Midnight Academy. Born at midnight - Edgars Auziņš

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      – This is not a school, Sally. This is an academy for Midnighters.

      Taking a large burgundy rectangular map from the inside pocket of her jacket, she placed it directly into the open mouth of the stone bat. The mouth instantly closed and opened with a click, leaving two impressive holes on the card. Then the gate next to the gate creaked open.

      I was in no hurry to go inside.

      “But you yourself said that I’m not like that.” What will I learn here then?

      – Everything that I didn’t tell you about, because I recklessly believed that this side would never touch you. But she touched, which means you must be prepared for the fact that our world is not as simple as it seems at first glance. And he won’t find you here,” she was the first to go through the gate.

      Without doubting for a moment, I immediately followed her, hoping to finally get an answer to the main question. Clenching my fingers into fists, I felt that the solution was already close.

      – Who, mom? Who have we been hiding from all this time?

      Silently continuing our way past the working fountain, on which stood an ugly stone gargoyle, she nevertheless responded dully, as soon as we reached the steps of the main building:

      – From the Hunter.

      But it didn’t become one gram clearer.

      “Hey, you seem to be lost in thought,” Nirel touched my hand, pulling me out of recent memories.

      Catching the attentive gaze of his green eyes, I directly and unvarnishedly blurted out what I knew about the Midnighters. There were only two theses: for some reason they do not sleep at night and maintain order in the world on both sides.

      “Very generalized, of course,” he drawled slightly dissatisfied. – That is, you don’t know anything at all about where you ended up.

      “Actually,” I confirmed dully. – We entered the library from one side and left from the other. I thought I had lost my mind.

      Having carefully examined me from head to toe, the student made an unexpected conclusion:

      – So you are one of the Coming Ones. – But, probably catching the misunderstanding on my face, he added: – From those who came from the world of people. And I’m wondering why your clothes and shoes are so strange. Okay, then let's start with the main thing. Our ancestors were not people.

      “Of course, not people,” I agreed, suspecting that we would now plunge somewhere much deeper than the Stone Age. – Everyone knows that we descended from monkeys.

      Nirel did not deny this fact:

      – Once upon a time – perhaps. But then our ancestors chose a different path. They, Sally, became vampires.

      Chapter 4. Secrets of the Midnighters

      I tried to digest this information. I honestly tried, but even after what I had already learned and seen, I didn’t expect to hear something like that.

      Simply because vampires are not superheroes at all. This is a pale, bony likeness of a person, living in a crypt, sleeping in a coffin and not knowing what toothpaste, solarium and manicure are.

      “My mother is not a vampire,” I objected, having recovered from the first shock.

      Smiling indulgently, Nirel corrected me:

      – Not such a vampire as you used to think. Almost none of us have fangs anymore, because the need to drink blood has simply disappeared over the centuries. They don't grow anymore, see? – He showed me his even white teeth. – Now we take away unnecessary emotions from people in a different way.

      – Do you take away unnecessary emotions? How? For what? – she asked, even more amazed.

      So far everything has only become more confusing. Vampires without fangs and the need to drink blood are some kind of toothless vegetarians.

      – It’s simple: people with an unstable psyche have moments in life when emotions take over them so much that they lose reason. Then they do things that affect the rest of the world. With their emotions they change the lives of other people, and mostly exclusively for the bad. For example, they commit a crime or become the cause of a series of accidents that lead to someone’s death. We – vampires – take away these “extra” emotions from them, thereby maintaining balance in the human world. Moreover, various emotions may turn out to be “superfluous” – even happiness.

      – And before this you had to drink blood? – I clarified, grimacing.

      My imagination quickly painted the entire procedure in the most vivid colors, including the nasty taste of metal in my mouth. I definitely wouldn’t agree to such an abomination, because…

      What if a person is sick with something? Or haven't washed for a week?

      I shuddered with disgust.

      “It happened, but not for the last three generations,” Nirel confirmed. – Now, fortunately, this is not required. We have learned to do without this procedure. Now we take away dangerous emotions with the help of touch. Prolonged touch and slight hypnosis. If such emotions are not drawn out, then a skew will constantly occur, first in one direction, then in the other. Of course, problems happen despite the existing protocol of actions, but it’s better to do at least something than to do nothing, right?

      I nodded, agreeing with the guy. If he was telling the truth, then the matter smacked of a fair amount of pessimism, because something out of the ordinary was happening in the world every day.

      But on the other hand, I briefly imagined what the Earth would look like now if vampires had never existed. Probably, we would all simply die out and everything would go from scratch: bacteria, fish, monkeys, dinosaurs, cavemen. Maybe nature learned from its mistakes and therefore created vampires in the next round?

      Actually, I asked the third-year student exactly this question.

      “Maybe,” he answered slyly. – In any case, we are the protectors and balance of this world. And not only us. All Midnighters.

      – Is there anyone else? Spiders? – I guessed.

      But it turned out to be wrong. I'm not feeling good today. It’s understandable, there are so many new discoveries in less than a day, so much contradictory and at the same time incredible information that it’s time to go to bed as soon as possible with dreams that tomorrow will be different – normal.

      – Not spiders. Transformation is Percy's special gift. Each vampire has his own special gift, but not all of them reveal it right away. For example, it hasn’t shown up for me yet.

      Smiling with slight sadness, the guy quickly returned to our main topic:

      – In addition to vampires, Midnighters also include werewolves, witches and hunters.

      Having caught on to the most important word, I fidgeted on the bench with impatience.

      – Hunters? Everything about the rest is more or less clear. Witches can cast spells, werewolves turn into animals, and hunters? Who is this anyway?

      Nirel sighed heavily.

      – Those for whom our existence does not allow us to live in peace. They consider us monsters and are trying in every possible way to rid the world of our presence. But don't get scared ahead of time. Let's just say that no one has seen them on this side of the border for a long time – since they crossed into the human world, so there is nothing interesting about them. Maybe they degenerated a long time ago.

      Hearing the last phrase, with which the guy probably wanted to cheer me up, I smiled wryly. Because now I knew for sure that one annoying hunter still existed in the human world. Mom herself told me about this today, and I just didn’t know what to do with this information now.

      How dangerous were they? Have they really degenerated or are they still hiding to hunt down vampires one by one? And my mother? Is she a vampire, a witch or a werewolf?

      – Nirel, if I’m still a Midnighter,

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