Chapter 12
The knock came again.
Not hesitant this time. Not uncertain.
Firm.
Deliberate.
Inside the dorm room, Kaela's heart began to pound, each beat louder than the last as if her body already knew something her mind hadn't caught up to yet. Lila and Jade exchanged quick glances, but neither of them moved immediately. The tension in the air was thick, pressing, like something important was about to unfold.
"I'll get it," Kaela said, though her voice wasn't as steady as she wanted it to be.
She walked toward the door, each step heavier than the last, and when she opened it
Edwin stood there.
But not the Edwin she was used to.
There was no softness in his eyes tonight. No quiet patience, no careful distance. What stood in front of her now was something sharper, more intense like a man who had run out of time to pretend.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
There was no greeting. No smile.
Just urgency.
Kaela hesitated, her fingers tightening slightly around the door handle, but something in his expression made it hard to refuse.
"…Outside," she said.
The hallway was quiet, the faint hum of distant conversations barely reaching them. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Kaela crossed her arms, more out of instinct than comfort, watching him carefully.
"What is it?" she asked. "You've been acting strange all day."
Edwin didn't answer immediately. His gaze stayed on her, searching, almost desperate, like he was trying to memorize her before something changed.
Then finally, he spoke.
"I care about you."
The words landed between them with unexpected weight.
Kaela blinked, caught off guard. "What?"
"I mean it," he continued, his voice steady but carrying something deeper underneath. "I like you. I've liked you for a while now."
For a second, everything slowed.
This wasn't what she expected.
Not now.
Not like this.
"Edwin…" she began carefully, already searching for the right words, "you're important to me, but..."
"He's using you."
The sentence cut through her response like a blade.
Her expression hardened instantly.
"Excuse me?"
"Professor Ryker," Edwin said, his jaw tightening. "You don't know who he really is."
Kaela let out a short, incredulous laugh, though there was no humor in it. "And you do?"
"Yes."
The certainty in his voice made her pause.
"How?" she demanded.
Edwin took a slow breath, as if bracing himself for what came next.
"Because he's my uncle."
The world seemed to tilt slightly.
Kaela stared at him.
"…What?"
"I know him," Edwin continued, quieter now but no less intense. "I know what he is, what he's capable of. And you need to understand that you're not safe around him."
Her head shook immediately, instinctively rejecting everything he was saying. "This is insane."
"It's the truth."
"No, it's not," she snapped, stepping back. "You're just saying things because you're..."
"Because I care about you!" he cut in.
Silence followed.
Heavy. Pressing.
Kaela swallowed, her heart racing for reasons she couldn't explain.
"…Then prove it," she said finally.
Edwin held her gaze for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"Come with me."
The shift didn't feel like movement.
It felt like reality itself had been torn apart and stitched back together wrong.
One moment, Kaela stood beneath the dim hallway lights.
The next
The air changed.
Cold wrapped around her skin, sharp and biting, stealing the warmth from her body in an instant. The ground beneath her feet was no longer smooth tile but rough stone, ancient and unyielding. The silence here was deeper, heavier, filled with something that made her chest tighten without explanation.
Her breath hitched.
"Where are we…?"
Edwin turned to her, his expression calmer now, almost resigned.
"This is where we come from."
Kaela looked around, her pulse racing. The space was vast, shadowed, lit only by flickering flames that cast shifting patterns across dark walls.
"This isn't real…"
"It is."
She shook her head, backing away. "No. No, this is some kind of trick."
"It's not a trick, Kaela."
His voice didn't rise. It didn't need to.
Something in it made her stop.
Then
His eyes changed.
It was subtle.
But unmistakable.
A flicker of something unnatural passed through them, something ancient and inhuman, and Kaela felt fear grip her chest like a vice.
"…What are you?" she whispered.
Edwin didn't hesitate this time.
"I'm a vampire."
The word echoed in her mind, loud and impossible.
Her body reacted instantly, stepping back, her breathing quickening as fear flooded her senses.
"No…"
"I won't hurt you," he said quickly, raising his hands slightly in reassurance. "We're not what you think. We don't hunt people like monsters, that's only in stories or movies. We survive differently. We have rules."
Her head shook, tears already threatening to form. "Stop… just stop…"
"My uncle," he continued carefully, "he's one too."
The world cracked.
Kaela's stomach dropped.
"No."
"He didn't tell you, did he?" Edwin's voice softened, but there was bitterness beneath it. "He kept it from you. Lied to you."
Her chest tightened painfully.
Ryker.
The man she trusted.
The man she
"No," she whispered again, but this time it sounded weaker. "You're lying…"
"I'm not," Edwin said. "And I'm going to show you."
The dungeon was worse.
Darker. Colder.
There was something suffocating about it, something that made Kaela want to turn around and run, but her feet felt rooted to the ground.
Then she saw him.
Ryker, in the distance.
He stood in the dim light, still and composed, but something about him was different. The calm she knew was gone, replaced by something sharper, something more dangerous that made the air itself feel tense.
He looked… powerful.
Terrifyingly so, and then in front of him were three men or vampires she didn't know at this point but they were kneeling and begging, their sons could be heard inbetween their words asking Ryker for mercy as though he were a god, but there was no humanity registered in his eyes.
Within seconds he snapped the throat of one of the men and through his head into a burning fireplace, and sank his elongated fangs into his headless body and drank his blood, he was about to do same to the next man, but after witnessing the first horror , she couldn't bear it anymore and called out his name.
"Ryker!!…?" her voice trembled.
He turned.
And for the first time since she had met him
Shock crossed his face.
"Kaela." he said as he moved with the speed of lightening and appeared in front of her, attempting to cup her face, but she steps back in fear, convering her mouth, tears spilling over now.
"What is this…? What are you…?"
Edwin stepped forward. "This is who he really is."
Ryker's gaze snapped to him, dark and lethal. "Why the fuck did you bring her here?."
"She deserves the truth."
Kaela stepped back, shaking. "You lied to me…"
"Kaela... it's not like that.." Ryker wanted to explain
"Don't!" she cried, her voice breaking.
Edwin reached for her, before Ryker could get closer, but before he could pull her away, the air shifted violently.
He was lifted off the ground.
An invisible force wrapped around him, tightening, holding him suspended mid-air as he struggled against it.
Kaela gasped. "Edwin!"
Ryker didn't move.
Didn't blink.
His expression had gone cold completely, terrifyingly cold.
"You overstepped," he said quietly.
Edwin strained, his voice tight with effort. "She deserves to know what you are!"
"Please stop!" Kaela cried, her panic rising. "You're hurting him!"
Still Ryker didn't move.
Fear twisted inside her, turning into something sharper.
Something louder.
"You're a monster!"
The words rang out.
And everything stopped.
The force vanished.
Edwin dropped to the ground, gasping, while Ryker remained standing exactly where he was.
But something had changed.
Something in his expression.
Something broken.
"…You hate me?" he asked, his voice quieter now.
Kaela couldn't answer.
Her tears said enough.
Edwin pushed himself up, grabbing her hand. "We need to go."
This time, Ryker didn't stop them.