A Sanguinary Rose

Bad Blood

MR. ROYCE had everyone pair up with a random classmate during Cryptology for an assignment on how 'regional environments affect species' development.'

"How do you think your parents would react if they found out?" Morganne Blair asked me while she rubbed the spine of her thick leather-bound tome as if it were a cat. She had dark circles under her eyes, and the black highlighter trying to disguise them certainly wouldn't fool me. The long sleeves of her loose sweatshirt concealed her fidgety hands.

It was hard for me to stop glancing at the desk two columns beside me where Mr. Royce had Alan sit next to Anja. It felt wrong feeling jealous, but I couldn't help it.

"If I had to tell, meaning it was life-threateningly necessary... maybe Dad. Mom would freak out for sure. My brother would ramble on how cool it is and I wouldn't hear the end of it. But Dad... I think he'd sit down with me and talk it through. So maybe him."

"Hm. Man, I'm so excited for Halloween. Aren't you?" Morganne said, staring at the soft-tiled ceiling.

"Glad you heard me. Why? Should I be?"

"Duh. Well, you're new. Halloween probably means nothing more to you than another party where you can contract herpes and lose a couple million brain cells. But it's much more than that. We get to celebrate our existence—it's when mere mortals acknowledge that we exist, even if it's only playing pretend. We also get to be more of ourselves with little to no reproach, and some years get wild. It is a big deal." She snickered. "I feel like hexing somebody tonight."

"But that's next week."

"Yeah, the wait is killing meee..."

Concentrating on the assignment was difficult enough with my werecat friend interacting with the beautiful angel in ways I couldn't. "Okay. So how does a colder climate affect a werewolf's physiological patterns?" I flipped through the textbook's pages while sneaking another glance at Anja giggling. "I don't think you find this stuff in the book."

"How does it feel?" Morganne asked me, jerking me away from the sight of the werecat whispering in Alan's ear.

"Feels what?"

"Dying. Coming back from the great beyond. Dangling above the dark abyss and waking up from it. How does it feel to have the Fates sew your last strand of life and weave it back with immortality?" The girl leaned closer to my face, too close for my taste. Her raven hair was matte and unkempt, and it smelled of cut grass.

"It felt... problematic." I took that moment to sneak another look. This time Anja spotted me watching and spun away, still giggling and covering up her mouth with her hands. On cue, Alan looked at me and gave me an eye-roll. Are they talking about me?

I knew her guardian angel was to become pretty much Anja's shadow for a few weeks, or even months, but I nearly bit my tongue off when she told me he went to her place for a few hours and had to walk her to school every day. I had so many questions, but it was neither the time nor the place, nor were they proper.

"How so? You are stronger, faster," Morganne said, frowning. "Not to mention your enhanced senses. You are physically more powerful than most of the human population of this sad planet. You should embrace it."

"I don't know. Why do you care so much?"

"Can you name what I am?" she asked, and her blue eyes lit up with amusement. "Come on, it's EZ."

"A bitch?"

"Close. Switch up with a W and you got it. We could be BFF's," Morganne said. What's that got to do with anything? She held her tome up to my face. The old brown leather was cracked. "This is a grimoire. Currently taking up your spot in my BFF's list."