Letters to Romeo

Melanie didn't know why she had to deal with this leech right now. Dealing with her best friend, who was worried about her, had already turned her hands full. Not to mention, she had wanted to run into her dorm as fast as she could so that she could change her clothes, which was gaining quick attention from the fellow students who were walking near them.

In worry, Conner had not taken in the attire that Melanie had worn right away, but now that the situation had been solved, he finally asked her,

"What's up with your dress?"

Melanie didn't know how to explain her attire, and Conner took a better look at it, his eyes moving up and down.

When Conner was about to walk around to take a look, Simon picked Melanie's hair, spreading it across her back. She wished she could use the excuse of cosplay, but she was never one to do cosplay for no reason.

"And this looks dirty," pointed Conner and Melanie agreed by nodding her head.

"That's true. Julie and I, got drenched in the rain and we ended up getting the cheapest dresses we could get our hands on. You know how frugal I am when it comes to spending money," she nervously chuckled and moved away from Simon, who had taken a sudden interest in her hair. She gave him a look, and he stared back at her.

The look of suspicion didn't leave Conner's eyes, and Simon suddenly pulled Melanie towards him, putting his arm around her.

"Conner, my man, you wouldn't mind if I stole your best friend for a while, would you?" questioned Simon, and Conner's eyes slightly widened on seeing the sudden closeness Simon was displaying towards Melanie. Melanie didn't know what Simon was up to, but she couldn't get out of his hold and, noticing him glare back at her, she wondered if she had slipped in her story.

All this while, Conner had always received Melanie's attention, where he hadn't considered his best friend to get close to another male. And now that Simon was showing his attention towards her, he couldn't help but question what was going on. He smiled,

"Why would I mind?" he asked Simon.

"I will meet you later, Conner," said Melanie, with a quick smile.

"That's good," Simon offered a broad smile before he dragged Melanie from the front of the girl's Dormitorium, inside it and towards her room.

In that time, Conner's questions and thoughts about Melanie's absence and her clothes flew out of his mind, which was soon replaced with other thoughts. He even missed the possible spot of blood on her back, which was not covered with her hair, and an arm of Simon around her shoulder that didn't let go of her.

"Since when did they get close to each other," murmured Conner under his breath, slightly bothered before he shook his head and walked away from there.

Inside the girl's Dormitorium and next to Melanie's dorm, Melanie got away from the vampire and glared at him.

"What do you think you are doing?" she stepped away from him.

"You are not very good at lying, are you?" questioned Simon, his green eyes cooly looking at her, and he slipped his hands in his pockets. "What made you think that walking like this in front of the Dormitorium was a good idea?"

That was because Melanie wanted to get back to her dorm and stand next to the mirror. Even though Julie had pulled out the wooden piece, she could still feel pain as if a sharp strand of it was still in her skin.

"Your boy was looking for you and I had to dodge him until now. He was desperately looking for you, seemed very worried," commented Simon with the corner of his lips pulling up.

"He's now well assured that I am safe," replied Melanie, "You can leave now."

"So rude, won't even say thank you for getting you out of the sticky situation," remarked Simon, and Melanie sighed.

"What do you want, Simon?" asked Melanie, not knowing what this leech wanted.

"The back of your dress has spots of blood. Do you need help with me taking a look at it?" he offered her as a true gentleman would, but Melanie saw through his act.

She unlocked the door of her dorm and said, "I would rather lose all my blood than take up your help."

"I am willing to lick it than let it go to waste," and Simon's words were enough to have Melanie turn bright red. If she wasn't exhausted with what had happened since the last few hours, she would have retorted and maybe even screamed bloody murder at him. But she had no energy to do it, and she stepped inside the room.

"Thanks for getting me out of the sticky spot," said Melanie, and she closed the door on him.

She didn't know why she was stuck with Simon. Did he lose his charm with the other girls that he had come to bother her? Melanie asked herself. She removed the dress she was wearing before turning with her bareback in front of the mirror. She tried to get her hand near the spot, but her hand didn't reach, and when she stretched a little too much, she winced in pain. A sigh escaped from her lips.

She wore jeans and a woollen shirt. Hearing Simons' voice outside her dorm, she opened the door and caught him flirting with a girl in front of her dorm.

"Bye bye then," Simon waved his hand at the girl, who gave him a coy smile before leaving the spot. The vampire then turned to look at her and asked, "If I didn't know you were hurt, I would have thought that you were touching yourself while imagining about… who knows."

Melanie's eyes narrowed, "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you of course. I felt I might lose my little toy again. Unfortunately, video games can satisfy me only for a few minutes, while the rest of the time had been agonizingly slow," responded Simon, and he noticed the way his words were enough to rile the human. "I think your next spot should be the infirmary to get your back checked. I heard that people in the past used to catch a lot of diseases in the forest. You never know. To die young would be a pity."

"Didn't you?" she retorted, grabbing the dorm and closing it.

"Didn't I what, sweetheart?" asked Simon, and he titled his head to the side. "Die?" he chuckled, "But I live, while you might hit the coffin. Olivia and Isolda are pretty good at these sorts of things."

Melanie contemplated for a few seconds, not knowing if it would be wise to go to the infirmary, where the doctors and nurse were vampires. But then Donovan and Roman already knew, and so did Simon.

"You know," Simon drawled in a low voice just for her to hear, "There's a rule in our world. The vampire world, where humans are not supposed to know about the vampire's existence. If known, we kill them all. But I will keep your knowledge about it a secret."

Was he threatening her or trying to assure her? Simon was someone who didn't just give her mixed signals, but he was like a walking red signal who could blind her one day.

"I can manage it myself, you don't have to worry about it," muttered Melanie, and she started to walk away from her dorm, but Simon didn't pay heed to her words even though he heard it.

"Worry? Do you think you are my girlfriend and that I would worry about you?" Simon asked her, coming to walk next to her.

"Of course, I forgot you are with me to kill your endless time," she retorted, and Simon grinned wide.

"You are very quick to catch. What a smart little cookie you are," he praised her as if she were a child, but Melanie decided not to reply to him, and she quietly walked towards the infirmary. "I didn't get to hear about your adventure. How was your time in the past? Anything interesting that happened there?" he inquired in a nonchalant tone, but Melanie could tell by his attitude that he was curious.

"Death, that was what happened," her voice was low so that the other possible vampires wouldn't pick up her words.

To some extent, Melanie understood what her parents and the other hunters were trying to do when it came to vampires. Because she had heard and known about the night creatures' cruelty, not everyone was like that. She wondered if her parents would come to be able to see it one day. Though Conner had stepped into being a hunter, Melanie believed that wasn't what she wanted.

Her gaze slowly moved to look at Simon, and when her black eyes met his green one's, he raised one of his eyebrows.

"What is it?" he inquired, and Melanie shook her head before looking ahead of her.

Melanie wondered if Veteris had been subjected to the same fate, maybe worse. Because families had been wiped on a single night while leaving only a few survivors behind. She wondered if Simon was always like this… crazy. She then shook her head. Why was she even thinking about him?

When they reached the infirmary, doctor Isolde wasn't available as she was with the headmistress. A nurse greeted Melanie with a smile,

"How can I help you, dear?"

"I think something is stuck in my back, as it still hurts," Melanie explained her situation, and the nurse nodded her head.

"Why don't you take a seat here and I will take a look," said the woman, and Melanie took a seat behind the curtain. After the nurse took a look, she said, "Mm, I think I see the strand of the wood. It's a little piece, how did it even go in there?" she asked in a tone of surprise.

The nurse went to get something, picking up a little vial and a syringe while Melanie started to answer.

"I fell—"

"Mel and I were in the forest ground when it happened," came the answer from Simon from the other side.

"No, we weren't!" protested Melanie, this vampire was intent on dragging her name with his, and she gritted her teeth.

The nurse chuckled, letting go of something from the tray before returning to where Melanie was. Coming to stand behind her back, the nurse said, "I was wondering how something like that could go in there. Now I know it was something you both were doing. I would ask you to pick a bed, than go venture in the forest, no matter how exciting the nature appears to be."

When Melanie was done, she thanked the nurse and glared at Simon, "What was that about?"

"The nurse is a vampire. We need to polish your skills on lying," commented Simon, as he walked, "How does it feel to be my girlfriend?" he asked with a wink, and two girl's who were passing by them picked it up.

"I want to find a well to drown myself in it," muttered Melanie under her breath.

Back in the boy's Dormitorium, hours passed, and Julie, who had fallen asleep in Roman's arms, had finally woken up. She now sat up right at the edge of the bed, watching the box in her hand and the letter that she was yet to open.

"Do you know what those potions are?" asked Roman, who leaned against the wall in front of her.

Julie shook her head, "I don't know. There's no label."

"She must have figured out that you would one day come," said Roman, his eyes falling on the box where he took note of the two small vials. "And if she left it for you, you must be able to tell one day what each of them do."

Placing the box aside, she picked up the letter before opening it to read...