One Day in Brooklyn...

I was walking through the house and see my father on the couch drinking a mix of alchohol and watching the newest television show , he barely noticed when I went out the door, he never notices me. As I walked out I realized I had forgotten the keys ,but I decided to stay outside and just walk because I did not want to see my father's face.I ran about 3 miles to school, arriving just in time for homeroom,and take my seat right next to the meanest girl in the school. This routine tires me and I think for a millisecond about how easy it would be to just be gone. I wait out homeroom and in the middle of 1st period I ask to use the restroom. As I walk to the restroom I realize the man walking behind me. I look back as he looks at me and says "Night has chosen thee, beckon to Her sweet call. Welcome to the Vampyre World, Neferet." And then he touched my forhead and I fainted.

As I woke up I noticed a bundle of feet around me and as I got up the group scattered.I search my purse for a mirror as I worry about being home late to my father. I finally found a mirror and opened it. I scream as I see my reflection, and drop the mirror. As the mirror shatters I see bits of myself shattering with it. My life was completely over, how was I to tell my father about this. No, he couldn't know of this,I could sneak back into my house and pack some clothes and drive myself to the nearest House of Night. My tears ran over my pale face and splashed on the floor. I look into the remaining shards of the mirror and find myself looking at a familiar stranger. I am not me, that crescent, made me look like a she not a me. I go up to the office with my face covered, in case anyone was walking in the halls. When I arrive at the office I walk up to the woman at the front desk and ask if I could go home,as I lower my Arithmetic book, which was covering my face. She does not answer, I ask again if I could go home. Again no answer, I ask again loudly if I could go home. Finally, I get a very solemn answer, "Yes, you may leave." I walk out the building and start walking down the familiar path of fear.

I arrive at my front door and take a deep breath before I go inside but before I can inhale I cough violently. I enter through the door and hurriedly ran to my room, but of course, of all the times he hadn't noticed me, he had to notice me. "Where are you going, Neferet? Come back here." I walk nervously back to the living room, filled with the scents of stale martinis and cigarette smoke. "Why are you home from school so early? Uncover your face when I speak to you!" He smacks my hand out of the way and I whimper as he sees my Mark. My father is a strong man but when he saw that Mark upon my forehead he screamed and ran to his room. I wait in the living room, as I wonder what he is doing. He comes out with his cross in his hand. I let a small laugh escape the side of my mouth. He looked at me like I was completely insane. I cough violently again and remember what I came here for. "Father I need to get to a House Of Night soon or I willl die." I plead with him. He answers back angrily,"Go get your clothes,anything you don't take I'm throwing out." I run into my room before I start crying. I grab a suitcase and a few shirts and undershirts. I run out of my room and grab the picture of my mother on the way out the door.

I arrive at the entrance doors of the grand House of Night and stare in awe. I was standing in awe at the gates when a woman came up to me and asked me to come inside. I walk inside and ask who she is.

"I am the High Priestess of this House of Night," she says simply.

"Oh," I said very stupidly.

She leads me to a room where there is a large television and couches surrounding it. I also see girls standing around talking and laughing. They see me and the High Priestess and come over to greet me.

"Girls, let Neferet meet her new roommate" she said in a motherly tone that made me smile. I walk into a room with a young girl about my age with short spiked purple hair and deep tan skin and the traditional outline of a crescent on her forehead. I smile at her as I take in my new room, it is dark but with a few bright spots to lighten the whole thing up.

"H-h-h-ello," I said nervously

"Hello," the girl said,"My name is 's your's?"

"Neferet," I answered slowly, careful not to make a fool of myself. "How long have you been at the House Of Night?" I asked.

"About six monthes give or take a few."

Wow, I thought that is long considering how many fledglings die.

"Hey can you give me a tour around here?" I asked

"Sure,the buildings are actually pretty interesting."

She walked me around the school pointing out the different "classes" of fledglings,Third former,fourth former,and sixth former. She told me about the rituals, and explained that the pentagram was a sign of the five elements,not a sign of evil. She walked me all around the school and we finally arrived at the dining hall. We entered the large wooden doors and I gasped as I saw the large marble Nyx figure sitting on a table along with fruits,vegetables, cheeses, and wine. She led me to a table with 4 others at the table.

"Hey, guys.I want you to meet my new roommate,Neferet."

"Hi," I said stupidly.

"Neferet these are my friends,Haley,Jonathon,Dana, and Kaylee."

"Hello," all four said in unison.

"Pwelshome shoo tho Harse off Nishe Shneferet," one girl says with food spilling out of her perfect pink lips. It is strange to see these particular people hanging around each other. One girl, Haley , has shimmering blond hair and red lips that seemed to talk to you even when she wasn't speaking, but her friend Kaylee had bright green hair that was messed up just perfectly with red streaks that matched her friends lips almost perfectly. Dana was another thing completely, she had brown hair with light brown highlights, She wore glasses with blue rims and a necklace with two crescents and a circle in the middle with no makeup at all. Jonathon seemed withdrawn but sweet. He had a cute face and a slim build with a V-neck shirt and some jeans on he looked slightly girly but still like a guy. I probably looked out of place, with my auburn hair with glittering dark brown highlights, and the teal dress I was wearing that day. I felt like someone dressed as a werewolf to a party only to go and find out it wasn't a costume party. I hid my outfit poorly as they all stared at me.

"Nice outfit," I hear a snicker from behind me. I spin around quickly and see a tall,statuesque,redhead with a short skirt and a pink tank top with sequins lining the shirt.

"Back off Ari!" Carmen exclaims.

"Oh look at this,the blood bag talks back."

The girl turns and laughs with her group. Carmen's shoulders slump and she walks back to her seat in defeat.

"Don't talk to my friends like that!" I yell.

She turns around and says,"Ok new girl let's get one thing straight. I run this school no questions asked and you and your retard friends stay the hell out of my way or I will crush you like the unwanted parasites you are."

She then proceeded to turn around and walk out of the cafeteria with her stuck up group of friends. I turn back around to the table seating my new friends.

"It's ok Carmen, you can't win every battle," Jonathon says,trying to comfort her.

"Neferet, you didn't have to do that," Carmen says softly.

"Yes I did! Did you see how they were treating you? I couldn't let them do that to you!"

"Neferet now that you stood up to them they are going to do that more! She is just evil, Neferet if she tries anything just ignore her,please,for me?"

"Fine," I say after a few moments of silence.

"Thank you Neferet now let's get back to our dorms and rest ok,"

As we walk back to our dorms see the High Priestess and she stops us.

"So Neferet how was your first day at the House of Night? I wanted to invite you to the next Dark Daughter's Full Moon Ritual on behalf of the Dark Daughter's."

"Oh thank you where is the Ritual,"

"You will attend it after the schoolwide ritual,it is in the recreation room,if you choose to go of course," She ends the sentence with a smirk and leaves with her long silver dress flowing.

"Damn when is the Full Moon Ritual?" I ask.

" Tomorrow," Carmen says.

"Damn."

The next day...

I woke up at about 7 p.m. the day of the Ritual since time is switched around for us. I jumped up out of bed and grabbed a towel to take a shower. When I started the faucet I sat on the floor thinking about how I would deal with this Dark Daughters thing. I heard a pounding on the door.

"Hurry the hell up Neferet."

I got up and dragged myself into the shower and washed my hair till I couldn't feel my scalp. I got out quickly and wrapped myself in the huge towel I grabbed before. I dried and got dressed as quickly as possible. When I got out Carmen mumbled,"Took you long enough." But I ignored her and just walked past her. I brushed my hair and waited for her to get out of the she came out she was dressed in her school uniform,a black V-neck shirt and a black dress with purple and emerald plaid on it. She looked pretty but she said,"No I am not pretty I look hideous!" I rolled my eyes at her statement and just walk out of the room to the Dining Hall where a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs,bacon,hashbrowns, and sausage was being served. I hurried through the short line and sat down at the booth with Hayley and Kaylee already sitting down. I ask them about their own classes. They are fourth formers that are both from the tiny island of Rhode Island , and that they've known each other since the 2nd grade. I listen to each word carefully and nod when needed. They got sepearated in the fifth grade and then miraculously found each other in this House of Night.

"We've been together ever since." said Haylee,

"Not in that lesbian sort of way though!" they shouted together and then laughed.

I smiled at them and glanced around for Carmen. I saw her spiked hair and sat back down.

"Hey guys! Whatcha talking about?" she said as she sat down.

"Getting to know each other," I say to her.

She nods and starts shoving her food in her mouth.

"Slow down young fledgling," a high female voice says from behind our booth.

We all turn around quickly and they all sigh.

"Don't scare us like that Proffesor Annaline!"

The vampyre laughs. She has long, raven black hair, smooth, alabaster skin, and on her forehead, the sapphire blue mark of a full vampyre. The crescent was of course,filled in, but curved lines frame her delicate, ivy green eyes, and go down to her chin. The marks resemble her slight affinity for water. I learn she is the Sociology teacher and Carmen's mentor.

"Who is my mentor?" I ask quietly.

"Who showed you to your room young fledgling?"

"She only said she was the High Priestess or whatever."

"She must be your mentor then. Her name is Kyla."

"You are sooo lucky Neferet!"

"Well I must go fledglings, have a nice morning!"

She walks away with a flourish of her long midnight blue dress. I watch her walk into the shadows.

"Damn it's time to go, 5 more minutes until homeroom. Who do you have Carmen?"

"I have Sociology,you?"

I look at my schedule."I have Sociology too."

"Coolio let's walk together," she said.

"Who says 'coolio' anymore?" I ask her with a grin.

She friendly pushes me and says to shut up with a grin. We walk through the door into a large classroom with what looks like a million desks.

"Welcome to my classroom fledgling take a seat please."

I recognize the proffessor from earlier. I sit in the seat closest to the door and Carmen sits next to me. We sit there for an hour and listen to the teacher give a speech about the Amazonians. When the bell rings I spring up and look at my schedule again. Equestrian Studies is next on the list.

"Carmen,what is Equestrian Studies?"

"Horses. The stalls are over there," she said,pointing to the west.

I mutter a thanks and walk over there quickly. The stall has a sawdust and horse manure smell. I wrinkle my nose in disgust at the horrible smell.

"I feel like something crawled in here, died, had a litter of babies, and the babies died."

I hear a deep,throaty laugh behind me and then violent coughing,like before I was marked. I turn and see a tall fledgling with chocolate eyes set in cappuccino colored skin. The blue crescent is centered on his forehead, like all other fledglings, and his light brown hair covers it almost completely.

"Hi I'm Terin. Nice to meet you."

His voice has a trance-like quality to it and it drags me closer to him. I unconciously shake his outreached hand and smile at him stupidly.

"Neferet is my name. I am new to this House of Night."

His smile lights up the room and reminds me of my father before we lost my mother.

We were such a happy family, happy and beautiful. Then my mother died in a horrible car crash that killed her, my twin sister, and my two 3 year old brothers. I stayed in my room with the lights out for 2 days straight. I realize tears are filling my eyes and I wipe them away.

"Are you okay?" he says with a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I think I'm trying to convince myself more than convince him.

He coughs again, but this time it sounds more liquidy. The sound makes me nervous, but I choose to ignore it.

"So, does this make us friends?"

"Definitely." I say as I grin,"Totally BFF's."

We both laugh, my light,airy laugh mixed with his deep throaty laugh. But that doesn't last long before he coughs a long,labored cough again. Blood sprays me and erupts from his mouth, staining the golden sawdust.

"Help! Someone! Please!"

A petite vampyre in a rider's outfit rushes over and puts her hand on his forehead.

He almost immediately relaxes, but blood continues to come from his ears, bloody tears, his nose, and his mouth. The whites of his eyes are red as well and his beautiful skin is covered with his sticky life blood. His eyes are filled with terror still. I touch his hand and he closes his eyes. Another vampyre gives him a vial filled with a liquid for him to drink. His before tremor filled body calms instantly and the terror leaves his eyes. He actually smiles and let's a trickle of blood come out of his mouth and run down his cheek. He looks peaceful as he breathes one last time and as he leaves I feel a strange burst of wind blow my hair around and then settle.

The vampyres come over to me while other male vampyres take his body away.

"What happened to him?" I whisper into the ground.

A vampyre whispers back,"It's a natural reaction to not Changing."

I get up and walk out of the stables,though the class isn't over yet. While walking to my dorm I see Carmen.

"Why are you out of class?" she asks.

"Why are you?" I say sharply.

"I was sent to another class to drop a book off." she says with an annoyed tone,"And again, why are you out of class?"

"I ditched. Some guy died today. I was getting to know him."

Her face turns solemn."Oh,I'm sorry Neferet. I didn't know. What's hi-" she pauses,"what was his name?"

"Terin. He seemed really nice too." I say in a depressed voice.

Her face changes from solemn to crying. Here eyes are filled with tears and her lips are quivering."T-t-terin? Oh god! NO!"

I look at her confusedly,"You knew him?"

"Neferet, he was my boyfriend." she says as she erupts into another round of tremor filled sobs. I try to comfort her but I don't know how. I end up patting her back softly telling her it's okay. I walk her to our dorm.

"Go take a shower Neferet I'll be fine. Really you look disgusting with all that blood on you." she says, smiling.

I laugh and walk into the bathroom. I peel off the clothes and throw it on the tile floor. I stand there and try to calm myself. I step in the water letting it wash the dried copper blood off my skin.

"Finally, I'm clean again." I say to myself as I turn the faucet off. I dry myself and walk out with the towel around me.

"Finally you're done. Get dressed it's almost lunch"

I grab a black tube top and fluorescent pink skirt. I quickly get dressed and put a sweater on with the 3rd former spiral over the heart. I didn't get cold once I was a fledgling but I had to have the spiral on to indicate what form I'm in. Although, you could tell the 3rd formers from everyone else because they looked like normal humans, besides the crescent outline they haven't developed any vampyre characteristics.

"Come on let's go!" Carmen yells from the common room.

"Okay!" I yell back and run out.

We walk to the Dining Hall and see our normal booth was inhabited by 2 people. There was a boy with chin length blond hair and pale skin, and a girl, also with pale skin and waist length blond hair. Their eyes are green with blue dots and they had perfectly proportioned body sizes. I walk up to them.

"Who are you?"

"Emilia, Emilia Tenson," the girl says, but the boy stays silent.

"His name is Teratin Tenson. He's my twin brother."

"Why does he not talk?" I ask with an interested look. He looks up at me with his sullen green eyes.

"I choose not to. Why DO you talk?" he retorts.

"Goddess sorry I asked..."

"Do you want to sit with us?" Emilia asks.

"Sure!" Carmen pipes in before I can answer. I stare at her with burning eyes and groan slightly. She stares daggers back at me and whispers,"Don't be so rude! They are adapting."

The Terrifying Twins scoot to the far side of the booth and starts to eat their lunch. They scarf down the sandwiches on their plates while we slowly nibble at our salads.

"Are you guys liking it at the HoN?" I ask shyly.

"Now we are. You two are the only ones that have been nice to us since we got here." she said as she took another bite of her sandwich. I actually feel sorry for her. She has such an intimidating demeanor most people would be afraid.

"Oh." I say simply. She nods back and finishes off her sandwich.

"Yeah. Thanks by the way." Me and Carmen shove the rest of the salad into our mouthes and throw the garbage away.

"What class do you have next?" I ask her and her brother.

"We both have 5th period Fencing." Teratin says. I notice his deep, rich, English accented voice. I am mesmerized by the silky sound for a second and snap myself back.

"So do I!" I say too excitedly. He looks at me questionably.

"I thought you didn't like us?" he says.

"I kind of like you guys. Not you in particular but yes I like both of you." I say nervously.

"I know that! Why would I think you like me in particular?" he states.

His words bounce in my head, searching for something to say but comes up with nothing. I just look away from him, face red and smiling shyly. Emilia giggles.

"What's so funny?" me and him ask her in unison, and she laughs even harder. We walk ahead of her, rolling our eyes.

"Sorry my sister is so stupid." he says apologetically. He is blushing profusely, highly evident on his paper white skin. I unconciously reach out and touch his pink cheek and immediately retract my hand.

"Goddess, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me..." I try to apologize before he puts a finger to my lips. He looks back to see his sister and sees her talking to some other girls way behind us. He turns back quickly and gives me a sweet, short kiss. I blush and he runs ahead, towards the fencing room.

"Wait!" I yell to him,"Wait," I whisper to myself. Emilia catches up with me.

"Where is my brother?" she asks in a giddy voice.

"He-he-...," I pause,not wanting to tell her," He ran ahead. He said he'll be at class."

She shrugs and puts on an excited expression.

"Guess what?"

I say what absentmindedly.

"The girls back there," she says pointing back,"invited me to a blind date with a guy named Trent! Isn't that awesome!" She is so excited I don't want to ruin her fun. Those girls are Ari and her snobby group of friends.

"That's awesome!" I say, trying to sound excited. Instead, the words come out dazed and lofty. I realize I'm staring off into space when she shakes my shoulder.

"Are you okay Nef?" she asks in a genuinly concerned voice.

"Does your brother have a girlfriend?"

"No, why? You getting the hots for my bro?" she says with a smirk.

I push her softly,"Naw man! I'm just curious because-because-" I trailed off.

"Because why?" she says urgently.

"I kissed your brother!" I blurt.

"What?" she screamed.

"I know it's a shock but..." I said trying to calm her. I put my hand on her shoulder and she shrugs it off.

"That's how I lost most of my friends. They only used me to get to him." she says with tears coming from her eyes.

"It's not like that! He actually kissed me first." I admitted.

She looks surprised,"He did?"

"Yeah why is that such a big deal?"

"Because everytime he 'falls in love' the girl kisses him first. He thinks he's in love everytime." she explains.

"I do kind of like him."

She pushes me as the bell rings.

"Crap. We have to hurry," she says sharply.

"Race you," I challenge. She grins at me.

"Come at me bro," she says as we both run. We are both laughing as the air runs through our long hair and blows in the breeze. By the time we get to class we are both breathless and giggling.

"You are," the proffessor cocks her head to the right,"twenty minutes late. Where were you?" she asks with a hand on her hip. I steal a glance at Teratin and he looks away quickly.

"We were..." Emilia began.

"One of my friends died today. In my arms. I was mourning." I say quickly cutting her off. The teachers face turns into a pitiful one,"Oh I'm sorry for your loss. Okay take your seats, quickly now!"

We scurry to our seats after she assigned them and sat down. Emilia erupts in quiet giggles.

"What's your deal?" I whisper sharply,"We almost got in trouble for being late we don't need to get caught talking!"

She silences herself as she cringes away from my slightly rising voice. What did her parents do to her? I thought to myself. I push the thought aside and listen to the teacher, who is explaining the foil. The bell rings, signaling the end of class and everyone stands up. Students are rushing out the small doorway and I see Teratin waiting by the side of the door.

"Go ahead I'll catch up later," I tell Emilia.

She looks at me with dagger eyes.

"Don't worry we won't do anything," I reassure her.

"Fine, but if I see any signs I'm going to slap you." she says as she smiles.

I walk over to Teratin,"Hey, so about earlier I-"

"I'm sorry about that. It won't happen again," he cuts me off.

I frown slightly,"Awww that's too bad."

"What are you saying?" he asks grinning,"You want more kissing?"

I nod slightly, letting my auburn hair slide onto my shoulder. He smiles wider and touches my cheek. "You're different than the other ones. I like that."

He removes his hand and gently kisses my cheek.

"Want to walk to sixth together?" he asks.

"Sure. We could talk on the way."

We start walking to our class.

"So how many girlfriends have you had?"

"I don't want to talk about that," he says while he twiddles his thumbs.

"How many?" I ask again, even firmer this time.

"Gah, fine. I don't even know. I'd say over 20," he admits.

I look at him with a grin,"So you're a womanizer are you? I don't want to date a womanizer."

His face changes into a desperate expression,"Please! I've forgotten all of them!"

I laugh at him, begging to keep me,"I'm kidding. I'm glad you told the truth though."

He lets out a breath of relief,"Good. I was worried for a second there."

I laugh again and grab his hand,"You do want to date? Right?"

He nods furiously and intertwines our fingers. He smiles a childlike smile and I can't do anything else but smile back. We walk into our sixth period right as the bell rings. Our fingers seperate and we sit at our assigned seats. I barely remember anything the teacher says, because before I know it, the bell rings indicating it's time to leave. I jump up from my seat, accidentally knocking over my books.

I laugh and blush profusely as I bend down to pick up my books. Teratin is suddenly next to me, helping me. Our hands touch as we both reach for my notebook. We look seperate directions and retract our hands, as if we had been electrocuted. I pick up the rest and shove them in my bag. Teratin extends his hand and helps me to my feet, staring into my eyes the whole time. I smile and kiss his lips softly. We walk out hand in hand.

"I have to go get ready for dinner Ter," I say, taking my hand off of his.

"I do too. Hurry back to me."

I chuckle and walk to my dorm. I run into Ari on the way to my dorm.

"Ugh what do you want ho?" I say with my hand on my hip.

"Are you dating Teratin?"

"Um yeah why?"

"I guess you're not so lame after all. Want to hang out with us after dinner?"

I hesitate for a moment before nodding my head furiously.

"Good. Just meet us in the Common Room of the dorm. We can prepare for the Full Moon Ritual."

I nod and walk off. Damn I forgot about the Ritual!