Vampire Teacher – Chapter 6

Will pulled into Jason’s driveway. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Will said as Jason got out of his car.

“Yup, see you tomorrow,” Jason closed the car door and sighed.

In the window to his living room, Maggy waved to him, her eyes on Will as he left.

Jason walked into the living room. “What are you doing?”

Maggy was still watching Will’s car as he drove down the street. “Nothing, just curious about your friend.”

“Nuh-uh,” he waved a finger. “No way, Mags; he’s off-limits.”

“You say that about all your friends!” she huffed. “Don’t talk to Roy, don’t ogle the new guy,” Maggy sat on the couch with a huff, her arms crossed. “It’s not fair.”

“They’re not boys you should fraternize with.”

“But it’s okay for them to be your friends?”

“Yes, since they’re just friends; I’m not looking to date any of them.”

Maggy rolled her eyes and turned away from him. Outside of school, the only male she talked to other than her brother was Roy, but he had been coming over less and less recently.

He plopped down on the couch beside her. “Come on, Mags; I only have your best interest in mind.” He stroked her hair.

“You always say you’re just looking out for me…”

“Because I am! I’m your older brother; it’s my job to take care of you.”

“No, it isn’t,” she snapped at him. “That’s our parents’ job—”

“It’s mine too; that’s what older siblings do.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I try to take care of you too, Jay.”

“I know you take care of me. If it wasn’t for you, I’d live off of frozen dinners and never eat a vitamin,” he laughed and nudged her. “Can you let me keep my right to protect you?”

“You’re never going to let me date, are you?”

“Not until you’re thirty.”

Her jaw hung open. “Thirty? Most people are married by then, not having their first date ever!” She pushed his hand away. “Seriously, Jay, you’re my brother, not my father.”

“I know, I know, but…”

Both their expressions dropped. “They’re not around much…” Maggy stared down, fiddling with her thumbs. “I guess them both being high-ranked in the same company makes them absent at the same time…”

“Which is why I try to—”

“You realize I’m more mature than you, for the most part, right?”

“Yeah, but… girls mature faster. Maggy…”

“Yeah?”

“We take care of each other, and on that note, stay away from those two boys—”

“But I like Roy!” Her eyes widened and she clasped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my gosh…” she bolted up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.

“Well… that happened. Ugh, why Roy?!” He rubbed his temples to try to stop a headache from forming.

“What were you up to last night?” Samantha asked Will as they sat down for breakfast at the kitchen table.

“Went to see a friend for help,” Will replied, drinking a glass of blood.

“Oh? I hope they’re going to help; we could use it.”

“They’re coming over for dinner tonight to talk about it.”

Samantha froze with a piece of omelette on her fork headed for her mouth. “You invited someone here?”

“Yeah, don’t look so shocked; they already know where we live anyway. They’ve been here too, well, on the outside.”

“Oh my gosh… It’s one of those two boys, isn’t it?”

Will smirked and took another drink.

“You invited Jason here?! Wait… if you did that and he’s supposed to help us then… he knows?”

“That’s on you, my dear sister, since your hypnosis didn’t work on him.”

“But he hasn’t said anything… And I thought you were going to fix things if it didn’t work?”

“I was going to, but we need help and he’s in love with you, so he’s not likely to betray us.” Will watched for a reaction that didn’t happen. “I guess I was right; you already knew of his strong, romantic feelings.”

“He’s just a boy with his whole life ahead of him; he shouldn’t be wasting time with a crush on me.”

“It’s more than a crush and you know that.”

“And you know strong feelings can fade.”

“So harsh, sister; I hope you’re kinder when dealing with him in person.”

She set her fork down, frowning at him as her cheeks burned. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Will shrugged, a slight smile playing on his face. “Why not? I’m finally getting to see you all flustered again. It has definitely been too long.”

Samantha covered her cheeks with her hands. “Ugh… Why can that happen if we’re vampires?”

“You know as well as I do we function mostly the same as humans, but stronger and… most of us need blood to survive. I have no idea how you manage it; I’d go insane eventually and attack someone.”

“It’s grown easier throughout the years, but I gotta say, being hungry all the time isn’t great.”

Will thought for a moment. “I have invested in research into synthetic blood to help vampires such as yourself, but haven’t come up with anything workable yet. It’ll probably be a few years before I have something to give you…” he sighed.

“When did you start investing in that research?”

“About a decade ago… Sucks nothing has happened yet.”

“By the way, you invited Jason for dinner, right? That means you’re cooking?”

Will flicked the TV on. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll do the cooking; we don’t want him getting food poisoning.”

Thud. Samantha smacked him in the head with a thin pillow she had on her kitchen chair. “I’m not that bad.”

“I knew a fellow that would say otherwise.”

“What are you talking about? He loved my cooking.”

“Trust me when I say he didn’t; Nero loved that you tried to cook for him and happily ate anything you fed him.”

Samantha tensed at his name. No matter how much time passes… I can’t forget him. She could practically feel his arms wrap around her from behind again and the light kiss he’d leave on her cheek.

Will watched his sister’s reaction with wonder. “Over our centuries, we’ve both loved and lost, but I’ve never seen you take so long to recover,” Will said, his brows furrowed.

“It’s not like I can just force myself to forget about him.”

“I can force you to though.”

She stared at Will wide-eyed. “What are you thinking? You can’t hypnotize me.”

“When we were young vampires, no, I couldn’t. If you were feeding like a normal vampire, I probably couldn’t either, but having only had a tiny bit of blood while I’m full power and an old vampire, I might be able to—”

“No,” Samantha refused. “I don’t want you to.”

“Why not? It might help us survive!”

Crackle. Shatter.

Will’s grip on his glass tightened until his glass shattered, cutting his hand and leaving a trail of blood to drip onto the table. “Why are you so damn stubborn at the wrong times? Tch.” Will left to get a pan and rag and came back to clean up the mess on their hardwood floors. Samantha knelt down beside him to help and he swatted her hand away. “Go get some groceries so I can cook for our guest later; I’ll clean up my own mess,” Will nearly growled at her.

She sighed and backed away from him. “I’m sorry, Will; I know I’m always causing you trouble. I’ll be back soon…” she trailed off, walking away with slouched shoulders.

“Don’t you know I’m the one who always causes trouble in the first place… If I wasn’t a weak, frail boy, they never would’ve found out about your special blood and been hunting you like this. I wasn’t able to protect you then, but I will now…” Will grumbled, cleaning up his mess. “Ow,” he sliced his finger open on a shard of glass. He watched as the wound sealed itself in a few seconds.

Samantha made her way over to the closest grocery store and pushed an empty cart around. He didn’t even tell me what to get. A strawberry cheesecake in the frozen area caught her eye. Jason does like sweets… She smiled as she placed the cheesecake in her cart.

She combed the aisles filling her cart with fruits, vegetables, chicken and anything she knew they were out of and he might like. I think I went overboard. She stared at the cart overflowing with food.

Bing. A text came in from Will. ‘Pick up pasta, a few types of cheeses and some chicken.’

I almost have everything already. She grabbed some cheese and headed to pay for her groceries. Everything paid for and bagged, she made her way over to her car.

A sudden chill ran down through her forming goosebumps on her arms. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She carefully scanned the parking lot, feeling eyes on her. She rushed to put the bags in her car. A figure shrouded in darkness reached out to her. She turned and grabbed his wrist, crushing it.

“What do you want?” she asked, her eyes glowing as she glared at him. Isn’t he a student?

“Evan sent me to get you, so you will come with me,” he hissed.

“Like hell I will.”

He grabbed her neck with his free hand. Without hesitation, Samantha shoved her hand straight into his chest and ripped his heart out. A look of disbelief crossed his face before he turned to dust.

Samantha pulled a rag out of the back of her car to clean off her hand. She sighed and sat in her car, her head resting on the steering wheel. She learned a long time ago not to hesitate when it came to one of Evan’s vampires, but it didn’t make it any easier to kill someone. She used the mirror to look at her neck; the red marks from him grabbing her were already vanishing.

Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.

Bing. ‘What’s taking you so long? Did you get lost?’

She rolled her eyes and started her car, ignoring the text. After taking a few more deep breaths, she headed home.

“You can’t even respond to a text?!” Will blasted her as soon as she entered the house.

“Don’t text and drive,” she hummed, lugging all the grocery bags in at once.

“Then pull over and respond. For all I knew, you were attacked or kidnapped and hurt somewhere without me around to help,” he grabbed half the bags and set them on the kitchen island to put things away.

Samantha flinched, the feel of her hand going straight into the vampire’s chest replaying in her mind. The feeling of his heart in her hand and blood trailing down her. She shook it off and helped put groceries away.

“You got a lot of stuff,” Will said.

“We were running low anyway.”

“True; you do eat a lot sometimes.”

She gasped. “I do not!”

“The way you eat, sometimes I think you’re a hungry teenage male,” Will caught the bag of rice she tossed at him, laughing.

“Sometimes eating in mass helps the hunger, so sue me.”

“You know, if you had a proper diet, you wouldn’t be hungry all the time…”

This again…

“Are you ever going to tell me the real reason you stopped drinking blood? Or is as simple as I think and you’re torturing yourself over Nero.”

“Lay off it, Will,” she shoved a few packs of chicken at him and headed upstairs to her room, fuming.

“Sam…” Will sighed, shaking his head. “I guess I know what I have to do.”

Will turned on his TV in the kitchen as he worked on his special parmesan chicken with noodles and vegetables.

“Seventeen-year-old Emily Richards was found dead behind the movie theatre here in Lunadale Mall.”

Will’s ear twitched and his hands stopped moving. The name caught his attention. He turned to stare at the name on the screen, ‘Emily Richards’. “So familiar…”

“What’s so familiar?” Samantha finally showed back up and peeked into the kitchen after hearing him mumble to himself.

“More like who,” he pointed at the TV with his knife and turned back to his vegetables on a cutting board.

Samantha’s heart dropped. “No…” she dropped to her knees, tears pricking her eyes as she clutched her pants.

“Sammy? What is it?” he set his knife on the board and knelt down in front of her.

She buried her face in her hands and shook her head, shrinking away from him.

“Come on, talk to me. Wait a second…” he sniffed her. “Why do I smell blood?”

She froze. Crap… I thought I cleaned off well. “Emily Richards is my student… or rather was…”

Will thought for a moment, wondering if he had already met her. The name seemed familiar like he had heard it recently. It clicked. She was the girl Roy was going out with the other day. Knowing he couldn’t do anything about it right then and there, he shook it off. “You didn’t answer me, why do you smell like blood?” he forced her hands away from her face and ducked down to look into her tear-filled eyes.

She bit her lip and tried to pull away from him, but he was stronger than her. Dammit.

“Come on, talk to me,” he pouted.

He’s not going to let this go. She took a deep breath.”One of Evan’s vampires attacked me in the parking lot at the grocery store.”

“What?! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What good would it have done? It happened… and I got rid of him…”

Will carefully watched her expressions. “It was someone you’ve seen before?”

“Quit doing that; you read me too easily.”

“What do you expect after spending centuries together? So, who was it?”

“I don’t know what his name was, but I think he was a student… Do you think he’s the one who killed Emily?”

Will gritted his teeth, releasing her wrists. “I… don’t know.”

“Either way… something tells me this is Evan keeping his promise to kill my students…” she slumped against the nearby wall. “Will… What can we do to stop him? He’s made sure we can’t run anymore… but I don’t think I can stand being with him.”

“We both know you can’t; you tried before and we ran away from him the first chance we saw.”

Will glanced at the time. “I should get cooking; Jason should be here soon.”

She wiped away the tears. “Jason…” Won’t he be in even more danger if he comes here?

---

To be continued in Chapter 7.

If you wish to purchase the full novel, it’s on Amazon.

Current ongoing book on Booknet – One Life Stand

Vampire Teacher – Chapter 5

At lunch period the next day, as Jason headed off to eat lunch, someone grabbed the collar of his jacket and dragged him into the janitor’s closet.

“Ah!” Jason yelped as darkness consumed him.

Click. The light flicked on and before Jason could yell, a hand clamped over his mouth.

“It’s just me,” Will said. “Don’t scream, okay?”

Jason nodded.

Will stepped away from him. “Were you serious about wanting to help us?”

“Of course; what can I do?”

“I know you might not like this, but keep an eye on your friend, Roy.”

“Roy? Why? Did he do something? I mean, I know he hits on her any chance he gets, but—”

“This isn’t about his daily attempt at dalliances with my sister. Another letter was dropped off at my house last night.”

“In the middle of the woods?”

“Yes, and as you can imagine, we don’t normally get mail.”

“You think Roy dropped the letter off?”

“I tried to get a scent off the letter, but there was barely one there.”

“You have a super sense of smell?”

Will laughed. “All my senses are heightened and I’m stronger and faster than any human.”

“So are vampires really like how they’re portrayed in the movies?”

“Some things are right.”

“What about—”

“It’s lunchtime; now’s not the time to talk about that. So, will you keep an eye on Roy or not?”

“I will, but I’d like to have time to talk to you about what’s really going on and about vampires in general.”

“Are you trying to trade information for helping us?”

“N-not really… It’s just easier for me to help if I’m in the know, right?”

“Fine, whatever. We’ll need a private place for our meetings and I know just the place, but never go there without me.”

“Why?”

“Because they’d eat young blood like you the moment you walked through the door alone.”

“Oh…” Jason swallowed. “Okay… I get it.”

“It’d be better if you could fight against vampires, and while there are humans who do, it takes years of training to get good… which is time we don’t have.”

“Is something serious going on?”

Will thought for a moment. “I’ll tell you later. For now, go find your friend.”

“Oh, wait,” Jason stopped Will before he could push him out the door. “Are you going to tell me where to go and when? Maybe we should exchange phone numbers so you can text it to me, and so I can contact you if something happens.”

Will sighed. “I don’t like keeping guys phone numbers, but I’ll make an exception this time.” They exchanged numbers and Will left him.

“I gotta find Roy…” Jason rushed off to eat lunch and search for his friend.

“How dare you steal my spot?” Jason inserted himself on the bench in between Samantha and Roy.

“Your spot? I don’t see your name on it,” Roy complained.

“You know I hang out with Miss G here almost daily,” Jason glared at him.

“My, my, I seem like a popular teacher,” Samantha giggled, carefully watching them.

“Of course you are,” the boys said in unison.

“You’re like… the most sought after teacher,” Roy said. “You’re hot, intelligent and great at teaching.” His eyes trailed along her.

“I’m glad you think so, but I think it would be best if you didn’t comment on my looks; it’s inappropriate.”

“But he’s right,” Jason let it slip out. “You’re so awesome and caring…” he held back on saying how beautiful he thought she was, even though he thought it every time he saw her.

She eyed him suspiciously. Does he remember? Will said he was going to take care of Jason if he did remember, but… it feels like he does… “It’s almost time for class. Let’s get going, shall we?” Samantha stood and swayed her hand, waiting for them.

“Let’s,” Roy wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Hands off, Roy,” she removed his arm.

“Aw, come on.”

“Move it, bonehead,” Jason gave him a shove from behind.

Roy stumbled forward. “Is that how it is?”

“No roughhousing,” she warned them before Roy could retaliate.

“Yes, ma’am.”

When they got a break in classwork, Jason turned to Roy. “So, you wanna hang out today?”

“No can do, mon frère; I’ve got a hot date tonight with Emily Richards,” Roy smiled widely as he nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Should you really be hitting on people if you have a date tonight already?”

“What? Oh, are you talking about my flirting with Miss G? Are you sure you’re not interested in her? You normally don’t care who I flirt with unless it’s Maggy.”

“Well… I…” Jason bit the inside of his mouth. “If I said I was, would you back off?”

“So you are? But I know you, Jay, and I know you’re not going to do anything about it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Not only would you never go after someone in her position who has something to lose, but you chicken out when asking a girl out. If it wasn’t for Lily asking you out before, you’d have never had a girlfriend before.”

“I… Tch… But—”

“Are you saying I’m wrong? I mean, you’ll go to parties and hang, maybe make-out with someone, but you don’t pursue anyone.”

“Even more reason for you to back off Miss G, right?”

“So you’re going to go after her then? ‘Cause if you are, then I’ll gladly back off, bro.”

“After I graduate, I will.”

“Na, man, that’s not a good enough reason right now.”

“And again I have to ask, what about Emily?”

“We’re going out, but we’re not in a relationship or anything, so it’s fine.”

“Does she know that?” Jason asked.

“She should.”

“You know what, Miss G won’t have an interest in you anyway—”

“You think you’re in a better standing with her?”

“Yes—”

Samantha stood in front of them with her arms crossed. “Are you two chatty Cathy’s ready for the next assignment?”

They both froze for a moment. “Yes, ma’am.”

After eating supper, Jason got a text from Will. ‘I’ll pick you up soon. Be ready in five minutes.’

“What? Dammit… Mags, I’m going out tonight, okay?” Jason said as he rushed to clean up from supper.

“Uh… Okay. I can do the dishes if you’re in a hurry,” she offered.

“No, no, no; I agreed to do the dishes when you started cooking supper. It’s only fair I clean up the mess.”

“Thanks, Jay,” she smiled and hummed as she wandered off to watch TV. “And don’t stay out too late,” she said as he left.

“He really does know where I live…” Jason muttered as Will pulled into his driveway in a Corvette. “Holy… Nice wheels.”

“Thanks, now get in,” Will nudged his head.

“If you have this car, why do you get your sister to drive you to school?” Jason asked as he sat down, admiring the luxurious inside of the car as well.

“I already attract attention at school; I don’t need more. Besides, I lost one of my cars recently and don’t want to take this baby out much unless I have to.”

“Oh…” Jason frowned, wondering how he lost a car. “I can drive us around if you ever need it.”

“Dually noted.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere private.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? So others won’t hear us talking?”

“By the way, thanks for not outing me to your sister. I’m sure she’d try to hypnotize me again—”

“Let’s wait until we’re there for our chat; I like to drive to either silence or to music.”

“Oh, sorry.” Jason clammed up, slouching into the seat.

They arrived at an exclusive bar downtown. “I don’t think they’ll let me in here,” Jason said as they walked up to the bar entrance with a guard outside.

“He’s with me,” Will said as he walked by the guard.

Jason gave the guard an awkward smile, nodding his head as he followed Will. The bar was filled with sketchy looking people drinking and having fun. Music was playing loudly and there was a dance floor with moving lights. His eyes were drawn to one of the booths where a man was drinking from a woman’s neck.

“Uh, is this—”

“I’ll use my usual room,” Will said to the bartender and went into the back area. He ushered Jason into the room and closed the door. “We’re free to talk here.”

“Here being?”

“You couldn’t tell on the way in? It’s a vampire bar. That’s why I said never to come here alone; you’ll be literally eaten alive.”

“Oh,” Jason swallowed, sinking into the couch.

“Now to start, did you find anything odd with Roy?” Will sat across the table from Jason on another couch.

“Nope; he was the same as always. He hit on your sister, acted like an idiot and has a date tonight.”

“With who?”

“Emily Richards, one of the girls in our class.”

“Tall girl with long, blonde hair?”

“Yup, that’s her.”

“Where are they going?”

“To see a movie and probably grab a bite after. You don’t really think Roy is up to something, do you?” Jason asked.

“Yes, especially with the interest he has in my sister.”

“But he’s been like that since the first time he saw her. Well… maybe not as adamant about it, but he did hit on her the first day they met.”

“Of course he did…” Will sighed. He used the tablet sitting on the table to order a few drinks. “Well, keep an eye on him still; I suspect he’s been hypnotized and will cause trouble soon.”

“Is there some reason you think it’s him? If you couldn’t tell based on the smell on the envelope then—”

“There are only a few people who know where we live.” He pointed at Jason. “And I highly doubt you’re the one who dropped it off.”

“Oh… But you could’ve been followed and anyone could’ve done it.”

“True, but you two are the only ones I’ve ever seen around our house and there aren’t many tracks around. By the way, if you have something of Roy’s I might be able to tell for certain if it was him or not. While there wasn’t much of a scent, there was enough that if I had something to compare it to, I’d be able to tell.”

Jason nodded. “And it’s not like you can just go up and sniff him.”

“Exactly.”

“Not sure I have anything though… Can I start asking questions now?”

“Once I have a drink.”

Knock, knock. Will answered the door and they placed a few drinks on the table.

“Thank you.” They nodded to Will and left.

Will pushed a glass in front of him.

“You got me a drink?” Jason asked, looking at the milky liquid.

“It’s a milkshake,” Will rolled his eyes.

“Oh… Ha ha… Thanks.”

“My sister would ring me out if I got you alcohol,” Will took a swig of his red drink.

“What are you…” Jason trailed off, wondering if it was blood. “Never mind…”

“So, you wanted to ask some questions?”

“A ton of questions, like… aren’t vampires supposed to be allergic to the sun and burst out into flames or something? Or are you two daylighters?”

“We don’t burst out in flames by going into the sunlight – obviously – but we aren’t special vamps or anything. Vampires, in general, do fine in the sunlight, but it’s easier to move around in the darkness of night, so we tend to prefer night time.”

“Oh…” he sipped on his milkshake as he thought about his next question. “You said something about a clan, right? How does that work? Are vampires born?”

“Vampires can be born… well, technically, we’re born human with vampire blood in our system and when we die as humans, we turn into vampires.”

“Wait… so both of you have died? But you’re both…”

“So young? Yes, we are. In our clan, when we reach our peak age or the age we wish to stay forever, we’re killed through a method that isn’t decapitation, staking or ripping the heart out; vampires can survive pretty much everything else… so long as silver isn’t involved.”

“So you picked to be eighteen forever and she’s… twenty-five?”

“We died the same year…” Will took another drink, readjusting himself as he readied himself to talk. “Most vampires choose to be around thirty when they die… Samantha, she didn’t choose that age, she was killed while protecting me.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “W-who killed her?”

“The former leader of the clan… Samantha, she has special blood, which you’ve had first-hand experience with.”

“She healed my sister and me.”

“Most vampires can’t heal with their blood; she is extremely rare. But not only can she heal others, but she can amplify vampiric abilities with it too. That’s why the clan leader wants her.”

“They want her so she can feed him?”

“He’s been her… betrothed for centuries. But yes, they want her for her blood, but it wouldn’t only be him. While he would be her husband…” Will shuddered at the thought, the word like poison on his tongue. “And he would probably be the only one to drink directly from her, he’ll regularly siphon blood from her for the rest of his ‘noble’ group that runs the clan.”

“You guys are vampires; why do they need more power?”

“Because they’ve been fighting the werewolves and losing too many men.”

“Werewolves are real too?!” Jason nearly dropped his drink.     

“Yes, and are the supposed natural enemy of vampires, but I call that malarkey.”

“I guess there must be all sorts of people or creatures around that are real and not just in stories…”

“Indeed.”

“Um, I hope you don’t mind me asking—”

“Quit with the niceties and spit it out.”

“Were you killed too? I mean, eighteen isn’t exactly an age most people would choose to stay at.”

Will swallowed. He knew the question would come up after he explained things, but it still left an odd taste in his mouth. “I killed myself.”

Jason’s jaw hung open. “You… committed suicide? Why?”

“Even at eighteen, I was a weak, fragile boy. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stand the clan using me to get to Samantha anymore, and then after threatening to give me a true death… and they were about to, she jumped in the way and was killed. Thankfully she wasn’t decapitated or anything, but after that, I was determined to find a way to get stronger.”

“And what better way to get stronger, than to become a vampire.”

“Exactly.”

Jason took a deep breath, a bit overwhelmed. “So… the vampire that attacked my sister.”

“He was a useless vampire sent by the clan to stir up trouble. Old enough to turn to dust, but probably a moron overrun by bloodlust.”

“But why my sister? She doesn’t have any classes with Miss Gilbert…”

“Just call her Samantha when it’s the two of us; it’s weird to hear her being referred to like that outside of school. And I don’t know why it was her. It could have been purely coincidental that it was your sister. Or…”

“Or what?”

“You have a tendency of hanging out with her at lunch, right?”

“Well,” Jason laughed, scratching his reddening cheek. “I will admit I’ve seen her sitting on that one bench and joined her on several occasions… Wait… Are you saying my sister was attacked because I hang out with Samantha?”

“It’s possible. Either that or the vamp just attacked her because she was alone… Does she normally end up in the park area beside the parking lot? I mean… you’d have to go out of your way to end up there, wouldn’t you?”

“What are you trying to say? She went over there for a reason?”

“Or she was lured away. With that vampire already dead and your sister hypnotized, there’s no way for us to find out for certain.”

“Mags normally doesn’t take long at the end of school because she knows I’ll be waiting for her. I have no idea why she went over there.”

“Things are getting more… suspicious. Does Mags know Roy?”

“Yeah; he’s been my best friend since kindergarten.”

“So if he asked her to meet him somewhere, she’d go there without much of a fuss?”

“I suppose… Roy wouldn’t hurt Mags though…”

“Not willingly, no, but under hypnosis, it’s quite possible.”

“But you have no real proof, right?” Jason gripped the glass tightly.

“Don’t get angry because I’m suspicious of your friend. You are the only two I’ve seen around my sister outside of the school—”

“I’m not mad because of that… I’m mad because my sister might have been attacked because of me…”

They sat in silence for a few moments. Jason didn’t know what he’d do if it was his fault and his head went dizzy thinking about it.

“Look, if you don’t want to help now, I’d understand. Also means I’ll have to erase all of this,” Will said.

Jason shook his head. “No… Just trying to figure out how to help.”

“We’re on a bit of a time crunch, by the way; the clan sent a letter about offing her students if she doesn’t return, and the Evan will come for her in a week.”

“Evan? Is he the clan leader?” Will nodded. “That is… terrifying. Maybe I should tell Mags to stay at home.”

“Sure, so long as you don’t tell her why. I think I’ve covered most of it; any questions?”

“How can I really help? And how do you kill a vampire?”

“Stab them through the heart,” he tapped his chest. “Or cut their head off.”

“Any other weakness?”

“Silver does burn for some reason… but it’s only bad if it goes straight through you. And there was some herb centuries ago, but I think it’s extinct. I’m sure the witches know a few weaknesses though, but I don’t of any in the area. As for what else you can do… You love my sister, right?”

“L-love? I mean… I like her… in a romantic way. She’s so amazing… and gorgeous and the best—”

“Would you quit rambling and answer the bloody question with either a simple yes or no?”

The conflicted look on Samantha’s face after she killed the vampire ran through Jason’s mind, and then how she helped Maggy and tried to keep him safe. She had always been his favourite teacher; she had been his English teacher for all of high school. She was patient with her students and showed she cared both inside and outside of school – to him at least.

“I’m not… I mean… I might be…”

Will’s eyes narrowed and he grabbed Jason’s collar, dragging him over the table. “Answer the damn question, Jason!”

“I love her! Gah! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Jason shoved his hand away. “Why would you want me to admit that? I’m… no,” Jason covered his face and stifled a yell.

“That’s a good thing.” Will sat down like nothing happened.

“What? I thought you said that I should give up on her? I thought it was a super bad thing and it doesn’t work for vampires and humans?”

“It’s good because it means I can trust you enough to ask you to give her your blood.”

Jason froze. “Um… Do you mean all of it as a sacrifice or…”

Will rolled his eyes. “Of course not, you idiot… Why would I ask you to kill yourself, when you can be a sustainable source of food for her?”

“But I thought she didn’t want to drink blood?”

“And she’s weak because of it!” Will snapped and thumped his fist on the table so hard he cracked it. “If she wasn’t so damn headstrong and hung up on a dead boyfriend, she’d be strong enough to help in fighting back! Heck, if she wasn’t so caring, we could’ve just bailed and found somewhere else to hide, but no, she wants to keep her students safe.”

“And as one of those students, I thank her…”

“Ugh… I’m sorry… it’s just…” Will took a few deep breaths.

“It’s okay… You’re just frustrated and worried about your sister. I understand, trust me…”

“I guess you worry about your sister a lot too, hmm?”

“Oh boy, do I worry. So, do you think she’d drink my blood if I offered it to her?”

“Only if she had no other option. The thing about Samantha is that more than just her blood is special. When she drinks blood, she tends to connect energetically to the person she drank from. It’s probably one of the reasons she hates blood bags.”

“Being connected to some random person?”

“Or a dead one… I don’t have the problem myself – most vampires don’t – so I can’t really say how extreme it gets or how uncomfortable. I think it’s like having extreme empathy…”

“Does that mean she felt what I was feeling after she drank my blood?” Jason asked, his cheeks flushed.

“Probably, but only she knows for certain.”

“If she’s going to drink my blood, then she’ll know that I know about vampires,” Jason winced. “She really didn’t want me involved…”

“Even I’m reluctant to get you involved, but we’re in a bit of a pinch.”

“So, how do we get her to drink it?”

“I could take some of your blood and slowly put it in her drink, but I think she might notice your energy or something along those lines. Gah, this makes me want to force-feed her.”

“I know the feeling…” Jason couldn’t help but think of Mags, and how she used to avoid eating and went around hiding food. When they finally noticed what she was doing, he found himself making sure she was eating and couldn’t help watching her.

“It’s the weekend tomorrow, so the students should be safe… I’ll talk her into drinking again; if it’s you, she might give it a chance.”

“Why would it being me make a difference?”

“She already drank from you once, for some reason.”

“To save my sister from a living nightmare.”

“No offence, but that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to give up decades of drying yourself out.”

“But that is the reason.”

Will took a good look at Jason. His messy brown hair and green eyes. His strong jawline. And the look of both determination and worry strewn on his face. “Maybe you just remind her of him.”

“The dead boyfriend?” Jason’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Are you saying I look like him?”

“Actually, yes; I didn’t notice before, but it’s been so long I’ve nearly forgotten what he looked like…”

“And here I thought I might’ve been special,” Jason mumbled, slouching back on his couch. “I guess she’d buy anyone dessert and save anyone in need…”

“She probably would save anyone, but I would’ve been the one to clean things up,” Will said, having done so in the past. “She knows she’s not strong because of the lack of blood, and we’ve had some issues over the… centuries.”

“Centuries? How old are you two?”

“Are you certain you want to know? It might break the illusion of the hot twenty-five-year-old teacher.”

“Technically, she’s a vampire and doesn’t age… at least body-wise.”

“So you’re not afraid to find out her real age?”

“Not really; I’ve already come to terms with the whole ‘vampire’ thing, so it’s not unexpected that she’s super old. That said, she’s still a woman and it feels wrong to ask for her age.”

“Touché, my young friend. Are you free tomorrow?”

“I haven’t made any plans yet, why?”

“Do you remember where I live?”

“Kinda hard to forget that adventure.”

“Come to my house tomorrow evening for supper; we’ll get her to eat, assuming you’re still willing to feed her.”

Jason laughed. “So long as she doesn’t drain me dry, I’m okay with it… though isn’t that exactly what she’s trying to get away from.”

“Except you’re willing; she isn’t. That and you would only be doing it for her – whom you love – and not giving blood eternally to a horde of greedy, power-hungry vampires.”

“Do you have to keep saying it?”

“Saying what?” Will asked, smirking.

“You know… the ‘L’ word.”

“Love?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Why? If it’s the truth, it shouldn’t matter.”

“But it super embarrassing to fall for your teacher. Damn it, dude, why don’t you understand?”

“It’s my understanding that a lot of students have a crush on Samantha; no one will notice that it’s more.”

“You did!”

“I have hundreds of years of life experience; of course, I noticed. By the way, if you had those feelings before she helped you, she might know already…”

Jason paled, his heart racing. “Oh man, how can I face her? There’s no way I’m coming to your house tomorrow.”

Will’s expression dropped. “I guess you were lying about helping then. Maybe I should leave you tied up outside the school for the vamps to feed on.”

“You… What?” Jason mumbled.

“I was being nice before because of the whole love thing, but my patience is running thin,” Will sighed, tired of his flip-flopping.

“I’ll help, promise, just… I can’t believe she knows.”

“Interesting though; I thought it was the act of saving your sister that made you fall for her past the crush phase.”

Jason frowned, not knowing himself when it happened. He did know he liked her the first time he saw her though.

“So, you’ll come tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Finish your drink and I’ll drop you off at your house.”

“Okay, thanks,” he slurped on his milkshake.

---

---

To be continued in Chapter 6.

If you wish to purchase the full novel, it’s on Amazon.

Current ongoing book on Booknet – One Life Stand

Vampire Teacher – Chapter 4

“Hey,” Will called out to Jason from his seat behind him in class.

Jason jumped and glanced back at him, his heart racing. He knew Samantha was a vampire, so it would make sense if he were as well. “What’s up?”

“Can I borrow your notes for this class so I can catch up?”

“Isn’t the teacher your sister? You could—”

“It’s not quite the same.”

“Yeah, sure I guess.”

“So, why are you switching schools mid-year?” Roy – sitting right next to Jason – turned around to ask.

“I got kicked out of my old school… for a variety of reasons. Took a while, but they finally gave me the boot. My sister wasn’t too happy about me coming here, but it’s the only other high school close by I haven’t been kicked out of.”

Roy inched closer. “Now I’m extra curious. I’ve gotten up to some shenanigans myself, but I have yet to be kicked out of school. Do tell, what have you done?”

During third period English class, Samantha kept an eye on her brother as he chatted up most of the class. How does he always manage to befriend people so easily?

Jason listened to all the conversations between Will and the others, but he kept his main focus on his work. He finished his assignment and handed it to her.

“So… You have a little brother?” Jason glanced back at Will. Feeling his eyes, Will met his gaze and smirked. Jason turned away, his heart racing as it did earlier.

“Yup…” Samantha gazed at Will and sighed.

“Are you okay with this?”

“He’s a brat sometimes, but it’ll be fine,” she smiled at him. “He’s a good little brother.”

“You two are close, aren’t you?”

“Hmm? What makes you think that?”

“I can see it in the way you look at him with such a caring gaze. It’s probably the same expression I have when I look at my little sister. You know, it’s hard being an older sibling sometimes; you end up wanting to protect them like you’re a parent, but you don’t have the same abilities as one…”

Samantha couldn’t help but remember when they were both little. Will was a sickly child and their parents weren’t around much, so she had to take care of him. After their parents died and the clan took interest in her because of her blood, she ended up leaving Will alone all too often. I never got to see him acting like a regular teenager. He may be hundreds of years old, but he seems to fit right in here. Maybe this is good for him…

“Are you okay?” Jason asked, noticing the tinge of sadness in her expression.

“What?” her head perked up. “Oh, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine; don’t worry about it Jason,” she forced a smile.

Jason bit his lip, wishing he could reach out to her.

“Was there something else?”

“Uh, no,” he shook his head and sat back in his seat.

Will glanced at her and gave her a quick, narrowed smile before turning back to the other students.

He was listening, wasn’t he?

Will hunted down Jason after school while he was waiting for his sister. “Hey there, Jason,” Will sauntered up to him.

Jason swallowed, bracing himself. “Hey, Will, what’s up? Waiting for your sister to head home?”

“Yeah; she will always have things to take care of, so I’ll always be waiting. What about you?”

“Waiting for my little sister.”

Will leant against Jason’s Jeep. “Both waiting on women,” he laughed.

“Ha ha… yeah…”

Will focused for a moment, listening to Jason’s heart race and smelling fear on him. “Why are you so nervous?”

“I’m not.”

Will narrowed his eyes. “You remember, don’t you?”

“Remember what?”

“What she is; what we are.”

“Siblings? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jason couldn’t stop himself from taking a step back.

“Yes, you do; you’re too on edge for it to be anything else. You’re certainly not afraid of my stature.” Will stared up at him, his eyes narrowed.

“W-what are you talking about? I’m not on edge.”

Will sighed, Jason’s lie was too obvious. Will eyes glowed and he suddenly grabbed Jason’s face. “She might have been too weak to hypnotize you, but I’m not.”

“No!” Jason tried to push him away, but no matter how much power he put behind it, he couldn’t make Will budge. “Please don’t do this.”

“What good will come from you knowing the truth about us?”

“I-I’m on your side.”

“What good do you think a human is to us?”

“Uh… Food? Eyes and ears? A comrade?”

“I can get us food anytime I want. And you fail to compare to our eyes and ears.”

“But I’m an extra set.”

“Why are you so adamant about this? You’re better off not knowing anything about our world,” Will’s narrowed eyes searched Jason’s, staring straight into his soul.

Samantha came around the corner, heading in their direction as she searched through her purse for her car keys. Jason’s eyes drew straight to her.

Will followed his line of sight and scoffed, “You’re in love with my sister?”

“W-what? No… she’s my teacher…” Jason trailed off, wondering if he was right.

“Sure… that’s all it is. You better give up on her, boy—”

“I’m eighteen and graduating this semester; I’m not a boy.”

“Human-vampire relationships never work out in the long run, so save yourself the heartbreak and give up on her.” Will released him, glancing over at his sister.

“You’re not going to erase my memory?”

“I still haven’t decided what to do with you. One question though, you haven’t told anyone, have you? Like Roy.”

“Ha, no way; I haven’t told anyone. Even if I thought someone would believe me, I have no reason to expose you two; she saved my sister.”

Considering she got attacked because she goes to Samantha’s school, Will wasn’t sure how Jason would react if he knew the truth.

Jason swallowed. “So… Does she know it didn’t work on me?”

“She has her suspicions, but I wasn’t sure until just now, so no, she doesn’t know.”

“Are you doing to tell her?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Will turned to leave. “Knowing comes with its own dangers, so be careful.”

Jason sighed, leaning back against his car. When Samantha’s car drove by him, he couldn’t stop wondering why he was so adamant about remembering? He held his hand over his heart. Samantha’s worried face flitted through his mind.

“Jay?” Maggy called out to him again and poked him in the side.

“Ah, um, I mean… Hey, Mags…”

“What were you staring at?”

“Nothing; I just zoned out. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah, sure…” Maggy looked around the parking lot before hopping in.

Samantha and Will sat down together on their couch in the living room. “So what did you find out?” Samantha asked, pulling out a bottle of bourbon.

“Wow, the hard stuff? Are you having a bad day?” Will asked.

She glared at him. “I’m stuck, that’s what.”

“I don’t think Roy knows anything yet. It seems those boys followed us because of an interest in your personal life and if we were dating in secret.”

“But if they followed us to our secluded house, they’ll have questions…”

“Don’t worry about that; I can deal with their mundane questions.” Will poured himself a glass. “I’ll tell you this though, they were happy to find out I was your brother.”

“Oh?” She took another sip.

“Yes, they were afraid the spot of your lover was taken.”

“Pleh,” she spat out part of her drink and coughed.

“What shall I do with my sister, winning the hearts of all her precious students? I wonder how many of them are in love with you and are swooning like complete idiots. You’re such a heart-breaker Sammy.”

“They may be infatuated, but none of them have any reason to be in love with me. And I make it clear nothing will happen when students do try to ask me out.”

“Are you certain?” Will smirked. “I’m not telling you to go for a student – although it could be fun – but I wouldn’t write off all their feelings for you as simple infatuation.”

“Ugh, you know something, don’t you?”

“Maybe.”

She thought about her students for a moment. Jason… It’s you he’s referring to, isn’t it?

Will’s face lit up. “Oh-ho-ho, what was the look just now? I haven’t seen that in years…”

“What look? I wasn’t making any particular expression.”

“Oh yes, you were. Damn, I’m so torn between stopping anything from happening and egging it on. What is a little, nosey brother to do?”

“Shut up,” she smacked him with a pillow.

“Watch it, almost split my drink and you know I hate to waste good booze.”

“Quit screwing with me.”

Ding-dong.

They both froze and then looked at the door. In their years there, no one had ever rung the doorbell.

“Think it’s one of the boys?” Samantha asked.

Will stood from the couch, setting his drink down on the coffee table. “Let me check,” he waved her back.

“Would you quit trying to protect me?”

“They’re after you, not me; you’re the one that needs protecting now.”

When will he finally get past this? It’s not his fault he was a sickly child and I had to protect him.

“Don’t—”

“Don’t what?” he snapped at her. “Don’t protect my sister who refuses to feed herself properly to keep her strength up? I know you’re my older sister, but I think it’s time you let me be the man of the family and protect you!”

Samantha stepped back. “Fine, you first.”

“Thank you.” With a huff, he approached the front door and looked through the peephole. “There’s no one there.” Checking to make sure she was a few steps back, he opened the door. His head swivelled around, searching outside. “There’s no one here… There’s no way someone came all the way out here to prank us by ringing the doorbell.” He sniffed the air. “Someone was here, but their scent is super light; I can’t tell who it was.”

“Will, look on the ground in front of your feet.”

“Hmm?” A letter was laying on the ground in front of him. He picked up the letter and glanced at the name. “It’s for you…”

She reached for it and he held it away from her.

“Hold on a second,” Will sniffed the envelope. “There’s a familiar scent, but again, it’s barely there. They must’ve had gloves on or something.”

“Will, it’s addressed to me; hand it over.” She reached for it again and he held his hand out, keeping her away.

With a final look around for whoever dropped off the letter, Will closed the door. She reached for the envelope while he was looking away and he held it out of reach again. “Chill, sis; let’s both read it.” He opened the letter and after reading it he wordlessly handed it off.

Hello, my love.

            You have a week to come back to me. I’ll start killing your precious students until I’m free to come for you myself. Their lives are in your hands, Sam. I promise I’ll see you soon.

Evan

Samantha crumpled the letter, ready to rip it to shreds.

“Wait, maybe I can get the werewolf girl to sniff the person out; their noses are better for it.”

“Why would she help you?” she tossed the letter at him.

“Because I don’t think she’s with the clan wiping out ours. On that note, I’m not sure she knows she’s a werewolf yet… She definitely has the gene though.”

“But if she smells like a werewolf, shouldn’t she be one already?”

“Normally, yes, but the scent was on the light side which is probably why you never noticed her.”

“Well, as long as vampires and werewolves aren’t natural enemies like they always told us, you’ll probably be able to sway her with that charm of yours.” Samantha turned away from Will and took a deep breath. I only have a week. Her hands shook. Evan had killed numerous people while pursuing her in the past; she had no doubt he’d kill children as well. “Maybe I should just…” End it all. At least we wouldn’t have to run anymore and the kids would be safe. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

Arms wrapped around her from behind, shaking. “Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t. I’ll get rid of the vampires in the school if they’re after us… and then I’ll find a way to get rid of Evan. With Evan gone, the clan will leave us alone.”

“Will… I wasn’t—”

“Don’t lie.” His hug tightened. “I sensed it, you know? This sudden dread came over me and it felt like you went really far away… out of my reach,” Will’s voice shook. “Don’t run away… Don’t leave me all alone here.”

Samantha chuckled. “You’re not alone; you’re always boasting about your friends.”

“They’re not family; they’re not you, Sammy.”

“I’ve already lived a long life; many times longer than a human’s—”

“It’s still not long enough, especially when you consider how much of that time was either spent in captivity or on the run.”

“It’s a bit much to call living with the clan captivity.”

“It was though… You were allowed around the grounds, but no further and you had to give him blood… regularly. And don’t think I don’t know about the other things he did to you. He called you ‘his woman’ and I know what that means… They kept tabs on you constantly and tried to use me to get to you. I was a hindrance to you then when we were human… and when they captured us that one time, but I won’t be anymore. I’ll make sure everything’s okay, so please… stay with me.”

“Will…How can you expect me to risk my students?”

“How can you expect me to let my own sister kill herself?!” he yelled, struggling to hold back. “We may have been alive for a long time, but we’ve never truly gotten to live. I think it’s finally time we free ourselves.”

“Can you guarantee none of the students will end up dead?”

“Of course not; there’s bound to be casualties with Evan in the situation. I’ll try my best to catch the vamps he sent here, but… that’s all I can say. Besides, do you really think killing yourself will solve this?”

“If I’m not here, they’ll have no reason to kill them, so yes.”

“He might kill all of them just to spite you.”

Her body stiffened. “He… wouldn’t…” Samantha swallowed.

“I never wanted to tell you this, but the last time they caught us… he slaughtered the family that hid us along with anyone he found that we came in contact with.”

“W-what?! If he already had me, why would he do that?”

“Do I really have to explain to you how much of a spiteful bastard he is? And if you’re gone, he’ll have no reason to leave me alive…”

“Will…” She slumped against him, losing all power in her body.

“And then he’ll probably be off to look for the next vampire with special blood to turn into his personal blood bag. See, killing yourself isn’t the answer; it’s just the easy way out for you while condemning who knows how many people.”

Samantha shrugged, still not holding herself up.

“Promise me you’ll keep fighting. Promise me you won’t kill yourself.”

She bit her lip, staring at the space in front of her in a daze.

“Promise me!” his voice hitched. He leaned his forehead on the back of her head. “Please… I’m begging you…”

She nodded.

“Say it; I need to hear you say it.”

“I promise,” she mumbled.

“You better keep that promise or I’ll find a way to bring you back using dark magic, and you know that’s not something we should dabble in.”

“We’re vampires; aren’t we already infused with dark magic or something?”

“I suppose… But you know I meant a different kind of necromancy.” Will took a deep breath. “You’d probably come back without your soul or something.”

“Are you going to let me go yet?” She released him from her weight, standing on her own now.

“One second,” he took another deep breath, trying to calm himself before he’d let her see him.

“Come on, Will, I’ve seen you at your worst; I won’t judge you if you’re crying right now.”

“I’m not crying,” he snapped, letting her go.

She turned around and hugged him. His arms wrapped around her again.

“I thought you wanted out of my grasp…” Will frowned.

“I couldn’t give you a hug while facing away from you,” she laughed and let him go.

“Oh…”

“So, what’s the plan?” Assuming we have one.

“For now, let me deal with it.”

“You expect me to sit on my butt, twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing? No way.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the one that needs protecting. Besides, you’re busy as a teacher anyway… Just make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings. And once I’m certain I’ve identified the enemy vamps, I’ll let you know who they are or take them out if I see the chance. And since this letter is here, it’s likely they’ll attack someone soon, but they’re not stupid; it’ll be someone secluded.” Will thought for a moment and he shook his head.

“What is it?”

“There is one thing you could do, but I doubt you’ll do it.”

“Well? What is it?”

“Drink human blood.” Samantha shook her head. “See,” Will sighed. “I knew you wouldn’t like it, but it would help if you were eating properly to keep your strength up. You got a little boost from Jason, but that wasn’t enough, and whatever boost you got from it won’t last too long. I keep blood bags in the other fridge… Feel free to feed yourself.”

“I’ll… think about it.”

“I mean, I know it’s not as good as the fresh stuff, but it’s better than animal blood – which tastes disgusting – and gives you way more strength than regular human food.”

“I said I’d think about it,” she snapped at him.

He flinched back. “Look, I know you had a rough time after—”

“Will, stop talking.”

“You don’t even want to talk about him? Feels like his name is taboo or something even though it’s been decades.”

It pretty much is… “I’m going to bed…” Samantha walked away feeling Will’s eyes still on her.

“It’s been decades, Sam; you need to get over him,” he mumbled, unsure if she was still listening. He rubbed his forehead. “Gah, time to come up with a real plan…”

---

To be continued in Chapter 5.

If you wish to purchase the full novel, it’s on Amazon.

Current ongoing book on Booknet – One Life Stand

Vampire Teacher – Chapter 3

Samantha sighed as she sat on the couch in their living room. “So, what did you find?” she asked her brother again, finally safe at home.

“Wine?” Will offered her a glass and she raised an eyebrow. He knew she rarely drank alcohol. “You might need it.”

“Okay…” she accepted the glass and took a small sip as he sat beside her.

He chugged down his glass and poured another.

“It’s that bad?”

Will struggled to explain. “Well… They found us.”

“What?! That can’t be… Wouldn’t they have come after us already if they knew where we were?”

“Considering the number of times we’ve run away from them, they’re trying to change their tactics.”

Her stomach dropped, her body tensing up. She took another sip, but couldn’t even taste the wine. “What kind of tactics?”

“My go-to guy had a letter waiting for me,” Will pulled an envelope out of his jacket and handed it to her.

‘We see you’ve set up yourself a cozy little life as a teacher in this town, but you belong to us, to me. The family needs you; the clan needs you. Our numbers have dwindled due to the werewolves and the only way to gain the power we need is with you. Come back home.

If you try to run again, we’ll be forced to take it out on your precious students.

Evan

Along with the letter was a picture of her on the bench at school with Roy and Jason.

A chill ran down her spine and she bit her lip. I’m putting my students in danger…

Will heard a noise and glanced outside. In the distance, he saw a Jeep sitting at the forest entrance. He took a deep breath of air and caught a familiar scent; one he recently smelled on his sister. He approached the window, taking a sip of his wine and watched as two boys scrambled away from their house. “It seems we were followed.”

Samantha shot to her feet. “What?! By who?” She stood beside him to look out the window, but nothing and no one was there.

“They already took off.”

“Did you recognize them?” Samantha asked.

“If I had to guess, I’d say your students. You even smelled like one of them recently…” he trailed off and looked at the picture in her hand. “Actually, I know I didn’t see them well, but I think it was them,” he pointed at the picture.

“Jason and Roy? Why would they follow me?” She clenched her fists, crushing the letter and picture.

“Jason’s the one whose sister was attacked, right? The one you drank from?”

“Yeah…”

“But you erased his memory, right?”

“Of course I did. I couldn’t leave him knowing what I am.”

Will sighed and took another sip of wine as he thought. “What about the other one?”

“Roy? He’s a big flirt; flirts with all the girls from what I can tell. He seemed to have an… interest in me, but I tried to make it clear I don’t date my students.”

“Your students are hitting on you?”

She rolled her eyes. “It happens every year.”

Will laughed. “If only they knew your true age.”

“I’m a vampire and forever twenty-five; if I looked my age I’d be a bag of bones.”

“True for both of us. Do you think they followed you because of me?”

Samantha face-palmed. “Of course, they wanted to know who you were. All I have to do is explain you’re my brother and it should be fine.”

“That won’t explain why we live in the middle of nowhere in a big-ass mansion. Besides, I think they’re the least of our worries. Well… Them following us is, but they might be targets themselves.”

“Even if I quit, they’ll still go after them, won’t they?” Samantha bit her lip.

“Stop that,” he pinched her cheek. “You made yourself bleed.”

“Ow, -top it,” she tried to tell him to stop and he released her cheek. She wiped the blood off on the back of her hand.

“They’ve made it clear they’ll go after your students if you run again. The question is: do you care enough about them for that to matter?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then are you going to go back to the clan?”

Samantha’s face contorted. “I can’t go back… They’ll turn me into a blood bag.”

“I don’t think—”

“Don’t you get it? It won’t be just Evan drinking my blood to get stronger; he’ll share me with the rest of his men until they’re all super-powered. He’s too pissed from the last time I ran away to be sensible.”

“You’re probably right… If only we knew another vampire with special blood like yours; we could toss them his way and he’d give up.”

“You’d sacrifice some poor other vampire for me?”

Will laughed. “Of course I would, and who’s to say they wouldn’t welcome it? For all we know, they’re looking for somewhere to belong. And while you’re right about being turned into a blood bag, they’ll buy them anything they want. The clan is so full of old money; they’d be rolling in dough.”

“You’re assuming they need money. And besides, we don’t even know if there are any others with special blood alive right now.”

They sat back on the couch. “What does that leave us to do?” Will asked. “Try and keep the students safe? I mean, if it was just those two boys we might be able to manage it, but they’re likely to go after any of them. I mean, it was the boy’s sister that got attacked first, right?”

“Yup…” I don’t see any way for this to end well for us.

“I’m sure I could get us some help, but not enough to protect a few hundred students. This is starting to make my brain hurt… Let’s put that on hold for now. What do we do about the stalker boys? Is it possible they know what you are?”

“Roy never knew and I hypnotized Jason to forget it.”

“Are you certain it worked?”

“Why wouldn’t it? It worked on his sister,” Samantha huffed.

“Come on, Sammy, you know as well as I do that it’s harder to hypnotize some people, especially if they’re against it or have a strong will.”

“Honestly, if it didn’t work, I don’t think he’d have Roy with him.”

Will smiled at her. “I guess you have some trust in this Jason fellow. Tell you what, I’ll enroll in your school and befriend them so I can keep them safe. At the moment, they’re the targets, but who knows how long until they just choose someone else. We have to figure out a real game plan. And no going back to the clan on your own,” he pointed a stern finger at her. “We’re in this together as we always have been, big sis.” He held his fist out and she bumped it with her own.

“Right, in it together…”

“Together forever,” he hummed and stood. “Time for me to make a few calls. I’m going to be a student again,” he laughed, heading out of the room.

“Thanks for the joy ride and dropping me off,” Roy waved and headed to his house.

“I should never have listened to him,” Jason sighed and headed for home a few minutes away. “Hey Mags,” he called out to her the moment he entered his house.

“What took you so long?” she pointed a big wooden spoon at him, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

“I guess you’re feeling better,” he gave her a soft smile, tension releasing from his shoulders.

“That’s not an answer, mister.”

“Roy—”

She rolled her eyes at his name and walked back to stir the pot. He dropped his bag by the couch and went into the kitchen. “So really, you’re feeling okay?” Jason asked.

“I feel fine; better than ever actually. I’ll be back in school tomorrow, so don’t worry.”

He picked her up in a big bear hug.

“Ah, what are you doing, Jay? Put me down,” she squealed, trying to keep the spoon over the pot to avoid making a mess.

“Just glad you’re really okay.” The feel of her limp in his arms replayed through his mind. If it wasn’t for Miss. Gilbert, she probably wouldn’t be here at all.

She stiffened. “You’re still overprotective because of what happened—”

“I should’ve noticed what was going on sooner; I’ll never make that mistake again. Besides, I’m your big brother; I’m allowed to be overprotective.”

“Look, I promise I’m eating properly. I don’t know why I was feeling unwell last night and this morning, but I’m fine now.”

He set her down with a huff. “You know, you used to like my bear hugs when we were little.”

“Ah… I mean… I didn’t say I disliked them, but I’m busy cooking us dinner right now, so it’s not the time. This is almost done.”

“Alright… Thanks for always cooking; I know it can be hard sometimes.” He kissed the top of her head.

She glanced back at him and smiled. “Thanks for looking out for me all the time.”

He puffed out his chest and patted it. “What else are big brothers here for?”

The next day, Samantha drove to school with Will. “Are you sure about this?” she asked, parking the car in her usual spot.

He glanced at the school and students hanging around outside. He eyed a few of the females talking in a group. “Could be fun to be back in school again…” Will said.

“Please don’t eat any of the students.”

“What if they’re one with a vampire fetish and want to be bitten?”

“Will…”

“What? You know the young blood tastes different, and it’s been a while, so let me have a treat—”

“Aren’t you here to stop vampires from eating them?”

“To stop evil vamps, sure, but I’m not evil,” he smiled at her. “I don’t kill and I don’t turn anyone; I’m a good vampire,” he hummed.

“Ugh,” she rubbed her face. “I’d much rather you stick to your regulars…”

“Aw, that was the one thing I was looking forward to coming here for…” Will grumbled and got out of the car with his bag.

Samantha got out and turned to him. “Sorry… but I think it’s important to focus on their safety at the moment, not your hunger.”

“You should know from experience, well-fed vampires are amply stronger than the starved ones such as yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah…” she sighed. “So, what’s your schedule like? What do you have for first class? I can help you find it.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m going to find someone else to help me, if you catch my drift.”

“Will, I always ‘catch your drift’.”

“See ya later.”

“Yeah, see you…” Samantha sighed as she watched him approach a group of girls. “We have to find a way to save them.”

“Dude, look,” Roy nudged Jason and pointed over at Miss Gilbert. “It’s that boy again.” Will was sitting beside her in her car. “They came here together… Do you think it means they’re…” Roy wiggled his eyebrows.

“No way,” Jason sighed and shoved him along. “Quit worrying about her and the boy and get to class.”

“Quit acting like you’re not curious too,” Roy stuck his tongue out at him.

“If you’re that curious about him, ask her; don’t ask me to stalk her again,” Jason shuddered, thinking about their trip to the house in the woods.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. I like the direct approach.”

“Coulda fooled me,” Jason mumbled. With one final glance over at them, they headed for their first-period class.

Samantha sat on her usual bench at lunch, the hunger settling in as she stared at the people passing by on the street ahead. I didn’t bring a lunch…

A grocery bag appeared in front of her. Her eyes trailed along until Will’s face came into view. “Hey there, I forgot to make us lunch today, so I grabbed some from a place nearby.”

“Thanks,” she took the bag and set it on her lap. Will snagged the top box and started eating right away.

“You know, I thought you didn’t like human food much.”

“That’s not true at all. I enjoy these meals, it’s just they don’t satiate the hunger. I guess you’d know all about it though.”

“Well… It helps a little bit.”

“A minuscule amount,” Will said as he stuffed his face with chicken strips. “For me anyway; you’ve been doing this for so many decades, so it helps you more.”

Barely… Sometimes I wonder if it’s all a mind over matter issue and I could control it completely with normal human food if I really wanted to.

Will suddenly stopped eating and took a deep breath. “In case your dulled senses can’t tell, those same boys are watching us again.”

Samantha froze with a French fry headed for her open mouth. Jason and Roy?

“Should I go befriend them now and find out the truth?”

“You were serious about that?”

“Of course,” Will laughed. “I should probably also tell you I sniffed out a few people who don’t belong in this school.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” she asked.

“I haven’t been able to pinpoint them, but there are a couple of other vamps at the school,” Will whispered. He glanced over at Jason and Roy and they retreated back towards the school, freaking out because they were spotted.

“What are you looking at?”

“Those boys.”

“Have they said anything?”

“I heard them wondering who I was, and I scared them just now.”

She sighed and glanced over where they were. They’re going to cause trouble even without the vampires after me.

“Anyway, there’s also a werewolf at the school,” Will said.

Her eyes widened and she set her convenience store lunch aside. “How in the world have I not noticed them? And don’t say it’s my diet; I should’ve been able to tell.”

Will shrugged. “You got used to the peace. And if things are peaceful, you don’t have to pay attention to every little thing. The vamps and wolves here might genuinely be here to go to school and learn like normal people.”

“You think so?”

“Probably happens way more often than either of us would think. That said, there’s still a chance they’re with the clan and have been staking you out.”

“One of them could’ve made the new vampire to send after the students.” Samantha grabbed her head with both hands. “Will, what do I do?”

He hated seeing her like this, but they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. “I’ll have to investigate them too, I suppose…”

“Um, don’t you think I should be doing some of it? I can’t rely on you for everything.”

“It’s harder for a teacher to integrate themselves into their students’ lives than another student. It’s almost time for class,” Will dumped his box in the trash. “Let’s go, teach.”

“Why does it sound like…”

“I’m in your class? Because I am; didn’t you get the memo?” he smiled.

Her face paled. “You’re going to be my student?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he laughed. “Now, lead the way.” He swayed his hand.

“Ugh, please don’t torture me by being a troll.”

“I’ll try not to, but I can’t promise since I don’t know how long I’ll have to be here and you know how much I enjoy poking at you like the little brother I am.”

They made their way to class and she found a note on her desk about Will joining the class. “Alright everyone, settle down. I’d like you all to welcome a new addition to the class this is Will… Gilbert…” she read his name off the slip. He went with his real name?! And after the grief he gave me…

The class instantly noticed his last name and started questioning their relationship.

“Why yes, Miss Gilbert is my elder sister,” Will said, smiling at them.

“Will, find a seat so I can start class.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He sat in the empty desk behind Jason.

Samantha shuddered at Will calling her ma’am. “Quiet down, class; you can bother him after you get your work done.” She moved on to starting the lesson.

---

To be continued in Chapter 4.

If you wish to purchase the full novel, it’s on Amazon.

Current ongoing book on Booknet – One Life Stand

Vampire Teacher – Chapter 2

Samantha drove up to her mansion off in the middle of a crowded forest. She slammed her car door shut and sat on the hood, staring up at the darkening sky.

“You’re back late; what were you up to?” her younger brother, Will was waiting at the entrance for her.

“There was some trouble, but I dealt with it,” she sighed and walked past him.

Will sniffed the air. “Why do I smell blood?” He closed in on her. “Have you finally caved and had a drink from someone new?” he smiled, hoping for the best.

“It was necessary, that’s all. A vampire attacked one of the students at my school. I was able to dispose of the low-level vamp easily, but I didn’t have enough power to hypnotize them.”

“Oh-oh-oh… Considering you used to be one of the strongest around, that’s surprising. I guess it has been too long since you fed on real food.”

“As long as nothing else pops up, I won’t have to again.”

“I don’t know why you starve yourself like this. You know you don’t have to eat straight from the humans these days; I could get you a steady supply of blood bags to drink.”

She rubbed her face, groaning. “I’ll pass; humans need those bags too, you know?”

“There’s no winning with you, is there? Anyway, just say the word and I’ll get some for you. I can even get you a willing human with ease.”

“Thanks, Will, but I’ll be fine.” She started to walk upstairs towards her room.

“What if it wasn’t a one-time occurrence? What if they’ve found us again?”

She turned to face him, following her up the stairs. “It’s been decades; do you really think they’re still trying to find us?”

“I don’t think they’ll ever stop.”

She bit her lip. “If that’s the case, I guess we’ll have to find somewhere new to live again.”

Will grumbled. “I’ve kinda grown attached to this house… Maybe you should switch schools at least and start over. Use a different name this time. I know they probably don’t look for your real name these days, but it was reckless to revert to using it.”

“It’s hard to change it every time; takes a while to get used to a new name and I end up not responding to people. It’s easier this way and I didn’t expect them to look for my real name.”

“Then quit being a teacher. We have more than enough money without your piddly wages, and I can make a ton gambling if needed,” Will smiled as she glared at him. “I don’t even have to hypnotize people to win there; I’m just that good.”

“I love teaching and we’ve finally settled into this town; I don’t want to hide in this mansion with nothing to do.”

“There’s plenty to do in town without teaching; it has an active nightlife.”

“I like the daytime and I love teaching.” Her students’ faces flashed through her mind. “I don’t want to leave in the middle of a school year anyway…”

“Okay, okay,” he held his hands up. “Please, don’t cry; you know I can’t handle tears.”

She rubbed her eyes. “I’m not crying.”

“For now, I’ll try and find out if this is a one-time incident or if something’s going down,” he pulled the hood of his hoodie up. “See you later.” He waved and headed off.

“Bye, Will.” She dropped her bag beside her bed and flopped back on it, letting out a groan. “What should I do?” she grabbed one of the extra pillows and hugged it. The picture of her deceased boyfriend on the nightstand caught her eye. “Nero… What should I do?” A tear escaped, streaming down her face as she passed out.

The next day at school, Samantha arrived early to do a check of the perimeter for anything weird or supernatural. She ended up back where Maggy was attacked the day before, the scent of blood still lingered in the air.

What was Maggy doing over here? According to Jason, he waits for her in the parking lot every day, but you don’t pass through here to get there if you’re coming from school. If the vampire carried her here, we would’ve heard her scream earlier. Based on his age, I doubt they knew each other, so what was she doing over here? Did he lure her out? That must be it…

She noticed scratch marks on the tree right beside where Maggy was attacked.

Too deep to be from Maggy, but not too deep; it was probably the vampire and not something even worse to deal with.

The bell for school rang and she jumped.

Dammit; I’ve been out here too long. Samantha rushed to get to class.

“Sorry I’m late, guys,” she sighed, setting her bag down as she turned to her first-period class.

I forgot to bring lunch with me… At least I’m not that hungry today; his blood is still in my system. Over the years, the amount of blood she required to stave off the hunger decreased dramatically, but if she had a bit of blood after a long time, she’d end up craving it more. Samantha wandered around outside the school checking for vampires again. She heard footsteps coming towards her and a delicious scent tickled her nose. Jason? What’s he doing here?

“Hey, Miss G, what are you up to?” Jason approached her in the parking lot.

“Hey… Nothing for a student to worry about. Shouldn’t you be eating lunch right now?”

“Shouldn’t you? I normally find you on that bench, but you weren’t there.”

She turned to him, her arms crossed. “And what if I said I already ate?”

“Funny, so did I.”

“But what are you doing here in the parking lot? Did you go somewhere for lunch?”

“Nope; I had lunch in the cafeteria since my sister was too tired to make me something to take.”

I hope she’s not out of commission for too long. Samantha gritted her teeth, wishing they found before she was attacked. “Is that so? Well, I hope she’s feeling better soon, but you still haven’t answered me. Why are you here?” There’s no way he remembers, right? Samantha eyed him.

“I like going for a walk after I eat lunch. That’s how I always end up running into you at that bench and sometimes you share your food. Thanks again for that. Any chance you have food to spare today too?”

The tension released in her shoulders. He just likes going for walks… “No, sorry. If you want, I can get you some dessert today too though.”

“Really?” he almost salivated at the thought. “I’d love that. For some reason, I’m super hungry today.”

“Okay then, how about you come with me to the dessert cart this time and choose what you want?” I wouldn’t mind something sweet right now anyway.

Jason nodded. “Sure, that sounds great. Thanks, Miss G. Lead the way.”

She walked past him, her eyes scanning the parking lot as she went. Jason glanced at the spot Maggy was attacked between the trees before following her.

They stood in front of the cart. Jason leaned in close, his eyes trailing from one dessert to the next.

“I’ll take a piece of vanilla cake, Jason, choose whatever you’d like.” She rummaged around her bag as he pointed at three different desserts. He was about to point out a fourth when she grabbed his hand and pulled it down. “I think three desserts should be enough; any more and you’ll end up in a sugar coma in class.”

Jason laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. Probably should’ve only picked one, but they all look delicious.”

Samantha paid for their desserts and they wandered back over to the same bench from yesterday.

“Are you two meeting up like this on purpose? I always seem to find you here,” Roy popped up beside them, eyeing Jason’s plate. “I’ll take that!” he picked up a square piece of cake with his bare hands and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth, getting icing on his upper lip.

“Hey, that was mine!” Jason complained.

“And let you have all the dessert Miss G buys? No way; you need to learn to share.” Roy licked his lips and fingers.

“And you need to learn to ask first.”

“Just take the other half of mine and quit bickering,” she handed Roy her plate.

“Thanks, Miss G,” he gobbled down the rest of her dessert.

“So, seriously, what’s going on here?” Roy eyed both of them and inserted himself between them, his arm hanging on the top of the bench behind her.

“Roy, nothing’s going on here,” she moved his arm so it wasn’t behind her. “And I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m your teacher and you should treat me as such. I don’t date students, but I am here if you need help or food,” she motioned to the plate.

“You’re here to help us?” Roy nodded, lost in thought. “Interesting…”

“Dude, lay off,” Jason warned him.

Samantha stood. “I’ll see you in class, students.” She walked away shaking off the delicious scent Jason was giving off. So much for not being hungry.

“Wow,” Roy had been watching her walk away when he noticed, so was Jason. “Well, well, seems you are still attracted to our teacher after all.”

“We’ve both established she’s hot, but I’m not you; I wouldn’t chase someone out of my league or that would lose their job if they dated me.”

“Sure, you say that now, but that look in your eyes say ‘I want her’.”

“I bet she’s tired of dealing with all the students that aim to get her…” Jason sighed. If she was a vampire – and a good one at that – then how long could she have been a teacher? How much has she had to put up with throughout the years?

Samantha spent the rest of the day in a daze, wondering if her brother had found anything out yet. She walked up to her car after school.

“Sammy!” Arms wrapped around her from behind.

“Ah,” she yelped in surprise.

“Geez, you didn’t notice my presence at all, did you?” he released her.

“Will,” she turned to him. “What are you doing here? And don’t hug me at school. In case you’ve forgotten, you look like a teenager and people will think I have a relationship with a student.”

“Interesting…” Will stroked his chin.

“Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t.”

“But what if I have the sudden urge to hug my big sister?” he smirked.

Her mouth hung open. “You want to get me fired?”

“Someday, maybe. I’ll tell them you touched me,” he hugged himself.

“Ew, you little perv.” Samantha pulled him into a headlock and gave him a noogie. “Quit screwing with me and never say that to anyone.”

“Ah, I give.” She pulled away. “And you messed up my hair,” he complained, fixing it using her car mirror until it was perfectly in place.

“If you don’t want a noogie, you shouldn’t mess with me. Anyways, what are you doing here?”

“I was on my way home and happened to be nearby. I figured you’d be out of school soon, so I stopped by to hitch a ride.”

“You didn’t take your car last night?”

“I did take one of them… and I sorta lost it.”

“What? How?”

Will coughed, clearing his throat as he averted his gaze. “Let’s just say it was exchanged for information and leave it at that.”

“I’m guessing it wasn’t one of your favourites if you were willing to bet with it.”

“Of course not.”

“Wait, does that mean you walked here? All of your informants are way in the middle of downtown, right?”

“I took a bus part of the way, felt sick and walked the rest of the way here.”

“Never could stomach riding a bus, could you?” Samantha shook her head and unlocked her car.

“Been a while since we rode together,” Will said as he hopped in the passenger’s side.

“Buckle up.”

“Seriously? We’re vampires; why would you worry about something like that?”

“I could get in trouble for you not using it, and even vampires feel pain if you end up going through the windshield.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Will grumbled as he clicked his buckle in. “There, happy?”

“Yup,” Samantha hummed, smiling as she took off.

“Did you see what I saw?” Roy asked Jason as they stared at Miss G’s car driving away. “He totally hugged her.”

“But didn’t you see the way she reacted to it?” Jason asked as they headed to his car.

“The noogie? That’s just them playing. They’re seriously close and that’s why she’s not interested in me. I bet you they’re together. I wonder what class he’s in; I don’t recognize him.”

“Are you sure he was a high school student?”

“With a face like that, I’d say so. Hurry up and get in the car before they get away,” Roy rushed Jason in.

“You want me to follow them?”

“Yes, now hurry! I can still see their car, but they could turn away at any moment.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“If you don’t drive now, I’ll date your sister.”

“As if.”

Roy narrowed his eyes. “I may not have won over Miss G yet, but Maggy—”

Jason glared at him. “Don’t you dare go after my sister.”

“Drive and I’ll leave her be.”

“Friggin’ hell,” Jason cursed under his breath as he started to follow them.

They followed her out of town, with long stretches of forest crawling along the edge of the road, and the two boys exchanged a confused glance.

“Think she lives out in the middle of nowhere or they’re finding a hotel out of town to be together at?” Roy asked, his imagination running wild.

“It would take a while to get to another real town from here. There’s next to nothing around for miles in this direction.”

As the traffic thinned out, Jason let the distance between their vehicles grow.

“I’m not sure I should keep going… Haven’t we followed them for long enough?” Jason asked.

“How is it far enough if she hasn’t stopped anywhere yet?”

“Where’d she go?” Jason noticed there were no cars in front of him on the road.

“Did we pass her?”

“How would we have passed her? And there haven’t been any turns in a while.”

Roy thought for a moment. “At least none that lead onto paved roads.”

Jason pulled over to the side and stopped. “Now what? I’d rather go home and check on my sister; make sure she ate something today than to stalk our teacher.”

“Psh, it’s not stalking,” Roy laughed.

“Uh, it kinda is. We followed her without her knowing.”

“Turn around and I’ll keep a lookout this time,” Roy waved his hand, trying to get Jason to move.

“Whatever, but if you don’t see anywhere she could’ve gone, I’m heading home.”

“Okay… You’ll drop me off first, right?”

“Contemplating dropping you off right here,” Jason grumbled. It’d probably take a few hours to get back home on foot.

“I heard that! I know you wouldn’t abandon your best friend.”

“You mean the best friend who used my little sister to threaten me? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Come on, dude, you know I was kidding.”

Jason glared at him.

“Oh!” Roy pointed to the dirt road leading into a forest. “Maybe they went that way.”

“You want me to go in there?” Jason grumbled as he pulled off to the side.

“What are you complaining about? You own a Jeep; isn’t it meant for off-roading?”

Jason slowly drove down the dirt path, worried something would run out in front of him or that he’d end up driving into a ditch. He stopped at a fork in the road. “Which way now, Sherlock?”

“Give me a sec,” Roy hopped out of the Jeep and examined both roads. “That way,” he pointed to the left and got back in.

“How do you know? It’s not like it’s raining to have fresh tracks or anything.”

“No, but that path is used way more; there’re barely any tracks on the right path.”

“Here’s hoping we don’t end up lost out here,” Jason drove to the left. The shadows from the trees overtook the road and he couldn’t see far down the path.

The dirt path broke into a vast field. In the middle of the field was a Victorian-style mansion. Even though it wasn’t in bad shape, the whole place had an ominous vibe.

“Looks haunted,” Roy said.

“You really think she’s here?” Jason asked, itching to turn his vehicle around.

“Only one way to know,” Roy hopped out and took off.

“You better not ring the doorbell or I really will abandon you here.” Jason watched as Roy peeked through the garage window.

Roy waved him over. Not wanting to make any noise, he left his Jeep at the entranceway. Jason ducked down and ran over to Roy, his palms sweating.

“It’s her car in the garage,” Roy whispered. Jason glanced in and saw her Solstice. “She’s definitely here with that kid, but why?” Roy wandered over to the windows with Jason close behind cursing him. “They’re sitting on the couch together… sipping on red wine?”

“There’s no way he’s a high school student; a teacher like her wouldn’t allow that.”

“Why not? They’re in the middle of nowhere; who’s gonna complain about a teenager drinking out here? Whoa, get down,” Roy ducked, gripping the neck of Jason’s jacket to bring him down with him. “I swear the kid looked over.”

“Our cue to get out of here, don’t you think?”

“But I want to know what they’re talking about.”

“Who cares? We’ve definitely already crossed a line. If we’re caught here, who knows what they’ll do.”

“Dude, are you afraid of Miss G?” Roy scoffed.

“No, but I don’t want to be on her bad side. I thought you wanted to woo her, so do you really want to be caught stalking her?”

“Oh, my boy does have a point.” Roy thought for a moment. He glanced in the window again. “Crap; they’re gone.”

“Let’s scram,” Jason took off, running towards his Jeep.

“Wait for me,” Roy stumbled away from the mansion and nearly face-planted into Jason’s Jeep.

Once they were both in the vehicle, Jason turned it around and rushed to head home, nearly sending his vehicle off the path a few times.

---

To be continued in Chapter 3, which will be posted in a few days.

If you wish to purchase the full novel, it’s on Amazon.

Current ongoing book on Booknet – One Life Stand

You can also support me by buying me a coffee (I’d prefer a hot chocolate though ^_^ ).

Vampire Teacher – Chapter 1

I’m so hungry. Samantha thought as she took a deep breath of fresh park air. She opened her boxed lunch in her lap and the scent of fried chicken tickled her nose. Smells delicious, but it’s too bad this barely helps the hunger. Her nose twitched as someone came near. He smells more delicious than this meal…

“Oh, Miss G, that smells so good,” one of her students, Jason, stared at her lunch from a few feet away, his mouth agape and practically drooling. “You always seem to bring these awesome looking lunches.”

“Have you not had lunch yet?”

“I did, but a growing boy needs more than a sandwich for a meal.” He inched closer to her, fiddling with his fingers and biting his lip.

“Fine, I’ll share with you, again.” She patted the spot beside her on the bench.

“Really?” His face lit up.

“Yes, really; I’m afraid you won’t be able to concentrate in class with how hungry you seem.”

“Thanks, Miss G.” He sat beside her, his eyes glued to the food instead of her for once. She handed him the box untouched. “Aren’t you going to eat some? I know you’ve shared with me before, but normally you’ve eaten at least half of it by the time you hand it over, and I don’t want you skipping meals.”

“I’m not…” she trailed off. I am most definitely hungry, but if I tell him I’d rather eat him, I’m pretty sure he’d take it the wrong way. “I don’t feel like it today.”

Jason’s expression dropped. “Don’t tell me you’re like those other girls who avoid eating to lose weight… I mean, come on Miss G, you’re smoking hot and don’t need to lose even a pound.”

“Jason.”

“Yes?”

“I’m your teacher and comments like that aren’t appropriate.”

“Just stating the facts. And besides, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” He stared at the boxed lunch absentmindedly as thoughts about his little sister who got so caught up in her body image and losing weight, that she skipped meals, hid food and ended up in the hospital.

“Jason?” Samantha lightly touched his shoulder.

He jumped and turned to her, not realizing what he was doing. “What? Oh… Um… Sorry about zoning out, Miss G.” He stuffed fried chicken into his mouth, filling both cheeks.

“Maybe you’re hungry because you don’t pace yourself,” she laughed, trying to disperse the odd air around them. There’s something else behind his despondent gaze. To pry or not to pry, that is the question.

“I can’t help it though; I eat fast when I’m hungry and I’m hungry almost all the time,” he swallowed and poked at the salad. “You can have that part,” he tried to hand the box back to her.

“Finish your greens and I’ll get you something from the sweets cart across the street for dessert.”

His face lit up again. “Really?”

“Yup.” He feels like a puppy. “Any requests?”

“Anything sweet works for me; I love dessert.”

“I’ll be right back,” she smiled at him and walked away.

He gobbled up the salad in an instant, his eyes never leaving her receding figure.

“Boo!”

“Ah!” Jason yelped, jumping and almost dropping the box.

His best friend and fellow football player, Roy, held onto his belly as he burst out laughing. “Man, you should’ve seen your face. What were you concentrating on so much you didn’t hear me coming?” He wiped away a tear. Miss Gilbert came into view and he smiled. “I see how it is; you’ve still got the hots for Miss G.”

“What? No way! I mean, yes, she is hot, but I ain’t after her or anything,” Jason waved the lunchbox around. “I was able to secure some delicious food from her again though. I wonder if she makes it herself.”

“Well, if you’re not going to go after her, should I?” Roy smiled, biting his lip as he watched her.

“You? Hell no; you’d strikeout in an instant.”

“I won’t know unless I try, and if I get her, everyone else will revere me,” he leaned on the back of the bench, thinking about all the attention he’d get. Jason shoved his face away. “Ugh, what the hell dude?”

“You had a stupid look on your face; it was creepin’ me out.”

Samantha sauntered back over to them holding two plates of mini-cakes. She handed a paper plate to Jason and turned to Roy. “Would you like some as well?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” he snatched the plate away from her. They both took a bite and looked at each other.

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s so good!” they said in unison. “Here, try it,” they both held a bitten mini-cake out to her.

She laughed. I’d much rather eat you two… Ugh, I have to learn how to stop those kinds of thoughts before even pass through my mind. “I’ll pass; you two enjoy your dessert and try to not be late for class. I’ll see you two later,” she waved and walked away.

“See, you failed,” Jason said, biting another piece of cake.

“Tch, that’s only because you’re here. If we were on our own…” Roy trailed off as his mind wandered.

“It still would’ve ended like that,” Jason laughed, wiping icing off his face. “Do you know how many students have gone after her this year alone? She’s turned them all down, so you might want to keep your expectations in check or you’ll end up crushed under her magnificent high heels.”

“Her shoes are sexy, aren’t they?”

“I swear, you have selective hearing.”

“Yeah, I agree, we’re so lucky to have her as a teacher…”

“Or you just hear what you want to hear.” Jason smacked him in the back of the head. “Let’s go; class is starting soon.”

Roy grumbled, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, yeah…”

Samantha walked into her next class, eyes drawn to her. “Alright everyone, settle down and hand in your homework on paradoxes.”

“I’ll help collect them, Miss G,” Roy eagerly collected everyone’s papers and handed them directly to her.

“Thank you, Roy,” she waved her hand towards his seat in the back beside Jason. “Now, open your books to the next chapter.”

Throughout the class, Samantha caught Roy staring at her with a dopey gaze. She sighed, shaking her head; every year, a few students that gave her that same, lusty look. Some of them even tried asking her out, and she refused every single invitation.

At the end of the class, after everyone else had filed out, Roy approached her. “So, Miss G, do you think you’d ever date a student?” he asked.

Going the roundabout way? “Of course not, Roy; that’s unethical and I’d lose my job which I love.”

He frowned. “Oh, right… I guess I never thought about that. But what if you—”

“Roy, you’re going to be late for your next class.”

“Right, I’ll see you tomorrow, Miss G.” Roy gave her a wave as he left.

“Told you,” Jason laughed, waiting outside the classroom for him.

Jason waited outside of his school by his Jeep for his little sister. He glanced at his watch. “Geez, what’s taking her so long?” Every few minutes, he’d circle the parking lot looking for her.

“Jason?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin and turned around to face the familiar long-haired brunette. “Miss G?”

“Is something the matter? You’re here later than normal,” she asked, her brows knitted as she checked her watch.

“Ah, I’m just waiting for my sister; she’s normally not late.”

“Have you tried to contact her?”

“Right… Contact her…” he pulled out his phone and texted her.

No response.

He dialled his sister’s number and it went to voicemail. “Sis, it’s me, where are you? Are you okay? Call me back right away.” Jason gripped his phone tightly as he rubbed his forehead. “What do I do now? This has never happened before.”

“Is there anywhere she likes to hang out? Maybe her phone is off and she’s with friends.”

“She only hangs out with one girl, who likes going home within a few minutes of school being out. She shouldn’t be late at all, never mind how long she’s been gone now…”

“Ah!” An ear-piercing scream rang through the parking lot.

They exchanged a terrifying look and took off towards the sound in the school park.  They ran straight through the bushes, their heads whipping to both sides as they checked for the source of the scream. A hunched over man in worn-out clothes came into view and they came to a stop.

Jason’s eyes widened. Between the man’s legs, he could see a pair of familiar sneakers. “Maggy?” he called out his sister’s name. In a fit of rage, Jason charged towards the man.

The man turned to them, hissing, his eyes red and blood dripping from his mouth.

“What the—” Jason recoiled, skidding across the grass as he stumbled backwards and hit the ground.

“Jason, get out of here,” Samantha said as she stood between him and the demonic man.

“B-but—”

“Go!”

“No,” he got to his feet, shaking. “My sister.” He swallowed as he looked around them, down at her limp figure. “I have to save her…”

“Tch…”

The man lunged at them, his hands outstretched.

“Miss G, watch out!” Jason yelled, reaching out for her.

She grabbed the man by his wrists and twisted them around, easily overpowering him. The smell of blood and death on him was overwhelming.

“Jason, grab your sister and go,” she commanded, not wanting him to watch. The man struggled, growling at her. She watched him pick up his sister. While she was distracted, the man wriggled free and lunged at Jason and Maggy.

Jason stumbled back with Maggy cradled in his arms. The man suddenly jolted, a bloody hand with sharp nails protruding from the front of his chest, his heart in the hand. The man’s skin turned grey and he broke apart, turning into dust.

Jason’s legs gave out as he stared at the pile of dust and clothes on the ground with wide eyes. “What… what the hell was that?!” He gazed at the blood on his teacher’s hand.

“Tch, why are vampires showing up at school?” she mumbled to herself, staring at the blood on her hand.

“Miss G…” Jason swallowed, hugging his sister closer to him as he stared up at her wide-eyed. “What did you… What was… Did you say vampire?”

“Crap…” She knelt down in front of him and gripped his chin with her clean hand as she stared into his eyes. “You didn’t see a vampire. A man attacked your sister and you scared him away; that’s all that happened here.”

“Are you telling me to pretend this didn’t happen?”

“Wait, what?” She turned her head to the side. “It didn’t work? Have I really gone so weak?”

“What are you talking about?”

Crap, I didn’t mean to say it out loud. I guess I need human blood to be able to hypnotize him… Dammit. “Yes, I’m telling you to pretend that didn’t happen.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Shh! You’ll attract attention.”

“Oh, sorry. But, what about my sister? Is she okay? She was bitten; will she turn into a… a vampire now?”

She knelt down and took a look at Maggy. She shook her head. “I think she’ll be okay. He didn’t take enough blood to turn her and I doubt one that’s out of control like that used the other method…”

“You… seem to know a lot about them.”

She froze. Crap. I can’t hypnotize him, and I proved I know about vampires. Besides, he saw me kill a man with my bare hands. What should I do now?

Jason watched as she argued with herself in her head. He took a breath to steady himself and called out to her, “Miss G, if you’re worried about me telling someone what I saw, don’t; I promise not to tell anyone about it if you tell me one thing.”

“Oh? What do you want to know?”

“Why do you know about vampires? And how were you able to put your hand straight through him?”

“That’s two things.”

“Oh… Uh, so the first one I guess…”

“I suppose the answer to one actually does answer both,” Samantha sighed. “Because I am one.” How do I fix this? I can’t even hypnotize him to erase it! Guess I’ll have to move to another town again.

His eyes widened. “You’re a vampire?”

“Yeah, but can you not spread that knowledge,” she asked, winking as she held up a finger to her mouth.

He took a deep breath, trying to go back over what happened in his mind as he kept his sister safe in his arms. He nodded. “You just saved us, so… of course, I’ll keep it a secret.”

Not sure how much I trust a teenager to keep their mouth shut, but at least it’s Jason. She glanced down at him, still sitting on the ground. He’s a good kid.

“Um… what should I do about my sister? Do I go to a hospital? I mean, she has puncture marks on her neck; what do I even tell the doctors?”

Samantha stared down at them, debating with herself.

“Miss G?” Jason stared up at her with pleading eyes.

Damn; those puppy dog eyes are killer. “I… I can heal her.”

“What? How?”

She glanced around to make sure no one was near and knelt down in front of them again. “With my blood,” she whispered.

“What?!”

“Shh!”

“Sorry… But… Do you mean she has to,” he swallowed, taking a moment. “Drink your blood?” he whispered.

“If you want her to heal fast, yes.”

“And that won’t turn her or anything?”

“No.” As long as she doesn’t die with my blood in her system.

“So vampire blood has the ability to heal?”

“Well…” It’s best if he doesn’t get too involved in this. “Not all vampire blood does, but mine is… special. So, do you want me to heal her or are you going to take her home like this?”

“Please heal her,” Jason bowed his head.

“Hold her mouth open.”

Jason pressed on her cheeks and Maggy’s mouth opened a bit. Samantha bit her wrist and held it over Maggy’s mouth, letting some of her blood drain in. Maggy swallowed and a moment later, she woke up coughing.

“Maggy?” Jason stared down at her. “Are you okay?”

“Jay?” she mumbled, gazing up at him with lidded eyes. “What happened?” The image of the vampire attacking her flashed through her mind and she yelped, covering her face with clenched fists.

“Maggy?” he gripped her tighter. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“She’s probably remembering the attack. She’s… traumatized…” Samantha pulled out a handkerchief from her purse, cleaned the blood off her hand and her already healed wrist.

Jason frowned. “Reliving that nightmare; it’s not fair.”

“It isn’t.”

“How can I help her?”

Wish my powers would work right now. Samantha shook her head. “No one’s going to believe what actually happened to her, but you could go to a therapist saying she got attacked.” She bit her lip and turned away, mentally cursing herself.

“No… I can’t put her through that again…”

Again?

“Any chance you have some special vampire powers to help erase this from her mind?”

“I… can’t…”

“You can’t? Not that you don’t?”

Damn; I was hoping he wouldn’t notice my wording… Samantha took a deep breath. Ugh, I’ve been able to stay hidden for years; why is this happening now? “I haven’t… been eating a proper diet for my kind in a long time, so I’m nowhere near as strong as I would otherwise be. As in, some of my powers aren’t fully working in my weaker state.”

She could see his gears turning as he processed her words. After a moment, he looked up at her again. “So… Um… Are you saying you need to eat blood to be able to erase this ‘incident’ from her mind?”

“That’s… exactly what I’m saying.”

A chill ran down Jason’s spine and he swallowed hard, staring at his sister, trembling in his arms. “She’s so scared; I don’t even think she hears us talking…” He took a deep, shaky breath. “How much blood would you need to do it?”

“I don’t know exactly… I haven’t had human blood for so long…” She thought about the last person she drank from forty years ago – her boyfriend – and felt a wave of sadness wash over her as she missed him.

“Would it be enough to kill me?”

“No; nowhere near that much, but you’ll be a bit weaker.”

“Can I feed you my blood, and then you feed me yours?”

“I can, but all that will do is heal the wound I would leave by drinking from you. It won’t give you back your energy; only proper rest and water will do that.”

Jason nodded to himself, mulling things over. “Um… Can you come over to my house?”

Samantha froze. “Can I what? It’s not appropriate for a teacher to go to a student’s house.”

“B-but how else can I give you my blood?” Jason looked around the trees, making sure no one was around. “I don’t want to pass out here, and I think the longer we stay here, the higher the chance of us being seen is.”

“Oh, right; I see your point. Are you okay to drive?” She asked, helping him to his feet as he kept a tight hold on Maggy.

“Yeah,” Jason nodded.

“Okay, I’ll follow you in my car then.”

They headed into the parking lot and approached their own cars. She unlocked her Pontiac Solstice, ready to get in.

“Miss G,” Jason called out to her. “Um, can you unlock my car? I can’t grab the keys with her in my arms.”

“Oh right, sorry about that. Where are your keys?”

“Front right pocket.”

Samantha looked around the parking lot to make sure no one was around. “Excuse me.” This feels inappropriate too… She pulled his keys out and opened the back door.

He buckled his sister in. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you home soon.” He gripped her shoulder for a moment before closing the door.

“Here,” she handed him his keys.

“Thanks,” he avoided looking at her, a blush taking over his cheeks. He never had someone ruffle around in his pocket before, let alone a female he was crushing on.

Samantha followed him in his Jeep for fifteen minutes until he pulled into the driveway of a detached two-storey house with a two-car garage. She parked at the curb and watched him open the front door before going back for his sister.

“Will your parents mind me being here?” Samantha asked as he let her in.

Jason frowned. “They’re not home much.”

“So you end up having to take care of the house and your sister?”

“Actually, my sister helps. If I was left to cook, I’d probably burn the house down,” Jason said as he made his way to his sister’s bedroom. He laid her down in her fluffy pink bed. “I’ll be right back,” he kissed her forehead and she peeked through her fingers at him, tears in her eyes.

“Jay?” Maggy tugged on his sleeve.

“I’ll be right back, okay?”

Her brows turned up in worry and she nodded. “Okay.”

Jason turned to Samantha. “Okay, let’s do this.” He swayed his hand towards his room, not wanting his sister to see. She nodded and went into his room, eyeing the sports trophies above his desk and sketchbooks strewn about.

They stood facing each other. The image of her deceased boyfriend overlapped with Jason. They had a similar tall stature and sharp bone structure. She could hear his voice, ‘It’s okay, Sammy, take as much as you need; you’ll be safe with me.’ Her throat closed a bit.

“Miss G?” Jason called out to her again.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry… I zoned out… I can take it from your wrist or somewhere else if you don’t want me biting your neck.”

“I imagine it’s easiest from my neck, so it’s okay.”

She stood in front of him and he stared down at her, his heart beating a mile a minute. “I also don’t want to scare you with my fangs and red eyes, so I can bite you from behind—”

“It’s fine, Miss G; just go for it. I’m nervous, but I’m not afraid because it’s you.”

Because it’s me? “Can you bend down a little bit?”

He turned his head to the side and crouched down, leaning towards her as he braced himself. He could feel her breath on his neck and her sweet scent tickled his nose. “Is this going to hurt?”

“At first, but it’ll feel good after a moment.”

His head whipped back, almost running into hers. “What? Does that mean my sister felt—”

“Don’t finish that sentence. He was a lesser vampire than me… I mean he was old enough to turn into dust right away, but… I don’t think he was drinking long enough for that… Anyway, just never mind that part.”  I can’t tell him too much.

“I see… This vampire business seems complicated.”

“Indeed.”

Jason turned his head to the side again, his eyes closed and he took a deep breath. “I’m ready.” He tried not to twitch as he felt her breath on his neck.

Samantha held him in place as she bit onto his neck. He jumped slightly and relaxed as she drank from him. He tastes… so good… She almost melted at the euphoria of tasting human blood again.

After a few gulps, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against him.

What am I doing?! She pulled away, his hands still on her waist. “That should be enough,” she wiped the corners of her mouth.

“That was… wow…” he gazed at her with lidded eyes.

Crap. She bit her wrist and forced him to drink a tiny bit of her blood before leaving his grasp. The wound on his neck sealed up in a few seconds. “Okay, I should be able to help her now.”

“Your blood… it tasted sweet; I thought blood was metallic,” Jason said, still in a daze.

“Don’t mind that.” She wandered back over to his sister’s room and sat on the edge of her bed. “Maggy,” she called out to her and held onto her hands.

“W-who are you?” Maggy asked, shaking. She tried to pull away from her, but Samantha kept a tight hold on her hands.

“She’s my teacher, Miss Gilbert,” Jason said, standing behind Samantha. “She’s here to help you.”

“Oh,” her shoulders relaxed, but she didn’t stop shaking.

“Maggy, can you focus on me for a moment?” Samantha ducked her head down a bit to stare into Maggy’s eyes. “The last thing you remember was leaving the school and meeting up with Jason like normal. He took you safely home and you laid on your bed feeling tired from a long, studious school day.” She backed off and ushered Jason out of her room, closing the door behind them.

“That’s it? She’s all better?” Jason asked.

“I erased the time of attack from her mind. There is a slight chance something could trigger her memory, but it’s unlikely. She should be her normal self by tomorrow I suspect, albeit a bit more tired from the lack of blood.”

Jason nodded and grabbed both her hands. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it. Um… I suppose it’s your turn now.”

“My turn?” he backed away. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t need to remember what happened or what I am either.”

“You want to make me forget, too?” Jason frowned.

“Of course, I do. You’re a normal, human boy; you don’t need to know about the world of the supernatural.”

“What if I don’t want to forget?” he stepped away from her, fidgeting.

“I’m sorry, Jason, but it would be irresponsible of me to leave you with this knowledge.” Not to mention I told him about my special blood too.

“But I could be your personal blood bag and keep you strong in case another crazy vampire starts attacking people in town,” he took another step away. “If there was one, there might be more and I’d rather have someone around to keep us safe… like a superhero…”

“Jason… This was one random incident.” I hope. “This town hasn’t had any vampire issues in decades. It’s best for you if you don’t remember any of this.”

He shook his head again. “You don’t know if it’s one random incident. Hell, since it was at our school, maybe something is after you. Don’t you think it’s best if you have someone at school that can back you up?”

“Look, it’s sweet you want to be there to help if needed, but I can’t put you in danger like that. Jason,” she stepped towards him and he backed away again. “Don’t fight me on this.”

“But… You saved my sister and me; I want to reciprocate and help you too.”

“Jason.” She quickly stepped towards him and grabbed his chin. He tried to push her arm away and move his head, but he couldn’t overpower her. She forced him to look into her eyes. “Vampires don’t exist.”

He scrunched his eyes closed before she could finish a sentence.

“Dammit, Jason, I’m doing this for your own good.” She grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder, thumping him onto his bed. Instantly, she was on top of him. “Keep your eyes open,” she commanded, gripping his chin from above. He blinked a few times and stared at her with worry. “Vampires don’t exist. After school, your sister wasn’t feeling well, so you made sure she got to her room to rest. The last time you saw me was in class.” She sighed and got off of him. Without another word, she left Jason’s house.

Jason stared at the ceiling for a moment. “She… It didn’t work?” He went back to check on Maggy, but she was asleep. “I should probably bring her oatmeal or something. I can at least work a microwave,” he tried to act normal as Samantha’s desperate expression flitted through his mind.

---

To be continued in Chapter 2.

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Prompt Short Story – Goodbye

Story for a prompt from Reedsy: “Write a story that starts with a life-changing event.”

Goodbye

Rain poured down on the funeral, clearing all but a lone woman, Casey. She stared at the coffin covered in roses, her tears blending in with the rain.

“Why?” she mumbled to herself, clutching her silver rose necklace. “Why did you have to leave me, too? Why do you always throw yourself into harm’s way? You’re all I had left, and yet you can’t stop yourself from running in to try and save someone! Why can’t you think about yourself for once?! Or about me?!” Casey screamed fell back into an open, wet chair. She stared listlessly into the sky as the rain poured down her.

A dark umbrella cast over her head as someone sat beside her. “You’re going to get sick if you stay out in the rain without proper cover,” his deep voice broke through the sound of rainfall.

She glanced at him and her head shifted down. “I… don’t care anymore…” I have nothing left, Casey thought.

“I’m sure things are rough right now, but I doubt whoever you were screaming at would want you sick on their behalf.”

“What the hell do you know? And why are you here?”

“I know how painful it is to lose someone, and I came over from my mother’s funeral when I heard you yelling.”

“Oh…” Guess I disturbed him. “Sorry.” She slouched in her chair more. “Don’t mind me; go on with your own business.”

“I can’t leave someone suffering alone in the rain, especially not a woman; my mom would be disappointed in me.”

“Well, I don’t know you and I want to be alone, so please, go away.”

“Fair enough. At least take my umbrella; I have a hood on my coat, so I’ll be fine long enough to walk home.” He tried to hand her the umbrella.

Casey stared at the ground, he vision wavering. Why is it so hot?

“Miss?”

She crumpled to the side towards him, huffing.

“Miss? Are you okay?” He dropped his umbrella and held onto her, gazing at her face. “Crap… I have to get you to the hospital.” He lifted her into the air.

She gripped his coat with a shaky hand, her breathing ragged. “No hospitals… I can’t…” Her body went limp.

“Friggin’ hell,” he cursed under his breath and sprinted out of the service area towards his house a few blocks down. The few stray people he passed each stared at him on his way. “Please be okay.”

 

A wet towel fell off of Casey’s forehead. She cringed and opened her eyes to find an unfamiliar ceiling above her. Her eyes went wide. “What the…” She sat up to look at the foreign bedroom and the blanket slid down. “What am I wearing?” She pulled at the giant, fresh-smelling shirt. What happened last night? Thinking back, she vaguely remembered a man approaching her at the funeral. Oh my gosh, did I go home with him? Where are my clothes?

The space on the bed beside her was empty and cold. The floors were clean, along with everything else in the room; a neatly packed bookcase; a cleared desk, outside of a framed photo of a woman and two kids, and minimal extras in the room.

The bedroom door opened and she pulled the blanket up. “You’re awake?” A man with brown, shaggy hair popped his head into the room.

“You’re…?” Her eyes narrowed. Is it the umbrella guy?

“Ah, right, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself yesterday before you passed out. I’m Roy,” he entered with a tray in his hands.

“Casey… Why am I here? What did you do to me?” she inched back.

“You passed out and told me not to bring you to a hospital. I didn’t know where you lived and my place was nearby. For reference, I didn’t do anything other than take care of you.”

“Where are my clothes?”

He set the tray with a bowl of oatmeal down on the nightstand. “You were soaking wet and had a fever; I couldn’t leave you in that dress of yours.”

Casey’s jaw hung open. “So you—”

“No, no, no; I wasn’t the one who changed you.” He held his hands up in defence. “I got my older sister to change you.” He glanced at his watch. “She’s almost finished her shift at the hospital, so she’ll be back to check on you soon. Do you mind if I…?” he held his hand up, aimed at her forehead.

Casey nodded.

“Seems like your fever’s come down pretty well. How are you feeling? Are you well enough to eat?”

“Um, I’m a little groggy, but otherwise I’m feeling fine. So if I could get my clothes back, I can head home and be outta your hair.”

“Your clothes have been cleaned and are sitting, folded on the dryer right now, but if I let you leave before my sister gets back, she’s going to put me through the wringer. Please eat and rest some more.”

“I just want to go…” Do I want to go home? Without grandma there, it feels so empty. No cheerful laughs. No daily hugs. No fresh veggies from the garden – which is sure to die without her. There’s nothing… Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

“Oh no… What did I do? Whatever I said to upset you, I’m sorry—”

“No, it’s not you…” She hugged her knees to her chest, burying her face in her legs as she cried. Ugh, I hate crying in front of people.

“It’s okay to cry when you lose someone, you know? I’ve done so recently myself. So, um…” he hesitated and reached out to pat her on the head. “Let it all out and we can talk about it if you want to.” When she didn’t flinch away from him, he sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

“What are you doing?” her voice was muffled.

“Even a hug from a stranger can help with the pain. If you need to, you can think of me as a giant teddy bear.”

“Hehe,” she couldn’t hold back a giggle. The tears stopped and she lifted her head. “You can let go now.”

“Okay.” He released her, and without thinking, wiped away her tears. They stared into each other’s eyes.

“Hey, how’s the patient doing?” A woman’s voice came from the hallway. She entered holding Casey’s dried clothes.

Startled, they scrambled away from each other.

“My, my, what was going on in here?” She smiled, looking at their flush faces.

“N-nothing,” Roy mumbled, poking at the tray.

Casey grabbed at her neckline. She froze. “Where’s my necklace?”

“It’s on the desk. I took it off to pat it dry…” she sat on the bed, Casey’s clothes still in her hands. “If you don’t mind me asking, where did you get it?”

“It was my grandma’s… She got it decades ago from a woman she helped who was down on her luck. They turned into best friends eventually and ended up with matching ones. I don’t know her name, but I think she moved away years ago.”

“Well, it’s a lovely necklace, and I have one just like it,” she pulled her necklace out from her shirt; a silver rose necklace.

“The same one? Are you—”

“This was our mother’s necklace, which she shared matching with a special friend.”

“…” Casey stared at the necklace. “It couldn’t be…”

“I think it is. I think we’re more connected than you’d think.” She set Casey’s clothes on the bed. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat more, but I got wrapped into another shift. I took a break to come and check on you.” She checked Casey’s pulse, breathing and temperature.

Grumble.

“Make sure our patient here eats,” she got up to leave. “Oh, and you can stay here as long as you need to; Roy can sleep on the couch.” With a smile, she went on her way.

“You’re sister is…”

“A bossy nurse, but she’s great. And she’s right; you can stay here if you want. It seems as though you don’t want to go home anyway.”

“Well, there’s nothing there for me anymore, just a painful reminder of how empty my life is without her.”

Gurgle.

“Okay, I think your stomach is telling us what we should be doing,” he handed her the tray.

“Thanks.” She ate in silence for a few minutes. “You said you were at your mom’s funeral the other day, right?”

“Yeah… She passed away at the beginning of the month. She actually…” He clutched the bottom of his shirt. “She died in a fire at her bakery—”

Casey froze with a spoon of oatmeal halfway to her mouth. “La Boulangerie?”

His head shot up. “How did you know?”

Tears flowed once again. “Because that’s where my grandma died.” She set the tray aside and covered her face with her hands.

“Oh no… Your grandma is the one who tried to save my mother?”

Casey nodded.

“I’m… sorry. One of the other workers was careless and a fire started in the kitchen. My mother lived upstairs and the old place was finicky, by the time she knew about the fire, she couldn’t get out. From what I heard, your grandma heard her screams and ran in to help. The place collapsed before they could be saved… I’m so sorry, Casey.”

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. And if your sister is right about them knowing each other, that means she didn’t through her life away on someone she didn’t know but rather was probably trying to save someone she saw as a daughter. I can’t fault her for that,” she let out a deep breath and wiped away her tears. “My parents – which includes her daughter – were seriously injured in a car crash and died in the hospital; she already lost one daughter, she was probably terrified of losing another.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“So, that’s why you were so despondent?” He remembered hearing her screams from his own mother’s funeral, only to find her staring at the sky as it rained on her. His own heart ached at the sight of her and before he knew what he was doing, he walked towards her.

“I… I think I’m better after finding out the truth though. I really thought she threw her life away without thinking, but that wasn’t the case. That said, I still don’t want to go home yet,” she stared at the bowl of unfinished oatmeal as she poked at the tray. I actually feel better here than at home. She glanced at Roy.

“I agree with my sister, you know? You can stay here if you want to. We can even head to your place and pick up anything you need to stay here.”

“But I’m taking your bed.”

“Don’t worry about me; I could sleep on the floor and be fine if I needed to.”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“We also have a spare room; just need to clear out the boxes and get another bed. Until then I can sleep on the couch; much better than the floor at least.”

“Funny, it sounds like you’re actually fighting for me to stay.”

“Because I am.”

“Why?”

“Multiple reasons really. I’m a bit afraid of leaving you alone right now; I have my sister to keep me grounded, but you’re not so lucky. I think my mother’s and your grandmother’s bond was special, and it links us in a unique way. And, I’ve been enamoured since the moment I saw you.”

Casey’s face flushed. “What? You can’t mean…”

“I know it sounds bad, considering the raw anguish written all over you at her funeral, but I felt such deep emotion from you and…” He held a hand over his heart. “I don’t even know how to put it. I was flabbergasted and had an overwhelming urge to hug you and protect you.” Roy laughed. “I’m sorry; I don’t want to scare you away.”

“You haven’t.” He has a warm presence like grandma did.

“What I’m trying to say is I want to get to know you better.”

I don’t know the last time I had a conversation this long with someone other than grandma. “Me too,” Casey smiled for the first time in weeks and Roy’s face lit up. Goodbye grandma, and thank you for everything.

“Never Have I Ever” Writer Tag

Saw this on PaperFury and thought it was interesting.

It’s time for the Never Have I Ever Author Edition!

Never have I ever…

Started a novel that I didn’t finish?

– If you count the story I started on FictionPress, then yes, but technically it was meant to be a comic book. I also plan to go back to my original story after I’ve finished with my Tarot Card series.

Written a story completely by hand?

– My original story I wrote by hand… but does it count if I didn’t finish it? Last summer when my motherboard died, I started another story by hand and it’s almost completed. So it’s a no for now, but will be yes soon! (Though it might be under a pen name…)

Changed tenses midway through a story?

– I don’t think so… But I may have accidentally.

Not researched anything before starting a story?

– I’ve definitely started without researching for a short story. I’ll just end up researching what I need as I go though.

Changed my protagonist’s name halfway through a draft?

– Nope, never. I have forgotten a last name and had to recheck because I knew I mentioned it once in the story beforehand.

Written a story in a month or less?

– Only a short story. I take forever to finish novels. Even short stories are starting to take longer these days. Doubt I’ve ever written more than 2k in a day; tend to be more around the 500 range.

Fallen asleep while writing?

– Nope. Been writing while dead tired, but never fallen asleep while writing.

Corrected someone’s grammar irl/online?

– I probably have out of reflex. I don’t intentionally correct most people.

Yelled in all caps at myself in the middle of a novel?

– Nope.

Used “I’m writing” as an excuse?

– Haha, yes, I think I’ve done this even while procrastinating instead of writing…

Killed a character that was based on someone I know in real life?

– Nope. I’ve had a couple of people based off of people I know, but I’ve never killed them.

Used pop culture references in a story?

– Yes! I like having those little references in the story that either draw you into the time of the story or let you know a little about the author.

Written between the hours of 1am and 6am?

– Yes, but it was because I was waiting for someone to come home and they worked until 2 am for a few months.

Drank an entire pot of coffee while writing?

– I don’t drink coffee.

Written down dreams to use in potential novels?

– I’ve written down dreams before, but haven’t turned them into anything… yet.

Published an unedited story on the internet/blog/wattpad?

– As far as I remember, I’ve always edited first – though maybe not the best edit job.

Forgotten to save my work/draft?

– I normally save often… but I’ve had the power flicker, or my computer restart and I ended up losing a bit of work.

Typed so long that my wrists hurt?

– I’ve had issues with my wrists in the past because of a shoulder injury, so it didn’t take long for my wrists to hurt then from typing. I normally keep going anyway though. =x

Spilled a drink on my laptop while writing?

– No way! I wouldn’t have an open drink new my laptop. I think I’ve spilt a little bit of water on my keyboard for my desktop before while the computer was off.

Finished a novel?

– Yes! I’ve completed 3 novels so far and I’ve finished the first draft of book 4.

Laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene?

– No, I’ve never done that. At most would be a smirk.

Cried while writing a scene?

– I’ve felt sad while writing a scene, but never cried.

Created maps of my fictional worlds?

– Yes, I have a world map of Gaia.

 

 

 

 

 

Researched something shady for a novel?

– I should think most writers have. Too many killings, fights, poisonings, break-ins etc to not have researched something sketchy.

 

What other writer stereotypes do you find yourself a part of?

I’ve placed the questions below so you can easily take these questions for your own blog. Link to your answers in the comments so I can read your answers, too!

 

Started a novel that I didn’t finish?

Written a story completely by hand?

Changed tenses midway through a story?

Not researched anything before starting a story?

Changed my protagonist’s name halfway through a draft?

Written a story in a month or less?

Fallen asleep while writing?

Corrected someone’s grammar irl/online?

Yelled in all caps at myself in the middle of a novel?

Used “I’m writing” as an excuse?

Killed a character that was based on someone I know in real life?

Used pop culture references in a story?

Written between the hours of 1am and 6am?

Drank an entire pot of coffee while writing?

Written down dreams to use in potential novels?

Published an unedited story on the internet/blog/wattpad?

Forgotten to save my work/draft?

Typed so long that my wrists hurt?

Spilled a drink on my laptop while writing?

Finished a novel?

Laughed like an evil villain while writing a scene?

Cried while writing a scene?

Created maps of my fictional worlds?

Researched something shady for a novel?

 

Flash Fiction – Only Takes One

I had actually forgotten about these flash fiction stories I had put up on Goodreads from prompts. Figured I’d fix’em up a bit and post them here.

Only Takes One

Jodie sighed at her reflection in the mirror of her school locker; acne-ridden face, big glasses and an uneven haircut she messed up herself. Shaking her head, she turned away from her reflection and proceeded to take her books out of her locker. She closed the door and turned to head to her next class.

Wham. Someone rammed their shoulder into her as they ran by and knocked her to the ground, scattering her belongings. She rubbed her elbow and winced before randomly feeling the ground for her belongings, unable to see without her glasses. The other students walked around her, ignoring her distress, and tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

A blur appeared before her. “Here,” he said as he placed her glasses in her hands.

She hurriedly shoved them on her face, leaving them crooked. “Thanks,” she stuttered and her face flushed as her eyes connected with the stranger.

“You’re welcome,” he picked up her belongings alongside her.

“Isn’t that the new guy?” the girls standing by the lockers on the other side of the hallway whispered.

“You mean the hot millionaire,” one of the other girls corrected her.

“What’s he doing talking to her?”

Jodie cringed at one girl’s crude comment, knowing they wanted her to hear it.

When she picked up the last paper, a hand appeared in front of her. She glanced up at him and he just smiled down at her, waiting. He helped her to her feet and handed off her belongings, “I’m Tom.”

“Jodie,” she replied. “And thank you for helping me.”

“Anything for a beautiful girl,” he said with that same smile as he reached out and straightened her glasses. “I’m new here and could really use a tour. If you’re not busy after school, would you mind showing me around?”

“You want me to?” she pointed at herself, baffled. “Why would you want me to?” She glanced at the girls across the hall still staring.

“Why wouldn’t I want to be shown around town by a beautiful girl? As long as it’s not an inconvenience to you, that is.”

“Sure,” she nodded.

Bring. The bell for class rang.

“Great, it’s a date,” he winked at her. “Meet me at the school entrance a few minutes after school,” he smiled widely before rushing off to find his next class.

“Did you see that?” the girls continued to whisper despite the bell.

The girls huddled around her before she could move, “Did you know him before?” They all questioned her until a teacher walked into the hallway.

“You guys are late, get to class,” he commanded, frowning at them.

“Tell us all about him tomorrow and make sure to introduce use,” they squealed as they disbursed.

Jodie didn’t pay much attention to the girls and their questions; she just smiled and bit her lip as she thought about Tom.

Beautiful Books 2017

Get to know your books by Paperfury.com and Furtherupfurtherin.net

Beautiful People is a writing blog meme that is hosted by Cait at Paperfury and Sky at FurtherUpFurtherIn! Each month they post questions for writers to answer about your characters, yourself, or your book!

Overall, how is your mental state, and how is your novel going?
Hit or miss on a day to day basis. Either I know where I’m headed, or stuck wondering.

What’s your first sentence (or paragraph)?
Clara stood beside Alex as he gazed at Avalon High. “Do I really have to do this Clary?” he asked and adjusted his backpack.

Who’s your current favourite character in your novel?
Clara Marsters.

What do you love about your novel so far?
All the action.

Have you made any hilarious typos or other mistakes?
Bound to have at some point.

What is your favourite to write: beginning, middle, or end — and why?
The middle, there’s so much going on.

What are your writing habits? Is there a specific snack you eat? Do you listen to music? What time of day do you write best? Feel free to show us a picture of your writing space!
I write at night and procrastinate as I watch tv.

How private are you about your novel while you’re writing? Do you need a cheer squad or do you work alone (like, ahem, Batman)?
Alone.

What keeps you writing even when it’s hard?
My brain won’t let me.

What are your top 3 pieces of writing advice?
Write everyday.
Have your own style.
Understand that nothing is perfect and you can learn from your mistakes, so long as you’re willing to.

Did you do beautiful books this month? Head over to check out more Beautiful Books answers.