Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) (15 page)

“Because they keep away from each other.”

“That isn’t true….”

“Our social standing is different.”

“That hasn’t stopped people in the past.”

“You mean people in love….”

I thought my heart was going to burst apart the moment he said those words, and he said them while looking straight into my eyes.

He was challenging me to reply with a counter.

Or was he expecting me to agree.

I had trouble meeting his gaze.

Caelum sighed softly, almost lost in the breeze. “Haruka…tell me the truth.”

I struggled to get a single word out, yet he remained so calm. “What truth?”

“Did you ever see me as more than a friend? What was I to you?”

I might throat tightened painfully, and I couldn’t reply. Long seconds went by, until he eventually chuckled lightly under his breath. He turned his face away.

“Sorry. Forget I asked.”

My heart was beating painfully in my chest. It was just like that day seven months ago when he bid farewell to our friendship. I was reliving that pain all over again.

Caelum regarded our surroundings. “I made a mess of things. All those years in school, I made a mess of things for you.”

I managed a hoarse whisper. “What do you mean?”

“You were popular, Haruka. There were so many guys that wanted to confess to you. So many guys that wanted to approach you.”

He wasn’t telling me anything new. Why was he bringing this up now?

He shook his head slowly. “I was asked so many times to put in a good word for you because they all saw us as childhood friends and nothing more. As far as they were concerned, the only reason you hung around me was because of that. Why else would a beautiful girl be friends with me? It pissed me off that what they said was true.”

I frowned at him.

He muttered loudly, “I got fed up being their errand boy. That landed me in a few fights.”

“I know….”

I was the one that would patch him up before classes resumed whenever he returned to the classroom like the walking wounded.

He laughed bitterly. “You’d ask me why, and I’d tell you those guys weren’t good enough for you.”

I nodded slowly.

He snorted. “Some of those guys were a lot better than me. Some of them would have looked good beside you. Some of those guys, I think I actually approved of.”

“…what…?”

“But I was jealous.”

My eyes widened for a rapid heartbeat. “Huh?”

“I was jealous of them. I was jealous of every guy that confessed to you, or approached you in a way that made their intentions clear.”

I couldn’t stop myself frowning. “Why?”

“Because they had more courage than me. I was envious of their resolve. Then I’d think of my situation and I had no choice but to accept the truth.”

“What do you mean? What truth?”

“That we were only childhood friends, and that I had more to risk than they did. It wasn’t a case of just crash and burn for me. It wasn’t a game for me. If I lost, then I lost for good and it wasn’t just a rejection. It was the end of what we had together as
friends
.”

“Caelum, you….”

He gave me a nod. “Yeah, I thought about it countless times. I thought about it every time I heard some guy had asked you out and been shot down.”

“Why didn’t you?”

He looked at me in disbelief. “I just told you why.”

I looked at him stupidly. “Did you really think I would reject you?”

Caelum was quiet for a moment before he blurted out, “Of course I did. Why do you think I never asked you?”

“So you’d already decided on the outcome by yourself.”

“I already knew the outcome.”

I clenched my hands and couldn’t stop my arms from trembling. “Do you know how tiring it was to reject each and every guy that came up to me?”

He shook his head. “No, but I did try to save you the trouble.”

I growled in my throat. “You would have saved me the trouble if you’d just told me how you felt.”

“I couldn’t tell you—”

“Because you’re a coward.”

He blanched, then swallowed a heartbeat later. “I had no choice.”

I leaned back and yelled up at the sky.

“Haruka?”

“You are impossible! You are so impossible to deal with.”

I was hyperventilating.

Why was I blaming him? I was the same. I fell into the same trap he did. I had the same reasons he did for not confessing. In fact, I was hard set on believing he should be the one to make the first move.

I should have never listened to all those stupid advice columns.

Why the Hell did I read those idiotic magazines? Was I looking for a miracle solution to the problem?

I pressed down on my chest.

This was my problem. I should have fixed it myself rather than listening to someone else’s advice.

I should have told him how I felt.

I gasped.

Caelum was standing over me, his arms on my arms. “Haruka? Haruka what’s wrong?”

I tried pushing him away but he was stronger than me.

What? I’m an Aventis and he’s a Familiar. Shouldn’t I be the stronger one?

“Let me go,” I pleaded.

“Not until you calm down.”

Again I growled in my throat. “Stop acting so mature. This is your fault after all.”

“Huh?”

“It’s because you never told me the truth.”

He dropped his hands from my arms. His expression grew neutral, unreadable. “You haven’t answered my question.”

I blinked at him dumbly. What question? I tried thinking back to the start of the argument. What had he asked me? Why couldn’t I remember?

Caelum saved me from floundering through my short term memory.

“Haruka, did you ever see me as more than just a friend?”

Ah…that question.

His eyes were locked onto mine.

No running away this time. It had finally come to this point, and Caelum wanted an answer.

I opened my mouth, but no air came out. No sound. No words.

Why? Why didn’t my voice work? Damn it, not now!

I tried again without success.

Caelum turned away, and my heart sank.

My reaction had hurt him. He took my inability to reply for an answer.

And so he turned away.

But he wasn’t moving away. In fact, he was standing in front of me looking toward the trees at the far end of the garden.

I peeked around him.

Five white uniformed students stood there with arrogant, amused smiles on their faces.

I suddenly remembered Siobhan and Alistair’s warning. “Caelum—they’re here to—”

“I know.” He turned to me quickly, and his gaze forcefully grabbed mine. “Haruka, I’m sorry but I’m going to need your help.”

“Wh—what do you want me to do?”

He reached out and took hold of my left wrist. “I’m sorry. I won’t take much.”

I watched him bring my wrist up to his lips. “Caelum?”

“The bleeding won’t last long. Staunch it, and then get out of here.”

My eyes grew wide, very wide, at sight of him sink his canines into my wrist.

Siobhan’s words came back to me.

He’s more of a vampire than we are.

It hurt like Hell when my skin tore.

It hurt even more to watch him drink the crimson fluid that welled up from the wounds.

And then after a few moments it was over.

Caelum had a handkerchief in hand, and he used it to wipe at his mouth a moment before pressing it down on my punctured wrist.

“Keep pressure on it,” he said.

I didn’t need to be told twice. I looped the handkerchief around my wrist, and applied pressure to the wound. I looked up at him.

Caelum looked to be in pain but he was doing his best to hold it back.

“Go,” he said. “Get out of here. They came for me, but they might do something to you if you stay.”

I started shaking my head, but he reached out and bodily spun me away from him.

“Get going,” he snapped while pushing me away. It wasn’t hard enough to make me stumble, but I did stagger for several feet.

I half turned to face him. “Caelum—”

He shrugged out of his jacket. He had an anguished smile on his face. “Don’t worry. It’s not the first time I’ve gone through this. I had this coming. I offended the Princess.” He shrugged faintly. “But, it’s probably just an excuse for them.”

I swallowed quickly. “I’m going to get help.”

“Don’t. This won’t take long.”

I watched him start to unbutton his shirt. “Wh—what are you doing?”

“I don’t want it to get dirty.”

Behind him I saw the five seniors grow impatient. They sauntered out of the trees and into the clearing at the center of the garden. A couple of them took off their jackets like Caelum did.

“Haruka.”

“Y—yes?”

“Run.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m not leaving.”

Suddenly he was right before me. His eyes looked into mine as though staring straight into my soul. His face, his presence, completely consumed my awareness.

I felt him…inside my mind.

I heard his voice…inside my head.

“Haruka, run.”

I could barely breathe let alone protest. Then suddenly my body began to move. It started backing away unsteadily from him.

Then it turned and ran.

I regained control as I fled down the path that led out of the garden. It stretched through an arcade of trees. Once past the trees, the path curved sharply in the direction of the Academy buildings.

I ran without looking back.

When I came to a stop, I realized I was standing at the foot of the steps that led up to a glass entrance.

This was the main building for us high schoolers.

The middle schoolers building was off to the west a couple of hundred meters away.

I looked up and through the wall of tinted glass, and saw a few students milling about inside. They were in the lobby where the shoe lockers stood.

True to their word, Siobhan and Alistair were waiting inside. They were standing near the glass wall, and it was Alistair that saw me first when she turned to look outside.

They both rushed out the entrance and down the steps.

They both cried out, “Haruka.”

My breathing had recovered by then. “Five seniors came for us.” I shook my head frantically. “No—they came for him. They came for Caelum.”

Alistair added, “To beat him up for shaming the Princess.”

Siobhan looked uneasy. “I don’t think that’s the only reason….” Her voice trailed away when she suddenly reached out and grabbed my wounded left wrist. “What the Hell?” Her eyes bore into me. “Haruka—what the Hell is this?”

“He—he drank from me.”

Siobhan paled as though she’d been exsanguinated. “Oh no.”

Alistair caught on before I did. “Where—where are they?” she asked.

“The garden. The one we always go to.”

Siobhan grabbed my shoulders. “Stay here. Don’t you dare move.”

They dropped their carry-bags and then ran past me.

Like Hell was I going to stay here.

I chased after them at a run, but I was burdened by their school bags. I was noticeably stronger as an Aventis, but outside of physical education class I never exercised. I was starting to regret my distinct lack of fitness.

Then again, it was hard to exercise with breasts as large as mine.

I really shouldn’t be running around without the ‘proper support’.

Ahead of me the paved path curved back toward the garden and disappeared behind the arcade of bushy trees.

I came to a stop and tried catching my breath.

Then I noticed the cold in the air – a cold I felt seep into my bones. My breath turned to mist before me.

My heart jumped in fear.

My grandmother once told me how she’d encountered the ghost of a dead girl, a classmate of hers back when she was young girl. She said the air around the ghost girl had been so cold as to freeze my grandmother’s breath.

The cold seemed to be coming from the arcade of trees.

I was suddenly too terrified to chase after my friends. But after a half minute of waiting in fear, the cold in the air began to ease quite quickly. I started to breathe a little easier. But fear kept my heart pumping along madly.

I took a few deep breaths, then cautiously stepped onto the path.

I rounded the bend bordered by the trees and came to a sharp stop.