She's The One

Chapter 3

Suddenly I bump into something, or more specifically, someone.

I scream.

"What the fuck!"

I look up to see the mystery guy who came storming out of the headmaster's office earlier looking at me with annoyance in his eyes. We're standing in an empty hallway and even though he doesn't look all too happy to see me, I push past it and am just glad that I bumped into someone who could possibly protect me if Griffin decides to come after me and is still hungry.

Oh it's just you," I say relieved, "I... I just saw back there... and Griffin was all bloody... and not," I take a deep breath and start again, "I don't really know how to explain what just happened, but Griffin was not himself he..."

"Yeah he's a vampire, what do you expect," he interrupts rhetorically, "Wait, who even are you and how do you know me?"

"Well, I don't know you specifically, but I recognized you from when I saw you coming out of the headmaster's office. Hi, I'm Prisden, I'm new here if you couldn't already tell ha... wait what?! They actual exist?! So, I'm not going crazy?" I question when I realize what he just said. "I need to get as far away from Griffin and vampires as I can, can you help me do that please?"

Wow, I can't believe I just asked that!

He stands there puzzled for a second and just admires me before he rudely replies, "Do I look like a fucking tour guide to you, find someplace yourself!"

Then he pushes past me and continues down the hallway.

"Rude much?! I guess I'll just go find somewhere myself," I reply back to him when he's out of earshot.

I start heading farther down the hallway hoping to find a quiet place to hide and collect my thoughts or to meet someone who doesn't eat people or who isn't a jerk. I stop, however, when I hear someone call my name.

I turn towards the sound of the voice, and lucky me, it's Griffin.

"Hey Prisden wait, please don't run again!" he calls catching up to me.

I'm assuming he used his vampire powers, whatever that includes, to track down where I ran off to.

At this point, he looks like his normal self, no trace of glowing red eyes, fangs, or blood, but I'm still a little hesitant to be alone with him and I most definitely don't want him standing near me, so when he gets close enough, I express to him that I need space.

He listens and takes a few steps away from me. "I promise I won't hurt you; I just want to give you an explanation," he says trying to reassure me.

"Here we go, let's see if this day could get any worse," I mutter under my breath, "I'm assuming you have some big explanation for me as to what I just saw back there... I mean you were all bloody... your eyes were... and then your teeth were... and then the girl... and and... you were okay with hurting that innocent girl! You know, I thought vampires didn't drink the real stuff anymore or at least had the decency to drink from a blood bag if they did!" I rant

"I do have an explanation and please hear me out on it. I'm not going to hurt you and I never would hurt you, or anyone else for that matter if I could help it. You're somewhat right, the vampires here are being trained to not rely on human blood, but we need to have it occasionally to keep our strength. Other vampires, however, just drink it for pleasure, like humans would alcohol. That's why donation was introduced, we go every couple weeks or more if you run errands for the school or are newly being weaned off fresh blood. When we're not drinking from humans, we're not drinking from animals either, but being served a blood substitute concocted by the witch professors here. That's what you saw the students drinking in black tumblers at breakfast. Also, the school doesn't steal blood for us from actual hospitals that need it, there's only a small supply of blood bags stored in the hospital in case of severe injury taken from our regulars. The people who volunteer at the hospital aren't compelled or forced into anything, they come entirely willing to donate their blood, and it's not as gory and painful as it seems, it's actually pleasurable to the donators as well. As long as you're healthy and willing, you can donate. And specifically, the girl you saw in there, her name's Olivia and she's my regular, we know each other and she's comfortable with me. Every time I'm finished, I thank her and heal her wound, and she goes on her way. Anything you saw on her was from previous feedings that weren't done safely, and those were most certainly NOT made by me. For humans, it's like getting high and sometimes they get addicted and will go to just about anyone to get their fix, but unfortunately not every vampire is caring and considerate of what they're taking.