Beautiful Monster 2 (9 page)

Connor was beside me in an instant and I looked to his experience.

“What’s happening to her?”

He shook his head.
“She’s desecrating. You knew she wasn’t eating, Liam, and this is what happens to vampires who starve themselves. If she goes long enough like this, she won’t be able to wake up from it. Her body will be stuck in a coma-like state. Alive but dead, here, but not.”

“What do I do?”
I asked, shifting her small weight.

Connor met my eyes.
“She needs human blood.” He shifted to the side, where Amy was standing.

I felt my face darken.
“No!” I growled, wrapping my arms around Nina’s face, as if she would sit up and bite Amy. ‘First of all, Amy, I will not allow you to go through any sort of pain. Second of all, your blood will make her sicker than she is now. And third of all, if Nina’s wishes are to not drink human blood, then we will abide by that! Sven.” I turned to the oldest human of the bunch, turned at 25 into a vampire and barely fitting in the classes. “Go to the cafeteria, tell them Liam sent you, and grab a pound of defrosted raw hamburger meat.”

He made a face.

“Chicks,” he said, shaking his head, but headed off nonetheless.

I looked up at the others, who were barely giving me room to breathe, and shooed them away, until it was just Amy and
me left cradling Nina on the stage. I brushed a hair out of the face of the limp body.

“Poor girl.”

Amy, however, had her mind on the bigger picture. “She can’t do this on stage, Liam. She’s got to shape up or she’ll ruin everything.”

I nodded.
“I know. But she so wants to help, Amy. I feel like vampirism hit her the worst of all.”

But Amy was shaking her head.
“The show must go on.”

I smiled at her,
reaching out to take her hand. “So you did learn something.”

“Let’s just get her better.”

“Aye.” I didn’t let go of Amy’s hand, dividing my life-force between the two of them.

As much as Nina probably wanted to help, Amy was right, the show had to go on. And if
it had to be without this tiny vampire body, then so be it. As much as it pained me to do so, we would have to tell Nina she wouldn’t have a place in our plan. Because in the vampire world, only the strongest survive.

“Do you know
that in Phantom of the Opera 2: Love Never Dies, Meg Giry becomes a total slut, whored out by the Phantom, who I’m pretty sure is her real father by the way, and then grabs Christine and shoots her?”

“What?” I turned to Sarah, mouth agape.

It had been 3 weeks since Nina fainted on stage, and things had gotten more chaotic since then. The show, which was a disaster, was the least of my worries. Although vampires were generally stronger, faster and more flexible than humans, it didn’t replace the years of acting training the others had. And we weren’t just trying to put on a good show, we were trying to commit murder on stage and make it look like it was part of the show. We had probably rehearsed the scene at least one hundred times by now, and it was still as much of a mess as the first day. On top of that, classes were in full swing, which meant our workload as students was getting heavy. It would soon be pilot season in the city, which meant there would be hundreds of castings, both open and phoned into the school.

Even though Liam and I parted by sunset, I still felt exhausted, as if I pulled
all-nighters. Usually, I finished my homework by ten and was asleep by eleven, but it never felt like enough. When the other seniors complained they were tired, I wanted to shake them. If only they knew what Sarah and I were keeping hidden in our world.

“It’s true. You should watch it.
The entire thing is on YouTube. Here’s what I think happened,” Sarah said, as we took our trays to a free table. “Andrew Webber got lazy and decided to go off what the fans wrote in all their fan-fiction.”

“Huh?” I tore apart a muffin.

“You know. Fan-fiction. Those stories by fans about the musical. Anyway, so he read all the fan-fiction and asked the fans: what do you want to happen to the characters? You want Christine to die? You want Meg to become a whore? You want Raoul to be an asshole, and Erik the Phantom to be even more angsty? Ok, I can do that, even though it’s totally out of character for everyone and makes no sense. Screw you, Gaston Leroux.”

I
chuckled as I finished my muffin and took a bite of my cereal bar. She opened her mouth, about to say something else, when a funny look crossed her face and her eyes unfocused.

“What?” I asked, turning around immediately to make sure there was no menacing vampire standing over my shoulder.

When I turned back, Sarah had gone an awful shade of green. She swallowed hard and grabbed for a cup of water. A sip seemed to do nothing and suddenly she bolted for the nearest garbage can, barely making it before spewing the contents of her stomach into it.

“Ew,” I said, jumping up and going over to help her. There was a commotion in the cafeteria, as everyone turned to look, but I ignored them, pulling Sarah’s hair back as she wretched. “Hey, you ok? What’s the matter?”

Sarah straightened up eventually and I grabbed a bottle of water from the nearby stand and cracked it open and handed it to her. She took a few gulps, wiping her mouth and trying to get control of her breathing.

“You ok?” I asked again, and eventually she nodded, wiping her forehead.

“Whoa. That was weird.”

“Did you e
at something bad?” I asked.

Sarah shrugged.
“Who knows? I eat everything. Although I had the spinach lasagna for dinner last night and it seemed a bit weird.”

“You didn’t go on a drinking binge with Liam
or Connor or something and not tell me, did you?”

“When?” she asked, amused. “After singing rehearsal that went till midnight, or before dance rehearsal that started at 6?”

“Yeah, I’m glad I’m not the lead,” I replied, taking her arm. “Maybe it’s just a bug. Come on, I’ll take you to the nurse.”

“Nah,” she said, although she let me lead her out of the cafeteria. “I think I’m just going to skip class and lie down for a bit. I feel weird.”

“You sure?” I asked. I was worried and didn’t want to leave her alone.

She nodded.
“Yeah. It’s probably just a passing bug or something. How do I skip class? Do I just not show up?”

“Hmm,” I said, as we headed back to our dorms. “I think so. I was given a few days off last year, but the teachers knew. I just emailed them. I think you could do the same, and I could tell them when I get there.”

“It’s only two classes this morning,” she pointed out, as we reached her dorm room. “We’re supposed to work on our thesis this afternoon, remember?”

“Right
.” I nodded, as she unlocked her door. “So I’ll just tell them. No big deal.”

“Cool. Thanks
, Amy,” she said, and gave me a quick hug. “I’m sure I’ll be fine after a nap.”

“Yeah. Just text me if you need anything,” I said, and she nodded, closing her door.

I went back to the cafeteria to retrieve my bag, ignoring the stares of the other students. Between my scholarship, dating Liam, and filming Sites, I figured they had too many reasons to stare, and I wasn’t going to give them another one. I put our trays in the garbage and then headed to the west wing. Sarah wasn’t missing much in first period. Theater history was one of the few classes that I did not look forward to. It was interesting to learn how we got to the performance point that we did, but the professor who taught it, Professor Dolan, couldn’t have been on a stage in his life. He was a nice man, very kind and knowledgeable, but his voice was monotone and he spoke so slow that often I could come into class, put my bag down, say hi to Sarah, go to the bathroom and come back, and he’d still be on the same topic, probably the same sentence. On the upside, I always had time to write down everything that he said.

How you feeling?
I texted Sarah under the desk, near the end of the class.

Fine. It’s weird, I feel perfect now. I’ll be coming to rehearsal
she texted back. I smiled and texted a happy face.

When the bell rang, I stood up
and gathered my notes.

“Amy?” It was Connor, who approached me right as I got out of class.

He was alone, which was different than usual. Normally, if I saw Connor anywhere but sneaking around with Sarah, he had Isabelle surgically attached to him. But today, he stood alone in the hallway, the masses of people separating around him like water over rocks.

“Yep?” I asked,
getting a bit closer so that we could keep our voices low.

“I heard Sarah was ill this morning. Is she well now?”

I smiled. He may be having an affair with my best friend, but at least he was kind about it.

“Yep. She probably just ate something bad. Perks of being human
.” I grinned at him.

H
e nodded, gesturing with his arm to indicate that we should walk. I fell in step beside him and he reached out his hand.

“Please, allow me,” he said, and took my bag off my shoulder before I could stop him. I had to remind myself that Connor was from a different time, when men did this kind of thing and women were not insulted by being referred to as the weaker sex.

“Where’s Isabelle?” I asked.

“She is attending dance rehearsal. She is quite enjoying being a dancer again, I think, and uses every spare moment to perform.”

“That’s good,” I said, as we rounded the corner and headed to the Red Theater.

“Forgive my intrusion, Amy, but you are also ill as well, are you not?”

“Me?” I asked, surprised, and then realized he wasn’t just referring to a stomach bug. “Oh, yes. But it’s managed, and doesn’t really bother me yet.”

“What is it, exactly?”

“HIV. It, uh… can lead to AIDS… It’s a blood infection that can be passed on through bodily fluids. My mother had it, shortly before she found out she was pregnant with me.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said, and he seemed truly sorry. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Sure,” I said dryly. “Turn me into a vampire and everything will be cured.”

He froze
, holding the door open for me. “Have you discussed that with Liam? Your relationship seems quite serious.”

“Oh
.” I shook my head. “We’re just taking it one day at a time. We don’t know where this is going. But we know that we love each other, and that’s all that really matters.”

He smi
led as the door shut behind us. “Young love is such a beautiful thing.”

“Thanks?” I replied, as we neared the stage.

Sarah was already sitting on the edge of it, cross-legged in black spandex shorts and a black sports bra, looking much better than she had this morning. We were expected to come dressed to rehearse, but Sarah always took it to the extra level.

“Hey,” she said, as we both approached, giving Connor extra eye contact.

He dipped his head. “Sarah. I trust you are feeling better.”

“I am,” she replied, patting a spot beside her.

I hopped up on the stage before Connor could get there. If they were going to insist on having an affair, they could at least not be so obvious about it. Isabelle was tiny, but I got the feeling that she was deadly. Every inch of her small body was packed with muscle, and she reminded me of a cat, coiled and ready to pounce. Just as I was about to shoo Connor away, Isabelle entered the theater and he immediately melted away to be at her side.

I wondered if she knew
what was happening right under her nose. I also wondered how a man could love his wife so much and yet give Sarah so much attention.

S
arah told me it happened all the time; that I had lived a sheltered life, and of course, she was right. Men cheated all the time, and she claimed it wasn’t her problem what Connor’s choices were.
She
wasn’t married. And although I saw her point, it still sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t think I could be that person, from either side of the relationship.

“Can we get into the first scene?” Liam called as he entered from the front of house.

To my surprise, he wasn’t coming bounding in and pointing out everything he wanted. He was moving slowly, and I was about to ask him if he was ok, when I saw the reason why. With a death grip on his arm, Nina put one foot in front of the other, until she reached the closest chair in the audience, and sunk into it.

We hadn’t seen Nina since she collapsed. She had sunk into Torpor, the vampire coma-like state that happened when they starved themselves. Having taken up residence on Liam’s couch, she lay, like a statue, undead and unmoving for weeks. It creeped me out to see her that way, and Liam assured me that she was fine, she would recover. So mostly, we spent time in my dorm room, whispering in the early morning sunrise when he showed up after a long night of vampirism.

Sarah and I made our way over to say hello to Nina, but Liam blocked us as he came towards the stage.

“Let’s just let her be. Sarah, I heard you were creating quite a show this morning. Feeling better?”

“Yes
.” Sarah blushed, nodding. “I swear I wasn’t out drinking last night or anything.”