Luca was leaning on the wall as I rounded the corner, I stopped in my tracks and wondered why he'd left the stairwell.
"Everything okay?"
"Yep. We're ditching for an early party."
"I have to be home after class. Dad knew she was in there."
I leaned on the wall beside him with a sigh.
"Where is Emily?"
"In the restroom with Zoé."
A door quietly closed a few steps up the corridor, Chloe sliding out the room with a grin a mile wide.
"Is there a reason that you invited your sisters along?"
"Because if I don't, they will squeal."
I wanted to huff and groan, to complain that I didn't need Chloe fluttering her eyes at me when I was still trying to figure out what I wanted from Emily. I could tell Chloe that I wasn't interested until I was blue in the face. I'd told her thousands of times that I saw all of them as my siblings, because they were essentially just that. I grew up with the three of them around, even their older brother Castian was around a lot as well.
It wasn't common for vampires to befriend the devil and his family but in this case, it had happened. So when I looked at the Delacroix children, I saw my brothers and sisters. To look at Chloe with anything more than sisterly love seemed wrong.
"Sorry man, I've told her to lay off. Don't worry about it, they'll get into the shops and you won't see them for dust."
I could only hope so, I didn't want Chloe's over the top display of affection to get in the way of whatever this was supposed to be.
"Hey Bran."
Narrowing my eyes at Luca earned me a disinterested shrug, he leaned on the wall and pretended that his phone was more interesting. I turned to Chloe and offered a smile, it was a pathetic attempt at trying to find happiness that she was here. Sure, sisterly love and all but I knew this was going to cause issues with Emily.
"Hey Chloe."
She was right beside me, pretty green eyes stared with hope. I hated being the jerk, I hated that she didn't listen to Luca and wasted her time pining for something she was never going to get. So many guys looked at her yet she ignored them all. I should feel honoured that I held her attention entirely but it felt so wrong. I couldn't feel anything more than shame. One day this was going to blow up in my face and I had a horrid feeling it was going to be really soon.
Really soon as in right now. Zoé walked out, soon followed by Emily. Chloe looked at her sister with a broad smile and as soon as Emily walked out the smile dropped away, confusion taking over.
"What's going on?"
"Ditching, Chloe. I told you that." Luca grumbled. "Unless you'd rather go back to class."
Her eyes darted from Emily to me, uneasiness creeping up on us.
"You know, I'd rather not risk the sun." Chloe murmured. "I'm going home."
She turned, ignoring her brothers protests. He was worried about their parents finding out that we were skipping class, not caring that she'd finally figured it out. It had finally sunk in.
"I might follow, make sure she doesn't do something stupid. Way to go jerks." Zoé said with a snippy tone.
She was right, between her brother that was more concerned for his own neck and me who couldn't actually be the one that hurt Chloe, we had in fact managed to hurt her.
We watched the two of the wander down the corridor.
"What am I missing here boys?" Emily said quietly.
"Chloe's got the biggest crush on Bran and he sees her as a sister because that's how we were raised. She's always hoped that one day he'd change his mind but now she knows there is no chance."
"How so?" Emily asked with a frown.
Luca grinned at her with a slight laugh, shaking his head. He looked at me and my frown, I was ready to throw him to the ground and punch him. Was it necessary to be so blatantly obvious?
The bell rung loudly, seconds later the doors around us flung open and the once quiet corridor was flushed with kids. Weaving our way through the crowd, I could feel their attention turn to us, parting to let us through. Whispers began to mount, the son of the devil was cavorting around the school with an angel. No longer was she hidden behind the mask of being a vampire, she had let down her guard and made her true nature known.
When we reached the door, Luca turned and watched the crowd. Stepping backwards the door pushed open, slowly slipping into the darkness of the stairs to the catacombs of New York.
"What's down there?"
I shrugged and looked around, ensuring that we weren't getting too much attention.
"It's the tunnels the local vampires use to get here. They're spread pretty far across the city, deeper than the subway system, deeper than the humans dared to tunnel."
We began to fade into the background, the students moved around us as if we weren't really there. A few steps backwards and we were in the safety of the catacomb entrance.
It was dark in the spiral stairwell, slowly sinking into the ground with the light of a few gas lanterns and nothing else. The sounds of Luca's steps echoed through the small area, I glanced at Emily who had a fearful look on her face. It was odd that an angel would hold fear but I guess I could understand that she would be a little put off by entering into a darkened room with the son of the devil.
Holding out my hand, I waited with bated breath, hoping that she would take it. It was a gesture of compassion, something that I rarely offered to those I barely knew.
It might have been easier to stretch the wings and fly down, except the space wasn't wide enough for my wings. We'd end up plummeting to the bottom, splattering on the hard and cold ground. Emily took my hand and gripped it tight, her other hand gripped the rail just as hard.
This was going to be a long walk to the bottom.