The Vampire Crimson Heir

The Investigation Begins

The crowds parted as Headmaster Alaric walked forward, while other professors rushed forward. I remained where I was, my eyes stayed fixed on the body lying in the grass. Ethan, he was a second year wizard, a cold knot settled in my stomach.

“Everyone return to your dormitories”

Headmaster Alarics voice cut through all the terrified whispers, the other students reluctantly obeyed, nobody wanted to keep seeing the dead body. Not after seeing the mark engraved on his body, or seeing the paleness of his skin, even vampires looked disturbed.

As students slowly started dispersing, I noticed headmaster Alaric quietly take the fabric under Ethan’s body and tuck into his coat pocket. The fact that he hid evidence bothered me a lot.

As I turned to leave, I noticed Aurora standing a few feet away. She looked pale, not because of the corpse, but because she understood exactly what this meant. Our eyes met, neither of us spoke we didn’t need too, because we both knew Ethan wasn’t supposed to die not yet at least.

The next morning, the academy felt different, fear lingered in every corridor. Students whispered in corners, professors seemed distracted, even security guards had doubled. For the first time since Blackthorns founding students were afraid to be left alone.

I sat through my morning classes barely listening, my mind remained focused on one thing, why Ethan? There had to be a reason, murders like this didn’t happen randomly especially not inside blackthorn academy.

Why Ethan, someone wanted him dead. Which meant he probably discovered something he wasn’t meant too, and that something had gotten him killed. When classes ended I headed towards the library and I wasn’t surprised to find Aurora already waiting there.

“You were thinking the same thing”, she closed her book

“Ethan found something”

I nodded

“Or else he wouldn’t be dead”, she looked around before lowering her head.

“We should look into it”

The suggestion almost made me smile, the witch princess had always appeared gentle, quiet and harmless. But apparently dying once had changed her too.

“Good”, I pulled out a chair

“Because I was going to do it anyway”

For the next hour we searched through academy records, student files, disciplinary reports, even old yearbooks. Anything remotely connected to Ethan Cross or his family, eventually Aurora found something.

“Kael”

I looked up, she slid a document across the table.

“Ethan spent a lot of time in the archives”

I frowned, “the restricted archives?”

She nodded, this was very interesting. The restricted archives contained files unavailable to ordinary students, must people never came here so why had Ethan been coming here.

“What was he researching?”

Aurora shook her head, “there’s no record”.

Of course there wasn’t, nothing was ever easy. I leaned back, “then we need to check his room.”

She blinked, “that’s against academy rules”

“Since when did rules stop us from solving murders?”

She stared at me, “I regret helping you already”. She sighed

Ethan’s dormitory room was on the second floor of the residence hall, it had been sealed officially, so no one was allowed in. Fortunately blackthorns security wasn’t designed to stop the heir to the crimson throne, the hallways were empty since most students were attending afternoon classes.

I examined the sealed the door, then applied a small amount of vampire strength and the lock broke instantly. Aurora robbed her forehead,

“You could at least pretend to be subtle”

“It worked…didn’t it?”

“That’s not the point”

“It usually is”, I replied

We stepped inside, the room looked ordinary at first glance. A bed, desk, bookshelf nothing unusual, but I immediately noticed something. Someone was here already, this room had been searched already, drawers weren’t fully closed, wardrobe door hung slightly open and the room looked too neat. Someone had tried very hard to hide the fact they’d been there.

“Whoever killed him came looking for something”, Aurora murmured.

I nodded, the main question was whether they had found it. For nearly an hour we searched, nothing no hidden notes,and no suspicious documents. Frustration slowly built up inside me, Ethan had clearly been looking into something there should’ve been some evidence laying around. Then Aurora froze.

“Kael…wait”

I looked over, she pointed towards a desk one drawer sat slightly open, barely noticeable. I crouched, a hidden compartment, I pried it open carefully, there was a small leather notebook tucked away inside. For a moment none of us moved, then I picked it up.

“Please tell me that’s not a diary.”

Aurora rolled her eyes, “just open it”

The first pages contained ordinary notes, class schedules, assignments, even research references. Then the handwriting changed, the entries became messier, as though Ethan had been writing under pressure. I flipped through the pages, my expressions gradually darkened.

“What is it?” Aurora asked

“He was investigating disappearances”

She frowned, “disappearances?”

I handed her the notebook, several names had been written down, former students, dates stretching back decades. Students who had supposedly transferred, others supposedly dropped out, a few had simply just vanished. No transfer records, no family confirmations, it was as though these students had simply ceased to exist. Aurora slowly lowered the notebook.

“Someone covered this up”

“Exactly”, I replied.

I turned another page, more names, dates, and disappearances. A pattern started to emerge, every victim had exceptional supernatural powers, they had been among the academy’s top students. Then I reached the final pages, the handwriting became shaky, uneven, desperate even.

Someone is watching me, I know they know. The archives were altered, the official records are fake. If something happens to me… The sentence ended abruptly, as though Ethan had been interrupted, Aurora swallowed.

“He knew…he knew he was being hunted”

I continued flipping the pages, then I stopped a page slightly torn contained a list of dozens of names, some crossed out, others untouched. My eyes immediately landed on Ethan Cross, a line had been drawn through his name. Meaning Ethan was dead, Aurora stepped closer.

“Are those future victims?”

“Looks like it”

Someone had been killing students for years, and nobody had noticed, nobody had even cared. I kept reading the list, then then I froze, at the very bottom of the page, beneath every other name, was a sentence written in a different handwriting, with fresh ink.

Someone who knew this book would eventually be found by me had written it, my pulse quickened. Aurora leaned closer, “what does it say?”.

I couldn’t answer immediately, because I didn’t know the answer. For the first time since returning from the past, genuine fear crawled down my spine. Slowly aurora read the words, the color drained from my face, because just below six simple words were written.

“I know you were reborn too, Kael”