Thomas looked at me in surprise. "What? Yeah. Why?"

"I just..." He waited, and I figured I might as well explain myself. "You looked sort of upset. The werejaguar wasn't very... friendly."

"Oh." Thomas shrugged. "I won't deny that I'm annoyed. But I'm used to it."

"Does that sort of thing happen often?"

"Often enough."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. But he still hadn't answered my question. "So, are you okay?"

Thomas smiled at me. "I'm fine. Really. I can either let it get to me or ignore it. And I learned a long time ago that I'm better off just ignoring it."

We were quiet for a moment. I couldn't help but remember what TS told me. I tried to study Thomas without him noticing and wondered what I could ask to figure out how he felt without outright asking if he was happy. "What's it like being a vampire?"

"What?"

I sighed. That hadn't been a very good question. "I mean... do you enjoy it?" Equally bad.

"It's got its perks. And its downsides." He shrugged. "Like all species do, I suppose." He eyed me critically. "But that isn't what you're asking, is it?"

"I-uh..."

He smiled sadly. "TS told me what you, um... talked about."

"Oh." I turned away and looked up at the slowly darkening trees, embarrassed. I couldn't believe TS has told him! Thomas probably thought I had been trying to pry into his personal life.

"Well?"

I glanced at Thomas. He looked at me expectantly. "Well, what?" I asked.

"What is it you actually wanted to ask?"

I hesitated, but he kept waiting. Finally, I sighed and whispered, "Are you happy?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He shifted his weight in his hammock and sighed. "Sure, I have my regrets. Who doesn't? I've certainly had my share of... bad times. But, I know there are people out there who have had worse. And here I am. Two wonderful people love me like a son, and I've got some of the best friends a guy could ask for. I've got a good job, not to mention, I'm making a difference." He looked up into the trees with a thoughtful, almost sad expression. "I wonder sometimes, of course. What if... I dunno. What if things had been different? Then again," he paused and smiled at me, "I can't really imagine myself anywhere but here."

For a long time, neither of us spoke. My spell wore off, and I was left in the dark. I could just barely see some leaves caught in the moonlight. I wanted to sleep, but my mind was racing. I had a thousand questions for Thomas, none of which I could ask. They were too personal. I nearly jumped a mile when he broke the silence.

"I never went to a non-magic school." He chuckled. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

I blushed. "It's okay. What do you mean non-magic school?"

"You know, elementary school, high school. Where you probably went. Some magics go, others don't. I went to an all magic one. There weren't too many students, but it was huge by magic standards. Some people commuted four hours one way just to bring their kids there. We learned all of the usual school stuff. But classes were a mix of magic and non-magic subjects. I went there from kindergarten all the way to senior year."

"Wow."

"Never finished my senior year, though."

"Why not?"

He was quiet for a long moment. I heard him sigh before he answered. "One night, alarms went off. Nobody knew what was going on. The older students were up on the fifth floor. We were all in our cafeteria trying to figure out what was happening. Then, the doors burst open and..." Thomas sighed heavily. "Vampires."

I realized in shock that he was going to tell me about the night he had been turned. I swallowed hard, afraid that if I spoke he'd change his mind.

After a pause, he went on. "I still don't know how many there were altogether. Probably a dozen. Three times as many dhampirs." I shivered, thinking of the damage just one vampire could do. "They just got together and... decided to attack. They were on us in minutes. Every MES agent in the state, hell in the entire northeast, was called in. It was a nightmare. To make matters worse, the entire school was burning. If the vampires didn't kill you, the fire would."

"The school was on fire?" I asked in horror.

"It's one of the few ways to kill a vampire. Everyone who could cast fire spells was. Young fire elementals were panicking and losing control. Anyone who might have been able to get the fires under control was too busy setting them. It didn't take long for the fires to get out of hand." Thomas stopped. I waited, wondering if he was finished, and he started speaking again. "My mother was a teacher, first grade. I found a stairway that wasn't burning and went down to her classroom. The lower floors were the worst." His voice cracked. "The teachers were the only ones powerful enough to defend themselves. None of the kids could. It was..." He paused and let out a shaky breath. "It was a slaughter."

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I practically held my breath. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the rest. He fell silent. I had no idea what to say. There probably wasn't anything I could have said. Instead, I reached out in the dark to put what I hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder. To my surprise, he took my hand and gave it a squeeze. Then, without letting it go, he continued his story.

"My dad was one of the first MES agents on the scene. He went straight to my mom's class, too. By the time I got there, they... They were already dead. So were their familiars. The vampire who had killed them was working his way through a bunch of... terrified children," he practically sobbed the word. I clapped my free hand over my mouth in horror and tightened my grip on his. I could feel his hand shaking. "I probably could have set him on fire. Instead, I just lost it and flung myself at him like an idiot. Pulled him off of a little werewolf girl." For a moment, he was quiet again, then sighed. “I didn't have a chance. He chucked me across the room with one hand. Hylay... did her best. She got a couple of good bites in and then..." I could tell from the tremor in his voice that he was crying. It was all I could do to keep my own tears from falling. "The vampire didn't even have to try. One hard smack and Hy... Hylay was dead. I... God, I can't even describe how much it hurt. It was like a part of me had been ripped away."

"Thomas... I—" I stopped. I didn't think 'I'm sorry' or 'that's horrible' would cover it.

"Sometimes... Sometimes the shock of a familiar's death kills their wizard too. I think it nearly did." He heaved a sigh. "It killed any will I had left, at least. The vampire grabbed me, and I didn't even try to fight back. He would've killed me. Or maybe turned me. I was in shock. It was all sort of a blur. The only kids left alive were the werewolf girl and her brother. He was standing over her barking his head off." Thomas laughed a hollow, weak laugh. "You've never seen comical until you've seen an angry werewolf puppy." He sighed. "That little pup saved my life, though. Took a chomp out of the vampire's leg. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me to snap out of it. I realized that if I didn't save those two kids, nobody would. I set him on fire and used the leg of a desk to stake him. Then, I grabbed the puppies and ran. I..." He hesitated. "I decided I'd get them to safety and then... go back in. Grab a stake and just take out as many as I could. We were..." He sighed again. "We were right by the door when another vampire caught up to us. That was... Well, that was it."

I had never imagined that things had been that horrible for him. Any one of the things that had happened to him would have been a tragedy. They had all happened in a single night. There was nothing that I could possibly say, so I just held his hand tighter.

"I woke up in the hospital a couple of days later. I'd lost everything before being turned. I didn't have any non-magic friends. I didn't even know that many non-magics. All of my friends, everyone I knew went to that school. Every single body I saw was someone I knew," he choked. "If I didn't know them by name, I'd seen them in the halls, if nothing else. I had a girlfriend, too. We were young and stupid and thought we were in love." He didn't sound sad, he sounded almost bitter.

"What happened to her?" I asked softly.

"I heard—one of the downsides of good hearing is that you often hear things you wish you hadn't—that she fought her way past the nurses to see me, even though I wasn't allowed to have visitors. Supposedly she was crying hysterically and gave me a big hug, and then... Then she realized I was a vampire. She walked out, and to this day, I haven't heard from her."

"That bitch!" I cried in shock. How could someone possibly do that to somebody they claimed to love?

Thomas laughed at my outburst. He gave my hand a squeeze and went on. "She wasn't the only one. Some of my friends lived. Not a single one visited me in the hospital."

"Did anyone visit you?"

"A couple of people. The first was the MES agent who rescued me. I was less than pleased to see him and was," he chuckled sadly, "rather rude. I think he had a few uplifting and encouraging things to say, but I just cursed at him until he left. The werewolf puppies' mother came to thank me for saving them. She was pretty upset, especially when she found out that I was their teacher's son. I think she felt obligated to stay around and keep me company, but I was glad when she left. She just kept apologizing and thanking me and asking what she could do. Then, all of the nurses kept mumbling about how bad they felt for me, and it only made me feel worse. The only visitor I got who I enjoyed having around was, believe it not, her puppy boy. Poor little kid was of the opinion that I was his only friend in the world and was, well you've seen puppies, nothing but happy to spend time with me. I found myself feeling a bit better when he was around. His mother was less than happy to let him hang out with a newly-turned vampire, but he whined enough that she gave in. It was pretty much the only thing I looked forward to. Of course, I was always worried that I'd hurt him, but somehow, I knew that I wouldn't."

I hated to interrupt or ask a stupid question, but I had to be sure. "Hurt him or feed from him?"

"Both I suppose. With everything that had happened, I would have been a wreck even if I hadn't been turned. But throw in... I heard that what happens when we're first turned was explained to you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you go. I was a complete mess. I was having all sorts of... violent thoughts and ideas. I tried to tell myself that they would never even cross my mind if I was still human, but it didn't help. You can only fantasize about ripping out someone's throat so many times before it drives you crazy. Every time I caught a whiff of blood, my mouth watered, and I hated myself. The puppy's mother only let him visit right around sunset. I guess she hoped the scent of his blood changing would be enough to keep me from biting him, but at the same time, she was worried about me being stronger at night. I never wanted to though. He was the only person I never once thought about biting. I was still worried that I'd hurt him, or someone else. When you're first turned, everything you feel is extreme. I didn't get annoyed, I got furious. I wasn't sad, I was utterly devastated. I suppose it was sort of like being an elemental, except they can control it better. My emotions changed at the drop of a pin. Everyone kept saying that it was only for a few weeks, and then it went back to normal. I knew that, but I wasn't sure if I believed it. Maybe they were just saying it. And I was terrified that I'd kill somebody. I was there for a week, then ... Then, they decided I needed to learn how to feed."

"From people?"