Two: Recognition

§ Recognition §

 

Our first class every day was mandated to be Recognition of Vampires. It involved tactics to find out if a person was human or the undead, as well as some first-aid training, in case one of us came upon a wounded person"as in, a human, living person"who needed immediate medical attention that should be started before an ambulance came to the rescue.

 

            Also, it taught us useful tactics of how to evade a vampire by feigning to be one, and how to repel them"the truth separated from fiction about what could potentially hurt or kill vampires, and what was old or modernized myth. The transforming-into-a-bat concept was totally myth, as was the religious-symbols thing. However, a special kind of rose water concocted from pure white roses, essence of garlic (like, a garlic “soul” or something), and some kind of herb, would repel any vampire"and we’d each been provided with three containers of them. Surprisingly, the scent of it was actually quite pleasant; not so surprisingly, some of the girls in the class had already started trend-setting by using them as perfume.

 

            As well as the glass bottles, we also got bandaging gauge and other first-aid/vampire-repellant stuff. It was all pretty cool, but frightening at the same time when one thought about their purpose. Of course, some students felt they didn’t need to waste their mornings learning about this content when they could be sleeping in, or going to the basement to watch a movie, perhaps. So they (whom I call “the stupid ones”) tended to skip this first class. Stupid as they may have been, though, not many of them dared to venture beyond the gates of the academy.

 

            “Whoa, but isn’t she engaged to one of the Canadian soldiers or something?” a voice broke into my thoughts.

 

            Today, all other classes had been cancelled, due to some war-related issue or another, which wasn’t unusual. I sincerely hoped none of the teachers from here had been harmed. It was half past seven, and judging from the snow storm raging outside, tonight was going to be a chilly one. And yet, we were still lounging in the basement library.

 

            Glancing up, I spotted Adelheid’s cousin, Bevin, relaxing on the leather recliner across from me. Adelheid sat silently beside me, probably stuck in her own thoughts, although they couldn’t be as gloomy as mine about my potentially-dead parents and teachers.

 

            Cherry, one of the more outgoing people in our inner circle replied to her curiosity.

 

            “That’s what’s so shocking! But you’ve gotta admit, Jason is kind of hot…But anyway, she totally rejected him.”

 

            “Oh, good,” Bevin breathed, calmed.

 

            “His name’s Jones,” another voice added in; Andrew. “Something-Jones"Matt or Miles, maybe.”

 

            I sighed, somewhat relieved to know something about the topic of conversation for once. So I wasn’t completely out of it after all. Maybe this would distract me from my more worrisome thoughts.

 

            “It’s Jace Mill,” I corrected.

 

            All eyes turned to me, as if surprised to find me following the conversation. Admittedly, I was quite surprised myself.

 

            “Oh yeah, that’s it,” Andrew agreed.

 

            “It’s so cute how Karen is so faithful to him,” Adelheid joined in, and now the attention shifted to her.

 

            “Yeah, it is,” I agreed, smiling at the thought.

 

            “I heard they write letters to eachother every week,” Kate added, entering the room with Khaled and taking a seat at the foot of my couch. Khaled rolled his eyes and looked at Kate.

 

            “This is the intriguing conversation we were ‘missing out’ on?” he asked skeptically. “Yo, Sullivan, what are you, one of the girls now?” he teased Andrew.

 

            Khaled Sarraf and Andrew Sullivan were my only male friends since I’d come to the academy.

 

            “I think it’s really sweet,” she countered. “I heard they write to eachother every three days, then send them all together every moth.”

 

            Suddenly, Mrs. Winters strode down the carpeted stairs in a rush, with Mr. Winters, the principal, following.

 

            “Students, we have an emergency,” she declared, then slowly walked all the way into the basement library. I quickly moved to give her my seat, and Kate got off the front of the couch where she was sitting on the carpet; the teacher smiled and shook her head at us.

 

            “Serenity Park has been ambushed by a group of unidentified vampires, who witnesses say may be rogue,” the principal told us. “The route that the ambulances were supposed to be taking is closed due to recent spontaneous vampire criminal activity.”

 

                                    •••                                •§•                               •••

 

By the time we’d finished bandaging up the last of the victims to the best of our amateur-medic abilities, it was 8:42pm. Everyone was gathering their things and grouping up to head back to the academy. Adelheid walked up to me and handed me my purse.

 

            “Thanks,” I said.

 

            “No problem.”

 

            “Good thing the ambulances made it on time to save most of the people,” I stated desolately.

 

            “Ja; I hope all of them get saved…”

 

            Khaled strode up to where we were standing, and handed Adelheid her leopard-print velvet gloves.

 

            “Look who’s reminding someone of their purse while forgetting her own gloves,” he teased.

 

            Seeing our gloomy expressions, he looked out at the darkened trees in the distance. Under normal circumstances,--just a few months ago, in fact"he would’ve quipped something like “Whoa, guys, who died?” But now, it would hit way too close to home to be considered anything other than truthfully-inconsiderate.

 

            “I think Mr. Winters is leading the way back now"you guys coming?” he asked.

 

            Adelheid inserted her gloves into my hands and smiled when I looked at her questioningly.

 

            “I have a warmer jacket,” was her justification, causing me to roll my eyes; with her eyes"especially her eyebrows"she forced me to accept without argument.

 

            “You guys go ahead,” I told them. “I’ll catch up with the last group that leaves.”

 

            Some university students were still hanging around, going for hot chocolate at the nearest cafe. I’d just have to keep an eye on both paths that led back to the academy, since I didn’t know which one they might take, and didn’t know the routes myself.

 

            Adelheid raised one chestnut-brown brow. “You sure?”

 

            “Yup.”

 

            “Then I’m staying with you.”

 

            “No, I’ll be there in a few, promise. Seriously, you guys go"Mr. Waters is already heading back.”

 

            Adelheid looked at me doubtfully, so I tried to use her own forceful-eye trick on her. She laughed at my face.

 

            “Nice try, Vale. Fine, I’ll go.”

 

            After they’d gone, I sat down under the shade of a tree and immediately, my butt froze half to death. I hurriedly jumped up to make sure it wasn’t frozen stuck to the ground, and then smacked my buttocks to make sure they weren’t already numb. Then I quickly surveyed my surroundings to make sure that n one had seen the embarrassing procedure. Thankfully, no one else was around"or was that a bad thing?

 

            Ah, well, I thought to myself. You can’t beat fate.

 

            I sat there for a long time, on my jacket so that my butt wouldn’t freeze while the rest of me did, pondering my messed up life.

 

            When I realized what I was doing, I hastily mentally slapped myself and decided against any more self-imposed depression for the night. The only worry I’d allow myself to face was that of my parents and their situation.

 

            Brushing off my pants, I got up and made my way to the first sidewalk that Mr. Winters had led the others through, hoping to spot the university students through the coffee shop window.

 

            Suddenly, a thunderous gun shot rang out, and a black-clad figure blurred my way to block me, and collapsed onto the ground.

 

            Session two of Recognition of Vampires: all vampire soldiers wear black uniforms with the Vampirine insignia in red.