Chapter 83: Hidden Truths 2
Andria’s POV
I swallowed. My own blood, the very thing that marked me as cursed, was suddenly everyone’s cure. The irony wasn’t lost on me.
And yet I feared that they would turn against me the moment everything got back to normal. I feared I would become an easy suspect if there were any vampire attack in the long run, after all, I’m part of them.
But what needs to be done now should be done fast.
"Ok, I’ll go ahead and take this," I said, twirling the bottle of potion in my hands.
They watched me with keen interest. A hint of amusement appeared on Arlo’s face. He brushed his hair back as he stared at me with amusement and interest intertwined.
At this moment, I loved the fact that he made light of every situation.
I opened the bottle very slowly, my hands jittery, my heart almost pounding out of my chest.
Becca leaned over, one finger twirling a syringe like it was a pen. "This is going to be fun," she whispered, a mischievous grin tugging at her lips. "Tracy won’t know what hit her."
Fun? My blood wasn’t fun. My blood was in danger. My blood was betrayal and secrecy and chains. Still, I didn’t correct her. My lips stayed pressed together, my hands curling into fists at my sides.
"Tracy is already in her own kind of hell, in the detention room. I heard she wouldn’t be out till the election is over. Then after the election, I heard she would be expelled from the academy," Arlo narrated with his usual nonchalant tone.
"As for me, I take every rumor spread in this academy with a pinch of salt; most of them are lies or exaggerated scenarios," Liara uttered the words in a firm tone, making Becca nod in affirmation.
An awkward silence cut through the room again, their gaze directed towards me, expecting me to do something.
And of course, I knew what they wanted me to do. I drank the contents of the bottle; the potion. I waited to see if I would react for some time, but I felt nothing.
I doubted that the potion even cleansed my blood; maybe I had been given the wrong bottle. I had expected that part of me to struggle to purge out its uncleanliness, but nothing.
I was relieved that I didn’t have to explain to my friends how I had been a creature they dreaded, but I didn’t care to let them know.
But my joy was cut off, I started to feel very nauseous, I was so scared, and my heart was trembling within. I darted my gaze towards Liara as my face started to turn pale.
"What’s wrong, Aria?" Liara asked, concern etched on her face.
"Where is your bathroom? I feel nauseous, I feel like I’m going to throw up," I said, trying to get up.
I know this feeling; I’ve felt it before, and I have to hide until it subsides. I felt this feeling a few minutes before my first transformation.
My mind wasn’t even thinking of how terrible I was feeling. It only kept replaying the words, You don’t have to let them see that part of you.
The mischievous grin on Becca’s face disappeared, and worry replaced it. The amusement on Arlo’s face also disappeared and was replaced with worry.
At least, they feel worried now. If I take more time now, this worry on their faces will turn to fear and disgust, and I don’t want that to happen.
"The bathroom is over here," she said, pointing towards her visitor’s bathroom.
"I would rather use a more private one, maybe the one in one of your rooms, if you please," I demanded as my face grew paler and the nauseous feeling increased.
I wouldn’t want anyone to see me as they were using the toilet; therefore, it was better for me to use a more private one. If I were to transform in her dorm, I would rather do that in the bathroom; I don’t want a repeat of what happened in my father’s house.
"I see, do anything you want, my place is yours, Aria, you are my friend, just be well," Liara said, putting her hands in her backpack and then brought out some keys and handed them to me.
"These are the keys to the second room. You can use the bathroom there, it has enough space, even more than the room I chose to sleep in," Liara said.
"Thank you," I said, walking towards the room before I would lose myself.
"Do you need assistance?" Becca called out, concern etched in her voice.
"No, I don’t need to, but thank you for your concern," I replied as I shut the door of the room behind me.
"If you ever need help in there, feel free to call our attention," Arlo, Becca and Liara called out in unison.
A slow, sad smile crawled up my face. I didn’t like that I was hiding from them, but this part of me was ugly, and from what I had experienced in the past, I knew that I would be doomed if they knew this part of me.
I got to the bathroom and turned on the water sources to mask my groans. The pain grew worse, even worse than the few minutes before my first transformation.
I groaned, and groaned, I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain, but I didn’t, and soon I was throwing up in the sink, my face turning paler and paler.
The substances I was throwing up were blackish-red liquids. It looked like clotted blood.
My canines were breaking out slowly; I knew it was happening again, I was transforming into the ugly night creature, and it would take a while before I could return to normal.
And suddenly, I heard one of them enter the room; the footsteps sounded like those of Liara.
’Not now, not now,’ the words re-echoed in my head. Now my body interprets them as dinner, not friends.