– Listen, but it turns out that vampires can have children? – this fact perhaps struck me most of all.
This is the complete opposite of what was described in books and films!
Fun sparkled in Nirel's eyes.
– Naturally. We need to reproduce somehow. Any questions?
– But of course!
Sitting more comfortably, I turned my whole body to the guy.
– When we entered the library, it was daytime, but we left here at night. What's going on here? Are time zones different?
In response, he rolled his eyes, as if I had said complete nonsense. But I decided not to be offended, because it’s interesting.
– You could also say time zones. It is immediately obvious that you are one of the Coming Ones. It's always night on the Dark Side, Sally. All day long and at any time – and this has been the case for more than two centuries. It was the witches who cast witchcraft because those who were born exactly at midnight – at the junction between the days – do not feel well in the light of day. But vampires react to the sun more sharply than others. Our concentration decreases, drowsiness, loss of strength, and vulnerability appear. We are weakening before our eyes. And, by the way, about the eyes: they are sensitive to the sun. I heard that our people on the other side wear dark glasses or special hard lenses.
Lenses… I almost jumped on the spot with realization, because the guy told the absolute truth. Since childhood, my eyes would water and hurt terribly just by looking at the sun. I didn’t even remember when I first put on lenses: I was too small, but since then I haven’t gone outside without them.
The first thing I did in the morning was wash my face and insert my lenses. But even with them, our windows were always covered with thick curtains.
Nirel was right about everything. Even though these lenses were made of hard matter. They felt somewhere between glass and plastic.
Twitching, I wanted to show him the lenses, peacefully waiting in the wings in the pocket of my overalls, but I stopped myself in time. If I wanted everyone around me to consider me an ordinary person and let me go on all four sides in peace, then I shouldn’t show off my features.
Because any of these features already made me a vampire, and therefore a prisoner of the Midnighter Academy.
Since my guide turned out to be so talkative, chewing his lower lip, I nevertheless decided to ask a frank question:
– Nirel, are we monsters?
Thoughts about hunters haunted me. It’s not for nothing that they decided to exterminate vampires? Maybe there was something in history for which toothless vegetarians still felt ashamed?
– Sally, do I look like a monster? – they asked me unexpectedly softly, but quite seriously.
I defiantly looked him up and down.
– You? You are not.
– And you don't. So we are not monsters. Your mother said it right: we maintain balance in the human world. We help those who are on the verge of disaster, you know?
Taking my hand gently, he lightly stroked the back of my hand with his thumb. I froze in shock, afraid to even take another breath.
“Are you taking my emotions away now?” – she squeezed out, listening to her own body.
– What? No. Of course not. I just took your hand to support you. It must be difficult for you right now.
The third year student smiled humorously.
Instantly taking my hand away from him, I turned away and ruffled my feathers. All I needed right now was a guy who understood everything. I suddenly felt like I was at an appointment with a psychoanalyst, although I had no idea how they actually do all this, and not in a television show.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly exhaled. I needed to calm down and clear my head from unnecessary thoughts. After all, this guy had nothing to do with my problems, but rather was trying to help, so being angry at him made me act like an idiot.
“It’s not difficult for me,” I admitted, looking at the porch, because it turned out to be easier to talk that way. – I get used to new places pretty quickly, but the problem is that I don’t want to be here. And I don’t want to be a Midnighter either. My mother… She left now. And I can only guess where. At the same time, I don’t know what’s on her mind, will we see each other again, you know? I'm worried about her and…
Feeling other people's hands on my shoulders, I immediately tensed. I really didn’t expect Nirel to suddenly hug me and gently pull me towards her. His jacket, turtleneck and leather smelled deliciously of something woody, which made you want to run your nose over the exposed part of his neck.
He scared me. My reaction to him and his hugs scared me. The last tickling sensation in my chest also excited me at the same time, but at the same time I felt warm. In his strong hands it felt good and cozy, reliable and comfortable, as if we had already known each other for a thousand years.
I wonder how long vampires live? Here you will inadvertently believe in the transmigration of souls.
He gently stroked my back.
– Everything will be fine, Sally. Like I said, I'm sure your mom had good reasons for leaving you here. But look at it this way: you, like other students, need to develop your abilities. So do just this and by your next meeting you will be able to convince her that you have already learned everything and you have nothing to do here.
Pulling away from the guy, I looked into his emerald eyes and honestly admitted:
“I feel like a boy with a scar.”
– Pf-f-f! – he said mockingly. “You’re much cooler, believe me.” Could he do that?
A moment, and the guy was not on the bench. Turning my head, I saw him already standing on the porch of the freshman building.
– Or so? – he shouted, instantly moving to the fountain.
I even stood up from the bench, my mouth parted in amazement. I definitely saw this for the first time.
– Or so?
Now the guy stood on a thick branch of the tree closest to the bench, relaxing with one hand on the mighty trunk. All this time he moved so quickly that my eyes did not have time to catch anything at all. I stood there, hit on the head like a dust bag, sincerely admiring the abilities of others.
Abilities that brought Nirel straight to me. The last time he stopped a breath away from me – so that I felt his warm breath on my lips.
– Or so? – he whispered, looking first into my eyes, then at my lips.
– Salaman Dragon! – a commanding female voice suddenly called out to me.
Having jumped away from the brunette a good half meter, I looked at the dissatisfied one. She stood right on the porch of the freshman building and held the front door ajar.
– How long will it take to wait for you? You should have come for bed linen an hour ago!
“I’m coming,” I muttered, briefly looking at my guide. – I went. Thank you for telling me so much.
– Dragon! – they hurried me impatiently.
– In general, thank you.
As I climbed the steps to the porch, I allowed myself to turn around at the very door. Nirel continued to stand under the tree right next to the bench. His gaze was fixed on my face, which probably reflected regret and annoyance.
Not because I seem to have lost the kiss. That's exactly what I didn't want to think about right now. But because she didn’t find out anything about the “Recorder”.
When talking with Madame Pelisey, my mother asked her not to let me near this unknown thing, so that I would not suddenly find out who my father was.
But why? Why shouldn't I know this?
This was the second question she never answered.
Chapter 5. Spider webs
Someone unceremoniously touched my nose. It tickled the very tip, forcing him to twitch it to get rid of the irritant.
But it didn't work out.
That's why I opened my eyes. She opened it and saw above her, instead of a light ceiling, a bent green plant with small round eyes, a narrow slit that replaced its mouth, and limbs.
The leaves of this creature were wide, but about two-thirds of the length were occupied by elongated arches, similar to fringes or the experiment of a child who was given scissors for the first time. A kind of Frankenstein, created equally from howea and monstera.
If I saw him for the first time now, I would certainly scream in horror, waking up the entire freshman dormitory. But we met this green monster last night, when he tried with all his might to escape from his pot, scattering soil on the only work table in the room.
And on the bedside tables. They stood on either side of the table, next to the single beds. Immediately behind the table there was a large semicircular window with a wide sill, and opposite there was a wardrobe and a door.
The latter led to a common corridor. One of two on the second floor. The layout here was circular.
– Oh, sorry, sorry! I left him for two minutes, and he was already right there. He jumped onto the nightstand again,” the neighbor who returned to the room apologized, but her voice immediately changed, becoming menacing, commanding: “Come on, tidy up your appendages!”
Raising myself on my elbow, I was in no hurry to throw back the black blanket under which I slept. With an inexplicable smile, she watched the green-eyed whirlwind. The red curls jumped up and down funny while D-Rolly scolded her misbehaving pet. The neighbor did not have outstanding height, like me, but she still looked menacing.
In general, she did not at all resemble a pale-skinned vampire. When I saw her for the first time yesterday, I thought that I had been put in the same room with a witch. With a very strange, fussy witch who has a unique gift for controlling plants. She even knew how to revive her charges and endow them with a bit of intelligence.
The numerous books occupying all the free space on her half of the room definitely hinted at the fact that she was still a nerd, but I only saw this as a plus. D-Rolly really knew a lot and was a real treasure to me personally.
As soon as I checked in, she immediately showed me the dining room. While we were having dinner, she told us about local customs. It turned out that the academy occupied vast territories and was divided into four parts by high, enchanted fences. Moreover, not only the territory is divided, but also the main building of the academy.
Part of this gloomy colossus with a separate entrance belonged to werewolf students, another part belonged to witches and witchers – we shared a fence with them, and the last part was empty.
“They used to train hunters there,” she explained, wrapping spaghetti around her fork. – Now all three branches of the academy use this land for common needs and common holidays.
– I wonder why they suddenly decided to leave? – I was curious, trying to find out as many details as possible about the mysterious hunters.
– They say that they equated themselves with people. They stopped considering themselves Midnighters and rebelled against the entire midnight world. Until they left, they were busy catching offenders, and then we all suddenly became criminals for them.
– There must have been some reason for this?
I pushed D-Rolly in the right direction with all my might.
– Don't know. But personally, I wouldn't want to run into any of them. What they tell about them in class instills real fear. Have you finished eating? You need to get in line for the showers.
There were two bathrooms on each floor of the two-story building. In any of them you could find four sinks and a large full-length mirror above them, two showers behind separate doors and two offices for deep thoughts.
Considering that two students lived in each room, and there were eight rooms on the floor in total, this was enough to avoid standing in line for hours.
I was also immensely pleased that the second floor of the building was allocated exclusively for girls. The guys lived on the first floor, and, unlike us, they had noise until the very night yesterday. However, I also heard girls’ voices, which means we were allowed to move between floors.
Between floors, but not between rooms. Both the first and second floors had their own common living rooms, and they were the place for gatherings. The neighbor also showed me the room for washing and drying clothes, the storage room where they got clean towels if yours with the academy emblem became unusable, as well as the curator’s room.
There were five buildings in our part of the academy, depending on the number of years of study. There was a separate building dedicated to the work of healers. They were witches and witchers, and sometimes students were transferred here for practice. This is how D-Rolly met our neighbors in the territory.
– You won’t get lost alone, right? – the neighbor asked for the second time, as soon as we returned from the showers to our room. “I need to transfer Rory to the witches’ side before class.” They have sun there, and it grows better,” she explained, as if apologizing.
I took out from the common closet the uniform the curator gave me yesterday.
– Go, of course. Meet me in the dining room.
Grabbing her ward, for whom she was either writing a course paper or doing a lab, the redhead ran out of the room like a whirlwind. I just shook my head and smiled, looking after her.
In general, I was given three sets of casual clothes. The first is red and black: black turtleneck, black trousers and burgundy jacket. The second one is completely black – a sports one, consisting of pants and a T-shirt with long sleeves.
But I was going to wear the third one.
It consisted of a simple white shirt, a blue jacket, a short skirt and a matching tie. It seems to be strict, but not entirely official. Rather mischievous.
Having changed my clothes, putting on sneakers instead of the soft slippers given to me, I went out into the corridor. Having greeted the curator of our floor, I preferred to quickly hide from under her gaze, because Mademoiselle Ornina Welby fully lived up to her name.
Dark-haired, brown-eyed, a little on the body and about my height. She created a pleasant impression until she opened her mouth. The woman screamed at her charges from the bottom of her heart, without really understanding who was right and who was wrong.
But that was precisely her job. Maintaining discipline was why she was here in the first place. However, she could equally be called a business executive. Bed linen, towels, household products and uniforms – she was responsible for all of this, as well as for the safety of furniture and repairs in our rooms.
But the most important thing is that she was the one who decided who would receive permission to visit the city. One-time passes were given to students only for good grades. I found out about this when yesterday I asked to be allowed to go pick up my office for a while to study. I tried to cheat, but they simply gave me a whole box of everything I needed.
Then I decided to go the other way. She asked me to be released into the human world for an hour in order to give my mother important documents that she had forgotten in my backpack, which was a lie. But she was refused again. Because I didn’t yet have a dagger – an artifact enchanted by witches.
It was issued to all graduate students, and only with its help could one open a passage to the Light Side using the doorway on the second floor of the city library.
True, there was another way to get to the other side – together with a teacher for a practical lesson. That is, whatever one may say, in the current conditions I had only one option – to study. Of course, unless I come up with something else.
Having passed the stairs, I, along with other first-year students, climbed out onto a small porch. I felt unusual going out under the starry sky. The body said that it was early morning, but the eyes saw something else – a solid dark canvas and the absence of the moon. And also lanterns, trees and darkened paths among flowering bushes and neat flower beds.
The air smelled of something sweet, but unobtrusive. The slight coolness did not constrain the body. On the contrary, I felt the freshness that happens on an early summer morning, when the dust of the day is still nailed to the roads.
I felt great. For the first time I didn’t put on lenses, and without them it was as if I could even see more clearly, sharper. And I was breathing completely differently – more freely, as if a rope to which a heavy stone had been tied had finally been removed from my neck.
