The Relentless Past

Ch.Six

Ch. Six

Audrey and Maddie were running. They stumbled and staggered along the way, but they couldn't care less. Their boots clicked and clacked.

It was already getting a little late, with twilight approaching. And they were the most weak during these hours. Audrey, even more so, since she was low ranked. They spotted the old rusty  gate in the distance and heaved a sigh, but didn't dare to slow down.

The evening twilight was near, terribly near. They chased through the green gardens, the college buildings,  probably looking like two lunatics in their heavy winter coats.

They noticed not a single vampire was present outside at this hour, mostly humans were there. They had obviously already taken refuge inside the building, not wanting to burn down. Audrey and Maddie felt stupid enough to leave the college at that late an hour, but they were left no choice.

It was twilight when they reached the girl's dormitory. They felt slightly uncomfortable, and even in this freezing cold weather, they felt themselves burning up.

They went inside the building, into the elevator and continued running till they reached their respective rooms. They said a quick goodbye after  Audrey thanked Maddie for accompanying her in the "disgraceful act".

She entered her room and noticed Hana lying down against her own mattress. She probably hadn't seen Hana the whole day, they were in two different college years so that made sense.

" Where'd you go this late?" Hana acknowledged her presence though she didn't turn around.

" Had to Feed." Audrey replied, her face felt warm from all the blood she had drank. She probably gained weight too.

Hana made a small understanding sound at that and said, " You smell."

" Excuse me?"

" Not in that way. I meant your smell is noticeable right now." Oh.

" I know. Will that make the others notice me?" Audrey asked, the sense of fear in her voice was inevitable.

    " I'm not really sure. There's 75% chance they will. You know how rankers are, they see someone lower than them they try to overpower them, rule them. It's fine with us commons tho. We're not at the lowest so we're fine. We get by. But I'm not sure if that's similar with you. And the smell. The smell clearly tells you're the lowest rank. But I just wanted to ask, have you been bullied before?"Hana turned sideways against her bed and asked.

Audrey was currently brushing her teeth in the bathroom. The room was small, so they could easily hear each other. The blood in her fangs felt gross but it was okay. She rinsed her face and said,

" My fangs started to show when I was 11. I was 13 when I got the smell. Though the smell became more distinct as I aged. I was bullied by a few of the seniors but it wasn't that bad. I was just in charge of bringing them expensive stuffs even though I myself could rarely afford it. But it was not the type that I couldn't handle it. The pain was bearable, it was for 2 years. Maddie did her best to protect me though. " She then grew curious and asked, " why haven't you ever bullied me though?"

Hana looked offended at that, " I would never. My parents never raised me up like that. I am completely independent and I don't need someone to buy me expensive stuff. I tell you, you low rankers have this all in your head. It's just simple classification. Nothing matters." She waved her hand dramatically.

" I'm sorry, didn't mean it like that. " Audrey apologized.

" That's fine. Have a good night." Hana turned the other way and switched off the light.

" night" Audrey said. It was a comfortable silence. Hana doesn't really seem that mean. It might just be all a facade to protect oneself.

Audrey wanted to ask her about the pure bloods, if there were one or many in this college but she decided not to. College had definitely drained her, and sleep quickly overcome her.

The next day at college seemed terrible. Audrey had been eating her lunch at the Canteen table listening to  Maddie while she ranted her ears off about how colleges were useless and it mostly psychologically effected students when she was hoisted from her table by a group of students who yanked her long red hair.  They laughed and snickered.

" What's wrong with you guys!" Maddie was quick to react. Her hand instinctively went up to the girl's hand that held Audrey's hair up firmly. It hurt.  The girl didn't answer her question and rather spoke mockingly, " Oh my my, look at all this red hair!" She continued to tug at it while Audrey tried her level best to pull herself free.

" You're disturbing the peace around here! Stop that." Maddie yelled.

" You're hurting me!" Audrey said. The continuous yanking hurt her scalp.

" Thats exactly what I'm trying to do." The girl laughed. Audrey had been used to this kind of treatment so she tried to take it lightly but she wasn't having it with the pain. Few people around her laughed and enjoyed the show, while most looked hesitant.

" What if we cut her hair into shreds?" A girl, with a pixie cut, chirped in. Her haircut had probably gone wrong and now she wanted everybody to look like her.

" I'm going to get you guys reported!" Maddie snapped. Her fangs threatening to show.

" Stop." A deep voice said, it almost thundered around the whole canteen. Silence followed, along with excited whispers.

" Who are you to ask me to st-" Audrey looked as the girl that held her hair, stopped mid sentence. Her face showed signs of fear.

Audrey looked to the other side and it was the same guy she had stumbled into the other day.  The one who had called her, "Beautiful". Not something you would say when you bump into someone.

She didn't question that though, and she felt rather relieved at the moment. Everybody watched as the boy, slowly walked towards the crowd with a gaze that could kill, he stopped in front of them

He raised his eyebrow and said, " May I ask you to withdraw your hand back?" He eyed the hand that held Audrey's hair tight in a fist.

" y-yes yes of c-course" The girl left Audrey and staggered backwards, the crowd that had gathered to witness the show slowly dissipated away. The girl herself turned around and was almost out of the canteen when,

" Stop. Turn around" The guy said. His voice sounded close to Audrey's ear. She could hear the rumbling from his chest. When did he get that close?

The girl turned around hesitantly, it looked like she almost teared up.

" Apologize."

" I-"

The boy gave a look.

" I'm sorry! I promise to never do that again! I'm extremely sorry" the girl bowed, then quickly left the canteen. It must've hurt her ego.

Audrey turned around and noticed the boy, waving his hand around in an uninterested way, asking everybody to focus on the lunch and not to get carried away by some mere drama.

" um...thank you very much." Audrey said. She looked up at the guy and found him already staring at her. Clear Green eyes looked into grey.

" ...it's okay. Be careful." He said in a tone much softer than the one he had used just a moment ago.

" thank you." Audrey bowed, she opened her mouth to speak when the bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch break. Audrey hadn't eaten more than half a bowl of noodles.

The stranger smiled, " see you around." He said and went away, disappearing into the hallways, Audrey remained flabbergasted for a few moments before she pulled Maddie by the arm.

Along the way,  Maddie fussed all over her to check if she was okay or not. She rambled about how she would've reported the girls if the guy had not come to her rescue. She then, in an overprotective mother tone, complained that Audrey had the power to fight them, but she shouldn't be so soft-hearted to let them slide with that!

They then parted ways, and  Audrey went away to her history class. Her brain kept replaying the words, " be careful" in that deep voice.