Do Mine Eyes Deceive Me...A Gorgeous Sadistic Vampire?

"I don't really understand why we're supposed to pretend like we've never met before," I explained to him. We were sitting in a limo outside my new school, and he was laying down the law. "I thought we were supposed to be pretending like we were married . . ."

"The marriage story was only a cover for the ICOI, it doesn't apply anywhere else, and I've explained to them that I don't think it best for everyone here to know that you and I are married. We don't want any of them giving you any trouble about it. In addition, I think student-teacher relationships are forbidden. Nobody has even heard of you before, but I know they're awfully . . . excited to be meeting a Turned," he said anxiously. One of his hands was at the back of my neck, playing with my hair. The other was on the side of my leg, both of which were slung across his lap in the back seat.

Ok, so now it made sense. I wasn't about to complain about it because that would sound needy and immature. I think Harrison knew what I could be like when things got out of control. But it did make me resent the fact that we wouldn't get to spend more time like we had yesterday in the forest. The day I'll never forget.

"What do you mean by a 'Turned'?"I asked skeptically. "Aren't most of the people at this school immortals who have been turned into immortals by other immortals?"

Wow, I should probably not say the same word so many times in one sentence. But I needed to know these things. I didn't want to walk in, not knowing anything about the school.

"Not exactly," he sighed. I gently pulled my legs off of his lap and curled them beneath me on the leather seat. I placed my hand in his that had formerly been holding onto my leg. His other remained firmly at the nape of my neck. It felt nice.

"Go on," I urged.

"Well, you see, turning humans isn't really very common. When immortals hunt humans, they usually just kill them," I surprised myself by not flinching. Harrison went on tentatively now. "This means that the majority of immortals in there were born that way. I'm sure there are lots of hybrids, and this is one of the few schools that offers a substantial education for both the Greater and the Lesser Immortals. You may find yourself a bit out of place, actually . . ."

"When you say majority, do you mean - ?" I began.

"You're the only Turned," he said shortly.

"Perfect," I grumbled. "Just deem me President of the Freaks in an already freaky world!" This was certainly something he could have mentioned before, I think. and I hated surprises. Being unprepared was quite a pet peeve of mine. Didn't he notice that?

"You don't have to worry about anything, Joanalie," he consoled. "You'll be the strongest one in the building, and whenever we're not together we can still communicate as long as you don't get too panicked.
"And I promise you,
you'll never find yourself alone.
Whenever nobody's around,
I'll come for you;
Alone in your room,
sleeping at night,
studying in the library.
You'll always be first in my mind,
I won't ever want to go,
but we can't let people know.
I'm sorry for getting you into this
but baby, never worry.
You can always find me,
with naught but a mere thought . . ."

Harrison trailed off. He'd been whispering, as if he were in a trance. It could have been a song, but he hadn't sang it. The delivery had been passionate, yet distant and this was something not even my superhuman vampy brain could comprehend.

I opened my mouth to say something, but all I could do was let out a surprised breath of air before Harrison pulled my face to his and attached his lips to mine. All of my befuddlement melted away with that one kiss, and I was no longer confused. That was Harrison's way of telling me how he felt, and I appreciated it. I wanted to be there for him, too. I didn't want to let go.

Then, he reached around behind me to open up the door of the limo on my side of the car and reluctantly pulled away. I opened my newly purple eyes to look at his own. They were nearly the same color, but his still hid specks of their former red within them. Hidden in my violet eyes were tiny splashes of green from the hazel that my eyes used to be.

I began backing away, scooting out of the car. We couldn't be seen arriving together, so he would go around to the teacher's entrance, and I had to walk through the main door. Apparently, all of my belongings had already been taken to my dorm room, so all I had to do was find the front office and be told where to go.

"Bye," I waved back to a lone Harrison. He was smiling brightly up at me, but there was a subtle sadness in his eyes. As soon as I closed the door, I heard a whisper in my ear, though nobody was around.

'I already miss you.'

I laughed to myself and projected my agreement. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, as long as we could always communicate. We'd promised not to interfere too much with the other's thoughts, and try to keep to ourselves when we could, but I knew it would be hard, seeing as I'd probably be wondering what he was doing 100% of the time. And now, I couldn't hide it from him.

'There's no need for you to be worried about me.'

I walked through the school door, not caring to take much notice of my surroundings or even what the building looked like. I followed the sign that directed me to the front office, and I opened that door, too.

There was a thin, young-looking, slightly gawky man sitting behind a desk. It read SEC. STUART. I guessed that meant he was the secretary and either his last or first name was Stuart?

"Excuse me," I cleared my throat, and he looked up at me, looking as if he'd already known I was there. "My name is Joanalie Noelle Rivers, and I'm the new student here."

Harrison had told me how to introduce myself. He said I needed to give my first, middle, and last name, and then tell them why I was there. I didn't know why I had to go through that procedure, but a look of recognition passed over the 'Stuart's face.

"Oh my Goodness! It's you! You're the Turned! The superhuman vampire hybrid! The scandal of the immortal world! And the new student here at the Undead Proper Academy! Oh, we've all been so excited! You're to go straight to the headmaster, after I give you your papers and direct you to your dorm. You have a room all to yourself, you know? That's a very special privilege here at UPA. I think you're the only one other than the teachers who have a room to yourself. We really wanted you to have some privacy, due to the circumstance. Most of us here are unfamiliar with Turned immortals, so we just want to make sure you're comfortable here," said the man, all in one breath. I'm sure I wouldn't have caught but the first word of it, had my hearing been how it used to be.

"Oh, thank you, Mr. Stuart," I said, taking the papers he was handing out to me. I looked closely at the man, realizing that he wasn't, in fact, a man. He had stood up now, and I saw the horse-half of his body. Centaur.

"Please, darling, call me Stu!" he exclaimed with a whinny. Yes, I just said that he whinnied.

"Um, ok . . . Stu," I said. "So, if you don't mind my asking, where exactly is my room?"

"Oh, of course, I'm so sorry! You're room number is 312, and it will be on the third floor of building C on the right side of the hallway after you take a left from the elevators. I think, Joanie - do you mind if I call you that - that you're luggage awaits you," he then returned to his desk where his horse-half was hidden and he looked like a normal guy again.

I left the office and headed for the door.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Joanie?" he asked sweetly. I felt my face scrunch up in confusion.

'Ask him for directions to the headmasters office,'

Oh! Right. I thanked Harrison in my head before asking the appropriate question. He wrote a few things down on a piece of scratch paper before handing it to me. Now, I left his office before making my way to my dorm room.

***



I could not believe my eyes. This was not a dorm room. This was more like a five-star suite that belonged in a palace! How in the world did I end up with a room like this? In the back of my mind, I heard the echo of a snarl of fury.

'The other rooms aren't like that,' he explained. 'They're giving you special treatment and making you an outsider. This isn't a good thing,'

He said no more after that, but I decided not to press it. Instead, I set down the papers Stu had given me and looked down at the directions to the Headmasters office. Apparently, he was in this same building, on the top floor: 10.

'This is the Special Residence building. Usually only honorary staff members, the principal, and occasionally a top student or two get to live here.'

The only thing I could think of to say was 'Oh.'

Now, I had to go find Professor Rynost.

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