Here's chapter 2

Thank you pondsplash800 for your review.

2

When I got to the castle I was still in human form. It was not unusual for the security to be tight, but tonight it was especially tight. As I came running up the guards bared their teeth and started to come towards me.

"Stop!" I cried. "Night Hunter, ranking number- 652"

The guards let me walk past them reluctantly. As soon as I walked through the front door I changed. Black Lily met me in the corridor.

"What's the problem?" I asked, still walking.

"There's an assassin trying to kill Oxanna. It made an attempt last night, but the assassin ran away"

Oxanna was the queen of all Appians. I gasped silently.

"So you want me to stay here and help protect the castle?" I suggested.

"No I want you to go back to the normal routine, but I will call you if we need back up. You're one of our strongest fighters. Do you understand?" she barked.

"I understand." I saluted and started jogging back home. It was a really short conversation, which was quite unusual, since black lily usually talked and talked and talked, going through all the drills I had already memorized. The castle was in the forest right behind my flat. The forest is up a quite big hill and the castle was smack bang in the middle. Humans rarely go that far because there was "grizzly bears" roaming around. (Someone probably made up that rumour from seeing Iro.)

It was just before dawn and I climbed back up to my flat. No one saw me as I hadn't changed yet. The window was open like it always was and I climbed inside. While doing it I knocked over a lamp that stood beside my window. I bent down to pick it up. While setting it up, I bang my head on the ceiling. Surprisingly enough, human buildings weren't made to accommodate Appians. Funny that. Suddenly the light flicked on in the hall way.

"Jess, you ok in there?" holly called. Holly must have been awake, waiting for me.

"Yeah I'm fine, but don't come in!" I called back. I couldn't let her see me like this.

"Why?"

"Because you can't!"

"Come on Jess, you know you can tell me! Are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt. I'm sorry, but I really can't tell you!"

"Sure you can. I'm coming in, ready or not!" holly's voice had that tinge of playfulness that meant only one thing. She won't stop till she finds out my secret. The door was slowly opening.

"No! Don-"I started to say but it was too late. Holly had opened the door.

Holly took one look at me and screamed.

"Shhhh! It's me holly! It's me Jess! Shut up!" I cried. Holly cowered in the door way.

"w-w-w-what are you?" she asked

"It's me Jess, I know I don't look like me right now, but when the sun rises you'll recognise me. It's me Jessica"

I took a step closer to her. Holly scrambled back into the hall way. Holly looked into my eyes. They were red, but she seemed to recognise me.

"Is that really you Jess?" holly stood up slowly. Holly lost some of her fright, and gained a slight interest glint in her eyes. This time she walked towards me.

"Yeah, it is" I answered. Holly stood right in front of me. She touched my arm. The fine fur that covered my body twitched and the touch. The sun broke the darkness and I transformed. It wasn't spectacular or anything, I just changed. Holly gasped softly. I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes.

"It is really you isn't it?" holly whispered.

"Yeah it is."I answered. We hugged for what seemed to be an eternity. When we finally broke apart I said,

"Get some sleep. I'll tell you everything in the morning" just then the sun came up. Since I didn't have my glasses on, the light made my eyes glow a deep red. Holly gasped and stood back. I knew she wasn't going to run away, she was just trying to see my eyes clearly. I turned away.

"Don't, I like your eyes" she smiled faintly.

Holly was my human. Few night creatures got their own humans, and the humans that are picked had some sort of power that will be helpful to the guards. Holly hasn't shown her power yet, but the queen is never wrong.