Do vampires exist? And if they did, where could one find them? Tyler pondered on this as he sat at his desk, scribbling his thoughts behind his notebook. He had heard stories about vampires and what they could do, and he always thought that maybe he was, or even could be one of them, he had never met one, but he knew somewhere in his heart that they existed. Although he didn’t have all the characteristics of a vampire, he shared some similarities between them like the affinity for blood, enhanced speed strength and agility, enhanced senses (he could hear and sense things from a mile away), and many other special abilities that other humans around him did not have. And although he was not affected by sunlight and did not have fangs like the vampires did, he still thought that his special abilities could make him related to them in a way, sort of.

“And can you tell me the last thing I just said, Tyler?” Mrs. Milberg, the science teacher asked, yanking him out of his thoughts. He didn’t even notice when she walked into the classroom and started teaching.

“Can I see what you are writing there?” she asked again as she walked over to where he sat and snatched the notebook off his hands, shaking her head upon seeing what he had drawn.

“Tyler, I don’t know what happened, you were so brilliant when you started attending this school but your results keep on regressing, and now this, drawing vampires in class!” She held the notebook up to him before dropping it back on the table.

“I could have expected that from anyone else but not you, Tyler. You seem to be getting distracted a lot lately, and let me remind you that if you fail to keep up with your grades this term, you’ll not only have to quit the football team, but you’ll have to come to summer school.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Milberg,” Tyler said apologetically.

“Please do not let it happen again, bring back the former Tyler here, the one who took his life and education seriously.”

“He can’t do that,” Nelson, the school bully interrupted. “And you know why? Because he’s a freak who thinks he’s a vampire!”

Upon hearing Nelson’s remark, the whole class burst into laughter, Tyler then felt like crawling into a hole at that moment.

“That’s enough!” Mrs. Milberg said sternly. “One more word from you Nelson or anyone else and it’s detention for you!”

The whole class retreated into silence upon hearing Mrs. Milberg’s threat and she returned to the front of the class to continue teaching. Tyler felt bad for what had happened, but even felt worse for what she said about him probably having to leave the football team.

Before he joined the team, he had always been known as the vampire dweeb, because vampires were all he cared about. It got to the point where it even affected his grades as he spent more time researching about vampires than he did studying. His parents became concerned about this obsession of his, so they made him choose an extracurricular activity. Something better to spend his time on according to them, he chose football.

He had great agility and reflexes, more than that of a normal human being. He could go from one motion to another effortlessly, he could effectively dodge attacks, he could sprint easily, and do numerous other athletic implements with little effort, making him the perfect candidate for the game.

The next thing he loved after vampires was football, and he didn’t care that football failed to make him famous like the way it did his elder brother, Jake, or that everyone in school still hated him not minding the fact that he was the best player. By the way, he never chose football for any of those reasons.

When he joined, he thought it would be a way to put his special abilities to good use instead of just sitting and doing research all the time, and if people could see what he could do, maybe it would change the way they saw him but it didn’t. Spending more time on football did help lessen the vampire obsession, much to the delight of his parents but it turned out that his abilities were too great for the tender game as he had caused a severe incident during one of their practice games for the interstate championships.

He had pushed away one of the opposing players who was blocking him while trying to score a touchdown, it was no normal push from someone like Tyler as the impact from the push threw the kid into the air and out of the field. He landed in the sitting area, breaking his back. They were lucky that this had only happened during one of their practice games as the school had been able to avoid a public scandal. But it didn’t make things better as the injured boy’s parents had threatened to file a lawsuit. How can a kid get so severely injured just by playing football? And even with his protective gear on!!! It made no sense to them. It took a lot of pleading from the coach, the school principal and Tyler’s parents to calm them down. The accident happened about three months ago and Tyler had been suspended from the team since then but wasn’t kicked off permanently. The boy was recently discharged from the hospital and things were beginning to get back to normal. Coach Martin had requested to see him after his classes today. He knew that the coach would bring him back on the team since the boy was ok now and everyone had forgiven him. He had missed playing, as he had gone back to his vampire obsession during the time he was suspended.

On his way to see the coach, he met Nelson standing in the hallway along with his popular clique. He then wanted to pass through but Nelson stood in his way, blocking him from going any further.

“Out of my way Nelson,” Tyler warned.

“Hey guys, do you smell some vampire farts?” Nelson asked, turning to his clique who began to laugh at Nelson’s joke.

“Hey Dracula, anyone ever told you how much you stink?” Nelson said to him, pushing him against a locker, while the clique continued to make fun of him.

Before Tyler knew what was happening, Nelson swung a punch in the air and hit Tyler’s face. The impact from the punch made Tyler begin to bleed from his nose. Tyler looked back at him scornfully while Nelson watched the blood coming from his nose disappear and then the wound healed in seconds.

Nelson, seeing what had happened became scared and released Tyler from his grip. Tyler could have sworn at that moment that he did everything in his power to refrain from hitting Nelson back. Ever since the incident on the football field, he had done all he could to stay away from any fights or physical activity that would lead to him hurting anyone again. He didn’t want to ruin his chances of getting back on the team. He thought of it and realized that he would only be giving Nelson an upper hand and a chance to humiliate him more by fighting back, besides, Nelson would never be able to survive a blow from him.

“What a freak!” Nelson continued to insult him and call him vampire names and the others kept laughing.

Tyler ignored their jokes and continued going his way, he had better things to think of, like how he would be able to play football again very soon.

When he reached the boy’s locker room, he opened the door and walked in. Coach Martin was already sitting on one of the benches, waiting for him.

“Hello Tyler, I’ve been expecting you, have a seat,” he gestured towards the bench opposite where he sat.

“Hello coach,” Tyler greeted back before sitting down. Coach Martin then continued to speak.

“This is really hard for me to say, but I’ll just get straight to the point.”

“I have been thinking Tyler, and I think it’s time to lay you off the football team permanently.”

Tyler couldn’t believe what he had just heard, he knew that it had something to do with the last incident, but he didn’t think it would lead to him not being able to play football anymore. The boy was ok now, and Tyler even went with his parents to see him several times at the hospital, he knew it wasn’t enough, but he never meant to do what he did. He never meant to hurt the boy, and this was the worst punishment he could have ever received for that. He tried to say something while choking back the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes.

“W-w-why?” He stammered.

“I’m sorry Tyler, I tried, but if something like that happens again, I could lose my job.”

“It won’t happen again coach, I swear it, but please don’t keep me from playing!” Tyler begged.

“You know I loved it when you played for us Tyler, you were so awesome at scoring touchdowns, but I can’t take the risk of bringing you back in to play with the others, they’re all scared of you now more than before, and this will only affect the team’s performance. Besides, you and I both know that this isn’t the first time that a kid had gotten injured by you.”

Tyler placed his head down. Coach Martin was right. Almost everyone on the team had either gotten a sprain, a bruise or even a twisted ankle from one of Tyler’s mighty kicks or pushes. He had tried to control himself whenever he was in the game, but had failed to do so, causing several accidents.

“I have informed the principal, and he supports the decision, we will also let your parents know about it. You’re a great player Ty, but I just don’t think football is for you.”

Coach Martin stood up and headed back to his office, leaving Tyler to digest what he had just told him.

***

The school bell rang indicating that it was closing time and all the kids ran out of the gates of Wuddenberg high to meet with their parents, who were waiting to take them home.

“Hi dear, how was school today?” Tyler’s foster mom, Stella said to him as he stepped out and walked towards the car where she sat.

“Fine,” Tyler replied giving no facial expression.

“You look pretty dull today. Did something happen? Is anything wrong?” Stella asked him with a concerned face.

“Um no, nothing,” Tyler said.

Stella knew he was lying but she didn’t have the time to pressure him to talk as she had to go and pick his younger sister, Mimi up from elementary and drop her off at ballet class before taking him and Jake home.

The Daltons, Stella and Carl, had no children of their own and they gave up long ago on trying as the doctors had told them that it was just a waste of time. They adopted three children, Jake, Tyler, and Mimi, and they had lived as one happy family until Tyler’s strange vampire behaviors got in the way. He was adopted the same day as Mimi, who was just a baby while Tyler was about three but was already looking like an adolescent, he had an unexplainable growth spurt as he had already reached sexual maturity at the age of seven. The Daltons loved their children regardless of how strange they were especially Tyler, who had problems opening up to things that were bothering him as he always felt that they would not understand. His siblings were practically worshipped in their classrooms, and people who attended Wuddenberg high always found it hard to believe that he was related to Jake, one of the hottest high school seniors and former prom king, Jake was once a quarterback on the football team before he quit and went into soccer. Tyler’s younger sister, Mimi, was an aspiring ballerina who was loved by all, her classmates, her friends, and her family. His siblings were stars while he was just the dweeb who thought he was a vampire, no one even knew he was in the football team until after the popular accident.

Jake came out of the school a few seconds later and greeted his mom before joining her in the front seat.

“How was school today?” She asked him as he fastened his seat belt.

“Never better,” he said and then turned to Tyler who sat down at the back.

“Hey bro, how was your day?”

Tyler just shrugged, unsure of what to say as he couldn’t tell if Jake was being serious or was just teasing him knowing how awful his life was. Either way, he wasn’t in his mood. Now that they were both seated, Stella started the car and drove off to the elementary to pick up Mimi.

***

Ronin, the powerful pureblood vampire moaned with pleasurable delight and looked down at the naked woman on her knees beneath him who had his cock in her mouth, playing tricks with it. He didn’t know who she was, the only thing he knew was that she had come to him, asking to be converted like the other shameless fools he had killed before. He agreed to convert her, if she could satisfy his sexual desires and she agreed. But of course, he would not be keeping his part of the deal.

Just then, one of his servants entered into the room whose door was wide open.

“I am sorry to interrupt my Lord, I didn’t know you were busy.”

“No, it’s ok, I was just about to go and feed, continue my dear,” he was referring to the blonde woman gagging his dick down her throat who would be his food for the evening after she finished. She had done well tonight, but sadly he did not deem her fit to become a vampire.

“The prisoners have arrived,” the servant informed him.

“Ok then, I will be right down,” he said. The servant then bowed and left the room.

Ronin crouched down to look at the lady who smiled at him with cum dripping from her mouth. She had finished already, and now it was now time for him to feed. He placed one hand on her mouth, sliding the other around her neck, her chest and her nipples, before grabbing her shoulders with his claws. She squealed, not knowing what awaited her before he moved his face to the side of her neck and sunk his fangs deep into her skin, the squeals turned into screams as he began to feed on her blood. Apart from the fact that she tasted so delicious, she also did give him a good blow job and amazing sex. Her efforts to take some of his power will not be in vain, she would be given a worthy burial. After was full, he threw her dead body on the ground and began to put on his clothes. He then called in his servant who had left before.

“Feed it to the snakes!” he ordered, before going downstairs to meet with the new prisoners he had kept waiting. They all knelt down in silver chains, in the halls of the castle where he ruled over his coven. The dhampir who had captured them stood behind them.

“A family of Dhampirs, how interesting” he said, looking at the hybrid man, his wife and two daughters.

“Please just let us go,” the man begged, his daughters shivering with fright. “We haven’t done anything!”

“Oh yes you have,” Ronin said. “Just by existing, you all have done something terrible. It is either you are a human or a vampire, you cannot be both!” He yelled.

The little girls began to cry, the wife trying to comfort them by holding their hand, Ronin continued speaking.

“It’s already an insult that humans now have the ability to become like us, but I will not sit down and watch while another specie similar to us is being born, and increasing in numbers, I will not wait for them to be plenty enough to challenge our existence.”

He crouched down a bit to be on a face-to-face level with the man and grabbed his cheekbone, squeezing it, his claws sinking deep into his skin making him to bleed before he continued speaking to him.

“You are an alumnus of that wretched school; I know that you will not tell me its location. I will still kill you either way, but I just want you to know that when I find the Dhampir Academy, I will kill everyone there and I will burn it to the ground. I will wipe all of you dhampirs off the face of the earth!”

He released his claws from the cheek of the man, becoming irritated as he watched the wound he had caused on his cheek heal quickly. He signified to the assassin to finish the job, laughing wickedly as he went back upstairs to his chambers while enjoying the screams and pleas of the Dhampir family begging for their lives as they were being vanquished.

Tyler sat at the computer in his room continuing his drawings of vampires. Now that football was no longer in his life, things would now go back to the way they were before he joined the team. He would go back to being the vampire dweeb.

He then heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” he said in response to the knock. He turned away from his desk to see who had come in, it was Carl.

“Hey Ty, what happened? You didn’t come downstairs for dinner,” his father said.

“I wasn’t hungry,” Tyler replied returning his attention to his computer.

“Mrs. Milberg called and told me what happened in school today, Tyler.”

Tyler hadn’t known that Mrs. Milberg would take it far to the extent of telling his parents. He had already apologized. Why were high school teachers so heartless?

“Your mother and I have been thinking of another way to solve your problem.”

Tyler focused his attention back on his dad upon hearing this. Another way? He had just been kicked off the team for good and now they were already looking for another way?

“We think you should get some help. Look I know it won’t sound good to you now, but trust me, you’ll feel better after a series of treatments. The family doctor recommended this great psychiatrist, and I want you to know that your mom and I are here to support you all the way through your recovery.”

“You think I’m crazy?” Tyler began to laugh. It wasn’t enough that everyone hated him and thought he had a vampire problem. But now, they think he’s nuts.

“So how would you explain what I did to that boy at the football field, or all my other vampire abilities?”

“People all over the world have something weird about them that makes them special, and as for what happened in the field, accidents happen Tyler, that’s all it is. You are not a vampire and this your obsession over them is becoming too much, and you won’t even talk to anyone about it.”

“You want to know the reason why I don’t tell you or mom anything?” Tyler said, beginning to yell, he could hear the tone of his own voice but it was time for his dad to hear the truth.

“It’s because you both will never understand. You try to use normal stuff to solve abnormal problems, like when you made me join the football team. And now look at everything that happened, all the boys there are now scared of me.

“You see all that is going on with me, and the only thing you care about is dealing with my vampire obsession, but have you taken a good look at me? Have you ever seen a kid grow up that fast? Or have you ever seen someone my age or size lift up a car? I did those things dad, and I just wish you’d find a way to help me with my challenges, instead of making me feel worse by giving me more problems. Because of what I did to that boy, everyone now hates me. And now I have to suffer because of that.”

“Yes, you’re right, I haven’t seen any of those things before, and do you know what else I haven’t seen? Someone as big as you are obsessing over vampires like he had seen one before. Even Mimi has buried all her imaginary friends, but just look at what you are doing to yourself. I am trying to help you Tyler, that’s why I am taking you to this great doctor, just come first at least, if after a month, you don’t feel any better, then you can stop the session,” Carl said.

“I am not crazy dad, and I won’t go to any psychiatrist. I know I am connected with the vampires somehow, and I will find a way to meet with them, with or without your help.

“And before I forget, did coach Martin call you to tell you that I got kicked off the football team permanently? I know he did. But you won’t tell me, you prefer to talk about the normal stuff every other kid does like drawing in class while you pay no attention to the abnormal things I do.”

“I won’t talk to you about this again Tyler,” Carl told him with a calm voice before continuing.

“I just think you should know that your mental health comes first and you should never be scared to ask for help when you need it. And do you know why your siblings have happier lives? It’s because they don’t waste all their time worrying about things that don’t exist!”

Tyler turned back down to his desk, pretending like those words hadn’t just driven a million knives into his chest. Carl, who upon seeing that trying to convince him was a hopeless exercise, left the room.

***

Greta awed at the beauty of the buildings and statues in the large compound as her father drove her and her mother into the gates. They were going to enroll her in the Dhampir Academy today, and she couldn’t wait. She had always longed for a life of adventure and here it was, knocking at her door. At least she had something to be hopeful about as the past few days had been a tragedy for her and her family. Her father’s younger brother, Steven whom he had attended this same school with, was captured with his wife and her cousins, Catrina and Catalina, and they had all been killed. Her powerful pureblood vampire grandfather, Soudin had confirmed that one of his roots had been cut off.

It was a great loss for the family and she knew she would miss her cousins greatly. The family realized through Steve’s death that someone was out hunting for the dhampirs, and her father would not wait until the enemy found them too. He decided to withdraw Greta from her normal human school. He knew she would not be safe there anymore so he brought her here, where she would learn to harness her powers and be able to defend herself if she ever went into battle. Her parents would move back into Soudin’s castle under his coven’s protection and after she graduated, she would join them there.

She wondered the kind of adventures this new school had in store for her.

The leader of the academy and one of her dad’s former teachers, stood at the entrance waiting to welcome their new student.