. Given the chance, the two species would tear one another into pieces. I averted my gaze to the very angry human boy. I had clearly managed to offend him, twice. He had somehow come to the conclusion that my apology was grounds for more questioning. This meant that he considered it insincere. He was correct, all my life I had been trained to become a vampire leader and as I was about to apologize to him I heard my father’s voice echo in my head, Remember we are the stronger species, they should bow to us.

The very angry human boy was approaching me. His steps were slow, deliberate, concealing. He and my father shared their devotion to impassiveness. I searched his face, wanting to know whether he found me ridiculous or…What had I done? Had I truly confessed my identity to a human with no severe prompting? My father would have me stripped of my title. The tribe would term me as a traitor and the council would demand my death for what good is a vampire leader who cannot lead? A queen who gives up her identity, her mission, her kind so quickly? I had to do something. Run? Kill him? Knock him unconscious? He was getting closer, his face empty of emotions, his eyes void. I could see it now, the fallen queen, the first of her line to fail her kind…I suddenly felt nauseated, my chest constricted, my mind reeling.

“Breathe.”

I attempted to. I forced air into my lungs through my nose but for some reason, the pathways were blocked. My head was getting lighter, the ground unstable. I felt as if I could collapse at any moment, so I held on to something solid.

“Donna listen to me…breathe.”

He had uttered my name. I slowly lifted my gaze towards him with my hands still pinned on his chest for support. The very angry human boy was demonstrating the act of breathing. Gone was his disdain for me, his impassiveness. Now he was breathing in and out in a painfully slow manner that appeared to be patronizing but made me feel, calm. He treated me how a mother would treat her child.

“How long have you had panic attacks?”

I furrowed my eyebrows. He mirrored my act.

“How do you not know what a panic attack is? Do you live under a rock or something?”

I swiftly pulled myself away from him. While I detested the idea of looking vulnerable in a human’s eyes, this panic attack he was referring to had distracted him from earlier events.

“How nonsensical, only insects live under rocks.”

“Ah, back to your usual delightful self huh?”

“Your sarcasm is duly noted and ignored.”

“Wow, even after helping you snap out of your frantic state you still have the balls to belittle me?”

“You know what? I do not think I am pompous at all. I think you are a sensitive arse who is not used to girls standing up for themselves.”

“Yes, you are completely right. Normally my kind of girls is on their knees.”

At first, I was confused, wondering whether the IQ of humans was more than ten when I spotted the sly smirk on the very angry human boy’s lips. The laughter escaped my throat before I could contain it and in one fluid movement, I yanked the door open and hurriedly made my way back to the cafeteria before the very angry human boy pursued his earlier line of questioning.

* * *

I stood at the entrance of the cafeteria with a small smile on my face. In my absence, Seth had moved to the seat next to Maria and he was currently sticking a pair of chopsticks into his nose. For some reason, this made Maria laugh. She chuckled so much that she began snorting. I did not even have to focus my hearing on them to hear both their breathy laughter. I turned on my heel and began walking aimlessly down the hall. A glance at my watch told me I had five more minutes before the start of my afternoon class. I sighed, the class was literature meaning I had to settle for an afternoon of armpit rubs. My mind wandered to the beast realm. I imagined Sorokin in the castle, training, as he mostly did during the day. Only a handful of vampires had the ability to walk in the sun. Apart from my father, and now Maria and me, I was not sure who the others were.

Diana.

I recalled her remark about Sorokin and immediately shifted my direction. Perhaps she could shed light on what exactly a panic attack was and why I was encountering them. Had my lack of feeding sparked it? A memory of me experiencing the same event during detention surfaced. If this was not the first time, I certainly had to get to the bottom of it.

I rounded a corner and lowly muttered a cuss; walking normally was such a bore. After scanning the hallway and gaining certainty that no one was around, I employed my heightened abilities and reached nurse Diana’s office within seconds. I was about to rap my knuckles on the door when I noticed something odd; the door had been left ajar and there was a smudge of dried blood on the doorknob. I perked my ears and heightened my hearing abilities; nothing, absolute silence.

Something was definitely wrong.

I quickly reached for the knife tucked in my boot. With it in my tight grasp, I swung the door open and slowly walked in. I did not know what to expect. Who would attack nurse Diana? Humans who knew of her identity? Vampires who wanted her to return home? I had long since given up the idea that the beast realm held all vampires. Diana was proof that vampires could exist among humans. After minutes of searching the office, nothing seemed out of place safe from the smudge of dried blood on the doorknob. Perhaps there was nothing sinister at all. Perhaps the blood belonged to a human student or teacher who had come to seek nurse Diana’s help. Then why leave the door open for anyone to enter in her absence?

I went completely still in the middle of nurse Diana’s office, there was someone behind me. I had not heard their approaching footsteps but my heightened senses had caught the sound of breathing. I swiftly turned, swinging the knife across the air, aiming it at whoever was behind me. I paused midway when I saw who it was.

“What are you doing here Pete?”

“You better come with me.”

* * *

“Where was your Hand? Did your father not tell you the importance of always having her around?”

“I do not think that is the major issue here. What happened to Diana? You clearly know her or you would not have shown up mysteriously in her office minutes after I went searching for her…”

“I will contact your father and he will send another Hand who can properly care-"

“Oh don’t you dare do such a thing…Maria is more than capable when it comes to taking care of me. I could have died today but she saved my life.”

“Then where was she? I found you alone, vulnerable, right after they had-"

“They had what? Who exactly is they? Where is Diana?”

I darted my eyes between Lory and Pete. Lory had not uttered a single word since Pete and I arrived at their home. She was perched on a seat facing me, sipping red wine out of a tall, wide glass.

“Can someone please explain what is going on? I feel like my father did not share much with me before my journey here. Your concern for the whereabouts of my Hand only confirms my suspicion that my life is somehow endangered in this realm. Is this true?”

Pete did not like me or at least he did not like my kind. Still, for whatever reason, he was hosting us in his home and he had gone through the trouble of getting me out of harm’s way. What sort of bargain had he made with my father?

“Yes. There are those who know, believe, and have seen vampires. There are those who believe that it is in their best interest to keep the peace between our realms but there are those who see you as the enemy. This latter group is known as the VA, the Vampire Assassins. They have somehow learned of your arrival and they want to kill you. In their minds, your death will make the beast realm vulnerable and ripe for attack.”

“They would dare attack my realm? They do know we are faster, stronger-"

“Not anymore. You see how vampires have human allies who do their bidding here? Humans have vampires who do their bidding there. The VA knows all about how weak your kind is and besides, they have weapons, weapons that could kill you in a heartbeat.”

I swallowed the bile that was rising in my throat.

“Why not attack then? Why do they target me? How do I possibly make my realm stronger?”

Pete shrugged and stole a glance at his wife. I averted my gaze to Lory. Her pretty face was etched with deep sorrow that was almost tactile. When she finally spoke, her voice came out as a hoarse whisper.

“Where is the other girl? If you have a target on your back does she not have one too?”

Lory was right. I quickly fished for my phone and hit “1” on my phone. The call went straight to voicemail.

“I am going back to school to find her.”

“Donna-"

“I don’t care, I don’t want to know. I am not letting Maria get hurt, I care for her.”

“I was going to say, we are coming with you. Diana happens to be a good friend of mine. The only vampire I could ever tolerate.”

“I have so many questions, But first, let’s go get Maria.”