The City was very different from the mornings. It's midnight now, the city is quiet and deserted.
I wanted to relax my mind. I left the campus. The night air was chilly, and I pulled my coat tighter as I took a right turn which led me to a narrow alley. I should not have been here. My instinct was shouting at me to turn back.
The pendant was really cold around my neck.
Footsteps echoed behind me, which I thought were my footsteps, but I heard another set of footsteps joined by two more.
I stopped.
So did they.
I turned around slowly and I saw three figures. Their faces were half hidden as they were wearing fully black dresses.
"Are you lost?" they asked. Their voice didn't have any warmth or concern.
"Move!" I snapped.
But they did not.
The air changed, heavy and wrong.
One of them stepped close. "Young girl, come with us. We will take you home!" one of them said.
I took a step back.
The moment I took a step back, I saw them striking.
I was slammed against the brick wall. Pain exploded everywhere as my vision blurred. Hands grabbed my wrist, pinning me against the wall.
"Blood like yours should never walk alone," a voice whispered too close to my ear.
Fear hit.
Suddenly—
The lights at the end of the alley shattered into pieces, and the pain vanished, and I saw a familiar face.
Lucian.
He was standing between me and those weirdos who were staring at him.
His voice was deadly calm.
"Leave."
Those weirdos laughed nervously.
"You think you can scare us, pretty boy?"
Lucian sighed.
And then everything went too fast.
I blinked and found that one of them was on the ground, gasping for air, and another was slammed against the wall.
Lucian had not even moved.
The third weirdo tried to run.
And Lucian looked at him.
The man froze mid-step, and his eyes were filled with fear.
"Just go," he muttered.
The man bolted off from the place.
The alley was silent again.
Lucian turned towards me.
"Are you hurt?"
"I—I think so," I said. "How did you—?"
"You should not walk alone," he interrupted. "Especially at night."
I frowned. "Were you following me?"
"I was just nearby," he replied.
Liar.
My head was spinning. My legs buckled. I was about to fall when Lucian caught me.
His grip was steady and normal.
As we stepped out of the alley, I looked back once.
There was nothing, not even proof of the incident that happened.
Lucian released my hand immediately.
"Go back to your dorm," he said. "And never ever take shortcuts or go to an empty alley at night."
I swallowed. "Didn't I ask a question?"
He didn't reply. He turned and walked away.
I stood there.
My body was shaken,
and my mind was empty.
And a voice whispered,
"I think he is more than human."
I ignored that thought.
That night, I was washing my hands which had faint marks of blood, then I noticed something.
A faint mark from where Lucian had grabbed me.
And it faded in seconds…