You.

--

I try to open my eyes. Everything was still a lot dizzy. My head was bursting into flames as I felt myself lying. I finally manage to open my eyes as I figure I was back at my dorm, on my bed.

“W-what the?!” My room’s lights were off. But I could still feel someone else’s presence with me. It was a familiar one.

I look over at Eve’s side and see someone sitting on her bed in the dark.

“Who are you?” I quickly get up and pick up my night lamp, aiming at the dark shadow.

“You know you shouldn’t drink that much like that. Especially when you don’t know or can’t trust the surrounding people. This world can simply eat someone like you alive.”

The person’s voice was growling deep. So deep that it made me shiver to my bitter core. I was instantly terrified by this energy but at the same time. I wanted to know who this person was.

“Says the one who’s hiding in the shadows himself,”

I could hear a small chuckle and a smirk. The person gets up and finally comes into the light.

“You?” It was Jace Liester. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Saving you, what else?” He says as he makes his way towards the door.

“How did you get in? We locked the door! H-how? Do you have a spare key to our dorm? How is that?”

Before I could say anything else, he rushed over to me, making me shut the fuck up instantly as he leaned on me on the bed.

I was now lying low, and he was on top. I could feel perfect minty fresh breath on my skin. Though he was cold as ice, the way he slid his hand on my cheek and grabbed my neck softly from the back was something I never experienced.

He was both respective and dominant at that moment. He was so close that our lips could meet in a split second. I couldn’t know if what he was doing was genuine or if he just wanted to get in my pants and screw me over.

I was about to say something when I noticed the scar on his face. It was swelling up.

“How did you get that scar?” I ask him, almost whispering.

“How did you get these bites?” he says as he slowly holds my arm and caresses my mark.

“How do you know these are bites and not just simple childlike injuries?”

He smiled and leaned in closer to me. My heart raced as if it wanted to run away from him. But at the same time, it wanted to run away..only to get back to him.

“I’m a vampire, Little Wolf. I know the difference between normal injuries and...biting.” Suddenly, he moved his mouth over to my explosive neck, and I could feel his fangs coming out, ready to touch my warm skin.

I couldn’t move, not even a single muscle in me could move. I wanted to run away, but something kept me here. I closed my eyes, stupidly accepting my fate. But...

Before he could go any further, the doorknob started to rattle and I opened my eyes. It was Eve and June.

“Hailey? Where the hell have you been!” Eve was tensed up, I could see that. I was shocked that they didn’t react to Jace being present in the room, but when I scanned it. He was gone.

“Is everything okay?” June asked as both the girls walked over to my side.

“I..Yeah. I’m fine. I’m sorry. I was just feeling a little dizzy and I needed some fresh air.” I say to them. They both stare at each other as one of them finally speaks out.

“In the dorm...room? You came to have some fresh air..inside our dorm room?” Eve questions. They could clearly feel something was wrong. But both of them didn’t force it.

“Well, I guess it has been a long night,” June intervened.

“Yeah. How was the party, though?” I ask.

“Oh, don’t speak of it. Everyone had to go back to their dorms as the university’s head supervisors, also witches turned all the drinks into mud water.”

I laugh as they both join in.

“Is that even allowed?”

“Well, yeah,” June speaks. “It’s my first year too, but I’ve heard that the strictness in this university is as good as its decency. They focus on 3 rules.”

“Never to use your powers against the weak, or a beginner.”

“Never use your powers without permission from your teachers.”

“And the last, never to judge other beings. Being respectful is something this university stands on. Every single creature that ever existed in our world comes here. And those who do mistreat someone other than their race, they should be punished severely.”

Hearing June telling us about the rules sure seemed accurate. But something stuck in my mind.

Jace.

If this university teaches their students to respect and value each and every student’s life, why doesn’t Jace? He was the only one who said ‘I don’t talk to people like you’.

It was...absurd.

“Well, I think we should all get some sleep. We have our classes tomorrow. We can’t be late.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” June says. “It’s a bummer that we don’t have the same classes. I would love to learn new things with you two.”

“Haha, I know, June. You’re amazing to spend time with.”

“Now that hurts my heart,” Eve says as we burst into laughter together. And me, totally forgetting about the vampire who tries sucking on my blood.

After a few hours of talking, June went back to her dorm as Eve slept like a log. But me? That was a big no. Because my dream wasn’t just a normal dream..it was a nightmare.

--

I was again a small kid, with those same witches and that terrible destination.

“No..no..Please! Mommy, help me! It’s..they’re hurting me!” I could see that little boy again. I could see that scar on his cheek again. His eyes were closed, but I could feel an everlasting energy with him.

“Mommy!”

The boy gripped my hands a little too harshly now, as the surrounding air went silent and now we were somewhere I haven’t been or seen. But then, I quickly realised that I wasn’t with the boy now, I was alone.

“You’re finally here,” I hear a voice. I turn back and see someone standing right in front of me, staring at me like he’s known me for a while now.

His hair was white, white like a fairy’s wings. Half of his body was metallic, and half human. He was fit to be called a cyborg. He had one human grey eye and one machinery white eye. His skin colour was fair, and he was dressed both in a modern and ancient way.

The one thing that caught my eye was...he had a sword. A shining sword.

“Who are you?” Suddenly, I look down and I’m all grown. I was again that 18-year-old Hailey.

The man smiled and made his way to me. I took a few steps back for obvious reasons when he suddenly stopped.

“You’re not ready,” He says.

“What?”

He chuckled again, “We shall meet again, My Love,”

And just like that, everything around me begins to tremble.