Chapter 20

After Anton had finished with it, it looked so gothic you wouldn’t even be able to tell that it was once fairytale-like.

The wallpaper was black and the balcony, instead of having a peach-pink coloured curtain now had a dark purple curtain and it looked how the school should look. The spiral staircase looked like dark granite or marble and had big black ribbons, tied in bows to every second column of the staircase. Blaze would be proud, I thought to myself.

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I had nothing but black in my wardrobe and so, it would be no problem, but luckily, I wasn’t going. As much as Scarlett begged and pleaded, I declined politely. And then Anton came knocking on the door,

"Avril," he began, "why aren’t you coming to the masquerade?" He had a black eye mask on that made him kind of look like Zorro and he wore a black tuxedo with a red tie.

"Because," I started, "Dances aren’t my thing." Just as I said that, Chase came down from having a shower.

Scarlett looked very pretty. Her dress was a black, thin-strapped dress, that came down to her knee and she also wore black leggings and had her black and purple hair down, with ringlets falling perfectly, cascading off her shoulders.

"Ready to go, Scar?" He smiled, admiring her and then I looked from Scarlett to Anton and back to Scarlett again. This is priceless, I thought to myself. They both just shrugged, "Wait, where’s your mask?" She pulled out an eye mask from her sequin bag. They’re kind of a cute couple, I thought to myself.

"Bye, guys!" Scarlett exclaimed, taking Anton’s outstretched hand.

"See ya, Scarlett," Chase and I said in unison. The two masked people looked at each other and then left the room.

When they left, Chase sat beside me on the ground.

"Avril, there’s something I wanted to tell you, but I never got the chance to. I’m a little embarrassed by it and would prefer to forget it, but it’s the reason why I’m always so secretive about some things." I braced myself for what he was about to say,

"Tell me, but only if you truly want to." I told him. Instead of telling me, he took out his black book that he always read.

"I wrote it in third person so that it wasn’t always me reliving that hell." He said the last bit with venom and I was very intrigued and wanted to read it. Happy Chase had his own personal hell that he relived and I wanted to see it, so that I knew why he was troubled whenever I mentioned what had happened prior to when I came to St. ‘Rik’s. He was reluctant to hand the book over to me at first, but then he finally did and bowed his head, as if it was the biggest sin he’d ever committed in his life. Just as I was about to open it, the door opened and he quickly took it out of my hands and hid it. Mr. Russia was at the door.

"Mavra, Ross; why are not the two biggest contributors to the dance at the dance themselves? It is a very bad look." He smiled his Russian accent faintly audible.

"Because, dancing’s not my thing," I told him simply. His smile faded and then he turned impatient,

"If you don’t get down there, I will give you a month’s detention." I rolled my eyes, luckily he didn’t see and then he left, "see you in a moment." Chase clasped chunks of his hair and then he frowned.

"He has that power over us. The moron. If I get one more detention, I’ll be..." he frowned,

"Expelled?" I finished, hoping he’d say yes because then I could find a way to escape. I still wanted to escape this place, even though I’d almost gotten used to it.

"I wish." my face fell dramatically, "We’d better get down there."

Chase just wore his black jeans and his black t-shirt and I saw no reason to dress up anyway, so I just left my black jeans and my Asking Alexandria t-shirt on and we walked down to the hall.

Everyone had got the memo and was wearing black. All except Chelsea, who remained in the corner in her pink attire, with Adam at her side.

Tikaye had no trouble finding something black to wear and she was with Rakai, her "friend" from combat class. I noticed that their hands were entwined and they looked so adorable together. Mr. Russia announced that the dance was about to begin,

"Before you begin dancing," he announced, his voice echoing through the hall, "I’d just invite you all to listen to the reason as to why we are having this dance this evening." Everybody groaned but then Russia yelled, "SILENCE!" And surely enough, everybody went dead silent. "Many years ago, there was a man, who committed the crime of greed. He was turned into a lycan and then there was also a man, who murdered somebody and he was turned into a vampire. The crimes of these men have resulted in the curse living on and there is only one cure. A descendant from the man who made us lycans; Vadim Mavra, has to kill a descendant form the man who made vampires, well, vampires, Adrik Valeska on one night. On the night of April the fourteenth, so next week, for those who are unaware, the full moon will rise and the descendant must kill the other. This only happens once every ten years and..." He was cut off. I looked around and there was a vampire woman, who looked to be about our age, but looks were deceiving. She had pale skin, long black hair and blood-red lipstick and hung in the corner of the roof in the hall. She jumped down lightly and said, "Now, Alexander, don’t be frightening the children with ghost stories." She gestured to Tegan’s age group and Tegan stood bravely, ready to face this girl if she had to. She was standing in a fierce stance, her little black dress contrasting with her light brown hair that now had black in it. She looked older than nine; she looked about eleven or twelve. The vampire walked towards Mr. Russia and he murmured something in Russian that sounded like, "Tenebrae Armans!" Arman was Jake’s last name and I was sure it meant soldier from what Sister Meredith had tried teaching us back in Little Sisters. Anton, Hanna - my blonde combat teacher - and Samson all took fierce stances and they were ready to defend St. ‘Rik’s and then, Mr. Russia whispered, "Raphiella, leave. You have no place here." The vampire girl, Raphiella, laughed and then smiled,

"Oh, but we do. We really, really do." Just then, as if on cue, a swarm of vampires ripped the curtains of the balcony and then came at us all. Chase and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement; we didn’t have to talk to know what we were thinking, thank God we came downstairs. Quickly, Hanna rounded up the younger, not-yet-lycans kids and they all got out safely.

There was a vampire for each of the older lycans and the one that took on Tikaye looked almost exactly the same as Rakai, except for the purple eyes and the evil, cold look about him that most vampires seemed to share. She and Rakai went to take him down,

"Ikedo!" Raphiella called to the vampire attacking Tikaye and then she finished in Latin and I didn’t understand it. No-one ever told me that you had to know a language to be a werewolf or a vampire! Ikedo nodded and then left Tikaye alone. I couldn’t help but wonder why and then somebody tried to take me down. I took this as a personal challenge and treated it like a basic strategy session.

The vampire that tried to take me down had blonde hair and cruel, ice-blue eyes. She made the first offensive move and so, I reacted by high-kicking her with much force into the wall and then the curtain fell down on her, but even this didn’t seem to faze her. She was quick and she tried to attack me again,

"Ekaterina! Ostanovit! We must leave this one to Rayne!" Valeska, no doubt. If Rayne Valeska was here, she wouldn’t be hiding from me, she’d be out here trying to kill me. Ekaterina, the blonde, then shifted targets to Anton and watching him in action was truly remarkable. He had superfast reflexes and he had the blonde on the ground, ready to tear her head from her shoulders. She then reversed the situation and it looked like a dance of death. Anton reached into his pocket and found a gun. He shot the gun and that distracted everyone. Even the vampires. Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Anton ran fast out of the room - almost as fast as a vampire, willing Ekaterina to follow. Once she recuperated from her gunshot wound, she followed him, with lightning fast speed and that looked to be the end of that fight and we would never know the outcome. There were so many vampires surrounding us all and then I caught sight of Charlie and Jake fending off one. This vampire was a guy with black hair and blue eyes, much like Ekaterina’s, and he was undead set on killing Jake and Charlie, who were both dressed exceptionally well, I might add.

"My name is Christian," he smiled at them before he attacked, "do you want to know why?" We all rolled our eyes, not really wanting to know why but he’d tell us anyway. "It’s because I was born into a Christian family, but we were... turned into vampires against our will and so, we must kill," he looked to me, "you to return to our faith." I laughed coldly and then he attacked, "but I cannot kill you; that must be my faithful companion. Valeska Rayne, I trust you’ve heard of her?" He plunged at Charlie and was about to bite her when Jake sprung into action. He stood in a ferocious stance and then focused on Christian and then Christian dropped Charlie to the ground, screaming that his head hurt. He was bent double and then he fell to the ground and Charlie focused on him. He lifted up off the ground and then he moved all around the room and out the balcony and then she nodded brutally and that was the end of that. I stared at them in wonder. So, they knew how to use their powers and I didn’t even know I had any until yesterday. That was useful. Raphiella was still battling Mr. Russia and then Jake stood in his stance and glared at her and she called the attack off. "Okay!" She screamed, clasping chunks of her hair, resisting the urge to fall to the floor, "Ostanovit!" She exclaimed and all of the vampires gathered around her and they all turned into thick, black smoke clouds and vanished out of the hall. Hanna came rushing in and she exclaimed to Mr. Russia,

"Sir, we have two missing!" Russia instantly looked alarmed and then he shouted in his authoritative voice,

"Return to your dormitories immediately and do not leave them until you are able to do so! Is that clear?" Everybody obeyed except for me, Charlie, Jake, Chase, Tikaye and Rakai.

I heard Hanna murmur something as she scurried away.

"We’re missing Emilee Valeska and Tegan Braithwaite." Jake and Charlie exchanged worried looks and then were both on the verge of passing out and so, Rakai took them to Adrik in his arms. I couldn’t contain my anger.

"Where. The. Hell. Is. My. Sister?" I shouted at Mr. Russia, "You call yourself a school when you can’t even protect your own students!"

"Let me assure you, Tegan Braithwaite and Emilee Valeska will be recovered as soon as possible," Mr. Russia told me,

"Oh, don’t give me that. While you’re sitting on your a*s, she could be out there getting eaten by the vampires or something!" I exclaimed angrily. I didn’t care if he said that she would be unharmed; I had to know if she was unharmed.

"I understand your concern, Miss. Mavra, but I can only assure you that we are doing the best that we can to recover Braithwaite and Valeska."

"Recover them? They're not lost objects that you can just put in the lost and found box whenever you want. They are people. Tegan and Emilee are your students and it should be you taking full responsibility when it comes to their safety! Not leaving it to some randoms in a search team!" Now I was really mad. He couldn't just brush them off like they were dust!

But that was precisely what he did.

He didn’t respect my wishes and so I went back to my dormitory, ready to go on a mission to find my little sister. I was about to leave when suddenly, Tikaye and Chase joined me.