DANCING WITH THE DEAD

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: HELP ME

"Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams."

|Bram Stoker - Dracula|

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"Drop and give me fifty!" My Amazonian self-defense coach, Coach VanDyke screamed at me. I was only thirty minutes into my two-hour class but my muscles were already exhausted from overuse.

I managed to do all fifty barely even staying conscious before limping back over to the track to do another three laps.

This is how self-defense class goes:
First hour-
•Stretching
•Three laps
•Fifty sit-ups
•Twenty-five squats
•Fifty push ups
(Repeat for full first hour)
Second hour-
•Punching practice
•Knifes and archery
•Partner practice

The first hour ended eventually sweat dripping from every square inch of my body. Over the past week, I had been gradually adjusting to the exercise but it certainly was going to take a while for my body to completely adjust.

Meanwhile, the vampires worked out with ease barely even breaking a sweat.

Coach VanDyke called a water break and I made my way to my water bottle where I sat breathing heavily and taking long sips of ice water.

That's when I noticed something strange.

Maya stood across from me Oliver directly beside her. Her gym shirt was drooping slightly revealing a strange mark on her nape. It appeared to be letters, but the peculiar part was that it was pulsating a bright violet color. The same color as Oliver's eyes.

That's when I realized something, whatever Oliver did to Maya was not natural. It almost appeared to be witchcraft. Oliver caught me staring and quickly snaked his arm around Maya's shoulders hiding the markings.

I raised an accusing eyebrow and he smirked knowingly.

"You look like death." Lola laughed sitting beside me.

"I feel like death." I groaned in reply laying down on the dew covered glass and tightening my ponytail.

She laid down beside me knowing in only minutes hell would restart and we'd probably pass out from exhaustion. I glanced over at her taking in all of her features.

Her bright red shoulder length hair was pulled up in a messy bun. Her green eyes were glowing in the afternoon sun and her fair skin was glowing healthily. She had a small freckle above the right side of her lip identical to Adeline's.

"You remind me of someone," I blurted quickly realizing how creepy it sounded.

"Really, who?" She muttered sleepily in reply sitting up to prevent herself from falling asleep right then and there.

"Her name was Adeline," I responded hoping to mask the sadness in my voice with a fake smile.

"Was Adeline?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"She's passed," I spoke, quickly sitting up and tucking my knees into my chest.

"Oh, depression?" She asked sadly.

"Yeah, something like that. How'd you know?" I replied staring at the faded sun. I missed the sun in the human world. It supplied warmth and comfort while this sun supplied nothing except light.

"I have a big family, depression is inevitable," She said without even glancing at me.

I didn't know what her words meant so I simply nodded hoping to come off as understanding.

"Alright cupcakes, get off your asses!" Coach VanDyke yelled at us and we quickly shot up walking over to the punching bags.

Twenty minutes later my knuckles were beaten and bruised despite the padding we wore. I unwrapped my hands hastily throwing the blood covered bandages aside. Suddenly, I was no longer alone.

"Your blood smells different," A boy said from directly behind me. I recognized him to be the boy with the scar above his eye who was hounding me about Salem in the cafeteria.

"So?" I replied trying to put as much distance between us as possible. I almost forgot vampires drank blood and were a threat to my life.

"I'm Adam," He said completely ignoring my comment.

"Don't care." I poured my water bottle over my bloody hands flinching at the stinging sensation.

"You act all high and mighty despite the fact you're human," He growled, stepping forwards.

Human, yeah right. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I was an alien.

"You act all high and mighty despite the fact half of these students could beat your ass in ten seconds." I scoffed. He was lankier than most, his bones jutting from his transparently pale skin.

"I could suck you dry right at this moment and the coach wouldn't even have enough time to do anything about it."

"Really? I dare you," I countered immediately regretting my decision. Adam immediately stepped forwards and I felt my pulse quicken in fear.

"No homicides today," A low voice whispered from behind me. I immediately recognized the voice to be Salem's.

He grabbed my wrist and dragged me away from Adam who was glaring at me menacingly.

He mouthed the words, "Until next time."

My eyes widened and I quickly looked away towards Salem who seemed to be especially irritated.

"What's wrong with you?" I laughed lightheartedly hoping to lighten the mood. He immediately stopped letting go of my wrist.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You just openly invited a vampire to kill you. Do you have a death wish?" He yelled. He's never yelled at me before.

"Sorry I just-" I stammered before he said, "Save it. Your attitude is going to be your downfall."

And then he was gone.

He used his speed to go who knows where while I stood there completely speechless.

I noticed Maya walking towards me, alone for the first time it seemed. Normally Oliver was clinging to her side like a watch dog... or a kidnapper.

Something in her eyes was urgent, she no longer had that glazed over look.

She walked past me barely glancing at me but what really startled me was when she whispered, "Help me."

Her eyes darted forwards and she continued walking Oliver quickly appearing by her side.

I overheard him scold, "You can't fucking leave me. You know what I'll do."

Oh. My. God.

Maya's not a bitch she's being controlled. Took me god damn long enough! This whole time she's been in a kidnapper situation and I was too preoccupied to notice.

But what the hell am I supposed to do?

"Aldaine get your ass over here!" Coach VanDyke screamed and I scurried over to knives and archery practice.

Another twenty minutes later I had actually managed to hit the target in archery and almost hit the dummy in knife practice. Although I did end up with a deep cut in my arm that of course healed on its own. At least I was somewhat progressing.

I limped over to partner practice where we were all put in two giant lines that reached further than an American football field.

Coach VanDyke began to slowly call out pairs signaling we were going to be running over class time. I yawned waiting for her to call my name when she yelled, "Indiana Aldaine and Oliver Tarantino!"

Wait a minute... Tarantino? My mind immediately flashed to Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill but that's not what was concerning me. Those were the words on Maya's neck.

Well, fuck me in the ass with a number two pencil.

No way!

I stepped forwards ready to say something to the coach when someone else spoke for me, two people to be exact.

"She can't be paired with him," Ansel said from the side an angry look on his face that certainly did not match the puppy dog expression he always seemed to wear.

Salem stood beside him his eyes boring into me almost as if he was trying to read my mind.

"Why not, Ansel?" Coach VanDyke asked threateningly almost daring him to speak again.

"Because he's a sociopath," Salem spoke up.

Coach VanDyke laughed her sharp eyes narrowing considerably. "Doesn't that make you a hypocrite Salem Tremaine? Oh, maybe I shouldn't call you by the Tremaine name." She laughed, and with that everyone went silent.

Nobody thought she would go there, but she did.

Salem walked forwards towards Coach VanDyke almost as if he was going to attack her but then turned towards Oliver who was laughing uncontrollably. He then proceeded to punch Oliver straight in the face, I could hear bones crack from fifteen feet away.

Then chaos ensued. Students began screaming and running almost as if they expected Salem to go on a killing rampage. The students who were too far away to see began to scream and run too, probably thinking strigoi were attacking or something.

Salem turned putting his hoodie back up and began to walk towards me. Oliver sat on the ground blood pouring from his extremely fractured nose that his accelerated healing would even have a hard time with.

Salem walked to me gruffly taking a hold of my arm and then dragged me all the way back to the dorms.

He slammed the door behind himself in my room and sat down on the bed putting his head between his knees as he shook in anger. I sat on the other side of the bed nearly cowering in fear.

He was muttering curse words under his breath before he turned to me and said, "God dammit, Indie."

But it didn't sound arrogant or rude it sounded heartfelt and concerned, but I still flinched by instinct. My face relaxed considerably and I felt my cry baby tears beginning to come to the surface, but I had enough self-control to keep them at bay.

"I thought he was going to make you like Maya," He muttered and my head shot up.

"Like... Maya?" I asked slowly.

"Yeah," He mumbled still shaking in anger.

"What do you mean?" I blurted.

"It's easy to notice. Something's not right with her."

"I noticed something strange... there was the name Tarantino on her back. That's Oliver's last name, but it was pulsating this weird purple color," I commented hoping to get some more information about her.

"And then when she managed to be on her own for a couple of seconds she whispered 'help me' while walking past me,"?I added and his face paled.

"Tarantino... How did I not notice?" He muttered.

"What's wrong?" I asked concernedly.

"The Tarantino family is descended from the witches of Willowbee woods."

"But isn't Oliver a pureblood?" I asked confusedly.

"Yes, but any vampire family can be purebloods if they marry into another family. That means Oliver's directly connected to witches he obviously has some sort of spell controlling Maya. She was trying to warn you," He said urgently standing up and pacing around my room.

"Well, what do we do?" I asked.

"We can't do anything until we have solid evidence," He said before sitting again running his hands through his hair.

I suddenly noticed the small amount of space between us and he seemed to also as his eyes locked with mine. His arm reached out to my face before he began to pull it back, but I took his hand and placed it on my face where he tucked my hair behind my ear.

He took my chin and moved my face only an inch from his.

His eyes were so close they looked like windows into his soul. I wonder what I would even see?

He bit his lip and I immediately felt the intense tension between us. His hand trailed the side of my body to my head sending shivers up my spine where he then pulled my hair out of my ponytail sending my wavy hair cascading down my back.

He leaned forwards slightly our lips less than a centimeter from touching. My eyes widened but I didn't protest wanting him to kiss me more than anything, his eyes searched my body my shirt falling off my shoulder. His hand trailed under my shirt chills erupting under his touch. He stiffened considerably while glancing at my neck.

Without thinking he leaned forwards and embraced me in a tight, intimate hug.

It's strange. I've only known him for a little more than a week but it feels like a lifetime. Maybe even an eternity. Yet I have the feeling I've barely scratched the surface of Salem.

His lips grazed my neck and fear sprang through me. He's a vampire, not a human. I have to keep my guard up.

He sensed the change in atmosphere and quickly backed away to the edge of the bed.

He seemed to be mentally debating something before he quickly exited the room. I sat there alone and confused, the door ajar revealing the poor heartbroken ghost of Ravenna Perrault.

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I'm back! Vacation was pretty fun but the wifi sucked so Wattpad was barely functioning every time I tried to check my notifications.

What was your favorite part? Mine was obviously the tension between Indiana and Salem (Sadiana). Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and comment!

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