The Vampire's Mate
Part 1
The Castle
The castle stood on the outcasts of the small city. Old, tall, and ancient, the castle has stood at the summit of a hill, surrounded by a vast forest for eons, long before the city thrived, long before the first settler came, and long before the village, there was the castle. It was a darkly beautiful structure, vast and strong made from solid stone not native to these lands. Twelve large spires pierced the skies, several dominating buildings, all attached by arches and corridors, casted their shadows upon the city, all surrounded by an impenetrable wall that stood for generations. For years the spires wore no banners, no flag, nor shown signs of life and yet strange tales always seemed to filter from the castle. Cursed. Haunted. A place where the dead rule, where the devil played his fiddle and called home. It's name has been lost to the generations, as modernity started to show, the castle stood with it's forgotten name until, in need of a name for their haunting tales, the grandmothers and nannies gave it one: Hollow Bastion.
Hollow Bastion, a name that sent chills down the spines of children and earn strange looks from the elderly as they always muttered under their breath and spat in the castle's direction. Hollow Bastion… tales say that the castle was once a king's home, a fair and much loved king who treated the people he ruled fairly and equally. A king who stories said was killed, not by an assassin nor enemy, but by his own blood, his sole son, a young man: power-hungry and cruel. With his father gone, the Prince now ruled, using the villagers as playmates until, one night at a full moon, red as wine, a stranger came to the village and into the castle. Nobody saw who the stranger was or heard of what he wanted. The next day, the gates were drawn and barred, and not a soul was saw in the castle ever again.
Sora Hikari knew this story, he grew up on it, and now, at eighteen years old, Sora still get chills whenever the castle's shadow drift over the city. It does not matter how big the buildings are built, even though none exceeded seven floors, nor how wide the city has expanded, the shadows of Hollow Bastion always found a way to creep over and blot all in its shadow as the sun made it's final descent behind the hill on which the dead castle laid. He was starting college, going to the local University to be an English major.
It was the end of August, and Sora's first day of school. The young man stood small for his age, five foot five, and was skinny with a rather well defined ass, he was, for all definitions, a twink. However, unlike most other twinks in the world, Sora Hikari, with his brown hair and cerulean eyes, dressed in baggy clothing to hide in. Baggy shorts and a shirt one size too large, Sora walked around the University's campus, a bag on his shoulder as he stared at his phone, muttering his schedule to himself as he wished for Fall to come quickly, and with it, cooler weather.
"History 206 with Professor Evans in Vigil Hall 106… after that English 110 with Professor Ienzo… that's in Vigil Hall too… 207," he muttered to himself and stopped to look around. He had a tour, yes, with all the other freshmen, however he already forgotten his way. He was standing in what looked like a quad. The buildings all surrounded this square space of grass and trees, there was a sidewalk that connected the buildings to one another going along the perimeter benches situated here and there, as well as wooden benches in the quad itself under tall trees. Sora looked around and spotted a stone arch against a near long brick building that was inscribed with Vigil Hall. He smiled and rushed in immediately, checking his phone to see he had ten minutes till class began.
The inside of the building was a long hallway with sleek walls and flooring, there were poster boards everywhere advertising classes and roommates wanted. Sora ignored these and made his way down the hall, his eyes falling on each door as he passed, reading the numbers until he reached 106.
The classroom was already starting to fill, sleepy-looking freshman and college students, all here to check off their history requirements—one or two maybe a hopeful history major. Sora didn't look at any of them, hugging his bag to himself as he moved to the back to sit in a free seat by the window. There, he pulled out a notebook, a pen and his phone and went on Twitter. He barely followed anyone he knew, most of his follows were honestly either thirst-follows or the account seemed interesting. He scrolled, reading absent-mindedly until the class started. His professor was enthusiastic about history, and as much as Sora would have wanted, he just did not reflect the same enthusiasm. Class drilled on, the only interaction Sora had was a mutter of thanks when the guy in front of him handed back the syllabus.
With a start, Sora's hands immediately flipped for the require assignments and breathed a sigh of relief. No team projects, just two essays, one in the middle and one at the end. He hated working in groups, somehow he always ended up with most of the work even if he talked the least. When the forty-five minutes were up, Sora was one of the first to stand and me moved quickly while the others mingled in the classroom.
English was next, and Sora was determined to talk in this class. Sora was only the second person in the classroom as he entered it. There was a young man who only looked a few years older than him standing behind the small teacher's desk, fiddling with the computer and projector that hung from the ceiling. The youthful man looked up and, at first, Sora thought he was another student.
He was small and slim, with pale skin and long silver hair edged out in dramatic spikes that hid half of his face. "Hello," he said, "you must be one of my students," he smiled, "I am Professor Ienzo, it is a pleasure."
He offered his hand and Sora shook it awkwardly, muttering softly, "Sora Hikari."
"It is nice to meet you Sora, I'm sure that this will be a productive semester," Professor Ienzo smiled. "You are a freshman, right?" Sora nodded. "First class?"
"Second… history…"
"I see, well please, have a seat," Professor Ienzo smiled, letting go of Sora's hand. Sora nodded and moved directly for the back, his cheeks blazing as his felt his heart beat quickly. He hates me, I made a horrible introduction—he'll never call on me, I'll never talk—I'm going to fail, why do you have to be such a fucking loser Sora!?
Feeling awful about himself and everything, Sora again sat at the back of the class, his determination to talk in class shattered as Professor Ienzo went back to the computer. One by one more students came and Sora ignored them all, not even paying attention to who was sitting with who. That was until one boy walked in.
He was tall with long silver hair that fell against his face heavenly. Well-muscled, the young man looked only a couple years older than Sora and wore a grey shirt that only covered his bulging pecs and upper stomach, showing the bottom of a full set of abs, and over that was a sleeveless jacket, yellow and opened. Black jeans finished the simple yet erotic look and Sora for a moment wondered how this was acceptable attire as the Adonis turned and his eyes locked with Sora's. He felt his heartbeat, his pulse quickened dramatically. The Adonis smirked and walked confidently towards Sora, sitting in the seat next to him. "Hello," he purred, his voice seductive and deep, his eyes like a predator's that caught Sora in his trap. "My name is Riku, will you give me paper and pen for notes?"
Light-headed from a surge of arousal, Sora nodded and pulled out several pages from his notebook and gave them and a spare pen to Riku. The young man looked down and tsked, "Kitten, there's something missing," he said, giving one page back to Sora, "Write your full name and phone number."
Sora nodded, his fingers shaking as he wondered why this hot Adonis, this god would talk to him and he wrote his name and number. "Thank you Sora Hikari," Riku smirked, "you'll have lunch with me, yes?" Sora nodded.
"Perfect. I'll text you, and looking away, Sora felt something snapped in him. Anxiety and dread filled his body to his very core and he had to take several deep breaths to bottle it all in, like he has a thousand times before. Don't think, don't feel. One lunch he'll see I'm stupid. It'll hurt but that's okay. I'll be alone, a disappointment like always, they're all disappointed in me. Conceal, don't feel, don't let him know…
A/N: A supernatural romance for a supernatural month! I hope you enjoy and leave a review!