by K. M. Raya
*
Three floors up at the end of a long stone corridor was room 313. It said in her welcome pamphlet that she had a roommate. She sighed in relief that it was only one and not more.
Remembering Harlow's stay at Arcane, she knew that most of the students roomed with three or four to a room, so having only one was a freakin blessing. Pushing open the arched wooden door, she was greeted with a surprisingly pleasant space. The walls were a neutral grey stone that matched the aging floors, but there was a pretty plum colored rug covering most of it—probably her roommate’s doing. The room was huge, complete with its own private bathroom set off to the side and two queen sized beds on opposing walls.
She took the one on the left. The other bed was covered in shades of purple but was obscured by all sorts of open books and papers. Whoever her roommate was, she was sort of messy. Blue spent the next hour unpacking. She mostly brought weapons, figuring fashion to be the last thing she’d need to worry about. She stuffed her clothing into a dresser next to the bed before hiding various knives around the room for easy access. These Slayers weren’t trustworthy, and she planned to be ready when they inevitably came for her.
The door squeaked open. "So, you're her then..."
Turning to the girl in the doorway, Blue silently prepared herself for the inevitable dislike. "Were you expecting someone else?" Her tone was cold, but not mean.
The girl ran her eyes over Blue assessingly before shaking her head—dark red curls bouncing around her shoulders. She scrunched her freckled nose and tilted her head. "I don't really see what the big deal is, you don't look like an evil mutant."
Blue couldn't contain a snort. "Is that what they're calling me?"
The girl cracked a small smile, causing the tension to seep from Blue’s tense shoulders. "I'm Ronnie." Walking forward, she stuck out an olive toned hand clad in rose gold colored rings and bracelets. "I guess we're going to be roommates for the next three years."
Blue clasped the girl’s hand warily. "Blue Graves."
"I know." Ronnie grinned. She had a mischievous aura about her that Blue immediately decided she liked. The girl was pretty, but she didn’t hold herself like some of the snobs she’d seen in the halls earlier. Blue usually had a pretty keen sense for people.
Raising an eyebrow, Blue took a small step back. "Did they tell you who you were rooming with?" ‘If they did, why hadn’t she run for the hills?’
Ronnie nodded. “I volunteered.” She walked further in and set her bag down on her bed.
Blue blinked. That was a surprise, and it must have shown on her face. “You do know who I am right?”
"Hmm, let me see,” Ronnie drawled. “Black hair, the palest freaking skin I’ve ever seen and creepy eyes?" She tapped her chin as if in thought. “You’re not exactly inconspicuous, hun.”
With a scoff, Blue crossed her arms. "My eyes aren't creepy..." But they were sort of creepy—one a dark brown and the other an icy blue—hence her namesake and the fact that blending in would never be in the stars for her.
"I never said creepy was bad." Ronnie winked one green eye.
Before she had the chance to respond, there was a commotion coming from the hallway. It sounded like yelling and shuffling feet. The girls looked at each other for a moment before running out into the corridor only to be met with a horde of students running towards the arched windows in the hallway. The windows overlooked the courtyard she traversed earlier in the day and to the forest beyond, but it was hard to make anything out when everyone was squished up against the walls in a giant glob.
“C’mon, we can see better from the bedroom window,” Ronnie whispered, tugging her hand until she followed. They left the door open as they ran back to their room and rushed for their own window. It was smaller than the ones in the hallways, but just wide enough for both of them to stand comfortably. The courtyard below was a rush of activity and it was already getting dark out. Tall, antique looking lamp posts dotted the grounds below, lighting up the ancient campus with their flickering flames like something out of Victorian England—because apparently floodlights weren’t as fashionable.
“Can you see anything?” Ronnie squinted into the glass, craning her neck to the side. “It looks like they’re surrounding something—I can’t make it out.”
In a sudden frenzy, several people spread out into an attack formation. Blue recognized it immediately because it was one of the first lessons her dad ever taught her and Harlow. Looking closer, it was obvious they were older than students, probably in their thirties or forties. She surmised that they were instructors. For a second, she considered the possibility that this was a training exercise, but from the reactions of the other students, whatever was happening wasn’t normal at all. Three instructors stalked to one side, two to the other and one circled around behind the figure between them, each drawing a shining silver stake from somewhere near their legs.
Shuffling sounds from behind the girls made them whirl around at the same time, both drawing stakes and pointing them towards the door. It was a very bad idea to sneak up on a Slayer. “Whoa! I just wanted to get a better look and your door was open!” said a boy with soft looking brown hair and kind doe eyes. He was skinny and a little on the shorter side and couldn’t be more than eighteen years old.
They lowered their weapons. “Dude, I almost stabbed you in the neck, you know better than that!” Ronnie groaned and Blue sighed impatiently. “Ugh, get over here, we’re missing it!”
He joined them at the window. “Holy shit, it’s a fucking vamp!” She barely registered anything save for the blood rushing through her ears. Her muscles instinctively coiled—preparing to fight.
Down below, the instructors squared off with what appeared to be a young girl with scraggly honey blonde hair. Her skin was gaunt and her eyes looked sunken in even from a distance. She was crouched to the ground and frantically snarling and swiping at the Slayers surrounding her. “Is that a student?”
Ronnie was quiet. Blue turned to look at her new roommate, only to see that the girl’s face had gone as pale as snow. “It's Savannah Crow… she's a college senior this year. I don't understand, I just saw her this morning.” Ronnie’s voice quivered.
They guy next to them looked a little green.
“Does this happen here often?” Blue directed her question at him.
They shook their heads ‘no.’ “Never—I can't remember the last time a bloodsucker even tried to step foot on this campus.” That wasn’t surprising. Not much got passed the Guardians.
“Who are you anyways?” Blue asked the mystery boy.
He smiled shakily as his eyes flickered to hers, but his stare was laced with sadness and the lingering shock of seeing his classmate as a vamp. “The name’s David—and you're Blue Graves, aren't you.” It was a statement, not a question. He already knew the answer.
“Is this going to happen every time I meet someone new?” she groaned. She'd only been there for a few hours and already she was getting tired of people feeling like they knew anything about her. She’d expected it, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t incredibly annoying.
He shrugged, “Probably.”
“Guys, shut up and watch!” Ronnie hissed with her face practically plastered to the glass.
Savannah leapt at one of the instructors, a woman with short blonde hair laced with grey. The woman fell to the ground and Savannah tackled her, only to shriek in agony a moment later—loud enough to hear through the closed window. The sound was so horrible it sent waves of nausea through her entire body and she assumed the others felt the same way. She always hated the shriek of a vampire. It was a haunting sound that sounded like death and torment, like a human soul trying to rip itself out of a nightmare. Only a few seconds passed before Savannah exploded into a cloud of dust, raining down over the instructors in a morbid cloud charcoal black.
Screams of agony, grief and heartbreak sounded out through the halls. It was chaos outside her door as the other students scrambled to make s
ense of what just happened. Most of these Slayers were relatively new to real action, given the fact that they'd been at the academy for most of their lives rather than out in the real world. Ronnie cried with her face buried in her hands as she leaned back and sank to the floor while David grabbed at his hair, backing up until he sat in a heap on Blue’s bed.
“Tell me that didn't just happen!” Ronnie sobbed. They both looked stricken. They probably grew up with Savannah Crow.
“We need to find out what’s going on, lets go ask around,” Blue urged them as she gathered a few weapons and holstered her stakes. If vampires were roaming the campus, she wasn’t about to become easy prey. David and Ronnie wiped their faces and stood up, pacing until Blue was ready to go. She wasn’t sure who made her the leader of this little trio, but grief was making them latch on for comfort. She didn’t mind it though.
Students whipped by them out in the halls, going in and out of rooms and flinging themselves down the stairs. Everywhere they looked, people seemed to be arming themselves. She was still catching nasty looks from those who passed by. They brushed by her, knocking into her shoulder every chance they got. Eventually, Ronnie and David flanked her on either side, making sure Blue made it through the hordes of students alright.
They finally made it to the bottom level of the castle-like building where students huddled together in the dining hall. They stood around in tight groups of four or five, looking angry and distraught. Many of them had shifty eyes and twitchy fingers, as if a vamp might be laying in wait for one of them to turn their backs. It looked like everyone was on edge, just waiting for another attack. Instinctively, Blue knew this wasn’t a normal attack. It was one of their own—someone who had been human just that morning. ‘I didn’t sign up for this shit…’ she grumbled to herself. Not even a full day at the university of her dreams and already there was trouble.
“There she is…” came a whisper from somewhere in the room. “I’m telling you, it's her fault, that bitch did it.” Blue looked around, narrowing her eyes in the general direction of the voice, but with everyone huddled so close together, it was impossible to tell where the whispers were coming from.
Facing the room of Slayers, she raised her chin, staring down the sea of faces that at first glance seemed achingly familiar. She recognized a lot of them, though they’d aged ten years since the last time she saw them. Those children didn't scare her. Their immature, misplaced judgement meant nothing. “You people aren’t very creative, you know that, right?” she drawled, trying to appear bored. The room was silent, and people whispered behind their hands, still refusing to meet her eyes.
“Why don’t you crawl back to your nest?” called out an all too familiar voice from the crowd. She knew that voice. She’d know it anywhere, no matter how many years have passed. A head of thick, curly brown hair bobbed forward until a slender girl made her way in front of the crowd with her arms crossed and a scowl marring her familiar face. Jewel Hobbs. Ex best friend. Former partner in crime. Person responsible for breaking Blue’s heart into a million tiny pieces.
She forced herself not to show her emotions. With a blank face, she raised an eyebrow. “Been a long time, JJ.”
The girl flinched, but recovered quickly. Her glare turned icy. “Only one day on campus and people are already dying? Haven’t you had enough, Graves?”
Hurt lanced through her chest but she didn’t let it show. Jewel was just acting out and she couldn’t even completely blame her. She’d lost so much that night ten years ago. They all did. So much had changed in that time, especially the one person Blue thought would stand by her forever. She looked so different now. Gone were the freckles that used to dot her tanned face and the sparkle in her eyes had dimmed considerably. She looked mean and world weary. She looked so different than the girl Blue remembered—the girl who would sleep over at her house almost every night. The girl she would tell ghost stories too, and camp in the woods with. There was a time when they’d been inseparable… practically sisters. She still felt Jewel’s loss like a hole in her heart.
“I meant to say thanks for all those letters and postcards—”
“Stop talking,” Jewel snapped. “You shouldn't be here. There's a reason your family was exiled and you need to leave this campus before you wind up getting hurt.”
“And that would upset you, right?” Blue rolled her eyes through the pain. “Like you give a shit.” She knew she was only goading Jewel, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“You know you aren't welcome here.”
With a snort, Blue tapped her foot impatiently, already tired of hearing that. “Then why the fancy letter? Obviously someone wants me here.” Ronnie suddenly stepped up beside her, followed closely by David. They were creating a united front and although she only just met them, their loyalty was touching. Good people called to good people, and she could already tell they were people she wouldn’t mind being around.
“Oh, this is cute, are you guys seriously falling for her bullshit? She's a killer—her whole family deserves to rot!” Jewel’s face was red, and her eyes looked shiny with unshed tears. She was always an angry crier.
“Just stop, JJ, the mean girl act doesn’t faze me.” Blue stepped closer and Jewel stayed put, jutting out her chin. “I know you better than I know myself. So, I know you don’t really mean what you’re saying. What happened was an accident and trying to convince yourself I’m the bad guy just makes you look stupid. Can we just stop this and be adults?” Her eyes pleaded with Jewel. “I’m not going anywhere and if that pisses you off then that's your problem, not mine. You don't have to talk to me. You don’t even have to look at me. Just mind your own business and we’ll all be okay.”
Jewel squinted her eyes, shaking her head like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Blue almost forgot there were others in the room, watching this play out like a soap opera. “This isn’t an act, Blue. I can’t live under the same roof as a traitor.” People hissed around them—whispering to each other like gossiping children. None of it was fair, not by anyone's standards. ‘How can you hold someone accountable for something someone else did?’
Blue’s eyes drifted over Jewel’s shoulder for a split second when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Watching her from the wall next to the floor to ceiling windows, was a striking looking man. The moonlight bounced off of his shoulder length pale blonde hair and illuminated his strong profile just enough to see how startlingly handsome he was. His face was almost elfin—slender and angled. He looked to be around twenty or twenty-one maybe, but you never can tell with Slayers. Slayers in general tended to look a few years younger than they were, given their rigorous physical training and the fact that their bodies could heal from almost any injury save for decapitation or a stake to the heart. His age was impossible to know for sure. The academy taught high school all the way to senior year in college, so really, he could be any age.
But his looks weren’t the reason he’d captured her attention. No, it was the scowl on his pretty face that sucked her in. His angry eyes were a dark brown and in them, shadows swirled into pools of inky blackness. Those captivating eyes were decidedly haunted. Something terrible happened to him at some point in his life. She recognized the look. He continued to glare at her as though they were the only two people in the room...
Shaking her head, she released his stare and turned her attention back to Jewel. It all happened within the blink of an eye, but JJ’s mouth was still moving. She had a disgusted look on her narrow face that made Blue feel ill. “Anything else enlightening you have to add to this fucked up night?” she asked witheringly. The conversation was going nowhere and there were more pressing matters. ‘A girl just died for fucks sake!’
Jewel opened her mouth to no doubt say something snarky but was cut off at the last second. “Aren’t you tired of hearing yourself speak?” Blue turned to find yet again, another astonishingly handsome guy making his way through the small crowd, eyes locked on Jewel with a glimmer of
amusement in their depths. People moved out of his way, and with good reason. The dude was massive—at least six and a half feet tall and all lean muscle and attitude. ‘Whatever’s in the water here, give me some please…’ she mused.
His black hair was close cropped—tightly buzzed and military-like. His eyes were a light green color with a bright orange hue towards the center, framed by rich, thick lashes. The rough around the edges look made him seem older as well, probably a college sophomore or junior like herself. With his arms and neck completely covered in tattoos, he had a dangerous kind of aura, but not necessarily unkind.
The guy knocked knuckles with David as he took a stance beside Blue, taking her by surprise. He and David didn’t strike her as the type of guys to hang out often, but what the hell did she know anyways?
Jewel rolls her eyes at him. “Are you shitting me, Jasper? she sneered. “You don’t even know her, why the hell are you defending Blue fucking Graves?”
Jasper snorted before casually slinging an arm over Blue’s shoulder to which she promptly shrugged off despite the warm tinglies it sent through her body. “Maybe I just don’t like bullies,” he grumbled as he cast an annoyed look at Blue before turning back to Jewel. “Maybe there are bigger things happening here and picking on the newcomer makes you look like a weak little bitch.”
Clearing her throat loudly, Blue cocked her head at Jasper, folding her arms over her chest. “Maybe I don’t need you to defend my honor, dude.”
Jasper’s annoyed eyes flickered with amusement for a brief moment. “I was trying to be nice but suit yourself.” He raised his hands and backed off a little. “Have fun with this one though, she’s relentless.” He nodded towards Jewel.
“I think I’d know that better than anyone, trust me,” she muttered.
For a moment, she held Jasper’s sharp gaze. It was a bit unnerving having him watch her so closely, studying her in a way she was unaccustomed to, especially for someone she’d never even seen before. She wanted him to stop looking at her—to stop trying to defend her, making a spectacle when there were other, more important things to be worrying about. Yes, she knew she was sort of being a hypocrite because just moments before, she was totally fine with Ronnie and David backing her up, but something about Jasper and his cocky smile was making her act like a bitch. Well… a bigger bitch than usual.
