Crimson

Chapter 21: Welcome to the Night Class

As Cadere finished doing his rounds and checking up on the boys, Belmont having finally returned, Roman stood in his room. An obsessive desire began to grow inside him, not for the first time this week.

The only sound came from the forest nightlife, and the only light came from the glowing orbs paving the way across the castle through Roman's bedroom window.

Fire... light... maybe that was the solution.

Roman gritted his teeth and pulled out the handkerchief from y/n. A sparse patch of crimson bled through the tissue.

After doing his best to clean up Bel's mess, Roman was appalled. Cruel even. And certainly not understanding. Belmont had been one of them for a long enough time- and had Cadere to teach him. He didn't understand how one stupid girl could drive him to attack in broad daylight.

But after that, he understood.

Roman growled and lifted the handkerchief above the flame rising from his palm. The fire reflected in his burning eyes- but... he couldn't.

The redhead scrunched it up and threw it at the wall, leaving a small mark. Roman sat on his bed angrily and pretended that he was fine. If he couldn't see the blood, there wasn't any.

But he could smell it. And more predominantly, he could taste it. There was nothing in all his years on this Earth like it. Y/n had become more of a temptation than he'd let his primitive side admit. And for some reason, gazing at the handkerchief on the floor, Roman didn't like the idea of anyone else having her.

The night student slowly paced towards the source of his anxiety, and picked it up. And without hesitating, he took her scent in, invisioning her blood down his throat.
~

"Don't touch my neck!" You yelled at Theodore.

Tickling was not something you tolerated- especially not in the dark; from behind, in front of a scary castle.

"Sorry," the red haired boy laughed with a shrug.

"So this is our brave and noble night patrol," a familiar voice said from behind you.

You and Simone nearly jumped, but when you turned around, you saw Cadere. For a moment you didn't recognize him- which was previously thought to be an impossible feat. He always wore the same dark clothes and long black cloak. But he didn't have his hat on.

For the first time, even in the dark, you were getting a glimpse of Cadere's face. And it was nowhere near as terrifying as you expected.

Instead, he had surprisingly soft eyes, that seemed an unreal violet in the darkness. His hair was slick, blonde, and young looking. The way he carried himself and spoke always led you to believe he was much older, and more threatening- but he didn't seem much older than your homeroom teacher.

Who hurried up behind him with her arms folded.

"You hired a brave night patrol, you got it." Saluted Theodore. "I'm not afraid of the dark."

"With the time you've spent trying to talk to students here, that doesn't surprise me." Cadere remarked. He looked so different without the hat shielding his eyes.

"This is Eleanor, Simone, y/n- you know Theodore." Sylabil introduced you.

Cadere's eyed scanned the four of you, analyzing. For some reason, he was scariest when he was silent. You took back what you thought before- at least with his hat on you couldn't see his eyes.

"Yes, I remember you." He said after a moment. "The others should be here soon."

After a few minutes of the bell in the clock tower summoning curfew, four other students arrived at the end of the bridge. Sylabil introduced them, but everyone got a bit distracted when Dimitri stepped outside.