Caleb rubbed his hands that had earlier been tied with rope.

  Julie looked at him with a suspicious look in her eyes. Roman said that he had already spoken to Caleb last night and had sorted the matter. At least, that was what she hoped it to be.

  She noticed Caleb quickly starting to walk away from there without sparing another word or look as if he had some important work.

  "Do you think we can trust him?" asked Julie, watching Caleb's legs moving as fast as they could.

  "Mm," responded Roman, taking the last drag of the cigarette that was left between his fingers. He threw it on the ground and stamped on it. "He knows he won't survive in Veteris if he opens his lips. It will warrant his lips being sewed by me for a lifetime."

  Julie didn't know if he meant literal sewing, and her imagination made Roman seem as if he needed some time with Mr. Evans. First, he had prepared ropes to tie Caleb, and now he was speaking about sewing the boy's lips. But then their counsellor seemed like a creep thought Julie in her mind.

  "I don't have my current reputation for no reason," stated Roman and Julie's eyes shifted from the boy who disappeared from their sight to look at the person who stood next to her. It looked like he was still able to see Caleb. He turned to look at her and questioned, "Do you have any important classes today?"

  "We finished our tests last week. Why?" Julie looked at him with a question in her eyes.

  "I thought of paying a visit to Willow Creek with you. But there's another thing," he said, his eyes taking note of her cheek because of the cold weather. "I need you to get your phone with you."

  "My phone?" asked Julie, and Roman nodded his head. "Okay."

  Roman and Julie started to walk out of the forest, heading to the girl's Dormitorium.

  Roman decided to wait outside for her while Julie walked inside the building and walked to her dorm. Unlocking the door, she picked up her phone from the drawer while picking a scarf and wrapped it around her neck. The weather in the morning felt like Winter was already here. When she was locking her dorm, Melanie walked towards her dorm after returning from the girl's common bathroom.

  "I won't be attending class today, Mel. I will see you in the afternoon," informed Julie.

  Melanie looked slightly taken aback, and she asked, "But what about Mr. Hayton's introductory class on today's subject?"

  "I will catch up with it later, I have somewhere to go," Julie waved her hand at her friend before hurriedly walking away from the corridor.

  "But it is an important class-" Melanie's words stopped midway, seeing Julie disappear from her sight. As happy as she was for Julie that she had found someone she liked and the person who liked her back, she wasn't sure if Roman Moltenore was a good influence on her friend. A little worried, she stepped inside her dorm and closed the door.

  Julie and Roman made their way back to the forest, and she handed her phone to Roman. She looked up at the sky and noticed it was cloudy, where not a single ray of sunlight came to fall on the ground.

  "It feels like it's going to snow," Julie rubbed both her hands together.

  "For the next few weeks, this is going to be the weather," commented Roman, his hands slipped into the pockets of his leather jacket as he walked next to her. The weather was right for the Elders, who would be woken up with the lack of sunlight so their bodies could adjust to the atmosphere before they would start to live as if they were wealthy and strong humans who owned the world and its people.

  "It makes me want to sleep in the bed, and not get out of the blanket," and as Julie said this, fog appeared from her mouth.

  She heard the sound of the birds chirping and singing, echoing through the forest.

  "Yesterday, you told me that my thought about the University wasn't too far from the truth," started Julie and Roman's eyes quickly shifted to look at her. "Does it involve people being killed after finding out the truth?"

  Roman gave her a nod. "Consider it to be a family that doesn't want others to know some things while wanting to run things without any disturbance," he explained to her in the simplest terms. "Which other times did you get these visions?" he asked, shifting the subject.

  Julie tried recollecting them. Her face turned to look as if in deep concentration, "The first time was when I was in the library, when I was working on my assignments and I fell asleep. I saw the Corvin twice in my dream, and twice in person. But there was something very strange."

  "What was it?" inquired Roman, his eyes watching her.

  "Do you remember that day in the library when the girl and I had fought? I saw blood trickling down her skin and it was really strange and unexpected," Julie murmured in the end before asking him, "What do you think the vision means?"

  "She was probably hurt," Roman's words were short.

  What it meant? Roman repeated Julie's words.

  It was blood that was being taken by him or by other vampires from the girl. He hoped that there was still time before he would drop the information about him or this place to Julie. But Julie would find out the truth once her ability would become more prominent.

  "Have you ever tried to concentrate and see if you can get more insight on that vision of yours?" At Roman's question, Julie shook her head.

  She saw a bird fly above them before she replied to Roman, "I haven't tried it." She didn't know who else she would see holding knives and ready to kill and what gore it would hold.

  Once they reached the spot that they had visited before, Julie saw nothing but trees around them. She looked for the spooky bridge that looked like it led to Hell, but the bridge was nowhere to be seen.

  "This is a good time to test it," remarked Roman, making his way towards a tree, and he started to look around. "Relax and take your time. Close your eyes and try to concentrate on it."

  "Is there no book about those families of witches on what and how they did?" asked Julie, her eyes taking in her surroundings before looking at Roman.

  "The little information that I got my hands on, it is only in bits and pieces. I doubt anything more was ever recorded," Roman stopped walking and moved his hand to feel the air colder than the other places.

  Julie closed her eyes, trying to think about the Corvin and the bridge, but even after spending ten minutes, the bridge didn't appear in front of her, nor did the creepy creature appear.

  In the meantime, Roman turned to look at Julie, who had her eyebrows knitted. He wondered if her ability had only awakened, which was why she couldn't use her ability properly. That made sense on why she saw only bits and pieces.

  "I don't think it's working," said Julie, opening her eyes. A sigh escaped from her lips.

  "The last time was a fluke, Winters. It isn't going to be easy. We don't know what you can and cannot do yet," remarked Roman, who had bent down to look at the ground, his hand pushing the leaves away.

  He then stood up. Turning around, he walked back to where she stood.

  "Try it again. We have a lot of time on our hands today. After all, we'll not be attending any classes," stated Roman, his eyes on hers, encouraging her with a smile.

  Oh, they weren't going to return to the classes? Thought Julie in her mind.

  "In the meantime, I will go check on something. Call me if you need me," said Roman before walking away from there.

  Julie wondered what kind of curse had made an entire town disappear in thin air. Was she related to something so creepy and powerful? She tried to keep her ears alert, trying to sync with her surroundings before closing her eyes.

  The last time she was here, the ground was covered in mist and today, even though it was cloudy, there was no hint of mist.

  If her mother was a witch, and the incident had taken place decades or centuries ago, she wondered how many generations had been passed before one could trace back to the person who hadn't been killed. Maybe it was a baby that had been secretly sent away from Willow Creek? Julie asked herself.

  When she opened her eyes, she noticed a mist around her legs. It was back. Her heart hitched at the thought, and her eyes moved from the ground to look ahead of her where the bridge stood in all its creepy glory. But it wasn't clear, as if there was some kind of static, and it flickered.

  Not too far away from Julie, Roman stood behind a tree, watching her. Julie was the key to the lost Willow Creek.

  Curious, Roman picked up a stone from the ground, twirling it in his fingers and threw it in the direction of the bridge, where it flew past the side where Julie stood and towards the bridge. Julie's concentration broke, and the bridge that had shown up swallowed the stone before disappearing and leaving nothing behind.

  "You startled me," said Julie, turning behind and saw Roman walk towards her.

  "My apologies. I was checking something," said Roman, his eyes still fixed on the place where the bridge appeared a moment ago.

  By throwing a stone in her direction that felt like a passing comet? Julie stared at Roman.

  "The bridge is unable to stay as your ability is not fully developed. Anything that enters the space near it, it will disappear along with it, unless the person or thing comes out before it disappears. Else it's good as lost cause," explained Roman, taking a walk towards the spot where the bridge was. "It is an excellent place to put people in, like a prison."

  Why did it feel like Roman had already picked the first guinea pig to find out about Willow Creek?

  "How is it possible for a place to hold a curse when the person doesn't exist?" she asked Roman.

  "That's a good question. It is said that a curse's impact becomes more profound after that person's death. Especially when it is a witch," explained Roman. "I am guessing that the Corvin has something to show you, because if I am not wrong, the town should be nothing less than a ghost town with all the dead. Unless……"

  "Unless?" asked Julie.

  "If the Corvin is taking you back for some sort of sacrifice."

  They started to walk away from the place, making their way on the other side of the forest, hearing two more birds chirp. When they reached a spot, Roman took hold of Julie's phone, staring at the screen. He waited for it to catch the network.

  Julie heard her phone being bombarded with notifications.

  "Let us see if you have any new messages by the stalker," Roman went through the messages, and he said, "Looks like you have another message from another unknown number."

  "What does it say?" asked Julie.

  "The person is asking where you are," said Roman. While going through the notifications, the phone suddenly started to ring. "It's an unknown number."

  Julie stared at her phone before looking at Roman. She turned nervous when he handed the phone to her.

  "The person seems persistent to know where you are," stated Roman, "Let us see what the person wants." She took the phone from his hand, swiping to receive the call. She placed the phone on her ear. For seconds, she heard nothing, and she stared back at Roman.

  Julie asked, "Who is this? Hello?" The more seconds passed, the louder her heart continued to beat.

  "Who else did you expect to call you?" came her father's voice, and Julie's face turned pale.

  "I came to the house, but you weren't here. Where did you go, Julianne? I checked with the university, but they said you don't study there anymore," her father's tone seemed annoyed.

  Julie's lips trembled, and she whispered, "You were supposed to be in prison."

  Her father went quiet, not speaking anything, and she saw Roman's eyes narrow. Julie wondered if the line got disconnected, and she checked the screen before placing it back on her ear. She heard her father say,

  "They found out that I am not guilty. That I wasn't in my sane condition and it was possible that someone made me take something. I will explain everything to you when we meet. Just tell me where you are. Why do you keep switching your phone off? Are you at your uncle Thomas' house?" his voice turned demanding and louder.

  "I don't live with them," replied Julie, and she mentioned it only so that Uncle Thomas' family would be left unharmed and would not suffer the same fate as her mothers.

  "Tell me where you are so that I can come and get you," Julie couldn't believe her father was behaving as if everything was alright.

  She gripped the phone, hearing her father call her name. She then asked, "Why did you kill mom?"

  "We will talk about it when we meet. But right now I need your coordinates-" the line went dead, and Julie realized Roman had cut the call.

  Julie didn't have any words, hearing her father, whom she loved and cared the most, had turned to be someone whom she feared. How did he get out of the prison? He had coldly killed her mother.

  Roman pulled the phone from her hand, dialling a number. He heard the other side ring. Someone picked it up, "Hey Ricky, this is Roman Moltenore… Yeah, I am doing good, how about you?…… Right, I want a favour from you. There's a man I need you to look up in the prison." He then looked at Julie.

  Julie said, "Doughlas Leighton. It was Black Tower Prison."

  Roman passed the same to the other person on the line, "His name is Doughlas Leighton and he's placed in Black Tower Prison. I need you to check the asylums that the Black Tower Prison is tied up with… Thanks for that one. No, this isn't mine. You can call me at my usual phone number… Sure, bye."

  Roman placed his hand on Julie's cheek, "He cannot trace it to Veteris. Even if he comes, I doubt he will be able to make it through."

  "I didn't know you have these kinds of connections," commented Julie, and Roman offered her a smile.

  "Some family connections run deeper than you expect. He should get back by tonight and let me know what happened," said Roman and Julie nodded her head.

  That night, Julie walked back and forth in her dorm.

  Worry weighed on her mind by thinking that her father was out of prison. The last time she had called her uncle, he hadn't mentioned a word about it. He probably hadn't heard the news. Even if she would be safe for the next two years, what about after that? She had planned to leave the state once she would graduate. But her time had been cut short, where her father was released from prison, waiting to catch hold of her.

  She bit her bottom lip until her teeth nipped it too hard, and she winced in pain.

  Maybe she should turn to a teacher in Veteris. But thinking about the kind of students she would have to deal with filled her with dread.

  Hearing the window creak, Julie's head turned, and she saw Roman climb inside her room. He closed the window. Julie walked towards the bed, seeing him pull the curtain before he got on the ground.

  "Did you find out?" asked Julie, her eyebrows deeply furrowed.

  "He's out," informed Roman and Julie closed her eyes. She shook her head, not understanding how. He then said to her, "Like I thought, they shifted your father to the asylum. According to the people in asylum, he escaped from there. I think someone helped him to get out of there because from what I have heard, it isn't easy to get out with the amount of security they have in there."

  "I should inform my uncle about it so that he doesn't get a surprise attack from my father," murmured Julie in thought. She picked up her phone, ready to jump from the window to go to the place that had a network.

  But before that, Roman caught hold of her wrist.

  "Calm down, Winters," Roman's thumb brushed the pulse of her wrist. "If your father wanted to kill your uncle, he would have done it right after escaping. I don't think he wants to do anything with your uncle apart from getting information on where you are now. I think it would be better if you don't use your phone until we sort this out."

  "You mean until the police catch him?" asked Julie, her voice sounding tense and Roman stared at her for two seconds before giving her a nod.

  "Yeah, that," Roman agreed to her. "Right now, your father has no idea where you are, and if your uncle can keep it a secret by not revealing anything it would be the best way to avoid any problem. I do have a question though."

  "What is it?" inquired Julie.

  "Is it possible that your mother and your uncle aren't blood siblings? That one of them was adopted?" questioned Roman, and Julie shook her head.

  "I never heard about one of them being adopted. But then my mother never mentioned this witchy stuff, so I cannot be sure." Silence fell in the room until she asked, "How long has it been since he escaped from there?"

  "Around three weeks."

  Julie nodded her head in worry, her teeth went back to bite her lips, and it only opened up the tender skin that she had earlier bitten.

  Roman caught the light whiff of blood on Julie's lips. His eyes immediately fell on her bottom lip, noticing blood appear. She was about to touch it with her hand when Roman caught hold of her other hand, "Don't," he said.

  Julie felt the nip and burn on her lip. And at the same time, she noticed Roman looking at her. Something very dark lurking behind those black eyes, waiting to unleash and swallow her very being.

  "Rome?" She tested his name again, but it fell as a whisper in the quiet room.

  Roman's smouldering eyes snapped to look at her, "I wonder why it feels different when you call me like that." He pulled her near him and said, "It might not be the right time, but I cannot help it when you tempt me so."

  "But we were only talking—Mm—"

  Roman claimed her lips in his, tasting the blood that had seeped out of the little cut that had formed on her lip. And the blood tasted sweet like Heaven, not that he would ever know, but this was it. He wanted more than just a taste, he wanted a drop, but he doubted a drop would suffice.

  He didn't know what was there in her blood. If it was the idea of it being her blood, or if it was because he had never held back his thirst for any person before and had gone directly for the kill. The more he tried to hold back, the worse it turned every time he took a whiff of her blood that was driving him wild.

  Julie gasped softly when Roman caught her lip. He let it go, to only catch it all over again. She felt him devour her. His hand that had caught both her hands had slipped down to intertwine with her fingers, which suddenly squeezed, and it sent a jolt down her body. The shade of her skin turned flush under his presence.

  His hands slowly moved to her waist, manoeuvring her to have her body pushed against the wall while he continued to kiss her. And even though he had her body pushed against the wall for a moment, his hands went to her lower back to only pull her back to him so that her back had arched itself.

  Roman ran one of his hands over the length of her back at the centre.

  Julie felt lost in his kiss. Her worried thoughts that had been hanging above her head like the dark clouds in the sky had disappeared. She placed her hands on his arms, keeping up with the kiss where he now rubbed against her tongue with his tongue, eliciting a moan from her throat, which was quick to turn into a muffle when he covered her lips for another kiss.

  She felt him kiss her chin before moving across her jaw and then below her ear. She was too aware of him, and he made sure that she felt every little touch of his. She panted, feeling his tongue grazing on her neck, and a shudder escaped her lips that were parted.

  Her eyes were closed, to notice that Roman's eyes had turned red and his fangs had appeared.

  "I need to confess," Roman's voice sounded strained next to her ear, a whisper. "I don't think I can take it any longer. My control is slipping," his hands let go of her waist, and he placed his hand flat on the wall, keeping her in the same place.

  Julie's eyes suddenly snapped open, turning squirmish. She whispered, "I don't think I am ready for it," misunderstanding that Roman was talking about sex when he was talking about taking an actual bite from her.

  Realizing what Julie meant, the feeling of aggravation he had felt started to reduce, and a chuckle escaped from his lips. Taking a whiff of her hair that smelt sweet just like her, he said, "What am I going to do with you? Tomorrow… let us go out. You and me."

  Julie saw him pull his head away, his black eyes keenly looking at her. "But we both have classes. We already skipped today and it will be hard to get back on schedule. I have good grades to score," she said to him, feeling his face move closer to her, and it was enough to derail her thoughts.

  "Leave that to me. I will help you with that," Roman's hand came to touch her lips, feeling its softness. "This way we spend time with each other, and you get good grades. It is a win-win situatio—"

  Julie placed her hand on his lips so that he wouldn't try to put her under his spell. She felt the softness of his lips under her fingers.

  "I have to catch up with my classes and I don't want my attendance to look low. I already missed many of them. We can go on the next holiday," her cheeks feeling warm after the kiss.

  She quickly ducked down and stepped away from him so that he wouldn't try to seduce her. Julie came to learn that she was weak against Roman's words and actions.

  Roman wasn't pleased with her little trick, and a subtle scowl appeared on his face. Looking at the time, he noticed it was late. He needed to feed. Else he would end up eating her up. He walked towards the window, pushing the curtain to the side and opening the window.

  He turned to look at her and said, "I will be waiting for you tomorrow, near the fifth pillar on the right side of the boy's Dormitorium."

  "I am going to attend class," said Julie, wondering what he might have planned. Did he not worry about skipping so many classes even if he was a topper?

  Roman stared at her as if trying to figure out something. He then said,

  "Just for the record so that you can be prepared, I like it rough," and he jumped out of the window, leaving the place.