Dark Night: Episode 3 (The Darkest Nights Series)

by Stefany Rattles

  I tuned him out. Not wanting to talk about my past at the moment, especially with Kevin of all people.

  “Really? The new chick? Bro, go for it.” Kevin was saying and I knew Genevieve had heard him.

  She had stopped talking to her friends to pay attention to me. I glanced at her feeling guilty and glared at Kevin.

  He shrugged and stood up to leave. “Whatever.” He walked off leaving me to hear Gene’s mouth. I waited but she didn’t say a word, she simply smiled at me and stood up and then she was off to… she was walking towards Mia.

  CHAPTER 8

  MIA

  I had never been in a place like this, it was incredible. What I had seen in the morning was nothing. They had added a bunch of other things. More decorations, from the tables to the ceiling and the lighting made an incredible effect off the decorations. The dance floor was full of people dancing to a current song I didn’t know. It was a ball but they were not going completely old school. It was more elegant than anything I’d ever seen.

  This was a commencement, the end of one thing and beginning of another for me.

  “Let’s go mingle.” Mereily said, “You have to get to know everyone. Just stay away from certain people.” she whispered. I wasn’t entirely show I was the one that needed that advice but I nodded anyway.

  “Like Genevieve.” Sophie added and Mereily sighed. At least I hadn’t said it out loud this time.

  “Let’s try to enjoy this, please,” Mereily smiled awkwardly.

  “Hey girls what’s going on?” Some girls that had been staring finally came up to us.

  “Lana, Layla and Yasmin, this is Mia. And Mia this is Lana and Layla they’re twins and this is Yasmin she’s graduating this year.”

  “Hey.” I was going to try to have a little fun tonight, if it was possible.

  “Hi.” They all waved.

  “Did I miss something?” Genevieve walked up to us. “What the hell?” She said as she stared at my dress. “Who made you one of us?”

  Glaring at Genevieve for her intrusion I corrected her, “I’m not part of anything. It’s just a dress.” I simply stated.

  She scoffed, “It is not just a dress! You don’t know anything, how stupid are you?” She yelled at me. I wasn’t going to take her crap especially tonight that I wanted to meet everyone and try and enjoy this.

  “What the hell is your problem? I’m not dealing with you. Don’t you have something better to do?” I said back to her. She gave me – what I called – an evil smile and slowly turned to walk away.

  She glared daggers and probably ice picks at me. “Watch your back, no one messes with me.” She said walking away.

  “Whatever,” I said loud enough for her to hear. Still she pretended she didn’t. Not caring, I shook that off and kept on with the evening. “Uh where were we? Right, I’m Mia I don’t know what you’ve heard about me and I don’t really care either. I don’t want to be part of anything here and if you must know I was brought against my own will and I don’t appreciate when people assume things. I didn’t ask for this but it is very nice and all how I’ve been treated and it’s also very nice meeting all of you. I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have.”

  More people surrounded me and my friends. Most were smiling and waving, a few just listened and pretended I didn’t say anything, turned around and left.

  The remaining people introduced themselves one by one and were surprised to hear that it was my first day here. Some said, usually they wouldn’t let a new person go to a ball or a main event for some stupid reason I didn’t know. But I was here and that made them think that I was special in some way.

  “You know you’re the cutest chick I’ve ever seen.” A guy that I had just met told me in front of Mereily and Sophie. His name was Jack and he was cute too. Tall and his eyes were grayish, you could tell he had a body too. Yep, he had the whole package.

  “Hope you don’t think I’m going to fall for that, do you?” I said smiling. “Besides it’s not nice of you to say that. Don’t you think my friends are good looking too? Because I think they are the best looking girls out of the bunch.” I looked at them and wasn’t lying. All the girls looked alike. I’d say we were the only three that didn’t look like the rest of them.

  He smiled and nodded. “Yes, they are pretty cute too. I mean all three of you are little hot-ties but I’d like to get to know you better.” He said singling me out.

  “Sure, as long as it’s only as friends. I’ll tell you right now so you don’t get any ideas.”

  The girls giggled and he laughed. “Of course. Would you like to dance?” He asked confidently extending his arm.

  “Why not?” I waved at the girls and walked with Jack towards the dance floor. We danced for a few minutes in silence until someone interrupted us.

  “May I?” Robert was next to us out of nowhere. Jack didn’t mind and he let him cut in.

  “Sure.” He just shrugged and smiled at me before he turned to leave.

  I felt uncomfortable touching Robert but when I did, it changed everything. Feeling more of the same bond feeling go through me. It was almost as if I was hypnotized. I would have done whatever he wanted me to do if he said so.

  I knew he noticed it too

  “Are you okay?” Immediately his body stiffened. I think it was because he felt the same way.

  “I’m fine.” I forced myself to sound pissed because I hadn’t forgotten the way he had treated me earlier.

  “I just want you to know that you look amazing.” What he said shocked me but I knew he was just saying that because he was a man.

  “Thanks.” I said dryly. “You look great too.” I had to admit that at least but had to swallow so my smile wouldn’t betray me.

  “There’s a reason for this,” He was talking about our closeness. “I think you know what I’m talking about.” Yes, I absolutely knew what he was talking about and knew he felt the same way.

  “What do you want me to say? I know you don’t want to feel it but do you know what it does to me? Probably not but it doesn’t really matter. I guess there’s nothing we can do to change that.” I didn’t look at him because if I did I would break. All the emotions were going to kill me slowly.

  “You’re wrong.” He said firmly.

  “About what now?” It irritated me when he said it like that. Regardless, I looked back at his gorgeous eyes and he looked straight through mine.

  “First of all, I do not think your blood is nasty. In fact it is so good that I cannot stop thinking about it and you__ you are calling me or something. I don’t know how you do it but I can feel what you feel and it drives me crazy. Second of all, no I should not feel that because this is wrong. But what’s done is done and as I have said before I’m not complaining we both like it.” He didn’t look away, still trying to figure out what I was thinking. He was right about the last part but I was trying to process what he had just said.

  “What do you mean when you say I call you?”

  “If you are alone, I feel it. Why do you think I appear around you?”

  “But I wasn’t alone five minutes ago.” I pointed out.

  “Not physically. But do you see? I cannot stay away and it it’s hurting me to even try. What are we going to do now? I can’t stand you half the time and you can’t stand me but our blood or something within us wants us each other.” He sounded miserable again and I felt sorry for him and for myself because he was right about everything. No. I didn’t like him outside of the bond. At least I didn’t think so. No, I thought he was the hottest guy around but that was it. He had issues and I just couldn’t deal with him.

  “That kind of sounds creepy. I don’t know what we're going to do but can we please not think about it tonight. I have enough on my mind right now.” I reminded him that he was still touching me while I was trying to control myself and when he realized that so he immediately stopped dancing.

  We walked towards a table and stood at least two feet away.

 
; “We should keep some distance. I don’t want to end up hurting you again or vice versa.” He winked like he was playing around for a second and then he was back to serious, “Did you really mean what you said on the plane?”

  I’d thought he had forgotten about that.

  “About what?” I played stupid.

  “You know about my eyes?” He remembered. I didn’t want to meet his intense look but going against my better judgment I did anyway because that’s just how powerless I was around him.

  “Uh, I don’t think I remember. Oh, yeah that. I think that they are incredible when you’re not angry. But when you’re mad they’re so obscure and I don’t like it.” I admitted.

  We stared at each other for a while. I wondered what would happen if we closed the short distance between us and kissed.

  Something was making me feel funny and before I did something we would both regret, he spoke, “I guess you are not as cold as I thought you would be.” Then suddenly he brought me back to reality.

  I stepped back.

  “Yeah, and I guess you’re not such too much of an ass.”

  We smiled at that and walked away from each other.

  CHAPTER 9

  After having that conversation with Robert I had a few dances with Jack and then Mereily. After all of that, I headed upstairs. No longer in the mood for more “dancing”. I had met half the students and wasn’t really interested in getting to know everyone in one night. It was past ten and the halls were dark. There was no one wandering around like I was. I guess everyone really was enjoying the party.

  I was thinking about going back later when they presented the awards but then I heard steps coming towards me and I kept walking until I saw the person that came into view.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Sophie asked. She was by herself.

  “I was just going up for a minute. I thought you were with Mereily?” She flinched when I asked.

  “No. She’s hanging out with Gene and her friends, I don’t know why Gene talks to her though and she’s not even a royal yet. They talk like they’re best friends. When Mereily first came here I was the first one to talk to her and when she was sick I was for her through everything. Gene didn’t even start talking to her until a few weeks ago. I think she’s up to something.” She said quietly. I looked at her face and she looked really upset by this, she really thought that Gene was up to no good. That worried me.

  “Don’t get worked up over her, we’ll know if she’s up to something don’t worry. I don’t like her at all but we don’t know what’s going on in her head.” So far, she had only been rude to me which wasn’t enough for me to suspect her of anything weird.

  “Well, I’ll go back with you then. If Mereily is still with her then we can hang out for a while.” I decided that maybe it was a good opportunity to get to know Sophie better. She smiled and we went back to the ball room.

  Many of the students were still dancing while others were just sitting, eating and talking. Jack was still talking to some friends, he didn’t even notice when I left. But I think that was for the best. He was a royal after all and I wasn’t interested in being friends with them. I also spotted Robert standing by himself and that’s when he met my eyes and for a minute it was like a battle of who would look away first. Sophie interrupted us.

  “Mia? Hello?” She waved her hand in front of my face.

  “Uh. Sorry__ I spaced out.” I lied glancing back to where Robert was standing but he wasn’t there anymore. “Let’s sit there.”

  When we reached our seats the music had stopped.

  “Good evening students. Today we have some special news and awards we are giving out.” It was the same lady from the auditorium that spoke while she stood by the podium.

  “What’s her name?” I whispered to Sophie.

  “She’s an Elder. They’re the teachers. I think her name is Abi.” She whispered back. The room was silent while Abi spoke.

  “Tonight, we have some royals among us that we have not yet recognized. That was an oversight, I apologize. We had a mess up with some paper work and now we will announce who these students are. As I call your name please exit the room and follow Goddess Illyanne.” She paused for a second.

  “That is crap.” Sophie said.

  “I hope they call you though, it’s only fair.” I told her keeping my voice down. She nodded as Abi spoke.

  “Before I begin with the list, there is a new student here tonight that I would like to introduce to you. Her name is Mia Dawney. Will you come up here please Mia?” I tried to hide but she spotted me. I had no idea how she knew me but she saw me and I had no choice but to stand up. I wished that the floor would swallow me whole.

  I walked around the tables and up the steps to the stage that they had made then I stood in front of the whole student body.

  Abi was a tall lady, around early thirties and she smiled a lot.

  “Welcome to the Dark Knight Institute. You are here by claimed to be a royal. Take this and Isabelle will see you tomorrow first thing in the morning. You may take your seat.” She handed me a package I didn’t know what to say and was glad that I wasn’t forced to say anything.

  I heard claps and whistles from the crowd.

  I bowed respectfully then walked in shock back to where Sophie sat with her mouth hanging open. I shook my head trying to tell her I didn’t know. She had to know that my surprise was just as genuine as hers was. Everybody in the room stared which was uncomfortable to say the least.

  Abi started with the list of students that were up for awards. Most of the names she called were people I didn’t know so I just mentally blocked it out until I heard the name’s I recognized, “Sophie Carmichael, Mereily Jolie,” I noticed Sophie’s face had brightened and she stood up and walked past me smiling. Then, finally reaching my seat I saw Mereily going the opposite direction. I couldn’t see her face but I bet she was as happy as Sophie was. Once I sat down, there was someone else that had joined the table.

  “You are special.” Jack said. Then I realized something, I leaned back in my chair and rolled my eyes.

  “Oh. So that’s why you talked to me? You knew this was going to happen and here I thought you weren’t like the rest.” I folded my arms across my chest and turned to look at Abi who was speaking to the small group of kids that were standing on the stage.

  “Did I miss something? You think I talked to you just because I knew you were a royal?” He paused for my response but I ignored him. “That’s not why. I was about to tell you before Lord Robert interrupted us. Well here it goes. I’m supposed to be your soulmate. And the only reason I knew you’re a royal was because I overheard a conversation that Illyanne was having with someone on the phone. I didn’t know that until after I talked to you anyway.” I turned to look at him and could see he was serious about what he was saying.

  “Oh no,” My eyes dropped. What he just said wasn’t good. None of it was, “What are you talking about your mate?” I couldn’t be with him now.

  I really didn’t need this boy crap.

  “Everyone has one. I thought you knew,” He was right about that. I did know but chose to ignore Robert when he had told me the same thing earlier today. That’s why he was worried.

  “I’m sorry, I have to go.” I told Jack as I got up and left the room forgetting everyone in there and leaving Jack looking stunned after me.

  It was awful, everything. I didn’t want to be part of the royals or be with anyone. This was already a mess. I ran up the stairs as fast as possible in my heels and tripped but got a hold of the wall and kept running until I reached my room.

  As soon as I went through the door, I saw Robert and Genevieve making out. My heart stopped for a second and then I took a deep breath. “Robert, can you not take her somewhere else, please?” Trying not to look at them, instead I stared at the TV screen.

  They were “watching” the news. More like they were making out on the sofa while the TV was on. The tears were coming but I just wiped my
eyes with the back of my palm and walked to my bathroom. I heard a door close and hoped that they had left but then I sat inside the bathtub and turned the shower on hot water. It always made me feel better after a terrible day. I was still wearing the dress but I didn’t care.

  The more I thought about it the more convinced I was that it was all too much for one day. And I was overwhelmed with all the changes that were happening to me in such a short time.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Are you alright?” Robert asked. I didn’t want to answer but knowing him, he would probably get a goddess here or something.

  “I’m fine. Aren’t you busy anyway?” I told him so he would leave me alone. He didn’t answer for several minutes and then someone knocked again. I stood up and opened the shower curtain. “Robert you better leave me alone! I’m not in the mood.” I tried to yell but the shower running made me sound like I was barely talking.

  “It’s me, Mereily.” She said from the other side of the door. “Let me in.” She said softly.

  For a second I thought about telling her to go away too but decided that venting to someone was better than keeping it all inside. So I opened the door for her. “Mia? What’s wrong?” She was looking around. I had a puddle of water on the floor. She turned the water off then went into my closet while I sat inside the shower.

  “Mereily, is it this bad? I don’t know why you’re asking me what’s wrong, because clearly everything is wrong with me. I bonded with Robert and I just saw him making out with the girl he says he never liked and in my room while I’m dealing with Jack telling me I’m his mate and to top it all off I’m a freaking royal.” I put my hands on my face. “This is bad.” I wasn’t exaggerating. At least I didn’t think I was.

  She didn’t answer.

  I guess she didn’t want to lie. She had a robe and a towel in her hands.

  “Here,” She handed me the towel and she turned around while I got out of my wet clothes. “Sophie and I were looking for you. We didn’t know where you were until Robert told us.” She paused for a second. “Mia, don’t get mad but I was just wondering, do you like Robert?” She asked me.