Empire of Vampires ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Three

Danyel looked up and saw a large deer standing directly in front of him. Its antlers were so huge that they passed him in height, and they were tipped in silver. Danyel reached out to it, intrigued by its silent gaze, and the deer's eyes suddenly flashed a bright lilac before it turned and ran away. Danyel blinked a little, wondering whether it had also been a part of his vision.

He glanced up the mountain to where the school stood in the distance. Its great stone body was imprinted against the fog that shrouded it, its tall spires stretching high into the mist. Danyel faced the behind of the building and if he peered close enough he could just make out a part of the courtyard and row of dormitories behind it.

He had tracked her when she left, Lady Marienne. He couldn't stop thinking about her since they'd met. She was fierce and brave and... he needed all the help he could get. He had been desperate enough to come here.

He walked to the school in a daze, easily vaulting over the high stone walls and staying hidden from anyone's view. He could see her now, standing in the large window of her dorm which overlooked the courtyard. 

She was alone in her room and gesticulating wildly; having a conversation, or more likely an argument, with an imaginary figure. She won it in the end and stood there triumphantly, her hands planted on her hips as she looked down in victory at the poor soul who couldn't say a word back.

He creeped up the vines beneath her window, knocking at the glass when he got close enough. She spun towards him in shock, her argument forgotten.

'The hell are you doing here,' she demanded, throwing the window open fast enough that it smacked right into his face.

'I followed you here- were you talking to someone?' he interrupted himself as he climbed through the window and looked around to make sure they were alone.

'Oh! Just that horrible cousin Violet!' she grumbled, 'She said my bonnet was silly- well, COUSIN! Your face is silly!'

She glared at the empty space before her, having clearly dealt out the sickest burn, and Danyel stared at it in perplexed confusion.

'That is a very good comeback,' he said, although he secretly thought it was the exact opposite.

'Why thank you,' she flopped down on the bed, tired after her incredible triumph, 'Unfortunately, I couldn't think of it at the time, and now she's been dead for hundreds of years.'

She shot back up, suddenly remembering the presence of the unwelcome man in her room. 'Anyway, back to my earlier question— The hell are you doing here?!'

'I- uh-

Marie interrupted him again, dragging him by the arm out of her dorm and down the corridor towards the opposite side of campus.

'Well, you'd better meet James and Andrew too' she huffed, 'And explain yourself to all three of us!'

They marched through the thankfully mostly empty corridors before they arrived at the boys' dorm. She knocked loudly and waited a moment before she barged in.

They were doing their homework together, sprawled on the bed; James was begging to just copy off Andrew's but the human was insisting that he teach it to him instead.

They sat up in shock when they saw the eternal that came in.

'You-!'

The eternal stepped forward, cutting him off, 'The name's Danyel, how do you do?' he smiled pleasantly, shaking the confused boys' hands and kissing the back of Marie's, who rolled her eyes in minimal tolerance, as he bowed again and introduced himself all around.