Chapter Fifty-Five

Crestfall.

Such a weird town. The townspeople walked around, glaring at you like they had known you for as long as you lived. When you talked to them, they replied peculiarly, in a way that felt as if they wanted to say something else, but were too afraid to.

Well, the town was known for its dark history. The bloody history of Genevieve. She was a ruler from long ago who craved to be immortal, and bathed in the blood of humans to satisfy that craving. Whether she succeeded or not, nobody knew.

The townspeople, however, believed that she still lived to this day. That she was still tearing babes from the bosoms of their wailing mothers to drain them of their blood. And from the despair of the mothers came forth a dark creature called the Hex Beast which has been plaguing the town, trying to seek blood in return for what had already been shed.

What a history. It sure seemed like it came from the imagination of a terrified man, right? She could not understand that, because for as long as she lived, she was someone who never felt fear as an emotion. Fear never came naturally to her, but courage did.

Lucianne dragged her luggage behind her as she stared at the map in her hands. Ravenspire Academy. They had a great Literature department, and she wanted to learn as much as she could. The map led her down to an open field with a path in the middle of it that stretched to some gothic architecture in the distance.

She was loving the gloomy atmosphere! It was like every tragedy was born here, and she loved those plays like she loved life. She laughed, her excitement overtaking her. She eventually reached the gates of Ravenspire Academy, and showed her papers to the guards. They nodded and let her through.

Her first stop was the general office. She had to enrol officially there and so she followed the signs to that place. When she entered the office, a blast of cold air greeted her face and she headed to the counter. There was a man behind the counter who smiled brightly at her.

"Hey, I'm the temp. The girl before me finally quit," he said, laughing.

She passed her papers to him. "I'm a new student here," she said. "Hello, temp!"

He smiled with teeth. "Let's get you booked! I'm pretty sure the dorms are full though," he said, typing away.

Just then, the glass door behind her opened and a man walked in. She stared at him closely. He was dressed in a trench coat and as she took the features of his face in, it struck her that he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. She looked him up and down, curious.

"If you're done checking me out, then maybe you can get yourself enrolled."

She scoffed. "I wasn't - I was just - "

"Yeah, right."

She turned back to face the receptionist. She rolled her eyes at him and the temp chuckled nervously.

"We don't have a room for you, but we have a tower that you can stay in. Is that alright?"

"Sure," she said.

"Here are the keys," the temp passed them to her.

She took them and spun around, kicking her luggage back and onto the rollers again.

"You are?" the beautiful man asked her.

"Why should I tell you?"

He sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "Look, student…"

"Gabriel Blacken."

His jaw dropped and he froze, standing there, looking at her blankly. "Wha-?"

"My Gabriel."

Emotion flashed across his face as his eyes brimmed with tears. "Lucie - I - "

She smiled, then broke out into happy laughter. "Come here, you!"

And he threw himself forward into her embrace.