Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince

When I arrived at school Finn found me at the bus stop and walked with me all the way into the building. He didn’t say a word, but the look on his face told me all I needed to know. His father had told him what I was up to last night and this morning. When we got to Chemistry he paused in the doorway and hooked his finger into the strap of my bag, so that when I entered I was yanked backwards instead of the direction I headed in.

I met his laughing eyes and glared at him. That was not funny. “Yes?” I said through gritted teeth.

He smiled at me, genuinely, showing some of his perfectly white teeth. The simple gesture alone had several girls swooning as they passed through and near the doorway.

“Quit showing off your charming smile,” I whispered to him.

He dropped it, but still smiled at me with his eyes. “You don’t like it?”

I shook my head slightly. “It’s not that. You’re driving all the girls here crazy with it.”

“I am?”

Even though he formed that as a naïve question, I wasn’t fooled. He meant to do it on purpose, that little traitor. I rolled my eyes instead of responding to his question. “What do you want?”

This time he shook his head slightly. He leaned into my face, right where his nose was almost touching mine. I figured that the other people around us were pointing and staring at me or at us in this case. There were several awed gasps from inside the room and out in the hall. But he didn’t get much closer than to where we stood staring at each other from across our noses.

The clock was ticking and he took every second of our time in this hallway. He didn’t say a thing, but suddenly leaned back and walked away right as the bell rang. By this time, no one was in the hall, except a short little blond-haired woman. She hurried towards us, and stopped at the doorway to my class room. I glared at Finn’s backside. He was walking to wherever it was he went for first period looking quite pleased with himself.

“Are you here for class this morning?” the woman asked me in a high pitched squeaky voice.

I twisted my eyes down to her. “Yes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she corrected me. “In you go.”

I narrowed my eyes. Who was she? “Who are you?”

She crossed her arms. “Not in my classroom missy. Or do I need to give you detention?”

Seth stood up quickly. “Leave her alone Miss Jennings, she’s new to the school.”

She threw Seth a quick look before switching her attention back to me. “New or not, you need to take your seat. It’s time for class.”

I hesitated, mostly because I didn’t want Finn to just walk away without answering my question, but also because I didn’t know who this woman was. She wasn’t supposed to be here. This was Ms. Ingram’s classroom. After a second or two I took my seat, but time moved slowly for me and my hesitation felt like minutes.

The plump little lady pulled out a folder from the top drawer in the desk. She stared at each of us in turn, but when her eyes rested on me, she took several double takes. “Are you Miss Harper?” she finally asked.

I nodded once.

“Was that a yes?”

Seth whispered from behind me, “You have to answer her.”

“My name is Abelia Harper,” I proclaimed.

She didn’t smile. “A yes ma’am would’ve sufficed.”

I didn’t flinch like the rest of class. Apparently she had a reputation for being extremely persnickety. I wasn’t in the mood to put up with this especially since Ms. Ingram was missing from class. The thought had me worried, extremely, especially considering what we were up to last night.

“Where’s Ms. Ingram?” I interrupted her from taking the rest of the roll.

She folded her incredibly chubby arms across the desk and stared right at me. “I am taking roll and your question is irrelevant.”

I stood up and crossed into the aisle. Behind me several people sucked in their breaths including Seth. Apparently I was breaking rules with this woman. As I approached her desk, her stodgy face peered up at mine, but she wasn’t as put off like the rest of the class by my bold move.

“Miss Harper, please take your seat,” she trilled.

I didn’t stop until I stood at her desk. I bent low and caught her gaze and I turned it on. “Where’s Ms. Ingram?” I growled.

Her face immediately blanched in horror. She shook her head several times. “No, I can’t. I promised.”

I reached across and pulled her obese body closer to my face. “You’re going to tell me where she is.”

Her facial features succumbed to my will because whatever stubborn will she had was no match for my power. She spilled the secret in a monotonous voice. “She called me to take over class this morning. She said she was sick, and needed a few days off. She didn’t mention anything else.”

I let her go. The woman wasn’t going to tell me anything that I couldn’t guess on my own. I did learn something from the way she told the secret. Someone had used compulsion on her. When people told me things under the duress of my compulsion, they didn’t speak in a monotone voice. Someone had used their power on her for command and servitude. Whoever messed with this woman’s mind was powerful and there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to crack her thoughts without her going completely nuts like Seth on the day he thought I burned my hand. I made my way back to the table, resolved that I would figure this out later.

Ms. Ingram might have been tired after the night we had. Maybe that was why she called in the substitute teacher. It made sense now that she wouldn’t be able to tell me not to expect her. I saw it play out in my head, she went home and fell asleep, only waking up late and calling in a substitute. I looked up at my classmates as I approached the stool where I usually sat. They all looked really worried, but I didn’t care. Maybe it was only a coincidence that Miss Jennings’ mind had been messed with before. Knowing this school and the rest of the teachers here, Finn was the culprit.

“She was at that place,” the teacher resumed in a quiet soft-spoken tone.

I paused noticing that her voice hadn’t changed like it should have when I dropped the compulsion. I whirled around. She shouldn’t be speaking anymore, but it was like I had thrown a switch inside her mind, unblocking the obstacle the powerful vampire had put into her head. “What place?”

The teacher’s eyes didn’t stop gazing at the floor. “You know the one, with the tables and chairs and lots of sofas. I remember them bringing in the furniture,” she said dreamily.

My beating heart nearly stopped. She spoke as though she knew I was there last night, on the street, and on the rooftop. What the heck was this?

I froze completely as that ominous feeling returned.

“I saw her go in and come back out several hours later. She wasn’t alone though.”

I walked back up to the desk. I know now what had happened to this woman. She had been mind controlled by a vampire. This wasn’t just temporary memory erasure, but a full on compulsion attack that changes how the woman reacts to the people around her. Only another vampire’s compulsion can break the chains encased on her mind. This poor stocky woman must’ve lived in the area of the nest. Now that I noticed her, I studied her clothing. I completely missed the subtle hint. She may be known among the students as a stern substitute, but her pink muumuu I had seen before. She was one of the window onlookers from the day I scavenged for the nest, the day I had missed the assembly.

“I had come out to warn her of the danger…” she whispered. “Only those of us who live there know what they are, what they do…”

I shook my head slowly. This lady knew. She knew about the feeders.

“They approached me, and I…” She stopped suddenly. Her blank gaze disappeared and the fear drained out of her face like water. Slowly her eyes refocused and she glanced back up at me. “Aren’t you supposed to be in your seat Miss Harper?” She demanded it in such a normal bossy tone that I had trouble keeping a straight face.

I stared at her completely in shock. It was like she never knew I used it.

“Miss Harper?” She stood up and stared at me with a hardness I had seen before. Her eyes were cold and unfeeling. No wonder the compulsion worked so well on her. Her mind was simple, but she was one of those women, one who had been jilted and taken up a life of bitterness and spite. She would want to warn Ms. Ingram of the vampires if they were mostly male which is why she even saw her to begin with. “Take your seat young lady.”

Warn… she wanted to warn Ms. Ingram. Horror dawned on me when I figured it out, what she said and didn’t say before her mind returned to normal.

I didn’t explain myself. I shook my head and ran out of the door.