Chapter 1

As I stepped into the dorm room of the new boarding school Mom and Daddy sent me to this year, I knew it would be different.

Mom is a model and Daddy is the C.E.O. of some big company I can never remember the name of. I know. It's sad.

So, back on subject, sort of, my three older brothers, Taylor, Matt, and Landon, and I go to a new boarding school each fall. Why not the same one? Who knows? This year, Taylor and I got sent to Red Cliffs Academy. Daddy never sends us all to the same place. I know. He is a mess.

So, as I was saying before I was sassily interrupted by my thoughts, this school was different. There were no plaid, hideous, uniforms. (Yes! Finally!) They all wore black, deep purple and navy blue. Every girl was stunningly pulchritudinous with consummately massive eyes. They had intimidating straight noses and those Angelina Jolie colossal- sized lips. (But theirs were actually real.) Their legs were insanely long and sexy.

Oh my goodness, I thought, it's a freaking vamp school! I was terrified! My daddy isn't that stupid (well kind of) he told us about teen vamps and how they bit any human they saw.

I sprinted up the glass spiral stair case, catching the eye of most of the vamps in the room. I nearly killed myself trying to run down the hall carrying four lime green suitcases, trying madly to find room 172. I found it and hastily ripped open the door.

I looked in the room and choked down a scream as I saw a perfect – looking vamp. She had big green eyes with the vampire gold specks. Her skin was perfectly tanned and her insanely long blonde hair was curled and the ends were resting on her lap.

She was sitting calmly on one of the two twin sized beds in the room. The comforter was pink silk. It matched perfectly with the black walls. She had a fuzzy pink lamp sitting on her white bedside table and posters of the Paramore, Lady GaGa, and David Archuleta on the walls.

"Hello," she said, "I am Shauni Cook. What is your name?" I paused and thought. My name? Doesn't she mean blood type? Come to think of it what the heck is my name? "Oh! I remember now," I blurted. "Um my name is Melanie Johnson." I blushed at my brainlessness.

"Hi! It's nice to finally get a roommate! I haven't had one since 2 years ago when Shaela graduated! Wow and you're a human! Oh I'm not happy because I want to eat you I mean I do. Oh sorry for scaring you! I want to eat you, but I won't. That's what we learn at Red Cliffs Vamp Academy. Except some of us can't control our bloodlust, but I can! That's why I'm your roommate," Shauni babbled. "Um, I'm ecstatic to have you as a roommate too," I said lamely, "at least you can control yourself." I added.

"Yup, Yup! I sure can, but I won't have to for long! Tonight is the full moon ritual, so that means you and your yummy brother. Oh, yummy as in hot, not tasty – smelling. Well tasty – smelling too, but hot, definitely hot. Are you guys twins? I mean you both have blue eyes, brown hair, a straight nose, slim lips, and a heart shaped face. Wow, I'm smart! Anyway, the full moon ritual is tonight so you two twins and those other humans will be vamps! Yay! You two twins will be way cute as vamps, I mean all you need are full lips, bigger eyes, and gold specks and you would be just like us! Boy I can't wait," she said.

"We aren't twins. He is a year older than me. And we are going to be vampires tonight?! How the heck did that happen?" I asked.

"No time for explaining. You need to unpack. I will help you, don't worry. Head master Hatch is coming in about an hour to inspect the dorms," she answered. I set my bags down and we started to unpack my clothes and place them in our capacious closet. (Seriously, it is bigger than the bathroom.) Then, we put my striped purple, black, and zebra print bed set on the bed and the window coverings over the second window. We were just finished putting my suitcases in the closet when there was a knock at the door.

"That's Head Master Hatch," Shauni whispered. She went and opened the door and greeted the head master. He nodded at her and walked in the room.

He stared at the room. "The room is flawless. Everything is in its position, the beds are superbly made. I give it five stars, as usual. Astonishing job, girls. I will see you tonight at the assembly. Goodbye," He said and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Yes! Every time," Shauni declared. "Oh! I have a marvelous idea! You should come meet my friends! Don't worry, they can control themselves. Oh, except Cole. Mandi will control him though. She always does. But he might be able to control himself now, I mean Trev just learned. Come on, let's go!"

She pulled me down the spiral stairs and out of the dorm. We stepped outside into a beautiful courtyard full of red roses and white lilies. The school wasn't old, actually it was built in 2005, but it still had the beautiful courtyards of the older buildings in Chicago. We basically ran into a big building that had the words Dining Hall carved into the rock above the solid oak door.

Apprehensively, I followed Shauni into the commodious cafeteria, oh oops, I mean "dining hall". It was made of rock and had an enormous salad bar going down the middle of the room. On one side of the room, there was a hole that looked as if somebody had carved it into the rock and set a piece of metal on it and a sneeze guard over it. On the other side of the hole were three lunch ladies serving the students their ugh I don't even know.

Shauni and I skipped the food and went straight through a glass door to see hundreds of vamps eating in a large sunroom. How different, I thought, vamps eating in a sunroom.

Shauni pulled me to a table off to the right side of the room. At it, sat three girls and two boys. The girls had long hair, one was blonde and two were brunettes, and 1 was deathly pale, the other one was orange – colored, and the third one was as tan as Shauni. They all had ocean blue eyes and the vamp gold specks. The boys were very cute! They both had short spiky dark brown hair and creamy brown eyes. They looked perfect and very twin - like.

"Melanie, this is Ashlie," one of the brunettes waved at me, "Veronica," the blonde smiled, "and this is Mandi." The other brunette nodded at me. "Hello? Over here? What about us?" one of the guys said. "Oh, this is Cole and Trevor. They are twins." They smiled at me. I smiled back. They were way cute.

Shauni pulled me to sit down by one of the twins. "Veronica. Guess what? Melanie has this way cute brother! He is going to be so very fine when he gets turned tonight," Shauni was saying. "Oh my goodness," I blurted, "Taylor! I have to find him!" Shauni turned to look at me. "I'll come with you," She offered. "So will I," one of the twins suggested. "We might as well all go. I mean all the girls want to see him and obviously both of the twins want to come if Dummy here does," Mandi said. "OK," I agreed.

"Well I guess we better check the boys dorms first, that's where he will probably be," Suggested Cole. "Or he could be in the courtyard, trying to find the dining hall," Said Ashli. "That's great you guys, but he could be in the dining hall with a bunch of other tall and muscular guys getting a salad," Veronica proposed. "You know, I think I'm going with Veronica on this one," Mandi said sarcastically.

I turned my head towards the salad bar to see three perfect, tall, and muscular guys getting salad with my brother. I walked towards him. When I got to him, one of the tall guys saw me. He had short black hair and his skin was naturally tan, but was tanned by the sun also. He was only about seventeen probably, but he was movie star perfect. "Well, hello, beautiful. You would look great as a vamp. I can't wait to see you as one," he told me.

Taylor turned around. "Hey Mel," he greeted calmly. "Hi, Tay." The tan guy looked at us. "Oh, this is your younger sister you were telling us about. You were right, I do like her," he said. I blushed, he was cute too. I wouldn't dare tell him though, I was only sixteen and a human and he was older and perfect and a vamp. (And slightly frightening.)

Finally, Cole got to me. "Cole, right?" asked the big guy. Cole nodded. "Stay away from Mel, she is mine," he told him. Suddenly, Trevor was there. "No Melanie is my girl," He fired back, and kissed my cheek. I blushed. "Come on, you found him, let's go," Trevor told me and put his arm around my shoulders. We turned around and walked back towards the sun room.

We found Shauni, Mandi, Ashli, and Veronica at the table again. Ashli wagged her eyebrows at me and Trevor. "You two are already a thing huh?" she questioned. I opened my mouth to say something, but Trevor put his arm down and answered, "No, I was just saving her from Brandon."

Veronica opened her mouth in shock. "Brandon Flynn likes you? But you are a human and not stunning like us vampires are! You don't have the full lips and the big eyes and the gold flecks and this necklace that all the girl vamps have." She held up a sterling silver crescent moon hanging from a silver chain. It was out lined in rubies and had diamonds covering the middle. Shut up, Veronica. You have to get over Brandon; you guys broke up last year. I think that he can go out with another girl without you getting all angry at her," Ashli said. "Uh, me and Brandon are not going out. I wouldn't go out with him. I mean he is hot, sorry Veronica, but he is Taylor's friend, and he is way too big and muscular. It is scary," I told them. They laughed.

"So, Mel, oh sorry can I call you that?" Cole asked. I nodded. "What color of eyes and skin are you going to get? Oh that sounds painful. Ouch. It really isn't they just bless you with blue eyes or whatever, and then you have them. It is pretty cool." I thought about it for a minute. "Uh, I have always wanted to have gold eyes, but then you wouldn't see the gold specks, huh? So, I guess I want green then. And I want my skin to stay the same color, I have always liked it this exact shade of paleness," I told them. "Oh, yeah that shade is way pretty," Mandi told me. "Yeah it would go great with green eyes too," Shauni told me happily.

"What about your hair? You can change the color, I have naturally red hair but I thought it looked nerdy with my freckles," Ashli said. "I think you should change it to really long curly blonde so we match," Shauni suggested. "Yeah that would be cool," I told her. "I think you should keep it brown it looks pretty," Trevor declared. "Uh, thanks Trevor. But I want it red, you know to look different. Sorry." The bell rang. "Do we have classes today?" I asked. "Nope, but we have to go to the auditorium to get our schedules and learn the rules and get to know everybody and everything," Shauni told me. "Oh, makes sense."

We sat down in the back of the auditorium. There was a large stage at the bottom and on it was Head Master Hatch, what looked like a student, and a blonde lady vamp.

High Master Hatch stood up and went to the microphone in the center of the stage. Everyone quieted down. "Welcome to a new school year here at Red Cliffs Vampire Academy! We have a new Student Leader on the committee, James Brock," The student stood up and waved, "and a new Professor, Professor Amelia Lincoln." The blonde lady vamp stood up and nodded her head at the student body. "Amelia has been teaching ninth grade English since 1820," he added. Everybody applauded. "You may go to your dorms; your schedules are on your beds. Classes begin at 8:00 AM tomorrow. I will see you all tonight at the full moon ritual," He finished talking and left the stage.

Everybody began talking again and standing up to start leaving. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I expected more," Cole said. I nodded my head.

"Mel! Mel," I heard Taylor yelling. I turned around to see him and Brandon coming towards me. "What?" I asked. "This is a vamp school," he whispered to me. "I know, Taylor. They are turning us tonight," I said. He looked surprised. "Tonight?" he whispered. "Yes, tonight. See ya," I said. I walked away from him and into the hall.

Crap, I thought, I have no idea how to get to my dorm, and Shauni is gone. Thanks a lot, Tay. I looked around for Shauni, Veronica, Ashli, Mandi, Cole, and Trevor. Finally, I saw two brown, spiky haired heads and ran for them.

"Where is Mel?" I heard Trevor ask. "Uh, I think she was talking to her brother," Cole answered. I caught up to them and said, "Tada! I'm here!" Trevor smiled.

Then, I saw him. He was some guy walking down the hall. He had short, messy black hair. He was tall and muscular, not as strong as Brandon, but stronger than Taylor. He was beautiful. I was totally falling for him.

"That's Kyle Greenwood. He is a total hottie. All the chicks dig him," Cole told me when he followed my stare. "Oh, uh, yeah. He is way cute," I confessed. "I knew it! All the girls like him. It is horrible," Trevor told us.

Just then, he saw me. I blushed. He stared at me. Oh my goodness, he is going to eat me! I thought. "Uh, Cole, can he control himself so he won't, uh, you know, eat me?" I asked. "He should, he is a senior. Oh, you're scared, huh? Don't worry, babe, Trev and I will protect you," He answered.

He put his arm around my shoulders and I moved closer to him, totally freaked – out. "See, nothing to be afraid of with me by ya." I leaned even closer to him.

"Hey, what you doing stealing my girl, dude?" a voice from behind us yelled. Cole and I turned around to see Brandon glaring down at him. "Brandon, I'm not your girl, and I never will be. Just get over me OK?" I said.

He pulled me away from Cole and down the hall. "But you will be," He said. He grabbed my hand. "I have to talk to you privately, Mel. Meet me on the bench in the courtyard outside of the girl's dorms at 11:00 tonight. OK?" He kissed my cheek and let me go. I practically ran back towards Cole and Trevor.

"What was all that about?" Trevor asked. I shook my head. "Nothing," I told them.

"So the full moon ritual starts at midnight. I know it is weird, but it is when the moon is the highest in the sky. Anyways, we have to be down there by midnight, but you have to by 11:30 to get ready for the vampire initiation. You have to practice for it. It is stupid, I know," Shauni told me as I blow – dried my hair.

"So red and green, huh? Is it going to be auburn, burgundy, copper brown, or strawberry blonde?" Shauni asked. "I have been thinking about it, and I think that eggplant, burgundy, and bright red with black in it would look great on me," I answered. "Oh yeah, it would. And the black will make your eyes pop. It will be great! I can't wait to see it," Shauni said excitedly. "Neither can I! I just hope it works out," I told her. "Of course it will! The initiation girls would never let you look ugly with your new hair! They even gave a girl a different hair color than she wanted to make her look good," She said.

"I think that I'm going to have it curly. It will look fabulous that way," I told her. "Yeah, it would, but you have to remember to straighten it sometimes so it isn't the same thing every day. People get board and you draw less attention. When it is straight, it will be a total attention – maker!"

I turned off my blow – drier and looked at the clock. It was 10:30. I turned my attention to my hair and sighed. "I think it looks cute, like it is natural that way," Shauni told me. I looked at it again. It was mostly straight, but wavy too. "OK, I will keep it like this for you," I told her. "Yay! It is so cute! And I'm sure that Brandon will love it!"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't care what Brandon thinks about me. I so do not like him," I said. "Yeah, but he is totally in love with you," she insisted. I sighed. "But if you want to get closer to Kyle, go with curly. It's his weakness," She told me. I blushed. "You saw me looking at him in the hall?" I asked. "Of course, Silly! I have to keep an eye on you so you don't, uh, well, die," she said. I shivered. I could die! Well if you think about it, I am going to die tonight! My face went pale. I could die when I was with Brandon.

"Are you ok? You look a little pale," Shauni said worriedly. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to go for a walk outside," I told her and hurriedly left the room.

I practically ran down the stairs, and almost plowed down some scared – looking human. In the dorm room, I saw Trevor and Cole sitting on a huge couch watching some chick flick with a bunch of girls. I tried to calmly walk over to them.

"Hey, baby girl! What's shakin'?" Trevor greeted. "Oh, nothing. Just wanted to come see my guys," I lied and smiled. I always was a good liar, but that didn't sound so convincing.

"Well, then, sit down, doll," Cole said. I looked at them, and the rest of the crowded couch. "There's no room," I told them. "My lap is empty," they said in union and patted their laps. I grinned at them and rolled my eyes.

"Sorry, guys, but I gotta go meet Tay. See ya soon," I lied enthusiastically. "See ya later, Mel," Trevor greeted sadly. "Yeah, can't wait until your one of us," Cole said. I gave them a fake grin. "I can't wait!"

When I finally found my way to the bench in the courtyard, (it's pretty big.) it looked like Brandon was going to leave. I looked at my watch. It was only 10:45.

Brandon looked relieved when I strolled up to the concrete bench. "Hey, sorry I'm late. I got lost," I explained. "You're fine. I really need to talk to you," Brandon told me seriously. "Well, here I am. Talk away."

He looked away from me. "Melanie, you are my true love. I knew it the moment I saw you. When you turn, you will know."

When he finished, he turned on his heels and walked away towards the boys' dorms.

I sat on the bench for what seemed like hours, only moving to close my mouth every few minutes to keep it from drying up.

Brandon? And me? What the heck is wrong with this place? I was so not attracted to him in any sort of way at all!

"Mel? What are you doing out here? And close your mouth, you look like a retard," Said Taylor. "What are you doing out here anyway? It's like 11:30. We have to get to the ritual room to practice," Taylor told me.

"OK. L- lets go, Tay," I stuttered and put on a big fake grin for him, "We are going to look so cute!"

"Taylor! Melanie! Finally you are here! My name is Mabel Carondolet. I am the head of the Changing Ritual Ideas and Discoveries. It's a pleasure to meet you both. So tonight we are going to change the ritual a tinch," she held her thumb and index finger about an inch apart as to show us what a 'tinch' was.

" We will give you the ability to have a strength in something that suits your personality. For example, if you are easily angered you will have fire. If you love animals, maybe you will be able to talk to them. I don't know, but it will fit you, in some ways you yourself don't understand."

She guided us off to some coffins. "Alright. Lay in the coffins. Not now! Im telling you what to do at the ritual. So, as I was saying, lay in the coffins. When you are called, simply sit up, then lay back down. You will be given anesthesia so you will fall asleep. Any questions? Good. Come with me," She ordered and led us through a heavy oak door.

"This is the informatory. You will be sent in here and will wake up around three. The healers will be near your bed when you wake so don't leave your bed. You won't have to go to classes tomorrow, but homework will be assigned. Happy dying."

I gulped.

Chapter 2