Chapter 9

I took a deep breath as I walked into chemistry. I looked back at my table to see Darrin sitting there, his arms folded across his chest. I felt my heart ache at the sight of his beautiful face. He glanced up at me then turned away. I backed out the door a little only to have Cain shove me in the room. I turned and looked at him pleadingly.

"I can't do this guys," I wined. "It hurts too much."

Cain and Abel gave me a look and pushed me to my seat. I glared at them and sat down. I fidgeted as I sat there next to him. I peeked over at him to see him glancing over at me. I turned my gaze down to stare at the table. I heard him stand as he walked to the front of the room. I looked up to see him talking with Chris. I could see Chris' eye twitching, resisting the urge to kill Darrin. Darrin was talking quickly and gestured towards me. Chris nodded and motioned for me to come up. I stood and walked up beside Chris.

"I'm assigning you two new lab partners. From now on, Dana will work with Abel and Darrin will work with Cain," Chris informed us.

I looked at him surprised. I glanced over at Cain to see him sneering evilly. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

This is going to go well, I thought bitterly.

I looked up to see Darrin looking just as surprised as I was. He knew that they knew by now that he had hurt me. And he knew that Cain was about to put him through a new kind of hell. I went back to the table and grabbed my stuff and carried it over to Abel's table. Cain had already moved and was sitting there with a smug look on his face.

I let out a sigh and fell weakly into the chair. Abel put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. I looked up and gave him a tired smile. I turned my attention towards Chris at the front of the room. He began the lecture and I tried to pay attention. I heard hushed voices behind me.

"I don't much appreciate you hurting my little sister like that," Cain hissed.

I heard Darrin sighed as he shifted in his sit. I heard the scratching of a pen as he began to write.

"I told her how I felt and she threw it my face," Darrin replied.

I whipped around and glared my rage building. I stood and faced Darrin, my breath becoming hard and fast. I reared my hand back and slammed it across his face. The whole class was watching me. I stood there, still breathing hard, glaring at him. Tears began to blur my vision. My anger was far from vented.

"I threw it back in your face?!" I exclaimed. "It's more like the other way around you bastard!!!!!"

The class gasped in unison. Chris came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I turned and slapped his hand away.

"Dana," he began. "You need to sit down after you apologize to Darrin."

"I need to do no such thing!!" I spat. "He needs to just get out of my life if he's going to twist it around like this!!"

My words were followed a sob. Tears streaked down my face. I crumpled to the floor and sobbed. The other girls in the class crowed around me and started to comfort me. I looked up at Chris and stared pleadingly. He sighed and nodded. I stood thanking the girls and ran out of the room.

I ran towards the woods and kept going till I found a tree to settle under. I sat there and cried till I couldn't any more. I just let the dry sobs put me to exhaustion. I looked up at the sound of foot steps to find five men standing before me. I wiped my eyes and blinked up at them.

One of the men had soft sapphire eyes. Another had the same emerald as mine. Another had dark, onyx eyes. One had kind topaz eyes. The last had cold, ruby eyes just like Darrin's. I looked at them, a loss of words. They all looked down at me.

The man with sapphire eyes bent down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. I flinched back and hissed like a cat. I wasn't about to trust these strange men.

"Where is your clan leader?" the red-eyed man asked.

I shook my head and scooted farther away from them. They let out a satisfied chuckle at the sign of my fear. I glared at them and pulled my legs close to my chest.

"Who are you people?" I inquired.

They all stopped chuckling and straightened up to their full height.

"We," the onyx-eyed one started, "are the elite group of vampires known as the Leaders of all vampire clans. And we have come to judge you."