Chapter 305

Third Person POV

Ruby stared at Joseph with her mouth hanging open. He couldn’t be serious right now. She wasn’t special; sure, she had the ability to see the future, and her visions seemed to be pretty accurate, but she was a prophet of the Moon Goddess. She never thought someone as powerful and important as the Goddess herself would even notice someone as small as Ruby. She was only a human a few months ago, and now she’s not. Things were moving way too fast, and she really needed the guidance of her best friend in the entire world.

Ruby hadn’t even mentioned to Joseph that this wasn’t the first time she had had a conversation about the Prophets of the Moon Goddess. Lucy also brought up the fact that she thinks Ruby is also one of her prophets. She caught Ruby up late in the afternoon when she should have been sleeping in preparation for their night classes, reading about the goddesses. She started to read over Ruby’s shoulder and then started to question her about the tales of the prophets.

“Holy hell, Ruby!” She had said, pointing at the one prophet that Joseph mentioned. The prophet of Saving Grace. “What if that’s you? You had a vision that could have been easily prevented if those bosos had just listened to you. You could have saved them.”

“I could have… but didn’t,” Ruby said in return, the memory still fresh in her mind and she shuddered. “They still died, and people still got hurt.”

“Only because you were ignored. There was still time to save them though,” Lucy said in return. “it makes sense that that’s the reason for your power. To save people.”

“Why me though?” Ruby asked, pressing her knees to her chest and looking pitiful. “I’m not special. I’m just me… someone who was once human and now I’m not…”

“I was once human too,” Lucy shrugged. “I was also abandoned. But now that I’m a vampire in this new place, adapting to this new world, I fully believe I’m under the protection of the Moon Goddess. You should believe it too. She sees you just like she sees all her children. Or so I’ve been told.”

“I wish I had our confidence,” Ruby sighed, uncurling herself and slipping beside Lucy on the bed so she could rest her head on her shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re here, Luce.”

“Me too,” Lucy breathed.

Lucy had it rough. During Ruby’s time at the academy. She had gotten to know Lucy a lot. They arrived around the same time and after they were tested separately for a week and placed in their dorm as roommates, they became fast friends. Lucy grew up as an orphan and she was thrown into foster care after foster care. When she turned 9, she was put in the last foster home she could remember. Her foster mother had no business being a foster mom and was incredibly abusive, the same with her husband, Lucy’s foster father. They were heartless individuals who only wanted Lucy for the foster system’s money.

For the most part, though, they couldn’t give a shit about Lucy. The system never did anything because they were really good at covering their tracks and plus, they were pretty powerful people in the town that they lived in. Nobody messed with the couple; they had other foster children as well who endured abuse, but for some reason, Lucy got it the worst.

Lucy never tried to run away, even when she got older because other children were living in that house that was much younger. She thought of herself as their protector and shielded them from the worst of the abuse. She got punished and hurt 10 times worse because of it. The other kids looked up to her and she loved them with everything she had.

However, when Lucy turned 18, her foster parents kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back. She had no business being in a foster home anymore and though the system felt badly that she was now homeless, they told her if the foster parents wanted her gone, she had to go. She tried to get custody of some of the youngest children, not wanting to leave them behind, but because she had no home, no income, and no actual stable plan, she was denied.

She tried filing a complaint against the foster parents to get them in trouble and see if the other children could get moved out of their house, but the appeal was also denied with no reasons given to Lucy.

Alone and scared, Lucy left, trying to find somewhere stable to call home. That’s when she was attacked by a vampire. To this day, she has no idea why he would attack her. He was handsome and Lucy was immediately drawn to him; maybe that’s why she willingly went with him at first. But then she quickly realized that he wasn’t who he seemed to be, and she tried to get away, but he wouldn’t let her.

The next thing she knows, she’s waking up feeling hungrier than she ever had in her life. She was scared and she felt like she was dead. She couldn’t think straight or see correctly; everything was a blur to her.

The next time she woke up, she was covered in someone’s blood and there was a body at her feet. That’s when the tracker found her and took her to the academy.

She still has nightmares about that night. She doesn’t know who her victim was and she doesn’t like to talk about it. She doesn’t even know who turned her into a vampire or what his reasoning was. Every time Ruby tries to talk to her about it, she gets weird and changes the subject. Ruby decided not to push her on the subject.

Ruby felt awful for her new friend and wanted to do whatever she could to help, but she could only do so much.

“I can’t believe you know Joseph Evergreen,” Lucy breathed after the first time Joseph came to see Ruby at the academy. “He’s my favorite writer not to mention pretty famous around here. Everybody talks about him.”

Ruby just shrugged.

“He was my college professor,” Ruby told her, not for the first time. “Not to mention he’s in love with my best friend.”

“I can’t get over that too,” Lucy said, shaking her head in wonder. “I want to meet your friend. She seems great from what you’ve told me about her. What’s her name again? Tessa?”

“Yes,” Ruby said smiling. “She’s amazing. You’ll love her.”

“If she’s anything like you, I’m sure I will,” Lucy said, bumping Ruby’s shoulder.

Ruby just laughed and shook her head.

Long after Joseph left and Ruby had the room to herself once again, she was feeling better than she had in days. Since she had that vision about Tessa, she’d been a mess not knowing what was going on. She thought the worst and it made her the worst version of herself. She couldn’t even go to class because of how upset she was. She could hardly sleep, and she certainly wasn’t eating.

But the worst of it all was the fact that was actually craving blood. The craving was almost as bad as it was when she first turned. Sure, she still craves blood every now and again, but it’s not unmanageable and it goes away after she gets proper nutrients and has a little wine with blood droplets inside of it. That’s all she usually needs, just a little taste.

But for some reason, these last few days, all she’s been wanting was more. It made her uneasy and she kept herself locked away in her dorm, not wanting to be trouble for anyone. She thought about asking Joseph why she was suddenly craving blood, but at some point, during their conversation and after finding out that Tessa was okay, the craving vanished, and Ruby felt like her normal self again.

There was a knock on the door and Ruby slid out of bed to answer it. She wasn’t surprised to see Laura, the dorm advisor standing in front of her with a worried expression.

“How are you feeling?” Was the first thing she asked.

“Better,” Ruby admitted.

“Good, because you are expected to return to your classes,” Laura said, raising her brows. “It’s too important for you to miss any more lessons.”

Ruby nodded.

“I’ll be there,” she promised. “Thanks for letting me hide here for a few days.”

“I remember how hard it was to adjust to a new life and be isolated from your old one,” she said, giving me a small smile. “So, no worries. But don’t make a habit of closing yourself off from those around you. You might not realize it now, but someday you’ll know that you need that support system and those who care about you. Don’t push people away. I’m always here if you need to talk. That’s part of my job as a dorm advisor. I don’t want to watch you slip away and have to transfer you to a more secluded section of the school. You are one of my best students, Ruby.”

I sighed, realizing she was right. If I couldn’t trust my dorm advisor, then who could I trust?

“During these last few days… I’ve been craving blood,” I blurted. “Not just a small craving either. I felt like I was losing myself. I wouldn’t leave my room because of I,” I admitted. “It scared me, Laura.”

Laura didn’t look surprised, but she did look sympathetic.

“What happened over these last few days?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, did something upset you? Stress you out? Give you the anxiety of a sort?” She elaborated.

I bit my lower lip.

“All of the above,” I admitted. “I thought my best friend was going to die because of a vision I had. Thankfully, she was okay though, so I feel better now. But not knowing what happened to her these last few days was destroying me.”

Laura looked at me with even more compassion in her eyes.

“Then, that’s why you were craving blood,” she told me. “When a vampire is extremely stressed, worried, or upset in any way, they crave blood. It’s kind of like the equivalent of alcohol. It’s perfectly normal. The important thing is that you controlled it, and nobody got hurt. That’s what makes you different than them, Ruby,” she said, pointing out the window and across the campus where the isolation house was. That’s where the vampires that can’t control their urges live.

Ruby shuddered at the thought of being sent there.

“You truly are special, Ruby,” Luara said with a fond smile. “Don’t ever think otherwise.”

Ruby can’t help the smile on her lips.

“Thanks,” she said, sighing in relief knowing she wasn’t crazy for craving blood and that she truly was okay.

“Oh, Joseph asked if you could have two phone calls and I told him that’s fine,” Laura went on to say as she finished around her pocket, uncovering her cellphone. She handed me the phone and winked as she turned away. “Take your time.”

She soon left the room, leaving Ruby alone with the phone.

Laura had a separate phone for the students in her section with the contacts of those who were close to them so they could call them without hassle. She had Tessa and Carter's numbers programmed already so Ruby searched for a name and then pressed the “call” button, ready for her first call of the week.