"What's this?" Lira asked dumbly. She was in the mess hall having her dinner when Nicholas suddenly appeared out of nowhere, thrusting a small plastic container at her.
"Strawberries," Nicholas said, stating the obvious.
"I know these are strawberries, but why are you giving me one?" she asked.
Nicholas looked crestfallen, or at least he pretended to. "You said we're friends, Lira. Are friends not allowed to give gifts to their friends?"
"Not if they have an ulterior motive. These are probably poisoned."
"You really do know how to hurt my feelings, Lira," he said looking dejected. He then took a piece of strawberry form the container, sauntered towards a group of girls nearby and perched on their table. He said something to one of the girls that made her blush. She then opened her mouth for him and he fed her the strawberry. He smiled seductively at the girl and brushed her lips with his thumb, making the girl blush even more and looking so hopelessly in love with Nicholas. Then he stood and made his way towards the other vampires.
So these were not poisoned after all. But did he really need to show everyone his flirting skills just to make a point? Huh. Still... tTese strawberries looked so delicious. Maybe she'd try one. Matt gave her strawberries the other day as a bribe. Nicholas gave her strawberries today as a gift. What now, suddenly everybody noticed her gluttony for strawberries? And they thought they can persuade her with these succulent and mouth-watering fruits. Well, they did... a little.
"Aw. Lira is all grown up and having suitors now," Mari teased. "I'm so proud of you."
"No! He's a vampire, Mari," Lira reasoned out. Mari gave her a "so your point is?" look. Lira was about to explain further when she saw Yumi holding her tray of food and storming towards their table. She looked so angry and annoyed at Stephan who was walking beside her.
"Oh just drop dead!" Lira heard Yumi said angrily.
Lira saw Stephan said something but couldn't hear what it was.
"Go away. Why are you even here? Who left your cage open?" Yumi said.
Stephan said something Lira couldn't comprehend.
"Right, and I'll let my creepy crawler friends help decompose your body right after I introduce my fist to your face."
Stephan leaned closer to Yumi.
"I'd like to shove the cauldron in your mouth. Now shoo!" Yumi said before leaving a laughing Stephan behind.
Mari, who also witnessed Yumi's tirade, laughed and said, "Looks like Yumi is also having boy trouble." She then scooted closer to Lira. "Hey Lira, I have decided to take my flirtationship with Matt to the next level."
Lira eyed Mari with scrutiny. "What do you mean by 'next level' Mari?"
"I will confess my feelings for him," she said looking determined. "Maybe his a little dense; can't take a hint when a girl likes him. So I thought I might give him the push for him to realize I am the girl of his dreams."
Lira studied her friend. She didn't want Mari to get hurt and with what she was planning, Mari would end up brokenhearted. "Mari, maybe Matt is not the guy for you..."
"Oh I know, he's the one. It has been written in the stars," she said dreamily.
For now, Lira didn't have the heart to burst Mari's bubbles, but she couldn't let her friend make a fool of herself then regret it later, or let Mari get hurt. She'd have to talk with Yumi about this. Two heads were better than one. And she needed all the help she could get to prevent Mari from doing things she would definitely regret later.
As if on cue, a fuming Yumi sat beside her, her fiery bright red hair matched her reddened face. She then stabbed her fork several times to the poor meat on her plate before forcefully slicing it with the knife and popped a piece on her mouth, grinding the meat with her teeth until it was pulverized.
"Do you want to tell me what happened or would you rather keep on murdering your dinner?" Lira asked Yumi.
"Poor thing, really, that meat; double dead with your stabbing," Mari added.
Yumi pouted, slumped on her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, that creature from another species accused me of witchery!"
Both Lira and Mari gasped. Accusing someone of witchery was a grave insult. Not to mention it was a very sensitive topic. A witch was viewed as evil; an associate of the devil.
"It's not about him calling me a witch that made me angry," Yumi said softly. "It was how he said it, as if witches were disgusting creatures—as if I was a disgusting creature, a low life. It would have been better if he made fun of me being poor. I wouldn't be offended with that."
Lira wrapped her arms around Yumi's shoulders. "Oh Yumi, you are absolutely the most adorable 'creature' I have ever encountered; a wonderful friend. Don't mind what he said."
"I know what will make you happy Yumi," Mari said as she extracted something from her purse. "I was saving this for dessert to share with you guys."
"Ooooh! Chocolates!" Yumi said, suddenly brightening up.
"What made Stephan say those things to you anyway?" Mari asked.
"He said that I 'ensorcelled' him. He said something about me casting a spell over him or something; though he wouldn't say exactly what I supposedly did to him. But really, I didn't do anything."
"We know you didn't do anything," Mari reassured Yumi. "Besides, witches do not exist anymore."
"Why would Stephan even think it was you?" Lira asked.
"I really don't know. He said he heard me say it. But I never talk about those stuff, really," Yumi explained.
Lira pondered on that for a moment. Then a thought occurred to her. "Yumi, I have recently found out that vampires can hear our thoughts. Maybe witchery crossed your mind or something?"
"Hmmm..." Yumi looked as if she was trying to rummage her memories. Her face suddenly fell. "That time when we had our first class with them, well, I found Stephan looking cute and all, you know? I sort of wished I was good in mixing love potions like how good I was in mixing hair colors. But he looked so cute that time! It made me think of stupid things."
"So maybe he thought you were practicing witchcraft," Lira surmised.
"Well, let's not give them a thought. As we speak now, they're probably eavesdropping—or mind reading. Spooky creatures," Mari said.
Several days had passed and still Lira wasn't able to speak with Mari about her plans of making a confession to Matt. Knowing Mari, she would not settle for a mere love letter. No. She would probably bend on one knee with bouquet of roses on her hand and asking Matt to be her boyfriend. Mari was a good kid, really. She just happened to have a different view on love and courtship. This troubled Lira for she had no idea how to talk Mari out of her plans without offending or hurting their friend.
Lira also had not visited the library lately. She wanted to avoid running into Nicholas. Not that Nicholas looked like a guy who hangs out at libraries. Now that's a laughable notion. But just to be sure, she decided to avoid the library for now.
It was several nights later, when Lira was in the recreation room when Nicholas began teaching her about vampires. The rec room was where the students usually stay after they had their meals in the mess hall. Lira avoided the rec room as much as possible since the Elites declared the place as their territory ever since the vampires made their appearances there. But Yumi and Mari insisted on staying there, so she had no choice but to join them. Lira was seated on one of the comfortable couches in the room, a book on her lap, with Yumi and Mari across her sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor and watching TV with the rest of the students, when someone perched on the armrest beside her. She twisted her neck upwards and saw Nicholas looming over her. Automatically, Lira placed her hand on her chest.
Nicholas sniggered and said, "Don't worry. There isn't much of a view from up here."
Lira shot him a glare. "What do you want?"
"I was bored inside my coffin, so I decided to go out and play," he answered with a yawn, looking extremely uninterested.
"You sleep in coffins?"
"No Lira, we do not. We also sleep on comfortable bed. Mine is king size, if you want to know," he said with a knowing look.
"No I don't want to know Nicholas," she retorted with a scowl then brought her attention back on her book.
"I told you I will teach you about vampires."
Lira closed her book and gave Nicholas a challenging look. "Alright. Let's start with the basics. Why are vampires afraid of the sun?"
"Because it causes harm on our skin."
"Why?"
"We have sensitive skin?"
Lira shot him a threatening look.
"Oh alright. You noticed that our skin is lighter—paler—than you humans have, right? It's probably due to the lack of melanin in our body. That's why our skin easily gets burned. Since our physiological make up is different than yours, a ray of sunshine can hurt us badly."
"Okay. How come vampires have super human strength and powers like hearing other peoples' thoughts?"
"Again, our physiological make up is different than yours. When our ancestors were hit by the disease, it somehow altered their genetic makeup. Yes, we are stronger and faster than humans, because our bodies were built that way."
"And powers?"
"If by powers you mean if we can manifest something out of thin air, or control the lightning or water, then we don't have that kind of power. However, our senses are highly sensitive that we can hear other people's thoughts. We can hear footsteps from miles afar if we concentrate; smell even the faintest scent. We can hear the pounding of a heart very clearly... like how your heart beats fast whenever you sense me near you..."
Lira tried to compose her beating heart. It was because he was sitting too near her. That's why her heart was beating this loudly.
"We can also see very clearly in the dark; although we do have a severe case of photosensitivity. Very embarrassing, really," Nicholas added. "Any other questions?"
"I saw Stephan ate an apple. You can also eat normal food?"
"Yes, we can eat 'normal food', however we would rather not. It's like junk foods for vampires. Only blood can sustain our energy." Nicholas gave Lira an impatient look. "Lira, these are all basic vampire facts. Even a ten-year-old knows these things."
Lira crossed her arms and said indignantly, "Well, I don't know anything about vampires; I'm poor with these things."
Nicholas gave her a smug smile. "Oh what would happen to you if you haven't found a vampire friend like me?"
Lira could not restrain rolling her eyes. "Another question. Do you need to drink blood every day? I know that people between ages twenty to sixty are required to donate their blood every three or four months depending if you're male or female. Like a tax. But if all the vampires in this country drink blood, and based on the population of this country, shouldn't you fear the shortage of blood?"
"We don't have to feed every day, Lira. We can go for as long as three or four weeks without it.; although our strength will diminish. We never encountered a shortage before."
"About immortality? You don't die, but you still age. How come?"
"Yes, we do age. But a vampire's timeline is different from those of humans. I am a hundred and eighteen years old, but in the vampire world I am still considered as a young vampire. I am like an equivalent to an eighteen-year-old in your human world. We do, however, stop the physical aging process when we hit a certain age where we are at our strongest. Philip stopped aging when he physically looked thirty. My father, when he looked in his forties."
"How about clans? I don't understand how it works here."
"Let's discuss the ones here and in nearby countries. There are several smaller clans usually consisted of a family, or a group of vampires with the same interest. My family rules over all other clans—the ones here and some parts of Asia—with my father as the king and head of the family. Although we rule over the others, we still subject our actions and decisions based on universal vampire laws and what the vampire council suggests."
"Vampire council? Like a vampire government?"
"Something like that."
Lira pondered on that for a moment. "You said 'the ones here'. I understand that there are other clans around the world. So you mean there are also other vampire Kings and Princes out there?"
"Why, of course. But I'll tell you about them when we have a smaller audience next time."
It was only then that Lira noticed the students who gathered around them, also listening to Nicholas' story.
"It's almost curfew time anyway; we need to go to our dorms now," Lira said.
"I'll walk with you."
"Nicholas, remember what I told you before? About me thinking you're creepy if you insist on walking with me? Besides, the dorm's just alongside this building."
Nicholas threw his hands up in the air in a mock surrender. "Oh alright, I won't insist."
"There's a good boy," she said, slapping Nicholas' shoulder playfully. She (and even Nicholas by the looks of it) looked surprised with her action that she immediately withdrew her hand to her chest, afraid that Nicholas might grab her wrist in anger because of the contact. How could she easily forget that Nicholas was not her ordinary classmate? He was a vampire; and she should be wary over him. She hastily stood and said, "Well, goodnight." Then she and her friends went on their way.