The Vampire Nightmare

Chapter 3

The explosion knocked me off my feet.

I hit the ground hard, my ears ringing as screams erupted across the campus.

Smoke billowed through the courtyard.

Glass shattered around me.

Someone grabbed my arm.

"Aria!" Lily cried. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, though my entire body was shaking.

"I... I think so."

Students ran in every direction, pushing past one another in a desperate attempt to escape.

Fire alarms blared from inside the Humanities Building.

My pulse thundered in my ears.

"What happened?" I whispered.

"I don't know!" Lily shouted.

"I just want to get out of here!"

She pulled on my arm, but I couldn't move.

The man with crimson eyes was still standing in the middle of the courtyard.

Not a single piece of broken glass had touched him.

His gaze wasn't on the frightened students.

It was fixed on the man emerging from the smoke.

The stranger with black eyes.

He brushed dust from his long black coat as if nothing had happened.

Then he smiled.

"I've finally found you."

My stomach tightened.

He wasn't looking at the vampire.

He was looking at me.

"Aria," the crimson-eyed stranger said firmly.

"Come here."

His voice snapped me out of my trance.

I took an uncertain step toward him.

Lily grabbed my wrist.

"Wait! You know him?"

"I... I don't."

"Then don't go!"

She was right.

Everything about this was wrong.

I had never seen either man before.

So why did one of them know my name?

And why did the other look at me as though I'd ruined his plans?

The man with black eyes laughed softly.

"You've hidden her well, Cassian."

The crimson eyed stranger Cassian didn't answer.

Instead, he stepped in front of me.

His broad shoulders shielded me from the other man's view.

"You won't take her."

The smile vanished from the stranger's face.

"You still think you can change fate?"

"I know I can."

The air around them suddenly grew heavy.

A powerful gust of wind swept through the campus.

Trees bent violently.

Windows rattled.

Students screamed again as the sky darkened without warning.

I stared in disbelief.

This wasn't possible.

No one could control the weather.

"Stay behind me," Cassian said quietly.

I should have run.

Instead...

I obeyed.

The stranger's black eyes narrowed.

"So she trusts you already."

"I trust no one," I snapped.

His smile returned.

"Good."

"You'll need that instinct."

He slowly raised one hand.

Dark shadows gathered around his fingers, twisting into black smoke.

My heart nearly stopped.

Magic.

Real magic.

Before I could process what I was seeing, the shadows shot toward us like spears.

Cassian moved faster than my eyes could follow.

He stepped in front of me.

The shadows slammed into an invisible barrier.

A burst of crimson light exploded from his body, shattering the attack into hundreds of glowing fragments.

The shockwave swept across the courtyard.

Several nearby benches splintered apart.

Lily screamed.

"Oh my God!"

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't breathe.

Cassian turned slightly toward me.

"Aria."

His voice was calm despite the chaos.

"I need you to listen carefully."

"What... what are you?"

For the first time, sadness crossed his face.

"The truth will frighten you."

"I think we're past that."

He let out a quiet sigh.

"You're right."

His crimson eyes met mine.

"I'm a vampire."

The world tilted beneath my feet.

I actually laughed.

It sounded nervous.

Broken.

"That's impossible."

"I wish it were."

Before I could answer, the man with black eyes clapped slowly.

"Touching."

He looked directly at me.

"My name is Darius."

"And whether you believe it or not..."

He pointed toward Cassian.

"...he hasn't told you the worst part."

My pulse quickened.

"What are you talking about?"

Darius's smile became colder.

"The vampire standing in front of you has been waiting for you for over six hundred years."

Silence crashed over the courtyard.

I looked at Cassian.

He didn't deny it.

That terrified me more than anything else.