"You aren't supposed to be outside!" exclaimed the guard on noticing Melanie and Conner, who stood not too far from them. "Get him right now!"

  Simon stared at Melanie, blinking and giving her a look as if she had really thought it through of getting Conner out of the dungeon. Scratching the back of his neck, he quickly caught hold of the second guard and said,

  "Let us not take any decision in haste. We are all good people here, and let us do things calmly. I am sure it isn't a big deal if that boy is out of the dungeon and needs some fresh air."

  The other guard who had spoken first accused, "You are behind this. The Elders are not going to be happy once they find out what you tried to do."

  "What I tried to do? I was only talking to you, but then you were talking to me too. Does that mean you were upto no good?" asked Simon.

  "You will be put behind the cell too for going against the Elder's decision and for freeing a hunter!" warned the guard.

  Conner, who couldn't keep his mouth shut, said to Melanie, "They won't let us go free. We need to run from here quickly, Mel."

  Melanie knew this was something they would have to do, at least until the Elders decided not to kill Conner as they could not erase Conner's memories or until Conner would realize that not all vampires were bad. And that there were some good ones.

  "We'll need to fight them. Did you bring the wooden stakes with you?" asked Conner and Melanie stared at him while the guards stomped, making his way to where they were.

  "Conner, there's something that I need to talk to you about," Melanie quickly said, but one of the guards had caught up to them, and Conner tried to give out a punch at the guard. But being not fed and having no proper sleep, he didn't have enough energy to deal with the guards, who were morms. The guard moved one step back before he blew a punch right at Conner's face, who winced in pain.

  "Simon, go and get Elder Luciano," said the other guard to the red-headed vampire.

  Conner fell on the ground, he touched his split lip, and he glared back at the guard before picking up a wooden stick and trying to jab it into the guard's leg. He then said, "Leave Simon alone, he is not going to listen to the whims of you."

  Melanie looked back and forth between Conner and the guard, feeling the blood starting to drain out of her face.

  "You might have killed my girlfriend, but I won't let your kind harm any more people than you already have," stated Conner, his eyes looking furious.

  The guard chuckled, "What the fuck are you talking about? Simon is a—" At the right time, Simon threw a large stone at the back of the guard's head. "You shitty little thing! What the fuck do you think you are doing?!"

  Simon grabbed the other guard's neck and twisted it in less than two seconds, and Melanie's eyes widened on seeing his action. The red-headed vampire then said, "I think that is enough of a chit chat, we need to go from here. And I need you hush."

  The guard wasn't pleased with what Simon did, and he attacked him, who attacked him back, pushing each other against the bark of the tree before they fell on the ground. The guard tried to push Simon's hand away from his throat, trying to grip his forearm tightly.

  "You are digging your grave, boy!" warned the guard through gritted teeth.

  "You don't have to worry about that, I already have a grave in here. It still looks pretty," replied Simon, and he fought, hoping the morm would stop struggling so that they could leave the front of the dungeon.

  "You are supposed to stand by our side, how dare you help the hunters!" The guard glared at Simon, his words coming out broken, making it hard for Conner to hear what they were conversing about. The guard took the opportunity and threw loose mud into Simon's eyes. He quickly pushed Simon away from him and said, "I should have known. Once a traitor always stays as a traitor."

  The smile that was on Simon's lips, it faltered but didn't disappear from his face. He said, "I don't know what you are talking about," while he rubbed his eyes to get rid of the mud that had gotten in his eyes.

  The guard sneered, his face twisted in anger as he said, "Don't think we haven't heard about you and the rest of them. Especially you…… What you did in the past. You twisted—"

  Simon straight away attacked the morm guard, and in the next second, he snapped the morm's head for the guard to fall on the ground. He then turned to look at Melanie and Conner, "We should leave right now and hope things here simmer down."

  Conner nodded his head and said, "That's right. We have to get our family and let them know what vile creatures are living here."

  Melanie's eyes met Simon's when she heard her best friend's words. Simon looked back at her as if sharing a quiet conversation.

  "What about you?" asked Melanie to Simon.

  When they had come here to visit the dungeon, it was a quiet understanding between them, and she believed Simon knew that she was here to rescue Conner. To take him away from here because Conner and the Elders would not understand each other. She would need to make sure Conner would not do any more damage than he had already done.

  "I cannot stay here, considering what I did to the guards," Simon replied to her, and she couldn't help but get lost in his green eyes. She wondered if she and Conner had dragged Simon in their troubles.

  Conner nodded his head, "We all hunters should stick close to each other."

  "Let us go," stated Simon, and they left the restricted side of the forest. He said, "It would be best not to leave the property yet, as they will look into the cameras and know. Let us find a safe spot and stay the night. Things must cool down by tomorrow morning."

  Melanie doubted if that would happen, but she could hope. She couldn't help but wonder what the guard meant when he called Simon a traitor. As they walked, her eyes shifted from Conner to Simon. Simon had put Conner's arm around his shoulder to support, as Conner had lost his energy.

  At the same time, outside the main building of Veteris University, Ms. Dante appeared along with Elder Castiel and Caleb. Four guards stood there, who couldn't enter the building, and one of them spoke,

  "We aren't able to get inside, Ms. Dante."

  "Get the water tank as well as the fire extinguisher to bring it down!" ordered Ms. Dante, but another guard replied to her,

  "We tried using the fire extinguisher, but we were unable to get the fire down. The fire seems to be impossible to tame, and it is getting only worse with every minute."

  Ms. Dante stared hard at the building. Even though she was the headmistress of the university, she didn't hold any special abilities, unlike some of the Elder vampires and their younger vampires. The only quality she did hold was that she was a strong woman of calibre and knew how to control and manage while keeping her cool.

  Castiel, who was watching the flames, said, "It is Roman."

  Hearing Roman's name, Caleb quickly came towards them and cleared his throat again, "There's Griffin and Julie in there too, Ms. Dante. It is why I came here to inform you about it. Griffin is causing trouble."

  "Seriously, can't the two of them just quit it already. They have to burn the entire building," muttered Dante under her breath before she ordered the guards, "Go get the students back to their Dormitoriums and buildings. The ones you find speaking about it, erase the memories and bring me the two Elders whose disciples are causing a mess in here," she glared.

  "Yes, Ms. Dante!" came the collective replies from the guards, and they left the front side of the main building.

  "Is there a way to get rid of the fire?" Ms. Dante asked Castiel. His lips were set in a thin line, and he replied,

  "I can try and see if I can extinguish the fire," and saying this, Castiel looked up at the sky, and soon the clear sky slowly started to gather clouds. The clouds were dark and heavy, and it came to hover above the main building, with a light crackle of lightning that could be seen from where they stood.

  Caleb, who stood next to them, with two steps distance away from them, he felt a drop of water on his forehead from the sky. He noticed more clouds being gathered around the land of Veteris, and it was the first time he saw a powerful vampire making use of an ability like this. But the rain that poured down onto the building wasn't enough, and like how the guard said earlier, the flames were untamable and were getting out of control.

  More clouds gathered around the place, and slowly the atmosphere in the land of Veteris looked darker than before. The rain started to pour everywhere as if it was the rainy season.

  Could the fire be waterproof? Questioned Caleb in his mind.