Ravenswood Ch. 03

Chpt.3

This is the third chapter of a new series, one that puts a different, more Sci-Fi spin on the age-old vampire myth.

Because it's science fiction there are aliens, good ones and bad ones, and yes, the good ones are here to stand against those who would suppress the more fragile human race, but they don't appear yet, have faith, they'll show up soon, Maura, the lead character, just has to deal with a few adjustments to her world view, landing on Earth was a big one. While there still is no actual sex in this chapter, there is a lot of action to keep you occupied, be patient, it'll hapen.

This chapter could be rated PG-13 for action, but I still like to caution my readers. I hope you enjoy it, leave a comment once you've read it. Feedback is the lifeblood of any writer...dreamweaver594.

Math 101

"Damn it, I'm late again!" Maura muttered as glanced at her second-hand watch and dashed up the stairs of the oldest building on campus. She'd been eight months in this stupid world and although she'd learned a great deal living on the streets, or in shelters and working in the library, she still couldn't get a handle on time here. She ran down the hallway of the math and science building, dodging unsuspecting bystanders, to slip as quietly as she could into the back of Dr. Wilson's classroom.

So far nobody had taken her seat, which was good and the seat in front of her usual place was empty too. Hmm, Jason must be late. She wondered where he was this time, he was always making strange excuses, maybe he was skipping? She hoped not. Natasha told her that if she missed too many classes she'd have to drop the class and take it over again next semester.

"Good evening, Miss Duranoc. So glad to see you could make it," Professor Wilson said with a smirk on his face.

She hated when he did that; it made her stand out to the others, something she didn't want to happen. She glanced at the clock above Dr. Wilson's head, dropped her backpack on the floor next to her seat as she lowered herself into the desk. Where was Jason?

Professor Wilson returned to his lecture and Maura leaned her chin on her hand to gaze across the room at nothing in particular. Several girls waved, some snickered, and others just ignored her.

A few minutes later a tall, lanky young man, with sandy colored hair and a wry smile sauntered into the classroom. His jeans were frayed along the edges with holes torn in both knees. His wrinkled shirt was faded and worn,. Beyond his bohemian appearance, a marvelous smile and an unaffected confidence caught the eyes of every girl in the class. He ambled over to his seat in front of Maura.

She glanced up at Jason's face as he passed in front of her and took his seat. She wondered how his eyes could be that blue? Oh shut up, Maura, get a grip. What did Wilson say? "Huh?" Maura turned towards Professor Wilson.

"I said, can I speak to you and Jason after class," Wilson repeated? The remainder of the class erupted in a chorus of "ooooo's".

Maura glared at her classmates. "What is wrong with you?" Several girls snickered.

She slumped her shoulders and looked up at Professor Wilson, "Yes sir."

Shit, she was only ten minutes late! Maybe if his classes weren't so boring she'd make an effort.

The class lingered on for another hour or so before he dismissed them. Maura's classmates scrambled out of the classroom door like a flock of birds released from their cage.

She stood and moved to stand next to Jason at the front of the classroom. "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, thanks for staying back." Professor Wilson turned from the computer monitor to Maura and Jason. "Jason, you're falling farther and farther behind. I'm beginning to worry about your performance in this class."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I'm trying my best but I can't seem to get my head wrapped around algebra; it's like alphabet soup to me." Jason shifted his stance nervously and glanced at Maura. "Work seems to be piling up more and more these days. I know I have to pass this class for my major. I'll just have to keep trying. I'll do better on the next exam, okay?"

Professor Wilson shook his head. "That's what I wanted to talk to you two about. Maura, could you help Jason out? Start a study group or something, I don't know. You get this stuff and he doesn't. Maybe if you two study together some of this would rub off."

Maura shrugged. "Sure, fine. No problem." She turned to Jason and blushed. Crap, blue eyes...embarrassing. She felt her face get warm as she bent down to open the backpack in her hand. "Let me get my planner out." Why does my face have to feel warm around him? Damn it, she was stronger than this. Why was she acting like a schoolgirl every time she glanced at him? Earth was making her soft.

Jason arms were filled with books and notepads. "Ahh, Maura, em. I-I really appreciate this but I don't have a lot of time away from my job right now."

"Perhaps you need to prioritize your life Jason," Professor Wilson said while concentrating on his computer monitor.

Maura's planner flipped out of her hand and fell to the floor. As it fell several loose pages of notes slipped out and scattered across the tile floor. "Oh!" Then the rest of her backpack spilled open filling the floor with the balance of its contents. "Damn it!"

"Here let me help you with that," Jason said as he set his books down on a nearby desk and knelt down to help her gather up the loose pieces of paper.

Near his foot a cloth bag fell from the bindings that held it to her backpack. It dropped to the floor with a thud and slid against the leg of a chair. As Jason reached to pick it up Maura moved quickly to snatch the bag from his grasp. Jason looked a bit shocked at the abruptness of her move.

"Sorry," she muttered. Did he see what it was? His face didn't offer any sense of recognition.

"No, that's okay," he murmured.

Maura frantically gathered the rest of her notes and pushed them back into her bag then she stuffed the cloth-covered bag into the synch rings on her pack. She sighed, totally flustered by all of this; Earth was definitely making her soft. This wasn't how she normally behaved.

"Well, maybe you can find a few hours this weekend," Professor Wilson suggested, watching the whole event unfold between them. "You both have a unit exam next week so you need to make time somehow. I've got to go to my next class; you two work it out, okay? Good luck." Professor Wilson grabbed his briefcase and dashed out the classroom door.

Maura and Jason stood awkwardly for a moment until Maura turned to continue stuffing what was left of her scattered collection of notepaper back into her backpack.

"There's a coffee shop in the lobby, you want to get a cup?" Jason held up two more pieces of Maura's notebook paper. "We can look at the calendar there."

"Sure." Once she discovered the delicious black liquid she immediately became a fan. Maura took the papers he offered and followed him out of the classroom door zipping her pack shut then she slung it over her shoulder, the cloth-covered bag, firmly attached, thumped measuredly against her back..

Jason paused a moment to allow her to catch up. "So why are you taking classes?"

"That's what you do around here, isn't it? You go to school to get a better job, right?" Geez that sounded lame. It's more like you go to school and learn about a whole new world with a different set of rules and different everything.

After they descending the staircase they walked across the lobby to the coffee shop. She pushed open the door. "What about you?"

"Yeah, about the same." She followed him as they walked to the counter and waited to order. "My job keeps me busy most every day, so my only option is night classes." Jason caught the attention of the girl behind the coffee counter. "Can I have two coffees, please?" He looked to Maura for confirmation and she nodded. "Black or with cream?"

She smiled. "A little." She still wasn't ready to take the plunge and drink it black, it was just too bitter. "Where do you work?"

"Trenton Apartments, the ones on Oak Street, near 35^th. I'm the building custodian. Well, more like the building 'fix-this-man'. Or 'dump-this-trash-man'. Or 'why-doesn't-my-drain-work-man?' The list is endless. It's mostly older tenants with more money than common sense. Some days it's okay but others I just want to shoot myself. How about you?"

"About the same but without the nagging tenants, I started work in the college library a week ago.. I'm down in the storage vaults. Mostly restocking and repair, you'd be surprised how abusive college students are with books. It's tedious, but it's quiet and nobody bothers me," Maura replied, "I guess that's what suits me. Plus I get to read anything I want for free," she added with a sheepish grin. "Another girl works there with me but it's mostly solitary work because our shifts sometimes don't mesh together, it's just as well, I like to work by myself."

She needed to change the subject. "So, let's talk about your schedule. When can we meet this weekend?"

"Can you do early Friday afternoon? It's my only free afternoon and I need to shop for the week on Saturday. I know it's during the day, but will that be all right?"

She pulled her planner out of her backpack. "On Friday? Sure, no problem, I have the afternoon off, where?"

He smiled. "Can we meet at the apartment complex? There's a meeting room off the lobby that's rarely used. We can spread out and we won't be disturbed. It'll be nap time for most of the tenants," he said with a grin.

"Sounds good. How about two o'clock?" Her heart started to beat rapidly. She wondered why it was racing. Were her cheeks red? Why was she acting this way?

"Perfect, it's a date," Jason replied, "let me get the check."

"Thanks." Maura sighed as she watched Jason walk to the cashier. Of course, it's a date, that's why I'm behaving like I am, get a grip girl, it's just for tutoring not dinner.

Jason smiled to the girl behind the counter as he handed her the receipt, she blushed as she took it. Holy Blood, are all the girls around her twelve, including me?

She shook her head then paused a moment to reflected on how far she'd come speaking the local language.

In her conversation with Jason she didn't stumble once. Natasha was right, watching cartoons and daytime television certainly helped. Of course, some of the books on the history of the country helped, too, especially with the larger words.

She watched Jason talk to the clerk, a cute young girl who blushed a bit too much. Behind the sales clerk, several posters of local vocal artists were displayed; they were advertising upcoming events on campus. Jason wasn't a musician but he certainly looked like one.

Suddenly, she thought of a store on Terrus where she spotted a poster sketch of her face next to one of her father's. It was plastered on the wall by the door. Her hair had grown a lot since that image was made. Her amber curls fell nearly to her waist now and they framed, she was told, a pretty face with a button nose and arched eyebrows above steely grey eyes. The height of two meters was stupid, dumb melon-head; it would make her a freak. Sure, she was tall, maybe one and a half or three-quarters, not two.

Jason returned and snapped her out of her musing. "So, I'll see you Friday?"

Maura blinked a moment and left the heat of Terrus for the comfort of a coffee house on Earth. She nodded. "Yeah, Friday at two."

The Trenton Apartment complex was an older brick building that faced a boulevard with wide center islands dotted with old trees, green grass and luscious shrubs. The building, Maura assumed, was a throwback to a time when the tenants Jason described, felt more comfortable there than someplace modern like the buildings that surrounded it built in the streamlined style of glass and steel.

Dark green awnings hung off the front windows and ruffled in the wind as Maura paused at the building entrance. The warmth of the dappled sunlight that filtered through a canopy of trees felt good against a slight chill in the air as she walked up to the front door of the building. All of this was a far cry from the desolation of her home planet.

Although she set her jaw to appear serious when she walked into the lobby of the apartment building, as soon as Jason stopped at the bottom of the stairs with his typical wide smile she melted...just a little. Can your grin get any wider you goof?

"Hey, you're right on time!" He walked across the lobby to meet her. He pointed to the meeting room through a set of doors on the left. "That's the room I mentioned."

"Come on," she said, trying to act all officious as she pulled out her notebook and pencils. She followed him through the doorway. "Let's get started before your pulled away to unclog a sink or something."

He nodded and opened a few blinds as she walked to a desk and flipped open her notebook. She settled into a seat across from him. "Get out last week's homework. We'll start with the easy stuff and work on up."

Jason opened up the math book and she pointed to a page where he missed most of the assignment. "Most of these I got wrong for one reason or another." He started reworking the problems on the page.

"Let me see what you did." Maura leaned over Jason's paper. As she did Jason leaned closer to smell her hair.

"Hum," he murmured, "Peppermint."

She leaned back. "Did you just smell my hair?"

"Yup. It smells nice too," Jason grinned broadly.

She turned to him wearing a skeptical expression. "Is that the reason you do so poorly in math? You hit on your math tutors?"

"When numbers are replaced by alphabet soup I get lost real quick. And you're my first and only math tutor so I have no one to compare. But I do like peppermint."

"Concentrate Jason...not on me, on your homework." Her hand moved to bundle her hair into a ponytail, a common fashion she noticed on young girls, as she tried to mask a smirk.

What he didn't know was she had to wait each day to take a shower at school in the gym; she couldn't afford the risk of taking a shower in an abandoned building, even those that had a shower...thieves would steal her blind, or attempt to do things to her, things that might get them killed. Keeping a low profile probably saved a lot of lives, even if they didn't know it. She got the shower idea from Natasha. What a good friend.

She turned to Jason and poked him with her finger. "We've got a unit exam next week and if you don't do better than this you'll be taking this class again next semester." Then she thought, and you had better not get too close little boy, because she might bite.

Jason continued his boyish grin. "I know, but it's hard when I'm next to someone who wears such a lovely smile."

"Honestly Jason, you're terrible." She tried to keep a stern face but his goofy grin made it hard to concentrate. "Here substitute x for this number here and you have to put a plus b in the brackets over x-1 before you can factor the answer. Do the rest of these equations while I use the restroom and when I get back there had better not be any mistakes."

"Yes ma'am," he said, offering her a mock salute.

Maura turned away quickly to keep from laughing as she walked briskly out the door and through the lobby. Big breath. Get in control, sheesh! Earth is making me soft. Natasha always seemed so serious, she wondered why?

One day, two weeks ago, while gluing the pages on a large book, Natasha turned the corner and leaned against the counter. "Hey, where do you do your laundry? The place I usually go to just raised their prices again."

Maura blushed sheepishly. "Until I get paid, I look for loose change then use that, anywhere I can."

"You know," Natasha said, leaning closer somewhat conspiratorially, "You should use the gym showers, early in the morning when the custodians open up. I bet, if you plan it right, you could do a whole load between shampoo and rinse," she said with a devilish grin. Natasha was a lifesaver; she could always tell me exactly what I needed when I needed to do it. Now, if she could just help her get an ID so she culd get paid.

Two hours seemed to go by in a flash. "I'm bushed, I don't think I can cram another number or letter into my brain," he said rubbing his forehead. "How about a snack?"

"Okay," Maura replied, stuffing her notes into her backpack. "A snack would be good; I'm famished. I haven't eaten since last night and my stomach is beginning to protest."

"Wait here and I'll be back in a sec." He dashed out of the room and down the hall.

Maura shook her head thinking about her goofy classmate. He did buckle down, eventually, and they managed to accomplish a few things, hopefully enough to get him past the next exam.

Suddenly she began to ache all over. She realized that she needed something more than food. Did she look into the toilet before she flushed it during break? Dammit, she must have purged, she's got to keep track of these things better, especially here.

She could feel her whole body beginning to move towards a primal desire. Holy blood! She wondered how long it had been? She remembered finishing the last bag of synth-blood she brought with her over two months ago. They said it never was a good substitute for the real thing; it never lasted as long either. Damn it, was she beginning to fall into bloodlust? Not now, not here.

Her muscles began to ache. Holy blood, she needed to do something to stop these urges. They were continuing to build. She realized that she had to leave before Jason returned. If she couldn't control herself she would screw up everything...she moaned softly, the cravings were getting stronger. She stood and grabbed her notes then the door to the lobby opened and he walked in.

"Hey, sorry for the wait." Jason said as he walked across the room. He put some sodas and chips on the counter against the wall. "All I have are chips and sodas. I'll be better prepared next time."

Maura gripped the table, her vision started to transform as the blood in her body began to surge. Her instincts were beginning to take control. She walked to the door that opened to the lobby and twisted the blinds that masked the windows. She flipped the lock on the door quietly, so as to not draw attention to what she was going to do. Her head was filled with an intensity that she had not known since Terrus.

The one genetic deficiency of her kind was the lack of bone marrow; she couldn't replace her own blood naturally. But here, next to him, his scent was so alluring and she was finding it hard to control herself.

Why him, why now? She'd passed a dozen others before she got here and nobody affected her like he did. The cravings were winning out over her need to resist. Her willpower began to waiver.

Maybe she could have just a little bite. She would soothe his mind; it would be easy; he wouldn't even know she did it. Holy blood, her body was beginning to ache for him, he smelled so sweet, so inviting. Perhaps just a little nibble would be all right.

Maura walked back towards Jason, her face a mask of desire, her grey eyes glowed brilliantly and were locked onto his neck. He was too busy pouring the sodas into glasses to notice her approach. She moved up next to him and purred, "thanks Jason, I'm really thirsty."

Her body was in full bloodlust now; her eyes glowed like the twin golden suns of her home. She reached up towards his face and turned him to look him into his eyes.

She projected her thoughts into his mind. "Silence your mind my little boy; I'm just going to have a little nibble. You won't feel a thing."

He smiled at her but he didn't act as if she had put him into a receptive trance. None of that mattered; not now, she was in full bloodlust. She yearned to taste the sweet nectar of his body. She leaned in to caress his neck as her fangs extended. Her mouth opened wide.