Hey Everyone! Well I hope everyone enjoyed that last chapter! And though I normally wait for reviews until I post new chapters I will post anyway because I have a million chapters on hold for you all! But I do love reviews guys!

2 Otis Otis

As Mina wandered into the old school, she felt smaller and smaller as she walked. She desperately looked around for her cousin, Henry. Finally she spotted him and started in his direction. She hesitated when she saw who he was with, Vlad, the boy she met on Halloween. When her eyes landed on the boy in dark cloths she felt the lagging yanking of a force stronger than gravity again. She debated on weather Henry would start up the jokes or not, but she didn't want to be alone…

"Henry!" She called out to him; he turned and smiled at her.

"Hey, cousin! Ready for your first day?" She shook her head. "Don't worry about it. You can chill with us for as long as you want. Right Vlad?" naive

Vlad nodded and Mina felt a bit of relief. At least she won't be eating lunch alone.

"What class are you going to?" Henry asked her as they continued down the hall.

"Mr. Craig, I think. But I am not sure where it is." She admitted, her cheeks reddening again.

"Hey, Vlad can take you. You have him for homeroom right?" Henry placed both his hands on Vlad's shoulders and moved him between him and Mina.

"Sure." Vlad answered, and continued walking. Henry and Mina fallowed. After a moment Vlad stopped walking and Henry waved them off. Mina looked at Vlad and he offered her a smile. "Here's our class."

"Oh, thanks." She replied and entered the class after him. He sat down in the back of the room and when he saw she didn't really know where to go, he gestured to the seat next to him. "Thank you again."

"You're not good with new places are you?" He asked, making her beat red.

"Not really." She confessed and sat down. "Sorry." He shrugged and was suddenly transfixed on the front of the room. Mina looked up to find the pretty girl who she met dressed as an angel on Halloween. Meredith, was it? Vlad's crush, she could correctly guess.

As the girl and her friends sat down, her friend got to write a note. She then passed it to Vlad who read it with dread and never answered. What did it say? Mina asked herself. Don't be nosey!

As she finished scolding herself a man burst into the room. He seemed to be different than how she pictured Mr. Craig to look like.

"Good morning class. I'm Mr. Otis, and I will be substituting for Mr. Craig during his absence." Of course he doesn't look like a Mr. Craig he isn't one. "As my first name is the same as my last, you may call me by either, providing the obligatory title 'mister' precedes your choice.

"It's unfortunate that we've been brought together in these circumstances, as Mr. Craig was…is…such a fine and clearly admired teacher. But as regrettable as the situation is, I will do my best to inform and educate you in an entertaining manner.

One girl raised her hand but asked her question before he picked on her. "Do you know Mr. Craig?" The man paused to lick his lips before he spoke.

"I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure."

"How long have you been a teacher?"

"A long time," was all he told the class. "Very long indeed. Most recently I was a full-time mythology teacher at Stokerton High, but I have taught many subjects all over the world."

Mina saw Vlad raise his hand and the sub nodded. "So you teach English, too?"

"No. Well, that is to say, not until today." Mr. Otis took out some papers and passed them out to the class. Then he started to speak again. "But no worries. I've already come up with a lesson plan that I'm sure you'll find both informative and entertaining."

The papers he passed out seemed to be a list of all his assignments. Mina noted that it went to the last day of school; would she ever meet her actual assigned teacher?

"How long will you be teaching us?" A girl asked out the question everyone was thinking. Mr. Otis looked around seriously, he didn't say anything.

"Don't be stupid. He'll be here until Mr. Craig comes back." Another girl snapped at her.

"You mean if he comes back." Meredith spoke up. She flushed at the silence and wiped a tear away.

"Chelsea is quite right." The teacher opened his pocket watch and closed it after seeing the time. "I will teach here for as long as I am needed and only as long as your teacher, Mr. Craig, remains missing. If that matter is settled, we can move on to our lesson plan." The man started to write on the board as he spoke. "As your teacher normally assigns you essays to test your composition skills, I will do the same. However, as I've explained to Principal Snelgrove, I will be combining this with my area of expertise—mythology. Each week we will study a different mythological creature, and at the end of the school year, should you still be blessed with my presence, there will be a test on composition, grammar, punctuation—and mythology."

The teachers writing was hard to read, the hardest handwriting Mina had ever seen! So she retreated to reading the list, like most of the class.

Then the man turned and walked toward the back of the room. He plucked a note out of a girls hand and read it to himself, and then he dropped it back down and went back to the front of the room. Mina hadn't even noticed the girls were passing notes, how did he with his back turned?

"I realize it will be a challenge for us all to adapt to our new circumstances. Some of you may adjust more quickly than others. Some of you may think I'm a freak. While others may think I'm intriguing. Hot, some might say." The entire class burst into a fit of laughter, Mina couldn't suppress a small laugh herself. "But whatever you think of me so far, please try to keep an open mind, and if there is any way at all that I may be of assistance to you, please, don't hesitate to approach me."

The bland man in front of the room stared at the area next to Mina. She let her eyes faintly flicker to Vlad, who seemed as confused as she did.

"Now, as I understand it, you are overdue for a pop quiz on punctuation." The class groaned and sighed in annoyance. Mina looked around in distress; her first day and she had a quiz?!

Mina gently closed her locker after pulling out her lunch. Her ears perked up at the voice of her kin just a few lockers away. She turned and saw Henry talking to Vlad. Vlad had slammed his locker shut and had an angry expression on his face.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin." Henry told Vlad, Mina rolled her eyes and wandered over to them in her shyness.

"That may be the most obnoxious thing you've ever said to me." Vlad muttered as Mina came into their view. Henry nodded to her in welcome; Vlad didn't even offer another glance.

"I aim to please." He told Vlad. "Hey, Mina." She answered in the same way and smiled. Then he returned to Vlad and his issues. "What's going on?"

"Not much. No homework so far." Vlad answered. Henry nodded to her to answer the same question. She shook her head no but didn't speak.

"Me either, but I'm pretty sure ol' Batty is going to drop a quiz of us."

Vlad groaned for a reason Mina did not understand. "That's all I need. I just had one in English class." Then they started to the lunchroom with Mina fallowing slowly.

"How's the new teacher anyway?" Henry asked them both.

"He's okay." Vlad answered with a shrug.

"I thought he was a little strange…" Mina muttered when Henry turned to her for her answer.

The three fallowed Henry into the line and he cringed at the food on the tray. "I don't care what they call it. This doesn't look like pizza. It's green!" Henry complained, Vlad held up his sack of food.

"Could be worse." Vlad said. Henry then led them to a table near the doors. But suddenly Mina saw Vlad's form falling forward and to the floor. Mina hurried along with Henry to help Vlad stand up; jelly was all over the front of his shirt.

Laughter came from behind; Mina saw that it was the same two boys who made fun of Vlad costume on Halloween. Vlad threw away his messed up lunch and stomped out of the lunchroom. Henry started to follow and Mina did as well.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Tod?" A man asked in a snipped voice. Vlad turned and showed him his shirt.

"I fell on my lunch; I'm going to the office to call my aunt."

"There's no need for that. Charge a hot lunch today." Was this her principal? She hadn't met him yet and was supposed to after school. She already hated him.

"What about my shirt?"

"There are only twenty minutes left of lunch, Mr. Tod. I suggest you hurry." Vlad made his way back to Henry and Mina and sat down.

"I can't believe he's not letting you call Nelly." Vlad sighed and placed his head on the table. Mina felt endless pity mingle with the gravity as she watched him. Then she saw a flash of pink and looked up to see Meredith with half a sandwich in her hand. She could very faintly hear Vlad grumble when he saw the sandwich but not the owner.

"You know that won't help."

"You can have half of my sandwich, Vlad." Meredith didn't hear him.

"Thanks Meredith." Henry answered for him. Mina felt the pity turn into a green river of unexplained jealousy at Vlad's loss for words. Meredith looked and Henry, blushed, and walked away. Vlad slapped him on the arm.

"What are you doing?" Vlad snapped.

"It's called being polite you dork." He answered and started to eat the sandwich she had given to Vlad.

"I was going to talk, I just needed a minute." Vlad stared at the table as he spoke.

"Henry don't you think Vlad should have the sandwich? I mean, Meredith did give it to him and not you. And since Vlad likes her and all…" Mina spoke up; the last sentence was through gritted teeth.

Vlad sat up strait, and stared at her wide-eyed. Henry sighed and handed him the remainder of the sandwich, as if to make her happy only. Vlad held his hand up to deny the offer and still stared at Mina. Mina blushed a dark red and looked down, away, and back to him.

"It is kinda obvious that you like her…" She muttered.

"Kinda?" Henry asked her and started to laugh. The rest of Mina's first day of school at Bathory Junior High was pretty normal. Yet for some strange reason Mina felt… excited to get to her homeroom.

As she did so she sat back in the seat she was in earlier. She attempted to smile when Vlad came into the room and to the seat next to her. But, as always, she was too shy and ended up smiling at the desk as he sat down next to her. She attempted to think of something to say to the boy in dark cloths but nothing came to mind, she stayed silent.

The bell for the end of the day came soon and she turned to Vlad. "Hey Vlad!"

"Hi Mina. Want help to your locker?" He asked, she turned red but still followed him.

"Sure… I really need to ask you something though." He looked at her as they walked and she was at a loss for words. "Um… Can you help me find the front office, I'm a little lost here."

"Alright, no problem. Let me just put my stuff away." She nodded and let him go to his locker as she was at hers, only ten lockers away. As he did so, she did the same until she heard a loud bang of metal. She jumped and looked around to see Vlad pinned to a locker by the two annoying boys.

But by now she was already standing near them when one of the boys turned and saw her. She froze, it was too late to run now.

"What are you waiting for goth boy?" One asked, the other grunted and started for Mina. "Oh, what do we have here?"

"Can we help you with something, girly?"

"Le… Leave Vlad alone." She stumbled, they laughed.

"Who's this Goth boy? Your girlfriend?" The one who still had him to the wall asked him. Vlad looked at Mina with pitiful eyes of regret before turning back to the bully with a defiant gaze. The other one stalked closer and took a firm hold of her arm as she raised it to stop him.

"Naw, she's too cute to be his girl." He said, she attempted to pull out of his grip, to no avail.

"I am not Goth, and leave her out of this." Vlad snapped.

"What?" He was once again slammed into the locker.

"I said I am not Goth." He repeated.

"You Goth sack of crap. Don't even know you're Goth!" Mina gasped and whimpered when the bigger boy pulled his fist back. The one holding her arm smirked at her worry.

Vlad then said something to the boy that made him pause then stop at together. The bigger boy turned to this friend and shoved him away from Mina and down the hall.

"Vlad are you okay?" Mina asked worriedly. She gasped softly when he turned to her and he looked in the window for his reflection. He looked evil even to himself, what does she think? But she shook it off and took a few steps to stand right in front of him. The wave of her AB negative blood filled his nostrils; he attempted to hold his breath. He nodded and didn't answer her verbally.

"Are you still going to help me to the office?" She asked feebly. He nodded but didn't speak and started to take her to the front office. Once they were outside the door he stopped and she turned to face him. "Thanks."

"No problem." He muttered, trying not to let his lips show his fangs.

"Listen, Vlad, I wanted to say thank you to you and Henry. Thank you for… dealing with me, I guess. I know I can be a pain." Vlad shrugged and didn't answer, again. "Well, good bye." She didn't even take one step before Vlad stopped her.

He forced his fangs away and opened his mouth. "Hey, Henry and I are hanging out this weekend. You are coming right?"

Mina smiled and turned pink. "Maybe… I don't know."

"You should." He pressed and she nodded and started to pass him into the office. A fresh wave of her blood flooded him and his turned to stop her, he was hungry.

So…. What'd you all think? Press the button! Go on! Do it! THE POWER OF VLAD COMPELS YOU! hahahahaha