The Circle Daybreak Academy

Chapter One
First Day

NOTE: This was originally The Night World Academy but now it's better (hopefully). I figured this needed updating. It still has the same old characters. My writing has gotten better (at least, I hope it has) and I know now where this is going. So this has been refurbished Hope you like it. I've made it more understandable seeing as I've read seven of the nine Night World books now. Wish me luck!

I own probably all of the characters except for a few Night World soulmates and characters like Hunter Redfern (he's mentioned – he doesn't actually appear). Circle Daybreak, the idea of lamia and such and such belongs to L. J. Smith. That said and done, this is dedicated to everyone who reviewed The Night World Academy.

Caiman gazed up at the academy that loomed above her, her breath taken away by one stare that refused to end. It was really beautiful, and it filled her with dread to stand in the presence of something so highly anticipated.

Her family counted on her, her school, everyone she knew. She'd been accepted into the first Circle Daybreak Academy for all – humans too. Now that the Millennium War was over, with the arrival of Circle Daybreak as the victor – the Night World had crumbled and Hunter Redfern had disappeared. And seeing as the vampires and werewolves had nowhere to go, they were all Daybreakers now. Vampires and witches were back on their old agreement and had forgotten the split.

Shapeshifters and witches were closer than ever due to the blood ceremony involving Raksha Drache and Iliana Harman (in order for the ceremony to have been put o effect, the son of the First House had had to marry Raksha Keller.)

All around there was understanding. Only one rule was in place – and that was to consult the Circle Daybreak governor's board before converting a human into any Night Person. Of course the 'Night People' term still stuck when representing all species once contained by the Night World. Circle Daybreak was almost becoming the old Night World – only with two major laws down. And with the alliance of everyone and everything, this was the result. Pure paradise for Daybreakers. A haven for soulmates.

Caiman gulped down a cry of admiration. The school's building was huge, with a terracotta wash and triangular sloping windows – which were blacked out for the lamia's sake (the sun made their eyes wide and gave them headaches – not good to work like that.)

Caiman swallowed awkwardly and began to walk the concrete steps that led up to the double doors. These took up most of the front of the building. She'd be late to her first class if she didn't hurry – but it was everyone's first day, and everyone had to pick up their schedule. She possibly wouldn't be the only one late.

She twiddled with the ring on her finger, a black dahlia encrusted into it. Caiman sighed and pushed open the heavy glass doors, only to be dazzled by a striking portrait on the wall parallel to her. It was awash with colour, fireworks erupting in splashes of red and blue, a vampire and witch kissing passionately – a beautiful work of art on display. The wall it was mounted upon was pink and purple with painted stars dazzling about it in galaxies of colour.

It was to be the students' art wall, and Caiman could see they'd already had some donations. The wall was named 'Soulmate Block', and Caiman didn't know it then but it was where most of the soulmates hung out. The pictures up already were of couples. There was one near the bottom that Caiman went over to in interest. She knew the subjects. One was Quinn – a famous made-vampire and his soulmate, Rashel – one of the only vampire hunters that went down in Night World history. Rashel had been made into a vampire after living with her soulmate for a year, so she could become his equal age – eighteen – and they were still together to this day. Twenty years after they first met.

Caiman shook her head, blocking out Daybreaker history. The paintings were all yelling out to her how much the subjects' love amounted to, the ultimate symbol of understanding by showing no walls between the species. Nothing could hold them back now.

It was a symbol of kinship, friendship, unity… she turned to the doors that had swung shut behind her. She missed Brooke… A longing in her chest pounded so much that her vision was distorted and all she could hear was the blood roaring in her ears. Familiar yellow eyes loomed before her, contaminating her memory.

"Have a good time at the academy, Manny. I'm counting on you to be the best." Brooke grinned. He chucked Caiman under the chin and smiled slyly. "Remember to send me a postcard." His brown hair sloshing around him like milk chocolate, framing his tanned features delicately, outlined the expression on his face when he bent down and kissed her. " I love you, Manny. Keep in touch."

"Caiman Adams?" Caiman started and turned abruptly, breath catching in her throat. A vampire wearing a formal grey, pinstriped uniform jacket and trousers, thick rimmed black specs and a white frilly blouse, gazed over her inquisitively. Caiman's throat was dry but she still managed a stifled yes. She couldn't believe she'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't heard the woman coming… how long had she been out of it?

The woman nodded and motioned for her to follow. She had a powerful aura, Caiman could make out that she was strict and was a zero tolerance kind of person. She had sleek auburn hair and a pointy nose, which made her seem like a secret villain in a movie.

Caiman, deep in thought, didn't notice that every corridor the vampire took her down had no trace of wood and she imagined the desks were the same, too. No iron… no silver. Not a trace. The school certainly was safe for all.

"In here," she commanded – looking very snotty nosed and raising her chin high in the process. Caiman nodded and turned into the office that the two now were standing next to. The door was labelled Headmaster.

To her surprise, it was filled with mahogany. Desk, flooring, walls, cabinets. No wonder the vampire-woman had waited outside. Caiman had a name for her already. Mrs Strict, the anti-disobedience teacher, presuming she was a teacher.

Caiman stood there in the office, waiting to be seen to. She presumed the person in the chair was a witch or a human or a werewolf or shapeshifter… being surrounded by wood. She was doubly surprised to find he was a male, with primal hunter-like features. He looked about thirty – which didn't mean anything if her were lamia – and Caiman shook with nervousness under his vampire gaze. A vampire? Surrounded by wood? Danger zone!

"Caiman Adams? Would you prefer it if I called you Caiman, Kay or Manny?" He asked. Caiman rolled her eyes. She hated it when teachers tried to be friendly. She was about to say that he could call her Manny, when she realised only one person called her that. Brooke. "Caiman's fine, sir." She replied.

The lamia – which he must have been, seeing as made-vampires can't make the change over twenty – looked awkward and stood up, obviously wishing he didn't have to be too formal. He leant over the desk and held out a hand for Caiman to shake. Caiman went over to shake it, and afterwards, the headmaster gestured for her to sit in the green leather chair opposite him. Caiman did so and slouched back, the uncomfortably feeling not going away in the cosiest of chairs. Why did she feel like she didn't belong here?

"Caiman, my name is Mr. Yewson, and I am the headmaster of the academy…" he trailed off when he noticed Caiman was looking around the room in wonder. He smiled and chuckled under his breath, clasping his hands together and leaning forward. "You must be wondering why I have wood in my office, huh?"

Caiman stopped, about to mutter an apology, when she nodded and bowed her head in disgrace. He'd caught her ignoring him… wasn't that bad? But Caiman couldn't shake the unpleasant feeling. She was a witch and even she didn't feel safe in here, how could the headmaster possibly feel? She turned to Mr. Yewson, whose smile was ever wider.

"Caiman, I know I come across to you as a vampire. And as it is for all semi-specie Night People I can choose which specie I live as. I was born part-lamia, part-witch, part-shapeshifter and part-human. You can imagine the trouble I went through as I grew up. I was originally kept under Hunter Redfern's surveillance as a freak of nature, and he knew that if Circle Daybreak got to me, they'd turn me over to their way of thinking. I was sort of like a prisoner of war. I understand why the Night World's finished – and I'm glad of it. And as for the mahogany… well, just because I live as a lamia doesn't mean I have lamia weaknesses. I can still conjure up spells, eat human food to replenish my energy, have better senses than any other creature on Earth and use telepathy. I get the best of four worlds, Caiman, and the worst of none. I love the sense of thrill and danger. If nothing wooden can kill a witch or a shapeshifter, I don't have to worry, right?" he grinned. Caiman was fascinated, but she didn't let it show. She nodded – trying to be polite.

Mr Yewson smiled, pushing a sheet of paper on his desk over to Caiman. "Anyway, here is you're schedule for the week. I hope you find your teachers and lessons satisfactory and you should make friends quickly. Enjoy your day." He got up out of his seat to show her out of the room. Caiman smiled and got up, heading towards the door.

As soon as it was open and Caiman had stepped out, she saw something go by. No, not go by, zoom by. Something fast… faster than the speed of sound… it reminded Caiman of a tornado – funnelling off down the corridors. Except this one was horizontal, and it ran.

"Damn it, he's on the run again! Maple! Maple, Oak Redfern's gotten out of his lesson!" Mr Yewson called over Mrs. Strict.

A typhoon of cloud had been left behind in Oak's wake. Maple ran over to the headmaster, heels clacking along the floor. She was coughing up dust motes and shed looked very startled. Caiman tried to suppress a giggle at seeing the strict woman distressed.

The mysterious creature named Oak that had stormed through the corridors so fast as Cam's eyes could not see had disappeared from sight – not that he had been seen in the first place. Cam breathed deeply and walked down the corridor with little dignity to her first lesson – though where it was she did not know. Suddenly, the tornado seemed to come back down the corridor and nearly knocked her off of her feet when the boy called Oak stopped.

"Are you Caiman Adams?" he asked, eyeing her. He sounded rude, and Caiman frowned, angrily, even though she nodded an affirmative. As for his appearance… Oak seemed quite good-looking. He had white hair and a pale face to match, with baby pink lips and violet eyes. His hair was spiked up at different angles – wildly and stylishly. He was dressed in the academies boys' uniform – a white shirt with a sunrise as its logo, the words CDA printed on it stylishly, and light blue jeans.

Oak looked Caiman up and down, inspecting her just as she was him. He shrugged. "You're in all my lessons, I have to show you around. Come on, we'd better get to first period." he sighed.

He grabbed Caiman's wrist and started to tug her, only distantly aware that she wasn't moving. She stood still as a statue, arms folded. "Not if you're going to run away like you just did. I don't want to be lost on my first day." Then something occurred to her. "And how do you know your way around anyway? It's everyone's first day!"

Oak turned to her and smiled, briefly. "Some of the people that go here – like me – are children of the teachers. We got an induction day yesterday and we were shown round the school so we could guide you today. In fact, half of the student population are teachers' kids, so we were assigned our own people. Some got two or three, but lucky for me I only got one." He held up a finger and gave Caiman a quirky smile.

"Yeah. Lucky for you." Caiman mused, rolling her eyes and trudging off, jamming her schedule into her skirt pocket. The girls' uniform was the blouse equivalent to the boys' t-shirt and a plaited skirt.

Caiman caught Oak staring at her behind and she turned to him angrily. "Do you mind?" she cried. Oak snapped to attention, stepped backwards for a minute and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry," he murmured.

Caiman gritted her teeth. Oak coughed uncomfortably. "Come on, let's go, Caiman. The room's B54." From then on they strode along in silence, going along carpeted halls, passing dozens of classes that were in progress. Caiman was lucky to be here… but still, she wished she wasn't… She missed Brooke…

Oak stopped. "Who's Brooke?" he asked out of curiosity. Caiman stiffened and rounded on him furiously. She was bright red in her anger. How dare he read her thoughts! She turned ferociously on him, her movements savage.

"My boyfriend, do you mind!" she scowled. If she could drum it into him maybe he wouldn't read her mind again. But what was he to be able to read her thoughts? He wasn't a vampire as far as she could tell.

Oak waved his hands as if trying to say 'calm down', and then they hurried on before they would get punished for disrupting a lesson. Caiman sighed dramatically, putting a hand up to her blonde hair. She missed Brooke even more now. The way he would hold her hand and they would face the world like nothing could stop them. She needed to be comforted. She was so alone without him. Everyday she'd been with him. Every breath she'd spent was around him. Until now.

"Sorry," Oak sighed, his hands in his pockets.

"Look, I know this sounds rude, but you aren't the most polite of people yourself," Oak opened his mouth to argue then shut it again. Caiman figured this was confirmation to continue. "What kind of Night Person are you, anyway?"

Oak snorted and lowered his gaze shuffling along. "Haven't you figured it out? We're not Night People any more."

"Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean! So, vampire? Witch? I doubt you're human…"

Oak held up a hand. "There are two types of hybrids in this world. I could have been a common half-lamia, half-human – which I should have been born as. But… there are superjays." By his serious tone, Caiman could tell he wasn't lying, but she knew that superjays didn't exist.

If Cam had been a boy, the sound she made would have resembled a snort in disbelief. "Superjays don't exist. They're ancient mythology. They're…" she broke off. The fastest things on Earth was what she was going to say. Had she really seen anything run faster than Oak just had? Something in the DNA of certain hybrids – typically newly discovered soulmate hybrids – was rearranged and in result, superjays were born. Superjays had the same traits, weaknesses and strengths as their parents – be they witch, vampire or human – yet could run like lightning.

No one had discovered why. Caiman smiled to herself and bowed her head, shielding her eyes from him. "All right, I believe you. So you're a superjay… one of the only ones to be born into this century and that's why you were let into this school."

Oak nodded in reply.
Caiman sighed. "Fine," she held up a hand in surrender.

Oak looked down at a pink slip in his hand. "Mr. Yewson didn't know I was to escort you, but I have a slip…" he showed it to Caiman, smiling lazily. His white hair shone almost blonde in the light that washed through one of the corridor windows. They were walking again… turning a corner.

"He doesn't appreciate me sprinting to lessons, he thinks I'll hit someone and I get a 'warning' every time I do. I just don't want to be late for my lessons that's all." Oak shrugged. Caiman stared into his eyes. Hey, wait; hadn't they been violet a minute ago? Now they're amber…

Human eyes couldn't change. And neither could lamia eyes… typically. Oak was some weird hybrid. And Caiman didn't believe him about him wanting to be late to lessons. "Well, personally, I think you're just a show off."

Oak flashed a truly flashing smile. "You wound me," he mocked, but he shrugged nevertheless. "Well, I am just like my dad. Except for one thing,"

"Oh?" Caiman frowned, eyebrows rising.

"Yeah. My dad's sorta lazy. It takes my mum all day to get him off the couch. Whereas I'm a bit on the athletic side." Oak grinned, eyes a piercing green.

"You can say that again!" Caiman agreed, turning away from Oak to face the classroom on their right. "Here we are." Oak sighed, grasping the brass handle. The door, labelled B54, swung open at his touch, revealing the interior of the room. On seeing their teacher, both Oak and Caiman sucked in a breath and trembled. Why is he nervous? If he had an induction day yesterday, he'll know his teachers… he shouldn't be…

The classroom was empty, all except for the strikingly good-looking teacher standing at the front, wiping down the white board. He had medium-length blonde hair with lighter highlights running through it. It was brushed over his face, hiding his eyes. He was tall and stood in a lazy manner, almost lolloping about like he couldn't be bothered. He had a dreamy smile on his face – it made him look intelligent. He was obviously thinking about something… or someone.

Upon hearing the door open, the teacher turned in surprise and stared at the two that had entered. Oak's eyes shut and he groaned. "Why? Why do I have you first period?" he groaned, sidling into one of the seats at the back of the room – furthest away from the teacher, Caiman noticed. She didn't think the guy was that bad.

The teacher laughed pleasantly. "Morning to you too, Oak. Nice to see I'm appreciated." Oak made a V gesture with his right hand and turned to look out of the window. The teacher's eyes narrowed. "Do you want me to tell your mother?" he grilled.

Oak sighed. "Fine, whatever. Tell Mum! I'm surprised she got you out of bed this morning." The teacher tensed up. "Is this how you're going to behave around the other teachers?"

Oak shook his head. "Nah. You know I give you special treatment, Dad." Dad? Caiman looked at the tall guy at the front. He was in his thirties, definitely old enough to be someone with a sixteen-year-old son. Oak had said that one of the teachers were one of his parents.

Caiman shifted uncomfortably, catching Oak's eye. "Uh, Dad… this is Caiman, she's in this class today." The teacher turned and smiled at Caiman.
"Morning Caiman, how do you like the academy so far?"

"It's… different," Caiman admitted, smiling. Her eyes flickered to the name written up high on the white board. Ash Redfern. That must be the teacher's name. Ash. It sort of fitted him – what with his ash-blond hair. Under his gaze, Caiman felt herself blushing.

Oak sat up in his seat when he saw the red flush creep along her cheek. He was about to growl when others started to arrive. "Well, Caiman, you can sit wherever you want. Next to Oak, even – if you can tolerate him." Ash (Caiman felt it weird calling him Mr Redfern) winked at his son, then got out a big pile of exercise books from beneath his desk.

Seeing as Oak was the only one Caiman knew, and this was his dad's class, Caiman didn't want to desert him. Maybe they could be friends… if they both tried. Oak seemed surprised to see her slip in beside him. He hadn't thought… he smiled to himself. Maybe the Redfern charm wouldn't fail him.

"Thanks," he smiled, trying to be as warm and friendly as possible. Caiman nodded, brushing back a stray hair, landing it back behind her ear. "Don't mention it." She looked up at the board as Oak's dad wrote the lesson subject on the board. Nearly all the desks were filled now.

The subject was Soulmate Theory. A blush crept across her cheek.
Brooke… Oak deliberately looked at Caiman and flashed a charming smile, only to see that her head was bent, her hands were in her lap, and her eyes were twinkling. He looked away. He didn't know who Brooke was… but he hated him already.