Beautiful Monster 2(53)

 
I think no one was more shocked than me at the words that came out of my mouth. I almost sounded like those students I had come to hate, who found fame elsewhere and booked it out of here without so much as a thanks. Liam had given me my start, but I felt like I had come as far as I could with him. This was too much to handle, and my life was going to be too short. It could be me on the floor instead of Nina. All it took was one infection, one slip, and my disease would be active and I’d be done for as well.
 
To my surprise, Liam didn’t beg to keep me, and perhaps that was what I secretly wanted.
 
He simply nodded. “Fine, Amy, if that’s what you want, I really can’t deal with this right now. Or you.”
 
I wanted to hit him at that point. Instead, I picked up my backpack and grabbed Sarah’s hand. She looked torn for a moment, between Connor and me, but she rose, following me. Without a word, I headed up the steps with Sarah, making sure to slam the door behind me. If he wanted to be done with me, that was just fine. I’d be better off alone.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 16: Liam
 
 
 
I didn’t remember most of the week following Nina’s death. With Amy avoiding me like the Black Plague and my anger at her as strong as ever, there wasn’t much I wanted to do but hole up in my apartment and drink, which is exactly what I did. I told the school I was taking a business trip, which I’m sure they didn’t believe in the slightest, but no one questioned me.
 
And so I drank my weight’s worth most days, and come nightfall, I headed out into the neighboring towns, drinking from humans for the first time in I couldn’t even remember how long. And it felt good.
 
I hadn’t gone out womanizing yet, but I’m sure that it wasn’t far behind. All the things about myself: the bloodlust and the regular lust, I found returning tenfold, and I enjoyed them. Perhaps we were better off apart. She was young and sheltered, and she had no idea what it was like on the other side of life. She just enjoyed taking care of me and making cooing noises whenever I got upset.
 
But none of these angry thoughts took away the horrible feeling I had. Dawn came and I lay with a pounding head. I bent over the toilet, throwing up the red tinged liquid that I needed to survive. I was halfway between dead and alive.
 
I was into week two of this behavior when I got a call from an extension in the school around dusk. My transformation was not too far away.
 
“Liam, it’s Connor. You need to be here, in the Red Theater now.”
 
“Why?” I wasn’t in the mood to play games, but Connor wasn’t really the type to play games either.
 
“Now,” he said, and hung up the phone.
 
I called a cab, not wanting to be responsible for another death if I drove in this state. Just before leaving the house, I grabbed a Mickey, putting it in my coat pocket. If I was going to go out, then I was going to have fun.
 
The cab pulled up at the school as the sun was half set, and I half considered having a snack of the driver. But the urgency in Connor’s voice made me simply pay him and head into the theater. I began to worry, seeing the empty hallways, if something terrible had happened again. And despite my anger, I hoped to God that it wasn’t Amy.
 
I had about a thousand horrible ideas in my head when I pushed open the door, but none of them matched with the sight I saw when I entered. On the dimly lit stage, standing there as if they owned it, were three cloaked figures. One was in the forefront of the other two, and Connor was on the ground below them, speaking up to them from bended knee.
 
As I approached, I was awed by them. These were our elders, at least some of them, the oldest vampires in existence. They were almost 2000 years old, and they resided in Romania. They were a different bloodline than Selene, and they governed all vampires. Despite myself, I bowed my head.
 
It was said that when all vampires were created, there was some instinct in them to respect these ones, to fear them and stand in awe at the same time. It was something about the blood coursing through our veins, the magic that reacted with them. It was almost like I was a puppet on a string. I bowed to them and enjoyed it.
 
“My lords,” I said, before I could stop myself.
 
I had only ever seen drawings of them, but they hadn’t changed much. Even when Porsche had told me the legends of them, I felt a sense of respect brew up inside me. To live 2000 years and be so calm, so decent and so regal was something that deserved respect.
 
“Liam,” one of them, Elias, spoke to me.