When Vampires Fall

The gates of Blackthorn Academy looked like teeth. That was my first thought when the black car stopped. Iron bars, twisted into points, stretched twenty feet high. They weren’t built to keep people out. They were built to keep things in. The driver didn’t get out to open my door. He didn’t speak to me the whole ride. He just stared ahead, knuckles white on the wheel, like driving me here was the last thing he wanted to do. I didn’t blame him. I grabbed my bag. It was cheap canvas, already fraying at the strap. Everything I owned fit inside. Two shirts. One pair of jeans. A book I’d never read. And the letter. The acceptance letter to Blackthorn Academy. It wasn’t an invitation. It was a sentence. “Go on,” the driver said. His voice was rough. “Before they see you with me.” I stepped onto the gravel. The moment my shoe touched the ground, the air changed. It got heavier. Colder. Like the campus was breathing me in, deciding if I was worth digesting. The car drove off before I could close the door. Gravel spit up behind the tires. Then I was alone. Blackthorn Academy spread out in front of me. It wasn’t a school. It was a fortress made of black stone and stained glass. Towers cut into the gray sky. Windows watched like empty eyes. No students outside. No sound. Just wind moving through the iron gates, making a low whistle. Humans are treated like insects here. That’s what I was told. I believed it. I adjusted the strap on my bag and walked forward. One step. Then another. My heart beat normal. Human normal. I made sure of it. I’d practiced for years. Never burn. Never resurrect. Never be seen. Three rules. If I followed them, I might survive. The main doors were oak and iron, twice my height. They opened before I touched them. A woman stood inside. Tall. Pale. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. She wore a gray uniform, pressed so sharp it could cut. “Eloise Joly,” she said. Not a question. “Yes.” “Transfer student. Human designation.” She looked me up and down. Her nose wrinkled a little, like she smelled something bad. “Follow me. Orientation has already started. You’re late.” I followed. The hall inside was colder than outside. Stone floors. No decorations. No student art on the walls. Just banners. Red, black, and silver. Symbols I didn’t recognize. The woman’s heels clicked. Mine didn’t make a sound. I’d learned to walk quiet. “Rules are simple,” she said without looking back. “Stay in human dormitories after dark. Do not enter the upper towers. Do not speak to council members unless spoken to. Do not—” She stopped. Turned. Her eyes were light blue, almost clear. “Do not bleed where they can smell it.” I swallowed. “Understood.” She stared for another second. Then continued walking. We passed a set of windows. Outside was a courtyard. That’s where I saw them first. Students. They weren’t human. I knew it instantly. The way they moved. Too smooth. Too still. A group stood in the center. One boy laughed, and the others around him flinched. Not from fear of the joke. From fear of him. He was tall. Black hair. Uniform jacket open, like rules didn’t apply to him. Even from here, I felt it. Cold. The kind of cold that gets into your bones and stays. The woman followed my gaze. “That is the east courtyard. Humans are advised not to cross it.” “Why?” “Because the student council owns it.” She started walking again. “And you are nothing.” Nothing. Good. Nothing was safe. She left me at a door. “Dormitory C. Human wing. Your schedule is on the bed. Classes start tomorrow. Try not to die before then.” The door shut. The room was small. One bed. One desk. One window that looked out at a brick wall. A paper sat on the thin blanket. Eloise Joly – Human Track Room C-12 Caution: Mortality rate for human students is 62% within first semester. I sat on the bed. The springs creaked. Sixty-two percent. I set my bag down. My hands weren’t shaking. They never shook. Fear was a luxury I couldn’t afford. Fear made you burn. I unpacked. It took thirty seconds. Then I sat and stared at the wall. I had one job here. Stay invisible. Graduate, if that was even possible. Get out. The three rules played in my head again. The only inheritance I had. A bell rang somewhere deep in the building. Low. Heavy. It vibrated in my chest. Class must be over. I stood. I needed to eat. I needed to map the school. I needed to figure out who was dangerous and stay away. That was the plan. It lasted until I stepped into the hallway. The hallway was empty one second. Full the next. Students poured out of doors, talking, laughing. No, not laughing. The sound was wrong. Too sharp. Too many teeth. I kept my head down. Pressed myself to the wall. Tried to be a shadow. It worked. For six steps. Then I felt it. A prickle on my neck. Like someone dragged an ice cube down my spine. I looked up. He was at the end of the hall. The boy from the courtyard. Black hair. Cold eyes. The one the others flinched from. He wasn’t looking at the other students. He was looking at me. Straight at me. His eyes were blue. Not light blue like the woman’s. Dark blue. Like the deep part of the ocean where nothing lives. My heart did something stupid. It skipped. No. Not now. I forced it back to normal. Normal rhythm. Human rhythm. Breathe in. Breathe out. He started walking toward me. Students moved out of his way without him asking. The crowd split like he was a knife. I couldn’t move. My feet were stuck to the stone. He stopped three feet away. He was taller than I thought. The cold rolled off him. I could see my breath. He tilted his head. Studying me. Like I was a puzzle he didn’t like. “You’re new,” he said. His voice was quiet. But the whole hallway went silent. “Yes,” I said. My voice came out steady. Good. “You’re human.” It wasn’t a question. “Yes.” He stepped closer. One step. Now only two feet between us. I could smell him. Snow and something metallic. “What’s your name?” he asked. The hallway was listening. I felt it. Dozens of eyes. “Eloise,” I said. “Eloise Joly.” He said nothing for a long moment. Just looked at me. Through me. Then he smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that comes before something breaks. “Eloise Joly,” he repeated. Like he was testing the words. Then he turned and walked away. The crowd closed behind him. The noise came back. My hands were still at my sides. They weren’t fists. They weren’t shaking. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. That was him. Had to be. Jules Kai. The name the other students whispered in the car ride here. Student council enforcer. Vampire noble. Hates humans. Great. I made it ten minutes and already got noticed by the most dangerous person in school. I pushed off the wall and kept walking. Food could wait. I needed air. I found a side door and slipped outside. The sky was the same gray. No sun. The courtyard was empty now. I walked until I found a bench under a dead tree. Sat down. Never be seen. Failed that one already. I closed my eyes. Counted my heartbeats. One. Two. Three. Normal. Human. Slow. “Rough first day?” I jumped. A girl stood by the tree. She hadn’t been there a second ago. She was my age. Brown hair, freckles. Wearing the same gray human uniform as me. But hers had patches sewn on the sleeves. Flowers. “Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Lucy. Lucy Vireth. You’re the new transfer, right?” I nodded. Didn’t trust my voice yet. “Yeah, I heard. Human wing, C-12. I’m C-14. Neighbors.” She sat on the other end of the bench. Didn’t come too close. Smart. “You met Jules Kai already, huh?” “He didn’t introduce himself.” “He doesn’t need to. Everyone knows.” Lucy pulled her knees up. “Listen, you seem normal. So I’ll give you advice. Stay away from him. Stay away from all of them. Council, angels, demons. Especially the ravens if you see them.” “Ravens?” “Not the bird. Astral Ravens. They’re… old. They watch. And when they watch you, bad stuff happens.” She shrugged. “Just keep your head down. Maybe we’ll both make it to second semester.” Maybe. “Thanks,” I said. “Don’t thank me yet.” She stood. “Come on. I’ll show you where the human cafeteria is. Before it closes. You look like you need food.” I did. But I also needed to be alone. Still, having one person who didn’t look at me like prey might be useful. “Okay,” I said. We walked. Lucy talked the whole way. About teachers. About which hallways to avoid. About the sixty-two percent statistic. I listened. Memorized. We turned a corner. The cafeteria doors were ahead. That’s when it happened. The sun wasn’t out. There were no lights overhead. But I saw it. My shadow. It was on the ground in front of me, like normal. Then it moved. It slid to the left. I wasn’t moving left. I was walking straight. My blood went cold. The shadow stretched. Got longer. Then it turned its head. I don’t have a tail. Shadows don’t have faces. But this one did. For a second, I saw eyes in it. Black. And they looked at me. Then it snapped back. Normal. Just a shape on the stone. “Eloise?” Lucy was looking at me. “You okay? You stopped.” “Yeah,” I said. My mouth was dry. “Just… tired.” She didn’t notice. Good. We went into the cafeteria. I didn’t eat. I couldn’t. Never burn. Never resurrect. Never be seen. I broke rule three already. Was I about to break rule one? That night, I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. C-12. Human wing. The window showed the same brick wall. I waited until the dorm went quiet. Until I couldn’t hear Lucy in C-14. Then I held my hand up. “Don’t,” I whispered to myself. “Don’t you dare.” But I had to know. I focused. Just a little. Just enough. A spark. Black, not red. Not orange. Black. It danced on my fingertip for half a second. It was cold. I closed my fist. Killed it. My heart was racing now. Not human. Not normal. I pressed my hand to my chest. Forced it slow. Footsteps outside my door. I froze. The footsteps stopped. Someone was standing there. I couldn’t hear breathing. Because they didn’t need to breathe. A long moment passed. Then the footsteps walked away. I didn’t sleep. The next morning, I was first to the courtyard. It was empty. Mist hung low on the grass. I needed to test it. The shadow. Was it a one-time thing? Stress? I stood on the stone path. Watched the ground. Nothing. Maybe I imagined it. I turned to leave. And saw him. Top of the vampire tower. A window open. Jules Kai stood there. Arms crossed. Looking down at me. He’d been watching. How long? His face was unreadable. Then he moved. Just his lips. I couldn’t hear him. He was too far. But I read the words. He whispered them, but I knew. “Impossible… I watched her die.” My heart stopped. Then the bell rang. When I looked back up, the window was empty.