Chapter eighteen: Stargazer lilies

I stared at him in suspicion, contemplating if he had used some kind of glamour trick to persuade my parents to allow me to spend time with him. He didn't say where he was taking me—it was just a late birthday surprise and even though I had spent the last thirty minutes trying to fish out the answer, he never gave me it. I sighed in frustration and looked outside the window. As I peered out, my breath made a smudge on the glass and I wiped it away with my hand. It was only the beginning of November and winter was already strolling in.

The carriage came to an abrupt halt, causing my body to move slightly forward but Mr. Bunny stuck out his arm in front of me, preventing me from hitting the seats in front of me.

"We're here," he announced calmly with a grin.

"Well duh," I retorted, rolling my eyes. "Are you going to tell me where you're taking me now?"

"Nope," he said cheerfully, removing his tie from his neck and he handed it to me. "Blind yourself."

I glanced at the tie and then back at him. "How about a no?"

He pouted. "Oh come on Serena! This is for your birthday! It's not as if I'm about to shove you off a cliff!"

"Knowing you, that could be exactly what you're planning."

He flashed me a masterful pleading pout and I sighed, realizing I was in a no-win situation and blind folded myself with his tie.

"You're going to guide me, right?" I asked a bit timidly, feeling completely awkward without my vision.

He snorted, immediately taking my hands and helped me out of the carriage. "Of course I am. Did you think I'd let you go off on your own?"

"You never know," I smirked, hearing his scowl more than seeing it. "So how long do I have to wear this thing?"

"Until I tell you to remove it," he answered, already moving me along but I was walking slowly since I was blind so it forced him to slow down.

After maybe ten minutes of walking around, he paused in front of me. "Okay, take it off."

My hands quickly fumbled over the knot behind my head and removed the clothing item that had temporarily stolen my sight. I blinked a few times to allow my eyes to adjust to the night and when I realized what I was standing in front of, I inhaled quickly.

"What is this place?" I asked breathlessly.

"It's the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory," he replied with a grin, accidentally exposing his fangs. "I know how much you love astronomy and I figured—"

"Shut up Hanabusa. You're talking too much."

His grin spread from ear to ear. "So you like it?"

"I'll love it when I see the telescopes!" I exclaimed excitedly, rushing to the door but he beat me there and opened the door for me.

"Ladies first," he said, ushering me in and the first I noticed was the huge telescope that was waiting for me.

I squealed. "I can't believe you took me here!"

"Stop bouncing around—you'll break something," he said, keeping me out of reach of the breakables. "And even though the telescope is very important, I think you should look around."

I rolled my eyes, looking at the other exhibits and computers—computers that I was going to stay very far away from. The last thing I needed was something going off. Then I noticed a table with a white cloth and tall, lit white candles. A banquet of stargazer lilies sat in the middle, cloaking the whole room with its aroma.

"You. Did. Not." I stared at him.

"I obviously did." He looked smug.

"Why?" My eyes probably looked huge.

He shrugged. "I wanted to."

I was too surprised to really comment or thank him, and I felt really awkward and my heart was pounding too loudly for me to listen to his chatter afterwards.

What did this make us?

"Serena?" he said my name questioningly.

"What?"

"You seem dazed," he stated.

"I kind of am," I admitted somewhat shyly.

He chuckled. "I'll take that as a good sign. Did you want to eat first or look at the stars?"

"Uhmm…why don't you pick?"

An eyebrow arched up in my direction. "You're letting me make the decision?"

He held his left hand against my forehead, causing me to growl…or was that my stomach growling? Another grin swept across his face.

"Guess that answers my question," he said, taking my hand and he dragged me to the table. "I ordered the best food."

"Let me guess---the most expensive," I teased.

"You know me so well." That smug look, if it was possible, grew.

"I know your tastes," I snorted.

He flashed me a grin, exposing his fangs. "Do you now?"

I immediately covered my neck and scowled. "Back off, pervert."

"Pervert?" he appeared offended.

"Yea, did you take me here so you could eat me in private?" I joked, watching the waiter who had popped out of nowhere place several plates on the table. The waiter smiled kindly at me but I knew he was a vampire too.

"Nah. Your blood type is AB," he said.

"So?" I was still watching the waiter, making sure he didn't do anything suspicious, but he minded his own business as he set the rest of the table with glasses, napkins, forks and spoons.

"AB types aren't that tasty. I prefer O or A," he smiled.

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment or an insult?" I arched an eyebrow at him, taking a sip from the glass of newly poured water. It was really cold.

"I'd prefer it if you take it as a compliment."

"Done."

"So what would you like to eat first? There's salad, pasta with clams and garlic shrimp, roasted beef—mine is raw though, vegetarian pizza, and tiramisu and vanilla ice cream," he listed off. "There's more, but I didn't feel like saying all of them."

My eyes widened and I began laughing. "Dude, you are going to eat me. That would be the only explanation of why you're feeding me so much---trying to fatten me up!"

"Oh please, like I need to fatten you up," he joked, winking at me but I was itching to smack him. "I already told you that you aren't my blood type."

Normally I would have barbequed him for mentioning my weight, but I was too occupied eyeing all the food. The pasta and roast beef were steaming hot, the tiramisu was definitely calling my name, don't get me started on the ice cream and the pizza...was vegetarian?

"Why did you get vegetarian pizza? I prefer pepperoni."

"Oh good 'cause I got both. Mine is a bit more bloody though," he laughed, picking up his fork and spoon. "You're my kind of girl."

I felt really hot all of the sudden and I cleared my throat to dislodge the rock that was suddenly there.

I picked up my fork, deciding to start with the salad and then work down to the pasta and ice cream. "Uh…thanks."

"Enjoy your meal," the waiter said, bowing out.

"What he said," Mr. Bunny grinned and went straight for the beef, which was leaking red and it smelled like it was just killed.

I ignored the smell as I ate. To each their own I suppose.

"Are you okay?" Mr. Bunny was giving me a look of concern.

"I think I'm going to have to either waddle home or roll," I said, knowing I had eaten way too much food—but it was so good!

He snickered. "You're humorous when you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," I mumbled. "I didn't even have any alcohol."

"Drunk off of food," he explained. "Kind of like when you go into sleepy mode after eating too much turkey."

I groaned, holding my stomach. "Shut up. Don't talk about food."

"Well, we can look at the stars now—let our stomachs digest the food," he suggested, tilting his head to the telescope.

A big, childish grin formed on my face. "Yea."

My legs must have fallen asleep or something because they were completely numb when I stood up, and I nearly fell face first into the left over ice cream dish in front of me, but he had grabbed me.

"See? You're drunk."

"My legs fell asleep, you retard."

He sighed. "Excuses, excuses, excuses."

He lifted me up, an arm under my legs and the other under my back, forcing me to rest my head against his shoulder.

"I didn't say pick me up." I groaned, feeling motion sickness.

"Well I did anyway."

"You did that on purpose. I bet you were counting on this even!"

He snorted. "Of course."

"Put me down," I demanded.

"We're almost there!" he argued, holding me tighter,

"Put me down now!"

He scowled and instantly dropped me. I crash-landed on my butt.

"Ow! You prick! I said put me down---not drop me!" I snapped.

"You didn't specify," he jeered.

"Ugh. Move out of the way," I said, crawling to the telescope.

"Don't be ridiculous. Let me carry you," he said, already trying to lift me up but I put up a struggle.

"I'm not an infant! I can walk there!"

"You're crawling," he pointed out.

"So I'll crawl there!"

"Why do you insist on crawling?" he sighed dramatically, hands on his hips. "Do you have something against my arms? I am strong enough to carry you."

I blushed brightly. "There's nothing wrong with your arms, you pompous idiot."

"Then why won't you let me carry you?"

"Because I would like to have my own independence okay!" I snapped. "I'm not going to depend on you for everything!"

He glared at me, looking completely vexed. "I'm not saying you should depend on me."

"Yeah, but you're treating me…" I wanted to say 'too nicely and it's freaking me out' but I knew better. "Like a weakling. Let me just…crawl."

"Fine." He exhaled noisily and within a blink, he was sitting next to the telescope waiting for me to join him.

"Show off."

"You're the idiot who's crawling like a baby."

"Shut up."

By the time I got there, it was nearly three in the morning. Meaning it took me fifteen minutes to get there.

"About time. I was getting bored."

"Oh you mean you didn't find that crawling act entertaining?"

"I have better ways of spending my time." He winked at me.

I halted. "Say what?"

He laughed at my face. "I was just kidding."

"Are you making sexual passes at me?"

"I repeat—just kidding." He held up his hands to defend himself.

"You're lucky I don't have the Blood Star with me."

He laughed. "Oh just admit. You like my attention."

I was red in the face again. "I do not!"

He looked pleased with himself. "Keep trying to convince yourself."

"Maybe it's time to take me home," I grunted and I stood up abruptly, nearly falling over again. I really shouldn't eat too much food. It's like I'm a balloon afterwards—all I'm good at is floating.

His face immediately seemed sullen. "I was just kidding Serena!"

"Liar!" I shouted, taking forever to reach the door.

"Oh come on Serena." He was behind me already.

"Damn it Hanabusa! Don't move too fast!" I snapped.

He paused in his footsteps, a comical grin on his face. "Actually you're moving slow. I'm going the normal speed of humans."

"Oh shut up, damn bunny."

I groaned. When did everything become so distant?

I turned on him sharply. "Did you drug me?"

"Now you're accusing me of drugging you?" he scoffed, appearing insulted. "You know, I probably shouldn't even have bothered. I should have just given you a piece of my hair for your birthday."

I felt ashamed. I mean he did this all for me and I was being such a horrible participant. "Aw, I'm sorry Hanabusa…it's just…weird. All of it is weird."

He waited patiently for me to explain.

I gave him an apologetic smile. "The candles, the food, the 'my kind of girl' comment…it's all weird."

"Bad or good weird?" he studied me.

I shrugged, avoiding his ocean eyes. "I'm not even sure."

"Did you want me to stop?"

"Would it be insulting if I said yes?"

"Sort of."

"Then no."

"Serena…I'm…lets just go look at the stars," he said, guiding me back to the twenty foot sized telescope.

"It's November," I told him excitedly with a huge grin.

"…And?"

"Well, we don't really need a telescope. The Leonids are huge!" I laughed at his confused expression.

"Leonids?"

"Named after the constellation Leo. They're practically the biggest meteor shower," I said. "So we just have to be outside. We don't really need the telescope."

He groaned. "You mean I paid for all of this for nothing?"

"Well you could have consulted with me first."

"As if. I wanted this to be a surprise."

"And it was," I said, wrapping my arm around his shoulders like a buddy would. "But we could use the telescope if you want to."

That's exactly what we did. We watched the bursts and trails of meteors with our arms around each other's shoulders.

I wanted to see Jade. Tonight I was feeling braver, or maybe it was because I really was drunk with food...or maybe because Mr. Bunny did drug me. I wanted to see if it was possible for him to wake up when I wanted him to wake up--now that I had the courage to face him.

So I managed to persuade Mr. Bunny to take me to the Moon Dorms so I could visit Jade. It's been two or three weeks and he still wasn't awake.

The fact that he wasn't awake bothered me.

It was still dark in his room. It still reeked of blood. I couldn't understand why the Chairman didn't move him to the Sun Dorms—the odor of blood must be driving the vampires insane.

I sighed, leaving the stargazer lilies that I had taken from the dinner table and I placed it next to him on his nightstand. I watched for any signs of improvements, noticing that some of his bruises were yellow now and the cuts had healed into pink little scars on his face. I wanted to erase those scars---as if I could use a pencil eraser to remove the evidence of his attack.

His arm was still wrapped up in bandages.

His hair was still greasy—I would have to persuade someone to wash him. I mean I can only imagine all the bacteria.

"He's doing well for someone in his position," Mr. Bunny's voice whispered behind me and he draped his arm around my neck. "He's fine here, and he'll be fine. I'm thinking that any day now he'll rise."

I snorted. "You're just saying that because you want me to feel better."

"Not really," he stated bluntly. "I'm speaking the truth."

I stared at him. "Promise?"

"Promise," he nodded, going as far as taking my pinky and I chuckled at his action. "What? Isn't that what you do in America? Pinky swear?"

"Yes, I just…didn't expect it." I hadn't expected anything tonight.

He smiled, his ocean eyes becoming gentle waves. He was slowly pulling me in and he knew it. He tilted my head with his index finger, causing me to clear my throat and skittishly avoid anymore physical contact. It just felt weird. Good, but still weird.

"I guess I'll leave you with him for a little bit," he said, pretending that he didn't see me pull away from him.

"He's not going to have any other…noticeable changes, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"He wasn't bitten by a pureblood…" My voice trailed on.

He blinked. "Not according to his injuries. He should be human and just fine."

"Oh. Okay," I sighed in relief. "Thank God."

He smiled briefly. "I'll leave you with him."

"Thanks." I didn't even hear the door close behind me.

They're just flowers.

At least that's what I kept trying to tell myself. They were slowly invading the room with their aroma, erasing the blood odor that had become stale. So why did I feel awkward? It wasn't like I was giving them to Jade…I was just brightening up the room…and taking the stench away! Yea!

I sighed again, forcing myself to look at him. He hadn't move, hadn't opened his eyes, hadn't made a sound…

What if he was dead and his still beating heart was just teasing me? No, he's fine. Mr. Bunny even said he was fine.

I was just going to have to control myself.

"So how did it go?" Kiren's voice caught me off guard, causing me to jump as I entered our bedroom. It was five in the afternoon. I had skipped all of Monday's classes since I slept in Jade's room.

"Really well," I told her with a grin. "We watched the Leonids."

She squealed with delight, clapping her hands together. "I'm so glad that you're dating now!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Who said we were dating?"

She laughed. "Oh come on Serena-chan. We both know you like him."

"I do not!" I protested, but I was on a losing battle. I knew that. I knew I liked him but last night was more…for friends…right? It was just a late birthday gift for a friend. He didn't see me as more than a friend.

"Serena-chan, you lie a lot. It's not a healthy habit," Kiren pouted, shaking her index finger at me.

I sighed. "I know."

"SO YOU ADMIT IT!"

Damn it. She tricked me.

"Kiren… lets not parade around… in your underwear."

She wasn't listening though and she kept dancing around with her pillow as if it was her partner.

"So did you dance? Did you eat? Did you talk? What else did you do?" she asked curiously. "I mean you were gone for the whole night and the next day...did you?"

I laughed. "No, we did not do that. I fell asleep in Jade's room while I was visiting--totally accidental. But uh, we ate a lot. Or at least I ate a lot. He bought all of my favorite food. I was rolling like bowling ball rather than walking."

"Aww, you didn't save me anything?"

"How could I? It's not like we have a fridge for me to save it," I chuckled as she continued to pout. "Well what did you do last night?"

"I…studied." She didn't look convincing.

"Okay, now you're lying," I stared at her. "What did you do?"

She blushed furiously, which peeked my curiosity.

"What? Did you lose your virginity or something?" I was only being sarcastic so she could just tell me but for some reason that struck a cord.

She whacked me in the face with her pillow. "SERENA-CHAN!"

"Oh my God! You didn't!" I teased her but I noticed something strange and red on her neck. "HOLY CRAP! IS THAT A HICKEY?"

"Not so loud!" she yelped, covering her neck in the process. "And yes, it is! Are you happy now?"

"So who's the guy? Come on! Tell me! Tell me!" I bounced on the bed, shaking her shoulders excitedly.

"Takuma…kun," she whispered sheepishly.

I fell off the bed in shock, also due to the misplacement of my foot as I was bouncing, but in another note…

SHE WAS SEEING A VAMPIRE BEHIND MY BACK!

"Serena-chan, are you okay?" Kiren looked down at me.

"Yea, yeah, I'm…I'm okay." I stared up at her, feeling very overprotective. "Is he good with you?"

She blushed again, nervously playing with her hair as she did so. "Yes."

"I mean, he's not pushy or anything, right?"

"Serena-chan, we're talking about Takuma-kun. Not Aidou-sempai," she chuckled. "And he's very respectful of me."

She had a point.

"He hasn't…tried…to bite you?" I asked hesitantly.

Her face was scarlet. "No. He barely even holds my hand most of the time."

Maybe she didn't know that he was a vampire. That could be a problem. I was NOT going to be the one who told her that they existed.

"So…how long has this been going on? Not since the dance, right?" I was hoping it would have been much later than that, other wise I'd probably be the worst friend ever. I mean friends are supposed to notice that their best friends are dating someone.

"Since you were in that room in the Moon Dorm. He…kind of…kept me company. He reassured me and all," she explained slowly, breathlessly.

So they've been dating for two--almost three--months now. I am a terrible friend. I should have noticed that they were dating! And I probably didn't catch any of it because I'm not spending time with her like I used to!

"I'm sorry," I said.

"For what?" she asked, too innocently I might add.

"I've been with Zero and Mr. Bunny all this time and-"

"That's okay, you've been serving for your punishment," she interrupted, smiling kindly. "I just didn't think that they would make you a prefect."

"Me neither," I grumbled.

"Speaking of being a prefect, don't you have your duties to do?"

I sighed. "Yes but now I don't want to go."

"Serena-chan, don't feel bad. I like my relationship with Takuma-kun," she giggled. "He's really sweet."

I scowled, feeling oddly replaced. "I bet he is."

"Come on," she said, handing me my badge. "Or you'll be late."

I put the badge on, feeling irritated. How did I get pushed into doing this job again?

"Does anyone else know about your relationship?" I asked her, my voice barely above a whisper because I didn't want anyone else to hear me.

She shook her head. "I rather not have anyone know about it. Especially the fan girls."

I nodded, understanding her completely.

Zero shot me a look when he saw me. The kind that tells me he had something on his mind to pester me with. The fan girls remained at the side of the gate, glancing carefully at their beloved idols but never going pass the imaginary line. Ever since that incident on my first day, I've started to carry my Blood Star in all of its glory—meaning the spikes were visible.

That stopped a lot of them from going insane though they tried to bring up a petition with the Chairman to have me resigned. None of the students, minus the ones I was close to, knew that I was his daughter, so they were puzzled and frustrated when he just waved them off. They did, however, have the unfortunate freedom to scream as much as they wanted.

Damn do they have lungs on them.

I plugged my ears with my index fingers to avoid becoming deaf as the vampires strolled out from their dorms, waving their greetings. The fan girls' behavior wasn't the only thing that changed though. Another drastic difference in the 'exchange' was the way Mr. Bunny acted.

Today he didn't flirt with the female population like he normally did, but instead he headed directly to me and boldly grabbed my hand.

"How are you, my lady?" he winked, kissing my hand.

"You love provoking me don't you?" I hissed, yanking my hand away.

He chuckled, satisfied with himself. "Only when you get pissed."

"Go shoot yourself in the lower regions," I growled.

He ignored the last comment as he walked away with his class, waving like a proud idiot. "Just remember that you're my lady!"

"I'm going to roast him on a stick," I mumbled under my breath, noticing the death glares I was receiving from the fan girls. It wasn't my fault that he was an outrageous womanizer.

As the vampires disappeared into their classes and the horde of female students dispersed, Zero approached me. I snorted. I knew he had something to say.

"We're leaving the prefect duties to Yuuki today," he informed me. "And we're going to train you for hunting."

"Are we allowed to do that?" I asked and he showed me a green slip of paper with the Chairman's signature on it. "Apparently so."

"Come on, we have to get a move on," he said, sounding urgent this time. "This will test you."

I narrowed my eyes, muttering, "I'm sure it will."

Yuuki greeted me unenthusiastically. In fact, she looked down right pissed. "I still think it's too early for this!"

"She's been training for two weeks now," Zero argued. "It's enough time. This is only to give her a taste of what we hunters do anyway. If it becomes to serious, I'll step in."

That didn't reassure her and it sure as hell didn't sound good to me.

"What are you scheming?" I glared.

"You'll see when we get there," he replied shortly.

"You're secretly on crack, aren't you?" I interrupted him. "You want me to go in there? Have you even taken a look at this place?"

Zero flashed me a dangerous look, clearly indicating that he wasn't patient today. "You heard me. Now hop to it."

I scowled and studied the vacant, decaying mansion in front of me. It covered twenty feet of land, surrounded by meadows and large, naked trees. It was gray in color, with some oddly shaped green vines wrapping around the broken windows. The door looked as if someone had tried to eat it.

I felt tiny while standing next to it.

Why does it have to be soooo cold!

This is why I hate wearing skirts. They're no good in the winter and they kept rising up every time the wind blew, forcing me to tug it back down so I wouldn't moon Zero. Couldn't the Chairman think of a better outfit for the female students? I was going to have to talk to him about it. If I remember right, it was supposed to snow tonight. Ugh.

"This will not be pleasant," I mumbled to myself under my breath, surveying the building.

There was a chance that the mansion could collapse while I was in there---it looked that run down.

"You're wasting time," Zero frowned. His arms were folded impatiently as he tapped his foot.

"Shut up. I'm a beginner." I swung the Blood Rose onto my shoulder and I cautiously entered the mansion.

The instructions that Zero gave me were simple: 1) Locate the creature, 2) Kill the creature and 3) Don't get yourself bitten or killed. He did mention somewhere between two and three that I should not show any mercy. He did not say how to find the creepy crawler though and I was on a time limit—precisely an hour.

I frowned. What part of this mansion would the parasite be in?

I checked the upstairs first since I was too chicken to sweep the basement and I made sure that I didn't touch anything. The walls, floors, stair railings, portraits of old people and samurai---everything was drenched in fresh blood. I sighed loudly in frustration, glancing at my wristwatch. I had only forty more minutes left.

I needed to complete this on time and while I'm still alive and kicking.

A bad idea occurred to me, but it was the only one that I knew of that would speed up the searching process. Surely the vampire was thirsty for blood, right? I took out the Blood Star and used one of the spikes to cut gently across my forearm. I hissed a little as I felt the stinging pain in my arm and watched the blood ooze from the wound.

Something flashed by me, leaving behind a gust of wind to brush my face and the strands of my hair tickled my neck. I looked up frantically, my eyes scanning everything. Nothing was different. No one was on the stairs, no one was standing in front of me, and no one was standing behind me. None of the portraits were knocked over and nothing had creaked.

Everything was absolutely the same--it made me feel like I had imagined the wind. I felt something wet drip on my head. Reaching up with my left hand to feel my hair, I touched a transparent, sticky and wet liquid.

It was drool.

I instantly rolled on my side, avoiding the sharp swipe that had been aimed at my head and I was able to get a peek at the monster.

He was huge. Standing about six foot eight, he was bald, bulky, muscular and pale with bluish veins. His shirt was ripped so it revealed his abs and his pierced nipples. His nails were long, sharp and pointed. But what spooked me the most were his luminous red, lustful eyes. They were crazed with hunger.

"DAMN IT! ARE YOU ON STEROIDS?" I shouted, ducking my head as he took a swipe at me.

He growled, snapping his jaws.

I got on my feet and started running, knowing that if I swung the Blood Star too hard the entire mansion's rubble would crush me under its weight. I was running so fast that things around me were blurry, which wasn't good because I nearly ran into one of the bedroom doors. I stopped for a few seconds to catch my breath and quickly realized that something was wrong.

The ex-human was not behind me.

Was he above me again?

I looked up. Nope.

Where the hell did he go?

Shit.

I need to get out of this mansion so I can use the Blood Star. At least the building would land on top of him. I began racing down the first flight of stairs and nearly tripped on one of the steps. A loud roaring sound shook the walls of the stairway and the beast came through the wall. He knocked me off the stairs, causing me to tumble down the rest of the way. As soon I reached the bottom, I forced myself to stand.

I glared at the ex-human who was grinning proudly at me. As if he knew he had cornered me.

I spun around to run and slammed into the wall that was suddenly in front of me.

Note to self: Must watch where I'm going.

I rubbed my sore head and quickly withdrew the Blood Star from my back, allowing the spikes to appear once more.

"A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE NICE!" I yelled, holding the Blood Star in front of me defensively.

Zero was either feigning deafness and wanted me to die on my first try, or he really couldn't get to me. Ha. In any case, I was on my own.

Realizing that the wall I had just ran into was trapping me, I swung the Blood Star into it and hoped that it didn't have any important beams---the ones that supported the mansion to keep it standing. The wall crumbled underneath the force of the Blood Star with a loud bang and I stepped through the new hole, only to watch the creature make its own door by throwing himself through the same wall.

At least we were both outside now.

My feet felt glued to the floor and I was panting like an asthmatic person. The ex-human galloped towards me, his facial expression filled with the pure intent of murdering me and I just stood there like a staring, motionless idiot.

I had no strength to pull up the Blood Star or the courage to swing. I was scared shitless.

Not scared of the dead being who was now gripping me by the shoulders, digging its razor claws into my skin and inches away from burying its fangs into my neck. I was scared because I was doing this to train.

I was doing this to kill my mother.

Even though I've known since the moment I discovered she was an ex-human that I would be the one to kill her, the reality of it only struck me now. And reality scared me. I was going to lose the only person who stuck by me all throughout my childhood.

I was going to be alone. She was going to abandon me.

I didn't even scream when the ex-human bit me. I was too cold; my fingers were tingling with numbness. I felt useless, powerless, empty…and dead.

A deafening explosion erupted and blood splattered onto my face, bringing me back to the real world. The ex-human slumped forward, bursting into ashes within seconds and I was left on my knees with ash on my clothes.

I didn't respond to Zero's shouting though I could hear his concern and disappointment. I forced myself to cover the punctured skin on my neck as to not disturb the prefect and turned around to head back to the academy, but a strong hand gripped my shoulder and I winced from the pain.

Zero forcefully spun me around to face him, his eyes glossy. "You're not ready yet," he growled.

I stared at him in shock, whispering, "I know."

I wasn't ready for any of it.

I was sitting in a comfortable blue leather chair with tears rolling down my cheeks, quietly sobbing. I didn't know where else to go.

I didn't know anyone who would understand my pain.

Kiren was probably happily somewhere with Takuma and I didn't want to ruin that, so I couldn't bother her. I didn't have the energy to deal with either of the prefects, whether it was Zero's constant disapproving glare or Yuuki's constant reassurance that it was a good try and there's always next time. I wasn't even sure there was going to be a next time. And I was definitely avoiding Mr. Bunny because if he smelt any blood on me he would go into a bizarre, overprotective mode.

The only person I wanted to be with was Erica, but she was gone and the only thing I had left that connected me to her was him.

And he was still unconscious, deeply wounded and he could possibly hate my guts for the position he was in.

Why aren't you awake. I need you…

But nothing had changed since I last saw him. I drew in a deep breath, feeling depressed, out of place, and disconnected from my body.

Numb.

I was becoming numb.

A clock chimed, startling me from the withdrawn emotion I was feeling and I abruptly stood up, knocking over the vase of flowers that I had placed on the nightstand previously. I muttered every swear word I knew under my breath as I cleaned up the mess. I was moving very slowly so I wouldn't cut myself when I heard someone snicker. My head shot up to stare at the newly awakened man.

"You never were the graceful type," Jade's hoarse, belittling voice streamed into my ears.

My eyes widened in shock. "You're...you're…."

"Awake?" he finished my sentence, an eyebrow arched at me and I couldn't stop staring at him. I had so many questions to ask him and yet my mind had liquefied the moment I heard his voice.

"I'm fine in case you were wondering," he snorted, wincing when he heard a whimpering sound. In a matter of a few seconds, I had attached myself to his torso and I couldn't stop the flow of my tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" I kept repeating as I buried my head into his shoulder, ashamed to look directly at him.

"Serena, you're hurting me," he grunted and I swung myself off of him in an instant.

"I am so sorry!" I repeated again.

"Say that one more time and I will hit you," he threatened humorously. "And wipe those tears away. I'm fine."

"How can you be fine? You lost an arm! You were attacked! You-"

"I thought something was off. My arm is missing," he cut in impatiently, wincing as he glanced down at his body. "Yea, they did do a number on me. So, are you going to tell me why you're crying? Because those tears are definitely not for joy—here I thought you'd be happy to see me awake and in a jolly mood. Must be the morphine 'cause I feel high."

I laughed in spite of myself, crying at the same time. "Ugh. I really missed you."

VVVVVVVV

I had a reviewer who asked me if I would write a lemon....I won't because with the type of person Serena is, unless she was married, she wouldn't go beyond kissing. Not saying she's prudent, but think about it. She'd become more clingy and possessive of Aidou because she would feel threatened---the possibility of him leaving her too great since she has abandonment issues. And I can't say their love will end in marriage because I honestly don't know how I'm ending the fiction and I don't want to write Serena in that situation.

I apologize if I have squashed any hopes, and I'm sorry that I took so long to write this.

By the way, I hope everyone had a great holiday and I hope that you achieve any 09 goals. I also want to thank my beta reader. She's absolutely fantastic! -big grin-

Also, before I forget, this chapter will replace the author's note as soon as I complete chapter nineteen. Be aware of that so you don't read the wrong chapter.