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pressing her back against the wall for a moment longer than necessary. The distant echoes of fleeing students and faculty shouting filled the corridors. Her pulse hammered in her ears, Azul's words lingering in her mind.

"Stay the fuck away if you don't want to be eaten alive."

She swallowed hard.

Footsteps—light, hurried.

Y/N snapped out of her daze and turned, spotting Julia emerging from the shadows, breathless and wide-eyed.

"Oh my God—where the hell did you go?!" Julia whisper-yelled, gripping Y/N's arms. "I lost you for like five minutes, and suddenly there was a faculty member right in front of me—I had to sneak out the damn window!"

Y/N blinked. "You jumped out the window?!"

"It was the first floor! And I landed in a bush, but still—!"

Y/N sighed, rubbing her temples. "Jeez Jules.."

Julia took a breath, eyes scanning Y/N up and down. "And what about you? You look like you just saw a ghost."

Not a ghost. A vampire.

Azul's sharp blue eyes flickered in her mind, the way his cold hand had clamped over her mouth; how he had pressed her back against the wall as if shielding her from something worse.

She shook her head. "I got dragged out before I could get caught."

Julia narrowed her eyes. "By who?"

Y/N hesitated. "Doesn't matter."

Before Julia could argue, another set of hurried footsteps approached. The girls turned just in time to see Cressida—hair slightly tousled, looking utterly unbothered—stride up to them like she hadn't just fled from a busted vampire party.

"What the—how the hell did you get back so fast?" Y/N asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Julia gasped, grabbing her arm. "Oh my God. Did you turn into a bat..!"

Cressida scowled. "What? No! That's a stupid myth, idiot."

"Damn. That would've been cool.." Julia muttered, slightly disappointed.

Y/N narrowed her eyes. "Don't you guys have a later curfew than humans, why'd you leave?"

Cressida rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "We still have to be in our own dorms for faculty checks, obviously. Unlike you humans, we don't have the luxury of sneaking around unnoticed."

Julia snorted. "Yeah, real subtle, what with the glowing eyes and fangs and all."

Cressida shot her a look. "Says the girl who dove headfirst into a bush. Also, I meant vampires can detect other vampires?"

"I was being tactical. Also—you saw that? I was so quiet.." Julia huffed.

Cressida smirked. "Sure. Let's go with that."

Y/N groaned. "Can we please argue about this inside before we get caught?"

With that, they hurried toward their dorm building, slipping through the entrance just before curfew.

Aisha looked up from her book the second they entered, unimpressed.

"You made it."

Julia rolled her eyes, kicking off her shoes. "Glad to know you had so much faith in us."

Aisha shut her book with a soft thud. "I had zero faith in you."

Cressida smirked. "Honestly? Same."

Y/N collapsed onto her bed with a groan, covering her face with her hands.

Azul.

Why had he helped me?

And why did it feel like he was more pissed at her being there than anything else? She just had more questions than answers.

And somehow, she had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time she crossed paths with him.

The next morning, the aftermath of the party was all anyone could talk about.

Several students—both human and vampire—had been caught sneaking back to their dorms past curfew, resulting in immediate detentions and warnings from the faculty.

Whispers filled the hallways.

"They almost shut the whole dorm down for the semester."

"I heard a few vampires got into actual fights with humans. Blood was spilled—pfft get it?"

"Shut up. You're just exaggerating."

"I saw Silas leaving the party right before faculty arrived. You think he knew it was coming?"

Y/N barely paid attention to the gossip as she walked through the halls, head still heavy from the previous night.

Her gaze flickered toward the far end of the corridor, where a group of vampires stood near the lockers.

Calixto leaned lazily against the wall, Silas smirked at something Azul had just muttered, and Adrian ran a hand through his dark curls, looking thoroughly amused by whatever conversation they were having.

Azul glanced up at that exact moment.

Their eyes met.

For a second, neither of them looked away.

Then—Azul's expression hardened. He turned back to Silas without a second glance, muttering something under his breath.

Yeah. This wasn't over. And she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Walking towards her homeroom,Y/N exhaled, gripping the strap of her bag. Before knocking into someone. "Fucking watch it!"

A vampire of course..

She just glared as he walked of with his friends snickering.

She took her seat next to Aisha and Julia in the classroom, she slamming her bag down and slumping in her chair with a huff.

"Woah—okay Hurricane Katrina. What's stirring your storm today?" Aisha said taken aback.

"Tortillas.." Julia muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing—anyways Y/N what's up? What's with the sudden explosion?"

Y/N huffed as she glanced to her friends. "Don't you think those four vampires are really fucking weird?"

Julia and Aisha exchanged looks before Julia leaned in, resting her chin on her hand with an exaggerated smirk. "Ohh, someone's been thinking about them."

Y/N shot her a glare. "Don't start."

Aisha, ever the rational one, raised an eyebrow. "Define 'weird.' Because, you know, they are vampires. Kind of a built-in feature." she snickered.

Y/N crossed her arms, frustrated. "No, I mean—really weird. Like last night, Azul helped me escape, but instead of just letting me go, he acted like I was the problem. Like I had no business being there—"

"You did have no business being there. It was a vampire held party girl." Aisha deadpanned.

"That's not the point!" Y/N groaned. "The point is, they're always around. Always watching. And then the way Silas just knew when to leave the party before the faculty showed up? Suspicious as hell. What if they planned it?"

Julia gasped dramatically. "People have been talking about how Silas is always with their school's headmistress. You don't think it's some vampire teacher relationship?! I mean they are human age legal.."

Y/N sighed, rubbing her temples. "No Jules—what? I just—Ugh! Forget it."

Aisha sighed. "I mean, I wouldn't put it past them. Those four do seem to operate like they're in some secret vampire mafia or something."

"Exactly!" Y/N exclaimed. "And Azul—he's just...so angry all the time. Like why does he look at me like I personally ruined his life?"

Julia snorted. "Maybe you did. Maybe you were lovers in a past life, and you betrayed him, and now he's doomed to suffer the eternal pain of losing you—"

"Shut up."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. So Azul is weird. Kinda pale for a Spanish guy.."

"He's Spanish?!" Julia almost jumped out of her seat.

Aisha huffed "Girl, Azul Sanchez. Azul also meaning blue in Spanish?" The other two just let out a 'wow' in response. "Anyways, they're all weird. But what do you want to do about it? Confront them?"

"I heard that Silas spends a lot of time in their headmistress' office. Either he's a bad boy or Vampires allow weird teacher-student things." Juliashuddered, "But I mean he is like over a century old.." she mumbled.

Y/N frowned. "What—Jules? No. I just feel like something's off. I don't like that they keep showing up wherever I am."

Julia shrugged. "Maybe you're the weird one. Ever think about that?"

Y/N groaned and dropped her head onto the desk. "I hate you both."

"Aw, love you too babe." Julia grinned.

Before Y/N could throw a textbook at her, the bell rang, and the classroom door swung open. The teacher walked in, followed by four very familiar figures.

Y/N froze.

No. No. Absolutely not.

The entire room seemed to hold its breath as the four vampires strolled inside, completely at ease despite the stares they were receiving.

Calixto, as usual, wore a lazy smirk like he was in on some inside joke. Silas adjusted the collar of his uniform with the air of someone who belonged anywhere he stepped. Adrian barely spared anyone a glance, hands stuffed in his pockets.

And Azul...looked just as pissed off as ever. His sharp blue gaze flickered to Y/N.

"Right kids. Four new transferees to our homeroom, that's all."

Y/N felt her stomach drop.

"Well.." Julia muttered beside her, nudging her in the ribs. "This just got interesting.."