She's fifty years old? But that can't be. I mean I know this vampyre world is different but it can't be that different….can it? My mind waged it's internal battle as I stuttered, "She.. she…doesn't look fifty…" I managed. James laughed loudly and I blushed in embarrassment. "I just explained that. See how her mark is red instead of blue? Well, that means she's a red fledgling. We call them redglings. And being a redgling means you can't age. She was this age when she became a redgling." He said. "Oh…" I mumbled. Stevie Rae patted me on the back like we had been friends for ages and said, "I know, it takes a while to get used to." Then she turned to the others. "Y'all really should be nicer. Remember when you were just starting to realize what y'all were. She's going through the same thing." Guilt crossed their faces and they all said in unison, "Sorry." and looked down. Seeing their distress and guilt I decided to change the subject. "So, uh what's the food like here?" I asked searching for a topic, and I must say I chose a really lame one. Despite it's lameness it brought them all out of the dumps. "Well, it's excellent. Only the best for the best people." Came a voice from behind me. I nearly jumped out of my seat. Slowly I turned to see a perfect blonde. Okay, seriously how many perfect blonde's are there? The girl held herself with perfect poise. "I am Venus. Named after one of the goddess's of love. My mother is Aphrodite. And you are? Oh, yes of course. You're Nine McKinnon." She looked me up and down then sat right beside me with a plate of delicious looking spaghetti. All my new friends looked on in fear and awe of Venus. "Well, as you already seem to know, I am Nine. I am the daughter of Heath Luck and Julie McKinnon." I answered to her. I heard a sharp intake of breath by someone and turned to see Stevie Rae practically jumping with joy. "You…daughter…..Heath? Luck? Ohmigod!" Was all I could interpret before she sped off, out of the room. "That was odd." Venus said echoing my thoughts. "Yea, it kinda was." Britanny and Taylor said at the same time. Some sort of bell rang in the distance. "Oh, It's time to go. School was actually let out early. Some vamp at the Chicago House Of Night got killed. It was a redgling. Goes by the name Stark." James shrugged. I shuddered at the thought of death. Sensing my disturbance he pulled me away from the group of noisily chattering vamp teens. "Hey, maybe you should go to Nyx's temple and pray or something. It'll make you a lot calmer." He offered. I nodded and followed him outside and past the buildings to a big barn-like building. The front was opened and a statue of…Nyx. I knew I recognized her.. "Thanks for walking me here. I can take it from here." I said more proudly and independent than usual. Seeing I wanted to be left alone he slowly turned around and ran back to the school.
I was alone. In theory I was. Nyx was here. I knew it in my soul. All I could hear was my shoes padding on the damp grass as I made my way inside the temple. Four strange candles were lit. One was white. One was brown. One was silver. And the last one intrigued her most. It was red with purple markings like the one's on my neck circling the candle in a spiral. I picked it up slowly and knowing what to do, I placed it in front of Nyx's statue. Then, I looked for a lighter and finally found one, next I lit the candle and started praying. I pray just the way my Daddy had taught me. Tears started building in my eyes. Does my dad know what happened to me? Probably not. One tear escaped from my eye and dripped into the flame. Something magical happened next. Inside my body I felt as if my soul and blood were infusing with my essence. Silently I prayed, Nyx, what just happened? Can you tell me? There was no answer and I wasn't expecting one. But there was a listening silence and a wind that blew in the direction of the outside of the temple so I followed my instinct and ran outside following the air. It led me to an old oak tree that had fallen into the stone wall surrounding the House Of Night. On top of the tree was a man. "So you're the new Chosen? Huh. You'd think they'd send me a boy once in a while." He said. Gradually he climbed down, off the tree. He extended his hand and said, "Hello, I'm Loren Blake."