Chapter 9 Dear Diary

We all gathered in the assembly, everyone looking at us as if we were criminals. Then again, their friends' bloods are on us right now.

God, I really need to take a shower.

When I found my friends, I counted in my head how many of us are here. Nine. There are nine of us right now.

Serena, Hailey, Avrey, Rafael, Axel, Hayden, Damien, Ryle, and me. Who's missing? I covered my mouth when I realized that it was Michelle. I could taste the disgusting blood in my mouth but I didn't mind, I was too occupied with grief.

Ms. Faith and an older man called Mr. Philip, followed by their guards finally arrived, congratulating us on our first game and for still being alive.

There's a total of five groups, excluding ours, and they executed a random member from each group in front of us because they failed their mission.

After that, our maids and helpers gave us a shower, and I find it uncomfortable since we're perfectly capable of bathing ourselves.

Guards led us to our room. When we got there, the boys were already there. There's a total of five bunk beds in the room, made for 10 people, unfortunately, there's only 9 of us now.

We took a quick nap, then they took us to the back of the building where there was a man-made park, built so we can get fresh air despite being trapped in a building.

I spotted the man who saved us sitting behind a tree all alone. It wasn't new to me, he was always alone. That also makes me curious, since everyone here comes in packs.

I left my group and sat beside him, also pressing my back against the tree. He didn't look at me, but I'm sure he knows I'm there.

"I never got the chance to thank you. What's your name?" He looked straight into my eyes deeply, it looked as if he could read my mind.

"Xavier." I wasn't expecting him to answer, so I grinned when he did. Xavier. What an oddly familiar name.

"So, Xavier," I tried to start a conversation. "What you did there was impressive. You saved my life, twice. I'm confused why you did that." I was finally able to ask the thing I'm dying to know about.

He shrugged and answered, "No reason." My shoulders dropped, disappointed with that reply.

"You don't just behead six people to save strangers for no reason." I urged him to tell me the truth.

"I don't know what answer you're expecting from me, Asteria, but you won't get it." He said coldly as he stood up and walked away without even looking at me.

He called me by my name.

All I could think of at that moment is how he knew my name even though I never told him. That was another mystery I needed to solve.

--

I hurriedly rushed back to the building to follow Xavier, but he was nowhere in sight. How could he walk that fast?

My eyes scanned the building lobby but I remained standing in my position. No one was there, but I could feel eyes lingering on me. "Xavier!?" I called.

I walked towards the dining hall to see if he was there but there's no one. "Xavier, it's just me, I need to talk." I called him again, before I was pulled in the corner, just behind a wall, and a strong hand covered my mouth so I wouldn't scream.

I looked up, and I wasn't surprised to see it was Xavier who pulled me. I stopped hitting his arm, knowing that he probably wouldn't hurt me.

"Is everything fixed?" I was startled when someone spoke from the dining hall. Xavier loosened his grip on me so I was able to peek from behind the wall. There, I could see Ms. Faith and Mr. Philip, talking to their guards.

"Yes, ma'am. Everything is under control." The guard reassured her.

"Good. I don't want this to get messy just when we are so close to getting our prize." She even lifted her fist up dramatically, motioning it as if the thing she wants is just in her reach.

"Salvador, I need you to get the blood samples of the newbies and give them to the lab. See if they can find anything that might help." I gasped when I heard what Mr. Philip instructed the guard.

After their chat, they went inside the elevator to leave.

I was blank for a few seconds, wondering what everything I heard meant. I also had time to process the position I am in right now. I could feel Xavier's strong, muscular arm wrapped over my shoulders, holding me against him so I wouldn't move, the other covering my mouth. I suddenly felt heat over my cheeks, and I knew I was blushing. I blush quite easily for a tan skinned person.

I had almost forgotten the real reason why I followed him. It was to ask him how he knew my name. "Hey-"

I didn't even get to finish. He pulled me to the elevator before I could ask. "Where are we going?" I asked when we entered.

I was surprised when he took out a keycard from his pocket, and used it so the elevator could bring us to the 9th floor. "Where did you get that? Do you work here? Who are you?" I rapidly asked questions.

"I stole it from my helper." He answered casually with his playful voice. "Chill, Asteria, we won't get in trouble, just trust me."

"Stop saying that!" I had enough. He looked at me like I'm crazy. "How do you know my name when I've never told you before?" I demanded an answer.

"It doesn't matter." He just shrugged my question off.

I grabbed him by his collar and pushed his back against the elevator's wall, which was something he wasn't expecting. For a second there, I could see shock drawn on his face, which I thought was rare since he was always ice cold. "How do you know my name? Why did you save me?" I threatened him and pushed him again, harder. He grunted.

I lost all the attitude when he laughed in my face. It wasn't an actual laugh, it sounded more of a sarcastic laugh. "That's kinda hot." He smirked, and now I'm the one looking surprised.

My jaw dropped and I immediately backed away. I slapped him hard in the face, something that he also didn't see coming. He looked at me like I'm being cute after that, but I could tell it hurt him, seeing how his cheek looked red.

What I didn't see coming was him pushing me hard and pinning me against the wall, I could feel it hit my back hard. "Never do that again." He warned, and I was actually scared.

Before I could react, the elevator opened. I pushed him off of me and walked past him, which was a huge mistake. There were people there and I could tell we weren't supposed to be here.

Luckily, Xavier was quick enough to pull me to hide behind a couch. "What the fuck is wrong with you? You saw me use a keycard I stole, you know we're entering a restricted area!" He whispered angrily, and I also hated myself for being so dumb.

"Why did you bring me here anyway? I never asked you to take me spying with you." I talked back.

"Well, if that's the case, you can go back to that shitty park. Then again, you'd be trading getting information about this place for a boring day at a made-up park." He knew he would get me to stay when he said that. Well, it worked. I'm staying here and I'm getting as much information as I can.

When he was sure that no one's in the hallway and they're all in their offices, we silently crept in the hall so we could see what they're doing.

Their office is just one large room with desks and lab materials inside. I'm guessing this is not just an office, this is the lab they were talking about. There was a huge signboard hanging on the outside of the lab that said 'Espinoza Group.'

"Is that what their organization is called?" I asked the obvious, thankfully he didn't answer rudely.

"Yes. Look closely at what that woman is doing," he pointed at one of the women inside, wearing a lab gown and hair net.

There were small tube containers in front of her and it looks like they're labelled with names. They are filled with dark red fluid, and I knew exactly what they were.

"Blood samples." I said out loud. "They have blood samples from everyone in this building, and they'll get ours soon. What do they want with it?"

I paid close attention to what she was doing, but she was just inspecting them. She placed a drop of blood on the microscope's stage and observed it closely. I'm not sure what it is she's trying to find but with every blood and close inspection, she would encode it in her computer.

"We need to leave." Xavier suddenly grabbed my arm forcing me to stand up and go back to the elevator.

"Why?" I pulled my arm away from his grasp.

"It's almost 6:30," he pointed at the wall clock so I looked at it too. "We have our dinner at 6:30. These workers will soon get out of their lab to eat, we might get caught."

I didn't say anything else, I just let him pull me into the elevator and I watched him press the ground floor button.

"How come your helper doesn't suspect the keycard's missing?"

"Can you stop asking questions?"

"Can you just answer them?"

He let out a sigh at how stubborn I was. "I had him keep his mouth shut, and let's just say, I can be persuasive." That was all he said.

He walked out immediately when we reached the ground floor. Nothing much happened for the rest of the day. We had dinner, then we went to bed.

--

I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. Everything was just white but at the end of the hall, I could see a red door. One by one, the lights in the narrow hallway started to go off. Afraid to be consumed by the darkness, I ran as fast as I could and made my escape as I entered the door. Behind it, it was just dark, and when the room brightened up, I could see Rafael, his hands tied up to the ceiling. I screamed his name but he couldn't hear me. And then I noticed that all our friends were dead, their bodies piled up behind him. I ran towards him to try to set him free but I couldn't touch anything, as if I was a ghost. Xavier then appeared out of nowhere, held a gun to Rafael's head and shot him dead, his blood splattering all over me.

I stood up from my bed, eyes wide open. It was all a dream.

My hand went up to my chest, feeling my heartbeat racing. I got off the bunk bed to check on my friends, and I let out a breath when I saw that they were all okay. I looked at the wall clock: 2:55 AM. I need to get some fresh air.

I put on my slippers and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind me so I won't wake the others. It's a good thing that there weren't any guards around at this hour so I could go wherever I liked, but really the only places I could go were the dining hall, lobby, and the mini park at the back. All the other rooms and floors were locked so there's not much need for a guard anyways.

While walking on my way to the park, I thought about the dream I had and wondered if it meant anything. It could be a premonition, but I hope not. I don't want my friends to be in danger. And what is Xavier doing in my dream?

As if God had timed this perfectly, I saw Xavier sitting on one of the benches. I quietly tiptoed away, deciding to just go back inside, but he suddenly spoke.

"I know you're there." Is he talking to me? I was about to just ignore him and take off anyway but he suddenly turned to face me, and I almost jumped in shock. "Come here, don't let me stop you from chilling here. It's a really good park." I can tell that his last sentence was sarcastic, because he told me he doesn't like this park and it is pretty empty.

"I think it's better if I just go back to bed." I refused.

"Why? Because he told you to stay away from me?" I froze. I thought of what he's talking about, then I remembered Rafael told me to be careful of Xavier during dinner. But there's no way he could've heard that.

I walked towards the bench he's sitting at. "How did you know about that? Were you eavesdropping?" He raised an eyebrow at me because he knows I already knew the answer to that. He can't be. His table was so far away from us. It's impossible. "What are you?" I asked with a trembling voice, staying alert just in case he tries to hurt me.

"Don't worry about it," He ignored my question and kept his annoying sly expressions. "It's fine if I know all about you, Asteria, we are friends after all." He stood up and walked closer to me so I flinched, and I frowned as he laughed at how jumpy I was.

"How is it that you know so much about me?" My voice is still trembling, and I can tell he finds it amusing that I'm afraid of him, and I hate him for being so sadistic.

He took one more step closer, but this time I didn't move. I won't be the one quivering in fear, I don't like how he thinks he can just string me along in his crazy spy adventures, drive me curious with him playing the mysterious guy role, especially because I know he's capable of doing horrible things, like killing six people in just a minute.

"Because we've met before." He answered shortly while still having that cunning smile.

"That's ridiculous," I scoffed. "I've only met a few people in my life, Xavier, and all their faces stick in my mind. I'm a hundred percent sure I've never met you before."

"July 7, 2023." My lips parted when he started speaking. "I woke up with my memories wiped away. I didn't know who I was, how I got here, and why there's no one here but me."

I couldn't understand why he's telling me this at first, but then it all became clear to me. He just stated the first two sentences I wrote in my diary. My hand automatically raised to slap him in the face, but despite the hard pressure, his head didn't turn to its side, he didn't even flinch. It was like slapping a wall, and I think my hand hurt more than his cheek.

"It was you. You were the man living in the cottage, you invaded my house and stole my diary, you stalked me and took creepy pictures of me..." There were plenty more things I wanted to say, but my mind was a mess, I am in shock, and my vision is getting cloudy due to the tears welling up in my eyes.

I didn't know what to do with the information I just garnered, but I do know that I want to get as far away from him as possible. I quickly turned around and ran as fast as I could, trying to get back inside the building, but as soon as I did, in a split second, he was suddenly in front of me again, blocking my way with the help of his super-speed.

He touched my shoulders and then I remembered.

I remembered him inside my room that day. We had a short conversation. He asked me my name, told me I had pretty eyes, and made me forget. Most of all, I remembered his bloodshot eyes and deadly fangs. He's a vampire.

I was about to scream when I regained my memories, but he touched me again and everything went black.

-

The loud sound of the alarm clock rang, waking all of us up. I woke up feeling tired, like I didn't get much sleep at all.

I thought about Xavier and the strange conversation we had. Is it all just another dream? It felt so real.

We automatically got up and went outside, the other members were already out in the hallway. We formed two lines and the guards assisted us to the bathroom so we could do the usual morning routine.

I looked back on the vivid dream I had. There were two dreams, actually. The first one was Xavier killing all my friends, the second was that he's a vampire and he was the man who intruded my house before.

I thought it's strange to dream about Xavier twice, and the second one felt so real. Both of them indicate one thing: he is dangerous and I should be careful.

After cleaning up, we went to the dining hall to have our breakfast. They take good care of us only to have us kill each other. I realized I still haven't figured out their motive, but how could I get information if I want to avoid Xavier?

I looked at the corner where he usually sits alone, and he's just eating quietly.

"The game yesterday was intense. Half of us would've been dead if it weren't for that mysterious guy who helped us." Avrey started a conversation.

"It's a little suspicious. Why would he help you guys? What's in it for him?" Axel expressed his doubt on Xavier, him and Rafael thought the same.

"Maybe, but I'm still grateful for him." Ryle shrugged.

I felt uncomfortable when I saw that Rafael was staring at me with narrow eyes. "Where were you earlier?" He suddenly spoke, catching the others' attention as well. I froze in my seat.

"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering what he meant because I never left.

"I woke up at around 3 in the morning and you weren't on your bed. Where were you?" He repeated the question and I probably looked as pale as a ghost right now, creeped out by the realization that it wasn't a dream.

Everything that happened between me and Xavier wasn't a dream, it was all real.

He actually is a vampire.

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