Low Tide

Avery had been on the campus of Florida Keys Community College. He had forgotten why. Maybe it had been to feed. But the vampire had suddenly been struck with something. It hadn't been physical, at least, he didn't think so. The dark was suddenly upon him on all sides. Confused, he had begun walking ... and walked directly into a concrete pillar.

He had had to sit down, close his eyes. It was like being heavily intoxicated. Time slipped by without his realizing, and when his eyelids began to burn red, Avery realized with a sharp bolt of fear that it was now day. The vampire was directly in a bright ray of sunlight, and ... he wasn't burning. There wasn't even pain. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stood.

"No way."

Corbett was used to doing his research and lesson-planning in the comfort of a quiet office or a dimly-lit library, but December was so nice in Key West that he found himself sitting outside. A laptop sat to his left, a stack of history texts to his right as the Watcher jotted notes into a yellow legal pad. Such warm temperatures this late in the year took some getting used to, but Corbett certainly wasn't going to complain.

( Indecent Exposure )

( Gobi Desert, Mongolia. August 6, 2002. )

He had attended the class with a friend. He wasn't sure why he had agreed. If pressed, Wynne would have explained that he had two hours to kill. Truthfully, he had always been fascinated with sitting in on other people's lives. That's why he had liked going round to his mates' for dinner when he was younger. Seeing different meal-time rituals, the small disagreements that were foreign to him. It was like that here, except without food.

He hadn't really been bored, but his mind wandered. The professor would say something and that would set Wynne on his own mental tangent. Perhaps that had explained his poor marks in school.

The period had ended, and the students had shuffled out. Wynne forgot where he was, and he sat at a desk, staring at his sunglasses which lay folded upon the surface. They slowly began to float upward; a centimeter at first, then an inch. His record for holding an object up was eight minutes.

Since he was only teaching one class this semester, Corbett knew he didn't have to immediately bolt from the classroom on his way to some other obligation on campus. The Watcher took his time collecting the materials of the day, stuffing lecture notes into a manila folder before unplugging the laptop hooked to the classroom projector; while Corbett was by no means a technological expert, he learned early on just how valuable a PowerPoint presentation was when used in conjunction with a lecture.

( Probably just as well )

He sat on a bench on the Stock Island campus of Florida Keys Community College. His eyes were trained on the Cow Key Channel, which separated the campus from the rest of Key West. When Avery had first heard the name, he had laughed. The school was small by modern standards, like a microcosm of a larger university. It suited the vampire's needs, though. He had found someone, she'd been studying late at the library -- that had brought back a small piece of nostalgia -- and he walked alongside her. Using his words to distract and corral her, they had ended up near the waterfront. Avery had bitten her, just like that. No pretense. She tried to scream, but he muffled it. Besides the two fang marks in her neck, he didn't hurt her.

The vampire pretended to lose his grip on her, and she ran. Dropping her bag, too caught up in her own escape to notice he wasn't giving chase. Now he remained on the campus, and he knew that wasn't the smartest of moves. But it had been an hour and security hadn't come calling. The girl had probably gone straight home.

He felt as if a lead weight had settled inside him somewhere, and he was rooted to that bench. When had the water become so hypnotic to him?

As was often the case, Corbett had been so wrapped up in his work that he had lost track of time. The Watcher always tried to leave campus before the sun set; a man his age had better things to do than go face-to-face with a vampire or other sort of supernatural beast. Though Corbett had been a hand-to-hand combat expert in his younger years, time had robbed him of some of his strength and quickness. Already limited by the constraints of humanity, Corbett found that age was a further inhibitor.

( Best of Luck )

Being named the new associate professor of history at Florida Keys Community College was odd enough, considering it was the middle of November and finals would be coming up in a few weeks. But for Corbett Renfroe, the true oddity was what led to him being named to the position. The old professor, a man named Kendall Ivanov, had been found dead just offshore three weeks ago, after going missing for five days.

Authorities were in the dark as to how Dr. Ivanov disappeared or what killed him; autopsy results were still classified. Corbett had an idea of what he thought might’ve happened, but unless the coroner let him see the body – which was highly doubtful – it was just one of those weird instances.

By all accounts, there had been a lot of those lately.

Even with the class he had to finish teaching – American History After 1865 – Corbett had a lot of time on his hands. Good thing, too; it gave Corbett more time to shore up on local info – everything from typical hot spots to recent reports and rumors of an up-tick in supernatural activity. The Council sent Corbett to the southernmost city in Florida for just that reason; he didn’t really consider Key West a bastion of paranormal activity, but there appeared to be evidence to the contrary.

( No new information )