Obliterate

eighteen

FINN SPENT THE next hour or so in Sophie's classroom. At first it was kind of awkward, as Sophie hardly knew the guy and her attention was focused more on the papers that she really needed to finish grading. But then Finn started talking about her mother, about her uncle before he went crazy, and their many adventures together --and she wound up with her chin resting within her palms, listening intently to his every word.

"Don't tell her I said this," Finn was saying, his lips tugged back into a large grin, "But your mother was kind of a badass, back in the day. We used to roam around, continent to continent, just exploring and whenever we got stuck in a sticky situation, Aelia was the one that got us out of it. I remember, back when medieval knights were popular, we wound up in a small just outside London. Well, what's considered London now, anyways. A knight tried his hand at winning Aelia's affection. She humored him for a bit but the moment that he got too handsy and forceful, she actually ripped one of his hands off..."

Sophie's eyes widened. "That's intense."

Finn nodded in agreement. "I have always found it kind of humorous, actually. Caius and I never thought that she'd settle down. She was a terrible flirt but hated man's arrogance, especially toward women. Kings, knights, scholars -they all threw themselves at her feet. But she wound up falling for your father."

A snort escaped Sophie at the mere thought of her father. "You mean she turned down royalty for a drunken fool?"

"He wasn't like that originally," Finn explained. His smile turned sympathetic. "He was a pretty nice guy, especially for a human. And he treated your mother like a queen. Caius didn't like him much. But I think that was just his biased attitude toward other creatures, just in general. So it wasn't long before your mother ran away with him."

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door. Sophie jumped, her gaze turning toward the door, just in time to see Eli poke his head inside the classroom. Her boyfriend blinked, his gaze focused on Finn, and then turned his attention toward Sophie.

"Hey!" She greeted him with a grin. Her smile faltered when Eli stepped further into the classroom, his expression twisted with a grimace. "What's wrong, Eli?"

"Another student has gone missing," he announced. A small sigh escaped his lips and he ran a hand through his hair. "Aelia wants to see us immediately. I think she needs us to examine the crime scene. We might find some sort of sign that those creatures we saw in the forest are behind this."

Sophie glanced toward Finn. He wore a troubled expression, his green eyes sparkling with an unrecognizable emotion. "I shall go with you. Is Aelia at the scene of the crime now?" he asked.

Eli nodded. Then he squinted at Finn. "Sorry, but who are you, exactly?"

A brilliant smile appeared on Finn's face. He stepped forward, toward Eli, and extended a hand. "My name is Finn Frey," he said. Sophie noticed Eli stiffen a bit. "I believe that we have had the pleasure of meeting before, though it's not a surprise that you don't remember me. The last time that I saw you, you were just a small human boy, under the care of my dear friend, Caius. Eli, isn't it?"

Eli awkwardly shook his hand. "That's right. I vaguely remember you now."

Finn's smile widened. "Vampirism suits you. I'm glad that you survived the transformation."

An awkward silence settled upon the classroom. Eli stared at Finn, his lips twisted with a sour expression, and Finn simply smiled happily. With a small sigh, Sophie stood and started toward the door. "Let's go find my mother," she said. "Especially considering she needed us immediately, right?"

"Right," Eli muttered.

Both Eli and Finn followed Sophie through the halls of the castle, trailing behind her like lost puppies. The former didn't say much, his attention focused on his own thoughts, whereas the latter chatted endlessly about his initial meeting with human-Eli. It was interesting to listen to, considering Sophie only knew Eli post transformation and Eli wasn't fond of talking about his past.

When they reached Aelia's location, a single bedroom in the girls dormitory, Finn fell silent. Several members of the police loitered within the hallway, whispering amongst themselves as if they weren't surrounded by vampires. From what Sophie could hear, the victim, a younger human girl, had skipped class, telling her friends that she didn't feel well. When her friends went to check on her after classes, they discovered her missing and her bedroom window wide open. The police suspected that this case was different from the others, thanks to that window. It seemed as though they suspected the girl had run away.

But Sophie knew better. This girl wouldn't have been able to leave the castle undetected, considering all the new safety measures that had been implemented since the first disappearance. Especially considering this girl was human.

As they entered the girl's bedroom, they found Aelia standing in front of the window, her arms folded across her chest. Her expression seemed void of all emotion, but Sophie immediately noticed a cold and calculating twinge to her eyes. Clearing her throat, Sophie moved to stand behind her mother. "Are there any leads?" she asked, staring at the cluster of trees that waited just behind the window.

Aelia shook her head. "Not at the moment. I'm sure that you heard them earlier. Those buffoons think that this case is unrelated, that the girl ran away."

"There's no way that she could've," Sophie remarked. She moved closer to the window, examining the metal framework. The actual window itself was a more recent installation. When her uncle reigned as Headmaster, most of the windows hadn't existed. He didn't want the outside world to distract from what happened within the castle, nor did he want them to catch a peek at the horrors within.

In the very corner of the window frame, Sophie noticed a slender line -a small scratch in the metal. It was harder to detect at first, as the metal was colored a dark gray to match the stonework around it. She ran her finger over it, feeling the small groove. "Whatever happened," she said softly, so only her mother could hear, "It wasn't peaceful."

Aelia's frown deepened. "That's what I'm afraid of."

fam,

so my laptop is still on the fritz and i am trying to write on my tablet. i'm not used to a virtual keyboard, so please excuse any typos/errors in this chapter (and future chapters, at least until it gets fixed or i can afford a new one). please feel free to point them out so that i can fix them too! 

thank you so much for your patience and continued support <3

p.s. if you want to listen to me talk about how i started writing in general and on wattpad, be sure to check out my youtube video! the link is posted on my message board and i'll make it the external link here C: