Letters to Romeo

Though every person in Veteris was celebrating its last day of the Fall Annual, Julie and her friends were not only devastated on hearing about Reese's death, but they were shocked on seeing the state of her body.

Julie and her friends returned to Melanie's dorm, where Conner had taken a seat on the bed, while Melanie tried to console him. But there was very little anyone could say or do in such an unexpected death, and silence hung in the dorm.

It wasn't just Reese's death that Julie thought about, but also what Caleb had informed her about Roman. She only hoped for him to be alright and that he wasn't being tortured, wherever the management had kept him now.

"I should probably go back to my dorm and try to get some sleep," said Conner, standing up from the edge of the bed. He wiped his face with both his hands.

"You can stay here if you want to, Conner," suggested Melanie, standing up with him while Julie stood against the wall. "Do you want to take permission from Ms. Dante to visit Reese's place to attend her viewing?"

Conner shook his head, "I don't think it is possible, but I think I will try asking. I will go and see if Ms. Dante is in her office now to ask about it."

"Let me come with you," offered Melanie, feeling sad for her best friend, the person whom she had secretly loved.

"That's fine. I will be fine, I need some time to think," Conner replied to Melanie and paused for a moment before he said, "I still don't believe Reese had gone to the forest in the night. She has never been the type to break the rule, and yesterday she was having a headache. Maybe it is time the university did something about these wild animals that keep attacking the students."

Julie didn't utter a word because she knew Reese was killed by vampires. It had happened before, and it happened now. If she were to die at the hands of the vampires, her body would be found like this too, thought Julie to herself.

They had killed an innocent person, and in Julie's eyes, it was an unforgivable sin.

"I will see you both later," murmured Conner, and Julie nodded her head.

"Take care of yourself, Conner," said Julie to him, and he offered a small smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Once the door shut, Melanie let out a tired sigh, "It is so hard to imagine that Reese is dead."

"We should all avoid going to the forest," Julie's voice was small, staring at the door through which Conner had left. "I think I will go back to my dorm too, Mel."

"I understand," Melanie nodded her head and said, "I will stay here too. It doesn't feel right to be outside and enjoying when we have lost someone."

Returning to her dorm, Julie locked the door. She paced front and back in the room, deep in thought of what to do. Though Caleb had given her the information about Roman, she didn't know if she should stay put in the dorm. The feeling of uncertainty with anxiousness kept building up in her stomach.

Last night, after spending time with Roman, she had hoped that he wouldn't go to fight with porcupine and his friends. Not immediately, at least. Roman's temper was always something that slithered beneath his surface.

She didn't want to stay in the dorm, while God only knew in what state Roman was in right now. Julie didn't want to be that helpless girl who didn't know what to do in a situation like this, and it was because of her, Roman was being punished somewhere. She clenched her hands, and when she heard the crackling snap of twigs behind her, she turned around and caught sight of the creature in its long black robes.

Julie stared at the bird-like creature's face that was facing her.

'You are upset,' said the creature in its low, raspy voice.

"One of my friend's friend was killed last night. Do you know anything about it?" questioned Julie, and the creature nodded its head.

'Saw the body being dragged into the forest by two men,' answered the creature.

So her guess was correct.

"Do you know who killed her?" she asked, and the Corvin shook its head.

'Saw only body in the forest. You should leave,' said the creature to her.

"I already told you why I can't leave. I…" her voice trailed, staring at it. "This place is attached to Willow Creek, do you know where it is? Do you come from there?"

'The Willow Creek has been hidden for years, it disappeared, and none have been able to get back into it. It is not good to be with each other," the Corvin said to her in a dull voice, and Julie frowned. "Vampires and witches don't get along. Not meant to be with each other and will bring death."

"Maybe it was in the past, but now it's different. What is your name?" asked Julie, realizing she had never asked it before.

'Corvin,' answered the creature. Maybe she did, and she had received the same reply before, thought Julie to herself. As if feeling Julie's stare, the creature said, 'We have no names. We come from death.'

"Were you a witch before you turned into a Corvin?" inquired Julie, and the creature stared at her in silence.

'Maybe, but I don't remember. We don't have recollections of our lives before we come into existence,' replied the creature, and Julie nodded her head.

"There's something I want from you."

The creature tilted its head to the side in question.

"Can you find where Roman is being held right now?"

'The vampire.'

"Yes," replied Julie. "He's being punished for killing a boy who hurt me. It is some sort of underground place built by the vampire to hide their activities, I want you to find where he is. Can you do that?"

The creature looked reluctant in having to find another kind of creature that it wasn't particularly fond of.

"Please," pleaded Julie, "I would have done it myself, but it's day time and I might get caught for snooping around."

'Okay.'

"Wait! Before that," Julie quickly went to her table, tearing a page from her book, she scribbled something on the paper. Once she was done writing the letter, she folded it and gave it to the Corvin. "Give this to him."

'I don't like vampires,' confessed the creature, letting her know that it wasn't happy about having to find a night creature.

"But you like me, and I like him. He's important to me," Julie offered the creature a friendly smile, and it took the letter with its twig-like hands. The very next second, the creature disappeared from her dorm. Julie was glad that the Corvin had come to see her.

Away from Julie's dorm, on the restricted side of the forest and in the dungeon, Roman had continued to stand, leaning against the wall. Since last night, he hadn't had a way to fulfil his thirst, and it was slowly weakening his body and mind. But he didn't let it show on his face.

The Elders seemed to have missed something, that he had carried a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and he passed the night smoking it.

"Always so self maintained," commented Donovan, who had come to check on Roman. "It is something I have always admired about you, Rome. Feeling hungry?"

"Not much," replied Roman, his eyes following the Elder, who walked down the stairs and came to stand in front of his cell. But he hadn't come alone and had brought a student along with him, a boy.

"If you said that you were hungry, I would have shared this boy with you. My snack," commented Donovan.

Roman's eyes fell on the boy, who looked petrified, but he didn't dare to scream or call out for help. Donovan ran his fingernail across the boy's neck, and soon the air in the dungeon started to pick up the scent of human blood. It was enough to have Roman's eyes turned red, and his jaw ached as his fangs threatened to come out and take a sip from the human.

"You should go and enjoy the last celebration day of Veteris, instead of coming here to check if I am still here," remarked Roman in a nonchalant tone.

"Are you still upset because I killed your human? Don't worry about it, I will find you a better one than the last one. She didn't seem to have any qualities," saying this, Donovan took a bite at the human's neck before starting to suck his blood out. Pulling away, he said, "I have come to notice that the humans' blood tastes better than they did in the past, or is it because I haven't taken blood since the last one century?" He licked the boy's neck.

"It's because Dante has been providing them with quality food, which in turn has an effect on the human's body," Roman humoured the older vampire with the silly conversation.

"I guess this is what they call investment," Donovan finished taking another bite. "You sure you don't want to take a drink?"

"I would rather take a new one than share with you," responded Roman, and Donovan smiled.

"How rude. You know if it was someone else, I would have snapped their head or torn their heart out of their bodies," said Donovan, his eyes fixed on Roman with a faintly amused smile on his lips.

"Why don't you try it," challenged Roman, the fire in his eyes lighting up that Donovan adored so much.

"Hm, maybe one day, but today I am not in the mood," hearing this, Roman rolled his eyes.

He preferred being in his own company than being in this geezer's company, who had come here just to taunt and tease him. He wondered if he was late planning to throw all their caskets in the ocean, and he stared at Donovan.

"You know," Donovan drawled, bringing the human's hand up to his lips, and he took a bite before drinking blood from there. Pulling away, he said, "There was once a woman, and she was beautiful."

"Did you kill her?" deadpanned Roman, his eyes holding no humour in them.

But as usual, Donovan found Roman's question to be amusing, and he said, "No, but I wished I did that. I thought we had a good time, but she disappeared. Just like that. I believe it has been a while since she has been dead. You know how short a human's life is," he made a breaking action with both his hands.

"Is that why you are so salty and don't want me to have one?"

"Salty?"

Roman closed his eyes for a second before opening and said, "Bitter."

Donovan brushed Roman's words and continued to say, "I heard you came in contact with hunters. Do you know how many were there?"

"Around seven, but probably more," replied Roman, and Donovan had a thoughtful look on his face.

"From a very long time, the hunters have been our enemies. You remember the time when they tried to experiment on you. We and the humans, we are of the same kind, trying to kill each other," a huff escaped from the older vampire's lips, and he said, "Anyways, make sure to get some good rest in here and once you are done, then it is time we go find the hunters. Right now, they must be lying low, knowing the vampires would come back for them. I would like to see what other weapons they have made against us. Also take your time to mourn for the girl."

Roman glared at Donovan without uttering a word to him.

"I will leave this human in here," informed Donovan, "Just so you know that there's food in here if you get thirsty." The older vampire ran his fingernail against the boy's neck in a way where blood trickled down the human's neck.

"Thank you for your thoughtfulness," Roman spoke sarcastically because there was a large distance between the cell and where the human was sitting.

Donovan waved his hand at the boy to sit down, and he then said to Roman, "This one was trying to snoop around the mansion and I just happened to catch the rat. Seeing how he was interested in knowing what I am doing, I thought to bring him down here for you." Before leaving, Donovan said, "If you can try to get out of the cell, do try it and no one will hold it against you." And he told it because none of the vampires had ever been able to get out of the cells.

Donovan stepped out of the dungeon with a polite smile on his lips, leaving the bleeding human to sit in front of Roman's cell.

Roman bit the inside of his cheek, tasting blood from his mouth before swallowing it.

Previous day during the match, when Roman had bit himself to gather the blood in his mouth, it had taken him quite some time to regain his strength. He had drunk enough blood before going to Julie's dorm as he didn't want to pounce on her and suck her dry.

While the Elder vampire had left a bleeding human to tempt and stir his hunger and thirst for blood, Roman heard a soft rustle, and suddenly a paper fell inside the cell. His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked around before walking to where the paper was and picked it up.

Unfolding the paper, knowing who had written it, Roman read the content inside it—

'I heard from the bodyguard that you have been kept in the dungeon, and I hope you are doing okay, Rome. Reese is dead, and we saw her body an hour ago. Conner is devastated by the incident, and he wants to attend Reese's viewing.

I am safe and in my dorm but worried. Worried for both of us, and I am sending this letter through the bird. Please be okay.

—Troublemaker'

"Smart girl," Roman murmured to himself, that she hadn't used her name nor Caleb's name in her writing.

He looked around the place but didn't see the Corvin that had come to deliver her letter.

Suddenly he started to cough, bringing his hand up to cover his lips that turned red because of the blood that he had coughed up. Bringing his hand forward, he noticed the hole-like wound that had formed when Mateo had pushed a nail in his hand. It was a metal that affected the vampire's body.

Pulling out the lighter from his pocket, he burned the letter until it turned to ash.

Away from the dungeon and in one of the mansion's rooms, Elder Luciano sat in the comfortable chair with his back leaned against it while Griffin stood in front of him.

"I don't want you to pull this stunt again, not without my knowledge. Be satisfied that only Motenore has been placed in the cell and you haven't joined him," scolded Luciano, who held a displeased look on his face.

"But Elder Luciano, Roman, has been building relationships with humans and trying to cause problems."

"So what? I don't care about it," Luciano rolled his eyes and then said to Griffin, "Spend your time on something more productive like hunting down the hunters instead of wasting your time on useless things such as these. Donovan has already taken care of the problem by killing the girl last night."

"Killed the girl?" Griffin asked in surprise.

Internally, he couldn't help but smile at the thought that the human was no longer alive. He knew this was what the Elder would do once he found out about the precious human Roman Moltenore had been trying to keep by himself. Right now, he wanted to go and mock Roman, to rub salt over his wound for his loss.

"If I am not wrong, I heard from Castiel that the girl's family came to pick the body and they already left some time ago," commented Luciano. These words uttered by his Elder was music to Griffin's ears.

Once his maker dismissed Griffin, he headed towards the lunchroom and returned to the campus. He heard the light murmurs of the students, where they were discussing the girl's death.

"I heard she was attacked by a wolf. What do you think she was doing in the forest?" questioned one of the students.

A smile appeared on Griffin's lips, and he was unable to contain his happiness. When he saw some of the vampires from the freshman year, who had played for his team in the football match, he said, "Let me get you all a chilled can which is of high quality. This is to celebrate even though we lost."

Griffin and the boys stepped inside the lunchroom as they were being offered a free can of blood.

The hours of the day continued to pass, where more students stayed out of their dorms to celebrate the final day of annual celebration. The music of the speakers had been turned up to a higher volume, whilst everyone eagerly looked forward to the musical band, who was going to perform tonight as the last closing event of the Fall Annual.

Julie didn't leave her dorm, not even when it came to the time of meals, as she and her friends had lost their appetite after seeing Reese's body. Through her window, Julie was watching the students when she heard the crackling sound and turned her body around to catch sight of Corvin, who had returned.

"Did you give him the letter?" Julie asked anxiously, and the creature nodded its head. "How is he?"

'Confined in a cell with no blood. The night creatures torture their own kind. He was throwing blood before I left,' the Corvin let her know, and Julie's eyebrows furrowed. 'One of the old vampires came to visit him.'

"It must be Donovan," replied Julie and she bit her bottom lip.

Julie wanted to see Roman because throwing up blood for a human, or a vampire wasn't a good sign.

"Corvin..." Julie spoke to the Corvin with the name she had given it. "At night, everyone is going to be busy. I want you to take me to the place where they are holding Roman. I will need you to keep an eye to make sure no one enters while I am there."

'Okay.'

Hours passed, and Julie waited for the sun to go down. Melanie had gone to meet Conner while Julie slipped out of her dorm and made her way through the crowd. She covered the lower part of her face with a handkerchief so that no one would notice her. Her brown eyes kept a look around her, trying to make sure she didn't walk past anyone who knew her.

It was eight in the night, and the musical event was about to start in a few minutes.

It seemed like Julie was the only one who was able to see the Corvin, and the creature led her towards the edge of the forest before they entered it. The forest was dark, and no light split from the underground dungeon. If it weren't for the creature's help, she would have never found it.

Reaching the place, the Corvin stood outside while Julie walked down the narrow passage and the steep staircase. And once she reached the ground, she noticed a torch of fire brightly burning on the wall. She only hoped the Elders and other people wouldn't catch her while she was here.

The place was quiet, and some parts of the dungeon were dark. She made her way through the place until she saw a human, who sat against the wall, and he appeared to be sleeping. Julie hoped the person wasn't dead and had only lost his consciousness.

"Winters?"

Hearing Roman's voice, Julie snapped her head and saw Roman behind the metal rods. She quickly ran to the front, glad to see him not hurt the way she had imagined him to be. His eyes looked slightly tired.

His eyes were narrowed, and he looked at the way she had come inside and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"The Corvin said you were coughing blood and I wanted to see you. He's waiting outside the dungeon to keep an eye so that I won't be caught," replied Julie. When she raised her hands to touch him, his voice was sharp, and he said,

"Don't," and he stepped back, his red eyes holding a glare at her. "I am not in the state to control my bloodlust," he let her know, and Julie dropped her hands.

"Caleb said you are going to be here for a week," said Julie, and Roman gave her a nod.

"I did kill a student of Veteris who was a vampire. It is against the rules and is the least punishment I could get for what I did," remarked Roman. Though he didn't want to say the next words, he said, "Even with the Corvin with you, you shouldn't have come here," he said with a look of seriousness. "I think it would be better for you to follow the Corvin. Because there's still one person with whom I need to settle scores with."

Julie felt heaviness in her heart, and she shook her head. In a small voice, she said, "No, you don't have to do it for my sake."

Roman stared at Julie before saying, "Who said I am doing it for you, silly girl. I am doing it for my own selfish reasons, and I cannot rest until I have evened it."

She saw him coughing in front of her, and he held on to one of the iron rods for support. There was blood on his hands, and Julie turned concerned. "Why are you coughing out blood?!"

"This morning I was injected with a small dose of Silverwater into my body. It isn't as bad as it looks," Roman offered her a crooked smile while wiping his lips with the back of his hand. Julie knew it was far worse than what Roman was showing, and she felt bad. "You look like you're about to cry."

"That's how I feel. Why did you kill him? Beating would have been enough..." said Julie, wondering if revenge was worth it.

"Did you think I would let them off after what they did to you?" he questioned her, tilting his head, and he said, "I won't let anyone live in peace who tries to hurt you."

Instead of stepping backwards and away from Roman, Julie took a step closer towards him, and she stretched her right hand forward, letting it pass through the rods that separated them.

"I know you are hungry," said Julie to him.

Roman's eyes narrowed, and he said, "You should get back to your dorm, Winters. If I sink my teeth into you, I might not stop until you lay cold on the ground. I can survive without blood."

"I have faith that you won't, Rome," Julie sounded sure.

Roman gritted his teeth because he could hear the sound of blood pumping in and out of her heart and the pulse. The last time when he had been this hungry, he had killed a whole family.

"I am not a saint," he turned his eyes back to look at her, the glare not leaving his eyes. The expression on his face changed, and so did the look in his eyes, that turned into a predatory look.

Julie nodded her head; without dropping her hand, she said, "I know."

She watched Roman stare at her before he caught hold of her hand and said, "This will hurt a little."

Julie saw Roman's fangs appear, and he bit into her wrist.