Vampires In Atlanta

The sun is still out when we round the corner to the dorms. I tilt my face up slightly to the sun, eyes shaded by ultra-UV protectant glasses, allowing the heat to warm my skin, but only for a second. I tear my eyes away from the burning star as it sits low and smug in the sky, like it knows it shouldn’t be out this late in the day. But it’s to be expected. September in Atlanta never follows rules. Much like myself. 

Our little group slows down at the steps, the humans already shifting into their half-goodbye, half-lingering stances. It’s always obvious that they don’t want to be seen walking in with me, even though nobody’s watching. Then again, maybe there are. It’s always hard to tell around here, but it doesn’t bother me regardless. I let people be who they are, and I appreciate their attempts to make me comfortable.

I start rehearsing my excuse before we even stop. I’m not nervous, it’s just easier that way. Muscle memory. Habit. The truth always sounds worse when you don’t dress it up first.

“I’ll see y’all later,” I say, light, easy, and smirking. Marcus shoulder-bumps me with a smile and nod. Jordan makes a joke about being glad I didn’t fry in the sun while we were out today. I smile at the guffawing boys and laugh internally when I lock eyes with Simone, then Aaliyah who both have expressions on their faces like they can’t decide whether to be appalled by the boys or laugh with them.

“Catch ya Later, Zora,” Elijah says with a small wave. I wave back as I step inside, giving them the space to lag behind me.

Upstairs, I make my way down the hall to Seraphine’s door. “It’s Zora,” I say, as I knock twice on the door, so lightly only the ears on the other side could hear it. There’s a beat of silence, then the door opens in a flash, a smiling Seraphine there to greet me.

Seraphine’s smile drops quickly to a frown. I notice her sniffing the air around me before scrunching her nose. “You smell like outside,” she says, crossing her arms. I look at the floor and slide into the room past her.

“Hey to you too,” I murmur, striding over to the couch and grabbing a pillow. I throw the pillow on the floor next to Malek, and catch Cain eyeing me as I lower myself to the pillow cross-legged. I give Cain a polite nod. Nyx scrunches her nose when the air shifts my scent in her direction and looks directly in my eyes.

“Sera’s right. You do smell like outside,” she says, eyeing me nervously.

I nod, my excuse already prepared. “I know, I know. It’s not that deep. I told you guys I might have to go meet my connect at his place today. Usually he delivers, but he has an ankle monitor now—” Malek snickers beside me and Seraphine shoots him a sharp look cutting his laughter short.

“But how can you even go out there? You’re not burned at all! I mean I know we heal quick but damn girl!” Seraphine gasps.

I flash her a prize-winning smile and whip my little sunscreen bottle out of my pocket. “I’m all good with this,” I say, showing off the bottle. Nyx grabs it from my hand in a blur of motion and starts reading the label.

“But, how?” Nyx shrieks.

“Guys calm down,” I say soothingly. “I’ve seriously read into this stuff online! Yes it’s experimental, but if you’re out in like…late day maybe 5 or so and later, especially if it’s only for a short time, you’re good. All I did was go to that neighborhood down the street. Not gonna lie, he does live about 10 miles away…” I trail off, catching the wary expression on Cain’s face after hearing the distance.

“That’s not down the street, Zora…” Nyx says with a concerned look on her face. She passes the bottle to Seraphine’s outstretched hand. I watch Sera’s face, carefully keeping my own face blank. We lock eyes twice as she gazes between the bottle and my face.

Beside me I can hear Malek breathing louder than usual, smelling the air around me for a singed hair or skin smell, I assume. I lean in and turn to him with a tiny smirk.

“I must smell good.” I murmur quietly.

“You always do,” he mutters under his breath before he can stop himself.

I pause for half a second, catching it. Then smirk.

“Careful,” I murmur. “You’re being kind of bold.”

He stiffens a bit and tries to shift away from me, giving me space, but I shift at the same moment, bringing our bodies even closer. I laugh, a quiet tinkling sound when I catch his expression.

“It’s okay everyone,” I say, tossing my hair gently. “I’m not at all burned. The whole thing took me about 10 minutes. Literally. No injuries whatsoever, just smelling a little funky apparently.” I say, rolling my eyes then laughing as everyone breaks out into nervous, astonished chuckling.

All except Cain.

Cain stands up with a bland expression on his face and crosses the room to me. “So…this stuff really works then, huh, Zora,” Cain asks, beside my ear.

“Is that not apparent by my appearance?” I murmur, a single eyebrow raised.

Amidst the laughter and murmuring of the others, they don’t hear our conversation. Cain gestures for me to hand him the bottle and when I do, he twirls it a few times in the palm of his hand. I throw him an annoyed look. He returns a measured look at me.

“Hmm, amazing,” he says, handing me the sunscreen and casually turning to sit back down. “It must be the future,” he says lazily as he walks away.

No one else seemed to notice the unnecessarily unpleasant conversation. I’ll keep it that way. They all know that my connection for the flower is a human, but dealing with humans isn’t something that’s quite smiled upon in my community. It’s more so…tolerated. There’s a difference.

As the murmuring simmers down I toss my hair again uncomfortably. Malek glances at me and gives me a shoulder bump with a small smile. I give him a tiny smile back as Seraphine, who grabbed the bottle again for further examination, begins to speak.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay Zora,” she starts timidly. “But—you absolutely should have told one of us! Ten miles is not around the corner, girl.” she concludes.

“It is when you’re me.” I say with a smirk.

Nyx huffs a short laugh. “That’s not the point,” she says sulkily.

I look around the room at the familiar tattered floor boards, and the blackout curtains that are tightly pinned over the windows. I glance at Seraphine, sigh dramatically and wave my hand at them dismissively. “Listen guys. It is. Not. That. Deep. Seriously, you can see me and again, I’m clearly fine! I was only in the sun about 3 minutes at a time. The rest was shaded. I planned my route before going out and all that. So relllaaaaaaaxxxxxxx people, truly.” I say, speaking to them slowly and concisely, like children. “Can we please spark this Mary Jane?” I ask, dropping the subject.

On that note, I pass the flower to Malek who grabs the pack along with the papers. His fingers move like lightning as he swiftly rolls five joints, one for each person here.

Their badgering is justified, I just hate when they do it. It’s hard enough being secretly different. Sometimes I just want people off my back.

Once Malek is done rolling the last blunt he lays them out on the coffee table in front of us like trophies. “Efficiency.” he says with a proud smirk.

“Shut up,” Seraphine giggles, flicking his shoulder.

Malek sparks the first joint. I watch as the fire briefly illuminates up his sharp features before fading. The embers flare bright orange then dim slowly as he finishes a long pull from the joint. I watch as the smoke slowly curls around Malek’s head, wrapping around his locs before dispersing in my direction. After a couple more hits Malek passes the joint to his right, and starts to spark the next one. I take the lit joint from him and take a long, slow pull.

Three hits in with smoke swirling around me, I grin lightly as I pass the joint to Seraphine, feeling my eyelids lowering. The smoke circulates around the room, filling the space with its familiar earthy, slightly sweet, scent. Nyx kicks off her boots and scoots back curling her legs into her corner on the couch, hitting the joint lightly.

The tension in the room melts. I even notice Cain slouching down in his spot on the floor as Nyx passes him the joint. The spliffs make their way around the room, all five now officially in rotation. Long exhales and puffs of smoke filter around us. No one coughs, we never do.

“You know,” Nyx says, exhales a huge puff of smoke, then continues, “There have been way more humans out after dark lately. I do not like that.” she says.

“They’ve always been out,” Malek replies lazily.

“Not like this.“ Nyx shakes her head. “They’re not just walking back to their dorms. They’re lingering. Watching.”

“Watching what?” Malek snorts.

“Us.”

The room stills slightly.

“That’s dramatic, Nyx, don’t you think?” Seraphine responds with her brows knit together.

“No it’s not.” Nyx replies stubbornly. “Ever since the video of that guy Silas came out, the humans have been moving differently.”

There was a video out about two weeks ago where a guy named Silas, one of our own, cut his hand in a chem class on a shattered beaker. It was a bad cut, deep and bloody. He healed in seconds. There happened to be a couple of humans in the class that day who were recording. They were school administrators so apparently the recording was for “teaching purposes.” No one believed that, and we’re not exactly sure why the recording was needed but regardless, there were a couple interns with the admins. The interns leaked the video of Silas getting injured online. It went viral fast, then the video disappeared, just as fast.

“I just saw a group of them by the fountain last night,” Nyx continues. “They weren’t talking. They were just staring at me and my classmates as we walked by. If they caught our eye they’d start scribbling in their notebooks. I’m not sure if they were pretending to take notes, or actually taking notes—on us…” she trails off.

“They’re no longer unaware,” says Cain, passing Malek a joint.

The words settle over the room in the same slow, creeping way of the smoke.

“Unaware?” Malek asks in a half-scoff, half exhale. “One viral video doesn’t mean they suddenly cracked the code.” he finishes in a dismissive tone.

Nyx shoots him a look. “Be for real. It wasn’t “just a video”, Malek. It was Silas. People know him—even the humans. He’s in like two labs with excellent grades.”

“Mmhmm…she’s right.” Seraphine murmurs. I take the joint as Malek passes to me. The spliffs have started circulating the room a bit more slowly now that people are high.

“Mind you—he’s also in multiple clubs. That Late Night Debate Club, Astronomy club…oh yeah! And that one daytime human club Animal Enthusiasts or some shit. How he’s even able to be in that one, I have no idea.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen him burned once…” Sera murmurs.

“Maybe he’s a Halfie.” I say, a cloud of smoke following my words. They all glance at me and I shrug. “It’s possible. I’ve heard they’re on campus.” I pass the joint on to Seraphine.

Cain sneers in my direction, but Malek is first to respond.

“Yeah, it’s possible, but is it likely?” he asks.

“Frankly, it’s just about the only likely explanation.” Sera says in a puff.

“Regardless, AI is heavy right now. People probably didn’t even really believe it.” Malek cuts in. “Administration nuked the video anyway.”

“Which is suspicious.” Cain replies. “It wouldn’t even be possible without their political plants.” he takes a slow pull from the joint before passing it back to Malek. “Which means, someone upstairs is already nervous,” he finishes, passing the joint to Malek.

Malek rolls his eyes and takes the joint back. He finishes it off then snuffs it out in the ashtray. I watch him roll two more joints for the group, his fingers move at normal speed this time. “They may be nervous, but given that the project they’re conducting here is basically confidential—maybe they just didn’t want a video of a kid healing like Wolverine at their University floating around the internet.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Cain responds dismissively.

“Either way,” Seraphine says, leaning forward and placing her elbows on her knees. “Humans are paying attention now. That’s the point.”

“Humans always pay attention.” Malek says with a shrug. “They just don’t know what they’re looking at.”

Again Malek lights the first joint, I see the familiar glow of the flame light up his features. As I watch the smoke curl toward the ceiling, I struggle to clear my mind of the afternoon I had outside. I try not to think of Marcus laughing hysterically at Jordan’s stupid jokes, or the looks shared between me, Simone, and Aaliyah when the boys were being dumb. Even how Elijah kept throwing me sneaky looks, making me wonder if he’s into me. With them, I never felt like a specimen. Never had the feeling they were studying me. They seemed normal—whatever that may be—just…existing.

“It’s different. I swear!” Nyx says verging on hysterics. “They’re lingering, watching the windows, even whispering when we walk past!”

Cain raises an eyebrow at this, but Malek responds. “Humans whisper about everything. Half the campus thinks the astronomy building is haunted.”

“Because it probably is,” Seraphine mutters.

Everyone chuckles lightly and the tension in the room loosens again. Malek passes to me. My eyelids fall even heavier as I take a pull of the joint—they probably don’t even look like they’re open anymore. The familiar burn in my throat mingles with the warmth in my chest bringing me comfort for a moment. But just as the calm settles I notice Cain’s gaze flick toward me quickly, deliberately, and the tranquility fades.

This time Malek notices. I feel his body stiffen beside me, the subtle shift almost imperceptible to anyone who isn’t paying attention. But I am. The change is small—his shoulders tightening, his back going a bit straighter—but the air around changes too. It’s like electricity pulsing from his body. The scent is similar to that after-rain smell you catch during a hot Atlanta summer, almost metallic. For a second, I think it’s just the ashtray smelling weird, but then, the scent hits my nose fully.

Venom.

Not released fully—just the faint bitter edge that creeps into the air when a vampire is irritated enough for their body to prepare for it.

I lower the joint from my lips slowly.

Malek still has his eyes on Cain who, of course, looks perfectly relaxed. He leans his back against the couch like he hasn’t noticed a thing, long legs lazily outstretched under the coffee table. His eyes flick back to me.

Deliberate.

Calculating.

“Well,” Cain says casually, eyes never leaving mine. “Some people seem to move through human spaces a lot more comfortably than others.”

“Is that so?” I murmur.

Malek’s voice cuts in before Cain can answer.

“Leave it alone,” he says, voice low.

“Guys—” Nyx immediately interjects concern flickering across her face.

“What?” Cain asks, feigning innocence. “I didn’t say anything wrong. Just a simple observation.”

I flick ash into the tray.

“Yeah,” Malek says flatly. “About as useful as most of your observations.”

Cain lifts an eyebrow.

“Malek,” I say, placing a hand on his arm and passing the joint along to Sera. “It’s not that deep.”

Malek exhales sharply, the tiniest growl rumbling in his chest. Cain sits across from him, still as a statue, returning the stare without blinking.

“It really is not,” says Seraphine, irritation seeping from the words, leaking through her calm tone. “Which is why we’re not about to start a testosterone contest over hypothetical problems.” She sticks the joint between her lips and takes a much longer pull than usual.

Malek exhales again, slower this time, more controlled. I notice him balling and unballing his fists on the floor between our thighs. I lightly place my hand on top of his and give him a knowing look. The tension begins draining from his shoulders and the bitter scent in the air slowly fades away. He gives me a tiny appreciative smile.

“I’m rolling another.” he says blankly.

“Boy, what?” I choke. “I was not trying to finish smoking all of this tree today! Y’all do know this stuff is expensive, right?”

Nyx lets out her light, airy laugh. “The price of flower is the least of our concerns.” she says dramatically. “How are we going to survive tonight’s classes?”

Malek snorts as he lights the joint. “You say that every single night, woman!”

“Because every night I have Vampiric Law. It’s the most unnecessarily hard class to ever be conducted.” Nyx groans.

“Girl,” Sera snorts. “You’re the one that signed up for it. Nobody told you to do all that.”

Nyx throws her hands up, exasperated. “That’s not the point! The class is just……ridiculous.”

“How?” I ask, taking the joint and hitting it lightly then passing it on to Sera.

“Majority of the laws and conversations we have in that class are based on hypothetical cases.” she cries.

Cain stretches out his body as he replies. “What did you expect? The mass of humans don’t even know about us.”

“No, listen,” Nyx insists. “Last week we literally had a debate about whether a vampire defending themselves from a human attack counts as ‘predatory retaliation’ or ‘reasonable self-defense’.”

Me and Malek share a glance and burst into a strained fit of snickers.

“Oh hell nah.” Malek chokes between chuckles.

“Exactly,” says Nyx.

“Crazy work.” Malek says.

“Right?” Nyx groans, takes the joint, smokes it a few times then passes it to Cain before continuing. “And then the human students in the class started asking questions. Talking ’bout some, “well what if the vampire could have run away instead of biting.”

Seraphine shakes her head slowly. “Oh my God.”

“See!” Nyx continues, getting more animated. “Like what the hell! Run where? We’re stronger, yes, but if someone attacks you, human or vampire, the instinct is to defend yourself. Simple.”

“Humans like the illusion of control,” Cain says calmly while exhaling his blunt. “Law is how they maintain it.” He passes the joint to Malek.

Nyx groans again and drops back against the couch.

“Exactly! That’s the whole class. Just humans trying to write rules for creatures they barely understand.” She says, rolling her eyes.

Malek chuckles. “So basically…politics.” He passes me the joint as we all chuckle to ourselves.

I take two light hits. “Man, look,” I say in a slow exhale. My eyes are so low that I honestly don’t even know how I can see at this point. “We’re eight spliffs in, people. If I smoke anything else I will absolutely not be functional enough to make it through Coexistence Theory tonight.”

I stand and pass Seraphine the joint then zip over to the window in a flash. I pull back the curtain a tiny bit and peek outside. From Sera’s window I see the courtyard outside, the lamps surrounding the space flick on at the same moment, illuminating the benches and tables. Overhead the moon shines brightly just over the circular enclosure. The last of the humans seem to be filtering away, some in pairs, others alone.

“Want me to walk you?” Malek asks. “I have Predatory Instinct Control tonight.”

I turn away from the window, gliding back to my spot beside him.

“Nah,” I say casually as I gather my things. “Isn’t your class like on the other side of campus? I don’t wanna make you go all out of your way for me. Mine is right through the courtyard anyway.” I say gesturing to the window.

“Ahh, ok. No problem.” he replies casually. I notice a flash of disappointment cross his face and give him a tiny smile.

As I continue cleaning up my area the others get back into quiet conversations. In the corner of my eye I notice Malek still smoking the joint, stealing glances in my direction. It’s like he’s trying to memorize something, or maybe say something he hasn’t figured out how to yet.

Once my items are gathered I turn quickly to Malek and give him a peck on the cheek. His hand twitches slightly like he wants to reach out for me—but he doesn’t.

“We can’t hang now, but I’d love to see you after class.” I say so quietly in his ear, that I know only he could hear it.

If vampires could blush, Malek would be tomato red.

He grins broadly and waves at me with a nod. “See you guys later!” I say to the rest of the group. Sera hops up to give me a hug while everyone else smiles and waves. As I reach the door, I glance back once. Sera and Nyx are already arguing about Nyx’s assignment again. Malek is finishing the joint. Cain is the only one still watching me.

I step into the hallway and close the door behind me.

The silence of the hall hits me immediately. Inside the apartment everything had been laughter and overlapping voices, smoke curling lazily through the air. Out here, I’m hit with the faint hum, and breeze of the air conditioning units. Distant echoes of someone’s music float down the hall toward me.

I make my way toward the stairwell before it hits me.

I stop.

“Damn,” I mutter, then lift the sleeve of my hoodie to my arm and sniff, assessing the damage.

Loud.

Like very loud.

I press my hand to my forehead and groan quietly.

“Eight joints was definitely excessive,” I murmur, mildly irritated.

The smell of weed clings to my clothes, hair, and probably my skin too at this point. There’s literally no way a human professor isn’t clocking me the second I walk into class. I glance down the hallway at Sera’s room, then shrug. It’s too late now. Besides, Coexistence Theory is a night class. Half the students show up half-asleep or smell much worse.

I’ll be fine.

I continue forward to the steps and take them two at a time. I push through the exit door when I reach the bottom and the night air hits my face instantly.

Cool, clean, and refreshing.

The courtyard is fully lit now, the tall iron lamps casting warm yellow circles across the gravel path. Groups of humans are drifting off in clusters, their voices carrying faintly across the open space. I pause at the bottom of the steps and smile to myself, taking it all in. College life has been amazing for me. Leaving my parents house was like, “Finally, freedom!”

I stare up at the moon as it hangs low over the court yard, as bright and beautiful as it can be. I’ve always liked the moon. There’s always such a calm, knowing, vibe about it. The type of thing that makes me feel like if I were to make a wish, especially on a night like this, a full moon, it would absolutely be granted.

After a few more moments basking in the moonlight, I finally start across the courtyard. The gravel crunches softly under my shoes. Most of the humans have left the area. I hear one of them laughing loudly at some joke someone told them before wandering off to the dorms.

Their voices fade as they move farther away, leaving me with only the quiet hum of the courtyard lights and rustle of the trees overhead. I cross through the middle of the yard and head toward the darker path that leads to my Coexistence class. The lamps are spaced much farther apart in this area, leaving big pockets of shadow between the circles of light.

Halfway across the path, something prickles at the back of my neck. I slow my walk slightly, noticing the atmosphere around me has gone strangely quiet.

I stop.

I turn and glance over my shoulder surveying the area. Nothing seems out of place, just empty benches, glowing lamps, and the wide open courtyard.

I squint, scanning the trees.

Nothing.

I shake my head at myself and continue on—probably just the weed making me paranoid.

Still…

Something feels off. Not wrong exactly—just…shifted. Like the air is holding its breath.

I glance back once more—

Nothing.

Just the path. Just the trees.

Just me.

Honestly, I have never smoked that many spliffs. It certainly has my senses feeling sharper than usual tonight—the cool air prickles against my skin, the faint smell of damp earth from the grass seems stronger than usual, the distant buzzing of insects sounds louder than usual.

I continue casually walking down the shadowed path.

My footsteps sound louder than they should. Too sharp against the gravel. Like something else should be there to break the noise—but isn’t.

Suddenly, something else slips into the air.

A scent. Faint. Unfamiliar.

I frown, sniffing the air. The scent isn’t human, or vampire. It doesn’t belong here.

Weird.

“Hello?” I call out lightly, slowing to a stop again.

No answer.

I scan the dark line of trees bordering the walkway again. Still nothing. The only movement around is the rustling and swaying of leaves from the light wind. I consider turning back to the dorms, thinking about Malek’s offer to walk with me, but immediately feel ridiculous.

I’m a top predator. Whatever is out here will have to deal with that.

Besides, I’m just being paranoid.

I begin walking again, faster this time.

Three steps later—

Something moves—fast.

A blur explodes from the shadows beside the path.

Before I can react, a hand clamps around my arm and yanks me violently to the ground. I throw a hand out to catch myself, hissing as gravel scrapes my palms. Another blow comes from the right, slamming into my side and knocking me on my back.

“Hel—” I start to yell out.

A hand slaps over my mouth in a blur of motion, stopping my scream. They haven’t revealed themself, but whoever they may be—they aren’t human.

The thought is cut short.

Two hands grip me, and in a blink—drag me upward, then slam me back-first into the gravel.

Air punches out of my lungs.

I lie on the ground. White spots flashing across my vision.

The attacker yanks me up by my hair and slams their body against my back. In the same motion, one of their arms wraps around my neck, while their other hand slams over my mouth once more.

This person is trained.

Their breathing is steady. Too steady. And mixed with the unfamiliar scent, I catch a faint whiff of stale smoke.

I squirm and try to speak unsuccessfully. I glance down at the hand covering my mouth and notice a ring on their index finger. The band of the ring is blackened silver and is carved with an intricate geometric pattern. In the center of the ring is a black stone—obsidian—about the size of a medium diamond. The stone is carved with a white symbol. A circle—possibly a full moon—with a serpent swirling around it.

I rack my brain—where have I seen this before?

Nothing comes to me. The element of surprise and their unnatural speed are giving them the upper hand for the moment. I don’t know anyone this strong…or fast—faster than me.

Who could this be?

I count down from three in my head, grounding myself in those three seconds before instinct explodes through my body.

I snarl and twist, fangs snapping at the hand clamped on my mouth first. They snatch their hand away and try to twist me around, but they’re unsuccessful. I sink my fangs into the arm wrapped around my neck.

Our bodies break apart and I bolt.

Before I’m even ten steps away the attacker snatches me by the hood of my sweatshirt. My breath hitches as the hoodie chokes me bringing me to an abrupt halt. An instant later I feel my body flying backward.

No time to react.

My back and head slam into a tree.

Through blurry vision, I see the attacker walking toward me. I peel my body away from the tree and put myself into a defensive stance. All I can see of my attacker is a blob, their silhouette. I snarl at the blurry figure.

Then I pounce.

Our bodies collide in a slam. I’m hit with a blow on the left side of my ribs. The hit feels like what I’d imagine it’d be like if an eighteen wheeler had struck me. My body flies in the air and slams on the ground for a third time.

Blood pours from various wounds on my head and face. I try to catch my breath, but I’m met with agonizing stabs of pain shooting through my ribs and lungs. I choke and gag on blood as I roll over, forcing myself to sit up on my elbow.

“Please,” I moan, spitting. “Why are you doing this?” I sputter.

The attacker pauses and turns to look at me. Through blurred bloody vision I see them looming over me, surveying their victim.

“You got way too comfortable in this place,” they seethe.

“Comfortable?” I sputter. “Wha—”

A blow cracks across my face and my head snaps to the side. The world tilts violently around me as I slam back into the gravel.

Everything goes dim.

All sounds are muffled.

My body slumps sideways into the gravel, muscles barely responding when I try to move. My limbs feel…far away. I strain to see past the blood. I can’t. I hear footsteps in the gravel. My vision flickers in and out as I try to focus, but the world stays blurry. Dark shapes bleed into one another.

Where did they go?

There’s a faint rustling somewhere near the treeline, and my heart stutters in my chest.

They’re still here.

I try to push myself up.

My body won’t comply.

More footsteps. They’re coming toward me.

The attacker steps back into view with something in their hand.

A container.

I struggle as I see them twisting a cap then feel liquid splashing across my chest, arms, and face. I’m drenched. For a split second, I don’t understand—until…

The smell hits me.

Sharp. Chemical.

My stomach drops upon understanding—

Gasoline.

“No…” I whisper.

My voice barely exists.

“Wait—please—” I try again, but my voice hitches.

The attacker reaches into their pocket with no response. I struggle to see what they have and realize it’s a matchbook. The scratch of the match against the book is louder than anything else in the world right now.

The flame flickers to life. It reflects the obsidian ring for a split second.

“No—please—” I choke, my voice still betraying me.

“This place shouldn’t exist,” the attacker murmurs.

I catch one more glimpse of the ring as the match drops.

Then, everything ignites.

Fire erupts around me in an instant, swallowing my clothes, hair, skin—stealing my breath. I scream. The sound tears out of me, raw and broken. Pain explodes through every inch of my body as the flames spread, devouring me faster than I can even process.

My body thrashes weakly, trying to smother the flames.

The fire doesn’t stop.

Somewhere—in the distance—I hear voices.

Running.

“ZORA!”

It’s Malek.

My heart stutters. For a moment I think I’m hallucinating, it’s the only probable explanation. But then, I hear the gravel crunching around me. My vision flickers and I see dark figures moving rapidly around me.

Hands grabbing.

Voices overlapping.

“No—no, no, no—” I hear Malek again. He’s beside me on the ground.

His hands are on me.

I want to tell him to stop. I don’t want him to get hurt.

“Malek be careful! You can’t save her that way!” Nyx’s voice screeches above me in panic.

Thanks, Nyx.

“We need water!” I hear Cain shouting from somewhere nearby, followed by multiple whooshes of air. A couple of them took off running.

Malek’s hands are still fluttering around my body restlessly. Panicked.

You were always so hardheaded, Malek.

The flames feel…distant now.

Muted. Like my body is starting to let go.

Suddenly, coolness washes over me.

It’s Cain.

He and the others are throwing water on me.

All I can smell is my charred flesh and hair. Malek is still on the ground beside me. He lifts me up and lays me across his lap and stares down at me with a pained expression in his eyes. He takes my hand, stroking what’s left of my hair.

The moon hangs above us, bright and still. Completely unbothered by the events that took place below its sky tonight.

I always liked the moon.

She represents intuition, stillness, patience.

I’ll never see her again.

“Stay with me—Zora, please—” Malek’s voice cracks.

I try to speak but no sound comes out.

The fire is gone.

The world begins to fade.

Everyone is chattering, but their voices smear together.

“I’m sorry Zora—” Malek sputters, pained. “I should have been here for you…”

I look at his face once more.

“I love you,” his voice is hoarse, and raw.

I stare up at the moon again.

And then—

Nothing.