In Love With a Vampire

Chapter Ten

Donna

Lory peeked at me from behind her enormous mug. The porcelain mug was pale yellow and had an engraving plastered at the center reading, WORLD’S BEST MUM. I furrowed my eyebrows and did a slow scan of the kitchen, no photos of a human child. My confusion deepened when I pictured the living room, the dining room, and my bedroom. No human baby pictures.

How odd. Do humans devour their newborns like spiders?

Since our arrival in the human realm, this was the first time Lory and I were alone. Her husband, Trevor, always seemed too nervous to leave his wife behind with Maria and me.

I wondered what had made him do so today.

Lory slurped the remaining contents of her tea and slammed the mug on the table. She was an exceptionally pretty human female with large doe eyes, smooth caramel skin, and long dirty blonde hair. She did not seem old. At least not old enough to be a mother. The human mothers I had come across so far were older, plumper, happier. Lory seemed…lost.

“So are you excited about school today?”

“Are you guys secretly vampires?”

I watched as Lory choked on her saliva and violently plunged her body forward. I waited patiently as she composed herself and noisily cleared her throat.

“W-what…w-why…w-what?”

I shrugged and tapped my forefinger on the kitchen table. I had noticed that a majority of their furniture was fashioned from mahogany. Back home, mahogany was a nobleman’s possession.

“Why accommodate us? Aren’t humans and vampires well, enemies? I mean why betray your people and help us? Outsiders?”

Lory shifted uncomfortably in her seat. My eyes tracked her every move. I watched as she pulled the edges of her sweater over her hands. I watched as a trickle of sweat formed on the side of her head. I watched as the hue of her nose changed to light pink. Why was she so nervous?

“Mis…I mean Donna? Aren’t we going to be late for school?”

“That’s the idea.”

Maria and Lory exchanged confused looks before Lory suddenly sprang from her seat and disappeared in the hallway.

“Do they seem strange to you?”

“All humans are strange to me Mist…I mean Donna.”

I gave Maria a weak smile and a noncommittal bob. A brief glance at my wristwatch informed me that we were already thirty minutes late. Surely this would be enough cause for expulsion.

Or perhaps I should relive myself once more inside the janitor’s closet? No, it should be the principal’s closet or her office.

“Why do I feel like you want us to be purposely late for school?”

I shifted my body weight to regard Maria. Her wavy red hair was tied in a messy bun. She wore a pair of blue jeans and a white hoodie. Without her drab Hand uniform, Maria was very attractive. Her face was etched with concern, the kind of concern I had taken note of the previous night. Without putting much thought into the consequences of my words, I blurted out what was troubling me.

“The very angry human boy knows!”

No response.

“He tried to get in remember? Into the English class? But the teacher would not let him in…”

Maria angled her head and scrunched her eyebrows.

“And you know what I did when this happened?”

Maria shook her head, her face impassive.

“I winked Maria! I winked like I was trying to tell the human boy a secret but really it was just me being silly!”

The memory was vivid in my head. We had locked eyes and I had spotted the glint of shock in his. To further unnerve him, I had winked.

“And you think because of this he somehow figured out we were vampires?”

My attention averted back to Maria who was staring at me incredulously.

“You did not see how he looked at me in what the humans call detention…”

“Speaking of this detention, always make sure we get in trouble together, you know a Hand needs to be by their masters at all times when outside the realm. If your father found out-"

“That is not important right now Maria! That human boy knows something…While everyone else was either shocked, jealous, laughing, or in awe that human boy simply stared at me.”

Maria’s lips curled into a small smile. She did not believe my concerns to be valid.

“Do you think it is a coincidence that he just showed up on the roof, in the English class, and at detention?”

“Yes Mis…I mean yes Donna. It is not a large institution. We are bound to see the same people every day in different settings. And I was on the roof that day too remember? If I recall correctly, he thought you were going to jump...”

“Why would that concern him? Even if I did I would survive…”

“He does not know that. He thinks you are human, he was trying to save your life.”

Could Maria be right? Was I just experiencing a bad case of paranoia?

That is what I have been trying to tell you.

Oh shut up.

“Donna…”

I smiled. Finally, she was beginning to get accustomed to her new persona.

“…I know you want to help our people by successfully completing this mission and I have all the faith in the cosmos that you will. You are a good leader, an excellent fighter, and a hunter and you have a kind heart…If you truly believe that this human boy knows something, we will follow him around and discover what he knows.”

Maria and I stared at each other for a while before I conceded to her plan. For a minute I wondered what Sorokin would think; me taking advice from My Hand. Would he deem me weak or would he be impressed by the fact that I respected Maria’s opinion? As we left the house I decided it did not matter.

Unlike Sorokin, Maria actually thought that I was a good leader.

* * *

“I think he likes you Mist…I mean Donna…”

“What?”

“It is getting better I promise…”

“No not the name-calling, who likes me?”

“The human boy.”

I scrunched my face and ran a finger above my upper lip. My eyes widened at the clear liquid on my finger. I was sweating. Vampires do not sweat.

Apparently, you do.

I ignored my inner voice and shifted my attention back to Maria.

“Which one?”

I could tell that Maria was getting exasperated. We were currently at the entrance of the school. It had only taken us minutes to arrive. Maria had been worried that using our super-speed in broad daylight would draw attention. I had assured her that humans were too engrossed in their hand devices to care about their surroundings. As it turned out, I had been correct.

“The one you keep referring to as very angry…”

I threw a confused glance at Maria. Her features were etched with confidence and…was that excitement?

“How come you are not sweating?”

“Vampires do not sweat Mist…I mean Donna.”

“We are at school now Maria…You really have to take care of that name-calling thing.”

I swept my eyes on the school’s parking lot. No one was present. We hurriedly walked towards the double doors leading to the institution. Maria suddenly yanked me backward and placed a finger on her lips. She then pointed toward a shadowy figure at the end of the school hallway. I squinted my eyes and counted on my heightened senses to bring the silhouette into focus.

It was the very angry human boy.

“Come on, let’s follow him.”

Maria bobbed her head but when I opened the doors to embark on our short mission, she did not move. I sighed and beckoned her to follow me. I could feel my patience thinning.

“What is it? Do you want him to get away you fool?”

Maria lowered her gaze and suddenly I had an eerie feeling of déjà vu. I was in my room back at home, I was screaming at her, insulting her.

“I do not think you are okay Donna…You need to feed.”

We had left in a hurry. I had not fed and I had forgotten to pack a blood bag. I flitted my eyes to the transparent glass on the upper part of the double doors. This school was not in the middle of the woods. I could not exactly go hunting and going back home was out of the question.

“Feed on me.”

I clenched my teeth and took a step back from Maria. A hot feeling suddenly seared through me. I slapped my palm on my mouth as a high-pitched scream left my mouth. Maria approached me, concern etched on her face.

“Did you feed last night?”

I closed my eyes to recall whether I had. Nothing. I had gone to bed immediately after seeing the nurse or well attempting to see the nurse. I had never actually stayed for a physical exam. The sight of blood oozing from a student’s knee had caused me to run in the other direction.

“The school nurse, she must have blood bags in her office.”

Maria immediately understood what I meant and placed her arm around my shoulder. My temples pounded against my skull. I felt cold and hot at the same time; like I was being burned by the sun and frozen by ice simultaneously. I felt Maria get ready to use sonic speed, I held her back.

“It’s almost ten. These halls will be filled then. Let’s not risk it.”

“But if we walk and a teacher stops us-"

“We will be careful, let’s go.”

Less than five minutes later, we saw the English teacher roaming the halls. He too was busy staring at his hand device. To avoid him, Maria pulled open a door and got us inside a room, a really sweaty room. We immediately hunched when we spotted a sea of half-naked human boys who had towels wrapped around the lower parts of their bodies. Maria led me to a corner near the room’s entrance. We crouched there and pulled an idle rack to obscure our presence in the room.

“He is here.”

“Who is?”

“The human boy, the angry one…I can hear his voice.”

I felt frail and ill. The truth was, I had been rationing the blood so that it would be enough for Maria and me but on the previous night, she had revealed to me that she had no plans of taking advantage of the supply I had brought with me. When I had gone to bed, I had suppressed my craving because of the guilt that had settled in my stomach. For years I had drunk human blood while my tribe members foraged for any animal they could get their hands on.

“Are you listening to what they are saying?”

I dragged my eyes to Maria who was crouched in a combat position, her ears perked and attentive. I closed my eyes and mustered my remaining energy; I had to find out whether the boy knew of our true identities or not.

“…tell us, who would you rather do? The redhead or the sassy detention chick?”

I snapped my eyes open and angled my head to face Maria. She was biting her lip, suppressing a laugh. They were talking about the two of us.

I closed my eyes once more, curiosity taking over my being.

“…sassy detention chick. Like Sammy, I was prepared to follow her too.”

I opened my eyes and allowed my body to lean against the wall. I was getting weaker, hungrier, and more irritable.

“Does he think we are some kind of wenches?”

“I think they were just joking Mist…I mean Donna-"

“s**t Maria you have to stop calling me that! You can’t be that daft!”

Maria lowered her head and remained quiet. I wanted to apologize. I wanted to be kinder to her but I just could not. We needed to leave the pungent room. We needed to find the nurse’s office. I shoved the idle rack away from us and began to elongate my body. Before I could move, however, Maria pulled me back and placed her forefinger on her lip. There were footsteps approaching and they were very close. By the time they approached the room’s exit, I had retained my original position but I had not pulled the rack to shield us. I mimicked Maria’s action and lowered my head hoping that whoever it was would simply ignore our presence. This was very possible considering how humans were always on their hand devices…

“Roof girl?”

Shit.