0250: The Vampire's Daughter, Book Three

When Susan walked back to her room after her meditation session with Mina, Margaret, the bully with whom Susan had the fight earlier in the day, and her friends stopped her.

"So, what's your punishment?" the girl asked sarcastically.

"I wasn't punished," Susan responded.

"What?"

Susan didn't say anything.

"You know little girl," Margaret said, "I don't like you. No one likes you. And no one wants you here because you're weird."

Susan just looked at her.

"I'm going to make it my goal this semester to get you kicked out of school," the bully continued.

"Leave her alone," a girl's voice rang out from the crowd.

"Who said that?" Margaret asked, turning her back on Susan.

Pushing through the crowd of girls, a skinny, bespectacled girl about Margaret's age come out. "I did."

"Jane," Margaret said laughing. "No one likes you either. Why don't you just shut up and go away."

"She hasn't done anything to you, just leave her alone," Jane said.

"Shut up," Margaret said, lifting a hand to slap Jane only to find that Susan grabbed it before she could swing. She turned and looked at Susan with rage in her eyes.

"I won't let you hit her," Susan said, bending the hand in a way that sent Margaret to the ground in pain.

The older girl sat on the ground in pain without saying anything.

"Are we done here?" Susan asked.

"Fuck you...," Margaret started before wincing at a small shift in Susan's grip. "Yes, yes we're done."

Susan let go and walked over to Jane. "Thank you," she said and then walked to her room.

"Thank you," Jane said after her.

The next morning, when Susan was sitting alone eating her breakfast, Jane came over and said, "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last night, I'm..."

"Jane Smith," Susan said, finishing her sentence.

"Yeah. How'd you know that?"

"I just do. My mom's name was Jane."

"Was," Jane said flatly. "We're all orphans here. Even the headmistress and most of the teachers, too. They all came to school here before they became teachers.

"Isn't that cool?"

"It's kind of sad," Susan answered.

Jane looked at Susan and said, "You're right, it is kind of sad. You don't candy coat things do you?"

Susan smiled sadly and went back to her meal.

"Why don't you come join me and my friends?" Jane asked, pointing to a table with a few kids at it.

Susan smiled and said, "Sure."



[The Vampire's Daughter: An ongoing vampire story. Copyright Reuben Gregg Brewer, 2005, 2006. All rights reserved.]