Chapter 4

Don’t worry, Leo is here.
Author’s note: We are debating changing the titles between School of Sinners vs School of Vampires. Both represent the book well, with the former about being corrupted priests while the latter is specifying the supernatural were writing about. Please vote in the polls below which title we should keep. Telling us why helps with the authors choosing.

The only Heaven I’Il be sent to
Is when I’m alone with you
I was born sick, but I love it
Command me to be well
Amen
–Take me to Church

Leo dressed me in the school’s uniform himself; I refused to put it on, but there’s not much I can do. I feel so wrong, I feel so… evil. I feel as if I’m masquerading as a man of God while I’m the devil myself. The school’s silence is more suffocating than peaceful. It’s silent because it’s hiding monsters in the walls.

I stare at the empty bowl by my bed, disgusted with myself. I drank the monkey’s blood against my will, because I was starving and the thought of human food makes me barf.

“It’s natural,” he says, fixing my collar. “You’re a newborn baby. You want what you want, you’ll take what you’re given. Soon, you’ll be able to pretend to eat human food. But now that there’s no humans dining with us, there’s no need to pretend we enjoy it.”

I look at Leo, remembering the wonderful food he creates only for none of them to enjoy it? Am I even allowed to enjoy it again? I feel tears in my eyes, remembering the loss of humanity that I’ll never get back.

Leo guided me to the right wing and into the classroom, where everyone waited for my presence. This time though, they look different. There’s less warmth in Redd and Glass’ dark skin, as if we’re currently in a winter blizzard during spring. Evie’s eyes are a darker green, matching his deeply bitten red lips. Pryce looks paler, his eyes sunken and he’s less charming and more unsettling.

“Welcome, new brother…” Pryce greets me, but his smile is tight as if he’s unsure about the welcome. “You look wonderful, like the Lady breathed new life into you.”

Salve angrily grumbles, “Is that a f*cking joke?”

“Take a seat darling, we’re about to start class.”

Leo has me seated on my usual seat, but he did not sit himself. He went to turn off the lights before Pryce activated a projector, displaying a haunting painting of a beautiful crying man on the board, arm covering half his face. “Today, we will be discussing about the history of Vampires. Who can tell me the subject matter of this painting by Alexandre Cabanel?”

Evie yells out, “Daddy Lucifer! Mmm, what I’d give to have a piece of that fallen meat.”

Glass giggled with him, and even Pryce looks amused. He says, “Let’s not disrespect the first vampire. Lucifer was God’s favorite angel. And in his pride, he believed he could be higher than God. He felt superior to other angels, and acts without the approval of God because he feels he is equal. Now we all know he was cast out of heaven, yes? An angel cast out of heaven would not live long. He was bound to die.”

Pryce smiles at all of us, “But God still loved him as Her favorite child. So She allowed him to live on earth in the image of man. Still, She had to punish him and set an example for the other angels to not stray from the light. Lucifer’s punishment was to live as a scavenger, only satiated with blood like a mere parasite of the earth.”

So there it was. Confirmation that there is a God in this pathetic world… one so merciful She created a monster. And we… were supposed to be Her children? How could a God curse humans to have the same fate as Her fallen child…

“Lucifer, lonely in his immortal life as a vampire, wanted a companion,” says Pryce, turning the image of the projector into an empty intersection of a road. “And so he interacted with humans… granting them favors in exchange for their souls. You all are familiar with meeting the devil at a crossroads. Well, as payment for the favors, he would take their souls… and they would be his companions to live as vampires.”

TRANSFIGURATION, He wrote on the board, still with an image of crossroads projected over it.

“Drinking a vampire’s blood is not enough to turn a human,” Pryce adds, staring straight at me as if the lesson was only for me. “You need a drop of God’s blood. And Her blood runs through Lucifer as his Mother, so in conclusion, Lucifer’s blood turned you into one of us, Jude.”

Evie’s head tilted towards me. “You don’t look too happy, pretty little thing. I’d appreciate the gift if I were you. We are granted powers of an angel, you’ll have yours. I say being a vampire rocks.”

Redd spoke up, “Let him mourn his humanity, Evie. You’ve forgotten we went through exactly what he did.”

“I did not forget,” Evie hissed, “I would never forget the pain and constant feeling of doom inside my stomach for months, but even so, I comforted myself with the thought of immortality and power. And for that, I appreciate God’s gift.”

Salve slams his fists against the table. “It’s not a gift! It’s a curse, it’s an infection! We could never be together because you tore him way from a peaceful death! F*ck you, Evie! If I could haunt demons, I’d haunt the sh*t out of you!”

I hear Salve, I share his anger. But nobody else could hear him. So I ask with my head held high like a polite student, “Can vampires die?”

Leo seems to glare at me for my question. Evie raised an eyebrow, while Glass looks away uncomfortably. Redd lifted his head, an amused smirk on his lips as someone who was in my place merely two years ago. If anyone understands me, it’s him.

“Yes,” Pryce answers, though stiffly as if he doesn’t want it answered. “We are killed not by the sun, not by the cross, or garlic, or holy water. But by starvation. Vampires in history would be burned or staked through the heart, but it’s the burial: the inability to feed for a whole year that kills them. And a year of starvation… you couldn’t imagine the pain, could you?”

A year of… starvation?

“Then again, we can get burned or amputated, or even decapitated. Only Blood of the Lady—present in Lucifer’s blood, can heal deathly wounds. Otherwise, you live as a scorched corpse or amputated for the rest of your immortal life.” Pryce turned the projector off. “Now, let’s talk about the sun…”

WEAKNESSES, he wrote on the board.

“The sun doesn’t burn us, however you’ll find that it doesn’t offer us warmth as well. You’ll miss it, but you’ll find that even fire doesn’t burn hot even if it melts your skin. Vampires feel the pain of a blade, but not so much heat. Warmth is a very human sensation that we abandon when turned.”

He adds, “We are creatures of the night, not because we’re avoiding the sun, but because our hunger spikes when human prey is asleep: night is an optimal time for a hunt. Don’t worry, Jude. We have isolated ourselves to avoid hunting humans. And as you can see from your first night here as a human, nobody preyed on you.”

“Are we supposed to be thankful for that? You’re still f*cking monsters,” Salve exclaims from beside me, but the teacher cannot even hear the hidden student in the classroom. I reached to hold his hand, even if I cannot feel him, at least I know he is with me.

“Now, feeding… this is a tricky lesson to teach you,” Pryce says as he writes the word on the board.

Evie smirks as he leans onto his table, towards me. “Oh, you’ll love feeding. I know I would, it’s been two years since I’ve tasted new blood.”

I stare at him with trembling eyes. “What do you mean by that? You’re gonna feed on me?”

“We feed on each other at night,” Leo admits, his tone solemn like it’s bad news. And it is; it’s horrible news. “It’s the only way since we isolated ourselves from humans.”

“And that’s not the best part!” Evie laughs, “Blood tastes richer, thicker, a thousand times tastier if oxygen isn’t there to dilute it. And to prevent oxygen from getting into our blood…”

Pryce reveals to me, “We engage in s*x during feeding.”

I sat there in horror, my eyes wide as my knees feel weak at the realization of sleeping with these monsters for food. That night I caught them… when the doors close I realize they may have bit Glass and sucked out not only his pleasure, but his blood. Glass may have ejaculated while Redd is inside him, his fangs inside Pryce, and Evie may have joined to feed on them.

And Leo… I look at Leo, devastated. He is not an exception. He is one of them, he is a monster just like the rest of them.

“I don’t want to drink blood…” I say with a trembling voice, “I’d rather drink chickens than what you’re implying for me to do!”

Glass speaks up with a soft, airy voice, “You’d need to drain 50 chickens just to be full for one day. Ahh, we don’t really have 50 chickens here…”

“If you drink regular oxygen-diluted blood, you’d need to drain an entire human body to nourish yourself. Vampires have been mobbed and killed for that exact reason,” Pryce explains, “But if we deprive the blood of oxygen, you’d only need to suck out a little.”

“Basically, we just need to be tired…” Redd speaks up, “Running or hard labor can barely make a vampire break a sweat because we are gifted with speed and strength. S*x is the only thing that makes us lose breath.”

I shake my head, refusing to participate in their depravity. “No… I can’t. I don’t want to be one of you.”

Leo approaches me, but I reject his comfort by standing up and backing away from him. “Don’t touch me! I don’t want to sleep with any of you! I was okay with dying, but you tore me away from a peaceful death! DON’T F*CKING TOUCH ME!”

I couldn’t stay in the same room as them. I left the classroom running down the stairs as if I can run from my problems. “I want to leave… Salve, I need to run away…”

“Then what?” He asks, following me out of the door and into the garden. “You’re still thirsty, you’ll kill someone out of hunger! One human a day, they said. Killing someone will make you a worse monster than they are—!”

“Then what am I supposed to do?!” I yell as Salve, kneeling on the grass as I realize the trap I’m in. I cried, holding my chest. I could kill my mother. I could kill because I’m a monster—a vampire. “Salve… I… I don’t know what to do anymore…”

“Hello… ” I almost jumped when Lucien found me. I had to wipe my tears and look away from his angelic face. One as innocent and pure as him can’t witness a monster like me. “You shouldn’t kneel there, you’ll dirty your uniform.”

He smells… delicious. Like a human. But I dare won’t think of feeding on him. Such precious boy, I’d never be like them and try to taint him. I made sure not to say anything, I tried but…

“Are you leaving?” He asks.

I tried my best not to inhale more of the sweet scent of his human blood. F*ck, I’m hungry. “I… I try to…”

“I’ll be sad if you leave,” he says, his tone somewhat breaking my heart. “I’m very happy that someone finally comes to talks to me. I thought maybe… you’ll stay.”

I finally had the courage to look at him. And though he smells sweet, I could never imagine hurting him. I’m not a monster. I refuse to be.

“Here… a flower.” He hands me a dandelion; still a weed, but a flower in his eyes so he gifts it with sincerity. “Flowers make me feel happy whenever I’m sad, and you look like you need a ton of flowers.”

I recall everything Evie said about him. And I can’t help but fear for Lucien. “Lucy… why are you here?”

He giggles as if I asked a silly question. “I’m born here. I can’t leave, my father won’t let me.”

“B-but…” there are vampires living with you. Vampires who prey on your purity. But I’m too scared to tell him. Just the mention of vampires and prey will ruin his innocence.

“Don’t worry about me. Someone has to take care of the garden,” he smiles warmly, “So I will stay to protect the flowers.”

“I’m sorry…” I admit. “I don’t think I have a choice. I don’t think I can leave.”

“Really? That’s wonderful…” he sighs in relief, and that’s when I felt some kind of warmth that I’m not supposed to feel as someone who is not human anymore. That warmth… it’s back. It’s here because of Lucien. “I’d love for you to stay.”

I won’t say anything that will taint his innocence. I won’t do anything that will ruin him. I will protect this warmth from the predatory monsters inside that school.

“Lucy… can I ask?” I stood up, facing him with desperation in my eyes. “Can you see him?”

“See who?”

“A ghost. With big beautiful hair, soft skin, and sparkling eyes worth dying for.” I press my hand against my heart, “I need to know. If he’s a ghost, or something my mind created for comfort. If you can see him… then it means he’s really here.”

“Ghosts are everywhere,” Lucy answers. “They can be thoughts, memories… those stay with us our entire lives.”

He reaches towards me to touch my face. That’s when I closed my eyes and feel the warmth I’ve been deprived of. The kind I thought I had buried with my pulse. The innocence torn out of me still lives here, breathing in Lucien’s quiet presence. “Whether or not ghosts are real… as long as they keep us happy, watch over us and keep us safe, that’s all that matters.”

But safety does not exist in this place. I know it the way I know hunger now—instinctive, sharp, undeniable. Lucien will not be safe here. He will turn eighteen soon, and when he does, they will look at him the way they look at everything untouched. They will call it a blessing, a calling, a gift. They will tell him God chose him. And then they will feed.

Maybe that’s why I’m still here. Not because I want this life, or this body, or this curse—but because I know what they are, and Lucien doesn’t. Because monsters don’t need protection, but innocence does. If something like him can exist in this place and stay untouched, then maybe I haven’t crossed every line yet.

If ghosts watch over us, then let me be one. Let me be yours, Lucien.

“Jude,” I hear Salve behind me, unable to convince me otherwise of my decision. Before they can tear me away from him again, I went back inside on my own accord. That’s when I heard yelling again, most likely from Leo whose voice echoes through the gothic walls of the convent. I approached the classroom where I hear their argument through the door.

“You stay the f*ck away from him, Eve!”

Redd’s voice, “You can’t hoard the newborn Leo, our blood is inside him so we have a claim to him, too!“

“You will not take him forcefully!”

“It won’t be forced Leo, I’ll make sure of it—”

“Don’t you dare use your eyes on him Eve, or I’LL TEAR OUT YOUR EYEBALLS MYSELF—!“

I opened the door, halting their fight. Redd was holding back Leo from attacking Evie while Glass is between them, trying to reason. They all turned to look at me by the door.

With a shaking breath I speak out, “I’m hungry. It hurts…”

Almost immediately, Leo tore himself off Redd and walked towards me, taking my hand delicately. “Don’t worry… I’ll have you fed.”

I ask him with a whisper, “I’m not ready t-to… to…”

He knows what I mean. So he tells everyone, “Give me one night with him. I just don’t want him to suffer more than he already is.”

“One night, Leo…” Evie sneers, walking to the door where I am and staring me down like I’m nothing but a waiting meal. “One night, and he will be ours.”

Evie walks past me, followed by Glass who paused to inhale my scent like it’s an appetizer. He calls out, “Redd… ?”

The big man follows him out of the door, and I watched him wrap an arm around Glass’ waist. Pryce stayed in the classroom, staring at us with a slight smile.

“We will take care of you, Jude,” Pryce says, which I heavily doubt. “And I’m glad to see Leo finally has his person. But they’re right, you know. You can’t have him all to yourself.”

Leo brought me to my bedroom, where I stood still trying to calm my raging hunger. The monkey blood really didn’t last long in sustaining me. I needed—wanted an entire human. But Leo is here, offering himself to me.

“I will not force you into sleeping with me, but allow me to take oxygen off my blood first,” Leo smiles to comfort me, and it sort of worked. I still didn’t trust him fully, because he turned me into a vampire when I would rather stay dead. But I appreciate him fighting for me. I appreciate him caring for me.

“How will you do that?” I ask him, the comforting silence between us.

“I can masturbate. You can watch; you’ll know when my blood is ready when it starts to smell hopelessly irresistible.” Other than being disturbed by the whole concept, I was very… curious.

“Me too,” Salve whispers from the corner of the room, both of us watching Leo sit on my bed and slowly undo his pants.

“You mentioned a name earlier,” Leo says, exposing me a semi-hard member that is beautifully decorated with large hoop piercing through his head—a reverse Prince Albert, then multiple bars from his frenulum down to the base his shaft that glints with the lights. “You spoke of Salve. Is that family? A friend?”

Holy sh*t. I can’t stop staring at it, my breath slowing down. “U-uhm… my boyfriend.”

“Oh? So you do like men. It won’t be a hard adjustment, then…” he started stroking himself while looking down, while all I could think of is how those piercing feel while he’s squeezing his shaft. “Redd was straight before he lived here. Glass and Evie made sure to take care of him, so he’s pretty attached to them.”

“A-and you?” I press myself against the wall, my eyes focused on the blood rushing to his member as he gets aroused.

“I never get to sleep with women to know what I truly prefer. But pleasure is blind to gender,” he throws his head back and sighs, my own breath copying his as I also exhale heavily for the fact that I’ve never seen a c*ck look as impressive as his. It’s thick, long… sparkling with the metal.

“Salve is the only person I’ve ever been with,” I quietly admit, swallowing to stay in focus while watching him stroke that thick shaft like the metal in them doesn’t hurt.

“Will he be okay with me doing this in front of you?” He smirked at me as if calling me out on my fascination.

“Better than r*ping you,” Salve mumbles.

“He passed away,” I answer, inhaling sharply and shakily sighing because I’m starting to smell something very sweet in my bedroom, coming from the veins of a vampire.

“I’m sorry about that…” he tilts his head, noticing my intense focus on him. “You can smell my blood. I still have a lot of oxygen inside, you’re just very hungry—”

The next thing I knew, I was kneeling in front of him by the speed of sound, my hands on his knees looking up and smelling more of what’s in his neck. I’m trembling, because I don’t want to feel this way. I feel like a starving parasite begging for a host to crawl into. “But it’s sweet. It’s so sweet, Leo…”

“It’s not ready,” he puts his other hand on my neck, and my breath deepens knowing his blood-filled wrist is right next to my nose. “Patience. And I will give you the best blood you’ll ever taste. Sweeter than what you’re smelling now.”

I hiss, trying to bite his wrist but he held my hair tight to ensure it stays out of my reach. I can feel Salve raging behind me, but he can’t be seen. He can’t be heard by the man holding me. I wanted to look back at him; but the thirst was louder, stronger than my will to run back to my lover.

His hand goes faster as he grunts, “You’re so beautiful, Jude. Your desperate eyes are adorable… red and begging for me. God, that turns me on. You turn me on more than Evie or Glass ever could…”

I try to bite his wrist again, but he held me tighter to the point of pain. But I don’t mind that pain, I really just want his f*cking blood! It’s right in front of me, pumping from his heart and into his veins like a tempting dessert!

“Your arrival took me out of the kitchen to check out what smelled so good walking through the halls, only for me to find the sweetest boy I’ve ever laid my eyes on—” he moans as his hand speeds up, and so does his heartbeat. I can hear it all, and I want it all. “I wanted you—not for your blood, but for you. I’ve never been so hungry without wanting a drop of a blood—f*ck, I want you, Jude. I f*cking want you, Jude!”

I look down at his rock-hard member, just waiting for him to c*m so I can finally eat. I feel possessed by my hunger—this isn’t me! Even Salve knows I’m acting strangely. His blood is so sweet even—even I am aroused! I don’t even feel ashamed, even when I know Salve is here I just forgot shame. I only know of want. I only know of thirst.

His hand was getting fiercer. I was no longer fascinated by the piercings, I just want his blood. It’s screaming at me through his skin, and I want to bite into it. I’ll pleasure him myself if I need to, I just—

“I’m c*mming…” he whispers to me, putting his forehead against mine. “Feed now.”

I wasted no time and clamped my mouth against his neck, just as he gasped form his climax. F*ck. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck this euphoric feeling!

They were right in every sense of the word. Not only is it thick, rich… but it is also warm—hot, erotically hot. The warmth spreads slowly, deliberately, like sunlight soaking into skin when we no longer could feel it. At first there’s iron, soft and rounded; instead of the taste of copper, it tastes like the sweetest and thickest wine as if the ingredients are nothing but crushed grapes aged to perfection.

As it fills me, my body felt more alive even though I am dead. And I didn’t even suck out a lot before my stomach demanded I stop. I had hit a limit; even though I wanted more—god, I wanted more. I wanted so much more, I started crying.

“That’s enough, precious…” he sighs, pulling me off of him with blood staining my lips and chin. I was dazed, no longer hungry but too full to move. “It’s addicting, isn’t it? You could never feel this way feeding on humans. That method is for survival. Our method is practical, pleasurable, a cure to loneliness of immortality.”

I could only look into his eyes, filled with his blood which dulled my senses in a peaceful way. I didn’t even protest to his lips swiping against my chin to clean up the blood I could no longer drink.

“Be mine, Jude. Stay here with me. For eternity.”

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