Chapter 12

­­­After she had finished painting my nails, we waited for them to dry. My mind wandered back to what I’d read and then I was lost in my thoughts about how it was the greed of my ancestor that had caused all of these people to be lycanthropes. Grimacing to myself and walking over to my bed, Scarlett spoke to me,

“Are you okay? What are you thinking about?” She asked lightly. I shrugged it off and then she did the same and nothing more was said, apart from, “Okay, well. Goodnight, Avril. It’s half past eleven, so we better get some shuteye before classes tomorrow.”

“Scarlett?” I asked abruptly, not even sure what I wanted to say to her but my words worked faster than my brain as they often did. She looked at me, gesturing for me to continue before she flipped the switch out. “If you could have one wish, what would it be?” I finally caught myself and figured out why I’d asked that. I wanted to see if she wanted to be rid of this curse so badly. She sighed and then she said in an agonised whisper.

“I want to be able to admire the light of the full moon at midnight again,” she sighed and then bade me goodnight again. So, that was one. Maybe if I did a Facebook petition, then I would truly know how many lycans wanted the curse to be lifted before I went and picked a fight with some vampire. It all seemed too easy and further research had to be done to make any sort of moves. Okay, I’d been hanging out with Anton too much - or Tikaye. All attacks had to be planned and well-thought out to be executed successfully. I was definitely hanging out with the strategists again... I had to get out of that habit because people would start to think I was actually learning how to strategise, which wasn’t me. I was more of a ‘do now, think later,’ kind of person and I planned to stay that way. Charlie was the best strategist out of the lot of us and it was a wonder she didn’t get put into Anton’s class for it. Chase came from the bathroom and whispered his apologies to me as he got into his bed. He and I only spoke for a brief two minutes and then he fell asleep. Lucky son of a b***h, I thought, as I lay awake in my bed, tossing and turning. I couldn’t stop thinking about the Mavra thing I read in the library and then Emilee’s face appeared in my mind and her accusatory statements about my being dark. To break the curse of being a lycanthrope that was placed on Vadim Mavra originally - but then infectiously spread to many other people - a Mavra had to kill a Valeska vampire. Why? They were both selfish men and they needed to be punished for their egotism. Eventually, my thoughts got the better of me and I got my diary out and began to write in it.

Day Two,

I did some research on the Mavra clan today. I know me + research? Usually it would be me + research = non-existent. It just didn’t happen. Unless I made it. That wasn’t very often. Okay, anyways, so I did some research today and I found out that my ancestor was a greedy dude and he wanted to steal some silver from the cathedral and that’s why lycans can’t touch silver. I also found out why the vampires have been after us for so long. They want to take me to a Valeska vampire and then have me killed so that they can prance around in the day again, rather than just remain as creatures of the night. I also found out about this thing called a masquerade. It’s when you dance with somebody wearing a mask so you don’t know who it is - which would kind of be weird, I mean, what if I danced with someone like Adam or something? That was never ever going to happen because a) I can’t dance and b) there is no way I would with that conceited son of a b***h anyway. Anyway, getting back to what’s keeping me awake... What if I kill the Valeska vampire and all lycans turn back into full humans, rather than just half? I don’t know. Today, I also confirmed my suspicion that Jake was in love with Charlie. He didn’t say the exact words but he kinda didn’t need to. He got really pissed off because she hangs out with her new friend Ashley more often than she does with him  ... I stopped writing because I heard the rusty door swing open. Stepping out onto the floorboard, I saw the outline of Emilee who was dressed in her pure-white nightgown and she was holding a sharp kitchen knife. My first reaction was how the hell did she get that knife? And then I finally realised what she was murmuring under her breath.

“Dark Mavra needs to die because Mavras are greedy and mean.” She was either possessed or she was really sick but then, as she got closer to me, I noticed that she was actually asleep. She was standing at the foot of my bed, her knife held up. Quickly, I put my diary away and I was ready to fight this little midget because she wanted to kill me, even in her sleep. I got up off my bed and was in my battle position. But then, she caught me by surprise and came at me with the knife and cut my arm and it was with silver, so it really was the only kind of thing that could actually hurt me, but how she got hold of it, I will never know. I winced at the pain because it felt like I had one thousand needles stabbed through my arm at once. It was bleeding rather heavily, but I had to somehow fight back, whether it was getting her to her bed or waking her up and then she came at me again. She had almost got me and then Chase instantly sprung up, which surprised me because he didn’t even stir when she walked in. He looked at my arm and his expression grew incredulous and then he went up to her,

“Millie,” he began gently, “What’s up?” She looked at me and then looked at him and then whispered like she was talking about a monster and the monster was staring right at her in the corner of the room.

“She’s dark and she needs to be killed... She....” she was at a loss of words and then he gave her a hug and she relaxed a little bit.

“Are you okay, Millie?” she said no and that she didn’t want me here but he spoke to her slowly, “give the knife to me, Millie, come on.” he put his hand on her hand, on the handle and then she released it, handing it to him. “it’s been a long day, hasn’t it, pal? Come on, let’s go back to your cabin because you have school in the morning and you’ll get to play with Tegan!” Emilee’s face lit up and then he took her hand and led her out of the Vadim dorms. He mouthed, ‘Sorry!’ over his shoulder and I could only just make it out because it was so pitch-black in here. My arm was still sore and bleeding profusely; it looked like it needed stitches. Applying pressure to it, I went upstairs and searched the cupboards for a bandage. Luckily, there was a first-aid kit under the sink and I got it out and started applying some antiseptic around the area and then, I found a needle and some pink cotton - yes, I said pink cotton - and stitched it up and then added a bandage and I’m not gonna lie and say it was painless because it was as painful as hell and to say that a few profanities slipped my tongue would be a slight understatement. Eventually, I had it wrapped up like a professional and then I walked downstairs to see Chase looking very concerned, “Avril! Are you okay?” He asked, I smiled and nodded,

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for what you did by the way.” He got a hold of my arm gently,

“Hell, you wrap yourself up like a pro. I would’ve thought being a lycan you’d just heal.” he mused. I didn’t wanna burst his bubble with the whole ‘dude, I’ve been on the run from vamps my whole life, so yeah, I’ve been stabbed with silver a few times.’ speech I had prepared. I just shrugged, even though it was pretty sore. I’d done the stitches up tightly so they wouldn’t come undone. I was such a professional at this sort of thing. Maybe I should become a lycan doctor or something... But then, it’s not really my thing. I’d rather be the one out there getting all the cuts and bruises and now I sound like a masochist. I’m not. “But then,” Chase continued, “it was silver that she stabbed you with. Are you sure you’re okay?” I just nodded and apologised for waking him up. He declined my apology and then went back to bed. I did the same but now I was just full of new thoughts. If I didn’t stop thinking soon, my head would explode. I got my pen out and started writing. Luckily for me, it was my left arm that Emilee had cut. I continued writing, but not on the same topic.

That was the weirdest encounter ever. Emily Emilee came into our dorm and was holding a silver knife and told me that I have to die because I’m mean and greedy. Sure, I like to eat a lot of cookies, but that’s where my greed stops. And get this... Emilee was asleep. o.o She cut my arm pretty deeply with a silver knife and I had to use pink cotton to stitch it back up. PINK! I hate that colour so much... anyways; I really had to get this whole ‘dark’ thing sorted out. I couldn’t have little midnight attacks every night. I don’t think Chase would be very happy with that. He came to my rescue! He sent her to bed like a little kid and I was like dad much? That was of course under all the pain my arm had caused me. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow. Everyone’ll be like OMG what happened to her? Great. I have to go back to the library a.s.a.p. I’d better get to sleep now anyway, or try to. Knowing me, I’ll be unsuccessful. That’s a bit of a b***h sometimes. Oh well.

And with that, I stopped writing and then just stared at the roof, longing for the next day to start so I wasn’t left in my bed over-thinking and overanalyzing things. I did that a lot when I was alone. When I was tossing and turning, I heard Scarlett sleep-talk. Could no-one in this building be unconscious when they were asleep? She was murmuring things like, bridge and frog and then about ten minutes later she said something about me and then Chase and then finally, ‘Alexander Colvin doesn’t know what...’ and then she cut off. It kind of sucked because I think I would have liked to have known what Mr. Russia didn’t know considering whenever he was around me, he seemed to know everything and have a response for every one of my remarks and it annoyed me. I got up at four and had a shower before Chase got in there and it was fantastic. Nothing beats the first shower when it’s nice and hot. I washed my hair and then got into my black AC/DC t-shirt and distressed, black jeans.