The Vampire's Photograph (4 page)

He reached the back door, beside the blacktop basketball courts and knocked. The door swung open, and there was Rodrigo, the night janitor. “Mr. Nocturne,” he said in his soft voice, “Welcome, sir.” Oliver nodded, wondering once again how the humans never noticed the points of Rodrigo's teeth, or that he wasn't breathing hard when he scrubbed the bathrooms—that he, in fact, wasn't breathing at all. Those who starred in human movies or worked for human news stations had to work a bit harder to keep their identities secret, but a vampire could work just about any night job in the city and be pretty sure that no human would notice what they really were.

Oliver headed up the wide stairs. The halls glowed in wild, shimmering neon. The painted murals and bulletin boards on the walls of the human school had been obscured by spectacular three-dimensional vampire graffiti art, called grotesqua. It was done in luminescent spray paint, a variety invisible during daylight, that Rodrigo activated each evening. There were demon faces, creatures from history and lore, and battle scenes that moved with neon figures fighting in silent motion. In some places, the glowing art resembled ancient hieroglyphics and runes. This was done by the older students, those who had begun to learn Skrit, the ancient pictorial language of the
vampyr
.

Oliver reached his classroom. The overhead lights were off, but a candle was lit on each desk, along with two on the empty lectern at the front. About half of his class of twenty had already arrived. A few boys were up on the walls, spray-painting glowing graffiti of their own with tiny silver cans. The girls were standing around the human children's fish tank, as their ringleader, Suzyn, carefully chose one of the tropical fish to eat. Oliver headed for his desk over by the windows.

As he passed under the back wall, he heard one of the boys above, Theo Moore, chanting ominously,

“Here comes the human, leaving school too late…”

Another boy, Brent, joined in,
“Go tell his mother, he's already been ate!”

Theo lunged, landing on Oliver and slamming him to the floor.

“Ow, knock it off!” Oliver shouted, shoving Theo off him and jumping to his feet.

“Sorry.” Theo frowned as he leaped back up onto the wall. “Guess the little lamb doesn't like to play the vampire games.”

“Shut up,” Oliver said, but too softly for the boys to hear. Theo had already turned his attention to the next student entering, and he and his friends resumed their chant.

Oliver reached the far row of desks by the tall windows and slumped into his seat. “Hey, Seth,” he said to the boy beside him.

Seth was short and round-faced, with curly blond hair. He was laying a set of role-playing cards out in front of him. “Hey,” he said absently, then laid a card, and frowned. “Osiris's army of light is totally kicking my butt.”

“Too bad,” Oliver said. He and Seth were considered friends, in so much as they sat next to each other and rarely hung out with Theo and his group. Seth's mother, Francyne, was on a few community councils with Phlox, and Oliver and Seth often ended up at the same adult events. Though they were good at hanging out and being bored together, Oliver felt like he and Seth were stuck with each other more than anything else, and Oliver never really knew what to say to him. Then again, he never knew what to say to most people.

Behind them, there was a flat smack as Theo landed on another student, and the others on the wall cackled. Oliver couldn't resist glancing back. One of his class's smallest students, Berthold Welch, was squirming his way free of Theo's grip, righting his glasses.

Oliver turned back to Seth. “Looking forward to Longest Night?” he asked, trying again to make conversation. Longest Night was the vampire celebration of the winter solstice.

“I guess,” said Seth, raising his eyebrows. “Mom and Dad say I need to get my grades up if I want a bunny.” He licked his teeth as he said it, and glanced over at Oliver. “Hey, you don't look so good.”

“Oh—I'm just tired. I um…” Oliver scrambled to think of some acceptable excuse for why he looked so exhausted and landed on the familiar one before he could stop himself. “I started having the dreams, I think.”

Seth looked impressed. “No way, really? Wow, I think you're the first. I haven't heard anyone else say that.” He glanced around class. “You should tell Mr. VanWick, he'll probably give you less homework, and have you tell your dreams to the class. Man, Oliver, you're lucky.”

Yeah right
, Oliver thought, cursing himself. Why had he started the lie again? “I…I'm not ready to tell anyone, yet,” he said quickly. “Actually, they've been making me a little sick…”

Seth's eyes widened even further. “Wow, 'cause they're so intense? Maybe you're going to get your demon soon!”

It was official: Everything Oliver said just made things worse. “Oh, I don't know about that. My dad said it could still be a while. It might just be acclimation sickness or something.” Acclimation sickness was almost like an allergy—when a child felt ill and out of sorts as their energies first joined with their demon. It was common and almost always passed before the demon actually arrived.

“Oh, yeah, could be,” Seth said, but he was still impressed. “Man, if you get your demon first…” He gave a mischievous glance toward Theo and his gang on the back wall.

“Mmm.” Oliver nodded. “Right now I just want to feel better. I've got my checkup on Friday though, so that should help.”

Seth had started flipping over his cards again. “Your what?”

“You know,” Oliver said. “Doctor's visit. Just the same old yearly checkup stuff.”

Seth gave him a strange look. “You go to the doctor every year?”

“Yeah,” Oliver replied. “Don't you?”

“I can't even remember the last time I went to a doctor,” Seth said. “What would you need to go every year for?”

“You know, I mean, make sure you're healthy…” Oliver trailed off. His thoughts raced.
Because there's something wrong with me, obviously
, he thought.

“Healthy?” Seth said the word like it was from another language. “Your mom must be—ow!” There was a smacking sound and Seth grabbed the back of his head. “What the—”

Oliver heard a whoosh of air, and he and Seth turned to find Theo landing right behind their seats, flanked on either side by Brent and their friend Maggots. Maggots's real name was Rollie, but the nickname came from a case of the worms that he'd had since kindergarten and never fully gotten over, which often left him scratching at his head and feet.

“What,
Seth
?” Theo asked, smiling.

Seth reached to the floor and picked up the object that had hit him: a rolled-up ball of paper. He threw it back at Theo. “Knock it off!”

Theo was quick. He grabbed the paper in mid-flight, then smacked Seth across the head with it. “Careful!”

“Leave us alone, Theo,” Oliver muttered.

“The cow-lover speaks!” Theo said, his eyes flashing at Oliver.

“Moo,” Maggots added.

“What are you talking about?” Oliver asked. Theo was always looking for a reason to harass someone. His father, Grady, was a fairly notorious businessman in town, and kids at school knew that he was also fairly notorious when it came to punishing Theo. Which only made it harder to deal with Theo when he was being a jerk. “You're so stupid,” said Oliver.

Theo slapped the papers down flat on the desk in front of him.

“Check it out,” Theo hissed in Oliver's ear. “You're front-page material.”

In front of Oliver was the
Sea Lion Ledger
, the human kids' school newspaper. It had today's date on it. There were a bunch of articles laid out on the front page, but it only took Oliver a moment to see what Theo was talking about and, when he did, Oliver felt a sickening wave of worry. There, in the bottom left corner of the page, was a color photograph…of Oliver's house. The heading read:

In Search of the Vampires—Part 1

A Photo Essay by Emalie Watkins

Below that were the first few lines of the article:

We all know the rumors, but what is the truth? Are there really vampires among us? In this exclusive story, we will search for evidence of the undead.

(Continued on page 7)

“Come on, turn the page,” Theo snapped, whipping the paper open.

Oliver watched, feeling like he might as well turn to dust. His thoughts were swirling. When he saw a four-photo spread of his house—the overturned dresser, the broken refrigerator, the peeling wallpaper, the putrid bathtub—Oliver actually felt a moment of relief until he read the short article running beside the pictures:

This house at 16 Twilight Lane looks abandoned. But is it? Coming in next week's issue, my shocking photo of a real vampire who lives there.

“I—” Oliver began hoarsely.

Theo cut him off. “Dude, this girl has been in your house. She knows about the vampires. Is your family a bunch of human-lovers, or what?”

“No, we—I didn't know she knew we were vampires—” Oliver froze, realizing what he'd just said.

And so did Theo. “Wait, you
knew
this girl was in your house?”

“Well, I—”

“And you let her get away?! Ha! If that was me, I would've been like—” Theo bared his teeth and lashed his head forward. “Bang! Nosy human, dead human!” He shared a chuckle with Brent and Maggots. “But not you, Oliver. Figures. Couldn't do it, could you?”

“Um—” Oliver had no idea what to say. He looked frantically around the room, as if there was anywhere else to go. The entire class had turned toward the conversation. Seth was slouching as low as he could in his chair.

And Theo kept making it worse. “You know what I think,” he said, “I think you
like
this human.”

Snickers echoed around the room.

“No, I don't,” Oliver muttered uselessly.

“Whatever,” Theo went on. “If this girl has pictures of vampires, then
I
think she needs to get bit.”

“We should find her,” Brent added.

“She knows too much,” Theo finished.

“Yum,” Maggots agreed, scratching at his hair.

Oliver knew that none of them had ever bitten a human. Theo claimed to have tasted human blood, but Oliver thought it was all talk. Still…

“Hey, Oliver,” Theo went on, rubbing Oliver's head. “We can save a bite for you since you like her so much —”

“Shut up!” Oliver shouted, and leaped to his feet. He grabbed the surprised Theo by the tie and slammed him backward. The two launched into the air, hitting the back wall five feet off the ground and cracking the chalkboard.

“No way!” Theo shouted hoarsely, Oliver's forearm against his neck. “Are you defending the human?”

Brent and Maggots were up on the wall in a moment. They wrenched Oliver free and hurled him across the classroom. Oliver lost his sense of up and down. He reached out to the forces without success and braced for a hard landing—

Only suddenly, he was stilled in midair, his body being controlled by someone else. Oliver opened his eyes to find himself suspended upside down just over the fish tank. Now his body flipped around, and he was thrust across the room toward his desk. As he flew, he heard the excited murmuring of students. He also saw Theo being pulled off the wall by an invisible force.

“Settle down, gentlemen,” a low, gravelly voice hissed.

Oliver tumbled into his chair, then looked up to see Theo being dropped into his seat with a bone-jarring crunch.

Their teacher, Mr. VanWick, was sweeping into the room, coattails trailing behind him. “Students,” he muttered, “that's enough horseplay.” The boys and girls quickly scurried to their seats. Mr. VanWick reached the front of the room and tossed his leather briefcase onto the lectern. As he approached, a goblet, whose rim looked like it had never been washed, met his hand in the air. He took a sip, then looked out at the class and smiled. His flair for the dramatic dated back to having been an Underworld star of the stage in the 1700s. He had even appeared in early human silent films. Aside from the long hair growing from his ears, he kept his appearance youthful, despite his four hundred or more years. Only his eyes, deep in dark circles and red-rimmed, showed his true age.

Mr. VanWick continued, “Books to page one-eight-five.” Everyone dutifully flipped open their parchment textbooks as Mr. VanWick cleared his throat and began to lecture in his low steady voice.

Oliver managed to get his book open, his body still aching and his mind racing. He couldn't believe that article. Emalie had known about vampires…. If she printed that picture of him, Oliver's school and home life would officially be over. He would never, ever hear the end of it.

And Emalie's life would likely be over as well. A human writing articles about the vampires, no matter what little paper it was in, was also writing her own death sentence.

Chapter 4

A Missed Chance

OLIVER SAT QUIETLY AT
dinner that morning, lost in thought. He absolutely could not let that photo appear in the paper. And he couldn't let Theo get to Emalie first. Oliver didn't think that Theo and his friends would kill her, but if Theo got his hands on the photo she had taken, he could find many ways to torment Oliver with it. So Oliver had to get to Emalie before them, and definitely before any adult vampires noticed that article and started asking the Nocturnes why their house was featured in a human school paper. Because that might lead his parents all the way back to Oliver knowing about Emalie's visits in the first place.

He could imagine his parents' ashamed voices.
Why didn't you tell us? Or at least stop her from leaving that very first morning?
Yet the truth was that it hadn't even occurred to him to do so. And it would only be more embarrassing to explain that.