Identity (Editing)

Chapter 13

"How did you find out..?" She whispers calmly in my ear, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"O-oh... Um... I wanted to visit... And...." I trail off and sniffle, trying to make my lie seem believable.

"I bet you that man did it..." She mumbles and I pull away and give her a falsely curious look.

"What man?" I ask, my own voice just barely above a whisper.

"I don't know his name, but I saw him just randomly blow up a section of the forest one night while I was out..." She excludes why she was out, but that part is obvious. Vampires hunt at night. The idea makes me squeamish so she tends not to speak of it much.

"No... It was humans... I saw the way 'that man' decimated a similar area and it looked nothing like this... This was even more horrible..." She sighs in response and helps me up, gripping my forearm as she pulls me to my feet.

"Come on, let's get you back to the academy. Just a few more days until the weekend. Two actually." I gulp nervously, remembering that I have to meet him right after my last class.

"Is something wrong with that?" She asks and I shake my head, giving her a soft smile.

"Not at all." I respond quietly.

"Good! Then on Thursday-"

"I'm sorry... But on Thursday, can I be alone? I feel like I need to mourn privately..."

"I understand." She lightly ruffles my hair and her hand shifts down to my wrist while she guides me through the dense woodland. "Then how about Saturday." She doesn't make it a question, but I still nod and follow her silently. Our feet crunch on the fallen auburn leaves as we step into the courtyard. It's such a change of scenery that it takes me a moment to adjust. It seems so... False for some reason. Like all the liveliness and colour is a little white lie. She keeps pulling me along and doesn't let my arm go until we are at the main door.

"You should go rest." She tells me, her voice soft and sympathetic.

"Yeah... I will..." I mumble back and open the heavy mahogany doors. They slowly close behind us as we enter, cutting off our connection to daylight except for the random rays passing through the small windows. Everything looks eerie to me even though I know that nothing has really changed. Grace doesn't seem to notice anything at all and she looks back at me before disappearing up the stairs. I stand there for a few moments, trying to stop my body from shaking.

"Hey, is something wrong?" A kind voice asks and I spin around to see a strange man holding the door open. There is a soft smile playing on his lips and it almost seems to stir some forgotten memory. I shake my head and return his smile with an empty one.

"Nothing at all." I lie and his rust coloured eyes narrow slightly in disbelief.

"You've been around someone dark..." He mumbles, mainly to himself, but I overhear the words and glance away. His aura must be lingering around mine... Wonderful...

"It's nothing to concern yourself with." I tell him flatly. He sighs and bows his head, some of his long white hair falling over his shoulders. I feel like I should trust him, but something seems off. Part of it is what he is wearing: a royal red overcoat with broad golden shoulder pads that have small tassels hanging off of the side. Dark brown gloves connect to it with a similar gold band linking them and another gold brace lies on each wrist. Underneath is a ruffled blood red shirt and similar coloured slacks. His entire appearance screams royalty and yet he seems like a normal person.

"Alright." He keeps his face void of all emotion as he speaks and gives a small wave. "If you ever need help, I am here." With that, he walks back outside, the door shutting silently behind him.