The Search For Peace

Chapter 42

Austin Leo was in the bathroom when it all happened. He groaned inwardly from his stall as the lights went out, cursing his luck. If he hadn't eaten all of those cookies, he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. With a click of his tongue, he blindly finished his business, and the moment he got up to flush the toilet, the lights flickered back on. The irony.

As he washed his hands, he heard strange noises coming from outside. There was screaming going on, so he figured it was one of those events the Student Council liked to hold and simply shrugged it off.

But, when he made his way out into the hallways, an eerie feeling washed over him. He bit his cheek thoughtfully, tilting his head. Something wasn't right. It was like he was being watched, and he didn't like it.

Adjusting the sleeves of his hoodie, he made his way to the gymnasium, and on the last turn, came face to face with something he seriously didn't expect. A young man in tight black skinny jeans, ripped in different places, had his mouth inappropriately close to a girl's neck. His buddies were huddled around him, and the whole shady sitiuation was getting on his nerves. So, he did the most rational thing that came to his mind.

He walked up to them, pushed his hands into his pockets, and kicked the guy in the gut from the side. Forced to let go of the girl's neck, the boy staggered back. They all seemed incredibly shocked by his presence, the girl clutching her sore neck moreso. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't tell why. Meanwhile, Mister inappropriate glared daggers at him, and he noticed something odd about the lot of them. They had fangs for teeth.

"How dare you..." He hissed before plunging at him, his friends doing the same. But to Austin's surprise, before they landed an impact, they dissappeared. Just like that. Confused, he turned this way and that, trying to figure out where they flew off to.

"They can turn invisible." The girl croaked. Her once tidy bun was going wild, curls of caramel cascading down her nape.

"Really?" As if to answer his question, a punch collided with his cheekbone, the sheer pain of it making him see stars for a second. He held his face and turned the way it came, only to receive another one in his stomache. His mind whirred as he lost his footing. They could turn invisible? If that was the case, they were probably from the Clans. But, which one? At the moment, he didn't have time to think about that, as he had to fight a bunch he couldn't see. Not that he hadn't done that before.

The boy closed his eyes, straightening his posture, breathing in, and out, so that his pounding heart could quiet down. As his ears cleared of all distractions, he focused on traces of life around him, the raspy breaths, the careful footsteps, the ruffling of their clothing. He could hear it all. So when the next person attacked, he was ready. Rotating on his heel, he caught the arm coming his way successfully, flinging it in the other direction, all without his sight.

The air to his left rippled, so he turned and released a hook kick. To his relief, it landed somewhere, judging by the grunt of displeasure he heard. The boy smirked. In the instant he lost his concentration, though, he was caught by someone from behind, his hot stinky breath sizzling into his skin. But he wasn't about to let him bite. He forced him to roll with him to the side, where he was sure the lockers were, and smacked him flat against the steel cages. His own head hit his captor's quite hard, and the guy was forced to let go, probably unconscious.

Slumping forward, Austin opened his eyes a bit, checking to see if they had become visible again. Sure enough, there was a retreating duo, secretly slipping away in the adjacent hallway. Like hell he'd let them get away. With a few leaps, he caught up to one of them and head locked him, wanting to crack his neck for good. The purple haired boy struggled to breathe, but he didn't care, going down with his limping form. "Who are you guys and what're you doing here?" He asked the wheezing boy, his hand slapping him to let go.

"Hey, he can't answer you if he's dead!" The girl he had saved ran up to him, trying to yank his elbow off the guy's neck. Girls were always so soft on people.

He obliged, but still used his foot to keep the guy in place, grinding his already constricted chest with it. "Now talk."

"I'm not telling you anything." He dared to say, even in the dire situation he was in. Austin realized he was the ripped skinny jeans guy, making him even angrier. The nerve.

He pushed his foot down a bit harder, enjoying the guttural cries coming from him. "Oh my God, stop it!" That stupid girl wouldn't stop whining though.

"What's your deal? He was trying to kill you a second ago." Austin's eyebrows furrowed with disgust. "And now you feel bad for him?"

"It's not that!" The girl screamed. "He can probably tell us something, but you keep inturrepting!"

The boy scoffed, the two too busy arguing to notice how blue his face had turned. "How am I inturrepting? I saved you and this is the thanks I get?!"

"You just want to fight the first person you see!"

"Excuse me?!"

It was only when the guy underneath his foot let out a choking sound that they looked his way. Austin lifted his foot off carefully, the boy unmoving, and the girl gasped. "Oops."

"Oh great, you killed him, you moron!"