Author's note: I'm co-writing this story with night-cat. We know the ages are off but don't complain about it. Or I'll send the weres after you.
Disclaimer: We don't own any of the characters….wait... I take that back, we own a few; Otherwise it all belongs to Sherrilyn Kenyon.
It was lunch time at Loyola University, and a large group of kids were out on the lawn, eating lunch or messing around on the grass. All of them were friends and many of them were related in one way or another. Marissa, a blonde, grey-eyed young woman sat in the shade of a tree, conversing happily with her cousin, a black-haired, blue-eyed young man called Valerian. He was laughing at something she had said when suddenly a neon green Frisbee hit her smack in the face, causing her to give a shriek of surprise. She looked around for the culprit and saw blue eyed Donatello looking sheepishly at her. She almost laughed; she'd never thought she would compare tall, handsome Donatello Pontis to a sheep.
"Sorry Rissa," he called apologetically. Marissa stood up and threw the Frisbee back to him; he caught it deftly.
"Who were you throwing it to?" Marissa asked.
"I was throwing it at Chris but apparently he can't catch," Donatello replied, smirking.
"Hey now," Chris protested, "I'm not a super-powered weirdo like the rest of you. You can't always expect me to catch it." but he too was smiling; Chris stood at 6'2'', with black hair and greenish-gold eyes.
"Well, do try to catch it this time," Donatello retorted before sending the Frisbee spinning toward Chris once more. Marissa grinned before she sank back to the ground and turned back to Valerian.
"Are you coming to the party tonight? Mom convinced Dad that it'll be okay if it's semi-formal instead of formal." Valerian told her.
"Yeah; I've been planning on it all month, in spite of Daddy's grumbling." Marissa answered. Family feuds died hard, especially when they dated back to the Roman Empire, and Marissa's Greek father barely tolerated his Roman brother-in-law, who just happened to be Valerian's father.
"Great! I'll see you then." Valerian said, grinning. He got up and headed toward the library building. Marissa smiled and turned to Polly.
"Are you going to the party?" she asked.
"Yes; I wouldn't miss it for the world." Polly replied as she adjusted the sunglasses perched on her nose. Everyone in their group was well-used to the constant presence of dark sunglasses on Polly's face, and none of them commented on the fact that she wore them even in the middle of the night. Polly's hair was black today, with a bright blue braid dangling from her temple, and she was dressed in biker style, complete with biker boots, and leather jacket. Marissa smiled again and looked around, only to notice that Julianna had vanished.
"Hey, did anyone see where Julianna went?" Marissa asked, still craning her neck in an attempt to locate her friend.
"Um, yeah, she had some, uh, wolfy stuff to do." said Dev from Marissa's right. Dev was Julianna's best friend and adopted cousin.
"I forgot how difficult it could be for her sometimes." Marissa commented. She kept forgetting that technically, Julianna shouldn't exist, but she did. Dev nodded and went back to eating his sandwich. By the time everyone had finished eating, the bell had rung, drawing them off to their afternoon classes.
Marissa was glad when the day finally got over and she was able to hurry home and get changed and ready for the party.
"Hey, Sweety," her mother greeted her as she walked into the house and deposited her keys on a table by the door.
"Hey Mom," Rissa replied, hanging her coat in the front closet and meandering into the kitchen to find a soda. "Is Dad home?"
"Not yet," Amanda Hunter replied, smiling at her daughter's tone, "And he won't be until after you've left for your cousin's party."
Rissa gave a sigh of relief and popped the top on her soda. "Apparently it's only semi-formal after all; Aunt Tabby had a talk with Uncle Val. Is Uncle Ash around?"
"No. He had something to do, but he was here earlier and said to tell you hello. Where's your brother?"
Rissa huffed. She wasn't her brother's keeper; it wasn't like he needed one anyway. "D'know. He took off in his car." She waved a hand and the fridge closed without her touching it. "He said he'd be home in time to get ready for the party, which for him means five minutes before he has to leave." She set her soda on the table and headed up to her room to change. Sure enough, with only eight minutes to spare before he needed to leave, NJ did arrive home to change. He grinned as he passed Rissa, and informed her that there was a stain on the blue blouse she'd chosen.
After nervously glancing at the clock a few times, she finally decided to change her clothes once more before she left. She changed into a pair of black slacks and a crimson colored blouse, and she curled her hair a bit more and put on some makeup. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she grabbed her car keys and her jacket and headed out of the house, calling a goodbye to her mother and telling her brother that she'd see him at the party.
The party was in some building on the edge of town that her uncle was renting. She was about halfway there when suddenly a pair of bright headlights appeared, coming straight at her. She had a split second to scream before there was a tremendous crash and everything went dark and cold.
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