Chapter Nine: Confused

You are going to notice that in this chapter she developes a personality. Finally! It's a funny chapter, and she really does show more with her thoughts. You'll see...

Chapter Nine:

                      Confused

            “Where did u go?” Tori asked me, her eyes wild with fear. By the look of my face I must have looked freaked out. I didn’t answer her but just plopped on my bed. Tonight he was coming no doubt about it and I was leading him here. Where, he will discover not just me but everyone else. I was so stupid sometimes.

            “Nowhere, just to get some air,” I mumbled.

            “Bullshit,” she replied. I looked up startled, very rarely did Tori ever swear directly at her friends.

            “Don’t mess with Tori when you don’t give her answers, NewOne. You have horrible clothing by the way,” Skyler said as she rummaged through my clothes to find something better for me to wear. I sighed. “I was just getting some coffee and reading a book, that’s all,” I told them almost truthfully.

            Both of them looked at me, scrutinizing my expression. Then they looked at each other and nodded. “What,” I asked.

            “You really shouldn’t be going anywhere alone, NewOne,” Skyler said coming to my side. I frowned.

            “Why, not?”

            “Because, you could be in danger. At least here you have protection.”

            “What are you talking about, how am I in danger away from here,” I said quickly. They couldn’t know that some lunatic was tracking me, they just couldn’t. There was no way they had found out.

            “Haven’t you learned anything from Ivanna’s class? Trackers are out there, and you probably have one,” Torrance said, starting to cool off. Her eyes were wide with fear for me. Skyler’s face looked sad.

            “What,” I nearly shouted, my voice rising two octaves.  They looked at each other again. And I had a squirming feeling that somehow they did know. Before any of them could answer, there was a knock on my door. Trying to distract myself I went to answer it.

            Standing in the door was a scrawny girl. Her hair was dark enough to pass for black, and cropped short above her shoulders. She wore all black. A black sweater and black skinny pants. Her nails were even painted black. Her skin color was creamy white, and just like everyone else here she was very pretty. In that back of my mind though, I remembered everyone treating her as an outcast.

            “Hello,” I said politely, my voice came out a little shaky. The girl narrowed her eyes a bit, but eventually answered me.

            “Hi. I was sent to let you know that our headmistress, Illiana, would like to see you in her office. She would like me to take you there,” she said in a dead, flat voice.

            “Sure,” I answered. I turned around to confront Skyler and Torrance, “I’ll see you guy’s later okay?” They nodded there heads and let me go. I closed my door on my way out, and had to run to catch up to…?

            “Hey, you never told me your name,” I asked as I caught up to her.

            “Oddem,” she said simply.

            “Huh?” I wasn’t sure if I heard her right.

            “Yeah it’s a pretty weird name. But it describes the best of me. Odd is in my name, and that’s what I am,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm. We were heading to the left building next to the school, where I was the first night I woke as I vampire. I shuddered delicately as I remembered. “So I hear that you don’t have a name,” she continued.

            “Not really, no.”

            “Well what do they call you? The Professors have to call you something,” she insisted. I looked over to her, and met her dark eyes that were outlined with black eyeliner.

            “They call me, NewOne. But that’s hardly my name,” I said in a hard voice. She noticed my tone of voice and dropped the subject. I was grateful for that. We continued our walk to the left building, where teachers lived. When we entered through the front door we saw a main office directly in front of us and two long hallways on both sides. There were couches and reclining chairs in the front room that faced a humongous T.V. This must be where all the guy teachers come to watch football games.

            On the door of the main office, there was a name printed in elegant letters:

                                           Illiana Masters

                             Headmistress of St. Cryptic Prepetory School

            “I’m sure you don’t need me to guide you further,” Oddem said and left me standing there in front of the door. I knocked twice, as sweat ran down my forehead, oh, how gross.

            “Come in,” a soft voice inside chimed. I grabbed the doorknob, and slowly turned it. As I stepped inside, everything seemed so friendly. Illiana’s mahogany desk was directly in front of me. To the back and sides of her were rows of bookshelves. On the desk were papers and books open, and the new HP touch computer. “Please sit down,” Illiana herself said from behind her desk. I obeyed and sat down in the fluffy chair opposite from her. Illiana was wearing a deep purple blouse, and dark Levi’s. Her honey blonde hair was shining subtly, and was arranged in a messy, but beautiful bun on the top of her head.

            “Why am I here,” I asked her politely, yet earnestly.  She eyed me with her grey eyes.

            “I don’t think it’s best if you wander outside of school grounds,” she informed me. I stared at her, hoping that somehow she didn’t know how much danger I was exactly in.

            “Skyler and Torrance told me that I’m being tracked, what exactly that entails,” I said calmly.

           
            “It means…” she said slowly. “That someone close to you or the vampire world has gained supernatural senses and is chosen to kill you.”

            “But why,” I asked more earnestly.

She sighed and looked me over. “This really isn’t my area of expertise, it’s Ivanna’s. But I guess I could give you a preview of what you’ll learn here in your last year.”

“Thanks.”

“It all began with the very first High Blood of Vampires. Before her we were as uncivilized as Caveman, we were very luck to have her. The only thing is Venus had a temper, a bad temper. She believed in the workings of so called spirits. So she would put curses on vampires she disliked, using the spirits. I guess you could say she was part witch. Anyways, she was not a true vampire, and she was jealous of one who was. Her name was Athena, which in Greek mythology was the goddess of wisdom.

Venus hated Athena so much; she put a curse on Athena’s old human family. The curse said that they would hate her too, and wouldn’t want anything to do with her. The problem was though, is that Athena’s old human lover couldn’t stay away. In old legends the curse of his love for her made him know where she was at all times, mo matter what. But the curse of hate made him go mad to kill her. With those two skills he tracked her and killed. Athena died a virgin, and that was a sign of being a huntress. Virgin vampires in old times were considered strong for resisting loves temptation.”

“So Athena’s old boyfriend was the first tracker is existence,” I asked. The whole history of this seemed fascinating to me.

Illiana chuckled, “I guess you could say he was, but the curse backfired on Venus.”

“What happened?”

“Well, you can’t create a curse and not give something in return. After Athena died, only true vampires were able to become high bloods.” I laughed, and she cracked a small smile. “Oh, but that’s not all. Oh no. Venus had turned flirtingly beautiful. She was like the planet Venus, beautiful on the outside, but oh so deadly. Every vampire man wanted her, they killed for her love. But she didn’t want to give away her virginity so easily, no she wanted to die with honor like Athena. Before long she gave in, and after that horrid night she killed the man. Then she put another curse on vampire men, which made them unable to have powers or ever become a High Blood.”

“But what did she give in return?”

“Her ability to mother. So Venus died; without her honor and without any children to take her place.”

“That’s so sad. So she’s the whole reason why trackers exist, and why it’s so hard for vampires to have children.”

“And why vampire men are not very special compared to female vampires,” she added.

“Why are true vampires most common to have trackers?”

“Because we actually are vampires, so the curse is stronger for us.”

“That stinks,” I grimaced.  Her smile was in between a frown and a grin.

“Yes it does,” she agreed grimly. Hearing this story made me think. It made me put things together rationally. First of all to have a vampire tracker I really was a true vampire, and not some human who had amnesia when she was changed. Second, Andrew had to be close to our world or related to me in some way; whoever I used to be. Finally, men couldn’t be trusted. I was right about Aiden, he was just like that unnamed man trying to get into Venus’s pants. That meant Andrew too. I couldn’t trust him.

But what if he really does care, silly?  A small voice in the back of my mind told me. His words seemed so sincere, so serious. How could I deny what he told me? When those green eyes smoldered into mine, I felt weird inside.  Just thinking about him made my face all hot. No, No, NO! You can’t like him, he’s a tracker remembers! He wants to kill you! He was chosen to kill you, telling you he loves you are just a sneaky plot. I felt like Sméagol from that Lord of the Rings movie, with my mind fighting back and forth. Two little voices screeching back at each other. My brain telling me one thing, my stupid heart telling me another. (That sounds like a totally typical line, to a sappy love song, but it’s true.) One thing I knew was that I couldn’t meet him alone ever again.

You have to meet him! If you don’t he’ll find you here. A voice reminded me, again.

If he actually likes me, he won’t.

You have too!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Shut up!” I commanded my stupid conscience. It was all quiet in my head, and then I slowly realized I yelled out loud. Oh, s**t.

“I beg your pardon,” Illiana said, slightly abashed by my rudeness. Crap, crap, crap!

“I uh…not you. Me. When I think, everything is a mess in my brain,” I rambled. Translation: I’m a stupid person, who is obviously crazy. I looked down in embarrassment.

What a brilliant explanation, the annoying voice gloated.

Oh shut up.

 

                                       * * *

 

In the early eighteenth century…  (That was the beginning of my first sentence on an essay I had to do for History Of our Beings)

I banged my head against my desk three times. I couldn’t even freaking think straight! What the hell was I supposed to do? I couldn’t confide my teenage problems to the headmistress. She was the one who gave me this essay, so that I could learn respect for her. I apologized way too many times, but she just said:

“I was like you once, I think I know all the excuses in the book for telling a teacher to shut up,” she said with a faint smile.

“But I wasn’t-“

“No, no it’s fine. I would let it go, but as headmistress I think I have to stress my authority. Besides, I was going to assign this for class tomorrow, so I’m actually giving you extra time,” she mused.

“I really am sorry,” I mumbled. And also sorry that I made an idiot out of myself.

“NewOne, it’s no big deal. Let me just stress that you shouldn’t go out alone unless you have protection, okay? That’s why I wanted to talk to you,” she told me. Then she hugged me tighter than necessary and sent me to my dorm.

It’s not like Illiana doesn’t like me, she really does. She’s just being my teacher and protector; watching out for me. She was like a big sister, who favored me over another sister. I guess you could say it was like a Harry Potter and Dumbledore relationship. (Don’t make fun, but I like to read. A lot. So I started the Harry Potter series, and I’m on book 4. Oh my gosh, that Cedric person died!)

I banged my head again on my desk. Too many problems for a stressed out teenager to handle. Why couldn’t I be human, they had it so easy. Stupid vampire genes!

“Ow,” I complained as rubbed my forehead. I didn’t have headache because of the banging, but because I had someone on my back. Who could either me a killer or was a really nice guy who actually liked me. I am obviously confused.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

Please Ignore grammatical errors. Im sorry I kept all of you waiting so long, but no worries I already began Chapter Ten: Meeting. Dun dun dun...

Reviews

[anneliese]

this was a really good read! i really enjoy this book so far!! good job!!