Glamoured: A Modern Fairy Tale

15. Tutoring is Better Than Monster Hunting

Virginia: E! Text me back about plans 4 Friday.

Eleanor slumped in her seat, staring at the message from Virginia, who'd texted her on her way to Jo's. Eleanor hadn't even remembered she'd gotten a text after they got talking about vampires. Jo insisted she needed to tell Farah about the vampire--especially if there was another one around murdering people. They vampires might know each other--they could be friends, Jo said. Eleanor's gut squirmed, knowing her friend was right, but she didn't want to tell Farah about Wes. Eleanor didn't want her to hunt him down even if he was a vampire. Maybe Farah's already found out who the second vampire is, she thought. Maybe Wes didn't know this vampire at all. Then again, how many vampires could there be? It seemed like an exclusive community. Maybe they did work together.

Like so many times in her life, maybe she was being an idiot, Eleanor thought.

"Miss Sable," Mr. De Angelo said, "you've been quiet today. No thoughts on how liminal rhetorical elements in fantasy contribute to works of horror?"

"No," Eleanor muttered. Since she hadn't spoken all class, she had already lost all her participation points. Of course, she hadn't read the assigned pages about rhetoric and fantasy writing either. Hunting an actual horror monster had taken priority.

Mr. De Angelo sighed, and another student started talking. Eleanor glanced down at her phone. She couldn't see how she would be able to avoid hanging out with Virginia on Friday. Vampires would just have to wait until Saturday.

E: Let me know when you get here. I'll find something fun to do.

She slipped her phone away and tried to pay attention until the end of the class. The image of Wes in the mirror bounced around in her head. That's not his real face, she told herself. She'd seen his glamour—what he'd wanted her to see. It was a shitty glamour. He could've tried to pretend he wasn't a pale, unnatural creep, Eleanor thought. He hadn't even gone full Hollywood hunk on the webcam, where he'd looked more or less like a sickly but real person. In the mirror, his cheekbones were too high, his skin flawless, and his face super symmetrical. His eyes were too bright...like they glowed a bit.

She shivered. The class ended, and Eleanor snatched her bag and bolted from the room. She didn't need a lecture from Mr. De Angelo, another professor that knew her mom.

Today was tutoring with Daniel, and a wave of relief crashed through Eleanor when she saw him in front of the library. He leaned against the wall, checking his phone. How he managed to make a slouch look sexy, she couldn't say. Daniel's unkempt hair and built, lanky body pushed all thoughts of glowing vampire eyes from her mind.

"Ready to torture me again today?" Eleanor asked. Daniel peered up at her and grinned.

"Only because my victim is willing."

He held the door open for her, ushering her into the library. She grinned back at him. She said, "Such the gentleman."

"You're carrying all the books," Daniel said, his gaze entirely too flirty for studying. She glanced at the library stacks, noting how few people went to the physical library anymore. Maybe this could get fun, she thought, but when Daniel looked at her grades, he got serious again. Elenor sighed and dropped her head onto her hands. So much for flirting.

Economics notes dried her libido up, and Eleanor kept checking her phone, hoping the session would be over soon. She didn't want to read about the factors that went into determining a country's GDP a tenth time because it hadn't stuck the first nine. She certainly didn't want to learn how to calculate them, which is what Daniel made her do. At the end of studying, she laid her head down on her notes and looked up at Daniel. She gave him her best puppy-dog pout.