Elara walked back toward the training grounds, with Kael by her side.
She still kept stealing glances at him sometimes.
After everything that had happened in the forest, it felt strange to see Kael back in his human form as if nothing had happened.
“Why did you have to return to human form?
It would’ve been faster if you’d carried me with your huge body like before,” Elara asked.
She couldn’t hold back her curiosity anymore.
Kael glanced at her briefly, then returned his gaze to the path ahead of them.
“Do you think I could stand seeing your expression before?”
Elara wrinkled her brow.
She stopped in her tracks for a moment.
“What was my expression like, exactly?”
“You look like you’re seeing a cute puppy.”
Elara tried to hide her laughter, but she failed.
Kael immediately shot her an annoyed glance, his jaw tense, which only made Elara laugh harder.
Elara cleared her throat a few times, holding back her laughter so she could ask the question that had been bothering her for a while.
“Um… I want to ask you something–”
Kael groaned lazily, not even bothering to turn his head.
“What’s the next stupid question now?”
“When you turn back into a human, how come you can still keep your clothes on?”
Kael’s steps paused for a moment.
He turned to face her with a disbelieving look.
“What do you want?
To see me naked?” Kael asked irritably.
“I’m asking because I don’t know,” Elara replied, rolling her eyes, then picked up her pace again, pretending not to care.
In front of them, the peak of Ravencrest Castle was starting to appear among the trees, its silhouette darkening against an evening sky just beginning to turn orange.
Elara let out a heavy sigh.
At the same time, Kael spoke in a tone that showed he was too lazy to put up with Elara’s nonsense.
“For someone born here, you don’t know a lot of things.
Were you locked in a closet your whole childhood?”
Elara said nothing.
SShe remembered her dream from when she was a child.
No, her father and mother hadn’t locked her up; she’d been allowed to play freely outside the house.
Of course, chasing squirrels and butterflies was Elara’s favorite thing to do.
It wasn’t that Elara had never seen creatures other than humans; it was just that she had never paid that much attention to them.
Sometimes, vampires and werewolves would pass by her house, but they never greeted her at all.
As if they only spoke to their own kind.
Elara was still lost in her memories when Kael gently tugged her hand.
“Come on, hurry up.”
After taking a few steps forward, they came out of the trees, and Elara immediately spotted the teacher named Shillah, standing not far from her.
The teacher looked strange.
His face was tense, and his eyes kept scanning the edge of the forest as if he were still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Elara had barely noticed this oddity when the atmosphere around her shifted.
The students’ whispers, which had been lively, slowly died down, replaced by something sharper–a sense of alertness spreading from one face to the next.
Kael didn’t give her a chance to process it much longer.
“I told you, this isn’t a good idea.”
Shillah didn’t resist.
He just stared at Kael with clenched jaws, his hands clenched at his sides, holding himself back from grabbing Kael in return.
Kael glared back at him.
His knuckles turned white against Shillah’s collar.
Students who had also just returned from the forest immediately gathered around them, trying not to miss a single word of the conversation.
Some stole glances, then quickly looked down when Kael happened to glance in their direction.
“Let go of me.
I’m still your teacher here,” Shillah ordered as the whispers around them began to die down, and all eyes turned to the two of them.
Kael refused to pull his hand away from Shillah’s collar.
He let out an angry huff.
“Stop toying with her like this.”
Shillah didn’t argue; instead, he replied, “I really don’t know.
That’s the problem.” He glanced back toward the forest, his expression growing even more serious.
“None of us realized he was coming.”
Elara noticed several students starting to whisper to one another.
Not a single one looked relaxed.
Riven kept staring at the trees, while several other werewolves seemed to be trying to sense something in the air that they couldn’t see.
“You’re a teacher here.
How could you be so careless?” That question would be pretty offensive if a student asked it to their teacher.
But since Elara–and probably everyone else–already knew their backstory, no one interrupted the conversation.
Shillah shook his head, his shoulders slumping slightly as if bearing a heavy burden.
“It’s my fault.
I couldn’t sense his arrival.” Shillah turned to look at Elara, his eyes softening.
“I’m sorry.”
Kael finally let go of Shillah’s collar, but his expression didn’t soften in the slightest.
He merely took half a step back, still watching Shillah like a wolf unsure whether the threat had passed.
“I’m warning you,” Kael said to Shillah, then his gaze swept over all the students around him, “and all of you.
Stop messing around with Elara.”
Elara fell silent.
She wasn’t used to hearing Kael speak in that tone, especially in front of others.
Usually, he’d snap back sarcastically, grumble, mutter under his breath, or make snide remarks until Elara wanted to throw something at his head.
But this time, there wasn’t a trace of humor in his voice.
Shillah took a deep breath before finally turning to face the entire class.
“Class is over,” he said.
Some students instantly looked at each other; some whispered in disbelief, while others stole a glance at Elara before quickly looking away.
“We haven’t even switched positions yet,” someone protested.
“I know,” Shillah replied.
“We’ll continue at the next meeting.
I have something I need to deal with right now.”
No one argued after that.
Elara watched Shillah walk away toward the main building of Ravencrest, his steps quicker than usual.
Only after a few steps did she begin to suspect that this problem might be far bigger than just a stray vampire that accidentally appeared in the woods near Ravencrest.
Elara was just about to ask Kael, but a student she didn’t recognize called out before she could. This story is hosted at g.com.
“Kael,” the student called.
Kael turned his head but was too lazy to answer.
The student stopped right in front of them, slightly out of breath as if he’d just been running.
“Lucan needs to talk to you,” he said, relaying Lucan’s message to Kael.
But Kael just sighed heavily, already preparing to turn away.
“Just tell him I’m busy.”
The werewolf student looked at Elara, a worried expression on his face.
Then his gaze shifted back to Kael, his voice a little more urgent.
“Please, just talk to him first.
It seems like it’s important.”
Kael was just about to refuse again, but the student lowered his voice and looked around before continuing.
“He said you need to know this.
About that vampire.”
Kael, who hadn’t been paying any attention to the student who’d brought the message, snapped his head up, his body tensing at once.
He followed the student’s gaze.
Lucan had already walked away from the grounds, back into the forest.
Kael stared at his back for a moment, his jaw moving as if he were considering something.
“Well, fine,” Kael finally relented.
Then he turned to Elara, who had been standing frozen beside him the whole time.
“You’re still breathing, right?” That sarcastic question rang out again, snapping Elara back to reality–she’d been lost in thought about what had happened in the woods.
“What’s going on?” Elara asked.
“Stay close,” Kael said curtly, then grabbed Elara’s arm to lead her along.
They followed Lucan into the trees.
Not long after, they found Lucan standing alone in a clearing set area apart from the grounds–close enough to reach quickly, but far enough to be out of earshot.
He waited until Kael and Elara came closer before finally flashing his annoying smile.
Kael got straight to the point.
“What do you want to talk about?”
Lucan didn’t answer the question.
Instead, his gaze fell on Elara for a few moments before returning to Kael.
His annoying smile slowly faded.
With just that one glance, Elara could confirm the hunch she’d had a few minutes earlier.
She was positive that there was something bigger than just a coincidence behind their encounter with the vampire.
The wind stopped blowing.
Even the sounds of the forest that had been accompanying them–the rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds from who knows where–seemed to hold their breath.
“That vampire didn’t find her by accident,” Lucan replied, pointing his finger at Elara.
Elara froze.
Her heart was pounding, and the chill creeping up her arms was definitely not caused by the forest breeze.
Beside her, Kael was also completely silent.
Only the forest around them continued to rustle in the wind, as if the forest itself were waiting for an answer that no one could yet give.
This story has been living in my head for a while, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you.
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It truly keeps me motivated to write more.
Even a simple “hi” makes me smile.
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See you in the comments!