Chapter 40: Allies and Secrets

Why was the vampire inside the principal’s house in the first place?

"Are you sure?" I asked Ethan.

"Of course I’m sure. Don’t you trust me? The one who saved your ass."

"Relax, bro. You did a great job, but saved my ass? I can only remember you leaving me alone in that forest."

"I told you what happened. Look, what do we do? Should we go there and find this vampire?"

Ethan had gotten really scared that day when he met the vampire. That had to be it. He wanted to hunt down the vampire so he could finally sleep without anything bothering him.

"Not now," I said. "The principal is on high alert with this story of me surviving the rift. Also, doesn’t he want to keep his home a secret? You told everyone where it is, so if the vampire’s there, it’ll probably move somewhere else."

It was just a hunch, again.

"You’re right," Ethan said, "but remember I said the vampire was wearing a guard’s uniform? I saw it patrolling a few times, then one day I followed it at night. That’s when I saw it going into the principal’s house. But the thing is, it never left. I stayed up all night watching it."

"Weird," I said. "Considering how little we actually know about the principal, I can only assume he’s got secret passages leading into his house. Maybe the vampire left through one of those."

"Must be. I saw him patrolling the other night, and every single night since, he heads to the principal’s home and never leaves. Think he might be sleeping there, honestly. Only explanation that makes sense."

This vampire couldn’t walk in the sun, apparently. Ethan only ever saw him in the forest at night, and he was always on patrol during the night too.

Some vampires could handle sunlight, but only the powerful ones. My guess was this vampire, being one of the guards, couldn’t risk sleeping in the guard dormitory with everyone else. Too hard to explain burning up in the sun after leaving with the rest of them in the morning.

"So the principal knows about this vampire," I said. "Must be the case. What is he up to with vampires? Doesn’t look too good, right?"

Frederic not only knew this vampire, but he certainly knew the vampire I met in the dungeon too. The fuck was going on?

I had too many problems right now, and I couldn’t focus on finding the vampire, even if I wanted to.

"Let’s lay low for now," I added. "Like I said, the principal is on edge right now with my situation. We have to wait."

Ethan sat on his bed, sighing. "Yeah, you’re right. And how did you survive anyway? Is the story true or what?"

He had saved me, but I didn’t want to tell him the truth.

"Yes, it is. Just pure luck, just like that day when you left me..."

Ethan placed both hands on his head.

"How long will you keep bringing this up, damn it."

We sat there and talked about what had happened during the time I was away.

Nothing much, really. All the students were just focusing on their classes. My circle of friends, Tom, Brian, and Selena, had a hard time following classes. They were all thinking about me, as if they were grieving.

At least that was what Ethan told me. Only after talking with them would I be sure of it.

"You look different," Ethan said. "And I swear it looked like you saw me when I was invisible. Did you?"

"Invisible? When?"

"When I saw you at the principal’s house, with him."

"Oh, no, I didn’t see you at all. So that’s how everyone found out I was alive. You basically gossiped."

"Yeah, but don’t tell anyone. This could get me in trouble."

"I’ll think about it."

"Bro... I’m sorry about that night in the forest..."

I laughed. Messing with him never got old.

Ethan eventually had to return to his class, leaving me alone in my room.

I checked on Bob again. He was still sleeping.

At the end of the day, Selena and Tom came to speak with me. Selena even hugged me, which was quite surprising.

Her brother Brian was just watching everything from the sidelines, not quite showing any feelings.

"I knew you were alive," Selena said, "my brother didn’t believe me. In fact, now that I think of it, he looked strangely happy the last few days."

Brian cleared his throat. "She’s lying. It’s just my way of grieving the loss of a friend, that’s why."

What bullshit. Brian just didn’t want me near his sister. A protective brother, classic.

Tom was the calmest among everyone. He didn’t talk much, but after everyone left and we were alone in the room, he said a few things.

"I knew you were alive. Your ability is too weird. I bet you survived by using it, right?"

He was smart. I had shown him I could store his attacks, which was something only he knew. With that knowledge, he guessed how I survived.

"I think you probably hid inside your cube until the portal appeared again. If you can put attacks inside, putting your body in it doesn’t sound that absurd."

Tom was spot on about how I survived the deadly energy. I didn’t agree, though.

"Maybe," I said, shrugging my shoulders, "who knows?"

Tom looked really curious about what truly happened in the rift, but he noticed I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it, so he didn’t ask.

"I have something to tell you about my brother," Tom said.

His brother, the S-Rank Hunter who was exploring a new and weird continent they’d found.

"What about him?" I asked.

"Well... he’s missing. It’s not on the news yet, since an S-Rank hunter from the United States going missing would cause a huge impact on how we’re seen worldwide, but he is. And I want to find him. I need to get stronger, fast."

I wasn’t sure where he was going with all of that.

"Can you help me train? And if possible, I want to leave on missions. We could form a team."

Tom didn’t have many friends in the academy, so that’s why he wanted my help. I was in the same boat as him.

I didn’t think I’d learn much by training with him. I was much stronger than him now, so it wouldn’t be that productive.

However, there was something I could do to help him.

"I’ll practice with you," I said, pausing for a moment, "but I can also get the principal to let you go on missions with me next week."

"What? How? We can’t leave on missions yet."

All the new students had to practice more before leaving.

"I’ll become a C-Rank hunter next week, so I can bring you along."

"... What?"

"Yeah. The principal let me take the test to get a temporary hunter ID, and become a C-Rank Hunter."

"What’s your relationship with the principal anyway?"

"He’s my father."

"What?"

I just wanted to see his reaction. I laughed and hit him in the shoulder.

"Just joking bro, chill. I think he just sees I’m talented, that’s all."

Of course that was not it. Frederic was up to something, I was sure.

And just like that, one week passed. Before my test to become a temporary C-Rank hunter, though, that blond guy wanted that duel.

Dorian called us to the arena.

I was about to teach that guy a lesson. About damn time someone put him in his place.