Grace Clairmont's Story

Grace picked up her bag and brought it into the room with her. She glanced around the room as she entered. It was definitely spacious enough for two. Gerdy's stuff was neatly packed onto her side of the room.

"Actually, there have been some changes. I will be rooming here." She smiled at the goofy girl and placed her bag on the bed. "If that is alright with you, of course."

Grace waited, a little anxious for her answer. She hoped Gerdy would have no objections to living together. Grace began unpacking her bag, sorting the clothes from the posters and books. She tried to find and organized system of putting away her items, but she eventually grew bored and resorted to tossing her clothes in the dresser provided.

After eventually getting everything unpacked, Grace sat on her neatly made bed and looked to her friend for guidance. She was unsure of what to do now.

Iris Baron & Gerdy Townsend - -

“Of course it is alright with me! How could you think otherwise?” Iris squealed once more, unable to quite believe that she would be actually living with her close friend. “I’m so happy to have you here.”

While the other girl began to settle her belongings into the room Iris idly watched for a few minutes, a little curious to find out more about Grace, before sitting herself back down onto her own bed.

“You have nice things, and I’m glad that we both get to live together,” She spoke with a warm smile towards Grace. “I’m pretty sure that we’ll both get along great, and things can only get better now.”

Once it seemed that Grace was finished with her unpacking Iris hopped back onto her feet suddenly, almost stumbling slightly on the spot, before she looked to the girl with a questioning stare.

“Perhaps we ought to go get something to eat?” Iris suggested, knowing that she must consume something soon in order to keep her strength up, especially as she hadn’t eaten all day so far and her fatigue was beginning to show itself. “I’m sure there’s somewhere around this place that we could go to for food, unless you've already brought food with you?”

"No, I haven't brought any food." After thinking for a short while, she giggled. "I've forgotten how to get back to the dining hall." She slipped her shoes on as she stood and cocked her head. "Are you sure you're up for another adventure? I could just bring you something back."

Grace had noticed her friend's sluggishness and was beginning to worry.

Iris Baron & Gerdy Townsend - -

“Oh, that’s alright. I’m fine honestly.” She assured the girl in a calm tone. “It’s just, uhh…”

Suddenly, from nowhere, a loud grumble echoed loudly from her stomach and caused the girl to blush boldly with evident embarrassment. Crossing her arms and hugging her sides Iris shyly looked away for a moment, until eventually regaining some courage and managing to face Grace again. “I’m just really hungry.” She giggled and dropped her arms to her sides.

“No worries, I think I can just about remember the way to the dining hall...” Spinning round suddenly Iris knelt down beside her bed and brought out an umbrella that was placed underneath it. “Better not forget this! Just a safety precaution, you know. Zombies and sunlight don’t mix well and I've found that an umbrella comes in handy against the sun, even in-doors.”

With the umbrella hung over her arm securely Iris made her way to the door and opened it for the pair to exit through.

“Please don’t worry too much about me. Once I’ve ate something I’ll feel much better.” Stepping outside and into the hallway Iris waited for her friend to follow before continuing on down the hall.

Grace sighed in relief. She smiled at the girl, "I'm so glad, for a minute there you looked absolutely terrible." Despite her best efforts, she couldn't help, but giggle at the girl's adorable blush. Grace felt a rush of excitement at the thought of getting long so well with her roommate, as it had been one of her more prominent fears.

"I'm kind of in the same boat with the sun thing." Grace reached for her white jacket and searched the room for anything else she might need. Glancing at her sunscreen, she decided to put a little on her face. While the sun didn't affect her kind like it did for other vampires, her skin was still quite sensitive and would easily burn. As she rubbed it on her face, she wondered at telling Gerdy just what kind of vampire she was, though she quickly dismissed the thought. 'This is not nearly the right time,' She scolded herself.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she exited the door that Gerdy held open and pulled out her key, ready to lock the door. "Hey, what do you like to eat anyway? Do you eat brains?" Grace blushed at her rudeness and looked away from her friend in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry! That was terrible of me." Vampires were not often in the company of other creatures, but that was hardly an excuse to insult someone for their race, Grace of all people should understand that.

Iris Baron & Gerdy Townsend - -

Iris smiled once her friend had caught up with her. As they made their way down the hall Iris was quiet at first, although, after hearing the girls question she could not control herself and almost at once burst into a fit of laughter. “You know, I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that!” She giggled loudly. “I suppose you would think that a zombie would eat brains, but I personally don’t find them at all that appealing!”

After a few minutes of laughing hard the girl managed to gain a little control over her laughter and attempted to bring it down to a quieter level in fear of bring attention onto herself, before continuing, “Generally I just eat whatever I can get my hands on, surprisingly. I don’t really gain a lot of weight you see, since my body isn’t really alive… Hey, you never know, I could eat a brain if it was covered in sugar and chocolate!” The mentioning of food was making Iris all the more hungry, and even her stomach had began to occasionally grumble again because of it though she hoped no one had noticed.

“Say, do you drink blood?” She suddenly asked in attempt to distract her mind. “Since you are a vampire I imagine it is something you would drink, right? Or is that really a myth?”

Iris curiously eyed the girl and awaited her answer, seeing as this was her only encounter with an actual vampire she found that the time they spent together could actually be very educational and insightful. Although, despite the amount of time Iris had spent inside the body of Gerdy, she was not a true zombie and could only really assume how such a creature functioned, seeing as she was actually a ghost, one which unfortunately no one could actually see, sadly.

Grace tried to keep her composure as she finally reached the cross road she had been dreading. Should she tell her friend the truth and face the potential backlash of being a freak, or lie again to save face. The thought of lying to Gerdy already made her feel a little ill, or perhaps that was the build up of blood in her system. She hadn't released her extra blood in awhile. Still, she didn't want to lie to her only friend, and she had been very accepting thus far.

After debating the choice for a little longer, Grace realized that she had created a very long silence for a seemingly simple question. Still not entirely sure about coming clean just yet, Grace opted for a simple answer. "Most do," she said with a passive expression.

Grace just managed to keep from fidgeting, but the longer she walked with her friend, the worse she began to feel. Eventually, she paused her step and turned to Gerdy. "I actually don't. I'm not like other vampires really. It's not something I talk about with many people, but I think I'd like to tell you. If you promise to still be my friend, of course."

She waited for a response with bated breath.

Iris Baron & Gerdy Townsend - -

Iris had noticed the delayed response from her friend, and even after pondering over many possible reasons as to why that would be, she could not fathom a cause for the hesitation that Grace was presenting her with just then. Of course, being polite, Iris didn’t say anything about it. It wasn’t long until Grace began to talk again, anyway, which managed to relive Iris and put her mind at ease.

“I don’t know if I’d like the taste of blood very much.” She casually commented and looked to the girl. At one point Grace suddenly stopped, causing Iris to do the same. This began to make her become a little anxious again, though not facially displaying it. Iris was a tad uneasy at that moment.

“Of course I’ll still be your friend! I promise you that,” Iris reassured the girl after hearing what she had said. For a moment, briefly, she couldn’t quite believe how serious things had become between the two girls. What was Grace scared to tell her? Iris couldn’t even hazard a guess to what the reason was behind the other girls worry, but despite whatever it may be, she knew, at least, that she wouldn’t just abandon the girl. “Whether you drink blood or not, it doesn’t bother me either way. It doesn’t change the fact that your still Grace, my friend. There’s no need to be so worried.”

Pausing, Iris looked to Grace with a comforting smile. “So what is it you’d like to tell me?”

"Well I mean... It's not that important I guess." Grace grabbed a piece of her curly, white hair and began to twirl it between her fingers. "I'm not a normal vampire. I'm not like a vampire at all, really," she added with a sarcastic snort.

Grace glanced up from the hair between her fingers and stared intently at Gerdy. She searched the other girl's face for any signs of contempt. With a slight grimace, she continued, "I'm actually fairly human. My abilities are slightly heightened from the standard human. The only noticeable difference physically is my fangs." She smiled a bit, allowing Gerdy to see her long, pointed canines.

"I'm a rare breed of vampire that creates too much blood. I need to expel it from my body or I'll get very ill; rotten nosebleeds, coughing blood, that sort of thing." Having finally confessed, she looked Gerdy in the eyes. "I was hesitant to tell you only because my kind are often mistreated. We are seen as lesser, like servants" Grace's eyes dropped to the floor, "like food."

Grace remained silent, waiting for Gerdy's response.