What happened in the last chapter?
Rebel meets the second delinquent vampire, the brilliant one.
Chapter 9
I looked at my watch. Eleven p.m. “Ice is late for his appointment,” I muttered.
Harvey shrugged. “Punctuality isn’t a vamp thing. You need to start thinking like them.”
“Screw that. Being on time is about respect. Not even the dead can get a pass on that.” I tapped my pen on the desk. “I’ll pound the concept of being timely into the three bloodsuckers, if I have to.” I tapped some more. “Maybe I should play Aretha Franklin over the speakers at twilight.” I grinned at that thought and began singing her song to myself. “R … E ... S …”
Boom.
I looked at Harvey.
He shrugged.
“Sounds like a bomb just landed in our front yard.”
“Hmm,” said Harvey. “Maybe the town wizards are having a barbeque cook-off this week.”
“Not in my front yard.” I checked my messages. “There’s no community statement about the sound.” There usually was an apology or a complaint when someone’s magic caused trouble.
I took off my fancy heels and scrambled outside in my bare feet. The new moon cast an ominous silvery glow over the yard, providing just enough light for me to make out shapes. A large figure holding a bat in his hand stood over an even larger shape that lay on the ground. My heart skipped a beat. Murder in my front yard? I gathered my magic in my fingertips and edged closer.
The dark shape on the ground became clearer as I neared. It was the marble statue of Zeus. The standing figure turned towards me and gave a low menacing growl. The hair on the back of my neck stood to attention. Vampire stench closed my throat. I lifted my arms ready for a fight.
The man hissed and dropped his fangs. The air between us vibrated anger.
I took a step back.
The figure muttered curse words and growled again.
Could he be my third delinquent vampire, I wondered. “Ice?” I said out loud.
His body shook at the sound of his name. He dropped his bat and sniffed the night air. “Witch blood.”
I stepped closer.
Tears marked his round face. He stared at me with cold, dead eyes filled with hate.
All my senses shot to high alert. I waited for him to make a move.
He grunted.
“Thank you for putting the bat down, Ice.” I spoke as calmly as I could.
He grunted.
“The statue will not harm you. You know that. Right?”
“Eurocentric propaganda. That harms all of us.”
I pressed my eyes closed. “The Greek god, Zeus … offends you?”
“Hell, yeah.” Ice picked up the bat, and with his supernatural strength, flung it to his left.
It traveled all the way to the forest at a speed approaching light and smashed into the side of a tree with a loud thud.
“It’s not right,” he said. “We all got to live together … that’s what my therapist says.”
I extended my hand. “I’m Rebecca Black, the administrator of the academy.”
He grunted, again.
I swallowed. “Would you like to come inside? I have an exquisite selection of blood.”
“No,” he growled. “I don’t want to have anything to do with this stupid place. I’m only here because my sire demanded it. He didn’t say I had to go inside, or that I had to live with statues.” He looked me up and down. “Or, that I had to talk to a witch.”
Three sentences. Things were improving. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m in the same boat,” I said.
“Boat?” He winced. “My sire called it a whore house.”
“The thing is,” I continued, “I am not here by choice either. Alessandro is forcing us to be here.” I edged closer. The young vampire towered over me only an arm’s distance away. He wore only sweatpants. His upper torso was all muscle. Basically, he was built like a tank and smelled worse.
He squinted. “You don’t want to be here?”
“No.” I swallowed and extended my fist for a bump.
He complied in slow motion, as if he thought me crazy. Maybe I was. Who in their right mind fist bumps with an angry vampire in the middle of the night?
“To be honest I think Alessandro would prefer I appear excited about the school, but I will always tell you the truth. We are all captives in his …” I paused, trying to think of what to call Alessandro’s scheme.
“Nightmare.” Ice finished my sentence.
Of epic proportions, I thought. But I didn’t say that.
“Come on in,” I said. “I’ve got every blood type you could desire and it’s all fresh. We can get to know one another. I’m not fond of statues either.”
Ice frowned. “Get to know me? Why?”
I took him by his arm, which felt as solid as a bed post and as cold as ice, and pulled him along with me. “Tell me what you want in life, Ice.”
He grunted.
I exhaled. “Come on. Let’s be honest. We all want something. Sometimes it’s big and sometimes it’s little, but everyone always wants something.”
Ice didn’t say anything, but his legs moved, so we made our way into the academy and then into my office. I think he liked being touched, because every few seconds he glanced at my hands holding his arm.
Once we sat down facing each other, I spoke. “I’ll tell you what I want.”
He leaned forward.
Outside, the hounds howled as if on cue, an owl hooted, and the cold winter wind picked up rustling the leaves and making the trees creak.
I told my senses to ignore all of that and paused a little longer. “I want to make this institution a success to spite Alessandro.”
“Huh? How a successful school would spite him.”
“Think about it. I have three students who don’t want to be here. Each of them can make their way in the world on their own. None of you really need me. So why did the great Alessandro create this situation?”
“Vampires are simple creatures of the night,” Ice said slowly.
That must be part of the bloodsucker catechism, I thought. “And all you want is blood. I know. I know. I’ve already heard that line.”
“My sire has been around a long time. He knows things. He knows what is best for me.”
I nodded my head. “Three-hundred years, I’m told.”
Ice leaned back. “My sire has seen a lot. I trust him. He must have his reasons.”
“Trust? That’s not necessary. You have no choice in this matter.”
The teenager blinked. “But you do.”
“Not exactly. Alessandro has …”
“You by the balls.”
I felt my brows rise. “Excuse me.”
“I may look stupid, Ms. Rebel, but I am no one’s fool. Alessandro trades in secrets. He manipulates whole governments above and below the ground with the information he gathers. Everyone knows this. He must have something on you.”
I kept my face composed, but my insides quaked. I took a deep breath. “Something like that.”
“Hmm.” Ice leaned back and smiled. “I bet you’d like to topple a statue right now.”
“Ten … statues.” He gave me a grim grin. “You promised me blood.”
“First, tell me what you want.”
Silence.
“I’ve met two other students so far. Akira is an athletically gifted cat burglar who craves danger. René is a brilliant schemer who dreams of world domination. Both have let their desires get them into so much trouble that Alessandro had to step in and protect them from themselves.”
Ice nodded. “Akira and René. I’ve heard of them.”
“So, tell me, what is it you want?”
He shook his head. “No.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Do you think I would laugh? Come on. I’m in no position to judge. A vampire has backed me, an enchantress from a powerful family, into a corner, and forced me to work for him. I’m his puppet, his slave, his witch. Besides … even before this happened, I was not someone who took pleasure in looking down on others. I will not laugh. What do you want?”
“For people to be fair,” said Ice in a soft voice.
I squinted. “Are those your words or your therapists?”
“My therapist helped me find them.”
“That is a noble desire, Ice, but I don’t understand you.”
“I’m thirsty. What is there to understand?”
“How did a vampire with a sense of justice land you in my jailhouse brothel?”
He tilted his round head. “When things don’t go my way, I get angry. I went on a rampage.” He eyed me suspiciously for a response.
“Oh.”
“I hurt mortals, not marble gods.”
“What got you so mad?”
“They were trafficking young women.”
“Oh! That makes you a knight in shining armor, in my books.” I stood slowly.
He nodded.
“What’s your type?” I asked.
“AB Negative will do.
Where can I find the other chapters?
If you want to catch up, you can find all the posted Chapters here:
Serials page.
The next episode drops next Friday.
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Final Note
Thanks for reading my story.
Please, feel free to share it. That’s how most people find me, and I appreciate it.
See you between the lines.
With gratitude,
Jo-Ann
P.S. If you like my writing check out my books (including the free ones) listed here.