Vampire University (Book One in the Vampire University Series) (8 page)

“Are you okay?” Hannah asked and then began visually inspecting Taylor’s face and neck.

Taylor drew her hand to her face self-consciously and Hannah grabbed her hand and inspected that as well. Then she flipped Taylor’s hand over and inspected her arm. Satisfied, she grabbed the other and did the same. Taylor didn’t know what to make of this.

“Did he hurt you?” Hannah asked.

“No,” Taylor said, pulling her hand away self-consciously. “He didn’t touch me.”

Hannah regarded her suspiciously.

“What did he do?” she asked.

“He got really creepy on me so I left him."

Hannah walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge. She massaged her temples  and did not look at Taylor.

“How is it that you knew about him? Am I just a terrible judge of character?” Taylor asked.

“Look,” said Hannah, “this isn’t working this way. I need to be honest with you.”

“Honest?”

Taylor had been suspicious of Hannah’s intentions, but she had not imagined that she was being lied to.

“There’s something you need to know about Eric and Joseph,” Hannah began. “They’re both dangerous, but not for the reason you think.”

Hannah paused for a moment to consider her next words.

“The thing is... they’re... they’re vampires.”

Taylor rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, Joseph said that," said Taylor. "But I don’t know what that means. Is it, like, a religious thing?”

“No, it means exactly what you don’t think it does. They’re vampires. Actual vampires."

“What, like ‘I want to suck your blood’ vampires?”

“Something like that."

Taylor wasn’t sure how to respond to this. Whatever Joseph thought he was, apparently Hannah believed him. She had felt safe when she saw Hannah, but now she was beginning to feel uncomfortable around her as well.

“Of course you don’t believe me,” said Hannah. “Look, did you notice anything weird about his teeth?”

“His teeth? No. He had perfectly nice teeth.”

Hannah frowned.

“His eyes? How about his eyes? Anything unusual?”

“No?"

Taylor told herself that she was just seeing reflections when she caught glimpses of shadows in Eric's eyes and felt a little crazy for indulging any ideas otherwise.

"You don't sound sure about that," said Hannah.

"Look Hannah. It’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s just, well... I don’t believe you. How would you even know any of that?”

Hannah looked down at her hands for a moment and then back up at Taylor.

“Because I’m a vampire too,” she replied.

Taylor took a step back nervously and knocked over her chair in the process. It landed with a heavy thud.

“I... I... don’t know what to think,” said Taylor.

She was beginning to believe Hannah, but it seemed absurd to admit aloud.

Seeing Taylor’s fear, Hannah tried to comfort her.

“I’m not dangerous though. I’m here to help you. Protect you,” said Hannah.

Taylor took another step back.

“So you’re a friendly... vampire?” Taylor asked, feeling self-conscious about the word.

“Most of us are. But that doesn’t mean we’re not dangerous.”

“So you're dangerous?"

“Me? Of course not! I can see why that’s not convincing, but I promise you I’m on your side.”

Before Taylor could respond, however, the door burst open. Addison stood in the doorway looking annoyed.

“What is going on in here?” she demanded, looking at the chair toppled over on the ground.

Hannah looked visibly annoyed with Addison as well.

“Nothing that wouldn’t require you to
knock
first,” said Hannah.

“I heard a crash. I took liberties,” Addison replied.

Taylor looked at Addison and then back at Hannah. Taylor wondered if Addison was a vampire too. Then Taylor realized that she was debating whether or not Addison was also a vampire and not merely if vampires existed in the first place. She wondered if this meant that she believed Hannah.

“Well everything is fi...” Hannah began but stopped mid-sentence.

Taylor turned to follow Hannah’s eyes to the doorway and saw Eric standing
there
behind Addison.

“Can I help you?” Addison
said,
turning to look at him, but her confidence faded when she saw the expression on his face.

Eric ignored her for a moment and looked at Hannah and then Taylor. His mouth turned into a twisted half smile and he responded without turning away from Taylor.

“Yes, actually. I think you could be very helpful," he said.

As he said this, he suddenly reached over and grabbed Addison forcefully towards him, one of his arms around her and the other behind her back. She let out a gasp.

“What is that? Is that a knife?” Addison asked.

Eric’s face broke out into a full smile. Taylor could see his fangs clearly now.

“It is,” he replied and turned her forcefully to the side so that Taylor and Hannah could see behind her.

He had a long knife pressed against her back.

“I was going to use it a little differently, but I never pass on an opportunity,” he said and then pulled it around to her neck, holding the edge of the blade against it.

“So here’s what we’re going to do... I’m not going to hurt her as long as everyone does what I say. You,” he said, gesturing in the direction of Taylor with the tip of his knife, ”are going to follow me.”

Taylor felt the warmth drain from her body and a shiver travel up her spine.

“And you,” he said, gesturing towards Hannah, “are going to stay here. And if either of you gets any ideas of your own here, then Addison dies.”

Addison made a tiny squealing noise and Eric pressed the knife against her neck. A single tear trailed down her cheek. Eric leaned over and pressed the tip of his tongue against the base of her cheek and slowly drew it up the side of her face, catching the tear along the way. He gave Taylor a satisfied look and then turned with Addison, his knife still pressed to her neck. He took a step through the door and then looked back at Taylor.

“Well? Are you coming?” he asked.

Taylor looked at Hannah hoping for some kind of guidance.

“I don’t think you have a choice,” said Hannah.

“That’s right you don’t. C’mon,” Eric demanded.

Taylor hesitated a second and then gave in. She turned to follow behind Eric and Addison, leaving the door behind her open.

Hannah waited a minute and then tentatively stepped towards the door and peered out. There was no sign of them. She pulled up her cellphone and dialed. Joseph picked up on the other end after a single ring.

“Hello?” he said.

“Where are you?”

“Hold on."

“I can’t hold on, we don’t have ti... oh.”

Hannah paused as she saw Joseph appear through the elevator door. She ran towards him, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him back into the elevator.

“Did you see him?” Hannah asked, before Joseph had time to speak.

“What? No, I came back here thinking they may have made it back to the dorms.”

He paused for a moment and his face darkened.

“Something's wrong, isn't it?”

Hannah nodded gravely.

“And he's got Addison. He took her hostage,” she said.

“Wait, what? Hostage? How?”

“With a knife.”

“A knife? A real knife or a glamour?” he asked.

Hannah looked at him impatiently.

“Do you really think I would let him take a hostage with a fake knife? What do you take me for? Human?”

The elevator door opened and Hannah rushed straight through the lobby to the sidewalk outside. Joseph was just a step behind. She looked around desperately for signs of them, but couldn’t see anything. She turned to face Joseph.

“Where would he take her?” she asked.

“I really don’t know."

“THINK!” Hannah screamed at him.

“Look, we just got here. I have no idea where he would go."

“Well, you’re super helpful aren’t you?”

“Well you screaming at me, doesn’t...” he began, but was cut off by Hannah shoving her hand in his face.

“Wait...”

She paused and sniffed the air.

“You smell that?” she said.

Joseph sniffed the air as well.

“Blood,” he said.

Hannah’s eyes widened and she took off in the direction of the scent, with Joseph racing to keep up.

She stopped at the intersection at the end of the block and knelt down. Joseph knelt down beside her. There were a few droplets of blood on the ground. Hannah dabbed a drop with her finger and held it up to her nose.

“It’s just Addison,” she said, relieved.

“Just Addison?” Joseph asked. “So we’re only worried about Taylor here?”

“You can worry about whomever you like. I have to protect Taylor.”

With that she got stood up and kept walking in the same direction. Joseph followed close at her side.

“Why Taylor and not Addison? I thought you two just met?”

“We did,” she replied. “I feel protective of my roommate, okay?”

Joseph didn’t respond; he followed her wordlessly down the street.

-8-

Taylor recognized where Eric was leading her. He was taking her back to the pond where she had left him earlier. Her heart sank. The pond was completely hidden by a thick wall of trees. No one would see them there.

She felt a glimmer of hope when she saw another student walking towards them on the opposite side of the street, however. Her mind raced with ways to get help from this other girl. At least, she thought, Eric would have to take a different path to avoid her. Perhaps she could get some sort of signal across.

To her surprise, Eric did not change course. He whispered something into Addison’s ear as they continued to walk straight towards the girl, with the knife still pressed against Addison’s throat. Addison gave a muffled response that Taylor could not make out and Eric pressed the point of the knife into her skin, just barely piercing it. She whimpered, but did not say a word.

As they continued to approach the girl, it became clear to Taylor that the girl hadn't noticed them. Taylor was sure the knife would draw her attention, but
the girl continued to walk
towards them and then right past them, never looking at them
,
much less stopping.

Somehow Eric was preventing the girl from seeing them, Taylor thought.

They continued their awkward procession, all three of them silent, until they reached the park they had been at earlier. Taylor saw the leftovers from their picnic. The brown bag and half-eaten subs were still on the bench where they had left them. The sun was beginning to set and the pond was darkened by the grey reflections of the trees around them.

Eric stopped at the edge of the pond and pointed his knife towards Taylor and then towards the bench. Taylor obediently sat down on the edge. He let go of Addison.

“Don’t even think about moving,” he warned her.

He walked towards Taylor without looking at Addison, but Addison did
not
appear to have any intentions of moving. She stood rigidly in one place as if she was afraid that any movement at all would incite his anger. Tears were streaming down her face, but she remained quiet.

Eric sat down next to Taylor and gently placed the tip of the blade on her arm and traced it to her elbow, not pressing hard enough to leave a mark. Taylor shuddered.

“Now look how complicated all this has gotten,” he said, with a playful, almost sing-songy voice.

“All I really wanted,” he continued, pressing the side of his face against her neck, “was a taste.”

Taylor tried to shift away from his touch, but he pulled her closer with his free hand.

He leaned into her ear and whispered, “You should have just said yes. I always get what I want.”

He then leaned back and spoke loudly enough so that Addison could hear as well.

“So what you’re going to do, Taylor, is just sit there. You are going to let me do what I want, and if you don’t,” he gestured towards Addison as he said this, “I’m going to kill her.”

Addison began to tremble at this. Taylor sat as still as she could, her mind racing. She tried to think of some way to escape, but Eric was armed with a knife and she had no idea what a vampire was capable of. She tried to tell herself that whatever it was he had planned, they were going to survive it. If he had wanted to kill them, she reasoned, he would have already done so. Looking at his face, though, she wasn’t so sure. He seemed to be enjoying this.

“You see? It’s so much easier when you listen,” he said and leaned closer to her.