JADE:
The moment I stepped inside the dormitory building, it already felt eerily strange…
To begin with, the lady guard who always stayed downstairs at the front desk was nowhere in sight. The halls were also without lights.
Was there a brownout?
I went out and checked the nearby establishments. It did seem like a brownout had occurred. Only the convenience store was able to maintain light from the inside.
I sighed. This means no using the elevator for me today…
I trudged towards the stairs, my feet making loud clanking sounds on the floor because of my heels.
I sighed bitterly. This really wasn’t my lucky day…
I had no clue everything was about to get worse from here.
I got into my room, and it was pitch black. There was a streetlight that was positioned near my veranda, making my room well lighted at night time. Today though, there were no street lights to be seen. Only the pale light from the crescent moon illuminated my view.
Rats, I used up the remaining battery of my cell phone when I used it as a flashlight going up the stairs and while opening my dorm room with the keys!
Now, it was just really me and the immense darkness.
I slumped towards the bed. I was feeling depressed. I thought I had prepared myself enough for the worst possible outcome today, but it never occurred to me that things will go down like that in the restaurant.
I wondered: will everything turn out for the better? Now that Marian’s death was ruled as a suicide, and I’d probably get some detention time from the police courtesy of Captain Rigdon, I really have to lay low or halt my investigations altogether despite what I feel, right?...
I closed my eyes. I won’t think about this anymore. I’m going to sleep this all off…
It hasn’t even been five minutes after I closed my eyes when I heard a soft creak from the floor.
My eyes opened wildly. I bolted from the bed and looked at the front door.
It wasn’t a mistake… I did hear someone… Or something approach…
I looked nervously at my bathroom. The door was slightly ajar. The giant closet across my bed was also slightly opened.
“Hello,” I called faintly to no one in particular.
My eyes couldn’t make out anything in the darkness. What should I do?
I sat still for five whole minutes, listening to the sounds of the creaking on my wooden floor.
After not hearing anything for some time, my shoulders began to relax, and that was when I hear the creaking sound again. This time, I was positive it was coming from inside my own room.
Before I could get up and do anything at all, I felt a breath on the nape of my neck, sending my beating heart into complete overdrive.
I tried to scream, but a cold hand clamped itself against my mouth and another one seized me by the lower body sending me downwards on the bed.
“No,” I said, screaming, but only muffled noises could be heard.
Whoever he was, he was damn strong! We thrashed against the bed. He was underneath me as I struggled away from his iron-like embrace.
Suddenly, something sharp sank into my left clavicle. A raspy cry escaped from my lips as the pain intensified.
Was I stabbed, or were those claws?
As I continued to struggle despite the pain, I felt a pair of hands tighten against my calves.
“No!”
I was able to scream now before the hand came over my mouth again, nails sinking into my legs and shoulders, my first persecutor’s grip still tightening against my waist.
My heart was in a panic. I can feel my own blood dripping from my shoulders. Soon, I think I will pass out from lack of air.
Supposedly, the dorm should be teeming with people. Rats! How could nobody hear my struggles?
“Turn your head away,” a voice suddenly said.
Just in time as I turn my head away from the veranda window, I heard a fierce growl somewhere and the sharp sounds of glasses breaking.
I couldn’t see it clearly, but I felt something brush over my legs and attacked whoever was pinning my feet from below.
As soon as my legs were freed, I tried kicking the man underneath me.
However, he was still too darn strong! He maneuvered me on the bed so easily that I was pinned underneath him in no time.
“N-No!”
The man above me was crushing my airways so badly that it became harder and harder to stay awake. His hands started to come around my neck too. He was choking me hard!
Just when I thought I would die from the pressure, I heard sharp growls from above, and pretty soon, my persecutor’s gagging stopped.
I gasped as loudly as I can. I squirmed away from his solid rock figure, trying to get away from his no longer moving body.
Before I could fully extract myself away from him, somebody – or something – lifted him up, and I was finally able to take in a full breath for the first time.
“Jade!”
I couldn’t see anything, just some hazy furry silhouette, but I knew that voice like the back of my own two hands.
“K-Kix?...”
He must be in his lycan form for all I can feel was his soft fur holding me up.
“Jade, are you alright,” he said again. He hugged me tightly even before I could speak. The sudden bump against my rib cage sent me into fits of coughing.
“Sor-,” he began to mumble, but then he stopped as he grazed a furry finger at my neck. “You’re bleeding.”
Before I could even speak, he began to lick my neck.
“W-What are you… doing,” I said in between breaths. I tried to push his head away, but he held my hands firmly on both sides.
“Stay still. This will stop your bleeding.”
Great… I haven’t seen Kix in weeks and the first time I did, I let him lick my wounds to his heart’s content…
“We have no time,” Kix growled at me a few more minutes after.
“Huh? W-Why,” I replied weakly.
“More are coming,” he whispered.
“More?”
“More of the undead… More vampires.”