Shadow School Ch. 04

Cameron felt her heart beat in her lip. Reaching up, she gently touched her mouth, feeling it already starting to swell. She already knew she was bleeding... she tasted blood.

Gavin's eyes darted in her direction and she shrank away from his strange stare, trying to make herself smaller behind Elias. Her movement made him turn and look at her, and when he did, she knew she was in trouble.

Elias' eyes were the same dark black, the green barely visible around the enlarged pupils. It was creepy as Hell.

What happened next was so fast she couldn't register it fully. Gavin was no longer standing where he had been, and in a blink he and Elias were smashing into the wall to her left. Next they were all the way across the room, Gavin slamming into a bench.

Cameron watched, frozen in shock, as the two blurs moved around the room. Crashes from their combat would sound after they had already moved on to another area. By the time she was just starting to wrap her mind around the impossibility of what was happening right before her eyes, she was being grabbed and hauled across the room.

She'd seen supernatural acts of strength on TV and in movies countless times but nothing could prepare her for the jolt of being moved faster than humanly possible. Which brought her to the next point... these guys were not human.

She looked down at the arm and traveled up its length to stare at the dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Gavin. Gavin had grabbed hold of her arm and... Gavin was gone. There was a pause as she turned to see what was going on when she was suddenly jerked back in the opposite direction. Elias shoved her in the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

They weren't normal. They were... what were they... super fast... what the...

"Pull down your pants."

Cameron blinked at Elias as he came over to her and started to unbuckle her belt at a too-swift speed.

"Wha-"

He kissed her. It was rough, and quick, and lasted for only a moment before he pulled back and looked at her. He simply said, "I'm sorry."

Then he bit her.

It was brief, but before she could register his hands tilting her head, Elias had sunk his teeth into her neck. Cameron inhaled at the sharp pain as sharp teeth sliced the flesh of at her neck but the pain was gone the instant she felt it, fading into more bizarre sensations. Simultaneously she felt a pulling sensation from inside her body to the point where Elias' lips touched her skin, and a flooding sensation coming from that same point on her neck. It washed over her within a few heartbeats, her pulse distributing the sweet oblivion through her veins.

The whole moment lasted only a few seconds but it was enough to leave her dazed. She barely registered her jeans being shoved to her knees.

A loud bang came from the door, followed by a language she didn't understand. She got the gist though... Gavin wasn't happy.

"This will hurt, Cameron... but trust me... the alternative..." Elias lightly kissed her cheek before she felt something press between her legs... a towel? It was followed instantly by something a little closer than she was comfortable with.

It was like her brain had disconnected. She didn't even feel panic. She could feel herself, but not really... simply... bliss.

And pain.

Something had shoved up inside her. She should be panicking, Cameron knew, but then, she was paying more attention to her lack of panic than to what was going on to cause it. A grunted chuckle briefly escaped her as she realized Elias had actually apologized BEFORE doing what he'd just done. That made no sense.

Another bang came from the door, this time accompanying the sound of wood splitting.

Wow. Strong door.

Another voice had joined Gavin's; a discussion was taking place outside. She understood the words this time but she found she didn't really care.

The feeling between her legs left her, a hollow ache taking its place along with a sharp shooting pain. Elias was close, his warm breath washed over his ear as he spoke to her softly. "When we leave the room, keep your head down. Look no one in the eye. We only have a few steps before you're safe."

Safe? Hadn't he just bitten her? And he'd... to her...

Her jeans were already up and Elias was buckling her belt, but she knew what he'd done. Her heart began to race -- or tried to -- a strange feeling in the limbo she was experiencing.

"A few steps. Remember that."

She nodded dumbly. If what he had just done was a better alternative... what...?

Elias took her hand and pulled her behind him. Cameron's legs betrayed her and followed him of their own accord, walking like she was in complete control yet no part of her body was doing her bidding. It was like she was on autopilot.

Elias opened the door.

Following his advice -- why she didn't know -- Cameron kept her head down. She found it hard to form complete thoughts, even about the feet she saw as she looked at the floor. Black dress shoes... mens. Two pairs. Women's feet too. They were... they were... pretty. That's what they were. The shoes were... trendy and the toe nails were painted a color. Pink. A pink color... soft...

A discussion was taking place. She cared. She knew she should... but she hadn't been paying attention.

"Well there's no need for a ceremony now." Elias. "That you brought a virgin in as a scholarship recipient..."

There was that word again. Virgin.

Virgin virgin virgin.

Why was her virginity so important to everyone? Trenton seemed to think it was something they had to remedy as soon as possible. The thought of Trenton made her cringe. What an asshole.

Cameron was suddenly being pulled along, her feet supporting her ungracefully. She couldn't help but look up and upon seeing the archway leading to the wood-paneled hallway, she reacted slowly, barely getting her arm up in front of her face in time before she hit the invisible barrier again.

Nothing happened.

Elias had stopped and turned back to the entrance. Cameron looked up at the walls now that she was in front of them, noticing that the large round disks she's seen earlier were actually row upon row of Viking shields.

She heard a hiss and an intake of breath.

"You drank from her." Gavin hissed.

"You left me no choice." Elias retorted.

"So you claim her then?" asked a female voice.

The silence only lasted for a moment. "I claim her."

"A bit premature, but I must admit I have claimed my own," said a rich deep voice. "As Gavin has apparently done the same, I see no reason to seek punishment for disregarding the formal procedure."

Gavin growled then blurted out, "But tradition states-"

"That you shouldn't have drunk from the other girl, letting her loose into the crowd of her peers before sating her blood urge?" Elias' words were mocking. "You've committed the same crime Gavin; you have made your choice for your House this year. You have no right to judge."

Cameron felt a thrumming start to pulse in her fingers and toes, spreading through her body in a not unpleasant way. She tried listening but had a hard time of it... until she heard Elias mention "the other girl." Was he referring to Melanie? How'd he know about that? She turned to face everyone.

"You!" She suddenly blurted out, pointing a finger at Gavin. He leveled his eyes on her. "You ruined my Prom! What did you do to Melanie? She ended up screwing my boyfriend!" Was it just her, or did she sound like she was drunk? "What did you do?" she asked again.

Gavin looked at her with a blank expression. "The same thing Elias has just done to you. Only I didn't steal Melanie's virginity... I believe your Prom date did that."

Cameron felt tears sting her eyes. That was a low blow, especially when she had no control on her actions or emotions. She looked at the other people standing with the Goth, all on the other side of the arch: a tall black muscular man she'd never seen before and -- Cameron recognized her immediately -- the tall willowy blonde from the bathroom at Prom.

This whole situation seemed utterly ridiculous. Cameron was in some kind of vampire den. She'd seen movies of vampires... she even though Brad Pitt made a pretty hot vampire but she never really considered that they might be real! In fact, if someone would have asked her, she would have scoffed at the idea. Yet here she was...

Here she was.

Cameron turned her back on the three watching her and slowly began to walk down the wooden hallway, not really caring what they thought of her. Maybe they'd attack her... maybe she'd be dead in the next few minutes. What was the point of running? The girls who ran in the movies always got caught.

So, Cameron walked. It was made easier by the lack of caring coursing through her system; she was still on some sort of weird high from that bite Elias gave her. And he'd taken her virginity -- the ache between her legs told her that. She was pretty sure that the experience was shorter than normal... much much shorter... and she didn't even know if it really counted since neither of them got any pleasure out of it.

That made her pause.

What they'd done in the bathroom... she hadn't gotten anything out of it, but then, neither had he. What the Hell was that then?

She continued to walk, alone, in the torch-lit hallway, waiting for something to come up behind her or grab her and drag her away. It was odd being so expectant without the accompanying nerves.

When Elias finally caught up to her, she could no longer see the entrance to the hallway. It was the same in either direction. His hand grabbed her arm and pulled her to a gentle stop; she didn't even flinch. She didn't look up either... unable too, really. She was content just staring at her feet.

He chuckled a little.

Asshole.

He chuckled harder. "Cameron, you can look up... I'm sorry..."

"Yeah... sorry. You're laughing." Her voice sounded like a little life was coming back to her. She looked up at him.

He was the same as he had been when she first saw him in President Arinson's. Cameron expected something... something terrifying... but he still looked... human.

"I'm laughing because I told you to keep your head down and you ended up looking up at the wall, showing everyone my marks on your neck... and then you actually looked at the others in the room." He was laughing now. "You even yelled at Gavin."

She just stared at him.

Elias explained. "I gave you an order after I drank from you... it was a light order, but it was an order... and you went completely against it. That doesn't happen often. It is, in actuality, extremely rare."

"I'm sorry," Cameron said, eyeing the hand on her arm then looking at Elias, can we go back to the part where you drank my blood?"

Elias' face suddenly relaxed to a state almost devoid of emotion. "It's a bit early for you to learn this, but I'm a-"

"Vampire?" Cameron asked flippantly. "Yeah I got that."

"Close. According to your myths that is what I would be." Elias smirked. "What gave me away... the battle? The drinking?"

"Your eyes." Cameron didn't know what he was right away but after seeing those engorged pupils... "Then everything moved so fast... and you... you..."

Elias sighed again. "Cameron, I apologize for putting you through that before you were informed." He brushed his fingers lightly on her still-swollen lip. It burned, still tender from her encounter with the invisible wall. "Our halls are protected but they are also corrupted to a degree in which the protection spells also rebound the innocent. No virgin can pass through that archway."

"What does it matter? You clearly took care of that problem within a few seconds. PS, you could have asked..."

Elias' grin was crooked. "Would you have said yes?"

"Probably not... an explanation would have been nice though."

"I make no excuses for my kind. You were a virgin trying to pass into a lair. With intent like that, even though you didn't understand, you were subject to a... well, a more brutal resolution. Virgins... well... they have a habit of not leaving the Crossroads in tact."

Cameron paled. "What, like sacrificial lambs?"

"Virgin blood is... irresistible to my kind. And you were standing at the Crossroads... the heart of the seven lairs here on campus..."

"You drank from me."

Elias suddenly looked sheepish. "I couldn't help myself... like I said. It's irresistible. And once you are no longer a virgin, the blood is... different. Changed. The loss of innocence..."

Cameron could feel the thrumming in her getting more and more noticeable. It was becoming harder and harder to concentrate on the conversation. "Is that what all that talk was about? About Gavin bringing me here?"

"Virgins are not allowed on campus because of the disturbance they can cause-"

Cameron interrupted him. "So no one on campus is a virgin?"

"Yes and no... but we are already wasting time. Come... I'll explain more later." Elias handed Cameron her bag -- she hadn't even realized she'd left it -- and began walking down the hallway.

"Can they follow us?"

"No... the tunnels protect all within their barriers. You're safe here."

Cameron kept pace at his side, her mind on overload. She was still reeling from the discovery of real vampires, one even walking next to her; her body was still slightly disconnected from her brain, and what she could feel was becoming a problem. Wave after wave of sensation was hitting her, making her very aware of the clothing on her skin and dampness between her legs.

Cameron reached out and let her fingers lightly caress each shield as they walked down the hall. Her fingers tingled where they made contact with the wood and metal. Elias slid his hand across her back and urged her to walk faster. She bit her lip, the place where his hand made contact with her shoulder blades tingled. What was wrong with her?

"It's a side effect of the bite... I needed you to be compliant with what I asked of you so I bit my tongue and mixed my blood with yours... it creates what we call a 'blood urge.' It sets your nerves on fire, which isn't usually a problem since we only feed our blood to... certain people."

Cameron began to breathe a little harder. "Do you always answer people's thoughts?

Elias chuckled under his breath. "Only when it's no longer imperative to keep that particular ability secret. You already know what I am."

"So... this blood urge... will it go away?"

"Not without release..."

"Release?"

Elias smirked but didn't look at her. "There are only two ways to release the cravings your body is experiencing... one involves a mental ability you do not possess... no offense, but it takes years of practice and meditation to accomplish." He paused.

"And the other?" Somehow Cameron thought she knew the answer. Even now her... nerves... were starting to make themselves known in other places of her body.

"Physical release." They had reached a set of impressive doors, each with elegant designs etched into the wood. Elias punched in a few numbers at a control pane. "And you can only be truly sated in the presence of another." He opened the doors and gestured for her to walk inside.

"Do you always tell the truth?"

"I'm going to give you some very good advice." Elias had no trace of humor on his lips. For a vampire he seemed awfully jovial. "Never ask one of us a question that could be potentially dangerous. What we are... what we are made of... we fight a daily battle with what you might call inner demons. The darker side of ourselves feeds on lies and other transgressions so we do not do it often. Because we do not lie, we have learned to answer questions in such a way as to be honest but protective of certain secrets. Ask the wrong question and you will get the truth. And the wrong truth, well... that can get you killed."

Cameron's mouth went dry. "But... murder... isn't that a sin too?"

Elias smiled. "We do not have to commit it ourselves." He watched her gulp, the movement drawing his eyes to her throat.

Cameron thought it was a good time to go through the door.

The interior was warm and inviting, though small. The room was decorated with rich woods and dark leather sofas. A large painting of a Viking ship at sea was resting on the wall above a mini-bar.

"So when you said your people were Vikings..."

"I spoke of the end of the Viking Age." Elias closed the door and began removing his jacket and tie. "Vikings don't exist. It's a term romantics in the 18th century gave my people. We were explorers... we went on expeditions called 'vikings.' We had no set land like other cultures so they named us according to our lifestyle. Just as pirates live for piracy, we lived for adventure and discovery." He stepped closer as she studied the painting. "But yes... my people were from a time when Norse ships dominated the seas."

Cameron had stared at the painting while he talked but before Elias was finished she had started to focus more on the sound of his voice... the male flexing and vibration of his vocal chords as each word left his mouth. She was very aware of how close he was; her breaths became shorter and she closed her eyes.

Elias had noticed.

She felt his hands on her shoulders as he slowly turned her to face him. He looked at her eyes and pursed his lips.

His lips...

"I never meant to break the rules and put you in this situation. There is a formal procedure to adhere to. Rules to follow. Gavin broke one by bringing you here but I broke two back at the Crossroads. I shouldn't have bitten you... I apologize. It was my own weakness. And I shouldn't have..."

Cameron still couldn't look away from his lips but a thought occurred to her. "You're a vampire... I should be really..." she gulped, "really scared right now but I'm not." It sounded like a statement but it was supposed to be a question.

"It's a... consequence... of the bite; the transfer of fluids sends a certain lethargy through your system... it... makes it harder for victims to scream or run away."

Cameron bit her lip... wondering what it would really be like to kiss Elias. What was that about running away?

Elias kissed her.

Their tongues met each other tentatively before Elias deepened the kiss, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. He moved closer, his body almost touching hers; he caressed her cheek with his hand before sliding palm down her neck to the based where he had bitten her. Cameron wondered for a fleeting moment if the marks were still here.

Elias broke the kiss but didn't pull away. "In a few short minutes you won't be able to control your urges." His stunning green eyes looked directly into hers. "You will need a release." The words were a whisper at her ear, his warm breath sending chills though her body.

Cameron slowly, breathlessly, nodded and leaned her head back for another kiss. He obliged.

Elias kissed her more fervently this time, dipping her a little as he plundered her mouth. Cameron let her bag fall to the floor and wrapped her arms around his neck. The movement brought them into even closer contact, their bodies pressed together in a tight embrace.

She felt him working her belt as they kissed and would have panicked if her body allowed her to. She was still relaxed from the bite he'd given her and there seemed to be a strange fog over her brain, ridding her of her inhibitions. She didn't know whether to be grateful or scared that she couldn't have such an extreme reaction to his movements.

With that thought, Cameron was afraid he would stop kissing her once he heard what she was thinking.

Elias chuckled against her lips then kissed her harder, his speed increasing as he finally unbuckled the button and pulled the zipper down. However, instead of pulling the jeans down as well, he slid his hand down her abdomen and under the hem of her panties. Cameron flushed... this was the potential Head of her House that was touching her most private parts.