(A/n: Please enjoy)
Chapter 31: No Plan Ever Goes Accordingly
Stan feels himself coming down with a headache the more he racks his brain on top of hearing the verbal commotion around him. He and his four friends along with many other students are on their way to the gymnasium, Ms. Biggle, Mr. Ashton, Ms. Faith, Dr. Kero, and Ms. Winters leading the way. No one knows where Mr. DeLorne went, but most assume he went off to join the Principal and his group. Stan at first thought that they could sneak away at some point, however there's way too many vampires here. It's hard enough walking in the halls despite them being wide, it feels like the whole student body and administrators are all heading to the gym.
Stan groans, he can't think up a way to get them out of this. Perhaps his friends might know. He asks them in a low but loud enough voice, "Do you guys have any ideas on how we can get outta this?" Gary and Ike are walking along his left side whereas Gregory is on his right. Pip is behind them.
Gregory opens his mouth to answer him. Ike doesn't get to fully hear his reply when a few taps on his shoulder has him looking to see who wants his attention. It's Firkle.
"-I did tell you not to be disappointed when your plans failed miserably," Gregory finishes saying, reiterating what he told the noirette a few hours ago.
Stan rolls his eyes exasperatedly. "I didn't expect them do something like this. They're fucking vampires, they could've all just ganged up on the guy."
"That would've been completely unnecessary," Gregory deadpans.
"But seriously, we need to-umph!" Stan suddenly bumps into the student in front of him. Momentarily stunned from the soft yet sudden collision, he recognizes almost instantly who the long and frizzy blonde hair belongs to, who turns to him with a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Sorry, dude." Stan then notices that everyone has stopped walking, assuming they made it to the double doors leading out to the gymnasium, and the ones up front are slowly going out so as to not overcrowd the doorways.
Great, this gives him and his friends some more time to figure out how to get out of this mess.
Seeing that it's Stan who bumped into him, Brendon loses the look of annoyance then faces forward. "No worries, it is really crowded after all."
And here Stan thought he was going to get cussed out or something for not paying attention to where he was going. "So yeah, as I was saying-" Stan stops his statement short when he sees a certain young noirette missing from their group. "Where'd Ike go?" He looks around, but doesn't see him anywhere.
Gary shrugs. "I have no clue. I saw him talking to Firkle for a bit, then the next thing I know, they're gone."
Stan just blinks at him, not believing what he just heard. Did whoever this Firkle guy is seriously continue their private talk elsewhere? Did Ike seriously forget that they're in the midst of going through with his escape plan...wait...Ike is gone and so is Firkle, who is undoubtedly a vampire. The only way they were able to leave from this crowd was by using-
"Teleportation," Stan says, hushed, a smile growing on his lips. "We can get a vampire to help us."
"The vampire hunter is a vampire, Stanley," Gregory says in a deadpan again.
"Shhh, idiot," Stan shushes him. He looks around to see if anyone had heard Gregory, quite a few did but they don't question them. Stan looks back at Gregory with a huff. "We can't get his help anymore." A likely helper comes to Stan's mind. "I'll ask Brendon." Pip's shoulders jolt at the mention of the vampire's name. They move up a few inches. Stan taps Brendon's shoulder, he turns his head to look at him throughout the corner of his eye. "Hey, umm, can you do us a quick favor?" Stan receives observant stares from teal and apricot-colored eyes, unknowing to a pair of light blue ones glaring at him in confusion.
Brendon turns to face him wholly, raising an eyebrow. "It depends."
"Well, there's two favors actually. First, could you use telepathy to tell our friend Ike to meet us at..." Shit, where would be a good spot? Sadly, not in front of the first floor entrance. He could say the courtyard, but he isn't sure if there are any other exits they could go out from near there. For a building so large, you'd think there'd be a lot of open space areas, but then again, this was originally a home...-No, now is not the time to be getting distracted.
Thankfully, Gregory answers for him. Yeah, he just made his headache worse by thinking so much just now. "Tell him to meet us in front of the cafeteria."
"The cafeteria?" Instead of expressing his unsureness aloud, Stan looks at Gregory wanting the British teen to see the query in the form of an expression on his face. But he's no longer looking at him, and is instead holding direct eye contact with Brendon. Stan decides to go along with his decision, giving him some credence that he chose the right location. "Yeah, the cafeteria," Stan says in agreement, concealing the minimal doubt in his tone as he locks eyes with cynical indigo purple. "And the second one is, could you teleport us there?"
Immediately, Brendon's expression shifts into a frown. "I don't mind doing those for you, but-" He shakes his head. "Never mind, it's not any of my business so I won't ask."
Stan gives him a smile of relief, this guy is the nicest vampire he's ever met...well, second nicest. "Thanks, really."
A small smile forms on Brendon's lips. "But you owe me at lunch tomorrow."
Pip, who was already listening in on the exchange the instant he heard Brendon's voice, now musters up the courage to get not Stan's, contemplated Gary's, however he thought against it, but Gregory's attention. Though he was too late. He has a timid finger raised, and it stays in the air even when Gregory's figure is no longer standing a centimeter away in front of him. Stan, Gregory, and Gary are gone.
Pip drops his hand back to his side, nervously looking up and meeting Brendon's eyes gleaming with dark satisfaction, his lips curled into an unashamed smirk. He turns away shoving his hands inside his pants pockets.
Pip returns his gaze to the floor as he reluctantly closes the gap.
Michael, Damien, Christophe, and Leon observe the fluid yet aggressive strikes Kurai has been trying to land onto Chris for the past five minutes now, who in turn has been dodging and attempting to inflict damage onto Kurai. Both of their cheeks have a seemingly identical thin cut along the skin, though on different sides and of differing sizes. One was from a blade, and the other was from a sharp whiff from a fist. Those grazes are the only injuries (if they can even be called that) they sustained on each other, and because they were inflicted by magic, they haven't healed completely yet.
"No wonder this guy was able to kill over fifty vampires," Michael says, his arms crossed. "Turns out he's actually pretty strong."
"Or zhose vampires 'e fought were weak," Christophe comments.
"But Kurai's not goin' all out though," Damien points out. "Which he should since they've been at it for several minutes now." He says his last statement loud enough for Kurai to hear him.
But Kurai is solely focused on his opponent. He brings his katana down to cut the vampire hunter in half, but Chris catches it with the clap of his hands, stopping the red sharp blade just inches away from his face. As they compete to overpower the other, Chris smirks much to Kurai's vexation. None have survived Akumu's (the name he bestowed upon his blade) wrath nor his Shuiro Mikazuki Style until now, but the fact that this bastard has been avoiding his rapid slashes means he's not someone he should underestimate any longer.
"How long are you plannin' on swingin' this thing around for?" He hears Chris ask him provokingly.
With an angered growl, Kurai places his other hand on the mune (the back of a katana) to apply more pressure onto his weapon, Chris losing his arrogant grin the moment he feels himself getting bested. "Do not mock me, fool." The palm of his hand that's on the mune glows red for a brief moment, Chris trying not to get sliced in half took no notice to it. "Kyōfu de kare o mahi sa seru, Jigoku no mōsō," Kurai recites in his head venomously.
"Sooo, what're we gonna do?" Damien asks. "Just stand here an' watch them do jack shit to each other?"
"Tch, zhis is what 'e gets for fucking around." Christophe summons his weapon, which is an ordinary looking shovel.
"Do not interfere, Christophe!" Kurai demands angrily.
"Zhen 'urry zhe 'ell up and kill 'im already!" Christophe snaps back.
"Tch." Kurai jumps back from Chris' punch.
"This is why you all should've-ugh." Chris winces when he feels a burning pain in the palms of his hands, raising his hands up to his field of view only to see nothing. He's not injured. "How the hell-" His eyes enlarge in shock when over a dozen of tiny black worms suddenly slither from behind his hands. He grimaces in disgust trying to shake them off but no matter how many he flings off, more just keep coming.
Kurai watches him with a sinister grin, Akumu now radiating in a reddish-orange glow like that of a flame. As much as he yearns to kill him, he's not done toying with his prey just yet. "Oh my, what seems to be the matter, hmm?"
Chris narrows his eyes in the direction he heard Kurai from, but the man is gone, and his voice resounded throughout the first floor. Not just Kurai, but the other vampires are no longer here either. He's alone. Chris now understands what's happening to him, much to his dismay. "This bastard put me under an illusion." The multiple worms have started to almost engulf him whole from the waist up.
"Seems like you've figured out the predicament you're now into," he hears Kurai say. "You should be honored. I don't put just anyone under my blade's illusion for I have many other ways of making my enemies suffer." The worms have now moved all the way up to Chris' head. "I'm going make to you regret ever coming to this academy, foolishly thinking we're here to pose any sort of threat to the humans."
Despite the immense disgust he's feeling, Chris curls his lips into a smirk. "Hmph, we'll see about that," are his last words as his vision goes dark, and the last thing he hears is the Asian man's evil laughter.
*Ike And Firkle: Before They Left Stan And The Others*
"I need to talk to you for a minute."
"About what?"
Firkle shook his head. "But not here."
The precise moment Ike blinked, he found himself standing in the front of an empty and dark classroom. His cinnamon brown eyes watched Firkle's lips curl into a small frown, he copied his expression. "We're gonna get in trouble if they find out we're gone," Ike said.
"I highly doubt anyone will notice two students missing in that massive crowd," Firkle reasoned.
"That's true..." Ike murmured, a bit embarrassed. "W-well, what is it you wanted to talk about?"
"The book you checked out last week, how much of it have you read?"
Ike blinked in confusion. He wondered what led Firkle to bring up the human written book about Purebloods and Mixed Bloods...Did he know that was the book he checked out...? "Up until chapter three. Why?"
Firkle looked unconvinced with his answer, and it made him feel a little nervous. "What did the librarian say about you wanting to check it out?"
As if on cue, Ike's mind decided to voice the forewarning Ms. Faith gave him that late afternoon in the library. "Also I'm warning you now, do not let any vampires see that book. It's not supposed to be in here in the first place." It's best Ike didn't mention Ms. Faith's warning to Firkle otherwise he'd surely know he had that book. So he continued feigning his ignorance. "Why would she question me about checking out a book?"
Firkle rolled his eyes with a sigh. "I know you have that stupid book 'The Difference Between Purebloods and Mixed Bloods'." Then he narrowed his eyes. "I'm not sure whether if I should be surprised that she let you check it out or that you even bothered to get it." He shook his head. "Actually, never mind. You're a human so of course you'd be curious."
"But weren't you gonna check it out before?" Ike questioned, furrowing his eyebrows.
Now it was Firkle's turn to appear puzzled, but only for a brief moment, his glare reappearing. "Hell no! Why would I read some crap written by a dumb human?" He asked sounding offended.
"You were looking at it before you left the library," Ike pointed out.
"Yeah, because it pissed me off seeing that shit there again," Firkle grumbled.
"Oh, sorry," Ike said feeling guilty for assuming he was interested in getting the book.
"Stan wants you to meet him and his friends by the cafeteria asap."
Ike was left in a perplexed daze after the voice finished speaking to him inside his head, greatly shocking him at first. He sounded unfamiliar to him yet he knew Stan, Gregory, Gary, and Pip.
"What's wrong?" Ike blinked out of his stupor upon hearing Firkle's question, his visible eye no longer glaring at him.
Ike frowned bitterly, remembering that him and his friends are planning on escaping tonight. That vampire must've delivered Stan's message to him because Stan asked him to, which also meant that the very same vampire helped his friends get to the cafeteria with his teleportation. Additionally meaning Stan was now ready to put his plan into motion.
"I...I have to get back to my friends." Ike turned and hurried towards the door.
"Wait a sec."
Firkle reached out and caught his wrist. Holding back a shiver at how cold the vampire's hand was against his skin, Ike turned his head back, his countenance of urgency not going unmissed, but Firkle wasn't planning on releasing him.
"Firkle, I really need to go," Ike said desperately. He tried to free his wrist, Firkle's grip was strong yet delicate enough to keep him from leaving his grasp.
Firkle frowned at the human's restless behavior. "Why are you in such a rush to go to them all of a sudden?"
Ike stopped his futile struggling, turning his body to face the other noirette. "I don't have time to explain, just let me go. Please..." Rather, he couldn't explain it. How could he tell him that he needed to get to his friends so they could carry out their escape plan? Then again, perhaps he should tell him. Tonight may be the last time they see one another, and the thought saddened Ike.
He didn't want these last couple of minutes with Firkle to be spent like this.
Prior to when Stan mentioned about conjuring up an escape plan, Ike kept the envisage of his last moments with Firkle realistic: they would continue going to all of their classes together, Firkle would continue training him, and Ike would continue to get beautiful roses from him as a reward for all of his efforts. Basically, they would continue going about their days as usual.
That's how Ike wanted things to be until now...
"Ike?" The soft-spoken call of his name has him raising his head with a blink, he didn't realize he had been looking down this whole time. Nor the blur in his vision. "Seriously, what's the matter?" Firkle asked taking one step closer to him.
Ike quickly wiped away the tears before they fell with his free hand, to think he would get teary-eyed after reminiscing the good times he had with Firkle, guessed he really cherished those moments. A cold hand gently stopped him and pulled his hand away from his eyes, Ike blinking them open only to widen them at the closeness of Firkle's concerned face. Ike felt heat rising within his cheeks the longer he stared at him, he looked away again. A very alien sensation overcame Firkle, this time stronger compared to the first time he felt it in his chest. Slowly, feeling as if he's about to overstep his boundaries, he trailed his fingers down to Ike's own, gripping them as lightly as he could.
Ike's blush darkened as he looked at his hands, his heart pumping even faster and louder that he's certain Firkle could hear it over the rain.
And he indeed did hear his pounding heartbeat, and he relished every beat of it. Firkle honestly didn't know what was coming over him, this...attraction he's feeling towards Ike was nothing he'd ever undergone before. Perhaps it was because Ike was his first and only friend, and seeing him sad made him want to do everything he could to make him smile. He believed he began to feel this way - this indescribable affection - after giving Ike his third or fourth rose...He began to wonder if Ike underwent the same feelings as him. He did mention before that he couldn't always bring the Ashen Purple Roses back to his shared bedroom, however he didn't explain why. Perhaps he was too embarrassed to tell him at the time-
"F-Firkle..."
The vampire blinked, then with a blush let go of Ike's fingers. "S-sorry..." God, he hoped Ike didn't think he was a pervert for holding onto his fingers for so long like that...
Turning away from Firkle, Ike placed one of his hands up to his chest waiting for his heart to return to its steady beating, and for his cheeks to cool down.
Firkle frowned, deeply regretful about what he'd done. "I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Ike clenched his hand that was over his chest into a fist, wanting to reassure Firkle that it was okay, but he didn't trust his voice to speak again at the moment.
All of sudden, Firkle teleported them out of the classroom, Ike closing his eyes with a wince at the abrupt illumination. He blinked his eyes open after a few seconds, they soon adjusted to the lights.
"You'd better get going. Your friends are waiting for you."
Ike tightened his lips into a hard line. He spun around and enveloped Firkle into a hug, taking the vampire aback. "I'm the one who's sorry," Ike said solemnly. He pulled back not sparing the frozen stiff Firkle a glance, and took off down the hallway.
Firkle could only watch him go until he was no longer in his line of sight.
(A/n: Words in italics:
Shuiro Mikazuki: Vermilion Crescents
Akumu: Nightmare
Kyōfu de kare o mahi sa seru, Jigoku no mōsō: Paralyze him with fear, Hellish Delusion
(I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be up soon)