Hey! Sorry for the late chapter I lost my inspiration for a while and was taking a trip (yay!) Don't worry though, the next chapter should be out soon (I already have the idea :-) ) Please read and review!

Thanks,

Christy

Chapter 6

"Each on of you has been picked for a job that you will specialize in, I have given you a handout on…"

The bell rung and I tried to stand up, feeling my legs stiff from sitting. I looked at everyone else and finally went up to Ambar.

"Hey!" I said politely and friendly.

She just stared ahead at the wall, "Hey!" I called again and she finally looked at me.

I smiled happily, "Hey, what'd you get picked for?"

She stared back at me blankly for a moment then remembered, "I got magick: defense."

"So that means maybe in the future we'll be working together. I uh, got warrior."

She snuffed away, "Of course you did, you could have at least did what the rest of us had done and failed."

I looked at her bewildered; she thought I had done well? I didn't, I totally got beat up by Endago, "That wasn't my fault," I practically spat at her, "Well I guess I'll be seeing you around then," I said sourly and left.

She didn't seem to like what I said but didn't give any hint of it. I walked silently to my next class venting my anger by muttering cuss words. I know a lot of them; actually I can cuss in four languages, which is why my parents never caught me. Ugg, next period was biology. Why the hell did vampires need biology? I rolled my eyes and entered the class. Standing in front was a good-looking man in his early 30's. He reminded me of my writing teacher from eighth grade, Mr. Sunshine. He didn't look nearly as fun though. I sat down on one of the edge seats and slumped down.

The class was actually interesting and the rest of the morning flew by until lunch. Endago seemed obsessed with me and came to see me at lunch. I was eating by myself and he came up behind me with a start. I jumped when he started talking and he laughed a little.

"Hey, you like animals?" he asked bluntly.

Halfway through choking out my food I managed to say, "Yeah I use to have a dog."

He slammed his hand on my back making me cough out the rest of my food and cough a little more to catch my breath.

"Better?" he asked and I nodded and turned to him, "I uh, found a dog a little while ago. It's very friendly and not afraid of vampires. Would you like to see him?"

I nodded, "Yeah sure." Hey if I were going to get a dog it would be a great start to at least go see it. I finished my food quickly, conscious that Endago was watching me. Dumping my tray I followed him outside. There was a huge Irish wolfhound outside; it was so tall it could probably stare at my little sister. My eyes grew huge about the size of saucers as I looked at him. He looked like a purebred wolf. I absolutely loved him. His tongue lolled out, as he looked at me but his wolf features still prominent.

"Do dogs usually not like vampires?" I asked still staring at the dog.

"They usually don't even get close to us. Only a few, especially cats do."

"I love him!" I yelled hugging Endago, "Can I keep him?"

"Yeah sure, I think he can stay on campus and just roam around as long as he doesn't do anything. First you better take him up to your room though, I think you'll find some things you need there."

I took a hold of the collar that the dog had that I guessed Endago had wrestled on him and lead him up to my room. This would have been a pain in the butt if the dog hadn't wanted to go with me but thankfully it did. In front of my door was a huge bag of objects including a huge dog bed. I let go of the dog's collar and he didn't run away. It took all my strength to drag the bed into my room and I wondered if my dog would even sleep on it. My dog followed me around while I set everything up for him, pouring him a bowl of food, getting water, setting out toys and the such. When I was done I knelt down and stared at him.

"You are now Fandango," He looked at me with intelligent eyes and I smiled, "Well Fandango we both lost our family and now have a new one. I scooped up my bag and left, leaving the door to my room halfway open. Fandango followed me downstairs, I think he was curious.

When we got to my PE class I looked back, Fandango was still following me. I shrugged whatever, he could work his body, and he looked just as strong as me. I walked into class and everyone's head turned; of course Fandango could have easily knocked over any of them.

"Um, hey everyone. This is uh Fandango, he keeps following me everywhere," I turned to Fandango, "Go sit over there," I ordered and to my surprise he actually did it.

I turned back, "And uh, apparently he follows directions…"

The PE class was pointless, I dominated everyone thanks to the only class in school that I like, normally. I knew all the rules to almost any sport and we had just started softball for the girls. The mitt felt normal on my hand as I went through the throwing motion over and over again. I got partnered with Fandango because my partner couldn't catch the ball and Fandango would go run after it and bring it back. Eventually they just took out my partner and let Fandango play fetch. Let me tell you, that dog and me were meant for each other. With my strength in throwing and his long legs we had a heck of an exercise.

Soon it was the last period of the day and the one I dreaded the most. Fandango followed me around all day and when I walked into the weight lifting room to find a full room of warriors in training, and a dog, I felt my heart start to race. The other warriors didn't seem to take any notice of me but Endago came striding up to me, his huge body towering over me.

"Hey Christine, so how was your first day. Was that dog good? "

I nodded, "I don't think the teachers particularly like him but he just sits in the corner all day and doesn't really do anything."

"Well," he said smiling, "Welcome to your first class as a warrior and the first female warrior in training ever."

I didn't believe the whole female warrior thing but nobody seemed to notice me still.

"I feel like you got the running down although I still want you to do it in the morning. I want you to do weight lifting during the afternoon."

Fandango had started to explore the room and the warriors-in-training looked up and greeted him with scratches behind the ears and "Good boy's." I didn't really mind at least he wasn't following me. Then they saw me, they waved politely and smiled, unlike my classmates and I felt at home, although they were all boys. One of the way older boys stood up and came over; he towered over me but smiled.

"Hi, nice to meet you," he said shaking my hand, "You must be the new freshman. Being a warrior's great, you'll love it. Plus no warrior trainee has ever died or been the one to betray their class."

I smiled back, "Nice to know." Inside I was very relieved, "Hey is that actually true? I mean the whole three will die and one will betray?"

He looked solemn, "Yeah," he answered seriously, "All the things the priestesses have said have come true."

"When you mean priestesses do you mean only the vampire priestesses?"

He laughed, "You ask good questions. Are you sure you're the person Endago's been talking about since you came here?" I felt myself blush, "Anyway, no, anything any priestess says comes true whether they be a vampire priestess or not."

Endago pulled me away from him and I smiled and waved back. He looked me square in the eye, "Do not worry about who will die and who will betray one another. That will not come for a long time," he said seriously.

I just nodded, to scared to say anything. Then I was lead to one of the regular machines. Everyone had started on their workouts and Endago showed me what to do. I was already on almost 100 pounds when I started and my arms strained a little. I guessed that they usually put it higher up to start with. Endago stayed with me while I kept getting higher. I could feel my arms about to give out when Endago told me I could stop. Everyone was done and standing up talking again.

"I want you to go on another running work out with everyone today, it's only an hour so you'll keep up. Also I want you to run two hours tomorrow morning by yourself. It'll give Fandango some exercise too, he seems like he likes it," Endago told me.

I nodded looking over at Fandango who was panting beside me, "Silly dog," I said but gave him a fun smile. His loopy grin stared back at me.

Everyone was laughing as we went back up to the track. They were really serious about getting all buff so they could protect everyone and kill the exterminators. As we ran I caught onto a lot of things, the boy who I had first talked to, Jason, was happily laughing with me and telling me about things. I learned that there were signs that looked like dragons that warriors got every time they killed three exterminator captains. He happily showed me his first dragon tattoo saying that he had gotten it on a training mission. The hour went by quickly and I kept up easily, they kept a light pace, which I think was because of me, and just laughed and talked. I felt great when I had finished, not like I had in the morning.

We all headed back to the locker rooms and I switched clothes quickly vowing that I would take a nice long bath when I got back. There were a few hours until sunrise and I went to the cafeteria, gobbling down my dinner with the rest of the warriors, we were the last ones there and then I went up to my room. The entire time Fandango had run beside me and now back at my room he plopped down on the bed and chewed on one of his toys. I went and took a hot steaming bath, making sure that I still had all the beauty I had had originally. In pajamas I climbed onto the bed and turned on my mp3 player. Songs rushed through my head and Fandango got up to come over to me. I patted the bed next to me and he jumped up. I listened to my music for a long time while petting him and then shoved him off the bed and turned out the light, remembering how tired I actually was.

For the next few days Fandango kept bringing me back dead stuff and almost dead stuff, eew! He still followed me around and I couldn't figure out how he was catching the animals. He would run with me every morning and then join me at night, then follow me back. He did desert me at lunch though. I sat mostly by myself but Jason somehow always found me. He was sooo sweet, not to mention cute, smart and athletic. I could almost keep up with him now. Endago worked me harder and I was catching up to the junior in my class. The guy was a total dork with huge glasses and the like. Sure I had glasses but they were stylish, no way I would be caught wearing his glasses. He had freckles and red hair and reminded me of a journalist. The other junior was a pretty intelligent kid. I think he was trying to flirt with me before Endago went over and kicked his ass, saying that he should be concentrating on studying. Apparently he wasn't smart enough to figure out I didn't like him.

The other kids began to stop giving me hateful looks and this annoying kid, Michael I think it was, was always fooling around. He had this stupid thing he would say in Spanish that would translate to "I have a silver spoon in my pocket" god he was annoying. I figured out all the names of my classmates, or most of them. I liked Madeline the best and Fandango seemed to like her too. Although I don't think she overly liked Fandango, her cat would screech and run from the room. Ah good times. Madeline was WAY quiet. She always had her notebook or a book in her hand and was half zoned out a lot.

At lunch I went up to her, "Hey," I said enthusiastically. She didn't answer and I waved my hand in front of her face. Her gaze was far off as if she herself was just a vessel for this world. I whistled a little trying to get her attention and suddenly she snapped out of her daze. She gave a little scream and I chuckled.

"Come on now, you're okay," I said as she shook her head to get clear of the fog, "Hey I was wondering if you would look after Fandango while I go shopping. I need clothes really badly. She smiled and nodded.

The next day I was rummaging around the mall looking for something that suited me. I got evil glares from people but I think Endago standing there scared any of them off. The entire time he looked like he was ready to pounce if something where to attack me. Great another stupid dad who's afraid for his daughter, hello! I'm not a whore here! When we got back out of the car that had black tinted windows I heard a barking from inside. It was loud and rough. I knew that bark. Endago couldn't even catch me as I ran to find Fandango. When I did find him he was in Madeline's room. His body was stiff and he looked at a dresser. Madeline was on the watching him with a book in hand. I followed her gaze and saw her black and silver tabby on top of the dresser, hissing at Fandango no doubt. I sighed.

"Fandango!" I said whistling. His attention was brought to me for a moment, "Here Fandango." He had the "I don't want to" look and I sighed frustrated, "Come here or you won't get to listen to Green Day tonight. His ears went down at this and he came over to me unhappy. He looked so sad. "Okay," I said giving in and giving him a scratch on the ears, "I know, I know." His sad face turned happy at once, so much for his act. He went running outside and I heard Endago shout. My head peeked out of the room and I saw Endago run past him. Endago looked like he had seen a monster.

"What?" I practically yelled wondering what the hell Endago was doing bugging me AGAIN.

"What's your dog doing?" He practically screamed back, very, very annoyed.

"Hmmm," I thought for a moment, "Running to steal my mp3 player."

He looked amazed, "Uh, yeah, right… so anyway you need to get to sleep," I looked over at the clock noticing that it was early but Endago continued, "We'll be doing an all day warrior's practice tomorrow."

I sighed, there was nothing worse than spending the whole day with Endago beating you up. I looked over at Madeline and waved pathetically. Endago had started lumbering away saying something about Fandango. I promptly ignored him. Without realizing it we were walking back to my room and for some odd reason, mind over matter I guess, I started yawning. Fandango was waiting by the door whinning and drooling on my mp3 player.

"GIVE THAT BACK, FANDANGO," I yelled, I could feel my face starting to get red with anger and felt Endago leave. I snatched the mp3 player from Fandango and marched over to my bed, slamming the door behind me. Fandango went sulking over to his bed and I flipped on the mp3 player and jammed it into the speakers. Fandango didn't get up to some sit on the bed with me and, for a dog, actually looked pretty sorry. There was definitely something creepy about this dog.

The next day I was waken up by a cat's pathetic screeching from the room next to me. Those dang cats, they sleep all day when we can't and wake up earlier than us… kind of like monkeys…

I rolled over half awake with my hair (probably) looking like a birds nest. Fandango was nowhere to be seen, or heard. I stared at his bed for a minute trying to figure this out for myself.

The cat screeched again and Fandango went running through my door with a cat firmly between his two jaws. The black cat wriggled out of his hold and sprinted for the door while I grabbed Fandango's collar.

"No you don't," I growled angrily at him but he was way to excited to notice my attitude much. Holding onto him for dear life I slammed the door closed and turned around taking a deep breath. This had to be the weirdest start of a day yet.

The bathroom ritual didn't take long but I didn't mind because outside the bathroom door Fandango was whining the entire time. He didn't just want to go out, he wanted to get out and I had no idea why. It wasn't time for practice and yet I heard muffled footsteps outside. I poked my head out right as Endago was about to knock on the door.

"Hey," I said surprised but smiling in spite of myself.

Endago didn't look so happy or surprised, "Go down to the gym now, your fellow students are waiting for you."

Now this only sort of made sense but I shrugged it off and went. Everyone was waiting together, huddled. There was a pile of weapons in the middle of them, swords and the such. I knew we would be working probably be working with weapons but everyone seemed so nervous.

They talked quietly about what was happening while I walked in. As I got closer they started to notice me and stopped, turning around to face me.

"Uh, hey," I said tentatively to them wondering whether these were the same people they were yesterday.

They seemed to lighten up trying to calm me down. One of the older boys bent down and tossed me a sword that looked like it had gotten chopped in half, "Here, try this," he said as I caught it.

I caught it, it was heavy but definitely sturdy, the length of my forearm. It looked weird in my hand and then one of the other boys came at me. I dodged easily but the half sword slipped out of my hand and onto the floor.

"Sorry, my bad," I mumbled and a red haired boy laughed.

They tossed me a full length sword that looked even more out of place and was definitely too heavy. Jason had laughed at the attempt and pulled a small bronze thing from the bottom of the pile.

The room went quiet for a minute as he looked at it. It looked normal to me but apparently it meant something else. He threw it at me and I caught it easily.

The dagger felt like it was part of me. The little bronze dagger was like an extension to my arm and made my arm feel light and tingly, warm in a way. It was light as though it was hollow and I banged it on my hands. This was probably made of titanium or something like that. There were weird runes around it and the metal was dull with wear. I stared at it for what seemed like an eternity and then looked up.

Someone was coming strait at me and I blocked with the dagger in both hands. It wasn't thrown out of my hands this time and my block actually worked.

"Wow," I heard from one of my classmates, "It is actually true."

I looked around the room at the amazed students, "What?"

Jason was the first to answer, "The person who first owned that dagger was killed in battle thousands of years ago. He said that there would only be one person who would be able to use it," he paused for a moment, "In legends that dagger was said to hold amazing powers and the runes hold even more for the user."

"Anyway," Endago said coming into the room, "The person who first used that dagger said to the exterminator that killed him that his dagger would become the downfall to their society. A huge war was fought over it and eventually the vampires regained the dagger."

"Since then no one has been able to wield the dagger," Jason whispered his eyes had grown.

"Except you," Endago finished for him; he was now standing beside the group.

The room was quiet as I stared at the dagger more, amazed.

"Well," Endago's voice took me out of my daze, "Let's get down to business.

"The Caretaker's troops of exterminators have been spotted coming in this direction. There are around 15 troops—" there was a gasp from some of the boys, "—they will be coming to attack now that we have new ones," he gave me a slightly stale but warm smile.

"We will be fighting them off," He continued, "We need to train today as we do not have many fighters on grounds." A murmuring started as Endago finished and he gave me a warm smile from where he stood.

For the rest of the day I trained with the dagger, Jason swore I was a natural at it and if only Fandango would get out of the way I would do better. In the end we ended up fitting Fandango with a spiked helmet, which he would ram things with. I laughed quite a few times as he ran towards students without realizing what was on his head. I called him over and petted him while explaining what he was to do on the battlefield. His loopy grin stared back at me and he went running off again.

The tension increased as the day progressed and I went to bed with a pitiful feeling in my stomach, tomorrow there was going to be bloodshed, there was no way to get around that and once again I was disgusted at the humans. Why did they attack us when we did nothing to them?

next day I stood just inside the gate of the school. I had no armor on and nothing to defend me except the dagger. My heart was racing as I saw the exterminator troops march up the hill. It was a sea of them and I felt my leg muscles about to give out.

From behind me I heard someone shout, "For Raavitha!" my strength returned at those words and I gripped my dagger tighter. No way the humans were going to win…

To be continued (couldn't resist)