Cursed Blood |Lesbian Story| - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

"Cammie wait!" I called after my fuming best friend.
"I'm gonna kill her!" she muttered fiercely under her breath as she walked even faster ahead of me.
"No, you're not, Cam," I said, trying to calm her human nerve. Nobody in this school has ever declared war on each other before. Besides killing people isn't something you get to see every day in the Ultara Academy. But now I got the feeling that today was a special case. Cammie is a genius, all right, but whatever she'd planned to do was totally not a sign of intelligence.
"I'm not Buddha, Vivienne," she said in irritation, "Non-violence is not my thing and you know that!"
"Well, me neither, but you can't-"
"How could you stand it after what she has done to you and Alyssa?" She turned around sharply at me, and I sort of flinched (and trust me, you do have a good reason to be scared of Cammie).
"I don't see why I shouldn't throw that soul-sucker across the school right now." Then she turned back to walk again. With my extraordinary speed, I could have blocked her in just a blink of an eye, but I couldn't do that in front of everyone. Some of the students turned to look at us as if they smelled something burning. Some of them also parted away from our path when we walked through the Lunch Hall.
Cammie marched toward Jacques who was sitting with her back turned to us. Then she suddenly skidded to a stop, I almost bumped into her. My best friend did a warning glare at the tired-looking girls around Jacques. They understood and ducked away from the future war zone. And I guess Cammie's power didn't come from being a daughter of the Headmistress, but it came from being a favorite student of Mr. Kent.
Jacques stood up as if she were already expecting our coming.
"Jacqueline Deveraux!" Cammie hissed. Jacques whirled her slender body around to face us.
"What?" she asked nonchalantly. Her silky black hair let down gracefully over her shoulders. Her eyes were as black as starless night, I almost couldn't make out her pupils, but you could be hypnotized if you looked at them long enough. Jacques wore her expressionless face again. She lowered her eyelids at us. But she seemed to stir a little when she saw me.
"Oh come on! You know exactly what!" Cammie growled. "Why did you do that to Alyssa?"
"Just because." Jacques shrugged. That didn't help Cammie improve her morning mood, and the way she stared at Jacques might have burned holes.
"Well, well, well," Jacques said over-dramatically, raising her hands up in a sign of guilt. "She was an easy pick, okay?"
"Oh, you psycho freak!" Cammie hissed in rage. "What have we done to you?"
"Can't help," Jacques said, "Your friend just happened to see me in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Cammie was about to jump all over Jacques in ten directions, but I reached out to hold her still. She shook my hands off and glared at me. At that point, I swear I could hear her pulse beating furiously in my ears.
"Why are you protecting this monster?" She snapped in frustration.
"Hey!" Jacques protested, "If I'm a monster, your friend must be a Satan." She pointed her delicate finger at me. With this double accusation, I hoped my face wouldn't flush.
"Take it back, psi-vamp," Cammie muttered.
"And what if I don't, drudge girl?"
"Too bad, then you are on the receiving end of your bad luck!"
"Wow, I'm so scared," Jacques pretended to shudder.
"Oh yeah?" Cammie snarled. And before I could stop her again, my best friend had shot out as fast as lightning and smoothly spun Jacques around, pinning one of her arms to the back. Cammie had already grabbed Jacques by her throat.
"Cammie, don't!" I yelled a bit too late. She slowly dug her fingernails into Jacques's flesh. For a moment, I had no doubt that my best friend was capable of killing a person with her bare hands. But unless Jacques was a normal person, and now, that girl was smirking. I sensed something creeping out of her devilish mind. Suddenly Cammie loosened her grip and looked like she was going to faint. Oh, heck!
"Cammie, let her go!" I shouted, not knowing what to do. Finally, she released Jacques at last, but I had to rush to catch her as she was reeling to the side. Jacques also stepped back, rubbing her neck which already had red bruises.
"What have you done to her?" I glared at Jacques feverishly.
"Just the usual," she replied, adjusting her crumbled uniform and causally flashed a cold smile at me. "Better watch out for your human friend, Vivienne. Or should I call you 'vampire'? I hope she won't end up being your lunch bag."
I looked at her squarely in the eyes. I was trying so hard not to open my mouth for fear that my fangs would burst out. Gosh! I agree that you just can't stand with some people more than five minutes without wishing to snap their necks. This girl was impossible! I didn't even know how to start with her.
"I warn you, Jacques, if you ever lie a hand on anyone here again," I said in my most dangerous tone. "I promise to be at your throat in a minute, and I mean it literally." I had to fight the agonizing urge to bite the heck out of Jacques right there.
The girl just made a face, but she didn't retort the way I expected her to. My threat must have some effects on her. Giving Jacques one last murderous glare, I walked Cammie out of the place.
When we were outside, I sat Cammie down on a comfy chair at the corner of the hallway. She seemed to regain her color a little, but it scared me half to death seeing Cammie in this frail condition for the first time. I was mad at myself for being such a helpless idiot. But it was just that, I couldn't come up with a safer way to punish that girl. And I couldn't bring myself to hurt humans because of Jacques by the lousiest term, was human.
"You should have picked up what I left off," Cammie spoke again.
"What do you mean?" I frowned at her.
"Tear her throat out for me,"
"Cammie!" I burst, "How could you say such a thing?"
"Because she was the one who started it!" She protested.
"And I was the one who ended it," I said, "You have no idea what I could have done to her. With my horrible state, anything could happen."
"Oh yeah, I have plenty of ideas of what could happen, but the problem is you didn't do any of that!"
"Cammie, you should be grateful that she didn't paralyze you or caused you prematurely gray," I told her again, "Jacques is a succubus."
"But you're a freaking vampire!" Cammie said.
"Sssh!" I hushed. "Cammie, you're not making it easy for me!"
"Viv, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said," she apologized. I let out a sigh.
"That's alright, Cam," I said. Then Cammie studied my face.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," she said and looked away.
"Cam, tell me why Jacques called you a drudge girl?"
"Oh, you really don't know what that means? That's one of the reasons I wanted to gut that girl like a fish!" Cammie said distastefully, but when she saw my blank expression, she heaved a sigh, "Well, drudges are human slaves who serve vampires. They follow and listen to whatever their masters tell them to, and they even provide their own blood to them. I have read that in the vampire stories."
"She thinks you're my slave?" I asked, bewildered.
"Because she knows you're a vampire," Cammie pointed out. "And according to Jacques's filthy opinion, it is considered as a social faux pas that a human hangs out with a vampire unless, well, I'm your slave."
"What!" I shrieked, standing up in frustration. "Now I'm going to rip her tongue out for that!"
"Hey, whoa!" Cammie said, catching me by the wrist. "You believe in non-violence, remember?" I guess she just reminded me that for my own sake. I remember just weeks ago, I was someone who opposed to something as petty as lying, then I found myself living in the biggest lie on earth. Now, I was just afraid if I lost my faith in non-violence policy, things would get even uglier.
"It's...it's just plain insulting!" I said sulkily and decided to dump myself down on the couch again. "I don't even drink blood, you know, I'm a vegetarian!"
"Yeah, I know," Cammie squeezed my shoulder. "You're the first vegetarian vampire in the history of vampires."
I narrowed my eyes into tiny slits at Cammie, but I couldn't blame her for saying that to comfort me. After all, I also found it ridiculously true. Needless to say, Jacques wasn't going to get that about me.
Suddenly, my nose caught a whiff of jasmine scent. I heard approaching footsteps down the hall, I elbowed Cammie as I recognized the person and said, "Your mom is coming."
Cammie looked at me and then back to the hallway. The Headmistress was just turning the corner when she glanced at our direction. We stood up together and she smiled at us brightly. This gave me an immediate impression that whatever the Headmistress was going to tell us was good news.
"How glad to meet you, girls, here," The Headmistress said as she walked gracefully toward us, "I have good news. Alyssa's awake."
"Really?" we both said at the same time.
"Yes, and she wants to see the two of you,"
In the hospital, we were so excited but sort of surprised. I didn't expect Alyssa to recover this fast. Cammie and I walked along the corridors, passing rooms with patients and nurses, but before we entered Alyssa's room. I let out a low snicker.
"What's so funny?" Cammie asked, giving me a curious look.
"You'll see,"
After Cammie opened the door, we saw Mrs. Schell was waving a spoonful of bean soup like a make-believe airplane. Alyssa was straining away from her mother disgustingly.
"Mom, enough! I'm so full,"
"Only one more, sweetie," her mom pleaded, "Come on, open your mouth, the plane needs to land." Cammie almost fell on the floor laughing, but she tried to muffle it. Then Mrs. Schell noticed us and grinned widely, putting the food bowl down to greet us. Alyssa blushed with a healthy color on her face.
"Oh! Look who's here?" she said warmly. "Camilla, Vivienne, my two favorite girls! Please come here." Then she gave us a bone-crushing hug.
"Nice to see you, Mrs. Schell," Cammie said after she released us. "We come to see Alyssa, how's she doing?"
"Yes, she just woke up this morning and asked me for the both of you," she said cheerfully then turned to me, "Thank you very much for keeping an eye on my daughter, Viv. I really owe you."
"No problem, Mrs. Schell,"
"Mom, don't you have a charity to attend?" Alyssa called from the bed, "Just leave my best friends here, please."
And the fact that Alyssa used the plural best friends made my heart pump a little faster.
"Oh, right, I forgot," she said. "Sorry honey, I'll see you later."
Then Mrs. Schell went to grab her Luis Vuitton purse and gave Alyssa a kiss on her cheek before leaving the room.
"Ah, you're still alive and kicking," Cammie said, walking up to Alyssa's bed and hugged her. I wanted to do the same, but I was still nervous. As I watched the two of them exchanged pleasantries, Alyssa turned to me.
"Vivienne," she said with a brilliant smile, "Thank you."
"Oh?" I looked at her. "for...for what?"
"For coming to rescue me last night," she said.
"Don't mention it," I said automatically, but then I jumped, "Oh, you remember it?"
She nodded, and I grew even more confused and uncomfortable.
"Sorry that I didn't listen to you," she said.
"Wait, you really remember what happened to you? I meant -everything?" I asked her again.
"You want to hear the basic? Well, I remember you came to warn me about Jacques. I found Jacques. She drained me of my energy. You saved me. I ended up in the hospital. And when I woke up again, everything is still in my database." Alyssa said, tapping her temple.
"Good that you have a photographic memory, Alyssa," Cammie said, patting her head, "I thought Jacques had turned you into a vegetable person already."
"Well, if it wasn't for Viv, you might have a cabbage best friend by now," Alyssa said with a cool shrug.
"Alyssa...what happened last night was..." I started sheepishly later.
"Viv, I already knew," Alyssa said.
"You knew what?" Cammie asked.
"I saw stuff," she said with a confirming nod again. Cammie and I looked at each other, unable to speak. Alyssa rolled her eyes and said, "Look, although my mom had just spoon-fed me like I was two, I know what I saw. But no worries, I won't tell anyone about it."
"Good," Cammie said. "No secret, no problem."
"Almost, but not quite," Alyssa said, "I still have a lot of 'hows' and 'whys' to ask."
"It's hard to explain, Alyssa," I said. "Maybe we can talk about it later when you're better."
"No, I want to know it now," She commanded in a daughter-of-a-mayor tone. I had to remind myself that Alyssa is the kind of genius who believes that not knowing is against the human right. And I wouldn't want to upset a girl like her. If she weren't sick right now, she might have trapped me in a jar like a specimen, or run me around like a laboratory rat for sure. I inhaled and took the plunge again. Like Octavia said, I had to trust my best friends.
"Well, Alyssa, if you saw it, then you know I'm not an average human anymore," I said, carefully choosing my words. "I'm a hybrid...between human and....and...."
"Vampire?" she finished for me. I looked at her and then nodded.
"I knew it!" she said. "Well...since the day you kissed me."
I blushed bright red at that point.
"Also when you came back from the hospital," she continued. "I always had a feeling that something about you has changed, you kind of have this strange glow, and your eyes got deeper like a cat's. Every time you were near us, you either tensed up or held your breath. And you always seemed to be distracted. Sometimes you even made us nervous without a reason."
A wave of guilt rushed over me, and I looked down at my shoes.
"I'm sorry."
"No please, don't be sorry," she said. "I know it's just your nature."
Then Alyssa asked me questions after questions, I had to spend an hour explaining everything. I told her about my Awakening, about Jacques as a succubus. I told them absolutely everything- well, almost. But after I finished, I felt like all the weight of my secret had rolled off my shoulders. And I was so grateful that I hadn't made Alyssa lose conscious again.
"So does Octavia know that you're different?" Cammie suddenly asked.
"Well, yeah," I said with a slight nod. "She knew it even before I did."
"What? How could she know that?" Alyssa asked surprisingly.
"She's...sort of...you know...the same as me."
"What?" they both cried with eyes widened.
"Octavia is another half-blood beside me," I said with an awkward shrug. "She helped me getting used to my other half."
"That's why you have to spend time with her," Cammie mused.
"Check," I nodded.
"So that you can find out more about your father," Alyssa added.
"Check,"
"And you and Octavia are officially dating,"
"Che-Whoa!" I blurted in protest, "It's not like that!"
"Alright," Alyssa bit back a smile. She looked at Cammie as if they knew something I didn't.
"There, I knew it all along that Vivienne just gave us a bunch of selective disinformation," Cammie said.
"Huh?" Alyssa blinked because just like me, she's no linguistic genius here.
"She meant I lied," I told her.
"Oh, Vivienne," Alyssa turned to me. "You didn't have to do that."
"We would rather have a vampire best friend than a human friend who is a real monster," Cammie said. "And now the only thing that enrages me the most is seeing that evil freak walking around, trying to steal people's energy. I couldn't stand with what she did to us. That energy thief!"
"You sound as if she sucked your energy, too," Alyssa noted.
"Well, she kind of did last morning," I told her.
"Oh, wow, really?" Alyssa turned to Cammie.
"Long story," Cammie said and waved her hand off like she didn't want to talk about it. I guess she didn't want to admit that she was beaten by someone, even it wasn't physically.
"I just don't get how energy can be drawn from another person," I said to change the subject. "It's weird."
Alyssa pursed her lips with a thoughtful expression and then said, "It's not that weird, you know, since the work of Einstein E=mc², physics has proved that everything is made up of energy. You and I are made of energy. It can't be created or destroyed, it just changes forms. Energy is in all things, and it can be transmitted from one thing to the other, from one person to the next. That's how our universe works. And as incredible as it sounds; every atom of your body right now were at one time part of a star-a galaxy. All of life is driven by this zillion-year-old life force. Always goes around and comes around."
"Wow, that sounds like Karma," Cammie said. "I hope this kind of physics comes to bite Jacques in the butt when she less expects it."
I was starting to enjoy their dorky conversation, but when I heard my stomach growled, I realize I hadn't had my milk since last morning. I was too worried about Cammie's murderous behavior at the Lunch Hall and again I rushed to the hospital without having a sip. I was starving now.
"Hey, guys," I interrupted them. "I think I need to find my mom for a minute, I'll be right back."
As I walked along the corridor, I found myself bumping into someone. A burst of chill ran through my bones.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," I said and when I looked up, it was Octavia.
"I didn't see you at school, so I thought you must come to the hospital," she said, "Anyway, how's Alyssa?"
"Oh, she's awake and doing fine now," I told her, but then I noticed she was holding her mom's diary, and the look on her face told me that she had something to tell me.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"I found something in the diary," she said, shifting the book in her hands anxiously. Whatever Octavia had discovered, it didn't sound any good. "I now know why the true-bloods want to destroy us."