Everything was chaos. The whole room was anarchy, between people screaming and running around. I pushed through the ocean of people, looking for my brothers and Haven. I hadn’t seen them since we arrived at the dance, and I had a bad feeling. After searching everywhere I could think of, I decided they had probably gone back to the dorm.
I started to move toward the door, but something stopped me. It was a metallic scent, and all too familiar smell for me. Only something was off, the blood didn’t hold its usual allure, instead it almost smelled dirty... tainted. I followed the scent to the corner of the room, where a huge crowd of people stood, all circling something. I pushed my way into the center, and then wished I hadn’t.
Amanda, the girl I had seen Aaron dancing with earlier, was on the floor, a bloody mess. Along her chest were three gory claw marks, very similar to the ones on Haven’s back. Her dress had been practically ripped to shreds, and where her heart should be there was… nothing. Whatever had done this, had taken the poor girls heart. Once again I felt overcome with hatred towards this creature. I could not wait until the day I could kill it.
“Ryan.” I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned around at the sound of my name.
“Reynolds.” I acknowledged the principal. He looked older than I had ever seen him, which is saying something. His eyes were heavy with grief and stress, and his shoulders sagged a little bit. “What happened?”
“Everything was going fine. The dance was exactly as it should be. Then in a second the poor girl drops, and people start to realize she’s dead. After it spread it was mayhem. It still is, as you can see. I don’t know how to get all these students out of here. Hopefully the cops will be here in a couple minutes and can help. This is two deaths in one year, Ryan, I never thought it would come to this.” Reynolds said, his voice coming out strained.
“Do you think whoever did this is human?” I asked, looking around to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard.
“Not a chance.”
“A vampire then?” I didn’t think it was, but I wanted to hear what the principal thought.
“No, definitely not. I don’t know what did this, but it wasn’t a vampire and it definitely wasn’t human. I have never seen anything like this before. Ah, here are the cops…” With that, Reynolds walked away, leaving me alone. I sighed and worked my way through the crowd of people finally reaching the door. As soon as I was out of sight, I ran up the stairs, going my full speed. I reached the dorm in a matter of second. When I walked inside, I found all three of my roommates sitting on the couch, with Haven in the middle. All three looked very solemn. Danny jumped up as soon as I shut the door.
“Ryan! Oh thank God. We were worried about you.” He said and I was a little surprised.
“Ha. You should know better than to worry about me, little bro.” I ruffled his hair as I walked by him, and then stole his spot next to Haven on the couch.
“Did you miss me?” I jokingly asked Haven, laying one of my legs across her lap. Haven rolled her eyes, but for a second the worry and stress had left her face. Aaron eyed my foot out of the corner off his eye, and he looked disgusted. Oh, well. Danny was the one who remembered there was a bigger problem right now.
“What happened down there? We left right away and then all we heard was screaming.” Danny seemed pretty freaked out, for once. I remembered what I had just witnessed, and my mood completely sobered. I was no longer in the mood for joking.
“Amanda has been murdered.” It was a simple statement, but it got a big reaction from the three others. Danny’s mouth fell open, Haven gasped, and Aaron’s whole body immediately stiffened.
“Was it Damian?” Aaron asked, after a few moments of silence. The look on Aarons face told me that Aaron knew it wasn’t Damian. He just didn’t want to acknowledge that that thing had finally come back for Haven.
“You already know the answer to that.” I said, and he only nodded. “But there is more.” All three of them gave me curious looks when I said that.
“What more can there be?” Asked Danny. He seemed exhausted. I think everyone was.
“When they found Amanda… she was missing her heart.” Their looks of shock were a hundred times greater than when I had told them the news of Amanda’s death. I didn’t blame them. Haven looked so scared that she was practically hyperventilating. I would be too if this thing was coming after me.
“Why would it kill Amanda though?” Haven asked. I hadn’t really thought about it before now.
“Because it mistook Amanda for you, Haven.” Aaron observed, and I realized he was right. Amanda may have been blonde, but in the candlelight, her hair had appeared to be the same color as Haven’s. And she was wearing the same color of dress. And, I realized, she had danced with Aaron. Of course whatever that thing is would confuse Amanda for Haven.
“So what do we do?” Danny asked.
“Same as before. We protect Haven no matter what. We cannot let this creature get her.” Aaron answered, and there was a protectiveness in his voice that I had never heard before.
“We won’t let anything happen to her.”
