"OW!" I screamed, reaching for the back of my head. I turned around and looked down. Someone had thrown a rock at me. I looked around and saw a group of boys about my age. They were laughing and I saw them reach down to grab more rocks. I ran.

My name is Briar Hope, yeah right, more like Briar Hell! That was what everyone called me. I have blood-red hair that falls just below my shoulders. Pale skin, death pale. And I'm six and a half feet tall. I also have red eyes, I know, creepy right? That's not even the worst of it though. My parents or, more appropriately, my dad. Doesn't even look like me. Black hair, green eyes, dark skin, and oh yeah, lets not forget that he's only about four feet tall! I don't know much about my mom but I do know that she didn't look like me either. She was my dad's height, had blonde hair, blue eyes and was the same color as my dad. Oh and another thing, I wear black. Have ever since I was born. Today I was wearing a black turtleneck shirt, black close fitting jeans and my favorite combat boots, perfect for running away from jerks.

"Trouble with the other kids?" said a voice behind me, it was quiet and feminine, and familiar.

"Hi Rei." I said looking over my shoulder. There was a little girl, about eight, behind me. She was very cute, wearing a white night-gown and bare feet. She has short, black hair that bounced when she walked, ice-blue eyes and, oh you're just gonna love this, transparent skin. Yup you heard me, transparent skin. She's a ghost.

"You really shouldn't let it bother you." she said, floating around me till she was right in front of my face. I stopped, a ghost can kill you if you make it mad. "I still can't believe your father made you move again. You still have Night and the kittens right?"

"Yeah," I said smiling. Night was my cat's name, just about a week before we moved, for the umpty-mlionth time, she had kittens. Five to be exact. They all look exactly like their mom, pure black, with only minor differences. Shade, the eldest, had silver eyes, instead of black ones like his mom. Star, the second eldest, had a white star shape on her forehead. Shadow, the middle child, had longer hair than his mom or his litter-mates. Then there were the twins, Fire and Water, Fire had a bright red spot on the tip of her tail and Water had sleek fur, that she used to swim with. Yes you heard me, swim. "dad actually let me keep them this time. Water is a handful but other than that we have no problems."

"Go back to Transylvania Goth-Girl!" a male voice yelled from behind me. Five seconds later rocks pelted my back.

I wish! I thought to myself. I was next to a tree, we were by the forest. I was the only one who dared to go into the forest, I knew I would be safe there so I ran in. I could hear several footsteps behind me. Then they stopped.

"Heh. Figures." Said the boy who had yelled at me.

"She went back to her own kind, demons." another boy said, I recognized his voice. He was my new neighbor.

So much for that grand hospitality dad was blabbing about. I thought, The worst part is, he's right. I am a demon, well… half-demon but still. Then I giggled as a trick came to mind. I took a deep breath, threw my head back and howled.

I could hear the group of kids screaming and tripping over each other, trying to get as far from the forest as possible. I fell over onto my back and began laughing my head off. I didn't even notice that I had begun to change until I realized I was purring. My tail was out and twitching, my ears were flat against my head, and my teeth had sharpened themselves. Shit! I thought to myself, I really need to work on that. I stood and focused on my human form. After my normal self returned I walked out of the forest and looked at my watch, Shit, I'm gonna be late!

I ran out of the forest as fast as possible, I made it to the school just before the bell rang. I ran into my class and sighed with relief. My teacher wasn't in the class yet. I walked over to my desk, the back row in the far right corner. There was a letter on it.

Ms. Hope

I stopped reading and thought to myself, Everyone else in this stupid town calls me Ms. Hell, why can't the teachers!. I sighed and continued reading.

I will need to see you after class to give you a special assignment. The assignment will not affect your grade. However if you do not stay after class I will fail you.

Sincerely, Mr. Roberts

I smiled. A teacher blackmailing a student, not to mention the smartest student in the school, now I've seen everything.

Not quite everything Briar. I jumped and looked around. No one was looking at me, much less talking to me. I focused on the voice I had heard, or I guess felt. It was like a wolfs voice. Yes I can talk to wolves, big whoop. Quiet but strong, like the owner of the voice could kill you, just by looking at you. It scared me.

What in hell? I thought. I shook the thought out of my mind and reached into my backpack. I shuffled around for awhile then pulled out my sketch-book. I smiled and grabbed my mechanical-pencil out of my backpack. I flipped through the pages in my sketch-book until I came to the page I was looking for. It was a picture of eyes, drawn with amazing detail. I smiled and began drawing.

I sighed and looked up. Mr. Roberts had come into the classroom. He looked right at me and smiled. Then he raised his voice so the whole class could hear, "Class I am afraid that I will be leaving for a couple weeks." Everyone groaned, some even yelled that they didn't want him to leave. "Now now, settle down. I have asked my sister to be your substitute while I am gone."

This was met by cheers and several students looking to each other and smiling. I just sat in my seat. There was only one empty seat in the classroom, the one next to mine. I was thankful for that, it meant that I could think to myself and not have anyone bug me.

"A new student will be coming to the class tomorrow." Mr. Roberts said, I frowned. My only safe place in this school and it's about to be taken over by some new kid. Great.

The rest of class went by rather quickly. The end of class came all too soon. While everyone else got up and left the classroom I just sat in my seat. Finally I was alone with Mr. Roberts.

"Come here Ms. Hope." he said, motioning for me to come over to his desk. It's Hell! I thought defiantly, but I still went over to him. "I'm sure you were upset by the news about the new student," No duh genius! "but I think that you will like him. The point is I need someone to show him around the school, someone whose grade won't suffer because they missed a day of classes. So I want you to do it."

I frowned. But still, missing a day of classes wouldn't be so bad. "Fine."

The rest of the day passed by really fast. I was on my way home when I suddenly thought the better of it and altered my course. I was now heading for the forest.

Smart. I froze. It was the voice again. A group of your classmates were planning on ambushing you at the corner.

Okay. I thought to myself, I am either paranoid or just flat out crazy.

You're not crazy. the voice said.

Prove it! I could swear I heard laughter in my head.

Now you're talking to me.

Shut up! I yelled inside my head, looking around for the source of the voice.

No. Also, you won't find me.

Who are you? I thought, walking into the forest

A friend.