Chapter 4
Four
I may have sort of lied a teeny, tiny, itty, bitty bit to myself. Technically, I wouldn’t burn when sunlight touched my skin. However, when you have a runic curse etched into your skin and shitty luck, bad things that shouldn’t happen to you tend to simply just happen.
Case in point.
The sun is hitting my bare face and I can feel the needles of pain pricking as the rays begin burning my skin.
Someone behind me screams and I let myself revel in the warmth for a moment. I haven’t been able to have the sun directly on my face for thirteen years. It was my sixth birthday present and just turning nineteen a month and a half ago marked the thirteenth anniversary.
Something gets thrown over me and I’m assuming a body crashes me into the ground.
Whoever had been screaming turns to yelling.
Words flying out of their mouth and another person interjecting.
Jullia and Asher I assume. My head feels a bit dizzy now and for some reason I can’t quite make out who is who.
All of a sudden I’m no longer on the ground but pressed against warmth. It has to be a body because I can smell blood. Pressing my nose closer to it I hiss as pain erupts over my face and head but that delicious blood invades my nostrils and I lick my lips.
Mavyn, Mavyn, Mavyn.
It sounds like a chant.
Other words are said I’m sure. I can’t make them all out. But I do make out one.
Blood.
Yes, I think. Smooth, rich blood does sound delicious.
Just hold on, someone screams – in my head, in the air, in my bones. It echoes as pain prickles specifically in my scalp and I know I had been so close to that delicious blood but now I’m not. My fangs ache in my mouth and I’m hungry.
Please, I beg. I don’t typically beg. But sometimes that’s all you’re able to do and I can tell I’m far too weak right now.
Shhh. It’ll be alright.
Lies.
That’s what she had said. She always said it before he came in.
Everything aches now. I can feel it. Wounds that should have already been healed a long time ago rage. Burning and burning and burning.
Why the fuck is she burning up?
Because the Sun Devil said he would burn me for all eternity.
You’ll be fine Mavyn. Just hold on.
They sound like they care. Why do they care? I can’t remember right now. Burning and burning and burning. Ms. Elaycia never let me burn. Where did she go?
It hurts.
It always hurts.
. . .
Voices are muddled together, words being mixed and all I can taste is rage. Why does it feel like those videos of the North Sea?
Either my brain or my body or my conscious registers I’m awake now and pain sparks along certain areas of my face. They’re accompanied by the worst headache I’ve ever had. I can feel my heart pounding against my skull.
AND SHE IS A STUDENT SO SHE SHOULD BE JUST AS PROTECTED!
Ms. Waterstone I under –
No you fucking don’t you cock sucking fuck!
Jullia Waterstone! He is still –
NO! I don’t give a flying fuck who or what he is. Mavyn has been nothing but polite to everyone, Hanna. She has shown nothing but control. And all she gets for it is trying to be killed!
Ah, yes. I had been burned by the sun. Fucking curse.
She spoke! Jullia, that must have been Jullia who squealed. Her voices grows a bit louder as she rushes out a bunch of other words. I still have yet to open my eyes but already I can feel my symptoms subsiding. I hadn’t been exposed for too long.
“At least we can deduce that she is, in fact, a vampire,” a lazy voice drawls.
“You piece of shit, rich ass, lazy mother – “
“JULLIA!” Hanna interrupts. I can tell that’s Hanna now. “Calm down right the fuck now!”
I finally crack my eyes open and see nothing. It takes me a couple times to blink and soon stars start to dance but light floods with them. Lifting my hand I use my index finger and thumb to rub my eyes. The limb feels heavy, but at least I can do that. Even if it makes the headache worse.
“Mavyn!” Jullia rushes out. “How are you? Are you okay? I mean I know of course you’re not okay, but you’re alive at least. Are you still in a lot of pain? The healers have tried giving you some pain relievers but they don’t always work the best.”
“Jullia,” I grumble. I feel like I could take a nap. “Take a deep breath, please.”
I hear her do it and I do one with her before putting my hand down and opening my eyes without difficulty. Jullia is standing on the right side of what looks like a hospital bed. Hanna is behind her with Asher next to her but closer to the foot of the bed.
On the right is someone who looks like they’re around my age dressed in a white coat and another dressed in scrubs. They’re both clutching a clipboard and staring wide-eyed at me. Neither of them looking like they’re gonna say anything.
And lastly at the end are two faces I’ve recently seen.
The first had been the guy who sat next to me in class.
He said his name was Callahan something.
Aria or Armory or something like that. Jullia had been stressing after the class about how I can’t just ignore him cause he’s a hotshot and his dad is the devil councilmen for the Mage Board and I told her I couldn’t care less.
The one beside him had been one of the guys who was with Professor Asier when he found us in the cafeteria.
The one with a gold dragon as his symbol.
He’s taller than Callahan and Professor Asier.
Tanned but not as dark as either of them.
Black hair styled on the top of his head and a pair of dark red almond shaped eyes.
He has the same symbol as Callahan, though instead of a red and gold stitched dragon it’s only a gold stitched one. So not a devil but maybe similar. Demon, maybe?
Dismissing them, I loll my head to the side and look at Jullia. Her emotions are written all over her face. From her distress to her panic to her anger.
“What exactly happened?”
Just then another person enters our little section. The doctor and nurse step away as a man in a dark suit approaches and behind him is Professor Asier, the second guy from the cafeteria, and an older woman with a white lab coat.
The woman comes up to the left side of the bed and offers me a warm smile. “Hello, there. You suffered a bit of a traumatic event, I’m going to need you to answer some questions for me. Okay?”
My nonanswer seems to be answer enough.
“Alright. Can you tell me your name?”
This is going to be annoying.
“My face is no longer stinging. Could I just get a blood bag, I’ll be fine after that.”
The doctor’s face goes sullen and she squints at me. “Are you unable to tell me your name?”
Blowing out a breath I roll my eyes. My hands goes up to my face but I stop at the last moment realizing I probably should not rub my still healing face.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter under my breath.
Louder I answer, “My name is Mavyn Ellora Tsuki. I was born June twenty-first nineteen years ago. No idea who my parents are but that’s because they dipped three months after I was born.
I was found somewhere in upstate New York and was later entered into the American foster care system.
The day I turned nineteen some vampire shoved vampyr blood and venom into me and due to my control of bloodlust the Mage Board allowed me to take the entrance exam and I was given a full scholarship to Syngenia University which was established five thousand years ago after the War of Gods.
” Looking her dead in the eyes I finish with, “Happy? Can I have the blood bag now?”
The room is silent and all eyes are on me before the doctor looks over to the younger doctor and nods her head.
“Not water mage blood, please. Sorry Jullia but it really is disgusting.”
Jullia doesn’t respond but the female doctor does nod at that and the younger one all but runs away. The nurse decides a second after to follow and now I’m left with the rest of everyone.
The man in the suit who walked in first takes a step closer to the bed and seems to bore his eyes into me.
He is the Head Dean. I remember him from when I took the exam.
He had been there to personally oversee me and make sure I couldn’t cheat in any sort of way.
He had also seemed like he wanted to beat into, but simply sternly said, ‘Don’t cause any problems at my school. ’
He should have been more concerned with his other students.
“This university takes pride in its safety for its students. However, we can only do so much for those who come forward.” Just like with Asher’s words to Professor Asier, the Dean is also careful with his. “Would you be able to explain what happened, Ms. Tsuki?”
He’s glaring at me but I barely notice as I remember.
Me and Jullia had just met up with Asher after Professor Asier’s Magic History class.
He was going to walk us to our next classes.
I had pulled out my umbrella because we were going to be walking through a court yard and right after I stepped into the sun something had ripped my umbrella away.
Then there was warmth. Then a burning.
“What happened,” Jullia angerly interjects, “is Thorne Arcturus purposefully tried to kill Mavyn. He was the one to snatch her umbrella away while she was clearly in the sun without warning.”
Hanna jerks Jullia back as the Dean’s glaring eyes don’t leave me and I look past him to who I’m assuming Thorne is. The one standing beside Callahan who I’m wondering if is a demon. If so, I wonder what kind. Like all other races, there are subraces for the demons too.
“I believe,” he lazily drawls, “what actually happened was I unfortunately, accidentally bumped into the vampire and she lost her grip on her umbrella herself.”
Jullia starts to argue but even Asher is behind Hanna trying to get her to be quiet. The Dean raises a brow at me. “Well? Do you remember, Ms. Tsuki?”