33. Dead destiny

You flinched slightly, crease curled down as you felt numb within your chest at such a question. You truly had no plan of leaving. You were just a normal university student who wanted to get through life, and this was totally not expected.

"...plan...I," you gulped, turning aside as you removed his arm off the wall to make your way through. "...I need some time to think...This is just a bit too overwhelming for me...to find that my life is at stake."

You ignored the hot iron stare from his usual eyes as you hugged your arms together, making your way around to the direction of your dorm.

"...You have till next Sunday to make that decision before he comes back."

Your eyes widened, heart abruptly stopped as your brows creased at the deep voice of your roommate. You immediately turned around, eyes fixated onto his expressionless ones.

"How did you...?"

"What did he tell you, first of all?"

"Well," you cleared your throat, standing straighter. "...He said he's going to a business family trip."

He forced a laugh, flipping his violet eyes to the side smugly. "...Nice excuse."

"What...?"

He flickered his eyes back at you, brows thrusted down with seriousness. "Now that you know the truth, you don't honestly believe he is truly interested in that kind of stuff?"

You pursed your lips, thinking for a while, breathing quite uneven. "...How was I supposed to know before you told me? And plus his father is an actual businessman, but...where is he going actually?"

"..." he remained silent for a while. He cleared his throat as he walked swiftly beside you, grabbing your wrist and pulled you along towards the direction of the dorms.

Before you could speak, he spoke—as if he knew such little habits, or maybe what you could truly be thinking at the moment.

"...we can't talk about this in public, let's go back in our dorm," he spoke, while you unconsciously looked over at his larger hand gripping tightly around your wrist—reminding you of the heating pain you felt last night.

—

You two finally arrived at the dorm, he let go of you—not sure why you wanted him to hold you more. He unlocked the door by sliding his student card and pushed the door for entry. You promptly followed and asked, "...I was wondering, does Touya possibly...have some sort of power relating to...heat?"

He abruptly stopped, snapping his eyes at you with seriousness. "...How'd you know?"

You blinked, lips pressed together as you averted your eyes to the door and shut it gently. He remained frozen, standing where he last stood when he questioned you.

You had no choice but to face him once again, as if he had all the time in the world to get answers from you—which was what you felt too. "...I...well, last night, when we were doing stuff, he held my wrist and I felt something burning, it was painful... as if it was some burning water...and so I thought that he...?"

"That jerk," he muttered in utter disdain, fist clenching tightly as the creases of his brow darkened, almost frightening you.

"H-Hey," he croaked, hoping to stop his menacing aura. "...it's fine—"

"It's not fine," he cut you off sharply, deep voice reprobating in your ears.

You felt your heart racing once again, almost afraid like the last time. But, you knew you had no reason to fear this time since he was on your side. He told you answers truthfully, you just knew it was right on the inside, and maybe he was just truly concerned for you as he should.

You gulped, inhaling sharply. "Okay, fine, fine, you're right," you cleared your throat, avoiding his sharp stare. "...it's not fine, but I can't do anything about it now, can I?" You looked back at him, his eyes brooding with deep violet, nearly turning maroon.

"I was just about to get to that, you can do something about it," he declared, swivelling his body to the opposite direction, as he briskly walked towards the living room, you followed quietly. He stopped in front of the large open wall of high windows, showcasing the beautiful scenery of the misty forest.

He placed his arms behind his back, grasping his hands back together as he kept his majestic, nearly perfect face towards the window, unmoved. "...first, to answer your question, Touya and his family aren't in that business trip, it's simply another coverup for hunting season."

"...hunting season?"

He nodded once. "...You see, there's a long history of our kind, which I won't tell you everything, but just know that every year, there's a time when we hunt for at least two days, if not more, it's a tradition."

"...okay, well, but don't you always drink blood every morning and you have to hunt to do that? What's the point of it anyway?" You asked, remembering the drink he avoids you to try.

"...like I said, it's a tradition where certain clans of Vampires have a chosen day and length of time to feast discreetly."

"Oh...So, you guys are like ninjas then?" You asked, hoping to gain a reaction from him.

To your pleasant surprise, he chuckled softly, warily flipped his violet eyes to gaze upon you. "...Something like that, except that we do it for our own pleasure, not something we're paid for, or assigned to."

You chuckled softly with your lips in a firm line, you replicated his position as you kept your neck faced towards your left to maintain eye contact. "...so, are you going too?"

"This Thursday night," he replied, almost immediately. "...I'll be back on Sunday."

"...Same day as Touya?" You asked curiously.

"It's the same day as every Vampire, that's when it ends, and...for him, he started last night, vampires like him have a very high hunger at such occasions."

You nodded mindlessly like a robot. "...hold on, you said before that Touya is a high tier Vampire? Is there like...ranks or whatnot?"

He swallowed, subtly frowning at your question as he released our a sigh. "...In terms of powers, yes..." he hesitated, breaking off your gaze. "...But all you need to know now is that there's two divisions of Vampires based on their main consumption. One group is the ones who feed on human blood. The other is like me, the ones who value humans and feed off animal blood instead...our powers are just a gift...or a privilege I suppose...a means to an end to make our hunting easier...for most vampires."

"..." you remained silent, swallowing up every word he spoke. It almost gave a sickening pit in your stomach to find out that your boyfriend is one of those who feed off human blood and was planning to drink your own.

"...Touya is the other one right? Since he has done it many times before...He must have lots of experience to hide his food then..." you spoke, swallowing the anxious tension in your throat.

"...You're right about that," Shinsou murmured. "...He doesn't just act on unless it's hidden, like last night..." he sighed. "...after all, you can't just disappear after three weeks into school...he's experienced in covering things up...as he has done with his past relationships."

You swallowed anxiously, sweat forming at the back of your neck as you imagined what Touya could have done to his last girlfriends, realizing that you were probably the lucky one he decided to let go of—for the time being.

"...Okay, so then...I have to leave, don't I? That's the only way I'll survive...?" You finally asked, hoping he wouldn't agree to it, since you wanted to stay—for your future.

"..." he didn't reply, kept his face rigid, as always, as he stared pointedly at you. He released the grip of his clutched fist, released a misty, hot breath. "...I don't think it'll be safe for you to go anywhere at this point, remember the time in the mall?"

"...yeah? I think two Vampires came up at me," you replied softly. "..now that I remember, since they asked me about my scent."

"Exactly," he affirmed with a nod, purple hair toppling slightly to the front. "...Even if you do leave and start in another place, there are plenty of others who will be lurking around, not to mention...once your scent has been registered in a Vampire, they can track you down anywhere, especially with blood like yours."

"..." you gulped, anxiousness pitted in your stomach. You truly didn't know what to do next, nor what to say. You truly hadn't expected this nor even planned for such a thing. It felt like a death track, a dead end of the road. The tense feeling swelled up in your lungs as you felt tears prickling your eyes.

You immediately turned to Shinsou, breathing heavy as a tear rolled down your eyes. "...Then, what do I do, Shinsou? They're all gonna come after me...aren't they? Because of my special blood? What...to...do now?"