Tail of the Devil Read Online Free PDF Page A

Something had burst from his back. Tepes ran his hands over whatever it was and Mathias felt complete relief.
    “What the hell?”Last time he’d looked, his back was a normal back.
    Master Tepes stepped in front of Mathias and smiled. Before Mathias’ eyes, wings, like those of a bat, billowed out from behind Tepes and settled gracefully around his shoulders. “It was time to pop out your wings.”
    Vampires had wings. He took a deep breath. He had wings. Sweat pooled on his upper lip. His breath became short. Don’t have a panic attack, not now. “Wings?” He gasped. “I didn’t know vampires had wings.“ He gasped again. “I mean, I knew they changed into bats-“
    “Mathias, relax. You have much to learn. Forget what you think you know. Your books and movies will only confuse you. Come. We have much to do.”
    Calm down, yeah right. Somehow, though, he suddenly felt calm. It wasn’t natural; it was just there. Mathias tried to speak, but the only thing that was coming out of his mouth was gibberish. What did he do to me?
    “You needed to calm down, did you not? I simply aided in that process. You do not want to spend another minute in the infirmary, do you?”
    Mathias shook his head. It wasn’t as if he needed to be there, but he didn’t know what to do. Could he trust Tepes? He had no idea, but he wasn’t going to accomplish anything just sitting there, so he leapt from the bed and trailed Master Tepes down the hall.
    * * * * *
    It wasn’t that Mathias trusted Master Tepes; he just didn’t know what else to do. No one had hurt him... yet. But that didn’t mean much.
    The hallways were cold. The cold that only occurs in building made of old stone. The walls were dotted with numerous arched wooden doors, each more ornately carved than the last. Finally, he let himself be lead into what turned out to be an office. Now, he was confused.
    Master Tepes patted a chair in front of the desk. Mathias sat, not wanting to piss off his possible captor. He watched the tall vampire cross the room and sit behind the massive desk, place his elbows atop it, and lace his fingers together.
    “Now, Mathias, what are we going to do with you?”
    Here it is. The catch. “Well, that depends on what type of scam you’re running here,” he said to the tall vampire. He reached out and grabbed one of his wings. They felt soft and velvety, but strong. There were muscles in there. He let go of his wing.
    Master Tepes sighed. “Mathias, we have no scams,” he leaned back into his chair.
    Mathias glared. He felt that everything was just going way too easy. “Then why am I here? And why did you—“
    “Make you one of our kind? Mathias, what else was I to do? I am not a cruel man, contrary to what you may believe. I saw a young man in dire straits, so I helped in the only way I could. Would you rather have died?”
    Mathias took a deep breath and slouched into the chair, “No.”
    “You are here because this is where the children of our kind learn. You are currently housed inside the walls of the only school for young vampires in the entire world. It is called a simple name, the University. It is taken from the old Latin meaning of the word.”
    I’m in a school? Great, just great . He twitched, his wings rustled.
    “It isn’t as bad as that, Mathias. Yes, we do have rules here, but for the time being, I only expect you to try to stay out of trouble and pretend to respect me. Most of the rules will have no use for you. But we expect you to respect your elders, keep your bad language at a minimum, and above all else, try to be a kid. You will not be attending classes with the others. The rest of it will come in time. Is that agreeable to you?”
    Mathias thought for a moment. “I either stay here or go back on the streets. Not like there’s really a choice there.”
    “Now, we need to get you some clothing and show you where you will live while you are with us.”
    He hoped he wouldn’t have to wear some dorky