Enid was in the midst of reliving the feeling of her fangs tearing into the throat of her first victim last night. His blood pouring over her lips and onto her tongue. The rush as his blood then soul made her feel like a goddess of death. She had missed it. The future’s care bear version of vampires drinking synthetic flavored blood it was almost absurd after the night she had. Why would she give up the rush? Sure, the synthetic blood nourished her, but it lacked the emotions she could taste in it. Like eating the cardboard box instead of the cereal. She was very close to an actual orgasm by the time someone interrupted her, and she had her hands nowhere near herself. She felt flush in the cheeks and definitely damp underwear. She blinked a few times and took a deep breath to bring her back to the present. A chubby forty-something woman was looking down at her. She had kind blue eyes and greying blonde hair. She was wearing a nun’s habit without the hat.

“Hello Anna, I’m Sister Constance. I am the principle here, thank you for waiting so patiently. If you would join me in my office. Your educational history is unique, as well as your personal situation. I want to make sure we do everything to empower and support you in this trying time.”

Enid stood up and followed the sister to her office. The sister reminded her of many of the women Maria had lived with in Edmonton. Sister Constance motioned to a chair in front of her desk and closed her office door. The principle started talking Enid was trying to pay attention but with the blinds closed and the door shut there was a distinct lack of light in the office and all she could really focus on was the sound of the sister’s blood rushing through her body. She licked her teeth and fought against the urge to feed. The sister had finished talking and was looking at Enid expectantly. Enid had caught something about Ukraine and her lack of school records. The sister spoke again.

“Do you understand English?”

Enid blinked a few times, tried to find a Ukrainian accent in herself but when she spoke, she sounded like a mishmash of Slavic accented English.

“I do, I am sorry Sister Constance.”

The sister looked quite relieved.

“Excellent. I do not know much of the education system there, or as it was before… the unfortunate circumstances that are currently being experienced there, but I have heard some concerning things.”

“Yes, it is often easier to buy a grade then get one.”

The sister frowned.

“That is not how things work here. You need to work for your marks. With no transfer records I am not sure where you stand. You’re seventeen already and there are a certain number of credits the government would like you to acquire before you graduate. With no history we cannot grant them.”

Enid knew that would be a problem, not that it mattered she had no plans on staying here any time past when the drone was recovered.

“I was thinking, I would take my grade twelve courses because I am only seventeen the family I am living with wants me to go to school, I will do this, then I take this GED that you have.”

The sister smiled.

“I see that you have done your research. Excellent.”

“Now on the matter of your religion. I understand you are Catholic?”

Enid nodded.

“We usually request a baptism certificate, but I understand for you this is challenging, so it will not be necessary to provide one.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, thank you for coming in early this morning to speak to me. Your first class is starting in ten minutes. Welcome to the school. If you need any support, we are here for you.”

Enid stood up and picked up her school bag. She looked at her schedule and headed to her first class. She took the long way to scan a bigger portion of the school. She was disappointed to see the read outs scrolling across her HUD indicating the same thing as Apollo’s more sophisticated but less fine sensors. It was here but she could not lock it down. She started walking towards a seat in the back of the room because she just planned on ignoring the teacher but as she did, she heard the man clear her throat and she looked back. The teacher was pointing at a desk in the front. She sighed and walked back towards it. She looked down at her uniform and internally all she could think was a man must have set this policy in place in the fifties or something. A kilt, knee high socks. On a high school student. A pedophile’s dream. She pulled a random notebook and pen out of her pack’s extradimensional space and opened it. She didn’t even care which one it was. She noticed it was her senior year operating system development class book. She moved to a fresh page and looked up at the instructor. He was a younger looking teacher who was somewhat decently attractive if you went for the glasses wearing granola eating healthy type which was most definitely not her type. They didn’t make them in her type anymore. Viking warlords were hard to come by these days.

She spent the class tuning out the teacher who mercifully did not do the pull the new kid up and embarrass them by making them introduce themselves. Enid was happy to do what she needed to do with minimal social contact. She felt like she was dying inside having to sit through a high school class again, but this way was better. No breaking and entering. No authorities. A little bit of patience was all she needed. She did her best to walk the whole school during the day, especially on her lunch which she spent walking along the sides of the halls while eating an unheated MRE. Not the best tasting food especially now that she had recently tasted ambrosia again. She was about to start her next pass along the inside lockers of the outer ring of the school. When someone called out her false identity’s name. She looked around to find the source and coughed on her lunch. It was a fifteen-year-old version of Violet. Shit! It occurred to her finding out where her future adoptive daughter might be going to school would have been some good intel to have. Violet had a pad and a pen out.

“Anna I’m so glad I caught you before the end of lunch. I was hoping to get an interview for this weeks school paper… do you have time.”

Enid was mid bite of her lunch she chewed and swallowed she was thankful for the brief respite so her brain could go past the oh fuck I’ve just screwed up my timeline moment. She shook her head. Violet looked disappointed.

“Please? Editor said if I can get you to talk to me, I’m on the newspaper.”

Enid tried to remember Violet’s stories about the school newspaper, but it was so long ago and if she was being honest she wasn’t really focused on Violet’s high school journalism career the world was about to end and all that. Violet would clock her lies right away. She had the same gift as Enid. She could always be honest with her if not completely honest with her. Violet was a nosy little thing when she was a teenager she remembered that much. She might to be able to help her find the drone. Enid kept with her attempt at a Ukrainian accent.

“I’m nobody.”

“Are you kidding? You escaped a warzone. You should share your story. I bet you had some near-death experiences. Russian atrocities. We could get the word out.”

“My story isn’t like that.”

Violet looked disappointed.

“Write whatever you want, I’ll back up you.”

Violet frowned.

“That would be… counter to everything journalism stands for.”

Enid shrugged.

“The Russians do it all the time.”

Violet shook her head.

“No, I print the truth or I print nothing.”

Enid frowned, she grabbed Violet and dragged her into one of the girl’s bathrooms which had those high frosted windows but still had sunlight streaming in. No help there. She frowned again. Violet was watching her. She dropped the accent and fell back to her normal English which sounded like a strange hybrid of all the British Isles accents in a mish mash.

“I’m not who you think I am. I here on a mission. So don’t write anything about me. It will never be published even in your school newspaper. Trust me.”

Violet’s eyes went wide and she blinked at the sudden change of accent.

“You’re British!”

“No, I’m not. Look Violet I can’t lie to you, but I also can’t tell you the truth. So, we’re at an impasse. You’re nosy to a fault and I’m stubborn as a mule.”

Her pad and pen went into her school bag, and she leaned against one of the sinks as she stared at Enid.

“You’re not right. You shouldn’t be here.”

Enid threw up her hands and cursed the gift she shared with her future granddaughter? She had always called Enid mom three. So Enid had no idea how to classify their relationship besides she’d helped teach the girl how to be a vampire’s vampire.

“I know you. I don’t know from where…your hair is the wrong color. I had dreams.”

“Yea, yea. I know. Look I’m here looking for a device, its metallic blue with four silver disks on the edges. Looks futuristic. Have you seen or heard anything about that?”

Violet started to shake her head then she snapped her fingers.

“The art geeks were talking about something big. They were trying to talk the editor into an article. The editor told them to buzz off. She’s kind of a big B. I mean she’s a cheerleader too trying to make herself look better on her US college applicati-”

Enid cut her off. Violet could go off on random tangents for hours.

“Let’s circle back to the art geeks, who are they and do you know where they’re hiding it?”

Violet blinked at Enid.

“I suppose in the art computer room. They have this super expensive gaming computer that they use for ‘graphic design’ and 3d modeling I bet they’re just looking at porn or gaming. I mean when I say art nerds, I really mean computer nerds. I mean what if someone else wants to use it to game? They’re always hogging it at lunch, who does that?”

Enid frowned slightly. Violet at fifteen was extremely scatter-brained. But she had given her an idea.

“Violet, I know you’re a computer nerd too, did they ever invite you?”

“Yes, but eew. They don’t know how to bathe. Personally, hygiene is not their thing.”

“And that exotic European man could trip into your life at any minute, right?”

Violet narrowed her eyes.

“Are you some sort of telepath?”

“No. Look.”

Enid reached into her pack and pulled out one of the burner phones she’d bought when she was escorting her biological father to Edmonton. It was a five-generation bump from the current phones.

“I’ll get you on the school newspaper, without a story about Anna, and in exchange you’ll get in good with the art geeks. Tell them you want to see the thing they wanted to write a story about. And in exchange you can show them this leaked Android phone.”

She showed the phone to Violet who looked at it and its body that could be bent into a wrist band.

“This… this is barely being tested. I read about it.”

“Yea, like you said I don’t belong here, and that device they have really doesn’t belong here. I need to retrieve it. And since they already know you… that’s my in. What do you say?”

“Can I trust you?”

Enid looked at her.

“Have I lied to you?”

“No.”

“Have I told you any half-truths?”

“Not a single one.”

“So, when I say if I do not get this back, it will be really had for billions of people, do you understand the gravity of the situation?”

“I understand but how are you going to get me on the school newspaper? Alexis is a dictator and I’m not part of her crowd? I’m only a grade 10.”

“I’m going to look into her eyes and make her think it was her idea.”

Violet blinked at Enid.

“Now, Violet, are there any bathrooms without windows?”

“Only the girls and boys change rooms.”

“And you said she’s a cheerleader?”

Violet nodded.

“Great. So, I’ll deal with that you go deal with getting me access to my sister’s drone. Do we have a gentlewoman’s agreement?”

Violet nodded. Enid smiled put her hands on Violet’s shoulders and turned her towards the door.

“Excellent, go practice those undercover journalist skills.”

Violet looked down at the android phone and then back at Enid trying to figure out if she’d just been fast talked or not. She shook her head and left the girl’s bathroom. Enid left a few minutes later after she relieved herself. Her next stop was the announcement board. Cheerleader tryouts were today.

“Perfect.”

She heard her phone vibrating she picked it up. She almost answered with her normal accent but realized people were nearby so she went with her shitty Ukrainian accent.

“Hello?”

“Mom? Why do you sound like every crappy American actor trying to play a Russian?”

“Because I’m at school. What do you need?”

“How long are we doing to be here?”

“Well, I have help now, so, end of the day, or possibly tomorrow night.”

“Umm, could we stay a little longer?”

“How much longer?”

“Umm… let me check.”

Enid blinked a few times.

“Uh 362 hours and a bit?”

Enid almost lost her accent because she was so confused by the random number her daughter spit out.

“Why?”

“Eh… I just have some things on the go.”

Enid did a quick calculation in her head.

“That’s like fourteen days Hazel.”

“Oh, I guess it is.”

Enid switched to Russian. She doubted anyone at the school would understand or be figure out it’s not Ukrainian.

“I said I wanted to be gone by the twentieth.”

“Please mom? I’ll love you forever.”

Enid frowned.

“You will already love me forever, I’m your mother.”

“Uh… Please?”

“Fine. Two weeks but no more.”

“Yes! I told you she’d say yes!”

Enid heard Sariel say something in the background but lost it in the bustle of students going to their classes.

“Don’t tell me what you’re up to, I’m sure I don’t want to know. I need to get to class.”

“Bye mom! Thanks! Have fun!”

Enid pressed the disconnect button on her phone and realized how much easier it was to just use the translator. Less work then putting a phone to your ear. She shrugged and put her phone in her pack’s mundane compartment and went to her next class, she was so looking forward to it. Religion. When the teacher wrote the discussion prompt for the day on the board, she wanted to smash her face into the desk repeatedly. ‘Why is chastity important in relationships?’

Enid tried her best to not get involved on the conversation. The only time she was ever chaste was when she was struggling to overcome her childhood trauma and that had nothing to do with God or relationships. She was just too screwed up to allow herself to be intimate with anyone. When the teacher asked her what she thought she just shrugged and shook her head. The teacher looked disappointed, but Enid wasn’t trying to impress anyone with her participation, she also doubted he wanted to hear her actual opinion on chastity. She managed to survive the class without mouthing off.

She heard a girl cursing in Russian and she looked around to see three girls coming towards her. She sighed. This was something she hadn’t expected. She knew there were Russian refugees too. The accidental nuclear launch and subsequent misfire had irradiated St Petersburg. Russia’s economy was in such shambles after that people had left in droves. It was widely believed that Ukrainian sympathizers, or neo-Nazis from the west had launched it. North Korea said it was a plot by the US and that is why they launched their one ICBM to avenge their Russian brothers. Needless to say the animosity had spilled over to the rest of the world. One of the girls spit at Enid who avoided it. Mostly out of habit. The girl spoke in Russian to her friends.

“You are so pathetic. Just like the rest of your people.”

Enid frowned at her, she replied in Russian, she let every bit of her age, her callous disregard for the lives of bully’s, and if she was honest seventy percent of the human race ooze into her posture and voice.

“If you don’t turn around and take your friends with you, I’m going to stuff my pen up your nose and ram it into your brain. Then I’m going to stab it into her ear. Then I’m going to put it through her carotid artery. Because much like the rest of my people, I don’t like bullies who stick their giant Russian pricks in places they don’t belong.”

Enid waved her pen at them. They retreated rapidly. Enid would have been impressed with her intimidation skills, but she was really hoping they’d press the issue. She sighed. She didn’t have anything against Russians per se, she just didn’t want to be bothered by them or anyone. She took the long way to her last class to go near the art rooms but still couldn’t get an exact reading on the location of the drone. She sighed. She would have to depend on Violet. Her last class was English and a discussion on a short story she had read several times. Not that she took part in the discussion. After class she went to the girls changing room. She had no intention of trying out of the cheerleading squad she just wanted to find this Alexis to mess with her brain. How she had missed just being able to tell people what to do instead of having to figure out a way to manipulate them through social engineering. She asked around and was told Alexis was in the bathroom. She found the fabled Alexis staring into a mirror looking at her lip gloss. Enid hadn’t bothered to find a picture of her but she could have picked her out of a line up. She looked like an Alexis. Enid walked up to her and stood beside her. The taller girl turned to Enid with a disdainful glance.

“What do you want?”

Enid smiled at her as she met the teenager’s gaze.

“Alexis, you’re going to let Violet join the newspaper. You’re going to give her the best stories to write and pretty much let her do whatever she wants.”

Alexis was nodding along. Enid had also heard rumors about Alexis’s attitude, and she was fully truthful when she said she didn’t like bullies earlier. So, she grinned wickedly and did something she probably shouldn’t have.

“Also, every time you insult someone, or bully them online your ass is going to grow. The only way you can get it to shrink is to make things right. You’ve been doing it so much right now when you look the mirror it looks like it should have a wide load sticker on it. You’re going to forget you saw me and in a ten count you’ll go on about your tryouts.”

Enid walked out of the bathroom. She was almost out of the change room when she heard a blood curdling scream from the bathroom. She smiled to herself and pondered if the ass thing was necessary. She decided it probably wasn’t but it sure was fun. She saw Violet ass he was leaving the locker room. She looked at Enid.

“I heard someone screaming what did you do?”

“Nothing that wasn’t deserved. Once Alexis recovers she’ll be telling you’re on the newspaper.”

Violet looked between Enid and the changeroom door. She walked past Enid into the washroom. Enid shook her head, leaned up against a bank of lockers and crossed her arms. Violet came back out a few minutes later and looked at Enid.

“There isn’t a mark on her.”

“I didn’t torture her, at least physically. Anyway, you get anywhere?”

“Yes. They think it is some sort of long-range Russian spy drone.”

“Surprisingly accurate, except for the Russian part, though some of it was built in Russia. Yes they notice Cyrillic on one of the parts. It this this little silver ball.”

Enid blinked at her.

“They took it apart?”

“Yes.”

“Idiots. That’s a fusion reactor.”

Violet blinked at her. Enid shook her head and waved her hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it, it only matters if you’re going to have children.”

Violet blinked at her again.

“What?”

“Just never mind, it will not impact you in the least. So, can you get me in to see it?”

“Yes. I told them I know someone who can read Russian.”

“That’s a bold guess.”

“Well, I heard you telling off the Russian girls that started here, in Russian so…I assumed.”

“Did you understand what I said?”

“No but I really don’t want to know, just based on how pale they got.”

Enid shrugged.

“Alright let’s go.”

Violet led Enid to one of the art classrooms and into a backroom, then another back office. Her future daughter was quite right the three teenage boys in the room could definitely use some education in personal hygiene. The fact she now had her full vampiric senses did not help beyond the fact she could just decide not to breath. Though she would if she wanted to keep talking. She looked Violet in the eyes.

“Thank you for the help, Violet. You’re going to forget we met and about the drone. You’re going to leave here and go home. Tomorrow you’ll head to the school paper office at lunch because you know Alexis is going to let you into the club. You will remember this whole situation when you come to Eyre’s penthouse for Christmas and meet Miko for the first time. Go now.”

Violet nodded and walked out of the room. The three teenage boys were staring at her. Enid turned the door and pulled it shut and turned the lock. She turned to the three boys again not bothering with her fake accent.

“Hello boys. You’ve taken something that doesn’t belong to you, and you pulled it apart. What are going to do about that?”

One of them squeaked and dropped a wrench.

“Are you going to torture and kill us?”

Enid grinned showing her fangs.

“I might eat you. But I don’t think torture will come into it.”

One of them tried to run for the door and she lifted her hand and flung him back against the wall with her telekinesis and not hard enough for permanent damage, but it would sting. His glasses skidded along the floor.

“Well, that was an unfortunate choice.”

“She’s an alien!”

One picked up his phone and she reached out her hand and tapped the jammer option for her holo-phone. He kept trying to dial 911. It kept failing.

“So. Please put all the pieces right there.”

She pointed to a place on the worktable they had it scattered across. Her contacts helpfully identified each and every piece of it. She picked up the fusion core and waved it at the kids.

“Do you want to know what this is?”

One of the boys nodded, he was the only one who hadn’t tried to call someone, or run away and seemed well absorbed by Enid.

“It is a microscopic sun. If you were to open it, you’d see a pin prick of light that is burning at fifteen million kelvins. It would briefly be visible before the reaction faded away. If this core is not in its proper housing.”

She picked up another sheath for it.

“It gives off cosmic radiation. I hope you lot didn’t want children.”

She placed the sheath back on it and the liquid metal stitched itself together. She pulled a plastic shopping bag out of her pack and started putting the parts into it. The three teenagers watched her apprehensively. The curious one spoke.

“What are you?”

“I’m a vampire from the 29th century. I’m here to collect my sister’s property.”

“Are you going to take us with you?”

Enid laughed.

“Sorry no. You will stay here. Now, being from the 29th century I happen to have a radiation cure. It won’t fix the damage already done but it will purge the radioactive particles you have breathed in from your system. It’s a bacterium that eats it. Then it dies off. I have another one that can repair your cellular damage. So, I have two doses of each. The first two to prove to me they have wiped all data you’ve collected about this drone get the injections. The last one dies of cancer in six months to a year.”

Before she finished the last sentence, they were madly scrambling to remove all traces of the drone. She had lied of course, she had twenty doses of each, and she could have just mind controlled them into doing it, but she was fairly sure this would get it done quicker. The first to finish was the one she had tossed. He showed her his phone and his laptop, along with his cloud storage.

“Are you sure you got ever last trace of it?”

“Yes.”

Enid felt the truth from him, so she pulled an injector and a vial of the radiation cure. She pressed it to his neck and with a hiss the vial was empty. She did the same with a vial of the adaptive gene therapy that would adapt its viral load to match his genetic make up and would infect his unhealthy cells with healthy, non-destroyed DNA. He went to leave, and Enid shook her head. He stumbled backwards afraid of being tossed again. She did the same for the next one. The curious one was last, and when she asked him if that was everything he said yes, but she knew it was a lie. She wiped the other two’s memories of the device and the events that had just occurred and sent them on their way home. The last she crossed her arms and gave him her best disappointed mom face.

“You lied to me. You still have some pictures and data stored about this drone. I don’t like being lied too. I lied to you too. I have another dose of both, but apparently you want to die a painful death. You know your going to start to bleed randomly soon. Your hair will fall out. Its not a pretty way to go.”

He swallowed with a big gulp but shook his head. She took his phone from him and found several pictures of her from throughout the day.

“So, you’ve deleted all the data about it, but you don’t want to lose the pictures of me?”

He blushed profusely and nodded.

“First off, taking pictures of a girl like that is super creepy. Just so I’ve made that clear. Second, you will not remember ever seeing or meeting me so delete every picture of me you have so I can give you these injections and go find out what the hell my daughter is up too.”

He blinked at her.

“Oh, yea, I’m about two thousand years old. And I have like, four living children. So, I am totally out of your age range. I like my men six foot tall and hairy. You are neither of those things and you never will be so there is no chance. Just delete the god damned pictures. And never take pictures of a girl or woman who isn’t a willing subject again! It’s disturbing. In fact, delete all the creepy pictures you’ve taken of girls.”

She waited while he went through his phone, laptop, the art computer and two cloud storages. He finally finished and looked up at her like she’d kicked his puppy to death.

“Is that all of the pictures?”

“Yes.”

She was happy to feel the truth in his one-word answer. She injected him with both medications. He looked at her she met is gaze and damned if she realized she couldn’t wipe his mind. Little bastard. She closed her eyes slowly and opened them. She didn’t want to kill him. She realized he might just be an awkward teenage boy who didn’t know how to process his feelings. She leaned forward.

“I am going to let you remember me. So, you remember to never, ever take photos like that again.”

She heard the door creak open and glanced back to see one of the teachers looking at the pair. The sun was streaming through the doorway and Enid felt her mortality return. The teacher was female and younger looking.

“Take photos like what again? I don’t recognize you, so you must be new here, we don’t threaten people here, we don’t tell people they can’t be creative.”

Enid looked at her and blinked. She realized she hadn’t locked the door after the other two teenage boys had left.

“He was taking pictures of girls who didn’t know he was. Its creepy and one of them showed my underwear. Even you, ma’am. How is that okay? It’s completely inappropriate.”

The teacher looked at the boy who now had tears on his cheeks. He gulped to try and breath.

“Is this true?”

Enid pulled showed him the pistol grip of the gun from behind the teacher. He nodded fervently.

“Thomas, that is disrespectful and wholly inappropriate. I’ll need you phone.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I made him delete all of the pictures from everywhere. I wasn’t thinking I was just so angry.”

The teacher nodded.

“Thomas go to the office now.”

The teacher turned to Enid.

“What is your name?”

“Anna, Anna Kosh.”

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I’m sure Sister Constance will want to speak to you about this.”

“Oh, I’m not sure I want to do that. I’m new I don’t want to make waves.”

Enid backed up towards the door and leaned against it and it closed. The teacher was still watching Enid. As their eyes met Enid took hold of her mind.

“You caught Thomas in here looking at his collection alone. You were so furious at seeing your picture on there with your underwear showing that you made him delete everything everywhere. You’re going to go to the office and tell Sister Constance about this. You are going to say perhaps he needs to be evaluated for some form of mental disability. Plead his case. You never saw me or spoke to me. If I ever seem familiar it will be because you recognized me from one of his photos. Go to the principle’s office now.”

The teacher nodded. Enid got out of her way and decided now was a good time to get out of the school and leave this whole situation behind her. So she did just that, she had no real plan on next steps. Landing Apollo in the middle of the day even cloaked had worked before but she decided it was best to just wait for nightfall so she spent the rest of the daylight hours grabbing a meal and wandering the streets of Toronto.