Sacrum

Sacrum

Chapter Sixteen

My first thought upon hearing the screams coming from the room next door was that Demetrius was blatantly torturing someone. Obviously, I could not allow that to happen on my watch and at my school. Propelled by adrenaline and without considering the serious consequences I might suffer at the hands of Maratoni's perfect vampire weapon, I quickly rushed over to my neighbor's room and flung open the door without even knocking.

The inside was dark, but I could see his silhouette sitting up in bed-shaking? As I glanced around, there didn't seem to be anyone else there.

"What are you doing?" His hoarse voice asked me in a menacing tone. His body slowly stilled.

"I heard a scream," I said.

"You must have dreamt it," he replied.

"No, it's actually what woke me up. There was screaming coming from your room. I heard it." I could feel the tension in the air.

"That's not possible seeing as I'm right here. I would have heard if anyone was screaming," he quipped in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Is anyone else in here?" I asked, and suddenly he was out of bed and in front of me in a flash. Quicker than I'd witnessed any other vampire move before.

I could see his face clearly now, and his furrowed brows spelled absolute fury. I could also see that he slept fully naked, and that, in fact, what would usually be hidden by boxers or briefs, was now hanging freely between his legs, perfectly in proportion to the rest of his large body.

"You think I'm torturing someone in the middle of the night for fun?" He asked, glaring into my eyes. For the first time in my life, I felt terrified to my very core. His eyes were a rich brown, but they had a red hue to them. A sign that he'd recently been drinking blood straight from a human source. He was much taller and far more muscular than me. I'd never stand a chance even in a regular fight-let alone if he decided to use his horrifying gift on me.

"I didn't say that," I replied, holding his gaze, but barely. His face was only inches away from mine. Suddenly I was very aware of the fact that in an instant, the vampire in front of me could make me feel the worst possible pain known to any person. Why I ran into his room thinking I'd have any way to defend myself, or any other potential victims, was a mystery to me. I had no protection or shield from it, as I was sure Maratoni had taught his student how to utilize his gift to sick perfection. If I was an energy conduit, as Vincent had once called me, Demetrius was the conveyor of pain.

His naked silhouette towered over me like a boxer at the end of a fight-gently rocking from side to side and ready to administer the final knockout.

"Again, there was nobody screaming in this room. Now get out," he demanded in his unfriendly and authoritative tone, and I quickly obeyed without protest. He slammed the door behind me.

I felt ashamed of how truly afraid I was of him, and I wondered if Vinicius would be embarrassed of how I turned out, were he still alive to witness this pathetic exchange.

I returned back to my room and diligently listened for any other strange noises coming from the room next door. It's not like I was going to return there or do anything about it, but maybe I could at least alert Trusting. However, there was no need, because all I heard for the rest of the night was absolute still and somewhat eerie silence. Without all its students, Baritone felt like an empty shell. A home with no owner.

The first sound I heard in the morning was the closing of a door. It wasn't particularly loud, but my ears were so in-tune to any sound after straining to hear even the slightest noise during the night, that I picked up on it right away. I snuck out of my room just in time to catch the back of Demetrius' shirt as he turned in the hallway. I decided to follow, and in a surprising turn of events, found him entering the nurse's office.

As quickly as I could, I made my usual trip into the storage closet and up into the crawl space so I could figure out what the stone-face vampire was up to. Was he having the same type of meetings with Nurse Mildred as me? Would she ask him those same bizarre questions?

I could see him nervously pacing back and forth underneath me. Suddenly the door opened, and to my shock it wasn't Nurse Mildred that walked in. It was my and Demetrius' mentor, Maratoni.

I raged inside. Of course he could find the time for secret meetings with his superstar Special, but he couldn't be at school to teach me anything ahead of the Summit. However, any preconceived notions I had about their relationship quickly went out the window, as the atmosphere between the two vampires turned frosty right away.

"Well, now that you've dragged me away from important business, what is this ever so grave emergency that simply couldn't wait until the Summit?" Maratoni started off, without so much as a hello.

"The nurse. She's not helping. I've been working with her for months now, and I want to talk to someone else. She doesn't know what the hell she's doing," Demetrius complained. Was he talking about the same meetings that I had with her? It didn't seem like it.

Maratoni looked agitated.

"That's what you've brought me out here for Demetrius? That's the big emergency?"

"In case you haven't realized, I need to be able to sleep in order to show any amount of skill during the Summit. Unless you'd rather I show them nothing," Demetrius replied, his voice had an ominous gravelly undertone.

"Calm down, okay? Just get through the damn Summit and then I'll find you another nurse."

"You've been saying that for months," Demetrius growled and Maratoni shook his head in frustration.

"I said calm down," the professor replied, getting right in Demetrius' face. "Just don't sleep for now. I'll bring you some human donors so you get more strength," he offered.

"I don't want human donors, I want to sleep," the frustrated vampire replied through gritted teeth, not backing away from Maratoni's unfriendly glare.

"I'll see what I can do. Are you keeping your eye on our blonde friend?" He asked referring to me, and I wanted to jump through the ceiling and strangle him myself. Why did he always have to drag me into his private conversations?

Demetrius shrugged.

"There's nothing to keep an eye on," he replied, and for some reason I felt slightly insulted by his complete disinterest. Even though I disliked him, I still had a keen interest in him. Clearly, he didn't feel the same.

"Pay attention. It's very unlikely, but in the event that he suddenly becomes capable of using his gift, I want to know about it right away," Maratoni stated, and I felt embarrassed. Demetrius knew that I couldn't use my gift. So far he hadn't brought it up to shame me or make fun of me. Of course, we had only just met. Still, I found that curious. I would think that Maratoni's Special would weaponize any unflattering information he had about me right away.

Demetrius snickered.

"It's not unlikely at all. He doesn't need a mentor to teach him. The gift lies within, just as Vinicius intended. You should know that better than anyone else," he replied in a condescending tone of voice, and suddenly I felt a sliver of warmth for him.

Maratoni looked positively furious, especially at the mention of my original mentor's name.

"You know, I really liked you a lot more when you were a child. You've grown up to be positively miserable," he said, although I had a feeling he wanted to say a lot more. Demetrius just looked on, unmoved.

"Make sure they're normal human donors this time, regular good Samaritan volunteers. No more prostitutes or freaks who get off on this," he declared in an impassive tone.

"Yes, I'll do my best to cater to your delicate taste buds," Maratoni replied, his words dripping with sarcasm, then added, "Alert me if anything changes with the boy."

Demetrius left shortly after him.

I quickly made my way downstairs before anyone noticed I was gone. When I got to the cafeteria, Maurizia and Antoine were already there.

"Early birds," I greeted them. They smiled at me cheerfully.

"We were just too excited this morning. Doesn't it feel amazing for all of us to finally be together? We can all get to know each other and truly discuss what we see us doing with our gifts in the future," Maurizia stated, making my head spin. It was too early, and my brain was too focused on trying to make sense of Demetrius' interaction with Maratoni to be able to engage in such an in- depth discussion. But I just smiled politely and nodded my head.

"Don't let her scare you," Antoine joked, "We just feel like we're finally reunited with our long-lost cousins. This is awesome." I laughed.

"It is. It can be really lonely being a Special. I'm really glad you guys are here now," I replied. Having them around really did feel like having a sort of support system. We chatted until Luciana made her appearance.

"Where's Demetrius?" she asked, bypassing any formal greeting

"Probably still sleeping," Antoine chimed in. I decided not to fill them in on our nighttime encounter or my morning adventure.

"What should we do today?" Maurizia asked, and all eyes turned to me as if I had a schedule with planned activities.

"Er, good question," I replied, straining my brain and trying to think of something exciting to do at Baritone.

"Let's go play some basketball, there's a court on the other side of the auditorium," said a voice from behind me.

It was Demetrius.

He stood at the entrance of the cafeteria wearing a grey t-shirt and blue basketball shorts. I quickly moved my eyes away, suddenly remembering that I had seen everything underneath them just a few hours ago.

"Oh, perfect!" Maurizia replied. Luciana raised an eyebrow but didn't make a comment. We all agreed to the idea and made our way to the other side of the school.

Maurizia, Luciana and I had never played, so really the meat of the game was between Antoine and Demetrius-who were both quite skilled. Demetrius was a natural with the ball, and his unpredictable tempo made him difficult to guard.

After a while, Luciana and I tapped out and watched from the sidelines. Antoine helped tiny Maurizia dunk the ball by spinning her in the air. But even with the help of the gift, Demetrius was still unbeatable.

"Wow, your shooting style is pretty flawless," Antoine complemented Demetrius at the end.

"Thanks man," the broody-eyed vampire replied, seeming somewhat embarrassed to receive a compliment.

We went back to the cafeteria and got our daily blood juices.

"So what do you guys think the Summit is going to be like?" Maurizia asked the group as we sat around one of the large tables.

"They're going to make us perform, of course. They want a memorable spectacle," Luciana stated.

"Perhaps they're going to test our gift in a few different ways," Antoine added.

I sat by silently. There was only one other person at the table who knew that I had no control over my gift, but if Demetrius was planning on outing me, he certainly gave off no indication. He didn't even look my way.

"Why don't we do a test run right now?" Luciana exclaimed, her eyes widening with excitement. Maurizia nodded in enthusiasm.

"I'm down," Antoine said. "Let's do it!"

I had no idea how to get out of it without revealing my shameful secret. And it seemed like it was too late as Luciana quickly ran to the middle of the room.

"Okay, pretend that you're Arani Deadnus, and tell me what to do," she said to Maurizia, who giggled at the idea. She stood up next to us and cleared her throat.

"Welcome to the Baritone High School Special Summit! Please state your name, Special," she said in a comical attempt at trying to mimic Deadnus' cold sounding pitch.

"My name is Luciana Elise, and my mentor is Aurori Altieri."

"And what is your gift?"

"The power to incinerate," Luciana stated with pride.

"Excellent. Show us then! Set that trash can right there ablaze," Maurizia requested, pointing to a black trashcan by the door.

Luciana turned her head and within moments, the plastic was fully enveloped in auburn flames.

"Wow, amazing," I heard Antoine exclaim in excitement next to me.

"Excellent," Maurizia said. "I give you a 10 out of 10!"

"Can I go next?" Antoine volunteered.

"Of course," Maurizia replied, "Please state your name, Special."

"I'm Antoine Debesse. Mentored by Professor Francesca Normani. My gift is the power of psychokinesis."

"Make every table in this room, except for ours, levitate," she asked. I looked on in amazement. There was no way he could do it. One table, yes. But every single one?

However, it seemed like Antoine's control over his gift was as precise as Luciana's, and within the next second, every table in the room was gracefully floating up in the air. The worst part was that he didn't even seem to be putting in much effort.

We all gave him a round of applause. Suddenly Maurizia made an announcement. "I hope you guys forgive me, but I can't actually show you my abilities tonight. For one, they still take a great deal out of me, and I'd need to rest for a long while afterward. And two, someone would have to be physically hurt for me to be able to do what I do." That made me feel slightly better. At least it wasn't effortless for all of us. But Maurizia's withdrawal meant that there were only two of us left: me and Demetrius.

Thankfully, before it was my turn to show them that I had absolutely no control over my gift and could produce nothing, Demetrius managed to save me.

"I'm not a monkey who's going to perform tricks on demand," he said, his voice filled with disgust at the mere prospect of the idea. He got up and walked out the door. The other Specials sat in stunned silence, unsure of what to do. As the host, I felt obligated to make sure Demetrius was alright-despite how unfriendly he had been up until then.

"I'll go check on him," I said. He wasn't too far out. I found him sitting in the back, at the bottom stairs of the school's exit, aimlessly throwing stones towards the woods. He wasn't too far away from the spot were Eric Van Sant had been slain not too long ago.

I approached with caution.

"Sorry, that was a bad idea," I said, sitting a few feet away from him.

"Not your fault," he replied, his tone grim. He still seemed quite upset, and I felt like it was somewhat of an overreaction. Vincent had pretty much admitted that Demetrius had mastered his gift fully. It didn't seem normal for Maratoni's Special not to want to show off his skills and boast about how great he was. It seemed almost...unnatural.

"I heard you graduated early. You must be incredibly good at controlling your gift," I said by way of conversation. He looked at me with his intense eyes, and suddenly throughout my entire body I felt a wave of indescribable sadness.

"Yes, I am incredibly good at it. I guess you idiots forgot that in order to show you my gift, I'd have to torture one of you," he replied, and the realization smacked me straight in the face. He was right. I felt awful for not thinking of it sooner. I looked down, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think of that," I replied. He shook his head.

"It's fine, it wasn't your idea."

"But I should have stopped it," I said, and I meant it. It wasn't fair of us to ask him to do that.

"Let's not forget, I have seniority at this school. Stop acting like the host," he said, and I thought I sensed an undertone of a joke in his grim voice. Did the serious Demetrius have a sense of humor after all?

"Ha ha," I replied, and I swore his lip twitched just a tiny bit.

It was strange the way I suddenly felt quite comfortable around Maratoni's Special. Despite his apparent distaste for me, there was something rather authentic about him. There was no air of pretenses. No guessing games.

"So, I'm assuming Maratoni isn't as much of an ass to you, seeing as you're the favorite child?" I said, trying to continue the lighthearted conversation.

"Oh, I'm not the favorite child by far, but I think you know that already."

"Then who is?" I asked, confused. It certainly wasn't me. Demetrius' eyes looked at me to check if I was serious.

"Who do you think?" Then it dawned on me.

"Vincent," I replied.

"Bingo," Demetrius said.

"Why, because of his heritage?" I asked, not expecting to get any actual insight into the situation but figuring I might as well try. Demetrius surprised me with his answer.

"There are people for whom status is everything. Whether it's a high-ranking government official that they want to be close to, or a member of a long-gone aristocracy, it doesn't matter. The proximity to what they perceive to be bigger and more powerful than them is too alluring to pass up on," he replied, and my jaw almost hit the floor.

"Are you saying Sebastiano Maratoni is somewhat of a...fame whore?" I asked, trying to think of the right way to frame it. Demetrius snickered in that way of his I was beginning to get used to now. "You're pretty honest for someone trained by Maratoni. I thought you'd be secretive just like Vincent."

"I'm nothing like Vincent," he responded, and I felt that I somehow offended him.

"I thought you guys were friends," I admitted. He shook his head.

"You thought wrong. I'm a lone wolf," he replied, then suddenly broke into a wolf howl that echoed through the forest. I laughed at his strange sense of humor. We sat side by side for a while, in pleasant silence.

"You know, you're a lot different than what I expected," I admitted all of a sudden. He continued to look ahead in silence. Suddenly the mood had shifted, and I wasn't sure why.

Then he spoke.

"I'm really not. You just like to see the good in people. It's very Vinicius of you," he stated, his eyes now turning to look at me. "But let me assure you, I'm everything you expect someone like me to be, so don't fool yourself," he said, then got up and slowly walked away.

I sat on those stairs for a very long time after he left, trying to unravel why the conversation took such a drastic left turn, and why I felt so bothered by it.

That night, there were no more screams coming from the room next door. Everything was quiet-almost too quiet. And for some strange reason, I had a feeling that my neighbor was wide awake, just like me.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.