Earlier, Julie had drifted far away in her dream, and it had felt like she was one of the bystanders in the room while watching the creatures hover around her. Lightning flashed from the sky outside the room, with heavy drops of rain falling on the ground.

  Wrapping the blanket properly around her body, Julie wondered why things had turned out this way with her. If an alien came to abduct her, she doubted she would be surprised anymore. From the life where the students had bullied her, now she was here, trying not to be killed by one of the Elder vampires.

  While trying to hide from her father, Julie had considered going for plastic surgery, which was one of the options just to deceive her father. But how was she going to make sure not to be a vampire's meal? Even though she belonged to an old lineage of a family of witches, she was still an edible beverage to the night creatures.

  There was one solution. Turning into one of their kind, but Julie wasn't keen on it. She liked Roman enough to accept who he was, but she doubted she would have taken it kindly if he wasn't in the picture. She liked the way she was right now.

  Feeling thirsty, Julie's eyes searched around the room, and it fell on the empty jug. Getting down from the bed, she wondered if people were already sleeping in the motel. A small smile came to form on her lips at the thought that both she and Roman were hungry now.

  Still covered in the blanket, Julie made her way towards the door while holding the jug in her hand. At the same time, she heard a creak outside the door, and it was enough to alert her. Her hand hovered on the doorknob before she grabbed it quickly and turned it. Opening the door, she found the helper boy standing outside the room.

  By the looks of it, the helper's boy was probably two or three years younger than her. As if caught red-handed, the boy said,

  "I came to ask if you need another lantern."

  Julie nodded her head, "Yes, that would be very helpful. Can you fill this jug with water and bring it back?" her hand stretched through the gap of the door and wall. The boy's black eyes fell on her hand.

  "Yes," answered the boy, and he took hold of the jug and left the front of the room.

  For someone who had come to offer her lantern, he hadn't come here with it, thought Julie. She hoped she wasn't going to be served as anyone's food in this motel.

  The boy returned with the water-filled jug along with a lantern and handed it to her. Julie thanked him. It was past twelve in the night, and before he could leave, she asked, "Doesn't this place have no electricity in here? I noticed there are no switches in the room nor bulbs."

  "The owner of this place likes to run this place with the same old decor, and keep it without much changes, just the way it has been since the beginning," he smiled at her.

  If Julie needed any more confirmation about this place that it belonged to the vampires, this was it.

  The look in the boy's eyes was similar to when she saw mouthwatering food in front of her. It made her uncomfortable, and she realized she would need to look for a wooden stake just to protect herself.

  "Did you run away?" The boy asked her curiously, and Julie wondered how to avoid answering his question. "Did someone recommend this place to you?" he asked, looking at her and wondering if he could take a bite from this human or serve it to the highest paying customer.

  Julie pursed her lips, and she then asked, "Do you know Moltenore?"

  "So you are Mr. Moltenore' guest," murmured the boy, a look of surprise entered his eyes. "Would you like me to bring some wood to add to the fireplace to heat up the room? I am sure it is cold inside."

  On hearing Roman's last name, the boy had suddenly turned hospitable. Julie shook her head, "No, I am fine." Her wet clothes were on the table and chair, drying. Also, another reason, she didn't trust him in the room. She asked him, "Is it possible to get some dry clothes for me to wear?"

  "I don't think we have women's clothes. But there must be something." Saying this, the boy left the place, and he appeared after a few minutes with a pair of loose-fitting pants and shirt. "Here."

  It looked like a male's clothes.

  "Thank you for these." She offered a slight bow, and he returned the gesture.

  Before Julie could close the room's door, the boy said, "Miss… Make sure to lock the windows and the doors properly." He paused for a moment before adding, "The wind in here is very strong, it might knock open the windows and disturb your sleep."

  "Thank you," murmured Julie, and she finally closed the door.

  Stepping backwards, she looked at the little gap below the door, noticing the shadow not leave the front of the door. She doubted she would be able to sleep. She first wore the pants, tightening them around her waist with the two ropes to ensure it wouldn't fall off her waist. When he brought the shirt next, slipping it above her head, she stopped mid-way before pulling it below her head. She slipped her hands into the sleeves with a small frown before bringing the sleeve to take a large whiff.

  Roman. The shirt smelt like him.

  Getting back into the bed, Julie pulled the blanket and laid down with her eyes wide open.

  Throughout the night, Julie didn't sleep well as subconsciously, she tried to stay awake to catch another snapping of the twigs by the group of Corvins. When dawn broke through the sky, most of the clouds in the sky had disappeared, leaving the ground in Queenstorm wet and puddles.

  Julie was woken up by her grumbling stomach, as she hadn't eaten anything since last morning. This was probably the second-longest time she had gone by without eating anything. The first time was when her mother had passed away, and she had lost appetite.

  Pushing the blanket away from her body, she got out of the bed. She went to check her clothes, which were still wet from the rain and wondered how long it would take to dry them. Should she step out like this? Julie asked herself.

  Coming to stand in front of the dressing table, Julie weaved her hair through her fingers.

  "It should be alright to step out in these clothes, it doesn't look that bad," muttered Julie under her breath. She was hungry and had a mild headache because of the lack of food.

  Gathering her hair at the back of her head, her hand reached for the hairband that she had placed on the dressing table. But when the hairband fell on the ground, Julie bent down to pick it. While standing up, she placed her hand on the mirror for support and, standing straight, she noticed her handprint and stared at it.

  It wasn't her handprint that caught her attention, but the reflection of the mirror and Julie felt as if the air had been knocked out of her lungs.

  It was an older woman who wore a black-cloaked dress. The woman's hair was black and grey, fine wrinkles on her face and her eyes almost grey in colour. In shock, Julie let go of her hand from the mirror, bringing it to her chest and quickly stepping backwards.

  In Veteris, the helper men staffed by the management started to clean the place and pull down the things set up to celebrate the four days of the Fall Annual celebration.

  With the mood of celebration slowly starting to fade, some of the students whispered about the girl's death, which had been caused by wolves. Her death brought fear to some of the students. It wasn't just the humans but also the vampires. Vampire students because they knew the Elders spared none.

  But the one death that wasn't spoken about was of Mateo Jackson, because he was a vampire. In Veteris, the vampire student's death was never reported outside, and they were buried back in the place where their graves belonged. The vampires who didn't originally belong to Veteris, their bodies were sent to the families or were burnt.

  The first-day classes after the Fall Annual was starting an hour later than the usual time, allowing students to adjust and get back to their studies and classes. And while most got ready, some headed to the lunchroom, and some went to the classroom directly. A few of them were still in their beds, trying to pull themselves out of their holiday mood.

  Melanie headed towards the lunchroom all by herself, carrying her bag one side of her shoulder. Seeing Conner waiting at the front of the lunchroom, she looked surprised.

  "Hey," Conner greeted Melanie, but with less enthusiasm compared to how he usually greeted her.

  "How are you today, Conner?" asked Melanie, knowing Conner was still hurting over Reese's death.

  Conner took a deep breath and then released the air through his lips. He nodded his head before saying, "I will be okay in a few days. I just feel bad that she died so suddenly. Mr. Evans said she had some sort of heart problem."

  "If only we knew beforehand. Take all your time, Conner," Melanie placed her hand on his arm.

  "Hm," responded Conner and looked behind her. He asked, "Where is Julie?"

  "She went to visit her family for a few days," replied Melanie, and Conner frowned.

  "Now?" asked Conner, and Melanie gave him a nod. "That's strange, that they allowed her to take vacation. It must be important."

  "Yeah, I hope everything is okay with her family," commented Melanie. "I am glad to see that you have come out of your dorm, and to eat."

  "Mr. Evans said I should follow healthy habits to preserve the good things," Conner said while looking at her. "That Reese wouldn't like me in this state and he's right."

  "Reese will always be remembered by the people who came in contact with her," said Melanie, offering Conner a smile.

  "Good morning, birdies," someone interrupted them,? and Melanie turned to see who it was. By seeing the person, the calm expression on her face turned into a slight frown. Simon walked up to where they stood, who was accompanied by Victoria. "I am sorry for what happened to your girlfriend," he said to Conner, his bright eyes briefly shifting to look at Melanie, who stood next to the human boy.

  "Thanks for your concern, Simon," Conner thanked Simon, where he believed everyone around him were people with good intentions.

  "She was a lovely person, and it is sad that she had to leave us suddenly. But I am sure there's a reason for it," and he received Conner and Melanie's attention. "I mean God sometimes has different reasons."

  Victoria gave a quiet glare at her friend that went unnoticed by the two humans near them.

  "How about we have breakfast together? It is quite lonely to be eating with just two people," suggested Simon. Melanie was about to refuse, but Conner didn't catch Simon's intention.

  "Sure," agreed Conner, and the four of them went inside the lunchroom to have breakfast. While Conner and Victoria had left the table, one to get the tray meal, while the other to talk to someone, it left Simon and Melanie alone at the table.

  "You know this is an opportune time to offer your shoulder to him to grieve," commented Simon, who got up from his seat and sat right next to Melanie.

  Melanie stared at Simon before looking away from him, and she said, "I don't know what you are talking about. Haven't you heard about minding your own business?"

  "I don't think I have. It sounds like a boring thing to do," replied Simon, the gleam in his eyes more evident.

  Until Julie had found out about her feelings for Conner, Melanie had believed that she had been doing an excellent job in concealing her emotions towards the person she had loved for a very long time. She didn't know if it was because her emotions had spilt without her knowledge, which was why Simon had caught a whiff of it.

  "If you don't do anything quickly, you might end up staying in a forever friend zone, and frankly it is never pretty to look at," Simon leaned towards her, placing his hand on Melanie's chair, and she, in return, moved back.

  Melanie wasn't in the mood to deal with this person who looked nothing less than a psychopath.

  "Reese was a pretty girl, and younger than you. Possibly Conner likes his girls young, you know—"

  "Just because we are sitting at the same table doesn't mean you have to speak to me. I am good without your company," Melanie's eyes flared, but that only brought mirth into Simon's hollow eyes.

  "So you would rather have someone else snag the boy? Ah, I know," said Simon, rubbing salt on Melanie's wound by saying, "Conner loved Reese too much and he needs time to mourn. First love is hard to let go, you must know about it the best," he chuckled and then asked, "Where are you going?" because Melanie got up from her seat to get her tray of food while passing his friend.

  Victoria returned with their meals, which were specially made for vampires. Noticing the human girl stomp her way towards the counter of the lunchroom, she sat down next to Simon.

  "Looks like you are the only one who is still in the mood," remarked Victoria before she started to eat her meal. She then said, "Stop trying to cause trouble."

  The smile on Simon's lips didn't leave, and instead, it broadened, "A little harmless trouble is alright. Not to mention, it is quite boring with the Elders here and we didn't go out at night. I was anticipating some more fights but with Mateo gone, I have only Griffin and Rome's fight to look forward to, which was cut short because Rome is in a dungeon. I need to kill time."

  "Might as well cause trouble to yourself then," stated Victoria with a straight face, and Simon laughed.

  "I am not an idiot to hit my own leg with the hammer, Tori. I rather do that to others, and this one seems quite easy," responded Simon while raising his eyebrows. He raised his hand to look at the watch and then said, "What time do you think Olivia is going to hand over the reports?"

  "Probably after the Elders are done with their breakfast or lunch. The last time I checked, she was still scanning through the prints," replied Victoria, and they had to pause their conversation as Conner returned to the table.

  Simon pulled the chair for the human boy, offering him to sit right next to him as if they were best friends.

  A few hours passed, and when Olivia was finished taking the prints about the Silverwater vial, she first went to meet where Elder Remy was. "Don't you have classes to attend today?" he questioned her while sitting on the resting chair, holding the newspaper in his hands.

  Olivia offered a quick bow, and she said, "It is about the contamination in Veteris, and the glass vials that have been stored into refrigeration."

  Hearing her, Elder Remy's eyes narrowed, and he asked her, "I thought you wanted to have a much more peaceful life than most of the other vampires, Olivia. And to do that, it is often better to not get involved. The more you get involved, the more enemies you make, and there's less protection."

  "Griffin is trying to pin the blame on Roman," stated Olivia, and Elder Remy nodded his head.

  "I understand," he said, knowing in the past Roman was the one who had carried Olivia back to her house in the hopes that she would survive. But that day, even if a human survived, they would have been killed by him or the other three other Elders. The elders didn't go through the compelling process unless it was needed. They preferred to get rid of the people who could cause the slightest trouble to them. "I understand that you, Roman, Maximus are friends, but you should know, when it comes to the Elders where we have taken you under our wing, the dynamic between all of you changes. At least that is how us Elders look at things."

  "We grew up together, I don't think it will change and I hope it doesn't," said Olivia in a serious tone, and the Elder stared at her.

  "Hope is always good, it makes a vampire appear more humane," said the Elder. He folded the newspaper in his hand, placing it on the side table, and he stood up. "Do you know where the girl is?"

  "The girl?" asked Olivia.

  "The one with whom Roman is in love," stated Remy, walking past Olivia. She quickly followed behind him. She wondered how he had figured it out, but one of the plus sides about this Elder vampire was that he preferred to be a bystander without getting himself involved in anything. "I can only guess that someone will tell someone and soon it will come to fall into the ears of the others and things might not go so well. No one likes to be made a fool of."

  They climbed down the stairs before coming to the hall.

  As if someone remembered Griffin, he walked through the entrance of the mansion. On seeing Elder Remy, he bowed his head and headed to where Luciano was. But before he could meet his maker, he met Donovan as if he was in luck.

  Griffin offered the man a bow, greeting him, "Good morning, Elder Donovan."

  Donovan was barely interested in Griffin, one because he was Luciano's disciple. And two, because he wasn't Roman. The Elder vampire was about to walk past the boy when Griffin opened his mouth.

  "Elder Donovan, there is something I need to ask you. If I may speak," Griffin requested permission from the Elder, having a look of doubt and confusion in his eyes.

  Olivia, who was on the other side of the corridor, heard Griffin speak, and she took a deep breath. Her Elder didn't want her interfering in the matter, as it would only lead to Elder Donovan's ire. She knew things like these couldn't be hidden for too long, especially with the friction between the vampires and the humans.

  "Speak," said Donovan, his frame proud and tall.

  Griffin then said, "Did someone turn Julianne Winters into a vampire?"

  Donovan stared at Griffin as if he was an idiot, "Who is that?"

  When Griffin was in the boys' Dormitorium, he had heard someone mention seeing Julianne Winters near the East side of the forest. But that couldn't be possible, because from what he knew, the human had died last night and her body had been taken back by her family. The thought of how Roman would not be able to attend her funeral had him internally smile.

  "Julianne the human, whom you killed," said Griffin, his voice slightly lower in volume than the Elder.

  Donovan was going to visit the town when this fool had come to interrupt him. He stared at Griffin, questioning, "Do you know how humans are turned into vampires, Griffin? Looks like someone was not paying attention in the class. The girl I killed yesterday is dead, why would she turn into a vampire?"

  Griffin's eyebrows furrowed. Something was not adding up here.

  Did the boys who said they saw the human had mistaken someone else to be her? If they had mistaken someone else to be her, then him speaking to Donovan would only receive a look of annoyance from him. And the Elder vampire was already staring at him as if he was an annoying housefly who was flying in front of his eyes.

  If he himself had caught sight of Julie, he could have been able to speak more confidently. He had come here to ask Elder Luciano, not understanding why they had decided to turn the human into a vampire.

  Elder Remy, who stood with Olivia, took the papers from her and said, "Why don't you attend your classes, and I will take care of this."

  Olivia nodded her head and left the mansion.

  "If that is all you wanted to speak about," stated Donovan. He glared at the boy and then walked past him, who had wasted a few minutes of his immortal life.

  Griffin had not seen the girl's dead body, and who knew if someone had tried to turn the girl, he thought in his mind.

  Elder Donovan and Elder Remy left the mansion together. At the same time, instead of heading towards the Blue Block to attend his classes, Griffin decided to take a detour by making his way into the restricted side of the forest.

  Making his way towards the dungeon, he stepped inside. Making his way to where Roman was held in the cell, behind the iron bars.

  "How does it feel to be imprisoned here, Moltenore?" mocked Griffin.

  Roman stared at Griffin and said in a calm voice, "You must be missing me for coming all the way here. Or did you come here to get beaten like how Mateo did."

  Upon hearing his friend's name on Roman's lips, Griffin glared, but he tried to control his anger. The sight in front of him gave solace to his mind.

  "I would like to see you do that. But then you are locked up like an animal, just like the half vampire you are," taunted Griffin because he was the one who was free. "Donovan was disappointed in how you kept a human by your side. How did it feel to watch her die?" he laughed.

  "You want to know the truth?" asked Roman, pushing himself from the wall that he had been leaning against until now. He came to stand at the front of the cell. He raised his hand and used his fingers as if signalling Griffin to get closer.

  Griffin's eyes narrowed, noticing how Roman was still arrogant even though he had been deprived of blood intake for more than a day now.

  "Get closer Griffin," taunted Roman, and then added, "Unless you are scared to step forward."

  Griffin scoffed, "I don't have to be scared about anything, not atleast of a person who has been locked in this side of the cell," and even though he said it, he didn't step closer to the cell.

  His reluctance brought a satisfied smile on Roman's lips.

  Because it meant that Griffin was well aware that he wasn't a person who would hold back when it came to killing a person, not caring who or how important the person was. The vampire outside the cell said, "You should have left Mateo alive, at least you wouldn't have seen your girlfriend's body lying cold on the ground. Actually I heard it was far worse. Evans took her body to the edge of the restricted area and made sure that her body looked like it was bitten by a wolf."

  And even though Griffin had come here to spread salt on Roman's grief, the person standing behind the cell looked too calm.

  "Even if I didn't kill Mateo, both of you would have stirred trouble for the girl," remarked Roman, the glare in his eyes weighing on Griffin. "I thought, if you are going to stir up trouble anyway, then why not put a person in the coffin so that I will have to deal with one less person later."

  "Looks like you have turned into an animal indeed, or maybe the girl was just a show and she was nothing," responded Griffin, his eyes subtly narrowed as he tried to decipher what was going on in Roman's mind.

  Roman took himself to hold the iron rods with both his hands. Moving closer, he asked, "What do you think?" There was a faint smile on his lips, and he said, "Old habits die hard, don't they? You will always be that snitch and I will be the one to bring out your lie in front of others."

  "You can keep on dreaming about it," Griffin smirked as he believed Roman's threat was empty. He then pulled out a small bottle from his pocket and said, "Let me make a toast with you. For old time's sake."

  Griffin removed the bottle's cap and then said, "Just so that you don't forget how blood tastes while you are in here." The little vial bottle held blood in it, and Roman's eyes zeroed on it. It was a similar glass vial that was used in the infirmary. The other vampire tilted his hand such that the blood in the bottle spilt on the ground, leaving the smell of blood to spread around the place.

  Though Roman had taken a bite from Julie, he was still hungry because he was someone who drank almost a whole crate of blood cans in a day. His facial features started to transform into the kind that he belonged to now. His eyes turned darker, and his throat felt dry from thirst.

  "Have fun in here, Moltenore," said Griffin, dropping the vial on the ground, and he left the dungeon.

  Roman's jaws ached because of the scent of the blood hitting his nose. All he could think now was to sink his fangs into a human and drink until his thirst was quenched. His red eyes slowly started to change, which was much different from what most of the vampire's eyes looked like. The pupil slowly started to turn into slits, his fangs growing bigger and his appearance holding a wilder look.

  He struggled to keep this side of him locked.

  His hands gripped the rods tightly, and it ended up with the metal creating more space between them than the rest of the rods around the cell.

  Roman, who had closed his eyes for a moment, opened to reveal those rich red eyes that fell on the vial of glass that Griffin had earlier dropped. His eyes then shifted to look at the dungeon entrance before his hand touched the two rings hanging in his chain.

  The cold metals changed themselves into a key, and he opened the cell's door open.

  It wasn't that he couldn't get out of the cell, but sometimes people around needed to believe one's incapacity so that it could be later used when it was least expected. And right now, even though he didn't care much about Donovan's support, he knew it was more advantageous to keep the Elder vampire by his side than the other way round.

  Stepping out of the cell, he walked to where the vial of the glass was. Picking it up, he brought it up, letting the three drops of blood from the vial fall into his mouth. One of the drops had fallen on his lips, and he licked it.

  Roman looked at his hand, turning the vial of glass and a small smile appeared on his lips.