Crimson Eyes

Winnie's voice over the microphone echoes all around and Nova looks towards the stage without moving.

Her breathing quickens and she slowly puts the phone away from her ear. She doesn't dare turn to face the mysterious figure behind her. This had happened to her before, this was how she met Kalen, and it feels exactly the same.

Cold sweat was running down her forehead and she notices that her hands are shaking.

She is scared and also a little angry. She was tired of everyone breathing down her neck all the time.

Nova takes a deep breath and is about to speak when an unknown voice behind her jumps in.

"You wouldn't want this celebration to turn into a bloodbath, would you?"

The figure behind her sounds like an ordinary guy to her, but she hears arrogance in his voice and it's clear to her that he's not joking.

The unknown guy laughs a few times and grabs her shoulders. Slowly turns with Nova so she can look at him.

She sees a sickening smirk on his face and his eyes stare directly at her.

The boy is much taller than her. He has a narrow face. Light brown hair falling in loose waves over his shoulders and two crimson eyes looking down at her. He is pale and wearing a black leather jacket, and several bracelets on his wrist with pendants on them that glitter in the sun.

The boy grabs her chin and leans the girl towards him. "Hi, princess."

Nova grabs his wrists and tries to get away from him, frowning at him but still quiet.

She doesn't want anything to happen to the people around her, so she decides to be quiet and wait.

His red eyes watch her as if she were to become his lunch.

"What do you wa-" Nova blurts out, but she doesn't have time to finish her sentence.

"Hey hey, you'll talk when I say you can, do we understand each other?"

He is very calm maybe too much. At first glance, he doesn't seem like he wants to hurt anyone, he looks like an ordinary student, but his eyes reflect the look of a person with bad intentions.

Nova nods her head and looks back at the stage out of the corner of her eye. She hears Winnie saying goodbye to the audience and wishing the school a happy anniversary.

"Now you're going to go and say a nice goodbye to your friends and tell them you won't be attending today's celebration, okay?" he orders her.

He then releases her, pats her on the shoulders, and pushes her towards the crowd of people where she came from.

"Try calling someone or warning them and they'll be my dinner," he says before Nova walks away from him.

Without a word, Nova turns and heads back to her group.

She's never been threatened like this before and she doesn't know what to think. She suspects that the unknown person is definitely not on her side and he is definitely not her friend.

However, it was clear that she shouldn't take his threats lightly.

"So, how was I?" Winnie asks, having just run up to the others.

You can see that she is still very excited. She jumps up and down while holding onto Kai's hand. Nova slowly joins everyone with a nervous expression.

"Wonderful, but keep doing this and you'll rip my hand off!" Kai yells at her, gently pushing Winnie away.

Rosalie hands her one of the balloons she's still holding. "Good work!"

"Thank you, thank you! So, where now! We have to get something to eat. I'm starving!" Winnie says looking around.

"My mom just called me, I have to go. Can someone tell the headmistress?" Nova stutters. Kai frowns and glares at her. "Are you okay?"

"You are quite pale. Are you not well?" Rosalie asks, leaning towards her.

Nova forces a smile and starts waving her arms in front of her. "Everything is fine! She just needs help with something!"

Winnie looks at Kai and Rosalie and then back at Nova who scratches her head.

"Are you sure?"

Nova just nods and takes a few steps back. "I'll let you know later!"

Before she can finish, her back is already turned and she is quickly heading toward the main exit.

The conversation didn't seem normal to either of them.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Winnie asks with a worried expression, looking at Kai who had his arms crossed over his chest.

"She didn't look well."

"Hopefully she'll call us soon."

Winnie turns and heads towards one of the stalls where she notices a big variety of food and drinks. Kai has no choice and follows her.

However, Rosalie is still looking in the direction Nova went and frowns. She feels that something was wrong. She's so distracted that she doesn't even hear Winnie calling her.

She is holding two pretzels in her hands and smiling.

Nova turns the corner of the school building and takes a nervous breath. She notices the unknown figure a few centimeters away. He stands by the wall and supports himself with one leg. His arms are crossed over his chest, his eyes are closed and he has that hideous smile on his face.

Nova approaches him.

"It wasn't that hard, was it?" he chuckles and opens his red eyes.

Nova doesn't risk anything, she stays silent. She remembers what he told her and doesn't want to see another dead body that this time could be someone she cared about.

However, he remains silent for a while, waiting to see if Nova will say something.

"Interesting. Not a single word?" he says, waiting but she doesn't give him any answers.

"I'm surprised. I didn't think that you would be silent the whole time. You don't have to take it so seriously." he chuckles once again.

Nova doesn't know if he's serious or if he's just playing with her, but she still doesn't want to talk to him. She couldn't read his eyes, which were looking at her the whole time.

"Okay fine. If you ask that nicely. Tell me what's on your mind."

Nova's heart is racing. "Who the hell are you?"

"What an original question. I don't think you chose the right one though. A better question would be why are you here? How can you be in the sun? What is your favorite color? There are a lot of better questions than who are you."

He runs a hand through his long hair and tucks a few strands behind his ear. Nova calms down a bit and just looks at him confused.

"Why are you here?" she asks trying to stay a few steps away from him, just to be safe.

"It depends. Rosemary promised me something and to get that I need to do something for her. I get it, that's how it works but as everyone knows, Rosemary can't be trusted. So, for now, she will do as I say. What do you say, do you want to make fun of that old hag?"

He is waving his arms around and everything he says comes across as one big joke to Nova. She doesn't take anything he just said seriously, but when he mentioned Rosemary, she knew he won't be just a student making fun of her.

She still has no idea who exactly Rosemary is, but from all the comments and talk she's heard from Kalen and Faye, she knows it's not good news.

"I'm not going to help someone I know nothing about. First, tell me who you are and how you found me."

"It won't be easy with you huh? Okay, you won. They call me Aiden and I'm tired of doing her dirty work. I don't enjoy killing only the ones she wants. I don't like being her puppet and I don't care what she's after and that's why I found you before her other loyal dogs."

"What does she have on you?" asks Nova, sensing from his speech that Rosemary must have something he wants.

However, his smile fades from his face. "Just because I told you who I am doesn't mean you're going to ask me everything that pops into your small head. Do you understand?"

Nova is a little calmer. She's still on guard, but she understands that Aiden has his own unresolved issues and it's clear that he has something against Rosemary, who pulls all the strings in this town.

"You'll serve as my guarantee. Rosemary needs you alive so I wonder what her reaction will be when she sees me draining all that precious blood from you that she wants so badly."

Before Nova can react, her eyes focus on something in the background. Someone standing right behind Aiden.

He realizes that a little before she does. He was still focused on Nova, but he laughed again. He doesn't look too surprised, he's been waiting for this exact situation, and Nova notices that he even seems happy about it.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. It was only a matter of time," he says folding his hands behind his back and turning around gracefully.

Both figures have their legs crossed, their eyes tinted black and both were ready to step in at any second.

"Kalen, Faith. Long time no see."