Ella’s POV When | heard the sirens, | knew something was seriously wrong. The last t| heard sirens there was a murder.
My heart fell into my stomach as | watched Becca rush to the window of our dorm and peer down into the parking lot.
“There's an ambulance and a couple of cop cars,” she said, peeing back atwith a worried frown. “I wonder if they found somebody else.” | felt like | was about to get sick.
She looked back down at the parking lot, and | heard her gasp lightly.
“I see your dad and Professor Colton,” she said, pointing to the lot.
| jumped to my feet, rushing toward her.
“Are they okay?” | asked, feeling a rise of panic.
“Yes,” she answered. “They are talking to Alpha Jonathan and Headmaster Prescott.” | peered down into the lot and sure enough | saw my father and mate speaking with Headmaster Prescott and Alpha Jonathan. | could hardly see their faces, but | knew from their body language alone that something was seriously wrong.
EMTs were rushing toward one of the outside entrances of the vampire den. My heart fell deep into my stomach.
What could have happened in the vampire den? The cops were following them into the building as well without even a single look in the headmaster’s direction.
Alpha Jonathan turned away from them and walked into the vampire den as well.
Before | could say anything more to Becca about what we were watching, we both nearly jumped out of our skin as we heard someone knocking on the door.
| turned to face the door, feeling my heart pounding against my ribcage. We both shared identical frightened looks before we gained enough courage to move from the window and go to the door.
When | opened it, | was surprised to see a very tear-filled Eileen Carter standing before us.
“Miss Carter....” Becca was the first to speak. “Is everything okay?” She looked at the two of us for a long while without speaking; it felt like an eternity before she actually decided to speak.
“It’s Rachel...” she said hoarsely.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“Rachel?” | asked, furrowing my brows together. “She’s been in her room all night.” Miss Carter shook her head as a sob escaped her lips.
“She must have snuck out the window or something,” she said through her tears. “She was found in the vampire's dormitory stabbed.” | thought | was going to pass out. | had to hold onto the edge of the door, or | would have fallen over. Becca nearly did fall over; she practically tripped over herself as she ran toward Rache’s bedroom door.
She began knocking on it hard and then she started to slap it; her entire body trembled as a sob escaped her lips. Neither of us wanted to believe that it could be true.
She gripped the doorknob and yanked it open, stumbling into Rachel's dark room. My entire body was numb; | didn’t think I could move even if | wanted to, but | watched as Becca frantically went into Rachel's room and screamed for her.
This only made Miss Carter sob even harder as she covered her mouth and nose with her hands.
“Rachel!!!” Becca cried out for our roommate and best friend.
Tears burned in my eyes; | was about to fall apart.
“She’s not here, Ella!” Becca sobbed. “She’s not here... she’s not....” She fell to the ground as a sob escaped her lips. Becca was soon crying in her hands, screaming and trembling in Rachel's dark room.
| couldn't breathe.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Alex said, stepping beside Miss Carter.
For once, | actually saw remorse on his face as he looked down at me.
“Your father wants to see you. He's in the front lot. He asked forto escort you to him,” Aled continued.
| didn’t trust my voice and | certainly didn’t trust that | could walk on my own. My legs were practically Jelly. If | moved, | would have crumbled to the floor like Becca.
“It’s urgent, Ella,” he said when | did not attempt to move or speak. “We have to go, now.” My body began to shake; | almost wanted to request Colton to cand pickup, but | knew he couldn't do that in front of everybody. Sgirls had overheard the conversation from their dorm rooms, and | heard them begin to cry heavily.
It wouldn't be long before word traveled around about this.
“I'm not going without Becca,” | said hoarsely.
Becca was still crying on the ground; | didn’t think she'd be able to walk either. But we were in this together.
Alex glanced at her from the doorway with a timid frown, but then he nodded.
“Becca...” | croaked; | hadn't even realized | was crying until | spoke her name. My face was soaked with tears, and | had to bite my bottom lip to keep from crying. “We have to go...” | finished the sentence with a breath.
She did not attempt to move, but she lifted her gaze to meet mine.
“She was here...” she whispered. “She was here...” “I know,” | breathed. “But now she’s not and we can’t be either,” | told her, finally feeling the strength in my legs to move to her.
| knelt beside her and placed my hand on her shoulder.
“We can’t be here. We need to leave,” | told her, keeping my tone low and for her ears only.
She kept her glossy eyes on mine; her lips trembled as she let out another sob, but then she nodded and allowedto help her to her feet. | wrapped my arm through her and slowly we made our way out of Rachel's room and toward Alex.
“Take us to my father,” | told him as firmly as | could.
He nodded solemnly, then he turned away and we followed him out.
Colton’s POV Everything happened at once. | smelled the metallic scent of blood as | walked past the dormitory and my entire body froze.
| didn’t waste any time; the scent was fresh, unlike the rotting scent | smelled last week outside the academic center. | knew whatever was happening, it was happening right now.
I ran as fast as | could toward the scent; it tookto the boy’s dorm and toward the expansion wing that students call the vampire den. It was created when vampires started to attend this school and needed an area that didn’t harvest as much sunlight.
Vampires don’t burn up in the sunlight, but it is uncomfortable with them, and long exposures to the sun would cause them to becill. The Vampire Den is a vast space with limited windows to keep out the sun and it comes with a lounge they can hang out in if they don’t want to hang out in the open with other students.
It’s also run by two vampire dorm advisors, Rodrick and Jillian. Rodrick was the boy’s dorm advisor and Jillian was the girl's dorm advisor.
The smell was potent in the boy section and my heart was pounding against my chest to the point where | thought it was going to explode. The vampire students knew that they weren't allowed to feed off other students. They were given a certain amount of blood each day, usually from willing donors or animals. Animal blood wasn’t the sas human blood, but if they needed the blood, it still worked for them.
They described it as eating a salad with no dressing. It fills them and does the job, but it’s not very satisfying.
As | reached the boy's section of the vampire den, | froze when | saw Rodrick standing above a girl who had blood dripping down her shirt. Rodrick stood frozen, his entire body trembling as he clutched a dagger that was dripping with the girl's blood.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHe looked mortified, but at the stime, his expression was hard.
Another faculty member ran into the room as well and froze.
“Holy shit,” he gasped. “I'm calling 911.” My feet finally worked, and | unfroze; | ran toward Rodrick as fast as | could, taking the dagger out of his hands and shoving him against the wall. He didn’t fight me; he stood frozen, staring at me, but it was like he was seeing through me.
His eyes seemed darker than usual; almost like Scott's looked when he confessed to the murders.
“It was me...” Rod said in a low and strained tone. “I killed those people and framed Scott. It was me.” | heard the soft whimpers of the girl who lay on the ground at my feet. When | looked down at her | finally got a look at her face.
“Rachel?” | said in a hoarse whisper.
Fury boiled through me, and | lost control of Max entirely. He shifted into his full form and threw Rod across the room with his teeth. My wolf lunged at him, his growl echoing throughout the entire dormitory as we tackled him to the ground.
Max's claws dug into Rod's flesh and his strong metallic scent invaded my nose. | expected Rod to fight me, at least a little bit. Rod was the only hybrid at this school, so he could have shifted into his wolf form if he wanted.
But he didn’t.
He allowedto scratch and nip at him.
| was trying hard to hard to hold back my wolf, so he didn’t kill him.
Thankfully, another wolf tackledout of the way and pressedinto the ground, growling loudly in my face. | knew this wolf was Bastien without even looking at him.
| was panting and struggling against his hold, wanting to rip Rod's throat out.
Rod lay on the ground, bleeding and trembling. But | wanted him to bleed even more.
“Alpha....” We heard the soft tone of Rachel coming from the ground. She reached her hand out tobefore dropping it to the ground, pooling in her own blood.
She was losing a lot of blood and would soon pass out if we didn’t get her shelp.
“Please... don’t .... Kill him...” she whispered.
Then, her eyes fluttered shut and her entire body went limp.