Crimson and Furs 2

Chapter Fourteen: Resuming School

It was around 6:30am but Daniel was still sleeping like a log of wood. Even when the alarm clock kept on ringing he didn't wake up. It was as if he had been transported out of his body to another world. In the end it was Caroline who went to turn off the alarm with a deep frown before going to sleep in the bed beside Daniel.

"I can't sleep at night and I can't sleep at day..." she muttered to herself in complaint. "My life is such a miserable mess..."

But of course no one could hear her so she continued sulking till she fell silent and finally closed her eyes, falling asleep like Daniel who was yet to wake up.

A couple of minutes later there was the sound of footsteps hurrying towards the door. The doorknob shook for some time without opening till the other party finally realized that it was futile opening the door. Daniel had already locked it before going to bed.

Instead of calling Daniel's name in order to wake him up or banging the door, the person who had been trying to open the door stopped turning the doorknob. There was silence for some moments till the black curtains in Daniel's room seated violently to a sudden wind.

Caroline immediately jumped out of bed, her eyes becoming red and bloody as she bared her fangs at the intruder. Her fur stood upright and her aura transformed to become extremely terrifying, giving her the feeling of deathliness.

"Hello, Caro," the intruder said with a smug expression, raising his chin a little as he waved as Caroline. It was none than Orpheus Rodolfo who had infiltrated Daniel's room.

Seeing that it was Daniel's best friend and someone she was familiar with, Caroline heaved a deep sigh of relief before saying, "Why did you have to pass through the window? What if I'd attacked without reason? You know Zombies are like that!"

"If I was a Vampire I would have been scared of surprise attacks," Orpheus said with an indifferent expression. "But I'm no longer a Vampire. Heck, I'm not even a Viscount but a Count...The youngest Count in the Crimsone history."

A Vampire was the Path one of the Crimsone Cursed type while a Viscount belonged to its Path two. They didn't have any exceptional Cursed abilities like the Count apart from their supernatural speed, Hypnotizing and Luck.

"So there would have been absolutely nothing you would have been able to do to me," Orpheus said as he folded his hands to his chest. "After all I'm immortal to some degree."

"You're bragging again," Caroline rolled her eyes.

"It's not called bragging, I don't know where you learn your words from," Orpheus said. "You need to update your vocabulary. We're no longer in the twentieth century."

"You're the one I need to say that to, since you're a Crimsone," Caroline said as she rolled her eyes again. "As usual, you're so full of yourself."

"It's called pride," Orpheus said as he brushed his red hair. "Every Crimsone has it and it's nothing I should be ashamed of. I'm proud of it."

Again Caroline rolled her eyes before asking, "Why are you here? Daniel does not like it when you disturb his sleep."

"So after Crimson High School was closed he decided to sleep endlessly," Orpheus said with a scoff. "I should have known that he was beginning to love the life of truancy."

"Aren't you loving the life of truancy?" Caroline asked. "I mean, no one is going to Crimson High School again."

"The other students who can't wait for it to be reopened already moved to other schools in Crimson Springs," Orpheus said. "It's not as if Crimson High School is the only school here. It's just the most prestigious school."

"And why aren't you moving to another school?" Caroline looked at Orpheus sarcastically. "Oops, I forgot. You're now the wealthiest kid in history. You don't need to go to school."

"Money isn't everything," Orpheus said with a serious expression.

"Then give me the money!" Caroline said, her eyes shining with greed as she stretched her right paw towards Orpheus.

"I can't possibly hand over the Rodolfo Empire to you," Orpheus said. "It would go against my father's dying wish and I'd lose the respect ice amassed from several galaxies."

"..."

Caroline was immediately rendered speechless when she heard Orpheus say this. I thought he said money wasn't everything...Rich people are so complicated!

"God...why is there so much noise?" Daniel who had been sleeping like a log of wood finally stirred. He rubbed his eyes as he opened them only to see Orpheus and Caroline standing in the center of his bedroom. Both of them stood absolutely still like statures and we're facing him.

"How did you even...Forget I asked," Daniel rubbed his eyes again as he sat up. "I think I should start employing Bloody Mary to stay awake all night."

When Orpheus and Caroline heard this they immediately jumped up in fright. The former felt that even though he was a Path three, Count there was no way he would be able to face the wrath of a Specter. Bloody Mary had killed so many Cursed, taking away all their Cursed abilities! There was no way he would be able to fight someone like that no matter how he prepared himself. She would always have a way of countering him!

Well, Caroline on the other hand was more freaked out because she was only a Path one, Zombie. And to make matters worse she belonged to the same Cursed type like Bloody Mary! Whatever way she tried to escape when Bloody Mary showed herself would be rendered futile. She wouldn't even be able to fight back!

"Look, everything's perfectly okay so you don't need to call anyone right now," Orpheus took a deep breathe and said in the calmest tone ever.

"Nothing sounds okay to me," Daniel said. "I wake up and I see two weirdos standing in the middle of my room. It doesn't seem okay!"

"Wait...what?" Caroline was rendered speechless. But we slept together in this room last night...Why are you now treating me as if I broke into the room with Orpheus? Life is so unfair for a Cursed animal!

"You have to take it easy, okay?" Orpheus said. "Bloody Mary is a problem on another level which I don't want to touch just yet. Why don't we wait till I'm at least a Path four, Duke?"

Huh? Daniel narrowed his eyes before saying, "So you guys name your Cursed paths according to aristocratic titles..."

"Something like that," Orpheus said. "After all, you humans stole our titles!"

"The first Crimsone was once a human," Daniel immediately retorted, refuting Orpheus's wild claim. "I think you need to look into your Crimsone history more accurately because mythology says otherwise."

"But..." Orpheus wanted to say something but after seeing Daniel's glare he kept quiet. He didn't want to draw the attention of Bloody Mary when he just came to deliver a goodnews to Daniel.

"Seeing that you risked your life to sneak into my room, there must be a malevolent reason," Daniel said as he stood up to stretch himself.

"Wait...what malevolent reason are you talking about?" Orpheus asked. "I'm not so down to Earth to sneak into your room with malevolent purposes. If I wanted to, I would just turn everyone in this block to my puppets. There is no need to sneak."

As Orpheus was speaking Caroline kept signalling him to keep shut but he pretended not notice and continued talking. As a Path three Cursed who was above Daniel he couldn't allow himself to be intimidated at all. After all Daniel was just a Path two, Wolfman while he was a Path three, Count. There was a gap between them even if it wasn't that big.

"Oh," Daniel folded his hands. "So you're now using your Cursed path to threaten me. That's very sweet of you."

"Thank you," Orpheus said with a smug smile. "Thought you'd keep on intimidating me with Bloody Mary."

When Daniel heard this he couldn't help but chuckle, "What are you talking about? Bloody Mary has been standing behind you since I woke up."

When he said this he pointed behind Orpheus, making the young Crimsone Count to freeze on spot. At first he thought Daniel was lying but when he felt the terrifying aura behind him and heard the dripping sound his mind became blank. If he was a human his spirit would have already left his soul.

Caroline tried leaping off the ground to Daniel's side but an invisible pair of hands grabbed her and brought her to Bloody Mary who was standing behind Orpheus.

"Good morning, Mary," Daniel greeted Bloody Mary, his chin raised high. He was feeling so full of himself because he had managed to turn the tables on Orpheus with the Path four Specter. Even if Bloody Mary usually gave him a tough time, she was still his ticking dynamite.

"The name's Bloody Mary," Bloody Mary replied with a murderous expression.

"But Mary sounds better—" Daniel tried reasoning with her but was immediately cut short.

"Bloody Mary reminds me how I died," the Specter said without any emotion in her voice. "If you love me you'd allow me to keep that memory."

M'lady, I don't even love you, Daniel thought within himself but of course he couldn't say it out loud. He was afraid that one night he would wake up and find himself in the Realm of Consciousness.

"Ugh...Bloody Mary, I hope there is no problem between the both of us?" Orpheus asked, trying to turn his head to look at Bloody Mary. But unknown to him countless bloody threads had been weaved all over his body, fixing him in one place. So no matter how he tried moving his head, he could not achieve the result.

"You tried killing my soulmate," Bloody Mary said.

Huh? Daniel thought within himself. When did that actually happen?

"I didn't..." Orpheus said nervously as he moved his eyes to look at Daniel. "You can explain what really happened to her—"

"You threatened my hubby," Bloody Mary interrupted him, refusing to be listened with.

"We're best friends!" Orpheus said. "I wouldn't do anything to harm him!"

"Oh," Bloody Mary said thoughtfully. "You're the only male figure who's very close to him."

"Huh?" it wasn't only Orpheus that made the remark but Daniel as well.

"Selene and Caroline are women," Bloody Mary said. "And there's his mum who's a woman."

"I've told you she's my mother!" Daniel yelled. "We don't have any romantic relationship! And the cat is inclusive—"

Bloody Mary shot him a glance and he immediately kept shut. She then turned to Orpheus and asked, "So why did you come here to threaten my hubby?"

I didn't come here to threaten anyone, Orpheus wanted to say but his instinct won over. So he replied, "I came to inform Daniel that the government has sold me Crimson High School. And...and it's opening tomorrow."

"Crimson High School is opening tomorrow?" Daniel was very surprised. "I thought it would take much longer."

"You underestimate my influence," Orpheus frowned.

"Sorry but it's really shocking," Daniel said. "I mean, school has been shut for months now and I've lost the zeal—"

"A new principal has been employed," Orpheus said. "There is also a bunch of many teachers. School's gonna be lit this year."

Knowing that Daniel was going to grumble something about enjoying his indefinite break, he immediately added, "You can bring Bloody Mary along to register into Crimson High School. It would be lovely."

The moment he said this Bloody Mary vanished out of sight as if he had made a forbidden statement, causing the blood vessels to vanish from his body as well. This caused him to be surprised as he turned to look at Daniel, expecting an explanation.

"She blushed with the thought of going to school with me!" Daniel yelled at Orpheus.

"And how's that a bad thing?" Orpheus asked.

"She's gonna force me to resume school!" Daniel yelled again and then there was silence in the room.