Parker sighed, eyes heavy. “Hathaway is a boarding school for vampires.”

“Vampires?” Amanda’s rush of adrenaline fizzled out immediately. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“This is hardly the time and place for jokes, Amanda.” Uncle Parker’s dark eyes were grave. “Hathaway Hall is an elite international boarding school for teenage vampires to -”

“Vampires aren’t real.”

“We are quite as real as you are.”

“No they’re -” Amanda choked on her breath. “Hang on, we?”

Parker folded his hands firmly on top of his desk. “There’s a lot you need to know.”

Amanda stared blankly at her uncle, the man whom she had thought to be dead until only a week ago. Thoughts raced through her mind like wildfire. Parker didn’t seem to be joking, but he obviously wasn’t telling the truth. Maybe he’s on drugs? she wondered. Maybe Uncle Parker really did die before I was born and this imposter is trying to kidnap me?

Even as she thought it, she knew that wasn’t the case. Parker looked exactly as he had in her mother’s old photographs...almost as if he hadn’t aged at all. But then...

“That’s just not possible!” Amanda blurted, voice rising. “I don’t understand why you would drag me halfway around the world just to make up some stupid story -”

“Calm down, my dear. You’re upsetting the dog.”

“The what?” Amanda followed Parker’s gaze to a large black dog curled up near the fireplace behind her. It had been so quiet she hadn’t noticed it before, but now its eyes were wide and alert. “Oh I get it now,” Amanda spat, still on the verge of yelling. “That must be Jacob Black.”

The dog growled in acknowledgement.

“She is Nosferatu, the school guard dog. And let’s please refrain from Twilight references. It’s a bit tacky.” Parker’s tight expression betrayed the hint of a smile. “Amanda, what I’m telling you is no lie. Please just listen before you make any judgments.”

“But -”

“Please.”

Amanda narrowed her eyes but fell silent. Parker sighed.

“Yes, Hathaway is a school for underage vampires. I myself had a hard time believing vampires existed too - before I was bitten by one. Before you were born, I fell in love with a woman who revealed herself to be a vampire. No, not Luiza,” Parker remarked as Amanda opened her mouth to ask. “Luiza is a human like you. No, this vampire left me long ago, but not before she had turned me into one of her kind.”

“Naturally. As one does.”

“She did. And I am sorry for lying to you earlier. Your mother and I never had a falling out. In fact, she truly believed I died that night. After I turned, I withdrew from my human life completely, fearing that I would be a danger to my loved ones.”

Great, Amanda thought. So he’s on LSD AND he faked his own death.

“...and that’s how I ended up here at Hathaway Hall. The vampire who turned me used to work here, and she got me my job as a professor. From there, I worked my way up to being headmaster.”

Amanda recalled that Parker had been a high school English teacher before his alleged death.

“As I’ve said, Hathaway Hall is a refuge for young vampires - Born vampires, as they are called. One who was born as a vampire to vampire parents, not bitten as a human. They age like humans until they reach maturity, but teenage born vampires can be quite...hormonal. Here, they can safely learn to control their bloodlust before they enter into the human world. Most adult and Bitten vampires like me survive happily on animal blood or even blood bank donations.”

“How very thoughtful of them.”

Parker chuckled. “During the day, we teach regular academics, and at night the students take preparatory classes. At night is when their urges flare up, so you will be completely safe as a day student living off-campus. Plus, they would never dream of harming the headmaster’s niece. Yours will be a totally normal high school experience.”

“Sure, except I’m in Buttsville, Romania and all my classmates want to eat me.”

“Lunovia, not Buttsville. It’s the perfect place to hide this establishment: secluded and out of the public eye. And on that note, you must be careful not to reveal the truth about Hathaway to the human villagers. Some of them, like Luiza, know or may even suspect, but the oblivious majority coexist with our students quite peacefully, and we intend to keep it that way.”

“Done,” Amanda said. She didn’t plan on telling anyone about this.

“And one more thing,” Parker went on. “The vampire who bit me - we had a Born daughter together. Her name is Sydney, she’s your age, and she attends school here as well. I’ve asked her to give you a tour after our meeting.”

“So now I’ve got a vampire cousin too?”

Parker cast her a weary glance. “I can tell you don’t believe me.”

Amanda stood up in her chair, hands gripping the armrests. This charade was getting old, and making jokes about her having more living family members was a step too far. “I want to go home. At least the druggies there don’t think they’re on the cast of a CW series.”

“I am not lying and I am not on drugs, my dear. I didn’t want to have to prove it to you, but if I must…”

Parker laid his palms flat on his desk and looked down, as if bracing himself for something.

Amanda stepped back warily. Was he about to attack her? She didn’t think psychedelics were supposed to make you violent.

Suddenly, Parker jerked up and Amanda screamed, knocking over her chair.

Parker’s inky black eyes - the same color as her own - were now gleaming red, ringed by dark bruises that seemed to pulse under his skin. From inside his throat came a low, guttural hiss that raised goosebumps on Amanda’s arms. And out of his mouth poked two long, sharp, white fangs.

Behind Amanda, Nosferatu barked loudly, the sound reverberating around the otherwise silent office. Amanda stared at her uncle in shock, neither of them moving, before Parker sat down again slowly, his eyes returning to their normal color. The fangs retracted once again behind his lips.

“Do you believe me now?” Parker asked.

Amanda nodded, too stunned to respond.

“Good. Then let’s take a tour.”

***

The whole thing felt like a fever dream. Now half-convinced that someone had slipped her a hallucinogen, Amanda followed Parker back into the hall, where a tall, uniformed girl with unmistakable Rogers’ family features leaned against the worn stone wall. She could have easily passed for Amanda’s sister, although Amanda noted with a pang of jealousy how much cooler this girl looked, with her chunky black heels and wave of red-ombréd twists cascading down her back.

“So you brought lunch,” the girl remarked with a nasty grin. Amanda’s eyes widened.

“Sydney!” Parker glared at his daughter. “She’s kidding, of course.”

“If you say so.” Sydney leaned towards Amanda and sniffed, forcing her to jump back a little. “You scared, human?”

“N-no,” Amanda stuttered, trying to square her shoulders. She reached out a trembling hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Amanda.”

Sydney sneered, refusing to participate in their handshake. Parker looked between the girls nervously. Clearly, this wasn’t going the way he’d hoped.

“Alright, well, I must get back to work. Sydney, please behave yourself. Make sure to show Amanda the art department. And Amanda…”

Amanda glanced at her uncle, silently begging him not to leave her alone with his maniac of a daughter.

“I promise you will be free from harm here at Hathaway.” Parker smiled, but his tone turned serious. “My only warning is that you must never go out at night - neither in the village nor the woods. Make sure you return to Luiza’s before dark, and you will be safe.”

“Okay,” Amanda mumbled.

“Come back to my office after your tour and we can go over any questions you may have before your first day of classes tomorrow.”

Amanda could think of approximately a trillion questions she wanted to ask, but she simply nodded, still dumbfounded by the morning’s events. As soon as Parker had retreated to his office, Sydney spun on her heel, halfway down the hallway before Amanda could even blink.

“Hurry up, human,” Sydney commanded as Amanda raced to catch up. “I only agreed to this tour because it gets me out of calculus.”

As Amanda chased her cousin through Hathaway’s winding corridors, she did her best to remember the locations of important rooms and facilities. There was the candle-lit student library with its high vaulted arches, the spiral staircase leading to the circular art tower, and the massive church-like cafeteria that felt like it had been designed by J.K. Rowling herself.

While the layout was a bit overwhelming, it was nothing compared to the students. Isaac had been somewhat correct in his warning, even if he didn’t realize the truth behind it. The kids at Hathaway Hall were… strange, to say the least. Although most of them were in class by the time she left Parker’s office, the blatant stares of those who lingered in the hallways made Amanda shiver.

“It’s like they can smell me,” she commented, eyeing the abnormally attractive student body with apprehension.

Sydney glared at her. “We can. You literally reek.”

Amanda noticed that Sydney seemed to be quite popular, waving and exchanging glances with most of the students around them.

One friendly girl with bright violet hair introduced herself as “Sunshine”, but before Amanda could respond, Sydney had whisked her away with a dramatic eye roll. “Don’t talk to that hippie. She’s a total human-loving freak. Disgusting.”

Finally, after almost an hour of Sydney’s brusque explanations and Amanda’s failed attempts to converse with her cousin, Sydney decided that Amanda was ready to return to Parker’s office.

As they neared the arched entryway, Amanda turned to leave with a sigh of relief and immediately smacked into what felt like a brick wall.

“Oh-my-god-you-absolute-disaster-can-you-at-least-try-to-be-normal,” Sydney griped in a single breath.

The guy Amanda had bumped into was tall and tan, with fine black hair that fell gracefully into his eyes. He gave a lazy smile, almost cat-like, and leaned against the archway.

“No harm done, Syd.” His voice was pure silk, with a slight European accent. Amanda stared, mesmerized as he turned to face her. “You must be the human everyone’s talking about.”

She gulped. “A-Amanda.”

“Vincent. It’s a pleasure to meet you. This is my friend Nicolae.” Amanda noticed another boy with dark red hair and an angular jaw standing behind him. He gave a jaunty wave.

“Don’t mind my wildly uncoordinated cousin,” Sydney butted in, “We’re only taking her in out of pity.”

Amanda felt a surge of anger. She had done nothing but be nice to her cousin, and Sydney was making her out to be an idiot in front of this irresistibly hot guy.

Vincent ignored Sydney, gaze lingering on Amanda. “Are you both coming to the bonfire tonight?”

”Sure,” Amanda said boldly, no idea what the hell the “bonfire” was. She wouldn’t mind spending more time with Vincent, especially since it seemed to be pissing Sydney off.

“I am. She’s not.” Sydney shot Amanda a death glare.

“That’s a shame,” Vincent murmured. “Well I hope you change your mind, Amanda.”

The guys sauntered away. As soon as they were gone, Sydney whirled around and grabbed Amanda’s arm in a cold, vice-like grip.

“Don’t even think about going to that party tonight.”

“Ow! What are you -“

“My dad will kill you. And I’ll kill you if you you ever try to flirt with Vincent again.”

“I wasn’t -”

“He’s mine, human, got it? You can’t just barge in here and seduce him.”

Amanda laughed derisively, anger flaring again. “And is that what you were doing? Seducing him?”

Amanda yelped as Sydney’s sharp fingernails dug into her bare skin. She watched in terror as Sydney’s eyes burned red, razor-like fangs descending the same way as Parker’s had earlier.

“Let go of me!” Amanda whimpered. Her cousin let out a guttural hiss, the sound of daggers screeching down a chalkboard.

“I didn’t ask for a human as a cousin,” Sydney growled, eyes still flaming. “I’m the predator, you’re the prey, and I won’t hesitate to put you in your place.”