Vylt: The New Dawn

Chapter 24: Hidden

"Do you hate me that much?" I heard Lucy ask from the other side of the glass door that led to the terrace. She was standing in front of Alex, who had an indifferent expression towards her. Allison, Anna and Rex were sitting at the usual spot, watching them in silence. Whatever those two were arguing about, they didn't seem concerned.

The vampire shrugged. "I don't remember ever saying I hated you. How can I? I don't even know you. And that is the same reason for which I refused."

"Is something wrong?" I asked, pushing the door open.

"Nora!" Lucy smiled when she saw me. "Please, help me convince him to let me go with you. I want to see your training."

Alex smirked, knowing what my reply would be. "Yes, by all means, do tell her what you think."

I glared at him and sighed. As much as I didn't mind, I couldn't break the promise I made to Belaury. "I'm sorry. I can't do that. I can show you tomorrow if you want, though." That way, we could tell my teacher not to show up then.

"You too?" Lucy's shoulders slumped. "I don't get it. What's the difference between now and tomorrow?"

My mouth opened and closed a couple of times without producing a sound. I wasn't ready for such a question. There was no way I could tell her it was because we were seeing someone she couldn't meet. I needed an excuse, but nothing came. Nothing that I found believable, at least. Everything I had were things to justify our outing at night, not to prevent someone from keeping us company. There was no need for that, after all. Common staff members were clearly not interested in going out so late. While some of them had asked for a small demonstration, the scientists were the only ones among them that would've asked to see the training. Even then, they would have scheduled a date, not decided to go in the heat of the moment. Any other person had been transformed by the virus. Metahumans, however, hadn't been considered. That was the fault in our plan. Someone who didn't fit in either side completely.

"I don't mean to sound rude but, why do you care?" Alex replied, drawing her attention back to him. "Like Nora said, if you want to join us, you're more than welcome to do so tomorrow. Today, we simply want some privacy."

Lucy crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Do you realise how suspicious that sounds?"

"What are you implying, that I'll do something to her?" The vampire asked, giving her a toothy grin. "That I want to suck her blood?" He covered his mouth with one hand in fake indignation. "Oh, you're not implying I'll molest her, are you?"

Rex faked a cough to hide his chuckling. Scratch that, he was actually coughing because of it.

"You know very well what I meant." Lucy blushed slightly, though she kept her stance and smiled. "Though, now that you mention it, you have to admit that a grown man taking a girl to the forest at night alone does give way for some weird conclusions."

Alex laughed in response. "Yeah, the girl you speak of could freeze my hands off if I even thought of attempting something."

"Oh, I would freeze something worse if you did," I added with a toothy grin.

Alex blocked the area and yelled, "Woah, that's overkill!" He laughed again and continued. "But there you have it, Lucy. She's safe. And that is considering we were truly alone. Sylvia always comes with us, so it's not like we're left unsupervised. By the way, I don't see her here. I take it she's staying in her room?" He asked, turning to look at me.

I nodded.

"I see. Guess it really is just the two of us then. Oh well. Shall we leave?"

"Wait! You haven't given me the reason I can't go with you." Lucy finally said as we started walking into the forest. "I'm sorry, I'm just really curious about it."