The False Vampire

After the initial shock of the news that Dr Treacle had admitted, I had cried. Jae sat by my side for what felt like hours, hugging and rocking me gently. I didn’t know how I would face my parents, I didn’t know what I would tell them. How could I tell them news like this?

I knew the Purswells would be supportive, but their support wasn’t the only type I needed. I needed a friend. One like Agata. My decision made, I had headed back to the school. School. I felt relieved knowing that there was only one month left until graduation. That I wouldn’t have to put up with the looks of snobbish teenagers as they sneered at me.

I left Jae whilst he slept, snoring softly into the covers of the blankets that he had pulled around his chin. For someone who was supposedly made of sunlight, he certainly grew cold very easily. The gothic architecture loomed ahead of me as the bus chugged along the road. I halfheartedly wished that it was made of a rough grey stone that crumbled at the touch, guarded by gargoyles. The school was swarming with students in everyday clothing, a plethora of colours that were so unusual to me. Different from the standard black, white and grey uniform.

I headed to the place I knew off by heart, but hadn’t visited in the past week. My dorm room. I stepped inside, wary of what I may find. Agata was a slob by heart, and I hadn’t been here to clean up her messes. Instead, the room was clean. There were no random shirts or ties, no muddy school shoes on the mat beside the door. Even Agata’s car keys were missing.

Circling around the room, I became desperate to find her. The fridge was empty, cleared of her favourite coconut shakes which I knew she never ran out of. The bathroom only contained my dirty laundry. Had she left the school? Or had she changed dorms?

Agata wouldn’t do either without telling me. Despite the rough start we had initially, she had grown to be a close friend of mine. I cradled my stomach out of fear, where was she?

The police didn’t take long to arrive after I had informed the school staff that Agatas personal belongings were no longer in her room. I sat in the lounge room, waiting anxiously. The three short raps had startled me - which didn’t seem to be hard these past few days. I opened the door to the men in blue, who efficiently and non-politely shoved their way past me. I wanted to snap at them.

‘Hey! No touchy the pregnant one!’

I knew from the look on their faces that this wasn’t the time for it. Knowing they were going to search the place, I sat on the wooden stalls that served for our breakfast bar. They were a minor indulgence from a shopping trip that Agatha and I had shared.

Someone knocked on the door again. Though I was closer, a policeman reached it before me and planted himself firmly in the doorway, blocking my view of whoever was outside. I couldn’t see him, but by god could I hear him. Trinnean was unmistakable, and perhaps the master at persuading people. He shouldered himself past the policeman, who may have only let him pass due to the fact that he was blind.

We were the two freaks in the room. The blind and the photosensitive[Remember to check the photosensitivity issue.]. It wasn’t long until the police finished searching the lounge room, collecting finger prints and collecting every stray hair. I was tempted to point out that I shed hair like nobodies business. They moved to the tiny bathroom as a unit.

Trinnean didn’t say anything until then. I wasn’t sure if he didn’t know what to say, or didn’t want anyone to hear it.

“I heard you were sniffing around campus. Can’t keep yourself out of trouble can you?”

“Oh, you know me, can’t help myself,” I snorted sarcastically. I was going to go hysterical at any moment, at the slightest snap of his fingers.

“Yes, you do like your adventures,” his meaning was unmistakable to me as he glanced out of the corner of his eyes. I imagined it was more for effect than functionality. What, of course it would be for effect. He’s bloody blind!

“Never could say no,” we sat in silence for a while.

“You missed last weeks training session.”

“I’ve been sick, what did you want me to do, vomit all over you while trying to throw a punch? Not going to happen,” Trinnean raised his eyebrows at my attitude, staring at a spot near my ear. It struck me as funny that sometimes he was so dead on, and sometimes so far off that it made Timbuktu an easy hike from here.

“Fair enough,” he conceded, “But we’re finally making progress. You’ve almost mastered the knives, I don’t want you loosing anything just yet.”

“I wont,” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Elijah had been the one teaching me to use them, “I just needed a break, like I said.”

“Why don’t we go do some now?” I froze. I wouldn’t tell him I was pregnant, especially considering his status in the world of the Folk. He would just as likely command an attack on the Purswells, not even thinking it would be by other means. He’d taken me on as a sister. A feeling I reciprocated.

“I can’t,” I rubbed my stomach, “Doctors orders. She said I had a really nasty stomach bug and I have to take it easy for the next fews months,” try the next eight months, “apparently it takes a few months to go away.”

“Well, that sucks then. What clinic did you go to? Perhaps you should try to get a different diagnosis.”

“Trust me, I don’t think this doctor was wrong,” I smiled wryly. The police exiting the bathroom stopped further conversation from flowing. When they gestured for me to open my room, I complied. They weren’t clean about searching, instead overturning blankets and mattresses. They put everything back, but they were messy. They practically stripped the room bare, collecting a few fingerprints and hairs. I had no doubt they would only find my own. No one had been in my room.

Problems didn’t start until they wanted to search Agatha’s room. I pursed my lips, slightly annoyed at the request, but understanding the need to access her private quarters. We had to ring administration to send maintenance. Apparently, they were the only ones that had codes that would open every door. That took time to track them down in an environment as large as this. While we were waiting, I set to cleaning my room. For the first time, I allowed Trinnean into my room. I could practically smell his discomfort a mile away.

Trinnean couldn’t help but touch everything that laid in his path. It was a natural curiosity I suppose, as well as a desire to understand his surroundings. As I shuffled objects around in a vain attempt of cleaning, I felt the unmistakable urge to vomit. Trying to rein it in as much as I could, I stood still with my eyes closed and mouth pressed into a firm line.

A knock sounded from my door, breaking my concentration. I opened my eyes, slightly annoyed at the intruder. It was a police officer, his uniform crinkled and his face scrunched in concern. With a small frown, he beckoned us out of the room. The maintenance man had arrived, and was busy opening the locked door to Agatas room. I grasped Trinneans hand as he came to a stand still beside me. His unseeing eyes darted around the room. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume he was cataloguing all the details. The grim expressions of the police, the formation they stood in. It was what I was doing.

The door let out a single, loud beep that stretched for a few seconds. It startled me, my body jolting slightly. It seemed to startled Trinnean even more, and I felt the shift in his muscles that confirmed it. He let go of my hand, wrapping an arm around my waist.

The door swung open slightly, creaking ominously. Police officers obscured my vision as they swarmed into the room. It was however, hard to mistake the coppery smell that rushed out, along with the scent of musky air. I stepped forward, shrugging off Trinneans arm in the process.

Inside Agatas room was an exact replica of mine, except messier. Her sheets were askew, her floor littered in dirty clothes and rubbish. Police were pulling out small compacts of black and white powders that allowed them to search for fingerprints. A shaky hand covered my mouth. She didn’t leave. She was missing.

“M’am, we’d like to take you back to the station with us for an official statement,” a police officer said from behind me. I nodded in silence.

“How would you describe your relationship with Ms Alejandra?”

“We…we were friends. I mean, we started out fighting but we sorted it all out. We hung out all the time outside of school.”

My words seemed to choke on a sob as I listened to a combination of the interrogators pen scratching paper and the soft whirring of the lie detector that sat in front of me. The question continued for hours, until I was bone weary and thirsty. My mouth was so dry that I felt as though my lips were stuck to my teeth. My requests for water had been denied several times.

Several hours ago, a hazy light had begun to form in the corner of the room. I glanced around worriedly. Would anyone see the brownie? I knew from countless TV shows that other officers sat behind the mirror that was in front of me. It was all I could do to not react to its antics as it tugged the interrogators ears and clothes. Moving his pen or chair several times.

By the end of it all, he was as frazzled as I. Exiting the room, I stared out the windows. It was pitch black outside. I was free to go, and was cleared of all suspicions. They explained that they would keep searching for her. I only hoped that they found her. Walking to the closest water dispenser, I filled a cup and sat in a nearby chair, staring at the patterns on the floor between my feet.

“The brownie told me where you were.”

I looked up, not surprised to see Jae, his face a mix of sympathy, sorrow, concern and anger. I searched his face even longer, not knowing was I was looking for. He sat down next to me, wrapping his arms comfortingly around me, I buried my head into his shoulder. For the second time that day, I cried.