Vampire High School

Vampire High School: Prologue

You can do this, Mandy.

I heard my internal cheerleader urge me on. I nodded to myself, and pulled my overcoat tighter, sweating profusely. Yeah, who'd picked the disguise; an overcoat on a hot Friday night?

Yeah, that would have been me, Mandy Cross.

But the time and place had picked itself; I needed somewhere very public to take Alan McCartney down, somewhere so public that even he couldn't rise from it. So public that he'd have to leave the area. And by leaving the area, he'd have to leave me alone. So here I stood in the fringes of the Friday night football crowd watching the marching band get together, Gregor Academy's own marching band. And right in the center, his twisted wet lips already priming the reed of his prize clarinet... my target, Alan McCartney.

Don't let him get to you... you can do this.

Beneath my overcoat I wore the silver and black of Everton High, my cheerleader uniform a bit tight as I hadn't worn it most of the year, thanks to Alan's ripping my life away. But now he was about to get his comeuppance, and I needed the 'end' to be so spectacular, so undeniably unforgettable, Alan couldn't show face here for years.

Then the Everton High School buses arrived. Cheerleaders and players all filed out wearing the silver and black I used to be so proud of. Now I felt nothing but bizarre in the uniform, Alan had made me an outcast in my own school. That just made me extra focused on what I'd come to do.

Now... get closer.

Like a stray cat, I followed the Everton kids, but at a distance - making sure to keep behind the pack. If any of them had recognized me, they would've called way too much attention. Especially Mysti or Sue; those girls were loud-mouths.

Hiding behind a tree, I watched the band form up slowly, under the impatient eye of the conductor, and I shed the overcoat to a puddle at my feet, unfolding into the night like a steel butterfly.

Seven perfect rows of white uniformed bandsmen.

I waited until they'd done a few tunes, then as they got into their moves, I got into my killing mood and slid from my observation point.

Go for it... remember, be all smiles and sexy kisses.

When I popped out from behind the tree, he sensed me right away, flashing his head round, smiling. That's when the Alan I knew shed his nerd persona and paid me his usual, evil grin. I could tell he liked this reverse stalking thing. Of course, he had no idea I wasn't just there to listen to him play.

Smile.

As they belted out their first notes, I shimmied my way into the marching band, almost in some suspended, slow motion stepping moment. Nothing seemed real. I got into the beat and shook my ass as I neared my target. A pretty big crowd had grown to watch; a lot of them were swaying, too.

Everybody smiled; first game of the season. It was a happy time; a shiny silver shimmer in the midst of all the white uniforms. Nobody seemed aware of the lion pressing through the fold.

Not even Alan.

I stepped right up beside him in line, matching him step for step even though I didn't know the routine. It took a minute for him to notice. When he did, he pulled the horn away from his face and gave me this odd, questioning look.

I smiled, took his hand, and kissed it like you see in some movies. We were getting a lot of attention but people were loving it - like they'd just stepped into a romantic comedy.

"I'm cashing in my ticket," I told him, practically shouting to be heard over the noise. "Getting on the train!"

Alan looked so proud then, so damn pleased with himself.

I still had his hand and I put it on my chest, inside my silver lycra. That got a HUGE reaction from the bandsmen immediately around us. Alan tried to snatch his hand away, acting like I'd embarrassed him. But, I knew better. Looking down, I could tell he was really into it.

Smile! It's time to do it!

I forced my whole body against his. Alan's head went back in laughter as my canines slipped into place with a loud click. Before he could react I shredded the collar from his uniform, and sank my teeth deep into his neck. But this was no lovers bite. This was a tearing attack. immediately ripping his arteries in all directions. I gasped as his thick vampire blood gushed down my gullet and over my chin, soaking my throat and chest in milliseconds. I gasped at the strength in the fluid, the old age of the concoction, at the sharp rush it gave me.

I could feel his legs strain, bracing to run, but I held on, and he barely moved an inch. Vampire against vampire, we stood immobile.

Driven by passion and purpose, I slashed and mauled than any normal attack; making a heck of a mess in seconds, not waiting to feed properly, content to rip his neck beyond human repair. I guess I got caught up in the event because for a moment I got that crazy, dizzy, gotta-have-it-all head rush, and next thing I knew, I had one hand inside his white trousers, distracting him while sucking so deeply on his blood.

Weird and wonderful. But in the end it didn't matter, I had caught Alan so much by surprise, he hadn't had time to react at all.

From the crowd I heard whistling and hooting that turned into jeers and shocked gasps. Then the music went completely silent. All eyes were on us.

"Break it up, you two!" somebody - probably the band teacher - yelled across the silence.

Musicians were running and screaming in all directions. Then I saw Lyman, Lysol, whatever. Alan's friend, that weird red headed kid just standing there, gawking stupidly at us.

Either us or my bloody silver-lycra boobs.

I didn't let up, I kept ripping at Alan's neck. To be honest, by that time there wasn't much left of it. I'd opened most of his upper chest, and quickly drank down all the blood all I could take.

Alan's body felt limp in my arms. I heard his clarinet fall to the ground. It made a fantastic sound in the silence of the evening. And then I let Alan fall down beside it.

I felt utterly fantastic!

With a manic laugh I wiped Alan's dripping blood from my mouth and jogged off into the night.

After I got clear of the crowd, I ran like never before, buoyed by the blood-rush of old vampire blood.

And euphoric that I'd broke Alan's vampire empire to smithereens.

He had taken my old life from me, and I had returned the favor a thousand fold.

When I stopped for breath, I must have been a hundred miles away.