Letters to Romeo

Julie watched Roman standing in front of the Elders and the other three prominent staff members of Veteris, talking to them. She wondered if he was alright because she had seen him throw up blood while playing during the last few minutes of the match.

"We already knew that the Hawks would win the match. Moltenore really knows the game. Did you see him move even after getting injured like that?" commented Conner, who was still high on the game like the other students who hadn't left the bleachers, discussing the game.

More than five groups of students on the left side of the bleachers had stayed behind, where some of them hadn't gotten up from their seats.

"Was it last year that the Hawks lost the game against the Ravens?" asked Melanie, as if trying to recollect the event.

"Oh, yes. I think last year, Simon was injured and Moltenore wasn't there in the game. He happened to skip it," nodded Conner in thought, and he then said, "But today's match, it was one hell of a game. Second half I was in doubt if the win was going to shift. I am sure most of the players will be in the infirmary tonight," he laughed.

"A lot of them were severely injured, weren't they? Wonder how the referee let them play, even the rules were all mixed up," asked Reese, who stood next to Conner. She held the empty popcorn bucket in her hand. "I wonder if they are the trustees who now own Veteris," she nudged her head towards the spot where Roman stood.

"They are," replied Dennis, and Julie turned to look at him. He continued to say, "Castiel Marudas owns the boy's Dormitorium, so I guess the other parts of Veteris belong to the other members who are there. It is why most of the delinquent students get a free pass on whatever they do, and aren't punished for the things they do there."

Julie would have argued on it before, but this time, she couldn't help but silently agree with Dennis. Though Roman and his friends hadn't harmed her in anyways, the same couldn't be told about Mateo and his friends. She wondered how many other students had been traumatized by the vampires.

She wondered if she had turned a blind eye towards what the vampires were.

The vampires who lived in Veteris and outside the university weren't all nice. They compelled humans, taking blood without consent and manipulated the surroundings to their own benefit.

"Well now that the match is over, can we go and have dinner?" said Melanie, and everyone agreed to it.

Julie herself was hungry as she hadn't eaten much since breakfast.

"Are we allowed to go out of the campus during the annual day celebration?" asked Reese to Conner as they made their way away from where they had been sitting and towards the stairs.

"I don't think so. Didn't Ms. Dante say that the rules still apply," Conner responded to her.

"It's because I have seen motorcycles ride towards the gates," said Reese.

"They are all privileged students, who don't mind breaking rules. You shouldn't club us with them," Dennis said to Reese..

Julie didn't pay much attention to what her friends were talking about, as she was worried about Roman. Her eyes kept darting towards the man named Donovan and at Roman. When they climbed the last flight of stairs and headed towards the exit, they had to cross where the Elders stood.

She tried not to look at anyone, not even Roman.

"What are you planning to have today?" asked Melanie, unaware that the people they were going to walk past were predators.

"I was thinking about noodles," replied Julie, "It has been a while since I ate it. What about you?"

But when Roman subtly turned his head in the direction of them, Conner spoke to him, "Congratulations on the victory. That was a splendid game to look at."

Julie didn't dare to speak to Roman, knowing he was trying to keep her away from the Elders for a reason. Instead, she turned to look at the other Elders, and as her eyes moved, she met the counsellors, who offered a smile. Offering a small smile, she turned back.

Roman gave a nod, "Thanks," his words were short, and his expression passive.

That didn't deter Conner's mood because it was a known fact in Veteris that Roman didn't like to associate himself with people, nor did he like to speak much. Unless they were close to him. For a second, Roman's eyes briefly fell on Dennis, and annoyance passed through his eyes, who stood next to Julie.

Reese interrupted by asking Roman, "Are you alright? We saw you throw up blood?"

"Yeah," responded Roman.

Donovan's eyes fell on the girl who had spoken to his treasured disciple. He observed the young girl with his keen eyes, who looked quite young and petite while wondering if it was her, whom Roman had earlier looked at.

"Are they your friends, Roman?" Donovan took the opportunity to get involved and keep a hold of what was going on. He offered a pleasant smile to them, friendly yet daunting at the same time.

"No."

As usual, Roman's answer was direct, which sounded rude and harsh to the students who stood in front of him. Suddenly an air of awkwardness surrounded the humans, but they tried to keep up the smile while wanting to get away from there.

"Hm," came Donovan's reaction, and he spoke to Reese, "Did you know that the Hawks would win today?"

Reese looked a little intimidated by the man's question, but she gave him a nod, "Yeah, we thought they would do well as they won the last season's match."

"How rude of me to not introduce myself. I seem to always forget to do that," Donovan lightly chuckled as if to mock others. "I am Azazel Donovan. Roman's close relative."

Julie wondered if they should have perhaps waited for the Elders to leave before they would head towards the lunchroom. This person named Azazel Donovan looked haughty. It was obvious with the way he looked at them, as if they were clueless, about the night creatures' existence. But Julie wasn't.

"I am Reese," Reese introduced herself, and she started to introduce the others, "This is Conner, Melanie, Julianne and Dennis."

Donovan gave a quick glance at all the five human students, and out of them, his eyes lingered longer on one girl.

It was because he noticed the subtle unevenness in the girl's face; one side of her cheek was subtly swollen. Roman, who took note of this, his jaws clenched, and the look in his eyes hardened, wondering if Donovan had found out.

Dante walked to where they stood, and the students offered her a small bow, and she nodded her head in acknowledgement. The headmistress informed,

"Mr. Donovan, dinner has been arranged in the mansion."

"Wonderful," remarked Donovan and placed his hand on Roman's shoulder. He then said to the humans, "Excuse us," with a smile that fell when he turned his face away from them.

The other Elders had already started to walk, and so did Roman with his vampire maker.

Julie watched Roman's back. An uncertainty started to linger in her chest because she had felt Donovan stare at her as if trying to look for something.

"I have goosebumps all over my skin," said Conner, checking his hands. "He looks scary, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, I felt that too," said Melanie, as she had also felt the sliver of fear run down her spine when the man's eyes met hers for a fleeting second.

Leaving the bleachers, Julie and the others headed to the lunchroom to have dinner.

On the other hand, Roman left Donovan's side to the locker room. He got into the shower, water falling on his body and blood dripped down his body and moved towards the floor drain. Finishing his shower, he stepped out and walked towards his locker. Picking up his clothes, he wore them.

Sitting down on the bench, he wore his shoes before bringing one of them to place it on the bench. He started to tie the lace of his boot.

Simon had just stepped out of one of the showering stalls with a towel around his waist. Whistling, he got near his locker. Noticing Roman around, he asked,

"Did you notice it?"

"Donovan introducing himself to the humans?" questioned Roman, and Simon, who was going to say something, closed his mouth.

"Nosey Donovan. At this rate he will find Julie," stated Simon, "How long until you tell him about her?"

"It's not like I can hide Julie away from his prying eyes and ears. It would be nice if they could get back into the casket," deadpanned Roman.

Simon laughed and then said, "He's not going to be happy that you are associating yourself with anything lower than a vampire. Someone might drop the information to him before you," and he used another white towel to wipe his wet hair.

"You think I am not aware about it," deadpanned Roman, tightening his lace and tying them together. "Donovan should already know I don't owe him, nor can he control me."

A smile appeared on Simon's face, and he said, "I don't think he's understood that part. To him, you are equal to a son. As he never has turned another human."

Roman finished tying the laces of both his boots, and he stood up from the bench, "The most feasible thing would have been if we had been woken up a year earlier. At least we wouldn't have to deal with the entitled Elders. But everything was pre planned so that they would always have a grasp of us," his eyes held a glare.

"You would have missed the human then. And I," Simon paused with his smile widening, "Would have missed dra-ma."

Roman closed his locker's door and asked, "Do you know what Griffin was talking about earlier when we were on the field?"

The smile on Simon's lips faltered, and he said, "Earlier when I was near the girl's Dormitorium, Julie and Caleb were behaving a little strange. Like they were trying to keep a secret between them. You should probably ask Julie yourself."

The elders had invited Roman with some other vampire students to their mansion to celebrate the teams victory while indirectly laugh Elder Luciano's turned vampire. He wanted to get back to where Julie was, as he wasn't interested in the Elders company. Even before looking at where Julie sat, he had made sure to look at her only when there were many students so that it would be hard for anyone to know whom he was actually looking at.

Donovan might have turned him and kept him alive, but he wasn't going to allow him near Julie.

This was one of the reasons why vampires were forbidden to fall or build relationships with a human. Because a human's life was fragile like a thread that could be used to threaten and snap in a second.

While Roman and Simon were in the locker room, away from there and in the lunchroom, Melanie called, "Julie?" who had spaced out.

Julie turned to look at Melanie, who asked her, "Are you worried about Roman?"

She was worried about a lot of things, and it felt like everyone's life around her was delicately balancing on the tower of cards. One card was enough to send everything tumbling down.

"He'll be fine. Once he visits the infirmary, they will treat it right away and he appeared to be in better condition," Conner snapped his fingers. "Did you forget about me? I mean, it was just one day where I looked like a ghost, but then I was alright."

Julie smiled at her friends encouraging words, "Yeah, he will be."

For a fact, she knew that Roman or any other vampires wouldn't be spending time in the infirmary. They had a better healing ability, and the infirmary was mostly used for the humans and not the night creatures.

Finishing their meal, everyone headed back to their respective dorms.

When Julie entered her dorm, the first thing she did was look at the side of the window, but there was no letter. She wondered if this was how it would be from now, where Roman and she would have to steal themselves away from the Elders eyes if they wanted to speak.

The thought was enough to squeeze her heart painfully, and she walked towards her closet to pull out her nightdress.

She wanted to see Roman now, but at the same time, she didn't want him to see her bruise. Could she hide it forever? No, said Julie to herself. No, it wasn't that she wanted to hide it from him, but she didn't want him being punished with the so-called isolation by the elders by getting into trouble.

Julie didn't go to the common bathroom until it was near the curfew time so that she wouldn't have people in there. Alone in the common bathroom now, she washed the makeup off her face. She noticed the bruise on her face that she had received earlier had turned more prominent than the last time she had seen it.

Once she was done, along with brushing her teeth back and forth and rinsing her mouth, Julie made her way towards her dorm. Even though there were walls on either side of the corridor, the cold wind somehow reached her, and she shivered. Before she could insert the key into the door, it slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

When Julie went to pick up the key, the door in front of her opened, and she froze.

It was because no one had ever opened her dorm room for her, which made sense because she was the only one with the key and who lived there.

Her eyes fell on the black boots, realizing the room didn't belong to her. It belonged to this person, it always had and always would.

Julie, who had bent, walked into the room without lifting her back or head. Once inside, where she had walked past Roman, she straightened her back. She placed the key on the table and said,

"Congratulations on winning the match. I didn't know earlier if I should or shouldn't wish you."

Roman closed the dorm's door, and he walked to where Julie stood with her back facing him. He put his arms around her, hugging her from behind and pulling her close to him. He murmured, "It's okay," and he inhaled her scent, closing his eyes as if having her in his arms brought him tranquillity.

Julie felt warm in his embrace and nice.

"I wished I could have taken you straight from the field," Roman's words sounded slightly frustrated. Julie's cheeks turned warmer, knowing exactly what his words meant. "But this is good too. I am sorry I couldn't make it to the horror house that you were looking forward to."

She shook her head, "I didn't go there. Both Mel and I decided to skip. So it's okay. I knew you would be busy because of the Elders. After all it hasn't been even a day since they woke up."

"Are you hurt? I saw you throw up blood," asked Julie, her eyebrows drawing close to each other in concern.

"I am fine. It was a trick," Roman tightened his arms around Julie and asked her, "Are you alright?"

Even though she had been smiling while standing at the bleachers, Roman could tell that something was not right by Julie's heartbeat. At his question, her heart hitched.

"Winters."

"I am okay now," whispered Julie.

Roman was a vampire, which was why he would know about it without having to look at her face, thought Julie in her mind. She didn't know how to say it, as she had tried to brush the incident under the carpet and not let it affect her. But with him being here, it was hard. She felt vulnerable in Roman's presence.

His arms around her waist loosened, and Julie softly gulped. She turned clockwise and finally met his eyes. But his eyes were quick to zero on the left side of her cheek.

Roman's eyes narrowed. He placed his hand below her chin and turned her face towards the study lamp that brightly lit on the table.

Julie saw the way Roman's features slowly started to shift from the calm sea to the storm that was going to wreck and destroy every person near him. His eyes flared once he took in the bruise, and he demanded,

"Who the fuck did this to you?!"