Dark Valentine (Monster High; Book 1 of the DV Duology)

Chapter 21: All The Angels

Kieran

It was almost 3:00 in the morning when I was hit with the feeling that something was very wrong.

Holt had invited Heath, Deuce and I to the club where he'd be working that night, and we'd all accepted the invitation. There was a bunch of other people from school there, too, including Clawd, Draculaura, Clawdeen, Frankie and Neighthan. I mainly just hung out with Heath and Deuce, though, since I wasn't on good terms with most of the others.

Holt had left a little bit earlier than the rest of us so he could get home and none of us could see him anywhere when we got outside, so we all assumed he'd already gotten there. And that's when that feeling hit me.

And the reason was because I saw Holt's headphones lying on the ground, not connected to anything.

"Where's his phone?" Deuce clearly noticed that as well.

"Either he still has it, or it landed somewhere else," I responded, picking them up. I then continued in the same direction, as it was the way to Jackson and Holt's house from here and that had been where he was going. Heath and Deuce followed.

After travelling a few more blocks, we found Jackson. But what I saw both terrified and infuriated me. Surrounding him was a group of about four Normies, and as we got closer I saw the aftermath of what they had done to him.

He was unconscious, and he was bleeding heavily. Several cuts and bruises were visible as well, and his glasses were broken.

"We're done here," one of them was saying. I recognized him as Eric, the ex-sheriff Jackson had told me about some time ago.

"Yes," I said, approaching him with what I'm sure was a murderous look in my eyes, "Yes, you are." He started backing away from me, but it made no difference and my hand found its way to his throat. "Now, I suggest you get away from him. And if you ever do anything like this to him again, I will personally come after you. Understood?"

"Yeah," he tried to reply. His voice was strained from lack of oxygen.

I didn't have to say anything else. The second I released him, he and the others took off. I knelt down beside Jackson just as a few others arrived. Frankie and Neighthan were there, as well as Clawd and Draculaura. They all lived nearby, so they probably saw us and came running.

"What happened?" Frankie asked, her voice laced with concern.

Seeing the condition Jackson was in, I'd started to panic. I couldn't tell just how bad his many injuries were, but they looked pretty fucking bad to me. My heart was beating far too quickly—I felt like I was drowning inside my own panic.

"Normies," I told her, then realized I should elaborate. "That ex-sheriff Eric...and maybe three others? They did this. Deuce, Heath and I just got here and I scared them off."

Frankie sighed, her voice slightly shaky from worry, "Why can't he just leave Jackson alone...?"

Neighthan looked lost. "Has this happened before?"

"We'll explain later," I cut Frankie off as she started an explanation of her own. "Right now we need to get him to the hospital."

Frankie's bolts sparked, as she seemed to think of something. "What if...Neighthan, you have healing abilities, right?"

"Well, yeah, but unfortunately I can only heal more minor wounds," explained Neighthan, "Nothing like this. So Valentine's right."

Frankie nodded and immediately took out her phone. I took out mine as well, intending to call Jackson's mother to let her and Aidan know what happened. Without realizing it, I'd begun crying earlier due to my panic and I just barely managed to get my words out. As soon as the call ended, I knew she and Aidan would be practically out the door. And Sydney Jekyll would be Lizzy Hyde.