The hallway was quiet — too quiet.
Only the faint buzz of the old light bulbs and the echo of hurried footsteps broke the silence. Elise clutched her bag against her chest, her pulse racing. Vampires. The word kept looping in her mind like a curse she couldn't shake off.
Patricia and Anastasia's faces had looked so serious when they said it — their voices trembling between belief and disbelief. Elise had laughed at first. She wanted to laugh. But when she saw the fear in their eyes, something inside her cracked.
Now she couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
She rounded the corner — and slammed into someone hard.
"Elise?" Davon's familiar voice sent a jolt through her. His hands gripped her shoulders instinctively, steadying her before she fell.
The contact burned. She shoved him back, eyes wide. "Don't touch me!"
Davon froze, his expression flickering from surprise to confusion. "What— Elise, what's going on?"
Her voice broke. "You tell me! What are you?!"
He blinked. "What?"
Her eyes glistened with tears. "Don't—don't lie to me. I know." Her voice trembled but didn't waver. "I know what you are."
The air between them seemed to still. Davon's throat tightened, the hallway suddenly feeling too small. His heart — or whatever pulsed in his chest — hammered once, then slowed.
"Who told you that?" His voice dropped low, careful. Too careful.
"So it's true."
"Elise…" He stepped closer, his hand lifting as if to reach for her cheek — but he stopped himself when she flinched. "Please. Let me explain."
"You lied to me!" she cried, backing away. "All this time — every word, every look, every night we—" Her voice caught, shame and fear twisting in her stomach. "Was it all fake?"
"No," he said quickly, voice sharp with pain. "None of it was fake. Not a single thing."
Her back hit the wall. The flickering light above them cast his face in a pale half-shadow — the sharp lines of his jaw, the glint of something dangerous in his eyes.
"Then what are you?" she whispered.
He hesitated — the silence thick enough to suffocate her — before finally answering, voice rough:
"Something I never wanted you to fear."
Her breath hitched. "So it's true."
Davon's jaw tightened. "Yes."
She stared at him — at the boy she had kissed, the one who made her laugh, whose heartbeat she'd rested against — only to realize it wasn't a heartbeat at all. Her chest ached. "You're a monster."
He flinched. The word cut deeper than she knew.
"I'm not," he said quietly, stepping closer. "Not to you. Never to you."
"Stay away from me."
"Elise, please—"
"I said stay away!" she screamed, tears spilling down her cheeks.
He stopped — hands raised, eyes glowing faintly crimson now that his control was slipping. "You don't understand. I didn't choose this. None of us did."
"I don't care!" she choked. "You should've told me."
"I was going to." His voice cracked. "You have to believe that. I was just—afraid."
Her voice broke in a whisper. "Of what?"
"Of losing you."
The words hung in the air, heavy, trembling between love and horror.
Her lips parted, her heart twisting painfully — but the fear still gripped her too tight. "You already did."
Then she turned and ran — down the corridor, past the dim lights, into the safety of her dorm.
Davon followed, calling her name, his voice breaking in the silence.
"Elise!"
She slammed the door, locking it with shaking hands. Her heart thundered in her ears.
Outside, Davon's hand pressed against the doorframe, his voice low and raw. "Please… let me explain."
"Go away," she whispered, pressing her forehead against the wood.
He leaned closer, his shadow stretching under the doorway. "I can't. Not when you're scared because of me."
Her sobs came soft and broken. "Then what do you want from me?"
Davon closed his eyes, his voice barely a whisper now. "Just… to make you see I'm still the same person you fell for."
The hallway light flickered once, then went out — leaving only silence, heavy with secrets and the scent of her fear.