None of the adults really reacted. Not like they had when he mentioned that they were cheating. They had probably been informed of this beforehand—and likely agreed to it in the first place—and he was just making the statement public.
“They are mundanes,” he said, spinning back around to face the student body. “Incapable of magic. I expect them all to be treated with just as much respect and–”
“This is an outrage!” The Isomer headmaster jumped to his feet, face red and bulging as if it were about to burst. “You cannot bring mundanes into a magical school–”
“In my school, Headmaster Drosselmeyer, I decide who is welcome and who is not.” Anderson said, turning to face the outspoken headmaster. His smile was still on his face. However, something was slightly off about it. The way the corners of his lips rose made it look all the more predatory. “You already agreed to allow Wallace to choose the judges. So, unless you wish to forfeit…”
Drosselmeyer puckered his lips as he glanced to the other school heads. None seemed ready to jump to his support. With one last glare towards Anderson, he retook his seat.
“Good,” Anderson said. “We are all… sapient beings. I would have hated to announce that one of our illustrious schools withdrew on the grounds of classism. Our viewers might have found that distasteful.”
“Viewers?” Drosselmeyer asked in a far more subdued tone of voice.
“Of course! I forgot to mention that detail. If you don’t mind, Wallace.”
The leader of the Guild glared at him as if to ask why he couldn’t have waited just five more minutes. “Go right ahead,” he said through loosely clenched teeth.
“As you’re well aware,” Anderson said as he moved up to address the students. He kept his body slightly angled to keep the schoolmasters in view. “Brakket Academy has been under observation by the mundane news media, mostly because of our beautiful sky.”
Eva took a moment to roll her eyes.
“A few pillars of light in the past month renewed their interest. Rather than keeping them at arm’s length while such an event was going on, I decided to invite them in to observe. We’ve kept ourselves mysterious and hidden from mundanes despite them knowing about us for years. For too long. As such, I am pleased to announce that for the first time ever, the Interscholastic Competency Competition will be aired live over mundane news networks.”
Silence reigned over the gymnasium.
For about ten seconds.
Students and adults alike both burst into chatter. It grew loud enough that Eva could barely hear herself think. She couldn’t even pick out a single conversation to listen in. At least, not outside her table.
Shelby was poking Jordan in the side, asking if he knew about that bombshell. Juliana shrugged her shoulders while Shalise just sighed, saying something about her mother that Eva couldn’t quite catch with all the noise.
Eva wasn’t entirely sure what to think about it. She would have to take even more care not to be seen using blood magic. Not that she was planning on it during the actual events. However, if there were cameras around at other times, all it would take would be one nosy journalist sneaking through the Infinite Courtyard at the wrong time.
Three loud clicks echoed over the noise. They were loud enough to be almost deafening. Wallace must have some sort of enchantment on his cane.
“You’re all distracted, so I’ll skip over much of my speech. The first event will be next Saturday. Each school is to select three of its ten competitors.”
There was a bit of murmuring among the students at that proclamation. It died off with a glance from Wallace to the loudest group of students—those from the Faultline school, if Eva wasn’t mistaken.
“These three will not be allowed to participate in the second event, so choose wisely. Perhaps you’ll wish to select your top three students, or maybe save some of your best for the following event. The choice is yours. Further information will be given on the day of the event.”
He gave one last look around the room before turning and retaking his seat.
“Exciting, exciting,” Anderson said, his smile once again fit for a salesman. “Now, feel free to continue mingling or to disperse to your dormitories. The evening is yours to do with as you wish.”
Chapter 004
Eva stalked through the halls of Brakket Academy, trying to ignore the vampire following after her.
He was just far enough away for it to be conceivable that he had his own business in this particular direction. That could be possible. In some twisted alternate reality, it might even be true. However, in her world, it wasn’t something Eva was willing to believe.
Some might call her paranoid. Those people would probably be people she had never really spoken with. People who didn’t know her very well.
The fact of the matter was that if someone looked like they were following her, she was inclined to believe it.
Luckily, a vampire’s motivations weren’t hard to guess at. He would be wanting her blood. Eva had been extremely hesitant in giving Serena blood and she liked Serena. The chance this guy would get some was near zero. She hadn’t had a single conversation with the guy yet and she was already hating him.
“We could just kill him.”
Eva whipped her head to glare at Arachne, half wondering how the spider-demon knew what she was thinking about. Her anger must have been written on her face.
“You can’t say things like that. Especially in public.”
She glanced around. As usual, she was being given a fair bit of space to walk through the hallways. Arachne hadn’t spoken loudly, so probably nobody had heard. Except maybe the vampire. She actually wasn’t sure how good his hearing was.
Serena had said that he was of the August strain. Which, to Eva’s great joy, meant that he did not possess Serena’s mind magic. There was no need to avoid eye contact every time she glanced in his direction.
Augusts were the typical vampires. The ones everybody thought of when vampires came up in conversations. They weren’t bestial. They couldn’t trick people into thinking things were different from reality. They didn’t have the insane insight that some strain called Mekhet possessed. Augusts were nothing more than long-lived parasites on humanity.
Of course, they didn’t view themselves as such. Something snapped in their brains when turned. Whatever their station in life had been, once risen as a vampire, Augusts invariably believed that they were the greatest things to walk the Earth.
Hence the name ‘August.’
It made Eva wonder if the other strains had something obviously wrong with them. Did something snap in Serena’s brain when she turned? Something that made her somewhat obsessed with Zoe and Wayne?
Eva hadn’t asked.
But she figured she should admonish Arachne just in case someone had heard her.
“Besides, even if he is an entitled prick, that really isn’t enough to warrant such an extreme reaction. He is still a student anyway. Not an enemy.”
Yet.
Eva couldn’t be sure how far his mania would drive him. It was entirely possible that he might get violent if Eva denied him her blood. Everything would be much easier on her if her other stalkers would get a clue and start fighting the vampire for her.
The two girls with eyes implanted in their chests were far from subtle. While it was conceivable that the vampire was merely walking in the same direction that Eva was going, the nuns were stopping at corners, peeking around, sneaking up to junctions or classrooms, and watching.
They weren’t even watching the vampire.
In fact, Eva was relatively certain that they actually bumped into the vampire, excused themselves, and both went their separate ways without noticing. Eva could not fathom how that was possible. To the best of her knowledge, the two hadn’t connected to their Source since arriving. Something that, according to Nel, would have informed them immediately if they were looking at a vampire.