The Night Is Young

Chapter One – The Escape

Millie

Millie Connor stared doubtfully at the slip of paper in front of her.

'The sun is yellow like'

She bit her cheek lightly and glanced heavenwards. She was terrible at this.

'The sun is yellow like my brothers toy truck,' she improvised and heard a snort next to her. In a skillful way she ignored it just like she always did. Movement next to her told her he had moved closer.

"You really don't like this class, do you? What is it that you find so hard?" he asked sarcastically. He always loved to mock her. He was a gorgeous seventeen-year-old with blonde hair and to-die-for blue eyes. His name; Philippe de Bois; Frenchman of nationality but living in the cold and bitter Norway.

Millie glanced at his piece of paper and saw it was filled with beautifully curved letters. He knew calligraphy. She stuck out her tongue at him which he jokingly reached for. She turned her head with a smile. Turning back to her paper, she whipped her head so her hair slapped him against his cheek. She then looked back over her shoulder and grinned at him. He rolled his eyes dramatically and got his concentration back at his poem.

'The sun is yellow as my brother's toy truck. He plays with it every day, as if he has a life. Which he doesn't. Because he's five.' Millie considered the pathetic excuse of a poem she had made and gambled for the teacher not to pick her to read it aloud.

A snickering sound came from her other side. The terrible curse of being pinned between two friends. She looked up, very slowly, to look at Marion Mavis. She was reading the tiny poem and laughing to herself. Millie didn't like her very much. She considered it being her duty really, as the life of someone as pretty as Marion could be nothing but fantastic. Her curly bright-red hair lay neatly over her shoulders and her dark doe eyes had a sinister glint in them. Millie forced a smile and looked pack at her paper- she really hated Norwegian class. Just be nice to her, she is Philippe's girlfriend after all, she thought begrudgingly to herself and sent a silent curse towards Philippe. She was looking real forward to the end of class.

"Ms. Connor." The sharp voice slashed through the classroom like a whip. Millie glanced up at her teacher fearfully aware that everyone was watching her. The teacher was a short and bulky female with a strange passion of calling people Ms. and Mrs. when addressing them. Millie thought she was afraid of social closeness. "Yes, Mrs. Hoffer?" she replied politely even knowing what was coming. Only it didn't. Just as the teacher was opening her mouth to ask her to read out her poem, a high cracking sound pierced through the room and the girls by the window all screamed high and shrilly. They really do scream like girls, Millie thought numbly before hitting the floor.

Both Philippe and Marion lay on top of her, as if I am a mattress. She was thinking to herself again. "Get up, Millie!" Philippe yelled and she felt her body leaving the floor. Philippe was dragging her arm with Marion in front. They passed through the classroom door and Millie glanced back at the scene behind her. The entire class was huddled in a corner staring at something in the middle of the room. All the tables and chairs were thrown to the sides of the room surrounding two full-grown tigers. Millie gaped as her brain recognized the two shapes. Her feet stopped moving forward and she said dumbly, "there are two tigers over there." Philippe glanced worriedly at her and tugged firmly at her arm. "Come on, Millie." She nodded numbly.

As they reached the wardrobes, Millie got a sinking feeling. She tried to look back, but Philippe dragged her arm hard and she snapped forward. She slipped and lost hold of Philippe's hand. He swung around, eyes wide and made a motion as to pick her up. The snarl that followed stopped him mid-track. One of the tigers lounged just as Millie pushed herself up by her arms. Instead of reaching Philippe as it so obviously was trying to it hit Millie hard in the back. She met the ground once more, but without air this time. She blinked rapidly, gasping for air that didn't seem to want to come. Everything seemed unclear and confusing next. She could feel something sharp pierce her skin and then a burning sensation all over her back. Vaguely she could hear someone far away yelling her name, but her sight was blurred and she couldn't seem to focus.

Everything that happened next was strange. Millie could only see flashes of the things around her. She could see Philippe attack the tiger, but he didn't look like himself. His blue eyes were shining and his canines stuck out of his mouth. Like a cat's, she thought weakly. Then Marion came into view holding a blob of green light. She threw it at the tiger and even in her weakened state Millie could hear the tiger's growl. It seemed like hours went on until she could see anything again. She could hear Philippe's furious voice and tried to focus on it. "-need taking care of right now. Just do it!" the last thing she remembered was Philippe looking terrified at her face. "Don't worry, girl. I'll take care of you." She felt his cool hands go under her body and as he lifted her, pain erupted through her entire being and everything went black.

Adrien

Adrien Rivera was watching the two tigers he had brought with him from Head Quarters. He stood in the dark woods by the high school- not because he needed shadow to stay out in the sun- but because he needed to have an eye on the men. Adrien did not like shape shifters of any kind, but he knew he needed to accept them just this once. His eyes were fixed at the tigers as they jumped through the school window and he almost swore out loud. Not part of protocol, his mind snared out him and it took all he had to not storm after the two idiots.

He did not make a sound as he reached the broken window and peeked in. The entire room was disoriented and the humans were huddled in one corner. Adrien sighed as he caught sight of one of the tigers. He was stalking in at the humans with a rumbling growl caught in his throat. Adrien gathered all his willpower and sent a command strait at the shape shifter. Cut that out! Where is Florence? He knew it hit him as the tiger's body shook slightly and his eyes met Adrien's. The tiger threw its head towards a door in the room.

Adrien was just about to jump in through the window as Florence came running into the room. His tail was waggling furiously and it alarmed the other tiger. They both jumped out of the window at the same time and hurried on. "Did you get the poem?" Adrien yelled after them with no reply. He groaned angrily and scanned the room in ten seconds. He knew just about where the witch sat in the room and true enough there were three pieces of paper on the ground. Adrien made the decision fast and jumped into the room. He snatched up the pieces of paper and hurried back to the window. As he jumped back out and ran away from the scene, he heard a shrill voice yelling after him. "Hey!"

Back at Head Quarters, around ten miles away from the high school, Adrien was studying the three poems in front of him. He kept re-reading the shortest poem. It was a very silly poem, yet Adrien could not get over how adorable he found it. The childish hand writing made it even cuter in his opinion. He stuffed it in his pocket just as the doors to his chambers opened. In the doorway stood a blonde woman with golden skin. She slid into the room calmly and stood in front of Adrien. He looked up at her and could see her disappointment of the lack of interest in his eyes. She shook it off, though, and smiled seductively.

"Did you get hold of the poem, Adrien? Florence and Darryl told me you didn't, and they are after all highly thought of by both me and the rest of the Shades. Tell me, Adrien, did you fail your mission?"

Her tone was one of mockery. Adrien looked at her squarely for some time. Then he laughed, loudly yet falsely. He laughed for a minute before stopping.

"When you listen to good-for-nothing, egoistic bastards as those… those shape shifters, you are doomed to get wrong information, honey. I have indeed the poem you are asking for, but not because of any help from Florence and Darryl. Oh, no sweetheart. You see, they were too busy with unimportant matters like stalking food instead of doing the job they were set. I jumped in a snatched those poems myself after they ran away with their tails tucked under their butts. I spit on those fools!" He exclaimed and literary spit on the floor.

The woman looked nastily at him, and then smiled sweetly.
"I'm not cleaning that." She said. "What do you mean with those poems anyway? You were only to get one. The witch's."

Adrien smiled- more to himself than her- and held out two poems to her. "I am assuming the other poem was made of the vampire, Philippe. They do sit close to each other. "

"I've heard a human is sitting between the two," the woman commented lightly with a glance at Adrien. "Where is the poem of the human?"

Adrien smiled again. "I threw it in the trash. It had no importance to it. But if you want me to, I could pick it up for you." He looked at her and knew by her face she had no wish for that.

"Leave it be. It's written by a human anyway."
With that she turned around and walked out of the room. She stopped a minute by the doorway and turned halfway to Adrien. "The Shades want to meet you in an hour. A man will come for you when the time comes." She closed the door firmly after herself and left Adrien to his own thoughts.

So, here's chapter one! I hope you enjoyed it greatly and if you did (or didn't) please tell me why in a review. I'm going to try to update this story at least once a week, but it might be difficult the next month as I got exams coming up. But I'll try as hard as possible and hopefully you'll keep enjoying the story.

xx, AnxiousFoxxie