Esadora slowly approached her mom, glancing at the two men. “Why?”

“They want to talk to you about what happened... that night.”

Esadora instantly drooped at the mention of it, turning to the men. “Um… hello.”

The brunet gave her a nod. “Hello Esadora, I’m Agent Kens. Me and my partner here, Agent Broges, would like to investigate what exactly happened the night you were bitten.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Putting aside the fact that the vampire shouldn’t have been able to get into Esmeralda in the first place, we want to know why it targeted you in particular. We already have our suspicions, but things don’t quite add up.”

“Like what?”

“Well, your mother is a Chamber member, and you yourself are also very well known around Esmeralda, but how could it have found out? Is there anything you might’ve done to attract attention to yourself that day?”

A lot of things, she thought. But there’s no way it would’ve found out about those things. She shook her head.

“Is there anything it said to you?”

Esadora furrowed her eyebrows, thinking back to that night. What had it - it felt strange using that pronoun - said? “It said, ‘I just want to cause you a lot of pain.’”

Agent Kens jotted something down, probably what she’d said, into his notebook. “Maybe a personal grudge?” he muttered to himself.

Esadora frowned. Personal grudge? What could she have done to it that would’ve incited the incident? She sighed, dismissing it from her mind. While the vampire had seemed sentient - much more than she’d previously thought a vampire could be - maybe he hadn’t had a motivation for attacking her.

Other than her blood.

She suppressed a shudder, muttering a small “goodbye” as the men left. Suddenly, she felt exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep—and that was what she did. After trudging back up the stairs without so much as a word to her mother, she collapsed on her bed, drifting away before her face even hit the pillow.

In the morning, the second Esadora woke up, she deliberated whether or not to go to school. Her mind shouted an immediate No! and really, she couldn’t find anything in her that disagreed. She couldn’t bear to see the Classy Quartet’s faces after what they’d done to her yesterday. And who knew if they wouldn’t do it again today? She was weak, practically helpless, so what was stopping them?

With a soft sigh and faint smile, she fell back onto her bed and closed her eyes.

But she couldn’t go back to sleep.

Her eyes moved in her eyelids, limbs twisted in an uncomfortable position as she struggled to fall asleep. She flopped onto her side and pulled the covers up so they covered her face. It was the coziest position she could think of, and yet, she still felt awkward. She turned in various positions, throwing her body around the bed to find some slightly satisfying position. There were none.

She groaned, peeling her eyes open and sitting up. There was no way she could sleep now.

And so, reluctantly, she prepared for school.

After taking a shower and dressing up, she gazed at herself in the mirror, struggling to keep eye contact with her amber eyes. So captivating, so dazzling—but still just another sign that she was different now. She would have to keep her head extra low today.

She made her way downstairs, sighing when she saw that her mom had made her breakfast and was waiting for her. With a scowl, she approached her mom, stopping next to her and halting all breathing through her nose as that smell coursed through it.

“Esadora,” her mom started, “You should sit down. Made breakfast.”

“About that… I don’t want to eat.”

Her mom furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean? Why?”

“I just don’t have an appetite today, that’s all.”

Her mother struck her with an inquisitive stare, head cocked and one eyebrow raised. Her eyes soon dropped into the slant they were usually in. “Alright. Have a nice day at school.”

“Yeah,” Esadora said, flashing a fake smile as she left.

I wish I'd stayed in bed.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Ezra asked for about the 100th time that hour.

Esadora rolled her eyes, then lowered her head more. “I'm fine. Why do you keep asking?”

“Because you keep covering your face! How many times do I have to say this before you tell me what's wrong?”

“Well, there's nothing wrong, so you can stop asking.”

He ignored her statement, saying, “Did someone punch you in the face or something?”

Not in the face, but just about everywhere else, she thought. “I'm fine. What will it take for you to believe that?” she whispered as the teacher's face turned in their direction.

“You can show me your face.”

She glanced at him, a grimace taking shape on her face. “Later,” she said.

Then she put her head in her arms to waste away the hour. It was easier to hide this way, not having to force her hair into her face every five seconds. It was also easier to block out the world—and that saccharine smell that had been plaguing her nose all day—as the teacher gave them free time for the last ten minutes of the pace. Next to her, she could hear Ximena happily talking to Ezra, and didn’t know how to feel. She really didn’t like Ximena, but this wasn’t about her—it was about Ezra, and Ezra really did like Ximena. And even though she disliked her, Esadora could understand why he liked Ximena. After all, she and her had been friends until recently.

Esadora snapped out of her conflicting thoughts when she heard Ximena mention her.

“—with Esadora?”

She heard Ezra sigh. “I don’t know. She won’t tell me.”

“W-Well, I’m sure she’s fine. She probably just needs space to process what happened.”

Ximena sounded nervous now, a little guilty, and Esadora knew exactly why. She must’ve thought it was her fault that Esadora was… upset. And she also must’ve been worried that she would expose her to Ezra—and rightfully so. Why wouldn’t she? She didn’t like Ximena, and she couldn’t help the resentment that built up with her when she thought of what had happened the day before. But Ezra was her best friend—she didn’t want to hurt him. And she would’ve felt bad exposing her after she’d apologized—sincerely, at that.

And so she kept her head down until the bell rang, then grabbed her bag and left, paying no mind to Ezra. She would just look pathetic trying to get his attention when they could simply meet-up at their usual table in the lunchroom.

But it was not to be so.

“Esadora,” came Ezra’s voice from behind her.

She turned around and scowled when she saw Ximena but forced her expression into indifference when she looked at Ezra. Both of them stopped short, shock mirroring their expressions.

“Um… what?” she asked, stepping back as Ezra leaned toward her.

Ximena also stepped forward, peering at her. “What the hell…?”

“What’s up with your eyes?” Ezra said.

Her stomach dropped, eyes as wide as dinner plates. She hurriedly covered her eyes with her hair, then covered them with her hands for good measure. “Nothing!”

“Nothing my ass!” Ximena stalked up to her her, removing Esadora’s hands from her face so quickly that she had no chance to resist. “Your eyes are yellow!”

Ezra was by her side in a second. “Are you serious?” He took one look at Esadora’s eyes, and his own eyes widened. “How-”

Esadora spun away, holding her nose to block the smell that had her dizzy with a craving she wanted to deny with all her being. “No, they're not!” she lied obviously, baffled at this turn of events. She huffed and turned back around, knowing she couldn't deter them from the truth. “Don't tell anyone!”

“That you’re turning into a vampire?” Ximena replied. “Because—”

Ezra glared at her, effectively shutting her up, then looked at Esadora. “Esa—”

“I am not turning into a vampire! I’m not! This is just some weird side effect of being bitten.”

Even Ezra seemed doubtful of that, and Esadora couldn’t suppress the frustration that quickly built up. “I’m not!”

“Okay, okay—why don’t we just go to lunch, calm down, and talk about this a little later,” Ezra said, putting a hand on Esadora’s shoulder.

Esadora breathed in and out several times, the anger she’d felt slowly dwindling. She sighed. “Yeah, let’s go.”

And they went to lunch, Ezra at Esadora’s side, and Ximena at Ezra’s side. As they approached the lunch line, Esadora felt pain in her teeth. It was tolerable, but with it came a certain uncomfortableness. Her upper and lower jaw didn't seem to fit together, teeth shifting together incessantly. She clenched them together several times, wondering what the hell was going on in her mouth. When this only seemed to hurt them more, she decided to go to the bathroom to check them out.

She turned to Ezra and Ximena. “I’m… going to the bathroom.”

Ximena rolled her eyes. “Didn’t need to know that.”

Ezra just shrugged.

Esadora rolled her eyes straight back at Ximena and stalked to the bathroom, scowling in discomfort. Her gums were quickly turning numb, for some reason, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her gums were bleeding. She couldn’t imagine why that would be, of course, but that was her best, if not only, guess as to what could be happening in her mouth.

She soon reached the bathroom, hurrying in as a bad feeling kept her from writing this off as some random toothache. She dashed to the first sink she saw, immediately looking into the mirror. She had her mouth closed, however, anticipation keeping her from glancing into it that minute. Instead, she stared into her golden eyes, her vampire eyes, cursing when she flinched away from them.

Those unfamiliar eyes were not hers. She was not turning into a vampire.

Keeping these thoughts in her head, she opened her mouth.

And couldn’t quite come to terms with what she saw.

At first glance—a really quick glance—she had normal teeth. White and shiny like usual. But if you took longer than a few seconds to look at them, or if you were up close, you could easily see the four elongated teeth.

Her canine teeth.

She gripped the edges of the sink, stretching her mouth as wide as possible so she could see everything inside of it. But there was no mistaking it.

Her canine teeth were fangs.

She took slow steps away from the mirror, shaking her head. This couldn't be happening.

There was no way she was turning into a vampire.

But there were so many signs - the yellow eyes, the smell of witch blood… and now she had fangs. What could explain these beside her turning into a vampire?

Esadora’s legs almost buck led, the only thing holding her up the door of the bathroom stall behind her. She suddenly felt sick and overwhelmed, a great loathing for vampires coming over her. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to try and quell the storm brewing inside of her. She felt like throwing up.

But she needed to get back to Ezra and Ximena before they started to worry (really, just Ezra).

And so she shook her head, blinked a few times, and forced a smile onto her face.

She could cry herself to sleep later.