More than Magic: Semester Aboard (43 page)

"I was going to sleep in a hammock too," I
said.

"Go for it."

"But that's fine, I'll take a bed. I don't
want to kick one of you out of your hammock."

TS laughed. "There's no way I'm sleeping in a
hammock. I like my beds stationary, thank you."

Soon I found myself on a hammock with Thomas
in the one next to me. I could have sworn that they were hung
closer than the two in my cabin. He was so close it would have been
simple to reach out and touch him. Kaitlyn had seemed much further
away in hers. We lay there in silence for a while. I glanced over
at Thomas. He was looking up through the screen at the trees. He
didn't look very happy and I thought of what the werejaguar had
said to him.

"Are you ok?"

Thomas looked at me in surprise. "What? Yeah.
Why?"

"I just..." He waited and I figured I might
as well explain myself. "You looked sort of upset. The werejaguar
wasn't very...friendly."

"Oh." Thomas shrugged. "I won't deny that I'm
annoyed. But I'm used to it."

"Does that sort of thing happen often?"

"Often enough."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. But he
still hadn't answered my question. "So, are you ok?"

Thomas smiled at me. "I'm fine. Really. I can
either let it get to me or ignore it. And I learned a long time ago
that I'm better off just ignoring it."

We were quiet for a moment. I couldn't help
but remember what TS had told me. I tried to study Thomas without
him noticing and wondered what I could ask to figure out how he
felt now without outright asking if he was happy. "What's it like
being a vampire?"

"What?"

I sighed. That hadn't been a very good
question. "I mean...do you enjoy it?" Equally bad.

"It's got its perks. And its downsides." He
shrugged. "Like all species do, I suppose." He eyed me critically.
"But that isn't what you're asking, is it?"

"I-uh..."

He smiled sadly. "TS told me what you
um...talked about."

"Oh." I turned away and looked up at the
slowly darkening trees, embarrassed. I couldn't believe TS has told
him! Now Thomas probably thought I had been trying to pry into his
personal life.

"Well?"

I glanced at Thomas. He was looking at me
expectantly. "Well, what?" I asked.

"What is it you actually wanted to ask?"

I hesitated, but he kept waiting. Finally I
sighed and whispered, "Are you happy?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He shifted his weight in
his hammock and sighed. "Sure, I have my regrets. Who doesn't? I've
certainly had my share of...bad times. But, I know there are people
out there who have had worse. And here I am. Two wonderful people
love me like a son and I've got some of the best friends a guy
could ask for. I've got a good job, not to mention I'm making a
difference." He looked up into the trees with a thoughtful, almost
sad expression. "I wonder sometimes, of course. What if...I dunno.
What if things had been different? Then again," he paused and
smiled at me, "I can't really imagine myself anywhere but
here."

For a long time, neither of us spoke. My
spell wore off and I was left in the dark. I could just barely see
some leaves caught in the moonlight. I wanted to sleep, but my mind
was racing. I had a thousand questions for Thomas, none of which I
could ask. They were too personal. I nearly jumped a mile when he
broke the silence.

"I never went to a non-magic school." He
chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

I blushed. "It's ok. What do you mean
non-magic school?"

"You know, elementary school, high school.
Where you probably went. Some magics go, others don't. I went to an
all magic one. There weren't too many students, but it was huge by
magic standards. Some people commuted four hours one way just to
bring their kids there. We learned all of the usual school stuff.
But classes were a mix of magic and non-magic subjects. I went
there from kindergarten all the way to senior year."

"Wow."

"Never finished my senior year, though."

"Why not?"

He was quiet for a long moment. I heard him
sigh before he answered. "One night alarms went off. Nobody knew
what was going on. The older students were up on the fifth floor.
We were all in our cafeteria trying to figure out what was
happening. Then the doors burst open and..." Thomas sighed heavily.
"Vampires."

I realized in shock that he was going to tell
me about the night he had been turned. I swallowed hard, afraid
that if I spoke he'd change his mind.

After a pause, he went on. "I still don't
know how many there were altogether. Probably a dozen. Three times
as many dhampirs." I shivered, thinking of the damage just one
vampire could do. "They just got together and...decided to attack.
They were on us in minutes. Every MES agent in the state, hell in
the entire northeast, was called in. It was a nightmare. To make
matters worse the entire school was burning. If the vampires didn't
kill you, the fire would."

"The school was on fire?" I asked in
horror.

"It's one of the few ways to kill a vampire.
Everyone who could cast fire spells was. Young fire elementals were
panicking and losing control. Anyone who might have been able to
get the fires under control was too busy setting them. It didn't
take long for the fires to get out of hand." Thomas stopped. I
waited, wondering if he was finished, and then he started speaking
again. "My mother was a teacher, first grade. I found a stairway
that wasn't burning and went down to her classroom. The lower
floors were the worst." His voice cracked. "The teachers were the
only ones powerful enough to defend themselves. None of the kids
could. It was..." He paused and let out a shaky breath. "It was a
slaughter."

I practically held my breath. I wasn't sure
if I wanted to know the rest. He fell silent. I had no idea what to
say. There probably wasn't anything I could have said. Instead, I
reached out in the dark to put what I hoped was a comforting hand
on his shoulder. To my surprise, he took my hand and gave it a
squeeze. Then, without letting it go, he continued his story.

"My dad was one of the first MES agents on
the scene. He went straight to my mom's class too. By the time I
got there they...they were already dead. So were their familiars.
The vampire who had killed them was working his way through a bunch
of...terrified children," he practically sobbed the word. I clapped
my free hand over my mouth in horror and tightened my grip on his.
I could feel his hand shaking. "I probably could have set him on
fire. Instead, I just lost it and flung myself at him like an
idiot. Pulled him off of a little werewolf girl." For a moment he
was quiet again, then sighed. “I didn't have a chance. He chucked
me across the room with one hand. Hylay...did her best. She got a
couple of good bites in and then..." I could tell from the tremor
in his voice that he was crying. It was all I could do to keep my
own tears from falling. "The vampire didn't even have to try. One
hard smack and Hy...Hylay was dead. I...God, I can't even describe
how much it hurt. It was like a part of me had been ripped
away."

"Thomas...I-" I stopped. I didn't think 'I'm
sorry' or 'that's horrible' would cover it.

"Sometimes...sometimes the shock of a
familiar's death kills their wizard too. I think it nearly did." He
heaved a sigh. "It killed any will I had left at least. The vampire
grabbed me and I didn't even try to fight back. He would've killed
me. Or maybe turned me. I was in shock, it was all sort of a blur.
The only kids left alive were the werewolf girl and her brother. He
was standing over her barking his head off." Thomas laughed a
hollow, weak laugh. "You've never seen comical until you've seen an
angry werewolf puppy." He sighed. "That little pup saved my life
though. Took a chomp out of the vampire's leg. It wasn't much, but
it was enough for me to snap out of it. I realized that if I didn't
save those two kids, nobody would. I set him on fire and used the
leg of a desk to stake him. Then I grabbed the puppies and ran.
I..." He hesitated. "I decided I'd get them to safety and then...go
back in. Grab a stake and just take out as many as I could. We
were..." He sighed again. "We were right by the door when another
vampire caught up to us. That was...well, that was it."

I had never imagined that things had been
that horrible for him. Any one of the things that had happened to
him would have been a tragedy. They had all happened in a single
night. There was nothing that I could possibly say, so I just held
his hand tighter.

"I woke up in the hospital a couple of days
later. I'd lost everything before being turned. I didn't have any
non-magic friends. I didn't even know that many non-magics. All of
my friends, everyone I knew went to that school. Every single body
I saw was someone I knew," he choked. "If I didn't know them by
name I'd seen them in the halls if nothing else. I had a girlfriend
too. We were young and stupid and thought we were in love." He
didn't sound sad, he sounded almost bitter.

"What happened to her?" I asked softly.

"I heard - one of the downsides of good
hearing is that you often hear things you wish you hadn't - that
she fought her way past the nurses to see me, even though I wasn't
allowed to have visitors. Supposedly she was crying hysterically
and gave me a big hug and then...then she realized I was a vampire.
She walked out and to this day I haven't heard from her."

"That bitch!" I cried in shock. How could
someone possibly do that to somebody they claimed to love?

Thomas laughed at my outburst. He gave my
hand a squeeze and went on. "She wasn't the only one. Some of my
friends lived. Not a single one visited me in the hospital."

"Did
anyone
visit you?"

"A couple of people. The first was the MES
agent who rescued me. I was less than pleased to see him and was,"
he chuckled sadly, "rather rude. I think he had a few uplifting and
encouraging things to say, but I just cursed at him until he left.
The werewolf puppies' mother came to thank me for saving them. She
was pretty upset, especially when she found out that I was their
teacher's son. I think she felt obligated to stay around and keep
me company, but I was glad when she left. She just kept apologizing
and thanking me and asking what she could do. Then all of the
nurses kept mumbling about how bad they felt for me and it only
made me feel worse. The only visitor I got who I enjoyed having
around was, believe it not, her puppy boy. Poor little kid was of
the opinion that I was his only friend in the world and was, well
you've seen puppies, nothing but happy to spend time with me. I
found myself feeling a bit better when he was around. His mother
was less than happy to let him hang out with a newly-turned
vampire, but he whined enough that she gave in. It was pretty much
the only thing I looked forward to. Of course, I was always worried
that I'd hurt him, but somehow I knew that I wouldn't."

I hated to interrupt or ask a stupid
question, but I had to be sure. "Hurt him or feed from him?"

"Both I suppose. With everything that had
happened I would have been a wreck even if I hadn't been turned.
But throw in...I heard that what happens when we're first turned
was explained to you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you go. I was a complete mess. I
was having all sorts of...violent thoughts and ideas. I tried to
tell myself that they would never even cross my mind if I was still
human, but it didn't help. You can only fantasize about ripping out
someone's throat so many times before it drives you crazy. Every
time I caught a whiff of blood my mouth watered and I hated myself.
The puppy's mother only let him visit right around sunset. I guess
she hoped the scent of his blood changing would be enough to keep
me from biting him, but at the same time she was worried about me
being stronger at night. I never wanted to though. He was the only
person I never once thought about biting. I was still worried that
I'd hurt him, or someone else. When you're first turned everything
you feel is extreme. I didn't get annoyed, I got furious. I wasn't
sad, I was utterly devastated. I suppose it was sort of like being
an elemental, except they can control it better. My emotions
changed at the drop of a pin. Everyone kept saying that it was only
for a few weeks and then it went back to normal. I knew that, but I
wasn't sure if I believed it. Maybe they were just saying it. And I
was terrified that I'd kill somebody. I was there for a week
then...then they decided I needed to learn how to feed."

"From people?"

"From people. I refused. Eventually a nurse
got fed up, grabbed a scalpel, and nicked herself. I assume she
thought it would entice me. It did. I couldn't..." His voice
wavered and his hand tensed in mine. "I couldn't look away from the
blood. A million different ways to get it flashed through my mind
and I was absolutely disgusted with myself. I knew that if I didn't
get her as far from me as possible, as fast as possible, that I'd
kill her. I, rather violently I'm afraid, threw her out of the
room. I barricaded the door with everything that wasn't nailed
down. And a few things that were. Then, I took her scalpel and..."
I could tell he was forcing himself to sound casual, but it was
painfully obvious that he could hardly get the words out. "I didn't
take into account how fast vampires heal. By the time they got in
I...my wrists had already stopped bleeding."

I had no idea what to say. TS had as good as
told me that Thomas had tried to kill himself, but it was
different, and somehow even worse, hearing Thomas say it.

"The problem was that I was in a non-magic
hospital," he continued. I looked at him in confusion, knowing he
could see my expression. I wasn't sure how that was connected. "The
longer a magic stays in a non-magic hospital, the more likely it is
that a non-magic nurse or something stumbles in. Even worse when
you have a vampire, especially a newly turned one. The scent of
human blood was everywhere and, quite honestly, it was probably
making things harder on me. They wanted me to get somewhere safe
and away from humans. I was there for another two days, both while
they made arrangements and to keep an eye on me. I was pretty
apathetic at that point. I didn't really care that I hadn't died,
but I didn't care enough to try again. When I didn't make any more
attempts they decided it was time to go." He sighed. "I guess they
thought I'd be happy to be somewhere familiar...so they sent me
home."