get Violet, too, and we can all start a vampire club or something!”
“What happened to civic duty?” Wooster asked.
“It was just a suggestion. Still, you have to admit, it’s not a bad…What are you doing?”
Natalie grabbed Mitsky’s arm and pulled on it. They watched curiously as she hiked up Mitsky’s sleeve and took a tight hold on her wrist and elbow.
Then she sunk her teeth in—not too deep, but just enough. Mitsky screamed and pulled away from her, horrified. “What are you doing? Are you trying to infect me, too?!”
Natalie pulled away and smacked her lips thoughtfully. For a split second she looked as though someone had dropped an ice cube down her back. Her hand came up to her mouth and she stood quickly, knocking her chair back. The color of her face changed, and she ran from the room, almost ripping the door off the hinge.
“She’s a vampire! She’s a vampire! I knew it!” Mitsky pointed with conviction. “And now so am I! She’s gone crazy!”
Wooster reached over his desk and took her hand. It was barely a scratch. A little bit of blood sprouted, but there wasn’t even enough to start a trickle down her arm.
“Relax, Mitsky. Consider this your contribution to the scientific community.”
“What science!? We were trying to figure out if she was a vampire!”
“Scientifically.” Pointed out Wooster, blatantly disregarding the absence of a control subject. Mitsky looked at him, full of bitterness. Natalie returned, looking a bit weak.
“I don’t think,” she stated, talking from experience, “I have a stomach for blood.”
“I don’t know…you sure didn’t hesitate much.” Mitsky rubbed her arm. Her voice was sour. “I still think you just haven’t changed yet.”
“That’s possible,” Wooster said. “As your friends, maybe we should tie you up and lock you in the closet for now.”
“Don’t worry.” Natalie told him, wincing as she touched the bruised spot on her chest. “I guess I just overreacted. I mean there aren’t that many vampires nowadays, right?”
“Well, that’s what they say…”
Mitsky pointed at her. “But what about the bite marks? And you said you saw her do it. How do you explain that?”
Natalie shrugged, drawing a blank. “Accident? I don’t know.”
Mitsky shook her head. “How do you accidentally bite someone?”
They all turned to Violet, who was still asleep at her desk.
“She is kind of weird. And she always wears black outside of school,” Mitsky pointed out.
Wooster folded his arms and sat back. “I always thought she was from a dark sorcery family or something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile. Maybe the vampire thing isn’t a rumor.”
Violet suddenly stood up. They all froze in place and went silent. She started to stumble, then looked right at them. It was creepy, the way her shoulders sagged as she lumbered toward them slowly. As she got closer, they could see that she was staring at nothing through half-closed eyes, and there was drool at one corner of her mouth. She came right up to them and stood there, wavering back and forth.
Mitsky was the first to speak. She hesitated just a bit. “Um…hello, Violet.”
Violet didn’t respond, or even look at her. Natalie held a hand in front of Violet’s face and snapped her fingers. Not even a blink.
Wooster quickly stood and grabbed Natalie’s hand. “Don’t do that! I think she’s sleepwalking!”
They watched her forever. It seemed as though nothing was going to happen, and then Violet leaned over onto Natalie’s desk and knelt. She closed her eyes and her arm pulled the garlic bulb close to her face where, without any indication of awareness, she bit into it deeply, then settled into a rhythmic breathing, fast asleep.
They were all stunned. Natalie felt very relieved. Mitsky felt very disappointed. Wooster said, “Well I’ll be…”
“We have a biter!” Mitsky proclaimed.
“And she’s biting garlic, so she’s not a vampire.” Natalie said to herself.
“She must have been sleepwalking that night. And then she bit you without even realizing it.” Wooster looked as satisfied as if he had solved a jewel heist.
“She’s out like a light. Look at this!” Natalie flicked Violet’s hair back and forth. Violet didn’t even snort.
They managed to wrest the garlic from the sleepy girl’s mouth. Mitsky patted Violet’s cheek until she awoke, lazy-eyed. Violet raised a tired eyebrow, looking around at them.
“Wake up.” Mitsky said, sweetly. “Class is about to start.”
It took a moment for Violet to get moving. She smacked her lips several times, making a face. At no point did she seem to know where she was or what she was doing. They all observed her stumbling back to her desk, where she promptly fell once more into a deep sleep.
“After all that,” Mitsky said regretfully, “She bit you in her sleep. I kind of feel cheated.”
“I guess so,” Wooster said. “Anyway, I suppose we won’t need a stake after all.”
Mitsky tapped her chin thoughtfully. “You know, if I’d been thinking earlier, we could have tried a pencil.”
Natalie, still pegging Mitsky as her first target if ever she did become a vampire, reached into her desk. “Sleepwalking,” Natalie muttered, shaking her head. The rest of the class was returning. She took out her pencil and notebook. “Guess I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I kind of feel bad for Violet now.”
“Huh?” Wooster said. “Why?”
“All those rumors. We even believed them for a while.”
“Well, it’s not like people avoid her. She has friends. And,” Mitsky pointed out, “She sleeps so much, she probably doesn’t even know about any rumors.”
Natalie stared at Violet. The teacher was trying to shake her awake. “I guess so. Well, so much for vampires, huh?”
Class began, and Natalie focused on keeping her two friends focused.
That night, high in a tree somewhere across town, a hunter lurked amidst the leaves, moving with no sound, witnessed only by the face of the glowing moon. It had been too long; she was starting to bite things in her sleep. Somehow a few days ago the craving had come back, as though the warm, red waters of life had brushed against her lips during a dream. The ancient, fiery thirst sloshed in her belly, and little electric pins sparked across her brain, white-hot, driving her to the edges of appetite. She watched patiently, while just below a clumsy young girl dressed herself for bed. Soon the lights went out, and the girl climbed under a large blanket. Not long now and she would be asleep, and this terrible garlic flavor could finally be taken care of, washed down in the crimson flow of the feast. Kneeling on a branch, black clothes billowing in the night wind, the dark intruder licked her lips, anticipating the bite.
It might have gone better if she hadn’t dozed off, only to wake up with her fangs buried deep in a branch. She muttered something through an open jaw that might have translated into “Doggone it!” and spent the rest of the night struggling to free her teeth. It wasn’t an easy thing to explain when the neighbors found her the next day.
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