four

Anger is a five letter word that shook Nicolai to the core. His father was always angry. Angry enough for all four of them, and the one who would’ve come. The incident happened because he was angry, Nicolai’s Dad. 

 

Nothing could prepare a fourteen year old for that. Not the scars on his back from that one night when Kali made a mistake while Mom was away. Not the needle that was used to put him back together. Nothing, would’ve, could’ve, should’ve, prepared that little boy. 

 

But there was one saving grace from Mr. Von, after the divorce. 

 

A poor little vampire, left in the streets by his teenage parents, Dimitri Rivera. 

 

Nicolai was ten, Kali a mere eight, when their Mom came walking in,  a sobbing Dimitri in her arms, Social Worker close behind. . 

 

“Nicky, Kali, This is Dimitri, He’s going to stay with us from now on.” His mother spoke, squeezing the three kids in a tight hug. “He’s going to stay in the guest room.” 

 

“I have a brother now?” Nicolai had asked, voice shaky, “A real brother?” 

 

At the same time Kali was jumping up and down in their fathers arms. “I don’t only get one big brother! I get two big brother!” 

“Where are you, Nicolai?” Jon commented, startling the tall boy out of his zoned state. “Last class before lunch, buddy.” 

 

“Yeah, lunch.” Nicolai smiled, fangs showing briefly. “How could you even tell I was zoned out? No one notices. One of the perks with the whole my eyes are essentially invisible thing.” 

 

“Your mouth’s been half open for five minutes. You should invest in chapstick, your lips are going to be looking crusty if you don’t.” Jon smiled back, sliding his notebook over to the younger’s half of the desk. 

 

With a confused look, Nicolai started to open his mouth, pushing the painfully yellow notebook back. 

 

“The notes, Nicolai.” Jon laughed, “You’ve been off and on out of it for the entire class, the only thing written in your notebook is ‘Theo’s eyes are pretty.’” 

Despite being a literal vampire, Nicolai was definitely warm in the face. “Don’t worry, kid. Everyone thinks his eyes are pretty. Nothing worth the group chat hearing.” 

 

Nicolai was out of it before he could even question the words ‘group chat.’ 

 

Seeing Dimitri again, brought up far more than he thought it would. Dimitri didn’t know all the tortures of Mr. Von the way Nicolai did. Not even Kali knew it. 

 

Well, not until the incident. Even then, Nicolai never knew if they really understood the horrors of his dad the way his mom and him did. 

 

Nicolai knew Dimitri, though. Dimitri knew Nicolai too. They were brothers. 

 

Just not anymore. 

 

But they were. They were. 

 

Brothers. 

 

Brothers don’t forget things like that, and it was obvious neither of them ever will. 

“Come on, Mr. Izaz wrote you an excuse to get out of that criminal offense of a uniform during lunch, I’ll walk you to your dorm.” Jon smiled, “I need to grab Theo’s painkillers, anyways.” 

 

“Painkillers?” the taller asked, glancing at the older curiously as they packed their bags. “Underworld fae are notorious for Insomnia, and from what I can tell, Theo never sleeps. Is it for that? The headaches?” 

 

“You’re quite the observant one, Nicolai Von.” Jon said, shaking his head softly. “Been here for less than a day, and figured it out faster than any of the rest of us had.” 

 

“It’s just Nicolai.” He spoke, climbing the stairs to the dorm. 

 

“Alright then, Just Nicolai.” The older one was far too proud of the corny joke. “Really though, you seem to perceive much more than anyone I’ve ever met.” 

 

“Good.” He smiled, “That means the people you know have had much happier lives than mine.” 

 

Jon held the urge to ask more, holding the door open for the taller as they arrived. 

Lunch was far smoother than the meal from the night before. Nicolai had changed into his ‘comfort’ leather jacket, a white tee shirt and black jeans, before quickly following Jon to the dining room. 

 

“Where’s your uniform, Nicky? Oh, s**t, can I call you Nicky?” Yenci said, receiving a light slap on the head for the curse slipping out. 

 

“Nicky is fine, Yenci.” Nicolai smiled, really truly smiled, “My uniform is a public embarrassment so Mr. Izaz let me change.” 

 

“Public embarrassment?” Theo asked, black eyes meeting Nicolai’s piercing white too perfectly. “I thought it was a new fashion.” He joked. 

 

“Very funny, Theo.” Nicolai rolled his eyes, “What happened to your eyeliner? It was so pretty.” 

 

Nicolai didn’t care that it was obvious that there was intentionally a spot for him next to Theo. Anyone could tell he was getting close with the smaller. He knew one of them could tell that the thought of getting close to any of them still scared him. 

 

“Ms. Kalbin made him take it off, and said it violated the uniform.” Ryo piped up, a pissed off look in his eyes. “Zilbi had her full face on but she didn’t say anything, Raux was full emo eyeliner too.” 

 

“So they’re targeting T because he’s a boy? That’s bullshit.” Iden scoffed, and for once in his life, no one scolded him for swearing. 

 

“Does that mean I won’t be allowed to wear makeup?” Nicolai asked sadly, “I was so excited.” 

 

“She doesn’t notice the base makeup, like foundation, blush, mascara, but you can’t wear any lipstick, liner, or shadow or she’ll lose it.” Theo said, fidgeting with the rings on his fingers. “Nothing in the book says makeup is against the uniform. “ 

 

“You really need to tell Mr. Izaz about this stuff, T.” Chulo sighed sadly. “He has far more power over the teachers than you’d expect.” 

 

“A lot of me doubts he’s just a seer.” Yenci commented quietly, “He has much more magic in him than we know.” 

 

“While I appreciate the speculation on my magical capabilities, I am here to inform you your table has been called to get food.” The seer spoke, startling the strawberry blonde in front of him. 

 

Nicolai’s eyes met those of his teacher and as they did, he noticed something. The man had contacts in. His eyes weren’t actually brown. 

 

This sparked another thought in the tall boy’s brain, Why did the teacher feel the need to hide them?