Blood and Beasts (14 page)

Trey was waving good bye to his
family. They were nice enough. They thought what he had become was weird, but
he was still their son, still their brother, and they had accepted him for what
he was. Why would they not? He was still Trey. He was still their Trey. He
flashbacked to his bleeding wrists. He had been so depressed back then and for
no apparent reason. The medicine had helped though, and he was better now. He
loved his family, and they loved him. He smiled inside.

Stefan gazed down at Linda. He
loved her. He loved her more than anything or anyone in the world. He was at
his home. His mother was walking around, stumbling over nothing. Dad was still
in prison. Just a normal day at the Ross residence… Linda made him forget all
of his troubles.

So much blood…

Sarabi caressed Simone
’
s cheek, her baby girl.

Phin watched as Remus
’
s fist connected with the side of
his face. Remus, the brother closest to him in age, had always despised him the
most. He took sibling rivalry to a whole new level.

Roberta was chasing her friends,
her close friends. She was so hungry! She wanted blood!

What powers does she have?

I don’
t wanna be in the same room as her.

Masoko walked into Monster Academy, and relief washed
over her. No more was she under her father
’
s strict and powerful thumb any longer.

How much blood should she drink
at each meal?

Are Simone and Simon okay?

Is she okay? She looks weird, angry
almost…

Trey was hugging his older sister, Yazmin, and his
younger sister, Jade, heading off to Monster Academy.

All that blood…

I
’
m hungry now…

Phin hugged his sister, Nadine.

Stefan kissed Linda for the first
time.

Sarabi cried as she hugged Simon to
her after his birth.

Seph shook her head. This was too
much! She clutched her head, shaking it over and over again. These were not her
thoughts! These were not her memories! They needed to stop! They needed to stop
right now! She didn
’
t want to know this much about these
people… ever. Not unless they opted to tell her. She didn
’
t even like listening in on people
’
s thoughts this much. It was too much. They just needed
to stop!

“SHUT UP!” She yelled at them, and
the silent group stared at her, bug-eyed.

Eight gallons…

What the hell is wrong with her?!

I will not say a word.

I cannot say a word.

She
’
s freaking out…

That girl is-

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” She rose to her feet,
swaying a little.

The others rose to stand with her.

I should help steady her…

I
’
m afraid to touch her…

What if she attacks me…

Could she drink more?

“SHUT UP!” She screamed again, throwing her hands out.

Everybody went flying. They slammed
into the walls at bone-crunching speeds. Lucky for them, vampires were not that
fragile. Slowly, begrudgingly, they stood up. However, her little toss had
brought her some brief respite. Their swirling thoughts had stopped as they
focused on their injuries. Pain flared in her. She empathized with them and not
by choice.  Sarabi and Phin stood up and shared a meaningful look.

Her telepathy skills are beyond
even his. He needs to help calm her down,
Sarabi thought to herself.

I need to calm her down. I dunno
what she
’
s hearing, but it has to be nearly
everything. She can control this though. If she can hear it, she can stop it,
he thought, resolutely stepping
towards her, hands up in the universal sign for peace. He was a little
frightened, but he would never admit that.

“Seph, you need to calm down,” he
said in a soothing, steady voice. “Breathe in and breathe out,”
I wonder if
we even need to breathe…
“The excess blood did this to you, but just think,
if you can hear absolutely everything, than you should be able to block
absolutely everything out as well. You have that power,” he told her, and she
just laughed derisively at him, head in her hands.

“I hear everything,” she said, and
the room was silenced, except for their clamoring thoughts. “I know everything.
I can feel what you feel. I see what you see. I look awful, by the way. I know
your memories like they were my own. All your secrets,” she looked up and
glared at him. “Nadine,” she whispered, and he shuddered as she struck a nerve.
“I need to sit down,” she moaned, swaying again.

Suddenly, there was a clatter as a
chair was set right beside her. Roberta then picked her up and set her down in
the seat. Everybody stared at the girl, and everybody noticed the vacant
expression on her face. Alistair broke the silence. He marched right up to Seph
and slapped her.

“We do not administer mind control
on each other, fledgling,” he snarled, derision seeping from his very pores.

“Like you
’
ve never done it,” she snarled back, watching his
memory as he controlled a fellow vampire to help him escape Covington…
Ileana.

“Please make her stop reading my
thoughts and memories, Phin. They
’
re mine, and I
’
m a feeling a little possessive,” he practically
growled at the much taller vampire leader of theirs.

Phin sent him a glare.

Alistair knows this is not the
time to have a power struggle. Vampires and our stupid pride… As it is, I don
’
t want her reading all of my
thoughts. I bet she can hear all this right now… Seph?
He called in his mind, and she
smiled.

Ya?
She asked him, daring
him to be angry with her.

I
’
m not angry. This is ridiculous
though, your telepathy skills. It
’
s
my fault. When I took your blood, we bonded, and through our bond, some of my
telepathy powers have been passed on to you. You would have been a very adept
telepath as it is, equal to me even, and now with my power within you,
combined, you are very strong indeed,
he admitted, and she grimaced.

How do I stop hearing
everything? Seeing everything? Feeling everything?
There was a desperate
tone to her voice.

 
Concentrate, Seph. You have the
power. Just build that wall that you have learned to construct so strongly this
whole day against me and against everyone else. Just build that wall, fortify
it, and block everything out. You can do this, Seph,
he coaxed her
patiently, and she decided to try this idea of his. It just might work, and she
would do anything to make it stop.

She imagined the brick wall again,
but she changed it. She built a huge wall, a tower really, all around her mind,
blocking it from everything. She filled the wall with power, glowing lavender,
and it started to vibrate with this power. Every time a thought of someone
’
s tried to infiltrate her mind, it
would just bounce off. The walls went up infinitesimally high but allowed
access at the top for her to read the thoughts of others if she so wanted to,
although she didn
’
t at this time. Their thoughts could
not reach that height, but her mind could go anywhere.

She smiled serenely as the flood of
their thoughts, emotions, and memories finally ceased. She opened her eyes to
look around the classroom of nine other students. They were looking at her like
she had sprouted a third head. Well, to them, she kind of had… But there
thoughts were gone from her mind.

Blissful silence.

“Let
’
s see what other skills you have,” Sarabi announced,
breaking the awkward silence. “Obviously you will excel exceptionally in
telepathy and mind control, as well as telekinesis, and you
’
re the only one of us that can
really do that to any degree,” she continued. “Why don
’
t you try my skill? Levitation?” She offered, and Seph
just looked at her questioningly.

How exactly did one go about
levitating?

“Imagine that you
’
re weightless. That you can float.
That you are a feather. Imagine reaching up and touching the ceiling right
here,” she said, and suddenly Sarabi shot up into the air, touching the ceiling
directly above Seph, flying.

She settled back down to the ground
beside Seph, who was staring at her like she had a third head. Weightless? She
could try that. She imagined that she was a feather. She imagined reaching up
and touching the ceiling. She closed her eyes. She squeezed them shut tight.
She imagined not touching the ground. She opened her eyes.

Well, she was not touching the
ground… but just barely. Her toes, pointing downward, nearly grazed the floor,
but she was technically hovering. Sarabi just shook her head. Seph had put
forth a lot of effort for not much of anything.

“With that much blood in your
system, you would be zipping around this room if you had any affinity for
flying. Too bad,” Sarabi said with a little shrug.

Lightly, Seph felt her feet touch
the ground again. Oh well… Flying was not everything, she supposed. It would
have been really cool to be able to do that though.

“Let
’
s try my talent,” Capri announced, stepping forward.
“Teleportation,” he explained, and with a blink, he had disappeared.

He appeared all the way across the
room. She stared at him. How was she supposed to be able to do that? How did
any of them do these things? Then again, she had just put up a mental wall
because she had been reading their thoughts. Everything was so magical here.

“Teleport to me,” he called to her.
“Just imagine standing beside me and blink your eyes,” he coached, and she
nodded slowly.

Imagine being beside him. Shouldn
’
t be too hard… She thought about it
hard, staring at him. She imagined occupying the space right beside him. Time
to blink. She blinked.

Her feet were standing on something
wobbly. She opened her eyes to find herself halfway between Capri and where she
had just been standing. She was on a desk, and the weight was tremulously off
balance.

She screamed as the desk flipped out
from under her. She tumbled to the ground but was caught right before hitting
the cold marble floor. She blinked several times, staring at her reflection in
the marble, eyelashes batting the cold stone. Someone had grabbed the back of
her shirt, stopping her from slamming her face on the solid ground. The person
helped her back on her feet. She looked up to see Capri standing there, a wry
smile on his face.

“That was decent. You should do
fairly well in teleportation, but you
’
ll
never be as good at it as you will be in telepathy and telekinesis. You
’
ll never be as good at it as me,” he
grinned smugly again, and they walked back to the group. “Let
’
s blink,” he suggested, and they
both blinked, appearing side by side with the other students.

They were looking at her with less
frightened looks on their faces at least.

“Nobody
’
s perfect,” Kenji remarked, stepping forward. “Let
’
s try misting,” and it was his turn
to receive a blank stare from her. “Vampires can turn into mist,” he explained.
“So, imagine every piece of your body, every molecule, slowly separating.
Imagine them slowly becoming nothingness or something else, something light,
like dew, like mist,” he advised, slowly disintegrating into mist himself.

It actually did not seem that hard
to her. Imagine that you are weightless, but not in the way Sarabi meant.
Imagine separating into thousands, millions, of different particles. Imagine
being nothing, or imagine being mist. Somehow, she could grasp this idea better
than flying and was not surprised when she saw herself dematerialize before
Roberta
’
s eyes, peering through the
weak-minded vampire
’
s visage.

She and Kenji materialized at the
same time. He was smiling at her, which was a rare privilege indeed. He looked
quite pleased.

“Well good, someone else who can
mist just as well as I can,” she watched as Masoko rolled her eyes, stepping
forward and shoving Kenji aside with a note of playfulness and a dose of
hostility.

“How about some
transmogrification?” She suggested, and with a bat-like squeak, a bat was
suddenly in front of her instead of Masoko.

Without any coaching, Seph decided
to just try it before she thought too much about it. She thought about being a
bat. She thought about her arms shrinking, wings sprouting from her shoulder
blades to attach to her shortened clawed arms. Her lungs would shrink. She
would shrink. She would become black and furry.

She opened her eyes. They were all
looking at her with that expression again, like she had budded another head.
She was still the same size. She could see too, and bats were notorious for
being blind. With another squeak, Masoko became a person again, a vampire. She
was not looking at Seph as though she were an alien though. She was looking at
her with amazement.

“Wow,” Masoko breathed, stepping
forward to touch something on Seph
’
s back that she couldn
’
t see, but she felt the girl
’
s hand there.

“What?” She asked and looked
through Masoko
’
s eyes.

She gasped. She had wings! She had
bat wings sprouting out of her back, but they were human-sized. What about the
rest of her? She looked through Capri
’
s
eyes now. Her face was the same. She had ears though… bat ears poking through
her red hair. She had claws too! She reverted back to her own sight and stared
at her hands, at her claws. This was so unreal…

“The only question is… Can I change
back?” She wondered aloud, and imagined being human again, being a vampire,
minus all the extra appendages.

She felt a slight pressure on her
shoulders and the top of her head. She looked back through Masoko
’
s eyes to see that she was normal
again. Using her own vision, she saw her claws had disappeared as well.

“That was weird,” she commented,
and several fellow students nodded.

“So, I
’
d consider that possible potential for
transmogrification. You
’
ll never be as good as me though.
Just as you
’
ll never be as good as Capri in
teleportation,” Masoko said bluntly, flouncing off.

“Okay…” she murmured, starting to
feel more and more overwhelmed again.

“How about my ability?” Alistair
proposed and slid forward dangerously.

Immediately, she felt the urge to
growl rising in the back of her throat for some strange reason. It was like her
body knew that he was her enemy. He paused with interest, as though he could
sense the hostility just rolling off of her.

“Mind control, is it?” She asked,
raising a winged brow to him, and he nodded, smirking a little.

“Yes… Why don
’
t you practice on…” His eyes alighted on Masoko.
“Practice on her. Try to get her to bow to you,” he suggested, and both girls
glowered at him.

“Why something so submissive like
that? Why not something like making her touch her head?” She stated, and he
scowled, eyes flashing a little.

“Because it needs to be something
that she would not normally do, little vampire. Do not argue with your
instructor,” she opened her mouth to say something else, but he just waved a
hand at Masoko, who nodded solemnly.

She accepted her fate. This was
something that Seph would never do. She would much rather go down fighting, on
her feet, not her knees.

“Alright…” Seph said unsurely,
focusing on the small girl.

Why don
’
t you bow to me? It
’
s not that hard. Just bend at the
waist a little. There
’
s no reason not to. I
’
m a newbie here. You want to. You
need to. Do it now.

I don’
t know…
Masoko started to bend at the waist
despite her misgivings.

There ya go. Keep it up. You
’
re almost there. Bow to me.

Masoko bowed before her, and she
released her mind control from the girl immediately. Masoko, whose eyes had
gone a very pale grey, nearly white, suddenly clouded back to dark-grey. She
looked a little shaken. Seph turned to Alistair expectantly, and he was nodding
at her.

“It took a little more coaxing than
it would for me, but you did a decent job, new one. Guess you shall be training
with me at one point,” he winked at her before turning away.

She just stared at him coldly,
sighing inwardly at the prospect of training one-on-one with this cold-hearted
vampire.

“Let
’
s try my skill,” Trey said, and before she could react,
he had neatly sliced her forearm with a suddenly very sharp fingernail.

“Ow!” She shrieked, pulling her arm
back and holding it tight to herself. “What was that for?” She asked, baring
her fangs at him dangerously.

“Let
’
s see your arm, Seph,” Phin stated firmly, his tone not
open to debate.

She glared at him vehemently but
begrudgingly showed them her arm, if only because she knew there was a method
to their madness. Her arm was still dripping blood, but it was slowly healing
itself up before their very eyes. Trey raised his brows skeptically at her as
it finally finished sealing itself completely after a few more minutes. He just
shook his head.

“Nope. That was moderate pacing. If
I had been in your position, it would have healed nearly as quickly as it had
been cut,” he said before grabbing her arm and licking the blood away.

She snatched her arm back quickly,
tucking it against her body. He just grinned at her devilishly, licking his
full lips. She scowled at him as the others looked thoroughly amused or put
out, in some cases.

“That is just not fair. Trey always
gets to taste the newbies
’
bloods because of his
skill,” Masoko complained, and Seph caught Phin
’
s disgruntled look shot at her.

“Well, develop an affinity for
healing like Trey, and then you can sample the newbies
’
bloods as well, ‘Soko. Until then…” he just shrugged,
and for once, Masoko did not smile perkily back up at him.

“
You taste good,
” Trey commented, just to rub it in
to Masoko and also to annoy Seph, which he managed beautifully.

“Really? Well, why don
’
t you return the favor and-” before
she could finish that particular sentence, Stefan interrupted.

“I
’
m sure that this little conversation will have many fun
twists and turns, but we still have to see if you
’
re good at my talent or not,” he stated with a little
grin, stepping forward despite the fact that she knew he was not in the best of
moods today.

“What can you do again?” She asked
curiously, and he stared at her.

She just stared right back. What
was he trying to do? His eyes were deep-set, quite dark right now, dazzling
even. She could see the myriads of the stars behind them. His eyes almost
seemed to swirl. They looked so cool. She suddenly pulled away and blinked
several times. That had been… weird. He smiled mischievously at her.

“You
’
re relatively strong against me, but can you do the
same back?” He asked her, not even bothering to explain to her that he was
using the vampiric art of hypnosis.

“I can try,” she replied, rising to
the challenge.

She moved back towards him, faces
inches from his own. She stared into his eyes and noticed that they were not
swirling anymore. They were not so dazzling either. She decided to try the same
tricks against him though. She imagined her eyes were dazzling. They were
pale-grey right now. They were resilient, grey pearls spinning in a whirlwind
of snow. They were completely and totally encompassing. After only a few
moments, Stefan pulled back, blinking rapidly.