"Hey, Konstantinov," an insolent voice snapped.

Ana glanced over her shoulder into the not-quite-busy school hallway to see which of her stepsiblings was being summoned. Instead, she found a pair of gray eyes glaring her down from a few feet away.

She raised her eyebrows and the girl glowering at her sneered. "Yeah, you. Human."

Tightening her grip on her book, Ana stepped closer to the vampire. That's not my last name. But she kept her mouth shut. "Uh, yeah, hi?"

"You've been here for the whole week now. I haven't gotten around to you yet because I've been busy with the freshmen, but today is your day." She shoved Ana against a wall, their heads so close she could see that her gray eyes were actually just contacts. "My name is Jezebel Augustus. Remember it. I've got Roman conquerors in my bloodline and like them I enforce taxes." Her eyes burned red through the contacts, turning Ana's heart into a frantic rabbit. "Twenty dollars today, Konstantinov, for making me waste my time with you. Ten dollars every week for allowing you to walk my school unscathed. You know what happens if you don't pay?"

Ana had a pretty good idea, but she was too afraid to do anything more than stare at her aggressor.

"I'll beat you up and make it look like an accident, so don't even think of trying to tell the teachers. Now, are you going to pay? Or are you wanting to feel my fist first?" Jezebel held up her knuckles.

Still unable to say anything, Ana's eyes darted to the sides, wondering why no one was helping her. There weren't a ton of students milling about, most were headed towards their classes. But her eyes happened to land on a familiar face.

Roy. She had chatted with him a few times in the halls over the last week. He seemed nice enough, if not a little odd at times.

He stared back at her for a moment, then his eyes shifted towards Jezebel and began to redden. About a second later, he was shoving the vampire away from her, practically throwing her against the opposite wall with an angry shout. His fist smashed into her face multiple times while Ana stood there, frozen in shock. Jezebel was screeching like a bat, but nobody ran to help her, although several students stopped to stare.

Finally, Roy threw the female vampire to the ground with a snarl. "Never do that again. Stay away from her or so help me I will bury you alive!"

Jezebel covered her bleeding nose with the heel of her hand, nodding even though her eyes glowered furiously.

Roy kicked her. "Get out of here."

She scurried to her feet and slowly backed away before turning tail. When she disappeared around a corner, Roy turned toward Ana, eyes shining a feverish crimson. She shied against the wall, not sure where to go or what to do with herself. Her heart was racing a million miles an hour, yet she couldn't seem to make her legs, or anything else, move besides her rapidly breathing lungs.

What was that? He beat her for no good reason! He could go to jail for that. He looks so terrifying right now—I just remembered why I'm so nervous around vampires. Roy took a step towards her, but she flinched farther into the wall, making him stop. Please don't come any closer.

"Hey, are you all right?" His voice was soothing, and his eyes were beginning to dim. "I'm sorry Jezebel got to you. She thinks she owns this school because her ancestors were Romans." Her jaw trembled in an effort to speak, but nothing would come out. His face dropped. "Don't be scared—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. You're probably not used to that, are you?"

She managed to shake her head. You are? Well, Alastair did say vampires can be violent sometimes. Is this normal to them?

He came a little closer. "Well, you don't have to worry, okay? Jezebel isn't going to hurt you. Ever." His eyes blazed red again for a moment, before melting back into their usual dark brown. "You're all right now." He reached out, brushing her arm with his hand.

Ana recoiled. "I-I should get to class." She bolted, practically running down the halls to get away from him.

#

The next time she saw Roy was at lunch. He found the table she was semi-hiding at and sat down, startling her.

"Oh, um, Roy... I..."

"Good afternoon, Christiana," he said pleasantly, ignoring her stammering. "How were your classes today?"

She was stunned for a moment but answered. "T-they were fine."

"Good. Anyone give you trouble?"

She glanced down at her lunch. "No."

Roy grinned. "Excellent. You look amazing by the way, I forgot to tell you earlier. That's a nice color on you."

Confused, Ana looked at her clothing. She only had on a pair of blue skinny jeans and a white shirt that had neon green lettering. Nothing out of the ordinary. "Thank you. Um... what happened with Jezebel..."

"It won't happen again," he said. For a moment, she was reassured, but then realized he was saying she wouldn't be bothered by the bully again, not that he wouldn't beat anyone else up. "Jezebel needs to learn to keep her hands to herself." His eyes blazed angrily down at his food.

"I see." She looked away, trying to hide her nerves. What am I supposed to say? Alastair walked across her line of vision towards the table where his siblings were sitting, white cane rolling in front of his steps. There's my escape! "Alastair!" she called, standing up, then looked down at Roy, who was beginning to frown. "Sorry, I really need to talk to him. I'll see you later?"

His expression changed in an instant, now smiling at her. "Definitely."

Ana grabbed her lunch bag and backpack, then bolted over to Alastair, who had paused with a puzzled expression on his face. "Hey," she said once she stopped by his side. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you."

A faint smile appeared on his lips. "That's all right. I wasn't sure if I had heard correctly. Do you need something?"

She forced herself not to look over her shoulder at Roy. "I just wanted to walk with you to our table." The Konstantinov's always sat at the same table on one side of the room. Even now, Loki was waving at her as he chatted with his friend.

Alastair tipped his head slightly but didn't comment on the oddness of the situation. "Okay," he said, resuming his walk to the table.

Ana followed close behind, hoping Roy wouldn't try to follow her to the other area, but she didn't want to look over and check. What if he's already looking at me? That would be weird and awkward.

"Hey," said Ebony in greeting when Ana sat beside her, making space for Alastair as well. "Have you met Brook yet?"

The dark-haired girl looked across the table, seeing the vampire already looking at her. "Oh, uh, yeah. I think we have social studies together?"

Brooklynn smiled slightly. "Yeah. Was that... Royal you were sitting with?"

"Um, yeah, he just came and sat down with me. We've talked a few times."

The other girl scrunched one eye. "He's... kind of weird. Like, I don't know what's wrong with him, but I see him taking pills sometimes, so something must be up with him medically. He's kinda unpredictable."

Ana raised her eyebrows wryly. "Yeah, I figured that out."

Alastair's head turned slightly in her direction. "Oh really? What happened?"

She looked down at her food. "Nothing."

"Come on, you can tell us," said Ebony, bumping their shoulders.

Ana sighed a little. "Well, this girl, Jezebel, came up to me to take my money or whatever, and then Roy came over and beat her up without any sort of encouragement. Then he acted like nothing much happened."

Brook shook her head. "That's crazy. But to be fair, Jezebel is a bully. If anyone deserved to get beat up, it was her."

Loki's head leaned over the table. "Who got beat up?"

"Royal whooped Jezebel," said Brook.

"No way. Mad respect, man."

"No kidding."

"There shouldn't be fighting in school though, right?" Ana said, looking at the vampires around her.

Ebony shrugged. "I mean, technically we're not supposed to, but everyone here knows that vampires tend to be hot-blooded, especially between rival families. As long as we keep it to a minimum and no one gets hurt, especially the humans, we won't get in trouble."

As Ana nodded, her eyes drifted over to the table she had abandoned Roy at. Her eyes met his before she could stop herself, his dark brown eyes sucking her in. For just a moment, they seemed to flash that bright crimson again, but it was gone in an instant.

Ana looked away, but not before he smiled.

She shivered.