In the lunchroom, Julie and Roman sat at the table with their friends. Everything seemed just like how it usually was, where the vampire students camouflaged in the crowd of the human students.

  The stares that Julie had received earlier had decreased as Roman was sitting right next to her. Also, the news about her in the circle of vampires was quick to turn into a piece of old news, as word had started to spread that it wasn't just Roman who had spent his time in the dungeon but also Griffin.

  "Did you meet Donovan?" asked Maximus, sitting on Roman's immediate right at the table.

  "I did," responded Roman, his eyes quickly falling on Griffin, who had just entered the lunchroom. "How were things in here yesterday?"

  "The checkup for the humans went smooth and clean. Nothing out of the blue was found," Maximus shook his head and then said, "I thought you were going to take her away from here," he looked at Julie, who was talking to Melanie right now.

  "Donovan and I came to a little agreement so that he doesn't try to kill her," stated Roman, picking up the blood can and bringing it to his lips to take a sip from it.

  "What kind of agreement was it?" asked Olivia, who was listening in to their conversation like the other vampires at their table.

  Roman's gaze turned serious, and he took another sip without revealing anything more. He had done what he thought was the best in their current situation because keeping Julie safe was his top priority, and apart from it, nothing else mattered to him.

  Though he had made a deal with Azazel Donovan, he would have to find a way to get out of it or go through it. There was no other way when it came to dealing with the Elder.

  "We are going out to the town in less than a week," mentioned Roman, reminding Maximus, and the other boy sighed.

  Maximus looked tired just by hearing it and muttered, "I thought we would be having more vacation time before we do that." He wasn't looking forward to meeting the hunters.

  "It's either they attack us first or we attack them," stated Roman, watching Griffin take a seat at the same table where his friends were. For a second, their eyes met to clash with each other. "It is always better to attack the enemies first, this way we know what we are up against. The last thing we need is bringing their attention to Veteris."

  "It makes me wonder why the hunters haven't shown up, if their intention was to use Silverwater and expose us," Victoria put her thoughts forward in a low voice.

  "Possibly a warning?" asked Simon, while his eyes were fixed on a black-haired human, who sat on the other side of the table.

  Melanie was explaining to Julie about one of the classes that she had missed yesterday. She said, "The beginning process of the dissection is something that always makes me flinch. Thankfully it's just the beginning few seconds of going to the specimen."

  Julie smiled at Melanie's words, "You don't like the sight of blood and you picked this stream?"

  "It wasn't me, but my parents who wanted me to pick this and also……" Melanie's voice trailed as her eyes shifted from Julie to look at Conner, who was quietly having his meal without talking to anyone. "Fate just happened."

  "I can relate to it," replied Julie. She then called her other friend, "Conner?"

  The curly brown-haired boy looked up from his food, "I am sorry? I was thinking about something."

  Conner had spaced out as if in deep thought with a blank expression on his face. She wondered how long it would be like this before he would be able to recover from Reese's death. Right now, it looked as if someone had forced him to come and sit to have lunch. She said,

  "We were talking about the courses and how Melanie didn't want to study another course."

  Conner put up a smile on his lips, "Yeah, she should have chosen art or something, but I think at that time, all the seats for the art class had been filled. And though she wanted to, Mr. and Mrs. Davis didn't want her to join it. You could have chosen another university if you wanted to study arts."

  Melanie awkwardly laughed, with Conner's eyes on her. She said, "Well, Veteris is a reputable university, and I later realized I probably don't have the talent for art work. I just need to pass through the initial fright and stop freaking out with blood." She then turned to look at Julie and said, "I swear, tomorrow when you start the class, you would feel the same."

  Conner nodded his head in encouragement, "You have always succeeded in completing what you have started, Mel. You will get through it."

  "I hope so," replied Melanie, watching him take a bite from his meal. As if sensing someone's gaze on her, her eyes moved to look across the table, and she saw Simon's green eyes looking at her with a smirk on his face.

  Melanie didn't know why Simon looked at her as if he always knew something about her. She wanted to stick her fork into his eyeballs just to stop him from smirking at her. Trying to ignore him, she turned back to look at Julie and continued to speak about the classes.

  After a few minutes, while Melanie and Conner were talking, Julie felt her chair being pulled to the right. She turned to see Roman, who was drinking his coke. Her eyes fell on Roman's lips that had a light tint of pinkish-red on them, which was quick to disappear when he ran his tongue over his lips.

  "You're not eating," Roman pointed out, where Julie had barely touched the food that she had bought from the lunchroom counter.

  "Neither are you," a smile appeared on Julie's lips. She had been busy speaking to Melanie, and somewhere, she lacked appetite. It was because, in the back of her mind, she worried about the Corvin, who was in her room.

  She couldn't allow the Corvin to stay in the dorm forever because who knew how long it would take for the Corvin to regain its abilities. That was if it was able to regain them.

  Donovan had dismissed the Corvin's presence once, which was only because his focus was on her. Thankfully Veteris didn't have an actual signal, else she would have been worrying about her father with the rest of the things going on.

  Roman leaned towards Julie and said, "My meal is right here." She saw him send her a wink with that serious face of his and her cheeks turned warm. He lifted the coke can and shook it in front of him before saying, "I am here. Let me take all your fears and worries, so that you have to think less about them."

  Julie nodded her head, bringing the meal closer; she took two bites before whispering only for him to hear, "I thought Veteris had good quality food for both."

  "I ate the meals a few times in the beginning before deciding to stick to something more direct," responded Roman. He watched Julie twist the fork in her hand, and then place the fork with the green vegetable in her mouth.

  Julie chewed her food, where some of the sauce smeared on the side of her lips which she didn't realize as she continued to eat.

  "Winters," Roman called her, and Julie gave him a look as if to ask what. He brought his hand towards her face, rubbing the corner of her mouth with his thumb, before putting his finger in his mouth.

  Roman's friends caught sight of it but didn't respond and continued talking within themselves, as if they were getting used to it, knowing well Roman did what he wanted to do. But out of them, if there was someone there to comment, it was their red-headed friend, who murmured,

  "I wonder how Donovan would react if he saw this."

  "Probably jump in the well before he comes out like the girl in The Ring movie to haunt Julie?"? Maximus replied with a low voice with a possibility of what could happen.

  Julie quickly twisted her fork in her salad bowl and brought it to Roman's lips, which was nothing but leafy vegetables. Roman lightly glared at the fork before looking at her, "You don't feed grass to a wolf, Winters. Did you forget the difference between a carnivore and herbivore? It's a bunny's food."

  Julie shook her head, "But if a wolf wants to be friends with a bunny, won't it try to eat it?"

  "Does that mean a bunny will eat what a wolf would?" Roman's eyebrows raised, and Julie opened her mouth to speak. He took the fork from her hand and said, "Here, why don't I do the honour."

  Roman brought the fork near Julie's lips, and her cheeks turned slightly red. She opened her mouth while watching him stare at her lips. She quickly ate it and saw a hint of a smile appear on his lips.

  In between her chewing, Julie took back the fork from him so that others wouldn't see Roman feeding her like a child.

  "So shy, especially after what we did," remarked Roman.

  "We did that in private, this…… the lunchroom has many people," Julie cleared her throat.

  "Mm," responded Roman, and he said, "I like taking care of you, Winters, and I don't care if it's in front of people or in private. Even if it means in front of the old man."

  Julie's eyes looked up at Roman, "It's going to take time for me to get used to it."

  "Take your time," responded Roman. His hand that he had rested behind her chair came to pet the back of her head, lightly weaving his fingers into her hair. "There's no hurry for it."

  There was something that Roman had been looking for since he had found out about Julie being connected to the lineage of witches. He was trying to find how long a witch lived if they were immortals like the vampires.

  But so far, most of the witches who had appeared in history, they were all dead or killed. It would be a lie if he said that it didn't bother him. With the witches and vampires feud, no one had ever turned a witch into a vampire, and he doubted it was possible to do it.

  Though a vampire could use the witches stones, the vampires weren't of any use to the witches.

  Roman wanted Julie next to him, and he didn't want her to leave this world or him.

  When they finished eating, Conner and Melanie were the first to leave the table along with Julie while Roman and his friends stayed behind in the lunchroom.

  "Do you want to take a small walk?" asked Melanie to both Julie and Conner before they would head to their respective Dormitorium.

  "Okay," replied Conner. Julie wondered if anything would happen in those ten or fifteen minutes in her dorm.

  Turning to look at the lunchroom entrance, Julie saw Roman and his friends weren't out yet. Earlier, Julie had locked the dorm door and window, so hopefully, the Corvin would be safe.

  Julie nodded her head, and Melanie smiled before the three of them started to walk together. They walked in the direction where the main gates of Veteris was located. On their way, they saw some of the students taking a stroll like them, some on the campus area, while some near the forest.

  "The weather is cold, isn't it?" commented Melanie, even though she had worn a cardigan.

  "It does feel like winter is here, as if we have skipped a month," said Conner, his eyes moved to look at the corners before he asked, "How was your visit, Julie?"

  For a moment, Julie's mind turned blank, but gathering her thoughts, she said, "It was alright. Has everything been okay here?" she asked without bringing up Reese.

  Conner offered an assured smile as the girls had a worried look, "I don't know. I feel empty, but then at the same time, I feel like I am missing something which I don't know about. Like there are gaps."

  Julie lightly frowned, wondering if the compulsion didn't work properly on him.

  She heard Conner say, "I wish I could go back home and not have to deal with classes. Having to go to the classes reminds me……But then we are going to have exams in two months and I need to prepare my sculpture."

  Julie had heard from Mr. Evans on how the vampire had erased Conner's thoughts about visiting Reese's family and being present during her funeral. From what she had seen and heard, the news about Reese being dragged into the woods by the wolf seemed to have hushed down, which was now replaced with different versions to it and had now turned into a rumour. This had led to the human students not knowing how exactly Reese had passed away.

  "I am glad I have you guys here," said Conner and Julie offered him an encouraging smile.

  "We'll always be here with you," Julie said to him, and Melanie nodded her head.

  "Julie's right, Conner," agreed Melanie.

  "Yeah," replied Conner, but the smile didn't reach his eyes as worry weighed on his mind. He took candy from his pocket, and before throwing it in his mouth, he asked, "Do you want it?

  When Melanie nodded, Conner put his hand in his pocket and offered them one of each. Melanie quickly put it in her mouth, feeling the orange flavour burst on her tongue, while Julie held it in her hand.

  They continued to walk for a few more minutes, picking up topics. While speaking, Melanie said, "The month's weekend holiday isn't too far either—" but upon hearing about the coming holiday, Julie's thoughts quickly moved to what Dennis had told her, and she furrowed her eyebrows, "—maybe we can leave early to save more time…"

  Julie zoned out from the conversation, and her footsteps stopped.

  Conner turned to look at Julie, "Did you forget something?"

  "I just remembered something. I will catch up with you guys later," said Julie, and she ran back in the direction of where the lunchroom was. Her thoughts had been occupied with the worry of Corvin and the Elder vampire, which made her unintentionally forget about what Dennis had told her.

  If Dennis was really behind the contamination, then it was possible that him telling her that he was going to leave during the holiday had only been a story and that he wasn't going to wait till that day. And he had mentioned about the holiday only to know her answer.

  She saw Roman standing outside the building, talking to Simon. As if sensing her presence, he turned to look at her. At the last step, Julie almost tripped and fell if it weren't for Roman, who caught hold of her in his arm.

  [Music Recommendation: Into the fire- Marco Beltrami]

  "What happened, Winters?" questioned Roman, looking behind her to see if someone was chasing her. Julie panted for air because she had run as fast as she could to find Roman, hoping he was still here.

  Taking a deep breath, Julie looked at Roman and finally said, "It's Dennis."

  Simon, who stood nearby, didn't know why the four-eyed human's name was being brought up, wondering if the boy had tried to hit on Julie again.

  Roman's eyes narrowed as if connecting what Julie was talking about, "How are you sure about it?"

  "I met him before I reached my dorm," huffed Julie, catching her breath in between her words. "When we were speaking, he mentioned that he was going to leave this place."

  "Did he tell you when he was leaving?" Roman turned his head to Simon, "See if Dennis Mcoy is in his room right now."

  Simon, who didn't have an idea of what was going on, looked at Roman with a question in his eyes. But without asking, he quickly left the front side of the lunchroom.

  "What else did he say?"

  Julie's face scrunched as she didn't know if she should mention something more than what she had told him.

  "Winters," Roman demanded an answer from her, his eyes slightly fluctuating between black and red.

  "He seemed a little concerned and wanted me to leave the university with him," Julie informed Roman. She saw the way Roman's eyes narrowed and filled itself with pure annoyance. "I don't think he's going to wait until the month holiday."

  "Of course, he isn't," responded Roman. Dennis had always hovered around Julie, in a way where Roman had only assumed the human to be someone who wanted Julie's affection. But that had camouflaged what Dennis was exactly doing. He turned his head in the direction of the restricted forest. "If Simon returns, tell him I am in the west side of the forest that leads towards the road."

  Julie's eyebrows furrowed, and she asked, "Aren't there guards posted at the border of the university?"

  "Not enough," remarked Roman, and he quickly left her side, making his way behind the building and then towards the forest, until Julie could barely see him as he disappeared behind the trees.

  It had been a while since Julie and Roman left the dorm, which possibly gave Dennis enough time to escape and head towards the forest to find a route towards the road.

  In the inside parts of the forest, Dennis ran as quickly as he could, where he had taken the path through the restricted forest. Once in a while, he turned behind to make sure no one was following him.

  He noticed the guards standing outside of the tall walls of Veteris. He used the path of the forest rather than making use of the road. He continued running, but after a couple of minutes, he caught the sound of someone's feet on the ground not too far behind him.

  Just when he turned back to see who it was, Dennis came in contact with Roman's fist that flew right into his face, which led the boy's body to roll until it hit the nearest tree.

  But even though the blow was hard, Dennis quickly stood up to face Roman, and he looked at Roman through his cracked glasses.

  "I have been waiting to do this for quite some time now," stated Roman, stretching his fingers before he turned them into a fist.

  "I could tell," replied Dennis. He pulled his glasses from his way and took a look at it. He then threw the glasses on the ground and stamped on it. "Took you quite some time to figure it out. How did you find out?" He touched the corner of his lips and looked at the blood.

  "It was quite pathetic to think Julie would listen to you and follow you out of Veteris," said Roman, before raising his leg to kick right into Dennis' stomach, and the boy fell on the ground.

  A small smile appeared on Dennis' lips, "So it was her who told it. I must be an important person if she wanted to bring it up this soon with you. After all, we were friends before you decided to sully her mind."

  "You mean while you are still her friend or maybe not even that," taunted Roman, and he picked up Dennis by holding his collar. "It gives me pleasure knowing it was you who was behind it. Which hunter are you working for?" He questioned the boy, but the person didn't reply to him and just stared at Roman.

  "The Elders should rot and so should all of you. Maybe it couldn't happen this time, but there's still time in the future," said Dennis, a smile appearing back on his face. "Does Julie know who you are? Poor thing will go into trauma, when she finds out that her boyfriend is a blood sucking vampire, who is even worse than the worst."

  Roman continued to kick and punch Dennis, slamming Dennis' head against the bark of the tree. He said, "She isn't as narrow-minded as you."

  Hearing Roman's words, Dennis, who coughed blood, stared at Roman while placing his hand on the tree's bark for support.

  A deep frown appeared on Dennis's face, and he wondered what Roman's words actually meant. He said, "You think just because you have trapped her with your charms and compulsion, that you will be able to keep her in your web of lies?"

  "For someone who tried to contaminate the water in Veteris and stop the Elders from waking up, I must confess, you're rather slow. But I can only expect so much from number two, isn't it?" questioned Roman.

  As much as he wanted to beat the living light out of the boy, he would have to be taken to the dungeon so that the Elders could question him.

  Dennis quietly glared, looking behind Roman and then behind him, "Humans have never accepted blood sucking creatures like us. Movies and books, sure. Do you think they would prefer to keep a leech next to them?"

  He wasn't a human, was he? Roman questioned himself. Dennis was not a hunter but a morm.

  "Who are you working for?" question Roman, and at the same time, he heard footsteps coming not too far from where they stood.

  Dennis chuckled, his mouth slightly bloody, and he said, "What makes you think I'll tell you? You people sure are conceited."

  Seeing that he wasn't a human but a morm, Roman didn't see a reason for holding himself back. He caught Dennis one more time and punched him again, hearing Dennis groan in pain. When Roman was going to leave another blow, someone fired a gun, and it was aimed at his head.

  Roman's eyes quickly moved in the direction where the trigger was pulled, and he saw the bullet approaching too close to him. He quickly stepped away, where a series of guns was heard echoing where they were.

  Two men in masks continued to aim at him and then at Simon, and one of them hit Simon's arm, making him hiss in pain. A smoke-like vapour started to escape where he was injured. Roman ducked down while Simon went to stand behind the tree to take a look at his arm.

  "How the fuck did they get in here?!" Simon looked pissed after being shot.

  Roman raised his hand, where a ball of fire appeared, and Simon shook his head, "Rome……You're going to light up the entire forest on fire."

  The ball of fire burned brighter while one of the people, who had been shooting them, helped Dennis stand up, as he had been beaten by Roman. Even though a morm had a better strength compared to a normal human, it still wasn't enough when it came to a vampire's strength.

  The other armed person continued shooting where Roman and Simon stood behind two different trees. Roman said, "Let it burn then," and he stepped away from the tree.

  He quickly dodged the bullets using his vampire speed, but the person kept aiming at him while slightly being distracted with the fire in his hand. The fire had a life of its own, as if able to fly, it headed in the person's direction.

  The gunshots continued, and Roman was hit by one of the silver bullets, but instead of slowing him down, it only turned his eyes darker red. As if realizing the bullets weren't enough, the person ran, following the other two people. The fire slithered on the ground, leaving a trail of red and orange as the dried leaves caught fire.

  Dennis and the other person moved towards the road where the wall of Veteris stopped. Before the last person could follow, the fire that belonged to Roman wrapped itself around the person, and screams were heard coming from the person as it tried to burn him.

  When he got hold of the person, who was slightly charred, he caught the person from the ground. But as he lifted, ready to torture him, another gunshot was heard, this time hitting the guy whom Roman was holding, and the guy dropped dead on the ground.

  It was Dennis who had shot his own man. Roman picked up one of the stones nearby and threw it at the morm, who staggered away to the vehicle that waited for him to get in. By the time Roman made his way to where they were, the vehicle started, and Dennis turned back to look at him with a smug smile.

  Simon came to where Roman was on the road, huffing softly while holding his arm.

  "Killing his own man to stop the person from speaking," Simon clicked his tongue while watching the gap between them and the car increase. "They escaped."

  "Not yet," said Roman, and the fire on his hand returned, this time slithering like a snake on the road.

  When the trail of fire reached the vehicle, it moved beneath the car before the fire turned large as if spreading its wings wide. Simon brought his fingers to close his ears while Roman raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

  One flick and the vehicle blew up, catching fire.

  "Now we are even," deadpanned Roman.