Tainted Love

8 -Montagne Academy

This is a dream. I know that. It is just a dream...

But it feels so real.

I can feel the softness of the flowers under my toes as I wiggle my bare feet on the ground. The smell of the flower field envelops me like an expensive perfume as I take in the soothing scent.

The warmness of the lowering sun over the field embraces me like a warm blanket and I feel more at ease than I could ever feel in reality.

Reaching out my hand, I softly touch the tall flowers that nearly reach my neck as I sit on the open field. They are soft and wet due to the dew covering them.

The only indication that this is not real is the fact that I can’t see anything further from the flower field. The flowers go on forever as if it is the only thing in existence.

Relaxed, I lay back on the flower bed and close my eyes, enjoying the dissipating warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze caressing my cheeks.

I don’t even care if my hair is going to get tangled in the grass or even if my long simple dress is going to get dirty.

There are no problems here. No souls needing help. No responsibilities to attend to. It is marvelous.

When I open my eyes again, the sun is nearly gone but that is not what catches my attention.

Familiar green eyes look down at me with a glint of amusement and I smile, knowing that he is going to mock me for being like this.

“Did I wake you, sleeping beauty?” He asks me as I sit back up.

“I wasn’t sleeping” I say. “Well, not here... You know”

He sits next to me, his torso coming close to mine and his warmness is transparent even through my dress.

I lean against his shoulder and let out a sigh of contentment. This scene is perfect, just like it always is whenever I dream of him.

I don’t even remember when I started having these dreams, but they are part of my life now. And so is he.

He takes my hand into his, his pale skin contrasting greatly with my dark one. I snuggle deeper into him, and he lays his arm around my torso, pulling me closer.

I feel safe here with him. It is where I belong.

If only this was real...

Recognizing my tormented sigh, he adjusts our positions so he can look at me. His features always take me aback whenever I take a good look at him. He has a strong chin with a faint sign of a growing beard. He never seems to have it perfectly shaved, but I like it that way.

His messy black hair falls on his face as he looks down at me as he decided not to have it tied back today.

But what impresses me the most are his deep green eyes that always seem to shine with a special light, just for me.

I brush my fingers against his cheek, pushing his hair aside so I can take a better look at him. He is stunning.

I can tell he is assessing me the same way as I am him. His gaze is filled with adoration, and I can no longer keep my feelings in check.

Reaching in, I place my hand on the back of his neck and pull him into a warm and gentle kiss.

He responds by kissing me again and pulling me closer to him, our bodies becoming intertwined.

It doesn’t take long for our passionate kiss to develop into something else.

And this is where our dream becomes more vivid with our emotions. The flower field fades and there is just us, wrapped in each other and lost to the moment.

We are fused in our love and passion and what is real and what is dream becomes diffused.

I wake up with a sense of warmness that has become common whenever I dream of him.

For a while, I even forget I am in a dorm room and share it with 3 other girls. Luckily, it seems I woke up early and the others are still asleep as it is very quiet here.

However, I only notice Yara is very much awake when she sneers as she watches me stumbling out of my bed.

She is sitting on her bed and if I had to guess, I would say she didn’t sleep at all.

“Didn’t sleep much?” I ask her as I yawn and gather my things to get ready for the day.

“Like a baby” She replies, clearly lying. I learned long ago that when she lies this blatantly is because she doesn’t want to be questioned. But I wouldn’t be her best friend if I didn’t.

“Were you thinking about what your mom is going to do once she hears you’re the one who knocked the Leviathan yesterday and that you shouldn’t have been out to begin with?” I ask her.

“That was awfully specific” She says.

“Am I right?” I ask.

“No” She lies again, which means I hit the nail on the head.

Her relationship with her mother already isn’t very good, but whenever Yara gets in trouble, Headmaster Charlotte is extremely harsh on her.

In the silence that comes between us, I hear Felix’s slight snoring. We have classes today, so it won’t be long until the alarm clock goes out.

“Have you been talking with your dad?” I ask her, deciding to slightly change the subject.

“Not much” She says, getting up and starting to get ready for classes.

“Did he ever talk to you about a friend of his named Aiden?” I carefully ask.

“Not that I remember” She says and eyes me suspiciously. “He is your next victim?”

“I wouldn’t say victim…” I start.

“Fine. He is the next person you are trying to help because some ghost has reached out to you?” She says.

“That is awfully specific” I retort, making her smile.

“He doesn’t talk much about his past” She says. “Which clearly means something bothers him about it, but I can’t blame him. What he and the others from the previous Academy went through is more than enough to traumatize the strongest person”

“Yeah… You’re right about that…” I say. “I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to have your home and everything around destroyed in the blink of an eye. Nor having friends and family killed right in front of you…”

I tremble at the simple thought. It is horrible just to try to imagine it.

“Why do you think this ghost wants to help my father?” Yara asks, putting on her uniform.

“He gave me this ring… And… I don’t know… Your dad was there at the shrine when the ghost showed himself to me and I just thought maybe he was the one who needed help?” I mumble, not so sure about my deduction myself. “But he did react when I mentioned the ghosts name”

“What did he say?” Yara asks.

“He just got really angry” I say. “Kept saying that I was wrong, and that Aiden could never have become a ghost”

“Wow” Yara says. “Sounds like you have a harsh one ahead of you”

“Tell me about it” I say. “Any advice?”

“Not really” She answers. “You’re the one with experience dealing with those things”

“Yeah, but the ghost completely ghosted me after that, pun intended” I say. “I have no idea what to do. Talking to your dad again isn’t even an option. He is probably still pissed at me”

“Have you tried calling out to the ghost to see if he answers?” Yara asks.

At that moment, a familiar beeping noise rings throughout our room and Felix only grumbles, raising a drowsy hand to hit the snooze button. She always does this. However, Celine does wake up to the sound.

“Good morning” She says while stretching, looking as cheerful as ever.

“We should hurry” I say. “I’ll think of something later”

Dismissing the subject for now, I hurriedly fix my hair, letting it loose in its voluminous waves, and dress in my own uniform, which displays the colors black and yellow, representing my species as a witch.

Each species has a different set of colors. Mermaids are blue and black; werewolves are gray and black; Shapeshifters are brown and black. The ones like Felix, of mixed species, display the colors of both her parents.

A new color has been added due to the growing human population, the majority of which used to be vampires or were related to other supernaturals. Their colors are green and black. Of course, there are also diluted supernaturals that have a human parent and a supernatural one. They also display both colors of their parents.

This system allows everyone to know who they are and who they were. It is not meant to separate us, but it is important, so everyone knows what powers you have. I hear these types of uniforms were used in the old Academy as well.

It is then that we hear Felix’s alarm clock go off again.

“Five more minutes...” I hear Felix’s sleepy voice say. She is going to be late.

“Felix, you’re going to be late” Celine tells her and gently shakes her as she finished getting dressed herself.

“Cece, I know you probably already know this, but you can’t tell anyone that you met Virgil last night” I say. “Or that you named him”

“My lips are sealed” She says with a smile.

“Even through the mind link, Cece” I warn her and she goes blank.

“Oh” She mumbles. I’ll bet she didn’t even think about it before. Her family can easily read her mind if she lets them. “I-I’ll be careful”

“Please do” I say. “I don’t want my mothers to know that I lied to them and went behind their back”

“Ok, you can count on me” She says with a big smile while Felix’s alarm goes off again.

“Should I shock her?” Yara asks.

“What’s our first class today?” I ask.

“History” Celine says.

“Oh, she’ll fall asleep right after” I say. “Zap her”

“Said and done” Yara says and proceeds to place her pinky finger on top of Felix. A second later, she wakes up with a jump.

“OW!” She shouts and we all giggle.

“Good morning, Felix” Celine greets. “Hurry up, we’re gonna be late because of you”

Felix mumbles something incomprehensible while Celine nearly drags her out of bed before she falls asleep again.

After Felix is dressed as well, we hurry out of our bedroom and head to the lobby at the exit of the dorms. The guys are already waiting for us there.

Claus greets me with a kiss and I force myself to respond to his affection. After I started having those dreams, it has been harder to do so, but I don’t want to break his heart.

He doesn’t seem to be in a very good mood today, probably because of his dad’s lecture yesterday.

“My mom came to tell us that we have to go to the Headmaster’s office after classes today” Claus tells us. “Probably to ground us for life for going outside yesterday”

“It was expected” I say. “Let’s just hope she’s not too harsh”

“Did you hear anything else about the Leviathan kid?” Caleb asks and I look at Celine.

She has a focused look on her face, and I take that as a good sign.

“Not really” I answer. “Did your parents tell you anything?”

“No” Claus says. “Are you alright? I heard you went to the infirmary after we got scolded”

“I’m fine” I say. “I managed to heal myself just fine. My moms were just worried”

“Yo guys!” Ray’s voice catches our attention as he too leaves the boys’ dorms, followed by Thomas and Yuri. “Are you ok? What happened yesterday? Everyone’s saying how ya’ll got into trouble”

“How does anyone even know about that?” Caleb asks but Ray just shrugs.

“Rumors run fast, and you know HPS have their kids here too” Thomas says.

“Besides, everyone was on their toes to find out what happened after that monster broke free” Yuri adds.

“He’s not a monster!” Celine suddenly shouts and I look at her with a warning look. She just looks down looking upset. “He’s still my mate”

“Again with that?” Claus starts. “He can’t be your mate if he’s not the same species”

“What if he can?” Yara suddenly intervenes. “He’s a completely different species from what we’re used to. Maybe they work differently in terms of mates”

“It doesn’t matter” Claus says, stubbornly. “Wolves can only mate wolves. That’s how the Moon Goddess deemed it”

“The Moon Goddess doesn’t control everything” Yara says, and I hear all the werewolves present gasp.

“What did you just say?” Claus challenges.

“Come here so I can shout to your ear, then” Yara teases even further, and I try to gesture how much of a bad idea I think that is.

“You think you’re something else, don’t you?” Claus nearly spits, stepping closer to her. “You’re not even a proper witch. And don’t you go thinking that just because you managed to take down that monster yesterday, that makes you great. You’re still just a freak”

Without any prior warning, Yara punches him in the face, and I swear I heard a cr*ck. Everyone is too shocked to do anything the following seconds, but as soon as Claus recomposes himself, his nose bleeding, we can all see the bloodlust in his eyes. He is about to lunge.

Caleb is fast to grab onto his brother and pull him back before he has the chance to turn and attack Yara.

We manage to take Yara away from the scene, while the werewolves drag Claus to the Infirmary. I have seen enough broken noses to know he has one, but how did Yara manage to do that with just her fist?

I take a quick glimpse of her hand as we quickly walk towards our class, but her knuckles don’t even look red. I decide to leave the questions for another time, while we quietly enter the classroom and sit on our tables.

I know Felix and Celine are also quite curious as to what just happened, but they are both thinking like me. We are already in enough trouble as it is. Arriving late to a class would only add to our problems. We can’t all head to the Infirmary with Claus.

Also, I am sure Dr. Annette will just tell them to leave and head back to class as soon as they leave Claus there.

My seat is next to Yara, but her head is directly facing the table and won’t budge. I know what Claus said was horrible, but I have never seen her so upset to the point of wanting to punch someone.

Professor Gabriel, our History teacher, arrives shortly after and immediately commences his class.

“Good morning, class” He starts. “Today, I thought it would be advantageous if we revised the History behind the Leviathan species. All of you are probably quite confused as to how there is a new Leviathan student when they are supposed to be extinct for hundreds of years”

The class murmurs slightly at this but once Professor Gabriel continues, they shut up. Today is one of those classes no one wants to be distracted.

“Truth be told, there is not much information on the Leviathans throughout History, other than what they looked like and that the Angels hunted them down to their very extinction” Professor Gabriel continues. “Leviathans were known to be fierce monstrous creatures but humans at the old age would often describe any supernaturals as such”

“Due to the lack of information, it is hard to discern what is real and what is fake, which is why we should all maintain an open mind and try to understand this new student who has certainly come a long way to get here” He says and another wave of murmurs circles through the class.

“Before any of you start your protests, I am aware that the last known Leviathans were Amelia’s kin” Professor Gabriel continues, shutting everyone down. “Her mate was a confirmed Leviathan, and it is said she had two children with him, before the Angels hunted them down”

“No one knows for sure what happened in the past, but it is almost certain that those young Leviathan did not survive the Angels’ assault” He says and everyone listens attentively. “Amelia’s sourness towards Angels and the world in general was an indication of that. Also, the visions her infamous dagger provided seemed to confirm this theory”

Everyone knows the stories about Amelia. How she was an extremely powerful Nephilim, a mix between a Royal vampire and an Angel, who wielded an equally powerful dagger that was split into three parts until she managed to gather them once more and begin the destruction of the world.

One of the witch students in our class, Elizabeth, raises her hand to ask the Professor a question. Professor Gabriel simply nods her way to allow her to speak.

“Is it possible that Amelia’s children survived, and the new student is one of them?” She asks and we all wait curiously for the Professor’s answer.

“That would be quite difficult to be true” He says. “It is known that Amelia’s rise to darkness when the Angels’ attacked her family happened centuries ago. The boy in our care does not look to be older than a teenager”

“Now, I know Leviathans age differently than the rest of us, but I find it extremely unlikely that Amelia’s children would still look like teenagers after centuries have passed” He finishes. “If they are alive, that is”

“So, it’s all just speculation” Tomoyo, one of the shapeshifter girls says.

“Indeed” Professor Gabriel confirms. “The only thing we know for sure is that this boy, who was found in the woods very malnourished and dehydrated, needs our help. He is one of us, just like everyone in this room, regardless of his origin or species. We are all creatures of the night”

The class falls silent when the Professor proclaims the Academy’s theme sentence and I look at Yara. She continues to look down at her desk with an upset look.

I barely hear Professor Gabriel telling us to open our books on a certain page of our books so we can read more information on the Leviathans and analyze their appearance and powers.

Yara still doesn’t budge and doesn’t make an effort to even open her book so I do that for her before the Professor notices her zoning out. I open my own book at the page about the Leviathans and realize the new student does look a lot like the creature in the picture but has slight differences, especially on the size.

The similarity between them is uncanny, none the matter. It is almost as if whoever drew this picture of the Leviathan had seen one in person and knew every single detail. This picture must be a recreation of a really old book.

I examine the picture carefully, admiring the dexterity of how the scales are drawn in. It really is a piece of art. Come to think of it, our books were originally made by our teachers. They are the ones who elaborated them and then used magic to produce copies for all the students.

I guess this means Professor Gabriel was the one who drew this picture to begin with. I had no idea he was such a capable artist. I wonder if he still has the book he took this picture from. I would love to see it.

After thoroughly analyzing the picture, I finally get myself to read the text adjacent to it. As Professor Gabriel said, there is not much to be said about them, but one particular part catches my attention.

It is said that male Leviathans possess strong powers over the water element, but the female Leviathans are prone to use lightning instead.

They got the water powers right, according to what we already know about the new student, so there has to be some truth to these texts. Now, I am even more curious as to where Professor Gabriel got this information from.

I draw my attention from the book and focus on my teacher instead while he goes around the class to answer any questions the students may have.

He is known to be one of the former vampires. I heard he arrived here shortly after the war and immediately volunteered to be the History teacher when he heard they needed one.

He looks Chinese, but I don’t think he ever told us which country he truly originates from. For all we know, he could have lived thousands of years as a vampire before he was turned back into human.

My mind clicks and I raise my hand to ask a question. Before long, Professor Gabriel approaches me and allows me to speak.

“Professor...” I start, suddenly feeling a little uneasy about my question. “Did you ever see an actual Leviathan?”

“I would assume everyone saw one when the new student had a panic attack” He answers in an evasive manner.

“No, I mean...” I say. “An actual Leviathan. From when you were a vampire”

I feel the eyes of my entire class on us, and Professor Gabriel looks around at them before answering.

“Yes” He says, quite plainly. “I did see one a long time ago”

That is outstanding! He is probably the oldest living creature on the planet!

The rest of the class has a similar reaction to this information as I do. We are all completely astonished.

“I understand this is unexpected for all of you, but I cannot lie” He continues. “Especially when Miss Alana posed such a direct question”

I am about to ask how he met the Leviathan and if it could have been Amelia’s mate but there is a sudden knock on the class’s door and Professor Gabriel turns to allow whoever it is to enter.

Surprisingly, it is Nurse Aileen, and she scans the room before her eyes land on me.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your class, Professor Gabriel” She says, politely. “But I need to borrow your student, Miss Alana”

“Of course” Professor Gabriel says, almost instantly. “She is free to leave”

I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to ask any more questions but also quite intrigued as to why Nurse Aileen needs my help so urgently to interrupt classes.