HOUSE OF NIGHT

I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT THE PLOT AND CLAIRE/LEXIE!

P.C. CAST AND KRISTEN CAST ROCK!!!!!

CHAPTER 1-

(AUTHOR'S NOTE- READ THIS! The story is in Zoey's little sister Lexie's POV. OK, I know she doesn't have a sister that got marked too, but let's just say she did!)

(LEXIE'S POV)

"Give the girl some privacy," Damien said. "The Loren thing was very traumatic for her, what with the Imprint and the loss of virginity and Erik!"

Dang right it was hard on my sister gay-boy.

Then I realized that the Erik part of Damien's mini-lecture had come out squeaky because the jerk himself had walked up. Fabulous, couldn't he have just left for good? As if I had time to kick jerk-wad butt right now.

"Hi Damien, Jack." He gave Jack, note the adorable in a brotherly sort of way other gay guy was his roommate at one point, a warm smile. The kid looked happy as he said hi back. Great, at least someone likes the jerk.

My sister shifted uncomfortably and leaned away from him sub-consciously. I glared at him. I knew what he'd done to Zoey and I wasn't one to let things go. Hell, I'd barely forgiven the Twins and the awesomely lovable gay-guys for abandoning my big sister. Okay, so she's only a year older, but still.

"Shaunee, Erin," Erik continued, nodding at them. They smiled at him and fluttered their eyelashes, not stiffening at all. But then, they didn't know what he'd done. "Lexie, settling in okay?"

"Duh." I glared.

He turned to Zoey. "Hello Zoey," he said coolly. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from yelling at him.

"Hi," her voice shook.

"Zoey, trade me seats. Get away from him." I stood. She feebly switched me seats.

Erik looked at me, his eyes completely expressionless. "It's not my fault she did what she did."

"No, but it is your fault she's terrified of guys, asshole!"

"Lexie! What's wrong with you?" Shaunee and Erin looked alarmed. Damien and Jack just stared at me like I was a nut.

"Oh, like you guys didn't notice? No, you probably didn't! Hasn't anyone bothered to worry about why my big sister flinches away from every guy near her, including Damien and Jack? Erik, you stay the hell away from her!"

"Lexie stop. Please, let it go already," Zoey said softly.

"No! Just because he'd changed and he was pissed didn't give him a right to do what he did!"

"What? Yell at her?" Damien finally spoke.

"NO!" I sighed, getting more and more pissed by the second. "Didn't it occur to any of you to wonder about the bruises on her arms, face, and, well, I guess you didn't see these, but her back?"

"Having sex tends to bruise you…" Shaunee and Erin looked scared. Of me? Good, they deserved it for not caring about this.

"NO IDIOTS! I meant the ones from when he yanked her up, threw her against a wall, slapped her a few times, and then threw her to the ground!"

Four fledglings stared at me open mouthed. "What?" they all asked in unison.

"Oh, he didn't tell you how he got back at her? Interesting." I turned to Erik. "If they're such good friends with you, why wouldn't you tell them?"

"Did you?" the Twins turned to Erik. He stared at them. "Zoey?"

As an answer she curled away from him. Then she took a deep breath and said, "Guys, stop listening." Suddenly the floor seemed fascinating to them, as did some new fledgling's butt, which became the conversation. "Erik, I'll stay out of your way, just don't hurt me."

Their heads snapped up. "What?" Apparently, they'd been listening still. "Okay, yeah, he did it." The Twins grabbed Zoey's arms and hauled her to her feet. "Come on Z; let's get you out of here."

Damien and Jack scurried after them as soon as they were done looking at Erik in shock. I stayed where I was but stood. "Listen to me," I said carefully. "You're going to leave my sister alone. Or you're going to pay, and I don't mean because of her powers. Got it?"

He stared at me with dark, very un-Erik-like eyes. "Watch your mouth, I'm a teacher now."

"Watch your anger issues; I know how to kick butt."

He snorted kind of like Aphrodite and brushed past me, hitting my shoulder. "You should never have been in that room."

"You should never have touched my sister."

"What are you going to do, yell at me to death?"

"Just stay away from her."

He grabbed my arms hard. "Enough."

"Let go of me! That hurts!"

"Stay out of this." He shoved me away.

I ran to the dorm, working myself up into tears. Now I had a way to stop him, and I was just pissed. He would never hurt another person. I threw myself into the dorm, sobbing. A group of girls rushed at me with "What's wrong?" "Are you okay?" "Why are you crying?" "Do I need to call your mentor?" "You're not feeling sick, are you Lexie?" and "What can we do?"

I sniffed. "It was Erik, Erik Night."

"What did he do to you?" they all asked. I could see Shaunee and Erin at the stairs. "Shaunee! Erin!" I pushed through the group and hugged the closest, Erin. In her ear I whispered, "He'll never hurt anyone again."

I was crying hard into her shoulder. "What happened out there Lexie?" She and Shaunee steered me to a couch. She whispered, "Better put it on hard."

I choked out a sob. "I just told him to stay away from Zoey, because of how much he hurt her, and how scared she was now. Her bruises still aren't all gone. And now I'm gonna have bruises too." I slid off my jacket and showed them the red marks on my arms. Already they were turning purple.

Several girls gasped things like, "He did that too you?"

"Okay, I was a little bratty," I sniffed. "I said if he ever touched my sister again I'd hurt him. I was kind of rude, but he really hurt her! And now he hurt me!" I made sure I didn't lie. He had hurt me, I had mouthed off, and I was a bit rude. And I know he hurt her.

"I just wanted him to stop, but I only made it worse," I whimpered.

"Do you think he'd hurt you again?" a girl I remembered was named Becca looked at me with concern.

"I don't know," I whispered. I was pretty sure he wouldn't, but he wasn't the Erik we though we knew, so how could I be sure?

"We'll protect you. He won't hurt you ever again," Shaunee said with determination. Several girls chorused positive answers at us.

"What did you mean about Zoey? Did he hurt her too?" Becca stared at my arms.

I nodded. "He beat her up."

They all gasped. "He's going to stay away from us girls," most of them said.

The next day it seemed ever girl on campus veered away from Erik. No one stopped to talk or flirt. He shot me several dirty looks and I recoiled in fear that was mostly real. I was lucky enough to have Leonbia as my mentor, because she found it amusing. Well, except the whole abuse thing. She even offered to help. But it meant telling my sister's enemy. At this point, I didn't think it would make things worse.

I was kind of embarrassed to go to Neferet though. She smiled warmly at me though, she had nothing against me. So I let her act like my mom. She hadn't attacked me yet, I wasn't scared of her. She was just stressed maybe.

"So, what happened to your arms?"

"Erik Night hurt me. I told him to stay away from my sister, and, okay, I was a bit disrespectful, but I can't help it! He hurt my sister!"

"He did what?" she snapped. This wasn't fake; she was pissed.

"The night with Loren and all, he beat Zoey up. He saw me standing there and he threatened me." Crud, I'd never told anyone that and had never intended to, but it just came out.

"I'll talk to him. I'll move you and your sister out of the class."

"Thank you." I hugged her. "He really scares me."

"I know. Do not fear; he will never harm you again."

Erik moved away shortly after.