Ophelia

Chapter 29

After the holidays, I almost didn't want to return to campus. I had gotten used to the peace and love and of course the good food that I was lacking back at university. My mom and aunts of course hammered me for information on "the mysterious vampire" that was outside on Christmas Eve. My uncle's, brother and father just grumbled in the living room about it. I also had the extra help of a handful of witches and a pack of werewolves to try and unpack some more information on the rabids. I was bringing Frankie and Elliot back with me but the extra support at home was nice.

With the next semester starting, I thought it was best to not overwhelm myself with classes while trying to figure everything else out. I was taking fewer classes but once the rabids were taken care of I'd be free to make up whatever I lost. There was more security around campus now too. Some were sent by the police department after the murder of the old psych professor and some were actually sent by Benjamin, who I hadn't seen since the little surprise Eliza and Elliot planned.

I sat at the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of fruit. I had just gotten out of the shower. My hair was wet and I was wearing nothing but a giant T-shirt. A knock at the door startled me, but I got up to open it. Benjamin.

"Um... Hi?" I said. "Can I help you?"

He glanced me over, straightening his back but held no emotion in his eyes. "Elizabeth said you needed a test subject."

"What?"

"She said you needed vampire blood to test different interactions with the Rabid blood. She volunteered me." He scanned the clean apartment, noticing the tv on and the food on the counter. "What are you watching?"

My face tinged pink as the commercial break ended and cut back to the show. "I... uh..."

Before could spew an answer, he bellowed a laugh. "Vampire Diaries? Really?" I glared up at him before sliding to the remote to turn it off. "Are you a Damon or Stefan girl?" Benjamin asked with a smirk.

"The fact that you are even sparking that conversation is amusing," I shot him another glare while he imitated Damon's eye expressions at me. "I'm more of a Klaus fan anyways."

His lip curled, "The psychotic dinosaur with daddy issues?" He watched me as I clicked the screen off and moved to put my food away. "I'm more of a Stefan guy, but Damon is more fun."

"Yeah, that checks out," I said under my breath, knowing that he would hear me either way. "So I'm going to need you to put some blood on a dish—"
Before I could finish, I heard a puncturing sound. I spun to face Benjamin, who had bitten down on his hand. Blood began to spill from the wound.

"Oh my gods! No!" I grabbed the nearest kitchen towel and ran to him, taking him by the wrist and pulling him towards me. "Why would you do that to yourself? I needed a drop in a Petri dish, not enough to cover a dinner plate!" I began wrapping the towel around his hand, soaking up the blood as i put pressure on it.

Benjamin's eyes were wider than saucers. He seemed absolutely perplexed at what I was doing. I looked up into his eyes. He was confused but his gaze softened on me. "I'll heal."

I narrowed my eyes at him, putting both my hands around his bleeding one and sending a burst of energy into him. He hissed and tried to pull away but I held my ground and took the towel off. "Already done," I said and left him go. He looked to his hand, noticing yeh bite was gone.

Still holding the towel, I walked towards my office where I had a table of equipment set up. "I thought you were studying psychology?" Benjamin followed. I nodded, beginning to squeeze a tiny bit of his blood into the small dishes. "Then what's with the mad scientist gear?"

I huffed, "Psychology is technically a science, you know." He rolled his eyes. "Science is a lot like magic in a way. It's just more controlled and less..."

"Magical?" He offered.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "So I'm using human science practice to study magical. Best of both worlds."

He watched as I put aside the controlled specimen to the side and pulled out the vile of Rabid blood. "So how long have you practiced...witchcraft? Wizardry?"

I gave him a side glance. "Since I was in the womb, I'm told. And I'm not a student at Hogwarts. I may do magic but... ya know."

"Right..." He pursed his lips, staring as he got lost in thought. "Are you immortal?"

I choked. "What? No!"

Benjamin shrugged, "You're a goddess—"

"I'm a descendant of a goddess. I am a hybrid of sorts. Cursed. Gifted. Whatever you want to call it." I rolled my eyes. "I was born to werewolves. My mother was saved by a goddess, who made a bargain with her. In return for saving her, my mother basically had to be a metaphysical surrogate. I'm the reborn original lycanthrope and daughter of the moon."

He stayed silent for a moment. "So you can die?"

I dripped some of the Rabid blood into a dish with Benjamin's blood and swirled it around. "Yes." Staring down at the mixture, I watched as the specimen clot together and turned black. I turned to look at Ben. "Though if you're planning on killing me, it'll be very hard to do." I gave him a mocking grin but he didn't return it.

"You're spending your mortal life doing things that could kill you to protect others?" He asked. "Vampires and humans alike. You're putting your life and future at risk to put an end to whatever's happening, for us? People you don't know. Creatures that are known as killers."

"Yes," I stepped away from the experiment. "If I don't, who will?"