CHAPTER 8: DETENTION

                Nathaniel. His blood red eyes still haunt me till today. The mere thought of him lurking just beyond Austinford’s borders bring chills down my spine. I would hate to leave the safety of the town but then, I can’t just sit here and do nothing. The rogue vampire’s army is increasing in numbers day after day and if he isn’t stopped all the other covens will be in danger.

I turned and lied on my back. It was three thirty in the morning and not a sound could be heard. Then without warning I heard footsteps from below. They were too heavy to be Gustav’s. I threw back the covers and shifted. My senses went wild and I could hear the intruder more clearly. He was searching for something downstairs.

“Gustav.” I called.

On cue my maker appeared, perched on my windowsill. He held a finger to his lips telling me to be quiet. Then he beckoned me to come closer.

“I’m going jump down and enter from the front door. You use the stairs and we’ll surround him.” He whispered.

I nodded in agreement and watched as Gustav leaped noiselessly to the ground. I turned and ran to my door and sneaked across the hallway. I could make out a human form from my position at the top of the stairs.  He was flipping through some papers in the living room which were kept in a drawer. I sniffed the air, confirming my hunch. He wasn’t human. This was no ordinary burglar.

I pounced on him and we tumbled to the floor. The rough carpet scraped my face but I didn’t let go of the thief. He struggled and tried to pry me off him to no avail. Then he surprised me by suddenly vanishing. My claws gripped thin air and I momentarily froze. It was a Shade. I immediately groped for the table lamp but I was grabbed from behind and flung across the room. With a loud thud I crashed into a bookshelf. The front door burst open and Gustav came charging in. I spied the silhouette of a man with long hair. In a blink of an eye Gustav tackled him. I gathered my wits and ran to the opposite side of the room and fumbled with the light switch. I heard the intruder scream as soon as the room was flooded with light.

“Hold still if you don’t want me to hurt you!” Gustav growled in warning.

The man was lying face down on the carpet; his long black mane was a tangled mess. He chose to ignore Gustav and earned a broken arm. He screeched in pain and twisted on the floor, knocking Gustav off in the process. Once free the man ran for the front door and disappeared into the blackness of the early morning.

“He got away.” I sighed.

“He was after the map.” Gustav said, standing by the overturned desk with some papers in his hand. “The decoy I placed in here is gone.”

I gasped. “Is he working for Nathaniel?”

“It’s possible. There’s no telling what measures that lunatic will take to get the map.” Gustav bit his lip. “It seems like he infiltrated the local Shade community and employed their help. This is bad.”

“Do we have to leave again?”

“No, there’s nowhere safer than Austinford whether or not those Shades are assaulting us. We stay put. Nathaniel’s trying to lure us out into the open but we won’t fall for his tricks.” Gustav bent down and straightened the desk.

I started picking up the books and replacing them in the shelf. Luckily we didn’t need sleep or else I would be very cranky when morning comes.

It was approximately 5:30 am when Gustav turned on the television and the foreboding news of another death in Austinford hit us. The victim �" a young female �" was found behind some bushes in the park and she met the same gruesome fate as Toby when he died. Gustav was uneasy and I swore he was twitching out of rage.

“It’s him isn’t it?” I reluctantly asked.

“We can’t be a hundred percent sure, cherie. There might be at least a dozen shades in Austinford and any one of them could have killed that girl.”

“Do they always randomly kill like that? It looks to me as if this particular shade got pissed off ‘cause he wasn’t able to finish a job and took out his anger on some poor soul he happened to cross by.” I suggested. “I reckon he found out that he got away with a decoy instead of the real thing.”

Gustav merely nodded and returned to cleaning up the living room.

I was about to switch off the tube when another flash report came on.

“Austinford is continually being bathed in blood as yet again another grisly death befell its residents. A total of five cases of wild animal attacks have been reported in the past few days. Forest rangers however, failed to trace the beast that’s causing the killings. After scanning the perimeter they have spotted nothing other than the local fauna. We are currently---”

I pulled the plug cutting of the newscaster’s droning voice.

“Sheesh, my morning couldn’t get any cheerier.”

                Memories of last night’s attack kept replaying in my head. Even Mr. Thatch’s stares didn’t bother me at all. Ester wasn’t at school again. I was hoping to confront her and probably squeeze some answers from her. I hated being kept in the dark.

“Looking for me?”

I turned and found a pair of golden brown orbs staring straight at me. Jesse was as cheerful as ever. The incident in the cafeteria only made him even more protective, unlike the other students. They wouldn’t even look at me anymore. I felt like I had caught some incurable disease.

“Honestly, no.”

“Ouch, you wounded me deeply, Sanguine.”

I huffed and continued sulking down the pathway.

“You mustn’t let it get to you. It’ll only make you feel worse.” Jesse reassured.

“I’m trying real hard. I sighed.

“Had a rough night?

“Why’d you say that?”

Jesse smiled even wider. “Sanguine, I’ve been hanging around you for some time now. I think I know when you’re not your usually self.”

I rounded a corner and stepped out into the dimmed sunshine. It was cloudy enough for me to walk safely without burning up in front of the student body.

“And what is my usual self, if you couldn’t enlighten me on that subject?”

Jesse pulled me down onto the soft grass under a tall tree. “Your wisecracks are more vicious than this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yup. Today you’re not really that scary.”

“Maybe it has something to do with my hair?”

Jesse laughed. “Sanguine, I think a huge chunk of your mental judgment did fall off along with your hair. But really, kidding aside what’s bugging you?”

Changing the subject I randomly blurted out the news I watched earlier. “Are these animal attacks a routine thing here in town? I mean, five cases and those ranger dudes couldn’t even track the thing.”

“I wouldn’t say routine. We have them occasionally like say once every five or six months. Since Austinford is surrounded by nothing but trees.” Jesse answered while playing with a blade of grass.

“See, that’s just it! They weren’t as frequent as this. Something capable of that kind of slaughtering would be impossible to see if it’s marked our town as its hunting ground.”

“Hunting ground, heh. You’re such a morbid chick, you know that?” Jesse suddenly took my hand in his. “But with the bullshit aside, Sanguine what’s really eating you?”

“Your choice of words is more disturbing.”

Jesse rolled his eyes. “Okay, ‘bothering’ then.”

Reluctantly I confessed. “Well…someone broke into our house last night.”

“What? Was anybody hurt? Did the police get the guy?”

I clamped a hand over Jesse’s mouth. “Oh yeah, scream it to the whole school now, why don’t ya!”

He muttered “sorry” from behind my hand and I let him go.

“But you guys did call the cops, right?” he asked.

“Nope. My dad and I took on the burglar. We got a few punches through him but he managed to get away.”

“Was anything stolen?”

I contemplated on revealing more details to Jesse but I couldn’t get him involved in all this Shade business. For all I know he could become the next victim if I wasn’t careful.

“Nope he got nothing. We heard him in time.”

Jesse nodded and lowered himself onto the grass, stretching his lean frame beside me. Without warning I felt a rush of heat flow into my cheeks. I averted my attention to the weeds near my feet.

“Sanguine, can you promise to call me if ever s**t like that happens again?”

“What?”

His odd request caught me off guard and I suddenly felt his warm skin on mine. He gingerly touched my face and played with the short strands of my hair.

“Promise me.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because you’re the first person I’m really starting to give a damn about in this miserable little town.” His eyes were melting me with every second that passed. I wanted to look away but I couldn’t.

“Sanguine…”

“Hmm?”

“Promise me.”

“I ---”

A shadow fell upon us and we saw Mr. Thatch glaring down at us. His nostrils were flared and there was an odd glint in his eyes.

“Your public brandishing of your relationship is disturbing the other students on the campus. Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” he half-growled.

Jesse looked at him with defiance. “The other kids don’t seem to mind. But maybe I am making a certain someone uncomfortable.” He shot Mr. Thatch a cheeky grin.

I pinched Jesse but he ignored me.

“I don’t like your tone, boy.” The teacher warned.

“I don’t like yours too.”

Mr. Thatch grew red in the face and I honestly thought he was going to explode right then and there.

“It’s a shame your wittiness could have been used for academic purposes rather than for insulting your teacher. Congratulations Mr. Hudson your wisecracks just earned you a one way ticket to detention. See you after class.” He turned on his heel and strode away.

“Now what did you do that for?” I shoved Jesse and started to get up.

“He was pissing me off. Didn’t you see how he reacted?”

“Yeah like a creepy old pervert. But you didn’t have to get thrown into detention just for the pleasure of flipping him off like that.”

Jesse placed his hands on my shoulders. “It’s ok, cherie. I’ve handled things hairier than detention. It won’t kill me.”

“You know, you’re creepier than Thatch if you continue speaking in that awful fake French accent.”

It’s not like I was looking forward to it but Jesse and I were supposed to hang out after class but thanks to his big mouth he got sent to detention. He still had that smug grin on his face when he said goodbye and promised to text me all the juicy details of his date with Mr. Thatch. It was an average afternoon. Most students have experienced being sent to detention and it was actually no big deal. Bur somehow I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach that wouldn’t stop bugging me.

“I’m disappointed in your choice of peers, Ms. Lacroix.” said a voice from behind me.

I jumped half out of my skin and turned to see Mr. Thatch standing too close for comfort. My brow furrowed. I didn’t notice him at all. “Excuse me?”

“Mr. Hudson is the wrong person to be with. You should make friends with people who care more about their studies than getting into your pants.” He said without even flinching.

I stared at him. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was a totally different person from the teacher who I once spoke to on that rare sunny day. His tone was harsh and that odd glint in his eye was more prominent now. “I’m sorry but who died and made you my dad?”

He huffed. “Yes, your father should keep you on a tighter leash.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He placed a hand on my shoulder and I shook it off. “Do not worry I will be setting things straight by the end of the day.” He smiled creepily and went back inside the school building shutting the double doors behind him. I heard a faint metallic click which unexpectedly made chills run down my back.

I dug into my pocket and fished out my phone. I scrolled to Jesse’s number and hit ‘dial’. It rang five times before the line went dead.