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Get her!
Kill her!
I swallow heavily, trying to banish those thoughts. The gypsies assured me this would work. I paid an arm and a leg for that cream, which will mean the difference between life and death. Literally.
I walk through the hallways of Bluderry, the Academy of the Arcane, the only place in the world where a human enters in just one way: as a snack. That isn’t what I plan on becoming. I keep my head focused straight in front of me, as I pass vampires in small groups, as they’re trying to do the same thing as me, find their way around this hellhole. If I look down, that’ll show my fear, my lack of conviction that I belong here… which I don’t. I am a human in a vampire world, walking on eggshells that might break underneath my feet at any moment.
Even if I stayed in town, without climbing up the mountain here, I would still be surrounded by vampires wherever I turn. In the minds of almost all humans, this town doesn’t even exist. It is not on any map. Almost every human who has ever visited this town, never got to live and tell the tale of it. I’m probably fooling myself that I’ll be the first one. But hope is all I have. Hope and this foolish heart of mine to get me through it.
I stop in the middle of the hallway, feeling the elbowing of those passing me by. I feel my forehead perspiring. I lift my sleeve to wipe it, inhaling deeply. There is a big board in front of me, with names of those attending for the first time this year. The gypsies assured me mine would be there. I lift my gaze to take a look. A potent smell washes over my nostrils. I wonder if it’s the kitchen or the swamp that’s supposed to be somewhere behind the academy.
I turn around, with a disgusted frown on my face. Luckily, I can’t see any swamp things. All I see is young people, like myself. Well, younger. I just have to thank my good genes for making it look like I’m younger than I really am. Otherwise, none of this would work.
Someone from behind me smacks me on the back with an elbow.
“Hey!” I turn around, annoyed and ready to punch someone in the face, but the moment I see it’s a guy two times my size, my voice dies inside my throat.
“What?” he growls at me.
My lips part. I could take him on. Maybe. I’ve taken on such big guys before, but it wasn’t easy, although I’ve been a bounty hunter for years now. I exhale slowly, reminding myself that I shouldn’t make waves. Not on my first day here. I have to remain unseen, smaller than a mouse and I need to keep it that way.
I lift my hands at the level of my chest, signaling surrender. I have to keep my cool. My life depends on it.
“Nothing,” I say, smiling a little too nervously. He doesn’t smile back, and instead just focuses on the board, which is now behind me, probably looking for his name.
I murmur silently to myself that he’s lucky I’m on a mission here. Otherwise, he’d be joining the ranks of other deaths in my little black book.
“Attention!”
We all suddenly hear a voice that’s coming from the top of the staircase. All eyes are lifted in the direction where the sound is coming from. The sight we behold is magnificent. There is obviously a window right above us, a circular one, which allows moonlight to ooze right down onto the top of the staircase. I have never seen him, but I know who he is. It can only be him. No one else.
A few gasps in the crowd are heard. Faces lean to others, whispering. Everyone is in awe of the vampire who has obviously graced us with his presence. He is wearing a pristine white shirt and black pants. I can’t see his face, but something tells me he’s looking straight at me. In fact, I’m sure that’s how everyone feels right now, as if he’s looking at every single person here, at the same time. It’s impossible, of course, and yet I can’t escape this sensation.
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear!” He shouts so loudly that it echoes throughout the corridor.
I swallow heavily, feeling my palms becoming clammy with each passing moment.
“He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life,” he adds a little less theatrically. Then, he does something which makes my blood turn cold.
He points his finger straight at me.
The crowd around me takes a step back, and now I am standing alone in a circle that seems to be created solely for my sake. My fingers start to tremble. I wipe my palms against my jeans, but that does little to make me feel better.
Two thugs appear on either side of me, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me upward into the air, so that I’m not even standing on the ground anymore, but rather I’m being floated in some direction, away from the rest of them.
“Where are you taking me!?” I shout, demanding to know. Neither of them pays any attention to my demands, and I just keep being taken deeper and deeper into the darkness of the mansion that I knew would be the death of me.
I close my eyes, remembering Jonas. As always, this is all his fault. But I can’t hold it against him. It’s always been just the two of us. Just a brother and sister against the world. I thought it would get easier when we both grew up. Instead, it only became more difficult.
I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for him and his stupid habit of getting in trouble. Now, he’s stolen drugs from some guy who said he would forgive the debt under one condition: that his bounty hunter sister gets the ring from the finger of none other than the vampire prince himself. I thought it was a joke at first, and now, here I am, being taken to the gallows most probably, or some other, even worse kind of death. I should have known that the gypsies would screw me over.
When they finally drop me to the ground, I notice it’s one dark room, with a hole in the center of it. I step away from it, not even wanting to look inside.
“Where am I?” I demand to know again, as if they might reply this time.
Instead, he appears in the doorway, nodding at them. Instantly, they disappear, and we are alone, with only a few torches hanging off the wall to illuminate what appears to be a cell.
“What is this?” I ask, not wanting to show my fear, but my heart is beating like crazy.
