School of Blood

harmony

Blake's dark brown hair was falling into his eyes. His laugh was booming and loud, like lightning. But at the same time, it had a soft touch to it, like a whisper of a secret.

Secrets shared by Celina.

Celina whispered something, and his grin widened as he leaned in and whispered back. I watched, my stomach churning as they giggled like little kids.

No, I thought. Stop. Stop thinking this way. What the fuck is even wrong with you?

Problem was, I did. I did try to stop.

I tried as I lay on my makeshift bed and reread Blake's text a million times.

I tried as I slept through most of the early morning sunrise.

I tried as I called Celina's mom and asked where she was ("Oh, sorry dear, but Celina went to the skating rink with a couple of friends of hers. Would you like me to save a message for you?")

I tried as I slipped on my darkest sweater from the second-hand store.

I tried as I tied up my boots.

I tried as I walked through the threshold and locked the door behind me.

I tried as I slowly walked down the small, narrow, walkway.

And I certainly tried as I made my way to Rosenbloom Town Ice Skating Rink.

I did try.

And yet, here I was. Watching the sparrow and the robin in the act like some pathetic loser.

I watched the lovebirds for a few more minutes before I gave up. I couldn't do it. Couldn't take it.

And that's when the Cravings started.

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It was my uncle who explained the Cravings to me.

"You can't escape them," he said to me. "They tear you apart and drive some to madness. You can't resist the urges. You must feed."

"But I'll kill someone." I whispered, astonished by his words.

"Yes."

Yes? YES? That was it? Not what I had been expecting. Uncles were supposed to say, No, no, that's all a terrible misunderstanding. But he just sat there in his study. Me in the doorway, staring open-mouthed as he closed his eyes and folded his hands. No explanation. No reassurances.

My eight year old self took that as a blow to the face.

Finally, he opened his eyes.

"Harmony," he began. He looked troubled. "I know that you must be terribly frightened. But I must tell you the complete and honest truth. You cannot and must not try to deny what you truly are. And that is this: a monster. We are all monsters. You must never, ever forget that. You must never try to pretend you aren't. You are a monster. You will have to kill in order to survive. And in being a monster, our number one objective is to survive. Survival, and survival only. We have no need nor time for compassion. For feelings. For anything but the fact that we must continue to preserve ourselves in order to prevent complete and total distinction."

I didn't move.

"I will not always be with you. I have my own life to carry out. I am only here to preserve your well-being, as my dear sister wished." he said simply, ignoring the bloody tears in my eyes at the mention of my mother. "And soon, I will have achieved that, and then you will be on your own. And as part of preserving you, I am responsible for teaching you the basic skills of survival. And for that, I must need you to accept that you are inhuman and inhumane, and that you must learn to accept that this your life. You must kill someone in order to fulfill your deed. Everyone does. Not that everyone wants to," his eyes slightly bloodied at this remark. I never knew why. "But like I said, no feelings. So you will have to accept and just continue what you must. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Uncle."

A few days later, the Hunters came.

It was my first time seeing them face to face. They had come before, that time, for my mother. They had taken her, her kicking and screaming and bloody tears running down her cheeks, yelling my name. I called her over and over but the Hunters took her away. I followed them to the end of our drive. And that's when one of the Hunters brought out a wooden piece, sharp and jagged, my first sighting of a stake. The last thing I heard was my mother's scream before my legs gave way beneath me and I collapsed.

This time was different. There were no blood tears and no time for collapsing. At eight, I had seen the Hunters and what they did a mere two years ago, and this time, though the fear pumped through my dead heart like blood, it was invisible and close to nonexistent as the men grabbed my uncle and forced him through the living room, me watching from the stairs, hidden from view. No crying names, no loud yelling from me, just from the rough Hunters.

Just a soft, barely audible, "Uncle," as they carried him past my hiding spot.

The Hunters are human. They cannot hear the smallest of whispers.

But Uncle heard it, clear as day, and he turned his head ever so slightly towards me and spotted me without even trying.

His mouth curved upwards in a small smile, his wise eyes crinkling with sadness. Wrinkles appeared magically on him, for never before had I noticed his aging gray hair or his weak eyes. Whoever said vampires didn't age was stupid. Of course they did. Until you were thirty, in fact. But even past that, as my uncle was, you could clearly see signs of age, of experience, of memories that had filled his head and eyes.

But these I noticed later, in afterthought. At that moment, all I noticed were his thin lips, mouthing the last word of wisdom or help I had ever received from any vampire.

"Flee."

No more thoughts. I stole to my room, grabbed my last set of clean clothes, a  small emergency container of blood, stuffed them in a small duffel bag, and jumped out of my third-story window, running until I felt like stopping.

And that was when I realized how truly alone I really was.

Hey guys I'm backkkkk!

missed you so much, now that I'm back I can update more. hope you guys didn't leave♥ this is really one of my favorite chapters and I'm actually quite proud of myself for some reason. yay me!!

hope u like it guys♥

btw, thank you to those of you who checked out my other book, means a lot

♥ily♥