Shadow School Ch. 10

"Oh, God," Cameron said, thinking of pictures she had seen in school. "Do dead ones have boils or spots all over their skin?"

Elias shook his head. "No but their skin tone is altered without the ability to pump blood through their veins. No heartbeat means no oxygen keeping cells alive. But their skin actually clears and any blemishes they had before death fade in time; it's a result of their possession. They are... too perfect. It is something your storytellers got right, but in reality the change is unnerving just as their presence.

"Imagine a wild lion walking into the room. You have seen them on your television; know things about them because your teacher or the media informs you of your nature. But looking at them and being in their presence is another thing all together. You would be very afraid and should be.

"Now imagine a dead lion walking into the room."

Cameron shivered at the idea of such a thing, Elias' words making her truly think about what was out there. "Danvy mentioned that," she said, "That they were reanimated dead. Like zombies."

Elias smiled sadly. "The theory is that we do not lose our souls when we are turned, just simply evolve. When we die, our souls leave our bodies but our immortal state allows demonic possession to reanimate the flesh and bones. The demon still has access to our minds however, which is why Dead Ones look and act as we once did, except that their hearts are cold."

As interesting -- and terrifying - as this all was, Cameron noticed that Elias had deftly steered the conversation away from the original topic. She didn't voice it though, knowing that as soon as her thought filtered through her mind, Elias picked up on it. So, she waited.

And waited.

Finally, Elias spoke. "It took us years to undo the mess we created by Making more of our kind. By the time Dead Ones had dwindled in number, our numbers were down as well. War had taken its toll. Then Von Muter was changed and the first half-breed was born decades later. The child was unique at the time; only a few of us attempted to follow the rules set up for us, but it was difficult after decades of violence and seclusion. Her father was one who walked the new path."

The expression on Elias' face changed to something soft, his gaze distant. "Her name was Teresa. Her father did not know about her, having moved on in his travels without knowing such a thing was possible. It was fourteen years later when their paths crossed and he saw his own face reflected in hers. Being what he was, he tried to take her from her home against her will, wanting her for his own, to show the rest of us this great thing he had done."

When Elias paused, Cameron quietly asked, "What happened?"

"She killed him."

Cameron stared at Elias's still form, understanding the kind of power that must have taken for a fourteen-year-old to accomplish such a thing; the power of a half-immortal. But if she had killed him...

Elias answered quietly. "She buried him." He shook his head. "How was she to know? She had been abandoned by him before she was born and raised by humans. She had no idea that killing an immortal led to a darker version of himself. She didn't even know what he was.

"It teaches us how actions and consequences are so tightly bound together. Had she thrown him over a nearby cliff, his body wouldn't have recovered by morning and he would have burned in the sunlight. If she had severed his head, he would have been truly dead. Instead, she buried him."

"So that story of vampires digging themselves out of the ground..." Cameron said, horrified.

"It's not where the idea originated but all myths have a beginning in truth. He rose the following night and slaughtered the small village where Teresa lived, including the girl. Tasting her blood... it did not take long for word to spread of the power gained from the children of immortals."

Cameron's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "If she died the next night, how do you know this even happened? Where you there?"

Elias shook his head and sat back on her bed, his elbows propping him up. "Because the man was Drusilla's brother Gaius. And he still exists."

***

Melanie's hands were covered in blood. Her fingers were tightly wrapped around the pliers as she eased the bullet toward her from William's flesh. Her hands were a little shaky but other than that, the process hadn't taken too long.

The problem was William's concentration.

Cutting him open had created new blood flow issues and with each drop that left his body, it became harder and harder for him to focus. Which meant Melanie had two problems: he was healing as she worked, causing various stops in her progress to recut the muscle slowing her progress, and there was a new kind of tension in the room due to her close proximity to a hungry vampire.

It's not like she could help the position she was in; Melanie had to sit directly in front of the bullet wound to dig into it. But there she was; bloody, her head bent forward as she peered into the hole in William's flesh, and her neck exposed to him just inches from his face. Not to mention she was covered in human blood as well, which was drying in her hair. Yuck.

Melanie had only picked up on the tension William was feeling a few minutes earlier, when he had actually leaned a little toward her and inhaled.

"Did you just sniff me?"

"What?" William said, his eyes popping open.

Melanie glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "You just inhaled. Deeply. In my direction."

William cleared his throat and winced. "You just hit a nerve and I inhaled. You're digging around in my shoulder; I'm allowed to be tense."

Melanie pursed her lips and had a hard time turning back to her task. It seemed to be time to get this over with. She yanked, the bullet coming free with a disgusting sucking sound.

"Got any gauze left?" She had scoffed at the amount he had purchased but there seemed to be only a few scraps left.

William pressed some half-used cloth to his wound now that the bullet was gone as Melanie studied the bullet under the lamp. "Why didn't this go through? It's in one piece, and the end is pointy."

"My skin is just a little tougher than yours but my internal makeup is denser. How do you think I can run so fast?" William grinned crookedly.

"So fast your pants catch on fire?"

He smirked at her comment and glanced under the gauze. Melanie took the chance to peek at his hair, the glossy dark-blonde locks tied back from his neck that made her curious about what it looked like loose and falling around his head.

She mentally slapped herself out of it and put the pliers on the table. "I think I better take a shower."

William nodded but didn't look at her. Was he hiding something from her? Probably whatever reaction he had to her thoughts about his hair. Or his picturing her naked under the flow of water.

Oh, God. She was feeding him even more images!

Mortified, especially when she saw William's shoulders shaking in silent laughter, Melanie grabbed a towel and stomped off to the bathroom. She made it to the door before her legs wobbled and she stumbled. Hands reaching for the doorway, she managed to catch herself before falling.

William was at her side in the next instant.

"Melanie?"

"I'm okay. I'm fine," she said, shakily. To prove her point she began trembling as she attempted to stay upright. "God, you must think I'm such a wuss."

William helped her to the toilet, closing the lid so she could sit.

Melanie stared at it. "No way in Hell I'm sitting on that thing," she said weakly.

William looked around the bathroom and shook his head. "I know it's not the cleanest place but Melanie, you're covered in blood." He grabbed one of the hand towels and covered the toilet seat, urging her to sit.

Embarrassed, Melanie watched as William started the shower. He turned it to the hottest possible temperature, scalding the tub and wiping down the sides. The room filled with steam.

Once he was satisfied, he adjusted the water and looked at her. "Okay so here's the part where you have to choose."

Melanie looked at him, puzzled. "Choose?"

"You're dead on your feet. You haven't had time to rest, and there's a big clean bed waiting for you at a nicer hotel. But first you have to shower. Really, really shower."

Melanie's cheeks heated.

"Dried blood isn't the easiest thing to remove from hair. Trust me," he said, looking away, "I know."

"Oh," Melanie said. "So... choose what?"

"Option A, you take some of my blood to help you regain some lost strength."

Melanie did her best not to make a face.

"Option B, you let me help you wash. Which, in a bathroom this size, means I shower with you."

"Or Option C," Melanie said, "You let me take care of this myself."

William looked at the shower. "Do you really want to sit naked in this tub?" When Melanie grimaced, he said, "Because I'm not letting you collapse and hit your head while trying to stand and wash someone else's blood out of your hair."

Melanie sighed. She really was tired. And other than the two options William offered, she really couldn't think of another way of getting clean. She just really, really wanted to sleep.

"Nice, cushy bed with the fluffiest of pillows. One hour from now you can sleep for twelve hours if you like."

Melanie whimpered a little and wished for a fairy godmother who could just wave her magic wand and make that hour arrive now. Vampires existed, why couldn't fairy godmothers?

"A or B, Melanie, the sooner you choose, the sooner your wish is granted." William stood, offering her his hands.

She groaned in a whiney, I-don't-wanna sort of way and let William pull her to her feet. "B, I guess. But no peaking!"

William scoffed mockingly. "I will be the perfect gentleman."

And he was.

He helped Melanie strip down to her bra and panties in a manner that was straightforward -- like a male nurse or something. Her cheeks burned. When it came time to take off the rest, William picked her up and sat her under the stream of water. Seconds later he was in the shower with her, fully clothed except for his shoes.

Melanie couldn't help but peak to see this, but soon shut her eyes as the blood in her hair started running down her face and body. When she had seen he still had his shirt and pants on, she was both relieved and disappointed.

William really was playing the gentleman. Any other boy his age would have taken the chance to touch skin to skin.

***

"Caligula?" Cameron said, eyes widening. "Wasn't he a Roman emperor?"

"Yes," Elias answered.

Cameron baulked. "So... so that means Drusilla... at the college..."

"Is almost two thousand years old. Yes."

There was no way to truly understand this. Cameron's mind tried to wrap around the idea of living for so long; her eyes stared at her comforter, wondering what it must have been like. As her gaze slowly traveled up Elias' body she met his eyes and quietly gasped.

How old was he?

"Older than Leif Ericsson."

Cameron searched her mind for a Viking timeline. "Uh..."

"Mid eight-hundreds. We didn't exactly put a lot of stock in numbers as far as dates were concerned but 842 was my birth year. Three days in to October."

Cameron simply stared.

"If you do some quick math," Elias said, trying to play off the dates, "that makes Drusilla eight centuries older than me."

Nodding was all Cameron could accomplish. By the time she could talk, she stuttered, "So Drusilla is the oldest immortal at the school?"

Elias chuckled. "Not by a long shot." His smile softened. "But I will leave that revelation unanswered. It will be fun to see how long it takes you to guess."

"What, can't I simply ask someone there?"

Elias' smile faded for a moment. "Cameron, be careful who you speak to. Not everyone has the privilege of this knowledge."

"Then why are you telling me?" Cameron couldn't understand it; if she knew all this she would hardly tell someone as new to the game as herself.

"You carry my child," Elias said simply. "We do not lie and we have spent hundreds of years perfecting this sit-"

Elias stopped. He must have felt the change in Cameron as her brain latched back on to the real reason they were having this conversation. She was once again reminded that her "situation" - she knew that was what he was about to say - was a common occurrence. Annually to be exact.

"Cameron, I-"

"No. It's okay," She said, all easiness gone from her tone. "You've had hundreds of years to perfect this situation. My. Situation. Because it's school policy to get girls knocked up."

Elias didn't bother denying it or trying to make amends. "Please, do not speak so rudely of our child."

"Our child? Our child? Damnit, Elias, I only found out yesterday that I was pregnant. And with an immortals baby that just happens to like blood and will be able to hear my thoughts and the thoughts of those around him. Not to mention this is something I apparently willingly agreed to without thinking, 'hey, maybe they want me to attend this college to make super babies for their..." Her voice faded as she finally understood.

"You're building a super army, aren't you!"

Elias, again - aggravatingly - did not respond with any kind of reaction. "I told you, we are at war. Were it not for our way of life, we would have died hundreds of years ago and who knows what havoc the Dead Ones would have created on this planet."

Tears began to sting Cameron's eyes. "Go."

Elias stood, stepping closer to her. As he reached out to touch her shoulder she jerked away.

"I need time to think without you listening in, okay? Just... go."

"Fine." He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. "This was too much to put on you in one night, I know that. But I want you to know everything. I won't hold back from you. You are the most important thing in my life right now."

No, the most important thing is inside me, Cameron thought angrily. She couldn't help that it slipped out, and immediately regretted the venom in the thought once it happened. Elias said nothing after that, and crossed to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," she said as he left her room. Cameron spoke quietly but she hoped Elias heard her. She really did just need some time to process everything. It was too much.

She had only just graduated from high school two days ago and now she was pregnant and attending a college in the fall that listed a breeding program among its extracurricular activities. That was a lot to take in.

***

Melanie had no idea if she was clean. She could barely keep a straight thought in her head and the only thing keeping her from passing out was knowing William had lost enough blood to make him hungry. You don't just pass out when leaning against a hungry vampire.

She knew he'd hear the thoughts the moment they passed through her head but she couldn't help it. Her censor wasn't working properly. And he seemed not to mind since he wasn't really responding.

William was soaping up her hair for the third time. With his sense of smell he could tell she still had blood in her hair, and she was okay with not smelling too much like dinner.

Leaning against his chest, Melanie could feel William's soaked jacket and shirt scrape her skin, the cloth heavy with water. She frowned, understanding now how William was trying to make her feel comfortable by making himself uncomfortable.

That finally got a chuckle. "I'll be fine," he said.

Still frowning, Melanie stood and turned, letting William brace her arms like an overprotective nurse. She looked up at him and shook her head, sighing as she raised her hands and slid them up his shoulders and around the bring the jacket down over his arms. He helped her the rest of the way, shrugging out of it.

William tossed the jacket to the floor and returned her as he had before, putting her under the spray. Melanie closed her eyes before the shampoo could sting them, and let the water beat down on her scalp. Thank God for hotel water supply; in her bathroom at home the water would have been cold for a while now.

"I think you will live, William said, studying her face and chucking her under the chin when she opened her eyes to look up at him. "As will I." He turned the water off and stepped from the tub, holding his arms out for her and lifting when she couldn't lift her legs to step over the ledge.

Her cheeks heated again. They were doing that a lot lately.

William picked her up and carried her over to the bed. He changed directions when he heard her thoughts of the state of the comforter and chose to stand her near the operation sight. He held her steady as he towel-dried her body, his eye contact purposely avoiding the areas most guys would want a peek at.

Melanie couldn't help that the good Lord had blessed her with a rather large chest, no more than one who had the opposite problem, like Kristie. And standing in a wet bra and panties couldn't be easy for William to simply avoid.

"Thinking about it doesn't help, either," William said from her knees; he was bending over and drying her legs and ankles, head down.

"Thanks for trying," she said sheepishly.

When she was dry, William pulled over the remaining bag of items, which turned out to be clothing. Jogging pants and a plain pink t-shirt were placed on the chair she had used earlier, as well as a brush and comb set. William grabbed the exacto knife and popped all the tags off before turning to Melanie.

"Can you do this? Or should I..."

"I got it," she said, taking the shirt. She pulled it over her head and paused to wonder how to take her bra off without putting on a show.

William grinned and closed his eyes.

Melanie stared at him, telling him mentally not to peak before reaching behind her and unhooking the clasp. The material of the bra clung to her so she had to peel it away from her skin before shrugging the rest of the way into the shirt. If William peeked, she didn't know; he didn't look like he did.

Legs unresponsive, William had to help her into the jogging pants but that was a little more tricky. She finally gave up.

"Look, you're like, four hundred years old, so I'm sure you've seen your share of naked ladies, just... don't act the age you look okay? I just can't wear these panties now that they're soaked."

William didn't say anything or even smile. He simply nodded and Melanie let him steady her as she eased her underwear down her legs. She stepped out and straightened, knowing the t-shirt barely covered her butt. Blushing again, she had to lean on William as he opened each leg of the pants for her to step through, then pulled them up for her.

There was no way to describe her relief now that that was over. Melanie slumped into the chair and let her body relax.

"I'm going to take my own shower now but I promise to be fast."

Melanie nodded and reached for her towel. By the time she had dried her hair and combed through the dark curls, William emerged wearing nothing but his own towel around his waist.

Okay, she stared.

Openly.

Before she caught herself and looked up to see William meeting her eyes. There she had asked him not to ogle her and she was doing it to him. She was so bad.

"Sorry."

"Don't be," was all he said.

He pulled a pair of black jogging pants out for himself and a black tank, both of which he put on while Melanie was hiding her face in her hands, willing herself not to peak.

Sometime later she felt a nudge at her arm and realized she had fallen asleep. She looked up to see the room was spotless and the few things William intended to throw away were stuffed into the shopping bags.

"Ready?"

Melanie nodded and watched William take the bags out. He was gone longer than she thought he would be, but when he returned, he had a receipt from the Motel.