Slowly I felt the pain medication wear off, allowing my mind to wander while my eyes stayed forced shut. I found myself stuck in a recurring dream that seemed to get worse and worse every time it raced through my weary mind.

Darkness surrounded me in a suffocating manner. No matter how hard I tried my legs wouldn't budge forward or back, leaving me stranded in this new type of dark.

I tried to cry out for someone, anyone, to help. Only to realize I couldn't. My throat was too dry and, to be honest, I had no one to cry to. I don't have a name to call when I'm in trouble, and even my dreaming self realized that.

Suddenly, I heard shuffling behind me. I twisted around only to be greeted but familiar blood red eyes. The eyes I feared. The eyes that ruined me. Shizuka.

I pushed my body to the extreme, trying to pick up my legs. Trying to release the glue that was keeping my feet stuck to the ground. My heartbeat was loud in my ears. No. No. I can't go like this. I made it so far.

Shizuka's figure was now behind me, her hand pushing back my long brown hair in a chillingly familiar way. She jerked my head to the right and began to move in. I sucked in what felt like would be my last breath. But just as I felt her breath brush my neck, light filled my dream.

I woke up sweating, my front bangs sticking to my soaked forehead. I threw my legs over the edge of the bed and tried to slow my breath. Did she do that? Can she reach me even when I'm not there? I gripped my sheets in anger. My knowledge on vampires was bleak, and it seemed to be getting me in deep trouble each time I learned something new.

I let out a sigh, finally having normal breathing again. I needed to calm down and focus on what's important. Shizuka wasn't here. I'm safe for the time being.

I felt around the bandage on my neck, stomach, and leg. It seemed like the one on my neck had stopped bleeding and was almost healed while the one on my stomach was in terrible condition.

I stood from the soaked sheets, shifting weight from left to right, seeing how my right leg would hold up. It seemed fine, only stinging a little bit, though the physical appearance of the wound would scream otherwise.

I decided I was okay and felt disgusting from my nightmare. Sweat, blood, and bandages were a horrible combination. A warm shower seemed fitting. The room was completely empty though. You would think there would be a nurse on duty at a private school.

I began opening random doors around the room. Closet, closet, toilet, closet. In the many closets I found myself a towel, rag, and new set of plain, pajama clothes.

The door on the complete opposite side of the infirmary led me to a room full of white tiled shower stalls with white curtains. I decided that I deserved the luxury of the large handicap shower and chose that one without hesitation.

I stripped down from my clothes and ripped off my neck and leg bandages. Turning on the water to the warmest setting, I began to wet the rag. I figured it was best to not touch my stomach wound. I'm no doctor, so I didn't want any more problems.

I used to rag to wash myself carefully for a few minutes, then shut off the water. I dried and dressed myself relatively fast and moved over to the sink so I could wash my hair without getting my stomach wet. After that very difficult and painful endeavor, I dried my hair and looked in the mirror.

My bright, hazel-green eyes were full of restlessness while my thin figure seemed like it would collapse at any moment. They must have thought I was crazy when they first spotted me. But they just don't know what I've been through. What I've caused.

I let out a sigh and tugged on the bottom of the tank top, pulling it over the top of the plaid pajama pants. My dark brown hair had began curling at the bottom, which was probably the only nice thing about my appearance at the moment.

A headache pushed into my mind and I decided I should take a seat and wait for those people to come back.

Zero and the two men, who announced themselves as the Headmaster of the school, Cross Kaien, and a vampire hunter, Yagari Toga, had escorted themselves out of the infirmary after I fell asleep. I wondered when they would get here again to interrogate me about my connection to Ichiru. How would I answer though? I don't want to be a target to them as well. Ichiru was a friend, and it was my fault he tuned bad. Would they blame me for that? Would Ichiru come after me even worse for telling them?

My headache worsened as I shuffled back to the bed. I pulled off the sheets with a swift motion and replaced them with clean ones from the closet.

I hope they don't mind I'm doing all of this myself, but the lack of a nurse is really taking it's toll.

After putting the new sheets on I flopped back down on the bed. I pulled the bottom of my tank top up to right under my cleavage, then began to play with the gauss wrapped around my wound, a tired habit I'd had since I was young.

It felt weird, all these wounds and I could barely remember what happened. I shut my eyes and replayed the scene in my mind. Shizuka. Me. Ichiru. Bite. Pain. Suffering. Running. Chasing. Scratch. Fighting. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Scratch. Nothing. Infirmary. It all played through my mind in chunks and I couldn't grab onto anything. Did I injure my head? Why can't I remember how I got here?

I shut my eyes once more, really focusing this time. The pain of a headache creeped through the back of my mind. It's like the memory of the previous night had been blocked out. Something a monster like a pureblood could do I suppose.

Out of nowhere I heard the sound of a doorknob turning. I quickly sat up and pulled my tank top back down.

My eyes were instantly met by the eyes that were beautiful and at the same time scary to me. I gripped the sheets out of habit, afraid of what the boy might do to me, even though this wasn't that boy at all.

Zero walked towards the bed silently. "The Headmaster sent me to come see you. If you're well enough he wants you to meet with him in his office." I shifted my eyes away from his lilac orbs.

A meeting. I suppose this is the interrogation I've been waiting for. "Fine." I sighed.

I began to stand up and make my way towards the boy, but he looked confused.

"What?" I questioned, trying to come off a bit tough. "I didn't think you could walk. You seemed in so much pain yesterday." "Oh." I started. "Well it's really just my stomach that hurts. My neck and thigh aren't anything more than common injuries I guess."

I gripped my stomach a bit. It was bothersome to walk, but I wasn't about to make a big deal.

"Alright. If you say so" the boy replied in a monotone.

We exited the room and began down some stairs to our right. I gripped the rails trying not to wince. Every step I took hurt my stomach more and more. I tried to focus on other things instead so I wouldn't make a scene. I chose the building.

It was beautiful. Victorian style architecture had always fascinated me, and here it was thrown around as common as light switches. Dark wood, traditional doors, large windows with panes. I was so mesmerized but it I hadn't noticed we had reached the ground floor. I hopped off the last step, thanking the Lord the stairs were no more.

As we walked out the front door I looked to my left to see Zero staring at me. "What now?" I commented.

"How do you know Ichiru?" He demanded.

I stopped walking and looked up at him. "Why should I tell you? Who knows, you could be helping him." I shot.

I knew it was unlikely, I mean I trusted these strangers enough to spend the night, but it's all I could come up with to respond. Why should he ask me such a personal question out of nowhere? Obviously we were going to discuss this in a few minutes time anyways. Even if it was his brother.

Zero pulled his gaze up from my shoes and shot me an upset glare.

"I thought he was dead. I'm not 'working with him', obviously".

I looked away. "It's none of your business how I know him or what's going with us on or anything like that." I started. "He's your brother? Great! He's alive. Happy now? That's all the information I'm offering right now so if you don't like it, I'll be out of your way."

I turned and began walking towards some trees. I had no idea where I was going but it had to be better then this. Why in the world would he think I would want to share my whole life story with a complete stranger? Who the hell does he think he is? I just gave him the greatest gift in the world, his asshole of a brother is alive.

After a few short steps I heard a click and felt the cool touch of metal on my back.

I slowly went to grab my knife, only to realize I had left it upstairs. How stupid of me. I slowly turned around to face the trigger of the shiny metallic gun threatening me.

"What's the matter? I can't walk?" I grunted, extremely annoyed with this boy. First, you demand personal information from me and next you point a gun at me? Yeah, that's how you make friends.

"You're a danger to this campus if you leave my sight, so I suggest you go to the Headmasters office with me, before I blow you to bits." I let out a dull sigh, trying to calm myself down. At this point, the Headmaster was the best option, he seemed more logical than this mess. I'll actually talk to him.

"Fine. Lead the way oh Mighty Guardian." I responded, my words laced with sarcasm.

Zero frowned and lead us to the left again, down a cobble stone path. We both stayed silent as we made our way down the path. After a few minutes of walking, another school building of the same style came into sight, this one only being two stories though. We entered and Zero began making his way up the stairs.

I trailed behind, groaning with every step. The pain seemed impossible to bear with after just three steps. I stopped and took a break and then tried to continue. Zero let out a sigh and glared at me.

He swiftly moved down from the landing up ahead and put my arm over his shoulder, walking me slowly up each step. Once at the top I quietly thanked him. He didn't respond, just opened the double doors in front of us into an office.

It was a good size, with a large window on the back wall, a sofa in the corner, a bookshelf, and two chairs seated in front of the desk. It was comfortable.

The Headmaster sat behind the desk and gave me a sweet smile while motioning me to sit down. I did so and noticed Zero stand against the wall to the right of me.

"I'm glad to see you're awake and walking." The man and glasses began. "Yes, thank you for your help," I responded politely.

After a brief moment of silence he continued. "So, let's just get down to business. An injured level D vampire like yourself shouldn't have been anywhere near this academy, so how did it come to be that way?"

I looked down into my lap. Should I be honest? I just met these people. They could be toxic, just like everyone else. I looked back up at the man's caring eyes and immediately made my decision.

"I honestly don't remember." I confessed. "I remember having to run and... and... I don't know for sure what are real and what parts aren't. It's all so broken up."

I tapped my fingers on my knee as I confessed this, fearing the reaction to come. The Headmaster gave me a reassuring smile.

"That's understandable. I mean after all those injuries it's natural you have suppressed at least some of this information. It'll come back soon enough, I suppose. When it does I trust you'll come talk to me about it so I can file a report. Now, how do you know Ichiru?"

I nodded at his trust in me, though I wasn't sure if I would follow through with his request. I didn't owe anyone anything, no matter how polite they are.

I glanced at Zero for a moment but quickly turned away at eye contact. He seemed deeply interested in finding out about his lost brother.

"I don't want to talk about it." I started with a stern voice, trying to keep calm. At these words I saw Zero stiffen, like he was trying to control his actions.

The Headmaster shook his head. "I understand this must be hard for you, but legally, Ichiru is a missing person now, and all information must come forward."

His words made my body ache. I didn't want to talk about it.

"No." I shot at the Headmaster, refusing to budge.

"Akane." He tried once more.

I couldn't take it. My hands gripped the edge of the chair with inhuman force. I let out a grunt as I felt my emotions boil over. "What do you want to hear? He was my friend when we were young! It was my fault he met that monster Pureblood! And now years later I'm paying for it! That's it!" I angrily responded. "Now I don't have to answer your questions! Thanks for your help but I'm out of here!" I shot up and made my way towards the door. Zero moved forward, chasing after me, but was stopped by the Headmaster's words.

"Akane, I'm sorry to have upset you but you can't leave." At the sound of my name I turned back around. The blonde bolted up and quickly pulled out a letter from his desk drawer. He held it out to me.

"It's a letter from The Association. They aren't allowing you to leave the premises without the guidance of a hunter. They believe your contact with the Pureblood Shizuka could hold vital information to her whereabouts and reasons for her attacks on an innocent family."

I skimmed the letter and it indeed stated this. I sunk back down to the chair, feeling defeated and trapped. She's going to find me if I stay here. I'm going to die. Or worse, I'll have to go back.

"Again, my deepest apologies." The Headmaster consoled.

All I could do was simply read the letter over and over, praying that the words would change with each read.

Okay... so that took a while. I wrote this chapter on and off, hopefully that's not noticeable. School has been completely crazy, but thankfully my GPA is ALMOST where I want it. I guess it took a month of neglecting what I love. But now it's Holiday Break and shit is gonna go down. I'll be writing as much as I can, trying to make this perfect. I definitely know where I want this story to go now! And the backstory is almost perfect. There is so much to be excited about. ^-^ Well, farewell, I promise it won't be that long again. Please review, I would love any feedback; positive, negative, anything that tells me this is being read.