O-Neg: Part 1

O-Neg: Part 1

Breanna was in the director's office of the Hadley School, a private academy her mother wanted to attend for her senior year, and she was not happy.  While the adults talked, she was bent over a Vampire Knight manga.  The way her thick long chocolate hair fell about her face, her look of utter disgust was concealed from them.

"Breanna is so bright." Her mother told the school director. "The public high school is unacceptable. She just hasn't been given the chance she needs to shine."

The school director flipped through Breanna's school records.

Breanna's mother continued. "The kids misbehave. The teachers don't care."

"Blah, blah, blah." Breanna thought to herself as she looked up from her manga and glanced around the director's large room.  With its inlaid oak walls and ceiling-high bookcases holding thick leather bound books that must have dated two or three centuries ago, Breanna wasn't too sure this was the place for her.  What was with the heavy curtains of the long arched windows of tinted glass in the director's office?  They blocked out all but a narrow glimmer of natural light.  Her current school sucked but she was damn sure she didn't want to end up in this place.  A tomb would be more fun.

"Did you bring Breanna's medical records?"  The director asked lazily.

Breanna's mom handed the director a folder.  Breanna noticed that he scanned its contents with far greater interest than he had shown her grades.

The director closed the folder and smiled. Breanna didn't like that smile.  It was the smile of a hungry man looking over a menu.  "I believe we can find a place for Breanna here at the Hadley School."  He declared with far more animation than he has showed thus far in the interview.

Breanna's mother breathed a sigh of relief but then grew nervous again. "About the tuition..."

The director waved off her concern. "Based on what I see here, we'll give Breanna a full-paid scholarship."

Breanna's mother nearly fainted with joy. "You don't mean it! Thank you!"

Breanna stared at the director with a look of shock.  Breanna knew that there had to be strings attached to the offer.

"Of course, she will have to room here." The director added matter-of-factly.

Breanna smirked. "There's a deal breaker."  She thought. There was no way her mother would go for that.

Sure enough, color was draining from Breanna's mother's face.  "No.  She can't.  We want Breanna at home.  Surely you can make an exception."   She sputtered.

"I'm afraid not." The director said firmly.

Breanna's mother started to rise as did Breanna, who was relieved to be escaping this creepy school. "Then I am afraid we have wasted your time." Breanna's mother said sadly.

"Sit down!" The director said sharply.

"Oh, mister you are so going to get it." Breanna thought because no one talked that way to her mother without getting an earful.

Breanna's mother opened her mouth but her eyes locked on to the director's and remained fixed there. She sat down looking straight at the director.

"What the heck?"  Breanna thought.  "Come on give it to him, mom!"

"Breanna needs to go to school here."  The director said, staring intently into Breanna's mother gaze.

"Breanna needs to go to school here."  Breanna's mother repeated.  Her voice was lazy as if lost in a daydream.

Breanna looked at her mother, puzzled and then look backed at the director.

"It will be good for her."  The director said.  His eyes sparkled ominously in the room's dull light.

"It will be good for her."  Breanna's mother said with a slight nod but without relaxing her stare.

"Mom!" Breanna protested. "Something's not right!"  Her protests were in vain.  Her mother ignored her.  All her attention was on the director.

"She can board here.  It's only a year.  An important year." The director said.

"She can board here.  It's only a year.  An important year."  Breanna's mother murmured, repeating what the director said, word for word.

Breanna was becoming more and more alarmed.  Why was her mother saying these things.  "Mom!" she cried out, forcefully tugging at her mother's sleeve.

Her mother shook her head and then turned to Breanna.  "Hush dear, you need to go school here. It will be good for you.  It's only for a year."  Her mother chastised her in annoyed voice.  She turned to the director.  "Kids."  She said with a nervous smile.

The director nodded. "I know all about them.  I'll just need you to sign some paperwork.  The new session starts in two weeks."  His mouth was curled in a secretive smile.

Breanna argued with her mother the entire car ride home.  She hoped her father would be the voice of reason and veto her mother's decision.  He was against it but decided he should talk to the director himself.  When he came home from his visit, he announced that he had changed his mind and was just as adamant that Breanna should spend the year at the Hadley School.

Two weeks later, Breanna was back in the director's office, sitting in a chair before his desk, a heavy packed suitcase next to her.  The director was checking her paperwork while she sat fuming and chewing gum.  How could her parents have done this to her!?

Breanna looked over at the curtained windows. "This place could so with some light." She declared sullenly.

The director ignored the comment and folded his hands together, steepling his fingers,  "Breanna, we use a system of learning here called pairing.  Students work together in two-person teams instead of individually.  You are quite fortunate.  I am pairing you with one of our most distinguished students"

"Distinguished as in good grades?"  Breanna was imagining some total nerd, with braces and greasy hair who lived in the library.

The director made a most condescending chuckle.  "No, distinguished as in from one our most distinguished families."

"Oh, great!"  Breanna fumed, now picturing a southern debutante with a perma-smile of blinding white teeth.

"You're being paired with Norihiko Yamashita.  Go to Summers Hall, Room 316 to meet your pairing." The director said dismissing her.

"What about my stuff?  I can't lug this suitcase across campus."  Breanna complained.

"It will be taken care of."  The director replied casually as he took up some other paperwork.  "You may go."  He said firmly, letting her know it was an order not a request.

Breanna growled but left the office and then administration building. Once outside, she realized something. "Oh crap, I forgot to ask directions to Summers Hall." She looked around the green lawn of the campus quad to find somebody who could tell her where to go.

It must have been time for a change in classes because students started to spill out of the buildings and onto the quad.  They were dressed in naval inspired uniforms similar to the kinds the kids in Japanese animation wear.  The boys were all smartly dressed in navy-blue suits and shiny black shoes.  The girls wore crisp white blouses with pinafores, short pleated skirts, knee-high socks and mary-janes.

The currents of students flowing from one class to the next freaked out Breanna not by their dress--which she kind of liked because she was a big anime fan--but by their, actions or lack thereof.  They were completely silent.  They didn't talk.  They didn't laugh.  They didn't interact with one another at all.  The only sound in the quad was that of their footsteps as they trod along like zombies with books in arms or book bags slung over their shoulders.  Their eyes looked as if they were meditating on some distant object.

"Oh crap, what have I gotten myself into."  Breanna murmured.

Breanna decided she ought to meet with her pairing to find out what the deal was with this place and under what strange rules it seemed to operate. She tried to catch the attention of a tall passing blonde girl.

"Excuse me." Breanna called out but the girl ignored her.  Breanna got annoyed and grabbed the girl by the arm. "Hey, I said excuse me!"

The blonde stopped, a bland smile on her face. "Oh hi." She said with a dreamy voice. "I'm Samuel's pairing."

"That's great." Breanna replied. "Can you tell me where Summers Hall is?"

"I have to go to class for Samuel." The blonde interrupted and walked off.

Breanna decided to try her luck with a guy. "Hey!" She called to one boy passing by. "Can you tell me…?

"Can't stop." The boy replied brusquely. "I have to get to class for my pairing, Linda."

In moments, the students had gone into the buildings leaving Breanna alone again in the quad.

"Oh great!" Breanna complained. "This place must be run by a cult. I swear, if things don't start getting better, I am so out of here."  She started planning getting arrested and sent to juvy.  Being incarcerated was beginning to seem better than this place.

"Looking for Summers?" A gruff voice called out.

Breanna found a large man, the kind that looked like he might run a motor cycle gang standing nearby, a shovel over his shoulder.  Breanna figured he was the groundskeeper.

"Summers is on the other side of the quad." He said pointing out the dorm to her.

"Thanks." Breanna replied. Since he was more communicative than anyone else she had met here she added. "Hey, what's up with this place? Why is it so weird?"

The groundskeeper shrugged. "All the new kids say that. They end up fitting in just fine."

Breanna wasn't reassured but she headed off for Summers hall.  She figured she would see what her "pairing" was like.  Maybe she could give Breanna the story on this place.  But if things didn't improve then, Breanna was going to take off from this place and not look back.

Things didn't improve on her walk. Something was wrong with the buildings. Their windows were curtained or painted over.  Some buildings didn't have any windows at all.

The hair was up on the back of Breanna neck when she reached Summers Hall, a large and tall tombstone gray building. Like the other buildings, the windows were covered or blackened out. The entrance was two large oaken doors, slightly ajar.

"Let's get this over with." She grumbled and entered the dorm.

It was dark inside with only pale lamps guiding her way into a large hall that with its large plush chairs and low tables must be a common area.  There was no one there now except for a solitary boy, leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on a table, his arms along the armrests and his head lying back as if he was asleep.  Unlike the other kids, he was not dressed in a school uniform but a fitted shirt and jeans and black dress shoes.  His skin was sole pale it seemed luminescent in the dull light from the lamps.  He was wearing dark sunglasses with round lenses.
Breanna decided he was asleep and didn't want to wake him. She cautiously moved across the floor hoping not to disturb him.

"You're o-neg." The boy declared suddenly.  Breana nearly jumped out of her skin.

"O-neg. Sweetest of wines. Nectar of the gods."  The boy was up and walking toward Breanna.  His voice was as menacing as a snake's hiss.  Breanna had no idea what he was talking about but she didn't like it—it couldn't mean anything good, for her anyway.  She tried to keep moving but she was frozen to the spot as if terror and gripped her very being and fused her muscles.  "I can't move.  Oh God, why can't I move!?"

The boy stepped in front of Breanna. He slowly, almost tenderly, brushed away some her long hair which had fallen about her neck.  "O-neg.  As elegant as a silky seductress.  Soft and delicate as a rose petal.  Your first sip of it as unforgettable as your first kiss."  The boy licked his thin bloodless lips.  The lenses of his sunglasses on his face were like empty voids.  His face was the color of the full moon.  He put his hands tightly on her shoulders and leaned forward as if he was going kiss her on the neck.

Breana desperately wanted to push him away and run but the only movement she was capable of was a mousy frightened trembling.  She opened her mouth but no sound came forth despite her effort to scream.  She had dreams like this, frightening dreams.  At least she could wake up from dreams to make them go away.  She had no way to make this boy disappear or stop what he was doing.  She closed her eyes so at least she didn't watch what happened next.

"Master Burke!"  A woman's voice boomed throughout the hall.  Breanna's eyes flew open again.

The boy hesitated for a moment but then returned to his kiss.

"Master Burke!" The voice was closer to Breanna and the boy now.  "This girl is Norihiko Yamashita's pairing."

The boy snarled.  Breanna saw his teeth flash like lightning. He was still not letting her go but his grip about her shoulders was starting to relax.

"It's against the rules to intrude on another's pairing."  The woman was next to them now.  "Violations of the rules can result in suspension, even expulsion."  The woman said each syllable of expulsion slowly and with special emphasis.

The boy pushed Breanna away.  "Yes." He said harshly.  "We must have rules. Rules give us order."  He nearly spat out each word as he stormed off.

Finding she could move again, Breanna relaxed and then gazed at the woman.  She was on the cusp of middle age but her dress was from a different time. S he wore a long green gown with a high-necked collar.  Her thick red hair was rolled into a loose bun at the top of her head. S he might have stepped out of "Anne of Green Gables," a book Breanna had read a long time ago.

"Who was the psycho on the welcome committee?"  She said loud enough that the departing boy might hear her.

The woman sighed. "His name is Lucas Burke and he is one of our most distinguished students."

"Don't tell me."  Breanna grumbled.  "From one of one the school's most distinguished families.

The woman nodded.

Breanna was suddenly curious.  "More distinguished than Norikho Yamashita?"

"Certainly not." The woman said curtly. "I am Miss Maelstrom." The woman said imperiously.  "Governess of Summers Hall.  You are late Breanna."

Breanna flew into a rage. "Look, lady, I just got here. I don't know the place. It took forever to find someone to give me directions. I …"

Miss Maelstrom cut her off.  "There are no excuses for being late.  Follow me.  Your pairing awaits you." She turned and headed toward an exit.

Breanna decided to make Miss Maelstrom the focal point of her frutration with being marooned by her parents at the Hadley School. "You know." She complained as she followed the governess. "School is lame enough without you guys trying to make it any lamer."

"No one as ever complained about our methods. Students are always skeptical at first but they all come to appreciate them. Even enjoy them. You will come to like them before too long." Miss Maestrom responded .

Breanna bristled at the suggestion. "Like hell I will." They started to climb a dimly lit spiral staircase with steps worn from many decades of use. "This place is positively medieval." Breanna complained. "I guess I can forget about wifi. What luxuries do you have here? Toilets? Running water?"

Miss Maelstrom smirked. "The students have all that they need." She said as she led Breanna out into a hall.

For the first time on the campus, Breanna heard sounds she associated with people her own age—chattering, laughing and music playing. There was something different about these noises than those of a normal school. Something was deeply sinister about them as they echoed through the hall. They sounded more like the whispers of dark secrets than anything happy or playful. The voices stopped as the Breanna followed Miss Maelstrom down the hall past dorm room doors. Dark malevolent eyes, glinting in the pale light, peered out at Breanna as she passed.

Breanna began to grow nervous but refused to show it. A young women with black hair streaked with red highlights was leaning against the doorway, staring at her. She was dressed provocatively in a tight black corset and frilly skirt.

"Halloween isn't for a few weeks." Breanna joked at her. The girl only returned a reptilian stare, which seemed to pierce Breanna's flesh and chill her to the bone.

"Jeez, why aren't these kids with the other students I saw outside?" Breanna asked Miss Maelstrom.

"These are our most distinguished students. They have a special curriculum." Miss Maelstrom answered.

"Distinguished?" Breanna mused. "This looks like the goth wing."

Miss Maelstrom stopped at a door with the numbers 316. "Oh, you're spunky." She observed. "You know what I love about the spunky ones? Seeing the change in them after they fit in. Because everyone fits in here. This is Norikho Yamashita's room." Miss Maelstrom turned and walked away.

"Me fit in here? I don't think so." Breanna growled. She knocked on the door. What she saw when the door opened took her breath away.

Norihko was tall, maybe six feet with a slender but muscular physique of that lay exposed from an open shirt. His hair was a tousled mess of short silver locks with long bangs and his narrow eyes were a breathtaking and exotically shade of lavender. His skin was pale, nearly the color of virgin snow, which made his eyes all the more spectacular and mysterious.

"You look surprised." Norihko noted.

"Um, yeah, I was expecting a girl. Don't Japanese girls' names end in ko?"

Norikho smiled. "Most. Mine is a notable exception. Come in Breanna."

Breanna found a comfortable space of wall to lean against while Norihko closed the door and resumed buttoning his shirt. Breana noted by posters on the walls and scattered books that the boy was a fan of manga and anime too.
"Going to school here is suddenly looking better." She told herself.

"What do you think of the Hadley School so far?" Norikho asked.

"Reminds me a little of the Cross Academy in Vampire Knight. Except the day school is full of mindless robots instead of regular students and the night school is made up of maladjusted ugly losers."

Norikho laughed. "I'm a big fan of Vampire Knight. The series is spot on about some things. Has anyone explained pairing to you?"

"Nope. I figure its like we're study buddies right?"

Norkho's expression turned grave. "Sort of. You see, you go to class, study, take exams and write the papers—do all the work—and then communicate everything you've learned to me."

Breanna's jaw dropped and then she shook her head. "Oh I should have known this was too good to be true." She headed for the door.

Norikho reached forward to grab her arm before she could turn the knob.

"Don't go out there. If we're not paired, it will be someone else. Someone worse."

"Someone worse like Lucas Burke, I suppose?"

"You know him?"

"Oh, I've met the nutcase. I'm beginning to see he goes for normal in this place."

"Breanna, you're o-neg. You're a valuable commodity…"

Breanna yanked her arm away. "Did you just call me a commodity?"

Norikho shook his head sadly. "Look, I'm sorry but I am a prisoner of my upbringing…"

Breanna spoke angrily over his apology. "Because I've been called some mean things in my time and commodity would just about top that list.".

"You don't understand!" Norikho implored.

"Oh, I understand. You're crazy! Everyone in this place is crazy!" Brenna yelled as she stormed for the door.

"Breanna!" Norikho said loudly and firmly.

Breanna turned to face him and tell Norikho off one last time. When her glance met his, they seemed to expand to fill her field vision so that she could see nothing else but his beautiful, sad eyes, an exotic purple, which had turned black as pitch, black as oblivion. As much as she tried to look away, her gaze was fixed tightly to his as if there was some gravitational pull sucking her in to it. At first, she was scared but soon a feeling of tranquility crested and crashed upon her, driving off her anger induced adrenaline surge, slowing the thumping of her heart into a restful, regular beat. Her arms fell lazily to her sides. Her eyelids began to droop. She couldn't remember why she was so angry. She couldn't remember why she wanted to leave. It was hard for her to think about anything. All her defiance and bravado vanished. She swayed, breathing softly.

Breana fell deeper into Norihko's eyes. There, she walked amongst old weedy graveyards. There, she saw oceans of bones surrounded by beaches of dust. There, she felt a real palpable sense of death. It was not death as fear or despair but death as incredible, unfathomable majesty, bonded with life to make existence whole, an ordinal in the computation of the meaning of being.

"Breanna." His voice called out to her from beyond the void and she returned to him, floating back to the vessel of her consciousness, which now seemed so small, so frail, so impermanent after all she had just seen and experienced.

"Breanna." He said again. She found herself loving his saying her name. Even though he said it so softly, the sound vibrated through her, delivering tremors of pure ecstasy all over her body.

"Breanna, do you hear me?"

She smiled broadly, "Yes." She let her tongue hang on the s to make a snake like hissing sound.

"Do you understand what I am?"

Breanna fully understood now, in a way more deeply than she ever could have comprehended from her own dreams or the dreams of others. He was a vampire, a physical embodiment of death. He was a being who transformed blood from a dull scientific concept of fluid and cells into a beautiful and glorious living entity, the wine of life, the wine he and his kind drank to live.

All her wonder and fascination of vampires surged through her, making her flush and warm, possessing her like heavy covers against the winter cold coming through an open window. He was the sum of all her questions she wanted to ask of and about the beings, not questions of words but what it would feel like to offer her life to be tasted and savored.

She did not answer his question, but swept her long and thick hair back from her face and tilted her head to expose the soft pale skin of her neck as if preparing an alter for sacrifice.

Breanna felt his presence begin to envelope her as he moved closer. His touch sent jolts of electricity surging through her. She smiled a sigh as he felt her lips draw closer. She felt no breath from his mouth but the power he exuded was far more seductive. Even though his body was cold, own felt it was burning like a beacon.

Norihko's mouth fell gently but quickly.

Breanna gasped as she felt the pain and sting of two pin-pricks pierce her neck. In that instant, she felt as if her body was melting into a hot liquid. She was flowing into him with each suck of her life's blood. Her inner light was becoming surrounded encompassed, overwhelmed by his darkness. She gave herself to him and as she did she sensed his past and all that had made him. She saw him and his forbears throughout time, existing before samurais, ninjas, shoguns and emperors, always with humanity and living from it without ever fully being a part of it.

While he merged with her, so too did she with him. All her past, her hopes and dreams, trials and travails, were flowing into him, making him an impossible witness to her life as if he had been with her always as an essential part of herself that she had never realized. Somehow, she could sense that this feeling was more delicious to him than the blood that he drank, that she had a lived life that he craved, a normal one that he could never have but he could somehow enjoy through the bond they now shared.

As they were linked in this unholy union of feeder and food, she could fell herself becoming smaller as she drained into him. She felt her flame begin to flicker. Strangely, this was so wonderful a moment for her, like the most soulful of kisses, that she did not have any care for what might happen if her light went out. She could disappear into him completely, pass from the earth for this sensation and this experience would have been worth it.

Norihkho let go and licked the bite marks he had left on her neck's skin Breanna stared vacantly ahead. The vampire had taken more than her life, he had also taken her will. She had sampled to glory of his dark power had reveled in it and had been consumed by it. What was she compared to this force? Her reason could not fathom a place for her except by his side.

But Norihko had not just taken, he had given something to her as well. She realized his merging with and feeding her and imprinted her with a her new sense of purpose for her. She had beliefs, instructions, knowledge that had been given to her and she embraced them all as if they had been her life's credo all along..

She understood now that vampires learned the same way that they fed—from human hosts. As Norihko's pairing, she would go to class, study, take exams and write the papers—do all the work—and then communicate everything she had learned when he fed from her and they merged.

She understood that as Norihko's pairing, she was his representative, emissary and servant. All her success would redound to him. All her failures would tarnish him and she cringed with terror about how bad she would feel if she allowed that to happen.

She knew he was from one of the oldest families of vampire, that he was of royal blood and that he would one day take his place on their highest leadership councils. That was why she had been selected for him. Because she was young and pure but more importantly because she was of the o negative blood type, the most delicious to vampires. Because his family was on the pinnacle of the vampire hierarchy, he was obtained the best pickings.

She knew he had a secret. She knew that he didn't want this for her. She knew that he wanted to be her friend and learn the way humans do. She knew he couldn't do this. That he would get in trouble and she would be taken away and paired with someone else. Someone who would truly use her as an object.

She understood the layout of the school, what classes she was taking and what buildings they were in.

She knew it was time to get to work.

"Master Norihko." She said bowing as the human pairings were supposed to do to their vampire owners and left the room.

Breanna passed down the dorm hall again but now in full knowledge that vampires lived here. She also walked in full knowledge of her place, she served a vampire as a pairings and as a pairing offered only respect to his vampire brethren. She did not look at them as she passed and kept her head bowed.

Breanna only paused before the vampire girl in the corset and the frilly skirt. She kept her head low and told her, "I was rude, mistress. I disrespected you and dishonored my pairing. I beg your forgiveness, mistress."

The vampire girl turned up her nose and waved her hand, wordlessly dismissing Breanna.

Breanna knew instinctively where Miss Maelstrom's office was and headed there. She knew that Miss Maelstrom was human like her but was one of those rare humans to whom the vampires entrusted their affairs. As such she was to be accorded respect. When she presented herself before the Governess, she bowed her head and asked for foregiveness. "I behaved badly before, miss. I disrespected you and dishonored my pairing. Please forgive me, miss." She sobbed.

"Not so spunky now, are we?" Miss Maelstrom chided. "Didn't I tell you you'd fit right in?"

"Yes, miss." Breanna felt so foolish for ever disbelieving her. "You were totally right. I was totally wrong." She said abjectly.

"Very well." Miss Maelstrom told her. "Lets get you properly dressed. We can't have you embarrassing your pairing going around in those jeans and that shirt. Master Norikho is such a fan of Vampire Knight. Oh, I think I have just the thing."

Miss Maelstrom presented Breanna with some clothes and directed her to a place to change.

After she had undressed and redressed Breanna looked at herself in her new school uniform. It was a white, collared, button-down shirt and a black pleated mini skirt. Over her shirt she wore a cuffed black jacket with decorative white trim over which she had a long red tie, knotted in a bow, in front. She walked in thigh high black socks and short brown lace up ankle boots. It was designed to be the same outfit Vampire Knight's Yuki Cross wore.

"Excellent. You look great. You're a credit to Master Norihko." Miss Maestrom observed. Breanna squealed with glee.

Breanna left to begin her schoolwork. Like the other vampire pairings, she did her best to be the best student on campus. All the classes were like a teacher's ultimate dream. Breanna and the other students paid rapt attention to lectures, whether the subject was science, math or English. Breanna competed with the other students for the teachers' approval. Her hand shot up to answer the questions she could answer or to make smart observations to impress them.

When Breanna was out of class she studied and read and practiced for her exams. Her conversations with other students revolved completely around schoolwork and none of the other topics kids her age discussed. She allotted no time for anything else, not even calling her parents.

In the evenings, she attended Norihko and offered herself as food for sustenance of the body and the mind. The rush she experienced as he broke her skin and drank her blood was as intense as the first. If she had any passing thoughts besides her studies it was these moments when she would be alone with her pairing, his and his totally, giving him her life.

This was her routine and she settled into it as if it was a most natural rhythm.

One day Breanna was rushing for class when a new arrival interrupted her. "Hey excuse me, I am supposed to go to Deacon Hall to meet my pairing, whatever that is." He asked.

The handsome boy was the kind Breanna might have taken a good look at before she came to the Hadley School. Now he was just an annoyance. He was keeping her from getting to class on time. Breanna knew there were no excuses for being late. And being late would make her look bad. Much worse, it would make her pairing look bad.  She couldn't let that happen.

"I have to get to class for Norihko." She said abruptly and in her mind that explained everything.

Breanna rushed off to class leaving the boy alone on the quad with no idea about what to do and where to go. Breanna knew he would find out somehow and fit in just as she did. Everybody did around here, eventually.