Tick

Tick

Tick

The wall clock's hand kept going round and round with slow jerky movements. She stared at it, her mind drifting in and out of the scene. A man standing in front of the board, uttered words that were incoherent to her. Someone cracked a joke about bananas. Laughter erupted from all around her. Some students even hit the desk repeatedly with excitement.

The poor teacher stood there with his hands raised. He moved them up and down lightly, asking everyone to keep their voices down.

It felt suffocating in there. She had spent the whole weekend cooped up in her room, doing nothing. She hadn't slept properly for two days. Everytime she closed her eyelids, a chained statue flashed before her eyes. She had become afraid of falling asleep. Her mind was scared of seeing him again.

Her heart, on the other hand, was a lost case. It yearned for him. For his presence. For his touch. Torn between rationality and her unhealthy addiction to the Vampire Lord, she was starting to lose her mind. She questioned herself sometimes, whether she had been hallucinating all along. But the bloody top in her basket, back in her apartment, told another story.

She rested her head on the hard surface of the desk. Her eyes turned glassy as her surroundings slowly melted away into nothing.

Clip clopping of horse hooves was the first sound that registered in her brain. She took in the new scene before her. She was sitting inside an old style carriage. It moved with slow jerky movements, just like the hand of that wall clock in her classroom. She heard a whipping sound before the carriage suddenly came to a halt.

"Milord."

A man said from the outside of the carriage. The door opened as she gazed out. It looked like an old street from the middle ages. She felt herself moving. She looked down to find shiny leather boots coming into her view as they stepped out onto the concrete. A black cloak, hanging from her body, reached down to the floor. It dragged behind her as she started taking long confident steps. There was a grace in the way she walked.

She tried touching the soft fabric clingling to her body, But was unable to move her hand. She tried again but nothing happened. Her mind was working on overdrive trying to connect the dots. Leather boots. Tall stature. Milord.

Realization dawned on her. she wasn't controlling the movements of this person. It wasn't her body. It was .

She looked around. There were so many people gathered around the edges of the streets. Some of them were peering through the windows of their houses too. They had been chattering amongst themselves but a deep silence washed over them as soon as he stepped his foot there.She thought to herself.

Most of them immediately lowered their heads down, trying to take a subtle peek at him from behind their eyelashes. Some heads remained stiff, staring at him with resentful eyes.

She thought he'd punish them but he kept walking straight like it didn't affect him at all. He took some more steps before a painful cry reached his ears. No one else seemed to take a notice of it. He halted in his steps. Another scream. He started walking in the direction of that sound. People parted like the Red Sea to make way for him. His senses took him towards the back alley of a hotel. Some of the people decided to follow him out of curiosity. The cries got louder and louder as he neared it. The people following him were beginning to hear it too. Mixture of anxiety and disgust crossed their faces just as they stepped foot in the alleyway and saw the scene taking place in there.

A big burly man was beating a small child heartlessly. He kicked his ribs repeatedly as the small child clutched a loaf of bread to his chest tightly. Tears streamed down his soft pale cheeks as the man's kicks got more and more brutal. She felt a blazing fire spreading inside her. Anger.She felt like she had never been this angry before.

She felt him move swiftly shielding the child away from the torture. The child was shaking uncontrollably in his grasp.

"Move out of the way if you do not wish to get hurt. It is my business!" The burly man said aggressively, spit flying all over from his mouth as he spoke.

Ares just rocked the small child shivering in his arms, paying no attention to the warning.

"Hey! Do you not listen?!"

No movement.

The man lunged towards him just before two villagers held him back by his arms.

"Stop! Do you know who he is? He is a noble. The Lord assigned to our lands." One of the men, holding the burly man back, shouted.

The man felt like his breath got stuck in his windpipe. He looked back. Everyone gathered there was staring at him with disgust. He stopped resisting in an instant. The men holding him let him loose as he dropped down to his knees with a loud thud. He clasped his hands in front of him begging forgiveness for his disrespectful behaviour.

"Mercy Milord, Mercy! Forgive your servant."

He looked hatefully at the kid. "This brat tried stealing from me. I was giving him a little lesson so any other brother in this town wouldn't get betrayed by this innocent face again."

For the first time in a while, she felt him speak. It felt weird. Her own lips parted while his voice rang in her ears. "Did you steal from this man?"

The child looked up at him with his glistening eyes. "M-Mother.."

"What about your mother?" He stroked the kid's head lovingly encouraging him to keep speaking.

"M-Mother i-is ill. H-hungry." The child managed to utter some words between his hiccups.

He held the child out to someone standing beside him who immediately cradled him. "Milord"

It was the same voice who had called him out of the carriage. She saw a young man, with medium built. His shaggy brown hair matched perfeclty with his chocolate brown eyes. His clothes looked like they were made of a fine material. Was this man his Vassal?

"Henry, get the child's wounds treated. Give him some money for his family from the treasure," He stopped speaking as he walked slowly to stand in front of the kneeling man. He looked at him coldly before continuing his order, "As for the man, beat him the same way he beat the poor child."

"FAITH!"

She woke up with a start. April stared at her worriedly. She glanced around. The classroom was empty.

"Uh.. Thanks April, for waking me up." She rubbed her eyes sleepily. She began to collect her things, stuffing them inside her bag hurriedly. Her thoughts still hovered over the dream she had. Was it from his memory? Did he really do that? Did she really witness him giving his first order as a Lord? Unknowingly, a warm feeling engulfed her from inside.

April snapped her fingers in front of her stopping her daydreaming session. "What has gotten into you Faith? I've been observing you from the past week. I gave you space, thinking you'd be fine in no time. It's the second week already and you're still the same. You look so pale and drained. You seem absent minded all the time. I feel guilty for taking you to that stupid trip with me. Is something worrying you? Maybe I can help you somehow. Tell me. Please."

She could see April's eyes getting moist around the corners. She was blaming herself for Faith's condition. It hurt her to see April like that. She had never seen April this worried about anything. Because April was April. Always joking around and making everyone laugh.

She hugged April abruptly, shocking her. "You make me feel loved April. Thank you so much for being my friend." April smiled after coming out of her momentary shock and squeezed her back.

Her chin was resting on April's shoulder as she noticed something move from her peripheral vision. She looked to her side, out of the classroom window, to find a man cladded in black leaning against a tree. She made a brief eye contact with his emerald orbs. He was staring at her coldly. Before she could react, he disappeared from the site, leaving her confused.