The Vampire Crimson Heir

Mira Holloway

The notebook slipped from Aurora‘s hand, hitting the floor with a soft thud. The words written across the final pages seem to carve itself into my mind. The message specifically mentioned reborn, whoever had written it knew that I have been reborn. A cold feeling settled in my chest, aurora slowly looked up.

“How?”

“I don’t know”, my voice sounded harsher than I had intended.

Aurora picked up the notebook again, “what if they are guessing”

“They aren’t”

I pointed to the page, “this was written after Ethan died”

Aurora’s expression darkened, someone had found the notebook, written the message, then hidden it again. As if they wanted Kael to discover it, like they were playing a game. And Kael had just received the first move.

“We should leave” Aurora whispered

And for the first time, I agreed. Something about the room suddenly felt wrong, like invisible eyes were watching us. The room quietly returned everything to its place before leaving the dormitory. The hallways was still empty, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had been standing there just around the corner moments before, waiting, listening and watching.

The next few days passed in uneasy silence, officially the academy was investigating Ethan‘s murder, and unofficially everyone knew they had made no progress. Rumors spread faster than facts, no one wanted to work alone, everyone formed groups, even the most arrogant supernaturals, who always preferred being alone, suddenly preferred company.

Fear was everywhere, I not spent most of my time, searching for connections between Ethan’s deaths and the other students whose names were written in the book. Unfortunately, every lead ended the same way, records disappeared, witnesses couldn’t be found, files were missing, there was nothing.

It was as though someone had spent decades erasing evidence, which meant the conspiracy was older than Ethan’s death, even older than my previous life. Someone very powerful was involved.

“You look exhausted”

I glanced up from my notes, Adrian dropped to the seat across from me he looked concerned. It was a familiar expression one that would have reassured me in my previous life, but now it only made me suspicious.

“Couldn’t sleep”

Adrian snorted, “nobody can”

Fair point, silence settled between us, eventually, Adrian leaned forward

“Do you think the academy is hiding something?”

My eyes narrowed, “interesting question…why ask?”

“Because the whole thing feels wrong”, he lowered his voice

“Ethan wasn’t weak”, he continued.

I remember that much. He had ranked among the strongest in the second year assessments. He wasn’t powerful enough to gain attention, but he was far from helpless.

“Whoever killed him wanted something…they didn’t just kill him”, he continued.

I studied him carefully, has Adrian also been reborn or was he just simply being observant? It was becoming harder to tell, before I could respond, a professor walked into the classroom, the conversation ended, but the thoughts remained. Maybe Adrian wasn’t as clueless as he made people assume.

That evening, I met Aurora at the library gardens. We have begun doing this almost every day, researching, investigating and trying to stay ahead of whoever was targeting students. Aurora spread several documents across the table.

“I found something” she tried not to shout

I immediately sat down, “what”

“The victims.”

She slid a page to me, the names, ages, and the kingdoms they were from, all written on the paper. They were all the students Ethan had been investigating.

“What about them”

Aurora pointed to particular column…”look at their magical abilities

I frowned then realization dawned on me. They all possessed rare powers, not necessarily the strongest, but they were unique, valuable, uncommon. My stomach tightened, they weren’t chosen randomly, they were selected by someone for a reason.

“Do you think they were being used for something?” Aurora asked

I nodded, “probably.”

The question was what, and why. Hours passed as we continued searching. Then suddenly a scream echoed from outside, shattering the silence, the whole library froze. Then another scream followed this one louder, and closer. Aurora and I were already moving before anyone else reacted, we raced through the corridors as students spread through the hallways.

The same thought appeared on countless faces, because everyone knew what a scream meant now. Someone had found something or someone, my pulse quickened. The crowd surged towards the Western yard, professors rushed past Academy guards appeared in every direction.

By the time I had arrived, dozens of students were already there fear filled the corridors. No one talked, no one moved, I pushed through the crowd, then I stopped another body. This time it was a girl, a third year werewolf.

I recognized her instantly Mira Holloway, she had been on Ethan’s list,my blood run cold. Her body lay beneath a stone fountain, pale and also completely drained, but this time there were no markings engraved on her body, just a single photograph rested in her hands

The academy guards moved forward fast, one of them reached for the photograph, but I had already seen enough. Thd photograph showed six students, all smiling, laughing and standing together. Except I recognized one of them, Ethan Cross.

My pulse spiked Ethan and Mira knew each other, which means this wasn’t random the victims were connected, the image disappeared from view, tucked away in a professors coat. I had memorized the faces of the four remaining students, because they were potential targets and possibly future victims. Aurora appeared beside me.

“You saw it too”

I nodded, “we need that photograph”

Aurora looked towards the professor, “good luck getting it”

Unfortunately she was right, the academy would lock the evidence away, just like they had hidden everything else. Someone was covering this up, the only question now was who. As the crowd slowly dispersed, I remained behind. My gaze lingered on the fountain, then something caught my attention.

A small reflection, hidden beneath the stone edge, there was a silver badge. It was almost invisible in the darkness, I picked it up, my eyes widened, because the crest engraved into its surface belonged to a secret student organization. The Heartstone society, an elite academic group that supposedly dissolved years ago.

According to official records, Ethan’s notebook, and every single piece of information I had found, every single one of its members had vanished. Aurora noticed the badge, then her expression changed.

“Kael”

Slowly she pointed towards the back, I turned. A tall student wearing blackthorns uniform, with their face hidden under a hood, stood there watching us. Their face hidden under a hood, for several seconds no one moved, then the hooded figure smiled and vanished into the darkness.

Leaving me staring at the object that had just appeared across my feet, it was a folded piece of paper. One that definitely hadn’t been there earlier, my heart pounded as I unfolded the paper. Inside was a single sentence, a sentence written with exact same handwriting from Ethan’s notebook.

“You are finally asking the right question.”