Arrival - Chapter 14

Eric opened his eyes and found himself alone in a cold, dark room.

“Where am I?” He asked, his voice echoing endlessly in the darkness.

He began to take a step forward and found himself knee deep in water. As he walked onwards, he felt out with his hands for something to grab hold off, hoping that he would hit a wall or something to help him get his bearings.

Eric’s right hand brushed against something which he grabbed onto tightly.

After a quick feel, Eric realised that he was holding onto someone’s hand.

“Who is this?” No one answered. Scared, Eric began to pull hard on the hand. “Hey, I’m talking to you. Please say something!”

After a powerful pull, Eric fell backwards, still holding onto the hand. As Eric realised what happened, the room began to become brighter and he saw that he was holding onto a freshly severed hand.

Eric screamed and threw the hand into the ocean of blood he was in. It was then that the toxic stench of iron and rotting flesh flooded his nostrils.

“What is this? What is this?!”

He swiftly looked around the room, desperately searching for an exit or someone else, and he found an open door with a blinding white light coming from it.

“Someone, help me!” Eric yelled, running through the door.

He tripped over and fell through the door, landing hard on his knees on the asphalt on the other side.

Lying in front of him was a corpse, a horrible stomach wound on their stomach which was leaking litres of blood.

“Jasmine…” Eric weakly said, reaching out to the body.

As he touched her cold flesh, her head snapped to look at him and smiled gleefully, causing Eric to stumble backwards.

“Bunny just wants to play,” she said, giggling.

Then, another body fell on top of her with short, strawberry blonde hair, a big smile on their face, with multiple large wounds on her body, bleeding profusely.

“Bunny just wants to play,” Stephanie said, laughing.

Eric screamed and ran away from her as fast as he could and into a nearby alleyway. Once he entered it, he found himself face to face with a giant of a man, carrying a large kitchen knife.

“Give…me…” It murmured, slowly walking towards Eric.

“No…stay away!” He yelled, stumbling backwards. “Stay back!”

Eric tried to transform into his Armour but it wouldn’t answer his summons.

The figure drew closer and Eric’s back slammed against a wall which had appeared behind him.

“Give…me…” The figure said. Eric cowered beneath it and it hissed, its face twisting in rage. “Give me it!”

The figure stabbed Eric in the chest and he screamed louder than a banshee, suddenly finding himself back in his bedroom, covered in sweat and his bed a mess.

His heart was beating dangerously quickly, his breathing was rapid and he felt like he was going to throw up.

Eric slowly looked around his room and tried to calm himself down with his breathing.

He took in a long, slow breath through his nose, held it for three seconds, and slowly exhaled through his lips, then did it several more times in a row.

“It was just a dream,” he whispered, grabbing his heart. “Just a dream. He’s in prison and Jasmine’s alive.” His breathing and heartrate slowly returned to normal, and he let out a small exhale. “He’s in prison and Jasmine’s alive,” Eric repeated again and again like a mantra.

Eric checked the time on his phone and it had just turned six in the morning, around about the time he usually got up.

He quickly removed his clothes and jumped into his shower, turning the water to the lowest cold setting and he stood there, letting it just wash over him for minutes. After a lengthy shower, he stepped out and began to dry himself, but he found himself staring at a scar on his chest in his mirror.

Eric winced and lightly ran his fingertips over the inch-long scar on his heart.

“Damn it.”

***

It had gone past ten in the morning and Kaida hadn’t seen Eric.

She knew that Eric was always awake earliest in the morning in their house but, today, everyone else had woken up and come downstairs before him.

Kaida was scared.

After fighting Bunny and her puppets last night, Eric and the others hadn’t said a thing and each of them immediately went to their rooms, including the healed Jasmine. Given the state they had come home in, Kaida imagined that it must have been a taxing battle but those who had gone with Eric were going on with their lives like nothing happened.

Laila, who had been beaten within an inch of her life, acted as she always did, but she used her teleportation abilities more while her legs fully recovered. Jasmine, who had nearly died, was quieter than usual but, aside from that, acted like she always did. Even Evony didn’t seem too bothered by the previous night and was smiling and humming happily as always.

The only difference that Kaida could see was that they had been in real combat before; Eric had not.

Kaida looked on at the stairs sadly and grabbed her skirt tightly. “Has anyone seen Eric at all today?”

“No,” Kiara said, casually floating in the air.

“I haven’t, I’m afraid,” Evony added with a sad smile.

Connor and Ajax both shook their heads and Kaida felt a dread in her chest.

“I’m going to go check up on him,” she said, finishing up her washing up and rapidly walking to the stairs.

When she got to the bottom of them, Eric was slowly walking down the stairs.

“Eric!”

Eric jumped a little in surprise and smiled. “Morning, Kaida.”

She stepped out of his way as he moved into the kitchen, grabbing an apple from their bowl of fruit. He washed it under the tap, dried it and took a large bite out of it, resting his free hand on the counter.

Kaida had, initially, felt relieved upon seeing him but then she realised that Eric was shaking.

“Eric,” she whispered.

Connor and Evony poked their heads up to look at Eric and then each other.

“Oh, you’re quite the late one today,” Kiara mused, floating over to him.

“…I felt like sleeping in today.”

“Everyone has those days,” Connor said, heading over to the kitchen counter. “Nothing wrong with it.”

“Eh, but Eric always scolds me whenever I sleep in.” Kiara pouted. “It’s only fair that I pay him back a little, right?”

“Not right now, at least,” Evony cut in. “Give the poor kid a chance to wake up.”

“Heh, I bet he just had a wet dream or something and was busy cleaning-”

The fruit bowl fell onto the floor, sending shards of glass everywhere.

Eric had, without realising it, slipped his hand over to it and pushed it onto the ground.

“Sorry.”

He dropped his apple on the ground and began to pick up the shards of glass with his bare hands.

“Eric!” Kaida cried, knocking them from his hands. “Christ, you’ve cut yourself.”

“Oh, sorry.” Eric didn’t look at his bleeding hands as he returned back up the stairs.

“Eric!” Evony called out, running after him.

“Kiara, why didn’t you stop?” Connor demanded, fetching a broom to sweep up the glass.

“What? I just talked to him like I usually do. What did I do wrong?” She asked with a genuine innocence in her voice.

Kaida and Connor didn’t say a thing and they finished cleaning up the glass, just as Evony came back down the stairs.

“How was he?” Connor asked.

“He’s locked up in his room,” she said sadly. “…I don’t think he’ll be coming out of there for a while.”

“Kiara, why?” Kaida weakly asked, clutching her skirt hard as tears formed in her eyes. “Why couldn’t you just…?”

“Kaida,” Connor whispered.

Kiara landed onto the ground and looked at each of their faces. “I…I…”

“You know what he went through last night, and yet you still bothered him when he was clearly upset about it,” Evony chided. “What were you thinking?”

“I…I thought that if I treated him any differently than usual, then that would upset him more,” Kiara said dejectedly. “I didn’t think he’d want to be treated differently.”

“I get where you were coming from, but perhaps you should have waited a day or two. I imagine that as soon as Aria’s potion wore off, all the feelings that it had been suppressing surfaced and started messing with his head.”

Kiara’s face twisted in agony and she felt tears begin to build in her eyes as she realised just how much she had hurt him.

The others realised that they had been too harsh with their words and awkwardly looked away from Kiara, unsure of what to say to her.

“Hey, there’s no need to make that face,” Jasmine called, climbing down the stairs. “It’s not too late to apologise and, heck, I’m sure when Eric’s feeling better, he’ll understand what you were doing, right, guys?”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Connor hastily agreed. “In fact, I guarantee it that he will.”

“Likewise,” Kaida added.

“Everyone makes mistakes but,” Evony smiled. “The important thing is that we apologise for them and work our best to rectify them.”

“See, nothing to be worried about,” Jasmine reassured her, wrapping an arm around Kiara’s shoulders. “When Eric comes back down, just tell him you’re sorry and that you’re there for him.”

Kiara wiped away her tears and smiled weakly. “I will.”

***

Eric finished bandaging his cut palms in his bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.

He had sweat dripping down his brow and he felt lightheaded, as the sight of his own blood forced his mind to recall the horrific scenery of the night before.

Eric felt something come up his throat but he swallowed it back down, before downing an entire glass of water to wash away the taste.

It hadn’t been twenty-four hours since he had fought with Bunny and yet it felt longer than any other time in his life, even when he had last been stabbed and almost killed.

“Damn it.”

Eric went through his usual calming breathing exercises but they didn’t put him at ease like they usually did.

Maybe if I read something it will put it off my mind.

He grabbed a random and thick book from his bookcase, gathered his belongings, and left his room, locking it behind him. Eric quickly made his way down the stairs and to the front of the door, ignoring his friend’s calls to him.

“Eric, wait!” Kiara called out but Eric had already shut the front door behind him.

It was suffocating for him to be in that house right now.

***

“Urgh, he hates me now,” Kiara mumbled, crying into the sofa.

“It’s not like that,” Kaida whispered, longingly looking to the door. “I think, right now, he just needs a little time to himself.”

“Are you sure?” Evony asked. “I mean, I think he needs to be with someone now more than ever.”

“Not right now.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means-”

“Kaida. Don’t.” Connor interrupted.

“But they should know,” Kaida protested.

“It’s not your place to tell them.”

“Tell us what?” Jasmine asked.

“It’s something that happened to-”

“Kaida!” Connor shouted. “This isn’t something that they should hear-”

“It is!”

“Maybe from Eric, not from you. You can’t just go around telling people about someone else’s past trauma!”

“Past trauma?” Kiara asked, sitting up.

“What exactly do you mean by that?” Jasmine inquired.

Kaida was about to speak again but Connor grabbed her arm in a tight grip. “Kaida, please.”

“It’s not just his trauma,” Kaida reminded him, breaking free of him. “It affected all of us and we all have a right to talk about it. And.” She looked at each of the others and closed her eyes. “They’re his friends and should know. I won’t tell them everything, just what they need to know. I promise.”

Connor sighed heavily and threw his hands up in surrender. “Fine, do what you want. But I will tell Eric that you told them and that I was against it, so be ready to accept whatever happens after that.”

“I’m more than prepared for that,” Kaida sternly replied.

Connor smiled sadly and shook his head from side to side. “No, you’re not.”

He climbed up the stairs and left the four girls in silence, the others looking to Kaida and waiting for her to start.

“Kaida, if it’s that big of a deal-” Evony tried to offer but Kaida shook her head.

“No, it’s fine. I know Eric and he doesn’t like keeping secrets between friends.”

At the top of the stairs, Connor listened in to what Kaida was saying and looked longingly up towards Eric’s room.

“No secrets between friends, huh?” He muttered, before returning to his own room.

“Guys, it’s not just last night that caused Eric to freak out so much,” Kaida began. “It’s what Bunny was holding and used to stabbed you, Jasmine, that I imagine has him this freaked out.”

“Her kitchen knives? Why would-?”

“I’ll start from the beginning but, I ask you, please don’t ask questions until I’m done speaking. Okay?” The others nodded and Kaida began again.

“It happened back when we were thirteen.”

***

Eric hadn’t hesitated to run away from everyone to his favourite reading spot by the lake, under the tree where he first met Laila.

He was very happy that everyone else was in lessons and that he and his team had the day off for their service the previous night, meaning that Eric practically had the lake to himself. He leant his back against the tree, opened his book and began to read, a small smile on his lips.

I’ll just escape into here for a while.

However, no matter how engrossing the text was, no matter how much he focused on it, Eric’s mind kept flooding him with visions of the night before, to Spike’s attack and to the first time he had almost died years ago.

Eric’s head began to throb and he grasped it, his breathing becoming irregular again. He dropped the book and went through his breathing exercises, over and over again but they didn’t work.

Nothing did.

He closed his eyes and covered his ears and curled up into a ball, whispering to himself, “Please forget about it,” over and over again.

He needed something to get them out of his mind.

“Eric.” He lifted his head up and saw Laila standing before him, dressed in casual clothes, and holding two bottles of water. “Can I join you?”

She walked around to the other side of the tree, sat down against it and placed one of the bottles next to him. “They were out of soft drinks.”

Eric said nothing and instead looked up into the leaves.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine.” Laila could tell he was forcing himself to sound fine. “I mean, I was a bit freaked out when the potion Aria gave me wore off but, after a goodnight’s sleep, I-”

“It’s never a good thing to pretend you’re okay when you aren’t.”

Eric wanted to deny what she said, but he couldn’t say it, not when she said it like that.

“Sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?”

“I…”

“Did you do anything wrong?”

“No, but-”

“I won’t force you to talk about it,” Laila said. “However, it’s not good to keep everything in.”

Eric nearly wrapped himself back into a ball again, but stopped himself; then, with a resigned sigh, he closed his eyes.

“Laila, have you ever nearly been killed before?”

“Yes, several times.”

“So have I.” Laila let out a small, audible gasp, making him grunt. “I know, it sounds impossible for someone who only entered this world less than two months ago, but I’ve come close to being killed now three times in my life.

“Last night when Bunny tried to kill me, during the Awakening when Spike tried to kill me, and when I was in year nine.

“I’d gone to the same school as Kaida and Connor and, because all of our houses were in the same direction, we always walked home together. One day, we were going down our usual route when a large and muscular man stepped in front of us in an alley, brandishing a kitchen knife.

“He was a mugger and was desperate enough that he’d rob school children.

“Being the idiotic teenager that I was, I stepped in front of Kaida and told him to leave us alone while Connor was discreetly calling the police from the phone in his pocket. I thought that, if I stalled him long enough, the police would get to us and save us.

“The mugger didn’t like being spoken to in such a tone by a child.

“He screamed nonsense at me and stabbed me in the heart. Had he not screamed as he did it, chances are I would have bled out in that alley because a nearby police patrol heard his and Kaida’s screams, and he was quickly arrested.”

Eric touched the scar on his chest and smiled sadly. “I didn’t figure it out at the time, but I think Kaida saved me that day. I remember my flesh feeling like it was burning from the stab, but the feeling increased greatly, probably because Kaida cauterised my wound for me. Although.” His fingertips lifted off the rough skin and he lost his smile. “It left a scar which couldn’t be healed, even with magic.”

After Eric finished retelling that story, more memories that he had long since buried to the back of his mind began to resurface, threatening to send him into another panic attack.

“You don’t have to say any more,” Laila said, taking his hand gently in hers. “I’ll always be here to listen to you whenever you need someone to. Take as much time as you need.”

Eric blushed a little and smiled, holding her hand back. “Thank you, Laila.”

Laila nodded and let out a small hum.

The two of them stayed like that for a long time, not turning around to look at the other.

Eric hadn’t felt as calm and at peace in what felt like forever, and he didn’t want to ever lose that feeling again.

***

By the time Eric went back home, it was already late at night.

When he went into his house, he found that no one else was downstairs, so Eric slowly made his way upstairs to his room, trying his best not to cause too much noise and wake up his teammates.

He turned to climb up the stairs to his room and found someone sitting outside his door, resting her head on her knees.

“Kiara?”

She groggily looked up at him and he saw that the skin around her eyes was red. Kiara rubbed her eyes and weakly smiled at him. “Do you mind if we talk for a bit?”

Eric unlocked his door and Kiara followed him in.

Kiara sat on the edge of Eric’s bed, her hands on her thighs.

“I…I wanted to apologise about this morning,” she whispered as Eric sat down beside her. “I should have realised that what happened last night would have bother you, but I thought you wouldn’t like it if I treated you any differently, so I tried to act as I always do…even though I know that I shouldn’t have.

“I’m so sorry, Eric.” Her voice croaked and she sniffed quietly. “Please don’t hate me. Please stay my friend.”

“Kiara…”

He hadn’t considered it whilst he was spending time with Laila but everyone else must have been worried about him and, as Kiara was the last one who spoke to him this morning, she must have assumed that she did something to upset him.

While Eric had spent the day getting better, he had left the others worried about him and it must have been tearing Kiara apart for hours.

Eric smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “You don’t have anything to apologise for.” He brought her head to his shoulder. “If anything, I’m sorry for making you upset and for putting you through this. I’m sorry, Kiara.”

“Why are you apologising?” She cried into his chest. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Actually, I did. I didn’t listen to your apology earlier and that was entirely my fault.”

“But if I hadn’t teased you about your dream, or just left you alone for a while, then you might’ve-!”

“Kiara, don’t tell the others this but, as strange as this sounds, I wanted to thank you for that. If you hadn’t made me storm out, I wouldn’t have been able to let everything out I’d been bottling up to Laila and I might’ve stayed in that miserable state for much longer, so, don’t apologise, Kiara.”

“Eric,” she muttered. Kiara pushed herself away from his chest and wiped her eyes a little, before smiling slightly. “Honestly, you’re such a weirdo, you know.”

He laughed. “I guess.”

“Still, I don’t hate that about you. So.” She fidgeted a little. “We’re okay?”

Eric nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.” He opened his arms. “Come here.”

Kiara embraced Eric’s hug back and the two stayed like that for a few peaceful moments. They broke off and Eric winced a little, gripping his left hand.

“Did your cut reopen?” Kiara asked, taking his hand in hers. “Do you want me to rebandage it for you?”

“I can manage by myself-”

“No. I’ll do it, so let’s go to the bathroom and wash it.”

Kiara dragged Eric into the bathroom and began to treat the cut. She unwrapped the old bandage, thoroughly washed the cut under the tap, dried his hand, and then reapplied the bandage to his hand.

“That should do for now.” Kiara smiled. “Even though I’m sure you’ll be fine, head over to the on-site hospital in the morning to check it out.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“You picked up shards of glass with your bare hands and neither of us want to put Elthia through anything for a while, do we?” Eric’s silence meant that he agreed with what she was saying. “Good. Now, ah.”

A bit of blood began to seep through the bandage and Kiara found herself fixated on it.

“Well, at least it’s covered now. Thanks again, Ki…Kiara?”

Eric looked into her eyes and noticed that they were beginning to become a much lighter shade of red, and Kiara appeared to be in a trance of some sorts.

Her mouth was slightly open and her fangs just poked out from her lips.

“Kiara?”

Kiara snapped out of her trance, looked at Eric and shook her head rapidly from side to side. “Sorry about that, I guess I just started daydreaming,” she said, laughing awkwardly. “I won’t keep you any longer for tonight, so, goodnight, Eric.”

“Goodnight, Kiara.”

Kiara swiftly left and shut the door behind her with a loud slam.

“What was that about?” He wondered, looking down at the small stain of blood on his bandage. He narrowed his eyes and then looked towards where Kiara had just left. “Her natural desires, I guess.”

***

Kiara breathed slowly in and out, her back up against Eric’s door and she grabbed at her throat.

It was dry and craved blood.

“I can’t,” she whispered to herself, shutting her eyes tightly. “Not now.”

Kiara then went downstairs, put on her boots, and left the house.

She needed blood and there was only one place where Kiara was allowed to get it.

***

Alexis was curled up in Ace’s arms and staring in silence at the floor.

While Ajax had been by her side until that very morning, Stephanie and her family’s funerals were taking place in the city and Ajax had to attend for the both of them.

He had tried to postpone their funerals but, due to the amount of journalists harassing her family and not allowing them to mourn in peace, they had no choice but to rush it before their grief turned into hatred.

Ace had been holding the still, shattered Alexis in his arms for two hours and Serafin had brought them up food and drink, although only Ace had had any of it.

What can I do for Alexis right now? He wondered, stroking her hair softly. If I were to try and reassure her that everything was going to be fine or that Stephanie was in a better place, Alexis would feel far worse.

Is there anything that I can do for her?

He knew that talking about Bunny, her friends or Stephanie would make matters worse and, if he tried to just talk to her normally, then she might be angry with him and he could make her feel even worse.

However, Ace had to try and do something for her, even if it was just putting her mind on something else for a few minutes.

“Did I ever tell you that I grew up in Cambridge?” Ace asked softly, not checking to see if Alexis was listening. “If you haven’t been there before, you should visit it one of these days. It’s a really nice city and everyone’s very friendly there, for the most part.” He laughed quietly. “Except for the snobbiest people at the university.

“Some days I don’t know why we ever left there for the big city. I know Cambridge is a city but, at the same time, it feels…tranquil there a lot of the time, like a small village in the countryside. The beautiful trees in the park, the clean and old-fashioned buildings, the sheer awe-inspiring sight of the university buildings.

“You know, I’ve never told anyone, not even my parents, about how I first came to discover my powers. One day, when I was back in primary school, I think I was about six or seven at the time, my friends and I decided it would be fun to sneak into the university. We waited until the big kids were all in their lectures and snuck in through a back window that had been left open.

“We pretended like we were super agents and were all sneaky-like, checking for patrolling teachers and students, ducking behind cover whenever we thought we’d be caught, and, without knowing where we were going, we ended up in the library. We were hiding in the rows, trying to sneak around the librarian but a couple of students were heading out way. So, guess what we did? We climbed the bookshelves to the top.

“At the time, I knew it was a dumb idea and even now I scold myself for doing it,” Ace admitted with a small laugh. “We got all the way to the top and I slipped and lost my balance. Panicked, I grabbed a book, trying to hold onto the shelf but I ended up bringing several down with me. I smashed into the ground holding a book on the arcana which included a set of the cards and, right there and then, I summoned a chariot.”

Ace chuckled. “The face on the students and the librarian was priceless. I had no control over it and it chased them out of the library, knocking over a few shelves on the way and, naturally, I ran like the wind. It became known as a freak accident done by a young mage whose identity was never discovered and I took the Tarot cards home with me.

“That’s the most I’ve ever broken the law in my life. If Cambridge university ever found out, I’d be screwed.” Ace went silent and lost his smile. “That was the last day I ever spent out of my house in Cambridge. The next day, my mum revealed that we were moving and I didn’t even get to properly say goodbye to my friends.”

“Why?” Alexis weakly asked.

It’s working!

“My mum had met another person online who could become my step-dad. They’d been speaking for months and, my mum, the gullible person she is, fell for him and moved us into the city. That was probably one of the worst decisions of her life.”

“Why?”

“The guy was a con-artist and tried to take all her money. We figured it out soon enough so, with my mum’s blessing, I summoned a knight and we got him to confess and recorded the whole thing. We reported him to the police, got compensation and began living in Imperial but we couldn’t afford it.”

“Why?”

“My mum couldn’t get a permanent job and ended working part time for the first year and we lived off what scraps we could buy and whatever I could get kids to give up when I beat them with my powers in duels. When I was eleven, I started learning how to better use my abilities, entered local tournaments and started winning prize money. It wasn’t a lot but I did it because I wanted to.”

“Why?”

“To show my strength.” Ace closed his eyes and imagined the scenes of his victories in his mind. “To prove to the world that I was strong, that I didn’t need a father, or mother, to support me. That I was going to become someone special and carve my name into this world and live for myself and by myself.”

“Why?” Alexis asked, a hint of sadness in her tone.

“Because my mum didn’t support me with her strength and losing my step-dad when I was so young didn’t give me a father figure, so I tried to become the strong man of the family. For years, I thought that I had, but I owe you a lot for showing me that I still have a long way to go before that dream is fully realised.”

The two of them went back to sitting in silence for a while, before Alexis let out a small yawn, her eyes struggling to stay open.

“Come on, let’s get you into bed.”

Alexis offered no resistance as Ace laid her on her bed under the covers. He tucked her in and she turned to face away from him.

“I’ll come over tomorrow,” Ace told her. “Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning.”

She didn’t say anything back and so Ace moved to the door.

Just before he left, he heard her whisper faintly, “Thank you.”

Ace smiled. “You’re very welcome.”

After he’d left, Alexis quickly fell asleep.

***

Eric changed into his pyjamas.

He sat down on the edge of his bed, before throwing himself back onto it, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Eric grabbed his phone and checked the time. “It really has been only a day.”

He sighed and threw his arms onto the bed. Eric closed his eyes and, for the first time in what felt like an age, he didn’t see Bunny or the mugger when he shut his eyes.

Someone knocked at his door gently. “It’s open.” Then, Kaida slowly walked in in her pyjamas. “What’s up?”

“I was just checking up on you,” Kaida said with a smile, closing the door behind her. “I haven’t heard from you since this morning, but I knew that you might have wanted some time by yourself, like back then.”

Eric sat up on his bed and shook his head. “I never want to go through what we did last time.” He patted the space next to him and Kaida swiftly sat in it. “I was planning on trying to cool off somewhere reading but, in the end, I opened up to Laila a bit and that helped me a lot.” He smiled reassuringly at her. “Bunny and that bastard aren’t showing up in my mind right now.”

“I’m happy for you.” Kaida lost her smile and twiddled her thumbs together. “Eric, there’s something I need to tell you. Um, after you left…I told everyone that you had been stabbed before. I know I shouldn’t have because it’s your trauma, but I didn’t tell them about what happened after that, it’s just…”

“If that’s all you told them, then it’s okay.” Eric looked up at the ceiling. “Honestly, just them knowing that I was mugged is okay but, the other bits-”

“I know. I would never tell them that without asking you for permission first.” Kaida looked at him, an extremely worried expression on her face. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, gazing down at the floor. “Right now, I can’t see them but, when I fall asleep tonight, I’m terrified that they’ll come back.…I don’t want to go back to that place.”

“If…If you want, Eric, I…I could stay with you for tonight,” Kaida offered, her cheeks slightly red and she averted her gaze from him. “I mean, you know how people feel at ease if they fall asleep holding the hand of someone they trust, I…I thought that might be worth a try.

“But just for tonight!”

Kaida shut her mouth and her blush intensified.

Eric couldn’t help but blush in return.

“Um, are…you sure?” Eric asked nervously and she nodded a little. “In that case…just for tonight…could you please sleep with me?”

Kaida nodded and, with them both embarrassed, they climbed under his covers and faced each other, holding hands.

“Urgh, this is more embarrassing than I thought,” Kaida admitted with a small laugh. “You won’t try anything weird, will you?”

“I fidget a lot in my sleep, so whatever happens when I’m asleep I can’t be held accountable for.” Kaida pouted and frowned, causing Eric to laugh a little. “Do you really have to ask if I would?”

Kaida returned a small smile. “I know you’re not that kind of guy.”

Eric closed his eyes. “Goodnight, Kaida.”

Kaida closed her eyes and her smile grew. “Goodnight, Eric.”

Despite feeling incredibly embarrassed, the two of them soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep and, that night, Eric didn’t have a nightmare.

***

Kiara drank the blood pack down as quickly as she could, so quickly in fact that some of it missed her mouth and splattered onto her hands, neck and shirt.

As the blood went down her throat, Kiara felt her thirst subside and she let out a satisfied sigh.

She curled up into a ball on top of their team’s house and closed her eyes, basking in the full moon’s light.

“I can’t lose control. I can’t.”