Vampire Wanted

Chapter Three | A Contender Approaches

"She'll be awake soon, sire. What should we prepare for her nourishment?"

The uncharacteristically concerned Lord ran a hand through her hair, and watched her tremble as a result. "Prepare a few of our prisoners. She could lack control, and I wouldn't risk a servant on that chance."

"Ms. Coldwater?"

Her eyes lifted from the book, and she surveyed the expectant faces of students around her. "What?"

A few chuckles sounded from the front row, and her cheeks grew warm.

"Pick your partner for the project."

Her eyes surveyed the unchosen ranks. There were only three individuals left.

A young man wearing a sleeveless tank, barely tucked into a pair of tight jeans, with bleach blond hair, wiggling his pencil between two fingers, his eyes focused on the clock.

Another guy, this one dressed more casually as he focused on the assignment sheet in front of him, desperately avoiding eye contact.

And a girl who-

Ophelia blanched.

This was the girl who Sacha had broken things off with yesterday, his most recent fling, and she was looking like she wanted to hear her name coming from Ophelia's lips.

The thought of endless questions about her best friend and what he was up to, and if he talked about her and a thousand other things made her mouth dry.

She pointed at the first, watching as his head turned and his expression twisted into distaste.

"Mr. Adriano, you can move now."

Seeming very aware of the eyes on him, he leaned down to grab his shoulder bag, standing and pushing in his chair with his ankle and moving to the seat beside her. There, silently, he dropped himself into the seat, and rested his elbows on the table wearily. 

The rest of the hour continued without much incidence, and neither turned to look at the other, both seeming dissatisfied with the choice. 

The bell signaled the end of class and the students stood, flooding and bottle-necking the small doorway. 

A hand slid over her shoulder and gave a sharp squeeze. 

Bleach-blonde was looking at the clock again as he spoke. ¨Give me your phone, I'll text myself your number." He extended a hand expectantly, and she noted black-painted fingernails in the motion. 

Ophelia surrendered her phone, unlocked, and watched him enter the digits, and return it to her. "Thank you..." she glanced at the screen slyly, "Dante?" 

He gave a clipped nod and adjusted the bag over his shoulder, already moving to leave the room, still distracted as he did so. 

Ophelia left the classroom, following the flow of the crowd pulsing towards the cafeteria, and seated herself across from Sacha, as she always did. 

He glanced up at her, poking at the heap of fried food with a plastic fork. "Holding up?"

She nodded, stowing her bag by her feet, and extracting a notebook and a black marker, writing in large letters across the top: MY SHORT STORY. She began to sketch out an idea of a dashing antihero and his quest to gain the love and respect of the villain, by defeating the endless threats she threw at him. Near the bottom of the page, she concluded with the words: SHE'S A VAMPIRE?

Sacha watched on with mild interest, snorting when she reached the final words. "You have such range, it's a wonder you're not already famous." Then, at her scowl, he continued. "What's the assignment?"

"We're writing two different short stories and fusing them into one. It's supposed to teach us collaboration and versatility in our writing, but I guarantee, half of them will fuse like water and oil." She scanned the page for spelling errors and scribbled them out, re-writing the corrections above. "I picked my partner last, so it's almost certain that I have the slacker." 

"You don't know?"

"I've never seen this guy before, Dante something, bleach-blonde punk, my prospects aren't great." She remarked with a admirable blase, continuing to edit and correct her planning page. 

Sacha's blind forking came briefly to a halt. It resumed a few seconds later, albeit more slowly. "Have you talked to him yet?"

She shrugged, her dragging the marker across the page to eliminate a line. "He gave me his number, but other than that not really. Seemed in a rush to leave, so I didn't keep him." She looked up. "Why?" 

Sacha was quick to brush it off, quickly finishing his lunch. "I think he was in one of my classes last year, I recognize the name." He didn't divulge more than that, changing the subject by reaching for the novel she'd been reading early today. "You haven't finished this yet? That's not like you."

She capped the marker. "Yeah, I got distracted last night and I-" she paused as she remembered her ad, pulling open her browser on her phone. 

"Ophelia?"

She ignored him, typing in her username for the site and letting her thumb guide her to the ad she'd posted the night before. Scrolling to the bottom of the page, and-

Nothing. 

She felt mild disappointment, and stowed her phone in her bag again. "I had to finish my homework, so I didn't get a chance to finish it." 

"Oh." Sacha stood to clear his tray, inclining his head for her to follow. "What are you doing later?"