Night Class

September 9th, 2019

Monday 10:30am

Waiting patiently for Natalia to finish discussing things with Emmy and her parents, I grow more nervous as the minutes tick by. The Queen had insisted that the child at least learn the error of her ways so she would avoid repeating such actions in the future. I had remembered that Emmy technically asked my permission beforehand. She mentioned last week in the library about having to use her power and wanted me to be her test subject. I should’ve asked what the power was, but I guess I just got distracted by her cuteness.

I didn’t even bother mentioning Peyton’s little gift using considering he was only trying to prove that I can break out of their charms if I really try hard enough. It helps knowing about the charms now. What doesn’t help, is the fact that Kieran can apparently hear my thoughts. The look on his face when he realized that he had tattled on himself about the gift let me know that he’s been using it since I got here. The thought causes not only embarrassment but anger to rush through me. I feel violated in the worst way possible.

Since I have been here at this academy, I have been assaulted, kissed, threatened, and nearly died. But somehow, someone seeing into my own personal thoughts feels like the tip of the balance scale. Now I can’t help but wonder if the other Knox brother also shares this trait. Have they both been spying on my thoughts without my consent? The idea has me re-envisioning every single encounter with them from the first moment I entered the school building.

Nothing. I can’t think of a single moment that would show that either of them had been peeking in on my thoughts. Either they did it extremely discreetly or they were being gentlemen up until an hour ago. That look on Kieran’s face had me shoving him away and running as fast as I could to Natalia’s office. Of course, she demanded to know what was wrong, but I had lied and said I was just in a hurry to make sure Emmy was okay. Thankfully, she had bought the lie and explained to me that Emmy would be briefly suspended, even after I explained how I agreed to the project, but that was it. I felt better knowing the poor kid wasn’t getting like a death penalty or something, but I also felt a little strange about it. I’m worried that someone else in this academy may attempt to invade my personal thoughts and private bubble. I’m like some toy in a classroom of kindergarteners and they’re all taking turns playing with my feelings and emotional state.

The double doors to the office swing open and a man with slicked back blonde hair and icy blue eyes steps through the doorway. His entire appearance screams wealthy with his black suit, white gloves, and the black walking stick in his hand. I take notice of the top of it, a silver bird-like creature flapping its wings. He reminds me of the evil villain from a kids cartoon with how dramatically he flaps his tailcoat. Behind him is none other than Emmy. Her icy eyes glow as they meet mine and the dull look on her face is replaced with a cheery smile.

“Izzy!”

She runs towards me but is stopped with a walking stick to her chest. The man next to her must be her father. He seems aggressive and lacks empathy for his daughter’s cheery attitude.

“Emelia,” the man says sternly. “You are not to touch Princess Isabella again. Have we not made that clear?”

Emmy’s face falls and I resist the urge to pamper her with affection knowing it will only cause her more trouble. The man then looks in my direction and sneers. “The Princess is obviously too fragile. We must be careful around her.”

My hands grip one another as I stand to my feet, ready to give this guy an earful, but a hand touches my shoulder and I stop myself from moving towards him. Beside me, Ehren gives the man a small nod before giving me a stern look that clearly says, ’Back off’.

“Arlo Bromley,” Ehren says with a cool tone in his voice. “Surely you wouldn’t be harassing the princess now, would you?”

Arlo’s eyes now glow dimly as he turns his sneer towards Ehren. “Booker. The Knox household’s biggest disgrace. Or would that be Kieran now, considering he lowers himself to the standards of his half-blooded brother.”

Ehren only chuckles now as he brushes my tangled brown locks along my backside. “On the contrary, Arlo, my family has nothing but pleasant things to say when Kieran and I are both involved. However, I’ve heard a rumor that you are having some difficulty reigning in your position thanks to Father and Ruth. The rumor is that the council has been more than favoring us feeble half-bloods since your little escapade in Washington last year. Or was I wrong to uphold such silly idle gossips?”

The blonde-haired man before us now lets out a low growl while moving forward towards Ehren. On instinct, I step in front of him with my arms out in a protective stance. I’m a royal. I now know that these vampires honor the title closely. He won’t touch me or hurt Ehren if I have a say in it. The man, Arlo, stops dead in his tracks. He holds a look of shock before it reverts to one of amusement.

“Still letting women fight your battles for you, Booker?” Arlo chuckles before tucking his cane under his arm and fixing his gloves. “It would be a shame for history to repeat itself, would it not?”

I can feel Ehren’s hands grip my hips roughly at Arlo’s remark, but he says nothing from behind me. Arlo and Emmy move past us and disappear around the corner of the hallway. I move to break away from Ehren’s hold, but he keeps a tight grip on my hips as his breath fans out across the back of my head. The feeling starts to become uncomfortable as an indescribable, white-hot, searing pain spreads from where his hands are.

“Ehren...”

The broody vampire finally releases me, and I turn to see the usual scowl on his face. “What was that about? Do you and Emmy’s dad have issues with each other?”

“Sort of, but it’s nothing that you should worry about.”

I can’t help but shake my head now while gripping his forearm. “Ehren, we’re friends, sort of. You don’t need to keep things to yourself. If something is going on between you and-”

“I’m fine.” His voice is stern and cold almost. “We’re fine, it’s just that-” He takes a deep and steadying breath, his hands finding their way to my face, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m getting really tired of you constantly being in danger. First, you get placed in night class then you drink our blood and jump from a window. Emmy causes problems and I’m pretty sure you’re being used by your own aunt for some political agenda. My brother can’t seem to keep from attacking you and not only him-“

He stops talking mid-sentence and stares down at me, eyes narrowing. I mentally curse myself for letting my heart skip a beat at the mention of Kieran.

“What’s wrong?” Ehren asks. I shake my head but the dhampir insists on me answering. “What is it, Isabella?”

“N-Nothing.”

I notice now that he’s slowly backing me up towards the wall and I know that’s probably not a good idea. The last time a Knox brother had me trapped against the wall I got attacked with a heated kiss. Not saying I wouldn’t mind kissing Ehren, but the guy would most likely snap my neck rather than be as romantic as his older brother.

“Why did you get nervous when I mentioned Kieran attacking you? Did he attempt it again?”

My breath hitches now at his question. Can he not hear my inner thoughts like Kieran can? Maybe I had been wrong to assume he had the same gift as his brother. My shoulders go slack with relief at the realization, and I immediately feel as though I can breathe around the dhampir.

“N-No. I found out about Kieran being able to- Well, I found about his gift.”

Ehren’s eyes widen a bit before going back to the hard expression he always wears. “How did you find out? I didn’t think he’d tell you.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“Because not many of us vampires share our gifts with others easily. Most hide it from others due to the fear of others using us for them,” he explains. “Kieran must actually like you.”

My cheeks flush now and my heartrate picks up. “Well, he didn’t really tell me. I kind of figured it out.”

“How?”

My head shakes immediately. No way am I discussing this with Kieran’s younger brother of all people. I need to discuss it with Kieran himself first. They may only be a year apart, but there’s still just something absolutely wrong about it. It’s like I’d be discussing a private part of Kieran’s life and that just doesn’t seem fair to him. Sure, he invaded my privacy, but that doesn’t mean that I should do the same. Two wrongs and all that jazz.

“That’s something you’d need to talk to Kieran about yourself.”

His eyes flash once before he looks away from me. That sharp jawline of his ticks with severe annoyance, but I still refuse to admit what happened. I’m starting to think my original assumption of Ehren was correct. He doesn’t like losing an argument or being told no. Tough luck for the poor dhampir. Regarding the vampires in this academy, I’m done being tossed about like a ragdoll. I’m putting my foot down with them, even if it means using my royalty title. Something has to give if we’re all going to grow more comfortable with one another.

September 9th, 2019

Monday 1:45pm

“You what!”

I quickly rush forward, nearly falling from the tree as I cover Romans’ loudmouth with a trembling hand. The dhampir is apparently trying to announce to the world what happened between Kieran and me.

“I didn’t do anything,” I hissed out at him. “He kissed me!”

“That’s no bueno, chica.”

His hand rakes through his nearly shaven hair, a growing expression of nervousness on his usually laid-back face. Romans looks as though he has so much to say but the slight fear behind those coal-black eyes stops him.

“And why is that no good?” I place my hands on my hips, but quickly reach out and steady myself on the branch we’re perched on.

Romans had decided to sneak us both out of the academy for a while to escape into the woods nearby. I had thought we would be going to the treehouse, but he insisted upon staying out in the open. I’m starting to wonder if this has anything to do with Kieran talking to him. Peyton had mentioned before about Kieran being infatuated with me, whatever that had meant. My skin itches now at the thought of Kieran having a girlfriend and still controlling everything about my friends and who can and cannot be alone with me. Something’s not right about that at all.

“Just believe me when I say that you should stay far away from Kieran, Izzy.”

I want to push him, get more out of him somehow, but I know it’s pointless. Romans has proved that he isn’t one for giving up useful information. Our alone time is best spent getting other bits of information from him.

“Fine. At least tell me what you know about Arlo Bromley.”

Romans gives me a look of confusion. “Bromley? Why would you want to hear about him?”

“Because he and Ehren got into a heated discussion outside of Natalia’s office.” I started peeling some bark away, my hands needing something to keep occupied as I remember the way Ehren’s hands had felt on my hips. “If Emmy’s dad has something against either Knox brother then I want to know about it.”

“Why though? Why involve yourself?”

His question hits me hard. Why? Maybe because we’re friends, and I hate that Arlo had hit a nerve with Ehren. The look of hatred behind Ehren’s eyes had made my skin crawl even after the man had left our sight. Then there was the business of ’history repeating itself’. It was as if Arlo was doing his best to tempt the dhampir into making the first move against him. He should’ve known better though considering Ehren is the most level-headed vampire in the entire academy, other than Rhea of course.

“He’s my friend and so is Kieran,” I tell Romans. “I would be concerned if it were you, Vera, or Rhea too.”

Romans mutters something under his breath before positioning himself so he’s straddling the branch now, legs swinging on either side carelessly. “Arlo Bromley is a wealthy man with low opinions of my kind and high standing in the sangre council.” He takes in my confused face before sighing. “The blood council, a group of old geezers who decide what our new laws are, and handle punishments should someone break them. Many have pulled for the men and women to be put out of commission, entrusting themselves with our Queen and our Queen only, but not everyone shares the same viewpoints. Myself? I don’t care for either one. Queen Natalia treats everyone well and that’s perfecto, but there are still some drawbacks to having a monarchy.”

“Would the blood council be more of a judicial type thing? Like how humans have the house and the senate.”

Romans chuckles now, kicking his feet out happily. “Si, I suppose it is. They have public meetings and listen in on what the general population would like to see. Of course, Queen Natalia gets final say in all verdicts, but she can be overturned through another voting.”

“Yeah, that sounds like human politics alright.”

“But Arlo Bromley has a father who is on the council with him, seated somewhere in the top five, considering his familia goes all the way back to the original five families. Ehren and Kieran’s mother is also on the council, but she has only just recently become an advocate for us dhampir’s. Arlo is very much a pure-blood fanatic, believing danag’s should be with danag’s and that would solve the half-blood problem.”

My grip tightens on the branch now, knuckles whitening. “There is no problem involving the dhampir. You guys are vampires just like the danag’s. I’m getting so sick of hearing about it.”

Romans eyes twinkle a bit as he asks, “Is it too soon to say te amo, Izzy?”

“Continue,” I say while rolling my eyes.

The dhampir chuckles before saying, “Alright. Well, Arlo’s parents and Kieran’s grandparents are not exactly fond of one another. They’ve had family feuds for many generations. The Bromley’s and the Knox’s have never seen eye to eye with anyone from the other line. However, this is where things get complicated. One of Arlo’s sisters was actually Ehren’s madre. Papa Knox was sneaking under the sheets with a Bromley, and she produced Ehren. Kieran’s madre is the one on the council and has been working with their padre, Vincent, to erase the rift between bloods. Ehren’s madre- Well, she’s no longer around, sadly.”

“What happened to her?”

Romans looks haunted as he mumbles out, “She was punished for tainting the Bromley line. It was either they erased her, or they cleaned up her mess, that mess being our very own friend. The rumor is that she wanted to die rather than lose her only child.”

My skin tightens and the branch feels cold under my hands, but I know that it’s just my core temperature dropping. How could anyone even think of killing a child just because they’re from a family you don’t approve of. That’s nonsense, insane. No wonder Ehren had been so tense after hearing Arlo’s words.

“Still letting women fight your battles for you, huh? It would be shame for history to repeat itself, would it not?”

Had Arlo been threatening me when he said those words to Ehren? Did he mean that as in he would hate for me to die in Ehren’s place? My hands grip my stomach through the black hoodie as it starts to flip. It feels as though I’ve swallowed weighted metal and it now rests in the pit of my stomach. I wish I had known then so that I could’ve said something to Arlo or even had let Ehren fight the battle on his own rather than give the sick man the satisfaction of making those comments. Either way, I would’ve been able to help in some way.

“I wouldn’t mention it though to either Knox that you know though.”

Internally I groan. “That might be hard considering Kieran can apparently read my mind at all times.”

The look on Romans face turns to one of guilt as he avoids my eyes now. “You know about that, huh?”

“Yes, Romans, I do.” I scoot closer to him on the branch and lightly grip his wrists. “I’m not mad that none of you told me, but I am slightly upset at Kieran for invading my privacy.”

“It’s not something he can help though,” Romans defends. “When one of us has a gift, we can’t control it that well unless we’ve had extensive training and Kieran has, but not as much training as Ehren has.”

My heart skips a beat at this. “So, Ehren can read minds too.”

“No, no he can’t.” He shakes his head and moves my hands into his, gripping them hard. “Knox has his own gift, but it’s not my place to say what it is because-“

“Because it’s usually a very private thing. I know.”

We rest in an awkward silence now, neither of us sure of what to say. I do feel a little better though knowing that Kieran might not have been attempting to read my mind. I feel ten times better knowing that Ehren can’t read my mind at all. Having both Knox brothers aware of everything I’m thinking seems like a horrible scenario.

The sounds of crunching leaves from beneath us have both of us scanning below. I notice Ehren, Kieran, and Vera all three making their way through the entrance of the woods. Romans sighs before moving forward. He stands to his feet, and I follow, letting him grab ahold of my waist before jumping from the branch. I’ve grown quite accustomed to the vampires leaping from tall places with me at this point so there is no tick in heartrate, no urge to scream. I only melted into Romans arms and let the wind whip through my tangling hair before we finally touched down below the giant oak.

Romans gently releases me, and I turn to find the other three of the group, who are eyeing us strangely now. Kieran is staring at the trees ahead of us while Vera is giving Romans a raised brow before turning it on me. Ehren though, he’s only scowling like usual.

“Heading to the casa del arbol?” Romans asks.

Ehren narrows his eyes now at the poor guy. “Yeah, to check if you guys were there. Rhea has been harassing everyone since your meeting with the queen- “He looks at me now. “-about where you’d ran off to.”

I notice his eyes are training on me now and I feel myself growing agitated. “Well, Romans and I just needed some alone time for a bit.”

“Oh really?” Ehren asks. “Is that so?”

“Knock it off, Ehren,” Kieran says as he nudges his brother. “You know it isn’t like that.”

“You’re one to talk.” Ehren’s voice is like ice as it slices through the growing silence.

Everyone is quiet now, refusing to speak or even move in the dense silence. Kieran’s eyes are trained on the back of Ehren’s head, but the younger brother only stares at something off in the distance. Vera gives me an awkward smile, attempting to ease some of the tension but it’s not working.

“Well, I should probably get going now then.” I move closer towards the center of the vampire ring. “Rhea must still be freaking out.”

Ehren shrugs his shoulders as he says, “I doubt it. I dismissed her from her duties today.”

“Why would you do that?” My anger starts to surface once more. “Do you not understand how much that hurts her feelings when you dismiss her so easily?”

His eyes start to give off a dangerous glow as he steps forward. “I don’t care about Rhea Whitmore’s feelings. I’ll dismiss her whenever I see fit. That’s it.”

Kieran starts edging away from us as Vera and Romans rush to his side and I already know why. My heart rate is increasing with each one of Ehren’s arrogant words.

“From now on, Ehren, you have no say in what my watcher does. If I want her dismissed then I will gladly do it, but until then, back off.”

“Guys,” Vera says nervously. “Maybe try and lower Izzy’s heartrate just a bit.”

Ehren ignores them as he steps closer to me now, his face barely touching mine. “I would be very careful with what you say next, Isabella.”

“My name is Izzy,” I grit out to him. “Do I need to order you to start using it properly?”

His eyes narrow dangerously, glowing in a way that should have me running for the academy, but I only hold my ground. This has to happen or he’s going to keep treating Rhea like garbage and I can’t have that. I need all my friends to get along with one another. It starts with Rhea and Ehren.

“Kieran isn’t going to last much longer,” Romans groans out.

I look back behind Ehren finally to see Romans and Vera both struggling to keep Kieran held back. His eyes are glowing with that predator stare that sets my neck hair on end. Black and blue veins protruding from around his eyes, making him seem like a creature from a horror novel.

“E-Ehren.” I slowly reach out and touch Ehren’s chest now, briefly forgetting our little argument, for now. “We should go somewhere else while Kieran calms down.”

Finally, Ehren turns around and his back muscles pull together tensely. “Kieran.” There’s a warning underlining his voice. “You need to relax.”

The danag only growls lowly while his eyes burn brighter with hunger. A deep hunger that I caused him to feel with my racing heart. No matter how many times I take in lungsful of air, I can’t get my pulse to slow. I slowly back away from the group of vampires as Ehren attempts to calm his brother down but fails miserably. My back touches the rough bark of the tree Romans and I jumped from and suddenly I feel like a cornered rabbit.

I shut my eyes, just waiting for the assault to happen, accepting my fate. I can hear a loud crunch and within seconds, the air leaves my lungs as a crushing weight has me pinned to the tree. Slowly, I peel open my eyes to see Ehren’s chest level with my flushed face. His arms have me caged against a different tree than before. For the first time since I’ve been here, I now notice that Ehren has muscles. They’ve been hidden underneath that stupid school uniform, but his white cotton tee leaves no room for imagination. A rope ladder swings gently in the wind next to my head. We’re at the treehouse.

“I-Is Kieran okay?” I asked him quietly.

The panting dhampir now looks down at me with hooded eyes that are shining brightly. “I snapped his neck. He’ll be out for a couple of hours.” I start to protest but he cuts me off with a stern look in his glowing eyes. “He’ll live.”

A moment of pause has me realizing how little room there is between the two of us. Ehren’s jaw is set in that way that makes him seem annoyed, but his eyes are telling a different story. His breath fans out over my face and I can smell mint mixed with strawberries. I can’t help but stare into those blue eyes. His eyes almost never have this iridescent glow to them, and I find it mesmerizing. Each simple movement of his eyes causes a greenish hue to hit them just right, reminding me of an ocean. Waves of something I can’t decipher crashing against his iris’.

“Are you okay?” The question seems ridiculous to ask him, but I ask anyways.

His eyes widen a bit, as if he’s just realized how close we are. “I’m fine.”

He backs up while running a hand through his dark hair. I notice the way his arms flex as he runs his fingers through the chocolate strands. His stance is one of discomfort. It’s moments like this that I wish I knew what his gift was. Can he somehow sense it when I find him slightly attractive and that’s what pushes him farther from me? Maybe Romans lied and both Knox brothers can read minds, just maybe in different ways.

“E-Ehren?” His eyes meet mine and I can feel the question burning the tip of my tongue. “Is it considered rude to ask a vampire if they have a gift?”

Ehren looks taken aback before seemingly thinking out his answer. “I wouldn’t think so, but everyone could respond in different ways.”

“How would you respond?”

“I have a gift,” he says with no hesitation.

“Okay.” I nod awkwardly before motioning towards the treehouse. “Should we go on up and wait for the others?”

He steps to the side, letting me climb the rope ladder first like a gentleman. My hands grip each rung on the ladder, and I hoist myself upwards. My foot slips and I drop down a rung just as a thwack is heard from directly above me. I glanced up to see an arrow sticking out just where my head had been.

“Drop!” Ehren’s voice sounds panicked, and it forces me to release my grip on the ladder.

Falling backwards through the air, I’m completely trusting the dhampir below me. Two arms encircle me just as the breath fills my lungs once more. A few strange noises began to sound around me. Whizzing, like something zipping through the air past us, branches snapping loudly as if we’re being chased. I don’t open my eyes knowing that Ehren is most likely running inhumanly fast. He adjusts my weight as he continues running to an unknown destination. I dig my face deeper into his chest, failing at attempting to keep my heart rate even. I may not know much about this new world of vampirism, but something tells me getting shot at and hunted by psychos with arrows fits into their daily routine by how quickly Ehren handled the situation.

It isn’t long before I’m sailing through the air and a scream gets caught in my throat. Briefly, I peek open my eyes to see the ground nowhere near me before I’m caught again in Ehren’s arms. I stare at the dhampir as he continues running like as if he didn’t just toss me in the air and catch me again. My eyes narrow on him now. Is he insane! Who just throws another person and then catches them while running from potential murderers?

A loud crack sounds out and we’re enveloped in darkness. There’s barely a bit of sunlight spilling through the open door of the building we’re in and that’s all the light that is offered. I feel something like hay or straw underneath me as Ehren releases me onto the floor. His footsteps are quiet as he makes his way towards the doors and closes them tightly. I can hear something like latching, as if he’s locking us into the dark room.

“Lower your heart rate,” he whispers out. “Look, nothing’s gonna hurt you in here and I can see enough for the both of us for now. Alright?”

I find myself nodding despite not fully trusting him alone in a dark building out in the middle of nowhere. It takes a few minutes, but I finally manage to slow my heartrate and Ehren finally calms down as well. I can hear him releasing a breath of relief afterwards.

“W-What- What just happened?” I ask him in the darkness, my voice sounding small. “Was that a training exercise for you vampires? An assassination attempt? What just happened, Ehren?”

I jump at the feeling of smooth skin rubbing against mine. Ehren lightly caresses the top of my hand with his cool fingertip. I can’t tell if he’s attempting to keep me calm in some way or if he’s attempting to keep himself distracted from what we just went through.

“Sealgair,” he finally breathes out. “They must’ve been watching us for a while to have figured out our patterns when it comes to the treehouse. I didn’t do a perimeter check around the school today. I was too- I should’ve done one.”

Sitting in the darkness, the silence consumes us. I want to know what he was going to say, but I just leave it alone, knowing he’s probably feeling pretty torn up over whatever it is.

“Whatever happened, Ehren, it isn’t your fault.” My hand flips over, letting our fingers interlock, enjoying the way he lets me touch him right now. “Do you think the others are safe?”

“They should be. I’m pretty sure their intended target is now in this room.”

Once again, the silence envelops us. Our hands stay interlocked as a slight tremble runs through my arm.

“It’s me, right?” I take a well-needed deep breath. “I’m their target. Because I’m Natalia’s niece.”

“And then some.” His grip increases. “But they’ll have to be pretty good if they want even within five feet of you. I promise you that.”

Turning my head in the direction of his voice, I can feel our noses briefly touch one another. Heat spreads through my stomach and chest. Lights not needed to know how red my cheeks probably are. His breath fans out over my lips, making them tremble with something I’ve never felt before; a burning desire that not even Peyton and Emmy’s charms could match.

“Ehren...” The word is softer than a whisper.

The warmth of his hand leaves mine and his breath fades. He moved away somewhere in the small building. Maybe I pushed my luck with him. Ehren doesn’t seem like the type to involve himself with others personally, but the way his breath hitched when I said his name... There’s something between us, but he won’t let me close enough to discover it.