VAMPS: Fresh Blood by Nicole Arend
Nine students, Ace, Angelo, Aron, Ásta, Bram, Celeste, Dillon, Jeremiah and Sade, are traveling through the snow to a small town. Most come by expensive cars, a few by snowmobile, some even by helicopter. Dillon arrives by dogsled and snowshoe. It's clear he's an outsider, but according to his Da, it's time for him to embrace this other half of his life even though he knows literally nothing about it. This half of him came from his mother and he has no idea who she even is. Before leaving him alone with the group of wealthy and entitled eighteen-year-olds, Dillon's Da gives him a necklace that once belonged to his mother. She didn't leave him on purpose, but for his own safety, and this is all he has of hers... Oh, and that half of her DNA that makes him what he is: a Dhampir in the middle of a group of Vampires with a racing heart and flushed cheeks that everyone else immediately notices. Shit.
Not long after arriving and feeling completely the odd man out, the headmistress, Madame Dupledge, and deputy headmaster, Mr. Hunt, of VAMPS academy arrive to take the group the rest of the way to school. They'll be flying, which is obvious since the teachers arrived as a peregrine falcon and a raven and transformed. The group is sorted into fliers, who will fly alongside Mr. Hunt, and non-fliers, who will grasp onto Madame Dupledge's cape, to travel to the school. Dillon is a non-flier of course, but so are Sade and Angelo, so at least he's not the only one who can't fly. Dillon accidentally lets go of the cape and nearly plummets to his death, but Madame Dupledge catches him and they make it to the school.
Inside, Madame Dupledge sends Angelo to find his room but asks Sade to wait while she and Dillon have a chat. Dillon knows nothing about this school or about vampires, but Madame Dupledge assures him that his mother, who she obviously knows, must have been very powerful to be able to produce a Dhampir child, because that rarely if ever happens. Now he's here to learn how to master his vampire side. Dismissed, Dillon finds Sade and they go to their rooms which have sleek coffins inside instead of beds. Along the way, they meet a few other students who arrived separately, Cora, Frederick and later Bik, and then Dillon learns that they're supposed to dress for dinner and a ceremony. Jeremiah, his roommate, is the most gorgeous guy there and offers to help Dillon find something appropriate to wear. Aron lends him a suit and they all travel to the Induction Ceremony.
The Induction Ceremony begins with Madame Dupledge telling everyone the rules at VAMPS which include never leaving the castle alone, never harming or killing a human, never harming or drinking from another student, and telling someone if you develop mind control powers. Okay, simple enough. Madame Dupledge then has blood drawn from each student and then makes them drink from her, which is super awkward for Dillon who only just found out about his vampire side and who has never drunk blood before. He watches others drink and finds it sexy but also weird, and then when it's his turn, he is obviously surprised at the fangs that pop out of his gums, but then he drinks a little, well a lot actually, and it seems Madame Dupledge kind of likes it but then Dillon passes out.
Upon waking, Dillon finds himself in the school sanatorium with Dr. Meyer and Cora and Jeremiah are there to check on him. Dillon is embarrassed about passing out, but both Cora and Jeremiah seem to be decent about it and now they want to spring him from the hospital so they can go to the pool. Everybody else is there and getting acquainted, aka, everyone is making out with everyone else. Dr. Meyer is hesitant to let Dillon leave since he's just had his first blood and no one knows how he'll react, so Jeremiah and Cora leave. Sade comes by a little later and has such a calming aura around her that Dillon is able to relax and is released from Dr. Meyer's care. Sade takes Dillon to the pool, but they're not really interested in staying until Dillon feels himself wildly attracted to Cora. After some sexy partying that Dillon does not participate in, he and Sade leave. As they approach their rooms, he gets nervous about sleeping in a coffin. Sade teaches him about coffins and then he climbs in and goes to sleep.
Dillon wakes with a start, freaked out and not able to remember where he is. Things click back to place quickly enough and then he realizes he woke up because he has to pee! Do vampires have bathrooms? After wandering around for a bit, Dillon doesn't find a toilet, so he pees into a potted plant then continues wandering around. He realizes with his new baby vampire abilities that he doesn't smell great so he takes a shower, but then Celeste joins in. Dillon nervously covers his junk and is enthralled by Celeste's naked beauty. She informs him that vampires don't care about nudity and they don't stare, so he apologizes and leaves. Ace comes in after, dick presumably dangling, and joins Celeste in the shower. Wink wink.
Later, all the students will join together to pick the VE, the Vampire Elect, of their year. There are three years at VAMPS and everyone at the school will be there to watch this ceremony. Before it begins, the leader of the third years, Mahina, shows them around the school. Cora asks her a bunch of questions about being expelled and if anyone has been, but Mahina says she knows there have been students expelled and that's the end of the conversation. Back at the choosing ceremony, each year one student will drink a sample of everyone else's blood. Using their vampire instincts, they will decide which sample is the best and the one with the most votes will be the VE of the year.
Dillon is the winner, but Bram and Celeste are pissed about it, well, most everyone finds it odd, but they're the most vocal. They clearly thought they would be the best and that Dillon shouldn't even be included because he's a Dhampir and doesn't even belong at the school at all. Bram is named Deputy VE, but clearly that's not good enough for him. Madame Dupledge, using mind powers, is able to convince Dillon that he is good enough because his mother is a very powerful vampire, but Bram, pulling a Draco Malfoy, says *his father will hear about this.* Before Madame Dupledge lets Dillon leave, she requests more of his blood to do testing on because it is clearly very special and/or delicious.
After visiting the sanatorium for a blood draw, Dillon rejoins the rest of classmates at a blood bar that reminds him of a bloody Starbucks. He enters Starbloods to overhear several students talking about him and how he shouldn't be there and definitely shouldn't be VE, but he is, so shove it. Bram almost convinces him to step down using some compulsion, but Dillon glances at Sade and snaps out of it. Then Bram uses more mind powers to try to hurt Dillon, but Jeremiah steps in to defend him. It's clear that Sade and Jeremiah are on his side, though he can't stop thinking about Cora, then Ásta comes by and kisses him full on the mouth. She must be on his side, too. Either that, or she's just turned on and/or sexually aggressive, which tends to happen a lot at this school.
Sade and Dillon leave Starbloods and he tells her about Madame Dupledge taking more of his blood to examine it, so maybe he shouldn't be the VE, but Sade disagrees and just thinks that his blood must be very special. When Dillon mentions that his mother is apparently some super important vampire, Sade decides she wants to figure out who his mother is and offers to do her own testing of his blood. They discuss their upcoming classes after that, which include lessons about fighting and defense, controlling their desires, and using mind abilities, and extra choices, like vampire history and vampire medicine.
The first class the next day is Combat, Hunt and Protect. Mr. Hunt talks to the students about why hunting might be important, to eat and/or to take out rogue vampires, and then they begin learning to fight with Borzak, a former human MMA champion who is a turned vampire. Dillon is put in the ring against Borzak and gets pounded, but then he literally starts seeing red when his vampire traits kick in and he fights back, getting several good punches in on Borzak before it's someone else's turn to practice. Borzak is impressed with how quickly Dillon let his vampire instincts take over.
Later in class, they move to a sensory deprivation lesson. In pairs, they're put in a completely dark room filled with dry ice and are meant to seek the other out and pin them down. First Bram goes against Aron, and Bram uses his mind powers to attack, but Aron is able to push through the mind pain and wins the match. Next, Dillon and Cora go in. Somehow, Dillon is able to hear Cora's thoughts and is able to find her and avoid her attacks. They roll around sexually and eventually Cora wins, but it is very impressive that Dillon was able to hear her thoughts, though he decides to not tell anyone about that. His mother must be powerful indeed.
The next class is about desire and is taught by Madame Dupledge. Dillon almost decides to skip but Jeremiah convinces him it would be better to go. Madame Dupledge talks to them about controlling their desires so they can go on a ski trip later in the school year and learns that Angelo is extremely attracted to Dillon's blood. To help him control his craving, she has Angelo lick Dillon's neck right there in front of the whole class. That's not inappropriate or awkward at all for anyone. After this display, she has the students pair up and imagine their partners as corpses. Cora freaks out and runs from the room. Dillon is already upset, thinking he's never going to be able to be around his Da again without wanting to eat him. Madame Dupledge assigns homework before the class ends. Each student will have to keep a vial of pure human blood in their room with them all night and not feed until the next day at midnight. If any blood is missing from a student's vial, they'll fail the assignment.
Cora is waiting for Dillon after class and takes him to the roof so they can be alone. She tells him about her brother who was expelled from VAMPS and is now missing. She misses him terribly and doesn't even know if he's alive, but she knows that Bram's father had something to do with it which is why she's dating Bram, though also they make a good match, but more so the brother thing. Now she wants Dillon's help because he is VE. Dillon wants Cora and she wants Dillon, too, and they almost kiss, but then Cora pulls away. Dillon gets mad because she's using Bram and she's using him, so he leaves.
Back in his room, the blood is delivered and both Dillon and Jeremiah struggle with not drinking it. Jeremiah goes to Bik's room, presumably to burn off his desire in another way, and Dillon tries to fall asleep. He's woken by Sade who alerts him that several parents have arrived to try to get him removed from his position as VE and from the school altogether. Her parents are there as well as Bram's and Celeste's. Madame Dupledge has them all try Dillon's blood and though they agree it is very powerful and delicious, they still don't want him at the school. Mr. Hunt is also there and, after the parents leave, he tries to convince Madame Dupledge that the parents are right and Dillon doesn't belong. She disagrees. Sade turns to Dillon and decides they need to do their own testing and soon.
When Dillon returns to his room, Jeremiah is still not there and he struggles again with the bloodlust homework. Dillon goes to Frederick and Aron's room and finds them, plus Angelo and Ásta having a sexy dance party. Frederick offers Dillon some illegal blood that he has and Ásta really tries to push him to drink it, but suddenly, Dillon is able to hear her thoughts. She thinks if Dillon drinks the illegal blood, she'll have control over him, so he leaves the room. Pacing around and not knowing what to do, Dillon runs into Cora again. They apologize to each other and sit together peacefully, but the next morning, Cora insists that they sneak away from each other so as to not let anyone know they were spending time together, even as friends.
In their first class the next day, they learn from a hippy human-turned-vampire, Professor Sandhu, about mingling with humans. Dillon is already used to this, but might struggle more now that he's got bloodlust. At the professor's insistence, Dillon explains that vampires look and act differently than humans, which duh, and that they'll need to keep their fangs in, but then the teacher explains that all this is true and that they'll need to be prepared to hide their vampiric traits when they go on the ski trip. She pulls out a vial of blood and everybody's fangs shoot out, and then she examines them all closely and realizes that several have had their fangs modified. Jeremiah's are gold, Celeste's have diamonds, and Angelo's are engraved. Professor Sandhu tells them about special fang guards that she will have them fitted for before the ski trip. After this, Dillon gets woozy and passes out. He's taken to the sanatorium and then is allowed to take his blood earlier than scheduled and is met by Professor Dukan who tells him he's still working to identify the best blood type for him to drink. He is offered a rare treat, golden blood, which is very pure, unique and expensive. Everyone is jealous, especially Bram, but Dillon feels so amazing he doesn't really care.
Flying lessons are next and Dillon fails spectacularly in the vertical wind tunnel, but Chiro, the bat-like flying instructor, believes he'll get the hang of it even though he crashes around several times. Mr. Hunt, who seems to really hate Dillon, puts him in the horizontal tunnel even though he's really not ready for it and forces him to fly with Cora. He does amazingly well after getting a spark of power from Cora and together they fly at speeds close to 150 miles per hour. Everyone is impressed, though some reluctantly, and Sade hugs Dillon, but then she turns away, embarrassed, and leaves. Dillon doesn't understand and feels a strong attraction to her, but then Bram taunts him about flying outside and Frederick asks him for flying help. When he turns back to Sade, she's gone.
A week or so passes and Dillon takes private flying lessons with Chiro and gets better, but he struggles with takeoff without the boost he gets from Cora. Bram taunts him and Ásta asks if he wants to practice with her and Ace, but no. Frederick catches Dillon and brings him back to his room, Dillon thinks to offer him illicit blood again, but no, this time, Frederick wants him to gamble. He's got bets going on about who will win the Flying Challenge that will be happening soon, but Dillon hasn't got any money, so he won't be betting.
Dillon calls his father later and finally gets to talk to him after so many other calls have been ignored. The call is short and leaves Dillon upset because it seems his father knows more than he's letting on about Dillon, his mother and school, and implies that Dillon could be in danger, but gives no details. Frustrated after the call, Dillon doesn't notice Sade's arrival. He asks about what happened after the first flying lessons but she brushes that off and says they're going to break into Professor Dukan's lab later so she can test his blood.
In the next class with Madame Dupledge, she reveals that Jeremiah failed his bloodlust homework and tells him he'll have to try again. Then she asks Angelo how he is dealing with his desire for Dillon's blood. He takes a big sniff and seems fine, but then gets embarrassed when Madame Dupledge calls him out for wearing nose plugs. Dillon feels extremely embarrassed and realizes he's feeling Angelo's emotions. Dillon encourages Angelo and believes that he can overcome his desire, which makes Angelo feel much better. After class, Bram taunts Dillon about Cora and offers to trade her for VE, which makes Dillon see red, but they're pulled apart by Mr. Hunt and Madame Dupledge who asks to see them in her office.
Madame Dupledge tries to stop Bram from taunting Dillon so much, but then tells them that Countess Bibiana Fassano, one of the most powerful vampires in the world, will be coming to their school to teach a lesson about mind control and international relations and to watch the Ice Challenge to see if any students might be worthy to join her Vampire Secret Services team. Dillon and Bram will escort her around the school if she needs it. Madame Dupledge dismisses them and Dillon finds Cora waiting for him. She asks why he and Bram fought, but he doesn't tell her that Bram offered her to him for some reason, trying to be the bigger man, presumably. Cora leaves Dillon after telling him he's different, which isn't really a nice thing to say, and he gets mad again because their relationship is so weird. They run into each other later when he's practicing flying and he tells her that he's going to talk to Countess Fassano and find out about her brother and the joy she has in learning that gives Dillon the spark he needs to take off and fly on his own.
Sade texts Dillon after that and tells him she's going to meet him later to break into Dukan's lab, but while they're in there, they don't find anything useful. Sade offers to send a fresh sample to her sister who studies blood disorders, so she bites into his arm and collects a vial. They separate quickly after that because Sade who didn't intend to swallow any of Dillon's blood clearly did and says it's much stronger than before. This causes a problem between them later because Sade is clearly attracted to Dillon and now she's got a bad case of bloodlust like Angelo. She feels bad because she isn't able to discover anything about his blood. Professor Dukan catches Dillon in between these meetings with Sade to tell him he's got a new blood type and they're going to have extra security around him now, just to be safe. Well that's great. Nothing to worry about!
Also nothing to worry about? The Flight Trial. It's time for this first real competition of the school year and Dillon is panicking because he still can't take off well without thinking of Cora. Luckily for him, she is his partner. Mr. Hunt tells all the students the course they are to fly only within the school grounds because no one can enter them without his or Madame Dupledge's permission and gives them GPS trackers, and tells them they are to stay with their partners. The first team back is the winner. Everyone takes off... except for Dillon who Cora has to come back and kiss, for fuck's sake, and then they're off. They quickly catch up to Bram and Angelo who are leading, but then Bram gets mad and speeds up way too much for Angelo to keep up with. He loses control and plummets to the ground, but Bram keeps flying.
Dillon, being the VE, does the honorable thing and takes off after Angelo to rescue him. They fall out of the school air space and land on the roof of a small house. People come out to investigate, obviously, and Dillon is able to get Angelo into the woods before anyone sees them, but they both react vampirically to the smell of human blood. Angelo can't control himself so Dillon tempts him with his own blood, baring his neck to lure Angelo back. Just as Angelo is about to bite Dillon, Chiro lands next to them and alerts them that a rogue vampire is somewhere nearby and they have to get back to the school as quickly as possible.
When they arrive, Mr. Hunt is furious and blames Dillon for everything that happened and tells everyone that Dillon gave Angelo his blood so he needs to be expelled. Madame Dupledge arrives and says they have no evidence of that and Cora steps in to defend Dillon and Angelo's character. Chiro does, too, and reports about the rogue vampire and about Dillon's amazing flying abilities and speed. If Bram hadn't flown so dangerously and abandoned his partner, none of this would have happened, so essentially, Dillon is better than Bram. Bram is pissed but manages to tell Dillon that they'll be greeting Countess Fassano when she arrives and then teaches Dillon a little about her and about awards they could get after the next challenge, the Ice Challenge, which is coming up soon. After Bram leaves, Dillon is approached by Cora and they kiss, but then she regrets it and Dillon is hurt.
Classes go on as December arrives and Dillon talks to his dad about Christmas, then he and Bram fight over Cora in Combat, Hunt and Protect, so basically, things continue as normal. Madame Dupledge and Professor Dukan tell Dillon that they've done more research on his blood and it's a very rare type. It's possible that it's getting so powerful that Dillon will not need to drink blood to survive, but that means things will be more dangerous for him, so Chiro and Borzak might keep a closer eye on him. When Dillon immediately gets worried, Madame Dupledge comforts him, but he got worried on the inside. Did she read his mind? How? She has intuitive powers, and it seems Dillon might as well. According to Madame Dupledge, Dillon's mother is one of the best mind reading vampires around...
Professor Dukan and Madame Dupledge also tell Dillon that it seems that one of the parents who wants him out of the school has obtained a sample of his blood and that the rogue vampire at the flight challenge might have been trying to kidnap him. Does that mean Sade let him down? Her parents don’t want him to be at the school just like Bram and Celeste’s. Nah. Surely not. He goes to see her after this meeting and she and Bik are excited to tell him the same thing about his blood. Then Jeremiah comes in and they tell him, too, even though both Madame Dupledge and Professor Dukan were like, don’t tell anyone, okay? Dillon trusts Jeremiah with his life, after all, and he knows he'd never hurt him. They all want Dillon to believe in himself because they do, and it's a very precious moment.
Later, at Starbloods while Jeremiah is fueling up for his second round of bloodlust homework, Dillon asks him for information on Countess Fassano and learns that she's like the vampire equivalent of Hillary Clinton. She's very powerful and has a lot of sway in the vampire world and has progressed their kind in unimaginable ways. She's also the head of the Vampire Secret Service. Basically she's the best, but she is also a good person. She and Madame Dupledge were best friends in school, too, and are still close. Fuel up complete, Dillon and Jeremiah go back to their room, but the bloodlust soon overtakes Jeremiah and Dillon finds out by reading his mind and his emotions, but with his help, Jeremiah passes the assignment this time.
December turns into January and Madame Dupledge begins teaching about mind powers. She mentions that she is a strong intuit and that Countess Fassano is the best at all mind powers, but then the students learn that Bram is good at using the brain's electromagnetic pulses against people, that Celeste knows about compulsion, and that Jeremiah is good at shielding. After class, Sade approaches Dillon about not being able to be near him since she had his blood and Dillon tries to help her cope, but it's just too much for her. Apparently, according to Jeremiah later, bloodlust is bad if someone is really attracted to the other person.
Finally it's almost Ice Challenge time. The other school years have their challenges which include team transfiguration races and lots of bonkers mind power stuff, like misting and weather control, but for some reason, the Ice Challenge seems like the worst and most difficult. Countess Fassano arrives and Dillon, as VE, is asked to escort her around. He asks a lot of basic questions and she's impressed by him even though he's basically a moron, but he's kind of precious at the same time, plus everyone loves him for his blood. Using her extra special mind powers, Countess Fassano tells Dillon he needs to get himself and his powers under control and quickly because people are after him. Before they separate, Dillon asks about Cora's brother, but the only thing the countess says is that he's an exceptional vampire. He tells Cora this later, thinking she's going to be disappointed, but she's not. She knows her brother is alive!
After a blood drinking ceremony, the students are broken up into their teams for the Ice Challenge. Dillon will lead Cora, Sade, Ásta, Jeremiah and Frederick, and Bram gets Ace, Aron, Bik, Celeste and Angelo. The challenge is very difficult and includes running down a mountain, finding a hidden clue, following the clue to a hidden package that could contain cocaine and blood if this were in the real world, that is under the ice lake, retrieving it and returning to school first all whilst being tracked by drones and maybe attacked by rogue vampires. Dillon's team manages to win even though he almost drowns under the lake and is almost killed or kidnapped by a real rogue vampire. He also manages to save Bram's life during this attack, after realizing with his mind powers that Bram was badly injured, but he has to give him his blood to do so, which is forbidden. Bram doesn't tell anyone, though Madame Dupledge and Countess Fassano seem to know anyway.
After the challenge, students are awarded prizes depending on how well they did. Sade, Celeste, Jeremiah and Angelo earn pins while Bram, Cora and Ásta earn tattoos. After other students in other years earn pins and tattoos, too, Dillon thinks he's not going to get anything, but then he's awarded the top prize, a full color tattoo imbued with ancient vampire blood. Everyone is either super impressed or super jealous. Dillon calls his da later to tell him, but he already knows and says that Dillon's mo... uh, Madame Dupledge told him. What an interesting slip to make.
Soon it's Ski Trip time, the last challenge of the school year. The students are taken to a ski resort and sent into bars full of humans and are expected to blend in. Dillon leads Cora, Jeremiah, Frederick, Angelo, Ásta and Celeste while Bram leads Sade, Bik, Ace and Aron. Bram's group is smaller because the bar they're going to is smaller. They split up and immediately Dillon's group starts sexily drinking vodka out of ice sculptures that look like naked bodies and riling up all the humans whilst loudly calling them humans and talking about blood. Dillon tries to stop them, but everyone's like, you're so boring, and they keep drinking. Eventually he lets go of some of his inhibitions and Cora leads him off to an igloo where they have sex and bite each other.
When Dillon and Cora return, separately, everything has gone to shit. All the vampires are failing spectacularly at being human and everyone's either fighting or extremely aroused or both. Dillon manages to get everyone under control just for someone to scream and find a dead body with her throat ripped out. Oh great. Chiro arrives soon, followed by the other professors, and the ski trip is cut short. Upon arrival at the school, and after speaking to police at the resort and compelling them and covering up the violent murder as a wolf attack, it is discovered that Dillon's blood was found on the corpse, so he is immediately condemned, isolated, and put on trial that will lead to his death. What?!
Only a few people believe Dillon is not responsible, which is to be expected, but Dillon finds out that Jeremiah told everyone that he confessed to draining the girl in an attack of bloodlust and trying to heal her with his blood, but that did not happen at all. Sade, Chiro and Professor Dukan begin to work to clear his name, but soon several ancient vampires arrive for the trial and take Dillon to the top of a mountain to cast judgment. It's clear that someone is setting Dillon up and that all the parents and Mr. Hunt want him to be expelled and put to death, and then Celeste, Jeremiah and Mr. Hunt all testify that Dillon is a murderer.
Dillon is allowed to call upon three of his own witnesses to prove his innocence, but he only asks for Chiro, who says he didn't see it happen but that he was flying around as a bat most of the trip. Dillon refuses to call on Cora because he doesn't want to sully her reputation, but she comes clean anyway. Bram is disappointed in her and Dillon feels really bad about sleeping with her, but what's done is done. Dillon wants to ask for Countess Fassano to read his mind, but she refused to attend the trial. Since Dillon's witnesses aren't good enough and no one believes him anyway, it's determined that he will die by being drained.
Just as an ancient vampire begins to suck Dillon's blood, he notices the necklace that belongs to Dillon's mother. He knows whose necklace that is but shrugs it off and begins to drink. Sade and Professor Dukan then arrive with evidence that Dillon was framed. Dillon's blood that was found at the scene was old blood, and, as has been previously determined, his blood is special and constantly changing and getting stronger. The blood that was found was the sample Sade took. She intended on sending it to her sister for testing, but it disappeared and she was afraid she drank it in a fit of bloodlust, but actually... Celeste stole it. Found with the old blood was one of Celeste's fang diamonds. Gasp! She is the murderer and was setting Dillon up because she hates him because he's a Dhampir. She also compelled Jeremiah to lie!
Celeste's father is there and yells at his daughter, but Dillon is mentally connected to her and learns that her father was working on a vaccine for vampires so they wouldn't have to drink blood, but that's what Dillon's blood does on its own, so clearly Dillon would ruin his billion dollar pharmaceutical plans, so he had to die. Dillon shares his intuition and Madame Dupledge backs him up, so he's no longer condemned to die, but Celeste is. Dillon tells everyone that it's her father's fault, so she is spared, but she wishes she would have been killed instead. Everyone starts to go back to the school after this and Jeremiah apologizes for being compelled, but Dillon's going to need time to recover from such a betrayal. Cora and Bram go off together, which hurts Dillon, but then Sade is there and they hold hands and fly back to the school.
Dillon wakes up in the middle of the night, completely exhausted from all the terrible events, but he realizes he's no longer in his room. He's now on a ship, but still in his coffin. Chiro is there, and also his da who introduces Dillon to his mother, who has whisked him away for his protection. Dillon's mother is... Countess Fassano. She tells him that he'll be able to return to school after things cool down, but this time, he'll be there as the son of the most powerful vampire in the world.