RAYA 

.

The house was bursting in flames, slowly crumbling down. Belongings shattered, things were broken and the house was about to get demolished into the growing fire.

Many people couldn't come out. A lot of them were helplessly burning with the fire. No one could do a thing.

No one could get themselves to charge directly at death to save the others. So, they sat there, watching in despair.

They were nothing but a clan of united Vampires. They weren't meant to fight others, maybe that's why they were assassinated and invaded.

If only her parents let go of her that day, if only they did something to save her. But they didn't. And that's what changed Raya..

That's what made Raya do the things she never thought she would.

~

Raya forcefully opened her eyes to get away from the nightmare she was dreaming of. She sat up on her bed, gasping for air.

She got out of the bed and slowly drew the curtains open to see it was already morning. The bright sunlight poured into the room but she stood on the dark side.

Raya took a deep breath and gathered up her courage. Then she stepped out under the sunlight from her window.

But nothing happened. Her skin didn't burn or rot. It was working, she closed her eyes, the magic and the daylight ring was working.

~

That day marked the start of her journey as an individual among people. After being homeschooled all her life, she has reached her first day at Ellesmore high. Her freshman year.

Her parents weren't awake when she left for school. She didn't bother waking them up. Since the day six months ago, Raya's sister Maverick died, her parents weren't able to completely recover.

And Raya's first day at Ellesmore only brought back terrible memories because it was the same school Maverick used to go to.

She drove the car to her new school, her heart beating fast because of the constant fear of being under the sun and out in public being a Vampire.

Ellesmore was huger than she had imagined. It was twice the size of her uncle's country house. It was the house where the survivors of the clan lived. After that disastrous night, their vampire clan was down to half.

She parked her car and immediately felt the strange feeling strangling her as people started glancing at her. She felt like people could see through her. As if they could all see her vampire form. With that came the overpowering smell of blood and veins. Since childhood, she had been taught to not feed off of people but use blood banks but the smell always bothered her patience.

She quickly shook her head and walked into the school building and headed over to find the principal. The cabin was right in front of the entrance and she knocked on the door.

"Come on in!" The principal said.

"Hey," Raya smiled awkwardly.

"You're late, class starts in 5 minutes, so I can't keep you here long. But see me after school," Principal Nadia said flipping through the pages of the file in front of her.

"Ah, sorry. Will I leave then?" Raya asked and Nadia nodded. Just when she was about to leave, Nadia called her back.

"Hey, there are a lot of types of people in this school. But it's the best to hide who you are, you understand?" Nadia said with a serious look on her face. Raya understood what she meant and smiled.

"Like you've been hiding you're a vampire?" She said.

"It's been 10 years now. No one knows," Nadia chuckled but then she composed herself and asked Raya to lower her voice.

"I'll keep that in mind," Raya said. After Nadia nodded at her, she left the cabin and headed over to her first class ever. She unexpectedly felt thrilled to walk the same corridors as her sister used to. She missed her.

~

The first few classes passed in a daze. She was easily distracted by her surroundings, the odour of human blood and words she couldn't understand. She still wasn't used to being around people.

The bell rang and everyone headed to the cafeteria. Raya followed the direction half of the students were headed towards. She reached a huge hall with tables and seats set up in rows with canteen counters on one side.

She sighed, she had no business there. She cannot consume human beverages, she didn't need them.

But Raya decided to stay there a little longer in the hope to make some friends. She looked around the almost full cafeteria till she found a table with no one sitting on it. The table was placed separate from the other tables and no one went near it.

She considered herself lucky as she walked over to the table and sat down. The minute she sat down, the whole noisy cafeteria turned silent. She looked beside her to see every single person in the cafeteria looking at her wide-eyed. She had no clue what was happening.

Raya felt chills run down her spine as she heard the footsteps of people walking into the cafeteria.

Suddenly, an aura spread around the room and Raya felt uncomfortable. She felt restless and uneasy all of a sudden. She knew for a fact that it wasn't the blood. It was something stronger. Something that was making her skin crawl.

She turned her head towards the entrance and her heart sped up.

Five people entered the cafeteria with intimidating faces. But Raya's eyes were stuck to the one leading the group.

He was taller than most of the people in the cafeteria, had a lean body with tattoos down his arm and light blonde hair. His eyes were honey brown and his jaw was clenched. He had a frown painted on his forehead as he gazed around the cafeteria, looking for something.

That's when his eyes fell on Raya who was staring at him for a long time. Their eyes meet and the uncomfortable feeling kept growing. Raya felt as if he could feel the uneasiness too.

His gaze turned cold on her and he looked away. But Raya couldn't. She wanted to figure out what the feeling was.

Everyone in the canteen gasped and signalled something at Raya but she couldn't decipher what the others were telling her to do.

Raya felt the chair she was sitting on, moving. The chair was being turned around by someone behind her and soon, she saw him. He leaned into her, placing his hand on the edge of her chair and looked down at her.

His eyes were harsh and as she looked right into his honey brown eyes, she realised his presence was the reason for her discomfort. It was his aura that was bothering her.

While his group snickered and the rest of the cafeteria watched with concerned eyes, Raya was able to get her voice back.

"W-what are you doing-", she choked out.

"You're new?" He asked, after a pause. He was too close to her. Raya sat holding onto the chair tightly while he was leaning over her, blocking her escape with his arms.

"Can you move over?" Raya said, nervous under his pointy gaze.

"That's what you should do, b*tch," the voice came from behind. It was the girl with violet hair from the group. She was smirking with the rest of them.

"You didn't answer my question," he said, looming over her. His voice was deep and low which made him twice as intimidating. But his eyes were too cold. "Are you new?"

"Y-yes," she said.

Before Raya could speak any further, he yanked her arm and pulled her towards him. She got out of the chair, pulled to his chest, and saw him smirk down at her.

That's when he pushed her aside and off of him. She stumbled back a few steps, her eyes wide in shock.

Suddenly, a girl from the group with dark hair and blue eyes came up to her and pushed her to the floor. Raya fell to the ground, not knowing why she was being treated like that.

She was furious inside and her inner form was threatening to show. But she understood all her anger was concentrated on one boy. Him.

Raya didn't even know his name yet when...

"So, Lucian, what should we do with her?" Another guy from the group said, rubbing his palms together.

Lucian, the guy with an uncurbed aura, turned around to look at her. All five of them, who looked like they ruled the school ganged up on her together.

She watched as the scene unfolded before her.