Chapter 9: Refugee

"What is this?" Caleb took the envelope from Yuuki's hands and grinned with interest as he read the name. "A letter from our old friend! How thoughtful of her."

"That's right. She came out specifically to see you and your brother, but apparently none of you took notice," She scolded. "Try to pay attention next time."

"Don't start pointing fingers, Yuuki Cross. We didn't know she was going to come out to visit us," Caleb continued with a lower voice. "I didn't know she was even allowed to come out of that dingy cell of hers."

Yuuki punched him in the arm for insulting the vampire's dorm. Caleb moved back apologetically.

"Sorry, sorry! Totally slipped my mind I was dealing with a vampire lover," He chuckled at Yuuki's fuming face. "But hey, thank you for this. I'm glad to know that Almira's been making the effort." Caleb put the letter into his pocket and patted protectively against it. "We were worried that she didn't care about us anymore. And, you know, my sudden outburst that evening when we first met face to face was just a sad display of someone gone mad."

Yuuki laughed along with him. "You totally have it wrong. She has been trying to see you and your brother multiple times."

"Has she now?" Caleb questioned interestingly. "Then I suppose we're the ones to blame."

"It's difficult, I know. Because vampires and humans are separated from one another, there are not many chances for all three of you to meet up." Yuuki shrugged. "I suppose that's not the best way to reunite like this."

Caleb stared at the ground and formed an unnoticeable frown. "You're right...it's not."

His eyes suddenly turned towards the higher seats and came across Zero Kiryu, who had decided to attend class that day and was moodily observing them from his seat.

"So what is up with your boyfriend over there?"

Yuuki followed his gaze and sighed as Zero looked away in regret. She had asked him to join them on their little conversation, but he had chosen to stick to himself, as always. She was far from ignoring his behavior, especially when he still needed her.

But somehow, even without realizing it, Yuuki was starting to enjoy the company of both the Austerlitz brothers. She did not want to admit it, but deep inside, she loved their lively personality and the interesting topics they both shared. In just a few days, she had learned things from quality manufacturing to European history to contemporary news circulating the human world. And Yuuki was never interested in industrial business, but the conversations they brought were refreshing, enlightening, and most of all, different.

Yuuki had forgotten the last time she had talked about anything other than vampires with Zero, or even Kaname. Her whole life was drenched in a blood war that included defending the secret of the entire vampire race, so it was no surprise that topics she hardly had an inkling about would suddenly strike her interest. In fact, even the other Day Class girls found Raphael's lectures far more fascinating than the teacher's, and Caleb never failed to enthuse them with his liberal way of thought.

If only Zero could share in her fascination. If only he did not intentionally made himself suffer so much to be left in the dark. After all, vampire or not, there was only one life to spare, and Yuuki hated nothing more than to see Zero waste it all through misery.

"Hello? Miss Disciplinary Cross." Caleb waved his palm in front of Yuuki's dazed face. "If you're going to keep staring at him like that, I suggest that you both put on a soap opera."

Yuuki quickly snapped out of her thoughts and hit him playfully in the arm again. "Not funny. Just let me go speak to him very quick." She trotted up to Zero's seat and gave him a disappointed glare.

"Hey Zero, are you feeling better today?"

"What kind of question is that?" He grumbled.

"Fine, if you're going to be that way, I might as well get to the point," Yuuki pouted annoyingly. "I want you to stop being glum and talk with us for once."

"Talk about what? High density polymers that you have no use in knowing?"

Yuuki fumed in response. "Well at least I know what that means! They're used for...em, building plastic-no, molding?...Uhh..."

Zero hid his smile from her hopeless attempt. "Exactly my point."

Yuuki hit him in the face before pouting away in embarrassment. "You don't have to be so rude! I was merely offering you our company."

"'Our'?" Zero looked at her. "Since when did you become one with the foreigners?"

Yuuki's face turned pink. "I am only interested with what they have to say! It's not every day you meet outsiders that tell you there's more to life than just we believe..."

Zero watched her smile sadly. He knew what she meant - the feeling of being alone and trapped in a mindset that involved nothing more than vampires and their problems. It was a shame the girl could never leave that shadow, not even him. They were doomed in their darkness as long as they lived, but once in awhile, it was refreshing to forget all that and just be students. To be just casual and human, it was one of the few things that Zero cherished about Yuuki. And her observation about the Austerlitz eased him to know that she was happy in their presence.

"I'm glad they make you feel that way." He lightly smiled.

Yuuki blushed and quickly turned her face away. "Y-you know, I saw Almira-san the other day…during lunch break." She switched the subject. "I can't say how she managed to-"

"She said something to you." Zero's face suddenly turned grim as he stopped her mid sentence. "You talked with her by those tall trees near the courtyard."

Yuuki turned to him in confusion. "What?"

"I know she met you yesterday," his lax face finally lifted to a concerned one. "I followed you."

"What? Zero!" Yuuki shot up in surprise. "Were you spying on us?"

Her voice grabbed the attention of few students in the room. Zero got up and beckoned Yuuki to follow him outside of the classroom. "Come with me." She followed without complaint. It was only then when Raphael diverted his attention from tutoring the other students to watching them both leave.

"I'm going to step out for awhile." Raphael got up, only to his classmates' dismay. "Oi, Caleb. Humanities 101. Take over."

"Of course, my favorite subject..." Caleb murmured as he took his brother's place and watching him follow the two, far enough to avoid suspicion.

Outside in the almost deserted hall, Zero took Yuuki to a corner stairway, and began spilling his thoughts.

"Why didn't you tell me she wasn't a vampire?" He asked bluntly.

Yuuki slightly flinched. "So you know?"

"I do now. Heard every last word. But you knew before me and yet you kept it a secret."

"I was keeping a promise for her," Yuuki answered. "It doesn't matter at all."

"It does matter. Everything about this school matters to us." Zero rubbed his temples. "If she is what she says...and she's neither human nor vampire, then she can only be one thing."

Yuuki waited to absorb his words. "One thing?" Her stomach gave an anxious flip. "You mean you know what she is?"

Zero waited before he began. "Those beings…I heard only once about them in my youth. Vampire hunters have associated with them a long time ago in history but it's something we don't necessarily speak of among ourselves. "

"What do you mean?" Yuuki couldn't hold her curiosity. "What exactly is she?"

Zero tried to jog through his memory. "I may be entirely wrong. But once she said she was from Europe, it somehow dawned on me. You see there are not a lot of vampires in the south and middle regions there. This Almira...she may be one of the other kind. The Ba-"

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting?" Raphael barged in silently. "Don't want to be rude but class is going to start."

Yuuki had the greatest urge to break the wall for his untimely intrusion. "Right now?"

"Yes, unless you two were planning to elope in secret." Raphael teased. "Or are secretly concocting a plot...of which I hope I can dearly participate in."

"We're coming," Zero answered annoyingly.

Yuuki gave the longest sigh before lazily following him back to the classroom. She almost asked Raphael herself there and then, but he went back to his seat without another word. Zero was already good at keeping his mouth shut and leaving the discussion aside, but Yuuki was too anxious to let go. Zero Kiryu knew about Almira's kind, but there was also something he did not know. And it bothered her tremendously to no end, even after the teacher started on their lesson.

Meanwhile, Raphael began to watch Zero keenly from the corner of his eye. He could tell that he felt bothered, and the thought simply made him smile.

He was expecting this reaction the whole time. In fact, Yuuki was dead wrong when she said that none of them took notice of Almira taking out of her way to see them during lunch hour. Amidst all those Day Class girls, Raphael had seen her waiting to grab their attention, but he had purposely ignored her. There was a reason to his whole plan, for when he saw Yuuki lead her towards the dense field to have a chat, he had urged Zero to follow them. It was an order that Zero could not deny, especially since it was his job to keep Yuuki far away from the clutches of someone from the Night Class. Sure enough, he followed suite, and just as planned, Zero found out that she was not a vampire after all.

Everything seemed to work out perfectly so far. If Zero was going to be a pawn in his plan, he had to make him find things for himself; crave for more answers and explanations. And now that his pieces were set, it was about time he set his plan into motion, the beginning of it anyway.

"Zero Kiryu," Raphael leaned over when the teacher turned his back towards the board. "I'm guessing you would want to discuss some things."

"I do, considering that you and your brother did not tell me about that girl," Zero stated the obvious. "After class."

Almira woke up around late afternoon with a rapid heartbeat. Somehow her earlier attack did not alleviate her physical conditions, and Almira felt herself shiver in fear once again. Her mind was running constantly, from everything that had happened, to everything that could happen. The strange reaction to Aido's earlier remark forced back the apprehensive feeling once more. And it troubled her more knowing that even after two weeks, she had not gotten anywhere closer to where she wanted to be.

She lost the ability to believe whether Kaname understood the urgency of her matter. He seemed to have a plan of his own, but it contained no timeline of when it was to be implemented. How long was she supposed to remain in hiding in a foreign school? Last night's incidence had made her realize something awful as well - that her reckless behavior had probably circulated through the Night Class, which meant Kaname Kuran was bound to know. What was to stop him from turning his back on her then?

In fact, how was she sure whether he was seriously helping her in the first place? Kaname had threatened her in his study once, going as far as to guaranteeing her disposal if he could. He had all the means to hand her over to her enemies for being a runaway, a refugee. What if he was planning to do that instead?

A wave of paranoia hit her. "I cannot go to him…" Almira pulled her bedsheets over and got up. "I have to get to the council on my own…"

She quietly made her way to the door and wondered if anyone was outside waiting for her like before. Silence had fallen sharply, but that did not offer her the incentive to sneak away from the Night Class like before. It was risky, and when she thought about it, she had no knowledge of where the council was even located.

Almira rubbed her temples before coming down with an option. If there was someone other than Kaname who could take her to the vampire council, someone who was beyond the ears of the Night Class, then she was free from being deceived. At first she thought about Ichijo Takuma, but he was under Kaname's authority, and not even being a tolerant vampire gave him the power to act against the pureblood's strictest wishes. But Almira knew she had to do something. There was no point of lying around hoping for someone else to come with a solution. If anything, she had to take action into her own hands.

And then it came to her. The headmaster.

He was something Kaname was not, forgiving and compassionate. Plus from what her mother told her, they had met once in the distant past, although back then and even now, he didn't know what her kind really were. But he was the one who agreed to take her in, and perhaps, she thought, he could also be the one to lead her out.

The one thing remained now was to take that watchful trip to his office. Almira looked out the window and realized that it was close to sunset. But despite how visibly bright the school grounds still were, Almira feared her safety once again, this time being more cautious towards the fact that her inner presence reacted to their whereabouts in broad daylight. But what other option did she have? The vampires were asleep, and Ichijo, as always, was the only one awake to oversee that she did not step out of bounds.

"Forget that..." Almira walked through the empty hallway. This was important. It did not matter what Aido had said about the Night Class. At this point, speculation against her was the least of her worries.

So just like before, Almira quietly made her way to Ichijo's room, finding the door partly open to reveal the vampire, this time, reading manga on his bed.

"You can come in, Almira-chan." Ichijo spoke even before she could raise her hand to knock.

"I must be becoming a nuisance to you." Almira lightly chuckled as she walked inside. "What are you reading?"

"Manga. Em, Japanese comic books. Have you seen these?" Ichijo got up to approach her with fervent interest. "This is my favorite volume by far. Would you like to borrow some?"

"Oh, em, perhaps later, but..."

"But let me guess..." Ichijo looked at her knowingly. "You are more interested in something else within your secretive nature, is that right?"

"What brings that to mind, Master Ichijo?" Almira found her voice drop, not understanding what he meant. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Almira-chan..." Ichijo offered her a meaningful smile. "As the Vice President of the Night Class, it is my job to supply a common space for all vampires to mingle and be comfortable with one another. But if one of them chooses to keep herself distant and detached from her peers to perform, let's say, her own antics against our policy, well...that gives me the right to be concerned and take action."

"You think I am up to no good?" Almira found herself say. "Has Aido-san convinced everyone that I am a threat because I act differently?"

"No, only that we want to be assured that everything at this school is functioning well, and that no special privileges are given to anyone, even to a new student like you." He gave a single poke on her nose playfully. "And just so you know, Aido-kun has been kind enough to defend your image against the others."

"What?" Almira looked at him in surprise.

"I heard about his row with you because I let you sneak out. He came into my room a few hours ago and exploded with contempt. Said you had the nerve to ask him to leave." Ichijo chuckled. "But in the end, I think he just blamed himself for leaving you on your own."

Almira felt a tinge of pink appear in her cheeks. She felt ashamed. "No, he shouldn't. He shouldn't blame himself for his speculations. It was my fault for shouting at him," She looked down. "And you are right...I have been very secretive with my actions, and reclusive from the Night Class."

"Almira-chan, I know this is a new place for you. You are a European lady with your own set of rules that are different than ours," Ichijo continued sympathetically. "And you don't have to change...you only have to assimilate, make sense?"

"Yes, you are right." Almira looked up at him, a new-found realization in her system. "You are absolutely right."

"Besides, I said it before...you can ask me for help whenever you need it."

"I remember," Almira continued. "In fact, that is exactly why I came down here to you."

"Ugh, you guys are not going to tell me?" Yuuki sighed as she and Zero followed Caleb and Raphael outside after class.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think this is the right place or time," Caleb answered as he folded his fingers behind his head. "But what a surprise to find little Miss Yuuki already aware of Almira's background. She used to be so cautious as a child, eh, brother?"

"She must really trust you, Yuuki," Raphael smiled at her.

"She hasn't told me anything about her yet, just that she is not a vampire or a human." Yuuki threw a moody pout. "I don't know how much of a trust that is..."

"Still, that is way too forward for someone who is meddling into the land of vampires." Caleb landed his eyes on Zero. "And I see you know more about her than we thought."

"All I know is that she's from the Bastet clan," Zero spoke. "I was informed of their existence...a long time ago."

"Oh, she's more than just that," Raphael chuckled. "And she is not simply from a regular clan to begin with either."

"So are you guys going to tell us, or what?" Yuuki continued hopelessly. "Who are the Bastets?"

Zero waited with an eager face as Caleb and Raphael looked at each other. Although no words passed between them, Caleb knew exactly what his brother was thinking. If his plan was going to work, he could not let Yuuki Cross get involved. She was just too naive, too pure, too simple-minded.

But then Raphael caught something from the corner of his eye, and an immediate sense of sadistic hope suddenly came across him.

"I knew it was a bad idea for Almira to talk around," He blew a hopeless sigh. "The headmaster told us he was the only one to have known her secret...and to protect it."

"Father...I-I mean, Headmaster Cross?" Yuuki suddenly chirped up with realization. "You mean he knows?"

"I believe so." Raphael smiled cunningly.

A sense of satisfaction filled Yuuki's brain as she found a source she was looking for. Even though she swore not to expose any secrets, curiosity was still a drug, and when Zero already seemed to have a notion of what she was, Yuuki was steadfast to not let herself be the only one left out.

"Uh…I have to go see Yori-chan. Bye Zero," Yuuki said as she turned from Zero to the brothers. "I'll catch you two later!" and with that, she made her way to the direction of the headmaster's office.

Raphael watched her leave and smirked inwardly. Things were all falling into place. "Say Caleb, don't you have some Day Class girls to flirt with?"

"What? No." He looked at him questionably.

"Of course you do. Right over there, see?" He pointed at a couple of students who waited patiently in the distance with what seemed to be chocolate boxes. "It'll be a bit rude to leave them hanging, don't you think?"

Caleb gave him a purposeful glare, not knowing of his intentions. "Fine. Alright. See you later."

As his younger brother walked away, Raphael turned to Zero keenly. He had not said a word since Yuuki started pestering them about Almira. This time, however, his face bore a look of expectations; of eagerness and necessity to know what the man in front of him held in store. "So? Are you going to tell me?"

Raphael chuckled at his impatience. "Of course, Zero. I saved the details just for you." He leaned forward. "Tonight in the boy's dormitory. I promise this time."

"So is this all you needed me for?" Ichijo said as he and Almira approached near the headmaster's door. "To escort you to Headmaster Cross?"

Almira pulled the strap of her handbag over her shoulder. "I thought it would be safer than running off on my own, don't you think?"

"That's not what I meant..." Ichijo blew a sigh, feeling a bit useless from his role. "Will you be fine coming back on your own?"

"Yes, thank you." Almira paused before speaking up again. "Don't forget, I owe you for that information also."

"Of course." He turned to leave. "Good luck."

Almira made sure he was gone from the building before she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Within seconds, the headmaster's voice chimed from the other side, and she let herself in.

"Almira McDellan. It is nice to see you again." Kaien spoke, a bit unsure of her intention. "Is everything...going according to your needs?"

"It will, once you agree to fulfill them." She came forward and placed her bag on his desk, taking out a small stash of Yen bills from inside. "How much do I have to pay you to take me to the vampire council?"

"W-what?" Kaien sat up in surprise. "Almira-san, what are you-?"

"Master Ichijo told me they are located not far from here, in a small town beyond the hill. He also said that according to his grandfather, a hearing can be organized quicker if I first plead my case and convince my urgency to the residents of that town...those who have loyalties with the council members." She pushed the money towards him. "I only need you to take me there in one piece and act as my advocate. The rest I will explain myself."

Kaien Cross blinked several times to take in her demand. He had never seen anyone so determined, and yet equally desperate, to complete such a risky task. It amazed him how craftily she planned her course before coming to him, as if she was prepared to leave at that very instance.

But even if he admired her bravery, even if he pitied her crucial cause, he knew he was the wrong person to ask.

"That is a bold, and very dangerous move." Kaien returned the money back to her. "I will not accept this even if I did have the power to help you on your quest."

"What do you mean? You cannot help me?" Almira raised her voice. "But you are the headmaster of a vampire school, you must know how to communicate with them!"

"I do, Almira-san, but this is a situation that is clearly out of my hands," the headmaster tried to calm her down. "A serious problem such as yours can only be dealt with Kaname's guidance."

"But you do not understand," Almira sighed as she bent her head down disapprovingly. "Master Kaname does not realize the urgency of this problem. He claims to have a plan to help me, but lately I feel that I am not being helped at all."

Kaien turned attentive. "You believe Kaname is not helping you?"

"I cannot say. He would not tell me anything. Even if he does have a plan, it is not leading me closer to what I need," Almira looked up at him with pleading eyes. "If you knew where I have come from, what I had to face for so long, you would have surely understood. And right now, the only way to save myself…" she paused. "…If I can save myself, is to get help from the ones who govern his kind."

Kaien contemplated a response. He remembered Kaname portraying his concern on handling the stranger he was assigned to protect - that she was not an easy girl to follow orders. But Almira had a point. He did not think of Kaname as a tyrant, but the pureblood did have a presence that was sometimes hard to approach. Kaien wondered if there was some other fear that harbored her mind, and that was what brought him to his next question.

"Almira-san," he crossed his fingers together. "Before we continue, may I ask you something?"

She gave a questioning look.

"You came to me so hastily asking for help, I just became a bit curious. Are you afraid of Kaname Kuran?"

"Am I…afraid?" Almira lowered her voice. "If I am believed to be a disposable being...if he really thinks of me as such, then of course I am afraid."

"But you're not disposable. You can never be," Kaien said calmly. "I opened my doors to you not only as a refuge, but as the place for your greatest source of access into the heart of our world. And as a powerful figure, Kaname Kuran is that only source. He is your closest ally that will give you kindness if you merely ask for it."

"If that is so..." Almira found her voice quiver. "...then why does it not feel that way?"

"It is because he is implementing a plan. A device to keep your attackers at bay before you are presented to the council."

Almira raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"You would know more than I do, but your kind does not like others, especially the vampires, to meddle with their job. And right now, helping a fugitive such as yourself is something we're not allowed to do under their decree. But I am taking a risk...because I believe that my actions will make all the difference in the world."

"But Headmaster Cross, why doesn't he tell me about this plan then?" Almira questioned earnestly. "Why does he keep me in the dark?"

"Because you are an easy bait at the moment. Any information he tells you, they can access easily. Do you see now?"

Almira took some time to comprehend his message. "So this is all a game?"

"It is more than just a game. It is a test of wit and strategy. For both them and the race of the vampires. And you got caught in the center of it."

His last statement troubled her. She knew things were going to get convoluted, all simply to break an unwavering rule that had been in existence for millenia. But her mother believed that this rule was meant to be broken, and that she could be saved from her curse. So was it still worth fighting now? To get both vampires and her kind involved after such a long time in history?

"So what do you suggest I should do? Just sit and wait?"

"Well the first thing you can do...is give him the information he needs." Kaien advised. "You have everything in your disposal that can be either used against you, or work towards your advantage, and it all depends to whom you tell them to."

"But I am afraid…I am afraid that he would not take it the right way," Almira's lips quivered. "I have seen the way he controls the Night Class. This taboo, if I tell him why it is the greatest sin of our kind, he would surely banish me for sure."

The headmaster gave a worried look. Her situation seemed more eerie by the minute. What was she hiding that made her more edgy by the minute?

"He has my full instructions to do no such thing," the headmaster said. "I know you are innocent, Almira-san, and no taboo is going to stop us from helping you."

Almira crept a smile on her face, even though she worried he would regret his words after realizing that a brutal side of her existed. How much her mother told the headmaster, she did not know. But right now, her brain churned between doing what needed to be done, and speaking out her greatest fear that laid dormant in her chest ever since she escaped her homeland.

"Is it okay, headmaster…if I at least tell you about this taboo?" Almira mumbled under her breath.

Kaien stood up, a great urge to know swimming in his eyes. "If it helps you feel better, of course."

Almira took a deep breath and looked straight into his eyes. "I…have a dark side, Headmaster Cross. This beastly side of mine is one of the reasons they are after me. Our greatest taboo, to not be born a pureblood, is something I have broken indirectly." She continued without turning her face away. "It is because my mother, a pureblood, secretly married a human during her studies in Switzerland, and bore me, a half blood years later, something considered a treacherous sin of my kind…"

The headmaster simply stared. So she was a half-blood because of her parents. But why that was considered a sin, he could not understand why.

"…It is a sin because…generation after generation surviving as purebloods, when half-bloods are nearly nonexistent to us, our kind believes that when the blood is not pure, a savage demonic side will awaken…" Almira shivered. "Almost what is happening to me."

"But why, Almira?" the headmaster forced himself to ask. "Why must this happen for those who are not purebloods? What are these "kinds" of yours that follows such strict authority?" He finally blurted out the question that has been hidden from him ever since he was forced to forget about them in his youth. "Who are really the Descendants of Bastet?"

Almira expected him to ask, and she suddenly regretted going into her explanations. But someone had to know in Cross Academy that creatures as equally or more frightening than the legendary vampires existed in the world.

"My kind…" she finally spoke. "are members of the ancient immortal clan of the desert; The descendants of the great Egyptian goddess, Bast."

The headmaster shifted to the end of his seat. "Go on."

"I am a..." Almira tightened her fists. "...werecat, headmaster. Not a pureblood, but half and half. And I am afraid...I am more dangerous to you and the vampires than you know."

Apart from the sheer silence that struck the room after an elongated amount of tension, a presence lied in waiting outside of the headmaster's doors. Young Yuuki Cross had been standing still behind the walls the whole time, listening to their conversation. She didn't expect to absorb in so much information at once, but now that she finally figured out what she was, another foreign sort of fear suddenly overcame her.

More dangerous than vampires… She thought with dread. Werecats...it can't be...

Longest chapter written so far. God, I hate tension; sometimes it sounds so, how to put this, DUN DUN DUN DAH superficial. Haha. But hey, whatever puts it out there. Please read and review so I can update faster!