Atticus kept telling me there was nothing to be worried about.

I had already met the teachers, Mira Abas, and Dominic "Minx" Morris, a lot of times.

And I guess it was true. I spent all of my time with Atticus, and, so, obviously, I was constantly around the people he trusted the most -- Mira, Minx, and Aurora, my brother's girlfriend.

Life at home wasn't simple, so Mira and Minx had practically raised Atticus themselves over the years, ever since he was thirteen years old and he had enrolled at their school to become a Blood Drinker.

Atticus was eighteen now, which meant we both had spent the majority of our lives with Mira and Minx for the last five years. 

I had been eight years old when I met them for the first time, which was, coincidentally, also when the voices started.

Mira and Minx had been able to explain what they were, and, most importantly, what I was. 

So why was I nervous all of a sudden? Today my lessons would have started, and I would need to start practicing my powers. I would meet new people. 

Atticus expected me to make friends, and I wasn't really sure why.

I had friends.

"Are you a Speaker?" a boy asked me suspiciously. "I thought they were supposed to be extinct or something..."

"Not extinct, Jason, just extremely rare," Minx explained patiently. "Now, please, let Roman concentrate so he can use his Sensor Deck."

The powers of Blood Drinkers ran in the blood of certain families. Some of them were rich and well-known, and almost all of their members chose this life. The Macbeths were a good example. Other times, the power would skip some generation. There could be a hundred of different reasons, really. But the result was the same -- most people weren't sure if they could be Blood Drinkers candidates or not.

The Sensor Deck laid these doubts to rest, along with letting Blood Drinkers find out which was their special Skill. Even Skills were very different. The most common ones gave you just a bit of extra power, others gave you inhumane abilities that even the training could not offer to you.

Some Skills were genetic, but mostly were not. I liked to think the Skills had something in common with the people who had them.

I shuffled the Sensor Deck for Jason. He had to pick a card. There were ten blank ones, which, if picked, would mean he wasn't a Blood Drinker. The remaining twelve were colourful and had writings on them, like Tarot Cards, and each one was for a different Skill.

I hoped Jason would draw blanks. I didn't like him particularly. But he was the son of the powerful Athanasios and Penelope Ducas, so it was almost impossible.

He picked Force.

I smirked. It was very common, and it looked suited to his personality, the little I knew of it.

Your body never gets tired, the card read.

Blood Drinkers bodies were meant to hardly tire, so it didn't give him a strong advantage. But Atticus had warned me that I didn't have to think that way -- Blood Drinkers worked in teams. Not against one another.

"Good one," I couldn't help but say. The boy had been shooting me murderous looks for the whole time we've spent together.

"You don't know anything about Blood Drinkers, you freak..." he lashed out. "You're more like a Creature, anyway!"

My powers weren't born within me and enhanced by tasting particular kinds of blood, they were linked to the supernatural world, the veil between this life and the next dimension. This scared most people.

"You shouldn't be one to talk," Aurora shot back immediately. "Rumor has it that you're so weak that your father bought another boy at the market to train him as a Blood Drinker."

If Jason found it humiliating, he didn't show it. I couldn't even snicker at the thought. I certainly hoped it wasn't true. There were people who sold children with rare Skills, but the practice, was, of course, illegal. They said those children were orphans, but there were those who thought they might as well been kidnapped, or sold by their parents for a large amount of money.

Since it takes a Speaker to read a Sensor Deck, and so to prove that those children were Blood Drinkers with uncommon Skills, I always grimaced at the idea that the few of us that remained would stoop so low.

Atticus smiled at me. He looked very reassuring.

Jason sat down, and I proceeded with the next boy.

"Cypress Taylor Spaulding-Macbeth," I said. I couldn't help but be impressed.

The Macbeths were practically royalty, and Cypress looked the part.

Tinier and smaller than most of his peers, he had inherited his mother's honey blonde hair and blue-violet eyes, and his father's birdlike frame and olive skin.

He moved with a grace that few people pulled off. He had very long hair for a boy, and I suddenly remembered that he wasn't one. He had stated he did not think of himself as entirely masculine, and his presentation was androgynous.

I just knew he wouldn't draw blanks. The Spaulding family wasn't very powerful, but I failed to remember a Macbeth who hadn't been a Blood Drinker in the last one hundred years.

In fact, he picked a card, so effortlessy I barely felt the cold touch of his hand at all.

Finding -- Your loved ones will never be hidden from you.

He read it aloud, with a nasal voice, and a bit of a drawl. Mira and Minx were delighted. I was shocked at his apparent lack of interest. His card wasn't exceptionally rare, but it was fairly uncommon. His power could not be achieved with simple training.

When he walked towards the chair, Atticus gestured to sit next to him. And Cypress did. So lightly he could be flying.

That day, everybody else who came drew blanks. Blood Drinkers' blood was becoming harder and harder to find. It had been a lucky day, after all.

The class did not count many members, and it was the only one in Meglenia. Sometimes students would drop out, or die during dangerous missions. The latter had not happened in a while, at least, not in Meglenia, but it couldn't be ruled out.

Aurora, at nineteen, was the oldest and this was her last school year. Then came my brother Atticus, eighteen. Cora and Evangeline, sixteen-year-old twins, and Carmela, a charming girl of fifteen who looked mature for her age.

"Let's welcome the new students!" Minx said, clapping his hands in excitement. "Jason Ducas!"

Atticus clapped politely.

"Cypress Taylor Spaulding-Macbeth... oh my, that's a mouthful," Minx commented, with the mischievous smile actors sometimes do on stage when they've said something that shouldn't have been said aloud.

Cypress' lips curved slightly. "Just Cypress would do," he said. "Or even Macbeth, or Lady Macbeth."

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Jason snickered, but nobody else did.

I noticed how Cypress had preferred to introduce himself with his mother's last name, rather than his father's. Was it because the Macbeth's influence in Meglenia was powerful?

"And..." Minx added, "Let's give it up for our new Speaker! Roman Sioban, little brother of our beloved Atticus!"

Atticus and Aurora erupted in exaggerated cheers, whooping and screaming loudly.

Jason did not make a move, but Cypress smiled at me. It lasted a second, but it warmed my heart a little bit.

As for Carmela, Cora, and Evangeline they simply studied me, unimpressed. They'd met me before, anyway. Atticus and I basically lived in the school building, along with every enrolled student, and the teachers.

The moment you started studying how to become a Blood Drinker, it was like you stopped being everything else.

Atticus said it was a little sad -- not for us. We didn't have anything to begin with, anyway. But for other people, like Aurora.

I seldom thought about other people's feelings in such depth, even those of people like Aurora, who I liked.

Besides I had seen Atticus go through the Tasks, and the training, and the missions.

There was no doubt that this lifestyle changed you.

This lifestyle made you.

Atticus wasn't human anymore. And I didn't think he noticed it as much as I did. 

"We will start today with a little introduction to Blood Drinkers," Mira said. "In case somebody is not familiar with what they are -- with what we are. To be able to become Blood Drinkers, and enhance our genetic powers, we need to drink Blood."

"Fear not, it is not human blood," Minx added, winking. He was always the less serious between the two. Some people said he was a bit crazy, but I thought he was alright. It's hard being an outsider. I smiled shyly at him.

"The Blood we drink is animal's blood," Mira went on. "It has to be given willingly by the animal, and a simple wound can do. There is no need to drain them, right Evangeline?"

The girl was occupied smelling one of her gel pens. 

"The older kids have already listened to this a hundred times," she complained. 

"So did I, but I keep on learning something new," Minx scolded her, looking at Mira with affection.

Mira and Minx were a couple, and it was hard to imagine two people less suited for each other.

She was serious, and accademically challenging. She was probably one of the most clever people in Meglenia. Somehow, she was also very attentive to people's needs. A good fighter, despite her poor balance, and a powerful Blood Drinker with an uncommon Skill.

He was goofy, he spent most of his free time at the theater or at pubs, his head was in the clouds, and he came up with crazy ideas, which rarely worked. I did not know his Skill, he had never picked the card from my deck, which made me think it must have been something common and not very useful, like Agility.

Even physically, they were extremely different. Where his skin was a translucent pasty-white and his hair a shock of orangey-hot red, she was regal, and dark-skinned.Her hair was always cropped short, and kept in order with a ducktail. She was tall, and slender, and he was any taller than anybody had any right to be, and built like a scarecrow.

But there were many charming things about Minx Morris too. He had a good kind of face, which inspired trust, and could be considered handsome, in a sort of old-fashioned way. He had beautiful legs, even though he moved a little spider-like.

"There will be Tasks each of you needs to pass in order to truly become a Blood Drinker," Mira went on. "Think of them like exams. You will be trained to make sure you all pass."

Her eyes darkened.

"The Tasks will be extremely difficult, and not everybody has got what it takes to live this life," she said, almost glumly.

Atticus had told me he had heard some people died or became permanently injuried after the Tasks. I did not know if it was true. I didn't know any.

"The Blood slows the physical part of the aging process," Mira continued. "So, your skin will be perfect for a very long time. Those who choose, and who are powerful enough, can decide to cultivate immortality of the body, as well as of the soul."

For some reason, Atticus didn't want to. Aurora wouldn't have minded. They frequently fought about that.

"All our senses are enhanced," Mira added. "For this reason, sunlight hurts us. We see very well in the dark. After years of training, we can learn to fly. Our bodies get stronger, and faster. Some of us have learned to run faster than light."

She smiled slightly. "The only way we can be really injuried, or killed, is by being lit on fire, being impaled, or being decapitated. The stronger of us may survive a few killing attempts, but the things I mentioned should hurt us very badly either way.

Now you understand that all of the things I'm talking about are possible because of the Blood. Without it, we are just normal people. Normal people who have special genetics that contain the makings of a Blood Drinker. But we are nothing without the Blood. Nor is our Skill of any use. Even with the Blood Drinking, it requires a lot of resistance to use the Skill properly."

Jason scoffed.

"And, now, the best part," Mira joked. "The rules. As superior beings, we pledge to use our powers and our knowledge to fight against the Creatures, the literal embodiment of the things that plague the Earth, natural disasters, disease, and so on. They come from the dark, and they take the form of monsters for us to slay. This is our job, and our calling. To renounce that is to renounce being Blood Drinkers.

In order to train together, to be available at all times in state of emergency, and to avoid to inflict the peculiarities of our lifestyle upon others, your school is for now your new home. Once you finish studying, there are groups of Blood Drinkers all over the world who will welcome you with open arms. Or you can even choose to live with your loved one, more secluded.

From now on, the politics of the human world do not concern you no more. Your supreme authority is called the Court. It rules Blood Drinkers all over the world.

Last, but not least, Minx and I are to be respected and our advice is to be followed in all occasions, especially when we will start going on missions, or on patrols in the city. Should any of us not be available, I suggest you to turn to the older students."

She smiled at Atticus as she said that. Aurora was very powerful, but she had a bit of a temper. My brother, on the other hand, was beloved by everyone. 

During lunch, I sat next to Atticus and Aurora. For the first time, I had to squeeze a chair in, because my usual spot was being occupied by Cypress.

"There used to be hundreds of people in the Court," he was saying, between mouthfuls of food. "My mother thinks it's alarming that a lot of them died recently during missions."

"Remind me who's left now," my brother said good-heartedly. He wasn't really interested in politics.

Cypress choked a little. I guessed he imagined everyone knew about politicians as much as he did.

"User Sad, Tori Collen, Bertha Gild, Naftali Cardo, and Hac Chae-won," he said, counting on his fingers.

Even my brother had to admit those were very much less than hundreds.

"I fear the power is becoming more centralized," Cypress went on. 

I coughed loudly to announce my presence, in case they hadn't noticed.

I immediately regretted it, because I found out I had nothing to say.

I just wasn't used not to have Atticus all to myself. Aurora usually didn't talk much during lunch, she was busy 'keeping herself healthy', as she put it.

I wish I could have the kind of body where food immediately translates to muscles and energy. The more I ate, and I ate a lot, the thinner I seemed to become -- and the taller. As the years went on, it was becoming clear I would one day be Minx Morris-shaped.

Atticus wasn't like that. We had different mothers, and, judging by us, his probably had the best looks and personality.

Atticus' hair was golden blond, and his eyes green. His built was the one of a fighter. He was one.

In comparison, I looked like I was painted in black and white -- and I didn't mean in stark contrasts. I meant in all the shades of gray.

"Are you alright?" Atticus asked me, worry in his eyes.

It took me a while to realize he was referring to something that had happened earlier today. One of the kids who kept drawing blanks had threatened to punch me.

Only my brother would still be hung up over something like that.

To be fair, I had understood the kid.

I kept drawing blanks all the time, too.

I knew Speakers couldn't have Skills.

And I knew Speakers couldn't be Blood Drinkers.

But I kept dreaming of a world where I would be trained to fight the supernatural, instead to merge with it.

Jason's words had bothered me. Was I like a Creature?

I was busy sulking over my food, when I felt a hand gently patting my shoulder.

I normally loathed being touched, but I wasn't startled.

It was Minx Morris, and getting upset at him would be like kicking a puppy.

"What's the problem, Roman?" he asked me, when he took me walking down the hall. He told me it helped him, to do that, when he had too many thoughts.

I could have said so many things. There were so many problems. I wished my drunken father had never beaten Atticus. I wished I could meet my mother. I wished I was a Blood Drinker. I wished I could tell Minx he was kind of cute, but not that way, because I was thirteen, and he was probably around forty, and, anyway, he had practically raised me... and I thought of Mira as my mother.

I wished I could tell him we looked alike, and we were both a bit goofy, and maybe he was my father. He could have wanted to check.

I wished I could tell him I was afraid of the Spirits, and of the dark, and of people.

Instead, I said, "Jason Ducas said I am like a Creature."

"Yeah, I heard him," Minx reminded me.

"I fear that's true," I admitted. "I don't feel... a lot... like a person."

"Look," he bent down to look me in the eye, even though I was already very tall for my age. "There is no right or wrong way to be a person, okay? You're just you, and there's nothing wrong with it. When I'm sad, I like eating a slice of cake. Or a whole pie, but don't tell Mira, okay? She seems to like the version where they eat themselves better." 

He winked.

"What would make you feel better? Normally, I'd say you'd wolf down an hamburger, but you weren't eating anything a couple of minutes ago..."

"I love dogs," I said. "Platonically."

Minx laughed.

"Alas, I can't buy you a dog, sorry. Is there anything else you'd like?"

I struggled to think of something. I'm not very smart, especially not under pressure. Even this kind of pressure.

"I like fun facts," I sputtered out.

"Then I'll tell you one," Minx said. "Sometimes, I feel like a Creature myself."

He suddenly became extremely serious, and silent, and never answered when I asked him why.