Chapter 25. William
william
William steals glances at Lorena all through English class.
Neither one has contributed their thoughts on Pride and Prejudice today. It is as if their dialogue has been cut off on every level since their fight yesterday.
This is for the best, he assures himself. Especially since this is his last week at Huntington.
When class ends, he joins the swarm of students in the hall, all of them eager to enjoy the rest of their day now that lessons are over. Yet even in the middle of this feast of warm blood, his thirst does not stir.
He is still too full of Lorena.
He watches her as she hurries down the stairs with her friends, no backward glance, and a different kind of emptiness grips him. Not hunger, but perhaps its companion.
The hall is now clear, sans a girl who lingers by the top of the stairs. This has been happening all day. Word spread that he and Lorena have parted ways, and now other students seem to think he must be eager to replace her.
“Hi, Will,” says the girl as he approaches the stairs, flashing him an inviting smile. If only she knew what he was, she would not be so welcoming.
He holds her gaze to compel her: “Stay away from me.”
Her breath catches, and she soars down the steps as if on wings instead of legs.
By Thursday, William and Lorena are still being conspicuously quiet in class, and he has stopped attending meals altogether. He spent the whole week trying to unlock the mystery of the green book, but he cannot figure it out. His brain feels stuck.
Even worse, he keeps having this annoying impulse to ask Lorena and hear what she thinks. Though he has no idea why, given that if he cannot solve it, how could she?
His plan is to take off from Hanover on Saturday and abandon Huntington for good. While there, he will have to force Lorena to erase the video from her cloud storage. Then he will decide what to do with her.
He removes his possessions from their hiding place and lays them all out. A new piece of paper sticks out from the pages of Hamlet, one he slid in there, but he cannot bear to look at it right now.
Instead, he focuses on the portraits. They are small enough to fit in his pants’ pockets, but he will need to remove them from their frames. He pops the drawings free of their holders, and when Grandsire’s flips over, William sees something on the back.
Ink.
He cannot believe how foolish he has been. How could it not have occurred to him to do this sooner?
It is the girl’s fault. She has been too great a distraction.
He will be better off without her.
GRANDSIRE
The most eternal among the eternal, and the sole leader ever acknowledged by the immortals.
He is the architect of the Treaty, the first covenant among the species and the only instance wherein vampires have yielded to the …
law. Known to some as the Savior, he united …
era of dire discord and famine, when it seemed the vampires’ source of sustenance might vanish from the earth.
His true name … swallowed by the passage of time, yet it is through his bloodline that his kin shall endure.
Some of the words have been smudged, but William still gets the overall meaning. In any case, he knew all this already.
He sets down the portrait and picks up Leonardo the Bloody’s:
LEONARDO THE BLOODY
To endure eternity requires a mind of unyielding strength.
It is said that Leonardo the Bloody was born in the first millennium and is, or was, the second eldest being …
upon the earth. He and Grandsire were thought to be close companions until Grandsire …
the Treaty. Leonardo, deeming an alliance with humankind a profanation, railed against it.
Marked as the Legion’s most wanted, he was driven into hiding and has yet to emerge.
To this day, it remains unknown whether the Legion … down or if his own kin found him first.
Only one portrait left.
William studies his face before turning it over. Something tells him that he does not recall posing for the artist because he never did. They must have been spying on him.
He cannot imagine what lofty words could possibly be written on the back, especially in context of the legendary Grandsire and Leonardo the Bloody. He flips the paper over.
He stares at the ink for a long time, even though there are only two words:
The last …
That is all.
There might have been a third word, but it has been rubbed off. The last … what? The last of his family? Of his kind?
The last vampire.
The phrase has the ring of truth. The evidence has been staring him in the face this whole time. He has been unable to pick up the scent of any immortals, and there are no records that vampires ever existed.
Because William is the last of his species. What other possible distinction would make his portrait worthy of hanging beside their most famous icons?
A terrible loneliness steals over him as he processes his cosmic aloneness. He has nowhere to go. No community waiting for him. No family left to find.
William picks up the group portrait, and when he looks at his parents, the sinking sensation in his chest prompts him to open his mouth and suck in air. Yet the human reflex does nothing to calm him because he does not need to breathe.
They are gone.
He holds the parchment to his chest. He wishes he could at least shed a tear for them, yet vampires do not cry.
There is no one left on earth to mourn his parents properly.
He does not know how long he sits there, hugging the paper, except that the sky is an inky black that signals the dead of night. Yet unlike the horizon, his insides are no longer heavy or dark.
There are new sensations budding inside him that seem to have taken root in the past few hours. New feelings he did not allow himself to explore before.
Being the last vampire changes everything.
FRIDAY MORNING, William watches from a distance as Lorena eats breakfast with her friends.
“What are you going to do about Shakespeare club?” Salma asks her.
“I’m dropping it. I already have history club with you guys, and we only need one club.”
“Speaking of history club,” says Zach, “it’s yours and William’s turn to come up with something to present for our next meeting.”
“Oh, right. I’ll work on it.”
“I can help you,” offers Zach, “if you help me, too.”
“Bribery?” asks an intrigued Salma.
“Zach’s gone dark, I like it,” says Trevor.
“I’m working on a story about the founding of this school,” says Zach. “Minaro gave me access to some of the paperwork, so I’ve been spending time in the main office, and I learned that your mom was one of the early consultants.”
Lorena purses her lips with displeasure. “She stopped working with them, and she’s not on the board anymore.”
“Still, I was hoping I could get a photo of you in the main office for the article, next to your mom’s books. They’re all on the guidance counselor’s shelf.”
It takes Lorena a moment to answer. “Sure,” she says at last, likely deciding that a quick photo is worth the history help.
“Great, let’s do it now.”
“But we have class in a few minutes—”
“It’s nearly the deadline,” says Zach, who is already on his feet. “And you’ve finished eating.”
“Okay,” she says, stealing a glance at Salma. “Meet you in class.”
William keeps hidden as they exit, and he follows them at a distance, hoping to catch Lorena alone afterward. Only they are not going in the direction of the main office.
“Where are we going?” asks Lorena. “This isn’t the way—”
“I need to talk to you, alone,” says Zach, opening the door to an empty room.
Lorena looks at him, concern creasing her forehead. “What is it?”
“I don’t want anyone to overhear. I’ll be quick.”
She goes inside, and when the door shuts, William darts into the adjacent room and listens through the wall.
“I don’t know how to say this,” Zach begins.
“Okay, you’re worrying me. What happened?”
“William.”
“What about him?” She sounds annoyed, but William picks up on her rising heartbeat.
“There wasn’t much paperwork on the school’s founding. Just a contract handing off the estate to Huntington Academy LLC, and a few government permits. But our student files were in the same storage cabinet, and … I took a look.”
“At our files? That’s messed up, Zach—”
“I looked at William’s. Trevor has been saying for weeks that he doesn’t trust the guy, and I just assumed it was some kind of alpha male contest, but I still decided to check.
” He pauses, and William tries to picture Lorena’s expression.
“I know,” says Zach, and by his tone, William imagines she must look disapproving, “but I’m a journalist, and I had to be sure. ”
“Well?” asks Lorena. “What did you find?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why are you being—?”
“I found nothing. There’s no file for him at all. Like he’s not supposed to be here.”
William can hear the way Lorena’s breath catches.
“I think he’s a fraud,” Zach goes on, “but I don’t understand how he played Minaro.”
Lorena does not say anything for a bit. “Why are you telling me this?” she asks.
“I’m going to tell the director because I plan to write a story on him.
” Zach says it quickly, like he knows Lorena will not be agreeable.
“I wasn’t going to do it when you were together, for your sake, but now that you two are over, I don’t feel like I owe him anything.
And I wanted to let you know so you’re not blindsided. ”
“Zach … you know who my mom is, and I’m sure you know about the video of me at that party. A story like this about William and how he fooled the school—and me—will only make things worse.”
“I’m not going to mention you,” he says quickly. “I would never do that. This is strictly about William and how the administration royally screwed up and put us all in danger.”
“I—I need to get to class,” William hears Lorena say, then the door bursts open, her footsteps stalking down the hall.
As soon as she is gone, the vampire grips Zach by the throat. Before the boy can even exhale, William says, “You will meet me back here tonight at midnight. Tell no one.”
“Yes.” Zach frowns, since he did not mean to agree.
“Until then, forget this interaction.”