Erzas POV - MONDAY

I woke up with a pounding headache, it felt like someone was using a hammer to repeatedly hit me on the head. Swinging my legs off of the bed, I stretched out my arms and legs then fell backwards onto the bed.

"That maths homework was due in today wasn't it?" I sighed. "Damn it."

For a while, I continued to look up at the ceiling and tried to decide whether or not I should do the homework. Once my alarm rang again, I decided that after I ate some cereal I would attempt to finish the work.

After quickly having a shower, I grabbed my school uniform and got changed as fast as I could. Making sure that my glasses were in my blazer pocket, I then proceeded to collect my school bag and rushed to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

Although my hair was soaking wet, my blazer remained dry and I realised that I had left my hairdryer unpacked. Leaving the maths homework on the table, I hurried to the bathroom and brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, then dried my hair.

When I opened the cabinet in the bathroom I almost screamed.

"You found me Scarlet!" Jellal beamed. "It took you long enough! What's the time?"

"How long have you...?" My mind raced back to the night before and the game of hide and seek. "Y-You win Jellal, I couldn't find you."

"Awesome! But what's the time?"

"It's almost eight in the morning."

He looked at me, his mouth agape. "The morning?! I was wondering why I was feeling so tired."

"Well now you can't use your mind control thingy so go get some sleep. Or maybe a stake."

"Next time we play a game Scarlet, I choose what it is. And who knows, it may just be a staring contest after dark."

"That's a lame thing to do."

"Hm?"

I stood my ground and stared at the guy in front of me. "By doing that you win too easily, I think that you want a challenge. Otherwise you never would have proposed this idea of a game, you've been so bored for so long and now you want something to entertain you for longer."

Jellal and I continued our stare off until he looked away and smirked.

"You are partially correct Scarlet."

Partially?

"What do you mean?"

"I do want a challenge, I adore these types of games. But the thing is..." Despite his tired appearance, when he leaned in close to my face he still looked menacing; and in a low voice said, "when I win, you will be my entertainment. I will break your sanity slowly, destroy your spirit until you become nothing more but a vessel containing blood for me to drink. I won't require a new game for a while, if I so desire I can break this bet of ours right now..."

I'll admit, I felt intimidated but somehow I stood strong and glared back at him.

"If you break the bet and try to kill me now, then that'd be your own suicide. Have you forgotten it's daytime? And what does your kind do in this weather?" Wearing my own smirk on my face, I crossed my arms. "That's right, you burn. So watch out for the scarlet sun burn."

He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it when the bathroom door opened and Natsu wandered in.

"Hey guys, mind if I use the toilet?"

"Sure, I need to get going anyway. Bye Natsu, Jellal." The pink haired bloodsucker got a glare from Jellal as I left the room.

The kitchen window was wide open as I entered the room. On the windowsill was a dead animal, probably something Natsu was feeding on when I was going to the bathroom.

Peering at the large grandfather clock in the hallway, I sprinted around trying to gather all of my school things. I was almost an hour late.

*~*~*

"So why were you late?" Lucy asked at me during break, "Mr Hades was giving you the death stare when you walked into English."

"I got lost, I guess." I lied. "The manor is secluded and I must have wandered down the wrong road and gotten lost."

In all honesty I knew my way to school from the manor. There was only one road leading to the town, and it also led to another small path which took me to the outskirts of Magnolia; twenty minutes away from my school.

"Can we come over sometime soon?" She asked, gesturing to herself and my other friend Levy.

"I'm busy this week Lucy, I've told you," Levy said, adjusting her reading glasses and turning the page of her book.

"I'm sure Erza's manor has a huge ass library with old books," Lucy sang, eyeing Levy's reaction. As Lucy predicted, Levy's hands paused mid page turn and her eyebrows raised up.

"Books?"

"Yup." Popping the 'p', Lucy grinned as she watched her master plan succeed. "And you don't need to pay to read her books."

"When are you able to invite us over?" The petite girl sat beside me asked.

"I-I can't." I said, desperately thinking of a reason as to why they couldn't come. The vampires wouldn't convince them, who would believe that their friend's involved with a blood sucker's evil desires?

"Why not?"

"Because-,"

"Look!" Levy interrupted Lucy who didn't look too happy. "Isn't that the new girl, Juvia I think it was."

Following Levy's gaze, I saw and recognised my newest classmate Juvia Lockser. She had blue hair which looked thick and healthy, resting on her shoulders. She had blue eyes which showed no emotion like her facial expression, if she really wanted she could have auditioned to be a model.

"Don't you think she's super pretty?" Lucy asked. "I heard that she came from a small town to the east, she was one of the only girls living there."

"Wow, should we go talk to her? She looks kind of lonely." I asked, concerned about the lack of people around her.

"I don't see why not." Levy said.

"Well then. Let us go!" Lucy jumped up and walked over to Juvia, Levy and I following.

When Juvia saw us approaching she turned to face us but didn't smile.

"Good morning." She spoke, her eyes scanning us.

"G-Good morning." I replied, feeling something odd about her.

"Hiya! We've seen you around class and just wanted to introduce ourselves!" Lucy chirped.

"Juvia already knows who you are."

"You speak in third person?" Levy asked.

"Does Levy have a problem with it?"

"N-No, not at all! It's actually cool, I've never met someone who speaks like how you do."

"Now you have, is it really that uncommon?"

"I suppose so," I joined in the conversation. "I'm-,"

"Erza Scarlet, as Juvia already explained; Juvia knows who you are." The strange bluenette bowed slightly and continued. "Juvia appreciates your kindness as fellow classmates and hopes that we may be friends in the future."

Lucy's face lit up as she saw her plan 'work'. She linked her arm with Juvia's and dragged the poor girl along the corridor, talking about classes and teachers and whatnot.

"Do you think that she'll survive Lucy's fashion talk she gives everyone?" Levy asked.

"We did didn't we? Juvia seems like the sort of person to handle people like Lucy." I smiled at Levy and then giggled with her. "Well come on, we need to catch up to them."

*~*~*

The day seemed to fly by quicker than usual. Juvia had warmed up to us a bit more but still didn't smile at anything we did or said. However there was one occasion where her mind seemed to wander after seeing something, or maybe someone. But I didn't know what or who.

"Erza! We can't make it today, I've got to meet up with one of my dad's business partner's sons. He's dead set on me continuing the family business, but I'll try to be free for Friday if I can!" Lucy said, her face lighting up at her last phrase. 

Her father owned a huge lot of land which was known as the Heartfilia Residence. There was a small town where all of the maids, servants, butlers, cooks and other employees for Heartfilia and co. lived; Lucy, Levy and I all went camping there the year before. Basically, Lucy's family was wealthy enough top provide for quite a lot of people. The only thing which Lucy hated about it all was that her father wasn't very supportive of her dreams to become a famous actress or her passion about stars and constellations and instead wanted her to be a wife of another businessman, something Lucy absolutely despised.

"Why don't you just get a boyfriend already? You have Loke and Gray to choose from!" Levy sighed.

"I don't like either of them in that way!" Lucy pouted. "I want a guy who's funny and sweet not to mention hot! But he also has a protective side which makes me feel safe no matter what the situation is. Like, I could be face-to-face with death but I wouldn't feel scared because he would be right next to me, holding my hand..." She covered her cheeks with her hands and shook her head. "Eek! Just thinking like that is getting me super flustered!!"

"Well, Loke flirts with loads of girls already so I don't think he's the right guy for you plus I feel like he's more of an Aires lover than a Lucy lover, I mean they spend loads of time together and were caught once in the changing rooms holding hands."

"Wow. Holding hands."

"Hey!" Levy yelled. "Holding hands is a relationship thing to do!"

"Whatever you say Miss I'm-An-Expert-In-Everything." Lucy slyly said.

"You're just jealous of my test scores."

"Plus Gray doesn't seem like the type of guy for you Lucy." I continued the original topic. "He's a bit too cold for you, you need a guy with fire in his heart." Then I took a sip from my water bottle.

"As if there's a guy like that somewhere!" The blonde pouted. "There's as much chance as me finding the dream guy as there is a chance that some guy has pink hair!"

I spat out my water. and proceeded to cough.

"Erza!" Levy patted my back until I could breathe properly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, I just drank my water too quickly."

I looked to my left and saw Juvia hiding behind a tree. Her gaze was fixed on one point and as I followed her gaze I saw what she was looking at.

"Juvia?" I called out. The blue haired girl jumped as she heard her name then ran over to me. 

"Are you alright Erza?"

"Yeah, I was just wondering... Are you looking at Gra-," I was shushed by Juvia whose pale cheeks turned bright crimson.

"Juvia would appreciate it if Erza didn't say his name so loudly!" Juvia whisper-rushed. "Gray-sama hasn't noticed Juvia yet and Juvia doesn't want to appear too nosy to him!"

"Is this like a senpai stalker situation going on?" Levy asked to no one in particular.

"Should we introduce you two?" Lucy asked, a spark appearing in her eyes. 

"N-No! No no!" Juvia shook her head frantically and put her hands out. "Juvia will declare her feelings when the time is right!"

"This is some senpai stalker stuff!" Levy announced to herself.

I checked my watch and saw that the time was '15:45', a good time to head home and get some homework done. 

"I'm heading home now guys, I'll see you all tomorrow." Waving goodbye, Levy and Juvia both said goodbye and then proceeded to have a conversation.

 Before I could leave the school building, Lucy caught up to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Wait a moment Erza! I just remembered something."

"What?"

"Yesterday I called you then the connection suddenly dropped! What happened?"

"I um, the reception there wasn't too good so it took a while to fix. By the time I fixed it, I figured you'd be asleep so I forgot to call you back." I lied quickly, hoping that she wouldn't get suspicious.

"Oh, well okay then." She didn't look to convinced but nodded. "By the way, your manor's number was under the name of 'Lakeside Manor', there wasn't anything about your uncle's name there. I had hoped to try and help you find out some more about your family but I guess it's too difficult."

"Don't worry Lucy, I found a picture of my parents and my uncle when I was a baby. I'm still curious about them but less so now, I might find some clues as to who they were at my uncle's house - well my house now - and that will hopefully be enough to satisfy me." I grinned and hugged the blonde. "But thank you anyway."

She hugged me back and said, "No problem Erza, that's what friends are for."

*~*~*

When I got back to the manor I dumped my school bag on the entrance floor and took off my coat and hung it up on the coat rack. I took off my shoes and left them by the front door then wandered towards the kitchen for a snack. It didn't surprise me when I saw Natsu stuffing his face with whatever food he could find.

"Oh hey Erza!" He waved at me when he saw me walk in the room. "Want something?"

"I was just going to grab some chocolate cake, but I think I'll settle for some strawberries." I said, noticing the empty chocolate wrappers in his hands. "You're certainly making yourself at home here."

"You noticed? I thought that since I'll be living here for a while I should settle in." Then he lifted something up from behind the pile of wrappers and squeezed it until a red liquid seeped out of it. I recognised the animal as a small rabbit and almost threw up. "There haven't been many humans around here lately, so I've had to make do."

"Second thoughts, I'm going to go to the bathroom." I left Natsu in the kitchen and hurried to the bathroom before I threw up all over him. It wouldn't be a pretty sight. Once I'd made it to the bathroom I raced to the toilet and fought the tears back as I felt worse. 

Let's just say being sick sucks.

My breathing became quicker for a minute or two then finally slowed down. 

"Need a towel?"

I froze as I heard Jellal's voice from behind me. Not wanting to turn around, I put my arm out backwards and grabbed the towel he was holding out towards me. Then I used it to wipe my mouth and sat back. When I turned to look at him my eyes widened and my cheeks burned. 

He....

The only thing which covered his lower half was a white towel. His hair was wet and his chest was fully visible. Along with his well defined abs.

"You surprised me when you rushed in when I just finished having my shower. Good thing I'd wrapped a towel around myself before you burst in." He smiled then asked, "What's wrong?"

"Y-You're friend..." I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Natsu had a rabbit with him and was drinking it's blood. It made me feel sick and... well, you saw the rest."

"You don't like that?"

"Dead animal blood? Surprisingly Jellal, no one likes drinking dead animal blood aside from vampires." I spat, then regretted it immediately. I found myself with my head over the toilet yet again. 

Something I really didn't expect was Jellal's hand patting me on the back.

"It's all good, just let it out." His voice was soothing and his touch already made me feel slightly better. How? I have no idea.

When I felt better, he pulled me into a hug and told me it was okay. I didn't let my guard down despite my ill state and watched out for any sneaky moves he could play.

"Remember Scarlet that I made a promise not to use my powers until seven at night. It's about four thirty now, I still have two and a half hours until I can use my powers. And you're in no state for me to have any type of fun tonight."

"I thought that you'd try anything and everything to  drink my blood and kill me." I said with as much venom in my voice as possible, even though I said that, he picked me up and carried me to my room. 

His kindness surprised me.

He put me down on the bed and pulled the covers up over me. Then he ran out of the room using his vampire speed and returned with a glass of water.

"To answer your statement from earlier, I want to win our game with no given advantages. For example, if I chose to drink your blood earlier then it would have taken all of the fun away from the game. I want to win by the rules I made, call me selfish but I'd rather spend my time having fun with you than cheating and getting it over with."

"So you're kindness right now is just for your sake? Not mine?"

"Never trust a vampire Scarlet."

I pinched his arm ans scowled at him. "Get out of my room and leave me alone for the rest of today."

"Fine, I'll tease you and mess with you when you feel better." He stood up and walked towards the doorway but stopped and said, "I'll tell Natsu not to eat animals when you're here."

"Thank you." I whispered. Then fell into an early sleep.

*~*~*~*~*

Sorry for not updating sooner, I'm in my second week (well third now I guess...) of my summer hols and I've been working on other stories and been relaxing in general. Wattpad was in my mind but I'm tired.

I fall asleep at either midnight or 1am then wake up at 10am

i need help guys