Chapter 2

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!! It’s time for morning devotion!!” came the voice of a random student as he went from door to door in the hostel banging rather loudly on each door.

He was met with curses from some rooms as the boys voiced their displeasure at being disturbed at a rather early morning.

Daniel rose from his bed and glanced at his phone screen. 4:30 AM glowed brightly

“Seriously?” He grunted in annoyance. 

On the bed below him, Jake slept surprisingly soundly over the noise. 

Unable to go back to sleep, Daniel hopped down from the bed and went outside to relieve himself. Knowing the state of the hostel toilets, he opted to usethe gutter near the hostel borehole. How grown up boys managed to make use of the toilet without flushing was still a thing of mystery to him. Yet this same boys outside will be acting like princes in order to get the eyes of their feminine counterpart.

 He had just finished and was about to leave the area when he heard the snapping of a twig. Glancing around, he saw nothing. He shrugged and was about to move on when he heard it again. With cold sweat breaking on his face, he looked around again and still saw nothing. His hostel was surrounded by strong fences which meant it should be well fortified. And so far, he was the only one there.

“ Hello?” he called out in the darkness. “Who’s there?” 

There was no response.

He called out again and again. Still nothing.

 He was about to leave when a screeching sound came from above him. He glanced up and his heart missed a beat. Staring back at him from a nearby tree a few metres from the hostel was a bat. It’s red eyes glowed menacingly . He stood rooted to the spot and kept on staring at it. There was something odd about it and he suddenly felt his legs making movements of their own.Overwhelmed by some force he couldn’t explain, he began to walk towards the direction of the direction of the tree. The bat bared it’s teeth and spread it’s wings as Daniel edged closer. The only thing separating them was the fence but that wouldn’t be any problem for a creature with wings. The bat was just about to lung from the tree at his victim when a nearby stone hit the branch it was standing on, startling it and scaring it away.

Daniel blinked and shook his head as he came back to reality.

“Okay” he said, surprised at his sudden change in location. “ What the hell just happened?”

A few feet away from the tree previously occupied by the bat, a figure stood by. The figure wore a dark hood and dark jeans and watched as the bat flew away.

“ No one gets the boy. Not while I am alive” the figure muttered darkly before leaving the area.

……………………………………………………………………………

“And that is all on supernatural mythologies” The voice of the history lecturer, Mr akingbade concluded. “If there are no further questions, I’ll take my leave.”

Daniel had been absent minded throughout the lecture still shaken up by his ordeal that early morning. Truth be told, he had been absent minded throughout the previous lectures and was lucky not to get caught by any of the lecturers.

He received a nudge to his side and blinked rapidly before staring sideways into the eyes of his hyperactive course mate, Sharon. She was a few inches shorter than him with fair complexion and a lean build. She mostly had her hair in braids.

Her bubbly personality endeared many to her and she was a joy to be with.

Unfortunately, she could be quite naïve and some took advantage of it.

“ Hello?” She pouted at him.“ Didn’t you hear me?”

“No. Sorry, what did you say?” he replied.

“ I said I need your help with a that psychology course thingy. It’s more complicated than I thought. Can we meet at the faculty library later this night? I will be busy throughout today” she replied hopefully.

“Well. I am not really…” he hesitated.

“ Please?” She pouted, showing him her puppy dog eyes.

“ Sharon.” He warned. “ You know that doesn’t work on me.”

“ I can hope.” She pressed on .

“Alright” He sighed. “I’ll try.”

 She squealed pumping her left armup in a victory pose. Daniel couldn’t help but chuckle at her immaturity. It was kind of cute.

 A voice snorted in disgust behind them.

“ Keep up that lovey dovey stuff and I'm going to be sick.” 

They turned around and saw a dark skinned girl with a mischievous look in her eyes grinning at them.

“It will be a relief for the whole world.”

Sharon stuck out her tongue at her and was rewarded by a sharp tug at her braids.

“OW!! Tomiwa, why did you do that?!!” She yelled.

 Tomiwa grinned and stuck out her tongue at Sharon in response. Daniel shook his head with a smile and relaxed a bit. The class was noisy as Mr akingbade had departed. Jake and some other boys were arguing on football. Sharon and Tomiwa had jumped into a big activity of gossips and they giggled incessantly.

He glanced to his left and saw her again. The same girl who had been staring at him at the previous meeting. And there she was.

Staring at him again!

“What is wrong with this girl?” he thought. “Doesn't she know it’s rude to stare for crying out loud?”.

An hour had gone by and it was evident that the final lecture was not going to hold again.

“Are you guys still waiting?” he stood up,glancing at the two girls who were still conversing.

“ No.” Tomiwa replied standing up along with Sharon. “ Let’s go.”

They moved over to Jake who had given up in his own argument with the boys and was currently snoozing with his head on the desk.

“ Jake.” Daniel tapped him lightly and he awoke “ We are leaving.”

“ Yeah, alright” Jake replied, stretching before standing up and soon, the quartet left the class.

“ Anyone ready for the test coming up tomorrow?” Jake said as they walked along the pedestrian lane towards their respective hostels.

“ Kind of.” Daniel replied absentmindedly.

“ Same here.” Tomiwa replied.

“Not really” Sharon squeaked bashfully.  “which means you are going to tutor me longer, Dan."

Daniel groaned in response.

“Hey, don’t complain” she replied. “ I am a fast learner.” she added proudly.

The other three coughed awkwardly at that proclamation and she scowled at them.

“Whatever.” she mumbled.

They soon slowed down as a crowd caught their attention. The crowd seemed to be gathering over something….or rather someone. Angling to satisfy their curiosity,the four ran towards the crowd .

“What happened?” Daniel asked a guy who had just come in from the crowd.

“ Someone was attacked” The guy replied with a panicked look on his face. “ It doesn't look like he was attacked with weapons though. That is the baffling part.” 

With that,the guy continued on his way.

Daniel combed through the crowd,apologizing at the complains coming his way. When he reached the front and saw what was causing the commotion, His heart skipped for the second time that day.

Lying on the floor was a young man, not older than him. He was still alive evidencedby his labored breathing and there was a lot of blood pooling around him. What shocked Daniel was the cause of the injury. Peering closer at the injured fellow, his eyes opened wide as he saw a wound inflicted on the boy’s neck.

It was a bite wound.