Bloodshed

Chapter One: Changes

With the resurrection of Master, and my fledgling vampire status, Gabriel had decided to keep the human students away from Lachlan Island with a bogus story about severe flood damage to the university from a freak tsunami. Which earned me some very concerned letters from Jo and Conner, but I assured them I was okay. 

Even though I was far from it. 

No, I was not, and probably would not ever be okay again. 

I had died nearly a month ago...Died. It was still hard to wrap my head around sometimes, the fact that I had not only died, but came back a vampire. But there I was, sitting in the banquet hall without a pulse, a blood bag in my hand, slurping on it like it was the last juice box at recess. 

"A tsunami? Seriously?" 

Linc asked, rolling his eyes. He sat on top of the table I sat at, his feet in the chair next to me, avoiding my gaze as I fed. 

I shrugged, sucking down the last bit of my lunch. "That's what he said."

Linc took the now empty blood bag from me before I could stand, and walked over to the garbage bins across the room throw it away. "That's gotta be the shittiest explanation I've ever heard."

"Oh, he's told worse tales." Aiden's voice sounded from the entrance. "You should hear the stories he comes up with involving pencils."

"Pencils?" Linc, finally able to look me in the eye, arched a dark brow. 

"It's a long story." I waved his question off before rising to my feet too quickly. "Woops!" 

Linc caught me by the elbow just as I launched myself off the ground. He held me steady, pulling me back down effortlessly, then held on a few seconds longer before letting me go. 

"Thanks," I mumbled, sheepishly. 

He gave me a slight nod. "No problem."

Though it had been a month since I was turned, I was still having a hard time adjusting to my new vampire powers. The super speed, the inhuman strength, plus all the other supernatural enhancements, were...overwhelming at times. 

So far, I have ripped three doors off their hinges, broken the knobs of six faucets, and jumped at least five feet in the air nearly every time I stood from a sitting position. If I didn't have instant healing, I probably would have permanent brain damage from all the times I'd hit my head on the ceilings while trying to stand up. 

It was frustrating. And embarrassing. I could feel my cheeks getting rosy, though that could have been from the blood I just drank. It was hard to tell these days. 

Don't be embarrassed. Duke's voice drifted into my head as he appeared behind Aiden. We have all been through the same adjustment period as you. You'll get the hang of it, just give yourself some grace. 

I smiled to myself, glad that I could still feel the same butterflies in my stomach that Duke's voice always elicited. 

Things were different now. I no longer experienced warmth or cold; I could feel them, name the sensations, but they no longer had any effect on me. I also couldn't feel my heart skip a beat, which was unsurprising seeing as how it didn't beat at all anymore. And hunger was more intense, more painful than it had ever been when I was alive. 

But the butterflies? They were still there, deep in the pit of my belly, emerging when Duke's voice filled my mind...or when Aiden smirked his playful smirk at me...or when Lucius showed me a new painting he was working on, or when--

"You guys takin' off already?" Linc asked, interrupting my musings. 

Aiden nodded. "Yeah, Lucius is going to drop me and Simone off on the mainland before he goes to whatever godforsaken destination he had planned."