"What was that for?" questioned Conner, staring at Melanie with a deep frown.

  Melanie could feel her blood rushing to her ears and mind, as she tried to think as quickly as she could on what she should do right now. She could hear the words of the person on the other side of the phone. It sounded like Conner's father,

  "Hello? Conner, are you there?" the voice came through.

  "Give me the phone, Mel. We need help and this isn't time to waste it. If you want to speak about us going out—" Melanie pressed her finger on the disconnect button of the phone call and Conner's eyes widened. "Mel!

  "This isn't about my feelings or your feelings, Conner. There is something I have been wanting to tell you," said Melanie, and Conner slightly shook his head.

  "What is it?" he curiously asked her.

  Simon, who stood behind them, tilted his head to the side, staring at Melanie and then at Conner. The red-headed vampire said, "I believe what Melanie means to tell you is that she is going to miss Veteris. We did leave Julianne behind without telling her anything, how would she feel, right?" This time, even Conner could detect the sarcasm in Simon's words.

  Melanie was tried with blind folding Conner over things that she was already aware of. Instead of dragging the inevitable, it was time to let him know, and she said, "Since the last few days, I have been hiding something from you."

  "We can speak about it while we wait for the help to arrive and on our way back home. It is going to take a while for your father or mine to come pick us up from this place. We don't even know if we are standing on the right side of the road," explained Conner, stretching his hand towards Melanie so that she would return the phone back to him.

  Melanie clenched on the phone, feeling her anxious heart starting to beat louder as she didn't know how Conner would take this information, and if he would be pissed with her. Though it was the time of night, she could feel sweat starting to appear on her forehead, and she tried to take a deep breath. On the other hand, Simon, who noticed the way the girl struggled to tell the truth, he rolled his eyes and said, "Melanie knows that a vampire exists in Veteris. Before you even found out."

  And though Simon's intention had purely been to help Melanie, because the last thing he needed was her fainting. If she fainted, it would be hard to guarantee to her that Conner and he wouldn't end up in a possible fight, after Conner would find that he was a vampire.

  Melanie's mouth fell wide open, and Conner looked as confused as he was this morning. She couldn't believe herself that Simon had done this again. She glared at him, before her eyes shifted back to look Conner.

  "What do you mean that Melanie already knew that there are vampires? Wait, you both know that there are vampires and you have been waiting for them to catch us? To kill us humans?" demanded Conner, unhappy with this sudden revelation. Just a moment ago, he was going to propose that they stick together in the future too during endeavors like tonight.

  Before Melanie could explain, Simon continued to explain, "She wasn't sure if she could entrust that important information to you, especially knowing the way you got caught and was put into the dungeon. Which does prove her point."

  Why was he trying to push her into fire?! Melanie asked him, alarmed, and she looked around to see if she could get a hold of a stake right now, just so she could run it through Simon's chest.

  "It isn't how Simon is saying. There's something much bigger than that," stated Melanie, not wanting Conner to misunderstand her.

  "It is exactly how I said it was. Come on, Conner. I have been studying here longer than you both, do you think I wouldn't know that there are vampires?" asked Simon in a nonchalant tone.

  "So you both knew and didn't inform or do anything? And what is that much bigger reason?" questioned Conner, and Melanie pursed her lips, noticing her friend was far more upset than she had ever seen him.

  "Me," Simon replied to Conner's question.

  "I can speak for myself, Simon. Can you give us a moment," she raised her eyebrows at the red-headed vampire, who stared back at her.

  Simon softly scoffed, "Did you change the team you are playing for?"

  A large sigh escaped from her lips, and she decided to ignore Simon, not knowing if he was back to his trickster self. She said to Conner, "I want to hear me out clearly before you decide to take any decision. Can you promise to do that?"

  Conner stared hard at Melanie, but he said, "I need my phone before I listen. I won't make a call unless it is extremely necessary."

  Melanie gauged Conner before she handed the phone to him, "Here you go."

  Conner took the phone, but he didn't put it in his pocket and instead kept it on standby. Melanie finally explained the things that happened until now, since Simon had helped her from being attacked and about Julie being a witch and how she had ended up in the past. About the things that Julie had told her, she passed it to him.

  Conner's eyes were as wide as saucers while he stared at Simon with a look of caution. When Melanie was still explaining, he interrupted her, "You have been protecting the vampires. Lying to me, your family."

  "And it was for a reason," Melanie reminded him.

  Conner shook his head, "I think I need a moment," he paused before speaking, "You knew about Reese?"

  "Not until Julie told me," replied Melanie, "You need to understand that not all vampires are bad. We are all on the same team, Conner. It is just our parents believe every single vampire is bad, that they are sinful."

  Conner pressed his temples, "It is too much for me to take in. Simon helped my father. But the others. Don't you see that they want to kill me? They want to kill you."

  "Now only if you had your ass sitting in your room and preparing for your exam," remarked Simon, and Conner turned to look at the vampire.

  Suddenly Conner pulled out a wooden stake, which he had picked up on his way while he had fallen behind. He pointed it at Simon, his brown eyes fiercely looking at the vampire,

  "What was your intention in approaching us?"

  Conner had believed that Simon was his friend, and there was still a piece of him that wanted to believe what Melanie believed. But that didn't remove the fact that this was a blood-sucking creature who stood in front of him right now.

  "The truth," added Melanie, because she still didn't know what Simon was doing getting close to Conner.

  Simon took two steps to the side and said, "My superiors heard that some of your hunters were using the vampires as experimental lab rats. And it so happens that the information is true. Mr. and Mrs. Davis has been capturing vampires and trying to harm innocent people of my kind. I was there to take a look around, when I found it. And the lab is right in the house."

  "They must be rogue vampires who tried to harm the humans," Melanie tried to defend her parents' actions. "I have been living with them for many years now and I never heard about any such things."

  "Flash news, love. Your parents were acting as Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Only in the worse, paranormal world of disguise in front of you," said Simon, before adding, "Using rogue vampires is one thing, but using vampires who are sane and don't do any harm, that's a whole different level of murder."

  "So you got close to us to spy," murmured Conner, somewhere feeling hurt that he had believed in Simon.

  "I have nothing against you, Conner. You are a good man, and I am still your friend, but I cannot let you harm the people whom I am supposed to protect," Simon clicked his tongue. "I hope you understand that."

  Conner nodded. Not dropping the stake from his hand, he said, "And it isn't personal from my side either. I am only doing what I believe is right."

  "Can you both just stop taunting each other? We have other things to worry about," Melanie reminded them.

  "Like what, Mel? Going back and getting killed by the vampires? To be killed the way Reese was killed? What did she even do to deserve it? Do you think vampires who kill humans ruthlessly deserve kindness?" Conner shot one question after another, leaving Melanie speechless. "I will avenge her death."

  "If you have a suicide wish, then you go ahead," said Simon, pulling out a gun and pointing it at Conner.

  "Simon…… what are you doing?" Melanie questioned, alarmed.

  "I was showing off my shiny gun," replied Simon, wiping the edge with the back of his shirt before putting it behind his back. Melanie's face contorted, and she decided to find a good physiatrist for Simon as a thank you gift from her to him.

  Simon then spoke to Conner, "What happened with Reese, it was something that was not supposed to happen. But if you don't have a death wish, and don't want to drag Mel in it, I would advise you to just let it go. It was a mistake. But Azazel Donovan isn't someone you can settle your scores with. If you want to know, the scores will get worse for you."

  Conner gritted his teeth because this wasn't what was on his mind, and his mind wasn't at peace when it came to Reese's unjust death.

  Melanie took a step towards Conner, and she pulled the wooden stake from him. She said, "Conner, you can be as mad as you want. But Simon is not wrong, the Elder vampires aren't someone to mess with, and they will instead mess you up. But at the same time, they aren't completely heartless and they care about Veteris."

  "I don't know if I can believe it. I cannot go back to Veteris, Mel. I am being hunted like an animal," spoke Conner in a frustrated tone.

  "I think they are just worried that you would tell the other hunters about it. I am sure once they find out that you pose no threat to them or Veteris, they will let you be. And everyone wants you alive—" Melanie's words were interrupted by Simon once again,

  "Except for the Elder vampires," he then added, "Just kidding. They spared Julianne. You are Julie's friend, and ours too. So it shouldn't be bad, unless they feel that you will inform them about their existence to your families."

  Conner wasn't completely convinced, and he was still processing everything Melanie had told so far. It was true, though, Melanie was safe, and he would be too.

  "What was your plan?" asked Conner, who now had a drop of suspicion on Simon, and the vampire didn't care about it.

  "I wanted to check if there were any new victims that hunters gathered and what they have found out so far. After all, we are trying to locate where the Mortimers are," Simon shrugged his shoulders. "Also I had to make sure you little children were safe."

  During the same time, Roman and the others caught up to where Melanie and the two other boys were standing near her. On seeing both Melanie and Conner safe, Julie quickly left Roman's side and hugged her friends.

  Julie took a step back from Conner and said, "It is good to see you are okay."

  Conner stared hard at Julie. How could she be a witch? She was a human-like them, he thought in his mind. He stared at the people around them and realized nothing much had changed. The people here were still the ones whom he called his friends.

  But at the same time, he found it hard to digest that there were vampires, and witches. And he had been friends with them, which internally conflicted his mind.

  On the side lines, Simon stood there watching the two humans and one witch trying to catch up and explain things to each other; similar to how children did. His eyes met Roman's who gave him a brief look, while he felt Victoria walk towards him. She came and stood next to him, watching the humans like he did.

  Victoria then spoke, "I thought your orders were different. Did you decide to deviate from what was spoken during the meeting?"

  "I did?" asked Simon, blinking his green eyes, and when Victoria rolled her eyes, a smirk appeared on his face. "I did."

  "Let us hope he knows how to keep his mouth shut…… Else the thing you couldn't do, I will do it myself," stated Victoria, and Simon gave her a nod.