~ Seven in the morning, School~
He's here... I can feel his presence. I walked down the school hallway with the hair on my neck stiff as a porcupine needle, sharpened and ready to strike at the one who threatened me.
"Pleasure to meet you all." The thick French accent could not be mistaken for none other than him.
I entered the teacher's lounge, Mr. Kinman and half the teachers already there, Turner, Jenny, Mr. Trotter and Mr. Simmons.
And him.
"Gerard Valmonte le Ghent. Mr. Le Ghent for short." His voice was like Rachelle's family's... reveled in mystery and sounding like death.
"Turner Harper, Jennifer Jenningson, Gregory Trotter, and Bob Simmons." Mr. Kinman announced everyone to the newcomer, including me. "And Richard McKenseth."
"Pleasure to meet you all. Merci beaucoup for the warm welcome." Though he spoke to everyone, his royal blue, almost black eyes were fixated on mine.
Long curly black hair, pale skin, lips tinged with purple as if forever cold, forever dead. The manner in which he stood, his shoulders broad and polite nods and handshakes, he didn't fit in to a modern society. His etiquette was ancient... probably over two hundreds years old. It reminded me of the Regency Period films. As everyone was introduced he offered his hand to me for a handshake. I took it without hesitation, without suspicion.
Ice cold! Brrr... It was the end of Winter, and my hands never got that cold. It reminded me of all Rachelle's skimp outfits and she never felt cold once.
"Pleasure." He nodded to me.
I returned the nod with an empty greeting. "Welcome."
When everyone dispersed to their classrooms, I followed Le Ghent to his. I wouldn't let the day pass without a confrontation. Without answers. When he entered his classroom and turned the light on, I followed him in. He turned towards me in a swift, lithe movement while I shut the door and locked it.
Here I was, a mere human in a locked room with an ancient vampire. Was I crazy?!
"So... you are the humain. Either the absence of your usual nervousness lends you new confidence, or incredible stupidity."
And he did very well to remind me of that.
"And you aren't a descendant of French royalty." I replied smoothly without stutter. My nerves were fading, I was becoming a different person in the mirror of my fate.
"If indeed, I am not. Then what am I?" His eyebrow lifted with amusement and he looked at me in waiting.
"You are the ancestor."
With attentive, calculating eyes he attempted to stare me down. I adjusted my sunglasses to focus better. I watched him set a black leather satchel on his desk and sit in the chair while never averting his gaze, and neither did I. Clasping strong, white knuckles together he leaned back in the chair to study me.
"I'm impressed by your acute calculative skills." He gestured with his eyes to a table chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat so we shall get better acquainted."
My eyes widened in surprise. That chair hadn't been there just seconds ago. Was he so fast to move that chair in position without me noticing? It's... impossible. He never left my sight!
I walked over to the chair and sat down. "Where's Rachelle and her family?" I asked immediately, not waiting for pleasantries.
The corner of his eyes tensed, the muscles in his cheeks stone-still. "You failed to become Kin de Sang. Why?"
"Ignoring my questions. Not a good start to a healthy relationship." I pointed out.
"And you ignore mine as well, monsieur Arishto."
There it is again. That name for me... It sounds vaguely familiar, and yet uncomfortably strange. "Why do your kind call me Arishto?"
"My question shall be answered first." His voice became low and demanding. "Arishto."
I struggled to compose myself. I wasn't going to learn any information from this stubborn vampire without first obliging to his condition. He refused to waver under my interrogation so why should I waver under his?
"I don't know." I shrugged with honesty then added a little bite to my bark. "I've been drinking holy water and maybe it backfired."
A low chuckle emanated from his throat. "Laurence warned me of your struggle to grasp onto reality and resorting to distasteful raw humour. It's surprisingly... appealing. I can understand why my fiancee has her eyes on you. Tell me. Why not become a Esxlave de Sang for our kind, since you cannot become Kin? Then you would at least be granted a small lease in her life."
My teeth grind together at his audacity to rub salt in my wound, to remind me of how I shall not share a life with Rachelle because I wasn't a Esxlave or Kin. "Elaine never had to ask me questions. She knows who I am with a glance; why don't you ask her?"
His lips tensed instantly, the muscles on his cheeks tightening. Good, I exposed a weakness in his ability. He doesn't know a thing about me, except that Rachelle 'has her eyes on me'. Some strong, ancient vampire he is. Elaine had more precious influence on me. Then again, she wasn't Rachelle's suitor either.
"Why are you here?" I demanded.
"Zzzip." Gerard let out a sharp exhale and snapped his fingers in the air. "You don't ask questions any longer. I am a French and Spanish teacher. No more, no less. And you are a Science teacher. No more... no less. Comprendre, monsieur McKenseth Arishto?"
"I understand perfectly, monsieur Duke Gerard Valmonte Le Ghent." I narrowed my eyes and refused to waver.
His eyes bled dark when I said 'Duke'. "S'il vous plaît... call me Gerard. I am no Duke here."
"Hm. Where is Rachelle?" I blurted out, my nerves turned into restlessness. I wanted to force an answer out of him. His smooth, suave coolness was tearing my insides apart, making me more curious than ever before.
"Not with you."
A spark of anger ignited in me and before I could think, my hand reached into my shirt pocket, grabbed the ballpoint pen and slung it in Gerard's direction. Towards his face.
With a wisp and whoosh of the air, Gerard caught the pen in his left hand, the point merely a few inches from his face. In the blink of an eye, the tip of the pin was in front of my right eye, my sunglasses gone, and Gerard's large body looming over me. I gasped and held my breath, trying not to move or the tip of the pen would touch my eye.
He muttered a few French phrases into my ear, his cold breath making me shudder. A tinge of fear shook my insides as I heard him inhale, probably smelling the scent of my blood and thinking about ripping my throat out. Great, I'd angered an ancient vampire with my own burst of rage. When did I become outspoken and short-temperamental?
"In English, please." I whispered, holding my breath.
He slowly removed the pen from my eye and flipped it around, shoving it back into my shirt pocket. From his other hand he dropped my sunglasses into my lap. "Like I said. I am French and Spanish teacher. No more, no less. Now if you'll excuse me, monsieur, my class awaits me."
Just a French and Spanish teacher my arse. Before the day was over I was going to reveal his agenda. No matter what it took. For some reason, I did not feel a threat on my life from this man. I felt... he was watching over me, like a vampire surveillance camera. His eyes carried the weight of a bodyguard and analysis, not that of one who wanted to sever my life line. No... he was interested in something else entirely. But what?
I tried to shake his gaze off me while I put on my sunglasses and stood up. "I need to know where Rachelle is." I insisted one last time before the students would arrive.
"You made your choice, monsieur, and now you must live with it. After school, we'll talk further in this very room. Good day, Arishto."
I wanted to scream. I'd never been this angry before... my blood was boiling, my heart thumping wildly. He was avoiding all my inquisitions and being a constant bloody reminder of my hard-boiled fate.
"Yes, I have to live with the insufferable fate... that I did not choose. My blood made the choice." I muttered angrily before fast-walking to the door, unlocking it and slinging it open to leave.
~After school~
As the school bell rang I wiped the chalkboard clean to distract myself while all my students were dismissed. Almost all the white chalk wiped, I stopped at the corner of "Y" in Gravity. Gravity was still written there, from yesterday. I stared at the word in longing and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to calm the feelings welling up inside me. My jaw tensed as I inhaled deeply, my whole body trembling.
Rachelle...
Click.
The sound of my door shutting and locking, signaled the arrival of him. I placed the chalkboard eraser down and swept my hands clean. Anticipation welled up inside me, desperation struggling to remain dormant. I wanted answers, or at least one, where Rachelle is. Wiggling my sunglasses, I turned around to face my nemesis.
Ugh. Really?!
"Hey, Rich."
...
The bloody janitor. Really. As usual, his dark hair was scraggly and he wore ripped jeans, leather boots and a plaid shirt, an outfit bordering on grunge cowboy. If that even exists.
I rolled my eyes behind the shades and waved casually. "Hey, Brett." I messily gathered all the sheets off my desk and slid them into the drawer.
"How's it going?" Brett started his usual empty chit chat.
"So so. Got a million tests to grade, and two hours to do it." I replied emptily.
"Heavy." He replied with a sharp exhale.
I shrugged and gathered my things for home when another two clicks shot my attention upward. Good, Brett was leaving. No, why would Brett leave as soon as he arrived?
Crack.
I stood in shock, complete still, as I saw the looming body of my ancient vampire visitor, arms wrapped around the janitor from behind. The now unconscious janitor with his neck lolled to the side, arms and legs limp. Not unconscious... dead.
My feet frozen to the floor, jaw tense and eyes watering from unblinking shock, I gulped.
"Good. You are aware the consequence of your first act of defiance towards me. The way I see it, you've got exactly fifty two seconds before Mr. Kinman arrives with a set of new schedules for the upcoming dance. Let's see how well you betray your perfect honesty, Mr. McKenseth. What is that phrase in ball sports?" Gerard raised his finger to his chin to think. "Oh, that's right... Think fast."
With a whooosh he blurred away and Brett's body collapsed to the floor with a loud thud. It took me a few seconds to exhale and realize the urgency of the situation. Gerard expected me to clean up his dirty work, the murder of an innocent janitor?! Talk bout the irony.
"What the bloody hell!" I uttered in a hushed, fear whisper.
"Tick tock."
I spun around towards a whisper in my right ear. There was no one in sight. I could've sworn I heard Gerard. Dammit... more vampiric abilities. I returned my gaze to stare sadly at the janitor and wiggled my sunglasses, making the only decision I could.
I rushed over to Brett's body and dragged it towards my desk. Oh, jeez. He was really heavy! I grunted as I struggled to pull him faster. On the way I knocked into a student's desk, almost tripping. Damn, I'd never pulled a corpse around before... The fact that I pulled a corpse around and was merely worried about his weight just added to the insanity gripping my mind. I hid him underneath my desk, stuffing him against the desk wall that hid the front view. Inhaling sharply I winced from the rank stench rising to my nostrils. How did he stink so bad from only being dead for seconds?! Satisfied that I hid him well enough to be temporarily unnoticed, I clasped my hands together in relief before noticing the roller bucket and mop with alarmed eyes.
Crrreak.
Too late to hide that! Mr. Kinman was here!
While he entered, I stood by my desk and tried to act casual, normal.
"Come to bring me schedules for the dance?" I asked.
His head shot upward to look at me with narrowed eyes. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
I froze and kicked myself inwardly, realizing nobody had informed me of that, only Gerard. A freaking eavesdropping vampire. "Oh, y-you always do that before every dance." I stuttered. Great. I can stare a big, bad vampire down, but I can't cover up a murder without becoming tongue-tied?
"Do I?" Mr. Kinman shrugged and handed me two sheets of paper. Well at least he didn't suspect anything. This was easier than I expected.
I made sure to stand near the side of the desk so he wouldn't walk any further. I grabbed the schedule sheets and set them on top of the stack I'd prepared to take home.
"Have a good evening, Mr. McKenseth." He nodded and turned towards the door to leave.
I nodded stiffly. "Good evening."
As Mr. Kinman left and shut the door I let out a long exhale of relief. Taking off my sunglasses I rubbed my eyes and tried not to start hyperventilating. Now what do I do with the body?!
Crrreak.
The sound of the door opening shot my eyes up.
"Oh, and one thing. When you see Brett, tell him to visit my office next." That was Mr. Kinman, peeking in the doorway.
My neck stiffened, jaw tight, I answered as casually as I could. "I will!"
Mr. Kinman nodded and shut the door. In a worried, nervous state I rushed to the door and locked it. Turning around I glared at the mop bucket. "You ruined my perfect alibi you stupid bloody mop bucket!" I spat angrily in a hushed whisper.
In a blurring instant, Gerard appeared next to the mop bucket. I almost gasped, my heart leaping to the ceiling. An arrogant smirk was on his face, apparently satisfied or mocking what I'd done.
"Bravo! Bravo!" He clapped his hands loudly, taking a few steps towards me. "Perhaps you do possess a tiny bit of skill. Although you might want to take it easy on the stupid bloody mop bucket."
"You broke his neck." I almost shouted, angrily.
"What did you expect me to do? Drop a piano on him? For someone who wishes he was Bloodkin, you sure aren't prepared for the full ramifications of the type of lifestyle the Kin de Sang demands." Gerard vanished from in front of me. I searched for him everywhere in the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. No windows were open, the door was shut and still locked to my shock. How the hell had he entered the room with a locked door and no other open entrance?
I took a few seconds to clear my mind and take deep breaths. I shut my eyes. That's when I noticed something. A scent. Not Brett's disgusting stench, but a different one. The scent of a different type of death, a lingering one. If death had an age, I could smell it... It was like knowing the difference between a fresh apple, a bruised one, and a rotten one. Age wise, I could tell that Gerard was an apple turned to ash.
And he was still here. In this very room.
I inhaled deeply to memorize his scent, something I hadn't done since the last time my mum made her special apple pie. And I followed his scent with my nose... My nose tipped upwards, bending my neck back drastically. My eyebrows lifted as the scent grew stronger. I opened my eyes to stare at the ceiling, and Gerard's entire body back to the ceiling, clawed hands clasping it, black eyes staring down at me.
"Life is difficult as is, without adding you showing off to the bloody list." I murmured.
He jumped from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor, like a cat. "You are not scared of me. Why?"
I took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye. That's a question I'm glad to answer. "You don't really want to kill me. Why?"
His lips twitched into an amused grin, something I would have to get used to if that was his normal reaction to practically every thing I did. Like a child playing with his new Christmas toy. "I have finally realized your true worth. Before you have even begun to see a fraction of it..." He blurred away and appeared at my desk. If I had blinked I would have missed it. He looked down below my desk for a few seconds before returning his gaze to me.
"Why did you kill him?" I asked, puzzled beyond recognition.
"I will let you in on a little secret. Brett Farrow was not an innocent petite humain..."
My eyebrows furrowed. "Not innocent? How?"
Gerard shook his head slowly. "The first step to the road of truth is to ask the right question."
My lips pursed at his poetry. He and Elaine were similar in that retrospect, but he was less cryptic, and I was glad. I didn't have the strength to unravel all the braids of of a vampire mind.
Brett Farrow was not an innocent petite humain...
My eyes widened with a sudden theory. "Not human?"
Gerard nodded his head slowly.
"Then... he was a Kin de Sang, too?" I guessed.
Gerard shook his head slowly.
Not a Kin de Sang?! These kind of answers were getting quite annoying. I groaned in dissatisfaction. "Then what is he, if not human? A clear explanation would suffice."
"That is for you to ascertain. The true ability of your skills shall be judged. I know your worth, Arishto, while you do not realize your own. It is time for you to learn a fraction of your worth. Fulfill this small task of learning the true identity of one that has existed alongside humans for several years without suspicion, and I will grant you the answers I am capable of giving. I dezire to know exactly why my fiancee is infatuated with a man of Science."
"Not another test." I groaned as he blurred and disappeared again. This time for good. Scent and sight gone, and my door swung open in a blast of proof. "Vampires and your bloody tests!"
After I was done venting I exhaled sharply, my shoulders falling, and locked my classroom door.
"Great. Figure out what Brett really was, not human... How do I do that?" I muttered to myself, wiggling my glasses. "How do I figure out the identity of anything? All the five senses of course. He looks human, sounds like one, feels like one... Doesn't smell like one."
My eyebrows shot up in excitement at an epiphany. "I'll check his DNA!"
Who knew at the start of this day, I'd be a Forensic Scientist at the end of it?