The Vampire's Bride

"— Erm... Don't forget to pass your homework before classes start. Class dismissed."

Right after their teacher spoke, the bell rang. Mallory sighed as she lightly tapped her books on her table. She glanced at the person besides her who was sleeping peacefully.

Throughout the class, she felt like the right side of her body was paralyzed; she could only move the left part of her body. The reason was because Leo had fallen asleep on her shoulder.

Mallory glanced at the clock. They have at least ten minutes to prepare for the next class. She decided to wake Leo up so that he could also prepare but the moment her hand hovered over his head, someone slapped it.

"?!"

Mallory instinctively turned her head at the back and saw three girls glaring at her. She quickly recognized who they were.

"Who do you think you are? You think you're qualified to touch him?"

Kyla Dixon was known to be the beauty of the school. She always have two 'brainless assistants' by her side.

Mallory slightly furrowed her brows because she hated it when she was punished by reasons that did not even concern her or she could not even change it... just like when Kyla slapped her hand.

Mallory innerly scoffed at her question, 'You're right, I'm not qualified to touch him but... You're a human while I'm a halfling... who do you think is more qualified to touch a vampire?'

"Well then, please wake him up. My shoulder is getting numb," Mallory mumbled.

Although Mallory was sitting down, Kyla felt like Mallory was looking down on her. This thought made her blood boiling.

She gave a loud 'hmmp' and stepped closer to Leo.

She tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear and gently called Leo, "Azazel... it's time for the next class to start. You shou—"

Kyla was dumbfounded. The moment her hand was an inch away from Leo's arm, she felt suffocated like someone took the air around her. She was slowly met by a pair of eyes that flashed red for a second.

"What is it?"

It was not only Kyla who saw Leo's eyes flashing red once... Mallory also saw it.

In the next second, Mallory understood Leo's temperament. He was the type of person that would wake up at the wrong side of the bed. She turned to look at Kyla who seemed shocked by the sudden appearance of red and Leo's tone. She stared straight at Kyla's eyes as she tried to read her.

Seeing that the human in front of him did not reply, Leo growled, "I said 'What?!'"

"I-I-... u-umm..."

'This is not the Azazel that I know... is he in a bad mood? This is bad... all my effort to keep a good image in front of him will go to waste if I told him that I woke him up...'

Kyla gulped as she glanced at Mallory who was still staring at her. 'I have no choice!'

She stepped back and explained in a hurried voice, "She wanted to wake you up because it's almost time for our next class. It was her that ruined your sleep!"

Upon hearing her explanation, Leo turned to his side. Mallory was shocked by Kyla's excuse and looked at Leo with fear.

It was not her who did it... she didn't even touch him... Kyla didn't allow her to... but who will get the punishment in the end? Still her, the innocent one.

Mallory lowered her head slightly and innerly sighed. 'Master Orpheus will punish me...'

Leo slowly reached out to Mallory while the latter quickly shut her eyes. Kyla was, however, excited to see Mallory being punished. But the next second, her smirk became stiff on her face.

"Why is your hand slightly swelling?"

Mallory glanced at her little hand being held gently by Leo's warm hands. She felt something unexplainable at that moment.

Kyla answered the question before Mallory could, "She was about to wake you up so I prevented her to do so."

Leo widened his eyes and asked slowly, "What did you say?"

Kyla thought she was heading in the right direction and repeated her answer, "Like I said, she was about to wake you up even though we still had a few minutes before we go to the next class, so I slapped her hand to avoid disturbing your sleep."

Leo: "Don't ever do that again!"

Kyla: "..." Wh-What?

Leo did not even bother to explain and gently rubbed the back of Mallory's hand. He asked in a gentler tone, "Does it still hurts?"

"I-I'm fine Ma—," Mallory's mouth stopped moving. Calling him Master Orpheus in school was a different case.

Because Orpheus was the vampire name of Leo. If other people, especially those humans, heard her calling Leo as Master Orpheus, it would cause a commotion.

Despite that, Mallory did not know how she should address Leo in public; therefore, her mouth was kept open.

"Leo's fine. If you really don't want to call me Leo, at least call me Azazel."

"Y-Yes."

Leo knew Mallory did not mean her yes. 'Never mind. I'll let you go for today. One day, you'll call me by my name... one day."

Leo: "Did your shoulder hurt? Is it numb?"

Mallory: "N-no. It's fine."

Leo: "Then that's good. Let's go to the next class. Thanks for letting me sleep."

Mallory: "Eh? A-Ah wait!"

All of a sudden, Mallory was pulled, once more, by Leo out of the classroom.

They had completely forgotten of a certain girl who woke up Leo.

Well, they had forgotten about the whole class...

Kyla could not accept such a thing. It was the first time that someone had publicly embarrassed her. She clenched her fist as she cursed Mallory.

'B*tch! You think by having Azazel on your side, you're safe? Just you wait! You can't always ruin Azazel! You cannot keep him under your finger for so long! Azazel, I'll save you from that hideous freak!'

…

Leo and Mallory was walking down the hallway when Mallory realized that they had left their classmates.

"Umm... Ma—"

Mallory closed and opened her mouth like a gaping fish. Finally, she decided not to say his name, "We have forgotten about our classmates. Should we go back?"

"Obviously not."

Mallory: "..."

...okay, you're the boss...

"Do you want to?" Leo asked as he slowed down his pace.

Mallory shook her head, "Not really. But are you sure you don't have to bring anything else?"

"No. Let's just go. We have Home Economics next, right?"

"Yes."

Leo and Mallory reached their next class. Miss Lim, their teacher, had a smile on her face as she saw Mallory entering. She had been kind to Mallory ever since then. One of the reasons why Mallory felt more relaxed with her.

"Mallory! I see you're with Mr. Azazel today. Where are your other classmates?"

"Good afternoon, Miss. They're still in the classroom."

"I see. Go and pick a table. We'll start with the basics today. We'll be making brownies. I've already showed you how to make it last week so your class should be able to do it today. Did you practice, Mallory?"

"N-not really, Miss..."

Miss laughed as if it was the expected answer. "Don't worry. I'm sure you could do it. After all, you're a fast learner."

Mallory felt shy, not because Miss Lim was praising her, but because Leo was listening.

"— Good afternoon, Miss."

"Come in, come in. Go to your tables and we'll start as soon as everyone is here. Don't forget to get your aprons." Miss Lim stopped talking to Mallory and prepared for the activity.

Miss Lim looked around and nodded, "It seems that everyone is finally here. Now remember you will make brownies for today with your group."

Everyone started talking. Some were commenting, some were excited... others were complaining. Especially Mallory's group.

"We have to be grouped with the freak?"

"Why her?"

"Can't we have a member change?"

On the other hand, a nearby group was excited.

"Hey, Azazel, have you tried making brownies before?"

"I haven't! Can you help me, Azazel?"

Leo replied with a hint of irritation, "I haven't. How could I help you? Surely you guys would know more about these things than me."

"E-Eh? B-but..."

Leo did not bother with his groupmates and glanced at Mallory who tried to keep her distance from her groupmates. He let out an exasperated sigh. 'This is why she doesn't make any friends. She's too... cautious.'

"Okay, class! You may begin now!"

...

Almost fifteen minutes had passed and Mallory was almost finished melting the chocolate. As she stirred, she looked at her groupmates who were being carefree. She was the one who collected the ingredients from Miss Lim, she was the one who crushed the chocolate, she was the one who prepared the water, and she was the one who was stirring. From the very start until that point, no one had helped her.

Well, she knew this was going to happen. Why waste her time when she could do it?

'Okay, it's already melted.'

Mallory turned of the stove and held the bowl with some rag between her hands and the bowl itself.

She slowly stepped backward to place the bowl at the table.

Coincidentally, someone had also walked through her back, bumping her in the process.

The melted chocolate danced and jumped from the bowl and the bowl slightly slipped her hands.

It was still hot... and it was about to spill all over her.

She tried to tighten her grip but she saw the liquid moving out of the bowl.

Then she closed her eyes...

And a 'thud' was heard.