Night Class

August 17th, 2019

Saturday 1:30pm

“Why is something like this even necessary?” I ask Romans.

The dhampir looks as though he’s ready to snap my neck now as he struggles to keep hold of my legs. “Just fix it. And hurry because I think I’m slipping.”

“Aren’t vampires supposed to be super strong?”

“I haven’t fed in a few days,” he hisses out. “Now, vamanos!”

Blood is slowly rushing to my head, making my brain feel heavy and my eyes feel droopy. Romans grips on my ankles become tighter as he mutters some words in Spanish at me. My hands slowly work and weave the red and blue wires around the PA systems circuit. When Romans had mentioned a project, I didn’t think he meant pranking the school. Or is this considered vandalism? Either way, this isn’t how I thought I’d spend the rest of my day. With two more crosses and a couple zaps from the wires themselves, I finally finish up the connections.

“Done, pull me up.”

Romans struggles a bit, but finally pulls me back up onto the stone support beam. The PA system was apparently not working for the last few days and Romans knew the guy was supposed to fix it. He says he ‘convinced’ the guy to let him fix it instead and to tell no one about the switch up. The explanation alone sounds devious enough to show that he’s guilty, but I think he’s hoping I’ll play the royalty card and that’s why I’m here.

As I straddle the beam, Romans has this gleam of mischief in his eyes. “Are you ready, chica?”

“Is this going to get us expelled?”

He smirks now. “Would that be such a bad thing? Imagine it, Izzy. You. Me. Alone on the road together and just enjoying life as it slowly passes us by.”

“And how would you survive without food or shade?”

He winks now with a playful smile. “Your blood should do the trick.”

His wink causes a laugh to escape my lips rather than the dry chuckle I expected. He’s actually not that bad. Not as bad as I was expecting anyways.

“Remind me to never request you as my watcher again,” I tease him a bit.

Those dark eyes shine with even more mischief. “But you would be missing out on so much fun if not for me, no?” He pulls out his phone and holds his hand out to me. “Cable por favor, chica?”

With a nervous intake of breath, I hand Romans the connector for the PA system. “We’re so getting expelled.”

The dhampir connects his phone to the system and within seconds the entire hallway is filled with a very disturbing song. The beats are fine within the song, the problem lies in the lyrics. After setting the phone down and checking over it one last time, Romans grips my hand and pulls me to my feet. Without another word, the dhampir jumps from the beam, pulling me with him. I can’t even scream as we descend to the ground. My feet touch the marble flooring and I immediately pull back away from Romans. The dhampir doesn’t even seem to notice that I’m slightly ticked off about him jumping off a tall beam with me, or he does and just doesn’t care.

“Let’s go.”

Romans grabs my wrist and pulls me along with down the corridor and towards an open area in the west wing. I’ve never been down this way of the school. All of our classes are in the east wing downstairs. Bedrooms are upstairs with danag’s being in the west wing and dhampir’s being in the east wing. I sleep in the east with the dhampir’s since they would be able to handle it should I have a nightmare while sleeping.

The hallway opens up into the open area with two branches leading off towards another hallway and the other seems to lead towards a set of double doors. The wood is different from the rest of the building, dark oak and thick looking with intricate designs. Without saying a word to Romans, I walk towards the doors and notice the design is of something out of a horror novel. Something along the lines of clouds are rolling out of someone’s hands, a man, as they spill over a group of women and children. The people seem to be in agony as the men, soldiers in medieval armor, fight to keep the cloud-like shadows away from them all. The two golden handles on the doors are curved and tempting to touch. My hand grips the right one just as a hand clamps around my wrist.

“Don’t.” Romans’ breath fans out over the back of my neck. “We don’t go in there. Ever.”

“W-Why not?” My voice trembles and I hate it, but something about the seriousness in his voice scares me.

It’s then that I hear something beautiful. A cello. The sound is so low and haunting that it sets my arm hair on end. The thought of someone in this school being able to play a piece so… It makes me curious. I want to know who it is. I want to get to know them. I need to see them and speak to them and ask them questions. I need to hear them play a song just for me and me alone.

“We just can’t, Izzy.”

“Romans, I need to know who’s playing that.” I try to get him to understand just how desperate I am to know who the person is. “Please.”

He looks torn now as he looks between me and the doors. “I’m sorry, Izzy. You can’t.” Slowly, he pulls my hand off of the handle and drags me along with him in the opposite direction. “Please don’t be angry with me, but you just-“

“Can’t.” My hand slowly slips from his. “Yeah, I got it. I’m fine.”

The more we walk down the corridor, the farther we walk from the mysterious room, that enchanting melody disappears. I just need to know who it that can play something so sad, haunting, yet so beautiful. Each stroke of the bowstring causes a pluck on my own heartstrings. I can feel that persons pain, each bit of misery they put into that one piece of music. It resonates within me. Reminding me for that brief moment of the days when Mom would giggle as she accepted roses from my father, of the days when I hold Melanie as Mom and Dad danced around in the garden to music that was never actually there. They didn’t need it. Their souls were dancing to this music, this hauntingly beautiful cello.

“Well-“ Romans awkwardly claps his hands together. “We have about twenty minutes until your familia discovers that the music playing in the entrance is in fact my doing. So, what would you like to do in that time?”

I can’t help but shrug. “Not really sure. I haven’t learned much about the school in general. Why not a tour?”

“A tour, I can do.” Romans brightens up now.

I point back behind us. “Starting with that mystery door with the music behind it.”

He gives me a pointed look. “Nice try, Princessa. Not happening.” He glances around before pointing at one of the doors to the left of us. “This is the chemicals room. If you ever spill blood or any other staining liquid, this is where you would get the required materials to clean up your mess.”

“Why do I feel like you’ve heard that line a million times?”

The teasing in my voice loosens him up from the awkwardness earlier. “That would be correct. You aunt is not very fond of messes and I tend to be not so fond of cleanliness.”

“Really? Because I have a feeling you only hate cleaning things up because she wants you to clean things up.”

Romans has never smirked harder since I’ve met him. “And here I was thinking that you weren’t learning anything about me. Good one.” He motions towards the door to our right now, directly across from the chemicals room. “This is the supply room. Toilet paper, paper towels, extra towels and wash cloths. Down this way to the left is the art station. Here, struggling artists can release their inner demons on canvas’.”

His over exaggeration of the use of the room indicates just how much he doesn’t understand art. I get it at times, but I’m not passionate enough about it to argue with Romans over it.

“Where would someone go if they wanted to work on something like writing?”

“Writing?”

“Yes, writing. You know, pencil and paper, or in my case, typewriter and headphones. Better yet, just any place to get some peace and quiet.”

Romans places a finger to his chin in deep thought and I can’t tell if he’s serious or not. His eyes light up now as he grabs my wrist once more, pulling me along with him down the hallway. Just farther down the wing is another set of double doors, but these have a more appealing design on them. Blackbirds are soaring over an empty field with two trees on either door just in the forefront. Something about the scene just seems to relax me automatically.

Romans opens both doors with before turning and giving me a smile. “Welcome to the quiet room. Or well, technically it’s called the greenhouse, but you've requested a quiet place.”

The room is huge compared to the others I’ve seen. It’s one big circular room with a glass dome on top. I can see the sunlight streaming down onto the wooden floor. In the middle of the room are three rows of planter boxes that have been raised up from the ground by stone hilts. The plants look… strange. There are four planters in each row and each has roughly ten strange looking plants in each one. Stone walls surround us with deep green vines creeping all over them, traveling all the way up to the glass windows above. My eyes slowly take in and absorbed every inch of the room, wanting nothing more than to just soak in it’s absolutely breathtaking beauty.

“It’s amazing, no?”

Romans’ breath fans out just over the back of my neck, causing chills travel down my spine. “You don’t know a thing about personal space, do you?”

He laughs, completely unoffended. “I do, but I’ve been tasked with testing your boundaries. Apparently, we need to see whether or not you’re fully comfortable around us vampiros or not.”

“And why is that important?”

I understand that it would make things easier on them and myself both if I was more comfortable around them, but why does it matter to them?

Romans shrugs now before walking towards the planters. “I don’t ask questions when it comes to Knox. I just do what I’m told.”

“So, you’ll listen to him, but you won’t listen to my aunt- the literal queen of your kind.”

He looks to be torn now. “Knox is- He’s a bit scarier than your familia. Let’s just stick with that.” His hands find my middle back, nudging me towards the plants now. “Now, you’ll need to know a thing or two about plants for biology. I have a strange feeling you might find our plants a lot more fascinating than humano plants.”

I don’t bother answering him as I glance over the many different plants. Some of them are glowing along their petals and others are being swarmed by small insects. He mentions my family a lot and causes a question to flood my brain. What are their families like? They come from a vampire family rather than a human one. My dad may have been part vampire, but I was raised human and with human traditions.

“Hey, Romans?”

The dark-eyed vampire stares at me now expectantly. My hands feel sweaty now, the idea of snooping through their family histories or asking too many personal questions, but I want to know more about them as friends.

“What’s your family like?”

His eyes widen a bit before slowly taking a seat on the edge of a wooden barrel near the planters. “Mi familia are as close as a familia can get, I suppose. I love them with my whole heart. They are a lot more accepting of dhampirs and humans than most vampiros would be.”

His eyes follow me as I sit crisscrossed in front of him, staring up at him with curious eyes. His lips tilt upwards a bit at the action before continuing.

“Mi madre es vampira. Mi padre… My-" He sucks in a breath, nerves bundling now behind those dark eyes. "My dad’s dead. He was technically a hunter at one point in time, but they crossed paths with one another. After spending some alone time with my mother, Dad fell in love with her. He fought his best to get out of the hunting lifestyle, but something happened before he-“

Romans’ eyes begin to water and my heart feels as though it’s being ripped apart from the inside. A huge block appears in my throat, refusing to let anything other than a shaky breath loose.

“I was sent here so that I could maybe teach others that not all hunters are evil, but it’s hard to convince a bunch of vampiros that only see your familia as traitors to the crown.”

“Is that why you fight against my aunt so much?” A steady breath in, hoping I don’t offend him in any way. “Because everyone already sees you as a troublemaker, a rulebreaker, a traitor.”

Romans nods solemnly. He doesn’t seem as though he feels bad about it though, but I guess I hadn’t really expected him to. Placing a hand on his sneaker, the poor wet-eyed boy before me stares down into my own wet eyes.

“You are not a traitor. I'm part of the crown and I deem you one of the most trustworthy vampires in my aunt’s court. Do you understand me, Nicolas?”

“That is the first time you’ve ever said my name and I don’t think I liked it.”

“I don’t think I did either,” I joke with him.

The vampire finally has a genuine smile on his face and everything once again feels normal. He has nothing to worry about when it comes to getting any type of approval from me. I trust him just as much as I trust my aunt.

The doors to the greenhouse swing open and in come to men that seem terrifying. Black suits, black ties, and serious expressions. The taller one looks directly at Romans now with severe disappointment while the other looks mildly annoyed.

Romans turns to me with a sheepish grin. "Any chance you'd be willingly to take the blame this time around?"

"This time around!" My eyes widen as he smiles now. "Romans-"

The taller man grips Romans' arm and pulls him to his feet before jerking him towards the exit. I stand quickly, placing my arms out and pleading with them to stop. The man finally stops in his tracks after my third plea.

"I'm the one who hooked the speaker system up. I stole Romans' phone because he has better music. I should be the one in trouble, not him."

Scary-serious man turns to face me now, jerking Romans along with him. "I apologize, Princess Isabella, but we know that it was Nicolas who is in the wrong here. We must escort him to Queen Natalia."

He starts to drag him off again, but I reach out and grab his arm. I feel as though I'm losing my mind here lately. Smarting off to my uncle (who could kill me) and then grabbing a a scary guy who is probably also a vampire (who can kill me). Warning bells are going off inside my head, shouting at me to leave the situation, turn around, and just let Romans lie in the bed he's made. But I just can't. Romans' eyes, those nearly black orbs peering into mine, begging to be saved, stop me from thinking of myself like a normal person would.

"He's my escort!" I release the mans arm and step back a few spaces. "You can't take him away. I don't care what he's done or whose requested him. He's not for you to just take and leave me unguarded. So, if aunt Natalia wants him, tell her to come and get him herself or to request an audience with me instead."

Both men look between one another now before the scarier one slings Romans towards me. The dhampir collides into me, but the impact isn't a major one, more like a bump.

"Fine," the man grits out. "I'll inform the queen of your input on the situation. Excuse us."

They both leave the room now. The atmosphere they've left behind is an awkward one. Or it was until Romans started bursting out into a fit of laughter. The dhampir drops to his knees while holding his stomach, tears reaching the brink of his eyes. The sight alone causes laughter to bubble up inside of me as well, but I try not to be as loud as he is. I think Romans and I have just surpassed our very first near-death experience and according to him, there are many more to come in the future. A part of me fears the idea at all, but then another part is looking forward to it. Romans really isn't a bad guy to hang around and he just might have become my new best friend.