Ginger's Heart 01: Body Heat [1st draft]

Chapter 05

"Ginger Bareilles?" Eve asked, after she'd kicked the two wolves out.

"You hope so," she snickered at the pixyish adult in front of her. "Or else all that information you spewed, about Alpha's and princes could get you into trouble."

"If you were human," she supplied.

"I am human."

Eve raised an eyebrow. "Really? You think so? Well the blood tests will tell. Have a seat, please. Feel free to take your jacket off."

No chance of that happening. Ginger was just lucky the school didn't have metal detectors or else this long black raincoat would've been off and she probably would've been carted off to the supernatural po-po. Ginger plopped down in the leather chair, full attention on the thing in front of her, trying not to show her distaste.

"Your first class starts at three pm, dinner is at seven, and your last class is at midnight. I'm curious as to why you requested this particular schedule. Do the vampires intrigue you?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Just the born ones, the made ones I already know about." There was no point in pretending ignorance on the fact that she knew about the supernatural world, to do so would just be, well, ignorant. She hadn't shown surprise on the topic after all. The woman could tell just by looking at Ginger and they both knew it.

Eve lowered her glasses to the bridge of her nose, her eyes focusing on Ginger's jugular. She felt her hands clenching the arm of the wooden chair, restraining herself from reaching for her weapon, or at least from trying. "Are you a donator?"

"Absolutely not!" Ginger barked, cringing at the taken back look that crossed Eve's face. "I-I'm just curious about the XP."

"XP?"

"Their allergy to the sun-you wouldn't happen to know why it's limited to the born vampires would you?" she questioned, trying to calm her trembling voice at the outrageous question the headmistress had made. Did she look like food? Okay well, maybe to this dead woman walking. She'd just have to make it abundantly clear that she was not food.

Ginger would rather die than give blood to a vamp.

"If we knew we'd try to fix it."

"We?" Ginger paused and took a moment to make herself aware of her surroundings, something a real hunter would have done before even entering, she noted, trying not to berate herself. She noticed then, that the windows were covered with heavy black curtains, not even a little sunlight could peak through that mountainous fabric and the only light in the room, happened to be coming from three candles in three different locations. "Are you a born vampire?"

Eve nodded. "I am in fact."

Ginger had been about to write Eve Boudoir off, since she'd healed her arm and all. She was going to let this born vampire slip purposely under her radar because the blood sucker had done something good for her, but now that Ginger knew what she was, there was no way she could allow this woman to live. She would give her the benefit of saving her for last though, maybe.

"So the glasses are for show?"

"Actually I do need them to read. Born vampires in a way are a lot like humans. We just have more special abilities than them and of course witches. The fact that we can live as long as we choose also makes us slightly different."

"Human's don't suck blood," Ginger commented, noting the distaste in her voice and hoping Eve hadn't noticed.

She had.

"You have distaste for born vampires?"

Ginger cleared her throat and sat a little straighter in her chair. She needed to be more careful, she needed to blend in and that meant not being disgusted every time she talked to one of these beasts. "Just the blood drinking," she spoke softly, hoping to save face.

Eve nodded, her face show sympathy and understanding. "Even some born vampires have a problem with that."

"I know why made vampires need blood, but what about born vampires? Why do they need it?"

Eve sighed before giving Ginger a tiny smile and folding her hands down on her smooth desk top. " A question I get frequently. Had I drank more human blood when I was younger my vision would be 20/20, not what it is now. I just couldn't stomach it when I was little. There are benefits to drinking human as a born vampire, but it's not necessary. I am two hundred years old, wouldn't know it by looking at me of course. I'd imagine I'm what? About thirty?"

Ginger nodded and tried to hide her disbelief at the women's age. She'd never been in contact with a vampire older than fifty. Of course she only started at twelve, and only the killing at fifteen, but still, Grandma was just begging for it.

"You can choose to live as long as you have?"

"Yes. I can also choose how young I want to look. I stopped physically aging at thirty," she paused and chuckled before adding. "I saw my first wrinkle and that was it. Though we can heal and stop our aging, for some reason we can't physically cure the allergy to the sun. It is quite baffling. Now, enough chatting lets get you into your dorm room."

Ginger instantly stood, wanting to point out a very important fact. "I applied for a single room."

Eve nodded. "Of course, however the scholarship you applied for does not provide enough funding for a single room."

"Wh-what about the benefactor, can't you put in my request with him or her?"

Ginger felt the panic rise and the full severity of the situation came crashing down. She had applied for a scholarship, of course funding would be an issue for a single room, and the benefactor who'd spoken for her to allow her here without question wouldn't have foreseen this to be a problem. She wouldn't be able to sleep with a monster next to her, but the real question is could she allow the monster to live, even through the first night?