VERAI took a step back, but not fast enough. I took the whole of a half step backward before Freya was all over me, claws slashing without regard for anything else.It caught me across the eye, and I felt blood trickle out into my eyes. But she didn't stop.She took aim and landed a stinging slap across my face.While I was still blinded by the pain, she landed another, then grabbed my neck so hard her nails dug into my skin.As Freya's onslaught continued, I tried to defend myself, blocking her strikes as best as I could. The store seemed to spin around us, and the scent of blood mixed with the fragrances of various beauty products.It was bestial.But somehow, my brain registered the smell of lotions, which shouldn't be there, not unless…"Beth!" I managed to cry out amidst the chaos. I hoped she would hear me and call for help. Freya's anger was relentless, and I feared the situation could escalate further and then I would have to pay for new stock in addition to paying for a ton

NATHANI knocked on the door and waited, wondering if Vee was back from wherever she had run off to.I smiled to myself as the memory of how scarlet she had blushed in the morning came back to mind. To be honest, I hadn't slept on the same bed as her purely out of concern, but her grabbing my dick was a bit more than I expected.It called back the memory of our kiss.Subconsciously, I rubbed my lips. God, I need to be flogged. If Josh knew what just went through my head, he just might smite me with lightning.Recalling my errant thoughts, I knocked again. But got only silence at the other end. I had never waited more than a second at Vee's door, whether she was around or not.I had a key to the room after all.The only thing stopping me from using it now was that I had heard voices inside just a while ago. At least, that was how it seemed to me.But now, the silence was so thick I might have imagined it.I knocked for a few more times, growing impatient. Just as I was about to give up

VERA The first thing I felt when I woke up was the pounding in my head. I held my head in my hands and almost fell back on the bed, but I managed to continue sitting up.The mother of all headaches was having a really banger party in my head, and it looked like it invited all its most racous relatives.Groaning, I gingerly alighted from my bed. My eyes fell on the bedside alarm clock and I gasped.Bad idea.Mother of all headaches didn't like it, and neither did her relatives who immediately set up a protest in my head. I grabbed my head and winced, then closed my eyes as the room spun and turned dark.Gently, I nudged backwards till my feet hit the bed, then I let myself down gently and rode out the ferris wheel that my room had become. When the spinning stopped, I opened my eyes again and stole a glance at the clock.Nope, the headache hadn't affected my eyes. It really was the dead of the night, or to

VERAThe time was a few minutes past six. I got up grudgingly from the bed. I didn't want to get up, but it was school day and I had already missed two days at the beginning of the spring term.I didn't want to miss again.And…we had physics classes today. I nearly flunked physics last term, and it was supposed to be my favourite subject.Preparing for school took almost three hours, mainly because I fell asleep on the kitchen counter after eating breakfast. By the time I got on the bus, it was already some minutes after eight.I sighed as I slipped my phone back into my backpack. I was thankful physics wasn't the first period, or that would be a bad start to the term, as bad as it was already.When I alighted in front of the school gate, it looked like everyone was in class already. No gisters on the quadrangle, no iPhone flaunters on the stairs, no lovers under Lincoln's statue.My stomach dropped. It must be a considerable time into the first period already. I wasn't familiar enoug

THIRD PERSON POVAlex stepped out of his room in the clinic, his head still throbbing from the bandaging the nurse had just finished. He wanted to see Vera, to make sure she was okay, despite the nurse's insistence that he needed rest. As he made his way to Vera's room, his mind raced with questions. How had she ended up here? And why hadn't she told him she went to the same school? Pushing the questions aside for the moment, Alex approached Vera's room and gently pushed the door open. The sight that greeted him made his heart ache. Vera lay on the bed, her face pale and drawn, but even in her weakened state, she looked beautiful. The rhythmic beeping of the monitor beside her was the only sound in the room. "Hey," Alex said softly, crossing the room to her side. "How are you feeling?" Vera stirred, her eyelids fluttering open. "Hey," she murmured, offering him a weak smil