S.H. 2: Evil Befalls Thee

Within minutes we reached Professor Keyes’ quarters. I paused halfway up the spiral staircase, suddenly unsure. Would she be in her office at this time or in her bedroom? There was only one way to find out.

‘We’ll try her office first and then the bedroom,’ I said softly. The three of us continued quietly up the stairs and soon found ourselves face-to-face with the shiny cherry-wood door. I knocked on it, hard. No answer. I knocked again, to the same result.

‘I don’t think she’s there,’ Riley shrugged.

‘Apparently not.’ The words had more venom in them than I’d intended but I was practically seething with anger and hatred for that sodding vampire tramp, and those emotions seriously needed to get out.

I turned on my heel and hurried quietly back down the stairs, coming to a halt outside the only other cherry-wood door there, about a quarter of the way up the staircase, set back from the steps on a tiny landing. I took a deep breath, stepped onto the landing and knocked on the door. There was a sudden flurry of sound from inside - rustling blankets, then footsteps, then there was a loud click and the door opened. Professor Keyes’ face was framed in the gap between door and frame, her eyes wide with surprise and yet a little nervous at the sight of us.

‘Miss Marshbanks,’ she frowned. ‘What are you and your little friends doing here at -’ she glanced at her watch - ‘four AM?’

‘We need to talk to you. It’s very important,’ I said.

‘What does it concern that is too important to wait until morning?’

‘Morgan Roberts,’ Kota said, quietly.

‘Morgan… Roberts?’ Professor Keyes frowned.

‘That’s right. The girl who was murdered,’ I snapped. ‘And now we’d like to talk to you about it. There’s not a law against that, is there?’

She paused, her eyes flicking from my angry expression to Kota’s nervous one, then to Riley’s terrified one.

‘I suppose not. Would you like to come in?’ She pulled the door open wider, enough for us to see the room beyond - which was apparently a sort of foyer for her quarters.

‘Not particularly, but we might as well.’ I followed Professor Keyes back through the door and into the room.

‘Please sit down,’ she said, gesturing towards a large, comfy looking red sofa opposite where we stood. Riley glanced at me and I nodded slightly.

The three of us settled into the cushions, which were just as soft and squishy as the armchair I’d sat in in Professor Keyes’ office on my first day.

‘So,’ she began. ‘What was it you wanted to talk to me about?’

‘Well,’ I said. ‘Where shall we begin?’

‘At the beginning?’ Riley suggested with a nervous giggle. I shot her an angry thought - Now isnot the time.

‘I was thinking I’d start with the simple fact that we know what you are,’ I said, smiling sweetly at Professor Keyes.

‘You… know?’ she frowned, her smile faltering slightly.

I reached out towards her with my mind, feeling for her thoughts, and I heard them; About time! I can’t believe she didn’t figure it out before this… but how did she find out?

‘Your little vamp friend told us.’

‘My little… What?’ she bluffed.

‘Don’t try that,’ Kota said. ‘We’re not stupid.’

Are you sure about that? Professor Keyes thought, snidely.

‘Why don’t you just admit it?’ I tried. ‘It’s not like we don’t know already, but it’s always better to hear it direct.’

‘What do you want me to say?’ she exploded. ‘Yes, I’m a vampire. Yes, so is Scarlett. I’m sorry she ate your friend, but really, we have to survive somehow!’

‘By killing innocent people?’ Riley almost yelled.

‘Scarlett is young. She has not yet matured to the stage where she can feed without killing.’
‘Then why the hell is she here?!’ snapped Riley.

‘Because she’s only half vampire and her family thought it would be best if she learned to suppress that vampire half and just be a normal human.’

‘Because that’s such a brilliant idea, send some tramp who’s only ever known humans as food to a school full of humans. This place must be like a goddamn all-you-can-eat buffet to her!’ Kota exclaimed.

‘Her family and I have done our best for her! She hasn’t been in the human world long enough to understand the repercussions of her actions, and she cannot possibly be blamed for this indiscretion.’

‘That’s such bull!’ I cried. ‘She’s proud, the little bitch! All happy ’cause she killed the Witch-’ I cut off, suddenly aware I’d said too much. Kota’s mental voice rang in my head, full of accusation and fear - Laurel! No!

Professor Keyes blinked. ‘Excuse me?’ she said.

‘She said she was so happy ’cause she’d killed some bitch,’ Riley said, trying in vain to save us all.

‘That’s not what Miss Marshbanks here said.’

Shit. I broadcast the thought on Riley and Kota’s “wavelengths” so they’d hear me. How the hell do we get out of this one?

I got no reply.

As I stared at Riley and Kota in horror, Professor Keyes broke the silence that had fallen between us.

‘You see, what I believe I actually heard was the word ‘Witch’. Is that what you said?’

‘Why would you think I said that?’ I said, nervously.

Don’t try and wriggle your way out of this one, you stupid child, Professor Keyes thought.

‘Fine then,’ I retorted, my anger flooding back. ‘I’ll just come clean, shall I? My name is Laurel Janie Marshbanks, I’m fifteen years old, and I’m a Blood Witch. I’ve practised the Craft for as long as I can remember, under the supervision of first my parents, and then my sister Ashleigh. Since I came to Mill Brook, I met Riley and Kota - Riley being a Blood Witch but newer to the craft, and Kota being one also but having practised for as I long as I have. Together we became the Witches Three, which I would imagine even you vamps have heard of, and then we discovered Morgan was a Blood Witch too, and she was blessed as the Fourth Witch. Together we’ve fought our fair share of evil beings since… ooh… October, until Morgan was murdered last week. Oh, and by the way, I’m not actually stupid - you should ask my teachers.’

At least she had the decency to at least look shocked. I smiled as Riley and Kota stared at me in disbelief.

‘The Witches Three? But those powers died with the last, we were sure of it,’ Professor Keyes frowned.

‘You vamps always think that,’ I snapped. ‘When will you lot understand that the Power likes to lay dormant for a few decades and emerge only occasionally? You like to think you’re so bloody clever, with your immortality and your enhanced strength and senses and whatnot but I swear, it’s your brains that need enhancing. Jeez!’

‘There is no need to be offensive to my race,’ Professor Keyes said, blandly.

‘There’s no need to go around murdering my race!’ I yelled. ‘But you do it anyway, don’t you?!’

‘I am afraid to say that some of us do, yes.’

‘Actually,’ Kota interjected, ‘I think you’ll find most vamps spend their time eating humans.’
‘I can’t help the fact that vampires require human blood to stay alive.’

‘That’s not true - you just require blood. You seem to be doing pretty good, and when was the last time you went out and ate someone?’ Riley asked.

‘Yeah, surely animal blood would have the same nutritional sustenance for you guys as human blood does?’ Kota mused.

‘It is true that animal blood works just as well,’ Professor Keyes agreed. ‘It is just that some prefer human blood. It’s like… vegetarianism.’

‘That’s so witty,’ I said, sarcastically. ‘Vampire vegetarians. Ha, ha.’

An uneasy silence fell. I tried to listen in on Professor Keyes’ thoughts but I could only get snippets - vamps were apparently harder to read than anything else.

…Never liked Witches… warn Scarlett… they’ll come for her… keep up the pretence…

I was a little worried as to what she was actually thinking - I didn’t like not being able to hear everything. It was unnerving. I sent a thought to Riley and Kota; I can’t tell what she’s thinking but I don’t think she’s going to be our ally for much longer.

What makes you think that? Riley thought.

She’s definitely gonna be a danger to us, Kota agreed. We should steer clear of her as best we can.

She’s thinking something about warning Scarlett and keeping up the pretence. She’s probably gonna mess with us a bit and then totally screw us over when the worst comes to it, I replied to them both.

She’s a vamp, Kota replied. What were you expecting, instant friendship with her? Vamps and Witches have never got on. It doesn’t happen.

By this point Professor Keyes seemed to have noticed we were having an entirely silent conversation.

‘Look, girls,’ she said. ‘There’s not much I can do about Scarlett, so you might as well head back to your dorm and get some sleep before breakfast.’

‘What do you mean, there’s nothing you can do?’ Kota snapped.

‘Well, I can’t exactly report her to the police, can I?’

‘That’s very true,’ I nodded, eyeing Kota and sending her two quick words: Let’s go.

Riley sighed softly. ‘Somebody has to do something.’

‘They do,’ I said, ‘but apparently it’s not for us to say who. After all, we’re just lowly Witches. Come on, let’s go.’

‘Let’s,’ Kota agreed, standing up.

‘Laters, Prof,’ I said with a sour chuckle, as I followed Kota from the room. Riley trailed behind, loudly thinking why didn’t we stay and yell at her about not doing anything?

Later, I thought back.

It took us a little over twenty minutes to get back to our dorm, and the moment we were there Riley started badgering me to explain why we’d left so suddenly.

‘We left because Professor Keyes is, or at least will, turn round and stab us all in the back the moment we start on Scarlett again. She’s on her side, not ours,’ Kota said, simply. ‘It’s not difficult to see.’

‘That doesn’t explain why we’re not making her do anything,’ Riley said stubbornly.

‘Because there isn’t anything she can do except confront Scarlett herself, and she’s not going to do it, nor would she back us up if we did it. Unfortunately, if we want to go up against Scarlett, we’re going to have to go up against both of them,’ I explained.

‘Surely that wouldn’t be such a big deal? We can just, y’know, blow them up or whatever,’ Riley frowned.

‘Jeez, Riley, you can be so exceptionally dim sometimes,’ Kota said crossly. ‘They’re vampires. The only way to kill them is staking, beheading or prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. We might be Witches but we’re not good enough with our fighting skills to win with hand-to-hand combat.’

‘Fire works pretty well too - it doesn’t have to be caused by sunlight, although it does help. Morgan would’ve been our best chance in this situation and she’s not around any more, so there’s not much we can do unless we can come up with some kind of plan, and I’m all out of plans right now,’ I said.

It was true - Morgan could have been the best, or possibly the only chance we had against the vamps, and she was gone, and her powers were gone with her. Without her, we had nothing. My telepathy was useless, as was Riley’s healing. Kota’s freezing power might’ve been helpful but we’d still have to get them away from the rest of the school to be able to dust them without anyone seeing, and that wasn’t going to be easy.