Everyone at the table scattered as Dave rushed upstairs to check the seriousness of the.situation.
Turns out I was right about the music. It got too loud for the neighbours and they called the police. I looked around for Ava and finally spotted her at a corner not too far from the basement door looking around nervously.
When she spotted me, I saw her visibly relax as she approached me.
"We need to leave, now!". You don't have to tell me twice. We made our way out of the basement to the living room which still contained a lot of people all looking panicked and acting frantic. I also noticed that even though there were a lot of people moving around we had reduced greatly. The others probably figured it would be best not to wait to see what the police might do.
Ava and I figured that it won't be such a good idea to pass the front door and headed out the back. Just as we thought we were in the clear, we heard shouts from a policeman nearby and took off running.
We were running for a while before we finally stopped to catch our breath. "I think we lost him" Ava said as she placed her hand on the fence beside us for support breathing heavily.
After we had caught our breath, we booked for a cab and headed back to campus.
On our way back, my mind couldn't help but drift back to my kiss with Sylas. I unconsciously touched my lip from the memory of the way he'd lips felt against mine, the way he had just let it happen.
Once we finally made it to our dorm, my legs almost gave out as I stepped into my room. I somehow managed to make it to the bed before I collapsed, completely exhausted from today's experience and fell asleep almost immediately.
...
The first thing I noticed was the burning—a slow, dull ache radiating from my wrist. I winced, trying to ignore it, but it kept growing, crawling up my arm like fire licking at my skin.
I opened my eyes, squinting against the light, and then my heart skipped when I saw it. The mark. Bright red, as though it had been carved into my skin. It was not just a bruise or a rash—it was something alive, something that didn't belong there.
I rushed to the bathroom, my hands shaking as I turned on the tap, trying to wash it off. But the more I scrubbed, the hotter it became, as if it were reacting to my touch. My wrist felt like it was being branded by invisible fire. The itching, the heat—it wouldn't stop.
I stared at it in disbelief. My reflection seemed to mock me, distorted and uncertain, as if I wasn't really seeing what I was seeing. The mark hadn't been there last night. I was sure of it. So how did it appear out of nowhere?
A spike of panic shot through me.
What was happening to me?
When I finally gave up, my hand was even more red than before. How the fuck did I get this?
"It's probably a burn or a rash" Ava said as I showed her the mark. She was in the little section of the dorm we had which we used for our kitchen making coffee.
"How did I get a burn or a rash?"
She shrugged as she took a sip from her cup of coffee. "You probably scratched your hand against something on the wall as we were leaving, the walls did have some weird smell, maybe it's from a chemical they put on it?".
Great, of all the things to come home with from a party, I get a mysterious burn.
"Don't over think it too much, it will be gone in 3 to 5 days, until then, you can find something to use to cover it up.". I signed and took a sip from my cup of coffee.
Monday rolled by and the mark was still there, if possible, it looked bolder than ever.
I wore a long sleeve to class even though the weather was that cold but people really didn't pay much attention to me.
When I settled down for class, I couldn't help looking around but there was no sign of Sylas anywhere.
My mind drifted back to our kiss and for some reason to the mark on my hand but how could a kiss possibly have anything to do with it?
The day went by fast and I spotted Dave who just smiled and waved at me but no Sylas
Rumor has it that thing at the party escalated and Dave's parents had to get involved. It was a good thing we left when we did, maybe that was why I didn't spot Sylas anywhere.
To get my mind off of things, I headed to the library. Just as I was settled down deep in my book, I felt the air shift again and I became all too aware of my surroundings.
A strange pull rippled through me as I felt the mark on my wrist tingling faintlg beneath my sleeve. I froze.
I slowly looked up to meet a pair of silver eyes gazing down at me, with a cold, serious look.
Sylas.