After Hours (VAMPIRES PART 1)

Chapter 5

LISA

Listen, I am fully aware that a hunter dosing on a drainer's blood is... awkward. Hell, it's a fucking nightmare, and I swear I never intended it to happen. Believe me, I hate myself for it. But I also can't stop—such is the peril of being an addict.

And yes, I hate myself for what happened on the bridge with her.

But every time I take a dose, even a single drop, I'm stronger, more alert, more powerful. Knowing that is twisting me up inside. Fucking with my mind. We—hunters—hate drainers. What sort of bitter irony is it that their blood is making me a better hunter? The problem is when the blood works its way out of my system, I'm completely screwed. I'm wracked with intense fatigue, tremors, and a hunger that cannot be satiated. If that's anything like the hunger newly turned drainers feel, then it's no wonder so many of them desiccate at the end of our stakes for getting out of control.

But of course, the dealers don't talk about the addictive properties, no doubt a manipulation on their part. Keep us coming back, jacking up their pockets full of silver coins.

If the Academy found out... well, I could kiss goodbye to my job as head of security. I'd never be allowed to teach at the school again. And look, I will give up. It's just... difficult... and right now, I have it completely under control. I only need a single drop a day, alright fine, a few drops. But I make sure I stay in hunter territory while I take it so that any drainer's blood I've taken won't be stupid enough to track or attack me. Vampires never come to this side of the city. It's not worth the risk. Too many hunters too willing to end them on sight and ask questions later.

So I'm safe.

I have it under control.

I step into the Hunter Academy castle grounds, and I'm greeted by a dozen students practicing in the front courtyard before lights out.

"Don't stay up too late," I call.

"We won't," they shout back. One of the students waves and her opponent seizes the opportunity of her distraction to sweep her legs out from under her. I smile. It reminds me of me and Minnie.

When I first joined the Academy at thirteen, right after Mum died, I used to go home on the weekends. The first thing Minnie would do when I walked through the door was throw pillows at me and pretend to be a monster, squealing when I'd wrestle her to the ground.

Minnie went to live with our mum's best friend, Rell. And even though Rell treated her like her own daughter, Minnie still craved the weekends when I'd return. I did too. We clung to each other because we both carried the same loss, the same scars on our heart. I think that's why her becoming a vampire hurts so much.

One of the first years yelps, pulling me back to reality. I glance over just as they're dropped on their ass. Bless them. The first-year students are always this keen. All of them seeking approval. Fighting to be the best in their squad, the brightest, the one with the most hopeful future.

Maybe that's why I'm dosing. Desperate for a little fun. I spent years being responsible. Staying late at training, doing extra shifts so I could send Rell coin for Minnie. But Minnie was always reckless, a wild and free child in a way I never was. Like that time she brought home a stray cat. She hid it in the garden shed for a month, called it Scraps because she was feeding it the leftovers from dinner. Rell lost her shit when she found out, but Minnie had fallen in love with the cat. What was I going to do? I ended up bringing it back to the Academy and looking after it for six years until it died all so she could continue to visit. She never did think anything through.

Well, maybe I'm just embodying my inner Minnie now. I've spent my life being sensible, and for what? To lose my sister to the one fucking thing I tried to protect her from.