***Please See Important Author's Note at the End of the Chapter!***

Justine was in an absolutely foul mood long before she arrived at school. While in the car with Akira, she made sure to turn her face towards the window and away from him, lest he notice the furious scowl displayed prominently on her face. She had her arms crossed against her chest and was barely suppressing the urge to mutter and grumble in anger.

'That… vampiric bastard!' she thought. He had the nerve to threaten Akira, her father, the only person that she trusted completely, the person who saved her from a truly horrible fate, right to her face. If she thought that she had hated him before, now she was having delightful daydreams about all of the ways she would brutally murder him. She imagined herself forcing his body into a wood-chipper, or maybe grabbing him by his stupid goddamn head and drowning him in her bathtub. Or perhaps she could keep it clean and just throw him out of a Boeing 747.

Aw, where's your parachute, Sakamaki-san? Splat!

… Jesus, Laito was really bringing out the worst in her. She should probably schedule another appointment with Dr. Sohma soon.

Soon enough, she felt the car come to a stop at the front entrance of Ryoutei Academy.

"Alright, cherie, we're here. Will you be okay today?" Akira asked. Justine turned to face him, forcing a smile for him.

"Yeah, of course, Akira. I'll be fine." She said, hoping that he would buy her act and not ask any questions about what happened while he was away talking to Dr. Sohma.

He sighed before taking his hand into hers and looking her in the eye.

"Justine… you know that if something's bothering you, you can always tell me, right? No matter what it is. I'm here for you, alright?" he said, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. Justine felt her throat get tight at his words, starting to feel like an awful person for lying to him like she was. But she knew that she had to, especially after what that bastard Laito had done. He had spent years protecting her, so now she would return the favour and protect him.

She would be dead, or worse, if not for him, so of course she would gladly do the same for him.

"Of course I do. Trust me, I'm fine, really I am." She said, flashing him a large, disarming smile. He smiled back, seemingly fallen for her act.

"I know, I guess I'm just being a worrywart." He chuckled. At this, Justine could feel her fake smile become genuine. It felt kind of nice to know that someone really cared about her wellbeing, God knows she had not ever had that before she met Akira. They certainly never did…

No, no! She could not let herself fall down that rabbit hole, not now. She just needed to get through the day, and then she could go home and crawl into bed for the rest of her life. That is, if that bastard did not end up breaking into her house again…

Oh God, when had her life turned into such an insane mess? Oh right, when she had caught the attention of Laito Sakamaki, that's when…

"It's okay, Akira. I'll be fine, so don't worry so much, alright? I'm a big girl. Anyway, I'll see you later." She replied. She leaned over to give him an affectionate peck on the cheek before she opened the car and stepped outside. As she waved Akira goodbye while he drove off, she made to way inside the building while trying her best to ignore all of the glares and strange looks being sent her way.

Justine sighed as she opened her locker and put her shoes inside. It had been this way ever since she was forced to go to Laito's house. Of course, she did not blame them, seeing as how he had burst through the front doors with her in his arms for all to see. Hell, the limo that they had drove off in may as well have had a banner reading "Just Married!" tied to the back of it.

At this point, all Justine could do was hope that they would eventually forget and go back to ignoring her, just as long as he did not do anything as eye-catching carrying her out of the school as though they were a newlywed couple.

Yeah, no, that was probably a bit too much to ask for, given the kind of person he was.

After she finished getting her shoes on, she began to walk to her classroom, keeping her head down in order to not attract any further attention to herself. Checking her surroundings, she was pleasantly surprised when she realized that Laito and his creepy brothers were nowhere to be found. For one glorious moment, she allowed herself to believe that her threat had actually scared him off, and that he and his brothers had packed up and moved to the Arctic or somewhere equally as remote. They'd be fine, just give them some bear mace or something.

Except for Laito. Laito would get eaten alive by a polar bear, and then it would steal his hat and wear it and show it off to the rest of its polar bear friends. And henceforth, it would be known as Laito-Bear. But soon enough, Laito-Bear would be rejected by its ursine brethren -for clothing of any kind is blasphemous to the bears- and it would wander the frozen tundra in search of a new home, where it would come across the Sakamaki brothers. They would mistake Laito-Bear for regular Laito, or maybe just prefer the bear to their real brother, and accept it as one of them.

And then Laito-Bear would get hungry again and eat Kanato, and maybe Ayato if it still had room for seconds.

…

Alright, these revenge fantasies were getting very weird. She walked over to a nearby window and looked outside, up at the dark night sky. Taking several deep breaths, she used both hands to pat her cheeks.

"Okay, okay. Keep it together, Justine. Keep it together." She whispered to herself, knowing that she had to calm down and de-pressurize before she had another meltdown. It was bad enough when regular teenagers had breakdowns; one could only imagine how destructive one could be for a psychic teenager. Besides, while she was sure the school could afford to replace more broken light bulbs, there was no way she could do something like that again and not have anyone connect the dots.

She and Akira could not afford any more screw-ups on her part.

After a few more deep breaths, Justine felt calm enough to continue on her way to her classroom. Turning around, her better mood instantly went right to hell when she found the object of her increasingly deranged murder fantasies standing before her, that goddamn smirk wide on his face.

"Hello again, Darling! How are you tonight?" he said, as chipper as ever.

"You have a lot of nerve to talk to me again after what you did." She grumbled, a part of her wondering if she could use her mind to will Laito-Bear into existence and have him eat the real one. Hey, if she could move things without touching them, then anything was possible as far as she was concerned.

Laito slightly tilted his head to the side in false confusion.

"Hm? What I did? What exactly did I do, Darling~?"

"Don't play dumb, you bastard! You threatened my dad back at the doctor's office, did you really think that I'd just forget about that?" she took several steps closer to him, looking him dead in the eye.

"… Or that I'd forget what I said I'd do to you if you went anywhere near him?" her voice was low and grave, the anger she had felt when she had threatened him bubbling right back up. Laito was unfazed, though, the look of amusement on his face telling her that he thought this whole thing was a joke.

"Honestly, Darling, I really do love that look in your eyes. Ah~, you have no idea how much it turns me on." He moaned, his face flushed with excitement. Justine backed away from him in disgust.

"Mon Dieu, what doesn't turn you on? Actually, no, don't answer that. I don't want to know." She said, her face scrunched up in revulsion. In a second, she saw his smile turn a bit more sinister, a cold glint in his green eyes. Oh no, he was giving her that look.

Nope. Not now, not before school was over.

Not wanting to be passing out from blood loss before class even started, she quickly stepped to the side and made a run for her classroom, hearing Laito's chuckle grow faint behind her. When she made it to the door and slid it open, she was completely out of breath, panting in a desperate attempt to get some air.

'God, I'm out of shape. Maybe I should start working out…' she thought as she made her way to her desk. Thankfully, the graffiti that her second, more anonymous bully had written had long since been washed off, leaving it clean and inoffensive. She sat down and began to get her school supplies ready, setting her pencil, eraser, and notebook on top of her desk. Just then, she heard the door loudly slide open, and Justine grit her teeth and mentally prepared herself for whatever was so come.

"Darling! Why did you leave so quickly? I just wanted to have a little bit of fun with you before class started~." He exclaimed as he made his way to the desk next to her with a confident stride, making sure that everyone in the classroom could hear him. He sat down in his chair, sending a proud, smug smile her way as she could hear her classmates begin to whisper to each other.

"So, are Sakamaki and Lenoir dating or what?"

"I don't think so, I heard that he'd been seen messing around with Shimizu a few days ago, and with Miyamoto a few days before that."

"Oh, come on, they're obviously an item! He just called her "darling," what more proof do you need?"

"That doesn't mean anything; Hasegawa said that he used to call her by a pet name too, before he got bored with her. He's just using her for sex, plain and simple. I bet he's got a thing for French girls."

"Wait, you don't think they've already done it, do you?"

"Not gonna lie, if I were her, I would sleep with him the first chance I got! I mean, come on, he's so hot! Seriously, she's so lucky, she should be grateful that he's paying attention to her."

That last comment made Justine want to slam her forehead against her desk. She did not blame them, honestly; they had no idea who -or what- Laito Sakamaki really was, but come on! "Lucky" is the last word she would use to describe her situation with the red-haired vampire. And quite frankly, she did not appreciate her classmates gossiping about her fictitious sexual relationship with Laito as if she was not in the same damn room with them. Did they really think she could not hear them?

"Fufufufu, you're becoming quite the celebrity, aren't you, Darling?" Laito whispered to her, the look on his face showing just how much he was enjoying her humiliation. Justine grit her teeth in frustration.

"This is all your fault, you bastard…! You're making them think that we're together!" she hissed in anger. Laito simply shrugged.

"That's not true. I'm not telling them to believe anything, they're jumping to their own conclusions. Honestly, I have a little more integrity than you give me credit for."

"Oh please, you don't even know how to spell integrity!"

"You can think whatever you want about me, Darling. They certainly are." He said, gesturing to their fellow students, still whispering to each other.

It took everything Justine had to restrain herself from punching him in his stupid, stupid face right then and there. But she knew that she could not let her anger get the best of her, she knew that that was what he wanted and she was not going to play into his little mind games. Plus, there was no way in hell that she was going to give her classmates more material to spin into outlandish rumours.

"You know, I like the polar bear version of you a lot better…" she muttered, far too irritated to notice or care about the look of pure confusion he gave her. Before he could respond, everyone turned their heads to the door as they heard it open, Mrs. Namikawa marching up to the podium in her regular huff, making sure to send a heated glare in Justine and Laito's general direction. After the students who were still standing hurriedly took their seats, their neurotic teacher addressed the class.

"Everyone, be quiet! Before we begin, I have something I to say." She said, somehow sounding even more on edge than usual. This caught Justine's attention and raised her curiosity.

"First, I need to ask if any of you have seen Aoyama-san since yesterday." This instantly got the class's attention, a sense of dread slowly filling the room. Seeing that nobody answered her question, Mrs. Namikawa let out on irritated sigh and continued.

"A few hours ago, her mother called the school and said that she didn't come home last night. Now, I assure you all that Ryoutei Academy takes these matters very seriously and have contacted the police. So, that being said, I'll ask you all again. Have any of you seen or heard from Aoyama-san since yesterday?" This unnerving revelation caused the entire class to worriedly whisper amoungst themselves, completely ignoring Mrs. Namikawa's question, much to her chagrin.

Meanwhile, Justine was wracking her brain trying to remember. Aoyama, Aoyama, who was that again? She swore she knew who that girl was, but her mind drew a blank. Where did she know her, how did she know her…?

Then it hit her.

Turning her head to the row of desks in front of her, she spotted the only empty seat in the class, the one where Laito used to sit…

'Aoyama, Eri Aoyama! She was the girl that used to sit next to me! Before Laito convinced the school to have them switch seats! 'Immediately after she remembered who the missing girl was, she almost felt as though someone had dumped a liter of ice-cold water down her back.

Sakamaki… did he…?

She whipped her head around to face him, blue-gray eyes looking at him mixture and anger and suspicion. Laito, for his part, could not look more bored with everything, one of his arms propped up against his desk with his chin resting on top of his palm. When he noticed her staring at him, his smirk returned, and he sent a flirtatious wink her way. She scowled at him, disgusted -but not at all surprised- at his absolutely callous reaction to hearing something so awful. It certainly did not help him look less suspicious to her.

"Be quiet, all of you!" Mrs. Namikawa shouted, quickly getting back the attention of the students, Laito and Justine included.

"If any of you learn anything about where Aoyama could be, you are to inform a school official immediately. Now that that's out of the way, let's begin." She said dismissively, seeming to care about the missing girl about as much as Laito did. This made Justine's hatred of her teacher increase immensely. Not even she, a teacher, remotely cared about the fact that one of her students were missing? Is it just her, or were all of the teachers Ryoutei Academy hired a bunch of uncaring sociopaths?

Admittedly, Justine herself barely knew the girl. They had sat next to each other for a few months and occasionally exchanged a few friendly greetings before class, but she definitely could not say that they had been friends. Still, though, just because they did not know each other very well did not mean that Justine would not care if something bad happened to her.

Justine turned her head down to her desk, staring at the wooden surface that still contained faint traces of black sharpie.

Even though they were not friends, she truly, sincerely hoped that Aoyama was okay…

Class passed surprisingly quickly for Justine. While she was sure that Laito was touching her thigh and playing with her hair as usual, her mind was so preoccupied that she barely even noticed. She did not even need to sing about pink elephants this time. Instead, her head was filled with thoughts about all of the horrible things Laito could have done to poor Aoyama since last night. Perhaps he kidnapped her and chained her up in his house, because of course a house that massive -one that belonged to vampires, no less- had to have a dungeon or two. He or maybe even one of his brothers (since he was a vampire, it was only logical to assume that they all were) periodically drinking the poor girl's blood, or torturing her, or whatever other horrific atrocities Justine did not want to think about. Or maybe he just straight up killed her and dumped her body somewhere?

Justine tried to stop herself from imagining Aoyama's decaying corpse, her gray skin, body stiff from rigor mortis, the worms and maggots beginning to devour her rotting flesh…

Oh crap, she just did imagine it. And now she wanted to throw up.

When Mrs. Namikawa dismissed her class for lunch, Justine was up from her seat and out the door in a flash; she could not get out of there fast enough. In the hallway, she stopped and turned around to face the entrance of her classroom, watching as half of her classmates filed out to go and eat lunches, the other half preferring to eat at their desks. They gave her strange looks as they passed, seeing her standing like a statue in the middle of the hallway with a cold, determined look on her face, but she paid them no mind. She had other things to focus on.

Soon enough, just like she thought, Laito casually waltzed out the door, looking about as indifferent as he had been when their teacher announced that their classmate was missing. His eyes lit up when he spotted her, however, and he walked over to her.

"Darling! Why did you leave in such a hurry? My, my, what a scary face you're making! It's absolutely ador-"

"Did you do it?" Justine tersely cut him off, not wanting to waste any time. Laito went from looking cheery to puzzled.

"Did I do what, Darling? You'll have to be a bit more specific."

"Don't play dumb. Eri Aoyama. Was it you? Did you do it?" she said, the intensity in her voice rising. The confusion on his face lingered for a few moments before he erupted in laughter. Justine scowled even deeper, not exactly seeing the humour in being accused of kidnapping/and/or murder.

"Oh, I really needed that, thank you. But really, Darling, why on earth do you think that I had something to do with that girl going missing?" he chuckled, wiping a tear that had gathered in his eye from laughing so hard. Justine could feel her face become red from anger and indignation.

"Oh, so then I guess that it's all a coincidence that you convince the school to give you her desk, and then less than two weeks later she disappears? What have you done with her?" she countered. Laito placed a hand on his hip and looked down at her condescendingly.

"Really, Darling, I thought you were at least a little smarter than this. Think for a second; if I already got what I wanted from that girl, what possible motive would I have for harming her? I have you to play with, after all~."

"I don't know, maybe you just want to torture her for the hell of it. That seems to be the reason why you do anything." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. Laito placed his hand over his heart and gave her a look of sadness that was quite obviously fake.

"You know, it really hurts to know that you think so little of me. You're so cruel, Darling." He replied before, quite suddenly, dropping the façade, indifference taking over his features. "To answer your question, no, I didn't have anything to do with that girl vanishing. Don't quite care, to be honest. What's one missing mortal to me, anyway? Your argument doesn't have much of a leg to stand on."

Justine bristled at his words. As much as she hated to admit it, there was a good chance he was right. She could not think of a real, concrete motive he would have for harming Aoyama. He had gotten what he had wanted from her, that being an excuse to get closer to his prey. Besides, there was always the possibility that Aoyama had simply run away and was not in any danger at all. Still, she did not want to rule Laito out as innocent just yet. After all…

"What about those other girls everyone was talking about, the ones you were "messing around" with? And our teacher? If you hurt them too-" Now it was Justine's turn to be interrupted, Laito sighing dramatically.

"Honestly, Darling, what kind of monster do you think I am?"

"The kind that tortures people for his own sick amusement…" she grumbled under her breath. Laito continued as though he did not hear her, though she was more than certain that he had.

"Trust me, I didn't do anything that they didn't want me to do. They were more than willing to have fun with me…" he purred, a blush forming across his cheeks. Justine almost shuttered in abhorrence. Then, as swiftly as the wind, he pulled her close to him, his hand taking hold of her chin and tilting it upwards to that he could look her directly in the eye.

"Don't be jealous, Darling. Those other girls don't mean anything to me; you're the one I love." He said, coming strangely close to sounding sincere. Justine, of course, did not buy his act for even a second. She knew that the only thing he cared about was getting his rocks off, and that she and the other girls he consorted with were nothing but a means to that end.

"For the last time, stop saying that! You don't love me, you don't love our teacher, I bet you've never loved anyone!" she raised her voice, not caring if anyone could hear her at that point.

It seemed as though her words flipped a switch in his brain. In an instant, all sense of mirth and humour seemed to leave him, and he glared down at her with cold, unfeeling eyes. Justine felt her heart drop into her stomach, realizing that that probably had not been the smartest thing to say. To really get his displeasure across, he grabbed hold of her shoulders and squeezed hard, making Justine cry out in pain. This seemed to bring a small bit of joy back to him, as a sadistic grin spread on his face.

"Wrong once again, Darling. This really isn't your night, is it~?" he teased, though his body language radiated hostility. Using his inhuman strength, he painfully slammed her body against a nearby wall, nearly knocking the wind out of her. Pain exploded from the back of her head as it made impact with the wall, her scream of distress now even louder. Laito's smirk grew even wider, thoroughly enjoying her suffering, though it still did not reach his eyes.

"Wha-what?" she managed to croak, attempting to catch her breath.

"I did love once, I'll have you know." He said, pressing himself against her, trapping her where she stood. Despite her aching back and head, she tried her best to not back down, maintaining direct eye contact.

"I loved her absolutely and completely. Even now, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her. Her touch, her smell, I still remember everything as though it were yesterday. Though, now I realize…" he paused to press his forehead against hers, somehow making Justine feel even more revolted than before. He was still maintaining eye contact, and his face was so close to hers that she could almost see his pupils expand and contract.

"… I had to love her. I had no choice, not really…" he finished, the look in his eyes completely unreadable. Justine could only look at him in pure bewilderment.

"Y-You're… not making any sense…" she whimpered. He gave her a hollow, empty chuckle.

"I know. It made no sense to me either, at first. But she showed me, she taught me what love really meant. And now…" he spoke, before placing his cold, pale hand on her cheek and passionately pressing their lips together. It took Justine a few moments to process what was happening before she felt his tongue find its way into her mouth, brushing against her own. She heard him moan in ecstasy, pressing himself even harder against her. Coming back to her senses, she wasted no time and bit down on the invading appendage, hard.

Feeling her teeth nearly bite his tongue in half, he quickly pulled away from her lips and placed his hand over his mouth, though his other arm kept a firm grasp on her shoulder, stopping her from running away. She glared at Laito with the blazing fury of a thousand suns, trying her absolute hardest not to think about the lingering taste of him in her mouth.

God, that sounded wrong on so many levels, she thought.

She did not have to worry about that for long, however, when she saw Laito's hand shoot out and roughly grab hold of her jaw, holding her head in place with his vice grip. Lifting his head back into her field of vision, she felt her blood run cold at the overwhelming feeling of anger that he seemed to give off. His lips pulled downwards into a frown, his eyes cold and unfeeling, and his hand tightening his hold on her face, making it begin to ache.

"That wasn't very nice, Darling. That actually hurt quite a bit." He practically sneered at her, his voice deep and menacing. Justine nervously swallowed, but still did not back down. He deserved it, after all, for trying to shove his tongue down her throat.

"All I'm trying to do is give you my love, and this is how you repay me? You're so heartless."

"I… I don't want your love. I don't want anything from you! I don't want you!" she yelled firmly, finally finding her voice. A few moments of absolute, deafening silence passed between them, neither saying a word or even making a sound. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Justine, Laito spoke.

"… You don't want me…?" His tone was eerily calm and collected. It set Justine on edge, but she held firm.

"Of course not, when did I ever say I did?" she replied. A moment after she spoke, to her horror, one of the corners of his mouth curled up into a sinister half-grin. He let go of her shoulder, using his now free hand to undo the top buttons of her school blouse and caress her exposed neck with his cold hands. She shivered in disgust, which made Laito's grin become larger.

"I told you before, Darling, that I had no choice but to love her." He pressed his face to her throat and took a deep breath, inhaling her scent, before running his tongue down her exposed skin. Justine tried once again to wriggle free, but her attempts were thwarted when he snaked his free arm around her waist, pulling her towards him and making escape virtually impossible. She could feel her heartbeat go a mile a minute, almost feeling as though it could burst out of her chest cavity entirely.

"And now… you have no choice but to love me…" he whispered before opening his mouth wide, his razor-sharp fangs ready to pierce her bare flesh. Justine closed her eyes, not wanting to see his teeth sink into her neck.

"Laito!" a stern, angry voice interjected, catching the attention of both the vampire and the psychic. Turning their heads towards in the direction the voice came from, they saw Mrs. Namikawa standing there in the hallway, her stance more than hostile and her face as red a cherry with fury. Her hands were at her sides, clenched so tightly into fists that they turned white. Her brown hair, usually neat and tied into a tight bun, was somewhat disheveled, reflecting her erratic state of mind.

For a split second, Justine was actually glad to see her there, hoping that Mrs. Namikawa would somehow help her out of this terrible situation. But then she remembered who she was, what her relationship with Laito was, and the fact that she and the red-haired vampire were currently pressed up against the wall with him sensually licking her neck, and that feeling evaporated in an instant. She knew how this looked, how they looked, and why their teacher was as furious as she was.

Justine looked at her teacher in horror, absolutely mortified to be seen in such a state, wishing that the ground would just open up and swallow her whole. Laito, on the other hand, looked indifferent and even a bit annoyed at her presence, as though he were silently asking her what she was doing interrupting his fun.

"So, this is why you haven't come to see me? Because of her?" she snarled through gritted teeth, spitting out the word "her" as though it were poison. Justine was speechless, too shocked and emotionally overwhelmed to say anything. Laito certainly did not help matters.

"Honestly, sensei, I'm a tad busy at the moment, so if you could go away, that would be wonderful." He said nonchalantly, as if it was totally normal to be caught by your teacher/lover sucking on the neck of another -unwilling- woman. Justine almost felt sorry for Mrs. Namikawa at his complete lack of consideration for her feelings. Almost, though, since she still thought that it was perfectly okay to cheat on her husband with one of her students.

'When you think about it,' Justine thought amidst the unfolding chaos, 'They're perfect for each other. They're both horrible people.'

"I'm not going away, you little bastard! What, you can't handle all this woman, so you go after some immature school girl?" she cried in rage and indignation, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Laito smirked at her and chuckled derisively.

"Aw, Fujiko, don't take things so seriously. Darling and I were just having some fun, that's all. We can have fun together later too, if you want~." He purred, not caring in the slightest that Mrs. Namikawa was working herself more and more into a frenzy.

"Shut up, just shut up! I'd do anything for you! I've done everything for you! You said you loved me, and yet I've had to spend almost two weeks seeing you cuddle up with some frog bitch!" she screamed. Justine winced, her teacher's ethnic slur somehow being the least disturbing part of what she said. Laito sighed tiredly.

"No need to get so upset, Fujiko. You see, my Darling here…" he pulled Justine against his chest once again, resting his chin on top of her head, "… Is quite the special girl. She's so much fun to play with, so I suppose you just seem a bit boring in comparison. The whole "taboo student/teacher relationship" was fun while it lasted, but now I've found something much more interesting. No hard feelings, right, sensei?" he openly mocked her, taking pleasure in completely humiliating the woman.

Mon Dieu, Justine could practically see the steam come out of her teacher's ears. But, she realized, Laito's attention was focused on Mrs. Namikawa, not her. In fact, his hold over her was significantly less strong than before, most likely since she was no longer the subject of his torment. Seizing the opportunity, Justine used both hands and all of her strength to push him away from her, quickly grab her schoolbag that she dropped on the floor, and ran down the hallway as fast as she could, not looking back as she left Laito at Mrs. Namikawa's mercy.

Soon enough, she found her way to the front entrance. Panting and out of breath, she took a quick break, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. She took deep breaths to calm herself down and stop her heart from beating so quickly as she tried to process what had just happened.

In a nutshell, one of her classmates is missing, she is still 35% sure that Laito is somehow responsible, she was kissed by and bit the tongue of said vampire, and was then caught in a very compromising position by their teacher, who also happened to be said vampire's lover.

'You know what? Screw all of this!' she thought, coming to a grand epiphany, 'I'm taking a break! I deserve a break!' For almost two weeks, she had been stalked, bullied, sexually assaulted, learned that vampires exist, had been bitten by one, and had even watched a movie with that same vampire.

All torment and no play makes Justine a dull, very stressed girl. Tonight had been more than she could handle without another psychic outburst, and she needed to calm down. She was going to skip the rest of the school night and go into the city, look around, maybe do some shopping. Oh, there was that adorable café that she had been wanting to check out, the place with those delicious looking macarons. Justine loved herself a good macaron.

Sure, she might get in trouble with the school, but she was far too fed up with her life to care. She deserved this, she decided.

Her mind set, she walked over to her locker and quickly replaced her shoes, then she took off her school jacket and stuffed it into her bag, leaving her in her simple white blouse. She did not want anyone noticing right away that she was a Ryoutei Academy student and reporting her. Turning towards the entrance, she opened the doors and stepped outside, the cool night air enveloping her body. Looking around the area, Justine was a relieved to not see any security or even any teachers patrolling the area, most likely because it was lunchtime and they most likely had their hands full inside the school building. Teenagers tended to get rowdy when they were hungry, even filthy rich ones.

Not wanting to wait around just in case she was wrong, she darted down the street, Ryoutei Academy growing further and further away. As the bright, neon lights of the city grew closer, she looked up at the stars, the light pollution unfortunately making them shine a little less brilliantly.

'I… I don't know what's gonna happen, or what exactly I should do,' she solemnly pondered, 'But I know that if I don't get out of this, then all I went through, and all that Akira sacrificed for me will have all been for nothing.' She tightened her grip on the handle of her schoolbag.

'I told you before, Darling, that I had no choice but to love her. And now… you have no choice but to love me…' His voice rang out in her mind, it making her want to shiver rather than the cold night air. But when she came across the café she had been looking for, the colourful macarons on beautifully on display in the window, she felt herself perk up just a little bit.

"But you know what?" she quietly said to herself as she opened the glass door, hearing a small bell ding as she answered.

"I'm not going to worry about that for now. Now, I'm going to eat a mountain of sugar until I'm bouncing off the walls." She chuckled, hoping that no one could hear her and think she was crazy.

Just for now, she was going to pretend that her life was not a giant mess and just… enjoy being alive.

Just for now.

Okay, that was chapter 9! Thank you all for waiting. Now, I have something to say.

I think that one of the reasons I was not updating this story as much was because, well, I just wasn't happy with it. It's been a few years since I first published it, and looking back at the older chapters I can see how I've changed, both as a writer and a person. However, I don't want to give up on this story, since I still see potential. So, I've decided to edit all of the previous chapters. It's nothing major, all I've done is add some new things, fix grammar and spelling mistakes, a few plot holes and inconsistencies, etc. The barebones of the story is still the same. I hope you all like the changes, I certainly do. Doing this has definitely renewed my interest in Justine, so I'll be able to go forward in the future. The revised chapters will be posted a few hours after I post this one, to give me time to make some final adjustments.

Thank you, and I hope you've enjoyed!

MA.