Chapter 20: Always watch your back
She didn't want to get on his bad side, as he appeared to be someone who could destroy someone's life.
All she wanted to do here was put her head down and study, and ending up on people's bad books was not something she had aimed for.
When he took another step forward, Lauren smelt the mixture of coffee and his expensive cologne from him.
"Why do you save me?" She leaned forward, waiting for him to reply.
It was something that had been lingering in her mind since she was put in a situation where she could just die, but that didn't happen.
After that incident, she had been wanting to ask and know if he needed something from her in return. Why would a vampire like him want to save someone's life who was no one to him?
When she Googled about vampire history, she was indeed surprised that it was just a myth, but she wondered why an immortal vampire was real.
When she read the articles that were written on Google, she came to know that vampires are heartless and they don't help anyone without taking anything. Lauren had nothing she could give him in exchange for her life.
He shook his head as if trying to clear it. Took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly. "If you won't leave-"
"I can't leave," she interjected.
"You can't," he confirmed, watching her expression, where the girl's eyebrows furrowed even further. He hummed in agreement, but she didn't stop right there, instead saying.
"I have nowhere else to go. My aunt and my paren-"
He shook his head before he spoke. "Are dead. I know," he corrected her, his smile returning to his lips.
This man was wearing her out and soon her soul would be departing away from her body.
He sighed. "Fine. If you're not going to leave, then you need to listen to me very, very carefully."
"What do you—?" blurted Lauren at his words, but he interrupted her again.
He could just imagine what the girl would do once she learned that the demons were just after her. She was the one who was summoning them from her presence. A land of immortals was patiently waiting for her arrival, and here she was.
"Keep your head down. Don't look too closely at anyone or anything. Always stay close to Hazel," he said, leaning forward, his voice dropping to a low rumble as he finished. "And always, always watch your back."
Lauren stilled, obviously shocked by his words, which she didn't understand at all.
It seemed like an open warning to her that that was what was going to happen if she were ever to run away.
She didn't understand if it was a vampire thing but why did he want to keep her from this place? Was she nothing but part of his amusement where he would enjoy threatening and scaring her.
Lauren," Hazel's voice boomed in the whole library, and Lauren turned towards her instinctively.
Why did she have to speak so loudly when the rules were to keep your voice lower? But Lauren smiled and gave her a little wave, even though there was a part of her that felt frozen in place after being on the receiving end of what sounded an awful lot like a warning.
Lauren suddenly turned back to confront Mr. Dark to figure out exactly what it was he thought she needed to be so afraid of; demons weren't coming to her anymore so why an incident made things complicated, but he was gone.
Before she could ask the questions, she had prepared them for him. They finally met, but what? He fled again before she could talk. Yeah, they sure talked, but she wanted answers to her questions, and now she regretted fighting with him.
Next time, she will check the time and try not to talk about anything but important questions.
Lauren glanced around, determined to figure out where he went, but before she could spot him, she checked the ranks of books, but he was not there while Hazel was near her as she pulled her outside.
"Where are we going?" Lauren inquired.
"I'm going to take you outside, he said. Lauren felt she shouldn't leave these walls after listening to him. But she wanted to be there to see the snow and the students, who may be enjoying the cold weather.
Walking with Hazel, she noticed the beautiful vase on the ground floor near a door that appeared to be a common room. Moving closer, she noticed it was not a common room but a designated area with some seats and bookshelves all around the four walls.
Hazel informed her that most students stay there as well. Lauren was impressed that her uncle had given this much attention to students. Hazel specked up, as she understood what she must be thinking.
"No, it was not my father's idea. However, a senior teacher. May he live in peace. It is a tragedy that he died alone in the forest, but we can take solace in the hope that he has found the peace he deserved."
Lauren furrowed her brow, and Hazel laughed at her, scaring her even more. "Of course, you are aware that the forest has some wild animals." Lauren nodded in agreement.
A wild animal probably attacked him as he was roaming around. Lauren would never go there alone since she was afraid to leave her room, and yet here she was touring the campus with her cousin.
They walked out of the building, and that was when they ran into Feyre and Alara who were on their way out. They also had a mug of coffee, which reminded Lauren that she hadn't had coffee in a couple of days.
She was addicted to coffee and would love to swim in the coffee pool in this weather. Lauren chuckled at herself and smiled at Alara and Feyre.
They both returned the smile as they approached them, and Lauren also came to a halt. The girls stared at Hazel, who had a bored expression on her face. Hazel was not a social butterfly who would drop in and out of the conversation.
She had a face that everyone wanted to befriend her, but she was reluctant to become friends with her simply because she was the president's daughter, not because of who she was.
"Hi. How did you spend your day?" Alara asked and Feyre took a sip from her hot coffee which blew some air from her mouth. Lauren had to admit now she just wanted to go to the cafeteria.
And that's it!
Lauren had to admit that the first thing that came to mind was the freezing temperature, followed by her encounter with Elliot in the library.
"Yes, my day has only just begun. I'd also want to have some coffee." Lauren remarked, gazing at Hazel, who nodded and pulled Lauren along with her while the two girls, exchanged glances before continuing on their way.
Lauren burst out laughing when she witnessed Hazel's overprotective nature. This side of her was unfamiliar to her. Hazel simply shrugged; she was older and had never had such friends aside from a group of students close to her father.
They went inside the cafeteria and it was warmer than outside. Lauren moaned. "I'm not going out again. Hazel, I just want to be in my room all day" She mumbled to the girl, who simply rolled her eyes at the suggestion.
How could anyone be happy to stay in her empty room?
"No, you are not required to stay all day. Lauren, things have changed. You should also change your lifestyle. Look around you, there are students just like you and me."
Lauren wanted to protest more, but she couldn't convey to her that her entire life had been spent in her four-wall house.
Being there had made her hesitant to do whatever Hazel suggested. Even Lauren didn't want to be fluent with any of the students, not to mention the way Hazel had been informing her about the places where she hadn't listened or spoken anything properly. She just wanted to go back to her room and spend time with her books or her diary, to which she devoted a considerable amount of time.
Nonetheless, she was in a warm cafeteria when the wind blew in through the entrance where they were standing. 'We need to get moving,' Lauren thought as she took Hazel's hand in hers and led her to the far end of the corridor.
They sat there without taking their coffee, and that's when they realized they were not just for warmth, but also for a hot cup of coffee, and they laughed playfully. Hazel walked to the end of the counter and accepted two cups of coffee from the man on the other side of the counter, who immediately took her order.
Lauren then had a thought perhaps as a result of her popularity in this area Hazel was able to take her order first then the other students in the line.
Oh no, how dare they treat someone like that when they were the head's children, and she despises such protocols. But if someone reminded her that she was the one who would drink the coffee from those protocols.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone