"Hey, kiddos," he laughed when he finally got to us. "What's up?"
I blanched. Two scents? Two against one little scrap of control? How was that even fair? Both of the temptations wafted in at me from opposite sides, making the pain inescapable. I was dying, though that was impossible. I was going to stroke out in my chair because of the insufferable anguish.
"The sky," I muttered back, as per tradition. My voice was too high, and that's how I knew that I was on the verge of hysterics.
I also knew I should have bolted then, but something made me stay. Maybe it was because of Erek, maybe it was because of the feeling of normality and routine that accompanied sitting there with him, but I stayed right where I was. That was a mistake. I was no longer fighting the curiosity, the new part of my brain. Everything went black for a moment, and when I resurfaced, I was staring up at my teacher in wonder and trying to imagine what he tasted like.
He replied, "So it is, so it is."
It was quiet for a little while again. Erek kept to his lunch. Mr. Harley stared off into the distance, seemingly in a daze. I struggled to keep the animal inside me from bursting out. Then he spoke again, and the scent on his breath made my mouth water and my muscles tense.
"Not eating today?"
"Not hungry . . . " I licked my lips.
He leaned in and put his hand on my forehead to check for a fever, probably as a sort of joke — I never skipped meals — and I had to hold my breath to keep from moaning. His throat was right in front of me. I could just . . . Lean over . . . And take a little taste . . .
No.
That was bad.
Very bad.
And yet, I still sat in my chair. I stared into his eyes, now becoming clouded with confusion, and felt the new part of me rip free from the controlled, rational, old part. My head formed strategies, my tone turned cunning and predator-like. I couldn't get a grip on myself.
“What's the matter?” I murmured.
"Your . . . Skin . . ." His pupils shrank to terrified pinpoints, and I could practically read his thoughts — Who is this? This isn't Anna. No, not Anna. Her skin . . . Her skin is so cold . . . So goddamn cold . . . I put my hand over his and he gasped, his thoughts quickening, going a mile a minute — Oh my God this really isn't her whoever this is she's going to kill me I know it — then I smiled. I smiled because he was completely correct.
I also smiled because my eyesight had sharpened even more and I could see every minute vein in his skin. I gladly breathed him in and waited for the perfect moment to pounce. I had this weird feeling that I wasn't supposed to . . . But who really cared about stupid little feelings? This time, I made him watch as I licked my lips.
"Anna, what are you doing?!"
I answered Erek without looking at him.
"Aren't you the one who told me to eat? Well, I'm trying my hardest to catch some lunch, just so you'll be happy. I'm not guaranteeing you it'll fit on a lunch tray, but it is food nonetheless."
Mr. Harley's thoughts once again flooded into my head — Oh dear God she means me she's going to eat ME kill ME she's going to hunt me down like a cat hunts a mouse and EAT me — and for the first time in my carnivorous delirium I had the vague thought that I could read minds. Just as quickly as it had come, I dismissed it. Mind readers just didn't exist.
My sick smile grew broader. I was a vampire, yet found it difficult to accept that some people may be able to read minds? I must've been some sort of stupid. A short, low laugh resounded through the room. It sounded to me like the kind of laugh a serial killer gave before disposing of his latest victim. Then I realized that I was the one who laughed.
Mr. Harley finally made a move — his mouth dropped open in a silent scream, he stumbled one step back. No one but myself heard the raspy squeak his vocal chords produced and the sharp pop of his kneecap. No one but myself chuckled cruelly.
"Scared?" I challenged, well aware that he was petrified. I could smell it, and it was simply lovely. Added to the bliss of his unmodified scent, it literally drove me crazy.
