The Danger I want

The Danger I Want Episode 10

*Nalia’s POV - 11:00pm. The Roof.*

My mind is a mess.

I can't think straight. Nothing makes sense.

The knock.

The strange transfer student . The voices in my head.

Nothing makes sense but I'm sure there's one person that can make me understand everything that's happening now.

Cassian. And tonight I get answers.

I push the roof door open and there he is.

Back to me. Staring at the moon like he owns it.

All black. Shirt. Pants. Jacket over one shoulder.

Hair still damp.

Everything about him is screaming ungodly beauty. He looks like he's from an outside world and with the way he's dressed all black...he might just be from the underworld.He looks like something that shouldn’t be allowed to walk in daylight.

When he turns, he’s smirking.

Like he heard me thinking all that.

“Hey,” he says.

Like we’re just two normal students who bumped into each other after class.

I hate that smirk.

I hate that it makes my chest do stupid things.

I hate that he’s the only person who can answer me.

“Don’t ‘hey’ me,” I snap. My voice comes out sharper than I meant.

I cross my arms. It’s freezing up here. “You owe me answers.”

The smirk drops.

Just like that.

Now he just looks tired.

He steps away from the ledge. Closer.

Stops two feet between us.

Close enough that I can smell smoke and metal again.

“Where do you want me to start?”

“You know about the knock right?" I ask immediately

“yes.”

“What the hell was that”

“The Takers” he says and my blood runs cold. The takers. The name alone sound so scary and whatever that might be knocked on my door, no word can describe how scared I am.

"Why do they want me?" I managed to ask. "The OLD blood" I arch my eyebrow at him, like wtf is that and what does that have to do with me?

It's like Cassian can read my mind cause he starts explaining.

"The OLD Blood are descendants of the 7 families who made a deal with the first vampires.

Not the pretty TV vampires. The _first_ ones. The ones who drank to survive, not for fun.

The world was in a plague + war. Humans were dying.

The Hive/Takers were already here — feeding on fear, hollowing people out, opening doors to worse things.

7 human families went to the oldest vampire court and begged:

_"Protect us. Teach us how to fight them. In exchange, we’ll give you blood, and one child every generation will hold the door shut."_

The vampires agreed.

They taught the families how to fight, how to ward, how to use iron and blood and salt.

In return:

A little blood, given willingly, once a year.

One child per generation is born with "Old Blood". Their job is to be a living ward. As long as they’re alive and sane, the Hive can’t open a big door in that country.

400 years ago...The vampire prince was among those who swore the oath.

He fell in love with the Holder of that generation.

A girl who looked exactly like You.

The court got greedy.

They decided: _"Why wait for a little blood once a year? Why guard humans when we can rule them? If we let the Hive in, we can control them, and rule both sides."_

So the vampire court betrayed the deal.

On the night the Holder was supposed to renew the wards, the court attacked.

They tried to turn her. To make her a vampire queen and break the contract.

The Vampire Prince refused.

He fought his own kind.

He killed 3 of the court elders with the Ancient Blood Sword to get her out.

But he was too late.

The Hive got a foothold. Her family was slaughtered. She died in his arms.

The court called him oath-breaker and exiled him.

He’s been hiding, watching, waiting 400 years for the bloodline to appear again.

*What makes the OLD blood special*: Their blood still carries the original oath. It burns Takers. It can reseal doors. It’s the only thing the Ancient Blood Sword answers to besides the vampire prince.....Old Blood is not a gift. It is a prison and a key. The vampires made the lock. The Hive wants the key. And the Holder pays for both."_

Silence.

Just wind.

Just Bologna 1000 years below us.

“So the transfer girl—”

“Taker. Hive.”

“They were in my head.”

“I know. I felt it.”

I look at him. Really look.

No glamour. No 21-year-old student mask.

Just Cassian.

And he looks... inhumane for the first time to me...I don't know if I am just imagining things now.

“Are you a monster?” I ask.

It’s the question I’ve been chewing on since the OLD blood talk.

He considers it.

“Probably,” he says.

“But I’m your monster.”

Something in me cracks.

A Fear and maybe something else I would never admit.

“Don’t say s**t like that.”

“Why?”

“Because it's creepy” He looks at me for sometime and smile, that did something to my heart.

Footsteps below. On the stairs.

Not Takers. Too heavy.

Campus security.

Cassian curses under his breath.

“We’re done for tonight.”

He steps back. About to go.

"Can I stay with you" I don't know why I said that but I did...I think I'm scared.

"I'm a monster too" he says

“Cassian please.” I beg not caring about the fact he might actually be a monster.

"Let's go."

**********************

*Nalia’s POV - 11:24pm. The School Lodge.*

"Let's go."

He doesn’t wait for me to answer.

Cassian grabs my wrist. Not rough. Just... certain.

And we move.

We don’t take the stairs.

Of course we don’t.

He hauls me over the roof ledge and down the side of the building like gravity is a suggestion.

I should be screaming.

I’m not.

Because his arm is locked around my waist and he smells like smoke and cold air and I’m too scared to make a sound.

Two minutes later we’re running through the back of campus.

Bologna at night is quiet. Too quiet.

Like the city knows something’s wrong.

He stops in front of a small brick building I’ve never noticed.

*Student Lodge - Building F. Visitor Housing.*

Empty during term time. Mostly.

Cassian pulls out a key. Not the iron one he gave me. A normal key.

He pushes the door open and immediately starts checking everything.

Windows. Locks. Corners.

Like he expects the walls to bleed.

“Stay here,” he says.

It’s one room. One bed. One bathroom. One desk.

It smells like dust and old laundry.

Safe. Boring. Normal.

And he’s pacing.

“Is this your place?” I ask. Voice small.

“No,” he snaps. Then softer. “University housing. I used my name. Different name.”

He runs a hand through his damp hair.

“I can’t take you to my dorm. Too many people. Too many eyes. The wards there are shit.”

Oh.

So he _does_ have rules.

He’s just breaking all of them for me.

The realization hits and my knees almost give out.

I sit on the bed. It dips.

The room is so quiet I can hear my own heart.

Cassian stops pacing. Leans against the wall across from me.

Arms crossed. Still in all black.

Still looking like sin and a hundredths of years of bad decisions.

“You didn’t have to ask,” he says finally.

“Ask what?”

“To stay with me.”

My face burns.

“I was scared.”

“I know.”

“So? Is that bad?”

He exhales. Looks at the ceiling.

“It’s dangerous. For you.”

Silence.

He pushes off the wall and moves to the desk. Pulls out a small bag I didn’t see him carrying.

Salt. Iron shavings. Chalk. A knife.

He starts drawing on the floor. Wards. Circles.

His hands don’t shake.

“Cassian?”

“Hm?”

“That girl. 400 years ago. The one who looked like me.”

The chalk stops.

He doesn’t answer for a long time.

Then: “Her name was Elena.”

My stomach drops.

“She was 19. She hated the cold. She laughed too loud.”

A pause.

“She trusted him.”

“Did he—”

“Love her?” He finishes for me. Bitter laugh. “Yes.”

He looks up. Black eyes.

“And he failed her."

"How did you know her" I ask, my tone not hiding the fear behind it .

"I'll tell you when the time is right"

The air gets heavy.

I don’t know what to say to that.

So I say the dumbest thing.

“I’m scared to sleep.”

It comes out before I can stop it.

Cassian goes still.

Then he stands. Walks to the bed.

Doesn’t sit. Just stands there, looking down at me.

“I can’t sleep in the bed with you,” he says flatly.

“I know—”

“But I can stay up. All night. On the floor. In the chair. Wherever.”

He gestures to the chair by the door.

“I’ll keep the door shut. I promise.”

He’s offering to be my guard dog.

For free.

After everything.

Something cracks in my chest.

“Okay,” I whisper.

He nods. Sits in the chair. Pulls his jacket over his lap.

The sword is leaning against the wall next to him.

“Try to sleep, Nalia.”

His voice is rough.

“I’ll be here when you wake up.”

I lie down. Still in my hoodie. Still shaking.

I stare at the ceiling.

He doesn’t move.

I can hear him breathing.

And for the first time in 3 days, I don’t feel alone.

Even if the person watching over me is a monster.

Especially because he is.

Last thought before everywhere goes dark..:

_The vampires made the lock. The Hive wants the key.