I was pretty convinced that I wasn't going to survive the lunch period. It seemed as if there were loudspeakers attached to every corner of the hall. And whenever someone walked past me, I found myself clenching my fists and held my breath.

 The mixed scents of the place were too mind-boggling. I forced myself to walk, but I  always saw figures flitting in and out of the corner of my vision. My vampire instinct was begging me. My teeth were itching so bad, I just wanted to bite something, and that horrified me to no end. It took every ounce of my willpower to keep to myself. Now, I was starting to worry about these innocent freaks. They didn't know their lives were completely exposed to jeopardy because of my existence.

 "Vivienne, you look as if you were watching a bunch of cannibals," Cammie said, jerking me to my senses. "No wait, that's not right. It's you who looks like a cannibal." she corrected herself.

 Alyssa gave Cammie a look, "How could you say that?" And then she turned to me. "Does Life Shock still have side effects?"

 "Nnno...no... not that at all," I said. "It's just...can we eat lunch outside today?" I asked, hoping they would agree to my desperate request.

 "Oh sure, sure," Alyssa replied. As we turned to walk out of the lunch hall. I could feel my best friends's faces twitched in confusion.

 I was too preoccupied that I didn't notice Octavia walking up to us from the opposite side. Her eyes were fixed on me.

 "May I know where you are going?" Octavia asked politely as if she really was naturally nice.

 "Oh, we're having lunch outside today," Alyssa answered.

 "Vivienne needs to breathe a fresher air to get her health back," Cammie added.

 "That's very thoughtful," she replied, "I hope you enjoy your lunch." She smiled at us before turning her perfect body to walk elegantly forth, but when no one was looking, she slipped something into my hand. I looked down and realized that she had just given me a tube of sun block and a note. I had forgotten my new peeve with sunlight. But as I turned to look at Octavia again, She was already gone. I shoved a note into my skirt pocket to read later.

 When we got our lunches outside, I had to cringe because of the giant furnace burning in the sky. But all I could do was adjusting my UV-absorbing sunglasses and applying the SPF 50+ sunblock I'd got from Octavia for good measure. We reached a white-painted picnic table under a huge chestnut tree. The heat started chewing on my skin, but finally I got to the shady side.

 "Whoa, slow down Viv, you must be very hungry," Alyssa said. But I could not wait to drink my life-saving milk. I had brought two cartons instead of one today—just in case.

 "She's convalescing, Lissa, hunger is a good sign of recovery," Cammie said. If only they had any idea of what a hazardous hunger I had. I grimaced to myself and continued drinking the milk to hold back my thirst.

 "Cam, you sound a lot like our doctor," Alyssa said.

 I had to think for a minute before I said, "Wait, that's my mom!"

 They looked at each other and then burst out laughing. This felt like an old time. I felt like it had been many light years ago since I was this normal. Cammie and Alyssa settled down around me. The throbbing feeling around my jaw subsided as I had downed my milk. I guess the milk could actually prevent my extendable canines from popping out, especially while I was within range of hearing and smelling my best friends's blood. It was very maddening to think that I was apt to endanger them, too. But I had to overcome this. I knew I could make it through.

 We started munching our lunches away. Despite the heat and brightness, sitting in the open air was a lot healthier. But there was something I had come to realize. I noticed that I was no longer frigid like before. All my movements were always in a swift, fitting motion. I thought that I was being careful with myself so that I wouldn't ruin everything I touch, but this reminded me of Octavia, how her elegant body always shifted with perfection.

 "Viv, are you there?" Alyssa suddenly called me back to earth, "Why are you so quiet, today?"

 "Oh, I'm just thinking," I replied.

 "About?"

 "Nothing."

 "Something, I know," she said.

 "Well, just some weird stuff," I said before I could stop myself.

 "I like weird stuff," Cammie insisted with her curious eyes looking at me. I shouldn't have blurted it in front of them, because what has drilled into every genius's head is a curiosity that could kill a cat. But maybe I could take my chances with them.

 "Well, do you believe that there are... other humanoid creatures besides humans?" I tried to make my question sound as normal as I could manage.

 "Oh, you mean alien forms?" Alyssa asked.

 "No!" I said,  "I'm talking about the creatures living in the same planet like us."

 "Oh, like the elves and dwarfs?" Cammie prompted. At that point, I had to keep myself from falling off of the bench. I guess I would rather talk to a tree instead of these two genius girls.

 "That's fictional characters, Cammie," I said.

 "So you tell us then," she said.

 "Well, there's something bugging me about other species besides humans, you know. In Charles Darwin's theory, the individuals who achieve mutation produce more offspring and are likely to survive better than those who don't. The Natural Selection made humans adapt to their environment faster. Humans are capable of surviving and producing more population. So for that reason, humans are considered as the fittest compared to the other kinds."

 "That sounds pretty cool to me," Alyssa said, looking pleased with her human pride.

 "Yeah, and other than that, there are predators and preys living in the same world together, and those predators survive by killing their prey for food, like lions preying on dears, birds, and maggots, or baleen whales and microscopic plankton, so the species that are best suited and having more advantages over others could become predators. Humans also have to consume other organisms for food though we're no longer hunting mammoths or tigers like in prehistoric time."

 "So?" Cammie asked and tossed a piece of ham sandwich into her mouth casually.

 "So based on this theory, I think humans are predators..."

 "Vivienne!" Cammie snapped at me, "Just because you're a vegetarian doesn't mean you can call us predators."

 "No no...Cammie, I'm not finished," I said and groaned to myself. "All I'm trying to say is, what if evolution didn't just help only humans to survive but also some other unknown species? What if humans might not be the only superior ones? Who knows we might be the food to another species, you know, predators of the predators...the kind that preys on us?"

 "What on earth could be our predators?" Alyssa asked skeptically.

 "I think I know what they are," Cammie said in a solemn tone, making my head snap right up to her. Alyssa also leaned forward, waiting to hear something productive, but Cammie just kept on chewing and chewing until she was sure that our attention completely fell on her.

 She swallowed and said in a theatrical voice, "They are a pack of hungry Orcs!"

 Alyssa slammed her half-eaten chicken breast on her plate, an offended looked written all over her face. I got my feeling crushed by that, too. Cammie started laughing hysterically. If what she said was true, Cammie would be the first food I would hand over to the Orcs.

 "Cam, that's not funny," I finally said.

 "Then why did you bring up such a ridiculous thing, anyway?" she asked, still stiffing from laughter.

 "I'm just—curious," I said.

 "Of what?" She explored.

 "Forget it."

 "Vivienne," Cammie spoke in an absolute tone of voice. She does it all the time when she won't take no as an answer, and I certainly didn't want to risk having her Karate chops in self-defense either.

 "Okay, fine," I exhaled. "I'm just thinking that...maybe those predators are some kind of creatures like...vampires?" I suggested, and both of them looked at each other as if they were figuring out whether I had a serious brain damage.

 "Viv, there's no such things as vampires," Cammie came to say after a lengthy silence. I turned to Alyssa.

 "I don't know," Alyssa shrugged helplessly. "Nobody has ever proved that they exist, and no one has proved that they don't either." Alyssa's got a scientist mind, so she wouldn't believe or disbelieve anything without a proof. Again, if only they had any ideas of whom they were sitting with.

 "All right, never mind," I said, giving up. But as I started to eat again, something came into my mind. "Oh, by the way, Cammie, do you know what the word 'Dhampire' means and where it comes from?" I asked.

 "Dhampire? Oh, it's not a word, it's a name, referring to the children who are born from a vampire and a human. It's retrieved from the Balkan language. If the child is a boy, they call it 'Dhmapire', if it's a girl, 'Dhampiresa'. Based on their folklore, a dhampire is said to be extremely filthy, he or she has either a snub nose, like a bat or worse, no nose at all," Cammie paused for a break and took a sip of her fruit drink then she continued. "And in the Bulgarian legends, folklore has it that a dhampire must also feed on human blood to sustain its existence. In Serbian tales, the dhampire has an oversized head and a small body with no shadow. Other myths say that those dhampires have slippery and jelly-like bodies with no bones, no fingernails and also a deep mark on their backs as though they are missing a tail."

 Then Cammie shuddered in disgust. Alyssa also grimaced along.

 I looked at both of my best friends, trying to keep a straight face. But I still felt like bursting into tears. This was the most insulting thing I had ever heard in my entire life. I know I don't look as beautiful as Cammie or as preppy as Alyssa, but I'm sure, I do not find myself fit into any of these stupid legends.

 "I thought you said you don't believe in this stuff," I pointed out.

 "You don't have to believe everything you know, girl," she replied.

 "How did you know all these legends?" Alyssa asked.

 "There are some ancient books in the library. I found them while I was learning Slavic," she shrugged again.

 I made a mental note right away: Find those books and read them for myself, but only if they were translated, and if not, that's still fine. I had Cammie as a backup. She was my human Wikipedia. I just had to know more about myself.