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“Just please, can we refrain from any blood sucking tonight?”
Shelby mustered up her most serious face as she looked out among her friends. She really needed this night to go well. The clock on the wall read seven pm- exactly thirty minutes until showtime. Drift and her roommate Avid had invited Shelby to their annual joint Halloween party; she’d grown quite close to the former throughout her junior year at Oakhurst University, and of course she said yes. Halloween parties were a core, integral part of the college experience! A chance to get to know new people and let loose. That’s what she read online, anyway. And honestly, if it was simply herself she had to worry about, she would not be holding a meeting in her tiny dorm, preaching to three boys who she’d (somehow) convinced to attend this thing.
Only problem in that logic: everyone present was a vampire. So, naturally, there were a few ground rules to lay down.
In the corner, Pyro raised a hand. “What if they ask us to?”
“That’s in a scenario where they know you’re a vampire,” Shelby retorted. “Which they shouldn’t.”
“Besides, it’s a nerd party,” Scott said, rolling his eyes. “I doubt their blood would taste good enough for you to want to take a drink."
“I don’t want to hear anything from you,” Shelby said. “You’re literally dressed up like Dracula!”
The man shrugged and tapped his cloak collar. “‘Best way to avoid suspicion. It’s reverse psychology.”
Owen looked up from his phone. “I highly doubt that.”
He’d begrudgingly agreed to come after Pyro (who’d jumped at the opportunity when it was proposed to him) and Shelby had stared at him pleadingly for ten minutes. Parties apparently “weren’t his thing.” To be fair, they weren’t Shelby’s thing either. But introverts had to stick together. Owen could manage one night of social interaction.
“You’re just cranky cause Louis isn’t here,” Scott smirked.
“Excuse me,” Owen drawled, “you’ll have to forgive the fact that my boyfriend actually has a job, which you certainly can’t say for yourself.”
“The job or the boyfriend,” Pyro nodded.
Fellow attendee of Oakhurst University, Louis often worked night-shifts for his internship at the city Hospital. He was on the pre-med track; Scott always found this ironic, considering he was also a vampire.
“Touche,” said Scott. He rose from his chair and clapped his hands together, a cheery grin on his face. “Let’s hope the latter changes tonight! Are we all ready?”
Shelby quickly conducted a scan of the room. Miraculously, she’d gotten all three of the boys to dress up. Owen dawned a spiffy cowboy getup, complete with hat, boots, and a shiny sheriff star. He swung the keychain containing his car keys around his finger leisurely. Technically, as vampires, they could transform into bats and fly over to the East dormitory; none of them were the kind to shun their abilities- then again, none of them wanted to fly in forty degree weather, either.
Pyro decided on playing the part of swash-buckling pirate. He’d gone very in depth for his costume and showed it off proudly. Next to him, Scott looked devilishly good in his Dracula-esque attire.
Shelby, of course, was dressed as Bigfoot.
They’d known this would be their costume since last year, when they’d dressed up as the Lochness monster. Unexplainable abnormalities had been an obsession of hers since forever. If vampires were real, surely that confirmed the existence of “man-made” myths like the Leperchaun…or Bigfoot.
Evidently reading her thoughts, Pyro huffed. “I hope there’s no werewolves at this party. You can hear them from a mile away. Far too rowdy.”
Werewolves and vampires didn’t exactly hate each other, but they hardly got along. Both species dwelled in the night hours, thrived with the moon, and preyed on small animals from time to time. This created a natural rivalry so notorious that even humans had picked up on it. Owen swore he would never forgive Twilight for what’d it done to vampiric reputation.
Compared to others of her kind, Shelby had no negative bias toward werewolves. Oakhurst University was considered a safe haven for them as well. Many had graduated and many still padded through the halls. Even there, however, it was an unspoken rule that they did not interact. Shelby believed they needed to get past the stupid tension and make friends. For no reason in particular. She didn’t have a notebook in her room with 50 questions she wanted to interview a werewolf with, or anything.
“Alright, guys,” Shelby said. Cold air pushed against her as she walked alongside her friends to Owen’s car. “No blood sucking. No terrorizing humans.”
“No embarrassing you in front of Drift?” Scott teased. He’d called shotgun, while Shelby and Pyro took up the back row. This was the usual order of their seating arrangements.
Shelby slipped on their Bigfoot mask to hide the warmth spreading in their cheeks. Perhaps, maybe, she had a nanoscopic, barely-there crush on Drift. And maybe they really wanted to impress her! Those things could totally be put aside for the evening. This party was going to be a fun, normal, seamless event.
Pyro’s laugh sounded weirdly similar to the sound of the car starting, though it could be the acoustics of the Bigfoot mask. Which, Shelby noticed, horribly obscured her vision. All good things had a price.
“Who’s attending this thing?” Owen asked from his spot at the wheel.
“Uhm, a few of Drift and Avid’s friends.” Shelby said. “Sausage, Ren-”
“The one who talks funny?” Scott interrupted. His makeup sparkled in the shifting light from outside the car.
Owen snorted. “Says the Scottish guy.”
“ Hush, you.”
Shelby giggled and leaned back into her seat. Crazily chaotic as they were, these three were her best friends. They did everything together. Oakhurst had been Shelby’s dream school since forever, but for obvious reasons, she’d been nervous upon arriving. Vampires went undetected by mortals and stuck to the shadows. Besides her grandmother, the woman responsible for raising her, Shelby had never met another vampire. They’d grown up on stories and tales of their kind spun by the gray-haired woman. It’s why she was so drawn to Oakhurst. Her grandmother had attended, attesting that the university drew…unatural beings together.
And when she walked into her dorm for the first time, she met her appointed roommate, a man with a pearly white smile and striking hair (as he would describe himself). He’d called Shelby out before they’d gotten two steps past the door.
“Thank god,” he sighed. “I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like to have a human roommate. Do you want to take the mirror off the wall, or should I?”
Owen and Pyro joined their group over the course of a few months. First came Pyro, who hadn’t been born a vampire, rather turned when he was a young boy; his family had disowned him after a freak accident during his childhood. He’d lived his teenage years as a fly on the wall: barely noticeable, living in and out of foster homes. The rumors of Oakhurst's strangeness led him to the university. Scott claimed that he would’ve gotten himself killed had he not so graciously taken the brunette under his wing.
Then there was Owen. Not much was known about his past- he never opened up about it- yet he’d winded up in their little coven all the same, and Shelby was grateful for it. Louis was a part of the deal (two for one!) persistent with his gentle authority and empathetic gestures. The five of them had stuck like glue since freshman year.
“We’re here!” Pyro exclaimed in the present.
He flashed her a crooked smile and exited the car. Shelby fumbled for the door handle through her squinted vision; she nearly tripped as she walked into the night. Nearby, Owen and Scott bickered over the former’s phone.
“Louis wishes all of us a great party!” Scott held Owen’s phone an inch out of reach.
Through gritted teeth, Owen jumped up and down pathetically, waving his arms in an attempt to snatch the device. “Give that back, asshole.”
After ensuring that they didn’t kill one another, the group entered the East dormitory, and clambered up the stairs to get to the second floor. Shelby kept an eye out for room 35- Drift had said she’d be able to spot it pretty easily. Muted music grew louder and louder as they walked. Soon, they were standing right outside of the dorm, admiring the very questionable decor scattered around.
The cobwebs and fake spiders were a wonderful touch.
The fog machine, she could get behind.
The giant sign nailed on the door reading “NO VAMPIRES ALLOWED” in black marker? Yeah, Shelby definitely wasn’t expecting that.
“Holy shit.” Pyro mumbled.
Shelby gave a nervous laugh, hand on the doorknob. “Maybe it’s coincidentally specific?”
None of the men in front of them looked entirely convinced. Owen, in fact, appeared just about ready to run back outside and into his car.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she insisted.
They opened the door hesitantly and let it swing open.
Immediately, she was bombarded with an array of sounds and lights. LEDS flashed slowly from purple to blue to pink. Multiple people were strewn across the area, making it abundantly clear that Avid’s dorm was a lot larger than Shelby’s. He’d gotten lucky enough to snag a suite. A Halloween playlist hummed in the background. The four vampires stood by the door awkwardly- no one had come up and staked them yet, so that was a good sign.
“I’m going home,” Owen said, turning around.
Scott placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and faced him back right. “Come on, I see a bowl of punch with our names on it.”
They walked off- or rather, Scott dragged Owen off- leaving Shelby and Pyro alone.
“Shelby,” Pyro began, “You don’t think we have anything to worry about, do you?”
She scoffed. “Obviously-“
“Vampire!”
If Shelby weren’t more experienced with her powers, they would have exploded in a flurry of bats. Pyro, halfway to that point, squeaked and froze in his tracks. A man with brown hair and hazel eyes appeared in front of them. He brandished what Shelby hoped to be a fake wooden crossbow.
“Haha, you should see the looks on your faces!” He smiled. “I guess my costume’s pretty obvious, huh?”
Pyro shook the nerves out of his legs and let out a relieved sigh.
“A hunter?” He asked.
“A vampire hunter,” the man corrected. “Hi, I’m Avid!”
Pyro then shot Shelby a look that said you did not mention this when you invited us. As if she could’ve had any idea Drift's roommate would turn out to be obsessed (and not in the good way) with vampires. “S-Shelby,” they stuttered.
“Oh, you’re Drift's friend!” Avid said. “She’s told me so much about you.”
“Hopefully not too much,” Pyro muttered. Because apparently, he wanted to get himself caught.
“What?”
“Nothing!” Shelby spluttered. “Avid, thank you for inviting us.” Every ounce of pleasantness in their body was poured into the sentiment. Had it gotten warmer in the dorm? Her mask (yes, she was still wearing it; always count on her to commit to the bit) felt stuffy. Time ticked by at a sluggish pace as the two vampires waited for Avid to say something. Skepticism crawled throughout his expression, before finally-
“Of course. Enjoy yourselves!”
He walked off without another word.
Pyro, voice a hushed whisper, jerked his head from side to side to make sure Avid was out of earshot. “We need to find Scott and Owen. Now.” He ran a slightly shaky hand through his hair. Bats. Everyone knew this to be Pyro’s tell. He was nervous, undoubtedly so. Paranoid too.
Vampire hunters were not nearly the threat they used to be. Similar to witch trials and werewolves warding spells, the practice had petered out over the years. Most notorious bloodlines lived in confinement. They preferred to stick to thick forests and sleepy towns. Far easier to get their work done, away from prying eyes. It seemed impossible that Avid was an actual hunter; a college party could hardly be considered prime territory. Well, at least until the four vampires walked in.
“You get Scott, I’ll get Owen.” Pyro paused. He brought his hands together in a horizontal prayer. “Uhm, Shelby. All love, but it’s kinda freaky talking to the snarling, unmoving face of Bigfoot. Especially about vampires. Too meta.”
Fair. Bigfoot's sheer authority could not be handled by the average man. Random strands clung to the mask like static to a balloon. Vision adjusting back to full peripheral, Shelby clutched the wooly accessory in a clenched fist. There were already fifty ways the initiated plan could go wrong. “What if-”
“Shelby!”
The vampire in question whipped around. They recognized that sweet, chirpy voice. Pyro groaned and threw his hands in the air at the interruption- really, he could be such a drama queen- while Shelby tried to cough the butterflies out of her stomach.
“Drift!” they beamed. “Oh, wow, I love your costume.”
Her friend executed a small spin for the sake of it. Quite obvious in her role as a detective, Drift wore a patchwork brown coat, monocle, and old-timey smoking pipe. She looked positively extraordinary.
Drift was the first human friend Shelby had ever made. Back home, classmates and neighbors alike had avoided her. Not for her true identity as a vampire- nobody knew that; she doubted anyone would have believed her even if she’d looked them dead in the eye and confessed it.
Weird. Freak. Loner.
They’d come up with plenty of reasons to hate her regardless.
Who could blame her when Drift had complimented the alien pins on her totebag the first week of Junior year, with such genuine interest in her eyes? Becoming friends was in the cards from the very start. The whole crush thing…hadn’t been, admittedly.
“Yours is so cool too!” Drift said, nodding her head in approval. “The fur on this suit is very realistic.” She perked up. “Hey, there’s some friends of mine I want you to meet!”
Pyro made a loud, obnoxious sneeze. “We were actually just about to-”
In two seconds flat, Shelby was already halfway across the room, Drift in tow, reaching out to her friend as if she were being dragged away. “Curses! It appears some unknown force is pulling us apart! Sorry-Pyro-I’ll-only-be-a-minute!”
He could handle himself for a little while. Yeah. The exasperated look on his face Shelby would take as a good sign.
Drift led her throughout the dorm. Now that Shelby was seeing it up close, she could tell that the residents took Halloween incredibly seriously. Theme-accurate appetizers, skeleton twister…garlic cheese pizza?
“Avid wanted it,” Drift said. She had noticed their staring. “I hope you’re not allergic.”
Perhaps not in the literal sense. Vampires technically were able to eat garlic- it only messed with their stomachs. Another common misconception was that they could not eat at all. Undead, creatures of the night needed blood to sustain the energy that would’ve otherwise been assisted by a beating heart or lungs. Yet somewhere along the centuries humans had interpreted this as a restriction of diet rather than an addition. Shelby would’ve gone crazy a long time ago if a mere nibble of pastry sent her gagging, reeling.
The more they looked around, they noticed subtle details that painted an increasingly dire situation. Handheld mirrors, among other knickknacks, for drinking game prizes. Silver- how in the hell had Avid managed to obtain silver- game board pieces that radiated an aura of rejection.
“Avids really into vampires, huh?” Their voice came out higher than intended.
Drift laughed. “How could you tell? Yeah, he’s like, obsessed with them. Somehow he’s convinced Oakhurst has a vampire population running around.”
Oh my god.
The chances that Avid was an actual hunter had augmented horridly. It could be chalked up to a simple fascination spurred on by rabbit hole forums and speculative theories. Most vampires- Shelby's grandmother included- were aware of Oakhurst’s supernatural popularity; this knowledge could’ve whispered its way online, in Reddit channels and clickbait videos. Rumors. Not enough for the average person to look into at this level. “What did you say Avid's last name was?”
“I don’t think I did,” Drift said. They'd both stopped walking now, unfortunately close to another mirror, wall-mounted this time. Shelby scooted inch by inch to the left. “Avids last name is McEllis.”
Okay. That didn’t ring any bells. All the noble bloodlines possessed intolerable, fancy surnames. Her grandmother had schooled her on each and every one, just in case. For example, she would never forget the Winchesters…or was in the Ginlenners?
She needed to find Scott.
They followed Drift further into the dorm like a mouse walking into the lion's den. Large for college standards, it was still only a living area designed for two people. Soon enough they had entered the kitchen area. Two people stopped their leisurely conversation and turned to face the newcomers.
“Cleo! Pearl!” Drift greeted. “This is Shelby.”
“Hello,” said the person dressed as a zombie. Her bright ginger chair popped wonderfully against the 80s yoga memorabilia she’d decided to dress herself in. “Cleo. Nice to meet you.”
But Shelby was hardly paying attention. Instead, wide-eyed, she stared at the other person, sporting pointy ears and tail. They were obviously fake- but the underlying scent that Shelby’s heightened senses detected was not. As if this night couldn’t get any more confusing.
“Howdy,” the werewolf grinned. “I’m Pearl.”
Pearl had picked up on Shelby’s own unusualness; vampires and werewolves were particularly in tune with each other compared to other creatures. She didn’t look upset, which was a good sign. Werewolves wouldn’t hide their distaste. They were passionate, Scott said, and thus could not mask their emotions to save their life.
“You’re dressed as…” Cleo prompted. It broke the stilted silence, and Shelby mentally slapped herself. Deal with the werewolf later. Or, preferably, not at all!
“Bigfoot,” they answered, holding their mask up to their face.
Pearl cocked her head. “Wow! Do you believe in him? In monsters?”
So now the werewolf was just teasing for the fun of it. After a quick, anxiety-spurred five minute rant on Shelby’s part- of course she believed in Bigfoot, how could anyone not- she let the others take the wheel on conversation. Her gaze darted around. Mainly to keep an eye out for Owen, Scott, and Pyro. She’d be lying, though, if she pretended she didn’t steal glances at Pearl. It wasn’t like she’d never met a werewolf before. When you both dwelled in the night hours, you couldn't avoid running into one another. But the two species would always keep their distance. Either out of rivalry or respect.
A sudden cold splash pulled Shelby from her thoughts. She looked down, bespooked, and brought a hand to the wet patch on her costume.
“Sorry, Shelby!” Pearl said. “I didn’t mean to. Cleo knows I can be a klutz. Here, let me take you to the bathroom. I’ll help get ya cleaned up.”
Knocking Pearl lightly on the forehead, Cleo sighed. “You’re lucky her suit is dark brown.”
Shelby could not find her words as Peal took her hand. Drift and Cleo didn’t mind; they went back to their conversation on homework deadlines and group projects. To them, this was simply a mishap. Blue lights faded into white fluorescents. Shelby cringed watching her costume float in the bathroom mirror. The drink spill was hardly noticeable, they both knew it. “Cleaning” wouldn’t have taken much more than a damp paper towel and rag from the kitchen.
“Alright, what’s with the funny face?” Pearl asked once the door was shut and locked.
“You’re a werewolf,” Shebt blurted, like an idiot.
“Give the vampire a prize.”
They blushed in embarrassment. Leave it to her to bumble her way through her first major interaction with the other side of the nocturnal coin. “Can you have ears in your human form?”
Pearl blinked. “Come again?”
“Your human form,” Shelby said. She took a deep breath. “If you wanted to, could you will yourself to have ears and a tail while maintaining it? Oh, how sharp are your canines- can they break through bone? Do you shed? You don’t have to answer the last one if it’s insensitive.”
Even if she didn’t have her 50 question notebook with her, she still knew all of the inquiries by heart. And she would not let this opportunity go to waste!
“That’s not-” Pearl chuckled. “I did not expect that.” She scratched her neck. “Yes, I could. Yes, my teeth are sharp enough to break bone. Yes, I shed. Anything else?”
Shelby committed each answer to memory before firing off another round of questions. Amused more than anything, Pearl responded genuinely, informing her on different aspects of lupine life- from diet, to sleep schedules, to if she’d ever tried brushing her teeth in wolf form.
“I’m sorry, I’m probably rambling.” Shelby admitted. “This is all so exciting! Ironic that we both ended up here.”
Undoubtedly Pearl had noticed the interesting choice of embellishment throughout the dorm. Silver hated werewolves almost as much as it did vampires.
“Looks like they’re gunning for you,” Pearl said. Flashes of garlic and mirrors. Avid had his sights set on pale skin and fangs. Who knows if he even believed in werewolves. “Your friend walking around as Dracula? He is not being subtle.”
Oh bats, she’d completely forgotten about Scott.
There wasn’t any time to point out the hypocrisy of Pearl’s statement. With this new information, finding her roommate was crucial. If Avid cornered Scott…well, that would be a disaster of catastrophic proportions. She needed to ensure the latter did not give a very specific piece of information that would damn him.
“Hey, I’ve gotta skedaddle,” Shelby said, “But it was nice getting to know you! We should totally hang out some time!”
“You want to be friends with me?” Pearl asked. The unfeigned confusion in her voice was something all too familiar.
Shelby smiled and raised her hand to offer a fistbump. “Duh. Us night-dwellers gotta stick together!”
To their surprise, Pearl reciprocated, placing her fist against theirs. “Why not.”
New friendship secured. At least this night could adhere to a little normalcy. Shelby exited the bathroom, fervored, hawk-eyed. Familiar faces dotted the area. Ren and Martyn appeared to be discussing D&D personas, and she would’ve butted into that conversation- recently she’d been workshopping a gnome named Shrub- had she not zeroed in on Scott at that moment.
Unfortunately, he was with Avid.
She tried to approach as discreetly as feasible. Lies ran through her head, pertinent emergencies that demanded immediate attention.
“Your fangs look amazing!” Avid voice was needlessly loud. Equivalent to wearing a blinking light up sign that said, everyone listen to what I’m saying. “I can’t believe they’re not real.”
Allusions of skepticisms traced his words. He wanted to draw Scott out verbally.
“Perhaps they are,” the vampire jeered, because he couldn’t help himself.
“What’s up, guys?” Shelby interjected. They placed themselves directly next to Scott. Zero of her excuses sounded plausible now that she was in front of a crowd. Avid wasn’t dumb enough to believe her and Scott’s communal dog had eaten their communal homework.
In the corner of her vision, Pyro and Owen edged into frame. Cowboy hat forgotten, Owen crossed his arms like a rattled cat subjected to a bath; the truth of their host had been unveiled to him, and a hunter thrown party was indeed ten times worse than a regular party, though perhaps not by much. Pyro had metaphorically (maybe physically, too) bitten his nails to the quick since the last time they’d spoken.
Let’s book it, he mouthed.
Shelby jerked her head to the side in a gesture that said, I’m trying!
“Your friend is fascinating, Shelby!” Avid chirped. The hold on his red solo cup tightened. For some reason these warning signs went completely unnoticed by Scott. Every prayer sent to the universe was launched back into her face, taunting and cruel, as he opened his mouth to laugh and say, “Of course! We Goldsmiths define fascinating.”
She watched Avid’s face change in real time.
“Goldsmith?” he asked. “That’s…unusual.”
Perspiration beaded at Shelby’s temple. If Scott were anyone else, this revelation of surname would not be an issue. But he wasn’t, and so everything became far too difficult to be handled in one night.
The Goldsmiths were the most notorious vampire family on the planet. They spanned back years,decades,centuries. Wealth bowed its head in inferiority compared to them. Power considered it to be their chess piece. Shelby had almost bowed when she first discovered his identity. Their grandmother preached on the exploits of Scott’s family more than once. Every single vampire knew of their prowess, which meant every single hunter did too.
Overwrought, Shelby shifted her attention to Pyro and stared daggers into his soul.
Diversion, she mouthed. A quick nod and thumbs up from her friend did little to soothe her nerves; Pyro could’ve misinterpreted. He and Owen conducted a fast huddle up- by which she meant they put their heads together for thirty seconds- and dashed off into presumably the kitchen.
“How so?” Scott's expression was unreadable as he took a sip of his drink. Crimson fruit punch. Truly the cherry on top.
Avid hummed. “It’s pretty popular online. Apparently, it’s the name of an old vampire lineage.”
There was a challenge burning in his eyes. One for theatrics, Scott raised an eyebrow conspicuously. He gave no answer, no response, letting the notion linger in the air.
“Avid McEllis, this party is amazing!” Shelby had no idea what to say, resorting to a random outburst to simultaneously fill the silence and pass along information to Scott. He would know if the name held any meaning. Chatter carried throughout the dorm. Scott’s expression, basked in shifting colors, did not change.
“I must say I agree,” he complimented. “You’re a charmer yourself, you know. Handsome, too.”
Shelby could not stop the look of unbridled shock on her face- and nor could Avid. He sputtered, flushed pink, painfully confused at this turn of events.
“Uhm,” he said, “Thank you?”
This was not happening. This could not be happening. Scott brought his thumb to Avid’s chin, wiping off a drop of punch that had stuck. He relished the way Avid tensed bashfully and smiled.
“You had a little something.”
It was like Avid had turned to stone. He glitched and short-circuited, poor brain too overwhelmed with the flamboyant presence before him. Shelby inwardly groaned. Hopefully Louis would discover a way to medically wipe this experience from her brian. A local witch could probably do the trick; they frequented Oakhurst as well, banking on rich party kids who needed an easy A on their homework and pre-med students desperate for something to keep them awake all night.
However, it was an interesting trope straight out of mushy teenage fanfiction. Shelby could admit she hadn’t yet moved past that phase. The scene unfolding would be perfect for the new project she was working on. If she changed the names, a few of the characteristics…yes, the burning flames of possibilities were palpable!
Wait. That was actual smoke she was smelling.
Cleo's voice boomed over the music. “Fire! Shit, there’s a fire in the kitchen!”
The spell Scott had cost over Avid broke- he started, hands flying to his head. “Fire?! Oh god, the school’s gonna kill me! Drift! Get the extinguisher!"
He ran off toward the chaos. Gray fumes of carbon dioxide filled the room. It left everyone coughing and disorientated. Shelby yelped as a hand closed around her arm; she was yanked through the smoke.
“You okay?” Pyro asked. He, along with Owen, became visible as windows and doors were hastily opened to let the air dissipate.
“I said diversion!” Shelby whisper-screamed. “Not a whole fire!”
Owen shrugged. “They’ll be alright. Right now, we’ve gotta get out of here.”
The four vampires snuck across the walls, crawling away from the crowds, intent on making it to the door without any interactions. Bedlam roared up and down the dorm. Everyone’s attention was fixated solely on the fire. They were almost out the entrance when Shelby bumped into someone.
“Shelby?” Drift coughed. She’d lost her monocle somewhere in the confusion. “What are you-”
“Pyros allergic to fire!” they babbled. To his credit, Pyro clutched his heart in agony and bent over in a fit of croaks (Owen rolled his eyes.) Word vomit spilled out of Shelby’s mouth; one of her friends dragged her away from her friend toward the entrance. “Thanks-for-inviting-me-sorry-your-party-was-great-love-you-okay-bye!”
Into the blinding lights of the hallway they ran. Frantic whispers of regret rang through the night. Once everyone was inside the car- Scott had barely closed his door- Owen ignited the engine and reversed at lighting speed.
“What did you guys do?” They were safely on the road. Shelby couldn’t imagine how Pyro and Owen had managed to pull off such a stunt.
“Magician never reveals his tricks,” Pyro bragged next to her. His eyebrows singed at the edges. “We made sure it was containable. No major damage.”
Scott pouted ruefully. He flicked a smudge of goop off his collar, unbothered by the growing complexity of their situation. “I was just starting to have fun! I haven’t seen a McEllis in years. Never expected Avid, that’s for sure.”
The vibe in the car shifted. Owen nearly missed their turn- it was sharp, janky. Four seconds passed. Shelby suddenly felt as if she were watching a friend's parents argue.
“Avid is a what.”
“Is that bad?” Shelby asked. “I thought it might be bad.”
“The McEllis’ are a noble hunter family.” Owen confirmed. Damn it! Curse her short-term memory. They would have to send a letter to their grandmother asking for a fully written list of names. “Not that famous, more of a bunch of scientists than bloodthirsty fiends. But they’ve always been invested in one vampire lineage…the Goldsmiths.”
“You’re joking,” guffawed Pyro.
“I knew something was up with him. I mean, come on, the decor? McEllis. He’s one to watch out for.”
Shelby let out a low whistle. “Scott definitely did that.”
“Okay, so I might’ve flirted with him a little bit!” the vampire scoffed.
Light-hearted bickering over the stupidity of playing coy with your enemy carried them all the way back to the North dorm. The final verdict was that Avid didn’t seem to be an imminent threat, clearly inexperienced. He had no tangible evidence against Scott. It would prove best to let the whole thing blow over. Even considering his family history with the Goldsmiths, Avid, like everybody else, was only a college student running on caffeine and dreams. She hoped Scott wouldn’t mess with him too much. Her roommate could sway a dungbeetle with the bat of his eyelashes.
Mentally exhausted, they all trudged up the stairs of their dormitory. Shelby fumbled for her keys and opened the door. She didn’t stop to check if anyone followed her in before flopping back-down on the floor. Two similar thumps emerged; Pyro and Owen joined her as honorary carpets, while Scott perched on his adored armchair. The corybantic events of the night danced in Shelby’s vision. In one sitting, she’d attended a vampire hunters party, made friends with a werewolf, and interacted with more humans than she usually did in a week.
“So,” she said, lifting herself off the ground with a grin, “Same time next year?”