1 Ping-Pong?

"Dean Moore will see you now."

I stood at the words and made my way toward the all-too-familiar Dean's office. Although, to me, it wasn't just the office of the Dean of my University. It was the office of my father.

Well, adoptive father, technically.

I was raised by this man since I was very young: since my mother passed away. He told me that he took me in because my real father was not around, and because the only woman he had ever loved was my mother. That had been enough of an explanation for me as a child, and it was still enough.

"Thank you for coming to see me, Tia." My father smiled at me warmly. Well, it should have been warm, but there was always something off about the way a vampire smiled.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, my adoptive father is a vampire.

And I'm not.

I'm just... Mortal.

You might think that sounds a little crazy. Perhaps it sounds like a cheetah raising a baby antelope, or something like that. At first, it's sweet, but then eventually the cheetah will get hungry, and.... well, you get what I'm saying.

In reality, vampires aren't like that though. They don't just suck every human dry that they come in contact with. How could they live among humanity that way?

No, really, they mostly eat food like normal humans. They only feed on blood occasionally, and It's usually a very private matter. In fact, even though I've lived among vampires for 20 years, I've never seen a feeding take place.

Actually, I know very little about the process of vampires drinking blood because my father refuses to tell me anything about it. Each time I ask him about it, he acts embarrassed and tells me it is something I should never partake in or witness. Considering all the other topics my father acts like that about... I assume feeding is a sexual thing.

"I can't stay long." I told him and took a seat across from him and his monster-sized desk, "I'm going to the school clubs event today with Anna."

"Right, you told me about that." he perched his elbows on his desk and slid his glasses up his nose. "In fact, that's why I called you here. I just wanted to remind you.... to, well, to be safe."

~Seriously dad? I'm going to be late for this event just cause you wanted to tell me to be safe?~

"Don't worry, dad. I kno-"

"I know you've lived around vampires the majority of your life." he said, cutting me off, "and you've grown confident in yourself. But I want to remind you, you are a mortal, and you have mortal blood."

~I already know this dad...~

"Mortal blood is..." he paused as if looking for words, "It's much more delicious to us than a vampire's blood."

~Where is he going with this?~

"And some vampires," he rubbed his hand on his forehead wearily, "Will do anything to get a taste."

I felt my stomach unsettle. My father had told me to be careful countless times. I've had a speech about it at least once every six months my entire life. In fact, his incessant worrying is what has formed me into being the paranoid worry-wort that I am today. But he had never before warned me so directly about staying away from hungry vampires. I mean, the implication was always there, but...

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" he cut off my thoughts.

I nodded my head, "I do. And I will be careful. Like I always do. It's just... I want this year to be different. I want to have more friends than just Anna. I want to have a memorable college life."

My father closed his eyes, "Of course." he sighed, "And I want that for you too. But.... why couldn't you have gone to a regular school?"

I sighed too. This was another conversation we had had multiple times. "You know why." I said.

The reasons were already obvious. First: free tuition and guaranteed acceptance because my father was the Dean. Second: This school was a far better school than any I would ever have had a chance of getting into if I were to be applying simply with my grades and SAT scores. (the Valor University of Luxembourg was one of the most prestigious universities in the entire world. Partly because having this school on your resume could land you nearly any job you wanted, and partly because the acceptance rate at this school was the lowest in the world... why was it the lowest? Because they only accepted vampires into this school. Me being the only exception.) And Lastly, I had lived my whole life in Luxembourg: in the secluded alps that surround this small town of mostly vampires; it was home; I didn't want to go, and I didn't want to be separate from the only family I had left.

My father nodded as though an argument was not necessary. "Alright then," he stood and began around the desk to give me a hug. "Go then, go and make some friends." he pulled me in a tight hug then stepped back and adjusted the brown scarf I wore around my neck.

I knew why he did this. Although he didn't speak it. Ever since I was a pre-teen; ever since I began to hit puberty, he had bought scarfs and insisted I wear them all the time. It wasn't that bad, because of the elevation where we lived, it was almost always chilly. But the real reason behind him doing this was because of my neck, and my skin.

My roommate, and my only friend these past two years, Anna, helped me understand my father's motives during our freshman year. Just like the western culture sexualized woman's breasts, the culture within the world of vampires sexualized a woman's slender neck and pale skin.

I happened to have both of these traits. A long slender neck like a ballerina, and skin so pale that my blue veins were often noticeable. I assume I look my mother, based on the small descriptions of her that my father had given me. She too had soft curly hair the color of chocolate milk and grey eyes. But according to my dad, she kept her hair long and liked to wear it in braids; I like to keep my hair cut short at my chin.

"Dad, I really need to go now." I said and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Alright, go." he nodded to the doorway, "Go make some memories."

I gave him one last smile and ran for the door. It was probably good to get as far away from his office as possible before he thought of something else to worry about.

I worked my way through the maze of offices and scurried through the administrative building. I kept up a quick speed, hoping I wasn't too late for the event, and took a shortcut to the main lawn of campus.

A cool breeze hit me as I exited the building, and I closed my eyes and welcomed the first feelings of Autumn. This summer was hotter than most, and I was grateful that soon it wouldn't be a hassle to wear my scarf all the time.

"Excuse me." an unfamiliar voice spoke.

I opened my eyes to find a chest in front of me.

~What the?~

I looked up and nearly choked on my own spit.

Luca Zhang stood in front of me.

Dear heavens... how do I begin to explain what Luca looks like?

Well, let's start with the basics, Luca Zhang, was the most well-known, and richest kid at Valor University. He came from greatness and would likely become even greater after he graduated. I liked to say that he was the epitome of everything a vampire ought to be: drop-dead gorgeous, probably a super-genius, and scary as hell.

His father was Taiwanese and his mother was German, and thus his physical features included golden skin, jet black hair, 6-feet tall, high cheekbones, soft features, and eyes the color of a winter sky.

He was one year above me, and I had noticed him on campus before... Well, then again, who hadn't noticed him? He basically had a cult following of both girls and boys who would sell their own liver to sleep with him.

I never attempted to get close to him. Specifically, because of the last trait I mentioned earlier: because he was scary as hell. Even though he was gorgeous.... In my opinion, he gave off the appearance of the kind of man that might murder you after you have sex or something. His followers however claimed he just had resting-bitch-face.

~But, then again, I'm a bit of a worry-wart and tend to assume everyone wants to murder me.... Thanks dad...~

All that being said, I usually avoided even being in the same room as him... But currently, I was standing closer to him than I ever had before.

"Why are you walking around with your eyes closed?" he looked down at me unamused, then stepped around me, and continued off in the other direction.

"I-" he was already gone before I could even form an explanation.

I watched him walk away, then turned back to my own path and shrugged.

~Wait till I tell Anna about this. She'll freak out that I almost touched Luca's chest.~

My roommate, Anna, was among the cult girls who would sell their liver to be with him.

When I finally made it to The Quad (The area where the club's event was taking place) I gasped.

"No, no, no, no, no." I looked around at the empty tables, the lack of people, and the trash that littered the grass. "no, everyone is gone... It's over?"

~But I thought I had enough time...~

I was going to make a change this year. It was my third year as a university student, and I had done nothing but study and hide in my dorm room up until now. I had promised myself that I would make an effort to be involved this year, that I would make new friends, and create lasting memories. And all of that was supposed to start by joining a bunch of clubs, then sticking with the ones I actually enjoyed.

But now....

~Dammit dad, you had to waste my time for nothing!~

Now there was nothing. There were no clubs left to join. Nothing...

"Hey, kid!"

I turned on my heels to find a girl nearly half my height, which was rare considering I was relatively short. Aside from that, she had huge boobs; Each one was probably at least the size of my head. I tried not to look at them as she began talking to me.

"You want to join a club?" she asked. Her voice was loud enough that it made up for her height.

"What?"

"I asked if you want to join a club!" she repeated herself and put her hands on her hips. "Cause I'm the leader of the ping pong team, and we are still looking for new members."

~ping pong?~