Vampire University (Book One in the Vampire University Series)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Back at their room Hannah laid out all the supplies on her desk, leaving the frog in the beaker. She carried it over to their mini-fridge and opened the door.

  "You are not putting a frog in the refrigerator," insisted Taylor.

  "Where else am I going to put it? You want the whole room to smell?"

  "It beats having a fridge that smells like frog, doesn't it?"

  "Formaldehyde.”

  "What?"

  "Formaldehyde. The fridge is going to smell like formaldehyde, not frog. If we don't put it in the refrigerator, then the whole room is going to smell like frog. Take your pick!"

  "Neither?"

  "Nope," Hannah said, and apparently the matter, in her mind, was closed. "So are you ready to head back out to the library?"

  "One second," said Taylor. "No offense, but... I mean, you said that I could choose whether or not to see a glamour, right? Could you show me? It's just that, well..."

  "It's just that you're creeped out by my eyes. You don't have to beat around the bush. It's not like I haven't noticed that you refuse to make eye contact with me. Believe me, that's as uncomfortable for me as my appearance is for you."

  "I'm sorry.”

  Hannah waved her hand in the air dismissively. "You apologize too much."

  "I'm sorry," Taylor said again, and then quickly realized it. "Oh crap. I'm sorry, I... I mean, I'm... not sorry?"

  "Nor should you be." Hannah patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Now let's get you un-creeped out. Close your eyes."

  Taylor hesitated a second before doing as she was instructed.

  "Okay," said Hannah. "Glamours work like any illusion. Think of those pictures that can be two things. Like the young woman and the old woman, or the two faces and a vase. You familiar?"

  "With the vase one, yeah. It's two identical silhouettes of faces looking at each other."

  "Exactly. And if you're looking at the faces, you see faces, but if you concentrate on the space between you see a vase, right?"

  "Right."

  "But you only can see one or the other at a time. Your mind doesn't see two faces and a vase, it sees one or the other and you can choose. You following still?"

  "I guess. But those are two real images. We're taking real and fake here, aren't we?"

  "Exactly. But it's still a choice you make. When you don't consciously choose, your mind takes the lazy route. If you don't know there's a glamour, then it is easiest for the mind to just play along, right?"

  "I guess."

  "You guess right. But if you do know there's a glamour, then it is easiest for the mind to see what is really there, right?"

  "Okay, sure."

  "So, the trick to seeing a glamour when you know it's an illusion is like choosing to see the vase when you know it's two faces. You just have to frame your point of view around what you want to see, and then your brain will follow along!"

  "So why are my eyes closed, again?"

  "Oh, right. I was going to have you visualize my eyes the way they appeared before you saw through the glamour. It's still there, you just have to choose to see it."

  "Okay, I'm visualizing, but I don't know how to choose that image over the real one."

  "That's all you do to choose. Just visualize. Now open your eyes!"

  Taylor opened her eyes while trying her hardest to imagine a pair of normal brown eyes looking back at her. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, however, when she saw the same solid black eyes she had seen before.

  "Ah, didn't quite take, did it?" Hannah asked.

  "No.”

  "It can be a little tricky at first, but keep at it, and you'll get it. Just keep looking into my eyes and think brown and white."

  Taylor did as she was told and stared intently at Hannah's eyes. Brown and white, she told herself. Brown and white. After what felt like several minutes she gave up and turned away. There had been no change, despite her efforts.

  "Huh," said Hannah, frowning. "Well, keep at it. You'll get it eventually. Here, I'll give you something to practice with."

  Hannah went across the room and shuffled through her desk drawer until she found what she was looking for. She turned around and held it out triumphantly.

  "Ta da!" she exclaimed, holding a perfect red rose, just beginning to bloom.

  "You keep flowers in your desk drawer?"

  "Of course not. It's a pencil." Hannah handed it to Taylor.

  At the moment Hannah said "pencil" the image of the rose transformed into an ordinary yellow pencil. Taylor took it gingerly as if it were a fragile thing, and held it in her open palm. She pushed it lightly with her finger, rolling it gently back and forth in her hand. It was just an ordinary pencil.

  "So there you go," said Hannah. "A pencil with a rose glamour on it. So we don't have to suffer through staring contests while you practice, you can use that!"

  "Thanks. And I'm sorry. I'll figure it out so that you're not uncomfortable."

  "There you go apologizing again. Now are you ready to go to the library?"

  "We have two days until our next class. I know you're all eager beaver, but can't it wait? I still have a lot of questions, and I'm really curious what kind of science you have planned with dead frogs and a syringe."

  "Well, the syringe is to get a blood sample."

  "From the frog? Don't they drain those things out before they, you know, store them?"

  "Not the frog, silly. From you!"

  "Yeah, no."

  "Oh don't worry, it will be totally safe. It's a brand new needle. You can't catch anything from it."

  "I'm not worried about disease. I'm worried about my college roommate jabbing me with sharp objects."

  "You should be used to that by now," replied Hannah.

  "Used to what? Being jabbed with sharp objects? Not exactly."

  "Well, I wouldn't use the word 'jabbed' anyway. More like a delicate prick!"

  "That's if you can find the vein on the first attempt. I don't suppose you were a nurse sometime in that last century."

  "Not exactly. But I'm super good at finding the vein. I've had plenty of practice. Vampire, remember?"

  "That is... surprisingly comforting.”

  "Well, would you feel better if I did it the traditional way?"

  "Traditional way?"

  "You know, fangs?" said Hannah, curling the top of her lip back to show her pointed fangs.

  "That is less comforting. Why do you need my blood in the first place?"

  "Well, I don't need it, first of all. I have no plans of drinking my roommate's blood if that's what you were thinking."

  "You know, you'd think that would've occurred to me, but I hadn't thought of that. And, for the record, even less comforting. Whose blood do you plan on drinking?"

  Hannah waved her hand dismissively in the air.

  "Not important," she said. "I can assure you that it will be nobody anywhere near here, unlike some dumb boys who shall not be named. And no one will be harmed, so let's not focus on the unpleasant business of sustenance, shall we?"

  "Sure."

  "So anyway. Vampires have sort of a healing property. Like I said before, it’s what gives us immortality, and it can also repair minor injuries in others. That's why you never hear about vampire bites."

  "So when Joseph tried to heal Eric, he was doing what exactly?"

  "Bleeding on him. That is why he bit his wrist and bled into Eric's mouth. When we pierce a human's skin, we apply blood directly to the site of the wound, but in Eric's case, Joseph was trying to get the blood directly into the digestive system.

  "Ew. So back to me. You think my blood did what exactly?"

  "Well, I think it's a fairly safe bet that your blood made Eric human. I think maybe that you healed the vampire right out of him."

  "That doesn't make any sense. If my blood can heal away vampire... uh... ness."

  "Vampirism," offered Hannah.

  "Okay sure, vampirism, then why wouldn't vampirism just be, I don'
t know, self-curing?"

  "Well that's just not how it works. But you seem to be something special."

  "Gee thanks."

  "You're welcome! You don't appear to be a vampire in any kind of way, but your father was a vampire, and clearly you inherited something from him. I think your blood may have some of the properties of a vampire, but possibly elevated."

  "Like super healing?"

  "Basically."

  Taylor was intrigued enough by the idea that she felt her objections waning.

  "So how much blood were you thinking?" Taylor asked.

  "Just a syringe. Like I said, I'm not trying to start a food bank or anything."

  "Okay, fine. Can your vampire powers make it not hurt?"

  "Well, normally I could just enthrall you, and that would pretty much cover it, but you're apparently immune. Lucky you!"

  "Yeah, lucky me," said Taylor, feeling less lucky by the minute. "Okay fine, but let's do it quickly."

  "Yay science!" said Hannah, bouncing up and down and clapping her hands excitedly. "Okay, one sec."

  Hannah wasted no time in getting out the syringe and ripped open the packaging a little too eagerly for Taylor's liking.

  "Okay, give me your arm," said Hannah.

  Taylor obliged.

  Hannah leaned down and started sniffing near Taylor's elbow.

  "Um, what are you doing?" Taylor asked, shifting uncomfortably.

  "Looking for the vein. Now hold still," Hannah replied, placing a firm grip on Taylor's forearm to steady it."

  "You can smell it?"

  "Well, obviously we don't have x-ray vision."

  "Obviously. So what does a vein smell like?"

  "Like blood, obviously."

  "Obviously.”

  "Okay here goes. You should just feel a prick."

  Hannah pushed the needle into Taylor's arm, and Taylor looked away as she felt the prick of her flesh. The sight of her own blood made her queasy, so she made a point of not looking back down at it.

  "All done!" Hannah announced after a few moments.

  Taylor looked down and got a glimpse of the syringe full of thick dark blood and felt her stomach turn. She looked away again.

  "Yeah, you're definitely not a vampire, all right," said Hannah. "Or at least if you were, you'd be a very hungry one. You're going to have to get a little more used to the sight of blood."

  "Am I now? Whatever my blood does, I'm not trying to make a habit of bleeding on things."

  "That's a very wise course of action, I would say," said Hannah, nodding. "I'd very much like for you to not go around bleeding on things as well."

  "Glad we're in agreement on that one. Hmm... that's weird," said Taylor, inspecting her arm.

  "What is? What's wrong?"

  "Oh, nothing. It’s just that it doesn’t seem to have left a mark.”

  “That could be the vampire part of you. How’s that cut on your neck?"

  "What? This?" asked Taylor, pulling her collar down to show her neck. "You tell me.”

  “Yeah. Good as new.”

  “Weird. So vampires can magically heal?”

  “It’s not magic, Taylor. It’s science. Everyone’s blood has healing properties. Vampire blood is just much better at it.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s good news for me, I suppose. So now what?”

  “This is where the frog comes in.”

  “O… kay.”

  “See, vampires can bring dead people back only within the first few minutes after their death, which is basically how you get vampires. But something that has been dead for any longer, well, let’s just say that doesn’t generally end well. But with your super juice, I thought maybe…”

  “You want me to revive the frog? Is that a good idea? Seems sort of… I dunno… like a perversion of nature or something.”

  “And what would that make me?”

  “I don’t mean anything like that. I mean… it’s just… What if we get, like, zombie frog?”

  “It’s a frog, Taylor. We can handle it.”

  “Fine. If you say so.”

  Taylor took a step back as Hannah injected some of the blood into the frog. Sure it was just a frog, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Several minutes passed as they anxiously stared at it, waiting for something to happen.

  “How long is this supposed to take?” Taylor asked.

  “I dunno. This is kind of uncharted territory, hon. But for vampires raising the recently dead… not this long.”

  They waited several more minutes, but still nothing.

  "Man,” said Hannah. “I was really hoping to reanimate that frog, but I’m thinking that’s a no go.”

  “Bummer.” Taylor wasn’t all that disappointed.

  “We do have the microscope though. Hold on."

  Hannah pulled out the microscope they had brought with them and plugged it in. She took the syringe and carefully squeezed a single drop from it onto a glass slide and gingerly placed it under the microscope. She looked intently into the eyepiece and fiddled with the knob back and forth. After a few minutes of this, she sat back looking defeated.

  "Well?" asked Taylor.

  "Well, to be honest, I don't really know what blood is supposed to look like. You know, microscopically. I was hoping it would... I dunno. Sparkle?"

  "Have you ever looked at blood under a microscope before? You know, in the course of your illustrious floor-sweeping science career."

  "No... Wait! I know! Let me compare it to mine."

  She stuck her thumb in her mouth and pulled it out covered in blood. She smeared this across another slide and looked into the microscope, again fiddling with the knob.

  "Well?" asked Taylor.

  "It looks the same, I'm afraid. Maybe we can get a teacher or someone to look at it for us."

  "Is that really wise? I'd kind of like to not advertise my... unique circumstances."

  "Oh I definitely agree. We'd just have to find a human and enthrall them, of course."

  "Of course."

  "Okay, well that was disappointing. What else... what else..." Hannah said, rubbing her thumb against her chin, absent-mindedly smearing it with blood. "Let's try a different approach. Let's see how you are with glamours."

  "Well, we've established that I can see through them pretty well. Too well, in fact."

  "Right right, but can you create them yourself?"

  "I... have no idea. Can I?"

  "Well let's find out, shall we?"

  "It sounds preferable to bleeding, I'll give you that."

  "Yeah, most things are, I hear."

  "So what do I do?" Taylor asked.

  "Here," said Hannah, pulling a pencil from her desk drawer that she handed to Taylor. "Try the rose thing."

  Taylor took the pencil from Hannah's hand and held it out in front of her.

  "So, now?" Taylor asked.

  "This one's a little trickier to explain. You have to visualize the glamour as specifically as you can and think almost as if you believe that the glamour is reality. Concentrate hard enough, and your perspective will change.”

  "Change? In what way?"

  "It's one of those 'you know it when you see it' sort of things. It's a definite change though. You'll be able to tell the difference. Once your perspective changes, you can project that glamour onto the object. Got it?"

  "Not at all."

  "Right. It takes time and a little practice. Just stare at the pencil."

  Taylor did as she was instructed and focused as much as she could on the pencil in front of her.

  "Great, now try to ignore everything but the pencil," said Hannah. "Well, that and me. Everything but me. And the pencil. But mostly ignore me and think about the pencil. Just listen to me, is what I'm saying, don't think about me."

  "Uh, okay," said Taylor, trying to focus on the pencil.

  "Now imagine that it's a rose and concentrate really hard."

  "Okay.” Taylor squinted.

  "Think about its shape and color.
Think about the texture. Think about how it feels in your hand. How light it is. How firm the stem is and how soft the petals are."

  Taylor tried to do just that. She imagined that it was a red rose in full bloom. A single stem, with a thorn on the side. The petals would be soft, perhaps spattered with drops of dew. The petals would radiate from the center of the bloom, peeling away at the tips in a sloping curl, bound together where petals meet stem.

  She imagined it, but nothing in front of her changed.

  "Concentrate," said Hannah. "Do you feel the change?"

  Taylor dropped the pencil out of frustration. "No, I do not feel any changing."

  "Well, don't get frustrated. It's possible that this is something you're not able to do. And even if it is, I didn't get it on my first try either."

  "Really?" said Taylor, looking up at Hannah.

  "Okay, not really. But I'm a quick learner. Most people don't get it on their first try. Okay some people. I mean, I guess. I mean, it usually comes pretty naturally, but not always. Maybe it works differently for you? In any case, just keep giving it a shot."

  Hannah picked up the pencil and placed it back in Taylor's hand. With her other hand, Hannah closed Taylor's fingers around the pencil and held her hand reassuringly for a moment.

  "Here. Why don't you practice while I go out for a bit?" said Hannah.

  "Out? Where are you going? I mean... I'm sor... I mean, it's not really any of my business."

  "Oh don't worry. Just feeling a little peckish."

  "Peckish?"

  "It means hungry. Slang. British I think, but popular in the vampire community as well. Kind of evokes an image of puncturing don't you think?"

  "Ew," said Taylor.

  "Right, sorry. You're not a big blood person. I forget. Anyway, that's just something I need to attend to. Don't worry, I won't hurt anybody."

  "I don't worry about you, Hannah."

  "It's okay to worry, Taylor. The world is not a safe place and especially not for people like you and me. But as long as you've got me, I'll see what I can do to make it just a little bit safer for you."

  "Thanks Hannah. I... appreciate it."

  "Say no more!" Hannah replied cheerfully and then slipped out the door.

  Taylor looked at the pencil in her hand and pulled out the pencil that Hannah had glamoured before. She stared at both of them and filled her mind with images of roses, but nothing changed. She still had in her hands two ordinary pencils. Frustrated, she put them both away and did her best to think of something else.