Fear and Blood

Chapter 10

Rome sighed. It was just like Alex to come here looking for her, even if there was no chance he would find her on the huge campus. She turned to Josh, who was still admiring her brothers car.

“And what are you doing out here?” she asked the young man, who grinned. “I thought your classes finished early today.”

“I had a workshop tonight,” Josh replied, waving a text book as if it was proof of his studies. “I was just about to leave when I came across this beauty,” he pointed to the car, eyes glazing over.

“So are you ready to go?” Alex said, clearly proud that his car was being admired again. The only reason he had bought the thing was to get attention. “I am here to drive you home, after all.”

“No, I'm sorry you came out to find me, but I cant go with you tonight,” Rome replied quickly, shaking her head. “I'm meeting someone. I have a lesson with my ancient history tutor, who should already be here. It's not like him to be late. I hope nothings happened to him.”

“Are you serious,” Josh said, laughing darkly. “Like anything could happen to that guy, more like he's happened to someone else. I wouldn't be surprised if the cops had picked him up again. Seriously Rome, why don't you ask for a different tutor? It's not like it would be hard to find someone else.”

“Hold on,” Alex said, his usually good natured face becoming suspicious, which wasn't a good sign. Alex was hard to shake, unless something threatened his little sister. “This guy who's tutoring you, is he really that bad or is this some kind of exaggeration that's gone over my head?”

“To be honest I'm surprised he's still alive,” Josh shrugged. “Everyone can tell he's a drug addict. He drinks a lot and always has a cigarette in his mouth. Also, I heard he was arrested six times, though no charges have ever stuck.”

“That can't be true,” Rome said shaking her head and looking a little annoyed. “If he had been arrested so many times he would have gone to prison.”

“Are you sure?” a deep voice said as Ly appeared, just behind Rome. Rome spun around and took a step back. Something wasn't right, she could feel it as soon as she saw him. The first thing she noticed was that he wasn't smoking, he was always smoking when he came to pick her up. “You really haven't known me for that long, Rome,” he smirked. “How do you know I've never been to prison?”

Rome took another step back. Ly's hands were shaking and he seemed uneasy. His haunted eyes were glazed and they darted from Rome to Josh to Alex and back again. Rome was reminded of her first encounter with him, when he looked like he was about to lose control.

“Rome can't go with you tonight,” Alex said, gripping his little sisters arm and pulling her away from Ly, who's smirk deepened. “In fact, I don't think it's a good idea that she keeps taking lessons with you.”

“You would be the brother right?” Ly said, crossing his arms in an attempt to stop his hands from shaking, though it only succeeded in making him look more threatening. “I don't think you're in any position to tell Rome what she can and can't do, isn't that right, Rome?”

The red-head detached herself from Alex and took a shaky step forward, meeting Ly's gaze with her own. This wasn't him, she was sure of it. Something had happened to make him act this way. Usually if he was faced with competition he would make some remark about it not being worth his time and walk away. Even that time in the bar, he had waited until the guy threw the first punch. Now it seemed like he was trying to pick a fight.

Ly was in trouble, he was no longer in control and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop his actions. Now Rome was standing only a metre away, looking up at him with her large green eyes and it took everything he had to keep his arms crossed. He could almost see the blood flowing through her body. He wanted it, he needed more. All he had to do was reach out and take it.