Melanie patted her mother's shoulder, assuring her that everything would be alright, and when her eyes met Simon's, he offered her a bright smile. Simon walked to where she and her family stood, and on seeing him, Mr. Davis turned slightly stiff. Because it was only a while ago, they had tried to fire bullets at him, and now he couldn't do that and instead was embarrassed for his earlier actions.

  "Mrs. Davis," Simon called Melanie's mother, and the woman, who had covered her face with both her hands, raised her head.

  "Did you come here to mock my condition?" questioned Mrs. Davis.

  "Of course, not," Simon tilted his head to the side. And Mrs. Davis's lips murmured a half-hearted apology. But Melanie could tell that Simon was enjoying the way things had turned out to be. He said, "Why would I ever do that, and what would I get from it? What has happened is in the past, and I know how you feel right now. But I shall do my best in guiding you, and make sure that you will still be able to hold on to your principles without hurting anyone."

  "Why would you do that?" Mrs. Davis slightly frowned, not knowing if this vampire had any ulterior motive behind the help he was offering.

  "That is because one day in the future I will be marrying your daughter. I thought it would be better that we all get along well, and I am sure Melanie wants you to stay alive, next to her," came the frank words from Simon.

  Both Mr. and Mrs. Davis turned to look at Melanie, whose face held a blank expression now. After two seconds, she nodded, "It is true, mom. I would be upset and sad if I were to lose you."

  "You plan to marry him?" questioned Mr. Davis, not knowing how this would even work. Until this very day, they had believed that the vampires and humans were not meant to be together. To think about marriage between them appeared to be an impossible task.

  Melanie turned to look at Simon, who waited for her answer to his indirect question to her. She replied to the question while looking at Simon, "Yes. I want to marry him."

  It hadn't even been a week since she and Simon had gotten into a relationship, but she was sure in her heart that this was what she wanted. To be with him. There was a thin line between hate and love, and in their case, it had changed into the latter.

  A grin appeared on Simon's lips, and he then turned to look at Mrs. Davis, "We should head to the infirmary. Your body has only started the process of transformation and we need to make sure that it goes smoothly, else it can lead to death."

  Mrs. Davis' eyes widened, and she finally gave a nod before following the vampire towards the infirmary building where most of the injured vampire students and staff were being treated. And an exception had been made for a few human hunters who needed immediate treatment.

  And while most were in the infirmary, Roman had carried Julie to his room. Not to his dorm but to the room in which he had grown up in the Moltenore's mansion.

  Right now, they both sat on the bed, with their backs leaning against the wall, while Julie laid her head on Roman's shoulder for support.

  "It feels so peaceful," murmured Julie, not because of the silence as some of the students were in the corridor, talking and laughing. But because their minds were at ease now.

  With the fight that had taken place, the curfew time on Veteris for the students had been lifted.

  "It is," replied Roman, where he held Julie's hand.

  "How are you doing with your heart?" Julie softly asked him, lifting her head, and she turned to look at him. Now that her soul energy had been restored back to its full capacity, she wanted to check the condition of his heart.

  When she tried to place her other hand on his chest, Roman gently caught it with his free hand.

  "Always so eager to help," remarked Roman, raising one of his eyebrows as he stared into her brown eyes.

  "It is you, so I shouldn't think twice before doing it and I do feel better. Believe me," said Julie, and she carefully placed her hand on his chest beneath which his heart continued beating.

  And when Julie closed her eyes to concentrate, Roman watched the girl who held his heart. He remembered the first time they had met each other, and during the time he had known her, she had grown in this very room. She was no longer the frightened girl, and she was brave, more than capable to keep her ground, and he couldn't tell her how proud he was of her.

  When he saw her opening her eyes, she held a hint of surprise on her face, and he asked her, "What did you find?"

  "The core of your heart, it is different. There's a thin sheen of screen around it. It's similar to the protection layer that Cillian had previously used," replied Julie, and Roman gave some thought to her words.

  "It must be the dark creature from the forbidden door. It must have left some sort of connection after identifying me to be the person it wants to serve for," stated Roman, and Julie nodded. "It feels similar to the connection you and Cillian shared."

  "Can you feel it?" Julie asked him in pure curiosity.

  The last time when she was on the forbidden side of the door, the creatures had tried to consume her soul and wanted to kill her. They were like creatures of death that wanted to swallow people.

  "Mm," responded Roman, and he said, "I can feel its intentions and emotions, the darkness that it surrounds itself in. It's currently sitting outside the dormitorium. To be precise, sitting on the branch of the tree."

  Julie stared at the place where she had placed her hand, and when her hand slowly slid down, her face moved closer to him. Roman brought both his hands to cup her face, and he kissed her lips. Sucking her upper lip and tasting her.

  Right now, Julie felt her heart was going to burst over the sweetness, and when they pulled back a little, their noses touched each other, rubbing against each other.

  "Now that everything is resolved. What do you think about going shopping?" he asked her.

  "Shopping?" asked Julie.

  "We do have to buy furniture and other things for the house. Let me take you there tomorrow," said Roman, and Julie smiled.

  "Yes, let us do that," replied Julie. They deserved the peace that had finally been bestowed on them, and she scooted closer before placing her head on his chest. Roman wrapped his arms around her.

  "Get some sleep, Winters. We still have a lot of things to do tomorrow," he kissed the top of her head, closing his eyes in the process, and Julie did the same.

  When morning arrived, all the hunters left the Veteris property, and the grounds had been cleared and cleaned from any possible dead bodies that were still lying in the forest after the fight that had taken place. Thanks to Elder Remy's healing ability, the injured vampires were healing quickly.

  In one of the benches not too far from the Elder's manor, Elder Castiel and Ms. Dante sat on it, staring ahead of them. Elder Castiel asked her, "Do you still plan to resign from the headmistress position?"

  One corner of Ms. Dante's lips pulled up, "I think not yet. Feels like there could be a lot of improvement done to this place and the people. Now that the human hunters know about this place, I will have to ask Borrell to draft a document of agreement to silence them from speaking about it."

  "I would like to help," Castiel offered, and Ms. Dante turned to look at him.

  "I thought you were planning to go to the East as you had business there with Luciano," commented the vampiress, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

  "I do," replied Castiel, while looking at the rays of the sun touching them. "But I think this time work can wait as there are other important matters to work on."

  "You don't have to halt your work to take care of Veteris. Donovan is going to be here with the others, there's enough help."

  "No, not that kind of important matters," said Castiel, and he got up from the bench, which made the vampiresses eyes following him. "There is something I should have done here, but time never seemed to be right," and he turned to look at her.

  Ms. Dante didn't understand what Castiel was talking about. With the serious expression on her face, her eyes met his. He surprised her by stretching his hand towards her, and he said,

  "I want to stay next to you, Eloise. I couldn't do it before, but I don't want to delay it anymore than it already has."

  The woman continued to stare hard at him, and she asked him, "Are you asking me to marry you, Castiel?"

  "I am," came the firm words from the vampire. "Don't you think it is time we got together and spend life just like we always wanted to…… the kind we only imagined but never shared before."

  A soft sigh escaped from Ms. Dante's lips, and she said, "Don't you think we are too old to marry? I have been married once."

  "To a husband you never loved and is dead now," replied Castiel, and he continued, "I have been waiting to spend my time with you, Eloise. For a very long time, and you should know that my intentions with you haven't changed and will continue to remain the same. Will you do me the honor?"

  Eloise hadn't expected to hear a proposal from Castiel because of the gap in their vampire status. She had never thought of marrying another man, especially after her previous stressful marriage.

  "Oh my! Is it time to buy a new suit for the wedding?" came the annoying voice, and Ms. Dante turned and caught sight of Donovan, who was walking next to Avice. "Who would know that we were going to celebrate this soon? You can reject him, Eloise," he poked her because Castiel's hand was still waiting for her to take it.

  Ms Dante's eyes met Castiel's eyes again, and she sighed one more time before saying, "You don't have to make romantic gestures, Castiel, to get me to say yes."

  Castiel smiled at Eloise, the smile gentle and kind as he had received his answer from those words from her.