NEITHER SOPHIE OR ELI could fall back asleep that. The remaining hours of darkness were spent huddled together on the couch, Disney movies playing across the television in front of them. Once beams of sunlight began to peek through their windows, Sophie abandoned Eli on the couch to get dressed. She had plans for the morning, at least before her classes started --and most of them involved bothering Aubrey.

"Be good," she told Eli as she returned to the main room of their apartment. He still sat on the couch, clad in his underwear, his cheek resting atop his fist. She walked over and he leaned upward for a kiss.

"You be good too," he told her. "And remember. If there is anything sketchy happens, I want to be the first to know."

She nodded and grabbed her keys. As the door closed behind her, and the sounds of Mushu yelling faded, Sophie couldn't help but breathe a small sigh of relief. Now that Eli knew about the blood, it was as if a weight had been taken from her shoulders. Whatever was happening to her was weird and scary, but at least she wasn't alone with it anymore.

As she made her way to the infirmary, she debated on telling Aubrey. Eli's reaction had surprised Sophie, somewhat. While he still was initially disgusted and angered, he had ultimately taken it like a champ and, more importantly, respected her wishes in keeping her mother out of it. She wasn't sure how Aubrey would react to the idea of Sophie waking up, covered in blood. When she approached the entrance, she noticed a familiar figure leaning against the wall, right next to the main doors. Surprise trickled through her as Finn Frey's gaze met hers, a smile tugging at his lips. He pushed away from the wall and walked toward her.

"I was hoping to find you this morning," he said.

"Oh," she said. "Really? Why?"

His smile seemed to grow larger. "Your mother mentioned that you had a friend in the infirmary who is supposed to be researching the creatures that were found in the forest. I wanted to see if I could listen in. Maybe even help guide her research."

Sophie's eyebrows crinkled. She wasn't sure how Aubrey would feel about that, especially since there was a chance that it could stress Wolfe out. Finn was a stranger, both to her and to Wolfe.

He immediately noticed her reaction. He smiled larger and explained, "Through the years that I've spend traveling and exploring the world, I've gained a lot of knowledge. Even with one small detail, I might be able to figure out what the creatures are --or if I've come across them before, at least. I feel that I could be great help to both you and your friend."

"Did my mother explain why my friend is in the infirmary?" Sophie asked quietly.

Finn's eager expression faltered. "Not exactly."

"Her boyfriend is actually the one that is injured," Sophie explained as vaguely as she could. "And he's quite sensitive right now. I'm not sure that having a stranger in the room would be very beneficial."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Sensitive?"

"It's a long story," Sophie said with a small sigh. "How about this. I'll go in this morning, alone, and ask Aubrey if it's alright for you to join in tomorrow."

"Alright," he conceded. "Though I would like to meet with you later today as well, if that's alright. I'll visit you after classes end."

She blinked. Before she could really respond, Finn seemed to vanish from sight. With a shake of her head, she continued into the infirmary, making her way toward Wolfe's room.

The more that she thought about it, the more it kind of weirded her out a bit. Finn seemed awfully excited about these creatures in the woods.

~

The meeting with Aubrey was fairly short-lived.

From what Sophie was able to gather, in between Aubrey's frustrated ranting and the flutter of her fingers against her keyboard, no information about the forest creatures had been found so far. There was still a lot of internet left to search, which kept Sophie from worrying just yet.

After the meeting, Sophie went to her classroom and prepared for the day. Her students would be actually learning today. The plan was for them to learn more about vampire biology --more specifically, how vampires found mates and whatnot. The whole subject was somewhat ironic for Sophie, considering her first introduction to the idea of 'mating' was through the games. She couldn't help but be thankful that her students would never have to compete for a chance at falling in love with someone.

The whole concept of it was still kind of ridiculous to her.

When Sophie reached her classroom, she quickly emailed Eli and caught him up on Aubrey's lack of results/frustrated mood. She told him outright --she hadn't mentioned the whole 'waking up covered in blood' part to Aubrey. Her mood was too foul to really hold such a concerning conversation.

As the day passed on, and Sophie continued to gossip with Eli through email, she found up entirely forgetting about Finn Frey. When the final bell chimed, announcing the end of classes, she was surprised to find Finn slipping through her door as students left.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, her eyebrows quirked. Her laptop chimed --another email from Eli, probably about how Mrs Murr (one of the other teachers in the school) could potentially be behind some insane conspiracy theory.

Finn moved to sit atop one of the desks directly in front of Sophie's desk. "I came to see you," he told her simply, his smile sly.

Her confusion deepened. "What?"

"Don't you remember our conversation from earlier?" he prompted, a slender eyebrow raised.

She blinked at him.

"Has your friend found anything yet?"

She blinked again at him. "Oh," she said, and then shook her head. "No. Nothing yet. She was in a pretty foul mood this morning, so our meeting was cut pretty short."

"Ah," he said. He glanced around her classroom. "So what is it that you're teaching here?"

"The basics of vampirism, essentially," she answered. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair. Her classroom was covered in posters. To her disappointment, Sophie had discovered there wasn't much at the human's teacher store about vampires. So all of the posters were designed by her dear friend, Tabatha, to colorfully showcase information about vampires.

Finn's eyes seemed to light up. "Oh, Aelia mentioned that was a subject here. I find it fascinating that this class is open to all supernatural races. Do the witches really enjoy learning about vampires? I feel that if I were a witch, I'd much rather learn more about spells."

Then he paused. "Though, now that I think about it, I probably believe that because I'm not a witch."

"The few that enter are genuinely interested in it," Sophie explained. "Our classes are open to all supernatural races, no matter what."

He nodded at her, grinning, "Honestly, I think that's just fantastic. I've considered taking Aelia up on that teaching position. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to share what I've learned with the next generation of supernaturals. Though I think I'll give it a few more days before I make the final decision."

"Oh?" Sophie's brows quirked.

He chuckled, the sound low and rich. "If there's anything that I've learned from my time here on this earth," he explained, "It's that one should never be too hasty in making a life-altering decision."

fam,

I AM LITERALLY IN TEARS RIGHT NOW. 

if you didn't catch the message I sent out on my profile like ten minutes ago, as I was attempting to post this chapter, MY LAPTOP CRASHED. IT FUCKING CRASHED. I GOT THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH. 

That is not something that you want to see (especially two weeks before finals) when your grades literally depend upon you having access to the full adobe suite/your project files 24/7. Not to mention, all of my projects and BOOKS are saved to this computer. like. no. 

yes, i do have backups, but they haven't been updated in weeks thanks to another issue all together. yes, I am DOUBLE backing everything up as i write this right now.

*internal screaming*

anyways,

sorry that this chapter is late. I am still hoping to keep to my update schedule though, for the next few weeks (as finals rear their ugly heads), chapters may come Monday-Tuesday-ish instead of just Monday. if they come at all. it will just depend on how busy i get. I will still try to respond/be active as much as possible though.

ugh. just pray for my laptop. pray for my grades too. i love you all. thank you so much for your patience and support. ♡