Blood and Beasts (22 page)

“Look at all these beautiful
ladies,” Rodney joked aloud, coming in with the timid Tristan trailing behind
him.

Tristan glanced nervously left and
right, sensing that they were not supposed to be there.

“C
’
mon,” Seph ushered them over, and the door shut behind
them.

Tristan jumped at the sound but
then took a deep breath and calmed down. They both hopped into the bed with the
rest of them. Linda and Abernathy were at the bottom with Francesca resting
over them, hugging the pair of girls. Seph leaned over her, her side pressed
against her back. Rodney came over beside Seph, wrapping her in a big hug,
moping too. Tristan awkwardly sat on the bed, not knowing what to do. He didn
’
t know what was going on. They were
having a cry fest, he finally noted.

“C
’
mon, Tris,” Abernathy sniffed, gesturing him over to
their little pile and pulling him in too.

Soon, he found himself crying as
well. He thought about his family. He thought of his mom and the cancer. He
thought of his dad, leaving that Christmas and never coming back. He recalled
the cops coming to tell him the news. He thought of his great-uncles, Uncle
Barry and Uncle Larry. He missed them terribly. They were so cool. The best
brothers he had yet to meet. They were very rustic but very cool. They loved
him unconditionally. They loved him like his father had never truly loved him.
His father had been selfish. His father had only been thinking of himself when
he had shot himself that Christmas, and his mom… His mom had hardly even known
him. He cried along with them.

Rodney held Seph and thought about
how warm she was, all things considered. She was a vampire, and her body
temperature should be a bit below average. He contemplated his family briefly.
He did miss them, but his life had not been so bad. He had both his parents. He
had not tried to kill any of them. He had three little sisters that he adored,
Rose, Ronda, and Rowan. He did miss them all terribly. His brother… Roland… He
could not think about that yet…

Abernathy missed her father. He had
accepted her. He had urged her off to school, encouraged her. He had raised her
with witchcraft. She knew it well and was going to make him proud. Her mother…
Her mother
’
s battle with leukemia had been one
of the worst times in her life. She tried not to think about that though. She
tried to be optimistic. But, for right now, she was going to be selfish and cry
for herself…

Linda thought of her parents, her
loving parents who had sent her off to witch school without a thought. They
didn
’
t really care about her. They were
just happy their crazy, wild child daughter was finally gone. Now, they could
get a dog. Now, they could take care of the plants themselves and not watch
them die under their daughter
’
s lack of a green thumb. Now, they
could watch her perfect, older brother advance and advance in alchemy while she
just struggled at Monster Academy. Sometimes, she thought she hated them or
hated Thomas for getting all the attention…

Francesca was left with her
thoughts of wanting to help Seph and feelings of missing her own family. She
missed her seven little siblings. She missed her mom and dad, but they were
waiting for her. They were completely encouraging, and they missed her. They
visited every parents
’
day, once a month, and
always brought her food from home. She missed her mama
’
s tamales. They knew she was a voracious eater, and
they were all werewolves too. Her parents were, at least, and soon, all her
little siblings would be attending Monster Academy with her. She loved them…

Seph dwelled on her past. She
thought of her mother. She thought of her father or lack thereof. She thought
of her step-father, the dad she never had, leaving when the twins weren
’
t even born yet, abandoning them
just like her real dad. She thought of the foster home, of Janette and Bill and
all the others. She recalled the looks on Pearl
’
s and Pearce
’
s
faces. She thought of Nate again. She thought of kissing him and then of
drinking his blood. Could she forgive herself? She missed all of them. She
wanted to prove to them she was no monster, or at least, that she could control
this monstrous side of her…

“Ahem,” the clearing of a throat
awoke them all at around four in the morning from their emotionally drained
haze.

They all blinked blearily and then
sat up straighter, pulling apart. It was Sir Cosmos, the principal! He was
standing in the doorway, staring at them all. They all suddenly wondered just
what they looked like. Did they look like they had just been doing something…
less than reputable? Probably not, considering they were all clothed. They
probably looked a little weird though.

Tristan was holding Linda and
Abernathy, hugging them both. Francesca
’
s
head rested on his shoulder. Seph was holding Francesca, and Rodney was holding
her. They were all lying down. It probably did not look wonderful.

“You were all missed in classes
today,” he remarked as they struggled to sit up. “Skipping school, opposite
sexes sleeping in the same bed,” he looked at Rodney and Tristan pointedly.
“But it
’
s understandable,
” they all grinned slowly, as though
afraid that he were going to break their tenuous trust in his benevolence at
any moment. “Vampire changing is harder than most, especially considering this
one
’
s powers,” he gestured at Seph, and
she flushed a little as her friends turned to look at her, all eyes on her.

They were her friends, but did
everyone have to emphasize her
great
powers? She was still a normal
vampire, though not really. Why could she not just be average?

  “She has wonderful friends to
comfort her like this in her time of need,” each of them either hugged her or
nudged her gently. “You all have make-up work tomorrow. The teachers have been
spoken to. You are all excused from today, and you all are very lucky I
understand so well,” with that closing remark, he turned on his heel and left
them to themselves, the door closing with a
snap!

They all slowly extricated
themselves fully from each other and the bed. They stretched this way and that,
working out the kinks in their necks. They were all covered in mud now. The bed
was a total mess. Seph just gaped at it.

“A cleaning hobgoblin will fix
that,” Francesca stated matter-of-factly, and Seph turned to stare at her.

Cleaning hobgoblins?! That explained
everything because she and Francesca were not the cleanest of roommates. She
looked at everyone else.

“Hey, let
’
s meet up at the Room in say… thirty minutes? We should
probably all go shower,” Linda gestured at herself, half-covered in mud with
her clothes ruined until the next good washing.

“Sounds good,” Seph agreed, and
they all left, meandering out the door slowly.

It probably looked like they just
had a rave with people pouring out of their bedroom. She ran a hand through her
hair, catching it in globs of mud and twisted tangles. Seph turned back to
Francesca, who tilted her head toward the shower.

“You first?” She asked, and Seph
shook her head. “Sounds good to me,” the werewolf girl bounded off to the
shower, flipping on the hot water immediately.

Seph smiled to herself. Francesca
never offered for her to shower first. She stared at her messy bed. They had
all been there for her. They had all stayed there with her. They had risked
getting in trouble for skipping school, staying in the same bed, and who knew
what other indiscretions, for her… They had risked all that for her.

Rodney had felt really warm, holding
her… Why was she thinking of Rodney in particular? They were all in that bed.
Francesca had run through the rain to find her, and yet… she could not stop
thinking about Rodney… What did that mean?

Life went on as usual, at least for
a few days. Life couldn
’
t be considered that usual at
Monster Academy. Something was always happening. As it was, something in
particular happened a few days later that was especially bad, something
involving a certain red and black miniature dragon named Silo.

“
I just don’
t understand Cosmos sometimes. What
kind of spell was that? Something to do with the wind and the rain…
I dunno
…” Linda was spouting off about
Wizarding Class to an understanding Abernathy and Tristan as they all met up in
front of the Room.

“
You guys don’
t know the meaning of difficult.
What did we just cover, Rodney? Phasing into a wolf? Not a werewolf, but a wolf,
on command, and then controlling it. Do you have any idea how difficult it is
to be a dog, an actual dog, and then controlling that?” Francesca exclaimed as
Abernathy keyed in the code.

They all turned to Seph, waiting to
hear what happened in Vamp Class that day. She just shrugged, giving them all a
wry grin. Her toe scuffed in the dirt absently.

“I
’
m still practicing teleporting, and I
’
m getting pretty good at it,” she
admitted, and they all groaned at her.

It made just perfect sense that
they would all be struggling in their species class while she was flourishing
in hers.

“And you get to be taught by the
gorgeous Capri Stone! I am so jealous. I hate being a witch sometimes. We get
to be taught by Cosmos, and let
’
s face it. He
’
s like a white version of my dad,” Abernathy said
matter-of-factly.

“He
’
s a good teacher though,” Tristan stated, and the two
girls whirled on him.

“You would think that,” Linda
snapped, scowling at him.

“Ya, Mr. Solitto here has a natural
knack for magic,” Abernathy said, imitating Sir Cosmos
’
s grandiose manner of speaking while attempting to send
him a mean glare, which she couldn
’
t really manage.

“Uh, you guys?” Francesca said,
stepping into the Room and looking around it despairingly.

“Ya?” They all looked in her
direction, and then they saw the room as well as what was lacking in it.

“Where
’
s Silo?” Abernathy squeaked, and they all tumbled into
the room, searching high and low for the little dragon.

“Aw, naw,” Rodney moaned, and
Francesca hurried over to see what her cousin had discovered.

“Oh, no,” she groaned, and soon all
the others hurried over, cursing under their breath as well once they saw it.

“He burnt through the wall,” Linda
said, staring at the gaping, charred hole in front of them.

“He burnt all the way through this
wall and through the Outer Wall,” Tristan said unnecessarily, a little scared
by the sheer power of this dragon that Abernathy had created.

“He
’
s out in the real world,” Francesca whispered,
horrified by the implications of the situation.

“The human world,” Seph added, and
her best friend looked at her a moment before turning back to the hole.

“It
’
s after four. We have a few hours to look for him,”
Rodney stated, checking his gold watch quickly. “Are you good, Seph?” He asked,
looking to her concernedly as her blood dilemma was always on their minds.

“For now,” she assented, and they
headed back out the Room.

Outside the Room, Rodney and
Francesca led the way through the large hedge maze, bushes raising at least ten
feet over their heads, nearly blocking out the pale moonlight. There was a
deathly silence about them. If someone found Silo… If someone hurt him… If he
hurt them…

“
Moon
’
s nearly full,” Rodney commented quietly, and Francesca
nodded, not even needing to glance up at it.

“Seph?” Abernathy came up beside
her a little timidly as she walked by herself behind the werewolf cousins. “How
’
d Silo escape that bubble thing you
put around him?” She asked, and Seph thought about that, although she had been
thinking that same thing ever since they had discovered his disappearance.

“I
’
ve been a bit out of it recently,” she confessed after
a few more minutes. “I suspect that my spells slacken when I
’
m tired or just not concentrating,
and my spell that held him was never that good in the first place. My
telekinesis is strong, but the spell that molded it into a bubble was a
wizarding spell. We probably should have gotten one of you two to cast that spell
around my powers. Once we get Silo back, we can get Tristan to do it, seeing as
you two just rave about his powers,” she commented, and Tristan smiled smugly
behind them, eavesdropping on their entire conversation.

“You are good, Tristan,” Linda said
beside him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

He thought he had been walking
alone. Linda was very quiet when she wanted to be. She could probably eavesdrop
on conversations really well too.

“I mean it though. You don
’
t seem to know too much about our kind,
but I do. Abernathy and I aren
’
t bad witches. In fact, we
’
re pretty good, relatively
intermediate,” she stated matter-of-factly, and Abernathy threw a grin over her
shoulder at her best friend. “But you? You
’
re on a whole other playing field. You
’
re like the Persephone of the
wizards,” she said, a bit overly dramatic, but not by much.

“I think I resent that,” Seph
called back, vampiric ears picking up every single word.

“Oh, it
’
s a compliment,” Linda waved a hand up at her. “But
seriously, Seph is the most powerful vampire that
’
s come through here, and you… You might be the most
powerful wizard,” up ahead, only seen by Francesca, Rodney gave a small shudder
that was not very pleasant as his skin prickled down his back.

“We
’
re here,” Rodney called back as soon as they reached
the Outer Wall.

They all stopped at the wall and
stared up at its immense height of around twenty feet.

“How exactly are we supposed to get
up there?” Abernathy mused when Seph suddenly blinked, appearing at the top of
the Wall.

“Easy as cake,” she called to them,
jumping down to the other side.

They heard her land lightly behind
it. Francesca and Rodney shared a look before shrugging nearly identically.
Tristan gasped, taking a step back, as both suddenly morphed into their
werewolf forms, Francesca golden-furred, Rodney black-pelted. Running back,
they both sprinted forward and jumped, easily pouncing onto the top of the wall
and then hopping over it, shifting into their human forms midair. They twisted
and landed on the ground beside Seph.

“I wonder how they
’
re going to get over,” Seph wondered
aloud to her two friends, all avidly watching the top of the wall and waiting
to see what their friends would do.

“Well, that
’
s just great. Another reason why I resent being a witch
sometimes,” Abernathy commented drily when a wind suddenly picked up around her
and Linda.

“Abernathy?!” Linda yelped.

“Linda?!” Abernathy squeaked.

Without warning, they were both
whooshed into the air, swirling around and around in a miniature cyclone. The
two girls held each other, shrieking, as they went over the Outer Wall and
landed on the other side, still shrieking, beside the other three. Seph,
Rodney, and Francesca just stared at the pair of girls shrieking until
Francesca finally went up to them and smacked them upside their heads. 

“Be quiet! How much louder could
you get?” She chastised harshly just as Tristan came flying over the wall,
levitated by a small tornado similar to the one that had lifted the two girls
over the wall.

He landed beside them all, smiling
satisfactorily. They all gaped at him. His smile faded an inch or so, but he
kept it there determinedly. 

“I
’
ve been practicing,” he commented, flattening down his
awry, red-gold spikes.

“So you have,” Seph said, smiling
at him.

Behind their backs, Rodney scowled
again. He did not like the way they were looking at each other just now. It was
too friendly, in his opinion. Francesca caught his look however, eyes sliding
back and forth between her cousin, Seph, and Tristan. Finally, she cleared her
throat, gaining everyone
’
s attentions.

“Let
’
s get movin
’
.
We gotta find Silo,
”
she announced, clapping her hands together readily. “We gotta get back by ten,
or else…
I
dunno
…” she said,
leading the somewhat tense group into the surrounding forest.

They meandered through the woods in
silence, following a somewhat trodden path. Many a vampire, witch, wizard, or
werewolf had snuck out before them, exploring the outside world either late
night or early morning. They finally came upon an area where the trail split
off into three directions, left, center, and right. They halted there.

“Okay, Abernathy and Linda, you
take the left trail. Seph and I will go straight, and Rodney, you take Tristan
and go right,” Francesca stated, taking charge quickly.

They all nodded and branched off
their separate ways. The woods could be creepy at night, but truth be told,
those things that went bump in the night? That was usually one of their own
kind. So, each pairing set off in their own direction, scouring the woods for a
small, fire-breathing dragon. You would think that he would have left a fiery
trail for them to follow, but alas, everything looked shadowed in the dim
light.

Abernathy and Linda traipsed down
their path. Abernathy fretted more and more the further they walked without
discovering any sign of the little beast. Linda was getting more and more
annoyed by it too. She glared at her best friend again and again as she kept
muttering about the dragon like a mother hen, clucking away.

“Abernathy, for the eleventh time,
we will find your stupid drag-ON!” Linda shrieked as she slipped down a steep
embankment and slid into a creek.

Seconds later, there was another
yelp, and Abernathy landed right on top of her. Linda groaned, rolling the
small girl off of her. They both stood up, drenched, and covered in mud. They
caught each other
’
s eyes and started giggling.

“Wow…” Linda said, starting to
laugh.

“What are the odds…” Abernathy
said, and her laughter was a sharp
crack!
in the still night air.

They clutched each other, laughing
together in their newly discovered creek.

“What say ye, Furst Mate
Abernathy,” Linda said in a robust tone. “I say we travel this here creek,”
Abernathy erupted with another gale of laughter as they sloshed down the small
stream.

Meanwhile, Francesca and Seph were
relatively good trackers. A vampire and a werewolf together, following
something? Even a miniature dragon didn
’
t
have a snowman
’
s chance in Hawaii. Silo had
meandered down their path at some point. They sniffed at the air tentatively
and followed the scent of burning leaves. Searching for any telltale signs of
travel, such as large lizard footprints, they marched side by side, noting any
broken twigs or branches also. He had come down their way for sure. That much
was obvious by the barely discernable scorch marks on various tree trunks and
rocks, all at lower angles.

They followed the trail in
companionable silence. They had bonded over the last couple of days. The crying
thing… had truly drawn them closer. There was a slight tension in the air
though. It had something to do with the little triangle going on between Seph,
Rodney, and Tristan. Seph sensed it. Francesca knew it. Francesca definitely
didn
’
t want Seph pulling on the
heartstrings of her cousin. She was protective of her family, even if Seph was
practically family to her too. With a heavy sigh, Seph decided to break the
beautiful silence surrounding them.

“
I don’
t like Tristan, Francesca,” she finally stated, halting
to straighten her back.

She twisted this way and that, bones
crackling.

“What? I didn
’
t think you did,” Francesca stated, trying her hardest
to keep a completely, stoic look on her face.

What was the point of attempting to
mask your feelings when you were best friends with a telepath?