:: Illusions ::

~Sorcerous Stabber Orphen~

Disclaimer: I don't own Sorcerous Stabber Orphen or any of the characters. Rights go to Akita Sadanobu and ADVision.

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: vague hints of Orphen+Majik and possible Cleao+Majik

Warnings: AU, some OOC, language, mild gore (just blood)

Notes: If anyone's curious, the mentioned cities and school do exist. Though I've never been to the school myself, I have been to the mall in Silverdale several times. I had to do a bit of research to find a good school, and I'll have to wing it from there. Sorry for any inaccurate information.

Also, some of the books I mentioned I did enjoy reading. ^^; Vanitas: Escape from Vampire Junction is a sequel to Valentine and Vampire Junction by S.P. Somtow, though I'd advise delicate minds not to read them. It's confusing and gory and pretty sick. But we all know I have issues anyway. Also, the Night World series is a simple read, but enjoyable if you just want to pass time. I think most people have heard of The Silver Kiss, but if not, it's a decent story and I would reccommend it if you liked vampires and romance. V.C. Andrews doesn't write supernatural, but if you like heavy angst, drama and twisted family secrets, I'd reccommend her books as well.

And I'm rambling. Here's the next chapter.




Majik was in a sore mood the next morning he awoke, and understandably so.

He'd just been sleeping on the thin mattress, not too comfortable since the stupid thing sank where he sat down. But he'd been in a semi-content state of a dreamless slumber when he'd rolled over, placing his pale arm right into a sliver of sunlight.

Contrary to popular belief, the sun didn't kill vampires-- not the ones more than fifty years, anyway. But to the younger ones it could leave a nasty burn wherever it hit if they weren't careful. Majik usually wore long-sleeved shorts and gloves to protect himself. He'd quickly learned this was odd in some places, where people seemed to think it was hot. Majik didn't have much of a sense for that; he was cold-blooded, like a snake, a lovely, enticing snake.

So the result was that he had a quarter inch thick burn on the sensitive flesh under his right forearm. It looked nasty and stung like hell, but he'd had worse. Rather than complain too much, Majik kept sullenly silent.

Today would begin a whole new routine for him and Cleao. Their master had moved them to a city called Silverdale on the wet, west side of Washington State. Speaking the English language wasn't a problem for either of them; Majik himself could speak Japanese, German, Mandarin, Spanish and Latin as well as English. It was a bright side to eternal life. Cleao could speak more than five times as much as him, which served just as well as Majik knowing the language himself since she could act as his translator.

It wasn't like he needed one. If he really wanted to know what someone was saying he could probe their thoughts, but they did have an act to keep up. They would travel for a while, and every ten years or so certain members of the Silver Moon -- the small organization they were both in -- would have to lay low for nearly twice as long so few would suspect them.

Majik rolled out of bed, glad to be in the welcome shades of his tiny room. From the sounds in the compact living room just outside his door (it was a small apartment) it sounded like Cleao was already awake. He danced around the sunlight warily, giving the curtains a slight push to make sure they were completely shut this time. Why did the sun have to rise on his side, anyway?

Once he'd showered and dressed in faded denim jeans and a gray sweatshirt, Majik walked into the living room, combing the gold hair plastered to his head.

"Good morning." The greeting was unnecessary, but then Cleao seemed compelled to doing unnecessary things at times. Majic gave her a quick nod in reply, running a hand through his hair to disturb the gelled appearance. There. Water dripped down his nose and he moved to wipe it away.

The blonde girl stopped what she was doing, frowning in his direction. Her eyes fell on his right arm, just an inch or two above his wrist. "Majik..."

He sighed. "It's just a little burn. It'll go away by tomorrow; no one will notice until then." So long as he kept his sweater on, anyway. And even if they did see, he could easily explain it away. Many people found "I burned myself with hot iron," or, "I was helping my sister make dinner and then the pan kinda slipped." Really, so long as they have a reasonable excuse, people would believe anything.

Cleao shook her head, opening the refrigerator in the connected kitchen. It was unnecessarily stocked, but she seemed to be packing something as she chose a fat red apple, inspecting it critically before deeming the fruit harmless and dropping it into a paper bag.

"What's that for?" Majik asked, hoping he sounded offhanded. Great, now if he had to eat the stupid thing it'd be bruised. Majik despised mushy foods; they reminded him of the flesh he had to tear apart at least once a week.

Cleao saw through it of course, but she said nothing about it. A tiny pressure from her thoughts told him she was aware of his suspicion, but she smiled innocently. "Lunch."

"Ha, ha, very cute." Honestly, did the girl still think that, after all this time, he found her stupid jokes amusing?

"Now, Majik," she said gently, trying not to sound stern. Majik realized that she *was* serious. "You have to keep up an image. Humans are weird; they think skipping a meal is strange. They automatically deem you sick if you do."

"Like Master," Majik returned frostily.

The other blonde sighed, diverting her eyes. "Yes," she murmured. "Exactly like Master..."

He felt a tad bad for doing that to her, but let it drop. Snatching the half-packed brown bag from the counter top, Majik shoved his feet into his shoes. The time read nearly six-fifty AM; if they didn't get a move on, he'd be late. "C'mon..."

A short while later Cleao was driving their temporary car down to the local high school. That was another great thing about being a prodigy; Majik could easily slip into one of their schools. And since he'd taken many of the same classes over and over again, it was easy to get by and not seem too suspicious. Of course, he was careful to make his fair share of mistakes. People got annoyingly suspicious otherwise.

Majik was to enroll as a freshman at Klahowya Secondary school, whilst Cleao would be enrolling as a junior. It was the usual routine, though no doubt with time both of them would be bumped up a class -- in Majik's case, possibly two, since Cleao needed to stay with him -- in time.

That was, if they had that much time here.

Cleao finally found a place to park in the student parking lot. They walked in silence to the school, making their way to the registration office. It was easy to ignore the stares from other people since they were used to it. Cleao was pretty, and when she transformed she was twice as beautiful. Besides that, she had an energetic air about her that simply pulled people close, male or female.

Majik possessed a different sort of attraction. He was pretty -- far too much to be male, he'd been told -- but he carried himself off with successful childlike innocence and warmth. Humans were so easily fooled by the powers of a vampire. Rather than find it amusing, Majik thought it sad.

"Hello," Cleao greeted the secretary brightly. "My brother and I are here to pick up our class schedules-- Yeah, under Kaughten; Cleao and Kevin..."

Majik tried not to glare at her. What a stupid name to pick... Though he usually could get people to call them by what he assured them was his nickname; Majik. Girls never seemed to have trouble going along with it. They practically flung thoughts to him, screaming inwardly how simply sweet and polite and adorable he was.

How he hated that.

"Kevin" smiled kindly, however, as he was handed his schedule. "Thank you very much," he said softly.

The secretary blinked, squinting at him over her half-moon spectacles. "This is your brother?" she said with great air of surprise. "Please forgive me, I thought..."

Majik smiled again, more forced than the last, but it was convincing enough. "It's quite all right, ma'am. I get that a lot." He gave a small, polite bow, unable to keep from being amused at her openly surprised and pleased thoughts. "Have a good day, miss."

He shot Cleao a dark look, shooting a single thought at her. 'I'm never entrusting you to pick my name again!'

She managed to keep her expression blank. Her reply was meek. 'I'm sorry; it's hard to keep thinking up new names, you know...'

'Out of over fifty-thousand plus names in the world? You're pathetic.' Just as quickly as he'd scowled, Majic was outwardly smiling. "I'll catch up with you after school, Cleao," he said cheerfully, spinning on the sole of his shoe and heading off to find his locker.

This was going to be a long day; he could tell already.




Majik was only too right, of course. After living on instincts for over twice as long as most people, he was becoming accustomed to what certain feelings meant.

He'd been late to his first period looking unsuccessfully for his locker. He'd been able to cover up by explaining his "situation" as a transfer student, complete with innocent smiles and very subtle charm. Then he'd been directed to his seat, which just happened to be in a midst of girls.

Majik really disliked human girls.

So he'd had to endure nearly an hour of whispers, dull lectures, and girls passing him notes. Majik had toyed with his pen, scribbling the occasional note to make it look like he was actually making some sort of effort. When the bell rang he was eager to escape, especially with the flood of hormonal thoughts that could only be that of freshmen trying to drown him and whatever sanity he had left.

Majik clutched his schedule in his hand, glancing at the scrawled number at the top. 'My locker is T214... It has to be around here somewhere.' Pursing his lips, Majik swept his aqua-coloured eyes over the room, shifting his new textbook in his arm. Well, best to get to second period. After that, it seemed, there would be a fifteen-minute break in which he could really look for his locker.

His second class was Geometry. He glanced at his schedule again, then began gently probing the nearest minds for where the classroom may be. He finally found it, but no sooner had he started toward it did the bell ring. Stifling a sigh, Majik headed for what he knew was going to be another class.

It was, at least, a tad more interesting than the first class. If he hadn't encountered similar situations before, Majik may have enjoyed it. As it was, he simply found it normal.

He walked in late, apologizing kindly to the teacher. His new teacher, Mr. Burns, was a balding middle-aged man, with the sideburns of his light brown hair graying and scowl lines creasing his forehead. Even without probing his mind, Majik could instantly sense he was a strict teacher.

"Are you in the wrong class?"

Perhaps it was an attempt to be kind, but Mr. Burns' voice came out clipped and hard. Smiling, Majik simply handed him his schedule, watching as those cold forest green eyes glared, scrutinizing, at the sheet. When he found nothing out of order, the teacher pointed out an available seat right at the front of the room. Not at all disturbed by this, Majik obediently took his seat.

"Well... Kevin Kaughten, is it?" Mr. Burns gave him a nasty smile. "Let's see if you really belong in this class, shall we?" Majik felt his face warm, though it was more out of anger than embarrassment. No one seemed to be able to tell the difference with him, though. Flushing with such a pretty, innocent face almost automatically made you embarrassed. "We're already reviewing for the next year. Find me the sin of thirty-five-- without a calculator," he added.

"Point five-seven-three, sir," Majik replied without missing a beat.

If he hadn't been living for more than two centuries, Majik would have been disturbed by the sneer that curled his teacher's lips. "Try the cosin of seventeen."

"Point nine-five-six, sir."

At first Majik thought his new teacher was going to explode, but what came forth was a harsh bark of laughter. "Well," Mr. Burns said, pinning the boy's eyes with his own. "It seems we actually have an intelligent mind in this class. I expect great things from you, Mr. Kaughten."

And then class resumed its normal schedule.

Majik spent the whole of class staring ahead, bored out of his mind. Not a single person's thoughts in this room felt like that of a Demon's. He was accustomed to human thought process, and while Demons could cleverly hide theirs, he was still too used to being surrounded by more childish minds. The oddest mind was Mr. Burns', but he was odd anyway, so Majik could easily dismiss him.

How hard this mission was! It had been going on for centuries as far as Majik knew, way before he'd been transformed, or even born for that matter. But this was a particular Demon he and Cleao were after-- A Demon by the name of Killiranshelo Finrandi.

Majik didn't know how they were supposed to subdue him; he was far more powerful than even him. Cleao was strong, but because of Majik's quick learning, he was stronger. He wasn't a prodigy for nothing, after all.

He was looking for a quick escape by the time the bell rang, but he found himself cornered by several students, unable to get to the door unless he wanted to drop his act. Majik was forced to suffer the onslaught of frantic questions from girls, and several pleas from both sexes for him to tutor them. It was a hellish five minutes before he finally managed to squeeze through them, dodging and apologizing profusely, giving the excuse that he needed to find his locker before anything else.

"Oh! I'm sure we can point it out!" one red-haired girl said eagerly, grabbing his hand.

Majik was instantly bombarded by her excited emotions, forcing his own heartbeat to speed up in synch with hers, but he managed to keep a clear head as he grasped her hand back, giving his trademark smile. "Thank you, but I believe I can handle this on my own. I don't wish to trouble you any."

His classmate gave a small squeak, her brown eyes narrowing down at his hand as she blushed furiously. Majik released her, sidestepping quickly and slipping with catlike grace down the hallway and away from the giggling girls. It was another drawback to being so pretty; he attracted unwanted attention. So much for laying low.

Probing surrounding people's thoughts, Majik quickly discovered that all freshmen had the same group of lockers-- Right back where he'd come from. He grimaced inwardly; it was time to play the lost boy again. With feigned uncertainly, he headed straight for the seniors' corridors. If he was lucky, he'd bump into Cleao-- extremely lucky, since she was a junior and all.

He didn't find Cleao, but he did walk straight into another senior. This had seriously been unintentional on his part; he'd been so wrapped up in sensing for the familiar vampire's thought waves that he'd been completely blinded.

"Ahh--!" It didn't knock him down, but Majik did have to take a few steps back before he could steady himself. Tightening his hand around his Geometry and English books, the blonde cast his turquoise eyes downward a moment before glancing up, a cleverly disguised false apology in his eyes. "Excuse me..."

"Clumsy," the senior retorted, rubbing his chest where Majik had bumped his nose into him. His eyes were dark and slanted, very catlike as he surveyed the new freshmen. "This is the seniors' hall, girl."

Majik hesitated, tensing to hold himself back from kicking the taller youth. The force may have broken his kneecaps. "Um... That is..." He coloured, again more from anger than real embarrassment. "I'm lost."

The senior smirked, mahogany eyes perusing Majik's face. "What grade are you in?"

'Make a pass at me, will you?'
Majik thought angrily, forcing a disarming smile. "Ninth." Two could play at the Mind Game.

The teen moved and slung an arm around Majik's shoulder, gently steering him out of the seniors' hallway. "I'll take you there, then, if you don't mind?" Majik shook his head, still smiling. "You're new, eh?"

"Do you know my sister?" Majik inquired. "She's new as well... Cleao Kaughten?"

The seemingly older teen snapped his fingers, positively grinning. "That curly-haired chick! Yeah, she was in my first period. I see now," he added, eyes raking Majik again. "You're both very attractive... Yeah, I can see a vague resemblance now. What's your name?"

Hell, was this guy talkative! Majik felt an odd spark of curiosity light. He'd met a lot of guys like this, but this one wasn't entirely sleazy like the rest. His compliments were honest, at least, and not just trying to gain the boy's trust. Surprisingly, he found that he liked that, even if the first thing that had drawn the senior to him had been his looks.

"Kevin."

The senior didn't falter in his step, still grinning. Either Kevin was also a girl's name, or he was a bisexual. With the faintest of touches to his mind, Majik found it to be the former. How strange. Americans were strange.

"There we are," said the senior, dropping his hand from Majik's shoulder. "Kevin, eh? Maybe I'll see you around sometime. What's your locker number?"

Majik tipped his head to the side, giving the sienna-eyed teen an almost feral smirk. "Before you get any ideas, I'm a guy." Now he got a reaction; the senior blinked, clearly taken aback by this concept. Pleased at this accomplishment, though he couldn't begin to say why, Majik continued smoothly. "Aside from that, I wouldn't be attracted to you, anyway. You're a bit of a pig. Thank you for the compliments, but chick is awfully derogatory. I'd appreciate it if you refrained from hitting on my sister as well. Have a nice day!" he chirped all in one breath, spinning on his heel and disappearing into the flood of freshmen students.




It wasn't until lunch that Majik finally found Cleao. Relieved, he made his way over to her, falling rather ungracefully into a seat at the same table. She blinked at him, crystalline eyes slightly amused. "Bad day?"

"Bad day? No, not at all," Majik retorted, sarcasm laced into his words as delicate as a spider's web. She didn't deserve it, and he knew it, but the lack of any information or leads was agitating him. Not to mention... "I've been hit on by both genders today. And oh, no, it's not just the freshmen. Six sophomores, probably ten juniors, and three seniors! Seven of them were male! Five of them straight males! And the next person to ask for my locker or phone number is going to get an 'accidental' seizure!"

Luckily, no one else seemed interested in Majik's outburst. His ranting went unnoticed, and Cleao listened with practiced patience, smiling sweetly as he finished. "Do you feel better now?"

Majik sighed, sinking back into his chair. "A bit," he admitted, adding mentally, 'But I found nothing. The best I got was an eccentric teacher. What did you find?'

'I did worse than you,' she replied silently. 'No leads at all, not a single one. I felt a vague presence in my first period, but I couldn't trace it to a single mind. It was almost as if whoever it was, was purposefully trying to confuse me.'

Majik opened the paper bag he'd been carrying, hefting the round apple in his hand. 'Well, that's something, actually,' he reminded her, biting into the too-sweet fruit. 'Remember, Demons can have and do have that ability, to be able to confuse mind-readers. You may have a better lead than me. Keep a close eye out in that class, will you?'

'No problem.'

Majik made a face, already sick of chewing on the half-eaten apple. He tossed it into the disposable bag, trying to ignore the wild thoughts being flung both his and Cleao's way. Some of them were disgusting anyway. Honestly, didn't these people know how to control their hormones?! And-- Oh, God, he didn't want to picture that random girl doing that to him!

"I'm going to the library," he said abruptly, getting to his feet.

"Research?" asked Cleao mildly.

"No. Escape." Flinging the useless bag into the trash, Majik faded into a small crowd of people, disappearing before Cleao could even blink.




The rush of cool air soothed his senses, as well as the relief of few people. Majik always found himself at ease in such surroundings-- few people with a quiet peacefulness.

He meandered over to the fiction side, lazily scanning the shelves for anything even mildly of interest. There were few books he'd never read before, but it certainly couldn't hurt to look. And anyway, this was the only side of the library with few windows. He wasn't fond of cooking before anyone's eyes.

Really, he wasn't fond of being burned at all.

Some authors he skipped over completely, V.C. Andrews being one of them. Really, she was a decent writer, but he found the stories far too dramatic for his tastes. There was enough darkness in his life, and this woman touched on it so closely it pained him to read her words. Despite his sarcastic and cold nature -- something acquired over the immortal years of a vampire and not at all a trace from his true childhood -- Majik preferred lighter fiction.

There were a few vampire stories, but hardly any of them were of great interest. The Silver Kiss was a decent story, nicely touching up on some areas of being a true vampire, but Majik had never heard of an undead being turning himself into mist. Honestly, the fantasies of some people were so far-fetched they were amusing. And though L.J. Smith's Night World series was more to his liking in the way she had a more accurate portrayal of vampires, her words were too simple and easy to understand. Only the last four books were supposed to be any good, and Majik had yet to find the fourth.

Oh, well. Still surveying the shelves, Majik only dimly noted that three new people had entered his sacred room of privacy.

He got a dim flash of someone -- most likely a guy -- seeing him as some stupidly innocent girl, then another that banished that idea completely by pointing out that, though exceptionally pretty, Majik was a male.

The blonde paused, hand hovering over something entitled Vanitas: Escape from Vampire Junction. That mind wave was familiar... Ah, yes. A bare glance over his shoulder told him it was, indeed, the senior he'd run into earlier.

'I'm surprised he knew this school had a library,' he thought dryly, taking the book off the shelf and thumbing through it. He was instantly distracted by the words, raising an eyebrow at the crude language. 'This isn't disturbing at all,' was the next sarcastic thought to pass.

"What have you got there, Kevin?"

The pleasantly nasal voice didn't come as a surprise, but Majik feigned a startled jump. He turned to face the amber-eyed senior, who was smirking at him from beneath tousled hair.

"Ah... Hello," Majik said slowly, pretending to get over his initial "shock."

Without waiting for an answer, the senior snatched it from his hands, reading the back of it. "Vanitas, huh?" he asked, his smirk broadening. "It's awfully mature for someone your age, isn't it?"

Oh, if only he knew the irony of that simple remark! Rather than retort as he might have to most other guys, Majik simply smiled and easily plucked it from the seniors' hands. "I don't know what you mean," he said loftily. "I just wanted something to entertain myself with."

"Entertainment? You read for fun, then?"

Majik's dark golden eyebrows shot up. "Don't you?" he inquired innocently.

The seniors' expression changed momentarily. Majik got a faint thought; yes, he did enjoy it, but he didn't tell anyone. Any sort of weakness was a crime to him. "No," he snapped, glancing away as he rubbed the back of his neck in obvious discomfort. "I'm just here to pick up a book for my English class. They're making us read, so I'd better grab something thick so they think I'm actually doing something."

Majik sighed. "Say what you want to your friends, but I find nothing wrong with enjoying a good story." He slid the book back into place, glancing at the sienna-eyed teen sideways. "But you're probably right," he added thoughtfully. "That sort of story, it's not for me." Majik made sure to give him a small wave before he walked off, knowing he'd left something for the young man to chew on.

Before he could escape to his next class, however, Majik found his elbow caught in a strong grip. The senior leaned close, murmuring something quickly into his ear before releasing him and striding off. The aqua-eyed vampire stared after him, pleasantly surprised.

"You can call me Orphen, all right?"

Shaking his head, Majik slung his backpack over his shoulder before wandering off to his new Biology class.




The chipper voice of Cleao's overly-cheerful history teacher went on like a buzzing noise in the back of her mind. She dimly wondered if she could swat the annoying fly, so to speak.

She chewed on the end of her pen, copying their notes down in neat cursive. She knew this particular lesson better than most -- she'd taken the same classes at least ten times, after all, not to mention she'd lived several of them! -- but the notes were obligatory for a grade.

She'd never liked school, and posing as a human didn't make her like it any better.

When the class got a chance to pause in the actual note-taking, their teacher fluttering around a world map like a hummingbird, Cleao took the time to cautiously dance around the minds of her classmates.

The annoying cheerleader snapping gum in the back of her class was a definite no, as was the supposedly amazingly smart boy to her left. She'd have to be careful with him in three of her class; people expected him to be the best, and it would look suspicious if she surpassed him.

Her thought tendrils covered the students like a blanket, and none of them took notice of it. Cleao was simply that good at poking at other people's thoughts. Two people caught her attention; one was a black-haired girl that had been in her first period class, and another was very familiar somehow, belonging to a petite brunette female with her hair in luxurious, very natural waves.

However the vibes Cleao got from her weren't that of a Demon's at all. No, this girl was a witch, and she was looking directly into Cleao's eyes.

After a long moment the girl smiled, carefully slipping a thought in the curly-haired female's general direction. 'Vampire?' Cleao barely nodded, but the girl caught it. 'From the Silver Moon?' Another nod. 'Wonderful! Excellent... Is your partner with you?' When Cleao had confirmed this, the brunette sent one last thought -- 'Please get him or her and meet me outside the front office after school,' -- before blocking herself off. Witches were good at that.

Cleao spent the rest of that period and the next anxiously waiting for school to be over. The witch hadn't given her name, and Cleao had always had an insatiable catlike curiosity. She bounced her leg as her ice blue eyes flickered toward the clock, trying not to yawn too widely.

'Wonder what Majik's up to?' she thought absently, reaching out mentally. She almost instantly recoiled when she reached him; he was not in a pleasant mood.

Sighing, the blonde female stretched back, lazily watching her Trigonometry teacher ramble on about equations on the board. Honestly, the student role got really old really fast. She'd have to put in a request for some sort of sales clerk or something next time; at least they got to see new people each day.

Cleao checked the time again, groaning silently. Sometimes it really sucked to be immortal. When she was bored time seemed to drag by even slower than usual, and looking back she found that she'd had a lot of those moments. God, she wished she had some sort of control over time like a few of the more powerful mages and sorcerers. She envied their powers at times like this, really.

Only two o'clock... God, it was a long day.




He should have known it would be a mistake to sign up for Chorus as an elective!

Majik fumed as he stormed out of the classroom, furious that he'd been that stupid to let Cleao advise him in what classes to take. He hated close contact, he didn't like being touched without permission, and he especially didn't like it when older women did it!

He'd been on time to the class, but he still hadn't gone unnoticed by the girls. Apparently they weren't too bright, but they had a sharp eye for anything even remotely male. His teacher, Ms. Shelby, had had him come to the front of the class and introduce himself. Majik did so, painstakingly, introducing himself as Kevin Kaughten, stating his false age and few interests he was able to reveal, and then took a seat near the back.

Ms. Shelby didn't seem to want to let him go that easily. After being goggled at by a few girls -- and Majik was certain the boy beside him had intentionally touched his knee -- Majik had, once again, been asked to come to the front of the room. With a forced smile, he'd complied, even after he'd been asked to sing a few notes.

He should have botched it on purpose. He really should have.

Ms. Shelby had been so impressed she'd had him sing a few simple tunes as well. Majik hated the way she had put her hand on his shoulder, and the thoughts lurking beneath her cheerful exterior had been beyond disturbing. Who said only the male teachers wanted to molest their students? Majik was disturbed by this wavy-haired woman.

After that he'd managed to avoid being called on for most of the class period, but near the end Ms. Shelby had requested to speak to him alone after class; she wanted to discuss where they were at in the class, she said. Majik had known better; she was easy to read, and there was no doubt there wasn't a trace of Demon blood in her veins, but he had an innocent, oblivious image to keep up. He went.

It had been horrible. She'd practically forced him to sit in the chair across from herself, talking rapidly about the upcoming events and such. Majik had nodded politely, only half listening, and then she'd touched him. Not just on the shoulder, but then several pats to his knee, and there was no mistaking her hand sliding a bit above to his thigh.

He shouldn't have slapped her away like that, but he'd reached the end of his patience. Majik had slapped her hand away, snapping for her not to touch him. When she'd scolded him for hitting a teacher, he'd given himself away by shoving her roughly into the wall and biting her.

Only after he'd drained her of a decent amount of blood did he realize what he was doing. Horrified at himself, Majik had jerked back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand frantically. His thoughts had raced wildly, wondering what he should do, before he remembered that it would be all right. Gathering his sanity, Majik had taken a deep breath to calm himself down.

It had been a simple process of wiping the blood from her throat and wiping her memory of the incident clean. She'd have a few minutes' gap there, but she'd been unconscious for part of the time. It wouldn't be a severe problem.

Even still, Majik was furious with both Ms. Shelby and himself. How dare she touch him? And how could he have lost his temper like that? His master had warned him several times that it was dangerous to do that.

He sighed, running a hand through his silken hair, disheveling it. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. At least he wouldn't have to feed for at least three or four days. He made his way to the front of the school, licking traces of blood off his teeth just to be sure no one would notice.

He'd felt Cleao's presence, but he hadn't taken notice of the other mind with her until his aqua-coloured eyes spotted them. He narrowed his eyes momentarily, but fixed his expression into a neutral stare as he made his way over.

Cleao smiled at him. "Hello. Bad day?"

"It got worse," Majik said quietly, glancing toward the petite brunette beside her. She wasn't human, it seemed, but then...

Cleao retained her smile. "Majik, this is Fiena. She's a witch, and she may know some things about the Demons."

A witch, huh? Majik's demeanor changed entirely; he grew sincerely eager, staring hard at the wide-eyed girl. "You know something we don't?"

Fiena smiled kindly. She put up no disguises like Majik; she seemed honestly sweet and gentle. "It depends on what you know. I'm sure after a little talk, we can both reveal information. May we?"

It would certainly help if she did happen to have any extra information. Majik nodded without hesitation; it wasn't that he trusted easily, it was more that he was growing desperate and needed to grab whatever chances he could at finding the Demon Killiranshelo. It was hard to find a Demon; anyone that had seen their true form rarely lived to tell the tale, and those that had were long dead by now. Most of them had been sorcerers, and unlike vampires, sorcerers were not immortal.

"Cleao can drive us to a neutral ground," Majik said, pinning Fiena's stare with his own, a warning gleaming in his own rounded eyes. "No witch territory, no vampire weaknesses... How about it? Simple human grounds?"

"Of course," she accepted graciously. "I understand your concern of attack, sir."

"Majik," he said brusquely as they walked to the student parking lot.

She smiled again. "Then you may call me Fiena."