Chapter Two
JULIAN
“And that is how you draw a centaur with a horse head and human body,” I explain to the class.
Brandy, who is the best artist in the college class I teach, immediately raises her hand.
“Yes, Brandy.”
“I have an issue with all of this. It’s horrifying.”
“Thank you. That is why I’m the professor and you’re the student,” I explain.
“I mean… it’s actually really good,” Malcolm says.
“And Malcolm gets the top score for the day,” I decide, which makes the college students laugh. “Why did we draw this again?”
“Because Malcolm said he’ll never be able to get the head-to-body ratio correct, and you went, ‘With enough experience you can make even a horse head fit a human body.’”
“Ah, right. I think I got off topic,” I say as I walk over to see what Malcolm is struggling with. It’s probably what I should have done in the first place, but it’s an evening class with only ten students, and we all need a dash of fun every now and then.
While everyone works on their current project, I walk around and assist where I can before I decide that they’ve worked hard enough and end the class a bit early.
Art was my love growing up, but since I really didn’t know what to do with it, I went to school to be a language arts teacher before hitting my third year and realizing that I hated teaching English with a passion… so why not toss in my actual passion?
So I started teaching some fine arts classes at Helmsdale University two years ago and have loved it ever since. I only teach spring and fall classes, which gives me the summer to work on my own art.
After the last student leaves, I grab the elevator up to my office and work on submitting some grades before calling it a night.
While I could drive home, there’s a subway station that takes me into the suburbs where my house is, and it’s a whole lot quicker than dealing with traffic.
On the rare occasion I’m forced to drive, it takes at least an hour to get home if the traffic proves bad enough.
Tapping my pass, I slip through the gate and hurry down to the subway.
I jog a little, making it inside the subway car with about a minute to spare.
At this time of night, there aren’t too many passengers, so I snag a seat with ease.
But the scent of a vampire grabs my attention as a woman slips into the car a moment before the door closes.
Her eyes immediately lock on to mine, probably smelling me much like I’d noticed her.
As her hand grabs on to one of the poles, I notice a tattoo of a symbol on her wrist and question whether vampires can get tattoos after they’ve been changed.
Would it stay? Maybe I’ll ask the next vampire I con into buying chocolates.
I give her a warm smile which she one hundred percent doesn’t return. Honestly, I didn’t think she would, but what’s the harm in throwing a smile at the undead every now and then? Maybe it’ll toss a bit of life back into them.
She walks past me and takes a seat at the far end of the car, so I turn my attention back to the book I’d just pulled out.
As I read, I halfheartedly pay attention to the stops so I know when to get off, but I’ve taken this route so much that it’s like my body is programmed to turn alert when my stop is next.
As I’m getting close, I lower my book and notice that the vampire is staring at me, which is not at all creepy.
I make sure she’s aware I’ve caught her staring and give her a “What’s going on?
” expression that she answers by staring some more, which simply ups the creep factor.
Maybe she wants to make me paranoid, which she’s doing a phenomenal job of, or maybe she’s just socially awkward and thinks that if you stare at someone long enough, you’re bound to become friends.
When my stop comes up, I stand up and hurry out of the car, which leads to my new best friend following right behind me. Does she think I’m going to take her home with me at this point? Break out some beers and play Monopoly while we gossip about what boys we like?
I decide to veer off and head into the bathroom that is as nasty as I predicted. Even so, I go into a stall where I awkwardly stand for an uncomfortable amount of time before trying to decide if I should flush the toilet even though I didn’t use it.
With that under control, I step outside and look around the subway station.
This station isn’t in a popular area, but there are still five or so people heading in or out and not one vampire is among them.
I can’t sense her anywhere, and when I step outside and take a deep breath, I realize her scent leads off to the left.
Clearly, I’m being paranoid for no reason.
My phone rings and I see it’s my mom after pulling it out. “It’s your favorite child!” I announce.
“Oh, Rhett, I thought I called Julian. I’m so sorry,” she says.
“You are downright evil,” I decide.
Mom laughs, evidently pleased with herself. “Hey, you’re the one who answered that way. You know lying is frowned on.”
“Ha. Ha. So funny. I’m definitely your favorite,” I declare. “I mean, if Rhett was so good, why’d you need to have a second kid?”
“You were an accident.”
“No! I won’t hear it!”
“You’re ridiculous. Are you coming over for dinner tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we’re eating at six, right? I have a class until four and then I’ll head over,” I say.
“Perfect. If you get here early enough, you can grill the chicken.”
“Hold on… am I a guest or the chef?”
“Depends on whether you want to be better than your brother or not,” she teases.
Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck stands on end, making me hesitate. I turn fast a moment before something slams into me and I’m thrown back. I drop the phone that skids out into the road as I turn to face a male vampire who hit me with so much force, I’m left scrambling to keep on my feet.
“A wee little doggie walking home all alone,” he says, voice taunting. “Aren’t dogs supposed to be on a leash?”
“I thought it stank out here,” a woman says as she steps out of the shadows.
“Do you understand how illegal it is to even harass me?” I ask. “It’s punishable by death.”
“Well… there’d have to be someone alive to tell them,” the female vampire from the subway says as she walks up with a third woman.
Fuck.
I quickly look around, trying to see if there are any humans nearby to run to, but I’m alone on this dark road. If I can get back to the subway station, there should be an employee there that could help me, but they’re blocking the path. I doubt I can outrun them, but I sure as fuck can try.
I fling my bag at them and grab my shirt, tearing it open and sending the buttons flying as I leap forward and urge my body to shift.
While many weres struggle with the ease of shifting, it’s something I’ve been able to do for so long that my shift is fluid. But even if it takes mere seconds, that’s seconds that I’m at a disadvantage. Seconds before I hit the ground on four paws and bolt.
“Where are you going? Aren’t we here to have some fun?” the woman from the subway calls after me.
At first, I question why they’re not chasing. Were they just here to harass me and get their kicks scaring me and now they’ve had their fill?
Are they actually going to let me go?
And that’s the moment something hits me.
Pain spikes into my side as my ears register that the sound was that of a gun going off. What the fuck would vampires be doing with a gun? Are they trying to make it look like they weren’t involved?
Quickly, I dive down an alley, knowing it connects to a busier street where someone will be walking. I know I’m not supposed to allow humans to see me, but even if they just think I’m some kind of wolf hybrid and it keeps the vampires off my back, I’ll deal with the consequences.
Pain spears through my body like I’ve been hit with electricity. My foot falters and I nearly fall as I realize that I’m wrong…
Very fucking wrong.
They didn’t just shoot me… they shot me with silver.
Agony pulses through me as the silver rips through my body.
Suddenly, the male vampire comes to a halt in front of me, laughing as I quickly stop to keep from running into him. It’s hard to even focus on him with the way the pain has latched on to me.
“What’s wrong?” he taunts with a grin.
The three women crowd behind me, boxing me in as I bare my fangs at them.
If I don’t get the bullet out soon, it’ll kill me…
hell, it might already kill me depending on what kind of bullet it is.
And they know it. They probably want my death to look like a Hunter got me, and no one will be any wiser.
They just have to keep me boxed in here until I’m dead.
The pain of the silver feels like lava coursing through my body as fear clutches at my chest.
I lunge forward and sink my fangs into the man’s wrist, tearing through his skin faster than he can react. “Fuck,” he hisses as he flings me off him, but the moment I hit the ground, I dig my nails in and lunge forward. Did he really think I was just going to take this lying down?
One of the women comes at me and I turn to her, springing off the ground where I latch on to her neck and clamp down.
I hear the bones break as she tears into my stomach with her nails.
Pain spikes inside of me, but it’s nothing like the silver eating through me.
It feels like it’s burning its way through all of my veins.
I drop off her as she staggers and slumps into the wall, but I know it’ll be mere minutes before she recovers.
The three remaining vampires rush at me and I want to fight them off me, I want to run away, but everything hurts and when they hit me, I’m driven to the ground onto my back.
I go to bite them but in my delirium, I realize I’ve shifted back.
My fangs are gone and my human fingernails do little against them.
I’m practically smacking at the vampires who have me down and are leaning over me, prepared to kill me. The male vampire’s fangs tear into my throat and fear rips through me as the realization that this is it, this is how I’m going to die, takes hold of me.
And just as the male is reaching in to finish me off, he stops then stumbles back a moment before his head hits the ground and his body collapses.
The women jerk back… but what could make these ruthless killers afraid?
I can’t see what happens to them, all I can do is smell the stench of blood, but isn’t that my own blood?
I’m… I’m dying, aren’t I? I’m fucking dying.
Someone’s leaning over me, and I slowly look up at the vampire staring down at me as I choke on my own blood while the silver burns like acid inside me.
His brown eyes are watching me closely, like he doesn’t know what to make of the scene before him.
His dark-blond hair highlights his stone-cold face as he steps out of the shadows a moment before he says, “Fuck,” and I pass out.