𝐈𝐥𝐥-𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 ✔️

2

"Adonis Priest is back," Hazel whispers again, sounding even more shocked this time.

I finally had a name to the face. Adonis Priest. 

I had started to think that maybe they had known him and had a bad experience, but my mind started to shift as I saw nearly everybody looking at Adonis. Some looked shocked. Maybe scared. Some girls smiled widely and whispers started.

His strong jawline clenched as he kept walking forward. He knew all eyes were on him, but he ignored each and every one of them as he walked. 

His eyes met mine for a moment. I held my breath. There was even less emotion than usual. I forced myself to look away and turn back around. 

"What do you mean 'back?'" I ask them. "Who is he?"

When he was out of the cafeteria, conversations started to continue again. Hazel and Cristella exchange glances which only makes me raise my eyebrows and want to know even more.

"Adonis was a student here two years ago," she tells me. "He was the strongest vampire this school had ever seen. He had been fighting with this other student for many months, and then one day, they disappeared. Adonis was never seen again after that, either. Some people said that they knew he killed them and kicked him out, others said the guy was just on the run, some believed Adonis had nothing to do with it. But not many."

The darkness I had felt from him suddenly made more sense. It wasn't the darkness from a regular vampire, but from a corrupted vampire. 

"So...did you guys know him personally?" I ask as I stab my fork into my food. "I mean, was he...nice?"

Cristella laughs. But then her face turns serious as he says, "Adonis Priest would use caffeine as melatonin and use the moon as the sun. The man is unreadable and unpredictable, people rarely get a conversation out of him. He refuses to call people by their names. Probably because he thinks nobody is worth his time."

I wondered if there was more to him. I wish I didn't, but I did, as an Angel I am cursed to see the good parts, even within monsters. 

"I mean, I'll give it to him, he is really hot," Cristella shrugs before flicking her blonde hair and biting into her apple. "Lots of girls have had crushes on him, attracted to his mystery and whatnot. But it's never done any of them any good."

I remained quiet. I didn't know what to say. I just continued eating my food and dropping the conversation. 

After lunch, I went to my room, and stayed in there until nightfall. After 10, we are not supposed to leave school property. But every so often, I do.

I exit the same way I always do, sneaking out the back doors and running until I reach the forest. Once I know I'm out of view, I let my wings home out, and fly to see my people. All angels that could not pass as students stay in a secluded house in the middle of a forest. There's a spell up, it's unable to be seen unless you know that it's there.

Once I'm close enough, the wind blowing my hair around as I fly, I blink my eyes and see the house once they open. I smile as I land and put my wings away.

I cheerfully run inside. I call out with a smile, "Hello?"

"An unexpected visit," he says from behind me. I turn around and my smile grows even more.

"Gabriel!" I say as I run up to him and hug him. Ever since my father got killed two years ago, he has become a father figure to me. He hugs me back tightly.

"How are you, Valeria?" he asks me with a smile as I pull away, but he keeps his hand on my shoulder. "And the other angels?"

"Good, and they're good," I answer him. The other angels and I do not speak. We stayed in different groups, in case one of us was found out, it wouldn't be obvious who all the rest were. "I wish I could get to visit here more often, though." 

"I know, Val, I know," he says understandingly. "But it would be too dangerous if all of us were here."

I nod. I question, "Are we any closer? To finding out who it was?"

The disappointed look on his face answered my question before his words did. He tells me, "No. Demons are good at hiding, we haven't found any yet. You need to be careful, Valeria, don't ever let your guard down. No matter how much you think you can trust somebody, we never truly can, only each other."

"Only each other," I repeat. I try not to see the image of my parents dead as I say it. I blink harshly.

He smiles at me. He says, "You should go now, you don't want them catching their best student sneaking out at night."

I laugh. I don't want to leave, but I know that I have to. I say goodbye to him and walk back outside into the night, flying through the trees back to the school, unaware of what lurked there.

Word Count: 1514