Roman and Griffin continued to fight with each other, cracking and breaking the walls as they tried to punch each other. The flames had spread to three corridors, and smoke escaped from the windows. As most of the students were busy preparing for the oncoming exams, they were either stuck inside the library or were in their dorms, trying to cram up time, which left the building that had caught fire unattended.
Griffin tried to control and manipulate Roman's blood, and he could sense the blood flow, but something just didn't add up because, as per his calculations, Roman should have been already on the floor begging him to spare his life.
"What is wrong with you?" questioned Griffin, his eyes demandingly staring at Roman, but soon Roman found his strength back and grabbed Griffin before punching right at Griffin's nose.
"Everything is always wrong," glared Roman, his anger not simmering down and ready to kill Griffin while not bothered about facing consequences.
Roman could smell Griffin's intention to kill Julie for humiliating him, and with the stupid boy who had started the fight, he had the advantage of continuing the fight.
He was well aware of how fatal Griffin's ability was and what sort of sadist he was, and this time he was going to make sure Griffin understood what it meant when it came to messing with things and people who belonged to him.
Griffin staggered back as Roman's movements had become faster compared to the last few seconds, and it turned hard for him to locate Roman's movements.
"Fuck!" cursed Griffin, touching his nose that was bleeding, and he used his own ability to the highest power and saw Roman's bright eyes. "It is affecting you, give up," he taunted when Roman started to cough blood from his mouth.
Roman wiped his bloody lips with the back of his hand and said, "Why don't we two finish this for once and for all, Griffin. Let us fight until one of us is dead. It is too much hassle to keep on kicking your pitiful ass."
Griffin clenched his jaws and then jumped to where Roman was, using his fists, and when Roman dodged, his fist punched the wall that left a hole in there.
All this while, Julie hadn't stood up, and she continued to keep her hands on the ground. The circle that she had drawn through the spells, it wasn't enough to calm down the fire, which was why she tried to increase the size of the circle so that the entire building could come to be encapsulated in the pentagon.
"Julie," came the ragged voice of the Corvin, who had appeared in the building.
"Cillian. Do you know how to make the size of the pentagon bigger? I am not able to get it done," said Julie to him with a frown.
"You should try speaking to him and have him dismiss the fire. At this rate the place will burn down," said Cillian in a dull voice. But when he turned to look at Roman, who was engaged in the fight, he could tell it would be hard to make him stop.
The blood lust and thirst was wafting in the atmosphere, which was coming from Roman.
And while they were inside the building, far away from the many buildings that were part of Veteris, two other students, who were unaware about the fire that had broken down in Veteris, now walked in the restricted side of the forest.
"Why do they have a dungeon in the university?" questioned Melanie, feeling anxious as she half ran and half walked to catch up to where Conner was.
"Did you forget that Veteris was once a town and not a university?" Simon questioned her back, his eyebrows rising and falling quickly.
"But why? I thought Veteris didn't know there were vampires in here before the massacre took place," pointed Melanie, and a grin appeared on Simon's lips.
"Someone has been doing their homework. How have you been finding vampires so far? Anyone to your liking?" he asked her, smoothening the front of his shirt.
"No," came the quick reply from Melanie.
"Good good, don't fall for anyone but me," replied Simon cheekily, and Melanie glared. This was no time for him to be flirting with her. But then, at the same time, she couldn't express her annoyance, especially considering how he had helped her during many occasions.
Melanie didn't retort to his words, and instead, she looked ahead of them, "How far is the dungeon?" she nervously asked.
"Just seven to ten minutes from here. What do you plan to do once you reach the dungeon? Play prince charming?? But you are a princess," stated Simon, his mood upbeat, which was the opposite of how Melanie was feeling.
"I don't need someone to come save me," muttered Melanie, and Simon coughed.
"I have to remind you of what happened during the weekend. You almost got sucked dry and your corpse would have been in the coffin, rotting and dust being collected," on seeing Melanie's expression, he paused to ask her, "Was it too much detail?"
"You didn't answer why there's a dungeon in here," Melanie reminded him, and Simon nodded his head.
"It was just to keep things under control. Back in those days, there used to be a secret society in Veteris. Ironically this dungeon were used by the hunters to torture the vampires, but look now, how times has changed," replied Simon, and this had Melanie frown.
"So people were aware about the existence of vampires?"
"Of course they were. When you see continuous dimwitted vampires who leave the humans sucked dry and having markings on the body, it isn't that hard to figure it out over the time," explained Simon and continued, "Once word reached the people who were in the higher position, they started to take keen interest and investigated about it."
And though Melanie had asked him about it, halfway through, her thoughts had drifted back to worrying about Conner about in what condition he was being kept there in the dungeon.
When they reached near the dungeon, Simon pulled Melanie behind him, and she asked him, "What?"
"Do you plan to be Conner's neighbor in the dungeon?" asked Simon, and he then jerked his head in the direction where two guards stood near the tree. "I will go and distract them. Will you be able to sneak inside without causing commotion?"
Melanie could feel the stress and anxiety starting to spike up, but this was now or never situation.
"Hurry now, it is no time to take your own sweet time before one of the Elders shows up here," said Simon, cracking his knuckles. Melanie nodded her head, but when Simon turned and started to walk away from her, she caught the end of his shirt from behind.
"What if there are more guards in there?" she asked him, looking straight into his green eyes.
Simon stared at her, enjoying every moment of the anxiousness that passed through her eyes. He tilted his head to the side and replied, "As far as I know, there shouldn't be any guards. But if our luck is bad, then shout out for help and I will see what I can do, yes?"
Melanie was thankful that as crazy as Simon was, he was still willing to help her.
She decided to wait for Simon to distract the guards so that she could go through the dungeon's entrance. Simone effortlessly walked to the spot where the guards were, and one of the guards questioned him,
"What are you doing here?"
"I was walking by this place when I decided to come and check if we had any new visitors in the dungeon. I would be more than happy to take a look if we have one," came Simon's charming words.
The guards looked at him with a slight frown and said, "We have a human, but no one is supposed to enter or leave the dungeon. These are strict orders from Elder Luciano."
"Feels like we have VIP guests here. Do you know who it is? The human must have done something very very stupid," Simon stressed the word stupid with a smile on his face. "What? We aren't supposed to know about the person either? Now that makes me really curious."
"It is the hunter's son. I heard Elder Luciano mention that the human cannot be compelled. He's probably on Silverwater which is why he has no effect," said the other guard. And while Simon continued to chat with the guards, he got to move them and have their back face the dungeon's entrance.
Melanie took the opportunity, without waiting for Simon's cue, she made her way towards the dungeon while holding her breath. When she entered the dungeon, it was slightly dark as there was no actual electricity, and the place was lit by torches for fire. She looked back every few seconds before continuing to walk inside, and when her eyes fell on Conner, it widened.
"Conner!" whispered Melanie, quickly moving towards the cell.
The gate of the cell had been left unlocked as Elder Luciano had forgotten to order the guard from closing it. Melanie quickly stepped inside the cell, where an unconscious Conner sat on the chair.
There was an evident bruise on Conner's face, and Melanie bit her lip in worry. She placed her hand on his shoulder and jerked it to wake him up.
"Conner? Conner?" Melanie called his name, and finally, Conner snapped from his unconscious state. "Are you alright, Conner?" she asked him, her hands cupping both the sides of his face.
Conner appeared as if he was exhausted and didn't have the energy to keep his eyes open, but he tried hard to do it.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"What am I doing here?" Melanie blinked at his question, "What the hell are you doing here?! What did you do?"
Conner closed his eyes, squinting it before opening them to look at Melanie's worried face.
Conner couldn't tell how glad he was to see Melanie to be safe, and at the same time, Melanie couldn't help but worry about him. He said, "You should run quickly and ask for help, this university is filled with vampires. Go inform our parents that there are many blood sucking creatures in here."
Melanie bit the inside of her cheek as this was something she knew she would have to face soon, but she didn't know it would be now.
Conner quickly looked at the entrance that was even the exit of the dungeon, and he said to Melanie in a hurry, "This place isn't safe for either of us. It was a vampire who killed Reese."
"How did you find out about it?" asked Melanie softly.
"One of the vampires told it to me. Even the headmistress is a vampire, which means there are many more in here," said Conner in a frantic voice. "Hurry before they catch you!"
"I am not leaving you here all by yourself," replied Melanie, and she looked around the ropes to see how to free him.
During that time, Conner's eyes fell on Melanie, whose eyes and hands were moving around to help him out of the chair. He realized he was being an idiot for the last two days. He apologized, "I am sorry that I didn't talk to you for the last two days. I didn't mean to ignore you, I just got busy."
"We can talk about it later," said Melanie when she untied him. "Conner we should—" She saw Conner had lost consciousness again, and she wondered what they had done here for him to keep losing his consciousness. She tried to pick up Conner, using her shoulder to support him, while calling him.
"I don't know why… my head hurts too much," replied Conner, and he tried to keep his eyes open, which went to close again.
Melanie couldn't leave Conner here because somewhere, she knew she might not see him again if she were to return to this place. The only way was to get him out of this dungeon.
"Hang in there, Conner. I will get out of this place," she said to him in a low voice, and she slowly tried to have him walk towards the entrance. When she peeked out from the entrance, Simon talked to the guards.
"You know the last guards who were here, they were people whom I knew before Veteris had been attacked," said the red-headed vampire
Simon's stories didn't amuse the guard, and he said, "You should get back to the Dormitorium. The curfew time isn't too far from now."
"Well we are vampires and it doesn't have to apply to me now, does it? It isn't like I am going to fish some good blood and suck them dry," replied Simon, sensing Melanie's head peeking out. "Have you ever sucked anyone dry?" he questioned the guards. "No?"
Melanie looked back and forth before dragging Conner slowly out of the dungeon, and they slowly started to walk away from the dungeon's entrance.
But before they could completely be hidden, the guards heard a crunching sound and turned to catch Melanie and Conner near the tree.
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