Edmund Malkin's Story

Edmund Malkin

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

A tall figure in a long, beige coat carrying as much as humanly possible and then some could be seen lumbering towards the university’s arched gateway. This was Edmund. If you could see his face, you would notice that it was twisted into an angry scowl, not at anyone in particular, but more at the university itself. The buildings, the students, the teachers; he hated them all. Every time he returned to the university, he had a sledgehammer of disappointment swung into his emotions. As he dragged himself through the arched gateway that loomed before him, in his mind the gates slammed loudly shut behind him, and stayed that way.

Now, you should remember that I said Edmund was carrying more than humanly possible. That may have been slightly exaggerated, but he still wasn’t travelling light. This could have been easily avoided if he wasn’t so passionate about his music. But he was, and there’s no use crying over spilled milk. His bass was slung over his back, his acoustic guitar was slung round his front, he carried a large guitar amp in his right hand and his electric guitar in his left. All of his guitars were in soft cases, so he needed to watch where he was going, lest he bash and damage them. As for the stuff that most people bring with them, he had made sure to leave a good supply of clothes and toiletries in his dorm. There was no way he would leave his guitars there; he wasn’t going to go an entire holiday without practice and quite frankly, he didn’t trust someone not to steal them. He could leave his clothes and toiletries there, nobody was going to nick his toothbrush, but they might well nick two thousand dollars’ worth of musical equipment.

In tow was Edmund’s faithful companion, the Eurasian Eagle Owl Malphas. Malphas was significantly less burdened than his master, and fluttering along beside him with ease. He usually perched himself on Edmund’s right shoulder, but Edmund’s guitars prevented him from perching comfortably. In his usual attempt to lighten Edmund’s mood, he spoke up:
“It’s such a glorious day. The sun is shining, there’s a cool breeze in the air and the birds are singing beautifully.”
“If only the birds would be quieter.” Edmund retorted.
Cheering Edmund up was not an easy feat, and in his current state even Malphas could do nothing to raise his spirits. Malphas was well aware of this, and so he didn’t make any further attempts, as they would only rile Edmund up.

The pair progressed through the campus in silence paying no heed to the surrounding area that would surely startle any newcomers to the university. They had since grown used to the peculiar mishmash of architectural styles that bore the name “the University of Diversity”. Edmund often wondered if the diversity it spoke of was regarding the buildings, not the students. The students Edmund passed seemed to watch him with confusion in their eyes; why was he drowning in musical gear when he didn’t even have a suitcase? Ignoring their gazes, Edmund continued to drag himself through the campus towards the vampire dorm building.

Finally Edmund carefully removed all his luggage and laid it down carefully against the wall. He slumped down onto his bed and took a series of loud, deep breaths; he was tired out from having to shift his gear to the far edge of the campus, and the dorm building’s stairs didn’t exactly help. He stared up at the dorm’s plain, brown ceiling for a while before sitting up and looking around the rest of the room. It wasn’t huge, but Edmund made use of the space. Along the wall opposite the door there was a kitchen surface, some cupboards, a bread bin, a kettle, a microwave, a sink, a dishwasher and a fridge. Along the right wall was Edmund’s bed, his guitars, his amp and the door to his closet. His desk and chest of drawers were pressed against the room’s left wall. The room’s fourth wall had a large bookshelf on the right side of the door, put there as opposed to the left side to conceal a large strip of paint that was dangling off. The carpet was beige and fairly grubby, but this was normal for the vampire dorms. It wasn’t pretty, but Edmund made do with what he had.

It was a minute or so before Edmund stood up. When he did, he walked over to sink, filled the kettle with water and turned it on. He simply stood and waited while the kettle boiled, and instantly poured out the water into a cup before dropping in a tea bag. He waited in the same silent, motionless fashion that he had waited before while the tea infused. After discarding the tea bag he slumped down into the wheelie chair by his desk, blew on his tea and took a sip. He smiled and took another sip; while no person could calm Edmund while he was in such a state, tea certainly could.
“You know, Malphas, perhaps you were right about it being a nice day outside.” Edmund apologised, “I think I’ll go outside once I’ve finished my tea.”
If Malphas had lips he would have smiled, but his expression still made it obvious that Edmund’s change of heart had pleased him.

Once he had finished his tea, Edmund put his cup by the sink, slung his acoustic guitar over his shoulder and opened the window. Malphas groaned internally, he knew what Edmund was about to do. Edmund climbed out of the window and began to scale down the wall quickly, using whatever he could to grip on. Within a matter of seconds Edmund had reached the ground, unscathed. While he was unscathed now, Malphas was concerned that he would fall off one day and break his back, or worse: die. However, he knew that he couldn’t talk Edmund out of doing it since it was far quicker than using the stairs. He flew from the open window, closed it and flew over to Edmund to perch on his shoulder.
“Where are we going?” Malphas asked.
“Somewhere quiet.” Was Edmund’s response.

The campus was huge, so it didn’t take too long to find a quiet spot where Edmund could keep to himself. The spot Edmund chose was beneath an oak tree that stood near the banks of a stream. He sat back against the tree, took his guitar from his case and gave it a quick strum to ensure that it was still in tune. When Edmund was sure it was, he began to play the first song that came to his mind: an old song named “Games People Play”. Edmund particularly liked the lyrics, which address hate, intolerance and hypocrisy. He wasn’t much of a singer, so he simply hummed along with the guitar line while the lyrics went through his head. Malphas perched on a branch above Edmund and listened intently to Edmund’s playing. He enjoyed watching Edmund playing music, since it was just about the only time he was happy, other than when he was drinking tea.

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Piercing, ice-blue eyes. They stared deep into him, full of understanding and wisdom. The two pools of ice were framed by black and white fur that glittered in the sunlight streaming in through the window. Razor sharp claws dug into his bare chest, though the strength behind them was measured and careful so that they did not break his skin. The full weight of the beast on his body made it quite difficult to breathe. The snow leopard was perhaps heavier than himself. Dimly, he wondered what the feline ate to create so much body mass. A deep-throated growl filled the room and Henri was instantly jerked into full consciousness.

“Wha’s yer problem, Evs?”

Everest retracted his claws and stepped off his master, allowing him to sit up in bed. Henri rubbed his eyes tiredly. He reached under his pillow and brought out a box of cigarettes. Lazily, he looked about his surroundings. It was just his dorm room; his home for the past four years. His parents lived elsewhere in Iowa and Henri did not like to visit them. The last time he had gone, the neighbors had called the police because they thought the tall, intimidating figure with the ‘strange, long-tailed lynx’ was there to bring harm to the innocent Leppards. It had taken nearly seven hours to clear up the misunderstanding. Both Henri and his parents agreed that it would be best if he didn’t come over too often. His parents couldn’t visit the campus, since their disguise as a normal, human couple would crumble if they were spotted with Henri.

So he lived in his dorm room almost year-round. To be honest, it looked pretty much the same as when he had first become its inhabitant, albeit much more hygienic. Peeling wallpaper, sad-looking ceiling, gaping hole in the wall that exposed a rather important water pipe. This was home. What fun.

“It’s fifteen minutes after seven,” said Everest, flicking his tail back and forth impatiently.

Henri stuck a cigarette into his mouth. He struck a match against the wall and lit the roll of tobacco. After flicking out the match, he turned a bored gaze towards his familiar. “Yeah? What are ya now? Me ‘larm clock?” he asked casually.

Everest sat down beside Henri on the bed. “You have an appointment at seven thirty,” he reminded.

Henri blinked uncomprehendingly. “Whaddya mean? I don’ have a...” he trailed off as he glanced across the room to the calendar. Today’s date was circled in red with the words ‘CLIENT AT 7:30 AM’ written in the box. Henri just stared at the calendar for a long time. He wasn’t sure what to think at the moment. After all, he had just attended to another client the previous night. Which loser had scheduled two of them in a row?

“Now it’s twenty minutes after seven,” Everest murmured, sighing softly.

Henri reached for his phone, which sat on the bedside table. He saw that he had missed a text message while sleeping. It had been sent at 7:03 am:

Sinclair: Where r u? Client in 30 mins!

Henri growled in disapproval, sounding much like his familiar. He texted back:

You: cancel it. I have school

Everest chuckled in amusement. “Since when did you care about school?”

Henri playfully stuck out his tongue. “Never.” He literally swung out of bed, reaching up to stretch his arms over his head in one fluid motion. After stretching and yawning some, he slipped on a black t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. Reaching under the bed mattress, he produced his famous belt. Said belt always resided underneath the mattress when not worn, for it was far too precious to be kept anywhere else. Henri snapped his belt in place, admiring how the voodoo dolls swayed with his every step. The chains tinkled ominously. All his shorts had been modified so that the bottoms of the belt loops attached with snap buttons, which allowed him to easily put on his belt.

Armed with his belt, cigarette, and snow leopard, Henri was ready to face the first day of school.

Everest was calmly licking his paw when Henri made towards the door. The snow leopard stopped him, barring the path with his massive frame, teeth bared and gleaming in the morning light. He growled menacingly. “You forgot to brush your teeth.”

So Henri brushed his teeth. Sadly, he was unable to do so with the cigarette still in his mouth, so it went into the ashtray. When he looked into the bathroom mirror, he realized with a start that he hadn't washed off his face paint from last night. He took a damp towel and wiped it all off. And not very silently, he berated his familiar for not telling him.

Everest chuckled at the stream of profanity audible over the gushing of the faucet. The snow leopard was not one to waste words. Of course he had noticed the face paint. He had even laughed at his master's carelessness. By telling Henri to brush his teeth, knowing the dreadlocked teenager would see the face paint in the mirror, he had effectively killed two birds with one stone. When Henri emerged from the bathroom, Everest padded to his side and followed him out the building.

"Who’s that client anyways?" Henri asked, checking his cell phone for a reply.

Sinclair: the client aint happy

You: like I care

"Entrepreneur from Germany," Everest answered. He lifted his head, trying to read what was on the phone.

Henri stopped abruptly. His dreadlocks whipped around as his head turned incredulously towards his familiar. "Wha’? I don’ remem’er anyone from Germany.”

Everest did his best to shrug, but the action was not one meant for a feline. He settled for an irritated flick of the tail. "It seems he heard of you from one of your other clients. The one with the enlarged toe," he said. His bright blue eyes stared evenly ahead.

"The frickin' bastard!" spat Henri. Every client of his was sworn into secrecy. Henri only treated people with ‘incurable’ diseases who were found by his underlings. This was to stop massive publicity, since it would be disastrous if people found out that the Leopard Doctor was in fact a vampire. If the word spread, Henri would probably need to move elsewhere. To take his mind off this fact, he rummaged around in his pockets and produced a half-empty box of cigarettes. Henri lit one and took a long draft before blowing out a torrent of smoke from his mouth. He stuffed the box back into his pocket. "He’ll hafta get cursed."

"I agree. He broke his oath. He signed in blood."

Henri nodded half-heartedly. The two of them, leopard and vampire, continued on their way. They weren’t sure exactly where they were going. Their goal was to wander around, get lost, then try to find their way again. It was an effective method to waste time. The fact that it was extremely busy on campus helped with the task. Students of all ages and sizes were milling about, clogging the streets. As Henri waded through the crowd of people, towering well above most of them, he heard some murmuring amongst a group of teenage girls.

“Did you see that girl?”

“You mean the new Sponsor?” The word ‘Sponsor’ was spat out like a broken tooth.

Everest’s ears twitched with curiosity. A new Sponsor? That was rare.

“Yeah. She looks so filthy. No wonder she’s a Sponsor.”

“Well, duh. Only filthy people would associate with filthy vampires.”

With his hands in his pockets, Henri intruded on the conversation. “Why, ‘ello ladies!”

Immediately, the girls stopped talking. Who wouldn’t when faced with a huge guy and a huge snow leopard? When recognition dawned in their eyes, some of them shrieked in fright. Everyone knew of Henri, the vampire with the dreadlocks, but not many had actually interacted with him since he didn’t like talking to people he didn’t know. There was plenty of talk about him going around and sucking the blood of innocent girls.

Henri didn’t care about the rumors. Honestly, he had only entered the conversation to see if any of the girls were hot. He glanced around the group and confirmed that they were all average in terms of looks. How disappointing. He sighed. “Never mind,” he said dejectedly. “Le’s go, Evs.”

Leaving the girls thoroughly bewildered, Henri turned on his heel and headed back in the direction they had come from. Everest padded silently at his side, easily keeping up with his master’s long strides. He was used to Henri’s behavior and didn’t mind his carefree nature at all. In fact, seeing Henri burdened was quite distressing for the familiar, so it was best if those moments were few.

“Are we going back to the dorm?” Everest asked as the old, depressing building came into view.

“Yeah. I’m gunna see if Báthory’s back yet.”

Everest purred in delight. “Lilith is the best at scratching behind the ears,” he murmured dreamily. The snow leopard then shook his head free of his daydreams and circled Henri’s feet, noting that his master had mismatched his sandals. “Shouldn’t you also greet the new Sponsor?” prompted Everest, noting that Henri also had mismatched earings: a silver skull on the right ear and a golden hoop in the left.

“Well, if she’s pretty, she’ll get more than jus’ a greetin’,” Henri replied. With his next step, he nearly tripped on his familiar’s tail. “Watch it, Evs!”

Everest’s tail jerked away from Henri’s feet. “Sorry.”

The two continued for some time, conversing about the weather and other exciting topics. When they reached the dorms, Henri headed straight for Lilith Báthory’s room. Everest sighed inwardly. So much for greeting the new Sponsor. The snow leopard followed close behind his master. He glanced around and saw that there were a few familiar faces and few unfamiliar ones. There was Isao. And there was Edmund and Malphas. Oh, and there was Morana talking to a new girl. A human girl. There were two others who Everest noticed. They seemed quite confused. How refreshing.

Upon reaching Lilith’s room, they found the door open and Henri invited himself inside. Everest bounded in eagerly and rolled around on the floor like an excited cub.

Henri remained near the door, smoke drifting from between his slightly parted lips. Lilith was just as beautiful as she had been four years ago, perhaps even more so. Her silver hair and magenta eyes were odd, but only added to her radiance. Henri flashed a grin, holding out his arms for a welcoming hug. “So how’s me lovely Báthory today?”