Why do we always say "I don't own this, please don't hurt me I'm a poor kid from Illinois" at the beginning of every story? It confuses me. Isn't this a fanfiction site? Doesn't everybody know that we're all doing spin-offs of different types of real life material, with our own characters and ideas mixed in?

Or am I just a nut who has no idea what I'm doing on the internet?

I wonder,

Sincerely Smiling,

Jam Jones


The nurse was baffled. "Another one?"

The Chairman was much more sympathetic then the rest of the group. "I'm afraid so," he said, placing Allura down on the cot. "Her hand's in need or a little work, but I think that's the worst of it. How are the others?"

"Perfectly fine."

The Chairman stiffened. "W…What?"

"They're all fine!" the nurse cried. "Not a scratch, though the lot of them are covered in blood! I don't understand what's going on, but this isn't natural. When the first one came in, I saw the scratches. Now they're just…gone."

"Gone?" The Chairman repeated in awe.

"Are these students…like the other students?" the nurse asked quietly, looking from Rima to Shiki to Yuki, her eyes lingering on Yuki. There was an ugly twist to her face, like a sneer. "Or did the other students do this to them?"

"This is something else entirely, I assure you," Chairman Cross said quickly. "Please…would you give me a few moments alone with my…Guardians?"

"All of them? Guardians?" the nurse nearly cried in shock.

The rest of the room was still. Sayori looked down at Allura. Sure, she had helped the situation before. But was she worthy of such a job as Yuki and Zero's? Rima and Shiki were the same. They had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, making them heroes but also involuntary. None of them had wanted this.

"There will be another as well," Chairman Cross went on. "For now, all we can do is keep this matter within us."

The nurse, though the hatred was in her eyes, surrendered and did as asked. She gave Yuki once last glare before exiting, muttering something like a curse under her breath.

"Pleasant woman," Rima said.

"Yes, quite," the Chairman agreed. "She's a bit superstitious, and living among the enemy in such close quarters doesn't help. Unfortunately, I'm the only one to hire her. That's why I try to avoid this area."

"Chairman," Yuki cut in. "You still owe us an explanation."

"Right." The Chairman walked over to the nurse's desk. "Just…give me a few moments, okay? You'll very likely understand without a word."

Picking up the phone from the corner of her desk, he dialed what sounded like a nineteen-digit number from the low-pitched beeps that followed the dialing.

"That's not a real number, Chairman," Rima said.

"Just let me dial, will you?" the Chairman snapped. "It's a really long area code!"

"Where on Earth could have such an area code?" Rima shouted back.

"Shh!" Sayori put her finger to her lips. "There are people sleeping!"

The Chairman looked to the twelve children sleeping soundly around them. They all looked overly pale and like they were in pain. Even Allura had a restless look on her face, as if she were running inside a nightmare.

"Just…trust me." He hit dial. "This will only take a few moments."

There was the sound of ringing and then a feminine voice on the other end of the line. An actual voice, from a nineteen-digit number. It was hysterical, confused, and a little angry—but the Chairman let it rant for a few moments before speaking.

"Heloise? It's me, Cross."

There was a long pause, followed by a much calmer tone from the voice.

"Yes, I'm aware. I have twelve of them here." Another pause, with more speaking from the person on the other end. "Most of them are somehow. I suspect it won't be long before they're awake and demanding answers."

This time, nobody could hear anything from the other end. And then, as if it had switched to speaker phone, they could hear her voice:

"I'm coming."

The Chairman was thrown. "What do you mean, 'coming'? You can't come here, Heloise. Your grandmother will murder you! The Bureau will have a field day!"

"Just shut up and hold the phone away from your ear!"

"Wait…what?"

"Just hold the phone away from your ear, even if you can't shut up!"

And then the phone began to glow. It was a purple glow, like something out of a movie. Sayori moved to cover Allura as the Chairman held the phone out, towards the empty space between him and Yuki.

"I can't believe you're doing this!" the Chairman complained.

There was a flash of light and then there she stood, the girl from the phone.

"Yeah, well, neither can I." She snapped her cell phone shut, brushing her angel-like blonde hair back and away from her face. "Oh, wow." She took a look at the people around her. "Four vampires, a human, and an ex-hunter. I'm quite outnumbered, even with twelve sleeping brothers and sisters."

The whole room flinched as they all noticed the color of her eyes—a dark violet, inhuman, but not vampire. Something about them made Shiki sick to his stomach. Yuki backed away from the girl that had materialized in front of her.

"Yikes, you smell pureblood-fresh!" Heloise backed away from Yuki. "I wouldn't try nom-nom-nom-ing on me! You'd kill us both, girl!"

Yuki looked at the Chairman and then back to Heloise in confusion. "What are you talking about? Who are you? How do you know my…father?"

"Father?" Heloise's eyebrows rose. She looked back at the Chairman. "When did you get busy, Mr. I'm-never-settling-down? You certainly didn't have a Brady bunch when I was around."

The Chairman coughed uncomfortably. "Adopted."

"Oh!" Heloise's eyes lit up. "They let you, a known killer, have a child? Good lord, this world is truly falling to ruin! I know what you killed is considered evil, but still, you're kind of a public menace now that you're retired, aren'tcha?"

Zero rolled his eyes. "Who the hell are you, lady?"

The blonde girl looked pleased at his question. "Why, I'm Heloise Aaru. I'm related to dear Granny Rowan Aaru, the very witch who started this mess!"

The Chairman smacked his forehead with his hand. "You didn't have to mention that."

Yuki was already all over it. "You know…whose responsible for all this? Were you part of putting so many lives in danger? Did you know these are children, who in no way need to be pulled into such a world-wait, did you say witch?"

"Purebloods," Heloise scoffed. "You think so highly of yourself, being the top of your private food chain. Little do you know" she smiled, showing razor-sharp teeth, "that there's actually a whole species above you."

Everyone backed away. Everyone, that is, except the Chairman.

"Heloise, you're frightening them." He warned.

"Right, right," Heloise clapped her hands together. "I'm what's considered a Good Witch! I grant wishes and show up to give skanky Cinderella her stupid dress for the ball, and then, for the hell of it, I'll give her a chariot made out of a pumpkin!"

The room was quiet.

"Seriously?" Shiki asked.

"No way in hell," Heloise waltzed over to the desk and plopped down in the nurse's chair. "The term 'Good Witch' doesn't correctly describe what I am. I'm a…traitor, I guess you could say."

The Chairman coughed, "Clarify."

"I don't eat meat."

Again, everyone took a step back. For Shiki and Rima, they took two.

"Now, now, let's not have anyone get too excited, okay?" Heloise leaned back and put her feet on the desk. "I was born human, an unknown witch. I grew up not eating people. When my granny got all up in my face, showing me all this spells and shit, I was all over it…until she handed me a homemade manburger and I puked my guts up. Disgusting taste, men. She even forced me to try a vampiburger. Even worse. The meat was clearly cooked, steaming and fresh, but all I tasted was a cold chill, along with the same juicy aftertaste of the manburger. After that, I was pretty much done eating people."

Zero shifted. "Pretty much?"

Heloise snorted. "From time to time, a few of my friends will dish up a few to try it. I tell them hell no, they sneak it because they don't want to eat the stuff alone. That's why I don't go to Witch Parties at the Bureau. You never know if they spike the punch with blood. It's really disgusting…you can't tell the difference between punch and blood when it's been—"

"STOP!"

Sayori was holding her chest and trying not to heave. There was a silence as she stood up, facing Heloise. Her face was red, almost like she was embarrassed, but she looked uncomfortable, not embarrassed.

"Please don't tell me about eating people," she looked down and touched Allura's hand. "Just…tell me what's wrong with my friend!"

Heloise smiled. "There really needs to be more people like you, kid." She got up out of her chair and walked over to pat Sayori's head. "Your friend—and these other children—are what my kind calls 'brothers' and 'sisters.' They're witches. I suspect, like me, they won't eat people, growing up the way they have…but my grandmother is trying to raise an army. A cold-blooded, merciless army, that will rearrange the food chain. She'll come for them, and she will try to recruit them. That's why I'm here. To teach them what's right and wrong, and to give them the option to chose between the two before she arrives."

Sayori looked relieved. "Thank you."

"Honestly? I'm not doing it for them." She studied Allura's face. "I'm doing this for myself. For revenge. I don't want them to experience what I did—any of them."

Sayori's eyes widened. "Revenge?"

"My grandmother is looking for someone called the Alice Witch." Heloise brushed Allura's hair away from her face. "When a witch matures into an adult, they undergo a change. A crystal forms inside their palm and a name prints itself on their stomach. Usually, this doesn't happen to an unknown witch. There are only certain circumstances, like being the reincarnation of the Alice Witch, that lead to such an early maturing. It did to me. Unfortunately, that led my grandmother to believe I was such a witch when I was not."

A tear fell from Heloise's cheek. It landed on Allura's face, sending a surge of purple light across her skin.

"What…was that?" Sayori asked.

"An acknowledgement," Heloise said quietly. "Alice knows I'm here."

"A-Alice?" Sayori repeated.

Heloise covered her mouth with one hand and let her other fall to the edge of Allura's nightgown. Drawing a purple line with her finger, she pulled it apart and exposed Allura's bellybutton. Written in a exotic language was a printed name, with two parts.

"'Alice Witch,'" Heloise read. "I actually found her before Granny."

Yuki stepped forward. "What does the Alice Witch do?"

"She's a container for an extensive amount of power, handed down by the generations. Each time, the power doubles. The witch is randomly picked, gifted, and then treated like a princess or a pawn—depending on who finds her first." Heloise pulled the nightgown back up and sealed the gap with her finger. "I'm afraid her existence will put this academy in much more danger then before." Heloise looked to the Chairman. "The Alice Witch usually awakens twelve other unknown witches to the world. There are only eleven here. We're missing one, on a joint Academy with vampires."


BEST. CHAPTER. YET! I love how Heloise refers to them as "manburgers" and "vampiburgers." She's by far my favorite made-up character, since she's much more real and angry and sarcastic. She means well, but she often lets her ego and pride go on and on. It annoys the hell out of people and can get a little scary. She's got a sad history, but she's making up for it with sweet, sweet revenge. She doesn't take shit from anyone-especially her Granny!