Chapter 12
Juliet's POV
I woke up to screaming. I jumped up and ran downstairs to try and figure out what was going on. I saw girls pouring into the lounge, but that didn't matter at that moment.
In the middle of the room was the worst thing of my life. Desiree. Dead. Tied to a cross with silver chain. I felt weak. I began making my way toward her before I saw that she had garlic tied into the chain and holy water dripping from her fur. I felt the tears roll down my cheeks and I let a pained sob filter through my lips.
Suddenly, I heard a shrill whistle that I recognized as Alex's. It was followed by her voice asking what was going on. After a moment, I saw my girlfriend approaching the cross and inspecting Desiree. She sniffed a couple of times before growling low in her throat.
That growl got louder as it got higher, finally turning to a roar as it burst from her mouth. She stared at the cross for a bit before storming into the sunlight on a trail. I wished I could go after her but it was much too sunny outside.
I sighed and decided to put everyone to work. I rounded together a group of kids to get the little girls up to their rooms, while Samantha and the twins helped clean Desiree. Gwyneth and Katherine were going to dig a grave for her and Madison was making her gravestone.
When that was all finished, all of the monsters went out and paid their respects to her. As the last of the monsters were leaving, the group and I crowded around Desiree's grave and shed our tears.
I looked up and saw Alex approaching us in demon mode. She looked ready to cry, but I knew she wouldn't let the tears come out. I watched her kneel next to Desiree's grave and give it a quick pat before standing and racing away. I knew I'd never be able to catch up with her and it would be dangerous with her as a demon.
I sighed and turned to the others. They were still mourning Desiree so I began heading back to the dorms. When I entered, I found some of the human girls there, watching some weird TV show.
As I was heading up the stairs, one of the girls turned around to face me. "Hey, Juliet," I turned toward her. "Have you seen Kellie anywhere? I thought you would know since you two are usually seen together. I mean, I hardly ever see you with your girlfriend anymore."
The word girlfriend stabbed me in the heart. I had all but been neglecting Alex. Why had I not realized it before? I shook my head at the girl and went upstairs to think. When I entered, I glanced around and a shining light caught my eye. I opened one of the drawers in Alex's bureau and found the glowing ball of Kellie's emotions.
Something clicked in my brain. That must be why I don't pay as much attention to Alex. I thought. I'm under the influence of her emotions. Ugh! Maybe I can destroy this somehow. I thought about multiple ways to destroy the ball of emotions and even tried a few, but the ball remained intact.
I sighed and looked out the window. School was starting soon and I didn't want to be late. I stood and walked into the cafeteria. There was an air of mourning in there and I walked to my table with my head bowed. I sat next to Selena since she reminded me of Alex.
She put a hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. I halfheartedly smiled back before going back to picking at my glass of blood. After a few minutes I heard the door open and perked up thinking it was Alex. To my dismay it was Kellie instead. She sat next to me with a smile on her face and dug into the medium rare meat they gave her.
"What's wrong with everyone?" she asked, three bites into the meat.
We all glanced at her and some of us, including Selena, even glared.
"Oh yeah," Katherine muttered. "Forgot the mortal didn't know about it."
Kellie gave her and odd look and turned to me.
"Desiree's dead," I told her, my voice very low with the amount of sorrow in my system.
Kellie stared at me for a moment before a tear or two crept from her eyes. A few more fell before she pushed her meat away and stood up. I watched her walk out the cafeteria.
As Kellie neared the door, she bumped into someone. She gave that person a smart remark before a pure black hand clasped her throat. Selena and I stood and began making our way over to the pair, but Kellie was pulled through the door with a strangled cry. We ran to help her with the others on our tails.
When we looked out the door, I saw a wisp of scarlet striped black hair turning around a corner with Kellie in tow. We all ran to catch up with it and found Alex glaring at Kellie.
"… problem!" Kellie demanded.
Alex stared at her with burning eyes. I was hoping against all hope that Kellie didn't say the wrong thing. My luck sucks because she went and did it anyway.
"Shit if I wasn't stupid, I'd say you killed Desi. I mean you got the look about you and everything. Did you kill her?"
I waited for the explosion. I watched Alex walk over to Kellie and glare into her eyes. I watched Alex carefully as she drew a hand up and stroked Kellie's cheek. In a split second, I heard a sharp crack of knuckles on skin as Alex punched that same cheek. Kellie staggered back a few steps and clutched at her cheek.
She stared at Alex, before turning tail and running. I smelled her fear even as she turned the corner for the school building.
I gave Alex a withering look, but she just stared at me with a blank expression that kind of creeped me out. We stared for a long time, but she wouldn't let up. That blank look was making my skin crawl and I was getting more and more scared by the second. Finally, I dropped my gaze.
"Vampiresssssss," I heard Alex mutter. "They think they're perfect jusssssst becausssssssse it'ssssssss hard to kill them. Humph! I'd kill them all if it wasssssssn't for the fact that you're one, Juliet."
I looked up at her in shock. "Alex?" I asked.
She sneered at me before turning to go. I felt the tears sting my eyes and I reached out to grab her arm. She froze and glared at me.
"Get... your filthy handsssssss... OFF... of me," she hissed. My heart leaped into my throat, beating or not. The look in her eyes was chilling and almost sinister. I let go of her arm and she kept walking. I glanced at Selena with pleading eyes and she sighed before running to catch up with Alex.
Alex's whole demeanor changed when she saw Selena. She got shy and stutter-y. Selena pulled her into a kiss and Alex began changing back. When she was fully vampire again, Alex passed out on the pavement. Sel caught her before she hit the ground and turned to me. I smiled my thanks and took Alex from her grasp.
I carried my girlfriend to the nurse's office and set her down on one of the cots. I stayed with her for about five minutes before she groaned and sat up.
"J-Juliet?" Alex mumbled. "What happened? The last thing I remember is fighting with Kellie's goblins before I made a very crucial decision and went demon. I take it I got a kiss from Selena because I'm vampire again. Did I miss anything?"
I opened my mouth to tell her that she punched Kellie and insulted her race, but I thought better of it seeing the vulnerable position Alex was in and shook my head, indicating that she hadn't missed anything. Alex slowly stood and gave a sigh of exhaustion.
"Are classes here yet or do I have enough time to eat breakfast?" she asked wearily. Just as the last word left her lips, the bell signaling the beginning of school rang through the building. Alex groaned, but accompanied me out into the hallway anyway.
Some of the vampires were giving Alex dirty looks and I guessed what she'd said had gotten around. I tried to get Alex away as fast as possible, but with her senses, my lover smelled the hostility.
"What's wrong with you?" she demanded of a senior redhead Danag, going instantly on the defense.
I made frantic motions to the redhead not to tell her but she ignored me and answered Alex heatedly.
"So you think your own species is pathetic, huh?" she asked Alex. "Well, some of us vampires don't like your comments, Russo. Why don't I get a few of my friends together so that me and you can fight and see who should really be the alpha vampire?"
Alex stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before turning slowly to me and growling. She turned back to the girl with her normal cocky attitude and said, "Alright, you're on. I'll meet you Friday behind the gym at three minutes past the time the sun clears the horizon."
The redhead nodded with a sneer and stalked off. Alex shot me a withering glance before running off to her class. I tried calling out to her, but she was already gone. I sighed and went off to my own class instead.
Alex's POV
I couldn't believe Juliet tried to hide it from me. I'm more observant than she would think, yet you would assume she'd tell me so that I could handle it the right way. The middle school and high school Alex Russo may not have gotten into school fights, but if this girl hadn't challenged me so openly, I probably would have taken care of her right then and there.
As it is, I have the perfect plan to ensure that I won the match on Friday. Friday was in… perfect, four days. That gave me more than enough time to make myself get to my strongest, though I'll be pushing it. Oh well, it shouldn't be as dangerous as I'm making it out to be. Besides, the other vampire is a Danag too, so she'll know exactly what's going on.
This was going to be great. I sat through my classes that day until I got to my Sex-Ed class. I sat a seat away from Juliet and waited for Mr. Love to pass back our papers. To my great surprise, and annoyance, he'd given me an A+ and extra points for being sweet.
I'm not sweet! I growled to myself and stuffed my paper into my bag. I couldn't wait till that fight.
As we were listening to Mr. Love give a lecture on the benefits of making love, I felt something tug at the back of my mind. I didn't want to succumb to the vision, but it came anyway. I saw the party again, but it was kind of different this time. I saw the werewolf get ready to attack and just before it did, it glanced at me and I gave it a nod of approval.
I gasped as I came out of the vision. I fell to the ground and looked up to see the entire class looking at me in concern. I turned to Juliet. I was breathing hard and I was sweating like crazy.
"It was me," I breathed to her. "I caused it. I gave the wolf permission to attack."
Juliet stared at me, wide-eyed for a second before coming over and crouching next to me, holding my face. "Alex," she said slowly. "Alex, are you sure?"
I nodded in agreement. I was one hundred percent sure that I was myself in that vision. I gave that wolf the permission she needed to attack those humans. I moaned with my head in my hands.
"This year just gets better and better," I groaned, getting to my feet.
I slowly strode out of the classroom, ignoring Mr. Love's cry for me to come back, and marched to the bulletin board. I scanned the list of parties that were coming up and saw three that could pass for the one that I was going to crash.
There was a formal ceremony coming up to officially welcome new students to BA, a party over some random werewolf's house to see how many people would come, and Prom.
I wish I could remember what the people looked like and the building I was in. Most of all, if I had remembered what the people were wearing, I'd be able to discern what kind of party it was and figure out which one was gonna be the attacking one.
Well, I knew for a fact that I would go check out this werewolf's party, but leave if I found no sign that anyone else was there, so that one might be safe. I knew the formal ceremony wouldn't have any strobe lights at all because it was formal, so that one was knocked right off the list.
That left Prom, which I knew was going to have a lot of people, people in dresses and suits, and strobe lights. Plus, there was going to be a stage to announce the winners of any awards this school does and to crown the king and queen, me and Juliet. That must be when it is, but I'll keep that werewolf's party in thought.
Now, I thought. To plan my victory for Friday.
I stood and began making my way back to class as I thought about exactly what I was going to do.
Hooray! another chapter accomplished! Please write and tell me what you think. :)
