"Hey. You're…Frost right?" The sound of my name stopped me before I turned the corner to another empty hallway. My body whirled around to face the girl who called me, an awkward smile on my face even though I felt like shit on the inside. Since classes have ended for the day, most of the halls were empty save for a few students who had extracurricular activities.

"Um, yeah?" I responded to the girl in front of me. She wore square rimmed glasses and brown hair up in a wavy ponytail. I thought back to where I could have seen her and deducted that she was probably in one of my classes.

Abruptly, she stuck out her hand carrying a flyer and practically shoved it into my own hands. It wasn't in a rude manner, more out of nervousness.

She stuttered,"We were wondering i-if you would like to join our Book Club? It started earlier this year and we're trying to get new members t-to keep it going."

Poor girl. I admit, I pitied her shyness,"Sure, I'll uh give it a shot." She sent me a grateful smile and scampered down the hall with flyers in hand. Slowly, I turned back around to my original path and headed down another blue poster-filled hallway, reading over the lavender flyer with books and faeries printed onto it. Well, at least it was a decent attention grabber. Before another thought crossed my mind, the familiar sickness I felt all day came back creeping its way up my throat. My hand slapped itself onto my mouth and ran outside which was closer than any bathroom where I was located. My sneakers thudded against the dark gum splotched cement until they became softer steps once I reached the grass.

Making sure no one was around, I heaved but nothing came out. Even so, the feeling was awful. God, I felt like shit. With a groan, my body collapsed onto the soft green grass and curled up. I stayed that way for a good ten minutes before deciding it was safe to move. No one else had come out the same way I had and for that I was thankful.

"Okay Frost, you got this."

With a push, I was up again and on my way home. Granted, it was a slow process since I had to use things often for support like trees or walls and fences when the dizziness took over my brain. People would probably think I was drunk. How pathetic.

Soon, my little house that I've lived in for a month now came into view with its soft colored shutters and cream painted walls. I let out a sigh of relief and thanked the heavens as my feet struggled to get up the few steps to the porch. My relief turned into annoyance,"Oh damn it all." On the last step, I plopped my butt down on the wooden porch and laid back, pale arms spread out on either side.

A shitty Monday indeed.

My Heterochromia eyes closed to block out the sun so I didn't see the man until the feeling of a shadow loomed over me. My blue and black eyes snapped open to find him looking curiously down on me. I wasn't paying attention to him though; it was more the Marked tattoos that framed his eyes that held my attention. I shuffled back a few feet but he didn't attempt to follow. Strangely, I knew he wasn't here to hurt me so the feeling of danger was nowhere to be found.

My attention went back to him and that's when I noticed that he seemed…out of it. Hesitantly, I asked,"Um…can I help you?"

That seemed to snap him back to attention but his rough voice said otherwise," Frost Venezuela! Night has chosen thee; thy death with be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night!"

This was all a little too dramatic for me. I opened my mouth to make a snappy remark, after all I wasn't feeling it today, but a searing hot pain on my forehead forced me to hiss in pain instead.

"Ow! What the…?" Maybe I was wrong and he did want to cause me harm. I rubbed the spot vigorously in an effort to make it better and when I looked up, he was gone. Mental note: Trackers were asses.

I hoisted myself up to my feet, deciding it was high time I entered my cozy little house after that encounter. In a stumbling hurry (I didn't get very far), I reached the nearest mirror and swept aside my purple and turquoise hair. The suspicions I had for the last three seconds were right. Smack in the middle of my forehead was a black outline of a crescent moon. The mark of a vampyre. Well, wasn't that just thrilling. Wait a second. Vampyres have sapphire colored Marks…the Tracker confirms it. Vaguely, snippets of information slithered its way into my thoughts in an effort to prepare me for what's to come. Aren't there red ones as well? Their deity must be getting colorful…

I stared at my mirror self a good while longer, looking as crappy as I felt maybe crappier. Compared to the Tracker, my mark wasn't filled in but his was a series of designs that I didn't bother remembering. The tattoos were probably important later.

"Eurgh…" I examined myself a little more, noticing how unnaturally pale I looked now and sweating like a pig. How nice. I thought being marked was something special and hopefully, helped with my sick being but apparently it makes you worse.

Abruptly, I hacked up a gross cough as my body shuffled away from the mirror to tread my way up the stairs to my room. Guess I should get packing if I don't want to die. What a lovely thought.

When I reached my room, I immediately bee lined it to my closet where my hands fumbled for a suitcase and sluggishly threw in numerous assortment of clothing. My original idea in packing was to keep my mind off things but instead, thoughts on my new school entered and invaded my space.

What are the students like? What about the teachers? Are there human feeders? Are there ugly vampyres? Stuck up cliques? Clubs? Sports? Okay, enough!

All this thinking was giving me a massive headache, not to mention that I didn't even know where this school was located! My hands slammed the suitcase shut and zipped it up with more force than necessary. Where was mom when I needed her? Oh right. Business trips, like always.

"Damn it all," I grumbled, taking my possessions with me down the stairs. She's never home anyway and neither was Pa. Why think of them now. Although…I hesitated on the last step of the stairs and sighed, feeling guilty. "Alright conscious. I'll send them a text."

Hastily, I fished out my phone from the back pocket of my shorts and sent a quick to the point text to my mother as I walked out the door. After closing the door, I stopped walking again to let another bone shaking cough rattle me along with several annoying sneezes.

"No manches…," I hoped they had medicine where I was going. Despite the whole I-feel-like-dying thing, I believe I was handling this situation quite well. With a smile, which I was sure looked more like a grimace, I headed to my little black Eclipse and rummaged through my bag for the keys until I heard a familiar jingle and tugged on the Bioschock themed lanyard. My thumb pressed on the button and my figure slid into the drivers' seat smoothly. I grabbed my garbage and shoved it in the backseat to where it'd fit and finally, my car roared to life.

"Now, in the hopes I don't die today…where is this mysterious school?"

xXx

After an eternity (it was really about half an hour), with the (non)help from siri I finally stumbled upon the elaborate gateway entrance to the fancy Flagstaff House of Night. Being as the sky was covered in numerous clouds joining into one blocking out the setting sun gave the school a hell of a mystical look to it.

I couldn't help the awed breath that escaped me as I eased my car through the opened gates,"Wow…" The school was located on the edge where city met forest and the forest looked like it was pressing its way into the school. The pine trees were clustered together and towered over everything that was in sight. The small path I took finally widened into a much larger area where the parking lot was located. I silenced the music and listened to the crunching of leaves as I weaved my car through aisles until a spot was found and quickly parked.

I turned off the ignition and simply sat there, staring up at the building ahead where lamps and other lighting were illuminating the campus already. The closest brick building seemed to be administration where my eyes strangely saw surprisingly well at the plaque on the side where it read OFFICE.

You can do this Frost. You can do this. You moved recently so you don't have any friends anyway.

I frowned at that last thought. Why would I encourage myself with that? With a wet sick sigh (ew), I opened my door and slid out, wiping a hand over my face. I took a deep breath before I began to panic and opened the door leading to the backseat. Quickly, my hands reached out and grabbed the suitcase and other bags that carried my possessions and closed the door with my hip.

When I looked up, my eyes locked onto a woman that wasn't there before standing besides the administration building. The reason my eyes found her so easily was because she was staring right at me.

Because that isn't creepy or anything.

Awkwardly, I began to shuffle my way towards the building and her when she seemed to beckon me forward. On closer inspection, she wasn't as creepy as I thought. In fact, she was quite beautiful. I stopped a few feet in front of her, giving us both enough space to be conversational. The vampyre woman had black hair that fell in soft waves all the way to her hips with matching black eyes that seemed to match a night sky with no moon. Her lips were a cupid's arrow shaped that were currently upturned in a polite smile,"Hello. My name is Eros, High Priestess of this House of Night." I tried to return the smile but my eyes focused on her Mark, where sapphire swirls shaped into stars and hearts around her cheekbones. They were really pretty. It took me a second to respond. I wasn't accustomed to seeing vampyres.

"Um. Hey." I had a moment of realization hit me when my words registered in my mind,"Um, I meant to say hello nice to meet you?"

Eros merely laughed, "No need to be so formal. It's best to be yourself."

I nodded in complete agreement and that's when I noticed I didn't feel so bad anymore. In fact…I could breathe normally. I sucked in a deep breath, briefly forgetting that the High Priestess was there.

"Oh my, I'm not dying, yessssss. Oh! Sorry, uh. I'm Frost Venezuela. I didn't mean to- I just got distracted," Before I could say anymore, Eros held up a hand that was universal for stop. My mouth shut but she still remained kind as she motioned me forward when she began to walk,"It's alright Frost. Now, as a fledgling, you are automatically emancipated and are given a choice to change their name. Would you like to change yours?"

She gave me a look of curiosity as I walked beside her and as surprised as I was about the whole emancipation, I took the chance to consider the chance in changing my name. But…I liked my name the way it was. With a twitch of a smile, my different colored eyes met her black ones,"No ma'am. I like my name the way it is."

Eros gave me a smile in turn as we rounded another corridor that reminded me of Harry Potter. In fact, this whole place reminded me of Hogwarts. Cool. "Very well. Frost it stays." Along the way, she introduced me to a couple professors and took me on a tour of the school grounds while explaining the main rules of the House of Night. So far, it all seemed reasonable enough despite the fact that…well, we're all vampyres. Or well, soon-to-be for some of us.

At the end of the tour, we arrived at the girls' dormitory which was aglow with chatter and girls lounging about in the lobby where multiple televisions were hooked up and numerous couches and bean bag chairs were scattered about. I froze immediately, living up to my name, when my brain registered all the girls hanging around with either blue or red marks. They all turned to look. I stood at the doorway with hands clenched into fists. Too many. Some sent friendly smiles my way, others looked away uninterested and yet others assessed me and glared. A hand rested on my shoulder, making me flinch only to realize it was Eros. Her eyes seemed to say it was going to be okay and strangely, it calmed me. I gave her a grateful smile and turned back to the mini-crowd.

Suddenly, three girls broke away from a group and approached us. My guard went up. The leader was looking at me like I was a threat she was planning to crush. Big no no. She was shorter than me by two inches but she reached my height with the heels she wore. Her silvery blonde hair surrounded her shoulders like a halo but her grey eyes lacked emotion. The two girls behind her were identical twins. Latina girls by the looks of it, with tanned skin and brunette thick hair along with brown eyes.

I'm Hispanic too but…well, I looked white.

The blonde interrupted my thoughts when she began to speak to Eros in a fake, sweet voice,"High Priestess! I'm sure you have much more important matters than to lead a new girl to her room. If you would like, I could show her? By now, everyone knows there was going to be a newbie today."

Eros flashed a genuine smile and nodded in my direction,"That would be lovely Seraphiel. How kind of you." The rest of her words were directed to me,"Don't worry. I'm confident that you will enjoy your time here at our House of Night. I'm sure you're exhausted so you can skip todays classes to get acquainted with your surroundings and gather your thoughts but I expect you in class tomorrow."

To the rest of the girls, she smiled again,"Until then, Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again."

The girls replied and they all bowed with fists over their hearts. Awkwardly, I did the same figuring that I'd have to do this soon enough.

I straightened when they all did as Eros left but my eyes focused to the left of me nervously where Seraphiel stood by, fake smile still in place. Once she was sure our High Priestess was gone, her smile disappeared completely while the twins grinned mischievously.

"Alright blue freak. This is my world and no way you're taking it away. I go over this with all the new fledglings so don't fret. But cross me and you're in for a world of hell, got that?" The whole time she spoke, she led me up the steps where the rooms were located. Huh, so she was showing me where just with a little bitchy-ness. I could deal with people like her.

"Hello? Are you paying attention?"

"Sorry, you lost me there. That high pitch tone you use? Yeah, I think only dogs can hear it." All three girls looked at me in shock once we stopped at a room that I assume to be mine. Did no one stand up to these girls?

As if they rehearsed, all three also flipped their hair simultaneously when they recovered from the shock. The twins spoke up then in unison,"You can get away with it now but next time, you better watch out."

Puh okay.

Seraphiel sneered and gestured to the door,"Room." With that, she turned rather dramatically and walked away, although it looked more like a limp,"Azriel, Azrael let's go. We don't have to worry about the trash." The twins laughed and soon, they were out of sight.

I let out the hugest sigh of my life and looked up at the door in front of me with a number carved into the wood. 302. Might as well memorize the number til I change or die. What lovely thoughts.

My hand reached out and grabbed the knob with shaky fingers. Slowly, I twisted and the door clicked open to reveal a spacious room. Surprised, I found that my things were already on top of a bedside table or on the full sized bed.

Magic?

On a hunch, I crossed over to the closet once I made sure the door was closed and surprise, surprise my clothes were hung up in hangers already. How…? I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips as everything just came tumbling down, crashing thoughts and feelings onto me. The whole time I was focusing on getting through all this, I didn't realize how numb I was through the whole ordeal.

Now though…I tumbled to my knees in front of the closet and buried my face in my hands. This all whizzed by so fast I didn't even have the chance to react. Moving, being marked, changing schools again, not to mention life and then there's the school bitch threatening me.

All this went through my head but there was one thought that screamed louder than all others. Not one. Not one fledgling or vampyre that I saw had a black Mark.