NEWBORN: Book One of the Newborn Trilogy (8 page)

“A –” I begin.

“Vampire killer,” Gabriel says, answering me.
“My expertise is in finding and killing vampires. I know how to
recognize them, where they live, how they think, how they hunt, and
how to hunt and kill
them
. It’s my profession.” The pride
with which he says this startles me for a second.

I have to keep my cool. “You’re a new
hire?”

Gabriel bats at a passing tree as we walk
along the darkening path. “I was hired in August. Top grades at MSM
– that’s Magasant School of Magic. Did two internships with the
Bureau of Beast Control – that’s a subdivision of the Bureau of
Magic – and finished my advanced coursework over the summer. Now
I’m here in Washington.”

“To hunt vampires,” I state.

“To kill them,” he corrects. “Speaking of
which…” Stopping on the path, Gabriel reaches into the pocket of
his plum robes and pulls forth the compass look-alike device I’d
seen yesterday. Flipping it open, he studies it.

“The Vampass,” I realize, “shows you where
the vampires are.”

He nods absentmindedly as he stares at the
single, sharp tooth occupying the place where the needle would
usually be. It’s spinning. “Exactly,” he says finally. “But I think
this one might be broken. It’s been acting up on me. They told me
it was used but didn’t say anything about it being broken. Funny –
they go through all the time and money of the interview process,
find the perfect candidate for the job, pay me a huge salary, and
then fail to provide me with working equipment.”

“Can’t you fix it? With your wand?”

A short laugh. “Not exactly, Nora. It takes a
trained engineer wizard to make and fix devices this complex.
Vampasses are terribly expensive to fix let alone when buying new,
which explains why the Bureau gave me a broken one.” Sighing, he
stows the Vampass back in the pocket of his robes. “So much for
that. I’m on my own.”

“I’ll help,” I tell him, trying my best to
sound serious. “I’ll help you find the vampires. We can hunt them
together.”

I expect Gabriel to burst out laughing at
this before telling me how useless I am. Expect him to call me an
Immag. Instead, he fixes me with a completely serious expression
and asks, “Do you really want to?”

I mouth wordlessly for a second before
finding my voice. “I – uh – yes!”

His turquoise eyes are searching mine for
self doubt. I’m probably showing some. “Fine,” he says softly, “you
can come. Tell me what your schedule’s like and we shall go
hunting. I have to warn you, though,” he adds, his tone gaining
weight, “this is a very dangerous undertaking. You may die, Nora,
especially in your weakened condition – being an Immag, I mean.”
There it is.

“I want to do it,” I say, my voice finding
confidence. “I really do.”

He guides me forward along the path. “We’ll
see how long your enthusiasm lasts,” he says, that impossibly
mischievous smile returning to his face. “Personally I don’t think
humans are meant to fight vampires. They mean to eat you. And I
mean to kill them.”

The trees beginning to thin, Gabriel and I
catch a glimpse of the edge of campus. When we finally leave the
tree fringe and settle on the walkway again, I can’t help but look
down at Gabriel’s dirty, sandy, disheveled robes now twisting
around his feet. What a mess. How does he not mind?

“Wish you’d changed now?”

He looks confused for a second. Then looks
down. “Oh,” he says, as though realizing how dirty his beautiful
plum robes have become for the first time. “No problem.” Whisking
out his wand, he taps the side of his sleeve once. “Amendi,” he
says. At once his robes drape anew around him with a gush of warm,
scented air – stunningly clean. Cleaner than before we left for the
beach.

Reaching out my hand, I touch the arm of his
robes. It’s warm and wonderful, as though freshly washed and dried.
“It’s not fair,” I say, looking up into his grinning face. “It’s
not, Gabriel. Why can’t I do this? Your life must be so easy all
the time. Magic brings everything, doesn’t it?”

Gabriel’s grin falters and dies, replaced
with look of deep sadness. “It doesn’t,” he says quietly, his hand
stowing his wand. “It doesn’t bring everything, Nora. Magic can’t –
can’t bring some things… back.” I’m startled to see turquoise eyes
glisten.

Oh geez, is he crying?

The next moment I’m convinced it’s a mirage.
“Let’s go,” Gabriel says, and guides me forward, this time in the
direction of Red Square. “You need to be studying and I need to
be…doing other things.” Curiously, I gaze over at him. But there’s
no sign of his momentary lapse.

“How’s Merrifeather?” I ask.

“She’s fine. Not thrilled with the new
surroundings, I suppose. There are plenty of mice and squirrels
around campus, but Merri is an unusual owl. She likes to hunt
during the day, but since we’ve been around so many people I can
only let her out a night. She’s not happy with me at all.” He
sighs, gazing up at the clock tower of the Daniel J. Evans library.
“It’s getting late.”

“I know,” I reply, guilt stabbing me. I have
so much reading due tomorrow!

“I assume you haven’t eaten dinner,” Gabriel
says knowingly.

I shake my head. “No – my appetite for food
hasn’t changed since I got here. Anyway, I should be studying. I
have so much reading due for tomorrow and both professors hinted at
in-class discussions.”

“Uh oh,” Gabriel says. “You’re fucked, aren’t
you?”

“Not yet,” I reply, reaching for my backpack.
“I can take that. Thanks for carrying my books so long.”

“Sure thing,” he says, slipping the backpack
off the plum shoulder of his robes and handing it to me.

I’m stunned to find it weightless. Not light
– not lighter than before –
weightless
. I gasp my
astonishment and stare at Gabriel, who’s grinning madly. He knew
this was coming. My ignorant surprise.

Boy is he charming
, my alter ego
says.

Yes
, I reply to her,
but charming
boys are dangerous.

Strapping on my feather light backpack, I say
to Gabriel, “I suppose you should take the charm off this bag.”

He dazzles me with the white of an
unrestrained smile. “Why?”

I can’t think of an answer so I smile it.
“Good point – this is better. I have so many books this term. I was
planning on taking the ones I need each day, but now I can carry
them all with me everywhere.”

“Indeed,” Gabriel responds. “Put them all in
there and don’t open the damn thing till the end of term. It’ll be
great fun.”

“I didn’t mean I won’t study!”

“Of course you didn’t,” Gabriel says. “Now go
study! I expect your backpack won’t slow you down. But one last
thing,” he adds as we reach the center of Red Square. “Magic may
bring some things,” he says, gesturing to my backpack, “but not
everything, Nora. Not even close. Never forget it.”

* * *

Kiri is sitting at her desk when I walk into
our room. She turns around in her chair to face me, her glasses
lopsided. “There you are! I was wondering where you were all day. I
was going to ask you to dinner but when I got back from class you
weren’t here.”

“My bad, Kiri,” I tell her, shrugging off the
backpack and laying it on my bed. Despite its weightlessness it
does not float, thank heavens. “I was out with a friend. We went
for a walk on the beach through the forest.”

“Guy friend?” Kiri asks with interest.

I nod once, unable to stop the enormous grin
from spreading across my face. “I’m afraid so,” I tell her. “He’s
really nice – err, most of the time. His name is Gabriel and he’s a
– well – he’s… different.” I have to remember the promise I made
Gabriel swearing I wouldn’t tell anybody. I’m assuming that
includes the first person I meet.

“Is he cute?” Kiri asks with a squeak.

I nod again. “Very – blond, very blond – with
gorgeous turquoise eyes and a strong figure. I don’t know what the
hell he’s doing with me,” I add, feeling very insecure all of a
sudden.

Kiri scoffs, cocking her head. “What kind of
talk is that? If he likes you it’s for a reason. The first mistake
girls make with guys is they doubt themselves. We shouldn’t do
that. Guys don’t doubt themselves. Somewhere there’s a three-headed
leper that’ll accept no one less than Angelina Jolie.”

I giggle despite myself. Relaxing, I sit down
beside my backpack. “I suppose you’re right. To be honest though,
I’m not even sure he’s interested in me that way. He – he seems to
want to be my friend. That much I’m reasonably sure of. But I can’t
guess as to what else he’s feeling.”

Getting up, Kiri turns her desk chair around
to face me and sits again before saying, “Some guys need to be told
what they’re feeling.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Oh?”

“I’m serious,” she continues, “Some guys have
so little intuition they need help figuring out their feelings,
especially about girls. Some have no self knowledge whatsoever. I
don’t know why I keep dating those types,” she adds, tugging at the
stringy bracelets on her arm. “Perhaps I’m not the one to
talk.”

“No, it’s fine,” I tell her, “I can use some
advice. I – uh – I don’t have a lot of experience with guys to tell
the truth. I never really got around to having a boyfriend in high
school. That and most of them were idiots. Not all, but most. Or
maybe I was just too insecure to approach any of them.”

Geez, we’re having like a real conversation
now. That was fast.

Kiri nods seriously, her torso leaning
forward over her crossed legs. “I know all about insecurity,” she
says grandly. “Been there done that. But insecurity only leads to
more insecurity – insecurity in relationships. Had I been braver,
more myself, more realized, more something in high school, I think
I would have avoided some of the bad relationships I
experienced.”

“How bad?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “Most of the guys were older – in
college. Most seemed to think I was more enraptured by them than I
actually was. That led to some problems. I had the nerve to demand
reciprocation in the relationship. You know – some standards any
girl should expect from a reasonable boyfriend. That ended many
relationships,” she says, her tone etched with satisfaction.

I watch her dumbly as she stands and goes to
the mini fridge. Opening it, she pulls out a bottle of chilled
champagne. Setting it on the desk, she retrieves two flute glasses
from the desk drawers. “A little something to celebrate our first
couple days of college, and our new friendship.”

“I don’t drink,” I say hastily.

“Yeah you do,” she replies.

I gesture my surrender. “Oh, okay.”

Geez, peer pressure is tough.

Undoing the cage around the cork, Kiri pops
the bottle and fills our glasses. Handing me mine, she raises her
own. “To four years of fun, good grades, and good times,” she says
loftily. “May the fun never stop, the job offers never end, the
grades never falter, and the good times roll.”

“Cheers,” I say, clinking my glass against
hers.

Oh geez, here it is – my first taste of
alcohol.

Lifting the glass to my lips, I drink.
Chilled and cool, the liquid washes over my tongue, at once both
sweet and sour. It’s delicious and fruity, leaving a zingy, bubbly
taste in the back of my mouth. “This is really good,” I say in
surprise, holding my glass high and gazing at it. “Alcoholism makes
sense now.”

“Doesn’t it?” Kiri says with a giggle,
sipping from her own glass.

Drinking more, I gaze sideways at my
backpack.

Oh fuck
!

I’m supposed to be studying. Brushing up on
the introduction to Victorian Era Literature and reading the first
chapter of
The Great Gatsby
. I totally forgot, and now I’m
imbibing alcohol. This is not going to end well.

“Get your books?” Kiri asks.

I set my glass on my bedside table. “Just
today. Want to see them?”

“Yes!” Kiri exclaims. “Lemme see!”

Grinning at her outburst, I pull my backpack
to me and unzip the top. Hoisting out the bag from the school
store, I dump its contents on my bed. Standing, Kiri comes to the
bed to get a closer look.

“
Victorian Era Literature
,” she reads
off the cover. “Sounds pretty cool. Let me see –
The American
Revolution
,
1776
by David McCullough,
Common
Sense
by Thomas Paine,
The Federalist Papers
,
The
Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and
The Essay: An Art
Form
by Everett Smith. That’s a lot of reading to do,” she
observes.

I nod, feeling daunted. “I know. I should be
studying right now.”

“What – for tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I answer, feeling ashamed.

“Well that’s not happening,” Kiri says.
“You’re drinking and talking to me right now. Get up early and do
it. What time is your first class?”

“10:00am,” I answer.

“That’s plenty of time!” Kiri scoffs. “Get up
at 7:00 and make it happen.”

I’m not feeling confident in my ability to
get up that early. “I suppose I could,” I say obligingly, “so long
as we don’t stay up too late, Kiri. I want to get off to a good
start with my classes.”

As though reinforcing the point, I stand up
and, stacking my books in my arms, go to my desk and line them up
on the shelf overhead. They look great all together like this. Like
my own miniature library.

Don’t worry about the reading
, my
alter ego says, y
ou’ll get to it
.

I better
, I answer.

Sitting back down on my bed next to Kiri, I
reach for my champagne flute. Grasping its chilled body, I lift it
to my lips and take another long, slow sip. “Do you have your books
yet?” I ask Kiri.

She shakes her head. “Not yet. But my
professor distributed music composition handouts we’re supposed to
study and practice. I’ll probably go get some textbooks tomorrow or
the next day. I’m not in a hurry,” she adds, straightening her
glasses. “I like to know if a professor really plans on using a
textbook before I buy it. With the bookstore on campus I can buy
them whenever I need to.”