Just barely staving off the urge to sink her teeth into the new kid was probably a good thing to try and avoid, Diana decided as she swam through the shadows towards her destination. She double checked that Hannah and Barbara weren't present (she already knew they wouldn't be, because the duo should be occupied with their respective extracurricular Saturday classes at the moment, but Diana was nothing if not thorough about keeping her true nature tucked away and hidden) before melting out of the darkness.

She sighed, gently taking a seat at the edge of her bed as she rubbed the corner of her temple, wondering over the encounter she'd just had. That was unsettling, to say the least. Sure, she had been considerably more on edge as of late—irritated, snappish and not quite herself; nine days past her routine feeding schedule could be attributed to that—but never had Diana Cavendish actually struggled to hold herself back. The blonde crossed her arms and hummed, picking apart the scene to analyze it.

The disrupting crack in her feeding pattern was almost certainly the culprit, that much she was already convinced of. Diana had already started to notice the way her emotions had begun manifesting more than she usually allowed, frustrating as that was. She was keenly aware of how the delayed delivery of blood to her system was affecting both her brain and body.

That wasn't really the problem though, as she was already aware of how her emotions tended to flare when she was hungry and she'd never struggled too much on the rare occasion that shipments were late. It was unpleasant, sure, but never was it inhibiting to her ability to function like a normal "human". Something was inherently off about whatever had just happened, something unprefaced that Diana was unsure of how to approach, which alone was enough to irk the blonde. She was not fond of unknown scenarios that laced her mind with confusion.

Conclusively, the new girl with the ruby-esque eyes was the culprit; she was a recently-introduced factor responsible for the shift. Without realizing it, Diana pulled the image of the brunette up in her thoughts. Goodness, those eyes... they reminded her very much so of what she would love to be drinking righ—

Diana shook herself.

This situation needed to be addressed.

She needed her shipments.

The aristocrat stood to fish around under the mattress for a moment, successfully retrieving a sleek, silver-cased phone. Though the students of Luna Nova were not technically allowed to have them in possession on school property, Diana happened to fall under quite a particular set of circumstances which allowed her to keep one on the campus. However, she preferred to keep it stashed away, both out of fear for someone finding it and connecting the dots (an impossible feat since Diana kept all the message threads wiped and her call history clean, yet the notion still worried her) but also because she frowned at the idea of the other girls incorrectly judging her. They would most likely assume her lineage to be the reason for her special privileges.

She punched in a number and lifted the device to her ear, listening to it ring as something resembling anticipation hung over her.

"Hello?"

"Anna. My dietary supplements. I'm aware that they were supposed to be a few days late, but it has far exceeded that time period. Please explain." Straight to the point. There was a slight pause on the other end and Diana scowled at her free hand, noticing that it was betraying her by disobediently shaking a little. Was she really that weak already?

"I'm afraid they still haven't arrived yet..."

The blonde could hear the nervous way the words tapered off, for due reason. Diana felt a sparking combination of panic and frustration rumble in her chest as she clenched her teeth; her fangs instinctively inched out in response to the tensing of muscles.

She stuffed the emotions away and put a lid on them as quickly as she knew how, simultaneously drawing her fangs back.

"I see," Diana said simply.

Perhaps Anna picked up on her displeasure because she hastily tried to offer, "We have some type O-negative leftover from that one time?"

"And you do recall how I reacted to that, yes?" Diana asked, somewhat incredulously.

"Right, of course. Sorry."

"Just inform me when they're in and have them delivered directly here please. Thank you." Diana promptly hung up then, which was perhaps a bit brash, but she wasn't much in the mood to care. After replacing the cellphone back to its proper hiding place, Diana shut her eyes as her thoughts whirled around.

She would simply have to wait things out.

As it would be, waiting ended up being a somewhat difficult task.

Only one day later, her condition had begun to swallow her up whole, chasing her in exceedingly alarming bursts as the hours slipped by. Every time Diana thought she had a firm grasp on her psyche, she'd inevitably feel her resolve slipping, the animalistic desire churning somewhere in her gut begging to be released. This is when Diana started to realize just how abnormal the situation was.

And that was what was truly sent a shudder down the length of her back.

Because she thought she'd long-since abandoned these types of feelings in her past. She'd always prided herself on the ability to keep a tight wrap on her primal urges. She believed the traditional savagery of regular vampires beneath her, yet here she was having to fight off the very thoughts she loathed like a swarm of persistent wasps.

Truth be told, Diana was disappointed in herself.

There was still no word on the status of her dietary supplements—which is what she called the blood bags that sustained her because it sounded far less suspicious in the event of someone overhearing—and she could feel the tension coiled up in her chest, itching to strike.

The Cavendish girl put her pencil down and drug a hand down her face, forcing herself to inhale. She took in as much air as she could, allowing the oxygen to fill her lungs to the very brim before gently letting it escape in a quiet whoosh. She was briefly thankful that the simple act of breathing was something that hadn't been ripped away from her.

While the small action was calming, it didn't do a whole lot in the way of easing her nerves. There was another worrisome factor: she couldn't seem to expel the thought of the brunette from her mind. It was like a mental game of Whac-a-Mole, desperately trying to smack the persistent image of the red-eyed girl down every time she popped up.

Diana stood up from her desk, the chair scraping across the wooden floor as it was pushed back. Perhaps a little fresh air would help sooth her.

Striding across the room, the blonde picked up the umbrella leaning against the door frame, running her fingers across the silky white surface; though the material was thin, it was specially tailored to her needs, designed to efficiently block UV rays to protect her sensitive skin from the sun—which would still be standing high in the sky given that it was only mid-afternoon. She made her way down the hall and popped open her umbrella before pushing past a heavy pair of doors, already finding herself relaxing a bit at the notion of spending some solitary time with the universe.

Yes. Things would be alright. Surely she could manage until Anna informed her of the arrival of her supplements. Feeling a weight slowly begin to lift from her shoulders, Diana walked down the steps, allowing the crisp autumn breez—

Oh. Was that—?

Thump, thump, thump.

Yes. Yes it was. That was a heartbeat.

That's when Diana realized what a mistake coming outside had been.

She'd heard it first, then smelled it. A dull throb that almost seemed to encompass the air around her, carrying the tantalizing scent of blood with the thundering of a pulse. Oh no.

There she was, just lounging around casually, seemingly sans a care in the world. The brown-haired girl she'd encountered the previous day—one of the primary sources of her frustration and worry—was sitting in the plush grass across the courtyard with two other students Diana vaguely recognized but had never really taken the time to get to know.

She needed to turn around. She needed to swiftly walk away from the situation because as something intensely sharp growled in her stomach, wow, Diana suddenly didn't trust herself not to do anything that may traumatize all the other humans in the nearby vicinity.

But instead of removing herself from the area right that moment, the blonde found that she seemed to be immobilized on the spot. Her thoughts took a shape of their own as her eyes fell on the brunette, drinking up the sight of her laying on her back, staring up at the sky...

That was quite the position to be laying in, wasn't it? Quite... exposed to predators, blatantly displaying her vulnerability—

Diana sharply shook her head. This was not acceptable. Yet, a loud voice that distinctly represented her gnawing instincts to pounce was yelling at her. She's weak! Practically begging for it!

"No!" she hissed at herself. The aristocrat grimaced, trying to gather herself and quell the sudden surge of feelings and thoughts. This was the civilized world of humans. She knew that better than anyone, after all the time she'd spent adapting to it, walking among it, embracing it. She was not about to go ruining all of that effort—all of that hard-spent energy chasing her dreams—because of some silly desire to drink a stranger's blood.

Yes. Nothing of the sort would be happening anytime soon.

But then the brunette across the yard sat up, a smile on her face as she was talking to the others, and two things happened at once.

First of all, the shift in position seemed to send a fresh wave of that painfully attractive smell through the air. It was as though the wind had chosen today of all days to mess with Diana, picking up the girl's scent and hand-delivering it right to her nose's doorstep.

Second, because of course she did, the other girl noticed Diana standing there. Staring at her. Again.

Realizing what just happened, Diana tried to order her body to move but some part of her brain was still tangled up in that overpowering scent and she felt powerless to break the spell.

So, the new girl did it for her with a sharp, outbursting cry of, "Hey! That's her!"

With the newfound ability to walk, Diana spun on her heels. That was definitely her cue to high-tail it out of there like she should have in the first place.

I love seeing Diana internally struggle and try to suppress her desires. I tried my best with Diana's personality in this chapter, although if she seems excessively OOC, keep in mind that her rarely-broken feeding routine is all jacked up and she also has an inexplicable attraction towards Akko (which will be explained in the plot down the road... and also 'cause this is a cheesy self-indulgent romance, don't forget lol). Also, wow! Thanks to everyone for showing interest, the kind reviews are really motivating so don't forget to drop one if you're enjoying things so far. I may begin replying to individual comments on tumblr soon, especially with those that don't have an account here on ff. Anyway, thanks again everyone!