Through the window

All through classes that day, Julianne couldn't bring herself to concentrate. All what was on her mind was that she needed answers.

That afternoon, she skipped lunch and went straight to the computer lab. She sat at the farthest desk, turned on the computer, and typed into the search bar: Blackthorn Academy.

No results.

She frowned.

Blackthorn Academy location. Blackthorn Academy students. History of Blackthorn. Blackthorn boarding school.

Nothing.

She opened maps. Zoomed in and out.

No pin. No trace. Not even nearby roads.

It was like the school didn’t exist at all.

Her chest tightened. Was she in the middle of nowhere?

As the sun sank below the treetops, she walked back to her dorm with her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Everyone else was settling down for the night. Laughter spilled from a common room nearby. But she didn’t stop.

That night, sleep came heavily after she already wondered on the situation all day.

But not for long.

A sound woke her. It was soft, metallic. She could feel the cold air wind brush on her skin.

Then she heard the window suddenly creak.

She sat up slowly. The night air slipped in through the crack in the frame and it made her confused. She didn't remember opening the window.

She stood, walked over, and gently pushed it shut.

The room fell silent again.

Until—

She saw him.

His reflection.

Behind her.

Cassian.

Her breath caught in her throat. For a second, she couldn’t move, couldn’t even blink.

He stood in the center of her room like he’d always been there, watching her. Like the shadows had simply thickened into a shape of him.

Cassian. The vampire who had tried to take her memories.

He stood still. His arms hung at his sides, fingers slightly curled, as if poised between peace and something else. Something terrible.

Julianne’s hand slowly left the window latch and she turned immediately, horror in her eyes. Was he here to kill her? Did Velvet find out she was pretending and informed him?

“You…” Her voice was barely a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

He tilted his head slightly, almost curiously, as though she were the strange one for asking. His eyes gleamed in the dark, not like human eyes at all.

“I had to check something,” he said, his voice soft but edged in something sharp. “To be sure.”

She backed away from him one step. Then another. Her heel bumped into the edge of her bed, but she didn’t sit.

“What?” she asked, trying to sound stronger than she felt.

Cassian’s expression barely shifted, but something in his face twitched, the barest flicker of thought behind those unnerving eyes.

“You weren’t supposed to remember,” he said. “No one ever does.”

Julianne swallowed immediately. She knew he had caught her. "Remember what?" She tried to feign ignorance.

“You do remember,” he said slowly. “Else you would have asked me who I am. Instead, you knew instantly."

He took a step toward her. She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath until her lungs screamed for air.

“I shouldn’t be here,” he suddenly murmured, as if to himself, even though she could hear him. “If Eldryn knew…”

Julianne’s eyes narrowed. What would Eldryn do if she knew?

Cassian moved to her desk, trailing a finger along the surface as if it fascinated him. His movements were deliberate, almost graceful, but in the way predators are graceful, right before they strike.

She watched him like a trapped animal, pulse pounding in her ears.

“I didn’t want to do it,” he said after a pause, still not looking at her. “The compulsion. I told her it wasn’t right.”

Julianne wanted to laugh at his humor, but she held herself back. “You told her it would be better to get rid of me. You still did it anyway.”

She realized she was not hiding the fact that she still remembers what happened from him. He didn't look like he would hurt her and he knew whatever he did, didn't work on her.

His gaze lifted to hers, and for the first time, there was something like conflict in it.

“I tried to erase it cleanly,” he said. “To take only what was necessary. I ended up seeing everything."

Julianne had read about vampires before. In books, movies... They know a lot than what they should. She didn't bother asking him what he saw. He must have seen how miserable her life is.

Her voice was a bitter whisper. “You messed up.”

Cassian nodded once. “Yes. I did.”

Silence stretched between them, thick and heavy.

Julianne stepped to the side, closer to the lamp on her nightstand. Her hand hovered just above the switch.

Cassian’s eyes flicked to it, then back to her. “Don't!" A warning.

"Why?" She asked. "I already know who you are."

He moved back toward the window, the same way he’d come in. The curtain shifted slightly in the breeze.

His presence in the room had dropped the temperature by degrees she hadn’t noticed until now. Her skin prickled with it.

“You’re not like the others,” he said.

Others? Julianne thought.

"You are different."

She didn't know how that was supposed to make her feel.

"Keep pretending like you know nothing. You can't let Eldryn know. Or anyone around you."

"And what about you?"

“I’ll be watching,” he said.

“Creepy," Julianne said and the corner of her lips pulled. She blinked immediately and said, "Thank you...for not trying to kill me."

Cassian didn’t smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched. Just barely.

"I'll see you around," he said.

"Where?" She wanted to ask, but he was already gone, slipping out the window with a whisper of fabric and the brush of wind.

She hurried over to the glass and looked out, the grounds below were empty. Just mist curling along the earth and moonlight spilling across the grass.

She breathed out and locked the window. This time, twice. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor, her hands trembling softly in her lap.

He said she wasn’t like the others.

But what did that mean?

What had she done, or not done, that had shaken even a vampire’s certainty?

And why, despite the fear curling in her gut, did a small part of her want to know what he saw in her that night?