Who Let The Vamps out?

Two weeks later, Astrid was finally back on her feet. The doctors said it was a miracle she survived and Noah and Micka simply shared a glance and smiled.

They told her everything she missed out on: Nyx’s evil plan, their quest for Alpha blood, meeting a rich CEO with tattoos and a thick accent, all of it. Well, almost anyway. Micka had asked Noah to keep the gun situation where he almost killed himself a secret. He didn’t want Astrid to know so Noah promised that he’d take the secret to his grave.

Astrid stared at them with her jaw wide open, wondering how she could miss so much in such a short span of time. Despite scolding them for being reckless, she was grateful. Astrid owed them her life.

Their robot baby assignment had ended. It wasn’t a surprise that Micka and Astrid failed, ranking last in their class. Ranking first was Issa and Roman.

Noah and Aleksei got an A, but when their assignment ended, Noah officially cut all ties with his husband. Well, his ex-husband.

One afternoon, Noah received a text from Astrid, telling him to meet up with her at the schoolyard. After class, he left the school building and saw Astrid and Micka bickering on a bench, as usual.

“Hey,” he smiled. “What’s going on?”

“Crazy lady sitting in front of me has another AMAZING place,” Micka cried in despair. He snapped his head towards Astrid. “Have you forgotten that you almost died? Don’t you get tired of risking your life all the time? Can’t we do something normal for once like oh, I don’t know, bowling?”

He threw his hands in the air, continuing to rant, but Astrid ignored him.

“I have news from the FBI,” she informed Noah. “They’ve managed to get some information, saying that they have one of Nyx’s men working undercover for them.”

“A vampire?” He asked in surprise. Astrid nodded. “Who?”

“They won’t say, apparently it’s top secret,” she mumbled, curious herself to know which vampire would work against their own king to help humans. “Have you heard about the school dance?”

Noah nodded. Everyone was talking about it.

“The vampire working for the FBI informed them that Nyx is going to fulfill his plan the night of the school dance,” she said in a serious tone. “Everyone will be there, giving Nyx the perfect opportunity to turn them into vamps.”

“How?”

“A human needs to drink human blood prior to their death. Nyx is going to mix vampire blood into the red punch at the dance, and he’s going to kill everyone after that.”

“How’s he planning on killing thousands of students in one night?” Noah demanded, shivering at the thought.

“Bombs.”

Noah felt the blood in his face drain down his neck, feeling goosebumps crawl down his spine.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“There’s a ventilation system installed inside the castle. He’s going to hide two bombs that will blow up sometime during the dance.”

“Since when do castles have a ventilation system? Castles were built during the medieval days, they didn’t even have proper water back then.”

“They shouldn’t, but it was bought a few years ago by a rich man who innovated and modernized the building. Apparently, the person who bought it hates the cold and decided to install a ventilation system to regulate the indoor air.”

Noah blinked, trying to process everything. Was this really happening? Was Nyx really planning on killing thousands of innocent lives?

“What if we throw away the drinks before the party?” He uttered.

“The bomb will still blow up, drinks or not.”

“Then we find the bombs and destroy them?”

“We’d have to find the bombs first, but we don’t have a blueprint of the castle. Without one, we can’t know the length of the ventilation system.”

“What if we cancel the dance?” Micka suggested.

“And tell them what? No one is going to believe us if we tell them that Nyx is trying to create an army of genius vampire slaves, we’ll be the laughing stock of the school.”

Before Micka could throw a fit, he calmly asked, “So what do you suggest we do?”

“It seems like the only option we have is going to the school dance and finding the ventilation system ourselves,” she said. “Nyx is going to release the gas at 10:00 p.m on the dot,” Astrid informed, repeating what Geo and Carl had told her. “We can crawl into the ventilation system and cut the wires to the gas machines before the timer goes off.”

“We don’t even know how many rooms or floors, or how long the ventilation system is without a blueprint,” Micka argued.

“Which is why we’ll have to rely on luck.”

Micka groaned. “Can we for once just live a normal teenage life and not jump straight to our deaths?!”

“We live in a world where vampires are trying to take over the world,” Astrid deadpanned. “A normal teenage life doesn’t exist for us.”

She looked at Noah and Micka who were much less enthusiastic about her suicidal plan than her previous ones. Astrid sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear before crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice softened slightly, knowing how scary all of this was to them. “You two don’t have to do this, Geo and Carl will understand your resignation.”

Noah and Micka both glanced at each other before looking back towards Astrid.

“Jeez, fine, we’ll do it,” Micka sighed. He slapped his forehead. “This bad boy can fit so much anxiety in it, I’m practically invincible.”

He looked at Astrid and shrugged. “Besides, who else is going to stop a vampire apocalypse from happening?”

Astrid fought back a smile.

“Bowling sounded boring anyway,” Noah said.

“Great,” Astrid beamed. “Apart from the fact that this school dance is probably going to lead to the end of the world, we should still try and enjoy it. Bran Prep High has a reputation for organizing lavish parties for the rich and privileged.”

Her raven-black eyes shifted towards Micka. “Do you want to be my date?”

Micka batted his eyes in confusion. “Your what?”

“My date,” she repeated. “You know, my partner for the school dance.”

Micka felt his cheek flush red, sirens screeching in his ears. He tried to find his words but ended up stuttering incomprehensible syllables.

“Y-Yes, of course, absolutely, yes,” he blurted. Astrid looked at him in a funny way but couldn’t help but laugh. It was cute seeing such a tough-looking guy melt into a nervous mess.

“Alright, perfect,” she smiled. “I’ll catch you two later, I have to send another report to Geo and Carl.”

“B-Bye Astrid!” Micka shouted mechanically. Astrid bit her lip and raised a brow.

“See you, boys,” she said before turning around and leaving. Once she was gone, Micka turned towards Noah and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him back and forth.

“Dude, did you see that?” he cried. Noah laughed and nodded.

“Yup,” he chuckled. “I saw all of it.”

Micka gasped, patting the sides of his face. “I-Is my face red? Am I red? Don’t tell me I’m blushing.”

Noah studied Micka’s scarlet skin and pressed a smile. “You look... Fine.”

Micka groaned, knowing that “fine” meant “as red as a fricking tomato”. He leaned back and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths.

“Shit, she’s so cool,” he muttered under his breath. He then quickly sat up and narrowed his eyes. “If you tell her that I said that, you’re dead to me.”

Noah raised his hands. “Another secret to take to my grave.”

Micka nodded gratefully. “Anyway, what about you? Who are you going with?”

His blunt words made Noah grimace. “Oh, I’ll probably go by myself.”

“What?! No way, man, I’m not letting you go solo.”

Noah thought about who he could go with, ignoring the first name that popped in his head. “What about Gaby?”

“The girl who dissects dead animals for fun? She’s a genius in biology and chem but uh, I wouldn’t consider her for a date,” Micka pointed out.

“What about Ava?”

“I heard she scratched her ex’s limited edition Ferrari,” Micka said, shaking his head.

“Isabella?”

“Nope,” Micka said, popping the ‘P’. “She’s already going with Castor.”

Noah frowned. “Maybe I can go with Issa, then. You know, as buddies.”

“And die at Roman’s hand?” Micka snorted. “I wouldn’t.”

“Wait, Issa and Roman are going together?”

“Yeah, Issa’s been telling the whole school about it. And even if he didn’t, it’s not a surprise,” he said. “Roman’s marked his territory so strong, no one would ask Issa.”

“True,” Noah admitted. Micka scratched the back of his head, clearing his voice.

“What about Aleksei?”

Noah stiffened at the name.

“You know, the moody vampire guy you had a fling with,” he went on.

“Not interested,” Noah mumbled flatly.

“Out of the 17 years I’ve known you,” said Micka. “That has got to be the biggest lie I have ever heard yet.”

Noah felt his face redden slightly and shifted his gaze to the side, avoiding Micka’s judgemental stare. “He doesn’t like me.”

“Bullshit,” spat Micka. “He stares at you like you’re the only person on Earth.”

“No, he doesn’t,” Noah denied, oblivious.

“He’d kill for you,” Micka pointed out. He thought about what he said for a second and said, “Figuratively and literally.”

“That’s not true.”

Micka groaned.

“I don’t understand why you two don’t get together when it’s obvious your feelings are mutual. You like him and he likes you and it’s a goddamn tragedy because instead of looking at each other, you both choose to stare at the ground,” he sighed. “Give him a chance and if it doesn’t work out, then screw it. We’re going to die anyway.”

Noah remained silent and Micka sighed, having no choice. “Either you ask Aleksei, or I’m taking you to the dance.”

“But you’re going with Astrid,” Noah said, confused. “You were seconds away from bursting from excitement just a few minutes ago.”

Micka shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m not letting my best friend go to his last school dance alone.”

“Micka...”

“It’s either Aleksei or me. And as much as I know you want to see me bust some crazy-ass moves on the dance floor with you, I think you’d be much happier with another man.”

He clapped Noah on the shoulder before getting up. “Think about it.”

Noah watched Micka leave and smiled, grateful to have someone like him by his side.