Back At The Vampire Academy

One

~lilyhathaway~

I heard those screams before, the same screams from that night. The screams that awoke me from my also nightmare-induced slumber, I groaned and sat up, cracking my shoulders, leaning my elbow on the edge of the lumpy couch looking into the dark hallway and watching as my sibling, Rose rushed to the source of the wailing. Vasilissa Dragomir, literal royalty.

I heaved myself off the sofa, taking note that our flatmate Jeremy was sitting at the dining table, slaving over what looks to be a calculus book, but had been interrupted by Lissa's yells. I did a thorough check to make sure that the house we had been renting for 8 months hadn't been broken into or messed with of any kind, I mean, as a fully trained Guardian I had to make sure everything was safe.

I grabbed a bottle of water from our run down fridge knowing that Rose would need it after Lissa's feed, as I closed the door Oscar, our housemates cat, jumped on the bin next to the fridge.

''Get off.'' I grumbled, flapping my hand near him. The cat hissed at me and jumped away, padding towards Jeremy who now had his head in his hands. Animals don't like Dhampirs for whatever reason, but they certainly like Moroi especially Oscar as he had been stuck to Lissa like glue ever since we moved in.

Dhampirs are Moroi-human hybrids. Their role in vampiric society is to act as Guardians to the Moroi, protecting them from their monstrous counterparts, the Strigoi. That is what I am, a Dhampir. My dhampir mother was Scottish__ red-haired, with a ridiculous accent__ and I had been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. The genetic combination had given Rose and I the same skin colour as the inside of an almond, along with what I would like to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features: big dark eyes and hair so black, Rose's being deep brown. I wouldn't have minded inheriting the red hair but we take what we get.

I stared out of the white washed windows that overlooked the street, which was dark and relatively quiet. It was three in the morning, just about the only time a college campus settled down, at least some-what. The house that we rented a room from sat on a residential street with old, mismatched houses. Across the road, a streetlight flickered, nearly ready to burn out. It still cast enough light for me to make out the shapes of cars and buildings. In our own yard, I could see the silhouettes of trees and bushes.

And a man watching me.

I jerked back in surprised and gripped the water bottle I held in my hand, a figure stood by a tree, exactly 28.4 metres away, where he could easily see through the window. Where he could easily see through Lissa's window, I was close enough that I probably could throw the water bottle at him and hit him, which meant he was certainly close enough to witness what Rose and Lissa had just done.

The shadows covered him so well that even with my heightened sight, I couldnt make out hardly any of his features, save for his height. He was tall. Really tall. He stood there for just a moment, barely discernible, and then stepped back, disappearing into the shadows cast by the trees on the far side of the yard. I was sure I saw someone else move nearby to join him before blackness swallowed them both.

''Jeremy are there any--'' Rose had walked into the kitchen clutching her collarbone with a tissue. I handed her the water bottle.

''Sit here, drink this and don't make a sound.'' I said as I turned off all the lights, save for the work light that was on the dining room table.

''What's going on? Have they found us?'' Rose interjected, sitting up quickly but sat straight back down due to the blood loss.

''Get yourself sorted. I'll get Lissa.'' I grabbed Lissa's backpack that had been left by the door and made a beeline for her room. I walked straight in and started rummaging through her drawers, throwing anything of importance in there, including the leftover cash that we managed to scrounge up.