Cursed Blood | Chaelisa

Chapter 21.

I felt Joy gazing at me with quizzical eyes. It seemed as if she'd just remembered my frantic behavior when I came to her suite. Then we saw Jisoo's parents walking hastily toward us. Mrs. Kim had already gotten her eyes swollen with tears. The mayor also came with a worried face. They went up to Mom quickly, asking more questions than she could manage to answer. And while the adults were talking, Joy gripped my elbow and lugged me aside. She walked me to the corner away from everyone.

"You knew something was going to happen to Jisoo, didn't you?" Joy stated in a husky voice, her eyes stared at me intensely.

I flinched and looked away, knowing all the lies I had fed to the Headmistress earlier had not fooled Joy. Who was I to kid? With her kind of IQ, I might as well sound gibberish. But I couldn't tell them, 'Oh there's a succubus in our school and I've seen her sucking energy from Jisoo!' Like that would help.

"I told you, by the time I was there, I found Jisoo fainted on the floor, and the broken window was just my panic attempt to get her some fresh air, you know, like something we learned in Health Education?"

"No, you told me about Jennie!" Joy hissed.

"Sssh!" I hushed her and quickly glanced over her shoulder to our parents. They were still in a deep conversation far away, only Lisa turned her face to our direction.

"What's that?" Joy's voice grew more impatient. "Are you hiding something?"

"We can't let anyone know about this," I told her.

"Know about what?" She asked.

"Joy," I bit my lip hesitating. "There is something I want to-"

But I had to break off our private talk because I heard Mom starting to walk towards us.

"Excuse me, girls," she said. "I think it's time for you to go back and have some sleep. Jisoo is in good hands now. Let the adults take care of everything here."

"Can I stay with Joy tonight?" I turned to ask Mom. She looked at me. Maybe, it was my harmful appetite that kept her weighing the options. I took her hand and steered her away from Joy.

"Please mom, trust me. I won't hurt anyone. My best friend needs me," I reassured her.

"That's not what I'm worried about, honey. I always believe in you," she said.

"Thank you, Mom. I'm in better control now," I said, trying to forget the impulsive thirst I had felt with Jennie's blood earlier, but that wasn't the case.

"Take care, honey," Mom said.

Then Joy and I went back to the Ultara mansion again. When Joy got into the room, she flicked on the lights around the walls. I stepped inside after her. Joy walked to the center and spun herself around to look at me. I shifted my eyes away, feeling like a person standing in the court. She spread her arms and let them drop to her sides again.

"Now what?" She said. I swallowed hard and drifted to the other side. Joy's eyes followed me. I stopped by the bookcases lined two of the walls, the books ranking both alphabetically and by subjects of academic interest- physics for Jisoo and languages for Joy.

The comfy cushion facing a giant-size plasma TV and a sound system. The cream-colored suite that smells of delicious flora and the scent of two teenage girls.

"Are you ready to talk now?" Joy asked. I took a deep nervous breath.

"Nobody's found out about this," I started, "except me."

"Just tell me whatever it is, Chaeng,"

"Jennie is the cause of all these mysterious collapses in our school," I went straight to the point. Joy looked at me dumbfounded.