"Nice people are the dangerous ones. They threaten the whole structure, shake the fortress. (...) The least breath of wind, the smallest dizzy spell, could make her collapse. She has reached the point of fragility, of disequilibrium, at which things lose their meaning, their proportion. With this degree of vulnerability, the tiniest detail is capable of engulfing her in joy or destroying her." (Delphine de Vigan, Underground Time)

It was funny how yesterday sounded so far away, was Fayez's first thought, as he opened his eyes with great difficulty.

Yesterday, he had gone to bed with newfound resolution. He had managed to convince himself that he was on a mission, and that he wasn't going to let a bunch of supernatural brats intimidate him. After all, being around other people couldn't be such a big deal. Sure, he wasn't used to communautary life, but, as his father constantly reminded him, he was strong, powerful and clever. There was little doubt in Fayez's mind that he was going to be one of the best students the ISB ever had !

That was yesterday's thinking. Today, he was feeling grumpy because of lack of sleep, and he wanted nothing more than stay in bed and pretend he was the only creature left on Earth.

He had to put his alarm clock at 6 am. Fucking 6 am. In his parents' castle, only the servants ever woke up this early!

What's worse, nobody was going to bring him his breakfast in bed. He had to get up, get dressed and wander in this gloomy castle in search for a common area where he wasn't even sure he would get something decent to eat.

That was it. He wasn't going downstairs to get some breakfast. This way, he would still have another hour of relative freedom before he had to go to the Common Hall, as Helmut had instructed him yesterday.

Helmut. The guy seemed so nice and confident, he probably had many friends here. No doubt that he was just doing what he had been told , when he had helped Fayez find his way in the castle yesterday. Fayez didn't think he would get another chance to talk to him again.

Well, it didn't matter. What matters was the here and now. As he still had another hour left before he had to go downstairs, he knew he should use his extra free time the best way he could think of.

Yes, exactly. He was going back to sleep.

******

When Fayez woke up again, it seemed like hardly ten minutes had passed, and he wasn't feeling any better. Someone was banging on his door, and the sound itself was enough to worsen his growing headache.

"Fayez! What the fuck are you doing? You're going to be late on your first day! Trust me, we're not in high school anymore and it won't make you look cool"

Helmut! Despite what he had told himself about not needing friends, hearing the young man's voice was enough to make Fayez jump excitedly from his bed.

When he opened the door, Helmut smiled at him. However, as he looked closely at the tired-looking vampire, his expression turned grim.

"You look like shit"

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep"

"No, but you look really bad" Helmut insisted, taking a step further to get a better look at Fayez's face. "You look... you look like you got wasted, then fell into a bucket of icy water, then banged your head against a wall, then tripped over a -"

"Jeez, I get it already, thank you very much" Fayez interrupted him, pouting like a child, all thoughts about looking tough and cold long forgotten. "Now I'm starting to feel self-conscious"

"Don't be" Helmut winked at him. "You still look very edible."

Helmut started laughing as a now blushing Fayez closed the door in his face, muttering something about needing to get changed.

Virgins, he thought to himself, shaking his head.

The minute the door was closed, though, Fayez realized that he had made a huge mistake on his very first day at the Institute.

He had forgotten that he had used his hands against himself yesterday. Sure, his skin didn't look burnt, but it had taken a lot of energy from his body to heal itself during the night. Usually, he would regain his energy quickly by drinking a bowl of fresh, healthy blood, but thanks to his brillant decision not to get any breakfast with the other students, he now had to start his training on an empty stomach.

Well, there was only one thing he could now. He was going to drink a bit of his own blood. The effects wouldn't last long, the taste would be horrible, and he already knew that he would feel even worse later on, but he didn't have much of a choice. He definitely needed a little boost of energy, if he wanted to impressed this Akhenaton guy.

Hopefully, lunch here wasn't served too late. He needed for his body not to betray him until it was time to eat again. He could do it. He didn't have much of a choice anyways.

"Fayez! What are you doing in there? I'm going to be late too, at this rate, and I'm NEVER late"

"Just go, Helmut! Don't wait for me"

"What the fuck are you even suggesting? Of course, I'm waiting for you!"

That's one stubbornly cute guy.

Knowing that Helmut would wait for him, even if it meant arriving late at the training, Fayez quickly pulled up his sleeeve and sliced the inside of his wrist opened with his teeth. Wincening in the process, he drank straight from the wound, lapping at the skin until the blood was no longer flooding.

With expert gestures, he then wrapped a clean bandage around the small would, pulled down the sleeve and left the room, much to Helmut's relief.

"Freakin finally! I was starting to think that you had gone back to sleep"

"Never pegged you for being such a goodie two-shoes"

"Fuck you, Fayez!"

"You wish, worryhead"

The kept bantering, until they almost ran into a tall guy, who was writting in a shrunken notebook.

"S-sir! Sorry, we're late!" muttered Helmut, whom Fayez had never seen look so flustered.

"I can see that, Helmut" replied the guy, in a stern voice, but Fayez didn't miss the amused glimpse in his eyes. "You've been telling me this every morning since you got in the Institute"

Ah! And here he had thought that Helmut was a top student! He had really managed to fool him!

As the tall guy's attention was entirely focused on the witty Helmut, Fayez silently observed him, because he knew there was no way he could sneak into the room and that he should wait for Helmut to come up with an excuse good enough to justify their tardiness.

The guy that Helmut had called "sir" was tall, slender, with a rich, deep brown skin and big hazel eyes, which were partially hidden behind round glasses. He had a pleasant voice, which, despite being slightly authoritative, somehow managed to sooth Fayez's nerves a bit. Surely, a guy who looked so serene couldn't possibly be bad, right?

"Alright, the two of you go into the Common Hall quickly. Helmut, I know that Zephyr has been too lenient with you lately, but your friend here will join Akhenaton's section today, and we both know how strict he usually is. In the future, Fayez, please try to be more punctual. Don't let Helmut have a bad influence on you, or you will be under Ake's radar from the very beginning of your stay here"

They both nod in agreement, before rushing inside. Just before they had to go their separate ways, Fayez whispered in Helmut's ear:

"That guy looked chilled, but he didn't even look at me once when he was talking to you. His focus was entirely on you. You sure are popular here"

"Jeez, Fayez, how can you be so dense" Helmut groaned, before quickly adding "This 'guy', as you put it, is Master Ashur. Sure, he is nice, but even I know which lines not to cross. Plus, he didn't look at you because you're new here. You have to prove yourself before you can hope to have a casual conversation with the prefects. Until then, you're basically nothing to them"

Ashur? That peaceful-looking guy was the famous Ashur? One of Zephyr's lover? But wasn't he supposed to be dangerous, willing to get rid of anyone who would dare harm his precious boyfriend? He sure didn't look like it. Fayez had almost felt at ease around him.

Well, he should have known better. Even though he had lived a sheltered existence, even he was aware that looks could be deceptive.

Get a grip, Fayez, and don't let your emotions get the better of you. Keep a cold head at all times.

"Well, I'll see you around" he muttered to Helmut, before turning toward the left side of the Hall, where, according to Helmut, was standing Akhenaton's team.

He hadn't taken more than a few steps, though, when he felt a small hand grasping his right arm.

"Wait, Fayez! Do you... are you?"

"Yes?" Fayez pressed him, , with a bit of impatience, because for what he had gathered, this Akhenaton didn't have a soft spot for laggards and they didn't have time for chit-chat. "Am I what, Helmut?"

"Are you - okay?" Helmut finally asked, with a soft voice that Fayez had never heard him use before.

"Don't I look okay?" was Fayez's curt reply, which he immediatly regretted, when he saw the hurt in the shorter man's expression. He had to remind himself that he had no choice, for he couldn't appear weak around anyone here. He had let Helmut see too much already.

He couldn't let him see how this simple question had shaken the whole fortress he had built around himself through centuries of loneliness.

"Well, I guess that you look better than earlier, which I don't really understand, but you don't really -"

"I have to go" Fayez interrupted him, freeing his arm from his grip before heading to where he was supposed to go, without casting the redhair another look.

When he finally got to his place, he was a bit unnerved when he discovered that everyone was religiously listening to a guy who was standing on a wooded platform.

" ... but if there is something that I hate even more than laggards, it's privileged brats who have written on their faces how good they think they are, just because their parents could afford to give them private tutoring"

Fayez gasped, as his eyes met cold gray ones.

So that was Akhenaton.

Dear God, this surely wasn't a promising start at the ISB. It was obvious that this Akhenaton-guy was referring to him, and judging him purely based on appearances.

When Akhenaton finally stopped glaring at him and resumed his discourse, Fayez could get a better look of his new prefect.

The guy was around Fayez's height, or maybe slightly taller. He was of medium built, had long black hair that were tied up in a ponytail, a tanned skin and the most piercing gray eyes that Fayez had ever seen. A long scar was running from under his right eye to the upper corner of his mouth, but it didn't make him look any less attractive. On the contrary, it gave him an aura of a "mysterious guy", which he probably was.

However, he was obviously, more than anything else, an asshole.

A handsome one, maybe, but still an asshole. And Fayez didn't care that much for appearances, so this prefect better had to be impartial and competent, because Fayez wasn't going to let anyone bully him, prefect or not!

" ... so, new recruits, we will now get outside for the first part of your daily training. Your goal is to bear with the mental pain that I will create in your brain"

"That sounds fucking easy"

There was a long silence, and Fayez realized, with a growing sense of dread, that he had said these words aloud.

Fuck. His parent always complained about how silent he was, and on his very first day at the IBS he had already managed to tell his mind with the worse possible sense of timing.

How ironic.

Although he was pretty sure that Akhenaton wasn't going to kill him, he couldn't help but shiver as the brunet took a couple of steps in his direction, a disturbing smirk appearing on his scarred face.

"Oh, really, is that so?" he practically purred in Fayez's ear, and it took all of Fayez's self restraint not to flee as far as possible from here. "Care to demonstrate, newbie?"