me and started running. I never used to like running, but it turns out it’s a lot more fun when you’re nearly as fast as a car. And it doesn’t make me tired any more, at least as long as the moon is out. Plus it’s a lot safer to run unnaturally fast at night – not so many people out on the street.
I made it to the high school in about ten minutes. It looked all gloomy and shadowy in the moonlight, the brick and concrete merging into silvery edges. Most of the glass had been swept up, but I could see a few tiny shards they’d missed, still shimmering on the steps. I guess the police had been busy, because even the crime scene tape was gone. They probably really wanted school to get back to normal the next day.
They’d done a pretty good job of cleaning up; only the smell of blood still lingered, a whisper of what had happened here, and I’m guessing that only a vampire nose would pick that up. Even the broken window above was covered with a black tarp, one corner flapping a little in the wind.
There’s another cemetery right beside the high school – not the one I usually go to. This one is smaller and older, with tiny, crooked gravestones. With that on one side and the football field on the other, the school has a lot of open space around it. Only a couple of houses have a view of the front steps, and that’s across the parking lot. I was guessing nobody could have seen anything, especially that late at night, without vampire sight. It was only eleven o’clock now and already all the houses were dark. Unhelpful day-dwellers.
I padded across the grass that edged the parking lot, staying close to the shadows just in case. Long trails of purple-grey clouds slid across the moon. A small piece of glass crunched under my sneaker as I climbed the steps. Tex must have landed with a lot of force; I could smell blood spatters on the front door. And blood was the only thing I could smell. The scent of the attacker was completely masked by the overwhelming scent of Tex’s blood.
The door was, of course, locked, which made me wonder how Tex and his killer had gotten inside in the middle of the night in the first place. Not that it’s hard for a vampire to get into places like this. We have to be invited into private homes, but everything else is wide open to us. For instance, I could have just pulled the door off, but I thought that might be a little suspicious. Probably not an approach Olympia would have approved of.
Instead I climbed the big oak tree that grows beside the school’s front steps. Climbing trees is another thing that’s more fun with vampire strength and speed. I was level with the top floor in about twenty seconds. I wriggled along the length of a branch until I could reach the flapping corner of the tarp. There was just enough space for me to squeeze underneath and flip through the open window. The broken panes of glass were gone. Only a gaping round hole was left in the wall of the school.
My shoes hit the tile floor with a tiny squeak. I was in a long hallway lined with metallic-green junior class lockers. Moonlight slanted through the windows in the classrooms on either side and the matching round window at the far end of the hall, facing the back of the school. Another hallway bisected this one in the middle, making a kind of plus sign. Or a cross, if you want to be all woooooo mystical about it. As it turns out, crosses don’t bother me. They freak Wilhelm out really badly though, so I think maybe you had to believe in them when you were alive to be bothered by them once you’re a vampire. I would test this theory by throwing a Star of David at Bert, but that would be mean.
Holy water does irritate my skin, and garlic makes me sneeze for about an hour. Neither of them can kill me though – so much for those theories. I’m afraid it’s a stake through the heart, an axe through the neck or a whole lot of fire, and that’s it. Not stuff I have to worry about much in my everyday life. Unlife. Whatever.
I circled the spot in the hallway in front of the open window, although I had no idea what I was looking for. Clues? Graffiti scrawled on the wall: “I killed Tex Harrison here”? The floor looked as scuffed and ordinary as it did every day. I crouched and ran my hand across the cold, speckled tiles.
My fingers brushed against something that rolled. I caught it and picked it up.
A small red bead.
Hmmmmm.
Of course, anyone could have dropped that here any time. Hundreds of kids went through this hall every day. My own locker was right around the corner, in the bisecting hallway.
Still, I slipped the bead into my pocket.
Although I knew it wouldn’t do any good, I inhaled, trying to see if any of the scents here were stronger than the others. As I expected, there was too much of a jumble to pick anything out.
Except…No, I was wrong. There was one unusually sharp scent. It’s hard to describe how vampire noses distinguish what they smell, but if it helps, this one smelled a little like mist and moonlight and jazz and tuxedos and antique books. (I know, I bet that was really helpful.)
As I separated it out from the rest of the muddle, I realised that it was surprisingly strong and getting stronger.
Or…closer.
I whirled around.
I wasn’t alone.
IF I’D HAD a heartbeat, it would have skidded to a stop.
He was standing in the doorway of a classroom, his hands clasped behind his back. The moonlight dappled the floor behind him, hiding his face in shadow. All I could see was his long, lean outline.
I was pretty sure he was staring at me.
A long moment passed. He didn’t move. I didn’t move. Oh, I thought about moving. I thought about leaping right out that broken window. I figured the fall wouldn’t hurt me too badly and then I could run all the way home.
But he had probably seen my face already, so it would be a bad idea to do anything vampire-y right now – like, say, survive a three-storey fall.
Anyway, I couldn’t have moved if I’d wanted to. I was way too freaking scared. He just stood there. He had this eerie stillness about him that I’d never seen before. I couldn’t even hear him breathing or fidgeting or anything. The hallway was completely silent. Just me and a sinister figure in the dark.
Kira, you’re a vampire, I told myself. He should be scared of you. What’s he going to do to you? Is it worse than being locked in a coffin and fed through a feeding tube for a hundred years?
But the other half of my brain was merrily reminding me that criminals often return to the scene of the crime, while gory pictures of Tex’s bleeding corpse flashed across my mental movie screen. Tex, who had been killed by a vampire.
My mind started racing again. Do vampires kill other vampires? How would he do it? IS HE HIDING A STAKE BEHIND HIS BACK?
When he finally did move, I nearly leaped out of my skin. All he did was take a tiny step forward, but it startled me enough that I jumped backwards, crashed into the lockers behind me, slipped on the floor and fell over.
So much for the preternatural grace of vampires. I’d love to know when that’s finally going to kick in.
And then, all at once, he was right beside me.
“I’m
