Night Class
One

August 12th, 2019

Monday 3:48pm

My life was normal. It may not have been filled with laughs and rainbows and sunshine, but it was absolutely normal. I never pictured myself here, standing in front of the two black double doors that hold my entire future. The letter in my hand laying just beneath the paper containing my new class schedule suddenly feels heavy. Was agreeing to this the best idea? What other options did I have though. Not living here meant going to a foster home and I’m not too keen on those either.

No, Crux Academy is my only option now. No matter how terrifying and mysterious the vibes already are here. Dark colored bricks with off-white shutters and thorny vines growing up the sides of the looming structure. You can tell by the freshly trimmed hedges and lawn that the grounds are given more attention than the building itself. Maybe Aunt Natalia just prefers the creepy look. It certainly blends in with the surrounding environment with the number of vines and leaves growing on the side of it. Trees as far as the eye can see surround the entire building and stretch out in all directions.

The approaching fall weather has the wooded areas of Damascus, Virginia seeming like something out of a fairytale novel. Autumnal leaves gently fall to the ground as the wind gives a slight breeze, whipping them about into a tornado of browns, reds, and yellows. Compared to living in Los Angeles, this place is a literal forest. The most trees I had ever seen before this in one place was the entrance of The Grove, a huge mall back home.

The double doors finally open to reveal a guy with short brown hair and a very annoyed expression on his face. He already doesn’t seem like a happy camper. His face gives off the idea that he just woke up, but it’s already four in the afternoon. No way would an academy let their students just sleep all day.

The guy’s blue eyes narrow on me as he takes in my appearance. I know what he’s looking for and he won’t replace it. The school’s uniform. Aunt Natalia had promised she would get me fitted for one once I arrived rather than sending it through the mail like they normally would. Now, standing here wearing leggings and a beige sweater paired with my trusty Doc Martens, I feel self-conscious. I push my golden, round framed glasses up my nose to adjust them into a better position, completely out of habit.

“Are you lost or something?” His voice is thick with sleep, deep with an air of annoyance to it.

My own brown eyes narrow at the brunette before me now. Surely people don’t just wander around the grounds lost and end up at the academy’s front door by chance.

“No. I’m the new student, Izzy-”

“I doubt that. What class are you supposed to be in?”

Ignoring the fact that he cut me off, I hand him my schedule with my own annoyed expression. His eyes scan over my paper a few times before his brows knit together in honest confusion. He glances back over to me once more before seemingly sniffing the air around us. I replace myself wrapping my arms around my own waist out of habit. It helps me gain comfort in awkward situations and this is most definitely an awkward situation.

“You’re a class two student?”

I nod once before motioning towards the school and saying, “My aunt had said she’d have me tailored for a uniform once I got here. She was actually supposed to be here waiting on me, but I’m a couple hours early thanks to the dangerously fast limo driver.”

The guy then glances back behind me and waves once. The tall and intimidating limo driver then returns to his seat and drives off at a once again alarming speed. I’ll have to mention to Natalia about having his speeding looked into. That’s dangerous. I never even got the guy’s name, but I’m sure that I’ll remember that somber expression and dark eyes. His height, black suit, and slicked back black hair made him stand out while he held the sign up at the airport with my name on it in big, bold, black letters. Everyone would give him questioning glances as they passed by and I didn’t blame them. I almost didn’t want to get in the car with him. He gave off ‘I work for the mob as a getaway driver’ vibes.

“Come on in, I guess.”

I thank him quietly as I pass by him to enter the dimly lit entry way. The school itself is stunning on the inside. Marbled flooring with white painted walls. Two Grande double wide staircases are on either side of the room as the second floor is visible from the front door. Two hallways branch off on either side upstairs just as they do downstairs. Red carpets adorn the stairs just as they do the entrance and the hallways leading off into two different rooms to my left and right.

This school is huge.

One of the main things catching my attention is the lack of students milling about. The only people in the entire school that are visible are me and the random grumpy guy who is still staring at me like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to piece together.

“Is there any way you can just go and let my aunt know I’m here? Or maybe just tell me where her office is?” I ask him.

“Who’s your aunt?”

“Natalia Crux.”

His face shows even more surprise upon hearing this before he gives a dry chuckle while nodding. “Sure. Sure, she is.”

Why would it be so hard to believe that Natalia is my aunt? Maybe because she’s the headmistress of a prestigious academy and I’ve shown up in nothing more than leggings and a baggy sweater. My brown hair is no doubt tangled as it bunches up in the middle of my back. No matter the pony-tail its tied in, the windows being down in the limo caused the long thin strands to dance together until they were so far gone that only a shower will undo the damage now.

“Excuse me, but why is that funny?” I ask him as calmly as I can, pushing my glasses back up my nose.

He stares at me for a moment before looking away. “I don’t even know why I’m bothering with this. Even if you actually are attending this academy, you’re definitely not supposed to be in class two.”

“What seems to be the problem here?”

We both turn to see another guy with brown hair and brown eyes. Those brown eyes are nearly glowing from a golden color around the irises. His demeanor screams authority, but he looks as though he could be the captain of a high school’s debate team. Very much like the other guy though, he seems like he works part-time for a modeling agency.

“This girl is claiming that your mother is her aunt,” rude boy says as he points his thumb towards me carelessly.

The other guy’s eyes light up in surprise before holding his hand out to me with a soft smile. “You must be Isabella. Mum has told me so much about you. I’m Giles, your cousin, it would seem.”

I accept his hand and give the rude boy a small smirk as I say, “It’s nice to meet you, cousin. You can just call me Izzy though or even Bella.”

The blue-eyed hottie rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. “She’s enrolled in class two. Night classes.”

Giles looks at me now with a different type of surprise, one laced with concern. “Why would Mother put you in class two? That- That just doesn’t make any sense. I’m sure there’s been some mistake or mix-up during the enrollment.”

Before I can let him know that I have no idea why Natalia would put me in this mysterious class or even ask about it, the hallways start to fill with students. All of them are wearing a variant of the school’s uniform. Black or maroon sweaters with white button ups beneath them, black slacks paired with black oxfords. Some of the girls are wearing black pleated skirts with white button ups and opened black cardigans. Each student however is wearing a golden colored tie or the same color bow in the dress shirt.

Fancy Academy, great.

Giles turns to me and places my hand in between his own while bowing slightly. “I’ll go and retrieve my mother. Ehren here will keep you company until I’ve returned.”

Ehren looks as though he wants to protest, but before he can get a word out Giles is gone. Literally. It’s like he vanished into thin air. I stare down at my hand as the lingering chill from his own hand starts to slowly drift away. He was freezing to the touch.

“I hate it when he does that,” Ehren mumbles as he huffs out an annoyed breath.

I want to ask him what his problem is or at least why he seems so cranky, but it’s probably for the best that I keep my mouth shut. There’s no reason to start making enemies my first day. Not that I want to make any friends either, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to occasionally while I’m here. I’ll be eighteen next year, but this school also offers college courses so Aunt Natalia had said I could stay here and get my credits that way if I wanted to. We’ll see though.

A girl with blonde hair pulled up into pigtails comes bouncing over towards us. Her pale blue eyes are almost like an icy color as she focuses them on me. I quickly take in her outfit and notice that she has the usual dress shirt and skirt, but she has long pink socks paired with black sneakers that have pink laces in them. Her pigtails are held up with two pink ribbons. She seems to be younger than me, maybe around fourteen if I had to guess. I doubt the school has students that young though, but they might.

“You’re new,” the girl states as she stares me up and down, not even acknowledging Ehren’s presence.

I glance at Ehren once and notice that he isn’t even paying attention, playing on his cellphone.

“Yeah, I just transferred in.”

The girl smiles brightly at this while stating, “We’ve never had one of you here before. We should be friends.”

Before I can ask her what she means by ‘one of you’ another girl, one that looks slightly older than me, approaches us. Her brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail but I can tell from the way it flairs out that it’s wavy when down. Like the younger girl, her eyes are a pale color, but more on the green side. The look she gives me makes my blood run cold as she sizes me up.

The hair on the back of my neck stands at attention now. It feels as though I’m in the middle of the woods and there’s a mountain lion just a few feet ahead of me, sizing me up as its prey.

“Emmy, we have a class coming up,” the taller brunette says.

The blonde who has been staring at me, Emmy I’m assuming, pouts up at her before asking, “Can’t we just hang out with her for a few more minutes?”

The brunette glances at me and suddenly I feel the need to hide under a rock somewhere. It’s like when you’re alone in the woods and realize a predator can see you.

“Arlo doesn’t like it when your late to classes. He’ll have my head if it happens again.”

“Okay,” Emmy sighs out as she reaches forward.

I try not to jerk my hand back or yelp as her hand grasps mine. Her hands are like ice, unhealthily cold. Her eerie blue eyes pin me, daring me to look away from her.

“You should give me your phone number so we can at least text.”

“You’ll see her in class this time tomorrow night.”

Finally, Ehren seems to remember how to speak. The other two girls are now staring at him. The brunette’s expression borders on one of annoyance. Do they have some unspoken beef between one another? Ehren does seem like the guy to piss people off, I mean he managed to tick me off a bit already and we only just met.

“Funny Ehren. We both know she’ll be in classes with you,” the brunette girl says to Ehren blandly. “She’s closer to your kind than she is ours.”

“Well Tori, she has a schedule saying she’s in class two.” He gives them a smug look before gesturing towards my papers being clutched in my hand at my side. “Check for yourself.”

This Tori girl immediately looks between me and my papers. Her hand reaches out and snatches them from my now sweaty hand. As she reads over the first page her eyes almost look as if they’re... glowing?

“Impossible!” Tori growls out. “It says she’s a Crux.”

Emmy’s eyes do the weird glow thing as well. She smiles at me while asking, “Are you really related to the headmistress?”

“Yeah,” I tell them. “She’s my aunt. Well, great aunt. Her sister was my dad’s mother, I think. I never spent much time with her when I was younger. We only just started talking again-”

“Jeez, we didn’t ask for your whole life’s story,” Tori sneers as she shoves my papers back at me.

I can instantly tell I won’t like Tori all that much. She seems like one of those mean girls and assuming her and Emmy are besties then that would indicate we won’t be that close either.

Emmy tilts her head before asking, “Do you know your blood type by any chance?”

A voice interrupts her before she can continue. Giles has finally found his way back to us. “Easy there Emelia, you know now that she’s a Crux. You’re overstepping, my dear.”

I start feeling relieved that a fellow family member has shown up to save the day. We may not be close, but he and Natalia are the only family I have left now. Appreciate ’em while you got ’em.

Giles lays a firm hand on my left shoulder and I glance up at him, trying to portray just how thankful I am for his presence. He smiles down at me as he continues to speak to Tori and Emmy.

“I would suggest that you two ladies replace your way to class before I write you both up as ditching.” He then turns to stare at Emmy alone. “I’ve heard your father isn’t too pleased with you being late to the majority of your classes this term.”

Emmy narrows her eyes on the authoritative brunette holding my shoulder still. With one flick of her pigtails, she huffs and bounces away from us with Tori in tow. The two girls are definitely the ones that I will need to avoid from now on.

“Ehren, would you mind escorting my dear cousin to her room? It’s only four doors down from your own, on the right. Mother is terribly busy and can’t meet with her until later this evening.”

Ehren doesn’t look all that shocked that boys and girls share hallways in this school. The kids here must be hopping from room to room like bunnies. That’s not good, but it will most likely lead to some entertaining drama later on.

Ehren rolls his eyes at Giles while motioning for me to follow him. “Come on then, Princess Isabella.”

“Izzy,” I correct him. “I prefer Izzy or Bella. I’m not exactly a fan of the full name.”

He doesn’t even glance back at me as he saunters up the left grand staircase. His entire demeanor screams just how much he doesn’t want to be here right now. His entire backside is stiff, making his shoulders seem a lot broader and his hair looks disheveled, furthering my suspicion that he must’ve been sleeping before answering the door.

We enter a hallway with candle-lit wall sconces in between every single door on both the left and right side of the hall. The ambiance of the upstairs is giving off castle vibes rather than dormitory. The look of the outside is mirrored in these halls, making me think that the grand entrance will be the only fancy part of this Academy.

Ehren turns towards a single door with a gold handled knob and gold hinges. “This is your room, Princess Isabella. Enjoy.”

“I told you-”

“Yeah, I heard you the second time,” he cuts me off before rolling his eyes. He begins to walk away while saying, “Your royalty here kid, we have to use your full name. Good luck.”

My eyes narrow on him as he enters his own room a few doors down from mine. Kid? He’s not much older than me! And royalty? I get my aunt is the headmistress, but that’s taking things a bit far. Isn’t it?

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I open the door and nearly drop to my knees in awe at the sheer glimpse of the room. The room itself isn’t that big, but it does have a double bed adorned with overhead draped curtains. Sheer white with hints of gold flecks in them. The carpet beneath my feet is a plush off-white that compliments the dark wood paneling on the walls.

The room is equipped with a five-drawer dresser, dark wood, and a writing desk that consists of the same wood tone. In the far-right corner, opposite the bed and next to the desk is a small mini-fridge. Without thinking, I place my bags at my feet and move towards the silver appliance.

I wander if Aunt Natalia had it stocked with any drinks for me.

I open the door and stare into the white ice box, my stomach curdling at the sight before me. A full stocked fridge of plastic medical bags that look like they are holding… No. There’s no way a fridge full of… that, would be in an academy dorm room. Maybe it’s a strange juice that well-favored in these parts. I’ve never been to Virginia so I’m not sure how they do things here.

Or maybe, just maybe, it is what it looks like.

I shake the inner thought from my mind and stand straighter, shutting the fridge as calmly as I can. The only way to know for sure is to just ask someone. Ehren’s room is only a few doors down so maybe a quick knock will clear all of this up. Yeah. Everything will be fine after that.

My fist raises to give his door a quiet knock but I replace myself slowly lowering it. How stupid am I going to sound right now?

‘Hey, I was just wandering if you happened to know why there’s a mini-fridge filled with blood bags in my room?’

Come on Izzy, he’s going to think your nuts. He’s most likely going to treat you worse than already has. Ehren already looked as if he wanted nothing to do with me and now, I’ll be bothering him about something as silly as a mini-fridge mishap.

I turn to leave for my room but the door in front of me opens and my heart begins to sink. He must be leaving for class or something and now I’m going to look like a complete idiot just standing at his door.

Slowly, I turn to face him and feel my heart rise back up into my chest at the sight of him. There is no way in hell this is the same guy from not even five minutes earlier. Ehren’s brown hair is slicked back neatly and he’s traded out his sleeping attire of sweatpants and a t-shirt for the standard school uniform. The maroon tie contrasts nicely with his now brightly lit up blue eyes. He doesn’t seem as tense and annoyed as he did just moments ago.

“Were you planning on knocking or just standing there all evening?”

Even his voice sounds different, deeper somehow. He doesn’t seem like the Ehren I had met. Maybe I really had just caught him as he was waking up.

“Well?” He glances me up and down as I struggle to replace the right words to say.

“There’s blood in my room,” I blurt out without even thinking about it.

My hands clench at my sides as he stares at me for a few moments. His bright blue eyes seem to gleam with a hint of something bordering on mischief and amusement.

“As there is in every room of the academy,” he says as he leans in the open doorway now. “Do you need help figuring out how to drink it or…”

My eyes widen at his question. Drink it? Why on earth would I drink it? Before I can tell him that he’s lost his mind he’s shoved to the side as another Ehren steps around him. Wait. There’s a bedhead, annoyed looking Ehren and then a nicely dressed and smirking Ehren. Now I think that I may be the one who’s lost their mind.

“What’s wrong now?” Bedhead Ehren asks with that same couldn’t be bothered tone from earlier.

Smirking Ehren motions towards me while saying, “This one here is confused about why there’s blood in her room. I think we’ve got one in need of the refresher courses.”

I step back from them as bedhead Ehren starts looking towards the other. My vision becomes slightly blurry and I know all too well that if I don’t sit soon then I’ll end up passing out. Panic attacks are all too common for me here lately.

“She’s probably confused because she’s human you daft- Just go back inside the room.”

There’s a long silence while lean against the wall across from their door. Finally, the deeper voice breaks the silence.

“She’s a human. A human at Crux Academy? This is a sick joke, right?”

“No. She’s Queen Natalia’s niece according to both her and Giles himself,” grumpy Ehren explains.

I can hear footsteps getting closer to me but I refuse to look up. They keep referring to me as human like as if they aren’t, but that’s impossible. Right?

“Isabella?”

I don’t need to look up to know that Ehren would be in front of me, the one I’m familiar with. His voice may not be as deep as the other guys but it’s definitely rougher, coarser.

“Isabella. I can request they remove the blood. It’s really not that big of a deal. I’m sure they only thought another fledgling was joining rather than a human.”

“F-Fledgling?” I know I must sound like a stuttering child to them, but dang it, I’m afraid!

“A fledgling vampire.” I can hear the confusion pouring from Ehren’s lips. “Isabella. Do you not know what we are?”

My head shakes back and forth without me even trying to move it. My body already acting on instinct at this point out of fear. Fear that one of these two might hurt me. That same feeling from earlier is back. The feeling that I’m being hunted by a wild animal, that I’m being sized up as its next prey. The hairs on the back of my neck are at attention once more.

“Kieran, go get Natalia.”

“But-”

“Now Kieran! Her heart is about to start beating faster and we both know what will happen if I go and you stay here with her.”

From the way his voice trails off with that knowing tilt at the end has my heart racing faster. They can hear my heartbeat. They can probably smell my fear, smell my blood. Vampires. No, there’s no freaking way there are two, very much real vampires in front of me right now. Those things don’t exist.

“Isabella…”

I hate the way my heart jumps at hearing his voice, but the fear just keeps overtaking the rational part of my brain, the one that says they would’ve already killed me by now. I know this deep down, but I don’t actually really know them at all. I’m stuck here in this new school that serves blood to its students and apparently houses blood sucking demons. How am I supposed to be rational right now?

Ehren’s hand touches mine as he grips my other arm. I jerk from his touch and replace myself on the ground. My arms instinctively wrap themselves around my waist as my knees come closer to my chest. The lingering chill of his skin is making my insides feel tight with sickness. Cold like a corpse. That’s how Emmy’s hands had felt and Giles’. My own cousin is vampire.

Is Natalia a vampire too? Was I led here to be someone’s meal? I just lost my father and I’m totally alone now so I would make the perfect target. I have no friends, no other family besides Aunt Natalia and Giles.

“I’m gonna get eaten…”

I can hear Ehren sigh as his hand touches my shoulder in a gentle, yet firm grip. “Isabella. No one is going to hurt you, but I need you to calm your heartrate down. There are vampires here who haven’t fully mastered control yet and you sitting here like a terrified bunny rabbit isn’t helping me keep you safe.”

His words hit like a brick. I’m alone in this hallway with him, a vampire, while other vampires are in this school building. They haven’t mastered control? I’m definitely going to get eaten. My last thought before everything goes dark is that I should’ve taken the orphanage.