I stare at the mirror, a towel wraps around my body, and water drips down, seeping into the towel. My eyes feel sore and puffy because of all of the crying that I have done. Looks like Angela's makeup lessons to hide imperfections helped cover all the tear stains.
So, firstly, I applied the foundation all over my face to give myself an even look; it helped hide the puffiness, and once again, it was as if nothing had happened last night. Then I apply the glittering eye shadows and my favorite black liner, which I usually wear daily. Then I put on some layers of waterproof mascara and finish with my favorite lipstick, the color of pomegranate seeds.
I wear jeans, a tank top, and my lucky boots every day. I am late today, thanks to my breaking my alarm clock. I missed breakfast, English class, and math. So it's lunchtime. I'm not hungry; I settle for a can of Coke. Leopold sits next to me. "Hello," I try to ignore him as best as possible. "So you're truly not talking to me?" He smirks and is about to say something. Suddenly, a beautiful girl walks towards where Leopold and I are seated.
A vampire. I stare at her in awe, like every other girl at the school. The vampire is tall, with blondish-brownish hair. Her light blue eyes glistened, and she tugged at her skinny jeans that hung low in her waist. Wearing a shirt that only hides her boos and makeup that makes mine look like shame, this outfit enhances her beauty.
"So Leo," she walks to Leopold and seductively puts a hand on his back but stares at me. "What's there to eat around here," she says with a beautiful European accent.
"Carmel. This is Isa. Isa, Carmel."
She gave me a fake warm smile. "Hello, Isa."
"My name is Isabella," I say with annoyance.
"Nice to meet you," she looks around like a predator. "Though this is not where I usually hunt," she pouts. Then gave me a look of pure regret. "Leo said I can't kill you, which is dull." I stare at her, more out of curiosity than being offended.
She was baiting me. I could see it in the way she spoke so openly. Well, three can play the same game. I stand up and walk until I am in front of her, and then I bump into her in an accident, walking straight to the trash can. She stumbles back with a hiss.
She's suddenly blocking my path as she gives me a murderous glare. "Carmel," Leo says; there is a hidden command in how he says her name.
I wiggle my eyebrows at her with a taunting smile. Not so fun now, bitch? She did not move and kept glaring at me, giving me a look of pure hatred, which made me laugh.
"So you were telling the truth. You can't kill me."
She bares her fangs at me, pissed off at this point. I smile amusedly at her. "Don't piss me off," she says through gritted teeth.
"Or what?" I challenge. "You'll turn green?" This makes me dissolve into a puddle of laughter, and I can see my stomach shaking as I try to fight a new gale of giggles.
She takes a menacing step toward me.
"Carmel," is all he says, but it is full of authority.
She stops and glares at me. Then, smile crookedly. "This school has been running for hundreds of years, right?"
"So," I say.
But I know what she wants to say. We learn this in history—a massacre when the school first opened. I glared at her, then at Leopold in disgust. That was them?
"Sixteen seventy-two doesn't ring a bell?"
I chuckle, looking down at her as if she was just another child begging me for pity. She smiles at the stony glare carved into my eyes. A similar fury blurs into my sigh, but I contain it by tightening my jaw. I couldn't believe Leopold was such a horrible monster.
"No... It doesn't," but my voice trembles, and Carmel smiles smugly at me.
She doesn't let it go. "You must learn history here."
I roll my eyes at her. "Yes. It rings a bell," I snap at her with annoyance.
"Well, Leo and I were looking for a place to stay, and we fell into this little school," she smirks wickedly. I push her out of my way, and she squeezes my arm. I bite my lips so I won't make a sound of pain. "How many people did you kill last time, Leo? Ten or twenty students? I forgot."
I use the momentum and connect my hand with her cheek, snapping back her face with the force of my blow and causing her head to reel back, making her let go of me. Carmel staggers backward, clutching her face as she hisses and steps towards me again.
"Do not try me," I say between gritted teeth.
"You are lucky I have no choice but to let what you just did slide. Leopold is my maker and has ordered me not to touch you. Between you and me, I don't know what he got into being so friendly with pauses."
"Well, it is not for lack of trying. I have been wanting him to stay away from me." I tell her honestly.
She turns to look at Leo with a questioning look and then at me. "Well, I am sure if you would sleep with him already and stop playing hard to get. He would leave you alone the next day."
I can see that the way Carmel is speaking to me is out of jealousy. I try to stare at her somberly, but in the corner of my lips, there is a crease of amusement. "That's never going to happen. You might as well do us both a favor and take him out of my hands."
"He tells me what to do. Not the other way around-" She says with gritted teeth.
"Then we are done-" Carmel grabs me by the arm, turning me to face her again. In a swift motion, I kick her in the stomach hard, making her fly back and fall to the floor with a grunt. She hisses and comes at me fast. I grab her by the arm and throw her over my body towards the floor.
But this vampire is old and powerful. Instantly, she slides her legs under me and throws me to the floor with her on top of me—hand on my neck. Leopold is next to us, a hand on her shoulder. He pulls her off me, whispering something in her ears. I slide off her and stare at them. Leopold has been exemplary. Every single vampire I ever fought was young. Leo looks around nervously, and I know I broke a rule by fighting Carmel here where there can be witnesses.
"So if Leo tells you to kiss my ass. You will have to do it?" I say, standing up slowly.
Her face is priceless, making me laugh. She looks like she is about to kill me. "Carmel," his tone this time was a warning. She stops.
"Don't try me, little girl," her fangs are out. "Fucking breathers."
The comment caught me off guard. This is the second time she called me that. "Breathers?"
"Is what my kind call's you," Leo says, watching my face.
"I see. Like my kind call's you leech."
Leo glares. "Yeah, well, humans are called breathers," his tone is cold.
I sighed, and like that, I was done with the game. It's pointless. This girl seems on the verge of losing it. She needed to feed away from this school.
"You should take your friend far away from school and feed her."
Carmel's anger melts like butter under the sun. She smiles at me proudly. "You clever, clever girl. You're staying on my good side."
I wink at her as if she caught me in the act. Honestly, I want them out of my face. Carmel looks at Leo.
"I'll get my food alone." With that, she leaves.
I stare at her warily.
"Don't worry. She won't kill anyone around school grounds." Leo says.
"But she will kill," I say sadly.
I set out a silent prayer for the unfortunate soul. That monster would kill today.
"So... How are you?"
I shrug. "Suddenly, you care?"
"Is not sudden Isa. I care about your well-being," Leo murmurs, and his playful smirk returns. "Well, sometimes... You do have a way of bringing the worse in people."
My eyebrows lift on their own accord at his words, "Me?"
"Yes. You. Sometimes, I think it would be easy to snap that beautiful neck of yours," Leo takes a step towards me, puts a finger on my neck, and traces an imaginary line on it.
The touch brings pleasure wherever the finger touches. I stare into his blue eyes for the first time seeing it. Leo is not what he wants me to think. There is a soul buried deep down inside of him. A soul that he's fighting hard to keep at bay.
I push Leo off me gently, and he lets me. His hands fall flat to his side, but his eyes stare lock with mine. Leo seems like he's struggling with something as if he has something that's bothering him, and he doesn't know how to say it.
"Isa," Leo says.
"Leo... Don't," I murmur.
"What?" He's baffled.
"I don't want to listen to you right now-"
"Let me say this-"
"No. I will punch you in the throat before you speak; let me go."
"So violent," Leo says with amusement.
"Is what you provoke in me."
"Is it truly?" Leo chuckles slow and warm, the sound reminding me of honey.
Leo gets close, forcing me to back away until a wall prevents my getaway.
"Leo... You're with Angela." That sentence is like a bucket of ice to Leo.
"I do not like Angela," he spits the words like venom.
"You kissed her," I complain.
"I dislike Angela," he repeats with annoyance.
"So you go around kissing every girl that kisses you?"
"Yes," he leans closer. "Kissing can be good," he whispers seductively, weakening me.
"Don't... Don't hurt Angela. Please," Leo sighed and stepped back. The romance is dead in his eyes. I sigh in relief.
"Why would I ever listen to you?" He says, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Because I will make you," I try to put a lot of menace in my tone.
Leo stares at me with pure amusement. We both know it's an empty threat.
"Would you now?" Romance is back in his tone.
"Yes," I stare at him square in the eyes.
Leo grabs me by both shoulders and smirks me to him. I look up at him with defiance.
"Sounds serious coming from a girl that has blood in her hands. Maybe I should defend myself and kill you first," Leo says with a smile and raised eyebrows.
I return the smile with a cocky one. Leo might want me in his bed as a one-night stand, but he does not want me dead. The cellphone he gave me is exhibit A, and killing Lexi is exhibit B.
"You won't kill me, Leo."
Leo's smile turns into a smirk. Leo shoves me back against the concrete wall, making me grunt at the impact. I am glad I said kill because that fucking hurt. Leo walks towards me until he's standing in front of me. He grabs my hands instantly and puts them above my head.
"You sound so sure that I won't kill you?" Leo smirks, looking down at me. He leans closer to me. So, I am once again trapped between his body and the wall.
My heart beats fast at the proximity. "That's because I am. You saved me from Lexi, who was set on killing me. You claimed it was because you wanted the pleasure, yet here I am. Your progeny wanted to do the same a few minutes ago, and you didn't even let her touch me. I was baiting her, so her anger wasn't uncalled for. Yet you stopped her."
I give him a teasing smile, daring him to deny it. Leopold leans even closer to my face and rests his lips in the hollow of my neck. He takes a deep breath, and a slight shiver of pleasure escapes my body as I remember how good it can be to have a vampire drink your blood. He leans back and stares into my eyes. I stare right back at Leo. A sly smile is on his face; then, something flicks in Leopold's eyes too fast for me to read.
Suddenly, his lips brush mine. Not innocent, like a tease, but hot, fiery, passionate, and demanding. I want to pull away before I lose myself, but I can't seem to. In this minty moment, my senses have been seduced, and I can no longer think straight. My lips parted, immediately giving him entrance and kissing him back. Leopold let go of my hands and held my face, taking control of my mouth and claiming it for himself.
A small moan escapes my lips; I put my now free hands around his neck and grab a fist full of his hair, bringing him closer. Our bodies crush together, wanting to become one. Leo's hands explore my body freely, sending a brief spark of pleasure whenever they touch.
Leo deepens the kiss. In the back of my mind, I curse at the wall for not being comfortable and wanting to take this to his bedroom.
And with that last thought, reality comes crashing back, waking me up from this dream. I open my eyes fast and see that Leo's eyes are still closed. He is into the kiss just as much as I was a few seconds ago. I put my hands on Leo's chest and pushed him off me hard. Leo stumbles backward but stands his ground. Leo's face screams shock. I glare on my face when I am freaking out on the inside.
"That was not fair, Leopold Zach," I turn around and take off towards my dorm.
"Jesus. Women," Leopold says, irritated.