Blood and Beasts (17 page)

Everything You Wanted to Know About
Every Magical Creature Known to Any Creature
by Vincenzo Fraschetti. She flipped through the book,
vellum pages thick beneath her fingertips. She looked at the index, at the
titles of the chapters. An entire chapter was donated to vampires, another to
werewolves, another to wizards. It was amazing! Francesca knew her so well.
Francesca…

“
Fraschetti
’
s a famous writer. He
’
s a vampire,” she explained, and Seph nodded.

“I
’
ve heard of him. I mean, we did know some things about
vampires and werewolves as humans. I never bothered to read any of his books
though, much as I wanted to. Janette would have condemned me to hell,” she
shook her head as did Francesca.

 They both well knew of Janette and
her religious zealotry. Seph flipped to the back and read Fraschetti
’
s short autobiography. He lived in
Italy with his wife, Sofia. He had three children: Giuseppe, Isabella, and
Giovanni. All three of his children had attended Zephyr Hall, although they
attended one in Italy, Zephyr Hall Italia. Isabella and Giovanni were vampires
while Giuseppe was a wizard.
That
’
s weird
, Seph thought, and Francesca seemed
to read her mind, although she couldn
’
t
have literally.

“
Vampires can’
t have children with another
vampire. They can only have kids with either a werewolf, wizard, or human. You
’
re dad was a vampire, Seph. You
’
re mom was human, obviously,”
Francesca glanced away.

“And you?” She asked, trying to mask
the anger lacing her voice.

“Both my parents are werewolves. We
’
re a little werewolf family,
” Seph looked away now. “I couldn
’
t tell you, Seph, and I wanted to so
much! I
’
m the oldest though, so I was the
first to change. We knew our parents had to leave for three days every full
moon, and I would watch the kids then. Remember? I always invited you over
those three days to help me watch them all. We would have so much fun…”
Francesca looked forlorn at the lost memories shared between them.

“Why?” She had to know.

“The code,” she answered
matter-of-factly. “It
’
s for our protection, my family
’
s, werewolves and vampires and
wizards and witches in general. You cannot tell a human you attend this school.
It protects the school and its students. You can tell whoever you want that you
’
re a vampire. Obviously, the school
had to speak to your foster parents about where you are and what you
’
re going to be doing from now on.
They had to handle the hospital, the EMS people, all your foster siblings, and
your real ones,” Francesca listed off.

“Are Pearce and Pearl…” she started,
and Francesca nodded.

“If you wanna make sure your kids
are gonna be vampires, get with a human. You never get just humans from that. I
read it in the book somewhere,” she nodded at it. “One of the few books I
actually read. I got my own copy of it,” she explained, nudging her head
towards her bed, where a copy rested on her silver-stained nightstand.

 “And if I got with a werewolf or
wizard, there
’
s a fifty-fifty chance?” She raised
a brow, and Francesca shook her head.

“With a wizard, it
’
s 75% that you
’
ll get a vampire because your genes are stronger than
the wizard
’
s. As for with a werewolf…
I dunno
…” She shrugged. “Vampires and
werewolves usually don
’
t get together because they
’
re both very aggressive, nearly kill
each other a lot of the time, you know? The war between werewolves and vampires
just ended about two or three centuries ago anyway. Don
’
t tell the Guth Man that I don
’
t know that fact for sure,” she laughed lightly, but
Seph still had not forgiven her fully and only gave her a half-hearted smile.
“I think it
’
s fifty-fifty, but I dunno. It might
even be in that book,” she nodded at the book still clasped in Seph
’
s pale hands.

“That
’
s cool,” she said coldly, and an awkward silence
elapsed between them.

“I
’m sorry, Persephone,
” she stated forwardly, and Seph
looked up at her sharply. “I know that those stupid codes and rules don
’
t seem to matter to you because we
’
re best friends, and I lied to your
face. It
’
s a spell though. You cannot break
it even if you wanted to, and at first, I didn
’
t want to tell you, before I found out you were one of
us. It was just… I was afraid that I would frighten you, and admit it, if I had
come to your door as a werewolf, you would have screamed bloody murder,”
Francesca pointed out, grinning a little, and slowly, the grin became
infectious.

“Alright, I forgive you,” she heaved
a great sigh, grinning even more, and Francesca did as well.

“Great! Now let
’
s see what classes we have together,” she announced,
bouncing up and down with excitement.

It turned out, they had two classes
together, Lit with the awful Madam Powers and Gobbledegook with the very pretty
Sir Sanzio.

“You know who Sir Sanzio
’
s real dad is, right?” Francesca
said, juicy gossip spilling from her full lips every few seconds. “
Leonardo Da Vinci!
” She gasped out, and Seph was
shocked.

“The Da Vinci?!” She spouted, and
Francesca nodded. “How?! He had no children!” She continued, and the Hispanic
girl just shook her head.

“He and his mistress, Madam Luti, a
witch, had one illegitimate child, Sir Sanzio,” she explained excitedly.

She was about to ask about the
surname thing, but suddenly, Francesca
’
s
ears perked up, and she cocked her head to the side.

“It
’
s nearly eleven! We need to get some sleep, girl!” She
announced, quickly rolling out of her bed and bouncing onto her own.

“Oh wow, okay,” she said, completely
dazed by Francesca
’
s sudden switch from conversation to
sleep.

“Werewolves always know how high the
sun and moon are. Something to do with knowing when the next full moon is…
. I dunno,
” she called before knocking out
that easily.

Seph stayed awake in bed for a while,
staring at the apple-green canopy, thinking. Life had changed so much in the
past few days. A few days ago, she had been a foster child with a few friends
with a foster family. She had two half-siblings, and six foster brothers. She
had two best friends. Sure, one had lied to her and turned out to be a
werewolf, but she had two best friends all the same. Now, her real siblings
were terrified of her as were her foster brothers. She had nearly killed one of
her best friends, and no longer trusted the other, at least not completely.
Even her foster parents didn
’
t care for her anymore. Janette
could be a bit of a religious fanatic, and a vampire foster child? That
obviously would not go over well. On top of that, Bill had shot her! Actually
shot her! She had nearly forgotten about that what with discovering that she
was a vampire and all.

Now, at school, she was even more
abnormal, on top of everything else. She was already such a strong vampire that
the sun affected her, and she had to drink so much more blood than the usual.
She loved blood though. It sounded horrible when you put it like that, but she
could not live with it. She craved it all the time. She was actually a little
hungry right now. Those eight gallons were running low in her system.

She had new friends though, and
meeting new people was a favorite pastime of hers. Life was too short to live the
same day twice. She had new friends now: Linda and Abernathy and Rodney.
Rodney… there was something about him… She felt attracted to him, but she
should never act on that impulse. Look what had happened to the last guy she
had been attracted to. She had nearly killed him.

Am I evil?
She thought to herself that first
night at magic school.
Let
’
s
see… Since I turned sixteen, I
’
ve
nearly killed my best friend. I
’
ve
drank eight gallons of blood. I
’
ve
poked and prodded another student enough to make him attack me. I nearly
attacked another student when I was hungry. I drank eight gallons of blood,
equivalent to draining three and a half people. Maybe the half would be a
child… Nate… I can
’
t be good. I can
’
t be a good person then. What good
person does that?! I guess I have more of my father in me than I thought,
she deduced miserably, and a few
tears sprinkled down her face.

She sniffled inaudibly and wiped at
her tears. With her efficient vision, she noticed that they had a pink tinge to
them. Why would they… blood. Blood must mix with her tears. For some reason,
that was just the cream of the crop. She buried her face in her pillow, choking
back a sob. She was a freak. She was a vampire. She was evil.

After a while, her thoughts spiraled
out of control as she drifted off to sleep. Sleep was lovely. Sleep was sweet
respite. Sleep finally took her, and she would wake up at seven that evening
completely refreshed. The only memory of her wicked thoughts the night before
was the pink tear stains on her pillow.

The week passed, and Seph
’
s life became relatively routine.
She and Francesca would get ready in the morning, waking up at seven and
leaving in thirty minutes. They would hurry down all the stairs, meeting Linda
and Abernathy on the way or at the base of the steps. Rodney would be waiting
for them as well. They would hurry to breakfast, where they would all just
manage to get their food. Seph never had a problem in the line. Usually the
students would actually let her cut in front of them. Apparently, word had
gotten around about how much blood she had drank, and they were a little afraid
of her. Well, it was better that they were afraid. She got her food earlier
that way, and her hungry self was not someone to trifle with.

Sometimes, she would take her blood
to HU if she had not finished it all in time, and the Guth Man never
complained. In HU, she would have to endure Ruby
’
s snickers and stares with her and her two werewolf
buddies, whose names she learned to be Regina Conde and Lorelei Stevenson, and
Oglesby, of course. She and Linda would talk with her telepathy though, and
that was always fun. The Guth Man could never figure out why the two of them
always knew the answers to the questions even though they were obviously not
paying attention. He suspected, but he never accused, her of using her powers
during class.

Next was Basic with Linda again and
Rodney. Basic was entertaining. Madam Winslow seemed to actually like Seph. She
was just having a bad day that first day. They also both adored the book Pride
& Prejudice, which bonded them on an entirely separate level. Basic may
have been interesting, but Seph was not too good at it. Apparently, vampires
rarely ever were. More than once, when her spells went awry, one of her vampire
powers would be unleashed. On more than one occasion, Madam Winslow would have
to intervene with a quickly thought of spell before some student was hurt.

After Basic, Lit became a much more
interesting class with Francesca in it, as Abernathy was a bit too passive.
Madam Powers still despised Seph, but with Francesca there, they would double
team her most of the time if she ever picked on one or the other more than
usual. Apparently, she did not like Francesca either, and that was why they
were best friends. They irritated the same people.

Gobbledegook with Sir Sanzio was
fun. Seph had quite a knack for it, which showed, and Francesca also had this
class with her. Sir Sanzio and Francesca got along really well, always cracking
jokes with one another. It was awkward the first class though, after the whole
run-in they had. Sir Sanzio had been the one who had finally secured Francesca
in her crazed werewolf state, but after a few awkwardly silent moments, they
eventually went right back to normal. Seph also noticed a certain bottle filled
with red liquid that he kept under his desk, and she knew what it was. She had
scared a few of the students in there and him. He had actually feared for the
safety of his students when she was so hungry that first day. Therefore, he now
kept an extra bottle of blood for emergencies under his desk, just for her.

Lunch went much the same as
breakfast. They would all talk about their morning classes. They would joke,
laugh, have fun, bond. Seph was starting to like Monster Academy more and more.
She still missed her family though. She missed them like crazy. She missed
Pearl and Pearce. She missed little Manny with his chubby, little stomach. She
missed Bobby, who was always everywhere at once. She missed the depressed
Lawrence, who never had anything positive to say. Dean with his chipper
attitude, Terrence with his quiet studies and constant knowledge, Nate… She
missed Nate. They had been best friends and lived in the same house for over
three years. Now he was suddenly gone… He would never want to speak to her
again anyway. She had nearly killed him.

Did she miss Janette and Bill? Not
so much. Occasionally, she missed Bill with his steady flow of car knowledge
that nobody wanted to hear about, except maybe Nate, as he told them how this
worked or that worked. Janette… She missed having a mother, or the closest
thing she had ever known to a mother, a real mom.

She tried not to dwell on the evil
thing. It got her too depressed and sad. Also, who knew that vampires had
bloody tears? She hoped some people realized this, but she didn
’
t want to freak anybody out by
suddenly tearing up or anything. So, she kept her thoughts happy, as much as
she could at least.

Hieroglyphs was one of her favorite
classes but not because of the material or because of the teacher. She and
Rodney would talk the entire time. Joke or play jokes on unsuspecting students.
It was a great time.

Drama with Abernathy was fun too.
Madam Babbage was really nice, even if she was a little frightened of Seph, as
most people seemed to be. They were doing Shakespeare monologues at the time,
and Seph had chosen the fairy queen
’
s
speech in
A
Midsummer
’
s Night Dream
. It was a beautiful and eloquent
monologue, hard to pull off, but Madam Babbage thought that Seph had the candor
to do it. Abernathy had chosen Cleopatra
’
s
monologue right before her suicide in Shakespeare
’
s play, which she would practice with much
embellishment and dramatization all the time.

Lastly, Vamp Class… She was working
with Kenji all this week on misting. It was fascinating actually. She loved
learning new things, especially things that only she and a few others could do.
However, Kenji could be a very frustrating individual at times. He was very
quiet and demanding, almost like a silent military instructor, although that
kind of sounded like an oxymoron. He frustrated her to no end though, to be
perfectly honest, and he was probably not making the best approach to her
personally. She managed though and learned how to mist whenever she wanted to
and how to glide better, although she had figured that out on her own while
trying to cut corners climbing all those stairs every time bedtime rolled
around.

So, life passed well at Monster
Academy, but about a week after Seph had arrived on the school grounds,
something very strange happened. It had to do with Abernathy and her little
secret. She had been keeping her little secret from just about everyone…

“
We need help!
” Linda burst into Francesca and
Seph
’
s room loudly.

Seph nearly screamed, toppling
backwards off her bed. She thumped loudly on the floor, her book flying.
Francesca did scream. She grabbed a towel and barged out of the bathroom,
furious as the shower kept running behind her.

“Que paso?! What the hell is going
on?!” Linda was in a flurry, pulling Francesca
’
s clothes up off the ground and shoving them at her.

“Please! We need help now! You too,
Seph! C
’
mon!” She dragged Seph from the
ground and out the door.

“
Wait! I’
m not dressed! Linda!” Seph shouted,
trying to pull her black tank top up to cover herself more.

“Wait for me!” Francesca called,
sprinting after them as she zipped up an orange jacket over her bra.

“Linda!” Seph called, using her hand
not clasped desperately in Linda
’
s own to hurriedly try to pull down
her small, black shorts, not that she really could.

“Don
’
t worry, girl. These things aren
’
t coverin
’
much either,” Francesca
said, jogging up right beside her and tugging on her own Looney Tunes pajama
shorts.

Linda stopped them at room number 5,
and they looked around, puzzled. Rodney was there in some yellow and blue plaid
boxers and an inside-out T-shirt. He looked a little surly, like he had been
woken up. Seph checked her watch to see that it was nearly high noon. It felt
like midnight to them, but since they all woke up so early for school and
growing magical creatures needed their rest, they all usually went to bed
around ten in the morning. Linda better have a good reason for waking them all
up.

“Linda…” Rodney growled in a rumble,
arms folded over his chest as he dozed against the wall.

“Linda, what are we doing here?”
Seph was more awake than Rodney and not as pissed as Francesca, who had been
mid-shower, so she was able to form the most coherent question.

Seph glanced over at Francesca and
tried not to laugh. She was busy rubbing in some shaving cream on her left leg.
Her buoyant, shoulder-length, black curls were already starting to dry around
her head and frizz without being properly brushed. Seph was happy she had
decided to let Francesca shower first today. As it was, her eyes ached. She was
really tired.

“Okay, before we go in there, I need
to prep you all. Abernathy has a little thing for animals… magical animals,”
Linda started, and that grasped their full attention as they all gaped at her.

“Magical animals? Magical
creatures?” Francesca clarified, and Linda nodded.

“How does she go about getting these
magical creatures?” Seph proposed carefully, and Linda bit her full, bottom lip
a little nervously.

“
Well
… sometimes she buys them off the black market…
sometimes she finds them… sometimes she makes them…” she muttered under her
breath, trying to rattle the list off quickly and quietly so that they wouldn
’
t hear everything.

“Makes them?!” Francesca squeaked,
and Rodney straightened up now, swaying a little before Seph steadied him.

“What
’
s exactly in there?” Seph asked as she watched tendrils
of gray smoke seep out from beneath the door.

“She made a miniature dragon, and it
’
s going a little crazy. It
’
s lighting everything on fire, and
she can
’
t stop it! I dunno what to do.
Everything
’
s burnt! And-” Linda was hysterical,
clutching her hair desperately and pulling at it.

“Linda. Linda! Calm down,” Seph
instructed her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her a little. “We can
handle this. You just stay out here and act completely normal if anybody walks
by. We don
’
t want anybody knowing about this
because I
’
m sure Abernathy would get in
trouble for it, right?” Linda nodded silently, tears brimming at the rims of
her eyes before spilling over.

“Francesca, Rodney,” she turned to
her two soldiers, who both stood in front of her, ready for action. “I think I
’
m going to have to handle the
dragon. I can use my telekinesis to somehow contain the fire and it. I don
’
t know what else to do unless one of
you has any basic spells up your sleeves,” they both looked at each other and
shook their heads simultaneously. “
Then I
’
ll just have to somehow contain the
dragon. You two need to go in there, put the fires out, and get Abernathy.
Francesca, you get Abernathy. Rodney, beat out the fires with blankets or
whatever. Water will make the smoke billow, and we don
’
t need to fill the hall with smoke. After I somehow get
the dragon, we need to bring it to the hideout and keep it there. We
’
re not gonna kill it, but we need to
fireproof that little room as much as we can. Linda,” she turned to the
trembling, Asian girl. “Do you know any fireproofing spells? Any fire retardant
spells?” She asked, and the girl thought about that before slowly nodding.

“They
’
re not that good,” she admitted sheepishly, her voice
squeaking a little with all her pent-up emotions.

“It
’
s fine. Just go to the hideout and do whatever you can.
Where
’
s Stefan?” She asked, suddenly
noticing his absence.

Linda shrugged.

“I dunno. We got in a fight, and I
haven
’
t seen him all night… day…
whatever,” she stated morosely before heading for the stairs. “Be careful,” she
called before lightly padding down the steps.

“Right,” Seph said firmly, turning
towards the door with Francesca and Rodney at her back. “Time to face a
miniature dragon,” she announced and felt them nod in agreement with her little
telepathic ability.

Reaching for the handle, she grabbed
it quickly and pushed it open, not allowing the metal to sit long enough on her
skin to burn. Immediately, she was swamped in heat. She saw the source of the
heat quickly enough. A little red and black dragon was busily parading around
the room, merry flames bursting from its mouth as Abernathy tried to counter
each burst with a splash of water erupting from her… hands? It had to be some
type of spell. As soon as the door opened, and the little dragon saw its new
company, it turned towards them. It opened its mouth to breathe more flames.