I do want to say that I am currently in my third trimester of pregnancy, and in being so I haven't had much time to write and update, but I will definitely make time. Thank you for all the patience and support, especially to those of you who have been reading this book since 2012.
By the time it's finished I hope I'll be able to publish it on paper back❣️
Chapter Fifteen
A sigh escaped my lips as I was faced with the front glass doors to the school.
Today hasn't started off very well.
First the dream, then the mark.
Thankfully, I managed to get passed Nate without him seeing it. I just told him I cut myself with a razor on accident. He hesitated before believing it, but it was obvious that he's still suspicious. Just as with everything else, though- he doesn't push for more information. And for that I'm grateful.
After replacing my JanSport with my history and math textbooks, I close my locker and make my way toward my first period. As time has passed, I've noticed that the symbol on my arm has changed slightly. The black lining has gotten darker, and the line in the middle resembles the letter "I" capitalized. There was no doubt in my mind about finding out what it means. My first idea was to go to the nearest library and see if there's anything- but since my lineage goes back hundreds of years, I'd doubt that they'd have the information I need.
Living in a world of humans who don't believe in other beings- I figure finding the information I need would be impossible. Unless I speak to a witch.
"Alright class," Our teacher claps his hands to gather everyone's attention after the bell signals us to start class. "When I say your name please say here."
I notice that Callie didn't make it to roll call, which made me a little upset. I was hoping she'd be here today so that I could at least speak to her about this. With everything she knew about my parents, it wouldn't be a long shot in asking if she knew anything about this symbol or rather if she'd ever seen it.
Behind me, there was a whisper of my name. I decided to ignore it, knowing exactly who's voice it'd been coming from. Again, my name was whispered but this time a little louder. With a roll of my eyes, I continue to try and focus on today's lecture. This time, a piece of paper was thrown at the back of my head which made me whip around to glare at the one and only Brad.
"What!" I whisper harshly.
"Ask to go to the bathroom," he whispers back, causing me to raise my eyebrows.
Is this guy serious?
"What? Why would I do that?"
"Just do it!" He whispers a little louder. I roll my eyes at him, debating whether or not this would be a bad idea. Though, since he's human I don't see any danger coming my way. I decide that there'd be no harm, and now I was curious as to what he needed to talk to me about seen as how I'd never had a genuine conversation with him. After a moment, I lift my palm into the air, gaining a nod from my teacher.
"Can I use to restroom, please?" I ask, gaining yet another nod before he continued with his lecture.
"Ill meet you there." I hear Brad say as I stand to my feet.
After taking two laps around the halls, I notice that I'd never actually used the bathrooms in this school. So, I had no idea where I was going, nor much of a clue on how to get back to class. I guess I can just retrace my steps- but getting lost was much more fun.
While being too caught up in my mind, a small gasp escapes my lips when I feel my body come in contact with another. The girl's blonde hair smacked my face as our shoulders shoved passed each other, causing me to snap back to reality to make sure I didn't hurt her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that! I wasn't watching where I was going." I do my best to sound as sincere as possible. The blonde turns her head around, her green eyes filled with grimace.
"Seems like you have a problem with staying in your place. I'll just have to make sure you don't have a choice," she said from over her shoulder, looking me up and down.
What is that supposed to mean?
Before I had a chance to respond, she walks away flipping her hair and swaying her hips with each step she takes.
As I watch her walk away in disbelief, I let out a scoff. Deciding that It'd be better than to let it go rather than causing a scene, I continue my search for the bathroom. After turning right at the nearest corner, I pick up Brad's scent which urges me to follow.
"God, took you long enough!" Brad says as I approach him. He's leaning against the wall with his hands placed in his pocket. His black hair is sitting roughly on his head as it always is and his brown eyes never leave my face as I roll my eyes and walk towards him, crossing my arms.
"What do you want?"
His famous smirk tugs at his lips as he takes a few steps closer to me.
"So, I heard about you and Nate, huh?" He says.
Really? This is what he wanted to talk about?
"What about us? We're just friends." I shrug.
"Friends... with benefits?" He teases and I shake my head.
"Well... If that's all you need then I'll be on my way. " As I turn my body, I'm taken back by his hand wrapping around my wrist.
"You know... I can be just as flattering as Nate." He spins me around, almost confusing me with his amount of force. His smirk is gone, and his eyes were boring into mine. My body felt frozen as I stared at him, and for some reason my heart began to beat faster. I was beyond confused now, because I know that I don't have those kinds of feelings for him- I've only ever felt this way for Nate. It almost felt as if I was paralyzed, I was unable to feel my limbs.
Before I had time to react, or even realize what he was doing- his lips made contact with my own.
And that's when the burning started as I began to taste Hawthorne spreading throughout my mouth.
Hawthorne is a Vampires weakness. It burns like hell when it touches a Vampires skin. The spirits and witches wanted to keep the world at balance, so they made the sun our weakness. Of course, we couldn't let that stop us though. My mother had a friend that was a witch who soon learned how to find a protection spell, hence our 'tattoos'. The spirits weren't too happy about this, however. So they also made the Hawthorne flower our weakness.
With a yelp, I am able to control my body once again. I pull away without hesitation, my mouth continuing to sizzle as I glare at a now wide-eyed Brad.
"No fucking way." He puts his hand over his mouth.
I was beyond angry at this point, and by the red tent in my vision I could tell it would only be seconds before there's yet another missing person in California. Using my speed, I take Brad by his throat and forcefully slam him against the wall.
"What the hell was that?" I growl, tightening my hold on his neck.
"I wanted to see what you are. And now I know," he strained to say, the smirk on his face only making my skin crawl evermore.
"Not the right time to be making a joke." I could see the bright red tint in my vision becoming darker with the angrier I got. Brad lets out a laugh from his belly- as if I had just said the most hilarious thing in the world.
He's laughing? Very, very bad choice.
"You want to lose your ability to breathe? Because I can easily make that happen!" I raise my voice over his laughter, surprised that with the force I'd been holding around his throat that he was still even able to make any sounds. Brad stopped laughing abruptly, his eyes filling with curiosity as he stared into my own.
"Are you threatening me?" He flashed me a look of innocence.
"No, it's not a threat. It's a promise." I let go of my grip on him, attempting to calm myself down. "Don't ever-" I start but get interrupted by words I have never heard before.
"Non spiramenta."
Suddenly, it was as if all of the oxygen around me had disappeared. It was as if I were underwater and struggling to reach the top. My body seemed to lose all function as I gasped for air, my hands finding their way around my throat as I began to sink to my knees.
"Listen here vampire bitch. I'm a warlock, so I wouldn't be threatening me unless you want to be the one not breathing." He leans over to whisper into my ear. I have no choice in this, so I nod, still gasping for air while now letting out high pitch squeals as my vision began to go black. "We can make a good team, or worst enemies, and that's all up to you."
"Spirant." Brad says, and finally I'm able to fill my lungs with oxygen again. Taking a few deep breaths, I place both of my palms onto the floor. Blinking my eyes a few times, I notice that Brad has disappeared- leaving me wondering what the hell I've just gotten myself into.
--
A few hours or so later, the bell rings for lunch. I seek out Nate, still on edge about what had happened with Brad earlier. I knew he'd probably be upset about me going out and making another enemy, but at this point I didn't know who was human and who wasn't. I approach the cafeteria, seeing Nate sitting in his usual spot in the middle of the room with his friends surrounding him. Making my way over to him, I notice the table grew more and more silent with each step I took. I decide not to think anything of it, placing my hand on Nate's shoulder.
"Nate, can I talk to you please?" I ask him softly, seeing his friends all exchange knowing looks. Nate nods his head, standing from the table.
As we're leaving the cafeteria, I hear a brief comment from one of his friends. "I didn't think he'd actually be able to do it."
Do what?
Instead of pushing it further, I decide to let him know about the events that took place earlier instead. As we reach the front of the building outside, I begin to check my surroundings to make sure no one was within listening distance.
"What do you know about Brad?" I ask him.
"Brad? The warlock?" He asks and I nod. "Nothing really, I know he's a pretty cool guy though... As long as you don't get on his bad side."
"Yeah, I think I might have gotten on his bad side today." I began chewing on my nails out of nervousness. I knew witches and warlocks were the one people we as Vampires should fear. They could evaporate us with a snap of their fingers. They were not to be taken lightly.
"What'd you do?" He asks, slightly concerned.
"He kissed me with Hawthorne on his lips." I told him, my annoyance from the memory resurfacing. "So, I got mad and pinned him to the wall then threatened him and in turn he did something to me so I couldn't breathe."
"God, damn it Snow. First a demon and now a warlock?" He ran his hands through his hair. "Your luck is impeccable."
"Yeah," I sighed out awkwardly, my eyes falling to my feet out of embarrassment. "Is there anyone else I need to worry about? I'm kind of tired of running into these walls."
"Well-" Nate starts but is interrupted by the glass doors to the front of the school being slammed open. The head cheerleader who I had ran into earlier this morning was the culprit, her eyes looking me up and down then falling onto Nate.
"So, it's true?" Jamie spoke, making her way over to us. Her eyes never left Nate, who seemed to stiffen at her words.
"Jamie, leave. This isn't a good time." He gave her an intense and serious look, his eyes darkening with each second.
"No! Your friends told me about your little bet." She says as she crosses her arms. His eyes narrow at her, almost as if he's warning her. I decide to jump into their conversation.
"What bet?" I ask and Nate turns to me.
"It's nothing, don't listen to her." He says, grabbing my hand and trying to pull me toward the steps away from her. I yank my hand out of his and turn back to her.
"What bet?" I repeat myself. Jamie turns to me, an entertained smirk pulling at her lips as excitement danced in her eyes.
"Oh, he didn't tell you?" She raised her eyebrows, pretending to be confused. My body began to vibrate as I grew angrier with the second.
"Snow, come on." Nate tries.
"Tell me what?" I raise my voice, my mind flashing back to what his friends had said when we were leaving the cafeteria.
"Go ahead Nate, tell her or I will." My heart was thumping in my chest. I had no idea what to expect, but something was telling me that it wouldn't be good. I look over to Nate hesitantly, seeing his hand scratching the back of his neck as he whispered "fuck" under his breath.
"Me and my friends were talking the day you came... and they dared me to ask you out." He responds after a few seconds. I look back to Jamie with my eyebrows raised as I feel relief rush through my body.
That's it?
"No!" Jamie growls, stomping her foot "That's not true! They picked a random girl that just so happened to be you- and he had to get them 'wrapped around his finger'. When it happened, me and Nate were still together. So, everything he's told you has been a lie. Not like I blame him, it's not like he could do better than me."
Jamie flipped her hair over her shoulder and placed a hand on her hip with confidence. I couldn't even respond to her insult, my mind had only allowed me to replay the words random girl and wrapped around his finger. He got that out of me, he kissed me the first day we met. And now it made so much sense why he pushed so hard to get that kiss. It made so much sense why he was so persistent about us being together, and why he was so quick to bring up my past against me.
"Nate, is that true?" I ask with disbelief, wanting him to say it was a lie. He groans scratching the back of his head.
"Snow... Let me explain." He starts, but because his first words weren't that it was a lie- I couldn't allow him to continue.
"No-" the ball in my throat began to feel like it was choking me. "No... It was all a lie? Everything?" I looked into his eyes, feeling as if my heart had shattered in my chest. "Everything we've talked about, everything I trusted you with- and now this?"
"Snow, you don't understand-"
"No, I understand perfectly well." I raised my voice. "You're the bad boy, right? You have a reputation to uphold. You know, you keep your reputation just leave me out of it." I couldn't help the tears that began spilling from each eye as I shoved passed Jamie back into the building.
So, the day that he had to go "take care of something," he was with her. Him getting all of this information out of me, him spending all this time with me- it was all for a bet? How could someone stoop so low? I even told him about my father... I told him everything. How could I be so blind? How could I be so stupid?
As if I haven't already done it enough for one day, my body came into contact with another person causing me to almost fall.
"I'm sorry." I sniffle, not even bothering to look up as I try to continue walking.
"Don't be, Hey, wait!" His voice was familiar. Jack reached out to grab my wrist, pulling me back toward him. "You okay?" He asks, concern filling his eyes as he stares into my own.
"No," I almost whine, my tears beginning to spill even more so. I bring up my free hand to wipe my eyes, becoming more frustrated as they continued to fall freely down my cheeks.
"What happened?" He asks softly, but I shake my head.
"I don't want to talk about it."
With a nod, he takes me by surprise and pulls my body to his own, embracing me in a tight hug. I hesitate before hugging him back, hiding my face into his chest as I let out all of the feelings I had never felt before and never wanted to feel again.
"You know, you can talk to me whenever you need, right?" He says. "Even though we don't know each other very well, and though our history isn't the brightest... I'm here."
I nod, feeling his grip around me loosen. I pull away from him slowly, using my sleeves to wipe the remainder of my tears.
"Hey, do you want to maybe do something today? After school? It could get your mind off things." He sends me a warm smile. Though everything in me was screaming no, I shrug.
This would be a good way to get back at Nate.
"Sure, okay." I try my hardest to return his smile.
"Okay. Meet me in front of the school after the last bell rings, okay?" He says, but before I'm able to respond the end of lunch bell alerts us that it's time for class. I nod at him instead of answering. He gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "See you then."