Chapter 1 #2
Three days later was when a lower advisor for the Mage Board came and asked me who I was and where I came from. He asked me why the vampire fed me that blood and how I felt because of it. I more or less stated the truth.
I am an orphan who runs along the streets of New York City and helps out with legal medicines to those who ask for it.
I didn’t tell him about Ms. Elaycia and her brothel – even if she’s kept everything above board and legal regarding the humans who venture in – because the Mage Board hates the lower level fae almost as much as they do the vampyr and vampires.
All it would take is one thing to have her shut down and thrown in some sort of torture chamber they call a prison.
So I kept it short. Said I knew a few neighborly fae and shifters, but I have actually never met a vampire or vampyr before. I didn’t know why I was fed the blood or venom or what that vampire could have wanted from me.
At the end of my interrogation the advisor lifted his sleeve, took a small thin blade, and cut a two to three inch wound on his arm.
Blood immediately began rolling down and dripping onto the floor.
The metallic scent filling the room with a reddish-black aura.
It wasn’t quiet as coppery as humans blood is, but it had been just as red.
I figured he wanted to see what kind of bloodlust I would initiate since all newly turned vampires can’t control their hunger for it. I, however, lifted the top corner of my mouth in disgust and rolled my eyes before closing them and leaning my head against the wall.
I had been just as tired then as I am now.
The advisor was obviously shocked and the next day I was brought before the Mage Board and they said with my immense control I could attend Syngenia University if I was able to pass the test. I had heard the name spoken by two people before.
The first being Ms. Elaycia who would reminisce on her past, and the second being that vampire as he was shoving blood down my throat.
If I bloodlust I would have been immediately killed.
Now here I am. And fuck, Ms. Elaycia is going to kill me. Not literally, but I do wish I could have said goodbye to her.
Entering the nearly crippling building I finally close my umbrella and am greeted by a front desk area. There’s a girl with long blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail on the same tablet I just received. She looks up just as I’m removing my sunglasses and arches a brow.
“And here I thought this was one of those stupid rumors,” she says boredly. “I’m assuming you’re,” she looks down at something on the desk she’s sitting behind, “Mavyn Tsuki?”
Approaching the desk I nod. Blondie stands, but it’s only to grab a key and piece of paper behind her. She shoves it at me and then sits back down ignoring me. On the bright side, at least she didn’t sneer like the redhead in the courtyard.
“Thanks,” I murmur as I look over the sheet. It lists my room number, my roommate, where the shared bathrooms are, and all the information my schedule wouldn’t list.
Turning, I start making my way to the stairs I had seen when I first came in.
I pass a couple girls but now that I’m inside and there are so many scents and perfumes and incense, and without having my sunglasses on and umbrella blocking the nonexistent sun in here, they can’t tell what kind of being I am.
Even if I can pick up distinct notes signaling shifters and fae. It smells the same as in the brothel.
Reaching the third floor I follow the sign that reads where three dash twenty-three is. Apparently it’s the last door at the end of one of the halls.
It’s not as loud as I thought it would be here. And despite the shabby wall paint, the decades old carpet, and the dim lights that look like they’re about to go out, it’s not that bad. It’s how I expected the dorms for a regular college in America to look like.
The door at the end is already cracked open when I get to it so I simply toe it open even more.
After being brought before the Mage Board I was immediately sent to the test room where I had to take my exam and then holed up in a cell until I was able to come here for move in day.
Meaning I only got to bring the clothes on my back and the few pieces of jewelry I already had on.
Honestly, I’m surprised they didn’t take those from me as well, considering they took all the rest of my nick nacks I had on me.
Motherfuckers.
Holding my papers, the tablet, my sunglasses, and umbrella, I stand in the doorway and look in.
The ceiling is vaulted with two square windows almost completely covered in ivy.
There’s two twin beds in each corner with two desks almost touching each other against the wall and under the windows.
Then two wardrobes against the wall across from the beds.
The one directly to my right has its doors open with someone rummaging inside.
There are also boxes and bins and two suitcases covering the left side of the room.
Clearing my throat, I take a step in. There’s a bang and a squeak before a head of curly white hair pops out of the open wardrobe.
“Oh my goddesses, you scared me,” she heaves, a hand over her heart and wide eyes behind circular framed glasses looking at me. Her surprised expression turns to a wide grin. “Oh! You must be my roommate. Mavyn, right? I’m Jullia.”
She steps over and holds her hand out. One of many positives living in the brothel with multiple beings is all the things they teach you.
One of the biggest things being learning how to read body language.
With the exception of a few outlying situations, no matter what your body will almost never lie.
Instinct, intuition, and muscle memory overpower all else even if you are completely in control of your body. Most of the time, anyways.
Jullia, she said her name was. The smile on her face hesitates the longer I let her stand like that. To most it would look like she was willing to get to know me and wants to try being friends since we’ll be living together for the next year.
But her body betrayers her.
Her shoulders are tense, her heart is pounding with her blood rushing, I can scent the beading sweat along her hairline and neck, and there’s a barely noticeable tremor in her hand.
“You’re a mage, right?” I sigh, my shoulders weighing down with exhaustion. “You don’t have to be nice to me. I know the mages hate vampires and as a precaution it’s listed when I was apparently turned, so if you want to drown me in my sleep I won’t hold it against you.”
Walking into the room I set my things on the desk and then faceplant into my bed. A groan leaves my throat as I sink into the shitty bed. I can feel the springs and the thin blanket is already scratching my face but I actually couldn’t care less.
Something must have snapped the water mage out of her stupor because I hear her shuffling away from me and things getting moved.
“Mavyn,” she calls and I hum in answer. Too tired to do anything else but delirious enough to actually answer. “I don’t hate you. Most vampires don’t have a choice in being turned and judging you before I even know you is unfair.”
My brows furrow as I turn my head so I can see her. Pretty toffee-colored skin, soft doe-eyed lavender eyes, that curly white hair reaching her mid-back. She’s wearing regular jeans and a t-shirt with some sort of band name I’ve never heard of before.
“And I won’t be drowning you,” she says like an afterthought. It makes my lips twitch. “Actually, I’m surprised you could even tell I’m a water mage. Most people can’t tell which element I possess.”
She looks nice. She has that girl next door vibe mixed with nerdy book girl who also reads smut. There was a girl at the brothel just like her and an ache begins to form in my chest. I miss my home.
“Thanks Jullia,” I gurgle out with half my mouth smushed into the scratchy bed.
Pushing up to my elbows I look over the room again.
Behind me, next to my wardrobe there’s a mini fridge I know has a couple packs of prestored blood.
It’s a necessity the school provides for beings who need blood to survive.
“If it’s any consolation, I’ve been tested almost every day for a month before coming here to see if I’ll go into a blood frenzy.
Hasn’t happened, it won’t be happening, and anyway, I don’t like water mage blood.
No offense, but it takes like seawater and rotten fish. No offense.”
Her shoulders drop the tiniest bit and she chuckles. It makes her curls bounce and her aura gets brighter. Twinkling like fairy lights.
“No offense taken,” she says as she smiles at me. “Though I guess this just means that vampires and vampyr are really different. My boyfriend is a vampyr and he would disagree with you.”
She winks at me and then stands to finish sorting through her things.
Smutty book girl for sure. I go back to laying all the way down and heave out a breath.
My entire body relaxes into the shitty mattress and I know I should go shower and change, but the only thing I have is the school uniform provided.
I’ve had to re-wear this outfit since I passed the test a month ago, one more day won’t kill me.
Something dings and Jullia shuffles as sleep is about to take me.
“Oh,” she softly gasps, then she clears her throat. “Hey, Mavyn? Are you actually sleeping?”
Yes.
“Not yet,” I mumble.
There’s silence for a moment.
“I thought vampires didn’t sleep. At least, that’s what Asher says, I’ve never met a vampire before. Is this the reason you don’t have a bloodlust? You sleep instead, like Nezuko from Demon Slayer?”
I don’t even have the energy to crack an eye open. I grumble instead.