Disclaimer: I don't own House of Night, I just borrow the idea.

Strange Infatuation

Chapter 1: The First Day

Ophelia Jacklin was sitting in her mom's car on her way to school. She glanced at the clock on the dash board and saw that it showed 4:45 PM. Ophelia found it weird that she was going to school at this time, but her teacher had called her mom and said that the school started 5 PM. It was supposed to be permanent. Ophelia had been sick with the flu and was still not feeling well. It was Wednesday and she had been sick since Friday last week. She sighed and turned to look out off the car window.

When the car stopped in the school's parking lot, it was five minutes till school started. Ophelia kissed her mom's cheek and hurried into the school.

Her best friend Mariel River was waiting by her locker. Ophelia's stomach clenched. It wasn't because Mariel was standing there; they always met by Ophelia's locker. It was because of her facial expression.

"Hi Mariel, is there something wrong?" Ophelia asked hesitantly.

Mariel looked at her with serious eyes. Usually she would have smiled by now, but her whole face was empty. She didn't have her usual glow. Ophelia looked her over. Mariel was pretty. She had gray eyes and wavy, black hair that hung down her back. She wasn't thin, but not fat either and she always wore fashionable clothes. Ophelia always compared Mariel's personality with a kitten. She was always happy, smiled all day long and wasn't afraid to show her love to people. The version of Mariel Ophelia saw now scared her more than word could describe.

"Something has happened here. Don't mind what, you'll find out what I mean soon," Mariel said unemotional.

And with that she walked to their classroom. Ophelia watched her go with wide eyes. Anything that could make Mariel react like that was bad. She took off her outerwear and went after Mariel. When she got inside the classroom she found her seat and took a deep breath. Then she waited for her teacher.

There were some movements at the door, but instead of their usual teacher, the House of Night's high priestess Viola came in. The House of Night had their location near Ophelia's school, but it was still weird to have their high priestess in her classroom.

"Good morning… humans."

She said it as if she was talking to someone inferior to her. Her eyes went over the class and stopped, at Ophelia. She smiled sarcastically. As she opened her mouth to say something, another shape came through the door.

"Viola, my love. We don't like to wait."

The man who talked was gorgeous. His face reminded Ophelia of a Greek sculpture she had seen once. He had a fantastic body and the midnight black wings that came from his back looked majestic. Every female in the room sighed together as if it was rehearsed. It seemed like everybody was in love with him, except for Ophelia. She had been with guys who seemed perfect before, but even though they were drop-dead gorgeous they didn't have a nice personality.

The man had everybody's attention. An itch had come into Ophelia's throat. The only thing that would help against it was to cough. She fought it, but her will obviously wasn't strong enough. She got a coughing fit. When she was finally done, everybody was looking at her. She blushed. The man was looking her over.

"I haven't seen you before."

He said it as a statement, but Ophelia answered him anyway.

"I've been sick," she said and had to sniffle.

The man smiled. He walked closer to her and stopped in front of her desk.

"My name is Kalona. I think you will love to meet my sons," he said, then laughed loudly.

He kept looking at Ophelia as three new shapes came into view from the door. The creatures that stood in the classroom looked like something out of a horror movie. They had bodies and heads as ravens, but their limbs and eyes was human. The man, Kalona, probably expected Ophelia to scream and someone did, but it wasn't her. A girl who sat in the front did, and then she fainted at her seat. Ophelia looked fascinated at the creatures. They did look grotesque, but at the same time there was something beautiful with them. She obvious was the only one who thought so though.

"They… have beautiful wings," she said softly.

Kalona laughed. Then he turned toward one of the creatures and said;

"Alexan, come over here."

The shortest of the creatures came and stood beside his father. The only similarity with them was their wings.

"They're called Raven Mockers. Come on, touch him," Kalona commanded.

Ophelia did. The feathers were soft and warm, and they tickled her fingers. She smiled to herself. A hand caught her arm and dragged her up at her feet.

"Touch him more."

Ophelia let her hand glide over the feathers, then moved on to his arms. He had muscles and they felt nice under Ophelia's hand.

"Why don't you two go to a room for yourselves?"

Ophelia heard Kalona's voice, but ignored it. Instead of turning her attention toward him, she lifted her head. She looked right into the Raven Mocker's face.

"Can you talk?" She asked and smiled at him.

His eyes were red and Ophelia felt a little uncomfortable with looking into them, but she kept his gaze and kept smiling.

"Yess," he said with a vague snake-like hiss at the end of the words.

That made it for the others in her class. They interrupted into wild chaos, trying to get out of the room. They were all hysterical and scared. Somebody ran into Ophelia, sending her flying into one of the walls. A burst of pain was the last thing she felt before falling into the blackness…

So, what do you think? I got the idea today. I know that I write on another story as well, but if I hadn't written the start of this story at least I would have forgotten about it when I'm done with the other story…

Please review!

AND THANKS FOR READING!

(Ps; does the title make any sense, or should I change it?)