Chapter 14 - Escape Manual for Vampires and Lovestruck Nerds

He tilted his head, his lips brushing against hers… and kissed her.

It wasn't a gentle or romantic kiss. It was a desperate, hungry kiss, born of frustration, anger, and an attraction that neither of them could deny any longer. Gabriel pressed his lips against Seraphine's, feeling the soft, yet cold texture, and the metallic taste of her blood. He held her tighter, as if he wanted to merge their bodies, defy fate, erase all the differences that separated them.

Seraphine trembled. For an infinitesimal instant, Gabriel felt her lips part, responding to the urgency of the kiss. An electric current ran through his body, mixing fear and excitement.

But then, reality set in. Seraphine pushed Gabriel away with surprising strength, breaking the kiss abruptly.

"Ew!" Fay exclaimed, disgusted. "What a lame kiss! Where's the passion? Where's the drama? It needs more… blood! Next time, use your tongue!"

Gabriel ignored the comment, panting, massaging the arm where Seraphine had held him before. His eyes met hers, and he saw a confusion of emotions: surprise, desire, anger, and… something else, something he couldn't decipher. He could taste her blood on his lips, a sweet and metallic mixture that left him strangely alert.

"Seraphine…" Gabriel whispered, her name sounding like both an invocation and a question.

She took a step back, bringing her hand to her lips, as if she could still feel the kiss. Her face, normally pale, was flushed, but not with embarrassment. It was a hot, intense flush.

"You… are an idiot, Gabriel," she said, but her voice lacked its usual arrogance, sounding more like… a statement of fact? Or was it a warning?

"He's a pervert!" Fay taunted, making the stamp vibrate.

"I know," Gabriel replied, with a crooked smile, looking at the stamp and then at Seraphine (disguised conversation, but with a meaningful look at her). "But at least I try to be original. Right, stamp? At least I don't run away."

"Original? Kissing the vampire who hates you? That's suicide, not originality!" Fay retorted. "And you, huh, vampire? Are you going to let him get away with that? Where's the fury? Where are the screams?" Gabriel clenches his fist with the stamp, silencing Fay, only for her to mumble

Seraphine scoffed, but a slight smile, almost imperceptible, played on her lips for an instant before disappearing.

"Perhaps…" she began to say and stopped abruptly, frowning, as if she had heard something. "Did you hear that?"

Silence filled the corridor, but it wasn't a complete silence. There was something wrong.

Before Gabriel could answer, a strange sound echoed through the corridor. It wasn't a crash, but something more subtle and unsettling: a whisper, as if several voices were speaking at the same time, in an unknown, incomprehensible, but threatening language.

Gabriel and Seraphine looked at each other, alarmed. Seraphine's smile vanished, replaced by an expression of genuine concern.

"What is that sound?" Gabriel asked. "Do you know what it is?"

Seraphine shook her head, her eyes fixed on a point beyond Gabriel, as if she were seeing something he couldn't see.

"No…" She whispered. "But…"

The whispering in the corridor intensified, the sound of footsteps, students? Getting caught like this again? it couldn't be good.

"We have to get out of here," Seraphine said, her voice urgent, grabbing Gabriel's hand.

She didn't wait for an answer. She pulled Gabriel down the corridor, away from the light and the mysterious sound.

Hidden in the shadows of a nearby arch, Lysandra watched the scene, her pale face illuminated by the bluish light. Her blue eyes, normally cold and disdainful, now shone with a mixture of curiosity and… fear.

"Impossible…" she whispered to herself. "A human and a Noctaria… together? This… this is more than a simple infraction. It's an abomination. The consequences…" She shuddered, interrupting the sentence. "They don't know what they're getting into."