The Vesper Creed

Chapter 6

Aizere's Point of View

The morning classes finally came to an end, and the shrill ring of the school bell felt like a weight lifting off my shoulders. It was a relief to leave the cold, quiet atmosphere of the lab behind. As we stepped out into the crowded hallway, Ruan and Lilith led me toward my locker. It was a bright red metal door nestled among hundreds of others, and when I swung it open, I found it already stocked with the thick, heavy textbooks I would need for my afternoon classes.

"Are you done yet? Let's go, I'm starving," Ruan complained, leaning his back against the locker next to mine. It was a strange shift to witness. Inside the classroom, he had been so quiet and still, his face pale with a fear he couldn't hide. But out here, in the middle of the noise, he was back to being his usual, restless self.

I rolled my eyes at his impatience and finished gathering my things. I started walking with Lilith toward the lunchroom, and Ruan trailed closely behind us. When we pushed through the double doors, the room was already filled to the brim with students. It was loud, chaotic, and everyone seemed to be lost in their own little world. We joined the line for food, grabbing our plastic trays. Ruan first, then me, and then Lilith.

"How is your first day going so far, Aizere?" Lilith asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

I reached for a bottle of strawberry milk juice, the pink liquid swirling behind the glass. "It's been okay, I guess. Except for that guy earlier," I said, my voice dropping as I picked up a container of tuna pasta. "I actually recognize him. He's the one I bumped into yesterday downtown." I've always been the kind of person who could live on any type of pasta and fruit juice, but today, I barely felt hungry.

"Oh... so you've already met him," Lilith said softly. She looked over at Ruan, and they exchanged a strange, long look that made me feel like I was missing something important.

The confusion I had been holding in all morning finally boiled over. "What is wrong with him? Why did both of you act like statues the second he walked into the room? Who is he, really?"

"He's... just someone we knew," Ruan said quickly, his eyes darting toward the back of the room as we began searching for a place to sit.

We started walking to find an empty table, and that's when I saw them. The mysterious guy was sitting at a table in the far corner, and he was staring straight at me. He wasn't alone; there were three other people with him. Now that I was looking at them all together, I noticed the terrifying similarities. They all had the same unnaturally pale skin and the same strange, metallic-looking eyes that seemed to catch the light in a way that wasn't human.

The guy from class kept his eyes locked on mine. To his left, another guy was silently drinking a bottle of bright red strawberry juice, his face cold and expressionless. Next to him, a guy with dark red hair was talking to a girl who sat with them. Even after we sat down at a table as far away from them as possible, I could feel his silver gaze burning into me.

"Protego," I heard Lilith whisper under her breath.

Suddenly, the guy stopped looking at me. He snapped his head away as if he had been physically pushed, turning to talk to his friends instead.

"What did you say, Lilith?" I asked, leaning in.

"What? Did I say something?" she asked, her face becoming a perfect mask of innocence. I knew I had heard her say something a word that didn't sound like it belonged in a normal conversation but she was already busy opening her lunch. I ignored it for now and focused on my own tray. I looked over one more time, but he was busy talking to the guy with the red juice. I turned back to my food and tried to eat.

"Who are they?" I asked, keeping my head down so I wouldn't draw their attention again. I knew my friends understood exactly who I was talking about.

"The guy from our class is Ezrain Creed Mikaelson," Lilith said, her voice barely a whisper.

They both looked toward that corner table, and I found myself following their gaze again.

"The one with the red juice is Enzo Pierce, his cousin," Ruan added, his voice grim. "The guy with the red hair is Niklaus Black, and he's talking to the girl, Victoria Nyx Blood."

Just as Ruan finished the names, Victoria looked right at us. Her eyes were sharp and felt like they could see right through me. We all flinched, looking away quickly and acting like we were just eating and not talking about them at all. Lilith waited a few seconds before looking up again.

"They're leaving..." she said.

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief as the four of them stood up in perfect unison and walked out of the lunchroom. The heavy weight that had been pressing on my chest finally lifted, and I felt like I could breathe again. I still had one more class to go before the day was over, and I could finally go home to the safety of my room.

The lunchroom drama still felt heavy in my chest as I hurried to my final class of the day. The hallway was quieter now, the air thick with the smell of rain and old wood. I found my seat in the back of the History classroom, leaning my head against my hand as I stared out at the dark, evergreen trees swaying in the wind outside.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice someone approaching until the chair next to me scraped against the floor.

"Is someone sitting here?"

The voice was cool and smooth, like silk. I looked up and felt my heart skip a beat. It was Victoria Nyx Blood. Up close, her beauty was almost scary. Her skin was as white as marble, and her dark hair fell over her shoulders in perfect, glossy waves. Her eyes were a deep, dark color that seemed to pull me in.

"No," I managed to say, my voice sounding smaller than usual. "No one is sitting there."

She sat down with a grace that didn't seem human. She didn't have a backpack or any books—just a small, black leather notebook. She turned to me and gave me a small, polite smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I'm Victoria," she said.

"Aizere," I replied.

"I know," she said simply. "The girl who came back from the dead. Or at least, the girl who forgot who she was."

I felt a chill run down my spine. News traveled fast in a small town, but the way she said it made it sound like she knew more than just gossip. Before I could ask what she meant, the teacher started the lesson. But instead of the usual dates and wars, he began talking about the local folklore of Caxwell Town.

"This town has a darker history than most," Victoria whispered, leaning closer to me. The air around her felt strangely cold. "The locals like to talk about the old families, but they never tell the full story."

"What story?" I asked, unable to look away from her.

"The war between the shadows and the light," she said, her voice so low it was almost a hum. "Centuries ago, Caxwell was a meeting place. They say a group of witches, the Protectors settled here to guard the woods. But they weren't alone. Something else lived in the dark. Creatures that didn't age, who lived on the blood of the living."

"Vampires and witches?" I asked, trying to sound like I was joking, though my hands were shaking under the desk.

Victoria tilted her head, watching me closely. "People call them many names. But the history of this town is built on their blood. The witches created a barrier to keep the town safe, but over time, the lines started to blur. They say the most powerful families in Caxwell today are the descendants of those same shadows."

As Victoria spoke, she reached out to adjust her notebook, and the sleeve of her dark sweater pulled back just enough to reveal the pale skin of her right hand and wrist. My breath hitched when I saw it—a small, intricate tattoo etched in dark ink. It was a crescent moon intertwined with a thorny rose, the lines so fine they almost looked like lace against her marble-like skin.

The design seemed to pulse under the dim classroom lights, and for a second, I could have sworn the ink looked more like a deep, dried crimson than black. It felt strangely familiar, as if I had seen that exact symbol in one of the blurry flashes of memory I couldn't quite grasp. When she noticed me staring, she slowly pulled her sleeve back down, covering the mark with a calm, knowing look in her stormy gray eyes.

"Some marks," she whispered, her voice like a cool breeze, "tell stories that the books are too afraid to print."

She leaned in even closer, her dark eyes searching mine. "And some people spend their whole lives trying to remember the past, Aizere. But sometimes, forgetting is the only thing that keeps you safe."

The bell rang, loud and sudden, breaking the spell. Victoria stood up before I could say a word. She didn't say goodbye. She just walked out of the room, leaving me sitting in the cold silence.