𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 ℂ𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 ➶

𝔽𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕟: 𝕋𝕒𝕘, 𝕐𝕠𝕦'𝕣𝕖 𝕀𝕥

The next morning, Valentina woke up feverishly hot, in a tangle of limbs. At first she just yawned and dozed, sweaty but content.

But she couldn't stay in bed all day. Tomorrow was Monday and she had homework due that she hadn't even started yet. Maybe the academy would cancel classes on account of the power outage, but she couldn't bank on that.

Still, she took her sweet time extricating herself. Her partners didn't deserve a rude awakening. Try as she might, though, she wasn't able to get away without waking them up.

"Where are you going?" Gomez asked, his voice slurred with sleep.

"I'm not going far. Just to my desk," she reasoned.

"Five more minutes," Morticia demanded, her arm around her waist tightening the more she tried to squirm away.

Seeing that resistance was futile, Valentina sighed and settled back in. "Just five minutes."

But five minutes turned into fifteen turned into forty-five. The only reason they couldn't keep her any longer was that she desperately had to go to the bathroom.

When she came back, they were still snuggled up in Morticia's bed. She tip-toed to her desk so as not to disturb them. Her return instantly sparked their interest, though.

"We should do this more often," Morticia murmured.

"We really shouldn't. Having a boy stay overnight is against the rules."

"Some rules were just made to be broken!" Gomez crowed.

Valentina made a face like she had just sucked on a lemon. "No, they really weren't."

Morticia sat up, exhaling heavily through her nose, as if her roommate was being completely unreasonable. "We're at an impasse. Why don't we play a game? Victor makes the decision."

Valentina did like games, hadn't quite grown out of it yet, but she had a bad feeling about whatever the other girl was about to suggest. "What kind of game?"

"Cat-and-mouse. A mix between hide-and-seek and tag. We give you a headstart. You hide somewhere on campus. Anywhere on Nevermore's grounds is allowed. We will try to find you. If you see us coming, you have the option to run away. But if we catch you, then we win. If time runs out and we still haven't caught you, then you win."

"Two against one isn't fair."

"Technically, if we take a vote on sleeping arrangements right now, it would also be two against one and you would lose. This is just to give you a fair shot."

Valentina wanted to protest some more but knew it would be pointless. "How long is my head start and how long is the time limit?"

"Fifteen-minute head start followed by a two-hour time limit."

"Thirty-minute head start."

"Followed by a three-hour time limit... Don't give me that look, valentine. I could have demanded four hours."

That was likely the best deal she was going to get. Still, she kept pushing. "Thirty-minute head start followed by a three-hour time limit... And we play after dark."

Morticia and Gomez looked at each other and shared a smirk. "We wouldn't have it any other way."

~~~

That night, after the sun had fully set, the three found themselves in the Great Hall, smackdab in the middle of campus. It was the best place from which to start their game.

Everyone had their watches set for the exact same time. Valentina's headstart would start at six:thirty pm. The time limit would start at seven and end at ten pm, just before they needed to head back to their dorms for curfew.

"You ready?" Morticia asked with a grin that was downright predatory. Gomez's gaze was as sharp as a knife, boring into her.

Valentina refused to let them scare her, though. She just continued to stretch, ensuring her arms and legs were limber so she could hit the ground running. "Of course."

"Okay then. Ready... Set... Go!"

And in the blink of an eye, she took off like a bat out of hell. Less than a minute later, she was out of the Great Hall and sprinting along one of Nevermore's many stone paths.

She'd given it some thought, and she knew just where to hide. It was on the outskirts of campus, but technically still on the grounds. Hiding in a classroom or the library or a friend's dorm room was too predictable, made her too easy to find.

It took her close to fifteen minutes --half her head start-- to make it to the edge of the lake, but luckily the school had left out kayaks and canoes for student use on the weekend. If they hadn't, she would have to chance swimming the gap. Which would have been not only strenuous but dangerous, given her lungs were already burning from the run.

There was no time to worry about getting wet. Valentina quickly grabbed a one-man kayak and started paddling in the direction of Raven Island.

Her head start was nearly over by the time she reached the island. Still, she used a little bit of time to hide the kayak in the brush and branches. Then she broke out into another sprint down the hiking trail. She couldn't keep this up much longer. Her legs were starting to feel like jelly.

That's when she saw it: Crackstone's Crypt. She had no idea why the man would opt to be buried all the way out here, away from any other grave, but his final resting place had been turned into a make-out destination by the horny students of Nevermore.

Valentina cautiously opened the door, not wanting to stumble in on anyone's private time, but found the crypt blessedly empty. It was just her, the sarcophagus, and a bunch of unlit candles. She hunkered down behind the stone coffin so she wouldn't be seen should someone open the door, and settled in for a long wait...

She waited.

And waited.

It was unbearably boring. She ought to have brought a book or something. Not that she would be able to focus on reading with her nerves so frayed. No sounds or movement was good news, though. She had this in the bag!

Or so she thought.

At nine:thirty pm, just half-an-hour before the game concluded, the crypt door creaked open. Every hair on Valentina's body stood on end. She felt herself start to tremble.

The door closed again, shutting out all light. There was no sound except for her breathing and the click-clack of dress shoes against concrete. Then...

"Cariño?" Gomez called out. "I know you're in here. Our little game is over now. You can come out." There was a long pause, after which he guffawed. "Aren't you tired of running? Don't make me chase you."

Like hell she would surrender, just give herself over. She was a fighter!

Click-clack. Click-clack. Click-clack. He was getting closer, coming around the left side of the sarcophagus. She stealthily crept around the right side, heading towards the door.

Once the exit was within reach, she made a dash for it.

She had her hand on the door when he grabbed her. He spun her like a dancer, nestled her into his arms.

"Tag," Gomez said in a low voice, with the most diabolical grin she'd ever seen outside of a cartoon. "You're it."

She wasn't thinking. She was running off of instincts alone.

So she bit him.

She lunged forward and chomped down on the juncture between his shoulder and neck, really digging her teeth into his flesh, as if she were a vampire or a werewolf or even a zombie.

She expected him to push her away. But he didn't. If anything, he cradled her closer, held the nape of her neck like she was a baby who needed her head supported. He turned his head, pressed his mouth to her ear so she could hear how heavily he was panting.

Oh, she realized. This was not a deterrent for him. It was a turn-on.

So she carefully extracted her teeth from his flesh, ran her tongue over them to wash away the blood.

He watched with eyes that were practically black with desire. At last, he crooned, "Let's get back to Ophelia. It's almost curfew. You and your rules, remember?"