Chapter 34: Unexpected
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"Rolling from Kadic Academy's gymnasium, we bring to you live news, gossips, rumours and all the trash that keeps this school going. This is Morgan Daley reporting your every weekend news, The Kadic Times, because we give you what's hot and what's not. Coming from the latest buzz in the corridors, early birds have signalled a strange occurance right outside the girls' dormitory. Yes, you've seen it, gals. And for you, boys, who's still dense about it, there is a fifty foot tall tower situated right beside the clock tower," the camera moved over to the deadly-looking concrete building.

"And also, our dearest ancient fifty-six-year-old clock tower has been battered to shabbles overnight, tearing off the analog clock and crashed to the ground. Police will be coming over soon to investigate these speculations. Reports and evidence portrayed teenage violation as responsible for this act. Though we are not certain to what the other tower means, but damages to school properties will not go unseen. Receiving this report, here we have Shaniqua Kale, who was the first one who had informed us about this event late last night, while the crowds of the academy were still enjoying the time of their lives during the celebration party. Shaniqua, what exactly did you see last night?"

"It's kinda hard to say but I was trying to get some fresh air when I heard strange noises coming from the girls' dormitory. But as I went there, I saw Jason, Tiadora, Kiara, Cornelia and four other weird strangers also. And those outsiders tried to shoot at me! It was so terrifying! Then Jason came just in time when I passed out, and the next thing I knew I was back in my room. I didn't know where that tower came from. When I came it was already there," Shaniqua said as she pointed towards the tower which was now under the Saturday morning Sun.

"In one perspective, it may seem that the uninvited guests last night were hooligans who might have came to crash the party but the ever-so-brave soccer captain was there to save us," Reporter Morgan squealed in delight with that last phrase and then concentrated back on the camera, "Next, I'll pass over the microphone to Himawari who will dig up more juices about your very own favourite section of Kadic Times' daily news: The Couple Section!!"

"Thank you, Morgan," a girl named Himawari appeared on screen, "Here I am, at the newly furnished Rec Room where it once stood one of our three computer labs which will opened next week Tuesday, where students are able to relax, chill, play pool or board games and also skip classes. Now we're going to move on to the Couple Section! This is where we tell you the even and uneven balance that fate can get. So viewers, in today's buzz, get ready to get your hearts broken because our major hot King of Jock is also included!!"

The screen changed to a picture of a brown-haired boy in thick black spectacles laughing alongside another girl with glasses together at one of the library tables. "Nerd love! Finally, the academy's Einstein has been rumoured to have been going out with a certain Zoey Jackson from 9C on numerous 'study' dates. Rumours are buzzing whether or not he's still virgin. Teehee. Onto a newly favoured couple, shall we? A certain Ulrich Princeton has stolen the heart of volleyball professional, Cornelia Lily Kingston," the picture on the screen changed to a scene at the nearby beach beside the academy where both Cornelia and Ulrich are seen playing in the shore, splashing water at one another. "This picture was taken on Monday's sixth period and it seems to me that they were having a ball of a time playing with one another. Now rumour has it that the Princetom family owns huge organizations in producing oil. Well, looks like royalty and loyalty comes in act together as now we have to well-off families, the Kingstons and the Princeton.”

“However, another set of rumours from the minor portion reveals that he was supposed to be applying for an academy in Las Vegas called Phoenix Academy but changed last minute due to several personal matters,” the screen flashed back to the girl with short black hair. Himawari gripped onto her microphone and squealed again into the camera, “But nothing’s going to be as irresistible as what I am going to reveal to you next!”

This time, it wasn’t just a picture which broadcast on the screen, but a slideshow. Pictures seem to be appearing continuously, depicting different scenes, but all in all, and the same two people in them. And finally, the slides stopped at a picture where the described couple was holding hands, laughing. “Yes, girls! This time, it is not just rumours but facts that our soccer captain has finally gotten himself a girl! After the incredible duo enrolled into Kadic Academy last year, Jason Theodore Kingston has always been single. Although there were many potential ‘candidates’ for this hot jock to choose from, he would always reject us with his simple and sweet ‘I’m not interested in love’ excuse. And as you can see, it is none other than also one of the new exchange students, Tiadora Sanders, who is also known as Kiara’s ‘long lost sister’.”

“As many of you have wondered, Tiadora looks like the exact duplicate of co-star cheerleading captain, Sally Galili. It is like as if Tiadora is supposed to be Sally’s long lost twin, don’t you think? However, every twin isn’t the same. Cheerleading captain, Sally, has straight pink shoulder-length hair with a sexy attitude to match. And as many of you would know, is supposed to be the ‘compatible match’ for Jason. But as many days passed, poor Sally was also left with just a ‘no’ for an answer,” the television featured Jason smiling at Tiadora. “In the end, ironically, he ended up with someone who looks like one of the ‘rejects’. After interviewing many, we have concluded that besides difference in appearance. Long brown wavy-haired beauty, Tiadora, is known to be a rather kinder and much more of an innocent person than Sally herself. Also…” Cornelia switched off her brother’s plasma screen television, folded her arms and sighed at Jason who was lying down on his opulent bed.

“I was watching that,” Jason huffed, pushing aside the soccer ball on the floor hitting Kiara’s head as she was seated on his floor mat instead, “you already had your turn.”

“Ulrich and I are just friends, Jason. Bloody reporters,” Cornelia explained, switching off the main power from the behind of the television, “What are we going to do? Tiadora’s at work, David’s isolated in some strange freak-like tower which has drawn to the police’s attention and we are ordered not to get out of our rooms since Mdm. Marinda is in actual fact, Cyrus, the pure-blood bitch who had bitten David into a blood-thirsty vampire who had actually attempted to kill all of us last night. Doesn’t that freak you out? You look so bloody calm.”

“Don’t jump into conclusions like that, sis. Staying in here might as well be the only refuge we have against the villains who are still hiding under their masks. Tiadora said that we’ll deal with David when she gets back, remember?” Jason rebutted and ruffled Kiara’s neat ponytail, “Plus, the one who should be freaked out is Kiara.”

Kiara didn’t meet Jason’s teasing gaze and, instead tried to recall what she had said to Tiadora last night about what had happened. David had pounced on her when she had finally realized that he was a vampire and had somehow fogged her mind that made her faint. He was referring to himself at the studio. David was the one who bit me. Kiara guessed, rubbing the now-clear scar on her neck and glanced towards Jason’s study desk. Both Mokona and Gaia, in their miniature form, of course, were still asleep even though it was 10 am in the morning. Kiara remembered the two sacred animals waiting for them in Cornelia’s room, playing chess, and Mokona was so traumatized about what had happened to David that it fainted on the spot.

“Can’t you telepathically talk to David?” Kiara randomly suggested.

“Your childhood playmate doesn’t seem to be replying back,” Cornelia scoffed, leaning against Jason’s cupboard, “Or it must have been a bad reception.”

“Then you, Jason. Can’t you teleport into the tower and get him out of there?” Kiara asked, fishing out ideas.

“I am not fully trained in using that ability yet, and if I mess up, it would be disastrous. Plus, Tiadora told us to give David some time of his own,” Jason exclaimed, trying to reach for his fallen soccer ball, “His carvings for blood needs to be calmed down, before we can comfort him. Or else, we’ll be his meal.”

“But.. But what if he needs the blood to survive? And what if he’s suffering in silence because he lacks of blood? What if he dies?” Kiara was on the verge of tears, worrying so much for David. Jason and Cornelia didn’t know what to do either. All they could do was to wait for Tiadora.

☆

Ms Hermoine poured the steaming hot light brown coffee into a plain pink mug and walked out of her tiny room outside the huge garage of flowers. Her clogs chattered clamorously making sure of her existence in the storage room. When she came to the main room where the counter was, old Ms Hermoine found her young worker slouched over the table, sleeping. She stroked the girl’s long brown wavy hair and smiled, until the girl suddenly jolt up from her slumber and stared at her employer behind her. “Ms. Hermoine?” Tiadora yelped, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t be sleeping.”

“Yes. It’s no good sleeping on the job,” Ms. Hermoine placed the heated mug in front of Tiadora and reached out for a small sling bag. “Drink this and it’ll make you awake. I’ll be out for a while. I’m going to write my will.”

“A will?”

“A legal document with instructions for the disposal of my properties after I die,” Ms. Hermoine explained as she headed for the glass door, turning away from the counter.

Tiadora shot up from her seat when she heard that. “You mean, you can tell when you’re going to ‘move on’?”

Ms. Hermoine stopped in her footsteps and glanced back at the unknown princess. “I’m already old, Tiadora. That’s the only indication I need,” she breathed, and the door shut behind, leaving Tiadora alone.

Tiadora stared at the pink mug, analyzing the strange thick brown liquid in it. She slowly brought it close to her lips and drew in a sip of the drink. And immediately spat it back out into the cup. “Eew. Gross. What is this?” she grimaced, lifting the cup and strolled back towards Ms. Hermoine’s living room which was situated right behind the storage room of flowers. The door was left ajar as Tiadora pushed her way through and placed the cup at a nearby short table. “I wonder if Ms. Hermoine doesn’t mind if I were to look at the paintings beside the staircase,” she thought aloud and headed to the stairway anyway.

When she was there before, Tiadora recalled seeing the magnificent masterpieces on those walls. Her footsteps brought her to another door at the corner, much more ancient than the one outside, and turned the rusty knob to reveal the flight of stairs which lead to Ms. Hermoine’s bedroom. The first on her right was a fine picture of a woman in black, smiling with her hands on her lap like a preem lady. Tiadora stared at the tag below and it read ‘Mona Lisa’. “Wow,” Tiadora commented, “Some name.”

Slowly, as she walked up step by step, a cracking sound echoed in the narrow dim corridor. Tiadora took another step and the sound crept even louder. All of a sudden, she felt the wood beneath her feet break, letting gravity took over. Tiadora had no time to react and fell into the tainted darkness below. She couldn’t see a thing and her butt hurt. Her fingers traced against what seemed to feel like a railing and brought herself up to her feet while her eyes tried adjusting. Barrels. She made out barrels at the far end corner of a seemingly small room, and also a short rectangular box beside them. There was at least twenty that Tiadora could count, she wasn’t sure.

She lifted her right hand and made a little small light to glow against her palm. Carefully, the tiny sphere floated to the middle of the ceiling and glowed even brighter and more luminous till it lit up the entire room. But what she saw made her stagger. In the small enclosed dusty area were bottles that reminded her of potions from her kingdom, stacked up in rows of metal shelves, and she was gripping onto one of them. Strange enough, every single bottle was filled with a dark crimson colour with a small golden ball floating in its murky contents. That’s when it ticked her. “Vampire Syrup?!” she gasped, holding a bottle close to her face to look at closer at the golden sphere inside the red fluid. On its clear smooth royal yellow surface, was a symbol.

A naked silhouette of a woman with her extremely long silky hair almost enveloping her body was embed on it. Tiadora scratched her head, trying to recall its history and finally snapped her fingers. Nyx, that was the name. The vampires call her their god. That’s what Tiadora had remembered reading from its history books when she was back in Anastasia. She placed back the bottle and wondered, “What are all of these potions doing here in the 21st Century? They must have been preserved.”

Tiadora scanned her eyes to the corner where the rows of shelves ended. The ‘rectangular box’, was in fact, a mini-fridge, smaller to the one from her dorm room. The barrels were another shock factor. Transparent, they were, but also filled with the same shade of red liquid, without the sphere inside. Each was huge, up till the height of her knee. She unscrewed the red knob at the top of one, and sniffed in. The sensation tickled her nerves. It was exactly as what she had expected. “It…it can’t be…” Tiadora gasped, screwing back the knob, “This is blood.”

“Every single one of these barrels… Blood…” Tiadora had a hard time realizing. What are they doing here? Why are they here? She did a roll count again, and she was right. Twenty transparent barrels lie on the floor. Thinking quick, Tiadora opened up the refrigerator and inside were again the bottles of Vampire Syrup. David. David will need them. Oh, why did he turn into a vampire without telling anyone of us? Tiadora frowned at the thought, closed her eyes, and called.

Cornelia, it’s me, Tiadora, Tiadora imagined her mind shouting out to Cornelia.

Yup? The bubbly voice shouted back.

Listen, I’m going to give you several instructions, and I want you to follow them very carefully, Tiadora explained telepathically. Tell Jason to get to the flower shop fast. I want you and Kiara to get David out of the tower.

What?! How are we supposed to do that?

Get Mokona and Gaia to help. Use everything, and stay hidden. I don’t want people seeing you two bashing the tower open.

Why must Jason come over to the flower shop?

Listen, it doesn’t matter. I need him to teleport something, Tiadora suddenly grew inpatient. Hear me out. There are two possible scenarios that could occur once you make an opening at the tower.

And what would that be?

The first, is either you will see David unconscious. That will make your jobs way easier. Drag him to either one of your rooms. No one must see David, and…

Wait! But won’t David like…burn to ashes once he hits the Sun?

What are you talking about, Cornelia?

I mean, I’ve seen in stories that vampires burn into ashes...

That is fictional! Then how would you explain Mdm. Marinda’s exposure to sunlight?!

Alright. Alright. Calm down. Sheesh, even I can sense that you’re irritated without looking at you.

Whatever. Look, once you bring him to a room, place a pillow on his face. And don’t worry, David won’t suffocate or anything like those shows that I see in the telly.

You sure?

Positive. However, if David is awake, that might be dangerous.

In dangerous, you mean like he might suck our bloods?

No, no. Shush! No questions! I want you and Kiara to combine your powers and freeze him. Then bring him to the room. Mokona, has some special tricks that I’m not sure off. But she has them. Ask Mokona for help.

Uhh, okay. Jason has already gone by the way.

How? But Tiadora didn’t need an answer as after a micro-second, something had fallen on her, sending her crashing to the floor. Luckily her hands were in front of her, so her face didn’t hit the ground.

“Tia?” the familiar deep voice called as the weight lifted away from Tiadora’s back. A hand outstretched from behind, as she took it to let her stand up. Jason stood there, smiling sheepishly, obviously regretting what happened. “I’m so sorry! I tried the teleporting stuff that you told me and all of a sudden, I landed here.”

“What did you think off while teleporting?” Tiadora frowned, brushing off the dirt of her white dress.

“You?” he admitted, “Where are we? Aren’t I supposed to be at the flower shop?”. Tiadora sighed at him and walked past him, towards the barrels.

“I’ve accidentally discovered an underground basement right below Ms. Hermoine’s staircase. It’s filled with the necessities for a vampire.”

“Does Ms. Hermoine know about this? Where is she?”

“Writing something outside, I don’t know. But I have a feeling that she doesn’t know, unless she’s hiding it from something or someone. Anyway,” Tiadora lead Jason closer to the barrels. “You think you can teleport all of these to an unused room? Is that possible?”

“An empty unused room?” Jason pondered over, and snapped his fingers, “I got it! The field!”

Tiadora raised an eyebrow, picturing the same football field which she saw him playing the championships on yesterday evening. “No, not the field. Remember the steps that you sat on when you watch me play? Yeah, there’s a room underneath it, but the door’s always closed, and nobody knows where the key is.”

“Perfect,” Tiadora exclaimed, “All the more reasons that people will not be able to find it or open it. Hurry, transport these there.”

“Eh…but…” Jason stammered. Jason never stammers. “I do not know how the room looks like. I mean, I’ve only been here ever since last year Summer, so I don’t really know how these places look like.”

Tiadora took some bottles and placed them on top of the barrels while hearing Jason. “Then how did you know about it?”

Jason chuckled, “If you’re me, you’d know almost everything that revolves around the school. I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere.”

“It’s that how you know David and Kiara then?” Tiadora almost slammed the bottles in anger that Jason didn’t know, when there was supposed to be a full plan ahead. “I mean, they are 365 days younger than you. And due to the stupid black telly in the room, I’m starting to know more about your kind of time, and these kinds of things don’t happen.”

“What? You mean, my friendship between me and David?”

“Yes,” Tiadora continued, shipping the perfume-like bottles from the shelves to the barrels, “You’re supposed to be like those type of people who are more popular to the crowd whereas David isn’t? Am I right?”

“It’s the cheerleaders’ fault, not mine.”

“But you’re one of those who condemns him, just as similar as the rest, which makes no difference,” Tiadora stopped and turned into a serious expression, “You have two friends of different perspectives, and you treat one indifferently in front of the other. It is a no wonder that David doesn’t take you as a good friend seriously.”

“If you are truly his friend, then tell me, what have you done as a friend to him in this one year?” Tiadora sighed.

Jason was lost. He didn’t have the answer. He wanted to fight back, but she was right. “How do you get to know David?” Tiadora walked in front of him till they were only centimeters away, “I want to know the full story.”

“From Kiara.”

“Then how do you know Kiara?”

“From Ian…” Jason stared to the floor, his head down as if ashamed, “Kiara was Ian ex-girlfriend. And I’ve known Ian since I was ten.”

Tiadora folded her arms and stared through his blond fringe, waiting. “As you would know, almost every school population is split into various types of people. And those who are cheerleaders or athletes get the ‘special’ type of attention that everyone wants to get. When I got transferred here with Cornelia, Kiara was only ‘popular’ because she was Ian’s mate at that time. Ian told me almost everything. Even Sally added a few more gossips into it. So I approached Kiara, I mean, we always sat at the same table with the rest but I didn’t really get to know her. Soon, she told me of David, and I couldn’t help but ask Ian about it. And then, there was this dare.

“I was supposed to sabotage him, to make him look bad. I regret doing whatever I did. I’ll spare you the trauma. That’s when I felt bad, and apologized to him, wanting to make up to him. I and David are friends, but, I guess, we’re not that familiar,” Jason breathed. “That’s why, I do not know how to react when I with both Ian and David. It’s confusing sometimes. Please don’t be mad at me. I don’t want to anger you either.”

Tiadora slit her fingers into his, and leaned closer. “I’m not angry. But I just want you to change your behaviour towards him when your other friends are around. Alright?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Jason smiled and did a salute stance.

“Oh and…” Tiadora blushed and this time, it was her turn to look down. “I love you too.”

“For a moment, I thought you actually had a crush on David.”

“Stupid,” Tiadora giggled, as Jason caressed her cheek, running his fingers through her hair and move his head closer to her face. He chuckled again and plastered a kiss on Tiadora’s lips.

Chapter 33: Monochrome Factor
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"And... Checkmate!"

"No way!" Gaia squeaked in its zebra-voice, "You cheated! My bishop was diagonally in front of your knight! It should have been killed already! You moved the piece!"

"C'mon, Gaia. Don't be such a sour-puss," Mokona patted the black-king piece on the chessboard, "Just admit that you're suck at chess more than I do."
The little keychain zebra folded its tiny arms in disagreement, sticking its tongue out at Mokona, acting like little kids. It leaped from the wheeled-chair and hoped on the mattress, burying its head in the soft pillow. The only two sacred animals were stuck in Cornelia's room, having not a clue on what to do when their guardians were busy with their everyday school lives, and this time, Mokona remembered, David had passed her to Cornelia to keep Gaia company. But it was quite strange, Mokona thought. David had given her to Cornelia because he said that he was heading to the party too, but he had gone in the opposite direction.

Mokona pouted, devastated. David seldom came to his room, unless it's for reading or sleeping. He had played with Mokona one or two times, but Mokona thought that it was still not enough. She missed Sir Galahad, whom which had showered her with much tender-loving care, bringing her everywhere, instead of being cooped up in a room. Mokona climbed up onto Cornelia's desk and reached for the big red tin at the far end. It was easy to open the metal lit and dig in for some 'Heart' biscuits that David had left for her in Cornelia's room. It then plopped down on the wheeled-chair and saw Gaia sniffing the air. “What’s wrong?” Mokona took a bite from the pink biscuit.

“The Air,” Gaia rubbed its nose and sniffed again, “It’s polluted.”

“The 21st Century is corrupted, remember?” Mokona carefully picked up the crumbs that littered the desk. “All these stupid technology stuff that’s buzzing about. With the grey smoke fogging off this huge tube that I saw in the telly.”

“It’s television.”

“Oh yeah,” Mokona pouted and took another biscuit from the tin, “Hey, do you think Excalibur and Dakota will be coming? I mean, what are they waiting for? The guardians are still at a mediocre level, and it’d be good if they’d come.”

Gaia replaced back the chess pieces to its original position before answering, “Excalibur said that he wants to observe the guardian first. He says that this way, he will be able to adjust quickly once he has joined the guardian of Water and know her weaknesses thus preparing. But normally Sir Arthur will do the teachings. So Excalibur has to do the opposite and teach her Sir Arthur’s skills instead. I have a feeling that he will join us very soon.”

“And so that leaves Dakota,” Mokona rubbed its little paws together and joined back at the opposite seat from Gaia at the chess table, “I have doubts that he will come.”

“Yes,” Gaia responded, “The boy seems to have a different aura from the rest. Quite similar to Sir Lancelot, that is why I have my uncomfortable vibes around him.”

“Me too!! When David let Jason hold onto me during their training, it was like as if he sent painful sparks into my puny body and it hurt so much!” Mokona said as it pinched its white belly, “Dakota is much wiser than all of us. If he were to come, he’d be risking the tortures that Sir Lancelot has bestowed him, and that’d be most unwise.”

“That may be true, Mokona,” Gaia sighed its tiny female squeaky voice, “However, it is not necessary that a descendant were to follow the footsteps of his ancestor.” Gaia said as she began moving her knight to the front killing off Mokona’s bishop. Suddenly, its head shot up high as Gaia sniffed the air again. This time, Gaia panted in panic. “The air again?” Mokona asked.

“This is serious, Mokona,” Gaia puffed out a cloud of air, “Blood. I can smell blood in the air being spilled.”

★

Cornelia pressed against her wound made by David. It was bleeding quite badly as it was a long line stretched across her shoulder. Once Cyrus had uttered those words, David was on full mode, Cornelia recalled. He made no hesitation or reluctance to the situation and just bounce off into attacking them. It was so fast that no had time to react. David drove in with lightning speed towards them, outstretched his hand and immediately, his fingers grew long, sharp and silver. And once he was just a few feet away, he striked with his extended metallic arm at them. Missed Jason and Tiadora, but Cornelia got hit at her shoulder. Without a moment to lose, he jumped right at them, unleashing hell. Tiadora pushed Jason aside and shielded with her silver band when the blow came in. Zing! The metals scratched against each other.

Tiadora thought fast and kicked David in the stomach and blasted, with left hand, at him. The deafening blow threw him off guard and to the ground. He staggered up and bared his fangs at her, hissing roughly as his eyes glowed with red intensity. Suddenly, he pushed his long fingers into the ground and his whole arm glowed bright yellow into it. All of a sudden, the ground exploded, splitting it in half and rumbling through an earthquake. The crack spread all the way to Tiadora. She felt the ground separate beneath her, and lost her footing. "Tia!!" Jason yelled, grabbing hold of her hand. The endless dark depths below her seem endless. Tiadora tried to grip onto a rock but it slipped into sand when she held it. "He's using Earth against us," Tiadora exclaimed, as Jason struggled to pull her out, "If it's conjured with his vampire abilities as well, it'll be disastrous."

"Well, so how do we attack a vampire then?" Jason asked, "He's still David."
"GAAAAAAAAAHH!!" David howled and stared at them both. His eyes suddenly glowed a lighter red as if commanding, and all of a sudden, Jason felt a jab plunged through his shoulder. The pain exploded, and Jason could feel his bones shattering inside. His grip on Tiadora tightened, not sure if he still had the strength. "Jason, what's wrong?!" Tiadora saw it through his face.

"David... He dislocated my right shoulder from the right arm bone. Don't worry. I'm not going to let you go," Jason bravely said, as both noticed that it was his right hand that was holding onto Tiadora, who was still at the edge of darkness.

"What?! Let me go, Jason! My weight will tear your arm at this rate!"

A laugh cracked among Xana's apprentices. Cyrus was the loudest. "Such dignity, Princess! Honestly, the descendants are not as indifferent as the knights, don't you agree?" she cursed and floated in the air, "David, what are you waiting for?! Kill them, like you did to the Guardian of Water!"

By those last three words, Jason could see David staggered back and suddenly gasping. Cornelia came forward and helped Jason haul Tiadora out. Jason clutched his joint, trying the feel the Sapphire Crimson in him. "Talk to him," Tiadora spoke as she touched Jason's shoulder gently, trying to heal it too, "David still has his humanity and has not turned into a Level E yet. If we can get some sense into him, he will be able to control himself to not kill us."

"What about Kiara?" Cornelia nudged, "Is she really dead?"

"No. She's just fainted... I hope..." Tiadora wondered aloud.

"Ooi, Dave. Not looking so hot now, ain't ya?" Jason stepped out of the row and boldly stood slightly closer to David, "Eh, those red eyes don't match you at all, dude. Seriously, how are you gonna attract the ladies?"

"Jason! Don't intimate him! You're making him want to kill us more!" Cornelia punched his affected shoulder, making him loose focus slightly. "I think the best way," Tiadora held onto his other shoulder this time, "is for him to remember his 'happy' moments."
"But the only one who knows David very well inside-out is Kiara whom apparently is still unconscious at the moment," Jason said, spotting Kiara on the floor diagonally behind David. And before they knew it, David leaped three storeys into the air and unleashed a huge yellow boomerang-shape blast down towards them. All three separated but the blast was long and spread all the way to the girls' dormitory, crashing several windows. Jason got up and charged his right hand, forming a smooth red metal blade in his palm. He placed his left hand onto the grip and released the 'strength' energy into the sword, making flames lick the long blade.

Without hesitation, Jason charged towards David the moment he landed back on the ground. But David was much faster. He noticed Jason moving more in slow motion rather than charging, and, too, formed a sword in his hand, ready for Jason's attack. In a split second, their swords interlocked, scraping their metallic blades with mini sparks. David released and did a forward blow trying to swing his blade from above. Jason had to keep dodging from his head as defence, and he didn't had a chance for offence. Tiadora and Cornelia sneaked up to Kiara's side, trying to wake her up. Her skin was pale white and cold once Tiadora gripped her hand, trying to heal her too. Instantly, the normal colours flowed back into Kiara's face and her hand tightened against Tiadora's. "Tiadora?" Kiara managed to only whisper her words, "Where's David?"

"Oh don't worry he's over there trying to kill off my brother. Nothing special," Cornelia sarcastically commented at the same moment that Jason fell to the ground beside them. He held his sword again just in time when David swung his blade down to Jason and pushed it down deeper. The sword came down easily, trying to break through Jason's red blade. Struggling, he tried to maintain it but David's sword came closer and closer, and eventually near his neck. Cornelia panicked and blasted at David with her left hand, sending him crashing at the damaged clock tower. "Argh," Jason moaned, tossing his sword away. Cornelia came to his side and saw blood dripping off a long thin line of blood stretched across his neck. "His sword scratched against my neck when you blew him off," Jason said, rubbing the line and staring blankly at Cornelia.

"Oh god, Jason! I'm so sorry!! I didn't..." she stopped halfway when she saw the line glowed light blue and small crystals jutted out of the wound, acting like blood clot. Finally, it sealed the scratch like as if it wasn't there at all. "What the..."

"Don't worry about it. I have the Sapphire Crimson inside of me, remember?" Jason smiled and turned his gaze to Kiara who had looked confused, "Kiry, you're alive? Or are we all dead?"

"Jason, you nin-ka-poop!! I'm going to help David kill you too," Kiara finally gathered the strength back to tease.

"Speaking of which, he's coming back for more!!" Cornelia shouted, pointing to the debris of the analog clock. Everyone could see David emerging from them with his left hand twisted one hundred and eighty degrees its original position. He re-twisted it back with the bones echoing the cracks. "David, listen to me. What do you think you are doing?" Kiara shouted as she stood up among everyone, "Why did you let that crazed old hag bite you?"

"Cyrus' words are law," David muttered again after he made eye contact with Kiara, "Kill the guardians."

"Hey David, do you remember that day? Oh what day was it... Remember, November eleventh? When we were only ten?" Kiara put her hands forward with sad eyes and reached for something in her jeans pocket. "Remember that you somewhat 'propose' to me on that day? We didn't know what it meant until my dad found out. I still kept the ring. It's one of those rings where you suck the sweet and, poof, a toy is attached to it. Remember? You got one with the diamond shape on it and gave it to me."

"Silence, human! Cyrus' words are law!" David hissed and phased another sword in his left hands, making two. He kneeled slightly, pushed himself forward towards Kiara and held his swords at her, swinging it from her left.

At first, everything seemed to pause for a micro-second. One moment, Kiara knew that David's sword was going to smoothly slice her neck as she could feel the strong sharp pressure pressing against her veins through her skin, and the next thing she knew, was that everything froze in motion. The blade was still stuck in place there, with David at his awkward position, left leg bent forward and right straight to secure his posture with his left hand outstretched to her neck. "Ki..a..ra, for..give me.." David's eyes softened from his hardened face, and he immediately dropped both his swords, staggered backwards from Kiara. He then brought his hands to his face and arched his back, screaming, "AAAARRGGHH!!"

And immediately, yellow glow formed on the ground, circling around David's weak self. Automatically, a tower erupted from the ground around David to about three storeys higher than the clock tower, sealing it tight at its brim. A thought flashed through Tiadora's mind, he's shielding himself from attacking us! And before anyone could react, somebody from the side gasped. Everyone directed their attention towards Shaniqua. The two ponytailed-blondie seemed surprised and shocked by the whole situation. She stared at Jason first, then to the others, followed by the weirdly-dressed strangers standing at the far end near the damaged clock tower and then to the earthly greyish tower beside it. "Jay, what's going on?" Shaniqua exclaimed, "I didn't know that there was another tower beside the clock tower."

"Shaniqua, get out of her!" Cornelia yelled when she saw Artemis forming a gun beside him, and then aimed for Shaniqua. Once she realised, she let out a tiny squeal and quickly ran behind the pillar when he finally fired the gun. The bullet grazed against the cream-coloured pillar, missing its target. Everyone turned to Artemis, waiting for his reaction, but then Cyrus took him by the collar and seethed, "What do you think you were doing?!"

"Controlling the situation," Artemis hissed back and pulled her skinny white hands off. Then, before Tiadora and the gang could stop them, the villains began to phase, turning translucent and eventually disappeared into thin air. Jason ran off towards the pillar while Kiara broke down to her knees as Cornelia comforted her. Tiadora just stood there analysing. The night gave way to its darkness, and without even knowing the time, she knew that it was already past midnight. He doesn't want magic to be exposed? Then, what is Xana up to? Tiadora thought deeply. She kneeled down to Kiara and patted her softly, “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here now, Kiara.”

“What?!” Kiara’s eyes were swollen red and terrified, “What about David? Aren’t we going to get him out of there?”

“Kiara, understand the situation!” Tiadora gripped her by the collar the same way Cyrus did to Artemis, “David is a vampire. The sound of that fired gun will send students coming here, curious to see what happened. Sorry, scratch that, they’re not just students but humans! If we were to save David now, your classmates will see us and our magic will be exposed. Plus, even if we got him out with them as the audience, how do you think David will react with all of them?! They are humans and so are we! David won’t have the mind to control himself just yet, Kiara. He is doing both us and himself a favour. Leave him there to calm down for the rest of the night!”

“But…But what if Cyrus took him away? I mean, can’t she go through walls or something?” Kiara cracked by her broken unstable voice.

“No, I don’t believe so,” Tiadora pulled Kiara up to her feet while Cornelia handed to her a tissue, “But what I know is that if we do not get out of here, it’ll just make the situation even worst.”

Kiara nodded and managed to bring herself to walk back to the corridor. Jason came form behind the pillar and Shaniqua was there lying down beside it, unconscious. “She’s asleep. I don’t think she saw the fighting scenes, if not, she would have screamed.”

“Leave her there. If not, she’ll wonder how she managed to sleepwalk all the way to her room,” Cornelia suggested, looking at Shaniqua’s slim figure.

And when the dim-lighted corridor was filled with the empty noises of buzzing students, the guardians were already no where in sight.