Ok, I'm at a TOTAL writer's block with my stories so I'm going to put them on pause for a while. Anyways, after hearing my buddy Aranae's AWESOME idea I decided to team up with her to write this fanfic. It's totally AU and Vincent is just a normal college teacher, no demons or anything, but he's married to Lucrecia…

Temptations of the Forgotten

Sympathy

One of the major experiences in a young adult's life is the transfer from high school to college. For a lot of people it means moving out of the parent's house and away from friends. For Yulia Newman it meant driving ten minutes into the city. The single thought of having to share a room in a dormitory didn't sit well with her. Yulia came from a wealthy family and was always classified as the rich, spoiled girl. Although, Yulia would trade lives with a regular person any day. She had learned that money and material things are not the key to happiness.

She was one of three siblings. Her older brother, Cameron, was two years older than her and a junior at the same college. He was tall and built with short spiky brown hair and hazel colored eyes. He was type of guy that got all the girls if not with his looks, with his amazing basketball skills. He almost had his little fan club at the college games. There were always signs painted and T-shirts that said 'Go Cameron'.

Yulia also had a twin sister named Sylvia that didn't attend college, didn't work, but won her parents over by her luck in beauty pageants. Both of them were natural red heads, but Sylvia had her hair dyed blond and she wore blue contacts not only to make herself what she thought was every guy's dream girl, but to distance herself from her sister. Their mother was often away with Sylvia as they travelled the country competing. Sylvia had won so many crowns, sashes and awards that their house had a small room dedicated to her. Yulia's father owned a major casino and dabbled a bit in real estate, while the mom worked to keep Sylvia's pageant career going which brought in a few dollars here and there as well.

Today was a special day for Yulia: it was her first day at college. However, on this same day Yulia's mom and sister were leaving for another contest. She stood in her bathroom brushing her pin straight, red hair. Just like her sister, she was very pretty as well, but just didn't put on all the make-up to make her beauty pop out as much. She wore her shoulder length red hair down with a straight bang across her forehead, just above her naturally perfect shaped eyebrows.

"Yulia, where's my make up bag!?" Sylvia yelled as she barged through the door. She was still in her pajama pants, white tank top and had her hair in a messy bun. This is how she left for most pageants as the transformation would begin in the dressing room. Yulia sighed loudly and helped her sister find all her belongings. There was no use in arguing because Yulia's mom would then give her the speech of how important these pageants were and how important it was for everything to be perfect and if she loved her sister she would do all she can to make sure her life was just perfect. Yulia wondered why no one cared about making her life easier. It was her first day at college for God's sake! Couldn't she get some encouragement!?

Yulia left the house around noon without so much of a 'good luck' from anyone in her family. She wore a knee length black skirt, a light green colored T-shirt and a darker green scarf around her neck. It was late fall and the weather was nice.

"Yo!! You ready, kid?" Her driver, Reno, waved as soon as he saw her. The fiery red head was dressed in a black tux, with dark sunglasses on. He was leaning up against the black Escalade he drove for the family with a smile on his face. Yulia smiled. At least someone was thinking about her. She picked up her pace and practically skipped to the car.

"I guess. You're the only one that seems concerned." She said as she climbed into the car after Reno opened the door for her.

"Hey, I'm sure the fam's concerned. I mean, you know they all got a lot going on!" He hopped in and took off in the direction his GPS system told him to.

Yulia smirked. "Yeah… Must have just slipped their mind, right?" She sighed and looked down at her blank notebook. She said a mental prayer that she would meet some nice people here. She felt pathetic that her only real friend was her driver.

Reno laughed. "Well think of it this way: Get a couple of years of college under your belt, get a good job and then you can be out on your own!" He looked at her through the rearview mirror as he spoke. Yulia sighed again. It wasn't that she wanted to get away from her family; she wanted to be embraced by them.

She was quiet the rest of the way while Reno rambled on giving his life lessons sermons and going off on tangents about topics she didn't even care to hear of. Her stomach dropped when she saw the huge array of buildings that was her college. She had been here before on a day the campus was closed and figured out where all of her classes were, but the place looked so much different with actual people walking around.

"Well, we're here!" Reno said parking the vehicle by the curb. He jumped out to let her out and smirked when he saw the scared expression on her face. He gave her a rough pat on the shoulder that almost pushed her to the ground. "Go get 'em kiddo." He would say that phrase at every first day of school. She thought that since this is college he'd drop it, but no…

Yulia swallowed hard as she took her first step onto the brick path that lead to the Mathematics building. Her first class was at one o'clock until two-twenty and then her next class was computers and it went from three until three fifty. After that, she gave herself an hour break before her English class that started at five and lasted until six twenty.

Yulia found her math class to be quite easy. She came out of Calculus in high school so being put into an intermediate algebra class for her first semester was going to be fairly simple for her. She found the teacher's lectures very clear and easy to understand and even shared a few words with the girl that sat next to her. Her computer class was quite simple as well. Yulia had always been quick with computers and any kind of electronic device.

On her hour break she went to the cafeteria to have a snack and immediately got to work on the math assignment. Once she got started on that, time seemed to fly and before she knew it she was almost late for her English class. She was in such a rush getting into the class and finding a seat she didn't take much note of the teacher. But as soon as she looked up and laid eyes on him her throat went dry. That's a teacher?! Her mind screamed.

Vincent Valentine had been teaching English at the college for just three years. He never saw himself as a teacher as he didn't like being in front of people much. However after visiting his wife Lucrecia on her job a few times in the college research lab, he became interested in sharing his skill for writing. Vincent wasn't the smartest kid in many other subjects but he was an amazing writer and loved literature. He scanned the class through the lens of his black trimmed glasses. As the desks began to fill and the clock was closer to five he stood and grabbed the stack full of syllabi. His long black hair was pulled back in a low pony tail with a few strands of bangs hanging in his face. He was dressed in black dress pants and a white buttoned down shirt with the sleeves pushed up. He scanned each row, handing the first person the right number of papers for each row. He didn't speak a word as he handed out the papers. Yulia sat in the first seat of the last row by the door. When he came to her desk she had to look down. Though she was looking away she could smell his heavenly cologne and as he handed her the stack of four sheets of paper. The first thing she saw was the gold ring on his finger. Of course he was married! Yulia thought. He was so good looking that if he was single something would have to be wrong! After handing back the papers Yulia rubbed her forehead cursing herself for analyzing a teacher that way.

"Alright class, I'm Vincent Valentine. You may call me Vincent, or Mr. Valentine. Whichever you feel comfortable… This is English Composition one so if any of you are in the wrong class, you can leave now." His garnet colored eyes scanned the faces of the classroom. It was a colorful group indeed. There was a rocker dude sitting in the back with his headphones blaring. A group of four blond girls that were already whispering amongst themselves about a cute guy in the class, a hyper active girl with short black hair, a nerdy guy with thick glasses, and three black guys sitting next to each other comparing their shoes. When nobody left after his statement, Vincent continued by going over what was in the syllabus.

Yulia stared at him as he walked back and forth looking down at his paper reading off the objectives, requirements and grading system of the class. Upon mentioning a fifteen page research paper due at midterm, the entire class groaned. Yulia even let a soft sigh escape. She loved writing but research papers were in a category of their own.

After going over the syllabus, Vincent picked up a black dry erase marker and began writing notes on the board. To refresh the memories of students who had possibly taken a year off, he reviewed topics such as proper punctuation and common grammar mistakes. This alone took a good thirty minutes of the class. The last topic he covered was the importance of using imagery in a narrative essay since the first essay assigned was of this kind.

"Ok, now I'll write a sentence and I want one of you to come up here and add imagery to it." He turned his back to the class and wrote the sentence 'The room was pretty' on the board. Instantly, from experience of being called on unexpectedly, Yulia began to think up a sentence.

No one in the class moved. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip as he watched each student immediately look away when he looked at them, afraid to be called on. The minute of silence felt like ten, as no one responded. Yulia figured since she had already had the sentence in her mind, she could spare the class and just be the one to do it. She slowly raised her hand and Vincent pointed at her.

"Ok, miss."

She slowly slid out of the desk and walked up to Mr. Valentine. He handed her the marker and looked down at her as she stood at the board and began writing.

"The bright living room, lit by a Victorian chandelier, was decorated beautifully in warm colors giving off a cozy feeling to all its inhabitants." She wrote before tightly pressing the cap back on the marker and setting it back in the tray below the board.

Vincent raised his eyebrows and gave a sideways nod. "Well done." He then turned towards the class "I expect no less than this in your five page narrative essays due next week. That's all I have for you today. I'll see you all on Wednesday."

Complaints and groans filled the classroom upon receiving an essay assignment on their very first day of class. Yulia was relieved that the first essay was just a narrative. Any story of her life would be a piece of cake to narrate on paper. She smiled to herself as she walked quickly down the long hallway and out the double doors at the end. Today hadn't been so bad. She'd met a nice girl in her math class, so far none the work was very challenging and her English teacher was a major hottie! She pressed her lips together as she tried not to smile harder. Her face blanked when she walked outside and up to the curb where Reno had dropped her off and planned to pick her up strictly at six-twenty. He wasn't there.

Damn it, Reno… She thought suspecting he would roll up late. It was never a surprise if he was late anywhere. After standing on the curb for ten minutes she pulled out her phone to call him but her phone was dead. She sighed loudly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Another twenty minutes and clouds began to roll in and the sky darkened. Yulia jumped slightly as she felt the first rain drop hit the back of her hand. She looked back at the brick path leading to the buildings. The curb near the parking lot was at least a five minute walk from any of the buildings. Yulia just knew as soon as she turned back to start walking Reno would pull up. But she waited and waited and pretty soon it was pouring and there was no Reno. She sighed loudly and just sat down on the curb with her head against her knees, letting the rain hit her. Suddenly she heard a car pulling up close to her, her head popped up suspecting it was finally Reno, but no… It was a light blue Hyundai Sonata, not a black Escalade.

Vincent rolled down his window. "Are you ok?"

"Uh… Yeah… I'm just waiting for my ride." Yulia felt completely embarrassed. She knew he must think she was crazy or something sitting out here alone in the rain.

"You'll get sick sitting out here in the rain and college has no sympathy for the fallen." Yulia smirked at his choice of words.

"I've never gotten a bit of sympathy in my life." She said softly. The sound of the rain almost drowned her soft voice out, but Vincent still heard her.

"I'm not one to give sympathy, but today I'll make an exception. Get in." Yulia heard the click of doors being unlocked. Her eyes widened. Was he seriously offering her a ride home?