Chapter 45: Disarray

"Okay, let's decide on what to do."

Seven students are stood around a rectangular wooden table within the Student Council room, three are on one side and four are on the opposite side. The room only has two bookshelves near the left side wall, a single table where the teens are gathered at, and a podium that's stationed in front of a blank whiteboard. The right side is completely bare.

Distant shouting can be heard out in the hallway, but the group is too focused on formulating a plan to be deterred. "What if we," Fenix starts his suggestion off, all eyes focusing on him. "Try getting the administrators to help round up the students in the gym until everything settles down?"

Token crosses his arms while furrowing his eyebrows, thinking deeply. "It's not a bad idea, but considering who we're up against this time, simply hiding in the gym for who knows how long isn't gonna solve the issue any faster."

"Yeah, I agree," Remi says. "So how about we help Principal Brimestone take Mr. Valentine down instead?" He punches his hand, looking eager at his own plan.

Nicholas shakes his head disapprovingly. "That's reckless. You're just itching to fight, aren't you?"

"Of course I am! The quicker we kick his ass, the sooner this'll all be over and done with."

"But what about the vampire hunter?" Henry asks. "He'll pose as an even greater threat if he escapes from his chamber during all this commotion."

The rest of the six murmur in agreement.

"How about we split up then?" Kou proposes. "One group will help the Principal while the other group will gather up the students and staff, and take them all to a safe location."

"I'm helping the Principal!" Remi shouts ardently. Fenix and Token, who are both standing beside him, roll their eyes.

"We're uneven, Kou," Token points out. "We need to be balanced out in order to go through with your plan."

"Let's go find Kyle then." The six teenagers shift their gaze to Aiden.

A look of guilt crosses over on Token's face. "But ever since I took his spot as President, he's hardly come around unless I call for him."

"Yeah, but he's still a part of the Student Council Committee, and the strongest among us."

A tense silence falls over them for a second, Token breaking it with a sigh. "We don't have any other choice nor a lot of time to spare. Fenix, Nicholas, Henry, and I will escort everyone to safety while Remi, Aiden, and Kou will search for Kyle, and assist Principal Brimestone."

"What if he wants to bring that fresh turned vampire with him?" Aiden asks.

"Which I still find super weird that he's been hanging around him lately," Remi comments.

"Whether he wants to or not doesn't change the fact that he has a duty to uphold as a member of the Student Council Committee." The harshness in Nicholas' voice once again causes the room to fall into a tense silence.

Token clears his throat. "So, are there any objections?" His peers shake their heads. "Good. Aiden and Kou, I'm counting on you two to make sure Remi doesn't go too wild out there."

"Oi!"

"Gonna be difficult without a leash," Nicholas smirks teasingly, earning snickers from the others except Remi.

The redhead shoots him a glare, which doesn't faze him in the least. Failing to intimidate him, he looks away. "Tch, let's just go already."

The divided teams hurry out of the room to get started on their appointed tasks.

Kyle, Tweek, Kenny, and Stan were almost at the auditorium until all of a sudden, they hear a loud and pained scream. The four come to a stop, startled and confused.

Kyle turns around narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "It came from back there in another hall."

Tweek tenses, afraid to look back. "W-what should we do?"

Pressing his lips into a tight line, Kyle turns back around. "I'll go see what happened. You three hurry to the auditorium."

"L-let's go there together, and tell the Principal," Tweek says, not wanting Kyle to leave their group.

"Yeah, we're almost there anyway. We just gotta pick up the pace," says Kenny.

Kyle appears reluctant, but he nods his head. "Alright, let's hurry."

An abrupt strong gust of magic surges throughout the entire building, only effecting three out of the four teenagers.

"Umm, what's wrong now?" Stan asks eying the three stiff vampires worriedly.

Before either of them can muster up the willpower to reply, more screaming interrupts the semi-silence, this time coming from multiple voices from within the auditorium.

"Whoa! What the hell?!" Stan jolts when the double doors to the auditorium burst open, and a flood of vampires dash out.

Kenny and Kyle are the first to snap out of their daze, Tweek slowly doing the same. "C-change of plans," Kyle says fighting through the buzz in his head. "Tweek and I will go see who screamed a few minutes ago while Kenny takes you somewhere safe."

"Wait, but-"

"Good idea." Kenny takes a hold of Stan's hand, and pulls him along, having a destination in mind.

Kyle, with Tweek right behind him, take off down the hallway. Nearing a four-way intersection, Kyle goes into the right corridor. After running for a minute (Tweek surprised at how he's not the tiniest bit out of breath), they round a corner and immediately spot someone sat on their knees hunched over in the middle of the hallway. They slow down whilst approaching them, hearing faint whimpering coming from the black-haired male, his arms crossed as if he's cradling something.

Kyle and Tweek instantly recognize the vampire student. "Craig?" Kyle calls out cautiously as they stop. They sense only two emotions the noirette is currently undergoing, and both are strongly meshing together. They are sadness and rage.

Craig noticeably flinches upon hearing Kyle's voice over the heavy rain and shouting in the background. Slowly, he begins to lift his head, amber eyes eventually peeking out from underneath the black fringes of his hair, a clear trail of tears staining his cheeks. His wide-eyed and blank expression morphs into a fierce glare once he catches sight of Kyle and Tweek. He bares his fangs, a bright flash of lightning from a nearby window making his eyes that are turning a dark red appear similar to a feral beast. He stands up with a low growl, his arms still seemingly holding an invisible object.

Kyle gives the taller teen a nervous stare, he's never seen him like this before. "W-what's gotten into him?" He hears Tweek ask him fearfully.

"I don't know, but we'd better be prepared in case he tries something," Kyle replies back keeping a trained eye on Craig. He then notices that Craig's boyfriends aren't around, surely them not being here brought about this kind of reaction out of him.

The semi-silence around them is disconcerting. Craig is seething with rage, his deep scarlet eyes boring into one of the vampires before him. "You fucking bastard..." A rumble of thunder sounds close by.

Craig suddenly lunges at Kyle.

/

Kenny and Stan are still walking the halls. They can hear the outcries in the distance, Kenny tensing when he hears a few of them sounding like they're getting closer to where they are.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Stan asks genuinely confused, and a little scared.

"I don't really know, but I do know for sure that something happened in the auditorium," Kenny answers.

"Yeah, I know that much too, but I'm talking about before that. How come you, Kyle, and Tweek looked off back there?"

Kenny grimaces. "We felt this weird surge of magic, which is most likely the reason everyone in the auditorium ran outta there."

Stan frowns. Of course he wouldn't feel anything like that. "Well, are you okay now?"

Kenny feels touched by his concern. "Yeah, I'm fine, but-"

"Kenny!"

Widening his eyes, the blonde stops, forcing Stan to do the same since Kenny is still holding his hand. They turn around seeing a brunette running their way, soon a small crowd appears from behind him after rounding a corner.

"Shit," Kenny curses. "Mark, follow us!" Turning around, Kenny goes off into a run.

"Can't you just teleport to wherever you're taking me?" Stan asks.

"No, I tried to after we split up from Kyle and Tweek," Kenny answers.

They run until Kenny slows down in front of a bedroom door, Stan slightly out of breath. A few moments later, Markus catches up to them. Kenny tries the doorknob, it opens and all three of them walk into the room, Markus closing the door behind them.

"Of course we'd go to my room," Markus deadpans.

Kenny chuckles as he releases Stan's hand, him and the noirette sitting down on the same bed while Markus sits on the one next to them. "But anyway, what all happened in the auditorium?" Kenny asks.

Markus heaves a sigh as he scratches the back of his head. "Well, for starters, the vampire hunter was never brought there. Then after the Principal and Mr. Valentine talked for a bit, something appeared on the stage outta nowhere, exuding this intense wave of magic. Principal Brimestone told all of us to leave, and everyone wasted no time doing just that. I tried to teleport out instead, but..." He develops a pensive look on his face. "I think whatever that was on the stage disabled all of our basic abilities."

Kenny and Stan appear greatly shocked at what they'd just been told. "Wow," Stan utters out. "That's some crazy shit."

Markus laughs a little at his response. "Yeah, and turns out Mr. Valentine's the cause of all this."

"But why?" Kenny asks.

Markus shrugs. "Who knows? Wait, where's Kyle?"

"He went off with Tweek to see who screamed before all this shit happened."

"Weird...You two made up yet?"

Kenny's lips curl into a faint smile. "Yeah, we did."

"About damn time. Now you can stop being all broody."

"So I wasn't the only one who noticed," Stan says.

Kenny blushes as he rubs the back of his neck. "C'mon, guys, can you not?"

Stan and Markus laugh, then the three spend their time leisurely conversing with one another.

Ike is startled awake by the sounds of yelling accompanied by a vibration of thunder. He shoots upwards into a sitting position, getting startled once again when he sees someone sitting in bed next to him, quickly recognizing the vampire. Firkle's apparent right eye is fixated at the door to notice his sudden rousing.

Ike follows his gaze. "W-what's happening out there?"

Firkle purses his lips. "Something happened in the auditorium."

Ike raises a confused eyebrow. "The auditorium?"

"Yeah." Firkle replies. "The Principal made an announcement for everyone to go there some time ago cuz Mr. Valentine said so. It's a really good thing we stayed in here." Although the unusual feeling from earlier has been bugging him relentlessly.

Ike glares at him. "So you weren't even gonna wake me up had nothing happened?" He can't believe he slept for this long, he didn't think he was that tired.

Firkle looks to him with a warm smile. "You were sleeping so peacefully, there was no way I'd wake you up to go see an execution they could've done without everyone seeing it." He looks away as his smile drops into a frown. "Besides, you needed it after what happened yesterday."

Knowing instantly what the other noirette was referring to, a blush surfaces on Ike's cheeks, and he looks down at his lap. "S-sorry." Stupid thunderstorm...

Firkle shakes his head. "You don't need to apologize. I already kinda figured you were scared of thunder by the way you reacted out under the breezeway."

Feeling his cheeks heating up some more, Ike glowers at the white and black patterned sheets over his legs. "You probably think it's silly, huh? To be afraid of some harmless, loud sound?"

Firkle frowns at his ashamed tone. The commotion within the hallway is gradually toning down. "No, everyone fears something. No matter if it's dumb or silly." Ike feels reassured by his statement.

Suddenly, the door flings open and rushing in are Firkle's roommates. Pete slams the door closed while a teen with curly black hair and orange eyes goes to his bed. Pete turns around to see Ike and Firkle.

"You slept over?" He asks Ike, approaching his own bed.

The blush hadn't completely faded from Ike's cheeks. "Uh, y-yeah." Though it was unintentional.

"What happened?" Firkle asks, his expression calm.

"Mr. Valentine's tryin' to kill us," the orange-eyed teen answers nonchalantly, flopping back on his bed.

"Yeah, pretty much," Pete says in agreement, sitting down near the edge of his mattress to face Ike and Firkle. "Don't know how long the Principal can distract him for so we can't stay in here for too long."

Firkle tsk's in annoyance while Ike frowns uneasily. "Just the Principal? What about his assistants?" Ike asks.

Pete shrugs. "They weren't there." A minute long silence follows.

"We should go look for them," Firkle suggests, earning bewildered stares from the three boys.

"But...what about the vampire hunter?" Ike asks.

"He also wasn't there," the curly-haired vampire says.

"It'd be too risky going out there if the vampire hunter is on the loose," Pete says crossing his arms.

"And it's too risky staying in here for him to eventually find us," Firkle argues.

The two stare at each other silently for a moment or two, then Pete heaves a sigh, knowing full well that Firkle is right. "Okay. fine. But before that, you felt that odd rush of magic earlier, right?" Firkle nods that he did. "Well, turns out we can't use telepathy or teleportation because of it." Firkle makes a shocked face.

"Yeah, we tried teleporting here, but couldn't," his other roommate adds in.

"But we can worry about that later." Uncrossing his arms, Pete rises onto his feet. "Let's go search for Ms. Biggle and Mr. Ashton."

"Wait, what about the human?"

"Ike is coming with us, Joey," Firkle replies sharply while getting out of bed.

"That's if he wants to." Pete looks at the boy. "Do you, Ike?"

Ike suddenly feels pressured, even more so when Firkle looks to him with a pleading expression, although it's vague. Of course, he wants to go with them, but his friends...What if they're wondering where he is right now? No, they undoubtedly are since he didn't go back to his shared bedroom yesterday. Knowing Pip, he's probably worried about him the most. But then again, if he goes with these guys, he might spot his friends somewhere in the halls. There's a slim chance of that happening, but it's still worth giving a shot. "Sure, I'll tag along." He sees a quick shift in Firkle's expression, now appearing content with his answer. Joey just shrugs, and gets up to join Pete by the door. Ike gets out of bed and scans the floor for his shoes, only to see them right by his feet. He puts them on.

Pete opens the door and steps out into the empty hallway, Joey followed by Firkle and Ike joining him. Ike shuts the door. "We'll check Ms. Biggle's office first," Pete declares.

"Can we check Mr. Ashton's instead?" Joey nearly begs, shuddering at the mere image of the woman's 'office'.

Pete rolls his eyes. "It doesn't matter where we go first, just c'mon."

Firkle grabs Ike's hand, and the four of them jog up the hall.

Gregory, Pip, and Gary are stood outside on the rooftop, two out of the three shivering under the cool raindrops pelting down on them. They've been up here for approximately five minutes now, which was long enough for the loud voices to be drowned out by the rain and thunder.

"W-what are we g-gonna do?" Pip asks through chattering teeth. "L-look for S-Stanley and Ike?" He and Gary look to Gregory for his answer.

His arms crossed with one hand holding his sheathed cutlass, Gregory thinks deeply on a solution. Ike never returned to their room yesterday, and neither did he show up for first class or probably any of his classes throughout today. "I have a few places in mind as to where they could be, but there's no guarantee that they're together." Unfolding his arms, he saunters over towards the metallic door, Pip and Gary following him. Gregory opens the door, and starts going down the stairs while pushing his wet bangs back. Gary, being the last one to enter the building, closes the door.

Very faint voices can be perceived somewhere within the halls over their footsteps.

"I want you two to stay close. We can't let our guard down," Gregory advises. Once he steps off the last step, he surveys ahead of him then does the same to both ends of the hallway. "The last thing we need is for someone to take advantage of us in this hectic mess." He walks forward, the two blondes heeding his words as they tail behind him.

Neither say a word as they traverse the halls, Gregory being on the lookout for any kind of threat that springs up.

"Uggh, where the hell is heee?"

The three teens come to an instant standstill upon hearing the voice from the hallway they're nearing. Gregory narrows his eyes and nips his bottom lip, preparing to unsheathe his weapon. There are a few doors along the hall they're in, but he gets the feeling that they're all locked and they can't take the chance of trying the doorknobs to check. He turns his head to the side placing a finger over his lips, signaling for Pip and Gary to keep quiet. Hesitantly, they nod.

"With everyone in the hallways, it's difficult to pinpoint his exact location," a different voice says, sounding equally exasperated as they get closer to the end of the hall. The three humans are so focused on the unknown vampires up ahead that they fail to notice a black-haired man behind them a couple meters away.

"Plus, we can't teleport or use telepathy," a third voice mentions.

"Yeah, which is a pain in the ass. Why don't we just-" The three vampires come to a halt after walking out from behind the corner. They lock eyes with the soaked humans, but then they spot someone approaching the humans. The teen with red hair grins eagerly.