Page 37

Despite the number of students standing there, huddled beneath the ghostly white moonlight, an unnatural hush had fallen over them all.

The usual buzz of late-night laughter, whispered confessions, and shoe-scraping chatter had been stolen, snatched clean from the air the moment Eliza Scott's lifeless body had been discovered.

She'd been laid out like some tragic offering, just steps away from the girls' dormitory entrance, the pale glow of the nearby lamp casting cruel shadows across her skin. Her eyes had been glassy. Empty.

Her throat had bled through her collar—unmistakable puncture wounds that said more than any witness could. How she had been killed, what cruel instrument had stolen her life, remained a secret swallowed by the overwhelming crimson stain

And that had been enough.

The moment her body was found, the student body had split. Not physically—at first. But in glances. In posture. In where people stood and who they stood beside.

But soon, from a slight shift of positioning and the slow partition between them; the divide grew tangible.

Humans had drawn closer to each other, whispering in frantic, low voices, hands gesturing, faces pale.

'look at her neck..'

'I can't believe we almost got used to them.'

Vampires, meanwhile, had gravitated toward their own, forming a quiet, still cluster.

Tension hung thick between the two halves of the crowd like a glass wall, invisible but impossible to ignore.

They wanted to deny it, but even they knew that something among them were capable of creating a mess like this.

Y/N remained rooted somewhere in the middle, not quite aligned with either side. Her breath came in shallow pulls, fogging faintly in the crisp night air. She didn't speak, couldn't move. Her eyes had found Calixto almost instantly—and they hadn't looked away since.

He stood tall, shoulders square, lips pressed into a flat line that bordered on unreadable. But Y/N could see the tightness in his jaw. The way his fingers flexed at his sides like he wanted to do something—say something—but didn't. Or couldn't.

Beside him, three other figures emerged from the shadows—Adrian, Azul, and Silas. They said nothing, simply stepping into place like pieces falling into formation. Their silence was not uncertain. It was solid.

Then, a hand slipped into hers.

"Y/N!" Julia's voice trembled slightly, but her grip was strong. "Come on."

Y/N didn't move at first. She just stood there, gaze fixed on Calixto.

Their eyes met across the fractured courtyard—and for a single second, it felt like time stretched, slowed, held its breath.

There was something unspoken in his expression.

Something flickering just beneath the surface of his eyes.

Regret? Fear? Guilt?

She didn't know.

And then it was gone.

Calixto looked away, turning his face to the side, and the invisible thread between them snapped. Julia tugged again, this time more forcefully, and Y/N allowed herself to be pulled—back, away, toward the human side of the courtyard.

Her chest ached. She wasn't sure why.

★

Faculty arrived shortly after, cutting through the simmering tension like a knife.

Auragon's security team surrounded the perimeter of the courtyard, dressed in sleek, black uniforms. Their faces were unreadable, eyes constantly scanning.

Then came the faculty—teachers in robes or coats, ushering students into neat lines, asking sharp questions in hushed tones. None of them had answers.

And finally, the headteachers arrived.

Headmaster Lockwood strode through the courtyard like a storm cloud—tall, rigid, dressed in dark wool and bearing an expression carved from stone. His voice was low and authoritative as he took his place at the front of the crowd.

"This ends now.." Lockwood said, his voice echoing across the stone.

Headmistress Valerie wasn't far behind. She was all sharp eyes and muted elegance, her presence calm but cold, like frost blooming across glass. Her voice, though softer than Lockwood's, carried just as much weight, as she glided towards the students almost in a ghostly manner.

"There will be no speculation, no retaliation, and no chaos." Valerie added, cold eyes scanning each face. "We will conduct an investigation. Until then, all students are to return to their dormitories and remain there until further notice."

No one moved at first.

'is that it..?'

'No comfort talk?'

Then, slowly, the groups began to dissolve. The invisible line remained even as the crowd dispersed, everyone shuffling away with lowered gazes and tense shoulders, retreating into their species-specific clusters.

No one dared look too long at the other side. Not anymore.

Y/N's eyes followed to the human headmaster, who looked deep in thought as he stared at what remained of the student; which had now been embraced by a white sheet. The linen veiled the grotesquely disfigured remains and masked the horrific corpse.

She then watched as Headmistress Valerie approached, placing a hand on his shoulder and leaning in close as she whispered something into his ear, her voice too low for Y/N to decipher.

Valerie's face, though composed, held a subtly unsettling edge, a sinister undercurrent beneath the professional facade.

Lockwood, in return offered a barely perceptible nod, the ghost of a smile flickering across his lips and vanishing as quickly as it appeared.

The interaction struck Y/N as oddly intimate, almost conspiratorial.

She raised an eyebrow at the proximity between the two, but her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of another figure, equally captivated by the interaction, but reacting with a vastly different emotion.

Silas?

His face, usually impassive, was contorted with a barely suppressed fury, his eyes narrowed into slits as he glared daggers at Valerie and Lockwood.

From the perspective of an outsider, it could be considered an unusual glare from a student watching his teachers in such a manner.

but Y/N was unable to interject as she was snapped out of her thoughts—"Y/N? "

She practically spun around hearing her name. "Marcus.."

He took her arm gently pulling her aside and closer towards the building and back towards the entrance. "They said to go back to are dorms. Are you alright? You seem a bit shaken up." he tilted his head with narrowed eyes which outlined her, almost as if he were checking for signs of discomfort.

"Yeah no—I'm fine." She answered simply; gently brushing his hand off her. "And you?"

He paused a moment just staring at his hand she removed before giving her a small smile "Yeah—all good. Me and the rest of the student council are helping the faculty usher other students inside. You should head in too now quickly—goodnight Y/N."

She nodded as he walked off to another group of students and she too turned towards the entrance of the dorm building where her best friend had been pacing around, waiting for her.

"Y/N—There you are..! Let's go quickly." Julia pulled her along by the hand desperately; looking around at the other female residing students of the building who also hurried back to their rooms.

★

The walk back to the dormitory was long.

The elevator queue was too long to wait around and get eaten for, so the girls took to the stairs instead.

The girls said nothing for most of it. The silence that trailed behind them wasn't comfortable—it was thick, cloying.

Julia kept glancing over her shoulder like she expected someone to come running out of the dark after them.

When they finally reached the room, Julia's hands trembled as she turned the key. The door swung open to reveal the comforting warmth of their shared space, but even that couldn't chase away the chill that clung to them.

Y/N stepped inside slowly, her arms wrapped around herself; her thoughts knotted and heavy. Aisha stirred from her sleep just as the tension settled back into stillness. She peeked out from behind the edge of her duvet, eyes blinking against the low light.

"What's going on?" she asked groggily. "Everyone's storming around in the hallways/ don't tell me you all got caught"

Y/N rose slowly from her seat and walked over to her.

"Eliza's dead.." she said quietly, almost numbly. "They found her just outside. She'd been killed. Or mauled, or—I'm not even sure.."

Y/N took a seat on the corner of Aisha's bed and held her hand. Aisha didn't respond. She simply sat back, her thoughts clearly spiralling just behind her tired eyes.

"So—it's starting again?" she whispered. "The..divide?"

Y/N nodded once, though her stomach twisted. "It was always still there. Tonight just gave it something to stand on."

The pair on the bed glanced over at Julia who was still stood, leaning against the wall.

Her head hung low, the silence in the room amplifying her nerves; and her blonde locks once meticulously styled for the evening, now curtained over her face, a fragile barrier against the worried eyes she felt boring into her.

"Her—Her eyes were still open..!" Julia said suddenly, her voice cracking. "She looked like she was staring at something—or someone..as she was murdered. She must've been so scared.."

Y/N didn't answer.

She lowered herself onto her bed, eyes unfocused. The image of Eliza's face wouldn't leave her mind. Not just the blood. Not just the bite. But the emptiness in her expression.

"She was drained, Y/N." Julia whispered. "No human could've done that.. You know that, right?"

Y/N closed her eyes. "We don't know for sure—"

"Yes, we do." Julia's voice turned sharp, desperate. "There were marks. Classic punctures—and we know that they're viscous enough to do worse, and that's what they did! If that's not obvious enough—"

"You weren't there when it happened." Y/N interrupted, voice quieter but firmer. "Neither was I. None of us saw anything. We don't know what happened."

Julia stared at her. "You're defending them?"

"I'm not. I'm just saying—" Y/N hesitated, her throat dry. "Jumping to conclusions won't help anything."

Julia's shoulders slumped, the fight visibly draining from her. "But if it was them, Y/N.. What are we supposed to do? Just sit here and wait for them to pick us off one by one?"

The words were laced with something heavier than judgment—disappointment, maybe hurt. Julia turned away without another word, vanishing into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her with a quiet click.

Y/N sat still, hands limp in her lap. The silence in the room seemed to wrap around her, crawling under her skin. She ran a hand through her hair, the weight of Julia's fear pressing down on her.

Aisha mumbled "Y/N—"

"It's fine."

It wasn't. As much as she wanted to comfort her friends, Y/N was equally as terrified.

Internally thinking about what they really were capable of—or even who was capable of such a heinous crime.

Whether it was something personal or whether none of them were exceptions and no one was truly safe.

Should she have told Julia? About the kiss. About Calixto. About how the cold edge in his gaze had softened when she leaned in. But how could she? After this? After what had happened?

What about Aisha? Would Aisha, with her unwavering loyalty and her steadfast belief in right and wrong, ever accept the idea of her best friend locking lips with a vampire?

Would she understand the complex emotions that had led to that single, impulsive act? Or would it shatter their bond, forever tainting their friendship with a sense of betrayal and... revulsion?

The risk felt too great, the potential consequences too devastating to bear.

It didn't matter now. She swallowed the memory like poison and buried it deep.