Chapter 17

There was a heavy weight in my heart when I woke up to the cold morning and an empty bed. A part of me had thought he would come back and hold me as I slept then apologize profusely for leaving me in the night.

I wish I could hide in my room and wallow in self-pity, but I had to go to class, I wasn’t going to skip just because of him, I was stronger than that.

When I was done getting ready I pulled my hair up in a tight huge bun. Damon always said to let my hair down that I was more beautiful that way which was the reason it was in a bun today. I took one last look at my bed before heading out.

I make a detour to the cafeteria when my stomach rumbled, half expecting someone to jump me the moment I walked in. I looked for Annabel in the crowd, she was the one person I had to keep an eye out for.

When I finally found her at her usual table the first thing I noticed was she was sitting alone, and her face looked almost pitiful like a car had run her dog over. Well, that meant something was wrong and I wondered what it was.

I grabbed an apple quickly as she stood up with so much force it sent her chair flying backwards. Without a remorse she stomped out of the cafeteria and like the nosey person I was I followed her at a distance.

My steps faltered when I realized she was heading to the building where I had caught Mrs. Adams and the girl with long black hair making out. Something told me to leave just like I should have but I kept going, Annabel might know more than she was letting on and I was going to find out what exactly was going on in this academy.

I hid the exact place I was when I had been there the previous night and watched as Annabel slipped in without bothering to check if someone was following her. I moved closer to the building and heard a door bang which startled me.

I was there for a while before I heard raised voices, one belonging to Annabel and the other Mrs. Adams.

“I haven’t seen her since she came here for you to feed, what have you people done to her!” Annabel yelled and I almost pitied whoever had to listen to her.

“She should be in school soon or maybe she just decided to ditch and be on her own Annabel, she doesn’t have to spend all of her time with you” Mrs. Adam said, annoyance filling her tone above everything.

“Mary would never ditch me, if she wanted to have alone time she would tell me first! I know you guys have done something to her, I can just tell!” at this point Annabel was yelling, the pain in her voice obvious even to my ears.

“I would not have you disrespect me this way Annabel, when you remember whose presence you stand in then you know where to find me” Even I was scared of Mrs. Adam from where I stood, and she wasn’t even talking to me.

I heard another door bang and quickly hid as a furious Annabel stomped past me; I wasn’t sure what the problem was, but it seemed pretty serious.

I followed Annabel as she went into the locker room, making sure no one else was coming I slipped in after. I heard sniffing and followed the sound to find her crying in front of her locker.

Bracing myself, I moved quietly and touched her shoulder “Anna…”

Her name was barely out of my mouth when she swung her fist and sucker punched me in the eye. There were literally stars in my vision, everywhere turning black as I staggered back unable to see for at least ten seconds.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you were there” came her frantic voice as she held me, stopping me from landing my ass on the floor.

It was a while before I was steady again and my sight cleared but boy did it hurt like hell, and I shed a few tears as Annabel sat me down on one of the benches.

This had to be the most affectionate Annabel has ever been to me and it warmed my heart. We were silent for a while before she apologized for the thousandth time.

“It’s okay, you did not know I was the one” I reassured her, putting my hand on top of hers before pulling it away, unsure of how she would feel about it. Besides, she was only being nice because she punched me.

“You don’t have to tell Damon about this you know” she said quietly.

“Why do you think I would?” I asked her, I wasn’t going to tell Damon, it’s not like we were in talking terms anyway.

“He threatened to hurt me if I came close to you, if he heard that I punched you he might actually kill me” she said, her voice shivering.

I shook my head “Damon is the most caring person I know; he wouldn’t hurt you for anything he was just being protective of me” I explained to her. Yes Damon was intimidating but he wasn’t dangerous.

She scoffed “You don’t know Don like I do, he’s not the saint that you think he is”

A bang of jealousy hit me, this meant that they’d been involved in the past, they must have been lovers that would explain why Annabel had been hostile towards me. I must have seemed like a horrible person to her.

“He still wouldn’t hurt you, and if it made you any better I wasn’t going to tell him what happened” I told her.

She chuckled, “Why are you here?” she asked.

I played with my fingers on my lap, I hadn’t thought this far. What was I here to ask her really? That I saw someone get bitten by Mrs. Adams and with the mark on your neck I think you might know something about it or be involved somehow.

“About your neck…” I was already stuttering, “The marks look like someone bit your neck” okay this was already becoming awkward.

Her hand flew immediately to her neck. “What would make you think it was someone?” she asked, her voice filled with steel and vapor that was ready to explode.

“Calm down okay?” I moved closer to her and dropped my voice to a whisper “I know about the cold ones; I also know that they did that to you”

Her eyes widened as she withdrew from me “I don’t know what you’re talking about”

I moved closer “I saw it, that night they were all wearing black cloaks and standing in a circle and then two girls walked into the space in the middle only to be bitten by them” I said in a hushed whisper and the horrific look on her face confirmed she knew what I was talking about.

“How did…” she covered her mouth with her palm and just stared at me.

I scratched the back of my neck “I was just wandering around in the night and saw them” I said, which was actually not far from the truth.

“You shouldn’t have seen that” she wailed, “You’re going to keep getting yourself into trouble!”

My eyes searched hers “I don’t understand, I read the…”I stopped almost mentioning the book and the secret library, I couldn’t tell anyone about that.

“What exactly are they and is everyone in the academy like that? I know they’re the ones that bit you” I said all at once, needing to get this off my chest. She didn’t answer, just stared off in space and fiddled with her fingers.

I touched her shoulder “Are you alright?” and that snapped her out of her daze.

“They took her” she said with a gasp, tears spilling from the corner of her eyes and in the space of a minute I watched Annabel break completely in front of me and all I could do was just hold her hand.

“It’s alright, you will be alright” I chanted quietly until she got her tears under control. She kept sniffing as I rubbed circles at the back of her palm, The only sign that she was alright was her pulling her hand away from me and shifting to put a little space between us.

“I’m sorry you had to see that; I don’t usually cry especially not in the locker room. How is it that no one has entered here?” she asked, taking a quick glance at the door.

I twisted my fingers not sure if meeting her stare was alright “Uh, I locked it. I did not want someone entering and eavesdropping on what we were saying”

She nodded slightly “You thought ahead didn’t you? What even made you think I was going to spill my guts to you and say everything that I know?”

I did not have the answer for that “Annabel, I’m not going to run around the academy screaming that those on the top are blood sucking monsters, it won’t do me any good. I just want to know what the hell is going on and how I can keep myself safe”

She laughed at that making me wonder what I had said wrong “What?”

“You are already with the dangerous one” she muttered under her breath making it hard to hear her. “See this school is run by vampires and they feed on the students, there’s a reason why anybody that comes here can never leave until they’re done. That way they can keep feeding on us and when we eventually have to leave they’ll erase our memories of them”

I closed my mouth and opened it a few times, but no words came out. Vampire what?? This entire academy was unbelievable, hearing that it was run by vampires made no sense at all. I was hoping the things I’d seen were maybe pranks but this seemed as real.

She continued “They choose two students every semester to feed on and this time…” She trailed off, bowing her head a little so her hair pushed forward and covered her face “It was I and Mary”

That explained the bite mark that I had seen the other day “Mary? She has to be the one I saw making out with Mrs. Adams”

She nodded, her eyes tearing up again “I have a feeling they did something to her; I can’t find her anywhere it feels like she just disappeared, and Mary wouldn’t do that without good reason. If she was going to ditch she would tell me, I’m her best friend”

The moment the words left her mouth a shrill sound echoed through the locker room, so loud that we both had to cover our ears from the painful sound but that was not what alarmed me. Annabel stood up immediately and made for the door, with no time to waste I ran after her.

“What is that sound for?” I asked as I ran after her.

“It means something bad happened and I’m afraid it has to do with Mary.”

When we finally made it outside, we saw students gathered around something in the courtyard. Annabel pushed her way through, and I stayed beside her, when she made it to the front she froze.

“What is it?” I asked her but her lips did not move, just stared with horror on her face. I moved in front of her to see what had her struck only to go still.

There was a corpse on the floor, covered with a clothe but black long hair came out from under. I jumped back at the sight, that body was familiar, and Annabel knew it too.