What if Nora met Adrien First (ebook snippet)

 A short snippet from a version of the library scene where Ally sends Adrien to sit with Nora instead of Marc.

The full version of this story will be in the ebook we'll be releasing...hopefully soon! Now that the art book is complete, we'll be putting our focus to compiling the ebook with all the short stories, drabbles, deleted scenes, etc.

This snippet begins shortly after Adrien startles Nora when she's in the library reading on Vampires.

*****

"N…Nora? Right?"

"That's me."

"Adrien. Adrien Wallace."

"Right, right. I remember."

I fell back in my seat and flopped across the table, feeling like an idiot. Even if I was on edge, that had been quite the dramatic reaction to someone literally just walking up behind me and saying hello. Adrien sat across from me, giving me a sheepish smile.

"Man, I must be really out of the loop. I didn't even know you were…um…you know..."

"One of us?" I supplied dryly.

"Yeah, that." He smirked slightly, but it faded fast. "Though I doubt you're one of us," he said, giving me a long, careful look.

"Meaning?"

He tapped my book. "One of us."

I glanced down at the page in front of me where the first first word declared what I was reading about in big, bold print.

"Oh..." Realization hit me suddenly. "Oh! You're a Vampire??"

He just laughed as he leaned his chin on his hands. "Why so surprised? I don't look like one?"

I studied him for a minute. I'd never paid that much attention before, but no he didn't really look anything like I'd have picked a Vampire to be. 

"Well…No. Not really." For one thing...he was kind of short. I always sort of imagined Vampires as tall and lanky. I gave Adrien an amused smile, figuring I'd keep that part to myself. "Do Vampires even have a 'look'?" I asked.

"I guess not," he responded. "I mean, we mostly just look like regular people. Except we dress better."

I laughed. Well, I couldn't argue that. He dressed better than half the student body. But that wasn't exactly hard.

The laugh died off quickly, leaving me to mull over that. Adrien was a Vampire, of all things. 

Like Marc...

That was surprising. They seemed quite different - but then, I supposed it wasn't as if all Vampires had to be exactly alike. I stared down the pages seriously. "But going back to what you said, no. I don't think I'm a Vampire." 

"Well that doesn't surprise me. You don't really have the aura."

"Yeah. And, I mean, I don't get the urge to, you know, chew on people's necks and all that. So…"

He gave me a look of mock annoyance. "You know we don't all do that, right?"

I narrowed my eyes as I looked Adrien's way again. "…I did not know that, no." I shifted my eyes away, fidgeting as I wondered if it was safe to ask what that meant. "Are there…um…are there other body parts preferred over the neck?"

Adrien looked surprised at that question for the briefest of moments before he just laughed. "Wow, you don't know anything about any of this, do you?"

I watched him curiously as he pulled my book closer to his side of the table and flipped forward in it, scanning the pages. Adrien finally stopped looking through the pages and pushed the book back toward me. "This…is what I am. Though they really need to expand this section. Geez..."

I curiously leaned forward read the chapter title, lifting one eyebrow. "Vitae?" That sounded Latin…ish. I scanned the first paragraph as well. Vampires that fed on…life energy. From the look of the text, it didn't involve biting, but Vitae could feed just by touching other people. I looked up at Adrien again, but my eyes were almost instantly drawn to the gloves he wore.

I'd always kind of wondered why he always wore them - even in class. Now...

He noticed immediately and gave me a wry smile. "Yeah. Can't really turn it off, really. Not completely. Not yet…"