Vampire University (Book One in the Vampire University Series) (10 page)

“Oh...” Taylor replied and put her chin down.

“That’s why I’m here to help you keep a low profile. I’ll keep you safe."

“So is that it? I learn that my father was a vampire, that I’m a half-vampire... or something. You’re a vampire here to protect me...”

Taylor came to a sudden realization and her eyes widened.

“Wait, if I’m... then my brother?” she said.

“Yep, him too. Don’t worry. He has someone looking over him as well. Your mother loved you both very much."

Taylor felt tears welling up in her eyes. It was all just so overwhelming. Hannah sat down on the edge of her bed and stroked Taylor’s hair.

“I know, Taylor. I remember the day my whole world changed too. It gets better,” Hannah assured her. “At least you’ve got me!”

“Thanks."

“Don’t mention it. I know you must have a lot of questions and I promise I’ll do my best to answer them. But for now, we should get some rest.”

“Vampires sleep?”

Hannah giggled.

“Of course they do. God, can you imagine staying awake all the time? How exhausting!”

“There’s a lot of things I wouldn’t have imaged before today."

Hannah passed her fingers once more through Taylor’s hair and then stood.

“Well keep imagining, hon. Your life will never be the same,” said Hannah.

“Uh... thanks,”

“Don’t mention it. Good night.”

There was no response; Taylor, exhausted, had already drifted off to sleep.

—
-

Joseph trudged up the path towards the dorms at Harris Hall with his brother slung over his shoulder, unconscious. Though he could easily escape the attention of humans, Joseph knew that any glamours he cast on themselves would only draw more attention if they encountered vampires, so they kept to the shadows. Under normal circumstances, vampire encounters were no cause for concern, but the circumstances of the evening were far from normal.

Joseph jammed his thumb into his brother’s mouth and pulled the corner of his top lip back to reveal a row of perfectly normal teeth. Joseph had checked several times on the short trip back to the dorms to see if anything had changed. He was disappointed each time to find that his brother still appeared to be normal. Human.

Only a few hours earlier, Eric had the trademark fangs of a vampire. The brothers had even planned to go out feeding that evening and Joseph wistfully wondered how different his evening would be if they had simply stuck to plan.

Instead, Eric had pursued an inadvisable obsession with a girl he had just met and now Joseph found himself lugging the unconscious c
onsequences back to their dorm.

Joseph tried to piece together what had happened with his brother, but he really didn’t know what to make of it. He knew that Taylor Bain was trouble. The first and most important rule of feeding was to not get caught. He had warned Eric that this was why he shouldn’t feed on his neighbors and especially not if those neighbors seemed to be immune to his efforts to control them.

He knew Taylor was trouble and he had cautioned Eric strongly to avoid her, but Eric was used to being able to cheat his way out of trouble. With each inspection of his brother, Joseph became more convinced that Taylor was even more trouble than he could have imagined.

Somehow, impossibly, attempting to feed on Taylor’s blood had triggered a relapse that Joseph had not realized was even possible. The brothers had thought that turning vampire was a one-way trip, but Eric was a heavy lump of proof otherwise.

Joseph approached the dormitory and peered through the windows into the entrance lobby. A student sat at the front desk, staring intently at a computer monitor. He would be no trouble, Joseph thought, but there were two other figures in the lobby with their backs turned towards him. He didn’t recognize either of them and decided that he didn’t want to chance a possible awkward encounter with vampires.

Instead, he repositioned Eric on his shoulder with a grunt and carried him towards the fire escape at the opposite end of the building. Eric had blood on his face and the scent of it hung heavily in the air around them. As he always did when he smelled blood, Joseph felt the tips of his fangs extend and his heartbeat speed up. Between the allure of the scent and the curiosity about Taylor, he was tempted to taste, but his brother’s lifeless body proved deterrent enough. However enticing the smell, Joseph decided that he was not willing to risk sharing his brother’s fate.

They approached the base of the fire escape. He wished there was some way to glamour Eric to the top, but unfortunately illusions offered no substitute for upper body strength. He took a step onto the stairs and felt the weight of his brother shift on his shoulders. Eric had started gently snoring and was blissfully unaware of the exertions of his brother. Joseph took another step and the stairs creaked under their weight.

Joseph closed his eyes and imagined that the area around them was muffled in silence. Satisfied that his glamour would cover the racket, he again began slowly trudging up the stairs.

There were only three flights to scale and Joseph took comfort that though each step required effort, his increased rate of healing repaired any damage to his muscles and kept the climb from becoming unbearable. Still, he could feel an ache in his arms as he reached the third landing. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, leaning against the side of the building with his brother still in his arms.

Joseph looked through the glass pane in the door leading inside. Though the hall was empty, there were several dorm room doors open and he knew that probably meant that there were students inside. Joseph hadn’t met all of his neighbors yet, but he knew that at least the RA wasn't a vampire. Joseph noted with relief that the RA’s door was closed.

Joseph considered leaving Eric outside while he went inside to scope out the hallway, but decided that he didn’t feel comfortable with Eric’s chances of being discovered left out in the open. Joseph took a deep breath, adjusted his grip, and pushed the door open with his back.

“Eric?”

The voice of Tom the RA came from behind Joseph. Joseph spun around abruptly, smacking Eric’s face against the door handle as he did. Tom winced, but Joseph barely noticed.

“Joseph? Is everything okay?" Tom asked.

“What? Oh yeah, everything’s, uh… fine. We’re just… uh, we’re just headed in for the night.”

Tom gave him a skeptical look, but didn’t respond for a moment, so Joseph made a step towards their room.

“Do you need a hand with him?” Tom asked.

Joseph was anxious enough to unload Eric that he considered accepting the offer for a moment but decided against involving Tom.

“No, I’ve got him. He’s fine, just needs to get some rest.”

“Yeah, he looks
real
tired,” Tom said, leaning in to get a closer look at Eric.

Joseph felt himself tense up as Tom came closer. He realized that he hadn’t thought of what to say if they were caught and that he had no real explanation for Eric’s condition. He hoped that Tom did not ask.

“So is he… sleeping?” Tom asked.

Eric, as if on cue, let out a gentle snore.

“And was he in a fight before he passed out?” Tom asked.

Joseph realized that Tom was referring to the dried blood caked on Eric’s chin and immediately wished he used a glamour to hide the evidence of Eric’s encounter with Taylor earlier. He chided himself for being so careless.

“Yeah,” Joseph replied, trying to sound nonchalant. “Some people just can’t handle their liquor!”

Joseph immediately regretted not coming up with a better explanation. He was trying to avoid drawing attention to Eric, not get him into more trouble. Besides, because of their inherent ability to heal, he had never met a vampire who “couldn’t handle their liquor”.

Tom stared at Joseph for a moment with a befuddled expression.

“Uh… right. Might want to take it a little easier the first week. You've got a long semester ahead at this rate,” said Tom.

“I know. That’s my brother for you.” 

“Okay, well he looks drunk, so you might want to keep him on the down-low,” Tom said, leaning in a little to inspect Eric’s face.

“We're headed straight for bed,” Joseph replied, pulling away slightly.

“Right… I mean obviously. Well... take it easy then.”

“Yeah, you too,” Joseph said and then hurried back to their room without looking back.

-10-

The freshman dining hall was located on the first floor of the Harris building and was as bleak and utilitarian as any of the facilities they had experienced so far.

"You'd think they'd want to offer a good first impression to the freshmen and give us the nice facilities," Taylor remarked while looking around the large windowless room.

"You'd think," Hannah replied through a mouthful of cereal. "Maybe they're trying to discourage the freshman fifteen by making the dining areas as inhospitable as possible."

"You might be on to something there," Taylor replied, pushing rubbery eggs around the plate without eating them. "That would certainly explain the food."

"Stick with cereal," said Hannah, shoveling in another mouthful.  "Can't go wrong there."

"Wait, why are you eating anyway? You can't tell me the blood-eating thing is a myth. I have it on good authority otherwise."

Hannah leaned in closer to Taylor and lowered her voice.

"Keep it down, hon. Just because half the campus is undead doesn't mean that you're safe, remember? Just play ignorant. Trust me."

"Wait what? Half?" Taylor said, even more loudly.

"I said, keep it down," hissed Hannah.

"What? In case anyone hears me talking loudly about fractions? Fine," said Taylor, lowering her voice and leaning in as well. "What do you mean, half?"

"Okay, half undead is an exaggeration. Let's just leave it at half non-human," Hannah said, continuing to whisper. "And we eat. We feed on blood to replenish ours, but we still need energy from somewhere. We don't photosynthesize."

"Right. Because
that
would be ridiculous. You cast magic memory spells and drink blood and it's absorbing energy from the sun that is unrealistic."

"Would you just drop it? You have questions; I can answer them later."

"Fine. It's just..."

"Drop it," Hannah interrupted.

"I mean..."

"Drop it."

Hannah leaned back and resumed munching away on her cereal while Taylor went back to rearranging the food on her plate. The awkward silence was thankfully interrupted when Tom plopped down into the seat beside Hannah wearing what appeared to be his pajamas. He had on a faded grey T-Shirt and loose-fitting pajama bottoms, complimented by a serious case of bed-head.

"Hey guys!" he said. "How's it hanging?"

"Oh it's great!" Hannah replied without a hint of her former annoyance.

Taylor marveled at how easily Hannah could put on a happy face. Taylor forced a smile. She didn't quite share Hannah's apparent ability to change her mood on a whim, but she found Tom's unassuming friendliness disarming and her forced smile soon relaxed into a more natural one.

"Do anything interesting last night?" Tom asked before shoving a whole sausage link into his mouth.

"Oh we just stayed in. We were up all night talking, getting to know each other," Hannah replied casually.

She seemed to have no trouble at all concealing the truth, Taylor noted. She supposed it would come naturally after a century or so of being an undercover vampire.

"Really?" Tom asked. "I thought I saw you and Joseph heading off somewhere. Guess that was someone else. Could've been Eric. I saw them together coming home last night. Eric seemed to be pretty zonked out."

"Yeah, must have been Eric. We're both pretty short, especially compared to Joseph," Hannah replied.

Taylor looked at Hannah's attire. Today she had chosen a sweater-vest with a pink and green southwestern pattern and matching neck scarf. Taylor had a hard time imagining that she could be mistaken for anyone, even at a distance, but Tom seemed to accept this explanation without a second thought. Could it be more vampire mind tricks? she wondered.

"You said zonked out?" Taylor asked and instantly felt a firm kick to her shin.

Hannah's expression was unchanged, though Taylor was sure she was responsible.

"I mean... I guess that's none of my business," said Taylor.

"Oh don't sweat it," Tom replied. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. Boys will be boys. I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble for going out drinking. I know, I know, I'm a terrible RA. But you can't tell guys not to do something. That's basically just daring them to do it. Besides, I figure there's no better teacher than a good hangover!"

"I'd say there's no better teacher than a good teacher, but I'm old-fashioned that way," said Hannah.

"I think there's room for both," said Taylor. "Though I can't say I've had a good teacher or a good hangover."

"Well, school's just getting started. We'll make sure we get you to experience both," said Tom.