Elmwood Academy
ELMWOOD ACADEMY
Celine
There are no rhinos, thank god.
And I have to admit, Lexi did very well. The event hall is decorated in deep crimson and gold. Sparkling towers of wineglasses tower to the ceiling. Scantily-clad living humans are stationed throughout the large space, performing sensuous dances and acrobatics. Their quickly-beating hearts whet the appetites of the vampire guests, who quench their thirst on bloodwine, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Every vampire from the northern region is here, with the exception of Lazarus Gray, his remaining progeny, and Cedric. They fill the space, mingling hesitantly. Vampires are not social creatures. We tend to stay independent from each other. Our family is unusual in that regard, as we rely on our political and business contacts to fortify our power. I should ensure that I mingle with everyone I need to.
“Celine!”
I turn, and spot the only vampire here with a witch’s familiar, a large barn owl that sits on her shoulder. She wears long purple robes embroidered with pink runes, and an amethyst at her throat. She has large, round eyes and light brown skin.
“Amrita Vyas,” I nod my head to her. “So good to see you again.”
“Wonderful to see you as well,” she says, kissing me once on each cheek.
“Thank you for making the time to attend, I know your schedule must be very busy.”
“Well, the invitation was very… insistent .”
She glances across the room at Lexi. My younger sister is easy to spot. She wears a slinky dress made of dark red beads, resembling drops of blood. Her hair is tied back in a tight ponytail that swings dangerously behind her like a platinum blond whip. She mingles animatedly, like the extroverted host that she is.
I stifle a smirk. “Yes, my younger sister is very excited to launch her new brand.”
“Clearly,” says the vampire-witch. “Well, good for her. It’s important to keep busy. If I didn’t have I would completely lose my mind. Although I enjoy being the High Priestess of the Morgan coven, I need a break from those witches every once in a while. They’re constantly squabbling about politics. I thought joining the Triple Council would quiet them down, but it made it even worse. They still feel like Lavinia Cox and the Hecate witches are in charge.”
She rolls her eyes, fingering the amethyst at her throat absentmindedly. Amrita is one of the only vampires I know who fidgets. She must have a lot on her mind.
“Sorry,” she says. “I shouldn’t bore you with it. I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your hands here, now that I’ve stolen Tudor from you.”
I smile at her politely. “We’re managing. How is the school going?”
“Well, you know. None of the magical groups are getting along, especially the shifters. They’re worse than the witches! But it’s important to find ways to integrate. Of course there are going to be some speed bumps along the way.”
“I’m sure you’ll smooth them over. You always do.”
“We’ll see, I guess.”
“Celine!”
Renata’s sharp voice cuts through the jovial party atmosphere like a cracking whip. She elbows through the throngs of vampires and performing humans toward us.
“ Celine ,” she says. “Have you seen Lexi? Hi, Rita.”
“Hello, Ren.” Amrita’s owl familiar hoots in greeting.
I turn to Renata. “She’s mingling with the guests.”
Renata sighs deeply, gripping her clipboard tightly to her chest. “I told her that we’ve got to get the second shipment of wine uncorked and ready for midnight. The vampires are drinking far more than we had anticipated, and if we don’t get the decanters prepped-”
“Renata, relax ,” I tell my sister. “It’s a party, everything will be fine. I’m sure Lexi and Lily have everything under control.”
Her eye twitches angrily. “If they had just stuck to my agenda, none of this would even be happening…”
“Nothing is happening,” I say firmly, taking a glass of wine from a nearby tower and handing it to her. “Here, take this. We’ll look like bad hosts if we’re not enjoying the product.”
This suggestion seems to tap into Renata’s anxiety, and she reluctantly accepts the glass of wine. Amrita and I each take one as well.
“What a bizarre concept,” Amrita says, swirling her glass and eying its contents with skepticism. “No offense to your sister, or anything. But why would you want to drink blood from anything other than the source?”
“I have no idea,” I concur, sniffing the thick liquid. “We’re all just humouring her, to be honest with you.”
“Amrita!”
From out of nowhere, Lexi swoops into the conversation, towering over the three of us in her ridiculously high platform shoes. She holds a glass in her hand that’s three times the size of a normal wine glass.
“So good to see you made it!”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” says the vampire-witch, holding up her glass in greeting. “Great party, Alexandra!”
“Oh, thank you so much,” Lexi replies, batting her heavily-mascaraed eyes. “Event planning is so much work, but I did everything myself.”
Renata huffs, and is about to retort, but I elbow her sharply in the ribs.
“Tell us more about this wonderfully… inventive drink,” Amrita says.
“Well, we’ve developed this very scientific way to prevent blood from clotting so that it can be preserved and distilled into a wine. It will sustain a vampire, and it retains all of the properties of fresh blood, without needing to drink immediately from a live human.” Lexi beams with delight. “It’s called Sanguine . ”
“Very impressive,” says Amrita, generously.
Lexi gives us all an expectant look, and we have no choice but to take hesitant sips from our glasses. It is a bit stale, but not as bad as I had originally expected. Renata makes a face like she just drank a cup of vinegar.
“They’re all different types of blood,” Lexi explains. “Indicated by the charm on the glass.”
Each wine glass has a different coloured charm attached to its stem. Mine is a light blue, Renata’s is orange, and Amrita’s a shining purple.
Amrita takes another sip of hers. “Mm, this one is actually passable!”
Lexi grins. “It’s mermaid blood.”
Amrita immediately does a spit-take. Lexi doesn’t seem to notice.
“Well, I should really be making the rounds!” Lexi says, turning on her painfully-high heels. “A host’s job is never done!”
“Don’t tell me what mine is,” Renata hisses, as Lexi disappears into the crowd. “I’m guessing shifter. If I turn into a panther or a bear tonight, I’m ripping her head off.”
“You would have to drink a lot to absorb shape-shifting abilities,” says Tudor, joining our circle. He wears an elegant robe to match Amrita, and gives her a polite nod. “High Priestess.”
“Evening, Tudor,” she says, holding her glass up to him. “Lovely party.”
“Not lovely enough for the Hecate witches, it would seem,” Tudor says, his pale eyes shining. “Lavinia Cox snubbed my invitation.”
“Well, you know how good witches are about drinking blood,” Amrita sighs. “They made me institute a ‘no-blood-sharing rule’ at Elmwood. They’re so boring .”
Tudor sneers. “Someone should knock Lavinia Cox down a peg. The Hecate witches are becoming far too powerful for their own good.”
“Careful, Tudor,” Amrita tilts her head toward him. “You wouldn’t want anyone to hear you speaking like that.”
“Now who’s boring?” Tudor asks, with a wry smile. “I can’t believe you’re letting those kitchen witches dictate what you do at your own school, Rita.”
Amrita frowns. “You remember how things were before, Tudor. It’s better for all of us to go along with the Hecate coven and the Triple Council, at least for now. Keep the peace.”
I don’t like the simmering tension between them. Renata and I share an uneasy glance.
“Here, Rita,” I say, taking her glass of mermaid blood and replacing it with another, this one adorned with a pink-coloured charm. “Try this bloodwine instead. It is a party, after all. No more talk of politics.”
“How are things going at ?” Renata asks. “Hallie says she enjoys her classes.”
“She’s a wonderful student,” Amrita says. “But it’s a little slow right now. Classes have ended for the term, and most of the students are home for the winter break. I’m surprised more of the witches didn’t want to stay. They all went back to Hemlock Haven for the solstice. Now it’s only Lydia, Tudor, and myself, and a few students who chose to stay at Elmwood for the holiday.”
Something flashes in Tudor’s eyes.
“Amrita,” he says, taking me by the elbow. “It was so lovely to see you, but I do need to borrow Celine for a private conversation.”
Amrita frowns. “During the party?”
“There’s so much business I’ve missed while I was away,” my Creator says smoothly.
“I’ll catch up with you both later,” I add.
Renata shoots me a concerned look, and I respond with a tight smile. I hand my full glass of bloodwine to one of the servers as Tudor pulls me away. He takes me to a dark corner of the event hall, away from where any supernaturally enhanced ears can hear us.
“What’s going on?” I whisper. “I didn’t do anything else to provoke Cedric, if that’s what you-”
“This isn’t about your useless brother,” Tudor responds. “It’s about .”
“About what ?”
“We have the perfect opportunity! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. The Hecate witches are expecting us to attack Hemlock Haven. It’s their stronghold, their seat of power, so of course it’s well-defended. They would never expect us to go for the school!”
I give him an incredulous look. “Why would we attack , even if we wanted to?”
He glares at me. “You’ve always lacked imagination, Celine. Elmwood is an incredibly powerful magical site. The hotel is flashy, yes, but it doesn’t have the same… prestige as Elmwood. It will give us a leg-up on the witches, while showing them that they can’t underestimate us. The wolves will jump at the chance to get revenge on Lavinia and the panthers, and reclaim their young. They’ll help us take the academy.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “We’re going to take out Amrita Vyas? Why would we do that?”
“Rita will come around, once she realizes that we’ve got the upper hand. We can overpower her easily, if we have the element of surprise. You heard what she said, it’s only her and Lydia Craft defending the academy right now.”
“I don’t know…”
Tudor gives me a withering glare. “You don’t need to know. You only need to follow orders. This is how you can make up for your insubordination with Cedric.”
I stare back at him with a matching gaze, but I don’t push him. Even though I disagree with his plot to undermine the witches, he’s made up his mind, and I have no choice but to follow him. At least if I’m with him, I can keep Hallie safe, and try to minimize any unnecessary bloodshed that would provoke a response from the Hecate witches.
“I’m with you, father.”
Then I catch a glance of a figure on the outskirts of the party. She holds a tray of empty wine glasses, taking another from a vampire guest before heading back to the server’s exit.
If I wasn’t done with this party before, I definitely am now.
“I’m going to prepare our attack strategy, in my suite,” I lie, but Tudor isn’t paying attention. He’s simmering with resentment, glaring at Amrita from across the room. I can almost hear the gears turning in his mind.
I use his distraction as an opportunity to sneak away, toward the server’s exit.
I’d like to distract myself, too, before the fighting begins. And I know exactly who I want to see.
Over the past months, Amara and I have grown even closer. I know it’s dangerous to allow myself to become so intimate with a living human. I’m aware that she could be a target, for Cedric, or even Tudor, to take advantage of. If I care about her, another vampire could easily exploit that connection.
But it’s not only that…being with her has made me feel vulnerable. I’ve never been able to open myself up to anyone else in the same way I can with her. It’s almost like she understands me, although of course that’s impossible.
It’s terrifying, but also completely exhilarating.
I watch her from across the event hall. She wears her crimson silk uniform shirt over a tank top, tucked into a pair of black jeans. Holding her tray in one hand, she takes the empty glasses from the mingling vampires in the event hall. She looks nervously at them, especially Amrita, trying to avoid making any direct eye contact.
She’s always a bit wary around vampires. I suspect that she’s one of those humans who has difficulty becoming comfortable around us, which I suppose is understandable. Although it is a little odd, that she would choose this particular profession. And even odder that she would fall for me. That must be why she doesn’t want me to drink from her, which I respect, although it’s proving to be quite difficult. With every intimate moment, it becomes more of a struggle to restrain myself around her. And it’s even more trying because of the way she smells. She has an intoxicating, magical scent. All humans have a different one, like a different perfume. All delicious, but some more…unique than others.
Amara is unique. In so many ways.