Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince

The next morning I missed hearing my alarm clock buzzing. I was extremely tired from the hunt the night before. I usually planned these excursions on the weekends when I had the time for recuperating after drinking in the blood, but last night was an unscheduled banquet. And the guy I drank from had been full, extremely stuffed.

After I left his rotting corpse in the bathroom of the decaying house, I raided his wallet and the items nearby. There wasn’t much to take, mostly because it was already old and rotted away, but he had over a thousand dollars in his pocket. I also found another rusted tin can behind the broken washer full of stacks and rolls of hundred dollar bills. What he saved them for, I knew already. Why he didn’t live like the richer of his kind, I had no idea. He clearly didn’t belong in this part of town.

Now that I had discovered the location of the high-strung drug motel in this city, I could live anywhere I wished to. I could move into a nicer motel or a furnished apartment. I was tired of sleeping on the old mattress in the hotel and taking cold showers because there wasn’t a hot water heater there. I usually paid for the bare necessities, but now I felt like I needed a change; maybe a change of scenery.

I hadn’t worried over the fact that it was a school day until the principal called my cell phone. I let it go to voicemail, after recognizing the phone number, knowing they’d want an excuse as to why I wasn’t present. Thank goodness Seth came down with a cold or some other mono simulating disease, because it gave me a perfect excuse to be sick as well. We had shared a close space, a lab table, probably already crawling with germs of all sorts. Teens and kids spread around the most disgusting selection of bacteria and viruses unknowingly, in my opinion. They were always sick.

As soon as the sun neared the middle of the sky, I gathered my meager belongings and took off. The good part about living in this section of town was the fact that not many people were active in the daylight. The population that lived here were night dwellers, and they hated the sun. I got on the nearest bus and rode the route that led to the avenue of shops and boutiques. Once I was on the street itself, I snatched one of the apartment guide books off a stand and started perusing it. I searched through it rather quickly as I crossed the sidewalk over to a table near a coffee shop. I hated coffee, but I loved hot chocolate. I ordered some and finished reading the rest of the thick book.

It was warm today, unlike most days in October for this time of year. I sat comfortably, reading over the list of amenities and rent fees between places, making a checklist inside my mind of the best offers and bargains. The waitress brought me my cup of cocoa and peered down at the book I perused. I stopped scanning the pages rapidly so she wouldn’t notice the obscene pace that I read at. It boggled the mind if you weren’t used to my speed. My finger had paused on a page near the end, and she spotted the ivy walled brick building in the photo.

“Oh, are you looking at the Wisteria Manor?” she asked me curiously.

I glanced up at her briefly, waiting for an explanation as to why she interrupted my thoughts. She thought it best to continue rather than leave me hanging or at least that’s what I figured when she kept talking.

“I wanted to live there last year, but they only take in full-time students. It would’ve been nice to have a fully furnished apartment.” She shrugged and walked away without saying anything further.

I glanced back at the photo. It only had a number, no fees, no amenities, nothing else was written there. I memorized the picture and whipped out my phone. I searched for the address of the place and found none, which was odd. Maybe it was off the city map, but even that should’ve yielded some location. There was only one alternative - I was forced to dial the phone number.

A lady picked it up quickly. “Wisteria Manor, how may I direct your call?”

“I’m looking for an apartment,” I stated hurriedly, afraid she would hang up at any moment. Her tone told me that was something she might do.

“We only take in full-time students,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I am a student,” I interjected before her ear left the receiver.

“Okay, would you like to make an appointment? We have a Thursday in the morning available…”

“Right away if possible,” I interrupted. At the rate I was going, the quicker the better. I could stay in a motel for a day or two, but that would be burning money, and even with my new stash of cash, I hated spending it like that.

I overheard her flipping through a book of some sort, probably a day planner if I had my guess. “The only time I have is in ten minutes from now. Could you make that?”

I thought quickly about my location and where it could be. Even if it was on the other side of town, I would be rushed to get there on time. I could always travel speedily, but that put others at risk in noticing what I was capable of and I really wished that I wouldn’t have to resort to that way of travel. I decided that I could chance it, knowing that the woman tried her best to make it seem impossible for me to make it there. “Where are you located?”

She gave me the address with the simple directions, and hung up. I threw a ten on the table, a huge tip for the three dollar cocoa, and walked away. If it wasn’t for the waitress’s interest in the photo of the page I stopped reading, I wouldn’t have called about the apartments. I took the bus down a couple of blocks east towards the cape. But before I got to the seaboard, I exited the bus on a street with a brick paved lane. I walked hurriedly down the sidewalk, knowing that my time was pressed, but eventually I spotted the building. It looked nothing like its cover. I expected it to be rundown and dismal, where the outer growth took over the stony façade like the picture indicated, but I was wrong. The leafy green ivy actually covered nearly every brick stone on the surrounding fence, making the house itself seem like a glorious rendition of the Secret Garden. It was quite breathtakingly beautiful and a classic structure of its time. I wondered where the apartments were located.

A sign out front directed me towards the office and I arrived right on time. The woman, who I decided was the one who answered the phone judging by her presence alone, peered up at me over her small thin rimmed glasses. Her grey hair was pulled up into an elegant bun on the top of her head. Despite the fact that she looked elderly, her skin was flawless, devoid of wrinkles. From her appearance I gathered that she was one of the rich elite that lived in these parts.

“We don’t shelter runaways,” she greeted me in a flat tone and went back to her books.

“I’m not a runaway. I’m your one o’clock.” I wasn’t thrown off by her mannerisms like most people would be. I’d met her kind before, so I knew how to play this game.

Her face righted itself and she took another look at me. Her eyes scrutinized my body, and I could imagine what I looked like to her. It was true I had all my belongings with me, a duffel bag full of clothes and toiletries, and a bag full of school books with writing utensils. Overall I probably looked like a runaway, so I whipped out my expensive smart phone and made a show of it. She seemed like the kind of lady who needed to know I had money.

“You’re on time,” she finally concluded with a tone of disappointment. She pulled out a set of forms and walked over to a desk on her left. Her regal posture let me know that she still had hurdles for me to jump over. “I’m going to need to know what school you attend, and how many hours you’re enrolled for.”

I pulled out my black pen from my bag, standard ink for filling out forms, and began. I hurried through it and was done in less than five minutes. She picked up the paper and read through my answers. She sighed once or twice, but eventually set the paper back on the table, right in front of her. She folded her arms and stared down at me along her thin nose.

“You’re a high school student,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“I’m enrolled in a private school,” I answered her fully. She obviously wanted to know otherwise she wouldn’t have stated the obvious.

“We take in college students,” she refuted.

“I’m old enough to live on my own,” I retorted.

She sighed again and looked away to a spot on the wall, as though deep in thought. “We can’t guarantee that you will be able to take the bus this far out of the town in order for you to reach the school. And as a full-time student you must remain in school at least ninety percent of the time unless you are excused by a debilitating circumstance.”

“I can walk if I miss the bus.” She sure was a stubborn woman. Even if I tried to use compulsion on her, I don’t think it would’ve worked. Her mind was already made up. She didn’t want me here and was throwing out any excuse possible. The only problem was that all of her excuses were refuted by my quick thinking and experience.

Finally she stood up and went over to a cabinet in the far corner. I figured she was fishing out more forms, but she instead flushed out a set of keys. “Rent is seven hundred a month. That includes water, electricity, and trash service. Internet and groceries you’ll have to arrange on your own.”

I was flabbergasted. I was sure she wouldn’t give me a room here this quickly, or expect me to jump through flaming hoops overlooking a gorge before she handed me a set of keys. She peered over at me from her spot, taking in my reaction.

“Normally I wouldn’t take in a student like you, but you attend a prestigious private school and it seems like you could use our services. As long as you don’t throw wild parties, I’ll excuse the fact that you’re not a college student. Of course I should mention that no alcohol should be on your being or in your apartment at any given time.”

I whipped out my worn down change purse and started counting the money.

She watched me with her searing brown eyes. “We normally don’t take cash. Check or transfer of deposit.”

I grimaced. “I only moved here this year. I don’t have a bank account yet.”

She nodded and fished out several brochures. “I figure you have a good excuse for missing today, so here are some things you might want to look into if you plan on staying.”

I received the paper leaflets and rifled through them. They were things like banks and clothing stores. I glanced down at my attire; a t-shirt and jeans was all I wore, but apparently that wasn’t good enough for her. Judging from her chic black skirt and designer blouse, she wished I looked more like her class or close to it.

“If you go to the boutique on Avenue K, tell them that Sylvia sent you.”

I nodded and handed her the money.

She passed me the keys. “One other thing, we take a deposit. It’ll be another five hundred.”

I set down the cash on the ornate table.

She took it and smiled. “Your apartment is letter J.”

“Thank you.” I grabbed my things, including the key, and headed out the door. She was an odd woman, but slightly likable. It had been a long time since I encountered a woman like her, though judging from the class of this side of the village I figured she wouldn’t be the last.

I found the apartment easily, as it was separated from the others. It was also smaller, but still fully furnished like the waitress implied. This would suit my needs, but I found the seven hundred dollar fee expensive for something this small, even though there was furniture. There was a tiny kitchen and no breakfast area. The adjoining bathroom had nothing but a toilet and a sink inside, yet it reminded of an English lieu. I circled up the spiral staircase, set into a castle-like tower on one side of the living room, and walked into a lofty bedroom. It was actually quite spacious up here, also fully furnished with a full size bed. The comforter was light green with yellows and blues painted on it in intervals. An adjoining door on the left hand side led to a walk-in closet complete with a full bath. I had a shower and a Jacuzzi, both separate from the other.

I set down my bag in the corner of the bedroom and shuffled through it for my school uniform. It was really the only set of clothes I owned, other than the clothes I wore. I placed them on hangers in the closet, making sure to get the wrinkles out, and put the other items in the drawers of the chest. Once I was finished with that task, I set out my bag of toiletries and took stock of what I was missing.

I made a list, of everything I needed, in addition to the hint that was given that I needed more clothes,much better looking ones than what I wore. I sorted through the brochures and traced the route of my destination in my head. I could have everything accomplished by six if all went as planned.

I grabbed my school bag and stuffed the cash I had inside. If I was going to make a life here, I needed a bank account.