Chapter 52 MATE !?
Lilian POV:
When I settled down—like when I was done packing. Kayla helped me pack most of them, though. I would have struggled on my own, staring at clothes like they were puzzles, but she moved around the room with ease, folding, arranging, and stacking like she had done this a hundred times before.
I sat on the edge of my bunk, watching her, still trying to process that this was my room now. Not a temporary place. Not a visit. This was it.
Before I could fully sink into my thoughts, we suddenly heard a knock on the door, and Kayla stood up immediately.
I had been here for just three hours, but I’d been watching her closely. She wasn’t dull to any sound she heard; the moment something happened, she moved toward it to take care of things fast. No hesitation. No fear. Just instinct.
She walked up to the door and opened it. I wasn’t hearing what they were saying. It’s not like if I wanted to use my vampire hearing I wouldn’t hear them, but man… being a gossip was not what I wanted right now. My head was already full.
I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see David standing there with Kayla, who had already hopped back up onto her bed.
“The elders said I should get you. Are you done packing your stuff?” he asked, his tone casual like he was inviting me for a walk, not summoning me to something that sounded serious.
“Yeah… um, why are they calling me for?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe to discuss your routine with you or…” He paused and tilted his head toward the door. “Let’s get going first. When you get there, we’ll know.”
That didn’t make me feel any better, but I nodded anyway and climbed down from my bunk. My feet touched the floor slowly, like I was grounding myself.
“I’ll be back, Kayla,” David said, turning slightly toward her. “And if I don’t… try to make it to dinner without meeting Rebecca. That girl is a witch.”
Kayla groaned dramatically. “As if I have a choice.”
He walked out of the room, and I turned back to Kayla and smiled. She returned the gesture, though her eyes held something cautious, something like a silent warning. I followed David out, the door closing softly behind me.
David just kept walking down the hall, his pace steady and unbothered. The hallway stretched endlessly, lights glowing softly above us. Doors passed by one after the other, all looking the same, all hiding people with stories I didn’t know.
When I was sure we had been walking for at least thirty minutes, I decided to talk. After all, a closed mouth is a closed destiny.
I scratched the back of my neck and cleared my throat to avoid making it awkward. “Uh… David?”
He suddenly stopped and turned to me. “What?”
“Are we there yet? This hall seems to have no ending.”
He smiled and continued walking. “We actually could have been there if we were allowed to use our powers around here like that. But since any human could be at sight, we need to walk there. And trust me when I say this—we’re not even close to where the elders are.”
That made my stomach drop a little.
I nodded and continued to follow him. “So… were you born here or something?”
He snorted at my question but answered anyway. “Nope. I was brought in here just like everybody else. You grow and realize you have power—kind of superhero shit. You know how it feels, right? I mean, I was never human in the first place.”
“That’s cool,” I muttered.
He glanced back at me. “That’s weird coming from you. How did you turn, or how did you find out you’re a vampire?”
I shrugged and breathed out before speaking. “Well, I was actually human…”
I watched David’s eyes open wide like they wanted to blow out of the socket they were naturally fixed in. I didn’t get the hype, but they always seemed surprised when I said I was human before.
“That’s impossible,” he said. “How did you turn, then?”
“I was actually walking home one night from my shift at work. I was quite tired, so I followed the normal route I took every night. But nemesis caught up to me. I didn’t even know I was being followed until I started feeling heavy footsteps behind me.” I paused, swallowing. “Long story short, I was beaten by a vampire and left to bleed to death.”
David’s mouth formed an “ooh.” “So how did you—”
“Well, I was saved by someone, actually. Her name is Seraphine. Though you might know her.”
His face immediately dropped. “She’s one of the cruelest higher-ranked vampires here and full of wickedness. I wonder why she saved you instead of sucking your blood. And to think she doesn’t have a mate is pathetic.”
The word mate made me turn sharply toward him. “What do you mean by mate—”
But just as he was about to say something, a door went open immediately, and we both looked forward.
“Oh… our guest has arrived.”