The Vampire Confederation(II)

"The Confederation will send Vampires to attack Principal Fernsby, if we remain here?" I blurted, and all eyes turned to me.

They all seemed so surprised, granted, because it was the first time I'd ever spoken or shown any interest in these meetings.

"Yes," Roman answered calmly, his glacial eyes raking over me, probably wondering what had brought on my sudden interest.

"And what about the students? Wouldn't they be in danger?" I continued, in complete shock and disbelief at how they could all be talking about this so calmly like this wasn't a war literally on the cusp of breaking out, with innocent students waiting to be caught right in the middle of it.

"Yes, they will be in danger, Vasilis. That's why we're having a meeting." Roman said, again, so calmly that I was frustrated just standing there and watching him act like this was an everyday occurrence, and nothing anyone should be panicking over.

"A meeting?! You should be telling principal Fernsby right now! You should go and warn her and tell her to send the students home or something. You should be coming up with counter-plans! Not having a bloody meeting!"

I'd tried to remain calm, but found that I could not. Not when Jade was in the school at this very moment, heart pulsing with such fragile mortality that could be ripped from her in the blink of an eye.

"I didn't know you cared this much about the students," Roman fully turned to face me, eyes narrowed in amusement.

I swallowed but held his stare, not wanting to give away anything. "Of course, I care about them. I'm not a people-hating, heartless devil like you are."

Roman held a hand over his chest, a grin on his face. "Ouch." Then he turned serious again.

"Albertha has been informed of the recent developments, and we do have a counter-plan, Vasilis." Roman began, his voice coated in heavy mockery. "While you were out playing studious student with your literature project partners over the weekend, a letter arrived from the British Vampire Confederate Judicial Committee."

His eyes dimmed, the midnight blue of his irises turning almost black as he waited for me to take in that piece of information.

"Well, what did they have to say?" I lifted a shoulder in a questioning shrug, and silence reigned for a while.

My eyes flicked around the room in confusion, and I wondered why the hell they were all looking at me with weird glints that looked like pity in their eyes.

"Well?" I prompted, still deeply confused, and Roman finally let out a deep sigh before turning to Jesse, who handed him a thick envelope.

"Here," he handed it to me, "see for yourself."

My brows pulling into a deep frown, I turned the thick white envelope over in my hands, admiring the rich, blood-red broken wax seal still latching unto the paper. It was shaped like fangs.

I pulled out the letter enclosed and let my eyes skim over the neatly typed words.

𝑻𝒐 𝑴𝒓. 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒔 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒔,

𝑩𝒐𝒓𝒏 1903,

𝑺𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 1923.

*[ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕒 𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕞𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕗𝕖𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.]

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑴𝒓. 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒔,

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅.

𝑰𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝑽𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝒓. 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒔; 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒂, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒍𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒂 𝑪𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓-𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆.

𝑨𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝑴𝒓. 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒚, 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈-𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍, 𝑴𝒓. 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒓. 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔, 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚. 𝑭𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒔—𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔.

𝑾𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.

𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅,

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑽𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

𝕊𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕠 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕩𝕖𝕔𝕦𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕤;

𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝑨𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏.

I finished reading the letter and looked back up.

They were all starting at me expectantly.

Aiko looked deeply worried, and Suiko looked like she was on the verge of tears. Charlotte looked like she was pretending to be bored, Sophia seemed uninterested as always, and I couldn't tell if the hard glint in her eyes meant anything. Even Jesse and Rishi had worried frowns on their faces.

Roman regarded me with a carefully guarded look in his glacial eyes.

"So, they want me in exchange for absolving you guys of your criminal records," I started, not really as a question but rather a statement.

"Yes," Roman affirmed, his eyes narrowing the tiniest fraction as though he knew what I was about to say and was already refuting it in his head.

I let my shoulders lift in a casual shrug even though fear was beginning to gnaw at my insides. "Okay. So, let me go to them, then."

Roman's growl was instantaneous, filled with wild, unabated, crushing fury.

"Absolutely not!"