Six days passed since Ember last spoke or even spared a glance at any of the High-tiers. The four of them were now strangers to her, ones that gazed at her far too longingly whenever she passed them in the halls. She tried her hardest not to let her eyes wander over to them, but, sometimes, the urge grew unbearable. Though, whenever she finally went to look at them, they were gone. In place of them was always an unfamiliar face that occasionally gave her an awkward smile. It was not their smiles she wanted to see but the High-tiers'. Maybe seeing them smile might make it easier for her to do something other than frown. That constant frown on her face was present as she walked across the quad. The familiar sound of another set of footsteps beside her was nonexistent. She was all alone, as per usual. Such a thing used to be normal for her, but, now, it was nothing but unnatural and painful. A long, drawn-out sigh fell from her lips. That was probably the fifteenth time she had sighed that day. Unfortunately, it was only lunch time which meant that more sighs were to come. Sure enough, when she rested herself against the trunk of a tree, another sigh came from her. Her eyes began to flutter close as she invited the idea of taking a nap. At least in her sleep, she could escape this deafening silence.
It seemed that there would be no escape for Ember though. As soon as she felt herself slipping into a dream, an annoyingly shrill voice cut into her ears, "After seeing you in that compost pile, the High-tiers must have realized how well you fit in with the trash!" A laugh interrupted Scarlett's poorly crafted insult that didn't even rouse a smidge of anger from Ember. "It's good that they finally came to their senses. Now I don't have to watch you pathetically hang all over them every damn second."
Ember, who was not in the least bit interested in engaging in a meaningless argument with Scarlett, folded her arms over her eyes, obscuring the nasty view of Scarlett from her view. The last thing she wanted to do was engage in meaningless banter. She may have felt otherwise earlier, but now, she wasn't involved with the High-tiers. Anything Scarlett said about Ember's relationship with the High-tiers meant nothing to Ember. Nothing at all.
When no immediate reaction came from Ember, an evident scowl formed on Scarlett's face. She used the tip of her shoe to poke Ember like Ember was a piece of garbage. "Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!" Her shoe poked Ember harder this time, almost kicking Ember. Still, there was no response from Ember, not even a simple glare. "Fine, keep on ignoring me! Let's see if you can keep it up after I beat the shit out of you!"
Not a single one of Scarlett's threats made Ember move from the comfortable position she was in. In all honesty, there was nothing Scarlett could do to get a reaction from Ember. That is unless Scarlett put a paper bag over her head and taped her mouth shut. At least that would get a good laugh out of Ember. Unfortunately, all Scarlett was doing was droning on and on about how she would make Ember regret ignoring her. The funny thing was, she wasn't actually doing anything, just talking and talking and...talking.
Realizing that none of her threats were working, Scarlett decided to resort to immature insults. "Why am I even wasting my time with you? The High-tiers probably just pushed you aside after they finished having fun with you. I'm sure you begged them to let you stay with them, but, of course, they rejected you. That only makes sense. I mean, come on! You're just a human and they are High-tiers. Those types of vampires have no reason to commingle with humans."
Nothing came from Ember, just pure silence that ate away at Scarlett's pride. She had to at least get a reaction from Ember once, even if it was small, or else this whole ordeal would be useless.
"They're a bunch of fools for letting you stay around them for so long," Scarlett slowly said this so that Ember heard every nasty word, "I bet those idiots were tricked by you somehow. I wouldn't put it past them. They don't seem like the smartest group."
"They were beaten by the Montclaire High-tiers too," Scarlett continued to insult them at the sight of Ember's hands slowly balling into fists, "It seems like they aren't as great as everyone else puts them out to be. They're just a bunch of idiotic–..."
"Scarlett," Ember sternly said her name, pushing herself off the ground as she did so. A mean glare lay in her eyes now. "If another word comes out of those botox-filled lips of yours, I might punch you."
"You might punch me? Are you too afraid to say you will punch me?" Scarlett taunted her.
The two of them walked toward each other. One's anger and the other's unending jealousy would ultimately lead to them to tear each other apart. They wanted to get rid of the other so badly that they were beginning to clench their fists, raising them with the intent to swing them through the air and into a face.
"Go ahead, punch me. I'd like to see you try," Scarlett continued to tease Ember, wholeheartedly believing that Ember didn't have the guts to try to hit her.
"Gladly."
Thwack, smack, and CRACK! The first sound was of Ember's fist connecting with Scarlett's jaw, which then hung open to let out a frustrated yell of fury. Then the latter came from Scarlett getting slapped across the other side of her face. Finally, the loud cracking was of Ember's back becoming one with the hard trunk of the tree after Scarlett rammed her into it. The harsh impact made Ember crumple to the ground like a rag doll. She couldn't rise off of the ground, as she was in far too much pain to even move a muscle. Above her, blocking all the sunlight that cast through the leaves of the tree, was Scarlett who sneered at her like the bitch of a vampire she was.
"You fucking worthless human! I'll teach you to never lay a hand on me again!" Scarlett screeched.
No High-tiers came running, not when Ember was hit more times than she could count or when Ember felt heat beginning to rise in her face, signaling multiple impending bruises. It seemed that none of them would come to the rescue until Casper, who had been wandering around the gardens, heard the commotion. As soon as he realized that Ember was being attacked, he broke off into a frantic sprint toward her, desperate to save her before another blow connected to her already bruised face. His hasty rescue mission was quickly halted when someone stepped in his way. That someone was instantly shoved aside, but their hand snagged a hold of Casper's arm just as he passed by them.
"Whatever it is that you want with me can wait for later! For now, put that shitty heart of yours to use and let me go, Cohen!" Casper snapped, unable to forcibly pull himself from the tight grip Cohen had on him without risking injury to Cohen.
"The only help Ember needs is from me, not you," Cohen replied, a cool tone to his voice despite the sound of muffled grunts of pain piercing through the air.
"This is not the time for petty rivalry! Don't you understand that the longer we stand here, the more Ember will get injured?!" Casper shouted furiously. "Goddamnit, you can have your glory and help Ember, but I'm coming with you!"
"That's not happening," Cohen firmly stated, still determined to keep up this charade until Casper conceded. "Just go back to where you belong, with the other High-tiers. You and Ember are no longer associated with each other. I, on the other hand, am Ember's closest friend, so only I hold the right to protect her."
"Enough with this bullcrap! I don't care what you think you are to her! I know I'm her friend!"
With that, Casper threw his body weight to the far left and away from where Cohen stood. Two fingers lifted from where they gripped his arm, allowing him to break free. As he was about to run toward Ember, Cohen opened his mouth, fully intent on stopping Casper with a few simple sentences that would be laced with the poison of Casper's weakness.
"First it was Amelia and now it's going to be Ember," Cohen sighed. This made Casper stop. Casper's breath caught in his throat as he turned to face Cohen, completely forgetting about Ember. "You can't be trusted around humans, especially not when you have murdered one. I mean, if you were cruel enough to murder your own sister, I doubt you'll think twice before killing Ember as well." He took a pause before delivering the final blow. "Well, whatever, there seems to be no way to stop you since you seem to be so determined. Go on and run to her. Save her before she needs saving from you."
Amelia...That was a name he hadn't heard in a long time. Now that it had sounded through the air once more, he couldn't help but remember the time when that name was normal. It would always be said, always be heard, always be thought of without unrelenting guilt attacking him. Those times were ones he wished he could repeat. If he was blessed with such a chance, he would take every single second with care, soaking in the moments where he was still himself, where he wasn't the vampire who murdered Amelia. Unfortunately, there was no way for him to turn back time. All that was left for him was just the memories spinning in his head that weaved the story of his sister's death that was caused by his own two hands.
... ... ... ...
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