Sandabury Academy

You're My What?

**Valerie's POV**

My vision is black but I can hear voices in the distance. The voices are distorted, though, as if someone is trying to speak to me while I'm under water. My memories of what happened to me are fuzzy, but it feels like I've been asleep for ages. I focus my energy on trying to open my eyes. The more I try to open them, the more my senses start to work.

The voices are becoming clearer and I can actually feel my body, however I wish I could go back to not feeling anything. It's as if my body is being weighed down by bricks while I'm being poked by sharp needles all over. Finally, after tremendous effort, my eyes slowly open to a blurry image of faces hovering above me. That's when I realize that I feel heavy because I'm actually under water. Thankfully, being a vampire means the only reason I have to breathe air is so I'm able to speak and smell, otherwise I'd be dead right now.

I instinctively blink several times to try and clear my vision to no avail. Growing weary of this, I put all of my energy into sitting up. Expecting the same resistance I got when I tried to open my eyes, I put everything I've got into the motion. However, no resistance holds me back for some reason and my body shoots up so fast I almost smack into the rim of the tub I'm sitting in, causing the water to splash all over the floor.

I once again wish I couldn't feel anything because as soon as I sit up, my senses are assailed by a bright light, shouting voices, and the heavy smell of earth, blood, and trees among other things.

"Shut up!" I shout at the people I sense standing around me, despite not being able to see them since my eyes are glued shut against the light.

The voices grow quiet, but the noise is quickly replaced by the sounds of wildlife, children's laughter, footsteps on dirt and heartbeats. I cover my ears with my hands in an attempt to block out the noise. Why are my senses on overdrive?

To my left, I hear a woman tell everyone to leave followed by two different male voices protesting. After several minutes of arguing, I feel only one presence in the room. Shortly thereafter, the light assailing my eyes completely disappears so that my closed eyelids only see black. Then the sounds go away until all I hear is a single heartbeat along with slow and steady breaths. I open my eyes and turn my head in the direction of the presence. Raquel's animated features greet me.

"I've waited my whole lifetime to meet a legendary creature such as yourself!" She exclaims while uncharacteristically clapping her hands together in excitement.

I stare at her in bewilderment. She continues to speak despite the fact that I'm obviously not listening. Instead, I'm distracted by the light, glowing trails running down her arms and face and I assume the rest of her body from under her clothes. After a few moments she notices I'm not listening to a word she's saying and stops babbling.

"What are you staring at?" She asks while folding her arms.

"Shiny trails all over your body," I simply reply.

"You can see the magic coursing through my veins? That's amazing!" And once again she becomes super animated while I'm stuck in a tub full of melting ice. Wait what?

"Why am I here?" I point down to emphasize me sitting in a tub.

"You still don't-," she begins.

"If you ask me again if I know what I am, I'm gonna hurt you. Now you've got about two seconds to explain what in the hell is going on here before I start bashing skulls."

To my surprise, Raquel takes a step back, causing me to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. She grabs the nearest wooden folding chair and sits down.