Linked by Crimson Black

Chapter One:
Clashing

Tortured. I was so familiar with this feeling; it’s what I felt every morning as I walked to school. Today was no different, it was a boring and ordinary day, or at least I hadn’t seen any special happenings in this monotonous day yet. But who knows, it could change. I’m not much of a morning person, but who would be if you had to wake up every freaking day at six thirty. And since school started at seven fifteen, I had very limited time to get showered and dressed.
Today I wore a black dress that seemed torn at all the hems, but that was just the style. The back of it, longer than the front, reached my ankles, and the front reached about an inch above my knee. I was wearing black knee-high socks underneath the dress, and a torn mesh sleeve on my left arm that was held up by a studded leather strap that went around my upper arm. The only uniform obligations in this school were the bulky, black, platform-style shoes that laced up around the leg, and they weren’t so bad. In fact, if I was being completely honest with myself, I had to admit that I actually liked them. But that didn’t make up for us having to wake up so early in the morning.
Then again, I lived in a dormitory within the confounds of the school grounds so, it didn’t take as long to get to class. And yet, I still managed to somehow be running late. But I still walked slowly; I had time. Our first-period teacher had told us that he would be thirty minutes late to class because he had some business to attend to.
But, I realized in horror, that meant that I would be vulnerable to the attacks of my classmates, nemeses, and…I didn’t know if I had enough will power not to resolve to violence this time.
As I reached the classroom, my suspicions were confirmed. They were picking on a puny boy that looked as if he were on the verge of tears. They were holding a book out of the little boy’s reach by holding it above their heads and passing it to each other. They found this amusing, I presumed, because they kept laughing at the small boy. I felt sorry for the little kid because we all knew that he didn’t stand a chance. And even though I felt this way, I was sure that my calm demeanor showed nothing. I had barely got in and they had already made me mad, not a good sign. I decided to play it cool though. I walked casually to my seat and as I was walking by, I grabbed the book and pulled the boy out from the circle of bullies.
“Here,” I spoke in a bored tone, even though I knew perfectly well that I was in for trouble after this. He slowly reached for it, as if fearing he would fall for another cruel trap, and when he was sure that I wasn’t going to sweep it away again he grabbed it and smiled thankfully at me.
“Th-thanks,” he stammered. He looked down at his shoes, seeming to be the most interesting thing on the planet, and thanked me again before going back to his seat.
I could feel the icy glares of Fang, Jasper, and Jager on me, but I ignored them. That is, until they crowded around my desk, strategically angled so that I couldn’t escape.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Fang hissed. His eyes smoldered and I knew that if I hadn’t been sitting down I would probably take an involuntary step back. He was fierce, but somehow he still managed to look beautiful, all of them did. He was leaning against the front of my desk, leaning on his elbows so he could keep at eye level with me when I was sitting down, and that made me nervous because that only left us with a couple of inches between our faces. But I kept my cool as if he were miles away instead of in front of me.
“Nothing is wrong with me, but thanks for your concern,” I answered through clenched teeth. I put as much sarcasm into that sentence as I could summon, but having his unbelievably gorgeous self in front of me was demoralizing my mind, it was unnerving. I couldn’t take it, so I turned away, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his lips twitch, as if repressing a smile. Everyone was trying their hardest to avoid looking our way or to just completely ignore us. Almost everybody in this class knew, by experience, not to get in the way when we fought. Someone ended up hurt each and every time, if not physically, emotionally or mentally.
Although very few times had we actually hurt each other purposefully with our own hands, everyone at the school considered us ‘dangerous.’ It was actually pretty pathetic, everyone in this school was afraid of us, and we were only in tenth grade. Still, all things considered, Jager, Jasper, and Fang somehow had managed to become every girl’s dream guys, me excluded of course.
I was still staring politely, but venomously, at the trio as I thought all this. Jager broke the silence, “You like vampires, correct?” he asked, a sickening smirk on his face. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him and nodded sternly. “And I’m willing to bet you’d like to meet one if they existed, right?” Another nod. “Well, we wish you luck in finding one,” he finished pleasantly, still somehow mocking. Immediately, I knew they were up to something, and they were counting on my suspicion. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so obvious.
The guys looked at him, confused, but as Jager turned to them, understanding flickered across their faces before transforming into completely expressionless masks. Giving me one last look, they glided smoothly to their corresponding seats, which just so happened to be in my perimeter.
Not once, through the whole school day, did Jasper, Jager, or even Fang give off any sign that indicated they knew I existed. I was especially surprised by this because Fang usually got a kick out of making me blow up in rage. It was fine of course, that he wasn’t aggravating me, but I couldn’t help but feel a little suspicious about them, and I knew that I was right not to trust them.

Everyone knew that I liked to be alone for as long as possible, so it was no secret that I always stayed seated in an empty classroom after school. Once I was sure that every human being was gone, I would take out a book and read. This was one of the advantages of living in a private school with built-in dorms; the students weren’t forced to leave the building until they pleased. Well that and we had no curfew.
When I finished the last chapters of one of my favorite vampire books, I stood up and left the shadowed room. Most people would think it creepy and scary, but I was in perfect harmony when in the dark. I walked slowly along the familiar path to my dorm room, but as soon as I had left the main building, were I had been reading, I felt a gaze on me. I started walking faster. Wait, why should I be scared? I have been trained in self-defense so many times that I have every move for every situation engraved in my mind, I thought. Growing confident, I slowed to my regular slow pace, but I was still on alert.
I wasn’t scared, I always managed to somehow stay calm, even in the greatest of danger I always acted experienced and calm. I had learned to control the rush of adrenaline in such situations, so I managed to think straight all the time. As I rounded a corner, heading for a shortcut, I felt a pair of arms snake around my waist and pull me backwards. My eyes widened, but I didn’t scream, it went completely against my morals and training to do so.
Going completely on instinct, I jerked my knee as high as it would go and then pushed my heel hard as I could against my attacker’s shin. But it didn’t work, the person still had me securely in his grasp, I was pretty sure it was a male from the wide-set shoulders his arms were attached to. I kept sending him every move in the book, but nothing worked, he just kept pulling me towards the back of the rose gardens located on the side of the science building as if I was just walking along with him. When we finally got there, I saw Jager and Jasper leaning casually against the side of the science building. Fang, I presumed, was the one holding me.
He let me go and I stood in the middle of the bunch, all of them staring intently at me. I couldn’t find my voice from the shock, so all I could do was glare. When I could speak again, I almost yelled at them. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you nuts or are you just retarded? For all you know, I could’ve screamed and we would have all been in serious trouble,” I nearly yelled, but my jaw was clenched.
They just looked at me, with an expression I couldn’t quite place, and they smirked. As they did so, I saw their canines, which were unnaturally elongated. I gasped. “Are you guys trying to scare me or something? If you are, don’t even think that I’m falling for it. I learned my lesson when I was a kid.”
“Oh? And what might that lesson have been?” Jasper asked in a smooth voice.
His voice made me feel like I could melt at his feet; it made me sick to even be considering doing so. But I answered as evenly as I could, “Vampires aren’t real,” my voice fractured into a squeal on the last word, I cleared my throat silently.
“Are you sure?” Jager stretched the last word and made it sound as if it had two syllables. I nodded. “Well then, would you be as kind as to donate some of your blood to us?” there was a hint of teasing in his melodic voice. They advanced on me, closing in with each step they took. Each of them was smiling sickeningly, showing off their, unbelievably real-looking, fangs.
Still not convinced, I stretched out my arms and smiled. “Go ahead,” I said confidently, even though those fangs looked unbelievably real and intimidating. They looked stunned, but proceeded. Fang stepped behind me and pushed my hair aside, exposing the nape of my neck, and took a lick. Jager took my right hand and licked the heel of my palm. Jasper did the same to my left hand. My skin felt numb as soon as they licked it, but not enough for me to notice consciously, it just lingered at the back of my mind somewhere in my subconscious.
They’ve got to be kidding, I thought. I mean, I didn’t doubt those fangs could pierce my skin, no, I was pretty sure those things could go through a tin can. What I doubted was that they would actually drink my blood. I was fairly confident, so I closed my eyes and waited for them to tell me it was all a joke or just run away. But that moment never came, instead, I felt a sting pass simultaneously through my body in all the places where the so-called ‘vampires’ had penetrated their teeth through my skin and had started lapping up my blood like thirty dogs. Almost instantly, my eyes snapped open. It took me a minute to get over the shock of it all.
I wanted to scream, but as soon as the guys heard my sharp intake of breath, they licked away what was left on my skin and took a step back, all except for Fang. Fang was the one who stayed behind me with his hands on my waist, holding me up to prevent me from falling flat on my butt.
All of them looked pleased and satisfied, but somehow strained, as if they were fighting not to come at me at full force and suck me dry. But as soon as I had gotten over the shock, I started yelling at them, “Is this your idea of a joke? Where did you even get those fangs? They must have cost hundreds!”
They all stared at me like I was insane and Fang backed away from me. Then their faces changed into that of expectation, as if they were waiting for me to break down and plead for my life or something of the sort. But I didn’t, instead, I was mad that they would play such a sick joke on me, fully knowing that I loved vampires. “Aren’t you scared?” asked Jasper, who had been the first one to get over the fact that I wasn’t going to plead for anything, much less my life. I didn’t think these guys had what it took to kill me.
I answered with a seething tone. “No,” I snapped. That raised some eyebrows. “How did you guys drink my blood? And don’t give me your ‘I’m-a-vampire’ speech, ‘cause I’m not buying.”
“We were hungry and decided that it was better to take revenge and go hunting for live prey rather than drinking out of a bag with a straw. We did it because we were mad at you for this morning, but something else attracted us to you: your blood. We noticed that your blood is…special. Every time you would get a paper cut, your scent would overpower everybody else’s within a mile’s radius,” explained Jager, but I still did not believing their story. I needed proof.
“Prove it,” I challenged. He looked taken aback, as if he couldn’t believe that I didn’t trust them.
Finally, Fang decided to break the tension, “We can’t, Kelsee. This is all the proof we can give you,” his voice was soft and incredibly alluring; it had a hypnotic tone to it that made me almost want to believe every last word they said. Almost, but not quite. He smiled at me and I couldn’t help but notice that his fangs were gone.
“Wh-what did you do with your fangs?” I stuttered, surprised. His smile grew and turned to a grin that stretched from ear to ear. I started calculating and measuring the chances of me getting past the narrow space in between them and making a run for it. I had to admit that, assuming all of them were immune to my attacks; those chances were about one in a thousand, not at all good.
“Don’t worry,” he assured me, “you can see them all you want. All you have to do is ask. From now on we will be near you for as long as you live. You’re our charge now that we have fed from you. When we bite someone and they survive, a link is created between us. It has its advantages,” his voice was velvety and soft, reassuring in a way. I started loosing myself in a sort of trance when he neared me and gently lifted his hand to my face to tenderly stroke my cheek. But instead of loosing myself in his beautiful words and gorgeous eyes, I resisted and asked what was on my mind.
“Please don’t lie to me,” I begged. From the reflection of Fang’s now crimson eyes, I saw that my face was pathetically pleading. I immediately knew that I was placing too much trust in them, for I had no true way of knowing if they would lie to me. “Are you truly the creature you appear to be in front of my eyes? Are you really a—” my voice caught in my throat, but I proceeded in a strained whisper. “A vampire?” I questioned.
“Yes,” they whispered simultaneously. I looked at their faces, one by one, and searched their eyes in turn. But I only saw honesty and innocence in their eyes. That was enough proof that they weren’t lying to me, I smiled and threw myself in Fang’s arms. He stiffened at the sudden contact, but he managed to slowly and stiffly wrap his arms around my waist.
He swallowed hard, as if with difficulty. “Please,” he whispered hoarsely, but his voice was still melodic. “Your scent is overpowering to our senses. It’s driving me insane,” he said while pushing me away gently.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” I apologized softly, the grin on my lips faltered a little but the smile on my face refused to stop embellishing my lips. Fang took a deep breath, his posture relaxing, but he still looked strained. “But I have a million questions. But first, could you show me your fangs again?” I turned to Jasper, not wanting my presence to disturb Fang any further.
“Sure,” he answered. He slowly threw back his head and opened his mouth. I stepped towards him incredulously as I watched his canines elongate inhumanly. I involuntarily reached up with my hand to touch them, but I caught myself just in time.
“Can I?” I had to ask for permission. In turn, Jasper only nodded. I closed the distance between my hand and his teeth and I examined them inquisitively. I caressed them curiously and pulled at them.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed. I instantly pulled back my hand, afraid that I had hurt him. “No, its okay,” he reassured me. “I just got a little surprised. Just keep in mind that they don’t come off,” he chuckled lightly.
I felt overjoyed. But a question lingered at the back of my mind. “I have a question.” I asked to no one in particular.
I heard Jager sigh, “Go ahead. But after this, you have to get some sleep. Or else the red under your eyes will never go away.
“What’s your question? The sooner you ask, the sooner you can go to bed,” Fang said.
I quickly raked my brain for the lost question. “Well, um, how come you’re still alive? I mean, you attend classes during the day…you know, when the sun is up. Why haven’t you turned to dust?” I tripped over my words, trying to choose them carefully. But instead of answering me, they laughed as if I had just told them the funniest joke on the planet. All of them doubled over laughing and clutching their stomachs, and Jasper even fell on his knees from laughing so hard. I could imagine all of them with tears in their eyes from laughing, but I got a feeling that they couldn’t cry.
Finally, when they had calmed down a bit, they all threw in phrases in between fits of laughter to form one big, half understandable answer. But I pretty much understood what they were trying to tell me. They said something like: “Big…lies…myth…stupid horror movies…crazy Hollywood…” and lots more unintelligible phrases.
After what seemed like forever, they regained their composure and herded me towards my dorm. “Wait a minute,” I protested as they walked away towards the exit once they had gotten me past the main corridors towards my own room. They turned to look at me. “Aren’t you guys going to sleep too?” That made them chuckle.
“No,” Jager answered, “We have some business to attend to, we’ll explain tomorrow. But now you should get some sleep.”
“Good night,” they all said simultaneously, and then walked away and out of the dorm building into the night before I had a chance to answer.
I walked in a daze the rest of the way to my room, not aware of my surroundings until my feet stopped moving. I looked up and was surprised that I was in front of my room; I didn’t even remember the walk here. I mechanically took the room key from my pocket and stepped inside.
I was still dazed as I prepared myself for bed—brushing my teeth, putting on my black-silk pajamas—and was again surprised when I found myself in bed. I was scaring myself, but I guessed since I followed the same schedule everyday, my body was already used to it. As I drifted off to sleep, I decided that it was an emergency to have some changes made in my life; after all, a little change couldn’t hurt. Could it?

Beep. Beep. Beep. My stupid alarm clock woke me with a start the next day and I didn’t even remember programming it to wake me up, I was pretty sure I had forgotten. I slowly disengaged myself from the comfy, warm blankets and groaned as the air, cold in comparison to my bed, hit my skin.
I went to my personal bathroom and showered, I was one of the few exceptions in this school who got a room with its own bathroom; almost everybody else had to use the dorm’s bathrooms and showers down the hall. Today I was feeling quite…excited to be going to class, it was scary, even for me. I dressed quickly and combed through my tangled, wet hair, letting the bangs fall on my eyes like they always did. I applied my regular black eyeliner and eye shadow while I waited for the pieces of toast to be ready.
As soon as my toast was ready, I grabbed my bag, placed one corner of the toast in my mouth, and ran out the door. But as soon as I had stepped around the corner of the hallway, someone pulled on the schoolbag that hung at the side of my hip with such force, that it forced me to stumble backwards and clash into the person responsible for the inhuman tug. I was sure I would fall—I had lost my footing when I flew backwards—but instead of feeling myself come in contact with the hard tile floor, someone was holding me up by the waist.
“Hello there. Why in such a hurry? Perhaps you were looking forward to seeing us?” Fang asked in a sing-song voice. Jager and Jasper stepped out from behind him with smirks on their faces, their eyes mocking me for having such interest in them. I was pretty sure they were amused by my change of attitude towards them in just one day—or a couple of hours.
I felt my cheeks burn as if I had pressed them up to the oven door. I was embarrassed that my motives were so obvious, I couldn’t believe it! Could you really tell that the excitement I felt was because I knew I was going to see them today? Still, even though I was sure they knew that Fang had guessed right when my cheeks flushed, I wasn’t going to admit that to them.
Instead, I snorted indignantly and answered in an amused voice, “You wish! I was just in a hurry because we’re having a review for the history test.” I can’t believe what a terrible liar I was. I blushed even harder when I saw the unbelieving looks on their faces, they chuckled and I felt as if all the blood in my body had rushed to my cheeks. They laughed harder at that.
Their voices, even their laughs sounded beautiful. It was a melodic sound, like that of a flute or a piano; it made me feel calm but disappointed that I was so ordinary in comparison, I felt somehow inferior.
But apparently, I wasn’t the only one who noticed the stunning sound; some of the female bypassers searched around frantically looking for the source of it. When they finally laid their eyes on the laughing trio, they would blush and scurry away like a giggling idiot. I could tell the guys would be having some new fans enter their secret fan club. I wasn’t sure if they actually had a fan club, but it seemed like a possibility, what with all the admirers they had.
“Maybe we should go to class,” I suggested, I was getting annoyed by all the staring girls. They nodded and we walked away from the dormitories and the giggling idiots. As we approached the history building, I stopped mid-step and stared at the space in front of my eyes. The guys stopped too and looked at me. There was a question on my mind and I was trying to get it answered without being too obvious.
“Do you guys like to play games?” I asked innocently. The trio nodded but they were looking at me suspiciously. “Okay, then. How about we play a really long game to get to know each other? I will ask one question to all of you, and each of you gets to ask me one question in return,” I was trying to sound as excited as I could, but I actually felt nervous. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answers to all the things I was about to ask.
“What kind of questions?” Jager asked softly, he was eyeing me from head to toe, probably trying to find something that would give away my reasons for doing this.
“Normal questions. Like…what’s your favorite color and that type of stuff,” I said reassuringly. “Don’t worry, nothing too personal.”
“I’m in!” said Jasper enthusiastically. “I always had a hard time understanding you; this could be my chance to learn more about you. And then I could use it to blackmail you!” he added teasingly.
“Fine, I’m in too,” agreed Fang. “I don’t want to miss out on all the blackmail material,” he added playfully.
We all turned to Jager, he still hadn’t answered. He looked a little uncomfortable. Finally he smiled and agreed to play our little game. “Okay, who’s going first?” I asked with a sinful smile as we started to walk again. They all looked away, trying to avoid my eyes. “Fine then,” I huffed. “I’ll pick randomly. Umm…Jager! When were you born?”
He looked away from me and avoided his gaze from mine as he answered. “I-I was born on…1862,” he stammered and said every word slowly, maybe afraid that I would freak out. But it had the opposite effect on me.
I started laughing. He looked up, surprised maybe, I couldn’t read his expression.
“I-I’m…sorry! It’s just that…you’re old!” I exclaimed in between fits of laughter. I looked up to wipe a stray tear from my cheek, and was surprised to see that he looked…annoyed, but there was something else hidden under the surface of his eyes.
Then I realized what that feeling he was hiding was: it was relief. Maybe they all felt some type of relief because I accepted them. Still, the atmosphere around us felt heavy, thick. It was too much, it was killing me! I had to break the tension. “I suppose all of you are old too?” I asked.
“Actually, he’s the oldest. I was born on 1871,” Fang confessed, with a bit of pride, might I add.
“And I was born on 1879. So technically, I’m the youngest,” explained Jasper. He looked embarrassed. “Oh, and Andr-” he was cut of by Fang who, I saw out of the corner of my eye, shot him a quick glare.
“Who?” I asked. Once any piece of information was out, I would surely want to know the whole thing. Incomplete statements included.
“Um…It’s nothing, really. I got a little confused, that’s all,” Jasper said, he was trying to smile, but he looked too stiff and nervous for it to be natural. Using my peripheral vision, I saw that Fang’s eyes were still on us. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion.
“You’re lying,” I stated. “But fine, I can still ask questions, after all, it’s still my turn,” I was feeling a little angry; I didn’t like it when people kept secrets from me. I set my eyes to a glare as we reached our classroom after minutes of walking in the corridors. As we went to take our seats, I purposefully leaned in closer to Fang—he stopped breathing—and whispered in his ear lightly, “What didn’t you want him to tell me?”
He still wasn’t breathing and I saw his mouth part slightly. I was leaning as close as possible to him without actually touching any part of him. And I was perfectly aware that it was torturing him; okay, so maybe I was abusing the power I had over them, but I was willing to do anything it took to get the truth.
I saw him wince a little when I exhaled near his face when we sat down; I actually squeezed myself in beside him on the one-man seat. But, finally, he gave in after that, “I’ll tell you later, but please! I’m dying here!” he hissed, incensed. I gave in and walked over to my seat, ignoring the whole classroom’s eyes on me. But before I sat down, I heard him mutter something that sounded like, “God, is she suicidal or something?” I snickered.
After we had gone over some school news, it was time for history: the most boring thing ever, well, it was only boring when Mr. Cruz taught it, otherwise, it was actually really interesting. I sighed and settled comfortably in my seat, waiting for Mr. Cruz to start his boring, monotonic lesson, but something he said made me scurry for paper and a pencil. He had said, “We’re having a test next time on the lesson I’m about to teach.” Curse him.
But he’s not the only thing I cursed at that moment. In my haste to find paper, I cut the index finger of my right hand. My eyes widened and I stuck the wronged finger in my mouth in an attempt to cover the blood’s scent. But I could see by the vampire’s stiffened backs and lack of movement that all my attempts were in vain. I panicked, one of the only times in my life that I had done so, by the way.
Just as the teacher was about to begin the lecture, my hand shot in the air. He looked majorly annoyed. “Yes, Miss Covert?” he asked in a terse voice.
“May I be excused?” I asked in a strained voice, feigning sickness. And for the record, he looked surprised.
“But then you’ll miss the notes for the test,” he warned.
“Don’t worry; I’ll borrow the notes from a friend,” at the last word, the whole class, except for three people (Guess who?), turned to look at me, their eyes almost afraid. Then their gazes slid from me to the three tense, non-breathing creatures surrounding me. Even the teacher looked appalled. “Please,” I begged, putting a lot of extra effort on my acting skills. “It’s an emergency,” I moaned pathetically.
By now, the class looked as if someone had smacked them on the face. To say they looked astonished would have been an understatement. When the teacher finally recovered, he let me go and I dashed from the room. I was going to skip the rest of the day for safety purposes.

I had gone straight to my dorm after fleeting from the classroom. Classes were already over, but I wasn’t planning on going back there any time soon. Oh well, my things would just have to stay the night in the classroom. At least, that’s what I was thinking when there was a knock on the door.
I stood from my warm bed and opened the door to find Fang holding my things. He looked awkward, he was glaring down at me, but he had a smile on his face. When I looked down at his hands, his knuckles were whiter than usual as he clenched his hand tightly over the strap of my schoolbag.
I looked up at him and shoved my bandaged hand behind my back. “That’s not going to help,” he said, catching my movement. As he breathed, I saw that his jaw opened, but his lips remained tightly together. After a while, his jaw adjusted and closed. A question popped into my head.
“Does the smell of blood make your fangs grow?” I asked. He grinned and my question was proven true. Jasper and Jager stepped out from behind one of the pillars in the corridor. They all stood in front of my door and then stepped inside my room, locking the door behind them.
“We need to talk and finish our little game, remember?” Fang said. I gulped, there was no way out in case of an emergency…a supernatural one at least.