Gores of Grimoire (Editing)

Facing Your Demons

Josephine White sat up in her bed at five A.M. Monday morning. She rubbed her restless eyes and sighed.

"Another day in the pit..." She groaned.
She threw back the covers and stepped out of bed and onto the cold tile floor that felt the same as her cold skin.
She got up and looked in her fake plastic mirror that hung on the wall; red eyes, messy red hair, paler than normal skin, fangs, and a look of deep, constant depression, as well as fatigue.
She smiled a fake, mocking smile and walked from the mirror to her wardrobe.

"It's..." She looked at her calendar, "Monday. Hmm, just," She spoke to herself, "four more days until Halloween. Nice."
She pulled out her black and white uniform. The blouse is white, the jacket is black, the skirt is black, and the tie is red. She put on white over- the-knee high socks and combed her long, dark, red hair. She looked exactly like her twin, Molly, except for the eyes and the fangs.
Josephine White, the demi-angel vampire that has to attend the "other school", also know as Eclipse Night Academy. There was no other place on earth that she hated more.
No roommate.
No friends.
No special privileges.
Nothing.
She couldn't even have a glass mirror, they're afraid she'd break it and use the shards to cut either herself or other students for blood. She hadn't had real human blood in decades. Her eyes were red and gold, because she fed off of animals. She had to. The school practically owned her.
She sighed and waited. She couldn't open the door on her own, a teacher had to come every single day to unlock it for her, then escort her to class.
This process got old pretty fast.
She got on her hands and knees and reached under her bed, then pulled out a black and silver laptop and looked at the time. It was 6:15 A.M.. She had precisely a half hour.
She logged in to the school IM site and looked for Molly. She couldn't really think of why, considering she hated Molly, but she did anyway.
Then she saw Andrew Stormfly's name. She instantly clicked on it, then stopped..
What would he want with someone like me? I'm the one everyone is afraid of..plus he's at that other school.. She thought.
She exited out and decided to shut her computer when it chimed. She reopened it and saw that she had a message.
It was just from a user name, no real name, and no profile pic. The user name said XYZproxy12.

"Hmm. I'm not sure, but okay." She muttered.

XYZproxy12: Hi, looking for a friend?

JoWhite14: Um...sure. what's your name?

XYZproxy12: You should guess.

JoWhite14: Okay. Um...Melody? The girl with the blue hair that's a vampire?

XYZproxy12: Nope. Haha, I'll give you a hint. We used to be really close and my name starts with an M.

Josephine's eyes widened with realization. She began clacking her keys angrily, almost breaking the keyboard.

JoWhite14: Molly, I suggest you don't speak to me.

XYZproxy12: Jo, listen, I haven't much time, and I know the same goes for you..you need to get out of there. When the lady comes to escort you, I want you to use the element of surprise. Bite her. Get blood. Trust me on this, please.

JoWhite14: Trust you!? After what you did to me!? Not. A chance. In. Hell. If I'm leaving, it'll be with my own plan. Goodbye, Molly.

Then Josephine slammed shut her laptop, slid it under the bed, and paced her room. Soon enough, she heard footsteps...then knocking...then a lock turning.
A woman with platinum blond hair poked her head into the room.

"Josephine?" She said. She, of course, had a British accent.
Josephine nodded and grabbed her backpack. She hated the teacher, and the teacher hated her. That gave them a sort of mutual bond, and they tolerated each other.
She turned off the light and closed the door. All of a sudden Josephine could smell blood. Hear a heartbeat. Feel her fangs grow longer.
She felt weak, but desperate. The thought barely crosses her mind, and she knew it would be a longshot.
Oh, what the hell. She thought.
And with that, she grabbed the teacher by her hair and smashed her head on the fourth level railing. The teacher stumbled for her wand, caught off guard, but Josephine snatched it and snapped it in half.
Then, very quietly, she looked the teacher dead in the eyes and said,
"You will not scream."
Vampire Compulsion worked it's way into the mind of this woman, taking away her free will.
The teacher simply nodded.
Then, she pushed the hair to the side and sunk her fangs into her neck. The warm, sweet blood poured into her mouth and her fangs sucked it right up. She couldn't stop. Then, when she'd had enough, she snapped the teachers neck.
   The sickeningly loud crack was like music to her ears.
   At first, she couldn't believe she had done that, but then she realized she didnt have much time.
   She then grabbed the keys from the pocket of the limp body and found the one to her room, moving with haste. Once inside, she packed her stuff with immense speed, then ran and jumped from the fourth level to the ground floor. The level was clear, so she zoomed out of the dorm tower and into the corridors. Everyone was either in class already, or about to be, so she left unseen.
   Trying her best not to get caught, she ran as fast as she could out of the castle. It was a smaller castle, since the student body was smaller than the original academy, so it wasnt difficult for her to leave.
   She ran out of the castle, through the courtyard, and across the sports field towards the woods. In the woods, she would meet a wall meant to keep humans out of the academy grounds. The wall was about 15 feet tall, so all she had to do was jump up, grab a tree, then jump back down on the other side, which she did with her supernatural speed.
   When she had finally escaped, she stopped to look back for a moment, smiled at her victory, then zoomed away, heading towards the "other" school.
.....
   Victoria couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong with her. She sat, staring at her ceiling, thinking about the vision.
   The first question that came to mind was the inquiry of why she was having them in the first place. The second question that she couldnt help but wonder was how she was having them, and if they were real.
   Caroline still hadn't returned to the dorm and it was getting late.

   Maybe she and Erica got held up by Internet or something.. She thought.

   While sitting in the dark, she thought of her mother, Martha.

   I asked Father if she was still alive, and he just smiled and got off topic. Ugh. She thought. Well, I have time now...maybe he'll answer my freaking questions...
   And with that she got up from the creaky bed, grabbed her hoodie and left.
.....
    Josephine ran and ran, tripping every now and then, which made her have sudden outbursts of rage. It had, after all, been decades since she'd had human blood, decades since she'd ran this fast, and relearning the tricks she used to know was frustrating.
    She was breathing hard (even though she was a vampire, she still had human attributes unlike other vampires) and she felt nervous. She had one teue chance at this. She was going to be in and out. No mercy. No hesitation. Molly was going to die. Painfully.
.....
   Caroline rubbed her temples for about the 100th time that night, sighing in frustration and getting a headache from the exhaustion.
   They were getting absolutely no where on this.

   "Maybe we should just use magic to test everyone's voices." Erica suggested, "I could look in the library on Monday to see what they have."
   Caroline looked up at the computer screen that had nothing helpful on it, then sighed and looked away.

   "Yeah, yeah. Let's just do that. It's getting late, and Victoria is probably worried since I haven't texted." She picked up her black, long coat, and strode gracefully to the door.
   Erica just smiled and closed her laptop, glad to finally take a break.

   "I just hope this whole thing gets resolved. Hey, uh, Caroline?" Erica said.
   Caroline turned, standing, ready to leave. She wasn't impatient, but she wasn't allowed in that Academy, so she had to get out of there without being seen

   "How did you find out about something being wrong?" Erica asked.
  Caroline just smiled slightly and sighed.

   "All for another day. But right now, just relax, take a warm shower, go out with boys, focus on school, and kick your Demons in the ass. Erica, you're very special, just worry about what you need to. And also, you can rest easy knowing you told someone what happened. You got it off your chest." Caroline said with a strong voice. She gave her one last strong and encouraging smile, then she left swiftly, leaving Erica in her dorm room with a smile a smile of her own.
    A good, genuine smile that she hadn't had for a long time.
.....
   Victoria was nervous. She hadn't talked to her father much at all, and the way he had asked her that question still rang around in her head, echoing.

  "Victoria, do you believe that I am your father?"

  But now that she thought of it, with her memories all in tact, somewhat, she didn't really recognize him until she saw the picture on his desk. Strange.
   She raised a shaky hand to the large, wooden doors of his office, and knocked hard and loud three times.

   "Enter," a male voice said through the door.
   She grabbed the handle and pulled the heavy door open, revealing the dark, dark office. Headmaster Dracula was sitting at his desk looking over papers sorted into files. When he looked up and saw Victoria, he smiled warmly.
    "Ah, Victoria, what brings me the pleasure?" He asked.

    "Hello, Father, I've come to ask you a few questions." She responded.
   He gestured to a chair in front of the desk and she sat in it, folding her hands neatly on her lap.
  
   "First off...I wanted to say that I heard about Mum no longer being with us.." She said looking down at her hands. She began to fidget with her fingers and finger nails. Her head still hurt from crying.
    He looked about her with a sad expression.

   "I see," was all he said.
    She continued.

    "My question here is, how did that happen?" She was now looking at him. She could feel the pleading and sadness of need g to know in her facial expression, and she could see that he noticed it. His own expression shifted, which told her this was a difficult topic of discussion.
    He sighed.

   "Victoria, this is not a simple answer," he started. She leaned in closer, giving him full attention.
   "Your mother, she, you could say, she made the wrong people of the Supreme Council of Italy upset, and her punishment was to become a mortal. An unjust, and unlawfully accepted punishment, truth be told. She died because her age, 1,096, caught up to her. She died a mortal."