Letters to Romeo

Music Recommendation: Afraid of time- Hans Zimmer

​​—

Seeing the human's motionless body lying on the ground, Roman's eyes subtly widened.

He was unsure if Donovan was trying to play him or the others or if he was being his conceited idiot self. But if he were to touch even a strand of Julie's hair to hurt her, Roman swore to kill his maker. His jaws clenched, knowing his maker wanted to get a reaction from him.

"So fragile and delicate. You would think they would be able to survive but then it is only our imagination," Donovan sighed, his tone nonchalant, while the girl's dead body laid next to his feet.

Looking up from the body, the Elder's eyes met Roman's, and he tilted his head, "Looks like you weren't too close to her as much as she appeared to be in the first glance," commented Donovan.

"You must be delusional to think something like this will make me listen to you," stated Roman, his eyes holding a glare. It could have been Julie in Reese's place right now if she had remotely even glanced at him while speaking in Donovan's presence. But it was Reese who had spoken.

"This is called persuasion. It is a very common practice in our world. Imagine, in the future, if someone wants to get leverage with you or me, by using a human like this to threaten us. It is never good to keep possible dead weights," Donovan waved his hand at the two guards. And soon, the men carried the dead girl's body out of the dungeon.

It was clear that Donovan would never accept the fact that Roman was close to any human. The Elder wanted to fight against the humans, the hunters, and to control them.

"Let me be frank," said Donovan. Stepping forward, he walked near to where Roman's cell was. "I was delighted to see you kill a vampire. A vampire I didn't care about and I don't care whose best friend he is. But let us not involve ourselves in petty matters like these anymore."

"I wonder if you realize you are the one being petty in this room," Roman uncrossed his arms and made his way to the front of the cell, such that they stood in front of each other.

Hearing this, Donovan chuckled, and he said, "I am only protecting you, Rome. In the long run, you will see it is for your benefit," he smiled at the younger vampire.

Roman knew Donovan was crazier than most of the vampires, even though appearance-wise, he only looked intimidating to the others. In the back of his mind, he knew this was an inevitable situation. The only difference was that Donovan had mistaken the person whom Roman actually treasured.

Donovan tried to read Roman's expression wanting to see the sadness after losing his precious human, and when he found none, he heard Roman question him, "So what next?"

"Luciano wants you executed, and I don't. The rest is upto the other two Elders and the staff who work for Veteris," replied Donovan. His appearance looked serene and a smile on his lips as if he hadn't killed an innocent human a few minutes ago. "I will be back soon to get you out of here."

Once Donovan left the dungeon, Roman placed his hands on the rods and tried to push them away. But the metal was made to contain the vampires, and exerting too much pressure would only tire a vampire.

"Fuck!" cursed Roman, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

Donovan had missed this time, but the next time he caught the right person, luck wouldn't be on their side. Roman was more than partly responsible and to be blamed for Reese's death.

It was because he knew one or the other day, there would be at least one student or a person in Veteris who would tattle-tell Donovan about Roman's relationship with Julie. And to keep her on the safer side, when Donovan had asked him about Reese at dinner, he had spoken about the girl as if he knew her.

Away from the dungeons and in the infirmary, one of Elders, Remy Oscar, stood in the room with doctor Isolde.

"Ah!" the vampire student winced in pain when Isolde tried to move his dislocated arm.

"How does it look?" questioned Remy to the woman while he held his hands behind his back.

"It will heal in less than a week. How did this happen? He doesn't have his fangs," Isolde pushed the younger vampire's arm to its original place, and the boy groaned in pain. "Who told you to get out of your bed when you are supposed to be sleeping at this hour?" she scolded Eddie.

"AH, aaht as Maltenar," Eddie spoke in pain, and Isolde took a second before deciphering what was said by the injured boy.

"Roman Moltenore?" she questioned with a frown on her face. She should have known that only a few students in Veteris went all out when it came to beating a person.

"He is in the dungeon right now," stated Remy, his face serious, and Isolde nodded her head.

The woman then said, "The arm will heal, but as you know fangs once removed cannot regrow. What did you do to get in here?" she asked the boy, turning to him.

Eddie had turned red not just because of the blood smeared on his face but also because of embarrassment. With one of the ring leaders dead and without any protection, he didn't know what would happen to him if he told the truth.

The boy shook his head and said, "Wae only waanted to take a sip fr da human."

"Are you sure that's the truth?" Remy's eyes narrowed, looking down at the boy without lowering his head to adjust his view. "It isn't good to lie to an Elder. If I find out that you are lying, you will end up far worse than what happened to your friend."

Eddie gulped, and though his mouth was hurting, he tried hard to make his words heard, "It wasn't my idea! Mateo only told us that we were going to threaten the girl because she always tried to humiliate Mateo. He just wanted to even it."

Isolde rolled her eyes, "Ms. Dante has put up rules that the same human wouldn't be taken blood by another as it could lead to decreased level of blood in the body which can lead to the human's death. Why are you eyeing another vampire's prey?" She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

The vampire tried to form words without letting his tongue touch the wounds in his jaw. And during that time, the Elder's eyes turned distant.

Earlier, after dinner, Elder Remy had decided to take a walk around the land of Veteris when he had caught sight of Donovan's boy standing next to one of the dorm's windows at the girl's Dormitorium. Since the time he had met Roman, the boy always wore a passive expression on his face. But tonight, he witnessed the boy smile.

Having no interest in others business, Elder Remy had continued to walk, disappearing into the thicket of the trees.

The Elder then walked to look at the other vampire student, who was lying unconscious but alive after being hit on the head. It was a well-known fact that Roman Moltenore was hard to control, and Donovan liked to keep him around. But things would change soon, thought Remy to himself.

Remy took his leave from the infirmary, walking out when he saw his apprentice coming running towards him.

"Elder Remy," Olivia bowed her head when she came near him.

"Did you hear what happened to your friend?" inquired the Elder, and Olivia nodded her head.

"Is he really being held in the dungeon?" she asked him. She was in her dorm when she heard the news from Simon and had decided to get more information as Maximus had not left his uncle's side.

"He's killed a vampire. I doubt the others would take it easy, and if we do, it would set a wrong example to the other vampires who are studying here. That we have grown a soft spot," explained Remy, his face holding seriousness in it. "He won't be executed, if that is what you are worried about."

Olivia nodded her head, "I am glad to hear that. Thank you, Elder Remy," she bowed her head in appreciation.

"You should get back to your dorm. It's no time to be wandering outside," he stated, and Olivia bowed her head again before quickly leaving from there.

Sometime later, the Elders gathered in a conference room of the main building, where Ms. Dante's office was located. In the room sat— the four Elders, the headmistress of Veteris, the counsellor, and the three more teachers, including Mr. Borrell.

Ms. Dante sat at the head of the table, her hands holding each other, which she had placed on the table. She began with,

"As all of you already know, one of the vampire students killed another vampire student. We are here to discuss the disciplinary actions that will be taken on the student and the length of the punishment."

"There's nothing to discipline when the action is irreversible," responded Luciano. "It is supposed to be an eye for an eye. He killed one of our kinds and he might do it again."

Donovan retorted to Luciano's words by saying, "He is a vampire like all of us. You speak as if you have never murdered anyone, Luciano. What virtuous hands you have."

"Don't mock me to cover your boy's dirty tracks, Azazel," Luciano's eyes flared while he tried to control his anger. "I thought when we laid the rules to follow it was clear that if a person broke it, there would be consequences."

"The boy who died, Mateo Jackson, was your disciple's best friend. Don't you think Griffin tried to instigate behind the curtains? Even if it meant that Roman was protecting what is his. We all know he is possessive about his things and doesn't like it to be touched," explained Donovan in a calm tone.

"Hmph! To protect a mere human?" scoffed Luciano. "Moltenore must be forgetting that first comes our kind, then comes the rest of them. He took a human's side. I have little to no faith that he won't attack the next person in the future."

"Are you trying to protect your meek vampire, Luciano?" chuckled Donovan, and Dante smacked her hands on the table so that the Elders would concentrate on the subject of why they were here. Donovan said, "I have already solved the problem. The human who was the root cause of this, where the vampires were fighting for, is now dead."

Hearing this, some of them stared at Donovan while Luciano raised his eyebrows.

Dante turned angry, and she said, "You cannot kill the human students in here, Mr. Donovan. It was already laid out when I decided to take up this job that the innocents would be protected. It goes against all the rules. Especially when the human i—"

"So many innocent ones die, Eloise. And taking this action only solves the problem. We can now all go back to being the polite and respected people of the society that we are," Donovan calmly said, picking up the teacup that had been kept in front of him on the table, and he took a sip from it. "As much as we would like to maintain a balance between the humans and vampires, it should be known that humans are nothing but a source of food to us and they add no other value apart from trying to kill some rogues."

Mr. Borrell turned wary, and he asked, "The family of the girl will ask what happened to her."

"Make up another white lie, Borrell. All of you speak as if you have never committed or hid a body until now," smiled Donovan, and he turned to look at Castiel and Remy. "What are your thoughts on this?" he asked them.

The two Elders had been quietly listening to the discussion that had been going on in the conference room. Castiel suggested,

"Make it look as if an animal attacked her and she was dragged into the woods. This way it will look more believable. Roman might have killed a vampire, but Dante has set the rules of not touching others' prey to regulate and keep a track of how much blood is taken from any human student."

"It is suspicious that he would try to keep guard of the human," pointed Luciano, "One bite isn't going to make much difference."

Dante leaned forward and said, "Roman doesn't like to share his things and he has made it clear. I heard that he had also announced to all the students to not touch his prey."

"Maybe she had delicious blood," Castiel nodded his head.

A dry chuckle escaped from Luciano's lips, "Blood is categorized as stale or fresh. It doesn't have any flavours, Castiel."

Remy, who had his back leaned against the chair, said, "I believe Griffin is as guilty as Roman is. Everyone should know their limits, and trying to cause imbalance by indirectly trying to kill a human, is only going to bring the hunters who have been sleeping to get a whiff of this place."

Donovan raised both his hands as if that was what he was going to say.

Dante asked Donovan, "How is Roman doing?"

It was because she had heard from Piper about how Roman was changing because of the human girl. To think that Donovan had killed the girl left an unsettling feeling in her stomach.

"Perfectly well," smiled Donovan.

Castiel then said, "It is only right that Roman will spend a week in the dungeon, without any blood to feed as his punishment."

Luciano only crossed his hands with a miffed expression on his face.

"Sounds good," said Donovan.

Considering that Roman had a higher thirst than the other vampires, they found the punishment only apt, where everyone came into agreement.  Once the Elders left the building, returning to the mansion where they were staying, Piper came to meet Dante, knocking on the office door.

"Come in," said Dante, and Piper stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. She exhaled air out of her mouth and said, "Borrell and Evans have gone to fix the girl's body in the woods, to make it look like she was attacked."

Piper pursed her lips before saying, "Donovan has mistaken."

Dante frowned, "What do you mean?"

"He killed another girl, thinking she was the human who has been involved with Roman."

"Great. Now I have to fix not one but two girl's deaths," muttered Dante under her breath. "I guess it makes sense now as to why Roman has not torn the cell apart yet."

"You cannot let them know, Ms. Dante," Piper tried to plead with the headmistress. "The girl is Roman's hope and if he loses her, I don't think it would end well for him or anyone."

Dante rubbed her forehead as if the headache that had appeared since yesterday had not left. Though she was a night creature, she wasn't in favour of bloodshed in Veteris, nor did she want the innocent to die without any reason.

"Do you know what caused the fight?" inquired Piper and Dante nodded her head.

"Jackson tried to attack the girl," said Dante with a sigh. "I don't understand why it is so hard for people here to live in peace without causing trouble. I think I know what to do."

Piper looked at Dante with her eyebrows furrowed, and she asked, "What would you like me to do?"

"In two days, tell the girl to pack her things and send her home. I will draft all the documents and have then prepared so that it can be sent," stated Dante.

It was the safest solution that she could think of and the most effective one. Roman would stay in the dungeon for a week, where the only visitors allowed to meet him were the Elders. Though many rules of Veteris could be bent, this one was impossible to get out from.

"With what reason?" inquired Piper.

"I will write a letter to her family. Compel the girl and make her believe that she broke many rules, which is why she's being expelled from Veteris. Also erase her memories of Roman. This way she doesn't contact Roman and he doesn't try to look for her," Dante's words were firm.

Piper nodded her head and was about to leave the room when the headmistress said, "Keep this between us only."

In the underground dungeon, Roman stood in a cell, staring at the sky and waiting for hours to pass quickly so that the punishment hours could end and he could get out of here.

When the sun rose in the morning, one of the human students found Reese's body at the forest's edge. She had bite-like marks on her face and legs. The blood from her wounds dried on her skin to let one know it had been hours since she had passed away.

Julie and Melanie were heading towards the lunchroom to have breakfast when Caleb appeared before them, "You two should go to the forest," he said to Julie.

"What happened?" asked Julie, perplexed.

"The girl who hangs with you people…" he paused for a moment before saying, "Her body was found in the forest this morning. It seems she was attacked by some wild animals," Caleb let her know, and Julie's eyes widened.

"Reese?" Julie uttered the girl's name, and her face turned pale. "Do you know where Conner is?"

"He's already there," informed Caleb, and both Julie and Melanie ran towards the forest. When they reached the spot, they saw Conner sitting on the forest ground on his knees, by himself. But when they got closer, Julie caught the blood spots on the ground.

"I think they took her body to the infirmary to find if there's anything more to her death," whispered Caleb, and Julie and Melanie stepped forward to where her friend was sitting. The rim of Conner's eyes had turned red, and he appeared to be in shock.

Julie placed her hand on Conner's shoulder, sitting down on one side, and Melanie sat on the other side.

Conner said in a tone of disbelief, "I can't think of a single reason as to why she would come to the forest. It is so unlike her. I saw her to her dorm last night, and we spoke about me meeting her parents. How did this happen?"

Julie clenched her hands into fists.

"I am sorry that something like this happened to her," whispered Julie, her voice holding guilt because subconsciously she could feel that Reese' death was not caused by an animal's attack.

Conner shook his head, "I cannot believe she is gone. She can't be," his voice cracked in the end. "S-she was covered in so much blood and her face...barely recognizable." He broke into tears, covering his face, and Melanie hugged Conner to console him,  sadness filling their eyes.

Julie silently sat there with her friends, skipping breakfast with everyone while Conner tried to control his emotions. Feeling someone tap her shoulder, she turned to see it was Caleb. She stood up and turned to see him jerk his head to the side. She walked a couple of steps away from where her two friends sat.

"There's something else you need to know," whispered Caleb, looking left and right even though they were the only ones at the place. "Last night, a lot of things happened. Roman killed Mateo and is now in isolation."

Julie's eyes widened, "What?"

Both Porcupine and Reese were dead around the same time.

"Look I cannot reveal too much, but I thought you should know about it. Don't ask anyone any questions and possibly try to stay as low as you can until he's out. Best don't attend any event today, and do your homework," advised Caleb, and he quickly added, "Don't worry, they won't hand him over to the police, but things are serious."

"Do you know where he's being held?"

"No," came the quick answer from Caleb and Julie's eyes narrowed. He then pursed his lips before saying, "I cannot tell. Don't ask me questions, else I might be the next person," either spending time in the dungeon or dead by the hands of the Elders, thought Caleb in his mind. "It was something you and I both were expecting would happen. Taking Roman's temper and you in the equation, it was going to happen now or later. So."

Julie then asked, "How long is he supposed to be in isolation?"

"A week. That's the time, yeah. You can meet and see him after a week, so stay put," advised Caleb, and when Julie nodded her head, the morm left.

When Julie and her friends returned from the forest, Julie noticed not many had heard about the news about Reese' or Mateo's death. Some who heard about it gossiped about it for a while before they brushed it away and went back to enjoying the last day of the Fall Annual celebration of Veteris.

After some time, they went to the infirmary, where Reese' body was placed. Around the same time, Reese' parents arrived there after being informed by the headmistress. On seeing Reese' body, Reese' parents broke into tears, unable to see their only daughter's body in this badgered condition, where it looked like a wolf had attacked her.

Julie's heart turned heavy as she heard the parents uncontrollably cry and sob.

The doctor of the infirmary said, "We have arranged the transport so that you can take her body from here without worrying about it."

Reese's mother continued to cry, "How could this happen? Why wasn't anyone there to protect her?!"

Doctor Isolde tried to console the parents, the expression on her face grim. She placed her hand on the woman's shoulder and said, "We had already given strict instructions to the students to not go there, but they fail to listen to us. The restricted side of the forest is not safe and the headmistress has mentioned it time after time. I am truly sorry for your loss." Julie noticed the way the doctor looked right into the parent's eyes and said, "Your daughter was a good girl, and we are going to miss her. It was an unfortunate accident."

Julie realized how the vampiress, had manipulated the parents with no regret to their feelings. The night creatures were cruel and bloodthirsty. The guilt in her heart turned heavier with every second,  because she knew Reese's death was related to her. Reese was innocent and cheerful. And just like that, her life was stolen away, as if it didn't matter.

Reese's parents took her body, leaving the Veteris university after being compelled to not cause any unnecessary trouble outside Veteris, on the issue related to their daughter's death.