Willow Springs

Chapter 12

The next day was our first full day of school, but I wasn't as worried as the previous day. I knew a little of what to expect and it calmed my bad nerves a little, but not enough to stop the butterflies flapping their wings with force in my stomach once again. I woke before Barnett, so was first to get dressed, finishing off with my colourful striped tie, five colours in all, one to represent each of the supernatural groups in the school. I just finished tying it as Barnett woke up, quickly decided between us that I would wait for him to get dressed before I headed down for breakfast. That if Harnard was waiting he would have been less likely to do something. Lucky for me he wasn't, and I was a little surprised to see we were almost the first down. The few fellow students that were down I didn't know who they were, I hadn't really bothered talking to people outside my friendship group yet and didn't think I would. I expected to see Aurora waiting at what was becoming our usual table but neither she nor Bridget was anywhere in sight. She was always ready before I was but for some reason not to this day.

Breakfast was getting ready to be dished up and the smells of cooked bacon and eggs were strong in the air and were tempting to get our food before our female friends joined us, but we didn't. We had an agreement to always eat together so we waited. Lisa was the first to join us, she almost bounced into the room with a huge smile on her face. She had her fiery red hair tied back in a single French plait reaching low down her back. She looked to be daydreaming and I didn't even notice her look at us as she pulled a chair out at the end of the table and sat down quickly. She smiled at me and flattened out her skirt, part of the school uniform for female students. I was about to greet her when Aurora and Bridget joined us. We talked between us as we went to get our food. There was a strange piece of food I had never seen before that morning, it looked like a sausage but what black, almost like the colour of tar. I could smell it wasn't meat but did smell familiar. I must have looked at it longer than I thought because Lisa was quick to explain what it was.

"That's black pudding." She said, putting two of them on her plate with the rest of her breakfast, which I noticed was only meat; bacon and sausage before she explained. "It's made from animals blood and fat, it's very scummy. The blood helps us get stronger, kind of like a mushroom in Mario but better. Human blood works even better." Lisa paused and signalled me to move closer before she whispered. "But you can't get that here very easy. They don't like us having it, but I have a special bottle my dad gave me when I got here. You must try it sometime, it's such an amazing feeling. I like it with coke, it's kind of a family thing." With that said she quickly put some toast on her plate and bounced back to our table.

Before that day the idea of eating or drinking blood kind of disgusted me, but the way Lisa described it made me want to try. I put two of the black pudding sausages on my plate with the rest of my food and sat down next to Barnett. I cut into the sausage and was intrigued immediately by the smell and colour. I took a bite and found the taste to be one of the most amazing things I had ever tasted. But what got me was the feeling of being full of more energy than I had ever felt. My muscles felt stronger than ever and I felt like I could run for miles, this must-have had been what Lisa meant. I had no clue why I had never eaten black pudding before. I learned later from my father it was a normal response for our kind and vampires to feel that way after consuming blood. I knew though from that day on it would be on my plate every time it was offered to me.

"See I told you it was good," Lisa said between taking bites.

"You told him what was good?" Barnett butted in before I had the chance to reply.

"Black pudding, it's one of my favourites. Richard didn't know what it was."

"Oh yeah it's not as good as human blood, but still is good. Richard, I can't believe you have never tried it."