Gores of Grimoire (Editing)

Pain

Victoria continued on with the rest of her night at school. It felt nice to settle into a routine where she felt she belonged in the atmosphere. 

The third period was nice, but she still felt uneasy about the whole situation with James, and even with the Headmaster. She also kept catching Sebastian stealing glances at her. At first, she thought he was looking at Caroline, so beautiful and fair, but when Caroline had left for a few minutes, Victoria caught him staring at her. 

She found herself fond of the attention, but not of him. It made her feel guilty, but it also made her feel right. Whatever was going on with James was something she was certain could be fixed. She had an entire century's worth of memories to know for a fact that he felt the same as she did. He even told her himself that he chose this life. Chose her.

Victoria had been taking notes on the many different ingredients that can be used to make a sleeping potion when suddenly she dropped her pen and the entire classroom setting was no longer before her. She found herself in a vision.

Victoria was running through a forest when she saw her mother, Martha Grimoire, up in a tree. Three other vampires were hiding, as well. On the ground level, James and a blond girl were back-to-back, holding weapons at the ready.

The girl was holding a crossbow and James was holding wooden stakes.

This must be the story James told me...the story of how he met my mother. She thought.

The rest of the story played out, then suddenly everything disappeared and Victoria was yet again standing in a forest, but this time it was different. The forest was very gray, almost black and white. The forest omitted an ominous feeling, and she no longer felt safe in the embrace of the tall, thick evergreen trees.

Her instincts told her to keep moving, and she obeyed, watchful of her surroundings. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like hours before she saw something different in the never-ending forest. Through the midst of the gloomy atmosphere, she saw a brilliant crimson rose. Only one.

The only thing with color. 

She reached her hand out to touch the rose, to take it from this ominous place. As her hand was about to touch it, another hand emerged from the corner of her eye and held her gently. She looked to see whose hand it was, and was not surprised to find James.

"What are you doing? You're supposed to be in class."He asked her softly. The question caught her off guard, and she tried to think of what could possibly have been happening.

"Um...H-how? I don't know, I was just suddenly here," she responded, "How could you possibly be here? Are you really here?" He nodded.

"You must have popped into my meditation accidentally. It's okay. It just means you can see into my head." He still held her hand. He tried to pull away, thinking it made her uncomfortable, but she grabbed him as well and held on tight.

"So, then it's true," she said, "you know it is. I don't understand why you're lying to me, you know you can tell me anything." His expression became confused, but also sad.

"What's true?" He asked.

"The Puzzle Piece theory. It means we're soul mates or something, like, we're connected. That's probably why I'm able to be here." She responded. His eyebrows raised slightly.

"You know about that? Well, I guess I can't lie to you here. It is, after all, my head. Victoria, I couldn't stop them. I'm sorry-" 

He was violently cut off, and she was returned to the classroom.