The Blood Catalyst

Chapter 15

The past few days had sucked in every way imaginable for Zara.

She had been dragging herself to school, yes, but the moment her dad’s car pulled away from the school gate, she was out. Slipping through the back fence behind the cafeteria and heading toward the track behind the rec center.

She wasn’t going to class. What was the point? Half the teachers didn’t even notice she was gone. And the ones that did just gave her that look. That weird, disappointed look like they expected her to be better. There was also her coach who was bagging her and expected her to act like a champion.

State champion Zara Santiago.

Yeah. That title didn’t feel like hers anymore.

Reina had apparently been killing it in training. The team group chat kept going off with videos of her sprinting like she had fire under her heels. People were talking and were comparing the both of them. Reina too was allowing it to get to her head and trying some sort of false humility and trying to encourage her, by sending her texts and trying to get the two of them to train privately, but she knew Reina talked behind her a lot.

And Zara couldn’t blame them.

She felt like crap.

Her dad barely said anything these days except things like, "You better show up to practice" or "You need to fix your pace before the qualifiers." There were no other questions, no concern. Just about her performance for cross country. Like that was the only part of her he actually cared about.

So she trained by herself.

She’d sneak off after pretending to go to class and jog down to the track. It was always quiet. No other students. Just her, the stopwatch on her phone, and her own ragged breathing in her ears.

She timed herself, over and over again trying to beat her previous time.

One mile. Two. Three. Rest. Again.

But it never felt like enough.

She wished now that she could just be like Ethan who did not have a problem with keeping up with his records. Everything was too easy for him.

She had read stories of vampires being able to turn humans too. Should she ask him, and maybe then her problems would be solved? She wouldn't even have to train anymore. She'll just keep breaking records.

Her chest had started acting weird too. It would happen when she ran, or did random tasks. Sometimes it even happened when she was sitting down. It felt like a sharp pinch, then pressure. Not enough to knock her down, but enough to make her pause and clutch her ribs like she could press the pain away.

It scared her, so she ignored it.

She kept running. Kept timing herself. Kept lying to her dad about going to class. She didn’t even sit with Noah anymore. He texted, called, dropped snarky emojis. But she didn’t answer.

She was tired.

Tired of trying to explain herself.

Tired of being asked what was wrong.

Tired of pretending that Ethan’s anger hadn’t rattled her more than it should have.

He’d looked at her that day like she was poison. Like she’d done something unforgivable.

And now, today, she decided to actually sit in class. Maybe just one or two periods. Enough to prove to herself that she could still exist around people. That she wasn’t falling apart. At first, she hadn't wanted to, but she had gotten a very surprising email from Mrs. Penelope, asking if she was alright. Mrs. Penelope had mentioned that she was going to ask her father but she had a feeling her father was not aware so she decided to send a mail instead. She had mentioned she felt something was wrong especially after she spaced out in the last class, and if Zara wanted to talk, she was always there.

It was sweet.

Unfortunately, her first class with Mrs. Penelope had been cancelled, the next was biology and after that, a free class so she went to train and then, she walked into chemistry late, ignored the teacher’s raised brow, and slid into her usual seat at the back.

Ethan looked at her.

Of course he did.

She rolled her eyes and faced forward.

She didn’t have the energy for whatever drama he was building up in his head.

But after lunch, she couldn’t take it anymore.

The constant staring was weird so she caught up to him by the lockers and asked the question that had been on her mind all morning.

"Why do you keep looking at me like you’re waiting for me to explode or something?"

*+*++**+*+*

Ethan had only one thought as he walked through the school gates the next morning—he had to do what his father said.

Kill her.

It sounded too dramatic when he thought of it like that. But that was exactly what his father meant. No room for misinterpretation. Zara was a threat, and threats had to be eliminated.

But then, there she was.

Zara.

Back in school like nothing had happened.

Sitting on the third row in biology, tying her hair up like she hadn’t vanished for days and left his brain in a blender. Like she hadn’t stared at him that day in the nurse’s office and looked so... hurt.

He didn’t expect her to come back, at least not so soon. But she was here now, and his eyes followed her every time she moved. He didn’t do it on purpose. At least, that’s what he told himself. But every time she scratched her head, adjusted her seat, passed a note to Noah—his gaze was already there.

And she noticed.

Of course she did.

By the time they got to chemistry, she was clearly pretending not to notice. That was the only way Ethan could describe the way she refused to look in his direction. Even when she laughed at something Noah said, it felt too forced.

Ethan sat next to Yvette, who kept shifting closer every few seconds like she was trying to remind him she existed.

"Seriously," she said, flipping her hair and giving him a side glance. "You’re like, obsessed with her or something."

Ethan didn’t answer.

Yvette leaned closer. "What do you even see in Zara? She’s not even cute. Kinda basic. Her nose is weird."

He turned to her sharply. "Shut up."

She blinked. "What?"

"Don’t talk about her like that."

Yvette looked genuinely taken aback. "Wow. Okay. Chill. It was just a joke."

He didn’t reply. He just looked away, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Why had that pissed him off so much? He wasn’t even supposed to care. He was supposed to be planning how to deal with her. But instead, he was snapping at people like some wounded animal guarding its pack.

After lunch, he tried to walk out of the cafeteria to clear his head, but she caught him before he could make it past the lockers.

"Hey!" she called.

He paused.

Zara marched right up to him, her brows pulled together. "Why do you keep looking at me like you’re waiting for me to explode or something?"

He stared at her for a second. He could walk away. He could tell her nothing. He could pretend.

But he didn’t.

"Why did you tell them?"

She blinked. "What?"

He pulled her into an empty classroom and shut the door, not before looking around to make sure no one was coming around.

"Everyone knows. About me. About what I am. Even from other schools. And you—you’re the only person who knew. So, who else could it be?"

Her face scrunched in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about, Ethan?"

He laughed, dry and bitter. "Didn’t know you had such a big mouth," he said, adjusting his stance. "So what? You know something about me that I've kept hidden all my life, and the next thing? Run your mouth like a goddamn tap! How many people did you even tell? You literally don’t talk to Yvette!"

"What the hell are you talking about Ethan?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. You saw me in the alley, and the next thing you do is run your fucken mouth! Why? What have I ever done to you? Why couldn't you just leave everything the way it was?"

"I didn’t—"

"And you stand here to talk about what I am?" he asked, laughing again, shaking his head. "Let’s talk about what you are, Zara."

Her mouth opened, then closed again. "Ethan, I—"

"I thought something was wrong with me. Maybe I had lost it somehow. But no—no, nothing is wrong with me," he said, his voice rising, his eyes flaring red with rage. "It’s about you, because that worked on Yvette. It worked on the school nurse and three others so far. How did I not even smell you follow me? So why don’t you confess. You’re one yourself? Or a witch."

Zara let out a dry laugh. "I swear to God, you’re fucken crazy, Ethan. What am I? I don’t run races in impossible times— in fact I'm sure you've heard. I'm struggling with my goddamn races. Everyone is comparing me to Reina who wasn't even in first five in the last state championships. I don't run races without getting exhausted at the end. I don’t save a child who’s a millisecond away from dying. And I didn’t tell nobody! Absolutely no one."

They stared at each other for a moment.

Ethan felt his chest rise and fall like he’d just finished a sprint. He could feel the heat behind his eyes, the pressure in his jaw.

She wasn’t lying.

He didn’t know how he knew. He just... did.

She wasn’t lying.

"You shouldn’t have followed me that night," he said, finally.

"Yeah? Well, you shouldn't be competing amongst humans who actually have to work hard for their races.”