Monday started just like Sunday. That alone made me shudder. The projector had a new light. A knock at the door, and I sighed, expecting Drake. Instead, it was mom and dad. I perked up.
"Hey, are you guys gonna get me out of here?" I asked, excitedly.
"I'm afraid not," said Atlas. "If they think you're the vampire, then he's not the one leaving school – you are."
"Merde," I cursed.
Genevieve added, "And we lose the French program altogether. Mr. Fly is already planning to use the former teacher's salaries for new sports equipment, and to renovate the gym – for the second time this year. He's totally mad with power." She shook her head. "Are you doing your homework?"
"I've done all of it," I said. "There's nothing else to do in here."
Atlas tipped his hat up, showing his worried eyes. He was wearing a long trench-coat, and thin leather gloves. "Look, the principal is utterly convinced of your guilt. It's completely out of my hands now, I'm sorry." He stood up and walked to the door.
"Look on the bright side," Genevieve smiled, "or the dark side – you can make shadow puppets." She put her hand in front of the projector bulb, and stuck her fingers out to look like a bird. Then, a silhouette of a truck came out of nowhere and struck the bird dead, with Genevieve's hand remaining perfectly still.
She rolled her amber eyes, which shined golden in the projector's warm light. Normally, they looked the same color as her hair: reddish-brown. "That wasn't very nice" she said, grinning slyly.
I was caught making a block shape with my hands, and put them behind my back. I worked up the courage to ask, "Do you like Todd more than me?"
She was taken aback. "What makes you ask something like that?"
I explained, "You're married to Todd's dad, and he doesn't have any problems at school. He's in hockey, and he's... nicer than me. He doesn't get angry like I do. He doesn't get into fights, or get accused of vamping on the other students."
She was a little angry that I'd even asked such a thing. "I don't play favourites, I love both of my children equally. But no, you are not the same. You are each unique, in your own way. You are both good at different things, and you each have your own path in life. You will never be Todd, and Todd will never be you. And that's okay with me."
I leaned against my desk. "I guess..."
"He really looks up to you, y'know. Todd. He thinks you're the coolest, wants to be just like you."
"Really?"
She laughs. "Well, not exactly. But he's always holding himself as tightly as possible, trying to mimic you. Then he forgets again, haha. He thinks you're very serious, like a knight."
"A knight..." I repeated. I felt enough like a knight... hidden by armor, tasked with upholding justice. Nobody else was going to do it, from the looks of things.
She smiled, and held out her key. "You get one hour. I'll stay here, you run around and sniff the dirt – see what you can dig up."
"Wha- how am I supposed to do that?" I cried, "everyone's gonna be watching out for me."
She pulled a familiar piece of clothing out of her bag. "You'll be in disguise."
I blushed. "Yeah, that, uh, makes sense. The black dress. Smart thinking." I took the dress, plain tights, training bra, ballet flats, and grey lipstick to the bathroom. Grey was an odd color to put onto your own face, and it had never been used before. She preferred wine reds, dark browns, and other warm colors. I wondered if this was her sneaky way of giving me a gift.
When I returned, Genevieve eyed me up. "Almost." She put my grey hoodie over the dress. "Yeah."
"Won't they recognize my hoodie?" I asked.
"Were you wearing it when they caught you?"
I thought back. "No, it was in my bag."
"Then off you go! Don't ask for any attention."
I threw my hands down and gestured at the dress and lipstick.
"It's monochrome, you'll do great. Be boring!"
I shook my head and left.

I walked around, adjusting to the fluorescent light. It made my eyes hurt. I headed to the library, looking for Jules. He wasn't there, so I ran around.
Jules was in Chemistry, no supervision. They were taking notes from their textbooks. I walked over to him, and he licked a gob of ice cream off his lips and stared at me. He was eating it out of the tub.
"Are you getting a walkie?" he sneered.
"Something like that. How did Drake fake his bites? I'm the only other one with fangs around here," I asked, in a demanding tone. It was unusual for me to push my voice that hard, but somehow it worked.
Jules swallowed more ice cream. "You bit him, of course. Nothing to fake."
I looked at his backpack – it was a cooler bag. I picked it up and looked inside. "Is this... FROZEN BLOOD?!"
He snatched it, baring his teeth. "It's ice cream, cherries jubilee. And popsicles. They aren't even red. Milk is filtered blood, technically. Drake doesn't like it, but I prefer it. I like it cold... when my dad yells at me, I get all stressed out and sweaty. It keeps my body temperature normal."
I watched him talk – his teeth were big and sharp enough to do most of the damage, if a pocket knife did the rest. I crossed my arms and pointed at my fangs, then at him.
"Oh," he gulped. I grabbed him by the collar of his white science coat. None of the other kids, who were watching, had theirs on. Guess he just liked wearing it. "Okay, so Drake..." he started to whisper, "...he gave me ice cream, so I'd bite him. He said his 'master vampire', and then he welched like... a second later, and said "I SERVE NO ONE!" He's always playing games like that, all 'no takes-backsies' and 'double-infinities'. But you know what, I am FASCINATED with him! I could write my university thesis on mental delusion, or real-life vampirism, after a three-year case study of living with him I would be FAMOU-"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're gonna be a dentist, when I'm done with you; unless you dish up the deets. Where can I get proof that Drake's the one who bit everyone?"
"I, uh..." he squirmed, hands up. "I think they're holding the letters he sent? At the office! That's all I know!"
"How'd he get those letters around without being seen?" I asked. "Who else is helping him?"
"I don't know!" he swore. "I mean, it's not like he just raids his dad's pantry every time he needs a favor-"
Then, Tony walked in, eating from a bucket of honey with a spoon. He sat down next to Jules, unbothered by the scene, and burped. I glared at Jules.
"O-okay, so, maybe we helped," he stammered. "Tony does most of the running around, the teachers let him go wherever he wants during class because he's short. He just tells them he has a smaller bladder."
Tony smacked his lips. "You losers done fighting?"
"Yeah." I answered. "Nobody else, got it?" I commanded. "Not one more letter, not for him."
"Okay, whatever. Your insight, by the way, was interesting. Breaking down the word 'vampire' into its roots, 'vim' and 'pierce'. By that logic, I would be a lacpire, Tony a melpire, Drake a sangpire, and you are a frucpire. Every living thing could be considered a vampire of some kind."
"So?"
"Get to the point, Jules." Tony snored through a mouthful of honey.
"Well, you called yourself a 'grimpire'. That would imply that you were piercing darkness or depression to feed on it," he went on.
I shrugged. "Maybe. It's tough being surrounded by joyful pricks when you're upset."
"Right, but to be thirsty for sadness... you're something of a perpetual victim, aren't you?"
I stood straight up, let him fall back into his chair, and glared with all my might. My vision darkened, and so did the room. My shadow grew, and crawled up the walls. Nobody but the two of them saw, everyone else was staring up at the flickering fluorescent rods.
"Lord have mercy..." Jules gasped.
Tony said nothing, just kept eating honey.
I left them. As I walked out the door, I heard Tony ask Jules "how she did that". Then I heard a spoon clanging on the floor, after Jules smacked it out of Tony's hand. I grinned.

Next stop: Lana. I found her in the cafeteria, eating with friends. As soon as she saw me, she recognized me and took me aside.
"Are you allowed to be out?!" she asked, tense.
"No. Well, for a bit. Are you okay?!" I asked back. "Did Dra-"
She cut in. "Yeah, I'm sort of okay. You know, You should apologize for biting me. Especially in the dark, without warning. I gotta admit, that was kind of romantic, though." She blushed.
What?
She went on, "I've always had a thing for vampires. They're so... mysterious. But you never kissed me. And now you're biting everyone? You're either a harlot, or you're just lonely, and need someone to commit to..." She wrapped her arms around me, and fell into me dramatically. "If you need to feed on me... just a little bit... it's okay."
I held her up, and stared at her blankly. "I'm not gonna do that."
"Oh, of course, you're abstaining. To help you control your ravenous urges. I understand." She fluttered her eyelashes and kissed me on the cheek. I blushed, and my face got warm.
"Make sure you find me when you can't help but lose control..." she whispered, sauntering back to the table. I was gonna have to keep her away from Drake, somehow. Luckily, he needed the school to believe I was the only vampire around.

Last stop: the office. One question bugged me about the notes – why would anyone agree to meet 'The Grim Dragon' in a dark room? Even if I was as 'attractive' as the boys kept telling me, that was pretty suspicious. I approached the secretary, Mrs. Crabgrass.
"Excuse me, I have a note from that vampire kid, but I lost it... did I already give it to you guys?" I asked, sounding as innocent as possible, keeping my fangs hidden.
She looked me over, and smiled. "Oh, let me see... what's your name, miss?"
I took a second. "Garcia- uh, Gracia."
She smiled, "Another 'grass' girl, huh? Gracia, let's see." She opened a cabinet, found a folder full of handwritten letters, and put the folder on the counter. "Any of these?"
I looked up at her and her bottle-glass spectacles. Ah. The letters were all written by the same hand, but they weren't from me at all – each one was personalized. Some were love letters signed 'anonymous', others had the names of their friends... it looked like Drake had found a way to chain his victims together using whatever he knew about them. Each target led to the next. The letter to Lana was the one that stuck out to me. On it, he promised her a lovely surprise. Seeing the bite marks on her neck, and remembering my own, I knew that surprise was anything but lovely. She was probably just drunk on the gothic romance of it, because she didn't know it was him. I balled my fist up, took the letter in my other hand, and folded it up before sticking it in my bra. Drake was going to pay for what he did to both of us.

I ran back for Detention, but Drake recognized me as I passed his English class. He asked to be excused while packing up, and I bolted. My ankles were cramping again, which was exactly the wrong time for them to start doing so. I ran through the pain.
I got to the room and tagged out with Genevieve, who'd been playing chess with herself.
"Good," she said, "my class is about to start."
"Drake's coming – stall him," I said, rushing for my backpack and dashing into the bathroom.
When I returned, my hoodie zipped up and my dress tucked into my jeans, Drake was alone.
"It was time for her class," he muttered.
"Yeah, obviously." I responded.
"Nice lipstick," he grumbled.
"Thanks, it's your mom's." I replied.
Furious, he stormed out of the room. I knew he couldn't prove a thing – I'd won this round.