Page 7 of Before We Burn

I stand, taking in his stance and body language. He’s searching for a situation—he wants this to turn into a confrontation—so I don’t take him seriously. I move to the bookshelf lining the west wall and began putting away the books I had on my desk.

“Bunny is a new student with an undiscovered ability. Isn't it my job to find out what that ability is?” I stand a bit straighter in my heels, glad I decided to wear them.

He stands there glaring at me, his eyes narrowed and a smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. “Your job is to teach during teaching hours. Not give private lessons to damaged vampires. Tell her to go to her room if her time is done.”

He was testing my patience, and he knew it. There’s nothing worse than an elder vampire thinking they are some higher power. I feel the transition begin in my face as my fangs grow long in my mouth, poking the sensitive flesh on the inside of my lip and drawing blood. I keep my mouth closed, hiding the transition so he doesn’t see how badly he irked me.

“Alexander—” I say with warning, trying to form the sentence I need to say, which doesn’t exactly pair with the words I want to say.

“Bunny is young, and her behavior is…peculiar. She is detached, doesn’t speak much, but is very aware. She’s a wild card, and different people need different styles of teaching.”

I see my small speech does nothing, and he will be sticking to his original sentiment.

“You are not to spend extra time or resources on that Bloodling. Do you understand?” I stand there dumbfounded, my mouth hanging open in disbelief.

“Alexander…” I step closer to him and lower my voice. “Bunny could be dangerous. She needs attention to figure out what her gift is. If we let her out of this school after her first year and she slaughters humans, who do you think they will come after?” I’m pleading at this point, but he just shrugs. “Think about it, Alex. She could be a risk—not only to herself, but to the entire school.”

“So be it. Why should I care about her outside this school? Teach the class and send them on their way.” He gives me a satisfied smirk. “No more private lessons, or you’ll be answering to the Council of Five.”

He walks away without another word. The threat of the council should send chills up my spine, but I have grown careless when it comes to them, despite them being the eldest vampires in existence. Some say they are the first five vampires created, but I don’t think so. The council is too arrogant. I've always envisioned the first vampires to be wise and kind—like a grandfather or any elder in your community you look up to. Instead, they don’t allow us to know their names—just their ages and turn date—they offer no guidance, and they refuse to leave their lair while actively avoiding younger vampires.

Constantine despises them—hates them, actually—so much she’s had full-blown vocal fantasies about decapitating them.

I move out of my classroom, my footsteps heavy as I walk down the hall. I smile at the students I pass, following Bunny’s scent. I take a right then a left, passing oil paintings of teachers. I make sure not to look when mine pops up as Bunny's scent guides me to the library.

The library is one of my favorite places in the castle—not just because this is where all the books we salvaged are, but because of the ambience. The walls are half-covered in a deep green cotton, and the bottom half in a wenge wood. Small, intimate tables in the same wood are scattered throughout with gold low-lit lamps on each one. Students sit around each table, conversing and laughing. Most of them were in my class earlier, but some must’ve just arrived the night before.

Bunny is sitting by a window, a built-in brown-leather-cushioned day bed right next to it. She seems distant again, her body just as still and detached as the first day I saw her. I sit next to her, ready to apologize and get her back to the conversational mood she was in.

“You see that over there?” she asks softly, pointing to the hills in the distance. The sun is shining between them, giving us a glimpse of dawn. The night seems to have gotten away from me.

I focus on the spot Bunny indicates. Something is there, weaving in and out of the sunlight, far in the distance. As the shadows move closer, I’m able to make out the shape of what looks like twenty to thirty men. I stand instantly, ready to usher the students from the room, when I notice they don’t have shadows.

I look at Bunny who has a manic smile on her face, her eyes wide with excitement and her legs restless and bouncing. “See? See! I told you!”

My eyes flick out the window again, and the closer the figures get, the more I realize something isn’t right. They’re wearing night vision goggles and all-black clothing for an attack during the day…

This can’t be right…did Bunny pull me into her mind?

I nod at her, trying to play it off like I’m not two seconds from creating chaos and finding every weapon I have hidden in the school.

I close my eyes, focusing my breathing and listening to my senses the same way I tell my students to. I focus on what I’ve seen so far—on the inconsistencies I can feel in the magic. I feel Bunny’s mind around me, her subconscious whispering something I can’t make out. It is heavily guarded, indicating that's where the magic is coming from.

Everything about the scene in front of me is wrong. The sun is supposed to be rising, but there are stars shining in the sky. Like whatever is happening wasn’t going to happen until nighttime.

My shoulders stiffen as I look between Bunny and the scene playing inside her head. This isn’t happening now—this will happen in the future. If anyone finds out she can see even a second ahead in time, everyone will be after her. The humans, whatever is left of the witches, and the vampires will all be looking for her.

Bunny looks at me, her wide eyes bright with hope. “See, Professor Popov? I’m not crazy.” Her eyes flick between me and the window. “We’re all about to die.” My mask drops for a moment, the panic I feel now displayed on my face like an open sign.

“What did you say? We’re about to what?” I grab her hands, holding them tightly when her face goes blank, her eyes distant, and she doesn’t take a breath for at least a minute. When she comes back, her smile doesn’t return. Instead, she looks down the hall and shifts in her seat a moment before a loud bang sounds at our front door.

My body flies backward, wood splintering in every direction as I hit the back wall. Instead of feeling pain, the scene in front of me changes from chaos and destruction to Bunny, sitting by the window with her eyes distant and face void. A small smile tilts her lips and she sings, “Pop! Goes the weasel. I know you saw that, too.”

She could see the future. After all the time I spent trying to enter her mind, she knew when I needed to be in it the most. She wanted me to see what she was seeing. It isn’t typical for me to lose myself in someone's mind. I have years of practice—years of discipline—and this is a rookie mistake. I try to get into her mind again, gently nudging and prompting for a response, but it is quiet. Too quiet.

She knows how to block me out and draw me in. She knows far more than she’s letting on.

I don’t bother to hide my shock. “How far into the future can you see?” I whisper, the thought of anyone hearing our conversation sending chills up my spine. It isn’t safe for her here. The council is known to hoard rare gifts and use them to their benefit. It happened to me, it happened to Constantine, and I won’t let it happen to Bunny.