House of Night. Dark Times (Book 3)

Chapters 11-15

Chapter 11: (A week later)

Avery distanced herself from her friends while she went through her day. She focused on just doing her school and getting back to her dorm. Madi and Sofia tried to check on her but she kept the door locked, Zeke would of checked on her but he was spending most of his days with Night. Avery didn't care if vampyres were suppose to grieve then move on, she wanted to grieve forever and never forget Ryu no matter what anyone told her. He was dead and out of her life. She had only known him for a month or so but she loved him deeply and it killed her to know she lost her oath bound warrior, her boyfriend...her imprinted mate.

Later on that night. She had gotten up and started to slip her converse on without tying them. She needed to take a walk to keep her head clear so she wouldn't keep crying her eyes out in the darkness of her room. She made her way outside and wiped her eyes and kept her head down while she walked down the sidewalk and towards the old tree. Some people tried to talk to her and check on her but she kept walking quickly until she turned and corner, going to the old tree but she froze a bit, seeing a figure standing by the old tree with its hand on the trunk. The oil lamps that lined the path way were flickering and a bit of an annoyance enough to take her gaze from the figure long enough that when she looked back, it was gone. Maybe she was seeing things or someone was just messing with her. She shrugged it off then started walking towards the tree but once again was stopped by the smell in the breeze of the air. It smelt like death and...well she didn't know the smell but it smelled horrible, kinda like dirty blood. It was strong enough to make her sick and to decide to go back inside so she turned around to make her way back to the sidewalk but stopped when the figure was standing a feet or two away from her.

The smell thickened in the air as she stared at the figure, watching as its mouth opened, that much she could see from the oil lamps lighting the figure. The smile looked like a smirk to her but their teeth were blood stained. Then shock went through her body as she saw fangs, she shook her head and blinked a lot, thinking it was all a bad dream and she'd wake up from her nightmare like all the times, with Ryu snoring loudly and holding her closely but when she looked up the figure was still standing there but it had lifted its head up, the oil lamps flickering more and showing the color of the figures hair that covered its eyes. The hair was green but messy and looked unwashed. The only words that came out of her mouth at this moment were. "W..Who are you?"
The figure growled then smirked as it looked up a bit more. "I..found..you..finally" it almost hissed the words. The voice of the figure sent shock through her body. It was Ryu and this was like her dream! "R-Ryu?" She started to back up until her back hit the tree. Ryu only grinned and quickly stepped closer to her "b-blood.." He hissed at her again before finally gripping her by her arms and slamming her into the tree. He was glaring down at her. His eyes a bright blood red and his glare was evil but lustful, her dream was playing out in front of her very eyes and it terrified her and all she could do was scream after he licked his blood stained fangs, his breath smelt like death but her scream made him grab and cover his ears. "Shut up!" He looked and she was gone and running off down the sidewalk to the main hall. "Damn it!" He started to chase her with unbelievable inhuman speed but stopped when she ran smack into Zeke and Night who were walking outside together.

Chapter 12:

Zeke was holding onto Night's arm and laughing a bit while they walked down the hall and towards the main doors after having their supper together. Night had been telling him jokes for hours to keep him happy. They made their outside and were so focused on laughing they didn't see when Avery ran smack into them. She was breathing hard and crying. Zeke looked panicked and grabbed Avery to steady her.
"Hey Avery, calm down and tell me what happened? Breathe just breathe" Zeke held her arms and looked behind her to see if anything was coming but only saw the flickering oil lamps. Night took a few steps away and began to look around as well before standing besides Avery. Finally she got her breathing under control enough to speak. "I...attacked..." She groaned a bit and grabbed Zeke's arms tightly. "R-Ryu...attacked me...he's got red eyes.." Zeke froze a bit then shook his head. "Avery you're just seeing things ok? You probably fell asleep and had a bad dream."
"No! It wasn't a bad dream! I really saw him! He smelled awful!"