He just waved at them, then disappeared behind the endless rows of books. At that moment, Eva’s face took on a grave look.
“What’s gotten into you?” she asked Bella. “Sebastian was really nice and you treated him like dirt.”
“I know how it must have sounded but trust me, Eva, that guy is bad news.”
“Why?” Eva leaned backward, as if to take a better look at Bella.
She didn’t understand anything and if Bella was about to throw rocks at this guy, after he was nothing but helpful, then she better have a good reason for it.
“He just is, trust me.”
“Bella,” Eva said, “I do trust you. You’ve been my only friend since I got here but I need to know whatever it is you’re keeping from me.”
Bella sighed. It was obvious that she didn’t want to talk about this.
“I guess you’ll find out on your own anyway,” she finally started. “I know Sebastian looks all nice and sweet, but…” she paused again. “He’s a blood dealer.”
“Blood dealer?” Eva frowned. “What the heck is a blood dealer?”
“Shhh!” Bella waved a hand downward, as if that way, she was lowering Eva’s voice, too. “Keep your voice down.”
She looked around nervously, to see if there was anyone there, or maybe, if Sebastian’s head would pop out again, like it did before.
“What are you doing?” Eva wondered.
“Making sure no one is around, silly.”
When she was sure of this, she faced Eva again, almost whispering.
“You’re new here, so you don’t know what’s happening. It all looks nice, this whole place, Principal Rannulf, everyone is helpful, but trust me, there are some things which are better left alone, instead of poking at them.”
“I’m not gonna poke at anything, I just want to know what is going on in the place I live.”
“Okay…” Bella sighed. “A blood dealer is the guy who sells blood. Like drugs, you know?”
Eva nodded. That much was clear.
“Well, this is a vampire school. Isn’t drinking blood expected?” Eva wondered.
“See how naive you are,” Bella sounded sympathetic, so Eva chose not to reply to this. “Half of the students here are vampires, the other half, like you, aren’t.”
“Okay, and?”
“You still don’t get it?”
Eva shook her head, feeling a little embarrassed.
“If vampires were allowed to drink human blood here, don’t you think that would put your half in danger?”
Eva swallowed heavily. Bella was right. She didn’t think of that.
“So, instead, vampires drink animal blood.”
“Is that enough?” Eva doubted.
“Not really,” Bella shook her head. “That is why the animal blood that is collected is enriched with special herbs and potions, adding to it the necessary intensity and nutritional values. They make it so that we need to drink it only once a month. A meeting is called for and everyone attends it. We drink one glass of this crap and we’re okay.”
At that moment, Eva remembered her first day here. The horn, how everyone just stopped doing what they were doing and headed somewhere. This explained it. They were going for their monthly fix.