Careful

Nothing seems to be making sense for Syron. Lucas tries to reveal his path, but nothing seems to be going right.

I bleed it out,

Digging deeper just to throw it away.

-Linkin Park

 

    "C'mon, up you go." Syron blinked as he was pulled upward. He found himself staring into the cold, feverish, dark eyes of Lucas. The elder vampire was biting his lip with fangs, that before, Syron had failed to notice.

    "You have blood on your mouth." Lucas muttered pointedly. "Why can't you humans learn to use your manners?"

    "Sorry." Syron spat. "I haven't drained a person before." Syron wiped at his mouth with his pajama sleeve, and blanched at the amount of blood that stained his shirt. "I...I can't believe I killed her."

    Lucas shrugged. "You'll forget the child. It's hard to remember who, or what you've drained. It's like how, at lunch, the humans can't remember what they had for breakfest. You won't remember either." he pushed past Syron to the pale body of the little girl. Lucas kneeled beside her, and brushed a few strands of her hazel curls away from her face. "Such a pretty darling." he cooed under his breath. And he too, launched his fangs into the child's neck, draining whatever Syron hadn't managed to drink.

    Vampire. He was a bloody, vampire! The legend had been true. Syron watched Lucas drink for a while, and was fascinated. The elder boy cradled his victim, like a lover would his mate. He gently caressed the child's head with one hand, and held it steady with the other. No drop of blood escaped his lips.

    Syron doubted he'd looked half as graceful. He turned away, embarresed, and slightly repulsed at his own actions.

    As Lucas finished, he stood. There was not one extra crease in his dark uniform. Not one strand of hair had escaped it's tie. He glanced at the girl. "The custodians will dispose of her properly, before dawn."

    "Properly?" Syron asked in a strangled voice.

    Lucas frowned. "Our prey has an odd ability of coming back, you see. Esspecially ones we've drained entirely of blood. They can't just be...buried. The next night, they rip their way out of their graves. When that happens, they arn't...civil, like you and I. They're rabid. They have no intentions of keeping vampiracy secret. They are what we call, Level M's."

    "Levels?" Syron asked. He realized his volume was deteriorating.

    "Yes. You will find Levels X, C, and V are welcome at the Academy. B's, N's, and M's, no. They cannot enter. Those levels are often insane. Mad, insane, and beyond help."

    Syron said nothing.

    Lucas folded his hands behind his back. "I should probably show you your new room. We always have empty ones in the Night Class Wing. Vampires decide to leave on their own, some, they move up to Level B's, and we kick them out. It's a process. Plus, we always know, that one of us will loose it, and bite a day student. If the student doesn't die, they join us."

    "Do we know who bit me?" Syron asked after a moment of silence. They had begun to climb the staircase. As the stairs split into two directions, Syron looked to his right, the direction of the Day Class dorms. He would never take those stairs again. They climbed the stairs to the left.

    "Course we do. He came and confessed it to my father. His name is Thomas." Lucas replied politely. "He's a new vampire, hardly a decade old. He was very ashamed about what happened. I don't see what the big deal is. I've changed...six or seven girls in this institute." Lucas smirked.

    Syron rolled his eyes. He could see why. All the human girls ever talked about was Lucas Marci this, or Lucas Marci that. The vampire was slim, he had great hair, and his voice...well to a girl, it had to be intoxicating. To someone like Syron, it made him want to throw up. As for this Thomas boy, Syron made it a goal to hate the kid no matter what.

    As Syron and Lucas began to pass by other vampires, Syron began to notice things he hadn't before. Their eyes ranged from bright, ruby red, to dark as pitch. Their brighter their eyes were, the healthier they looked. And the fangs. Some females flashed Syron a smile, and he caught sight of the enlarged canines. Syron shivered.

    "You'll be rooming with Thomas." Lucas said happily. Syron did a double take.

    "You want me to room with that thing who turned me into a monster?"

    Lucas grinned. "Oh, this will be interesting indeed."

    Syron mashed his teeth together, clenching his hands into tight fists. Other students were exiting classes, laughing. Some were leaning against the walls, drinking ruby liquid from a wine glass. Others were smoking cigarettes. Vampires walked right through the smoke. Of course, they didn't need to breathe, so it wouldn't bother them. Some were kissing furiously, right in front of a vampire teacher, but he paid them no mind.

    Well, Syron thought. Some of the vampires are hundreds of years old. Most of them here could be married. They'd have no rules against PDA. And then, Syron thought of something.

    "Hey, Lucas? Are you married?"

    Lucas winced. "Uh...yeah."

    "You don't wear a ring. And who too?"

    "She's...not here." Lucas mumbled, his eyes downward. "She's a Level B. She got removed. We keep in touch...but it's not the same as having her here. That's why I don't wear a ring. It's sort of...well embarresing, that your wife is insane."

    "Oh..." Syron danced around the touchy subject. "Well, what I wanted to ask. Since vampires are like, hundreds and hundreds of years old, and most of you are married, how many kids do you have? I don't see any little people with fangs."

    Lucas stopped in his tracks. Syron had escaped one subject, and landed himself right into another.

    "Reproduction...doesn't happen. All of us, we've tried and tried to find a solution. We can't have kids." Lucas didn't look up. "Your room's right here." he pointed to the door on his left. And Lucas walked away, his hands in his pockets.

    Syron bit his lip, and carefully opened the door to his room.

    A boy was sitting on a bed, one of the two in the room. There was a desk inbetween them, with a lamp sitting on it. There were too closets, just like the Day Class dorms. The boy looked about 15 years old. His dark hair was cut short, and messy. His eyes were a bright red. He had fed recently too, then. The boy wore the same, dark uniform as Lucas. He looked up at Syron's entering, but froze, and he recognized who it was.

    "Hey." he mumbled. "I guess you're my roomate. Name's Thomas. Thomas Kavern. You're Roseblood, right? Your parents own the place, before Marci's?"

    "Yeah." Syron said happily in a sing song voice, hiding his anger. "I go by Syron. You bit me."

    If it was possible for a vampire to pale, Thomas did just that. "Look, I'm sorry. Really I-"

    "Whatever." Syron replied. Suddenly, he didn't want to here excuses. "What do we do all night?"

    Thomas looked downward. "Go to classes. Study. Drink "red wine"." Thomas pulled his pointer and middle finger on both hands up and down twice. "It's our code name for...well, blood. They'd rather you drink from outside the Acadmey though. People don't appreciate finding dead bodies."

    "And during the day?"

    Thomas looked out the window. "Stay inside. Try not to get burned. Make friends. I don't care. Find a mate. Someone to love."

    "Have you done that?" Syron asked.

    Thomas flinched. "When I was human, yeah. She was the first person I killed, as a vampire. No matter what people say about forgetting, I will never forget that."

    Syron nodded, and looked out the open window at the slowly pinkening sky. He pulled down the blinds, so that the only light came from the eerie glow of the lamp. He thought about Di. She hadn't even remember her full name. In those few seconds, she had trusted him. And he had killed her. The two boys sat in silence.

    So far, being a vampire sucked.