Nicholas was slumped on the chair, his legs extended in front of him. He was staring at the fire ablaze at the hearth, while Sevastian was on the other side of the room absorbed in his book and Stephan pacing back and forth, occasionally glancing at the window.

"Let's go out now and play," Stephan said, finally breaking the monotonous silence.

By play, Stephan meant to scout for any willing victim for them to feed on. Of course, Nicholas thought, they needed to look outside the academy, or they were never going to hear the end of it once Philip learned about it. Although the Blood Compact Treaty forbade them to feed on humans, there were still places unknown to most where humans gave their blood willingly straight from their neck. It's one of those loopholes some vampires found; the Treaty merely protected the humans from being attacked or hunted by the vampires. If the humans offer themselves so willingly, now who was he to turn down their offer? But they never drink the humans dry. A dead human with vampire marks on their neck was a different story. Nicholas really couldn't blame the humans why they crave the vampire's bite. It gave them that sudden rush of excitement that course through their veins as the vampire suck in their blood, a frenzied feeling that made them feel high and over the edge. And humans became so easily addicted to their bite. Foolish humans.

"It's not yet time for us to go," Nicholas said to Stephan.

Stephan's shoulder slumped forward in disappointment.

Nicholas spied Sevastian, still thoroughly absorbed with his book. He was like Philip, always got their noses buried on a book. "What's that you're reading?"

Stephan leaned in closer to Sevastian and tried to read the old and almost battered looking book cover. "Interview with... I can't make out the rest of the words, Nick."

Sevastian lifted his gaze on the two and explained. "It's a book about a human interviewing a vampire. Poor thing really, that vampire. Imagine living on rats on one of his desperate times?"

Stephan made a disgusted look on his face. "Rats, yuck. Oh hey, that's one of Philip's books. You should be careful with that. That one is older than you."

"It's okay Stephan. The papers they developed during the twenty-first century are durable enough to withstand any climate and can last for thousands of millennia," Sevastian explained.

"You are one weird vampire, Sev. If you want to learn about vampires just ask yourself," Stephan pointed out.

Sevastian closed the book and said, "I am one hundred and seventeen years old, Steph. Practically ancient; I'm allowed to be eccentric."

The door suddenly burst open and an angry Philip strode inside the room. "Explain to me, Nicholas, why you forgot to mention the incident several nights ago?" Philip demanded.

Nicholas merely raised a brow. "It took four nights before the news reached you? Those slayers must have been lazy with their reports."

"You're trying my patience, Nicholas," Philip warned.

Nicholas rose and sauntered towards the fireplace. "I already addressed the issue with the three. I had it under control."

"Ha! You can't even control three young vampires; how can you expect me to believe you can run an entire clan someday?" Philip said.

"I said I had everything under control," Nicholas said between gritted teeth. "Besides, it's that girl's fault for smelling so... delicious. Even Sev was drawn to her last night."

"I was just walking with her, Nick," Sevastian defended himself.

Philip sighed. "You're a hundred and eighteen years old, Nicholas. By now you should have learned how to ignore the smell of blood." He went to Sevastian and snatched the book on his hands. "Why don't you try to mingle with the humans? Dine with them if you must. Your upperclassman doesn't seem to have any problems associating with their human classmates." Then he left the room.

Nicholas eyed Philip's retreating back. A moment later he sauntered towards the door. "Let's go Steph, Sev."

"Where are we going?" Stephan asked.

"To mingle with the humans. And dine with them if we must."

***

Lira couldn't stop herself from sighing. Sigh. Another sigh. She didn't seem to have any appetite either; she just kept on twirling her fork around her spaghetti noodles. They were in the mess hall having their dinner and even the bustling of students in and out of the hall couldn't distract Lira out of her reverie.

She shook her head and faced Mari. "Mari, have you ever, you know felt something towards, you know, a boy. Like a crush, perhaps?"

"Girl, I am in love with Matt," Mari stated a matter-of-fact.

"Oh," Lira said. "Yumi?"

"You're so weird Lira," Yumi pointed out. "Are you saying that you only started to have a crush now? You're already seventeen. You should have started crushing on someone since the day you hit puberty!"

"I'm a late bloomer," Lira mumbled defensively. She then shifted her gaze and looked at Ian.

Ian threw his hands up and said, "I'm out of here. I'm allergic with girl talks Gives me hives, you see." Ian was about to leave his seat when they heard several gasps and excited chatters erupted around them.

At the doorway, Lira saw a group of vampires sauntered inside the mess hall with Nicholas leading the group. They made their way around, eyeing the hall with great interest. Nicholas and his brothers finally settled on a table near them, and trays of food were presented to them by the other vampires. Talk about royalty. They eyed the food curiously, looking doubtful whether the food tasted good or not. Could they even eat regular human food?

"Daaaafuuuuck! What are they doing here?" Yumi asked angrily, making Lira cringed upon hearing Yumi's choice of profanity. Yumi was still furious with the vampires for attacking Lira several nights ago. Stephan might have heard Yumi for he faced her and gave Yumi a wink, which made Yumi even more furious. "Of all the rotten..."

"Relax Yumi," Lira said, as Yumi muttered incomprehensibly underneath her breath.

Suddenly, an apple shot right past at them towards the direction of Stephan's head. But Stephan easily caught the apple without even blinking an eye. He then sunk his teeth on the apple, moaning as he chewed, as if the apple was the most succulent fruit he had ever tasted in his entire life. "This is really good. Thanks," Stephan said to no one in particular. Yumi stuck her tongue out at him.

Lira eyed her friends suspiciously and was about to ask who threw the apple when she saw Matt and his gang suddenly made their way towards Nicholas' group. "What are you doing here?" Matt demanded.

Nicholas just raised a brow and said, "Mingling and dining, not particularly in that order. Philip's commands."

"You're not allowed here," Matt stated with gravity.

"It's not your call to say that, Matt." Lira might have said that a little louder for everyone was staring at her. She suddenly felt embarrassed with her misplaced outburst and said rather sheepishly, "I mean all students in this academy are allowed in the mess hall." Then she bowed her head and pretended to eat.

"You heard that, Matteo, right? Now go and be a bully somewhere else. My food is getting cold," Nicholas sneered.

"I'm watching you," Matt threatened before he left.

After all the drama and the commotion, the crowd started to gather around Nicholas' table and where vying for the vampires' attentions.

"Would you like to join us for a cup of coffee later?"

"I know a nice resto in town; serves the best strawberry cheesecake ever. I can take you there."

"I love your shirt."

"I love your eyes."

"I love you!"

Did Lira just hear that right? She rolled her eyes.

"So, uhm, what brings you gorgeous creatures here?" someone said flirtatiously.

Lira strained to hear the vampires' answer; she was rather curious to know the reason herself. "We heard that the atmosphere here is so... festive," someone who sounded like Nicholas said. With the way he said the word "festive" made Lira shiver. She couldn't tell if it was due to fright or because his voice sounded so enthralling. Seductive, even. As if his silky voice was alluring her to join the avid fans that surrounded him. Warmth suddenly crept on her cheeks. Oh now she was blushing. Great. Just because the way his voice had sounded. She craned her neck to get a better view of the vampires, and her gaze met Nicholas' piercing gray eyes with a half-smile on his handsome face—a satisfied smile that seemed to show he had accomplished what he had meant to do.

***

That wonderful scent was even stronger than before, Nicholas mused to himself. It smelled like fields of wild strawberries so ripe and succulent. All throughout his life, he had never encountered a scent like hers. The smell of her blood made him feel that rush of excitement, promising him it would be a sweet and exquisite taste. He wanted to sink his fangs on that slender neck of hers. But he had to wait for the right time. He couldn't force her to give him her blood. So he would make her give it to him willingly. He was a predator, after all. It would be just an easy feat for him to allure her. He noticed her cheeks turned a tinge of pink. Oh, he wanted to see that when he feeds from her. His lips curled upwards menacingly when his gaze locked in with hers.

You're mine.