A few hours ago……

  Though the subjects offered by Veteris for humans and vampires weren't different, certain classes were held only for the vampires, subjects that the humans were unaware of. Right now, Mr. Stwarski was teaching the class.

  "It is very important that you learn to control and hide your identity away from the humans. Never let them know who you are and if they do, compel them," Mr. Stwarski's feeble voice reminded Roman of a plant that was under the sunlight for far too long and was on the verge of dying. He was one of the oldest teachers of this university. "Humans can never know about us. This is your final year and once you graduate, you will be stepping into the outer world…" his voice drifted.

  "Mr. Moltenore?" Mr. Stwarski called Roman, and Roman lifted his head from his notebook. "Have you been listening to what I have been saying?"

  Because of his good hearing ability, even if he put cotton in his ear, he would be able to hear the man, thought Roman in his mind.

  "To depend on the fellow kind who work in the hospitals rarely for blood bag, and not to drain the human's blood to avoid raising suspicion," he repeated the words in the same dull tone that Mr. Stwarski used.

  "He will be the first one to drain the blood," snickered one of the students, who was sitting at the front of the class. "The kind he is, you should lock him up in the dungeon."

  Roman's eyes shifted from the teacher to look at the boy, whose name he hadn't bothered to register even after years.

  He leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk. He said, "You are right. You will probably be the first one whose blood I will be draining out."

  The boy huffed, "You cannot kill me," even though he acted brave, he looked slightly nervous.

  Roman smirked, "Meet me outside the class and maybe we can check if I can put you in the grave."

  "Young vampires are always so brave," said the old teacher.

  Another student asked, "Has there ever been a person who couldn't be compelled?"

  "Humans have fragile minds. To compel is an ability a vampire needs to develop and it isn't something we possess. There's no person who is immune to compulsion and if they are, your ability is weak," explained Mr. Stwarski, looking at the students.

  "And what if it doesn't work?" came another question.

  Mr. Stwarski stared at the person before a faint smile appeared, "We kill the human, but only after proper proof is provided to the Elders. The vampires have hidden for years and it won't be compromised."

  Before the teacher could say anything more, the bell rang to dismiss the current class. The teacher left, and so did some of the students for a break. Roman decided to take a walk in the corridor. Ignoring some of them, he caught sight of the girl. She held a bottle in her hand while looking around. The moment her eyes met his, her eyes widened, and she quickly turned around and hurriedly walked in the other direction.

  His eyes narrowed at her action, and his head tilted to the side.

  Julianne Winters had failed to respond to his letter. Most of the girls in the university couldn't wait to send him letters, but this one had straight-up ignored it.

  Now in his dorm, Roman laid on his bed with his legs stretched, and he had placed his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling and remembering what happened.

  His lips twisted in faint amusement, remembering how she had asked him for his help to save her from not getting into detention. It was what people meant when they said, jumping from the pan into the fire, but then it had put him in a fix. In the small room, he had seen her anxious eyes staring at the door.

  Roman had smelt the faint scent of blood, and he couldn't help but wonder if she had bit her inner cheek out of nervousness.

  As much as he would have loved to see the good girl break more rules, he had decided to leave the frightened little thing for the day. He had a whole year to feed his amusement.

  Getting up from the bed, Roman walked towards the closet and opened the mini-fridge and saw it was empty. His jaw clenched before he ran his tongue over his fang that started to reveal itself. Compared to the others of his kind, his thirst was higher, and it had often made him wonder if it was because he wasn't like them.

  He was wearing his shoes, ready to leave the room, when he heard footsteps from outside his room. Not a second later, he heard Maximus' voice,

  "Let me see if he's in there. Rome?" and there was a knock.

  He heard light footsteps in the opposite room, and he wondered if his friends had brought girls to their dorms. Maximus asked, "We were planning to study together and complete our assignments. Do you want to join us?"

  Roman stared at Maximus as if he was serious, "Since when did you and Simon start doing that? I have other things to do."

  Right now, he needed blood as he was out of it. The more minutes would pass, the more his thirst would increase, and he would want to sink his fangs.

  Roman pulled his door to close it while standing outside his room, and he turned the key to lock it. When he turned, he noticed his friend was still standing with a smile on his face.

  "Is there something that you wanted?" he asked Maximus.

  "Won't you come inside and see our guests? I handpicked a person to see if I can drink in the future," hummed Maximus.

  "I am not interested in who you drink or fuck with," responded Roman with a pointed look. Nonetheless, he made his way to the entrance of the opposite room.

  His eyes first fell on Simon, and then on the person he was sitting next to.

  When Julie had heard the sound of the door closing, she had believed that Roman had closed the door for good to stay inside his dorm. But she hadn't expected him to have closed the door from the outside. The memory of having spent minutes with him in the closed space was fresh.

  "What are they doing here?" questioned Roman, with a hint of foreignness in his voice as if the two girls weren't welcomed in here.

  Simon, who sat next to Julie, smiled, "Maximus thought it would be fun to finish assignments together. Combined study has always been productive."

  Roman's eyes left Julie's face who looked like a rabbit being caught by a fox, and then he looked at Simon.

  The girls who were often invited to the dorms were the ones whom they could fuck or suck blood on as a snack before sending them away after being compelled. Right now, he wasn't fond of the thought that the girl he had decided to pick on had been picked by one of his friends.

  Noticing the look of annoyance that often came to pass in Roman's eyes, Julie was sure he wanted them out of here as quickly as possible. This was an opportune time!

  "We will leave," said Julie, ready to pick up the bag and leave the boy's Dormitorium with Melanie. But Roman raised his hand and moved his two fingers as if telling her to sit down.

  "You can start doing your assignments. I will be back in five," stated Roman, walking out of the dorm to go somewhere.

  A few minutes later, Julie sat not too far from Simon and Melanie, and on her opposite side sat Maximus. Everyone seemed to be scribbling something in their book, working on assignments or making notes. But then there was Roman Moltenore, who didn't sit on the ground like the rest. He sat on the bed, his long legs stretched and crossed while he leaned his back against the wall with a book in his hand.

  Halfway through, Julie felt his gaze on her, but she didn't look at him right away.

  When she did look at him, he was reading his book in concentration, and it made her wonder if her antenna of instinct had stopped working. . .

  Seeing Julie, who had stopped making her notes and staring at the ground, Simon asked her, "Did you get stuck somewhere?"

  Julie shook her head and received a smile from him. She wrote down something in her book before whispering to Melanie,

  "Mel, did we finish until this?"

  Melanie took a peek at Julie's writing, 'When do you think it is safe to leave?'

  Her friend answered, "No, we haven't," and she pursed her lips. "Let me see where it was," and she turned a few pages and wrote something down. "Here."

  Julie read, 'Let's leave from here in an hour.'

  Julie flipped the pages as she didn't want the seniors to find what was written if they decided to look at it. Deciding to concentrate on reading the textbook in front of her, she started to scribble softly on the book as she wrote.

  Simon, who was next to her, took a look and said, "I remember this one," he then added, "You have pretty handwriting, Julie."

  "Ah, thank you," responded Julie looking at her cursive handwriting and both she and Simon smiled. When her eyes met Roman's, looking at her, she cleared her throat and looked back at her book.

  "Are you nervous?" questioned Simon, and everyone's eyes fell on him, wondering what he was talking about.

  "Nervous?" asked Julie.

  The red-headed senior said, "Yes. You are going to visit your home this Sunday, aren't you? With the mails sent regarding your reports for the month, you must be anxious."

  "I am," Julie nodded her head. But more than nervous about her detention and grades, she wasn't sure how her aunt would receive her. "How about you, are you all going to visit your families too?" she questioned them, her eyes falling on the three boys and the last one being Roman.

  "This is home," replied Roman, holding her gaze for the longest until she looked away. She wondered if he didn't get along with his family, which was why he preferred to stay at the university here.

  "True," Maximus nodded his head nonchalantly as he continued to scribble something in his book. "Everyone is here."

  Simon smiled before saying, "I am going to visit them."

  Julie nodded her head, but before she looked back at her book, she noticed the glare Roman sent to Simon. What was that about?

  Somewhere in between, Maximus had decided to go and get some snacks from the lunchroom for them to eat. Melanie had decided to get her doubt cleared by Simon, who seemed kind enough to explain it to her.

  In the meantime, Julie was lost in her thoughts, while she was staring at one of the pages when she heard Roman's voice next to the shell of her ear,

  "You seem to be struggling with this page."